Home, Omelette Me Go Home

To be honest, today was the first really good day I've had since I've been here. I've been pretty homesick the past couple days. The whole crying over Skype, "I-miss-you-but-I-know-things-will-get-better"type of thing. Not so good, but I know things definitely will get better. After all, I AM in Paris! (And I'm not going home, so I can choose to either sit and be miserable or go out and try to have fun! But those are my only two options because I'M NOT GOING HOME.)

But today, what a great day. I woke up at 6:30am to crappy, rainy weather and proceeded to my first class, which was French, Level 0. That's right. Not even level one, but Z-E-R-O. THAT'S how unprepared I was coming to Paris. The problem is, I might be the only one in the class who actually doesn't know any French at all. And, to my teacher who explains things in French, you're a wonderful lady and a great professor I'm sure, but I'm sorry when you ask if we understand and everyone else responds yes that I'm the only one who says no. And, if you wouldn't mind, no matter how slowly you say whatever it is that you're saying in French, I still don't know what it means. So, bonjour, je m'appelle Stephanie, okay? 

After class, a wonderful friend named Amanda went with me to the bank to finish opening my account. Thank goodness she came because, even though there's a sign outside that says "WE SPEAK ENGLISH," there was no English spoken during my appointment, except on my end. I then purchased a cell phone, which was probably the highlight of my day. I can finally communicate with people, maybe make some friends. 

Another great part of this day was my first attempt at cooking while in Paris. Today's menu? An omelette with mushrooms and cheese. I bought a pan, spatula, and cooking oil, grabbed my eggs, cheese, and other necessary things for this omelette and headed to the weird kitchen with Amanda. As I was cooking the mushrooms, it smelled as though something was burning. All was well when I suddenly realized I hadn't taken the paper off the bottom of the pan, which was sitting directly on the hotplate. Don't worry, I pulled it off BEFORE I set the kitchen on fire. All good. The omelette was pretty great, and even though I spilled cooking oil all over the floor, cut the mushrooms with a plastic knife that was on the verge of breaking on a plastic plate that probably melted when I set down the omelette, I would say it was a successful meal and overall a successful day!