Groceries and Le Tour Eiffel!

Jenn and I planned on waking up at 10, but ended up sleeping into the afternoon and waking up close to 1pm. We hauled our tired butts to the supermarket and bought food and some household staples. We cooked a simple meal at home, only to realize that our first meal of the day was at 4pm. Parisien groceries aren't much more expensive than the ones in Manhattan, but I feel like we're spending a lot of money buying things that we need to settle into our apartment. Also, reading and writing French is bearable, but speaking and listening to it is on a whole new caliber. Holy crap. Jenn and I have the most difficult time communicating with the French people. It's mostly us using hand signals and speaking broken English, sometimes to their dismay.

Speaking of which, I actually managed to complete a transaction today in French! We went to the metro station to buy tickets, but the machine was confusing, so we went to the information counter. I was so nervous, but I managed to converse with the lady enough to get what we needed, YAY!

The French metro system is relatively simple and straightforward. It reminds me a lot of the Japanese and Korean railroad systems in the way that the systems work. Anyways, we took the train to see the Eiffel Tower, and while Jenn and I were a little burned out from the culture shock that we went through during the past 2 days, seeing the Tower blew me away. I was expecting it to be really cliche and not very memorable, but the Eiffel Tower is such a magnificent building. We were awestruck at it's beauty. We ended up walking all around that area, taking lots of photos and just enjoying the beautiful scenery. I can't wait to take my parents and Steve to the fields in front of the Tower and drink wine and enjoy life hehe. We also bought 10 chichis (churros) for 5 Euro, and they were so fresh and delicious. We sat on the other side of the Seine, and ended up seeing the view of the Tower as they put on the glittering light show. People behind us started waltzing, and someone put on a very French song that matched the rhythm of the dancers. Talk about a scene from a movie.

I also decided to Skype with Steve tonight to talk about traveling plans. Traveling with a significant other as well as a handful of other friends scattered around Europe is really difficult. Everyone wants to do different things, but nobody wants to compromise. I was tearing from frustration for a bit, but I think that if I really want to make the best of my experience here, I have to just go and do it. Waiting around for everyone else to plan is just going to waste my time and money, so I'll just start planning along my trips. If things work out, I think Steve is visiting in 2 weeks! Yay!

Yesterday was a little stressful and tiring, but today really helped to make up for it. I am a little weary and am still settling into the culture of France, but I'm sure that all will work out for the better soon enough. Can't wait to see what the future holds in store!