First Day of Classes

 1-4-11 (RM, France)

I'm definitely glad classes have started as it will help me to get on a more permanent wake/sleep schedule. Today was our first official day of "classes" but really it was more introductions, paperwork, tours, and getting-to-know-you activities. We had a brief lecture on current issues in energy which centered around sustainability economics. There are 19 nationalities represented among 30 students.

There was one guy from Angola that had a bad ass royal blue jacket with golden buttons (think half pea coat half military jacket.) He definitely stood out among the sea of black and gray clothes. His background was in economics so we got along pretty well. I'm sure we'll have some interesting discussions. Other nationalities include: Nigeria, Romania, Azerbaijan, UK, Japan, Peru, Mexico, France, Spain, and some others I can't name off the top of my head.

I stopped at a store called Picard for obvious reasons (Captain Picard of the USS Enterprise for all you non-nerds out there) and picked up a few frozen meals. The entire store is frozen foods like soups, veggies, entrees, ice cream, appetizers, etc. It is really sweet actually. I wish they had stores like that in the US. I picked up two frozen soups and one thing of mint chocolate ice cream. Tonight I dine on Mulligatawny soup and bread.

I've actually been surprised by the number of ethnic foods I have been able to find around the area. There are Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Turkish, Moroccan, Spanish, and French restaurants. Most are out of my price range but they have a heck of a deal on sushi at Planetsushi. Three maki rolls for ten euro! That's 18 pieces of sushi!

The girl that works at the front desk at IFP is incredibly cute and I'll probably use some of my American swagger to flirt with her over the coming days. I know that she speaks at least some English so hopefully I come off as cute and not moronic when I'm talking to her. It would be fun just to get to know people who live around the area so hopefully I'll get to go and see more places, eat more foods, etc. Can't hurt to have a pretty girl as your guide either.

All in all a pretty good day, but the time zone changes continues to give me problems with sleep, eating, and digestion. You know that feeling you have when you get off a boat back onto land? That is how I feel when I close my eyes. I just feel kind of like swaying back and forth and collapsing into bed. Ha! I'm going to try my best to stay up as late as I can tonight so that I'll be able to sleep through the night without issues. I still haven't been able to resolve the issue with the bed being too hard but hopefully I'll find a memory foam pad or other type of mattress pad later this week. That's all for now, wish me luck!

Update: My neighbor and classmate, Ben, offered me an extra mattress for my bed. I'm so happy I could pass out and sleep!