Reims, Days 1 and 2

Let me start this post with a warning: The following paragraphs contain complaints & ranting. That said, let's get straight into it.

I chose not to post anything on Sunday because overall, it was a fairly average day, and I thought I might be able to post Sunday and Monday together. This was not the case, but I will tell you about both of those days now.

On Sunday, my friend, her mother and I went to a small town called Chevreuse. It was quite beautiful. We also stopped at a nursery for plants and fruit. In the town, the church was holding an antiques and bake sale. No rice krispies though, crepes and croissants on the menu here. There was also music, dance, a magic show, and a beautiful walled garden in the town centre. A nice visit. I also got a wonderful surprise that night when another of my best friends from my first trip to France came by the house.

Monday, we headed out to Reims. My friend had already left for Lille, so her mom and brother drove me to my Res for a quick meeting and to help me get settled in. We walked around the town, absolutely wonderful in the Centre. The Cathedral is gorgeous (and easy to find).
My apartment is pretty good, too, to be fair. Water, heat and electricity all work (for now) and there is lots of space.
Monday afternoon, my friends left me to go home. This is where the rant starts:

Monday evening, I realized I have no bedding, or pillow. Just a mattress. My phone requires a bank account, so no phone. The Free Wifi would work except that it requires a phone to activate. So no Internet. I went shopping instead, which was a generally decent experience, though the store is a 15-minute walk across 2 construction zones, and the store is only open 6 hours per day.

No sleep monday night, somehow managed to get out of bed at 11 am anyway. I thought I would be productive and open a bank account, get my phone subscription, call the elec people to confirm my account, call the Préfecture to get my Carte de Séjour...
Turns out, no buses go downtown from my res. Fine, I'll walk partway. Half way, that is. 1/2 walk and 5 min. bus ride later, I'm downtown.

Opening a bank account went incredibly smoothly. The only hiccup was when I tried to transfer funds via personal cheque from my account in Canada. There are fees at both ends, and apparently it doesn't happen often at Le Credit Lyonnais. So after about 15 minutes of explanation, which followed a very pleasant account opening, I was out of there.

On to Orange, the France Telecom telephone servic provider. There, too, I was pleased by the service (this was my third time in an Orange location in the last 4 days, and it will certainly not be my last). Problem: that personal cheque at LCL? Takes 15-21 days for international funds to clear. Also, it takes up to 8 days to receive my Carte Bleue (the debit/credit card that makes everything in France easier). To make a long story short, I ended up having to purcahse, for 15E cash, a 10-minute SIM card which I will return when I go back to finalize my actual account.
On the plus side, with any plan, I get a $250+ phone for 1E, so every cloud has a silver lining.

I figured after all this I should go shop for dinner, so I found an Italian store and bought some pasta sauce, butter, and grated parmigiano reggiano. Yum! (note: I'd already purchased the pasta the previous day).

Then I managed to find a bus to get me 3/4 of the way home, and I took it. Once home, I put down my bag, turned on my laptop, and activated the internet with help from my phone. I then proceeded to call EDF, the electrical company, hoping it would take less than 10 minutes. It did not, and my card expired before I finished. I'm waiting for my electricity to be cut any minute. The internet will work until 17h00, Paris time, Wednesday though. So at least there's that for now.

Now I'm just biding my time until everything in my apartment falls to pieces, and everything outside my apartment begins, so I can have some fun. Hopefully more positive posts will follow this, but if you don't hear from me for a while, and you read the above, you'll know why.