Day 2: 11 rue de Eugene Gibez

So, I'm writing a blog, mostly to please my mother. She has asked me to tone down on the snark since I'm not David Sedaris or Mark Twain.

I didn't have the energy or battery power to begin yesterday. It was pretty draining, given that I waited three hours to check in to the Hilton at Charles de Gaulle, the power in the room went out, an emergency alarm went off, and I received news of hostage situations. To reward myself, I indulged in some sole and Sauvignon Blanc.

Today, I moved into my new home for the next five months. The journey was more tiring than the plane ride, and I've been made fun of a lot for bringing three suitcases and a carry-on bag with me. (Do people expect me not to wear clothes?) Some people admittedly came with one bag, and though it's the more economical choice, I'd rather have most of my things than buy everything in Paris (though the idea is quite tempting).

The apartment is cute. I'll post some pictures, expecting only Mom to look at them. The bathroom is about as big as my tub at home, so that should be interesting. I'm sharing a room with another girl, Nicole, and our other roommate, Amanda, is across the hall. We have a kitchen with a washing machine--quite a score, I'm told--and a living room and WiFi, most importantly. We also live right above a pizza place, so that's going to be extremely tempting.

My beautiful room. That window is a balcony, and the windows aren't barred like in China or at GW, thank goodness.

Closet space is nice. Except above the clothes on the left is another bar for my other roommate. I don't know if either of us is going to be tall enough to reach it, and step stools have been surprisingly hard to find.

What can I say, it's a desk.

Artwork that I found more pleasant than rubber ducks. (Sorry, Nicole, that's above your bed.)

Typical kitchen with its fridge, microwave, sink, and washing machine.

Living room, but I actually have no idea what we'll do in here.

The wonder of European bathrooms. I took two pictures to make it look a bit bigger.

Well, at least there's no bidet. Or worse--a squatter.

Hallway!

The elevator. It is tinier than the bathroom. Kristina would have a coronary just stepping inside, let alone traveling up it.

These stairs are only slightly terrifying.

I guess because we're girls we get butterfly artwork.

There's not really much else to report. I did see the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower while driving, and it was cool in the way that seeing the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington Cemetery pass by was cool upon first moving to DC. The Eiffel Tower is much more brown than I expected. Looks more like the chocolate pops my aunt got me than in any of the pictures I've seen online.

Orientation is tomorrow, and I am very hungry for some pizza. Heads up, Mom, I'm going to drink the tap water because I'd like to drink tea for free instead of paying for bottled water. And don't be so shocked that I unpacked. ;)