Day one: Let the fun begin!

I MADE IT!
I'm in France!! What a crazy crazy day! 
It started when I landed at the JFK airport which I did not realize was so huge! 8 terminals and I had no idea which one my flight was going out of but I figured it out with some skill and this new thing called the internet. So when I find my way to the gate to check in, I find out that the airline doesn't start checking people in until 8pm.  Well I had arrived at 6pm so I had to wait for two hours with no food/water because (silly me) I figured all the airports had food or at least vending machines in them to get some sustenance.  Thankfully I had some gum and a left over blueberry muffin that I survived.  Finally I made it to the counter and I found out that one of my carry on bags was too heavy.  This is something new for me since most domestic flights don't weight your carry on bags. Thankfully, the guy who was checking me in explained that I could repack some stuff into my checked luggage which was almost 10lbs under what I could've packed it. If I didn't have that option then I would've had to pay $140 to check my overweight carry on. However, I was able to repack and check in my bag which made it safely here with me and all was good. The flight took off at 11:55pm and was HUGE! There were 40 rows with 8 people to a row even though it looked small from the outside it was huge and spacious on the inside.  I had a window seat which would've been great if Paris wasn't rainy and cold all day so I didn't get to see much besides a nice fluffy cloud when we arrived. The flight was between 6-7 hours and I slept through most of it and we did get breakfast about an hour before we landed so all in all it was a good flight. 
When I arrived, Mr Nguyen picked me up (he is the owner of the apartment I am renting). Such a nice man! He's in his late 60s and has two children in their late twenties.  Mrs Nguyen didn't come with him but I did get to meet her when I arrived at the apartment. Before I got here, Mr Nguyen did give me a mini tour of Paris aka Paris in a car on steroids. Mr Nguyen is very smart and showed me many buildings and where my school is and where the US embassy is. However..... he definitely drives like he's lived here his whole life. He was flying down one way side streets, cutting people off, driving in the middle of two lanes, taking left hand turns from the middle lane, all while telling me about the city and what to see and what tourist usually miss. So great guy, bad driver.
The apartment is really nice, below is some pics of my room and I will take some of the rest of the place later.  It really is a small place but its nice and honestly not that far from the center of Paris.  By car it was only 20 minutes, granted I will be taking a metro and it will take longer but it was a nice drive.
The BIGGEST hurdle I overcame today was my first French family dinner! It was with Mr and Mrs Nguyen and Eugenia my new roommate.  It truly is a process, one I had only read about in my books at Oakland U but those books spoke the truth! Dinner started off with a little pastry with meat inside of it, a typical French Vietnamese pastry from what Mr Nguyen told me.  Then we had a cold salad with very very thinly sliced cucumbers, carrots, lettuce, chicken and a light vinaigrette dressing. No wine though because Mrs Nguyen wasn't sure if I drank wine and she said the next dinner she will bring out the best so we will see what happens.  Then followed pork in a brown gravy, rice and some cold vegetables in what seemed to me like had an Italian dressing taste.  Then came dessert which was either yogurt and sugar or french raspberry ice cream. I had the ice cream (very very good!).  All the while, everyone was eating slow and talking endless amounts of French. Great for me because thats why I came but it was a challenge to stay grounded to the conversation. My mind started to cherry pick what they were saying and tell me hey we know that word and by the time we realized what they were talking about the conversation had moved on.  BUT I was asked some questions and I did answer them in French and I received two compliments by the end of the night.  Mr Nguyen said that my spoken French was very good, much better than my written which apparently he had no trouble pointing out.  Then my new roomie, Eugenia, said that I spoke the language very well. Mrs Nguyen kept saying give it a week maybe two and you'll be able to talk with ease. YAY! Brownie points for me!! Made me so happy! Not only did I not offend anyone at dinner but I got compliments!!
What a great way to end the night and my first blog post!!