poste le huitième, in which i am here to learn, but where is here, exactly? and what am i supposed to be learning, again?

My week in arrears, Installment II:

The last post was rather lengthy so this time I will be brief(er...):

1. I just bought a little book called L'Indispensable Plan de Paris: the indispensable map of Paris. And thank goodness. I have become far too intimately acquainted with the streets surrounding all of the places I have gone this week, including my apartment, multiple metro stops, a phone store, and a grocery store I searched for for an HOUR. And when I finally got helpful directions and found it I realized I had passed it multiple times and just not known what I was looking for! Sigh. I feel like an animal marking my territory, making one large ring I know includes my destination and then spiraling toward the center where I hopefully find what I'm looking for.

2. Tuesday morning was the first day of class, and I jumped on the strugglebus on the way to school. I got up early to make it to class on time, because my first class, French, was at 10am and I wasn't quite sure the fastest way to get there (or how to get out of my building--this was the morning I gave up trying and waited for someone else to leave and open the doors for me). After circling the metro station as my instincts dictate, I hopped on the train and rode to class, ready to leap out and climb stairs like a madwoman because I was now running late (damn doors!). I raced up the stairs, practicing my apology to my professor for my tardiness, crossed the street, and dashed up to the 2nd (but really 3rd because there is a 0th) floor. I (gracefully and non-disruptively) burst in to the classroom at 10h10 and hastily found a seat, and then spent the next 30 seconds catching my breath. When I became aware of my surroundings, I realized that something was not quite right. The man talking at the front of the room was not my French professor...these students (though they were all from Stanford) were not the people in my French class...and I had no idea what the professor was talking about.

After a few minutes of actually listening, I realized I had stumbled into the intense content class on the French healthcare system, which I knew absolutely nothing about (not anymore!). I felt like I was in a dream when things move and change, because I was definitely in the right room and my phone said what time it was. I didn't have my schedule with me, and I felt bad for interrupting class by coming in late, so I just stayed put and laid low. Luckily (sort of), the class ended at 11, so I only sat there for an hour, but it turned out it had started at 9h30, so I had been not 10 but 40 minutes late! And my French class wasn't until 1, so I could have waited 3 more hours to come in. Hmph.

Clare

(sorry, not the briefest...)

I have gotten better at navigating by the sun and slope of the ground, and the location of the Eiffel Tower. This makes street names less critical and my wandering more focused. Progress? I feel like an ancient astronomer.