Fecamp & Etretat

Well I was told last night that I've been slacking a little on the posts. Which I am. But it's been so busy lately!  Yesterday CEA had an "excursion" planned for us. I really like this program! All the group events (there are six or seven trips and then weekly events at the Paris center) were included in tuition, so yesterday I just had to wake up (before 6 am! ah!) and show up at the train station. The first excursion was a "mystery tour" so we had no idea where we were headed until we were already en route!  We ended up going to the Normandy region to two towns: 1) Fecamp, a small harbor town known for their early fishermen and 2) Etretat, another seaside town with beautiful cliffs

We had all day to split between the two and each got $20 for lunch (great seafood, wasted on me entirely), crepes (tried an apple puree type one yesterday. I will never be disappointed!), and cidre (which the region is known for). 

I uploaded all the pictures onto facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2034635&id=1326810108&l=d881790bcf )

But here are a few highlights:

View from atop our first walk up to a Chapel at Fecamp

Etretat:

Also of note

Murses (Mom, this would mean "man purses") are everywhere. Saw a Prada one this morning. So now not only do French men dress better than me, they accessorize better too. Oh mon dieu!!

l'arc de triumph!

It's really so much larger than I expected! The views from the top were fantastic & my new sorbonne ID helped me get in for free :)

One week down

It's already been a week! In some ways I feel like I'm not nearly as adjusted as I should be--for example, I still cant fall asleep until at least 4 am without a benadryl, and outside of minimal French conversation I'm a jumbled slurring mess. But in other areas--for example, the metro--I'm set.

The CEA staff is great and they've really tried their best to get us all settled into the timezone, culture, etc. With the exception of Friday (which was my placement exam at the Sorbonne) our schedules have been roughly the same everyday.  Catch the metro by 9, by 9:30 we're in the CEA building (which is in an adorable little courtyard with huge doors on a side street and I feel like Madeline every time I walk in), we go through a few hours of workshops, break for lunch, come back for more workshops or tours and whatnot, and then we're free by 4 pm. Or should I say by 16h.
There were 2 main problems with this system:
1) By Wednesday I felt like I hadn't slept in weeks
2) It's dark by 5, so the most sight seeing I've done outside of the CEA-sponsored events has been of restaurants! And store fronts. But I would like to note that I've only spent 14 euros on clothes so far thanks to the holiday sales which are STILL going on (and end everywhere pretty much tomorrow).

Overall though it's been great. I've met some wonderful people and I'm really having fun here. Tomorrow I start classes at CEA, but the Sorbonne doesn't start until February 11, which gives me some nice breather room since this week I will have my days free after 11:30.

Other highlights:
-I received my CEA and Sorbonne ID cards, which allow me to get into all the museums for free. Did you know that if you stood and looked at each item in the Louvre for 10 seconds each, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, it would take 4 months to get through?
-Despite one bad experience with a cab driver, which I will go into detail about later, all the French people I've met have been wonderful! Everyone's actually pretty eager to help out, and as long as you attempt to speak French they usually meet you halfway with English.
-Speaking of speaking: every French person I've met has been far better at English than I am at French.  Two of them had never even taken a formal course, and just learned from the tv and visiting the states.*
-This upcoming weekend I'm going to see Kristen!

*I would like to note here though that my grandparents and mother did the same thing, which is AMAZING to me, especially considering I'm going to be enrolled in 10 hours of French a week and living here and still cant fathom being fluent.

More observations

-Poodles!
-French men are dapper dressers. I feel like dapper is really just the only appropriate word here for some reason.
-I don't think restaurants believe in using heat--not a single one!
-Peanut butter is obscenely expensive. As in, even more so than everything else
-It's so easy to pick out an American person without them even speaking. I'm trying to blend in as much as possible clothes- and mannerism-wise, but it's so damn hard not to smile.  In all seriousness though, it's true that French women don't really show emotion, just walk straight with purpose and just enough of that high-school bitchy look to appear chic.  I'll master it one day.

Oh, and hey mom! I forgot to tell you earlier, but I figure you'd enjoy this little tidbit that I learned at orientation: Paris only has 50 murders/year (about 1/3 of DC's murder rate), with most of them being for "gang related crime." Guns aren't sold or permitted, and it's generally safer inside the city limits than it is in the suburbs surrounding it (with the exception of Versailles and those places). Does that make you feel better? :)

First tourist shot of the trip!

I don't even have anything remotely smart or insightful to say about this....it was just amazing!!!

First observations in Paris*

-The French love Jay-Z
-I overpacked (However, I realized this not while I was carrying 80 pounds of luggage up three flights of stairs, but instead while unpacking around 10 skirts)
-I only packed black shoes
-There are little heaters over the outdoor cafe terraces so people can sit and enjoy their coffee for hours outside without freezing! (You can guess where I'm going next)
-I've already seen an Ikea, KFC, McDonald's, and an Office Depot. Thanks a lot, globalization.
-It's a beautiful city! Even when it's rainy and gross and it's 8 am and still not light out yet.
-I miss everyone already--But in an I-wish-you-were-here type way instead of an I-wish-I-was-there. I think that's healthy, right?

*This information was gathered having only been driving from the airport to my apartment & only being in the country for a few hours. I'm aware that there is a lot more that Paris has to offer besides sidewalk heaters and furniture catalogs.