Places, Foods, Culture, and Stories

So, it’s been another week in France and it still feels like jumping into a cold pool—sort of painful, a little shocking, but oh, so refreshing! Good news is that I am starting to get used to the sensation of living in a foreign country. As I was telling someone in an email, sometimes I still have moments in which all I want to do is eat peanut butter in my own American kitchen wearing my pajamas, but most of the time I am happy and excited to be out here!

This week I started classes and they were really fun. I like taking French with a smaller class (there’s about ten of us), my religion teacher is really inspiring, and my fine arts teacher takes us around places in Paris analyzing the architecture of buildings. It’s nice to get some routine back into my life.

Here are some updates titled nicely for everyone to read, aka, skip the ones you’re not interested in (I recommend the last section titled Other Stories/ Updates, if you'd like my input)! If you’re interested in all of them, you must either be my mom, my soulmate, or a true francophile. Enjoy!

WHERE I WENT

1. The catacombs have got to be one of the coolest places I’ve seen since I’ve been here. It is basically a two hundred year old community burial place underneath the streets of Paris running for something like 2-3 miles. We walked through the damp tomb and saw literally hundreds of skulls and bones of dead bodies. On the walls were posted things like, “Ou est elle, la Mort? Toujours future ou passee. Apeine est elle presente que deja elle n’est plus” (meaning roughly, “Where is she, Death? Always future or past. Hardly is she present that again she is no more.”)

2. St. Germaine En Laye had a sweet cathedral that was turned into a museum of ancient artifacts. It had the biggest mosaic I’d ever seen in my life (okay, it’s not like I’ve seen a lot of mosaics in my lifetime, but it was still big). We walked around the park next to it and explored the shops in the town.

3. We went back to Montmartre and Sacre Coeur to really explore it. We saw a cabaret called “Le Lapin Agile” (“the nimble rabbit”) where Picasso, Utrillo, Dali, and other artistic contributors were regulars. The Salvador Dali exhibit we went to was exceptional. The Place de Tertre was good, as was the Montmartre cemetery, and Moulin Rouge.

WHAT I ATE

I realize this is a ridiculous heading, but I’m living in Paris for goodness sakes, so it seems rather important!

1. My favorite thing of consumption this week over anything else was a croissant. Seems obvious, doesn’t it, to think that a French croissant would be better here? But I think that the croissant is much too overshadowed by the baguette and the crepe, and should be given a little more credit. Flaky, buttery, delicious.

2. Natural yogurt. Ever tried it? The first bite tastes like sour cream, but with a little sugar, it’s actually almost enjoyable. Almost.

3. Confession: I went to McDonalds to use their free wireless internet and I missed American food so much that I caved when I saw those golden arches and bought food. And I gotta say, a cheap, salty burger never tasted so good!

4. Amorino’s Italian gelato is the best frozen treat I’ve ever had. Best flavor—Nutella! The girl at the counter was adorable. She made our gelato into cool shapes in the cone and put extra cones in the cups. We had so much fun with her that she happily agreed to pose in a picture with us. A couple of us went back a few days later and she totally recognized us. We’ve decided to go there weekly, not just for the gelato, but for the service!

5. Other foods: Lemon potatoes, pain au chocolat, zucchini casserole, hot dogs in cous cous (don’t ask me where they got that idea), runny omelet with ratatouille, baked apples, and something called blanche fromage (a sweet, dessert cheese).

WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT FRENCH CULTURE

1. I’ve discovered that the French are very minimalistically-minded. For example, if one only NEEDS so much breathing room on the metro, only take so much. If one only NEEDS a tablespoon of jam for a piece of toast, only take so much. Need I go on? If you only need three minutes in a shower to not smell, take a three minute shower. If you only need one blanket not to freeze, only use one blanket. If you only need half a glass of water not to dehydrate, guess what you should do? That’s right, only drink a half-glass of water. For the French, minimal = practical, and the French are quite practical people. Except when it comes to elevators fitting only two people maximum. Yeah, that's me in an elevator.

