(1): J'Arrive!

For the record, "j'arrive!" does not mean what it apparently seems to ("I arrive!"). Rather, it is how you would say "I'll be right back." This translation pitfall, where one word closely resembles another with a very different meaning in the other language, is what the French call a "faux-ami" (literally translated, a "false friend").

I think two French terms is enough for one entry. Class dismissed. Oh, and for extra credit, learn how to pronounce "C'est une nouvelle année" sooner than my parents.

So, one massive (and massively random) diversion later, I started an entry about how I arrived in at Charles-de-Gaulle airport in Paris on Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 10:50 AM (4:50 AM Eastern). For future reference, PARIS IS SIX HOURS AHEAD OF EAST COAST STANDARD TIME (to be updated with regard to daylight savings). The flight was not that bad... we Vassar-Wesleyan kids got to know each other before and during the flight and many of us watched movies on the plane (my new friend Myles and I watched Quantum of Solace). After picking up our bags (and apparently not needing to go through customs?), we found our way to the Jean-Monnet FIAP hostel in the 14th arrondisement (I'm only beginning to understand the arrondisement system).

The rest of the day can be summed up thus: We had lunch and dinner at the hostel's restaurant (not the worst food in the world). Many of us went to get metro passes and wine (more on that failure momentarily).

After stopping at a wine store for a few bottles to share with everybody and have a nice quiet bonding session in one of our rooms, we returned to the lobby to learn that alcohol was not permitted in the hostel and that the front desk would have to hold the wine for us until we went out again. Nice. So, after spending dinner and a while after scheming about taking the wine and leaving, doing a handoff, and coming back in later, we decided we were too tired, it was too late, and we couldn't get enough people together (and without French phones to coordinate it all... yeah, no).

But we had fun anyway, and still got to know each other a little bit. I tried speaking in French as much as I could, and a lot of people followed suit (at least when I was around and hoping that I wasn't the annoying guy for doing it). But we all get along pretty well and I think it's gonna' be great.

The hostel was actually very nice... more like a bare-essentials hotel, with four-person rooms, two showers and sinks and one toilet per room, and three awesome roommates (Daniel, Myles, and Tyler).