:)

It didn't take very long for life to get easier here. Of course, I'm hoping that I'll only have the one day of complete confusion, and from here on out, I'll keep the courage I seemed to find yesterday to talk to my family more and ask questions and the like. But I even had a (slightly broken) conversation with Lionel (the son) over breakfast, which was fun, as I've barely spoken to him at all over the last three days. And finally I (sort of) figured out what all the kids are doing, though I'm still not entirely sure what the two older ones are up to. Lionel's taking his Baccalaureate in June (that's the big test all French students have to take before they're allowed to get their high school diploma), I think Alix works somewhere, and Cecile is studying for some other big test. I think. But, that's more info than I had before. :)

I have also successfully bought lunch, purchased a cell phone and a mobilecarte which has minutes on it, and deposited money in my bank account, all in French. Of course, the teller at the bank got slightly panicked when she realized I wasn't French and she didn't speak English, but it all worked out in the end.

And speaking of my cell phone, the number is: 011-33-6-84-13-17-57. This includes the country codes you need - 011 is the country code for France, and I'm not sure what the 33 is for but you need it. :) The remaining 9 numbers are my actual telephone number, though if you were in France it would begin with 06, instead of just 6. As of this evening (approx. 6 pm my time), my phone should work for international calls (though don't expect that to happen any time soon - don't want to use too many euros on my card ;).

This afternoon, we music students are going to the Conservatoire for Orientation and our first Music History class. So, my break is now really over. But that's OK, because I'm in France. And I'm starting to appreciate living in Strasbourg for the semester rather than Paris. Though Paris is wonderful, I think of it like I do New York City. A great place for me to visit, but I'm not so sure I'd like living there. It's just so big...

Onward!