My home in Paris!!

It's official! I'm settled in my new home away from home and I have the videos to prove it (ha ha!). But first, I got a message from my great-aunt Lou the other day requesting to see what the grocery stores are like (I'm working on the other requests), so here are some pictures of a store about a block or two away from where I live:
This is a Monoprix (MAH-no-pree), and it's kind of like a mini Walmart because it has groceries and clothes and general house things to buy. I actually don't shop here usually for food because there's another grocery store nearby that's cheaper called a Franprix (FRAN-pree). But they both generally have the same stuff when it comes to food.


The inside looks very similar to what we have in the U.S. ... you have your meat aisles and your fresh fruits and veggies section... but the bread and cheese sections are definitely bigger!
(And of course, the wine section! Wine is really cheap here, by the way... I bought a bottle last week for less than 2 euros!)













And here's the French bank I'm using here! I opened my account last week and I'm going back to the office tomorrow with a French friend of mine who's going to translate for me and help me finalize some things (I would go by myself and stumble through the French alone, but since the subject is my money, I'm thinking my native language would be best). :) But anyway, this is the ATM closest to my apartment.




To celebrate our new apartment, Shannon and I invited our friends, Ashley and Emily, who also go to Georgia Tech and who are in the same study abroad program as me, over for dinner tonight. Shannon made this amazing meal: salmon, mashed potatoes, and green beans, and Ashley and Emily brought homemade brownies and a bottle of wine (and I cleaned up!). It was a lot of fun, and a nice break from thinking about Sciences-Po, so we all agreed to making this a weekly tradition. Next week, we're going to Ashley and Emily's place!
















And here is the long-awaited tour of our apartment!! Enjoy!




P.S. - I have to say thank you again to Jen for the chapstick! This stuff is amazing and it helps so much when my lips get chapped from this crazy Parisian weather. I swear I'm discriminating against the other brands I have! Thanks!