The time is already flying by!

Well, its been about a week since my last update. I was talking with some of the girls here, and we've decided that the minutes in Paris must only have 45 seconds instead of 60, because time absolutely flies by. I've already finished my first week of classes! I still haven decided about the whole Advanced/Intermediate thing, but I can still try it out this upcoming week and then make the final decision.

I suppose I'll just do an overview of whats been going on, and then hopefully will start updating more regularly to note the weird.. okay, different things about here compared to home, and fun things like that.

Well first off, I went to Versailles yesterday! The history class was going, and that professor told my arhcitecture prof that if any of us wanted to come we could. All I had to pay for too was the RER ticket to get there (just under 6 euro) because CEA actually did something genius, and wrote on all of our ID cards that we're art history students. In Paris, you can get into museums free if you're an art history major (at least most of the time)! And it worked for Versailles as well, so heck yes to getting in free.

It was really nice to be able to tag along on their tour as well, because I feel like it's a lot more meaningful to actually learn about a place while your there instead of just going to see the cool paintings or buildings or whatnot. It made for a really long day (we left Paris at about 9am and didn't get back into the town center until 7pm, and after that I just went straight over to some friends' apartment for dinner and trip planning!), but was totally worth it.

Here are some pictures!
The Gardens!

These are for you mom, the flowers are still blooming!

My first up-close view of the Chateau

The hall of Mirrors!

Amee, Me, Lily, and Annie in the Hall of Mirrors

Marie-Antoinette's bed

This is what history class looks like here. Jealous?

Anyways, we attempted to plan some trips out last night, and we were all pretty shocked at how few weekends there actually are while we're here! There are 3 pre-paid excursions through CEA to Mont St. Michel and St. Malo, one to the Loire Valley Chateaux, and one to Bruges and Brussels. I bought a train ticket a few days ago to go to Bordeaux the 21, 22, and 23rd of September to see Anne-Suzy and family, and 2 weekends in October I'm doing things with my mom, and one in November is when my boyfriend is coming! That doesn't actually leave a lot lot of free time, but we're shooting for trips to London, Italy, Strasbourg, (hopefully) southern France, and maybe Barcelona. It's crazy intense!

Oh, and one more picture of my first dinner I made in my apartment!

And here's a look at the Gardens of Versailles (I'm sure you all missed hearing my voice!)