Day 2

I hope you’re all doing well. I’m a little tired, but no real jet lag to speak of. Last night after I wrote, I walked down the street from my old school to the Monoprix that I used to shop at all the time. Monoprix is a chain that is basically the closest thing to a Walmart in France. It’s actually closer to being like a Target because it has nicer stuff and they have all the cutesy matching housewares and such. A bought a few postcards, two tubes of Prince cookies (which are these really simple but delicious sandwhich cookies- chocolate spread between two crisp plain cookies-and you can’t find them in the U.S.) and a 1.5 liter of Orangina. I was going to go out later and get a bite to eat, but once you start eating Prince cookies, well it is pretty hard to stop so that was basically my dinner. One thing I love about Paris is how there is something unexpected down almost every street. Yesterday I was strolling by a clump of police officers and thinking that they were all pretty tall, until i realized they were on rollerblades. Forget bicylce cops when you can have guys on rollerblades.

Today I got up early thinking that one of the housing agencies I wanted to visit opened at 9 and closed at noon, but I guess I read the paper wrong because they all definitely don’t open until the afternoon. So I decided to go try to find Sciences Po again and check in at the International Office. Now that is easier said than done because, unlike many Parisian universities, and very like the University of Florida, Sciences Po isn’t a building, it is housed in multiple buildings, and they are not contiguous, but rather are spread out over many blocks in whatever building the school could buy. So after wandering a bit I finally found a building labled Sciences Po and went in. It was definitley not the building I was looking for, but at least there was a man there who knew where I needed to go and was ablet o give me directions. So I finally made my way to the international office, but there is a sign saying that they only see students from 2-4 every afternoon and to please respect those hours. So that was a dead end. I had been planning on asking them their advice about the housing search and a good place to buy a cheap phone, etc. etc. But since It was 9 in the morning and I had 5 hours before I could talk to them, I figured it was best to get as much done as possible. So I walked back over to the Montparnasse area which I am most familiar with and therefore had the best chance of locating what I needed. After a little hunting I found a phone store that, if not the same one I bought my phone from last time, was at least similar in that you can buy rechargeable cell phones. That way you can just buy as many minutes as you need and you can buy them from any tabac. I figured that since I can’t figure out phone contracts in America there was no way on God’s green earth that I could understand one in French. The young guys working there were nice and I got a phone for 40 euros and the names of some cheap housing agencies that the guys recommended when I told them I was looking for an apartment. And just so you know, I’ve been here one day and I am already mixing up my french and english. I spelled apartment the french way 3 times before I realized it was wrong. So back to the housing hunt! A bientot mes amies-