An American . . .

Hello everyone!
I can't tell you how sorry I am to have kept you hanging all this time! First it was one thing, and then another, and I haven't been able to get on the internet since I got here. Now, however, I have my little card with 10 hours on it, so I hope to keep you all caught up on what's going on here.

We're so much more laid back here than in London-- I don't know if that's because of where we're living, or what we're studying, or our new teacher, or if it is simply the influence of this magic city. But I love it here.

Let me tell you first about where I live-- we came over on the train from London on the 27th, through the tunnel and all that. The french countryside seen from the train was pretty, and somehow different from what you see on the other side of the Channel. We came into Gare de Nord in the rain that morning, and took a very large bus through very crowded streets down to the Marais, which is the neighborhood we live in. (Seriously, the traffic is so bad here!) I live in the Rue de Fourcy, just a block from the river on the Right Bank. Our "place" (I'm not exactly sure what you would call it--not a hotel, not a dorm) doesn't look like much on the outside, just a white stone building like all the others on the street, but inside it's perfect. You push the doorbell on the wall beside the door, and the man in the office buzzes it to let you in. (Always smile and say Merci as you walk in-- he likes it.) You walk straight into a little cobblestone courtyard with four stories of windows all around (mine is the one in the top corner on the left-hand side) and five or six little white metal tables with chairs. There are trees and flowers in pots around the area, and, unless there are a bunch of kids in there, it's perfectly quiet and peaceful. The room we had class in the first day has a long wooden table and tiny chairs. The ceilings downstairs are held up with huge wooden beams. All the windowframes are painted white. The room we have class in now looks like Henry V could walk around the corner and feel right at home. It's a wonderful place. It was a house, or several, built in the 16th century, I think.

Upstairs is really cool too-- you can see the oldness in the floorplan, but everything is modernised and new. My room is a suite of nine girls-- we're in three bedrooms with three showers, but it's all connected. and the coolest part is that when you come in from the 3rd floor, you're only on the first floor of our room. To get to the bedrooms, you go up a creaky flight of wooden stairs into the attic. So I am now living in an attic room in Paris, just like a starving artist or something.

But I am certainly not starving. Just a quick note about the food here-- it's wonderful. I eat croissants and french bread for breakfast every morning, along with the most delicious hot chocolat I have ever had, and then of course there is the ice cream here-- I could go on for days about that. I had raspberry the first day, and since I've had chocolate, lemon, strawberry, coffee, even pink grapefruit! It's wonderful. We get it on the Ile-Saint-Louis, which is the smaller of the two islands in the Seine, and is right over the Pont Marie (supposedly the most romantic bridge in Paris) from where we live. And the ice cream tastes all the better when you eat it on the bridge, watching the colored lights ripple in the water. It's always cool at night, too, especially on the river.

We took a boat tour on our second day here-- it wasn't till then that it really sunk in that I was actually in Paris. But it did that night-- it was just sunset when we started, a pink sunset. We began at the Pont Neuf, and sailed down past the Louvre, past the Musee d'Orsay, under all the bridges to the Eiffel Tower, all lit up. Then we went back up around the other side of the Ile de la Cite and Ile Saint-Louis, and under the Pont Marie, where our guide told us to close our eyes, make a wish, and kiss our neighbor-- I did the first two, but I wasn't sitting next to anyone interesting, so I didn't finish the ritual. I hope the wish comes true anyway.

I could spend all night writing about Paris-- it is definitely an inspiring city. I wish I had the time to tell you every little thing I've done, but it's going to have to wait, because I have to be off to dinner. (Eating is very important here!) I promise I'll be back on tomorrow with details of what I've seen.

I love you all!