As per usual, the amount of stuff that has happened since my last post makes me despair about ever getting it all written down. But, I'm sure going to try. I guess we'll go chronologically. So, after successfully buying my tickets on Monday (for 94 euros, which may seem like a lot until you realize that if I didn't have my youth pass it would have been twice as much; it's good to be young), solidifying plans and packing, on Tuesday, Sealia and I headed off to Paris! So, trains are apparently very different from planes. a. They actually run on time and b. you only need to get to the train station about 20 minutes before your train leaves. Interesting. So, the trip took about 3 and a half hours and we were in Paris before 2:00. We spent the rest of the day hanging out with Sealia's family who were kind enough to take us in for a few days, and played Monopoly and barbies with Lea, their 7-year old daughter. So, not only was this my first real experience with a French family, but it was my first experience with a proper French dinner! So, dinner was a meat and then a veggie dish, with plenty of bread and wine as well (I actually managed to drink a glass of red wine). Then there was fruit, then cheese (it tasted rather like cheddar which made me really, really happy) and then dessert. All of this took at least an hour, at which point I was ready to be rolled away from the table. Whew.

On Wednesday we went into Paris proper with Lucien (Sealia's "uncle"--it's complicated) and went to the Louvre, although only the Egyptian and Sculpture exhibits, and then to a museum dedicated entirely to plaster molds of great sculptures, primarily cathedral facades.

Taken from under the glass pyramid. Too bad the sky is so gray... Actually it was gray (and chilly!) the entire time we were there, which was quite the shock after Montpellier.










Venus de Milo! I wouldn't say that she's the most beautiful sculpture in the world, but certainly quite nice (minus the lack of arms). There was a giant crowd around her which was pretty intense.














Actually not quite sure what this is, but it's one of four that are very similar and were moved into the Louvre for protection.











On Thursday, we spent the entire day walking around the city. I wish I had had a pedometer so I could figure out just how many miles (er, kilometers) we walked. Of course, we started at the beautiful Notre Dame.














You can't really tell from the photo, but there was a concert going on when we got there--good timing, huh? It was really cool, actually, and sort of made the space come alive. It really is easy to imagine how the people of the 12th century believed that cathedrals were a place in between heaven and earth.












Next up was the Sainte Chapelle (apparently called the Holy Chapel in English) which was commissioned by... Louis IX, I think. Anyways, it's practically all stained glass and defies gravity and most of the laws of physics. It's amazing.









The last stop of the day was les jardins de Luxembourg, which were really lovely, and had this to one side.











It's rather depressing how few of my photos make it onto this blog... for more, find me on facebook, or coerce someone who is friends with me to show you the photos.

So, that's my trip to Paris in a nutshell. I got a train back to Montpellier first thing Friday morning (all by myself, too. I was impressed) and was back by about noon. I must say, I like trains. They may be slower than flying, but it feels so much more natural, somehow. Anyways. So, Friday evening was Rosh Hashanah, so I made it over to Mira's host family's house for dinner at 9:00. They were very nice and seemed happy to have me there. I wish I could do a proper analysis of the differences between RH here and at home, but I realized that for the last few years, it's been too difficult to miss school so I haven't gone. There were a bunch of blessings over a number of fruits etc. which was interesting. Also, I could barely distinguish their Hebrew from French. Hm. So, as the house was pretty far from town, they put me up for the night and I headed back to my apartment early this morning. Overall, the French win for hospitality.

Let's see. In other news, I realized that putting my schedule together was indeed too easy, and that it needs to be rearranged so I can get a literature class that's actually French literature instead of literature that's taught in French. Oh well. The potentially good thing here is that I may end up with classes only on Tuesday-Thursday. Pretty cool, huh. Also, classes start this coming week which is terrifying. I mean, I can't even hold a conversation with a 7-year old, so how am I supposed to read college level texts and write papers? I guess that this is really the "trial by fire" part. I think I'm going to be burned to a crisp...