So it is now dimanche le 12 septembre a 22h13 (Sunday, 10:13 pm...the military time is STILL throwing me for a loop.) And I have had a VERY busy past couple of days, but AMAZING ones at that. Seen a lot, slept little, and ate very very very well. Here's a recap.
Thursday-arrived at my host family's apartment in the 15th arrondissement (district) at around 3 pm after a loooong and confusing wild goose chase for the Paris Shuttle to take all 17 of us from the Charles de Gaulle airport to our respective apartments all over the city. Somewhat of a mess, but things always work out, and they did. Everyone got in, had their first meals with their families (or had to heat up some leftovers because the host mothers had been expecting us 4 hours earlier), settled in, ate dinner, and passed out early. The jetlag hadn't/hasn't hit me yet, but it was just one particularly long day that did it for me. My sleep schedule hasn't been too off, thank god! I came home to a lovely meal of beef stew with mushrooms, carrots and onions in some type of wine sauce (DELICIOUS) and a cheese and potato tart. Then that night my host mother prepared baked eggplant with melted cheese and a green salad, just the type of meal I needed to fill my belly and get me ready for a restful night of sleep. The salad dressing that she serves is interesting but very very delicious--it is milk-based but has the tanginess of horseradish. Pretty delish. We drink tap water at meal times.
The apartment is great! It really is the perfect size for one woman who houses international students quite often. In fact there is a Russian girl also staying here at the moment, (I forget her name, oops), and she leaves the 18th of September. Béatrix is a seasoned veteran when it comes to foreign students. She is super-polite and very accomodating. Hasn't said a single thing yet to make me feel uncomfortable or not at home. My bed is LOVELY. It's giving my bed some stiff competition, although the bed is anything but! I've just been so exhausted at the end of each day that it wouldn't matter if the bed were made of straw, but it happens to be heavenly. My room is the perfect size--fit the contents of two 50 pound suitcases in the provided wardrobe and dresser. I was impressed! Made me realize that size isn't everything, it's how you use it. Coming home is very comforting to me, I can just relax, check emails and Facebook through the wireless connection as I look out the window right behind my computer. Great setup. And I don't know if it's because Béatrix worked for L'Oréal, but all of my linens smell like top-quality French soaps and perfume :) It's wonderful.
Béatrix has a 28 year old son with two children, Athenaïs (A-ten-ay-ees) and Nathanael (Na-ten-ay-el). Beautiful names. Athenaïs is an adorable five and a HALF year old with platinum blond hair, blue eyes, and is lacking one front tooth. Precious. So funny how little kids stress the extra six months that they've been alive when people of my age wish they could somehow not age a day from this point on or even reverse the clock. Nathanael is two years old and is just learning to talk--the only words I've heard from him are "Papa," "dodo" (which means "blanket"), "lapin" (for his stuffed rabbit), Tenaïs (what he calls his older sister), and "n'y rien" ("there's nothing," when he discovered the egg poacher had nothing inside of it.) Cute doesn't even begin to describe these kids. First of all, they are physically adorable. As if that wasn't enough, hearing them speak in French makes my heart melt. They've been here every day since I arrived save for Saturday. François-Henri (the 28 year old son) works every day and I believe is separated from his wife. So Béatrix (grand-mère) takes care of them during the day. It is easy for me to see that this is NOT easy for her. Her son, according to her, doesn't say "no" very often which makes it hard for her to get through to them when they misbehave. Nathanael also has a very bad cold which makes him much crankier. There's been quite a lot of screaming on his part since I arrived.
The apartment is right off of a main road in the 15th, called Vaugirard. I catch the métro on Vaugirard to get to school (located in an area called Montparnasse) and have been heading to Montparnasse every night to meet up with the other girls to go out to dinner and get drinks or go out to clubs. My neighborhood is very safe. My apartment is on the third floor of the building and Béatrix feels so safe here that she never locks the door at night. She knows all of her neighbors and there is a code to get in to the complex from the street, to get into the mailroom on the first floor of the building, then another to get past the mailroom into the actual hallway where I take the elevator up to the third floor. I can rest easy knowing my things are safe and that I am safe as well. There are restaurants and shops on the street perpendicular to mine which takes me to Vaugirard. It is so different living in a BIG city like Paris for the first time! Definitely has taken some adjustments on my part, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. I absolutely love being able to walk everywhere, also. Makes me detest the fact that at home in Pittsburgh, public transportation is looked down upon and I have NEVER used it and that I have to drive everywhere.
