hello from paris! it's pretty fantastic here. right now it's about 6h50 (six fifty in the morning), and we all woke up because we all went to bed pretty early last night after a full day, which was after a full day and half a day on a plane. all that was pretty fun. we met our professor for our culture class, paris as spectacle. his name is dr. costello and he seems pretty fantastic. our graduate assistant seems kind of obnoxious, but it has only been a day.

today we pretty much just have orientation and a placement test for our language class, but there'll be a boat ride on the seine tonight!

the pictures is a view from our hotel room. we'll move into the hostel (which is for people attending the universities only) in a few days. french professors, university workers, and students were all on strike for about four months, so their classes and finals have been extended into the end of june, as the strike just ended ten days ago. leah is currently rooming with a french girl, but she will be moved out by june 1st and then i'll move in with her.

we have a pretty full day today, tomorrow we go to giverny (monet's home) for the whole day, but on sunday we have a day off. you can expect more then!