Was delighted to receive a phone call from both my mom and my dad late last night! Dad and Bev are going to try their first Skyping venture with me in a couple of hours. :)
Slept late again today, left my apartment around noon and walked outside to a very dreary, cold day. I was on a mission to get a bank account, photocopies, and another pillow for my bed! I like lots of pillows and the one they had for me was just not cutting it. I have a meeting on Tuesday to see if I am eligible for a student account with this particular bank. No success with photocopies still. Agh. I did go to my school, France Langue (which I start in January), and discovered that it is on the same metro line as my apartment. Great news!
This is the outside of the school. Inside the school is was about 5200 degrees. Actually, that's how it is EVERYWHERE here. There is no opportunity for your body temperature to adjust. You go from 40 or 50 degrees on the streets to at least 85 degrees in stores, restaurants, basically any building. I look like a complete creeper because as soon as I walk in everywhere thats the first thing I have to do is take off my scarf and coat!! Everyone else just walks around with all their winter garb on. Might have something to do with why I think I've collected a cold. Boo.
I go on Monday the 22nd to take my placement exam to see what level class I'll be put in.
I left France Langue and headed to find some pillows and a flat sheet for my bed. I went to Au Printemps (a HUGE department store) and got so lost!! There were 7 floors, 6 escalators going all different directions, and half of them were broken. Not to mention I couldn't have afforded anything they offered! The outside of the store was decorated beautifully, everyone in Paris gearing up for the Christmas season.
After that I headed across the street to Galeries Lafayette. They too had an assortment of things I couldn't afford, but seemed to be more reasonable than Au Printemps. After I went up 3 or 4 floors, I realized that there were no home decor items anywhere in this store. So, back down I went, stopping once on the way down to check out this massive Christmas tree and beautiful stained glass dome at the top.
I walk out the door, cross the street and there I see a rather large sign saying Lafayette Maison (home). Pleasssseeeee....I just walked around for 2 hours trying to find this place and its in a whole other building. Typical! Now: onto finding what I need. Everywhere I looked there were fitted sheets but no flat sheets. And they don't sell them by the set. I finally found one flat sheet with the help of a salesperson. She said that most people in France don't use flat sheets...just their comforters or quilts. Also found a pillow. The cheapest one was 20 euros...so, that's what I bought! The pillowcase to go on that 20 euro pillow was however, 19 euros. By that time I was tired of shopping and looking and just wanted to go home! There were so many people shopping today and so many tourists!! People just run into you here and your lucky to get a "Pardonne-moi" out of anyone.
Took the metro home, made some tea, and just had Cheerios for dinner. Maybe going to the Latin Quarter tomorrow...if it's raining like it is tonight...maybe not!
No comments:
Post a Comment