the beginning

so here is this blog thing. dear god. i have asked everyone in the world what a blog is, and why anyone would ever post their journal on the internet. i don't know about you all, but anything worth writing about in my journal should stay as far away from the internet as possible. but here we are, and here we shall stay. 

here are some interesting facts about this blog:

1. I am convinced that no one in their right mind would ever read this-- except you, mom. i won't be offended if you don't, even if you told me you would. i'm not going to try to make anything interesting, i'm just going to write down what i think is interesting. so i won't at all be offended if you don't read it. to be honest, i don't read anyone's blog.

2. since we've established that no one but you will be reading this, mother, i should inform you. my journals have never, ever been about what i did that day. and i will try to the best of my ability to write about events and places and things. but i also will inevitably lapse into my usual thinky musings or rants or celebrations, and you are going to have to wade through those if you want the other stuff. just a warning for you.

3. for the rest of you, please be aware that my mother is reading this. dont post any responses that you wouldnt want her to read. email me if necessary-- that's totally fine-- but honestly, if you have something to say that my mother can't read, i probably wouldn't appreciate it either.

4. i don't like capital letters. please don't correct my grammar, or i'll have to throw my AP Language scores at you.

5. and, finally, thank you for reading this. i appreciate that you care enough about my life to spend your time reading about it. plus, it'll be supercool when i get back and we have inside jokes simply because you're the only person in the room who read and commented. should be fun :)

the first blog is on the way! let's get it awwwnnn.

and, 36 hours later...

the first thing i noticed about paris was the fog. 

which is probably because it was all i could see out the airplane window. we touched down surprisingly quickly after the 15 hours i had been airport-or-plane bound. and i was nervous, about going through customs (i'd never done that alone before), about having brought so much (was i going to be the weird girl who brought a skateboard and a stuffed giraffe?), and about living. in paris. the whole plane ride was pretty unpleasant, really, because i was too tired to be excited but too nervous to sleep. so when we hit the runway at Charles-de-Gaulle, i jumped a little. i had no idea we were so close.  and i started thinking just how outside my comfort zone this whole thing was, living and studying in a country i don't know, speaking language, i DONT KNOW. for a year. this is probably one of the craziest things i'll ever do, and through all the planning and applying and preparing i had never really realized that before.

but when i got off the plane, all doubts were forgotten. as i stepped out of the little tunnelly thing and into the airport, every sign was in french. everyone there spoke french. there were bright colors and lights and even though it looked the same, it was all very different. and i was overwhelmed with how amazing it was to be here. incidentally, i also made it through customs EASILY (all they did was look at my passport, i dont know if that's normal. i guess i don't travel a lot?) and although i was the weird girl with a giraffe and a skateboard, everyone else there had at least as much luggage as i did. things were great.

the CEA group had apparently hired a taxi driver, who took us to the CEA building for a tiny orientation. we were all so tired i dont think any of us heard a word of it, and we quickly piled back in the car to head to AEPP, our new home. everywhere was beautiful. everything was beautiful. but i couldn't manage to convince myself that i was in PARIS. i still haven't quite managed that yet. we'll see how it goes. but anyway, we arrived at our building, address 6 rue de Braque in the 11th arrondisement. got upstairs to our rooms (after convincing the young woman at the desk that we were the stupidest people in the world- not that she really needed convincing) and brought our things into our rooms. which, gotta say, are gorgeous. absolutely beautiful, i couldnt have asked for cuter. there's 2 floors, with a staircase and a loft, and 2 beds on each floor, and a window to the street, which is also beautiful. it's sosososo cute. pictures have been taken and may or may not be posted on this blog. (if not, sorry mom, and to the rest of you, you're welcome). so our place is adorable. but, problem? there is one veryvery small closet for... 4 girls? i now understand why CEA told us only to bring 4 shirts. it is not because this is a realistic thing to do if one is planning to live for a semester in one of the most glamorous cities in the world. it is because there is not space for more than 4 shirts per person in our room. additionally, there are no shelves, tables, or desks of any sort. we each have beds on the floor and a chair. it is very strange. but, as they say, c'est la vie.

so i attempted to unpack (which really meant arranging my things in piles on the floor and piling my suitcases to form a sort of table-ish thing, but i was so delirious at that point that it was really a lost cause. i just wandered the hall looking for someone to complain to. which brings me to my hallmates. in short, i love them! they're all really great, and pretty down to earth. they're also all american on this floor, which means that a) i have people to make me feel better about not knowing french and b) we all run around in the most obnoxious tourist posse i've ever seen. even i hate us a little bit. but what can i say? we have to start somewhere.

so we went out for lunch at a little pub across the street, went shopping- which required me to ask for directions in french on 36 hours no sleep. i was very impressed with myself- for hangers and toiletries, and went to the CEA introductory "cocktail party," at which we drank very sweet wine and milled around awkwardly. it was like junior high prom where you don't know anyone. with wine. anyway. i cubed a rubik's a couple times, it's apparently a pretty cool trick. (but it has everyone asking how my math major is going??). we decided to get some food, which ended up being awful, awful mexican food. if the guacamole is sour, there is a serious problem. also, guacamole is the easiest thing in the world to make, and when i make it it's good and doesn't cost 9 euros. it was tragic. after that, i took the metro home and got some sleep, finally. 

and then i woke up in paris.

today was fun also. im pretty tired, but it was fun. we had another orientation meeting, i got a cell phone, and then took a bus tour of paris. pictures of that are also available, and ridiculous. for your information, you can call me. i have a cell phone. if you'd like the number, please ask me, i'd love to talk! it's free for me as long as the call is incoming. be aware, though, international calls are expensive. so don't be offended if i don't call you much. it's not because i dont love you.

having been here 2 days, i really do think im going to be good at french by the time i leave. in typical laura-fashion, most of my progress will be a result of my hatred for tourists. for those of you who don't know: i hate tourists. i hate being a tourist. i think it's a horrible way to visit a place, and requires a mindset that makes it impossible to really understand a place. now, this doesn't mean that i won't go to every tourist-ey location in paris. don't you worry, mom, i'm not skipping the eiffel tower on principle. but i think that being a tourist is a mindset of an outsider, a visitor strictly divided from her or his location. and seriously, if you walk around in white folded over socks and white nikes and a visor and a too-big pale yellow tshirt that says GRAND CANYON, and you don't have an american accent because you refuse to even TRY to speak french, and you've got out a huge map and a camera around your neck snapping like a cobra at every semi-interesting angle of every lamppost in the city, you will never understand the city. i mean, im sure it works for some people. if you're only there to see some things and read some things and hear some things, than touristing works great. but i'm not here to just see things and hear things, i want to appreciate them. i want to see these things as an american and a parisian and a world citizen. i want to get out of my bubble and speak some %&$#@!*# french, and go to cafés to study but really just listen, and be a fly on the wall to everyone in this city. i want to give back to these places as much as i take, instead of just snapping a photo and walking away. 

so im pretty sure i'll learn some french.

also, i'd just like to comment on how perfect this place is for me because of food. i. like. bread. and what do we eat every day? just chunks of bread with things on them, and sometimes without things on them. all anyone in this city eats is bread. it is perfection, and my inner carbaholic is in love. 

actually, i think im in love. :)