#auparis

First of all let me say OW. My poor toes have seen better days.

Monday:

Back to La Defense!!! I didn't get too lost this time, but of course I was with my host mum. Actually when I am not a nervous mess it's actually an interesting place to explore! I even went to French McDonald's! Looking at the menu I wasn't brave enough to order anything other than macaroons and a smoothie but still it was a step! I will be going there twice a week starting soon so I think that I will get more adventurous. 

So I took my written and oral test. Oral didn't go as well as the written. I am so shy in general and adding a new language into the mix and almost all the words I have ever learnt, English and French, left my mind. It was awful! I ended up getting into the "fake" beginner class. Not quite level two but more than level one. My classes start Oct. 13th and will be Monday and Thursday from 10-1:30, for the next 12 weeks. Originally I thought that I was going to have to go to the location in Paris that was almost an hour from my home, but luckily there was an opening at this location that is only a 25 minute train ride!

Tuesday:

Mummy's Club at the park! It's always so nice to have the kids play at the park while you can talk with other people your own age. Sharing stories of the kids and the families make the whole thing so much easier to handle. I love trading stories because there are some days where you want to kill these kids but hearing other people with the same type stories is great because it makes you feel less crazy. 

Jules also tried his first English phrase on me... "I. Have. To. Poop." It was great. So we had to go poop, in the library. Where he clogged the toilet. Yet another thing that I cannot explain in French. Always an adventure with these kids.

Another night of babysitting as well, much less of a disaster than the first night, only Jules cried himself to sleep, and everyone was asleep before 9:30 which meant that I was also asleep soon after.

Wednesday:

Always a fun and interesting day. Always a LONG day.

We had two separate soccer practices and a drawing lesson. In different parts of town, within 20 minutes apart.

J at 2:30 soccer

G at 3:00 drawing (the opposite end of town)

A at 3:30 soccer

Everything over by 5:30.

My day started at 11:30 (of course I was up and cooking lunch much earlier than that) and ended at 11:30. Waking up, eating, going to the butcher and bakery, cooking lunch, picking up kids, feeding them, taking them to their activities, helping with homework, making dinner, showering them, feeding them again. It is all hard work. And to make matters even better, I was sick. With a fever. It was a fun day.

Thursday: was much better.

Nothing interesting happened. We had to walk home in the rain which sucked, then had to walk to G's piano lesson in the rain which also sucked but at least we were prepared for that trip in the rain with our boots and umbrellas.

Friday:

So relaxed. I love Fridays. I do laundry and fold and iron and go to the market, all  on my time at my own pace. The mum is home on Friday's so I don't really have to do anything kid related unless it is babysitting which will only happen some Friday nights. Plus this weekend the family was away camping so I was by myself Friday through Sunday afternoon.

Friday night into Sunday morning I went on a 30 minute ghost tour at Versailles Castle. The castle where countless French royalty lived and where French court was moved in the 1500-1600's, also the place where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned and beheaded. Creepy little fact but interesting to me because I am strange. We didn't see any ghosts, at least not that I noticed. (it is said to be the most haunted place in France so I was really hoping) But honestly I think that we were being so loud and there was so many people it probably scared the ghosts away. I want to spend the night there alone and see what it really has to offer, but I am not sure that is allowed... And if it is it probably costs more money than I will ever have, being that I am a poor, struggling college student and all. Overall, while disappointing that we saw no ghosts, though I suppose they could have been hiding and watching us, or invisible, it was still a very fun night and I didn't get home until almost 1:30 am. Much to my dismay because I had to be up at 10 am.

Saturday:

Aka the best day ever and the day my feet died.

I will forever stand by my claim that getting lost and seeing where the road takes you is the best way to discover Pairs.

We went through beautiful gardens, cobbled streets, eat chocolate sandwiches with our feet hanging over the river, it was all so amazing. 

We found this insanely beautiful Mosquee de Paris that we went inside of. SO GORGEOUS. I was wearing a dress, because I did not know we would be going to a mosque, so I had to cover up with a wrap, actually two wraps and was quite the fashion statement. But it was all good fun, I wasn't going to disrespect a religion and I think that it just added to the experience. 

By the time we were done exploring and we had to find the hairdresser (Silvia was going to get ll her hair cut off and needed moral support), my feet were actually bleeding. So we had to go to a drug store and buy band-aides. Like there was no way that i was going to be able to walk any further with out them. But in finding a drug store we stumbled across these two gorgeous old extremely Parisian streets, Rue Mouffetard and Henry IV. Each having a market with fruits and food and coffee and beer. It was so beautiful, we are going back to find Hemmingway's house which is in the area.

We drank coffee and beer at an adorable cafe, once again enjoying the amazingness that is Paris.

Until it started to rain.

But it was all good fun. I was soaked by the time I got home though. That part was awful.

Sunday:

Boring yet relaxing day.

What is the best thing to do by yourself when it is storming outside? ead in bed. That has been my day and it is fantastic.

I got my VISA!

Well it isn't in my hands yet, but I got approved. I pick it up 2 days before I leave, cutting it short I know. Bu I guess it was for the best that I changed my flight dates back a week. Thinking about the fact that if I hadn't changed it I would be leaving this Friday is crazy to me. I definitely would not be ready to leave yet. Like not just physically with packing and stuff but emotionally. I have too many people to see before i leave and not enough time! Even the thought of it is giving me anxiety. Holy crap.

Every once in a while I think to myself, "Why are people letting me do this?! WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA?!" But then I think of how amazing this is going to be, what an fantastic experience this will be.

I have been practicing my French but it seems like anytime someone asks me I forget everything that I have learnt, as soon as they walk away I remember it again.

I have decided to switch my blog over to a tumblr blog because it is a platform that I am used to and much more user friendly. Plus I am on tumblr everyday so it will remind me (:

20 days and counting.

I have EVERYTHING ready. All my paperwork, medicine; I have packed, decided the books I want to bring, unpacked, packed again and repicked out my books, I AM READY.

I have my Visa appointment next Wednesday, and I have been ASSURED that I have everything that I need to get everything in place, yet I am still a little bit nervous. Speaking of nerves, they are really hitting me. Throughout the past few months I have had little things to keep my OCD and anxiety busy. I was able to focus all my nerves into those things. Now nothing is in front of me except for moving and I have realized that I am terrified... But in a good way! I set my mind and my heart on this and I will not let this dream go.

Every time I talk to the family I fall a little bit more in love with the kids. The more I think that my choice in family is perfect. It is all so insane.

I will be posting more often the closer I get and one I am there!!

Ever wondered what camping in the Alps with a hot French chick is like? 

Travel advice, don't give yourself a place to go back to and you'll explore more.