Intensive Class.

Yesterday, February 2nd, was my first day of classes. Somehow Abroadco never got the student schedules so everyone had to meet and figure things out before we could go to class. I met Kathy, my neighbor, at 8:30 AM and we took the metro to get to the Catho. After one transfer and about 20 minutes we arrived at the Catho and waited for the rest of the group. Tawna, the resident director, then took me into an office where I received my schedule and student ID. She then showed me a map and I had to go find my classroom, it wasn't in the same building so I had to go back to the street and down a few buildings. I was a little frustrated that I was going to be late for my first class, it started at 9 AM and I didn't get into the room until around 9:15.

Once I got into the skinny, tall room I found my way to the only open seat and sat down. The teacher was speaking in French very quickly and I couldn't pick much up. Class ran until noon. I then had a 2 hour break before my next class started so I was going to get lunch and a notebook and pencil. The other American girl met me by the door and asked if I wanted to get lunch with her, so we started walking around and introducing each other.

Perry was from Chicago and was in Paris to study for 3 weeks and then just to live in the city for 3 months. Her family runs some of the Hilton hotels around the world including one in Spain, a few in Mexico and some throughout the states. She was telling me about one in Beverly Hills and how it holds the Golden Globe Awards. She also mentioned some of her friends that live in Europe and she was going to travel around and visit them while she was here. Perry and I found an electronic type store with books, so we went inside and bought pocket dictionaries. Then we went to Monoprix and I bought a notebook and pencil. On our way back to the school we had lunch at a cafe on the street and chatted some more about being in Paris, our class and ourselves.

The next class was held in the same room, with the same people and a different teacher. He talked a lot slower and was a little easier to understand. This class ran from 2 PM until 5 PM, and by the middle of the class I was so tired of paying such close attention. In both classes, the students just listen to the teacher and try to understand new words and phrases and then we do quick activities and the teacher talks back and forth with the class, it is really conversational.

After I got out of class for the day, I caught the metro back home and relaxed for about an hour. Then Alia, a girl from Abroadco, came over and we talked for a little bit and then went to the Tour Eiffel. I wanted to take pictures of it at night and she said she would come along. We were going to go ice skating on the first level too, but it was closed due to something leaking.