Salut! 

Here is a mini-log of my first two days! I hope you enjoy!

Day 1

My first day in Paris (alone) was spectacular! I thought I was going to be lazy and just hang out at the dorm (since I had been walking 7 hours a day the last week), but I instantly got bored and realized that I was a dumbass for even thinking of staying in — I was in Paris for christ’s sake! So I left my dorm and went to eat at a cafe inside the Cite Universitaire (Cite U from now on) where I bought a big baguette sandwich and a coke for €3,90, so cheap! I then took the train to Jardin du Luxembourg where I went to read for about 1.5 hours, enjoying the beautiful day! It was about 70 degrees F the whole day, amazing! Jardin du Luxembourg is absolutely stunning and honestly a work of art… It’s hard to capture its beauty by photographs. It’s so enormous yet every single corner and detail is perfect - for example, the flower pots everywhere with perfect flowers, and things like that. Anyways, Jardin du Lux is analogous to Barton Springs for Parisians - it seems like every high school and college kid goes here on the weekend to enjoy the sun and lay down on the grass (as you can see on the picture). Anyways, on the way back, I decided to ride a bike back (in Paris, you can “rent” a bike for 45 minutes for free, and for €1 for 2 hours, and so on - it’s part of the incredible public transportation here). I went to the nearest Velib station and checked out a map before I left, confident in my map reading skills. Unfortunately, when Paris gains in public transportation, it loses in the complicated streets which change name every two or so blocks… And therein lies my problem! Not surprisingly, I got lost on my bike and ended up taking 45 minutes to get back to the dorm (when it should’ve taken 20 minutes). Once back, I realized that there was a Cite U wide party (for the end of the  year), so I decided to walk around the campus a bit. This was probably the best decision ever, because I instantly ran into the Denmark dorm, where they were holding a jazz festival! It was so incredible! They hired some unbelievable musicians… Anyways, three hours later it finishes and I go to my dorm and cook a meal and then ride around the area on another public bike. Over all, an incredible first day! I did so much more than I expected. :D

Day 2

I ate breakfast at the restaurant downstairs for the first time (it’s complementary with my stay :D) and it was good! I got a coffee (from a machine that had hot chocolate as well, so I got half cappuccino half hot chocoloate, haha, but it was good!), orange juice, croissant and a mini baguette. It was really awkward though because the guy at the end of the line asked me something in french and I had no idea what he asked, and I didn’t know what to do because it was supposed to be free! So I tried speaking in Spanish and he didn’t speak it… anyways, he was asking for my room number. It was super awkward and I suck at french, haha. Then, when I came back up to my room, my neighbor was leaving and she introduced herself. At first I didn’t understand her, and, being the nervous person that I am, I mumbled half the stuff that was coming out of my mouth… Then, when she tried to kiss me like to say hello (two kisses, one on each cheek), I did not see it coming at all (it’s been too long since I’ve done that) and that was the most awkward thing ever because I totally didn’t react! She leaned in and made this weird kissing sound… Oh man… Oh, and I already forgot her name, haha. I am the worst!

After breakfast I decided to catch up on some reading (for lab) and did that for a few hours. Then, since the Cite U party was still going on, I went and walked around and had an amazing Salmon Burger along with some other japanese specialty. However, because it was pretty rainy and cold all day, I decided to go back to the dorm and keep reading. At 6 I decided to go to the park across the street and read a little, which was nice (and, of course, the park is beautiful), then decided to go for a bike ride! I rode around and got lost (intentionally) and managed to stumble upon the Natural History museum! I was super excited until I realized that it was 8 and it was closing, haha — I’ll go back tomorrow or something. Either way I got to walk around the area of the museum and (like every park in Paris) it had a really beautiful garden/park! I managed to find my way back to the dorm (even though I had no idea where I was going) and went to the kitchen to cook some ravioli. I felt so inadequate cooking ravioli… Everybody next to me was making the most delicious meals ever! Granted, everybody was at least 30 or around that age, so maybe they’re more experienced? I’d like to believe so… There I met my first two “friends” (more like acquaintances which I talked to for more than 1 minute). One lady, Isabella, who is probably around 35, and a young man Enrique, who is about 28 or so. Both very, very nice and talkative :); it made me feel a lot better and more at home (since I’ve been eating and walking alone these last two days while everybody else has friends, haha). That’s one thing that I’ve noticed - everybody in the Spanish dorm is super nice and super friendly, I don’t think I’ve passed a person without them saying hello to me, and they all want to talk to you.  

Anyways, that’s my rant… I hope you guys enjoyed my log. Just FYI, I probably won’t do this every two days like I just did, but these first few weeks may contain a lot of posts, which I hope you enjoy.

Have a good week!