Paris Days 4 and 5
So yesterday and today have been just as busy as the previous few days, but I actually have the evening to myself and I just need to recuperate so that is currently what I am doing.
Yesterday, I got to take a full shower! No having to turn off the water in between wetting down, shampooing, rinsing, etc!!! It was blissful! and with a shower head that sprayed ONLY out of the head! AND the basin drained! It was great.
Yesterday was the third full day of class and it was great. I love my teacher, she is amazing. She speaks both English and French but does not use English as 90% of the class doesn't actually speak English. L'Institut Catholique has students from over 68 countries attending their summer program offerings which means most of their students don't speak English at all! It's great, forces us to use our French, which is the point of this course. And we all stumble and have to scramble to find words in French, but it's making it more understandable.
And the teacher has no idea what we've learned yet so she's taking it slow and will not move on unless everyone actually understands. So if someone says yes but looks hesitant she will find a new way to explain it until you fully understand! I wish our teachers back home did that.
After class yesterday we went back to the Conde for another tour through Paris, this time through the Quartier Latin where we ended up at Notre Dame de Paris. Which, btw, did you all know that a lot of churches are named Notre Dame? You have to qualify which one you mean by adding the city, hence Notre Dame de Paris. Most churches are dedicated to the Mother Mary.
When we finished our tour, our tour guide left us to find our way home so Raquel, Sheryl, Michelle, Cynthia and I walked along the street vendors along the Seine for a while before parting ways where Michelle, Cynthia and I had an adventure finding our way back to the Condé. It was easier than we thought. We found a few of the higher buildings we knew and just wound through streets until we found the right neighborhood. I now know Paris better than Sunnyvale or San Jose... and I have only been here since Sunday.
After that Cynthia and I went back to our dorm where we had showers, did some homework, ate some more cheese, baguettes and such then had dinner before heading back to the Condé for a meeting about this weekends trip to La Vallée de la Loire.
After the meeting we went and bought the most delicious gelato ever!!! and it was beautiful too! I had amaretto, amarino and cioccolata senza latte. AMAZING! Then we all had to get home because it was almost 11 pm.
Today, woke up, had breakfast, went to class where we had to move to new seats and sit by someone new to keep us on our toes and so we don't get too comfortable and start slacking with our conversations.
Afterwards I came back to the dorm to drop off my backpack and eat my sandwich before this afternoons toour then headed back to the Condé for the tour of St. Chapel/La Palais de Justice and then Notre Dame.
St. Chapel was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful! I can only imagine the emotions running through anyone as the sun streams through those beautiful, large, over powering windows! And the structure itself is just amazing!
Notre Dame is, of course, just breathtaking. However, we decided to go back another day after walking through the main room, to be able to climb the 402 stairs to get a proper view of Paris. It was late in the afternoon, we are all still adjusting to the time change and are tired from how busy the past few days have been.
So now, I am here, relaxing before dinner, uploading pictures to photobucket and facebook. :)
Tomorrow, we to La Vallee de la Loire for the weekend, stopping off at Chambord on the way then going to be in the city of Tours for Friday night through Sunday morning. We get to tour three other castles while there as well as have a dinner in the main square of Tours Friday night. So I will be offline from tomorrow morning (Paris, evening of Thursday US time) until Sunday afternoon (Paris, morning US).
Yesterday, I got to take a full shower! No having to turn off the water in between wetting down, shampooing, rinsing, etc!!! It was blissful! and with a shower head that sprayed ONLY out of the head! AND the basin drained! It was great.
Yesterday was the third full day of class and it was great. I love my teacher, she is amazing. She speaks both English and French but does not use English as 90% of the class doesn't actually speak English. L'Institut Catholique has students from over 68 countries attending their summer program offerings which means most of their students don't speak English at all! It's great, forces us to use our French, which is the point of this course. And we all stumble and have to scramble to find words in French, but it's making it more understandable.
And the teacher has no idea what we've learned yet so she's taking it slow and will not move on unless everyone actually understands. So if someone says yes but looks hesitant she will find a new way to explain it until you fully understand! I wish our teachers back home did that.
After class yesterday we went back to the Conde for another tour through Paris, this time through the Quartier Latin where we ended up at Notre Dame de Paris. Which, btw, did you all know that a lot of churches are named Notre Dame? You have to qualify which one you mean by adding the city, hence Notre Dame de Paris. Most churches are dedicated to the Mother Mary.
When we finished our tour, our tour guide left us to find our way home so Raquel, Sheryl, Michelle, Cynthia and I walked along the street vendors along the Seine for a while before parting ways where Michelle, Cynthia and I had an adventure finding our way back to the Condé. It was easier than we thought. We found a few of the higher buildings we knew and just wound through streets until we found the right neighborhood. I now know Paris better than Sunnyvale or San Jose... and I have only been here since Sunday.
After that Cynthia and I went back to our dorm where we had showers, did some homework, ate some more cheese, baguettes and such then had dinner before heading back to the Condé for a meeting about this weekends trip to La Vallée de la Loire.
After the meeting we went and bought the most delicious gelato ever!!! and it was beautiful too! I had amaretto, amarino and cioccolata senza latte. AMAZING! Then we all had to get home because it was almost 11 pm.
Today, woke up, had breakfast, went to class where we had to move to new seats and sit by someone new to keep us on our toes and so we don't get too comfortable and start slacking with our conversations.
Afterwards I came back to the dorm to drop off my backpack and eat my sandwich before this afternoons toour then headed back to the Condé for the tour of St. Chapel/La Palais de Justice and then Notre Dame.
St. Chapel was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful! I can only imagine the emotions running through anyone as the sun streams through those beautiful, large, over powering windows! And the structure itself is just amazing!
Notre Dame is, of course, just breathtaking. However, we decided to go back another day after walking through the main room, to be able to climb the 402 stairs to get a proper view of Paris. It was late in the afternoon, we are all still adjusting to the time change and are tired from how busy the past few days have been.
So now, I am here, relaxing before dinner, uploading pictures to photobucket and facebook. :)
Tomorrow, we to La Vallee de la Loire for the weekend, stopping off at Chambord on the way then going to be in the city of Tours for Friday night through Sunday morning. We get to tour three other castles while there as well as have a dinner in the main square of Tours Friday night. So I will be offline from tomorrow morning (Paris, evening of Thursday US time) until Sunday afternoon (Paris, morning US).