It\u2019s been almost exactly two weeks since I\u2019ve last written, and I\u2019ve done and seen so much.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s start with the orientation week, the first week here. It was crazy, finally seeing the city and all the things I\u2019ve only read about or seen in movies. We visited Saint Chapelle, which is one of the most breathtaking things I\u2019ve ever seen. It seemed as if the stained glass went from floor to ceiling, basking the whole room in a warm, glassy glow.<\/p>\n
I got to see Notre Dame, which I was so excited for. It truly was an awe-inspiring place. All the faces etched into the stone, watching the people going in and out, the way they have for hundreds and hundreds of years. And the inside, with vaults so tall it seems to extend into darkness, further than your eyes can even see.<\/p>\n
And I literally just got back last night from a tour of the Loire Valley and the chateaus there. These buildings were outstanding, and the French country side I saw from the bus was beautiful. I\u2019m really excited for my further travels in this country.<\/p>\n
But I\u2019ve also done so much more than sight-seeing. We finished our first week of class last week. I\u2019m taking a language class (of course), a culture class, an architecture class, and I\u2019m working on developing an independent study.<\/p>\n
My French is not as good as I thought. It\u2019s so different, speaking in a classroom in America and speaking conversationally with French people. But every week, we go to the Sorbonne, to talk to French students. So, if I keep working at it, I know I\u2019ll improve.
\nI definitely feel different here. I\u2019ve never even lived in a big city before, and now I\u2019m in Paris, taking the metro, learning my way around. It\u2019s a little overwhelming at times. But I keep having these little successes that help me feel okay. Like the other day, I calmly and concisely ordered my lunch in a caf\u00e9. I felt that, as long as I could feed myself, I was going to be okay. And I know I will.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s been almost exactly two weeks since I\u2019ve last written, and I\u2019ve done and seen so much. Let\u2019s start with the orientation week, the first week here. It was crazy, finally seeing the city and all the things I\u2019ve only read about or seen in movies. We visited Saint Chapelle, which is one of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hollins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8090"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15494,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8090\/revisions\/15494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}