Adventures in Furniture Shopping

So, I really haven't done anything exciting and touristy yet during my stay in Paris. Sorry to disappoint. I have spent the last week and the week before in "Welcome Program" classes for four hours per day. In my spare time, I have been running around doing paperwork and finding furnishings for my new and permanent room.

Not surprisingly, it is essentially impossible to find anything cheap in Paris! I have been to at least 20 different stores in the past 2 weeks looking for "furnishings" for my room, which was large, but essentially empty when I arrived. Bummer! It is much more hospitable now though.

One of my initial problems was a dearth of shelving. I had no place to store food or to put anything in the bathroom. My French friend Caroline helped me to find shelves for food and for my bathroom at a home depot-esque store called Bricorama.

We then had to haul the shelves back to my room and assemble them ourselves!










The Passion of Caroline. . . .










The big shelf isn't very sturdy. . . Probably because I assembled it. Oh, by the was, a screwdriver is called a 'tournevis' in French.

Then, today I made a day long pilgrimage to IKEA with several other students from my Welcome Program classes. To reach the IKEA closest to Paris, we had to travel by train, foot, and bus for three hours. We then spent three hours there before making the treck home. I bought more than I could carry, although now my room is 'fully furnished.'

I hope to do more exciting and touristy things this upcoming week. My real classes start on Wednesday, but they start in waves. So, I only have 2 classes this week, both on Wednesday! Fun stuff.

I'm 'watching' the ND at Michigan game on ESPN.com now, or rather, the play-by-plays. It isn't all that exciting without the live action feed.