je ne comprends pas

Today was my first day of school.

As per usual I woke up before my alarm, and decided to have breakfast in bed; coffee and my new favorite sugary Belgian waffle. I slowly got ready and then went off to the center for class. I arrived early, also as per usual, despite leaving five whole minutes later than usual. I still have zero friends so I sat in a corner and played with my ring while I waited for my ten o'clock class to start. I went into the classroom, but no one sat next to me. I was literally sitting all alone in a class of fewer than thirty people. My professor seemed to pick up on the fact that I had no friends because she kept making me move around to find a new partner for each exercise; I'm that girl in the class.

My professor started off speaking slowly, but her speech got faster as the three hour class drug on. I could hardly understand a word by the end of the session. She sped through everything, and we still didn't cover all of the class material meant for today! When class ended we had an hour before we had to meet back at the center to go on our excursion to the Latin Quarter in the 5th arr. I ran to Monoprix for my daily baguette and a bottle of water and then ran home for fifteen minutes before leaving for class again.

We took the bus to somewhere near Saint-Germain-des-prés and then started our journey that was supposed to end at the Luxembourg gardens. We stopped at the post office to answer a question on our sheet then off to bother a patisserie owner. We then went to Les Arènes de Lutèce. We saw La Rue Clovis where there is a fragment of the wall that used to surround Paris. We saw the statue of Auguste Comte on La Sorbonne and the house where Descartes lived.

We also saw the Panthéon where such minds as Marie Curie and Victor Hugo are buried. It was amazing even from the outside. We also saw the Genevieve Church that was absolutely spectacular, and the Henri IV school. Our teacher stopped to tell us interesting facts at every turn; of course all in French with some English to tie the concepts together. We were supposed to only be out for two hours, but two hours turned into way more than that. We ended our trip with her dropping us off at Le Jardin du Luxembourg.

St. Genieve Church

The Pantheon

I'm semi happy to report that I've made a semi friend. Her name is Tamara. We definitely won't be the best of friends, but at least she's someone to tag along with during our excursions…and she has a metro map on her phone. Tamara and I walked around the gardens for a bit before deciding to head home. The garden is filled with Parisians sitting on chairs around the squares of grass that are outlined with brightly colored pink and yellow flowers. The garden was so swarming with people that I couldn't really enjoy it. The best part was seeing the little kids push their toy boats around the fountain with bamboo sticks. There's also a children's section of the garden that includes miniature horse rides and balloon vendors.

The Luxembourg Gardens

The palace

Tamara and I took the metro home. My first time!! She swiped her navigo pass, but it wasn't working. She tried buying a single ride ticket, but her cards weren't excepted so I gave her one of my passes. I don't think she's going to pay me back, but I guess that's the price of friendship; a euro seventy. We got off the metro at Gare de Lyon, but Tamara couldn't find the way home. We walked around the entire building, and consulted the map several times, before she got her barrings and lead us home.

On the way home we stopped at "Sandwichs City", and I bought my first crepe with nutella. Where have they been all my life?! Heaven for only two euro fifty. Then we came home. The crepery is only a block from my dorm and I'm fairly confident that I can walk there on my own.

crepe with nutella. check. 

Tamara and I plan on going to Monday's excursion together. Friends??

When I got to my room I knew that I had to study but I was too tired. I got into bed and tried to sleep but I couldn't. I ended up watching Sherman and Mr. Peabody with some kind of Asian subtitles (Thai??) on youtube. I finally got up to study, but my entire floor seems to be going clubbing tonight and were making a ruckus. I was invited to go, but nothing in me wants to go clubbing in a foreign country with a bunch of crazy drunk girls that I don't know. All I wanted to do was study, but I was tired and they kept distracting me. I took a shower as a break, and then heard loud rap music coming from somewhere on the floor. I had to ask my neighbor to close her door so I could finish my work. This kids are ridiculous. If I hear one of them complain about not getting wifi or talk about how drunk they were last night I might scream and then hit one of them directly in their baby faces. Kids these days.

Grand-mère is going to bed now. Get off my lawn.