Classes, Eiffel Tower, a Picnic and a Play

Salut!
On Monday my classes officially started! I am taking a medieval French literature class and a French culture class (as I think I've previously explained haha). I've never really had to read anything major for any of the French classes I've ever taken, so this literature class is an intense challenge. The only literature I've read en francais was a childrens book called "Le Petit Prince" (The Little Prince). And now I'm reading medieval poetry (translated from old french into modern french), a period play and a novel. It's extremely interesting! But it takes forever!!! My dictionary is going to be tattered by the end of this trip becuase it seems like I have to look every other word up. But I'm ok with that I guess...learnings awesome!
Something else I learned (today actually) is to not follow directions from everyone you come into contact with! I went to the post office today and said to the woman working there, "J'ai besoin d'envoyer cettes cartes postales aux les etats-unis." (I need to send these postcards to the USA). so she had me go over to a machine and spend 12 euros on 20 stamps that ended up being ONLY for intra-France mail. I was totally gypped! And they wouldnt buy them back from me, or anything! So I talked to a different employee and after he sold me the correct stamps, he told me that he'd try to sell my stamps for me. So I gave him the 2 books of stamps I bought and Im supposed to go back tomorrow to see if anyone purchased some of them. I hope so! I could have spent that 12 euros on baguettes or something! Haha.
After classes and our weekly group meeting on Monday, I did homework and then went to the Eiffel Tower with 2 other people from my group. We bought a bottle of wine and brought cups! We drank wine on the Champs de Mars (the grounds in front of the Eiffel Tower)! Very Parisian! Haha. Except there are a lot of people with backpacks full of wine that travel from group of sitting persons to group of sitting persons. We were asked, I kid you not, over 35 times if we wanted to buy some wine. I'm proud of myself though becuase we actually did end up buying some, and I totally haggled the price from 10 euros to 5!! (in French, mind you!) The Eiffel Tower is awesome at night becuase after night fall, it twinkles/sparkles for like 5 minutes every hour, on the hour. C'etait bon!
On Tuesday, the whole group went to an outdoor market for lunch. We each purchased food and then had a picnic. Apparently this is a tradition for this program becuase a couple of years ago, the director/teachers saw that everyone was sustaining themselves out of the vending machine in the Foyer. So they took everyone out, showed them how to buy stuff and had a picnic with their purchases afterward. It was a good time! The weather was beautiful today! I went to a fromagerie (a cheese store) and was mildly repulsed by all of the disgustingly moldy cheese! But I bought some emmental francaise (swiss) and after picking off the aqua-colored mold, it was quite delicious! I also bought a baguette from a patisserie (pastry/bread store), and a peach and some raspberries from a fruit vendor. Everything was suuuper fresh and delicious!
After our pique-nique, I had my 4 hour literature class. We discussed the story we read (about a werewolf) and had une tartlette aux fraises (a strawberry tart). It was delicious! and discussing our assignment was easier than I expected, which was nice.
Next, we went to the theater! La Comedie Francaise is a famous theater here and they have a wide variety of shows. Tonight, we saw a play called Ubu Roi. I have no idea what happened in it, haha. I am definitely not fluent in French so I could only understand about 1/3 - 2/3 of the play, and I'm sorry to say, but that wasn't enough (obviously) to understand the plotline haha. I dressed all fancily with makeup, a dress, and heels (and didnt get groped in the metro!! Hooray!) and tried to comprehend the story about a guy who kills the royal family, assumes the throne, kills everyone else in power in the country, is overtaken by Russia, then has to live in the forest. It was very...odd. Haha.
Well I'm pooped. It's 1:00am here and I've had a long day...nice, but looong.
Thanks for reading my blog :D

A toute a l'heure!
Briana