Now in Paris...

Hmmm...and I thought I"d be posting about Germany, but that's come and gone already, and we're on to the Paris part of the trip!

It's been a while...an eventful week, weekend and week beginning here. We didn't connect with Britt during the weekend; her internet connection in Paris is only in the lobby of the hotel/hostel place she's staying. Not so nice accomodations, from what I gather...two twin beds fill a room, and the bathroom is much like one in an RV, turns into the shower...and they're about an hour away from any of the good Paris stuff. However, she DID have a great time on the "batobus' tour (http://www.batobus.com/english/8escale.htm -- not sure if I put a link in the last post, so here it is). She stayed on the "bato" = "bateau" = boat part, because she said it was tough to try to figure out all the timings, and saw some great sights and got some great pictures (which she'll send when she has a decent internet connection, I guess). We hadn't heard from her, and it was almost midnight in Paris time, so I called her...caught her walking to the metro from the Eiffel Tower...she was tired, but happy to have seen some of what you think of when you think of France!

Still being kept very busy; seeing some of Paris, going to more classes, mostly about culture, what to expect as a teacher in the schools, etc. Supposedly, this part was to have been in English, but she said the lecturers are not abiding by that...oh well...guess she'll have to put all the past three weeks' immersion to good use! She still doesn't have details about what type of housing awaits her in her 10-week stay in Brest, but does know who will be meeting her train when she arrives Friday afternoon.

Britt is also experiencing health care in France; she got some sort of a bite on the back of her ankle; it's swollen, and possibly will cause her to see a doctor tomorrow. In France, the first line of health care is the pharmacy; seems as if the pharmacists are a sort of doctors who dispense advice and medications to help alleviate symptoms. She had a consult with a pharmacist, received antiseptics, cortisone cream (anti-itch) and probably something like Benedryl...didn't get much relief, or sympathy from the front desk when she reported it (at the recommendation of the program coordinator). All the front desk clerk did was look at it and say that the cleaning crew would be told to look for something that might have bitten her. I (foolishly) told Britt to ask for ice, and she reminded me that they don't HAVE ice in France.

Well, this is getting longer than I'd planned. I'll add more when we know the outcome of the bite injury. Until then...thanks for hanging in there...and, here's a link to the restaurant where the group is being taken for dinner on Thursday:

http://www.o-rebelle.fr/html_fr/contact.html