A trip to the papeterie

The only important thing we had to do before school started was to get a bunch of very particular school supplies, so we went to the papeterie recommended by the school. Papeteries are small shops that sells paper products, such as stationery, notebooks, and school supplies. We went to the one recommended by the school, which was about 10 blocks away from our apartment. The walk back with books and notebooks was not fun.

People who knew better had called in their list and just showed up to collect their supplies. Instead, we handed the list we got from the school to one of the store clerks and waited while he found the various products for us. And then he pointed us to those articles where we had a choice, such as the pencil cases, of which each student needs two (it's the French way; some things go in one and some in the other. C'est normal.)