Did you know there is red champagne (or sparking wine I should say)?? Well there is, it is from Spain and I have a bottle of it. Its with the red wines and looks like a red wine. So one might buy this sparkling red wine and mistake it for a red wine. Much was my surprise when I went to try my new bottle of wine and there was a loud pop when I took the cork out. Its not very delicious and will now be used to marinade my meat for tomorrows dinner. No bueno, or should I say-- pas bien.

    Last night after a beautiful day, I sat on my sofa with the widow open, candles lit and wrote my blog post. I got into bed and was a little wrest less. I havent slept well the past few nights, probably the anxiety of starting a new school. All of a sudden there was this huge cloud burst and it started pouring rain! Outside of my window is a tin roof and it was soooo loud! It was really nice, especially because it stopped by the morning leaving everything crisp and clean but didn't get me wet. Which was even better because I don't have an umbrella yet (its suppose to rain the next 3 days).  It made the walk from school to the metro so nice. You walk along this garden right by Invalides with flowers and trees every where.

I wanted to make sure that everyone was included in my troubles abroad. Dental Floss is one of them. I have spent the past week looking for dental floss. They do not have it in the grocery store, next to the tooth brushes (they do have Veet hair removal...go figure). I have been using thread. Yes--thread. And before you judge..what would you do?? Just not floss. Ewe, yea now who is gross. So tonight while out on an after dinner walk I passed the pharmacy who had a nice little display of dental floss. I was so excited! Then looked at the price. 6 Euros. That is like 8 dollars people! With tax $8.50. OMG. I kept walking. Could not believe it! I am going to have to bargain shop for floss!! This is added to my list of things when i go to London...who knows when (next to LaraBars, and possibly Farmers cheese if they have it).  Outrageous! OK off to bed!

    Today was my first day of school and I enjoyed it. It was from 9-6...so a long day. I should say it was a seminar not a class because of the way the school is set up. We have 2 seminars a month each are 3 days long. During this seminar we are assigned a case study and a group in to work with and we solve the case or make a recommendation to the class after deliberating and researching for 3 days. Then we are given a new case study and 2 weeks to basically become an expert in the field (on our own) and write a 6 page paper-- then we start again. So its a lot of do it on your own. But it really is nice to be back in school. Loves it!

Since today was Saturday I couldn't go to the prefecture to try to get my visa again so I thought I would do a little site seeing, since I have not done anything but try to get settled.  So, I decided to go on over to Muse d'Orsay, which is one of the most admired museums in Paris. It is in an old train station and is really pretty. I took the long way, getting off of the metro by Invalides and walked around a bit before I arrived-- noticing just how heavy my bag was (since i have to carry any food i will need throughout the day). I got there and it was a bit crowded. I had planned on going in but decided otherwise, and that I would return on a weekday when it might be less crowded. I was also feeling a little brain foggy because i ate some cheese last night that I wasn't suppose to-- its so hard to stick to my crazy diet when I cant understand WHAT the labels say!!!  A true testament to my diet's effectiveness was that the moment i ate the cheese I immediately felt like i was drunk and still a little fuzzy this morning. SO bottom line-- I didn't go in and will return at another date.

Or should I say 4?? I tried today again to get my visa. First I needed to make photo copies of my documents, where on earth do you make photo copies in Paris? So i went to my school to make the copies. The seminar building was in a really pretty area, just across the street from Invalides-- which is gorgeous, very old Paris. The class room is tiny, out class sizes are for about 15 people. So then I made my way to the visa office and finally get there. There is a nice little sign saying a bunch of stuff in French and then underneath reads in English "no new visas today". Let me remind you that the nice man yesterday said "yes" when I asked "I come back here tomorrow for my visa". SO i sat outside and ate my lunch on a bench. This seems to be the way that things work here...it takes about 3-4 times of going places before you actually get done what you had set out to do. Ce la vie!

Its funny too all of the little things that are different that I dont know how to do yet. I took the trash out to the wrong place-- a little french woman stood there watching me, said something in French and I told her I didnt speak french very well. Basically I was putting my trash in the recycling-- which needs to be sorted out, and the trash is out in front of the building. I have yet to figure out if it is always out front, or where I find the trash during the day??? And at the grocery store you are supose to weigh your own produce and apply a sticker that prints out telling you how much you owe. The nice lady at the store was thrilled when I came to pay (with a long line behind me) and had not applied any of my stickers.

Also for the love of God can someone send me DVDs. I can only watch the news so many times in one day and you cannot get websites like Hulu here to watch moveis/ tvs shows online. BORING-- yes i am in Paris, but everyone needs some down time PEOPLE!

Hello there!