La Vie en Rose.

Where to begin.

I guess this is a good starting point.

I feel like I have done a month’s worth of activities in just these three short days that I have been here in Paris. From the moment I stepped off the plane until now, it seems like I have not stopped moving.

Saturday evening I arrived at my terminal and quickly met the two other people from my program that were taking the same flight as I was. Both were very nice, and it was a sigh of relief that I was not alone in my endeavor over the pond.

After waiting 45 minutes on the runway to leave, we were off to France! I, luckily, had the seat next to me empty, making it much easier of a flight. I had hoped that I would eat dinner, watch part of the movie being shown, and then pop my Advil P.M. and fall fast asleep for the remainder of the flight. My hopes were in vain, as I unsuccessfully tried to sleep hunched over in my two vacant seats. After an hour of frustration and numb legs, I decided to sit up and just accept the fact that I would be really tired on the first day upon arrival. The airplane screens flashed our current location on a world map, along with the outside temperature, speed, etc. I noticed that our flight plan was not as I imagined it would be. We were flying up into Canada, over the tip of Greenland, and passing straight through Scotland. I looked out my window, expecting to see nothing but black sky and an empty sea, but I was in for a big surprise. Right out my window, in HD view, was the Aurora Borealis. I couldn’t believe it! I looked out my window several times over the next two hours, and I was in awe each time. After that awesome experience, I finally fell “asleep” for around 45 minutes. The trip over was not horrible, but it was definitely not ideal.

After landing at the airport Charles de Gaulle, I found one of the ISA workers, and a handful of students were finally able to meet each other. We were quickly shipped away in a tram to our individual homestay residences. I have to admit, when the driver dropped me off, I was nervous. I didn’t have a worker to introduce me or help me wade into the waters of my new situation, so it was full-on nerves when it came time to meet my homestay family. As soon as I got inside, the woman I am staying with, (her name is Mme Forest) began speaking to me in fast Parisian French. Of course I had no idea what she was saying, and I instantly acted like I knew and just nodded and said “oui” several times. After getting into the flat, she offered me bread and juice, and I got to sink in my surroundings. The flat I live in is on the 5^th floor on La Rue De Saint-Vincent de Paul in the 10^th Arrondissement. Less than a block away from our home to the right is Le Gare du Nord, one of the busiest and most well known train stations in Paris, as well as Le Gare de l’Est. At the north end of our short street is L’Hopital Lariboisiere, and just beyond the south end is L’Eglise (Church) St-Vincent de Paul. As you can imagine, my neighborhood is bustling with people most hours of the day and night!

The living room of my flat.

The rest of the day was spent unpacking, trying to understand my family (Mme Forest and Mr. Pascal), and waiting for my roommate to arrive. After he arrived from the airport, I was relieved that he was able to understand much more than I can, which will be a big help in the beginning. We enjoyed a nice dinner and then Erik (my roommate) and I took a ten-minute stroll to Sacre-Coeur. One of my favorite places in Paris, Sacre Couer, has an amazing view day or night, and the Church is beautiful inside and out. I love that it is so close to our home!

The first night trying to sleep was very interesting. Now, mind you, I was running on roughly 45 minutes of actual sleep in the past 30 hours, so it would be normal to assume I would sleep like a rock. Wrong. Jet lag is a funny thing that affects every person differently. I went to bed at 9:30 p.m. PT (Paris Time), and slept soundly. I woke up to dark skies and figured it was five or six in the morning. Wrong again. In actuality, I had slept three ½ hours and arose wide-awake. An hour later I luckily fell asleep again off and on until 7:30 A.M. (12:30 a.m. US time).

The next day I awoke with the surprise that I was in Paris. After a true Parisian breakfast with bread, butter, jam, and a very brilliant cup of coffee, I was on my way to L’Institut Catholique de Paris for orientation with the directors of ISA. I am lucky, as my metro line goes straight to the school and ISA offices. As luck would have it, Erik and I got off the metro and were completely turned around to where we were. Besides it being a new place, Parisian streets are not like how we in America see street paths. One can’t say, “Go north three blocks and then west two.” In Paris, streets curve, turn around, and go any which-way you can imagine. After searching for a good 20 minutes, we finally located the school.

One of the buildings of my school.

Orientation was fairly easy to sit through, and by the end of it we had received our passes and new phone plans for our semester. Many cards were issued out to each student, including a NaviGo pass (which is for the RER, bus and metro, and you charge it each month), a card for free visits to the Louvre for a year (!), school I.D., medical cards, and several booklets on popular discounts/ places to go. Did I mention they used the same horrific passport picture for every card? The kind where some kid at Walgreen quickly snaps the photo and yells at you not to smile? Yea, that one. They started the orientation by displaying each picture on the big screen and we announced our names.

After the meetings, we had the rest of the day to do as we pleased. I walked with some new friends around the corner to the Luxembourg gardens. They will definitely be great to hang out in during the springtime. Next was the Panteon, then the Latin Quartier, Notre Dame and Hotel de Ville. Going back home, I had dinner with my family and then Erik and I met up with two classmates to walk the Champs Elysees, Arc de Triumph and a great night view of the Eiffel Tower.

This morning was still rough, as I woke up at 5:30. My jet lag should go away within the week, so I just have to tough it out. We went to two more meetings in the morning/afternoon, and then had free time. A group of students and I traveled to Le Printemps and Le Galleries de Lafayettes, two of the most famous stores in Paris. For Ladies reading this, just try to imagine this; in each store there was an entire floor dedicated to shoes, one for purses, one for perfume, etc. And I’m talking Dior, Gucci, Marc Jacobs, some of the most famous designers out there. Very expensive places, to say the least. After another trip to the Eiffel Tower, I came home for dinner. A great meal of chicken and mushrooms (amazingly good mushrooms), I believe some form of pea or lima bean soup, and dessert.

The view from my terrace at night.

Needless to say, I am exhausted and completely scrambled. My body is tired at odd hours of the day, I am dealing with strange smells and some creepy people on the metro, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world! I know that this semester is going to help my listening and speaking skills immensely, and I can already see small improvements here and there. I feel as if I have been here weeks, and yet it’s only been three days. I can tell I am going to find very interesting sides to Paris, and can’t wait to start classes and become more acquainted with my new way of life!

Affectueusement,

George.

Tuesday, 16 February 2010