First Day of School (and the Eiffel Tower)

On Tuesday we had our first day of classes at the European Business School. I bought myself a shnazzy little travel alarm clock for the trip, but I apparently didn't set the alarm Monday night before I conked out. So at about 8:45 Tessa and I had a knock on our room, then another knock, then a buzz. I finally got out of bed and Nicole was standing there all prettily dressed. Then I realized that our alarm hadn't gone off. Tessa and I ran around trying to get ready, not exactly how I wanted to start my first day of classes. But we got ready just fine and were not left behind, so it was okay.

We finally got to the school at about 10:00. Their college is much different than ours, it looks far more like an office than a college. All of the business students were dressed up, and we felt quite out of place in our jeans and tops. They could quite obviously tell that we were Americans.

When we got to our classroom, we were introduced to a few of our teachers for the month. We met Katy, our French teacher and Claude, our History teacher. We were also introduced to a consultant that the school had hired to help us out on our first day. He had us do a really cool lesson where we were to write ten things we want to do while we are in Paris for the month, to ensure we do things that we really want to do. So, here is my list:

1) Go to a club

2) Go out exploring on my own

3) Go to Montmarte (a bridge that you bring wine to and sit and drink and meet with locals)

4) Take a Siene boat tour

5) Spend an afternoon alone in a park

6) Go to a fancy dress-up dinner

7) Buy something from a street vendor

8) Spend an afternoon in a cafe

9) Have a meal with a Parisian

10) Go to the catacombs

For the second half of the day, Claude took us on a tour of the area around the schools. There are a bunch of little cafes and restaurants for us to enjoy, so I'm sure many of our meals will come from the surrounding area.

With the rest of our evening a few of us ventured to the Eiffel Tower. It was quite amazing and helped me realize that I am actually in Paris. We first came from the Metro across the street and got some really good pictures. We then went a little further to a small park with a pond that is still across the street from the Tower. We then ventured a little closer and sat by the Seine for a while and took pictures. Then the Tower started to sparkle, which is so beautiful. The way it glimmers made me want to clap my hands with delight (and I'm sure it did). Then Tyler, Nicole, Emma and I decided to walk closer to the Tower. We found a little crepe stand right by the front of the Tower and bought some amazingly delicious crepes. I got a chocolate one and it was amazing. We sat down in a little strip of park that had an amazing view and ate our crepes. I can not think of a better way to spend and evening in Paris.