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We’ll start on the plane, its a huge plane, I am in row 40 seat J. Before my friend Shannon and I boarded we were able to find some other students that were in our group. There were about seven of us that were on the group flight. The most exciting part was listening to the man announce everything in French first and then English. It gave me a goal to try to understand most of what he was saying the first time when we came back. When we were waiting we exchanged names and majors and things like that. I honestly do not remember one person’s name or where they are from. I was on my phone until they said to turn it off. That has, for the past 24 hours, been the hardest part. Not being able to text a friend or my momma or even just look at the time. It was then that I realized I am on my own for the next three and a half months or until my mom comes to visit, please come visit! On the flight we had an option of shepards pie or pasta, I had the pasta, it also came with chocolate pudding and some other questionable food and cheese of course! The lovely couple next to me had red wine, I had sprite. Then I watched “The Lion King”, “Bad Teacher”, an episode of “Grey’s Anatomy”, “The Big Bang Theory”, and “Friends”. I did not get much sleep on the plane, maybe an hour all together, I am a very picky sleeper. The next thing I know they are feeding us again, a muffin with yogurt is for breakfast and orange juice to drink. Not long after that we were on the ground. The flight over all was good I thought, we then took a bus over to get our baggage. Before we were able to do that we had to go through customs which was a success! I greeted him with a Bonjour!, he stamped my passport and I said Merci! and THAT WAS IT. Let me tell you I was freaking out because I thought it was this extravagant process and they were going to ask me all these questions in French. Not looking forward to it, but went smoothly! We then got our baggage and went to meet Amy Staples who is in charge of the Wells College Study Abroad program and Charlotte who is a French student that speaks English and was helping Amy. We said goodbye to the students who were staying in home stay and went on our way into the city. 

At the Cite University there are about forty different houses or dorms that house International students and local French students that are studying. I am staying in the United States house, thankfully, second floor room 149! There is one kitchen on each floor with a microwave and a refrigerator and a sink. Also on each floor is one shower. For the whole floor there is one shower. One shower for the whole floor and about twenty-five to thirty people on each floor. There are two other toilets besides the one in the shower room, but there is just one shower for each floor. Later we found out that some people have their own bathrooms in their rooms, I was not fortunate to get a room like that. My room is a corner room though, so it is nice and big. I have three windows where most people only have one or two. In every room there is a sink and a medicine cabinet. Also a wardrobe that makes the fifty pounds of clothes that I brought look empty, a desk, a bed complete with sheets and a thin comforter and a night stand. I wouldn’t say its homey but I guess it is better than nothing. After we finished packing three of us were starving so we went on an adventure to find some food. We are not really in a tourist part of the city so the cafes are not really as open to English language as the ones are that are located in the heart of the city. We went into one that we found called Cafe Gallerite, don’t know what that means. We were immediately overwhelmed when we walked in and none of us knew what the waitress was saying. We pointed to a table, she nodded and brought us menus. Well shoot I can’t read French either, I saw the prices and knew this is not what we wanted. She came back and we were just like ehhhh ummmmmm. She mummered the word snack I think and I said oui, so she took my menu and slammed it down on the table. I wanted to get up and leave but she then returned with a smaller menu that had salads and small things like that. I picked the cheapest salad and je vou jraded my way through the ordering process. We managed to get water with no fizz to coffees and three salads. I felt accomplished even though it was clear she was not having us. We ate and asked for the check, it was around thirty pounds and not separated, realizing we didn’t know how to ask for it that way we just paid and would figure out who owed who what later. First one down and like hundreds to go. Then we tried to find a super market so we walked down the street thinking maybe we would run into one. We did run into some friendly people that tried to help but  they did not know how to give directions. We ended up going back to our dorm and asked the guy at the front desk where one was. He gave us the lovely direction of take a left out of the building and walk for seven minutes and then take a left. So how fast does he walk? We took a left and came upon many little shops and cafes and a super market! Nothing like Kroger or Giant Eagle or Whole Foods. It was about the size of maybe the bathroom in Kroger? Very small but we got many groceries and some bathing supplies. The one thing they did not have was a pillow. I went through this huge hassle to bring my own pillow from home because you never know what the pillow is going to be like and I would some good sleep for the next three and a half months. So I brought it and left it on the plane when we arrived in France. I am regretting that so much because as I am writing this my head is on this lumpy pillow with my north face stuffed underneath it for some support. We walked back with our groceries and put them away in the kitchen but we still had about an hour until dinner with the group. I tried figuring out the wifi for my room but it still didn’t work. I have to get my password changed to a non French word. I am able to get on in the computer lab but there is no skype there. There is also no netflix in all of Europe! That was very mind blowing because I never even thought about it. I was planning on watching whatever when I was bored but guess not. We had a meeting about what was going to happen tomorrow during Day 2 and then dinner catered by a local cafe. I then realized I don’t think I like French food so much, I guess I will learn. Dinner was over around eight local time and it was then bed time for this tired girl. I was out before nine but then woke up around one due to people coming in from going out and then stayed up because of the fact that it’s only nine at home and I usually am not in bed now. So I wrote my post and am now going to try and get some more sleep. I love you all, missing you loads but I am sure that part gets easier as the days go on, at least I hope it does. Hopefully I will have wifi and I’ll post pictures when I can. Night!