Hello Friends! I am maybe the most excited person in the world right now. Paris is amazing. My host parents and brother are some of the nicest people I've ever met. I have my own room in an amazing apartment. I just can't explain how blessed I am to be here. It is everything I hoped and dreamed for. It is all that I could ask for an more. On the plane with the Rotary Students, people would ask me where I was going and I would say Paris, and the response was always the same..."Lucky." I think that's an understatement. Anyways, let me recount my journey.



So last night I went to bed at 2:00 and got up at 4:30 to leave for DIA. The flight from DIA to Washington wasn't too bad, I slept for about 45 minutes. So we got to Washington a little early and there were about 50 Rotary students waiting for the same flight. It was great to meet everyone and find out where they were from and where they were going. There were so many though, I'm pretty sure I remember about half. So waiting sucked because I was basically in constant anticipation of leaving. But it didn't really hit me that I was leaving for 10 months. I don't think it has yet. It feels like an amazing vacation...but I'm sure that will change in the near future. Anyways, the flight from Washington to Paris was long, but not boring. I sat next to some really funny people that I got to know pretty well. We listened to music and talked about weird things we do and it was just fun to have people that I could talk to un-awkwardly. I listened to a lot of music, slept for a little bit, ate food, talked to some French students who were coming back from California.

When we finally arrived it was somewhat surreal. I have never been to Europe before, so it was weird stepping off the plane and being in the Charles De Gaulle airport, which is ridiculous by the way, and not ridiculous like Gaudy or nice, like ridiculously awkward with small baggage claims and weird underground tunnel things. I definitely prefer DIA. But it was fine, my bags came and nothing was lost, and I didn't even really go through customs, at least not like when I go to Canada and come back to the US and I get grilled by some guy about what I was doing. My host parents, Laurent and Marie-Aimee were there to pick me up.

We drove off in their Citroen into Paris, along with 17,000 other crazy drivers. I'm glad Rotary doesn't let you drive, because I would probably get killed trying to shift lanes or parallel park in some of the amazingly tiny spots on the Paris streets. My host parents are amazingly nice and patient with my French. My host mom speaks fluent English, so she helps out a little when she thinks I won't get an explanation in French or when I ask how to say something. She said she's only going to do this for the first week, then it will be all in French, which I am very excited for because I think too much English will hold back my French. It's not as hard as I thought it would be to communicate in French. I can say basically what I want to say, although I need to think before hand what I am saying and in what tense. I've already learned some new phrases, like slang for "it's hard" is "c'est galere." Listening is a little harder, although Marie-Aimee speaks somewhat more slowly with me than with her Husband or Louis, my host brother. I don't even need to know what they're saying to know they aren't talking to me, because she kind of just goes off and I can only catch some of it. I've smiled and said "Ah...Oui" probably 100 times when I somewhat understand what someone is saying. Although I think this will help with my communication skills in general, because I'm forced to listen completely to what the other person is saying before I think about what I want to say, because if I start thinking about a response I miss most of what they say. Unlike in English where usually when I have a conversation and most of the time I spend "Listening" is used to formulate a response or think about what I want to ask next.

So anyways, I had a small breakfast when I first got in the apartment with some orange juice and a croissant. I then took a shower, as I had been sweating for probably the preceding 20 hours. I took a very good, but short nap. (My comforter is very comfortable, in case you were wondering). Then we had lunch with a salad of tomatoes and some other stuff, along with bread and melon (which you eat with a spoon). I drank some Cider from Normandy which was very good, but quite different because of the small bite the alcohol brings to it. (Don't worry Mom and Dad, it's only 2%). Then we went out to explore the city, which is freaking unbelievable and beautiful. We drove past my school and went to a couple department stores, including one where I took that picture of the Tour Eiffel. It is called Printemps, and there is a large rooftop with a gorgeous panoramic view of Paris. So it was fun to walk around and have my host family explain sites to me and tell me about what was happening in the city. Then Louis and I took the Metro back to the apartment (immeuble) where I am now. The Metro is basically the exact opposite of anything that I could do in Fort Collins transportation wise. Actually, basically everything here is the exact opposite of Fort Collins. It is so weird to finally be here, but I love it beyond belief, and I'm so excited about this year. I am going to see Miami Vice with Louis tonight so that should be fun to meet his friends and see how they interact. Anyways, I should stop writing because you probably stopped reading a while ago. But keep me in your prayers!


Amazed and Excited,

Brent