So, I woke up on Monday the 17th with a full-fledged cold :( Headache, constantly running nose, cough, watery eyes, and even a fever. I couldn't bring myself to get to class, so I stayed in bed all morning and slept. I would have stayed there all day, but I actually had to go visit Dauphine, the university I'm going to be attending. I had to meet at the MICEFA center in the 5th and go with the others also going with one of the MICEFA staff members. Dauphine is on the exact opposite side of the city compared to where I live, but it's the only school that I can get credit to transfer to the Robins School. Each university in Paris is numbered, and has its own subjects that it specializes in. For example Paris 8 specializes in more "artsy" courses like dance and cinema. Dauphine, or Paris 9, is the business university. Once at Dauphine, I was able to fill out a form to receive a student ID, which I picked up later that week on Friday.
This whole week I was sick, so I didn't really do much after class. I usually went home right after class and relaxed, so I could be better by the weekend.
Flash forward to Saturday the 23--I went to "Paradis tzigane," a gypsy circus in the 17th with MICEFA. I didn't know what to expect, but it was great. As I was walking there, I saw the tent in the distance and knew I was in the right place. However, when I rounded the corner and went into the courtyard where the tent was, I was confused, because it was amongst what seemed to be a junkyard or trailer park, full of old trailers and debris. Despite this, I heard music coming from the tent and knew I had to be in the right place, I mean, how many gypsy circuses on boulevard de Reims in the 17th could there be? I slipped through the tent flaps, and sure enough, there were tons of families with their kids, and a tightrope walker in the middle of a performance. It was an experience that was totally non-touristy, and I was so glad that I went.
The next day I was supposed to meet my "Dauphine buddy," someone who goes to Dauphine who was assigned to me through Dauphine to be a contact and friend while I'm here. His name is Cyril, and he's really nice. We ended up meeting at les Halles metro, where there are actually tons of stores and even a movie theater. However, all the movies were sold out by the time we got there, so we went to the Bibliothèque Mitterrand stop where there is a GIANT movie theater. We ended up having to wait an hour anyway to see a movie there, but it was good because we had some time to get to know one another, and I practiced my French a little, and he practiced his English, which he is very good at. We saw Invictus with Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, in VO, or version orginale, meaning it was in English with French subtitles.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
WEEK 2!
So, I've been a slacker when it comes to this blog...I guess I'm just not in the habit yet. Also, I've been super busy getting settled and getting adjusted. So, where did I leave off? I won't be able to mention everything, but I'll try to include all the major things.
Since my last post I've moved to a single room :) I actually never ended up meeting my roommate, as I moved before she arrived. Now, I'm in a room that I love, with plenty of space for all my stuff! I love it. Also, I've met a bunch of great people from American University. Out of all of the students doing the MICEFA program, the AU kids are the only others who are also using ACCENT for housing arrangements. Out of all of us using ACCENT, I'm the only one in ACCENT's student housing for Americans. They are all doing homestays at various locations across Paris.
So what touristy things have I done so far? On Saturday January 9th I went to Notre Dame when it was snowing! It was so beautiful to see the whole square covered in snow. There, I met up with another girl in the program from American University named Alex. We decided to get out of the cold and go to a little brasserie and have lunch. I had french fries, french onion soup, and a café crème. It was just what I needed on such a cold day. Being the first time either I or Alex had eaten out in Paris, we didn't know that the tip is included, and left like a 4 euro tip. Oops. Here, the tip is always included in the total, and only if the service was excellent should you maybe leave a euro for the waiter.
After lunch we met up with 2 other girls, also from AU, at Notre Dame and walked through. It was amazing because there was music playing, something that doesn't happen all the time. After Notre Dame, all of the MICEFA students met on Pont Neuf for a boat tour on the Seine.
