Hill Winstead - June 9 in France

We spent today with our host families finishing up work from the previous week and preparing to leave for Paris Monday. I started the day by sleeping in until about 10:30 and then I had my usual breakfast of Fitness cereal (it’s basically the French version of Special K but with chocolate.) After breakfast, I killed an hour or so by watching the first half of The Shawshank Redemption, before leaving to meet Arjun and his exchange student Michael on Rue Nationale. The three of us wandered around the city for a bit before heading to Quick Quality Burger Restaurant for some lunch. Quick is basically the French version of McDonalds but it tastes a lot better. After lunch we wandered around some more and Michael shopped for Father’s Day presents while Arjun and I talked to one of the employees, whose brother lives in Chicago, about North Carolina. The conversation was basically <> and that seemed to be the extent of his English. After a little more shopping and wandering, we went to Le Palais to engage in what seems to be the French national pastime, sitting on the street drinking cokes and watching people walk by. Soon enough, I had to return home to prepare to go to a party with my exchange student. Around 6:30 we left for the party, but had a hard time finding the street. It was at one of the French student’s father’s house and it was amazing, it looked like a chateau and the grounds were immaculate. We spent several hours there eating, dancing and playing American football before returning home around midnight and collapsing into bed.