Victor Hugo's Apartment

Yesterday was our first real day of class. We met at 10 a.m. and Armoogum lectured for a bit about Paris and what we would be doing in the class. We have 6 sessions with him and we meet him at different locations and he teaches us about the culture around Paris. We were all pretty tired in class, but I felt bad because one girl actually fell asleep and acted to rude when he told her to pay attention. I'm not sure what people thought they were signing up for, but apparently class wasn't part of it.

He explained that our first visit was to Des Vosges and we would go to Marais and see where a lot of royalty lived and then Victor Hugo's apartment. I had my first lunch in the cafeteria, which is pretty tiny but the salads and desserts are delicious and really pretty. I got a burger without a bun (?) and a butt ton of fries. I got a mini salad and water too. The burger was a huge disappointment because it was REALLY pink on the inside and weird to eat so I only had a bite. They give you so many fries, which was kind of nice since I didn't have much else to eat. The salad was okay, except it had some nuts in it that I didn't like. But the water was free and they have free bread and olive oil so I stocked up.

Then we left to met Armoogum. It was a pretty easy metro ride but we couldn't figure out how to get to the exact location but luckily we saw him on the street. As we walked to the first location we passed a school for Torah and a few Jewish restaurants. There were a lot of Orthodox Jews around. I found this surprising.

We arrived at this beautiful garden that is where royals used to pass the time. Armoogum explained the differences in the architecture that was for the wealthy and the common. There are a lot of arches around the rich people and their apartments and houses are higher up than the commoners. They have 3 or more levels usually. We got to go into the museum attached to it and look around. It had a lot of random paintings and a section for the French Revolution. All the signs were in French so I couldn't read them so I had no idea what I was looking at.

Next we headed just down the street to a park in the middle of a bunch of apartments that royalty stays at. You have to be of high status to stay there. Ministers and ambassadors stay at these residences. It had a few fountains in it and there were a ton of people outside so it was nice to sit for a few minutes.

Then we went to Victor Hugo's apartment, which was just across the park. I don't know how nobody has heard of him or Les Mis. I was really excited to go. We sat in the waiting room and there was some weird movie playing made by like little French kids. We weren't sure if that was part of the exhibit or not. My guess is not. The tour is pretty short since it is only an apartment and they are pretty small. Leading up the stairs are a lot of political posters and pieces of art. Then inside there are a few different relics including paintings and chairs. There was a group of little kids there and they took up a bunch of space so it was hard to move around. His windows look out on the park we sat in earlier.

The whole thing took about 10 minutes so I hope we didn't miss anything, but the apartment was pretty slow. It was really annoying because so many people kept complaining how bored they were. I don't get it. Whatever then we walked for what felt like forever and were going to get ice cream. We stopped by a school where a bunch of kids were hanging out and Armoogum asked one girl to read the sign out loud to us because it is one of the last remaining pieces from the 16th century or something.

We ended up by the Seine and Notre Dame and got ice cream at this little shop. It was poppin off. I got dark chocolate and it was delish. Kara got pear and it was so refreshing. I tried some of Lynn's grapefruit and it was so good. It was one of the moments where I felt like we were actually in Paris because we were eating our ice cream, sitting on the ledge and there was a man playing an accordion. It was really cool. The weather was perfect too and the Seine looked beautiful. We were free to go after our ice cream so me, Lynn, Kara and Liz walked around for a little bit and looked at a few stores. There was a vintage designer shop that had the most beautiful Louis Vuitton bags but I don't have 600 euro for a handbag. We were pretty tired so we started heading back and ended up just walking down the Seine and got home. We couldn't find a metro and it was so nice out that we didn't mind. I don't know why people can't take five minutes to look at map and figure out where we are and where a street is on a map, but I find myself always being the one to figure out directions.

When I got home I talked with Meredith for a while and then uploaded pictures and before I knew it, it was like 9:30 p.m. Since we had to be at school at 9 a.m. today I wanted to shower and go to bed. Meredith hopped in the shower.....for 20 minutes.....yes, all the hot water was gone. I went in after her and it was ice cold. I tried waiting 15 minutes and it was still freezing so I went down to Kara and Lynn's room and used their shower. I tried their hair dryer too but my hair is out of control. I came back up and read for a little bit then went to sleep around 10:45. I took benadryl but that didn't help for some reason. I was exhausted but couldn't fall asleep so I only got around six hours of sleep.

It was a long day, but it was really interesting. I wish Armoogum could come everywhere with us because he knows so much. He is funny too so he tries to keep things interesting. I appreciate it but there are a lot of people on the trip that are rude and complain all day. I've noticed that a ton of people have dogs here and none of them are on leashes, the dog just trots in front of the owner. It's so cute. There are also a lot of blind people around our apartment. And some other people with disabilities that have to use those poles that brace on their forearms. It's interesting.