Welcome (back) to Paris

I’m so glad to finally be in Paris! Two weeks ago, flying into Paris and then driving to Tours was such a tease! And for the past few days in Tours, everyone in the program was pretty anxious to get to Paris and find out where we’d all be living. Well, after a few hours on a bus, we made it! We waited to get picked up by our host families in an auditorium, much like the process in Tours. However, the atmosphere seemed much more relaxed since we were all sitting with friends.

My name was among the first to get called, however not by my host mom. The host mom of another student picked me up since they live down the street from one another, are good friends, and my host mom was still at work. It definitely made it more comfortable to get into a car with another student and ease myself into living with a new host family. This family was very nice and drove us around the city for a bit while we waited for my mom to get home. We drove past the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Musee d’Orsay, Place de Concorde, the Notre Dame, etc. I just stared out the window with my mouth agape thinking “I can’t believe I’m living here!” My friend and I conversed with her family during the ride and it was fun! I could understand them and I wasn’t afraid to talk to them and ask questions.

We finally arrived at my apartment and my mom met me downstairs. Mme de Chappedelaine is so sweet! We took the elevator up to her apartment on the 2nd floor. She showed me to my room and gave me a quick tour of the apartment. My room is enormous with so much storage space that I don’t even know what to do with it! The apartment is very pretty! Though being French, they keep all the doors shut constantly. The only downside is that the bathroom is all the way across the apartment from my room, next to their bedroom, and the floors are very squeaky!

Anyways, I unpacked and M. de Chappedelaine got home. It was so cute, both of my hosts came into my bedroom and sat down with me for a little bit before dinner and talked. They keep saying that my French is good and that they’re impressed I can understand because they speak quickly. I just think they’re being nice…Dinner was great! And the conversation during dinner was good as well! So far I feel very comfortable talking to them, which is a nice change from Tours. After dinner I was given a key and shown how to use it.

Ahhhh Paris, mon amour!