Surrounded by Mansard Rooves

So I'm finally here. Never having really traveled before I'm completely new to this blogging thing, but I think it'll be useful to stay in touch for the next 6 months. 6 Months!! I can't believe I'll be away from home for an entire 6 months but it will be great. As some of you know this is only my second time taking a real trip and it will be one hell of a trip.

My first glimpse of France came during the connecting flight from London (which was delayed because of London fog) when Dayana pointed out the snowy farm lands we were flying over. Once we landed I was too tired to be excited since I hadn't slept much since leaving New York. Of course one of the first things I saw was a bum outside the airport who must have been on something, yes even before a Parisian. The van ride to my host home took longer than expected because of a manif (protest) about the war in Gaza. I didn't see much of a protest though, only closed streets and Paris cops directing traffic. I did get to see the Eiffel Tour though--it's bigger than I thought. I'll check it out for real soon.

My host home is on one of the narrowest streets I've ever been on, I have no idea how the driver managed to get though it without hitting a parked car. My room is on the top floor and has a big french window with a view of a bunch of mansard rooves, hence the name of the blog. It's great since it's on the side the sun rises--the best alarm clock. My host mother gave me a tour of the neighborhood and we went to go buy meat at a small local shop. Walking around the neighborhood she stopped when she saw a Christmas tree; she wanted the base it was on. It was a small real tree with an attached wooden base which was really only another piece of wood. She started banging it against the base against the curb hanging on to the tree itself to try to break it off...pretty random. We couldn't get it off, so we left the tree behind. We went back home for dinner and then went to go see Burn After Reading which was subtitled in French. Besides that I haven't seen much of Paris since I caught up on sleep most of my second day.

Tomorrow I start Reid Hall and get to meet the rest of the kids on the program, and I get to try out le métro. We'll see how it stacks up to NYC's subways. That's all for now.

À bientôt