And here come the nuns...

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Well, this morning I said goodbye to Paris for now and arrived in Angers. We took the TGV...the high speed train, and got here in an hour and a half. You would absolutely die to see where I'll be living for the next month. It's basically a convent...okay not really but it is run by nuns!! Real ones!!! When we got to the Foyer Merici, my new home, they actually had coke and cookies waiting on us! Yeah we don't really drink the milk here...yuck. My bedroom is so cute! It is actually pretty big for being a student residence in France. I have a huge window with homeade lace curtains hanging that overlooks a garden and the Angers skyline. Not to worry, I already have my Glamour magazine out and proud on my table...I have to have something to remind me of home! I actually almost bought a French Glamour today but had no cash since banks are closed Sundays and Mondays. Oh well! My friends and I explored the city for a bit today...we first went and had lunch, le dejeuner, at a cafe. I had a vegetable salad and a tarte aux pommes avec la glace, an apple tarte with ice cream on top. That has been one of my favorite desserts. You would think that we would be eating all the time but that's definitely not the case. Yesterday I thought I was going to go into a diebetic coma...literally! I had to stagger to a place inside the Louvre and spend 3 euro on a miniscule bottle of OJ to keep from passing out. The French eat at very odd times...it's been a little hard to get used to. We don't snack at all and always begin the day with pain au chocolat, bread with chocolate inside, and a cafe au lait. Lunches are pretty small...maybe a salad or sandwich, and then dinner is the big deal, usually beginning around 8pm. I feel like I've lived here forever...my French is much better than I thought it would be too. I'm looking forward to my time here in Angers even though I LOVED the busy streets of Paris. I've taken so many pictures!!!

Things I saw and loved in Paris:
-La Tour Eiffel, being squished to death on the metro, Notre Dame, the Saint Chapelle church, the gay pride parade complete with drag queens, La Sorbonne, the Latin Quarter, all the cafes-especially La Taverna and Le Cesar, the Tuileries gardens, the Louvre-saw the Mona Lisa and she's breathtaking, our boat tour on the Seine, the Bastille monument, Versailles-the palace of Marie Antoinette and King Louis XIV, and countless other things. Paris was the most amazing city...I'll be heading back there after my classes are finished.

Some things that were funny? but not so great:
-The Chopin concert by candlelight at the end of a very long day, gypsies, pate- I felt like I was eating cat food!, insanely sore feet, being so hungry sometimes, and above all...jet lag. I'm telling you...jet lag SUCKS!! I don't think I've really slept in the past week. Last night was my first good sleep.

I'm missing all of you...my family, roommates, best girls, cadbury, and everyone else!! I wish you were here experiencing this with me! I promise...if you ever feel the need to come to Paris, I will take you around and be your translator. LOVE to you all! I should be able to write more often now so please send me emails and update me on your lives. LOVE LOVE LOVE you!!! Take care!

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