Hello everyone!

As hopefully most of you know (but maybe not), I am studying in France this semester, doing a study abroad for about 16 weeks. We are situated in a small little town called Saintes, which is about 280 miles (451 km) southwest of Paris, in the west of France, on the southern half. We're relatively close to the coast, and the nearest major city is Bordeaux.

This map might help you identify where we are. Despite the relative proximity of Bordeaux, we chose to fly into Paris first and spend a day there before meeting up with our professor and taking a train down to Saintes.

There were eight of us USC architecture students on the same flight. My flight left LAX at 12:30 PM, Thursday, August 31. 11 hours later, we landed on Charles de Gaulle airport. The local time: 8:30 AM. I did not get much sleep on the plane, nor did most of the others. Nevertheless, we trekked on through baggage claim and found a shuttle that would take us to Paris. Two and a half hours later, we were on our way to the City of Lights. We got to the city itself around 11:00 AM, stopping at Montparnasse, a major train terminal. After depositing large luggage in a locker for overnight storage, we took the metro train through one transfer and arrived at our hotel, The Hotel Royal Bastille, at around 1:00 in the afternoon.

Paris is utterly amazing. Having been born and raised in Southern California, and having not really travelled much, I've never really been to a city with such rich history and character. The streets and buildings and space are all utterly awesome. The shops on the ground level, the housing on top of that, the trees, the pedestrian friendly spaces, and the bustling, lively vitality of the city were simply entrancing. I loved how everything was so vibrant and just a joy to experience on foot. And that's only after one day! I'll be there again in one week for a ten day excursion. I can't wait!

My friends and I were able to explore a small part of the city during the afternoon and evening. We are in the 11th district and only 1 km (about a 10 minute walk) north of the Seine River. We met up with our two professors that evening and had dinner at a nearby French restaurant, where unfortunately, I had a really bad steak. It wasn't that they cooked it badly; it was just a bad cut of meat. Oh well. The panini I'd had earlier in the day wasn't bad. And while we're on the topic of food, the croissants and baguettes are indeed quite good.

The next day (Saturday) was a travel day. We had a bit of time in the morning to explore the city a little more, and then it was back to Montparnasse to catch a 2:10 PM train ride on board a TGV (Train a Grande Vitesse), one of France's high speed bullet trains that can go up to something like 200 kph (120 mph). We switched to a regular train at Angouleme after two hours and arrived in Saintes at 5:45 PM local time.

So I've gotten settled in at my apartment now. It's really more like a dorm, with shared bathrooms. There's a kitchen downstairs and studio on the second floor. We will be living and dining and cooking and working together. Saintes is much more quiet than Paris and is very charming. It's a town founded by Romans, and it has a rich medieval and Romanesque character as well. The city is situated on the Charente River, and seems to be a fantastic place so far.

So that's that. We have classes for a week before we take our first field trip to Paris, which will last 10 days. The next report will probably come after that, unless I somehow manage to get internet access during the stay in Paris. We should be staying in the same hotel, and I couldn't get my wireless to work there at all.

What follows are descriptions for the 19 pictures I've included with this report. I've actually been pretty good and taken "only" a hundred pics or so since my trip began. Actually, less than a hundred, I think. =D

Here's a shot of our plane after we landed in Charles de Gaulle airport. We flew Air Tahiti Nui.

A shot I took on board the airport bus shuttle that took us to the city.

Here's the hotel we stayed in for a night in Paris. It's the Hotel Royal Bastille, a charming little boutique hotel. It's not fancy, but it'll do.

When I look outside my hotel room, I see this: a plaza surrounding the Place Bastille, with cafes and shops along the street.

Walking south from the hotel, we traced a waterway that led to the Seine River. It was pretty nice.

We didn't venture toward the original center of the city, but along the Seine, we could see a glimpse of the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

Walking back up, the waterway has a waterfront level people can use to take a nice stroll. This shot was some nice gardens alongside.

I love the streets and how the buildings form a tight, urban space. The Haussman architecture looks great too.

Another photo of the ambiance in the city.

Here's the same view from my hotel, only at night. It's extremely vibrant and a very popular place for people to hang out at night.

The above shot looked to the left. This is looking to the right.

Proof that I exist: we went to some garden on Saturday morning, and I had someone take a picture of me because apparently, I take too many non-people pics.

In Saintes, a view out the back of our apartment shows the rooftops of neighborning houses.

Here's a view of the town.

This is the street where our apartment is located.

Another view of the town.

Here's the kitchen. The stove is nice. Cooking should be fun.

Here's a picture of my room. Or my half of the room.

And should I look out my window, I see this. The building that looks like a church on the cliff in the "background" is actually part of our design site for this semester. Pretty darn cool!

Here is the address of the apartment in Saintes, in case you want to mail me something for some reason:
16 Rue Charles Dangibeaud
Saintes, 17100 France

Until next time... a bientot!