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What a day, both some really great parts and some that made me want to pull my hair out! This morning after an NYU-provided breakfast of pain au chocolat, coffee, and fruit juice, we in Program II had our placement test, which really was not bad…I don’t think I did incredibly fantastically, but it was definitely not the horror show I was expecting, grace a Dieu! After the placement test I hung out in the salon with “the girls” as I’m now calling them: Lauren, Julie, and Supraja. We were all on our computers and chatting, and then around 2pm we went out to find some lunch.
What a great place we found! For 5E you can get a whole-baguette sandwich, a drink, and a dessert…I got a sandwich with chicken, lettuce, and tomato, a Fanta, and a delicious chocolate éclair. What a perfect French lunch! After lunch we went over to where Lauren is living so that she could drop off her things, and her apartment was gorgeous…it’s a homestay, so she has just one room and a bathroom in an older woman’s apartment, and she also has another NYU student there in another room, but the building she’s in is just insanely ornate and beautiful…Emily and I were definitely drooling!
After Lauren’s we went back to the NYU Center while Em went to the hospital, and we ended up just sitting in the salon on our computers, chatting with other people who came and went, until 6:30pm! We watched the new Grey’s Anatomy episode (and made quite a ruckus with our obnoxiously uproarious reactions!), and just had a lovely time sitting and chatting…I so wish we had some place like that at home NYU, but it’s fairly impossible. It feels so nice to just sit there and chat casually with people, who are all there for the same reason…it’s the perfect way to build community, without forcing it down our throats.
Then around 6:30pm someone suggested dinner, so the girls and I were trying to figure out a plan for food…then we asked the guys who were there, Chappy (weirdest nickname ever, for Constantino) if they wanted to come get dinner with us, and I suggested the Italian place we went to last night, so we went down to the subway, where we met up with Halley and bumped into this other guy Max, so then we all went down to Place d’Italie and met up with Emily. By the time we got down to the restaurant, there were 9 of us! But dinner was great! I split a pizza with Halley and a chocolate mousse with Max, and the tap water was free, so I got a full dinner for 6E…not too bad!
We got seated at this ridiculously long table, and the wait staff recognized Supraja and Emily and me from last night, so they laughed and joked with us a bit, and put tassely-flags in our desserts…I think we might become regulars there, though I feel weird becoming a regular at an Italian restaurant while I’m living in Paris!
After dinner Rob and Max went off to meet another friend, and the rest of us went up to Notre Dame, because Halley’s friend who’d been in Paris for New Year’s said she’d left her a note stuck into a bench by the Cathedral. Notre Dame was absolutely beautiful at night…there was still a big Christmas tree in front, and the lights on it made it look so gorgeous! We were totally dorky and touristy and took all kind of pictures in front of it, of course. Halley never managed to find the note from her friend, but we walked around some more, watching rollerbladers do cool tricks and watching the occasional boat go by on the Seine. It was so cool to stop and think about the fact that I am here in Paris, strolling along the Seine, talking with my new group of friends…it definitely hasn’t totally sunk in yet that this is my life for the next few months…but I’m so excited!
After a while people started to get cold and tired, so we all headed back to our respective homes, where I had to deal with the crappy part of today…realizing this afternoon that my debit card was missing!
Pain in the ASS. I’m pretty sure I threw it in the trash by accident this morning after I bought my Carte Orange, and I had to talk to Bank of America tonight for forever, trying to figure out what to do. First I got a guy who told me the best he could do was have a replacement card sent to my address in the States…he told me it would be there by “next Tuesday at the latest” and that my parents would have to send it to me, which means I probably wouldn’t have it till late next week. Um, so not going to work.
But then I called back after talking with my Dad and got a lovely woman who informed me of the VISA 911 service, which will send you a card or wire you money, anywhere in the world in less than 24 hours…sounds like a plan! So I talked to a very nice man named Logan who took all my info, gave me a confirmation number, and told me to wait for VISA to call me back and tell me where to go to get the money. So yay, I won’t have to starve or mooch from Emily until my replacement card gets here!
In the meantime, I have to wait for a callback, and I’m sleeeepy. Oh well, first day of class tomorrow!
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