Day 9- Thursday 16 June

Not much to report today, mates; I desperately tried to sleep in until past eight, but was thwarted by many, many factors, and ended up just staying in bed for a while ruing those many, many factors. Eventually, I remembered I had a mini-quiz today and reading due, so I did that, ate lunch, and took a bus over to Reid. Today, in summary, we were treated to sweeping statements of eighteenth century French art and quick stylistic overviews of major artists of the period, and after a break for lunch [brownie-things from a vending machine, because most of the vending machine food is different over here, it makes me so excited] it was on to French, where, because it was the first week and our professor thought most of us had jetlag because she had jetlag, we mostly read a play out loud, taking turns with different parts, she interjecting when words had us really stumped or to explain why things were happening, or occasionally what was happening, and what Moliere meant, and it was great.

That night we were back at the hall for dinner and pizza as a group, and saw Ridicule, a recent film that the professors approved of as it apparently fairly accurately portrayed court life during Louis XVII's rule. Anyways, I liked it, and afterwards took the metro to Cite and walked along the Seine post-sunset, wending between groups of Frenchies of a wide age range spread picknicking with alcohol and baguettes on the banks, walking haphazardly in groups or languidly in pairs, leaning contemplatively against the stone railings of the ponts. It doesn't get fully dark until ten thirty or so, the sun just sets and the sky stays a strange dark, saturated blue for a long time as the lights come on.

Weird things about France: I need to ask Maria tomorrow, but I have no clue how anyone gets their mail. All of the residential buildings have codes to get in through the doors. None of the entryways through those doors have mail boxes. None of the doors have mails slots. The post offices don't have nearly enough boxes for everyone, yet somehow people get their mail ....