allergic to cats

But I love them so so much! I'll post a pic of chou chou (his name is really ari but we all call him chou chou, translation to 'cabbage cabbage') later. He's huge and likes sitting on my lap and shedding everywhere and purrs like no other. He also sort of hates Alex a little, but enjoys crawling into her bed when shes not around and shedding everywhere. Good thing I chose this room, or else I'd be sneezing all night.

Today I walked around the Jardin de Tuilleries, saw the Musee d'Orsay, the Seine and its bridges, the Louvre, the Obilesque, the Eiffel Tower, and the Champs-Elysees (lots of walking). Unfortunately I left my memory card in my laptop so all my pictures are on my camera's memory and not transferable =/. I also bought an issue of Cosmo in French for only two euros! That, my friends, looks like an excellent way to practice reading French. And it's such a cute issue because it's Valentine's Day. We randomly ran into another girl in my program, Kate, and had some hot chocolate at Angelina's, some famous place next to the Tuilleries, and it was AMAZING- super thick, creamy and rich, served in little pots that we poured into our cups and topped with whipped cream.

I'm really failing at the pictures thing. Here's a picture of my crazy French keys: one for the front door of the apartment, one for the kitchen out of which I go to get to my room (the back door), one for the hallway that my room and a studio apartment is in, and one for my room.

Tomorrow is our grammar test, so Alex and I spent the evening in cramming from two French books and a dictionary while reading Cosmo aloud. Also, it looks like I'm going to be blogging a lot because I have lots of free time (which is great! I'm on vacation all the time!), so sorry if you hate reading my writing; just skip my posts and look for Brian's font.

In terms of classes, I can choose from ones at Paris IV (aka the Sorbonne), L'Institute Catholique, and Reid Hall (for international students). I think I'll take math (if my program director finds one for me), learning to view sculpture/painting, translation, and either 1) ethics or aesthetics or philosophy of science or 2) the 5th republic, writing, or french society and cinema. The 2) classes are for internationalites and start wednesday, the others are in french and for french etudiants and start in two weeks, on february 11th.