overview

After two weeks here, it's interesting to see how much I've already been influenced by French culture - I've started to accept things as truth that would have driven me NUTS at home. With Ben and his mom here, we got to eat meals at a lot of delicious places. They were shocked by the amount of time it took for each course to get there, as well as the check. I've learned to accept it. There's something I love about the long meals - or long afternoon coffees. It places an importance on spending time with those you're with instead of rushing through eating just to nourish yourself. I love this concept (though it may be me romanticizing bad service). My host mother loves to have little fetes (parties) with her friends all the time. A couple of times a week they all get together for one of these long dinners and many, many bottles of wine.
In more concrete details, I've been going out a lot and have gotten the opportunity to see a lot of Paris. Thursday, a bunch of friends and I went to our first discotheque - lots of fun dancing and loud music! Friday night we went to a concert of "yeahyeah", which was 60's inspired music. Totally different scene from Thursday, but definitely a fun experience. I'm trying to soak everything in. Saturday afternoon Alison, Mike and I got wonderfully lost after going to the catacombs which were cool but truthfully a little creepy. We walked around and saw some quieter Paris and sat at a cafe and drank tea/coffee and chatted for a long time. I said goodbye to Ben at dinner Saturday night, which was DELICIOUS.
Classes start tomorrow officially, so I'm about to hit French overdrive. Hopefully I'll be able to understand a lot of it...time will tell!