Day 18: Napoleon's Last Stand

I finally got it! I walked down from the apartment and got a little lost, but it's all good. The nearest metro line is actually Charles de Gaulle Etolie from the apartment (which I hadn't realized because I was going down to the Georges V to get to school). It literally took forever because when you go down to Georges V, there's only one choice, line 1. I have to travel from the 8th arrondisement to the 14th for classes, and taking the line 1, I always have to switch at St. Michel to the line 4 to get down to Montparnasse. Now, if I take line 6, I'll never have to switch again. Why didn't anyone tell me this before?? I guess the saving grace is that I found out early in the year...

Normally, I like to stay on the main drags because I get lost super easily. So, the apartment is about three blocks from the Arc on rue Lord Byron (can't say exactly where for reasons of confidentiality) and I've been going down Rue Balzac to get to Georges V, but now I will head down Avenue de Friedland. Hopefully that will cut down my travel time! Avenue de Friedland is really nice - picturesque - what you expect from a Parisian street. it was a nice day, too.

Not much else to report on the Arc itself. I saw the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as well, but I didn't think it was very polite to take pictures, so I didn't. I know it was built by Napoleon to commemorate some war with Germany or conquest or something. Alsace/Lorraine? That sounds right.

Oh, so yesterday was Labor Day in the US. France's labor day is in May or something, so I was out of luck. We had class as usual. I decided not to take a class at the Université de Paris. madame Miraus convinced me. She said she normally allows students who get 110/150 on the test to take U of P classes. It's just as well, I guess. I think my French will be a lot better in a semester. I need a literature class to graduate, which will hopefully be better than it sounds. I ended up taking that Econ class this term, though. My stupid advisor didn't get back to me in time for me to change by schedule, so I'm stuck. It might even be better to take lit in a "real" French class, though. We'll see.

I guess that's all, before this turns into a novel.

Love, Annabel