Anyway, back to Thursday. After having lunch, Béatrix took me to the métro to buy a month pass called the Carte Navigo. It was a pretty frusterating experience because the woman was talking fast, I was exhausted, and she was telling me that the month pass I was supposed to buy, according to our professor, would make more sense to purchase on Monday. So she gave me about ten one-use passes which I ended up having to buy more of instead of just using the unlimited métro card immediately. And I was to be reimbursed for the month pass (about 60€) the following day at orientation at school but I hadn't actually bought the pass yet. Very confusing. But just asked my host mom about half an hour ago and all I have to do is recharge my card tomorrow before getting on the métro and pay the 60€ then. Problem solved.
Friday morning had to be at school at 10:45 for orientation. We had to wait until 11:30 unfortunately for the professor to show up. Viviane Akoka has been working with UD for at least 20 years and knows the program well, so she's a good go-to person to have around. We met our other professors and they all seem great. I was pretty nervous at first, thinking I wouldn't be able to keep up with their pace, but I was able to pretty easily. So that calmed my nerves.
So it is in fact now JEUDI, exactly one week since I arrived. And although I keep putting off documenting what I've done since last Friday, it's about time I just quickly jotted down what's been happening.
Friday night, went out to dinner with Cathy, who is quickly becoming one of my close friends, had a great meal at a café we stumbled upon in Montparnasse, met up with others for drinks, then went to our first boîte de nuit (nightclub)! We all were so excited to experience the nightlife and dance, and that we did. It was a great night!
Saturday had a tour of the city and drove by the major monuments--la Tour Eiffel, l'Arc de Triomphe, le Louvre, all the essentials. Made me really excited to revisit ALL those places and really get to experience them.
Sunday we had a tour of Montmartre, which was UNBELIEVABLE. Such a great little village in the grand city of Paris...so quaint and so vibrant! Definitely have to go back to Montmartre many many more times. Just a metro ride away! :)
Monday we started class--9 am to 6:30 pm! So exhausting. 2 hours of French and 4 hours of French civilization. But I'm learning a lot and the fact that the classes are ALL and will always be entirely in French is great, I can feel myself improving already.
Tuesday--class again, field trip to the Latin Quarter to see the "academic" region of the city where les Sorbonnes are... the most prestigious universitites in the city. Gorgeous!
Wednesday-class again, field trip to a market (marché) where Viviane taught us how the proper way to buy produce and everything else you could ever need there. Went back to her very chic and beautiful apartment, cooked pasta for the group with Cathy and had a nice relaxing afternoon. Great day, took some great pictures....have to upload those to the blog eventually. And I bought my first French magazine too! <<Le Nouvel Observateur>> with a picture of Nicolas Sarkozy on the front and it reads <<Cet homme est-il dangereux?>> (Is this man dangerous?) We'll find out. You aren't French if you don't know politics. That's something I learned IMMEDIATEMENT. So I have a lot to learn!
Thursday (today)-civilization class again for 4 hours. Looong day. But we took a nice hour break in between and got to try all different types of cheeses and even wine! Wouldn't even DREAM of doing that in the states! How cool is that? We've been learning about French tradition, a bit of history, the French family, French holidays, and what it means to be French (l'identité des français.) Very interesting stuff. It'll be nice when we don't have the class for 4 hours at a time though (starting a week from this coming Monday.)
That about sums it up. Glazed over a WHOLE lot of detail, and wish I didnt' have to/wish I had documented each day at the end of the day. But this should suffice for now.
A bientôt...
Thursday-class
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Hi, my name is Anne and I'm a travel-philiac.
So it has been one heck of a first week here in Paris...done a lot, been all over the city, and seen quite a lot as well. Needless to say, it's been a bit exhausting, but worth every minute. I wake up every morning so anxious to start the day and find out what it's going to bring. And so far, the days have been pretty good to me.
