Hot Day in the City

Sorry for the delay in this update.  I've had a really busy two days.  I've been taking Paris by storm and seeing the sites and enjoying the city immensely!

Friday was my second class at the Sorbonne.  It went very well.  I was actually a little surprised at how fast the two hours of class flew by!  We're learning some really basic stuff and it's actually somewhat enjoyable to be able to sit in a French class and know what is being taught/what the teacher is saying.  Obviously this is a new concept for me.  One time in my Intermediate French class Sophomore year my professor looked at me in the middle of class and (in English) said "Why do you look so scared?"  I was 1) embarrassed and 2) even more frightened that she was going to call on my scaredy-cat self.  These anxiety problems has ceased to occur in this class, well, at least for now.  Who knows what the future holds.

After class on Friday, Kaley, my roommate, and I set out to explore Paris and to make up for our lazy holiday on Thursday.  Oh boy, did we make up for it.  We started off our productive day with taking the quick walk over to the Pantheon, which is in the center of the Sorbonne's campus.  Wow is all I have to say.  It was amazing.  For starters, the exterior of the building is astounding and, as I learned on our self-lead tour of the building, is modeled after the Roman Pantheon (duh).  The inside, on the other hand, is even more impressive.  It is beautifully decorated in floor to ceiling length tapestries and paintings of the Republique of France.  Apparently, the Pantheon was built as a church and then flip-flopped between secular and nonsecularism for a good 200 years during the revolution and the some 8 Republics and various monarchies that France had in between then and now.  Currently it is modeled in a very patriotic and pro-revolution kind of way, which is very inspiring.  Nothing like a good revolution that really inspires you, right?  By far the coolest part, and in keeping with the Revolutionary tradition, was the Crypt.  So creepy but so cool.  Underneath this building are dozens of highly regarded French men and women who served their country and the Revolution with all their might.  Well, at least for the most part.  For some people I just didn't make the connection, but that's what the plaque said so that's what I'm going with.  Down in the cold, creepy Crypt there were the...ahem, remains of some really cool people.  I saw the eternal resting place of Voltaire, Rousseau, Marie Curie, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, and so many other cool Frenchies that I have no concept of.  It was fascinating!!  At one point I did get a little freaked out looking at the stone encompassing of a person who had been dead for over 200 years, but that feeling quickly dissipated when I was surrounded by some of France's greatest writers.  It was beyond cool!

After the Pantheon Kaley and I strolled through the Luxembourg gardens over towards Montparnasse where we had shopped the day before.  We were on a mission to find the three floor H&M that we had walked right past the day before.  We found it and it was glorious.  Amazing.  I almost bought this gorgeous dress, but I felt like I could buy the same thing in the States and that is wasn't really worth the extra weight in my suitcase.  Believe it or not, the fact that I have to fit everything and more into my two little suitcases to come home has been seriously limiting my shopping excursions here in Paris.  I'm quite proud of myself.  H&M was followed by lunch at a nice cafe next door.  However, Kaley and I decided to be cheap and save our money by buying a panini from the vendor outside and eating it in the cafe.  I could seriously live off "Trois Fromage Paninis".  They are amazing.

Our lovely lunch date was followed with a metro ride over to CEA to see if we could borrow a hairdryer and also inquire about our pending trip to Nice next weekend *squeal*.  The trip looks to be in good shape, but there were no more hairdryers to be lent out so we trekked on over to La Place de Republique to do some electronics shopping.  Darty, I've discovered, is the French equivalent of Best Buy, only weirder.  The way to buy electronics in France is absolutely bizarre!  We walked into this huge department store and upon finally finding our way down to the Beauty and Health section stumbled upon the hairdryers and straighteners.  We then proceeded to wait for 5 minutes for a sales clerk to approach us about which model we would like.  We told her which ones we wanted (in French of course!) and that we were going to pay in cash.  She printed out receipts for us and told us to go back upstairs to the cashier's desk.  Ok, so we went up the escalator and waited in line to give the cashier our receipt and pay for our purchase.  After doing so we were given another receipt and told to go down to the warehouse to pick up our items.  Weird.  So we found our way back downstairs to the warehouse where we waited in line again to give our new receipt to another employee who went in the back to retrieve our electronics.  Woof.  It was such an ordeal!   But, I did buy the cheapest straightener in town.  I can't tell yet if that's a good or bad thing, but there's only one way to find out!  Tomorrow (or I guess today now) is Versailles!  I can't wait to officially be a tourist and see the great Cheateau of Versailles.  I'll have to write more about it later since our internet is freaking out and running at a snail's pace.  Love