the first night, the apartment, coke light.

so i did get through that first night, despite many a kinks. no matter how great your housing is, how great your roommate is, how great the program is going to be, the first night is always difficult and lonely. you feel like everything's a mess and won't get better. at least i did last night.

we went to the st. germain area for a late dinner (erica, carrie and i), where i ate a bit and also ordered a leffe blonde beer, which i later discovered was a whopping 8.50. some issues i had discovered about my apartment prior to dinner, when i arrived earlier that day: my room, though not tiny, is about half the size as ericas, with one window less and infinitely less storage space. no biggie, i know. then, the wireless erica told me we had was actually just a stolen connection from downstairs which only works sometimes if you beg it a lot and cradle the computer in just the right way. oh yeah, you have to click repair a lot too. so, i decided, even though erica is very much against the idea, that we must must must have internet. i realize this probably still means i won't be able to have it in my room. but i need the security. call me crazy. next thing: we were told we'd have a washer/dryer. we just have a dryer. if that's not silly i don't know what is. and lastly, there was the problem of my bed (which is actually just an ikea futon--in fact, all of our furniture is shockingly ikea). first, i sit down on it and a bar immediately falls off. in the process of trying to put it on, i discover that actually another bar had already been off. the bed is not sturdy and then in the process of trying to fix that, we fold it into the couch-y shape of a futon, and it won't come down. so we call the landlord who can't come till friday and tells me to put the mattress on the floor. i'm pissed.

so when we go back and my internet is still being frustratingly difficult, and erica wants to go to bed and i'm jetlagged, can't unpack much because i dont have anywhere to put my shit, i'm upset. bummed, if you will. however, our apartment is quite lovely. it has a big common room/kitchen with a tv (!) which shows about two channels. the toilet and shower (furiously small, and one of those handheld deals) are separate. the floors are wooden, the five flights of stairs are heave-able but not horrible, and the ikea unboringness is quaint. anyway, last night when erica went to bed i got nervous about not being able to sleep, i tried unpacking which made me lonely, and then frantically searched for my alarm clock, and when i couldn't find it, freaked out that i wouldn't know when to wake up, wouldn't know how much time had passed in which i wasn't sleeping, etc. at around 2:30 i calmed down, found it, read a bit of crappy magazines, and slept.

this morning i took a placement test for the french university, if i decide to take a class there has yet to be determined. i learned that the first year of french university is for the "destruction of the student" so they can weed out the good from the bad. of the 250 that go their first year, only 150 return. interesting stuff.

finally: coke light just isn't the same as diet coke. dammit.