Wow! This trip just keeps getting better! I spent the morning feeling dirty from the night train, and trying to catch up on all that is happening in the news. I haven't had a chance to watch the debate, but as soon as I have some down time, its on.

I committed sacrilege this morning: I went to Starbucks and had English breakfast tea and sat on my computer. Notre Dame was out the window, but I just had to indulge myself a little in preparation of actually starting my year here. Because, lets face it, up until now it has been a crazy vacation with one of my best girls.

My friend Mady, the girl I went to Africa with, is studying in Paris this semester and arrived there yesterday after spending two weeks in Cannes. Poor her. So, I met Mady at La Fontaine St. Michel, a place I always met up with friends when I was studying at the Sorbonne. She brought her roommate, Lauren, a cute girl from San Diego, and we all three went to lunch together.

Mady is away from her language and food for the first time ever, and it is pooping her out! She is living with Lauren in an apartment in the 5th arrondissement. It is a homestay situation and her famille d'acceuil is an older Jewish widower who keeps kosher, which means the girls have to, too. Ouch.

The girls accompanied me to fetch my luggage and to Gare Austerlitz. It was so great to witness Lauren's first viewing of the Eiffel Tower. We were walking down the street from the Pantheon, the Jardin Luxembourg in front of us and just the tip of the tower in sight, she gasps and says "Oh! I think I just died a little!" What a magical moment for her, Mady was slightly amused :)

Mady and I spent the rest of the afternoon together at a cafe outside of the station and caught up, talked and made plans to visit each other this semester. I'm looking forward to becoming familiar with this region so that I can properly introduce it to everyone who is planning on visiting me.

I took a train from Paris to a city that starts with a V but I couldn't for the life of me remember what it is. Honest to God, I would look at the ticket, close it, and immediately forget the city name. I kept saying viognier, or vazeer, or va va voom. I waiting on the platform and V-ville for an hour and caught another train to La Souterraine.

Evelyne, the program director picked me up and whisked me off to her house, introduced me to her husband and had dinner ready for me. There's a woodburning stove in the house, the kitchen reminds me of Grandma Nita's farm kitchen, and I immediately felt at home.

Tomorrow, I will go meet my "boss," get settled in a living situation that is for teachers in training, meet another assistant teacher and get to know Gueret! Wednesday, Kendra from Michigan (the other assistant) and I will do some tourism in Gueret and get to know each other, and Thursday I get to go to school!

I was talking about the job and the students with Evelyne tonight at dinner, and it just seems like the best situation I could think of. I will be with 7,8, and 9 year olds and spend the first week or so observing different schools and classrooms to get a feel for how the education system works here. After that I will be teaching on my own, though the French teacher will always be in the room with me. All I can say is bladow!

Another amendment to previously assumed information about my year abroad: according to Evylene, the city of Gueret is 30,000 in size, so not as small as originally thought, but it is the smallest prefecture in France. She has two daughters, one who teaches in Gueret and one who lives in Clermont-Ferrand (the city where all the music is happening). Apparently I can just hitch a ride there with her daughter, how cool is that?

I am obviously being well taken care of, and it feels nice to be winding down my traveling and on my way to settling into this great thing. I can't wait to wake up tomorrow and see my new home!