i can't believe i forgot to write about this!

the rugby world cup kicked off here last night. we went to a few pubs and everyone was watching the match (which the french lost, 12-17, to argentina). it was so much fun...everyone was cheering, booing, "oh no"ing together. LOUDLY. these frenchmen do love their rugby. er, actually, i just read an article that says they actually didn't cheer so fiercely for their rugby team before this, but now that it's here...damn, are they proud of their team.

2 great things happened since i last wrote

well, one of them is sarcastically great. but you had to expect that from me.

1. paul (my french brother who is 6) and i played today! he mostly just pinned me on the floor and shot at me with the pistol, yelling "te mortes!" (you're dead!). and then he pretened to blow all his toys up. then he tackled me again. i decided that boys are the same everywhere in the world.

2. i slammed my face into a pole today. a bunch of us (like 35) were walking on the street. i saw an american bar and in my head i was like "hey! english! i know how to read that!" so i focused on the words on the bar and wasn't paying attention to the fatty pole in front of me. so *bam* i rammed my body flat into it. my head made this huge, hallow sound on the pole. the 25 people walking behind me let out this huge "OHHH!!!" yeah, i was embarassed. but then we got delicious martinis, so all was good.

i almost break my thumb every time i come in the door

seriously. the front door lock to my house is SO HARD to open. i couldn't do it the first two nights; mme jeanson had to wake up and get me. i felt awful. so now i just have to put all my energy into twisting this key. i know i sound lame, but these french locks are really hard to undo. my face gets all red and my body gets shaky cuz i have to twist so hard.

OHH i bought a really cute sweater at h&m today! only 15 euro (so like 20 bucks). i'll take pictures in it so you can see it. but a bad thing also happened. i went to try it on and *boop* the button to my jeans fell off in the dressing room! so now i don't have a top button on my jeans. i laced it with floss temporarily. lol...good look, i know.

yay, someone from aup is living just upstairs! and mme jeanson said she's a poli sci major too. c'est bon. lol...it was cute. mme jeanson was like "nicole! i have a friend for you!" like i'm her kid and she's setting maybe we'll have that poli sci class together and we can go in on a book. holy crap, those books are expensive. 98 euro for a paper back? hell no. i'll find it somewhere else.

i've been walking almost literally all day (on my feet from 11 am to 5 pm with about a 45 minute break...phew). i need rest before this pub crawl tonight.....crazy aup kids.

i still feel like i'm at camp

i haven't settled in yet. it's not a bad thing...i just still feel like i'm at camp, and i only have a few days left, so i better enjoy it all.

but this is it. the eiffel tower, the museums, the baguettes, the adorable french kids, the metro...this is life until christmas (!!!). i have a feeling that, when it hits me, i'll be frightened and homesick. i'll tell you when it does, but for now...i've been too busy and happy to miss home too much.

this experience has already made me miss the ease and comfort of home/sb though. there, i have it all figured out. a guy from aup (sam, who led our paris by night bus tour after taking 5 shots and downing a few gulps of wine) was talking about the clubs/publications/student gov't activities you can get involved in, and that was when i realized that i acutally set up a pretty sweet life for myself back in sb. i've got the nexus (love and miss you!) and i've got ambitions to do other things on campus. i've got beautiful friends and i'm in a major i love. really, it won't be a difficult life to return to.

i'm getting more comfortable with living where i don't know what people are saying 79% of the time. when i first arrived 6 days ago (shit, only 6?), i was shaking in my boots. i couldn't read any signs at the airport and anybody who spoke french sounded like they were speaking a million miles a minute. now, i can listen to the conversations and catch the words, even i don't know what they mean. i can read the signs at the museums/metro stations/food places and get the general meaning. OH and mme jeanson had our first french conversation! it was liberating...it gave me confidence to speak in french. that's what i'm really lacking.

oh, and we had GREAT cheap wine before the bus ride tonight. we had to drink it out of a boot on the bus because the bus driver didn't want us to have it, but it was very fun (sorry mom and dad!). check out the pictures on fbook.

tomorrow we're going to try walking to school across the seine. mallory, chris and i are awful at directions. julia's coming, so i hope she's better. if not...well, i guess we can't get lost. school is right by the eiffel tower. thank goodness that thing is huge.

why the french aren't fat

they french eat very deliberately. at meal time, they intentionally enjoy every bite (or at least are aware of every piece that goes in their mouth). they don't tend to eat lunch at their desks, and they don't eat on the go.

in the states, we often don't make time for a meal. we munch mindlessly in front of the tv, while we're doing homework, or while we're on the internet. we don't notice that we keep eating that bowl of popcorn until it's all gone. so it makes sense that we don't notice that we overeat until we're obese.

parisians also walk/run a LOT. they're often late for the metro/bus/rer, and even if they're not, they're just generally rushing. this quick pace+less eating makes them healthier.

or maybe it's all those cigarettes they smoke. so what if they have cancer? at least they're skinny. that's all life is about, anyway. ((barf))

i was supposed to go to bed an hour ago

but then i got on the internet, uploaded and tagged pictures, got too excited emailing/chatting with people, etc etc. and now it's 2330 (i'm forcing myself to use military time).

more aup registration stuff today...aka more waiting in lines for things that take a milisecond. i sat in a closet for a while. a guy from the clubs talked to us, too. i'm pumped to joint the jogging club. i miss taking runs SO badly. that's my escape from the world...the hour i get just to myself, where i don't have responsibilities or anything. we went to the luxembourg gardens and saw a buncha people running around there. that sounds absolutely amazing.

the gardens were so vivid. the grass was perfectly trimmed, the trees and bushes precisely shaped, everything just in line. i don't know a lot about the place historically, but i'd love to go back and learn. i could sit in that jardin forever.

go look at my pictures on facebook.

i spent 7 euro on candy

which is really like $10. and i finished most of it. i know it sounds like a lot, but of course it was a rip off, so it wasn't that much candy. but it was the best candy EVER. i'll try to bring some back to the states for y'all to try.