1st Day of Orientation!

I'm EXHAUSTED but a lot of good things happened today.

1. I got a cell phone that I pay for in DOLLARS for -- yes, dollars! Instead of a regular pre-paid card, the phone is basically a "short-term" plan that only charges you for the minutes you use during the time you indicate that you need to use the phone. All incoming calls (while I'm in France) are free, and all outgoing calls to other students who have the same plan (pretty much everyone on the Sarah Lawrence program buys this phone) are also free. Local calls are also cheaper than they would be on pre-paid cards and the whole phone plus sim cost me a mere 25 dollars. That's right, folks, DOLLARS.
I set it up so that it charges my Wells Fargo account and converts all Euros into dollars prices -- and since the telephone company is an American company, there are not extra fees for international charges! I'm glad there's one company out there who's target is poor study abroad students.
How can they do this for so cheap you ask? Well the sim cards are used, so you're really only paying for the service and not the hardware (you don't get to keep the sim). But since the company is based in the US, when I leave Paris, all I have to do is ship off the sim card from Los Angeles.

2. I may have worked out the issue with the bank. I wrote the "Conseiller des particuliers" a quick email regarding my lack of a boite de lettres offing an alternative that the people at Sarah Lawrence suggested to me. I hope this works out :: crosses fingers ::

3. Free breakfast! Yes, I ate 2 croissants because really how can you waste them?

4. I ate French macaroons! Pistache (wow) and nutella (oh my god). Pia (another French student from Scripps) arrived last night and today we stopped by a cute little patisserie by the school for lunch. The macaroons just asked to be eaten, so we split a box of 4.

5. The director of the SLC program, Monique, is quite possibly the cutest person in Paris.

6. Free samples of wine and meats and cheeses at Monoprix = win!

Total Damage today:

2 Macaroons and 1 can of Orangina at the patisserie: 3,80 EUR
1 pair of ballet flats (I swear I had no idea it would still be summer here): 7,50 EUR

Now all I need is a pair of sandals for the côte d'azur and I'll be set for every season (I really should have listened to my mother and tucked along an extra pair).