A snowy Notre Dame
Picture from Boat Tour on the Seine
After the weekend, on Monday the 11th and Tuesday the 12th, I took written and oral placement tests in order to be placed in a MICEFA french class that is every morning until February. There are 5 sections, 1 being for those who are pretty much fluent, and 5 being for beginners. I was fortunately placed in section 2, even though I thought I did horribly on the tests. The class is mainly review of all the major grammar rules, and has been very helpful--there are so many things that I completely forgot about! Classes started on that Thursday. It has been held every morning at Paris 3, a.k.a. la Nouvelle Sorbonne. Paris 4 is the old Sorbonne, the school that many have probably heard of. I don't get credit for it, but Richmond does require that anyone studying in a country that is not English-speaking must take a course in the native language.
Over the weekend (Jan 17, Saturday) after classes began, I had most of the people from American University who are also doing ACCENT housing (home-stays) over to my little studio for a little soirée. Before most people came, 2 girls, Kelsey and Julia, stopped over to escape the rain and chill out until the party. I ended up dying Julia's hair with some hair dye she bought here. She has dark brown hair, and she wanted to lighten it up a little bit. When it was time for her to wash the dye out, we had a little scare, as it seemed like her roots had turned orange! Kelsey and I tried to stay calm, but Julia was definitely freaking out, like anyone would! And during the freak-out, a wine glass was dropped and broke, creating an even more chaotic state in my little room! However, once we cleaned the glass, and once Julia's hair dried completely, the color evened out and it turned out to be the exact color on the box! Whew! I felt so guilty for being the one who dyed it in the first place.
Later, slowly but surely others started to arrive, until before I knew it I had like 10 people in my room! It was a tight squeeze, but it was fun to have everyone over. We made pasta, had tons of wine, cheese and bread, and a galette des rois, a traditional flaky pastry cake that is only eaten in January. The youngest person slices the cake, and then hands out slices to everyone. Baked somewhere in the cake is a little plastic toy, and whoever finds it is the "roi," or king, and the king then has to choose a "reine," or queen. Or, I guess visa versa if it's a girl that finds the toy first, haha.
Afterwards, we all went to Rue de Lappe, a little street in walking distance from my place that is filled with bars. We ended up are a bar called Bar Charlotte, or something like that, which had a very cool atmosphere. Then, we went to this really cool bar/restaurant called Sanz Sans, or maybe it's Sans Sanz? I can't remember. It's on Rue du Faubourg-St Antoine.
I'm not positive because of course I didn't write it down, but then the next day on Sunday the 17th I went to the Louvre with 4 other girls from AU. It's great because with a valid student ID proving you are a student here, admittance is free! We went through the Sully and Richelieu wings, which included artifacts from ancient Egypt, and Napoleon's apartment, to name a couple of my favorites.
Egyptian artifacts
Napolean's aparment...
Crystal vanity that I am obsessed with. SOOO pretty!
Since my last post I've moved to a single room :) I actually never ended up meeting my roommate, as I moved before she arrived. Now, I'm in a room that I love, with plenty of space for all my stuff! I love it. Also, I've met a bunch of great people from American University. Out of all of the students doing the MICEFA program, the AU kids are the only others who are also using ACCENT for housing arrangements. Out of all of us using ACCENT, I'm the only one in ACCENT's student housing for Americans. They are all doing homestays at various locations across Paris.
So what touristy things have I done so far? On Saturday January 9th I went to Notre Dame when it was snowing! It was so beautiful to see the whole square covered in snow. There, I met up with another girl in the program from American University named Alex. We decided to get out of the cold and go to a little brasserie and have lunch. I had french fries, french onion soup, and a café crème. It was just what I needed on such a cold day. Being the first time either I or Alex had eaten out in Paris, we didn't know that the tip is included, and left like a 4 euro tip. Oops. Here, the tip is always included in the total, and only if the service was excellent should you maybe leave a euro for the waiter.
After lunch we met up with 2 other girls, also from AU, at Notre Dame and walked through. It was amazing because there was music playing, something that doesn't happen all the time. After Notre Dame, all of the MICEFA students met on Pont Neuf for a boat tour on the Seine.
