Sketchy Experience #1

Today was a big day. Cheryl, one of the other program participants, and I decided to go off on our own this morning. We went to the Louvre. Unfortunately we didn't have time to go in. (We only had two hours and I found out in a very informational tour today that there are over 45,000 pieces in the Louvre and if you spent one min at each one, it would take you more than 4 months!) But it was fun to walk around in the snow and see the pyramid and the shops dans la rue Rivoli. Afterwards, we had lunch and went on a tour of L'Hotel del Ville. (Paris' city hall) It was beautiful! I wish the US would get classy like them ;) (Check facebook for pics.) Then later we got to go on a boat cruise on the Seine! (the informational tour ;) ) I really enjoyed it. The boat was enclosed THANK GOD because have I mentioned it's frickin freezing? It was great to just relax and be able to take in almost all of Paris' sites at once. We got to see the Musee D'Orsee, Notre Dame, Le Tour D'Eiffel, Paris' oldest restaurant, Square Concorde... C'est magnifique. Notre Dame is definitely one of my fave places in Paris. I definitely want to go back during the day! Who knows, maybe it will be so impressive that I convert! ;) (Not likely Natasha!)
As for the sketchy part... At the beginning of the study abroad application process, the program said that they needed 6 passport-like photos for something. I spent so much money on them and sent them back in November and it said it was received. But when I got here, Daniel, one of the program directors in France, said that they didn't have it and I needed to take new ones. He said to talk to the moniteurs and they could help me. (The moniteurs are these 4 "grad students" that tour us around Paris and hang out with us during the program.) I talked to one and she just kept telling me to go into a big store and there would be a place to get them in basement. I was like "I don't understand, which store?" But she just kept saying "UN GRAND MAGASIN." (They speak hardly any English though I heard that some of the other participants taught the guy moniteurs today "that's what she said" and "don't be a douchebag." The essentials of course) Well I went into the BHV, which is like Nordstrom but French and way better!, and surprisingly enough, she was wrong. I wandered around Paris by myself and found this lotto store that had a photocopy machine because I have one pic on me. But it wasn't working. So I went back to the hostel and Cheryl and I asked the desk clerk and he said that there's a machine that can do it at the metro stop Chatelet. (They have crazy things down there. Some stops have full on stores on the platforms!) That's only 2 stops down so we go and we find the little pic booth, which is a legit French passport photo taker, and it's not working. Might have been unplugged. We tried all the other exits but there was only one photo booth. So we reasoned that there must be another booth at a different stop. We go to the next one, Hotel Del Ville, and after trying all the exits, there isn't one. It's about midnight and we decide to give up because we have to be ready by 7:30 am tomorrow morning. We go back to our stop, Saint Paul, and as we go out the exit, we see another booth! (Let me clarify that the exit is not by the entrance so it's not our fault we didn't see it the first time...) Someone is in it though so then we wait a couple min but the person doesn't come out. We figure out that it's a homeless person so I go up and say "Excusez moi. Je voudrais utiliser..." And the sketchiest homeless guy comes out! He was holding a spoon and was like go ahead and use it. He left a bag in there and I tried to tell him but he didn't hear me so I just went in. He stood facing the wall the whole time I was in the booth. We're pretty sure he was shooting heroin in there or something... Thank god Cheryl was with me so I wasn't by myself. I finally got the booth to work and then we bolted out of there! I definitely owe Cheryl a drink after that. So yeah adventure #1 down. Tomorrow we move to Rennes and meet our host families. Wish me luck! Bon nuit!