My new home.

After arriving in Vichy it was time to settle in. I am living at the Claudius Petit Residence. All of the international students are housed in these studios on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors.

Side view of the building

My room is the window right smack in the middle (the only one fully open.)

I was assigned to room 212. The keys are really weird! They are circular shaped. They work for opening the door to the building and the room.

I immediately began unpacking it and making it feel more like home. I rearranged the furniture and setup all my stuff. There is actually a lot of storage space! The studio feels really roomy, especially for just one person. I have my own kitchenette and my own bathroom. Here are pictures of the place:

Bathroom counter area.. of course I can only see the top half of my face in that mirror lol.

Entry area hooks and mirror.

Closet… not enough clothes!

Bathroom directly to the right after entering the studio.

Kitchenette, you can see the other side of the window in the bathroom.

View from the door.

View facing the door.

The bathroom is a little dark and creepy, but I’m definitely not complaining about having my own. My absolute favorite part about it is the huge window! It opens completely and I have a really nice view. I can put the blinds down to make it dark in here to sleep.

View from the window to the right.

View from the window to the left.

I needed to stock up on some food and the basics so Allissa and I went downtown. We went to the Monoprix (a French supermarket) and bought some food. In France, they don’t provide plastic bags. We had to purchase a couple of market totes for our food. They also don’t bag the food for you so you have to set the stuff on the belt then run down to the end and bag your items. Finally the attendant gives your total. My first purchase in euros!

Look at what Allissa found.. The French are serious about their Nutella. It was in a glass jar!

The fist half of my grocery run. I had to switch to a cart after that.

We definitely got carried away and bought way too much! It was so heavy carrying it back 10 blocks. My shoulders are still sore!!

I got everything put away. This is definitely going to be a different diet than at home. It was truly a learning experience. We had to “picture shop” the grocery store since we weren’t sure what the words were. We almost got half & half instead of milk. We also accidentally grabbed aloe vera laced TP instead of the normal one! I must say its not my favorite scent lol.

After getting everything put away. We headed across the street to a little restaurant for dinner. I definitely had fun ordering my food. I had a chicken sandwich and fries. Luckily the owner knew some English, so we pretty much met halfway. The restaurant is called Les Jasmins. You can see it in the picture of my view from the window to the left. The people there were really friendly!!

After a yummy dinner and a really long day. I relaxed in my room before hanging out with some of the students here. I’m still not used to the time change. I didn’t get to sleep until about 2am (5pm Kansas time).

I really like the functionality of my little place. I definitely like coming home after exploring the city. The only thing missing to make it perfect is my hubby. Soon enough…

I have been around the city and have taken lots of pictures. Next post will have a lot of pictures of Vichy!