A snowy Notre Dame
Picture from Boat Tour on the Seine
After the weekend, on Monday the 11th and Tuesday the 12th, I took written and oral placement tests in order to be placed in a MICEFA french class that is every morning until February. There are 5 sections, 1 being for those who are pretty much fluent, and 5 being for beginners. I was fortunately placed in section 2, even though I thought I did horribly on the tests. The class is mainly review of all the major grammar rules, and has been very helpful--there are so many things that I completely forgot about! Classes started on that Thursday. It has been held every morning at Paris 3, a.k.a. la Nouvelle Sorbonne. Paris 4 is the old Sorbonne, the school that many have probably heard of. I don't get credit for it, but Richmond does require that anyone studying in a country that is not English-speaking must take a course in the native language.
Over the weekend (Jan 17, Saturday) after classes began, I had most of the people from American University who are also doing ACCENT housing (home-stays) over to my little studio for a little soirée. Before most people came, 2 girls, Kelsey and Julia, stopped over to escape the rain and chill out until the party. I ended up dying Julia's hair with some hair dye she bought here. She has dark brown hair, and she wanted to lighten it up a little bit. When it was time for her to wash the dye out, we had a little scare, as it seemed like her roots had turned orange! Kelsey and I tried to stay calm, but Julia was definitely freaking out, like anyone would! And during the freak-out, a wine glass was dropped and broke, creating an even more chaotic state in my little room! However, once we cleaned the glass, and once Julia's hair dried completely, the color evened out and it turned out to be the exact color on the box! Whew! I felt so guilty for being the one who dyed it in the first place.
Later, slowly but surely others started to arrive, until before I knew it I had like 10 people in my room! It was a tight squeeze, but it was fun to have everyone over. We made pasta, had tons of wine, cheese and bread, and a galette des rois, a traditional flaky pastry cake that is only eaten in January. The youngest person slices the cake, and then hands out slices to everyone. Baked somewhere in the cake is a little plastic toy, and whoever finds it is the "roi," or king, and the king then has to choose a "reine," or queen. Or, I guess visa versa if it's a girl that finds the toy first, haha.
Afterwards, we all went to Rue de Lappe, a little street in walking distance from my place that is filled with bars. We ended up are a bar called Bar Charlotte, or something like that, which had a very cool atmosphere. Then, we went to this really cool bar/restaurant called Sanz Sans, or maybe it's Sans Sanz? I can't remember. It's on Rue du Faubourg-St Antoine.
I'm not positive because of course I didn't write it down, but then the next day on Sunday the 17th I went to the Louvre with 4 other girls from AU. It's great because with a valid student ID proving you are a student here, admittance is free! We went through the Sully and Richelieu wings, which included artifacts from ancient Egypt, and Napoleon's apartment, to name a couple of my favorites.
Egyptian artifacts
Napolean's aparment...
Crystal vanity that I am obsessed with. SOOO pretty!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
My First (Quite Long) Post
So who knows if I'll actually follow through on this blog, but for know I'm going to give it a shot. Hopefully, by the end of this blog, I will have documented a semester's worth of fabulous adventures through the streets of Paris!
I guess my trip began at Philadelphia International Airport on Wednesday, January 6th 2010 at 7:00pm. At that exact moment in time, I thought my trip would never even happen, because at this time, I realized my passport was not in its case...
Turns out that my mom had taken it to make a photocopy of my student visa, you know, just in case I lost it, or left it somewhere...like HOME?! As soon as I realized it was missing, I asked her where it could be, and she instantly realized that it was at home. She decided to race home and try to get it back to the airport before check-in for my flight closed at...8PM!! (Because my flight was at 9pm, they don't allow anyone to check-in within an hour of scheduled departure.) I was convinced that it was not humanly possible to get home and back within 1 hour, so I was devastated.
However, guess who comes running into the terminal at 7:59 with my passport in her hand?! I couldn't believe that she had made it back, but was still unconvinced that I would make my flight, as the recently beefed up security was supposed to take an extra long amount of time to clear.
We ran up to the check-in counter frantically explaining our rush, and we put my 2 duffel bags on the scales, and of course, my one giant bag is 5 lbs overweight. So, with literally no time to spare, my mom and I scramble to transfer some stuff into the other bag to make weight. As we are doing this, the lady who is checking me in explains that boarding should start in 15 minutes, but that she thinks I can make it. As soon as we got it down to 50.5, my mom says, "Go! Run! Bye!" and I'm off to security, running as fast as I can with my pully carry on and my big tote purse.
