Berthillon and the Parents (posted from the future).

I have a little cold, I think. A cough and stuffy nose and some wheezing. It’s inconvenient, but I’ll live!

Yesterday after classes we went to the Pavillion de l’Arsenal and saw an exhibit on the history of Paris, which was really cool. Then we went to Île Saint-Lous and Île de la Cité…we had Berthillon ice cream which is famous for how good it is (and it is definitely good!) and saw the outside of the Notre Dame, Hôtel Dieu (which is still a functional hospital today) and Palais de Justice.

After that I met up with Mom and A.B. near Notre Dame. We walked around a bit in the Latin Quarter and then took the metro to my neighborhood and had a drink with my host mom, which was fun. She complimented my French and spoke really cute “Franglais” and said her only worry about me is that I won’t go out enough with my friends at night (because most of the people in my program go out drinking most nights, and I haven’t gone out yet). So I think I’m going to go out tonight with my classmates, maybe.

Then Mom and A.B. and I had dinner at a restaurant near where I live. I had stake and fries, A.B. had steak tartare (ew) and Mom had pig shin. It was an adventure! Then I came home and went to bed.

We didn’t have an activity planned for this afternoon so I was going to go to Montmartre to see Mom and A.B.’s apartment after class, but we ended up going to the tower of Notre Dame. We’re going to the crypt underneath tomorrow.

It was fun, but there were SO MANY STEPS! My legs were shaking when I got down. There was an incredible view from up there, though. Afterwards I walked around for awhile with Shelby and Morgan and Ben, and then I came home to do homework. I want to try and get at least some of it done before the weekend.

Tomorrow after Notre Dame I’m going to meet up with mom and A.B. in Montmartre to make up for today, and we’re going to spend the day together on Sunday. That will be nice.
I finally asked my host mom about doing laundry, so I’ll try to get that done this weekend. Which is good because I’m running out of clean clothes!

For my history class, Mme Ayoun took the 5 of us to the National Archives today. It was really neat, there were a lot of really old documents and some really gorgeous rooms. Afterwards she treated us to lunch at the BHV, which was really fun!

I’m so happy to be here; happier than I’ve been in a long time. This whole trip has been amazing so far and I can’t believe how lucky I am to be here, doing this.