From the South to the North; From the 14eme to the 8eme

So a lot has happened in the past 24 hours. I'm in a completely new host family in an entirely different part of the city. It's like black and white. If Paris is a circle (which essentially it is...), I was living on the southern edge of the circle, in the bottom, right hand corner of the 14th. I'm now in the northern end of the city, more toward the west side, in the 8th (though the 17th only starts one street over). Hopefully this map helps:

Last night I left my first host family. They were not very happy and were a bit angy I think, but I needed to leave. My new host family consists of a single mother with a daughter who is a few years younger than me. They are both very nice. Like most of the French people I've met while here in Paris, they can get REALLY worked up about...well, just about anything really. Politics is a fool-proof way to spark a heated debate (at the dinner table or just in the middle of the afternoon lol!). It is an election year here in France, too, so everyone is shouting about Sarko (Sarkozy) and La Pen and it's just crazy trying to keep up. I haven't even heard what is going on with the U.S elections since France is of course focused on their own for the moment. I really should read the Seattle Times a bit more often...

I really like the 8th arrondissement. It's a lot more active than the 14th. I adore the 14th and think I'm going to miss it, but the 8th is very interesting. There is a saturday market and lots of cute little boutiques that my host mom showed me around today. I'm totally going to be buying soooo much new and good food on saturday monings--homemade galettes for breakfast? Ummm...yes please!

I'm off to Angelina's cafe for the afternoon with my friends after making lunch with my host mom!

Love from Paris,

Sarah