Bonjour!

Hello everyone :)

After a tearful goodbye with Doll, Aunt Dede and Vicky I made it to my terminal where I watched a couple all over each other (save it for the Eiffel Tower) as well as a French girl asked me to watch her luggage (idiot).  I made it onto the plane but could not lift my carry-on over my head so a French boy kindly helped me.  The 7 hour flight was not exactly the most comfortable but I managed and finally arrived in Paris.  We were taking a shuttle as a group so we had to wait a few hours in between the flight and the time we got picked up.  In the mean time a man began talking to me in French and I said I didn't speak French.  He said, "You came to France and don't speak French?"  I thought mind your own business for my motive to come here and come to the melting pot and see how many people don't speak English.

The first day was so exhausting.  We had an orientation that I couldn't stay awake for and received our French cell phones.  We went to dinner and had a cider that had some liquor in it, a Manhattan which was a meat crepe and a caramel crepe for dinner.  It wasn't Doll's cooking but it was pretty good.

My roommates are Gabi and Shannon who will both be juniors.  We are all getting along really well so far!

Yesterday we had a second day of orientation.  We were told not to make eye contact with anyone and refrain from staring.  This will be extremely hard since I have been staring at people and people watching since I was little.  If I were to look into a boy's eyes it is an "invitation."  So I decided I am going to wear my sunglasses on the metro and anywhere else so I can stare at however many people I want without them thinking I want to date.

The directors from the program said many people when they come to France think the French are rude but really they get nervous to help us out.  They aren't confident with their English and don't want to be judged.  Our cultures are so different and I am sure I will be experiencing that more and more each day.

After lunch (where I thought I ordered one thing and got another) we left for the boat tour.  It was so beautiful!  On the way to the boat tour we passed the Eiffel Tower, which was amazing!  There were so many people along the river laying out or having a picnic.  Following the boat tour we walked around more and came across the Arc Triomphe.  We took some pictures there and continued along the way where the shopping came into play.  I think I need to contact Aunt Ruth's son with the chateau to hook a girl up with some cash.  The stores included Cartier, Louis Vuitton, H & M, Sephora and many more.  We took the metro home and had dinner around the corner from our hotel.  The waiter was so nice but I better start finishing everything because if you don't finish your meal they think something was wrong with it.  I got a salad with marinated chicken and flavored rice, it was really different but good.  We split a bottle of pink wine and it was pretty good.  Last night we all went to one room and got to know everyone a little better. It is weird because it doesn't get dark until 10 p.m.  We keep losing track of time and are fooled by the lighting outside.

Today was our first day of the management and leadership class and I was pretty intimidated.  The professor is really nice but I'm not really familiar with all of the business terminology but I will try to make up the best comments I can think of and pray they make some sense. 

Tonight we are going to cook in the room (we got some dinner from the market) and then head out to the bar as a group.

Can't wait for the first weekend!
Au revoir!