It's interesting to travel in a large group consisting only of 20 year old girls. Some have traveled all over, some have never been out of the country. Some are adaptable and find the beauty in being put out of one's element, some have a little more trouble. For me, someone who has had study abroad experience in the past, I'm familiar with all the feelings I've been dealing with for the past seven days. Knee-knockingly excited, exhausted, motivated, successful, not-so-successful, comfortable, and extremely uneasy--it's all part of the ride. I've been able to identify with a few other girls on the trip who have traveled before and love learning about themselves when they are put in a situation that necessitates a bit of spontaneity, imagination, and logic in order to get through. We've discussed how study abroad really brings out people's true colors and strips you down to the essentials. As corny as it sounds, you really learn who you are when you can be yourself in a totally new city, surrounded by an entirely different culture, entranced by the sound of a different language being spoken all around you 24/7.
I know now why I find myself traveling abroad every year at school since I was a freshman. At home in the states, I'm dedicated to my studies, to my family, to my friends, to my health, to my well-being. I go through life day by day without a known long-term goal in mind, other than graduating and hopefully one day finding a job that I love and being happy with my life. But when I'm in other country, constantly stimulated by my new surroundings, I find myself more preoccupied with the here-and-now, rather than worrying about what will come tomorrow. I walk through the streets, inhaling the intoxicating scent of the freshly baked pain and croissants seeping through the doorways of the boulangeries, the smell of cigarette smoke that you positively cannot avoid in Paris, absorbing the sound of the r's of French words rolling elegantly off the Parisians tongues in the streets, in the marchés, and at home with my host family. I'm so obsessed with soaking it all in and being present that I forget about the things I feel I have to do eventually and concentrate more on what being in Paris now is all about. And that's the beauty of life--making the best of what you have now and allowing oneself to subscribe to the idea of que será, será.
It's interesting to travel in a large group consisting only of 20 year old girls. Some have traveled all over, some have never been out of the country. Some are adaptable and find the beauty in being put out of one's element, some have a little more trouble. For me, someone who has had study abroad experience in the past, I'm familiar with all the feelings I've been dealing with for the past seven days. Knee-knockingly excited, exhausted, motivated, successful, not-so-successful, comfortable, and extremely uneasy--it's all part of the ride. I've been able to identify with a few other girls on the trip who have traveled before and love learning about themselves when they are put in a situation that necessitates a bit of spontaneity, imagination, and logic in order to get through. We've discussed how study abroad really brings out people's true colors and strips you down to the essentials. As corny as it sounds, you really learn who you are when you can be yourself in a totally new city, surrounded by an entirely different culture, entranced by the sound of a different language being spoken all around you 24/7.
I know now why I find myself traveling abroad every year at school since I was a freshman. At home in the states, I'm dedicated to my studies, to my family, to my friends, to my health, to my well-being. I go through life day by day without a known long-term goal in mind, other than graduating and hopefully one day finding a job that I love and being happy with my life. But when I'm in other country, constantly stimulated by my new surroundings, I find myself more preoccupied with the here-and-now, rather than worrying about what will come tomorrow. I walk through the streets, inhaling the intoxicating scent of the freshly baked pain and croissants seeping through the doorways of the boulangeries, the smell of cigarette smoke that you positively cannot avoid in Paris, absorbing the sound of the r's of French words rolling elegantly off the Parisians tongues in the streets, in the marchés, and at home with my host family. I'm so obsessed with soaking it all in and being present that I forget about the things I feel I have to do eventually and concentrate more on what being in Paris now is all about. And that's the beauty of life--making the best of what you have now and allowing oneself to subscribe to the idea of que será, será.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Pre-Paris pondering...
First post of my Paris 2010 blog! Can't believe the journey has finally begun...
Just arrived in Newark, NJ at 5:30 and the flight to Paris doesn't leave until 9:30 pm. Supposed to arrive at 11:05 am tomorrow in Paris! Only a few more hours...
Figured I'd give my immersion into French life a head start by checking out what the hot topics in France are today. One glance at the New York Times homepage produced two articles that, in my opinion, could not embody more quintessentially the issues France faces today.
Does it come as a surprise that one of the articles was about French Union workers striking yet again? The other issue, not as widely-recognized by most non-French citizens, is the growing role of Muslims in the composition of the French populace.
