I'm Baaaack & More Decaffeinated Than Ever Before!

Hey guys! I'm back.  It only took them about 3 days to fix my computer.  Apparently they put in a new logic board, whatever that means.  I got a cool blue plastic cover for it too, so it looks pretty sweet right now.

My schedule right now is super busy, so that's why I haven't had time to update.  For the rest of this week and next week I have class every day from 8:30-12:30 and every other day from 4:30-6:30.  Tons of class! Tons of work.  My two morning classes are vocabulary and grammar, and my afternoon class is the same one I've been taking (with Emily on La Haute Couture).  Emily's class is really the only class that is really hard for me and also, we have the most work in that class.

Fortunately, I get to skip her class tomorrow as I am going to Paris this weekend!!! Yup. I leave tomorrow after my morning classes at 1:20, which means I have to pack tonight and go straight from class to the train station.  It worked out this way because the trip tomorrow is way cheaper than the ones that leave later in the day or on Friday.  Also, I didn't want to get to Paris very late because I don't really know where the train station is relative to downtown.

My mom's sister Ninette is there with her husband and her three kids (my cousins, clearly) and they will be there until Saturday morning.  I'm going to stay with them tomorrow night and Friday night and then I'm going to pay Maureen a visit!!! Maureen arrived in Paris today.  I'm probably going to crash on her couch for Saturday and Sunday.  I can't wait to see her!  Monday is a national holiday here, so I'm not coming back to Grenoble until Monday evening.

Today was really productive.  I had class 8:30-12:30, lunch, bought my train ticket at the SNCF boutique downtown, went back to the University, wrote a 600-word paper in 2.5 hrs for Emily's class.  Yeah, I know we just had one due Monday, don't worry about it.  >:-| Then I went back downtown to pick up my computer.

While I was waiting for the tram to take me downtown, this guy sat next to me at the stop and asked me if I was married. I was like, no. He was like, oh do you have a boyfriend? I was so confused.  Since when do people stop you on the street and question your relationship status?  I put my iPod headphones in and stopped talking to him.  When the tram came he blocked the door and told me I was cute and he'd like to take me out sometime (props to me for understanding his French!).  I told him I was a lesbian (which I learned last weekend is the same word in French), and if he could please move because he was making me late for a date with my girlfriend...

Some thing I've noticed: there are two categories of young people here.  Those with multiple, painful-looking facial piercings who dress like punks and have really bad hair (think Pete Wentz), and those who are like 18 and married.  So, basically if you are under 25 and you live here, you are either a Joel Madden-wannabe or a Kevin Jonas- wannabe.  Just today, I sat on the bus next to a girl with a dyed black mullet wearing a Slipknot t-shirt.  It was all I could do to keep from wondering aloud...who told her that was cute?

Anyway, the life I've settled into here is drastically different from the life I have in Ann Arbor.  I've been going to bed between 10 and 11 and waking up at 7.  Yeah, I didn't know I was capable of that either.  Also, Paris better have a Starbucks, because I haven't had a coffee in like 4 weeks.  I don't like it hot and they don't do iced caffeinated drinks here.  Also, I've been going without my Diet Coke.  I feel like Amy Winehouse must have felt after her doctor told her she had to stop taking drugs or she would die within the month (she did stop, didn't she?)

DINNER TIME!!!!!!!!!!! later dawgz.