Bonjour!

Salut Tous! Sorry for the lack of communication for the last  few days. I arrived in Paris on thursday, and I just arrived at the hotel I will be staying at until I decide on an apartment. I was able to get to spend two days with my Mom in Paris which was really fun. The first day, we toured the city with my Mom's friend Lisa who worked the trip to Paris and we were able to go to most of the major monuments, then had a nice dinner on the Butte de Monmartre. We unfortunately decided against going to Disneyland because we needed to get more stuff done to help me get settled before my Mom left, but hopefully we will get to go when my Mom comes to visit. We did move most of my luggage to the hostel I was going to stay at ( I ended up checking in today to find out they were putting the graduate students in a different hotel) then we went to l'Arc de Triomphe and walked down the Champs-Elysées. We finished the evening with dinner at Chez Janou, and a trip to the Eiffel Tower for crêpes. It was really cool because the Eiffel tower was decorated to look likethe EU flag. This morning I saw my Mom off at the airport then went back to the hotel, gathered the rest of my things and went to check in for orientation which will last for the next week. The sad thing is that I forgot one of my pillows at the hotel and when I called the reception to have them hold it for me they said they found nothing :(   Oh well, at least I still have the other pillow I brought and that one is my favorite.  I have to run, but I will continue to keep everyone updated. I hope everyone is well.