The end of month 1!! wow

So time does fly by quite fast.  I keep feeling like everything is going by so slow, but I have already been here for a month and it feels like I just got here.  I am getting more comfortable living in Paris, which is a good thing.  Hopefully everything will feel totally comfortable by the time I leave.  But to think about it, that is how it always is…you finally get comfortable with something and then you need to leave. 

So I am 100% officially a student of Saint-Denis, Paris 8.  I got my student card yesterday and I even registered for all of my classes.  I am taking 4 courses this semester, and I already finished one 3 credit course since I have been here through MICEFA.  The classes here a much different, there is no set time slots for the classes, it is all based upon when the professor wants class to be each week.  For example, there is no MWF 9:10-10:05 classes, the teacher decides they want class 12-3 in the afternoon and thats when class is.  Oh another thing about classes here is that they meet only once a week generally for 3 hours, but sometimes 2 and 1/2.  Anyway, my courses this semester are, Litterature and Politics, French Grammer, Expression through Speaking and Writing and the schooling of non-french speaking students (essentially learning how to teach non-french speaking students french).  I am most excited about the teaching course, it is going to be very difficult, but I am so interested to learn about methods of teaching and instruction in France.  I am also sure that it will help me be a better French teacher in the US.  Europe must be doing something right with foreign language instruction considering almost everyone speaks at least one foreign language. 

The past few days have been very ordinary days, even though I live in Paris I still need to do chores and errands like in the states.  It is not always the glitz and glamour people think of when they hear you are studying abroad :). I went to they gym, did grocery shopping, did my laundry and cleaned my apartment.  The past 3 days have been very productive.  Although, I will have to say that doing laundry here was a little bit of a challenge.  Once I figured it out it wasn’t that hard, I just had to learn how the process worked.   They charge by the weight of your laundry but then you are supposed to know (through growing up and living in europe) that the washers are different sizes.  So technically you pay to use a washer and they hold a certain amount of laundry.  Then the other big difference is that you have to load your washer, make sure the detergent is in and there is one control panel by the door.  You put the number of your washer machine into the keypad then it tells you how much to pay and you put the money in.  But to control everything in the laundry mat there is one place to pay and everything has a number, even to buy laundry detergent.  The fun things you have to learn in a foreign country and take for granted at home. 

That is it for now, I have some more things I have to do today.  Enjoy my post for now, hopefully I will post again soon. 🙂