Miraculously, I got through security in 15 minutes, and was sitting at the gate with plenty of time, as the flight was, of course, delayed an hour.
And that's the story of how I almost didn't make it to the city of lights!
But I'm here now, and have been for four days today. Apparently it's the coldest its been here in a long time. It's been snowing on and off since I've been here, which I've been told is a very rare occurrence in Paris. While it is frigid though, it is definitely beautiful.
I'm staying in a student "apartment" in the 12th arrondissement, on a beautiful street called avenue Daumesnil. On this street are old train stations that have been converted to artists' studios, which have huge window fronts that allow walkers to see the artists' work and see them in the process of creating new pieces. I put apartment in quotes because it is definitely not what one would think of when they hear the word. It's more like a small 1 room dorm room with an attached bathroom with sink, toilet and shower, and a small kitchen area with a microwave, stove top, and sink. I'm requested to be in a double with a roommate, but my roommate is not arriving until sometime next week, and the room is definitely not a double room in my opinion. The only think "double" about it is the bunk bed on one side of the room. Other than that, there is only one closet and one desk. I'm kinda curious as to how that will work for two people, but I guess we'll see...
This is already a super long post, so I'll tell more about what I've been up to since I've been here another time soon!
Here is a view out my window:
zoomed in:
I guess my trip began at Philadelphia International Airport on Wednesday, January 6th 2010 at 7:00pm. At that exact moment in time, I thought my trip would never even happen, because at this time, I realized my passport was not in its case...
Turns out that my mom had taken it to make a photocopy of my student visa, you know, just in case I lost it, or left it somewhere...like HOME?! As soon as I realized it was missing, I asked her where it could be, and she instantly realized that it was at home. She decided to race home and try to get it back to the airport before check-in for my flight closed at...8PM!! (Because my flight was at 9pm, they don't allow anyone to check-in within an hour of scheduled departure.) I was convinced that it was not humanly possible to get home and back within 1 hour, so I was devastated.
However, guess who comes running into the terminal at 7:59 with my passport in her hand?! I couldn't believe that she had made it back, but was still unconvinced that I would make my flight, as the recently beefed up security was supposed to take an extra long amount of time to clear.
We ran up to the check-in counter frantically explaining our rush, and we put my 2 duffel bags on the scales, and of course, my one giant bag is 5 lbs overweight. So, with literally no time to spare, my mom and I scramble to transfer some stuff into the other bag to make weight. As we are doing this, the lady who is checking me in explains that boarding should start in 15 minutes, but that she thinks I can make it. As soon as we got it down to 50.5, my mom says, "Go! Run! Bye!" and I'm off to security, running as fast as I can with my pully carry on and my big tote purse.
Miraculously, I got through security in 15 minutes, and was sitting at the gate with plenty of time, as the flight was, of course, delayed an hour.
And that's the story of how I almost didn't make it to the city of lights!
But I'm here now, and have been for four days today. Apparently it's the coldest its been here in a long time. It's been snowing on and off since I've been here, which I've been told is a very rare occurrence in Paris. While it is frigid though, it is definitely beautiful.
I'm staying in a student "apartment" in the 12th arrondissement, on a beautiful street called avenue Daumesnil. On this street are old train stations that have been converted to artists' studios, which have huge window fronts that allow walkers to see the artists' work and see them in the process of creating new pieces. I put apartment in quotes because it is definitely not what one would think of when they hear the word. It's more like a small 1 room dorm room with an attached bathroom with sink, toilet and shower, and a small kitchen area with a microwave, stove top, and sink. I'm requested to be in a double with a roommate, but my roommate is not arriving until sometime next week, and the room is definitely not a double room in my opinion. The only think "double" about it is the bunk bed on one side of the room. Other than that, there is only one closet and one desk. I'm kinda curious as to how that will work for two people, but I guess we'll see...
This is already a super long post, so I'll tell more about what I've been up to since I've been here another time soon!
Here is a view out my window:
zoomed in:
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