Today I had my first early morning in a long time, I had turned off my alarm clock and nearly gone back to sleep before I realised that it wasn't a dream and that I actually did need to get up! I was enrolling in French lessons for the next two weeks and had to get there by eight for a test to measure my level of competence..... my first test (excluding the UMAT) in nearly 18 months! Needless to say I spent most of the time with the answers nagging at the back of my mind - just out of reach after three and a half years of no French! I was quite proud of my little paragraph for the 'describe where you live' section but the lady who marked my test commented 'wow, you don't like your verb conjugations, do you?' errr I had sat there singing in my head attempting to jog my memory of all those verbs we had memorised throughout the years but managed to mix many of them up into one big jumble - not pretty!

By the time my test had been marked and I had bought my textbooks I was really late for the class so had to do the cliché American movie entrance of opening the door and having everyone stare at me while I handed the teacher my form, being introduced to the class and then scurrying to a seat as the teacher continued the lesson. Everything is in French, including all of the explanations and instructions, which I think is even more beneficial than what is actually being taught! Most of the people in my class are African or Chinese with a few Mexican girls and an American man as well - I really love the classes, especially when I started to follow enough to ask and answer questions! I even love doing my homework - I think I need to bottle this enthusiasm for study and store some of it for next year!

After class I headed to the Marais area of Paris - one of the most fashionable areas with lots of clothes shops. Unfortunately since it was a Monday most of them were shut (probably fortunate for my bank account) I then managed to find my way (unintentionally) to Notre Dame - actually quite a distance away! I also didn't have my camera with me so of course came across so many stunning churches and sights (it joins the list of things to go back to!) It was then the usual afternoon/evening routine of picking up Aurore and Louis, cooking tea, the usual bed time struggle, highlighted by the discovery the new episodes of Offspring on iTunes which were promptly downloaded and thoroughly enjoyed!