Je suis Perdue...Also, please enjoy the food pictures

I arrived in Paris a week from yesterday...how crazy. I feel like I've been here longer, yet I have barely peeked at the sights to see, tasted the pastries I don't know the names of yet, or absorbed the language any better than that first day. Perhaps it's the learning process, but my brain feels more confused in French than ever. But I have to be making some progress--like I have to out of necessity, for living with French people and passing classes. I have been more lost than ever (after all, in French, "I'm confused" equates to "I'm lost") and more confused than usual (surprising, but somehow possible).

It's a slow settling-in process, so maybe I am slowly improving in small ways. I have become more comfortable with the métro, certain customs, and the language. I can get through minor interactions without resorting to some crazy version of sign language ("go to my chicken party!") or using English. For example, I can order lunch at the boulangerie near campus and pay with their change machines without being a total mess. Even though my (lack of) capacity for speech puts me on track to becoming a mime, my comprehension is increasing petit à petit.

Giant macarons in the window of the boulangerie

One of my friends tried the pistachio; check out the size! 

Not from the bakery [all other food pics here are, though], but since I'm showing desserts first, here's a piece of the galette de rois from Epiphany with the fève! The holiday tradition involves slicing the cake and then having the youngest child sit under the table and assign the other guests' seats. Whoever has the fève in their slice gets to be king or queen. I'm not sure what comes next, but there are paper crowns and temporary power and glory. 

Yesterday's lunch: a crackling baguette with tangy cheese, a thin layer of creamy spicy sauce, and crisp lettuce and tomatoes. 

Half-devoured salmon and spinach quiche; if you miss the lunch rush, the baguettes are gone, but the warm savory quiches are not a bad second option

Back to the topic of comprehension...I've survived my classes so far this week.  I'm enjoying them, too! Twice a week, I have a class about artists and writers in Paris in the 1920s, and I'm so happy I ended up getting into the class, too, since I would not have a reading-heavy class otherwise. I'm currently reading Hemingway's A Moveable Feast and next is Proust's The Way by Swann's (Could've brought your purple-brick copy, Dad!). Books in English are ridiculously expensive here, but the British bookstore that I went to did have Downtown Abbey posters and Reese's Cups.

Mid-week days are long, with language classes on Tuesday mornings and a three-hour class on Napoleon and the Revolution in the afternoon. I've already learned (relearned?) lots of super important facts about Benjamin Franklin:

Wednesdays are museum days. Today I had to run from campus to take various métro lines to get to the Louvre. I was late, and it felt wrong to race through the museum at such a furious pace, tossing my head from one side to the other like that possessed girl in the Exorcist. All the paintings blurred together as I ran past the Mona Lisa (why is the US the only one who calls her that again?) to get to the main hallway of 19th century Neoclassical art. There's truly nothing like having a 3D textbook to learn from. That class is conducted entirely in French, so it's challenging to take everything in: the words from the lecture, the ornate environment, the overwhelming masterpieces that surround you (sorry, use second person...this apology extends to all future posts) on all sides.

This is ceiling!

Tuileries

Getting lost in the Louvre feels completely right, so I don't mind that I'm not completely settled in here just yet. There's something new ancient around every corner with hidden layers that create stories and mysteries for me to wonder about.

A few sights while wandering...

 Silver flamingoes for you, Mom!