The first article, titled "Halal Foods Expand Reach in France" describes just that--how the European country with the highest number of Muslim citizens is dealing with the social adjustments that come with welcoming a minority into the general population. The problem, it seems, is that the majority of French citizens and the French government aren't ready to accept the fact that Muslims, in the very near future, will no longer be a minority. There are six million people practicing Islam in France today and the number is growing exponentially. For the past three decades, immigration rates to France have been on the rise, and the number of immigrants originating from Africa has been the most steadily increasing contribution to the population of France as a whole. According to an article I found online (http://www.focus-migration.de/France.1231.0.html?&L=1) the countries with the most significant numbers of immigrants have been Algeria, Morocco, Portugal, Italy, Spain and Turkey, Algeria having the highest and Turkey having the lowest. And because of this, "increased control of admissions and the integration of second- and third-generation descendants of immigrants represent the most important challenges for immigration policy-making in France in the near future." In the 90s, the Minister of the Interior, Charles Pasqua, even pursued "immigration zéro," a zero immigration policy. Seems a bit backward to me with the inevitable globalization that is occurring every day.
Having been to Tunisia and gotten a taste for what the relationship is between Tunisians and the French, it will definitely be interesting to observe the other point of view. And hopefully I'll be able to retain my Arabic skills should it be necessary/convenient for me to use them....
The other article touches on a sensitive area of U.S.-French relations in terms of one country's perception of the other. The French may view Americans as crass, fat, and obnoxious, but Americans tend to view the French as snobbish and a bit detached from reality thanks to the French Union's high-scoring record of strikes over the past few decades. I can't tell you the number of times that I've heard someone respond to news about France with "Doesn't surprise me" or "Oh, those French...striking AGAIN?"
So much to take in in 4 months, and I can't wait....
Just arrived in Newark, NJ at 5:30 and the flight to Paris doesn't leave until 9:30 pm. Supposed to arrive at 11:05 am tomorrow in Paris! Only a few more hours...
Figured I'd give my immersion into French life a head start by checking out what the hot topics in France are today. One glance at the New York Times homepage produced two articles that, in my opinion, could not embody more quintessentially the issues France faces today.
Does it come as a surprise that one of the articles was about French Union workers striking yet again? The other issue, not as widely-recognized by most non-French citizens, is the growing role of Muslims in the composition of the French populace.
The first article, titled "Halal Foods Expand Reach in France" describes just that--how the European country with the highest number of Muslim citizens is dealing with the social adjustments that come with welcoming a minority into the general population. The problem, it seems, is that the majority of French citizens and the French government aren't ready to accept the fact that Muslims, in the very near future, will no longer be a minority. There are six million people practicing Islam in France today and the number is growing exponentially. For the past three decades, immigration rates to France have been on the rise, and the number of immigrants originating from Africa has been the most steadily increasing contribution to the population of France as a whole. According to an article I found online (http://www.focus-migration.de/France.1231.0.html?&L=1) the countries with the most significant numbers of immigrants have been Algeria, Morocco, Portugal, Italy, Spain and Turkey, Algeria having the highest and Turkey having the lowest. And because of this, "increased control of admissions and the integration of second- and third-generation descendants of immigrants represent the most important challenges for immigration policy-making in France in the near future." In the 90s, the Minister of the Interior, Charles Pasqua, even pursued "immigration zéro," a zero immigration policy. Seems a bit backward to me with the inevitable globalization that is occurring every day.
Having been to Tunisia and gotten a taste for what the relationship is between Tunisians and the French, it will definitely be interesting to observe the other point of view. And hopefully I'll be able to retain my Arabic skills should it be necessary/convenient for me to use them....
The other article touches on a sensitive area of U.S.-French relations in terms of one country's perception of the other. The French may view Americans as crass, fat, and obnoxious, but Americans tend to view the French as snobbish and a bit detached from reality thanks to the French Union's high-scoring record of strikes over the past few decades. I can't tell you the number of times that I've heard someone respond to news about France with "Doesn't surprise me" or "Oh, those French...striking AGAIN?"
So much to take in in 4 months, and I can't wait....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)