OKAY SO the internet here is crapping out on me, so if this doesn't post (or if it happens to post like 4 hunred times) you can talk to ALICED4SB2 about it, because it's her internet (which I've been stealing) that's shitting the bed. ANYWAY.

Today I went with Emily, Kristin and Leah (they're from Bowdoin, although they're obviously in the Hamilton program) to Notre Dame and the Ile Saint Louis. We walked around the bottom floor of Notre Dame (because that's the free part, and thus the only part which interests us) and confused all the other tourists by speaking good French with horrendous american accents. Then we got les sandwiches from un boulangerie on the Ile Saint Louis and went down to sit by the Seine for a picnic. After that we went to Bertillion, the famous ice cream place on the Ile, where we had probably the best and most rich ice cream ever. I had pain d'epice (gingerbread), which was kind of amazing. Then we had something like two and a half hours before we had to meet the rest of the group for our ride on the bateaux mouche (the boats that go up and down the Seine and tell you about stuff). So we spent it wandering along the river observing all the weird things people will try to sell you, all the while parler-ing Francais. It's amazing how serious most people are about the speaking-French-all-the-time rule. Which is a good thing, obviously, it just surprises me because we're a bunch of unsupervised kids running around Paris with ice cream cones, but we're still making a huge effort with the language. Which isn't to say that it always turns out well, but you know, at least we try.

Anyway, then we had an adventure on the RER to get to the Pont de L'Alma where we met the group (sans Mwantuali, because he's a nut, but that's another story). The bateaux mouche was nice, not least because we finally got to sit down. Going under the arched bridges is kind of like being on a ride at Disneyland, but then you remember that it's real and tout le monde is speaking francais because, holy crap, it's France.

After the bateaux mouche we had another adventure on the RER while some French people made out in the corner and we pretended like that was normal and we didn't care. And then Emily and I managed to find our way home (Emily lives really, really close to me) without getting hit by a car--always a concern here.

All in all it was a very good day, if exhausting. And to top that all off Valerie came home with her brother Stefan, his girlfriend who looks like Brigitte Bordeaux, and their kids who are now doing something very shrieky with Eduarde.

And now I have to go to bed, or I might die of sleepiness. Good night, and if I don't talk to you all soon it's because the internet isn't working...again.

I almost forgot--last night I had a bad dream that the bad baldy monsters from I Am Legend were attacking the island and my dad was outside in the parking lot of the Newport Athletic Club, and mom and I were on our way to save him because he didn't know about the monsters. But when we got there he wasn't there and everything was dark, and scary noises were coming from the entrance to the club. So, being an intelligent human being, I got out of the car and ran to find dad, which only resulted in me not finding dad and not being able to find mom, and thinking that the baldies had eaten mom and stolen the car. It pretty much sucked a lot, but then I woke up and had a nice day with gingerbread ice cream and a picnic, so it was fine. But anyway, the moral is that you shouldn't see I Am Legend because it will give you nightmares. The end.