If you use it, it will come

So after having been in France for 2 weeks today, I definitely feel like I'm settling in. Although I'm not a "true Parisian," I've definitely gotten a hold of life here and the ins and outs of a typical day. There's still that little matter of me speaking French, which after the other night, I'm so much more confident about. Until then, I was really unsure of my conversational skills with actual French people. Granted, I had taken a Conversation class last semester, but that was all with students around my level and in America! I can get along fine on the streets but besides Marie-France, I hadn't had an extended conversation with anyone thus far.

So the other night I was invited over to the apartment of one of my dad's business friends that lives here in Paris. I had met this guy a few years back when we all went to an O's game during his visit to the States, but that was the extent of me knowing him. Needless to say, I was petrified. Me. Jean-Luc. His family. Typical French dinner- and for those of you who have been to Europe you know that means long. I found his place and got buzzed in (after getting faked out by the door unlocking) and from the time I got into the apartment and started speaking, it just flowed. I was kind of astonished that I could carry on a conversation about sports, French and American politics, history, and more and actually make some sense. Even though I made a good deal of mistakes, I was definitely satisfied with the night. Props to all my French teachers thus far.

The travelling continued this weekend with a visit to the château of Courances and the village of Giverny, the home of Claude Monet. Our whole program had dinner at a little inn (un augberge) where I had an amazing dinner consisting of a kir aperatif (creme de cassis and white wine), assorted meats and pâté, duck with figs, raspberry cobbler, and lots of wine. The evening was complete with live music and it was great to be able to sit, relax, eat, and laugh- a lot. (One of the biggest laughs came from a picture someone snapped of me mid-sentence which I will not post here but challenge you to find in my Webshots...fair warning- it may be the worst moment captured on camera, ever.)



Monet's gardens and house were amazing and we got to see the water lilies and Japanese bridge always featured in his paintings. Just as with Versailles, these pictures may not do this place justice so if you ever get the chance to go for yourself, DO IT! Overall, an awesome weekend for site-seeing.



A bientôt!


"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we would find it not." -Ralph Waldo Emerson