My Room

I realized I haven't really let you guys know what my living quarters are like. Well! I'm in what's called Foyer Tolbiac, address is 234 (I think) rue de Tolbiac, 13th district, Paris, France. I have a room mate who is about 24. She's originally from Lebanon, but she's lived in France for around 2 years I believe. She's really nice and knows English really well, so when I get home and my head is way too crammed with French to function, we can speak in English together. She's gone a lot because she works and she's also in a choir since she wants to be a professional opera type singer some day. She sings when she gets ready for bed and it's really pretty. 

My bed and window. See the balcony?

My desk and little fridge

The view from my window (you can see my balcony better here)

The dorm is kind of modern 70s looking on the outside, but most of the buildings around it are really pretty. The rue Tolbiac is very cute and has a lot of cafes and supermarket type stores in the area. The China Town area of Paris is East of my foyer down Tolbiac a little bit. I've eaten at 2 Chinese places already and they've been wonderful!

It's Green Here!

Just wanted to quick point out one thing I keep noticing that's really different from what I thought Paris would be. I knew before coming here that it doesn't snow much in Paris, but I knew it was still really cold, which it is. For example, as I type this, the temp outside is roughly 32 degrees Fahrenheit. And yet I keep seeing green, LIVING, plants everywhere! The trees are still normal because they have all lost their leaves, but there's green grass everywhere and pots of plants in people's windows that are green and growing. Some even have flowers! Here's a picture I snapped a few days ago.

GREEN GRASS IN JANUARY?!

La Notre Dame de Paris!

The following events actually occurred Saturday, Jan 28th, I just didn't have time to blog until now.

Notre Dame

So Saturday was a fun day of walking around and getting to know Paris. I stayed mostly around the middle area by the Seine. After over 5 days in Paris, I finally got to see the Notre Dame! I meet a group of girls from Central there and we walked through the cathedral and afterwards we walked around the shops close by. We also stopped in a cafe and got crepes and hot drinks because it was REALLY cold that day! 

Here are some pix:

Exploring Paris:

After we saw the Notre Dame, we explored Paris to the North of the Seine. We saw the Hotel de Ville and there was a little carnival or something in front  of it. There was a cute carousel there, and for some reason some of the girls thought it was free so they hopped on, but when it started a lady came around and collected 2,50 Euros from them! Haha! I stayed off to take pictures, so I got some nice before and after pictures. 

When they thought it was free...

After they realized it wasn't

We also ran into a parade for Chinese New Year: the year of the dragon! 

Lastly, We met a friend in front of the Notre Dame later when it was getting dark to go find somewhere to eat, so naturally I took more pictures, because it's absolutely gorgeous at night!