Premier jour.

Ok ok ok ok ok.

Listen. I'm in Paris right now. And it is extremely overwhelming and scary and exciting and beautiful and everything good and wonderful.

But let me tell you the story.

So after two exhausting and sleepless flights, I arrived in Paris. I grabbed my bags and headed out the door only to find that NO ONE WAS PICKING ME UP. At this moment, I became incredibly grateful for my mission in Germany. Indeed, I am sure that my whole mission was just preparation for this moment, because instead of panicking or having a mental breakdown that I try to hide nonchalantly (my usual go-to method), I sat down, pulled out my new cell phone, and called my host family. I let them know I was coming, hung up, and went straight to the Metro. I had also printed out a map of how to walk to their house from the Metro stop, so using my Berlin U-bahn experience I figured out what lines to take and over an hour later showed up at their door!

As it turns out, I'm staying in the fanciest place I have ever seen. Seriously, this house (yes, a house in Paris) is amazing and they even have a cat! So obviously I'm at home. The Madame is very nice and accommodating, but not too much which is perfect for me because I'm afraid to carry on conversations for more than 15 minutes. She has several daughters around my age and a few of them live here as well, so maybe I can figure out what they're saying haha.

Speaking of which, my French is better than I thought! I just had a conversation at dinner with Madame about politics and la laicite and all I have to say is THANK GOODNESS I took that class this summer! She was quite impressed that I knew so much about it and I think I'm on her good side now. Anyway, I'm only really able to talk to the older people in  a fluid manner - the young people talk incredibly fast and use so much slang and I really have no idea what's going on.

Paris is beautiful, in case you were wondering. The weather is a perfect 55 degrees Fahrenheit and I was pleased to find that my clothing choices won't stick out too much. I've already been mistaken for a French person by a tourist so I'm obviously feeling pretty great.

As I was wandering around the neighborhood this evening I kept thinking of all the observations I wanted to share but I've forgotten all of them. I'll write it down next time.

This is so long and I apologize. The important thing is that I'm still alive, I'm safe, and I haven't started my internship yet so my mental breakdown hasn't begun.

Ciao!