:D it's my 21st birthday today! And I went to the Louvre! A group of people were going, and I happened to be in the room, so I 'tagged along' but it was really fun and I didn't feel like I was tagging along. We saw the Mona Lisa and Vénus de Milo, and the galleries around those, then left to go to a cafe. We can explore the rest later, we have our passes. Saw so many Japanese tourists there, I really wanted to go up and talk to them, hahah, how sad is that. What's even sadder is that I can tell when a particular group of Asian tourists is Japanese... it's the clothes that give it away.

I also figured out how to open the apartment's front door, a personal triumph for me, as that was a source of much embarrassment. =_= BUT I FIGURED YOU OUT, STUPID DOOR.
Hmm, I can also meet with a few of those people again at 9 to have drinks, but I don't know if I want to. They warned us about going out at night, I just don't know if I want to mess with it so quickly... even though it is my birthday... but there will definitely be people going out tomorrow night. ahhhh what to doooo

Oh! And I got a cell phone today. I went to The Phone House expecting them to have someone who speaks English, cause I was told there would be one there, but there wasn't, so I had to do it in French. It wasn't too bad. I had to get one of those phones that you do by prepaid card... the year-contract ones can't be canceled early. My phone isn't that great, but it'll do. About 40 euros for the phone, then two 20-euro prepaid cards. What's really frustrating is that when I set the time, I also had to set the date, but I pressed the wrong button and it kept the default date, 1-1-05. AND NOW I CAN'T ACCESS THE DATE ANYMORE TO CHANGE IT! Even if I set the time again, it doesn't ask me for the date like before. I ONLY HAD ONE CHANCE, APPARENTLY, AND I MISSED IT! Not cool, phone. Not. Cool.

haaahaha, I still love this cat. She loves to come rub her face all up in mine, and then walk by and brush her tail against my face, purring happily all the while. She also likes to walk into any open bags on the floor, which is hilarious. I ate dinner with my family last night for the first time, and it was weird. My host sister (age 15) was mad about something, so she kept slamming stuff around, and my host mom asked me some questions really fast so I had to be all "uh.... what?" like two or three times, which is so embarrassing, and it really felt like they were more demanding that I be at their level than understanding that I wasn't. Food was interesting, first this green soup with red peppers in it. I don't like red peppers so I didn't like the taste but I ate it anyway (minus the peppers). Then Indian rice. And bread, of course. Did you know bread in France does not go on your plate? There is always bread to accompany dinner, ALWAYS, but it goes to the left of your plate. On the table itself. I didn't know this last night, but I know it now. So weird. Oh, and we had wine. Then they had a cake for my birthday which was really nice but that also felt semi forced. I dunno. It's an adjustment period. The cat makes up for it.

I only get dinner 2 nights a week, and as my host parents are out of town tonight, I have a feeling tonight will be one of those nights. But I don't know where to go around here... so I might be eating my leftover airplane peanuts/starving. I'm not hungry yet, but I will be. I wonder if my host brother and sister are planning to make food and if they will offer me some.. hmmmm...