highlights of the week
1. having no quizzes/tests
2. the organic market at Raspail - Parisians love their markets and always have a great variety of fresh produce, meat, homemade jam (confiture), honey, cheese, jewelry, and more. I wished Americans cared this much about good food.
3. the Marais on Sunday - The Marais is an area of Paris that is considered the Jewish area, and on Sundays it's definitely the "place to be" in Paris. Many stores/restaurants are closed in the city on Sundays, but the Marais is almost completely open. It's full of cute designer stores, falafel restaurants, parks, and Jewish bakeries. I'd love an apartment here!
4. The Bastille Opera - Tonight the people in my program were given a tour of one of the opera houses in Paris. It was completed in 1989, so it's still considered very new. Although I almost fell asleep during the tour of the dozens of backstage areas and the basement, it was interesting to see where the operas take place and how much work/money is put into them. The tour guide said the shows sell out every single night.

Things to look forward to
1. Halloween!! Parisians don't really celebrate it (the most Halloween-related things I've seen in Paris are a few bags of pumpkin-shaped candy in a fancy grocery store and signs for the Halloween party at EuroDisney), but I'm sure we'll see many Americans dressed up and going out on Friday night.
2. Spain - Next week I'll be in Spain for 6 days with people from my program. We'll be going to Madrid, Sevilla, and Barcelona, so I'm excited!