Recap

So I realize that it's been a fair while since I last posted, and I just wanted to apologize profusely, both to whoever's reading this and myself, because I realize that I really need something to remember this experience and I'm not doing anyone any favors by putting this off. A lot of stuff has gone on since, and I really hope that I can remember enough, although I'm sure that I've forgotten plenty. I'll start off at the beginning and work my way back.

So last time I posted, it had been the first few days that I had gotten back. Now, my homestay is over and I'm in a one-star hotel that happens to be a block away from Notre-Dame. Which isn't all that bad, it's just ridiculously cramped. We'll be leaving the hotel for Montpellier on Wednesday, but I really wish that we could stay in Paris permanently. I like the beach and all, but I really love this city, and I can't wait for the school year to start so we can make our way back. But I digress. The day after I put up my last post, I went to my neighbor's school, because Nicolas had to study, so I didn't see much of his friends after that, except for Marion who was at his house once after that. So we went to her school, and we were about 30 minutes early. Everyone had stationed themselves facing the school across an intersection, smoking enough to replace at least three bonfires. It was charming. And also rather smelly. Noticing my extreme discomfort/asphyxiation (ironic that I'm typing this while listening to a song that's repeating "I can breathe again", it's French so I don't know the title. Whatever.), everyone proceeded to ask me if people smoked in America. I told them that young kids never smoked in public like this, and that it's very rare for people to smoke, and when they offered me a cigarette and I told them that I didn't smoke, they didn't believe me at all. One thing that I always have to tell myself here is that it's a different country. Just keep telling myself that, up until the point where they all tell me that ritual sacrificing of Americans is quite common, and that they'd need me to lay down on this bier for a brief moment.

So after the first day, which was somewhat uneventful and incredibly boring, we basically just toured around town, mainly to Nice. One day we went down to the Nice air show, celebrating the 150th anniversary of Nice's joining France, and it was really amazing. The only problem that I had was the fact that the announcer liked the sound of his voice a bit too much, and kept talking for at least an hour and a half after the show had actually finished. People were getting pretty angry at him, but he didn't seem to get the point. Anyways, Nice is absolutely beautiful. Old Nice is incredibly colorful, filled with lots of fruit, olive oil, and gelato stands, has a few beautiful cathedrals scattered here and there, and has an amazing view of a turquoise beach. A perfect place to live if you have a ridiculous amount of money, which I happen to not have. After going to Nice a lot, the weather got kind of crappy, so we stayed away from there given that it was pointless to enjoy the beach in stormy weather.

I have to wrap it up now, but I'll be adding more stuff tomorrow! It's almost midnight, so I need to get myself into bed. I'll add a part two later on. I realize that I can edit my posts, but for some reason I just prefer adding it in parts. Adds to the suspense, no? Because I'm sure the entire internet is reading my blog right now, anxious to hear what happens next. See you all tomorrow!