strawberry tarts

PICTURES FROM PARIS ARE COMING SOON. I'M CURRENTLY IN AN AREA WHERE ATTACHMENTS ARE BLOCKED BY THE INTERNET CONNECTION. THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE.

i just ate a strawberry tart. i also spoke french yesterday. yes, i speak french everyday, and i eat strawberry tarts everyday, but i must elaborate to explain the greatness. first of all (because food is ALWAYS first), strawberry tarts are my absolute favorite thing to eat. i am a regular at this one little patisserie. i shopped around before claiming one as my own, but i'm in love with this one, and their tarts are the most delicious things i've ever tasted. however, they are closed on thursday, so i had to go to my other patisserie. they have delicious tarts also. the two patisseries are right next door to each other, and for the most part they offer the same goods. to the untrained palet, it may seem that they're very similar, but i have a heightened sense in all of my sweet teeth, and i know that the crust and filling are VERY different at each location.

like i said before, i spoke french yesterday. erica and i went to the bar on campus to drink a beer and listen to a techno concert (something completely normal for a wednesday night in france). we got to talk to some real live french people. haha. they were very nice and patient, and i think that we are going to keep frequenting that place, because everyone is very eager to talk and meet people. we also met some drunk guys that thought we were british, so they proceeded to talk in ridiculous english accents, saying that we were the countesses of normandy...and the exchange of pleasantries ended with them kneeling down in proposal position in the middle of the street. people do strange things here. they act even stranger if they know you're not french :)

paris was absolutely AMAZING!! we sat on the steps of sacre coeur and listened to music, went out in montmarte, sat at cafe des fleurs in saint germain de pres, visited la defense and l'arc du triomphe, went barhopping in the bastille area, and sat in le jardin du luxembourg. i rode the metro for an afternoon by myself, dressed in all black with my ipod on, and i felt like i owned the city. i think that everyone owns a little piece of paris. there are so many different cultures, and within 5 min. of stepping off the train, i heard about 10 different languages. however, by the time the weekend was over, we were all ready to go back to caen. i wish i could explain how precious my city is. it's home now, and we all are obsessed with it. it's sort of like texas. ..but in france. everyone is really friendly. it's also MUCH cleaner than paris. paris pretty much always has a strange smell. i plan on going back in a couple of weeks to sit in the "jardin du luxembourg" again. it was the most beautiful place i've ever been. i figure the museums in paris can wait until it's too cold to be outside (which will probably be soon).

suzanne fell in her room and hit her face on her bed. it ended up breaking her nose, and we had to call a french ambulance. she's doing much better now, and i missed her a ton when she was in the french hospital for the night. hopefully she will be the first and last one of us that has to experience french healthcare. she did say it was more than adequate, even though it is socialized. ha. take that america.

i started a french aerobics class yesterday. it was really easy and set to music from the musical "cats". so i wonder. . how are french people so skinny when they eat so much cheese and so many pastries. . .and their workouts suck?? all i know is that this little piggy needs to find a treadmill before french food gets the best of my thighs.

i miss you all. if you want to send me a letter (please do). . here is my address

Kylie Lehman
Batiment E, Chambre 220
Cite Universitaire Des Tilleuls
23 avenue de Bruxelles
B.P. 85153
14070 CAEN CEDEX 5
France

if you don't want to send a letter, feel free to book a flight to paris and buy me a huge diamond from the cartier store on the champs elysees. i'm not picky.