And so now

After last weekend's trauma, this week has been very. . .educational? I dunno. Monday and Tuesday were MICEFA orientation. Luckily, the immersion classes are held at Paris 3, a 15 minutes walk down Rue Mouffetard from my apartment. And what happens to be just at the juncture where I turn left down the street to campus? Well, beside an amazing little bakery where I've been buying mini croissants for 0,45 everyday. . .a Starbucks. I know I'm an ugly American and I should get over it and drink my coffee from a tiny ceramic cup on the terrace of a cafe, but I gave in. There's something about a big cup of drip coffee -- I'll never give it up. So on Tuesday morning, I stopped in and bought a moyen (tall) cup of coffee of the week for 2,40 euro. Luckily, this price will keep me from making a habit of it. But the familiar decor, the case full of crappy pastries, and the little shakers of vanilla, chocolate, cinnamon, and nutmeg -- it was all the same, and I was comfortable. However, coffee kept sloshing out of the cup as I hoofed it to class. I don't think I've ever had to drink coffee on the move like that.
On Tuesday afternoon I met Kerstin on the Champs-Elysees. There are all kinds of practical things I needed/need to get done, so that day I got an Orange F SIM card for my phone. Mohamad paid to have it unlocked, which is fortunate because everyone else I know has cheap little LG phones that come with the phone cards. There's no charge for receiving calls or text messages in France, it's pretty cool. Anyway, we just wandered. All the way down the Champs-Elysees, through Place de la Concorde, and to Tuileries gardens (which are in front of the Louvre). We just walked, sat on benches, walked more. It was very uneventful, but perfect. At the time, I was so overwhelmed with everything that all I wanted to do was wander. I've been to Paris twice before, I was broke, there was no need to sightsee. That evening we went back to my neighborhood and bought our first legal drinks. I could taste the Smirnoff in my 5 euro happy hour cocktail, but I gave it a few good stirs and it was tasty.
I took the placement test for my immersion classes on Wednesday, then began classes on Thursday.
The rest of the week is a blur of naps and online research (some day soon I will accept that not everything can be found on the internet, if only in France), but I did manage to get to the grocery store a few times. It's almost bizarre to buy small amounts of food a few times a week (in fact, I need to run into Franprix tomorrow for more ice cream), but it doesn't hurt that I live on a giant outdoor market, with a couple modern grocery stores thrown in for when I'm too overwhelmed by the boulangeries, cremeries, boucheries, and marches.