I think that I have decided not to buy food at McDonald’s ever again. There have only been two times that I have bought food there while in Paris, and both times, the internet didn’t work. All of the other times that I have gone to use the internet and not bought anything, it has been fine. Go figure.

Call it laziness, but I had a really long day, and needed to use the internet, so I just stopped by there on the way home, and decided that I could eat while surfing. McDonald’s didn’t think so.

Fortunately, the Haagen Daaz store next door offered a low speed connection, so not all was lost.

I am hoping to my own connection very soon. No more crashing icky fast food restaurants. Although I do have to admit, the McDonald’s here are way nicer than the ones that I have been to in the US.

September was a month of beautiful weather. It was pleasant most days, mostly sunny, and nice temperatures, I only ever felt hot in the Metro stations, after climbing 48975892375984352 stairs and cramming into cars with as many people. But it has definitely turned. It went from being 20 degrees during the day to being 14 degrees overnight. The rain started, and it is cold (for my wussy California self anyways). I can’t wait for Winter, yippee.

The nice thing is, sometimes in the afternoon, the clouds break up some, and there are some really pretty sunsets.


I finally started my training for my teaching. I am so lucky that the French love me. The rectorat that I work for decided that not only am I going to teach little ones English, but I am going to spend one hour of my two hour lunch (yes, they take two hour lunches) on Fridays teaching teachers English. And I get to help plan at least two seminars, one in January and one in February.

The first day of the training/orientation was quite a doozy. Because I got placed in a city way the hell outside of Paris, and the “central school” is even further, I had to travel over an hour by train to get there. And then we spent 4 hours in the morning filling out paperwork. Yes, just paperwork. And that is not counting the time I will be spending later this week actually filing it at the appropriate offices.

And then we spent the afternoon going over lesson ideas, and did an actual lesson (but we were taught to count to ten in Latin). It was cool, and it gave me some ideas to use later on.

8 hours of keeping up with someone in French, and then a lesson in Latin makes for a tired Jenn. And then I had to go babysit. At least that is pretty easy.

It’s strange to be a continent and an ocean away from home, and then end up working with people who know people that you know at home. I know a guy who does Electronic music, and there was a girl that works for the same rectorat as me that was wearing one of his pins on her bag. Turns out she knows him, and she actually had gone to Cal State Fullerton a couple of years ago. Wow.

I think it has been said that the French are a little more sexually liberal than the Americans. That is true.

You want evidence? Well, there is the condom dispenser in the University cafeteria

(you think I could make one up like that?), and then there is this ad plastered all over the Metro.

It’s kinda just icky to me.