Bonjour Je suis Ici

So, I'm finally here! After 15 hours flying I arrived at CDG. Tired and hungry, I went through passport check and got my bags. I realized I was in the wrong place so I walked to a different terminal and met up with 3 other students in my program. We sat and talked for an hour waiting for the program director to pick us up. Apparently we were in completely the wrong spot and then walked what seemed like the whole airport to meet up with the other students. Everyone was very friendly and the program directors gave us all the information we will need for this week (which is orientation). My roommate, Carolina, was there and we became fast friends. We were then taken to our host family's apartment which in the 17th arrondisement. Carolina and I both had 2 huge suitcases (plus a carry-on bag) to lug through the first door which led to a courtyard and then another door which led into the building. We ran into a problem though because we were given the wrong door codes! Eventually someone helped us to get in and our host mom, Madame De Menthiere, came down to get us. Her eyes basically jumped out of the sockets when she saw our bags! Somehow we made it up to the first floor and into the apartment. It is beautiful! Apparently the building is more than 100 years old. The ceilings are lined with intricate crown molding and everything is just perfectly french. Madame De Menthiere lives with her 13 year old daughter Amelie. There is one bathroom and one toilet room (not next to each other) and Carolina and I share a room. The kitchen is small but we all fit around a small table.
While unpacking, Carolina and I realized that we had a storage problem. There is one 4 drawer dresser and small closet space in the corridor. We successfully unpacked everything into the dresser, closet, and under our bed. The room is cozy and looks out onto a small courtyard. After a small nap, Madame made us some dinner - pasta with eggs. Not such a bad combination after all. Carolina and I passed out after dinner, we were exhausted!
Today we had our first day of orientation. There are 40 of us, 8 of which are guys. The program directors informed us of everything we would ever need to know about anything concerning our stay here, and we still have 3 more days of it! It was hard for everyone to stay awake, but somehow we managed. I made some new friends- Vincenzia (pronounced like francesca kind of) from New York (Sienna University) and Sara from LA (UCLA). After our seminars we walked around the area for a while. My school, the Catholic Institute of Paris, is in the 6th arrondisement next to Luxembourg Gardens. I really like the area it's busy and interesting (and there are some cool stores!).
When we got back the apartement was bustling. Amelie was blasting music in her room and madame was singing along. We took our huge siutcases down to "le cave" the basement like cave under the building. It was basically a cave and each tenant has a grotto like room to store things. Apparently women hid there during WWII.
I can feel my french improving already. I'm hoping to be fluent by the time I leave. A cool word I learned today was "poussiere" meaning dust. They liked my blue nail polish so I taught them nail polish for the french word varnis. (See grandma, it's stylish!)
Pictures to come soon, until then just use your imagination!
xo Shan