I made it!

Well I am finally in Belfort. I found an Internet cafe, but it has a French keyboard so I am sorry for any errors! Also I will put up pictures just as soon as I am able to hook up my laptop. Although that may be a few days.

Anyway...I left LAX on Tuesday at 1:30 pm about an hour late. The flight was 10 and a half hours long, so with the time change I got into Paris at 9:15 am, midnight California time. Then I spent the next 45 minutes lugging around all my stuff trying to find the train to Paris. Finally I found it. Then I took a taxi from the train station in Paris because I could barely handle my luggage because my arms were so tired. The train stations are definitely not made for rolling suitcases. Many people had to help me lift it up the stairs. I do not know why people say the French are mean because I found that they were all really helpful!

I finally got to my hotel a little after noon. So I took a shower and a nap because I had not slept in almost 24 hours. My friend Tamar got to the hotel at about 7 pm. So we went and got a sandwich for dinner then went to bed really early because we were both exhausted.

Then on Thursday we saw some of the sites I hadn't seen before. First we went to the Opera which was really beautiful! Then we went to Notre Dame and climbed to the top. My legs were burning so bad when I reached the top, and I was dizzy from the spirial staircase. It was all worth it though because the view from the top was amazing. I was right up next to the gargoyles, and I even saw Quasimodo's bell. Then after that we went to the Catacombs, which required climbing up and down even more stairs. It was really interesting though. There are 6 million people who are buried there. After the catacombs we went to Sacre Coeur Basilica. It is on a hill, so we climbed many more stairs to climb, but again the view was great. After all this we went back to take a nap at the hotel. Then that night we went on a boat tour of the Seine. Everything was so beautiful at night, and I got some great shots of the Eiffle Tower at night. We got back to the hotel late, but couldn't fall asleep until a lot later...stupid jetlag!

Then yesterday we had to get all of our stuff together so we could go to our separate trains. Tamar's ride was only an hour to Rouen. Mine was 4 hours to Belfort. So I had to drag all my stuff around more train stations. My contact Beatrice met me at the train station, and she took me to my hotel. I was in bed at 8:30 last night because I was so exhausted! The hotel is really old! My room is clean, but when you use the sink the water comes up the drain in the shower. There is also an old radiator next to the bed and all you can hear is dripping water all night which was really annoying. Owell I guess it is all part of the experience!

There is another assistant, Sarah from the UK, who is coming tonight and she will be staying at the same hotel. We have been talking all summer over the Internet, so it will be really nice to finally meet her.

Overall I have been able to understand almost everything everyone says to me, and Beatrice said that I my French was really good which was reassuring. Just in the three days I have been here I am already picking up more of what they are saying on TV!

Well this is really long, so I think I am going to go explore the town. I am sure there is a lot to see because it is 700 years old. It makes you realize just how young the USA is!