back to school to prove to my dad that i'm not a fool.

[tiff posing for a picture. this picture cracks me up every time. what a model citizen she looks like.]

last tuesday was my official first day of school here in paris. i was pretty stoked about it guys. probably more than i would be in provo. actually duh, yeah. 

 [this is what school does to us. also, shout-out to my sister maria for letting me bring her hat with me to paris. funny story, i've got the same one and couldn't find it, but i reeeaally wanted to bring it. and she was nice enough to oblige.]

[tiffany, hailey, moi, holly, and maddie. one big happy family.]

my first class was french 457R, which is french for a french culture/civilization/architecture class. daryl teaches it...and it's pretty funny because he's pretty passionate about the topics and gets all loud and big and it takes everything in me to keep a straight face. but it seems like it'll be a cool class, other than all the freakin' reading we have to do/research paper we'll have to eventually do. bleeechhhh. he did recommend a nearby falafel place for us all to try after class, which of course, i was so down for. i basically should've grown up in lebanon/greece because i love falafel. it's like french fries for me....as are many other things.

[l'as du fallafel= ace of falafel. not "ass"<--i used quotes, it's okay, the church is still true. also, from left to right: kristine, shelbey, sam, tiff, me, maddie, and hailey. we iz fans.]

get ready for this next picture, because it just might ruin your day. even though it made mine, plus my life.

[hooooo man, was it good. it's got a couple different kinds of cabbage on it, plus cucumbers, tomatoes, grilled eggplant, cucumber/yogurt sauce, and spicy sauce. all that in a fluffy white flour pita=magic in my mouth. and it was only five euro, which is pretty dang good. and it keeps you full all day long. so yeah, it's basically my new home. just call me michelle dl'asdufallafeltrup. okay, don't really call me that.]

oh, and this shop was right in the middle of the jewish community over here. and lemme just tell you, i basically died and went to heaven when i saw shops displaying huge batches baklava and challah bread. maria, you would die. DIE. and lucky me, it's steps away from my school, so i can always take a "bathroom break" and run down to my new personal heaven. so freakin' excited.

after we gorged ourselves, we decided we should also indulge in some delicious chocolat chaud [hot chocolate] and went to the famous angelina's for some. everybody over here raves that it's the place to go, so of course we had to try it.

[i got the chocolat maroccain, which was perfect because it was really dark and bitter and rich and creamy, and then you put a dollop of fresh whipped cream and just melt away on a cloud. a chocolate cloud. no jokes here.]

me and tiff got the same, and then sam and holly tried the white hot chocolate. i tried some of theirs, and it was pas mal, but pretty sweet. which isn't a bad thing, but i like my chocolate really dark and rich.

[can't you just see how my pinky's aching to be out? i shoulda let it. dang my un-sophisticated self. and the place was so cute and proper, i couldn't help but drool all over it. i felt so fancy with piano music playing as i sipped my hot chocolate. i just loved it, and i can't stress that enough. made me wanna go back to my tea party days, but instead of ramen noodle broth, i'd definitely use hot chocolate this time.]

after that, i left all the girls to go to l'institut catholique for my french 201 class. first off, it was my first time being all by myself in paris/france/different country. and it might sound stupid, but it was way cool. i had my ipod on, of course, and just strutted my stuff over to the metro. call me a dork, but i loved it. i did not love my french class though...

it was 3 hours long, and really wasn't that bad, but we had to take a placement test [on the first day, whaaaa??!] which me and my friend kelly were stressin' way bad over. anyone who knows me knows i hate tests. i'm terrible at them, i second guess myself, and i usually end up bombing them, regardless of how much i study. so naturally i was pretty nervous for this one, seeing as how it had been four months since i'd last studied french, plus i was told that if you didn't do that well on it, they would move you back down to 102, which i did NOT want because i've already taken it. i think i ended up doing okay, but it was a little bit of a wake-up call. a good wake up call, you could say.

after class, i met up with tiffany, samantha, and hailey and we all went to the monoprix for some grocery shopping and returning my stupid 40 euro blow dryer that i had accidently [as in i thought it was the 20 euro one, but ended up being the wrong one, not "oh whoops, how did this get here?". i'm not THAT much of a compulsive shopper, people. sheesh.] bought the night before and wanted to exchange.

background on monoprix's: they're basically like a super walmart/target with both food and clothes and appliances and stuff like that, but way nicer. like, i wanna buy a lot of the clothes there. is that sad? they really are cute and look nice! like gap nice, not rodeo drive nice. but still. moving on...

[i don't know if you can really understand exactly how big this twix bar was. and i don't know if you can really understand exactly how tempted i was to buy this right then and there on the spot. who cares how much it costs, it's awesome! but then i had to remind myself that we have twix in the states, and it's french stuff i should be blowing my money on. but still.....i just might have to buy it. c'mon 10 + 2 gratuits, what a steal. and it might even be 12x2, which is 24....OKAY TOTALLY GETTING IT.]

after that, we came home and madame fed us dinner. i would've taken a picture, but manu made fun of me the day before because i looked like a chinese tourist with my camera glued to my hand. plus, it was in my room, and i was not about to get off my butt to take a picture. the food though...it was interesting, but pretty good. ham [as in deli-meat ham, not thanksgiving ham] and a baked potato and that fancy famous mustard i talked about earlier. when all combined in one bite, it was delicious. i'll definitely do that again when i get back to the states....if i ever actually buy potatoes. and deli-meat ham. and let's get real, mustard. i'm a condiment-buying virgin. 

and for dessert, ice cream sundaes with hot home-made chocolate sauce and nuts. made me all happy and giddy inside. food just makes me so dang happy! in a healthy-ish way, mentally. i know you're not supposed to live to eat, but let's be honest, my life is at least half-based around food. good food though. and i'm totally happy with that.