Opera and Ice Cream

I have come to realize that I am not a picky eater. I thought I was because there is a short list of food that I wouldn't eat in the United States. And I think it might be because I have a lot of options. Here I will try just about anything. We eat out at cafes for lunch around the university and most of the time I don't know what is in the sandwich or pastry and I point to it. I haven't ate something that I didn't like yet.

French is going really well! I feel like I have learned a lot just in the past week. Hearing it all time helps too. There is a nice Japanese girl in my class and she was telling yesterday how she has a hard time telling the difference between the cursive Ms, Ns and Rs, and the cursive Ls and Es. I could not imagine having to learn French while still having a hard time knowing English and even the English alphabet. And having to learn how to spell in French! That would be rough. Most of the time, the only reason I know what my professors are saying is because there are many words in French that are similar to English words. Pronounce = pronouncer. Bank = banque. Orange = orange. And if Japanese was my first language, I wouldn't be able to use those clues to know what was going on.

Today we went to an amazing ice cream place by Saint Michel Fountain and then on to Palais Garnier which is a beautiful opera house. The ice cream was probably the best I have ever had. And I have had a lot of ice cream. My favorite part of the opera house was a whole floor dedicated to dance. There were pictures of famous dancers who performed there all over the walls and even costumes displayed. But my favorite favorite part was the gift shop. There were adorable ballet slippers everywhere and I was in heaven even though I'm unfortunately not a dancer. There was even a video of the Nutcracker playing in the gift shop and I was in everyones way (like an annoying American, uh oh) because I couldn't stop watching it.

Tiramisu, hazelnut and coconut.

And Jen and Allie.

This weekend, our program group is going to Loire Valley in France to look at real castles!! I'm pretty excited. We have been looking at pictures online and info books that our host mom showed us and it is beautiful there. I'm also excited to meet more people from my program. I see them around but don't actually know many.

Bonne nuit!