Hey Hey Hey,
2 days down in Paris and already I've seen and learned so much. I arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport weds. morning after a suprisling quick 9 hour flight. On my flight I watched Harry Potter, V for Vendetta, and A Bugs Life, and played chess and tetris with this cool guy sitting next to me. At the airport, my bags were the last to come, and I mean, last. I was the only one standing there. There was some actor on the plane too, I forgot where he was from, I wanna say the OC or something like that.

Im staying with my pal David. Paris is divided into sections, arrondissements. He lives in the 20th. He's a funny dude, knows a lot about Paris, and has been taking us everywhere. After dropping off my bags, we went to a little cafe for lunch.
NOW- I thought that since the Euro was stronger than the dollar, smaller coinage would hold more, but no, prices are about the same as they would be even if it was dollars, so a sandwich in the US may be $7. Here is would be 7 Euros, which is about $9. Injustice. The difference is, you don't eat as much, and usually you just have a little bread with cheese or ham.
After lunch, and some walking around, I had to crash. My legs were barely under me and I had no idea what time it was.

Truthfully, I have no idea where I am. This place is strange, and I am definitely feeling culture shock. I don't fell homesick, just lost and again, I keep questioning what I am doing here and why I chose this place over others. Living here will not be easy, nor will going to school or working. The French have a way of making things difficult and they take pride in that. Though this place is really clean (except for dog poop), super markets close in the middle of the day for no damn reason. They simply choose too. And nothing is open past 10, except cafes. David says August is tourist season, so only central Paris is open. All the real Parisians are gone, on vacation. I have already looking for apartments and it seems it wont be hard to find a place. I have already been speaking with people through the email. But the rooms are tini tiny for like $700, 600E.

After my nap, went to the outside of the Louvre to meet up with my cousin, Christina. She is staying with us, they we are headed to Germany to meet up with her mom. We went to the Eiffle tower and have bread with chocolate. We saw my bridge, pont de Alexandre. We saw the Eiffle tower sparkle. We saw Notre Dame and had dinner in the Latin Quarter, which is really tight. Small streets and a lot of yound people. It was the more posh area with more stores and movie theaters. I would like to live around there, but It probably costs an arm and a leg.

I am looking forward to moving in somewhere and setting up somewhat of a life here. A year is a long time, but goes fast, and here, I'm sure it will. I want to find the awesomeness of Paris that dwarfs the city's problems. But for now, I'll stay in shock and use that to explore. Boys: the girls here are cute. They're thin, and like to dress nice. They all were skirts and little heals. Even the grungy ones are cute, and they have cute butts.

Montmarter, where Amelie was filmed, is the old part of Paris. It is full of old buildings that have stood before America was born, and churches that warm the heart and chill the spine. We visited Sacre-Coeur, a huge cathedral, with access to its tower top, the highest point in Paris, and to its crypts, a dark basement with sculptures of jesus in his tomb, post crusifiction. It was pretty cool. Plenty of fake purses.



Tomorrow I go to Munich, via London. Wish me luck. Terrorism is a pretty horrible thing, and it is something that is happening to all of us, all around the world. The thoughts of bring children into a world that is bent on destryoing itself is a scary. Where is our future, in war, or peace, heaven, or hell? Is fear what we should preach, or love? According to Donny Darko, it's more complicated than that, and we have to keep that in mind. We also need to start thinking for ourselves. In all this madness, that is what I'm learning abroad, to think for myself. I only hope that I am not over come by fear.

Keep your head up ya'll.

God bless. A.