End of Orientation

The final two days with our orientation group have been activity-heavy, but fun and educational about Paris. Well yesterday was not exactly fun...we visited the Louvre for the first time. There's a reduced price for students on Friday nights, so we went at 6. By the time everyone arrived it was 6:30, and we were supposed to do some sort of craft activity but it was already full. They were giving free tours, so our group decided to take a tour of the Egyptian section. Actually our leaders decided we should do it, and of course they asked us, but being an agreeable group and also not understanding parts of what they say, we agreed. The Friday night of orienation week is an unfortunate time to choose a museum, as we were all exhausted. Thus one and a half plus hours of listening to a woman babble in French about 5 or 6 works (that's right, only five or six on the entire tour) was not the best experience. Even the people who speak French and were taking notes at the beginning were searching for places to sit down by the end, thus I don't think our American-ness is entirely to blame.

After the Louvre adventure our group separated and I went out to dinner with my friend Kay, who's from William and Mary, as the rest of the group went to hit the clubs and bars. Our group definitely has some hardcore partyers, who regretted a few of last night's decisions during the trek up to Montmartre today.

This afternoon we gather at Uli's (my leader's) appartment where she and Alex (the other leader) made us lunch. We ate pasta with her two roommates and chattered in French and English about last night, American universities, the craziness that is Paris, etc. Uli lives in up the north of Paris. Getting of at her metro stop was like going from the Upper East Side in Manhattan (where I live) to the Bronx. She lives in a neighborhood with lots of African immigrants, and the streets were filled with hair salons and cheap restaurants (chains like KFC). After lunch we walked up to Sacred Heart where the view of Paris is absolutely amazing. We wandered around little streets up there, up and down hills and through cute little parks. Although the weather was overcast and grey, it was a great way to spend the afternoon. Most of our group had had enough group time at that point and they left, while Kay, James and I stayed with Alex. He took us to Bellevue, a nearby neighborhood that houses one of Paris' Chinese neighborhoods. It was great to explore a more residential area, where everything is less expensive and touristy. Bellevue is another one of the "hills of Paris" so we saw another awesome view of the city. James, Kay and I ate Chinese food together for dinner there. It's nice to be finished with orientation actvities, and to have some time to rejuvenate tomorrow before starting my routine of classes on Monday.