Alors, on mange.

Bonjour tout le monde!

This has been a crazy week and I feel I've kind of neglected my blogging obligations, but alas, wifi is scarce in France and French keyboards are frustrating because the keys are all mixed up (using one right now, hopefully my patience lasts)!

Spent five days in Paris hanging with two other girls doing the assistantship in my region. We also met up with one of the girl's friends from New Jersey who now lives in Paris with her boyfriend. We went to the catacombs, Notre Dame, and my favorite place in Paris, Luxembourg Gardens. Pictures to follow when I have my own internet!

Friday I took the train from Paris to Tours with what really did end up being 150 lbs of luggage - I was exagerrating before when I said I thought it would weigh that much! Luckily people were really nice and helped me and I made it with all my things in tact. I must've looked pretty pitiful. I was greeted in Tours by two English teachers at my school - one whom I've been in contact with all summer, a very nice British lady named Janet, and the other lady who I've been staying with since I got to Tours - Frédérique, a French woman who speaks English with an impeccable British accent! She plays the steel drums and lives in a fantastic house with her cat and Jean-Marc, her partner. Très French.They are extremely nice and have been taking very good care of me since I got here. Jean-Marc reminds me a lot of my dad, so that should help when the homesickness kicks in! Even though Frédérique speaks English, we have been conversing in mostly French. Il faut pratiquer! They are very social and I've already gone to two parties with them, one in Amboise. One thing I've learned about French parties is that they eat and drink constantly: It's literally like an all-day feast! I've been brave thus far and even tried pâté and andouillette. If you don't know what it is, spare yourself and don't look it up! Did I mention I was the only non-French person at said parties? Oh la la. Talk about being the center of attention! Also I forgot you have to "faire la bise" with literally EVERYONE when you arrive and leave! It's kinda time consuming!

Frédérique, or Fred as everyone calls her, showed me around the town yesterday morning to help me get situated. Tours is absolutely picturesque. It's in the Loire valley between the Loire (clearly) and the Cher rivers. Let's hope it doesn't flood though! I'm hoping to get an apartment in "le Vieux Tours" (the old Tours) where the buildings date back centuries. This is the liveliest part of town, the downtown area near the market (I'm obsessed with French markets) and also where everyone goes when they "go out." This brings me to my next challenge, apartment hunting. Tomorrow is my first real day of apartment hunting since I had quite a bit going on this weekend, so this should be interesting! I'm going at it solo since Fred's working tomorrow, and people here don't really speak English so this should be a serious test for my French. Wish me luck!

Things are kind of crazy right now, but I love it here so far and cannot wait to get settled in! Somedays I do wake up just wanting to speak English though. Oh well, c'est la vie!