My Home-Stay Info

So this semester I am currently living in a home-stay.  I selected the home-stay option in November.  I found out their ADDRESS in late January, and I came to Paris still with no idea WHO THEY ARE?! It still baffles me how they couldn't just let me know the AGES and NUMBER of people in my home-stay. Truly unbelievable.

As I said in a previous post, the first night I stayed in a hotel.  After going through all the previously described orientation items, we finally got our home-stay information!!!  The woman had a full, typed out sheet about my family. (How about attaching that baby to an email and sending it out??) She told me I would be staying in one of the swankiest (my words, not hers) parts of Paris.  When she pulled out my sheet, her face lit up, and she said, "Quelle chance!" (aka What luck!).  This instantly made me excited. She explained how my madame is a widow (late 50's/early 60's) with four kids.  She works part-time at a museum near her apartment.  The only people that live in er apartment are another exchange student (a girl (named Oksana) from "Russia", but she's from Uzbekistan) and my madame. One of her sons (named Max) still lives in the building, but not in the apartment.  However, he can reach the apartment through a door in the kitchen, but he has no bathroom or kitchen.

(Okay, that sounds confusing right? Try hearing that s**t in French on your second day in Paris.  I felt so dumb because I thought my comprehension was way off, but I heard her right. My home-stay exchange sister later explained that Max lives in what used to be considered the "maid's quarters".  Thus, connected to the kitchen, but still on a part of the apartment. It is an old building, but still, weird.)

Her husband, when he was alive, restored old paintings.  She said her apartment is covered in beautiful art and is just stunning.  I asked how her husband passed away, but I couldn't really understand her.  I think she said it was his heart, but then said in English, "that kind of stuff happens..." I just giggled in my head about that response because it was the only thing she said in English (it was extremely broken English too).  Anyway, after she explained all that, she kept the sheet with all of the information about their lives on it.  She handed me a separate sheet on how to get into the building and how to take the best metro route from her apartment to school.

After everyone spoke with Beatrice about their home-stay, we all went back to the hotel to collect our suitcases.  We then each took our own cabs to our new homes!  My cab was the last of the 25 cabs to come because my madame was still at work.  As the cab took me to this random woman's house (I probably will never call it home), I couldn't help but notice the amazing area I would be living in.  There are tons of cute, little boutiques.  I'm sandwiched between two massive and beautiful churches (St. Sulpice and St. Germain).  By sandwiched, I mean I am 50 feet from one and a block from the other.  Cafes and other little restaurants also line the streets. It's a perfect location and probably the best of anyone on the trip.  So after the quick 8 minute cab drive, I was finally dropped off in front of the place I'd being staying at while in Paris (again, not home).  I had no idea what to expect, but I just dived in. "Bonsoir, Madame..."