What a successful day! I had my French language class this morning, and after a fun lunch in the courtyard with some of my API friends, I went to my 20th century French history course. It went surprisingly well and I actually understood what she said this week. Whereas last week I was fearing the worst after feeling like I spoke no French.

The best part of the day was a stroll around my neighborhood. I had yet to really explore the 16th arr. and I'm kind of shocked that I hadn't yet. I went to run errands and ended up finding an entire outdoor market less than 5 minutes from my room with all the fresh produce, meat, cheese, wine, and bread I could ever want. Not only that, but there was a huge selection of restaurants and cafés with real locals in them. Public markets here close around 2 or 3 pm, and since I'm always in class until 5, I had resigned to the thought that I would be shopping at a supermarket for the foreseeable future. Local markets though stay open much later to cater to their neighborhood and I'm so happy for that. Definitely need more vegetables in my life. It was great and I talked to people and felt confident and was not immediately spoken to in English (like in the other markets that attract the tourists). It was such a ridiculously French afternoon I could barely handle it. AND the prices are better than anywhere else I could conveniently buy groceries (Less than 1€50 for a giant bunch of carrots and quite a few green squash). I will definitely be going back there all the time. I think my next goal is to buy meat and/or cheese, since it's a vocabulary that I don't know very well. I shall study before I shop. Real life is the best classroom anyway.