arrival

tonight is my first night in paris. we arrived after a pleasantly uneventful flight, got stuck in traffic on the way into the city, and checked into our lovely little hotel (which is entirely dedicated to henri iv) in the quartier latin. walking down to a little bistrot for dinner, all i could notice was bookstore after bookstore along the street; luckily they were all closed or i would have dragged my parents into each one!

it's freezing out but i love it, because i get to bundle up in my wool coat and huge scarf. after dinner (i had lamb and pasta), we walked up and down a few streets, stumbling upon a church my dad had heard of with supposedly perfect acoustics, and picked up fliers for the bach recital tomorrow night and the chopin on monday.

we also found the 'manga cafe,' which instantly awakened the 15-year-old in me that would listen to japanese rock and cuddle up with a pile of comic books every night. their collection was insane; every manga i had ever heard of and so much more (plus a wii and guitar hero and wifi and everything you could ever need)! i ended up buying vol. 3 of a comic called 'the kurosagi corpse delivery service' that i used to read in high school.

the best part is that they were all translated into french!

anyway, now i'm back in the hotel and messing around on the free wifi, resisting sleep even though i've been awake for about 40 hours and am SO TIRED.



also: at the airport i bought 'nightlight,' which is the harvard lampoon's parody of the vampire series 'twilight,' and it was hilarious! everyone should read it. seriously.

t-minus three days.

so have i mentioned that i am moving to paris? yes. i am. on WEDNESDAY.

i am moving to paris on wednesday.



after weeks of anxiety, i finally learned where i will be living for the next five months. my french host family has a fifth floor apartment on the avenue de versailles, a bit farther from school than i expected but still in a great little area.

two doors down from my building is the 'restaurant san francisco,' which i find ironic yet strangely comforting. (oh, how i love google maps' street view function!)



so at the moment i'm procrastinating; i've done three loads of laundry and have one more + all the handwashing i need to do, and then it's PACKING TIME. i have two humongous red suitcases (the lightest in the world!) sitting on my bed, positively gaping at me.

time to get things done, i suppose!