Bonjour et Introduction

Gosh, where to start? I've only been in Paris for a couple weeks, but already so much has happened! I guess the best way to go is to divide this thing into sections and try to go chronologically.

So I arrived in Paris what seems like an age ago, but my first night was quite memorable. The son of my hosts had a few people over to make sushi, or so I thought. Sushi was made (or at least we tried), but mostly we just drank. I was in completely over my head.

It's worth it to pause for a second to describe the differences between nights of drinking in the States versus in Paris. First of all, in Paris, you almost always have food involved with the drinking. This is good because you don't get anybody so riproaring drunk that they black out, and it makes the evening more social. Second, often the night ends with the food and drinking - going out to bars and clubs isn't as common. Third, people here dress to the nines. I felt completely out of place. I was in a t-shirt and jeans (as usual), and everybody was a foot taller than I!

So we played drinking games, we ate, other people smoked (everybody smokes cigarettes here), and I slept like a baby and immediately got rid of the jetlag. Vocabulary learned:

une geule de bois = hangover

etre morte = to be completely drunk

vomir = to vomit

The first week was filled with running around and accomplishing administrative things and discovering the city a bit. I signed up for my French courses, walked in the Jardin du Luxembourg, went to see a classical music concert in the Jardin de Vincennes, and discovered the Restaurants Universitaires (where for 3 euros I can get an entree (appetizer), a plat (main course), and a dessert). I got a student card, a library card, a bank account and a cell phone. It turns out, I'm somewhat responsible. This stuff isn't so easy to get when you have no real support system and everything is done in a foreign language. I was beat every night when I went to sleep.

With all this accomplished, obviously a vacation was needed. So I left for a week to go to Sardinia. What an adventure! Sardinia is an Italian island between Sicily and Corsica on the Mediterranean. Someone asked me why I'd never thought about going to Sardinia before, and I answered that from the US it's harder to know the smaller destinations. I wouldn't imagine RyanAir would have a roundtrip flight from New York to Alghero for 43 euros either!

Immediately upon arrival, it became apparent that this was going to turn into 2 different trips. The beaches were spectacular and plentiful, so obviously we'd take advantage of those. But inland (and Sardinia is a small island, so "inland" can be reached in 5 minutes from the beach), you have farmers and mountains and beautiful scenery as well. The food as well was divided between the coast and inland. On the coast, seafood is king. Pasta dishes are served with frutti di mare (clams, calimari, shrimp, etc.), and fish dishes are plentiful. Inland, it's all about the meat and vegetables. There are what are called agriturismi everywhere, which are farms where you can stay the night and eat a delicious meal. All food was very simply presented though - the freshness of the ingredients spoke for themselves.

We spent the first 4 days on the east cost of Sardinia, close to Oristano. We camped out, which was exciting, and our campsite had a beautiful beach. I ran on the beach for the first time. Running in sand ain't so easy! While we were pretty relaxed the entire vacation, we were still able to accomplish a ton. We visited small cities close to our campsite, we tanned on the beach (I have significantly more freckles than when we left), we biked, and we even hiked a bit. I can't describe with words the beauty of the coast - I will have to do so in pictures. Suffice it to say you feel as if you're in some sort of utopia where everything becomes beautiful.

After those 4 days we headed back up to Alghero to a campeggio (campsite) just outside the city. Alghero is much more touristy and so we stayed away from the city itself, but took hikes along the coast and found out-of-the-way beaches to swim at. We also went scuba diving - my first time! Although I spent most of the time learning how to breathe and how not to have a ringing pain in my ears, I still saw some fun fish and some interesting reefs.

And so now I'm back in Paris and refreshed, and ready to explore some more! An apartment is my first order of business, but I haven't lost sight of my larger goals - learn a foreign language, learn to cook simply and well, and work in a foreign country. I'll keep everybody updated as I try to accomplish these goals!