The first two days

On the 27th, all of the students left from school at 9 a.m. and flew out of O'Hare at 2:15 p.m. The luggage doors on the bus were all frozen shut so we had to fit all of the luggage in the front of the bus. While on the bus I found out that our apartment which was supposed to have 3 girls was now going to have 4. We also aren't supposed to have internet until the 2nd when we are moving into an apartment that is closer to the PAA. When we got to the airport we had some problems checking in our baggage, so it took us about 2 hours. I think that the airline had problems checking in groups. We had a layover in Detroit and then flew out of Detroit to Paris at 6 p.m. We arrived in Paris at 7:45 a.m. on the 28th. I watched The Help and part of Wall-E while on the plane. I think that I got about 3 hours of sleep in between both movies while on the plane. This was also the first time that I had meals on a plane.

After retrieving all of our luggage we waited for Peter from PAA to pick us up. There was one girl that lost some of her baggage. While we were waiting, there was a passenger from our flight that was standing near us. He was probably in his early 20's. After we had been standing around for about 10-15 minutes he randomly started doing pushups right there in the airport. lol He was acting like it was a natural thing to be doing. It took a lot to keep from bursting out laughing. We finally got on the bus and left after some time. I had no idea how we were going to get out of where we had parked...the traffic was insane :D

It took about an hour to get from the airport to the apartments. We were supplied with some quiche, fresh fruit and orange juice at our room. We were all exhausted so we took about an hour long nap. After our nap, we decided to explore the area a little bit so we walked around the block and found la poste (post office), l'epicerie (grocery store), and several restaurants. We had our orientation meeting at 5 p.m. and then our welcome dinner at 6:45. We ate at this wonderful restaurant only a couple blocks away from the school. Our dinner consisted of a salad, Boeuf Bourguignon, and Tiramisu. We went and used the school wi-fi for about 20 minutes before heading to our apartments and beds.

The 28th started out by waking up refreshed and ready to start our first day in classes. The sun was shining and it was about 50 degrees outside. Breakfast was some of the fresh fruit that had been given to us when we moved in the apartment. We went to a fresh air market that was around the corner from our apartment just to check it out. Our first class that we had was a presentation by Knitwear Designer Xavier Brisoux. He presented on how to create a knitwear collection. We took a break for lunch at 1 p.m. and several of us decided to find a sandwich restaurant that a professor had told us about. I bought a panini au poulet (chicken), it tasted delicious! We started our knitting workshop with Xavier Brisoux at 2. We all learned how to knit, I learned a new way to cast on stitches. All of the students are supposed to have a hat or accessory knitted by the 15th.

Our adventure for the day was going to the super marche to get some groceries for supper. One of my roommates wanted to make lasagna for dinner. The store didn't have most of the ingredients we needed, so we improvised. We bought bow tie pasta instead of lasagna noodles, the tomato paste had more of a tomato soup consistency, pork that we thought was beef, and 2 types of mozzarella instead of a ricotta cheese. We had a hilarious time making the "lasagna", it did turn out delicious though. We had two girls from another apartment join us for supper. After supper I found out that the wi-fi works here so I finally got to skype with my mom and two of my brothers. Yay!

Now it's 2:45 a.m. so I probably better get rested up for tomorrow (today).

Tomorrow is the day!!!

Tomorrow I leave for Paris! 

This whole trip idea started when I decided to transfer colleges and switch my major. The college that I am now at offers a trip to Paris for all of the fashion students. I decided in the early spring that I really wanted to go on this trip. I had to take one semester of French to be able to go on the trip, so I only know un peu (a little) French ;)

I finished my packing this evening, which should be a record, since I started last night haha. I think that my carry-on is actually heavier than my checked luggage, I even had one of my brothers lift them both. I've already said my goodbyes to my friends and relatives. I'll get to see some of my brothers before I leave tomorrow morning. My mom and one of my brothers are going to drop me off at school at 8:45 a.m. and then the bus leaves at 9, which means I probably better head to bed :D