For those out of the loop, I have switched host families. Hopefully there has not been any mail sent to my last apartment, because I have a slight feeling that I will never be return there.

The good news is that my new situation is going to turn out just lovely.

My two roommates are two Swedish girls who are about my age. There are also two daughters in the household (aged 8 and 11) who seem quite spicy and potentially more fashionable than myself. The father is a successful artist (painter, just starting sculpture), but he is leaving in a couple of days to open a show in Stockholm and then will go on to work in his other studio in Berlin. He was born in Sweden, moved to Paris at four, and then in his twenties moved to NYC. The mother is an theater actress -- large posters advertising her current play are taking over every Metro station in Paris. They all speak perfect English but will make me talk in French.

Last night I arrived just in time for dinner. They actually offered me a cheese platter (at last!) with at least five different kinds of cheese. We talked about why Macs are better than PCs (Helvetica), how they built their apartment from an artist's loft, and how Paris won't accept the fact that it is no longer a "modern city" and how that, by being snobs with their language, the French are separating themselves from the development of modern Europe.

My bedroom is full of pictures of The Beatles and Marilyn Monroe, Christian Dior scarves, vintage shoes (in my size) and a bass guitar. Who cares that my pillow is decorated with the Powerpuff Girls or some other such cartoonery?