2. At dinner one night this week, my roommate asked Mme de Boudemange how she perceived Americans. Her response was that she saw Americans as children, in the best sense of the word. They are innocent, eager, and want to learn and take in everything. They are more open and say whatever comes to their minds. This is different from the French, she admitted, because the French are much more reserved and private. They all have their gardens fenced off, so to speak. I found this to be very true.


OTHER STORIES OR UPDATES

1. While walking home alongside the fence to a schoolyard yesterday, my roommate sees a little face peering out between the bushes. We keep walking and five seconds later, we hear in an adorable French voice, “Bonjour!” We answer, “Bonjour. Ca va?” And the little French voice replies, “Ca va!”

2. At the Montmartre cemetery, we visited the grave of the famous French filmmaker Francois Truffaut whom I adore and when we got there, we saw that about a hundred people had placed their metro tickets on his headstone held down by little weights or pebbles. As I explained to my roommate why people would do that, a man in his twenties came up and listened. We walked away, but he followed us and asked us if we were German. “Not many Americans know this director.” When we confirmed that we were American, but that I did indeed know Truffaut’s movies, he seemed to not believe me. “What’s your favorite film of his?” “The 400 Blows,” I replied. That gave us a green light. He then proceeded to give us a tour of the cemetery since he is a regular in the area!

3. I went jogging for the first time since I’ve been here! My route is a dirt path that runs along the Seine River. Definitely the most beautiful run I’ve ever been on, especially since it was sunset.

4. We washed our clothes for the first time early in the week, but we didn’t know that Mme de Boudemange’s dryer doesn’t work very well, so we ended up hanging our clothes all over everything in our rooms; socks on doorknobs, shirts hanging from chairs, etc. By morning, my jeans still weren’t dry and I had to borrow shorts from my roommate to wear to school!

5. This weekend, we’ve been asked once if we were Canadian and twice if we were German. Okay, so it’s not French, but at least it’s not American! It’s the epitome of fish-out-of-water to look American when in France!

6. We went to the really red light district in Montmartre (in the afternoon, mind you) to see the Moulin Rouge. We took our picture in front of the windmill and after walking past sex shop after sex shop, decided to go back to the metro and get out of the area. This idea proved to be a good one, seeing as a sick older man leaned over my shoulder and made a half growl- half snort in my ear as we were walking back. Ew!

7. I saw a full string orchestra in the metro station playing classical music. You can see some really, uh, interesting musical performances while riding the metro, but this one was actually good. The worst act I’ve had to tolerate was some guy who brought a little portable karaoke machine onto the train and made us suffer through “Killing Me Softly” and three other unbearable tunes.


So, that’s about everything for the week. I hope it wasn’t too dull, but if it was, just skip around next time! I love you all and still miss you like crazy!

A few photos from Paris

Here are a few photos I've taken, but I don't have time to add any more! I promise to add more later... and figure out the layout, so it doesn't look this terrible next time.

The Eiffel and Me!

Here I am on my first day of school.

Here's my roommate Rebecca Lynn Forbush walking down steps in Montemartre. I absolutely love her!

Ashley, Andee, Rebecca and I eating our Greek food next to the Seine.

In Paris, but not "OF" Paris

So, life among the Parisians has gotten a whole lot better since when I first arrived just over a week ago. Everyday still feels like the longest day of my life and every night like the shortest sleep, but I think that means I'm filling up every day with the most I can possibly fit in and I am generally happy with the way things are going.

But where to begin? Maybe I should just start with what my general routine has been this week. This week, my group has had our walking tours where we travel around to the different "arrondisements" (districts) to see all the big sites i.e. The Eiffel Tower, Montmartre, Notre Dame, etc. Every morning, I wake up and have breakfast with my roommate-- hot chocolate with either nutella toast or pain au lait-- and book it to the metro fifteen minutes away. We meet up with the group, walk around seeing so much stuff we can't possibly remember, and then break for lunch before we collapse. This week I've bought lunch in the city (usually a baguette sandwich or a crepe for a couple euros), but I'm going to start bringing lunch because it's cheaper. After lunch, we can do whatever we want! We break out into groups to explore places we've never been before. Every other week from now on will be different because we'll have classes in the morning, but we'll still have adventure time in the afternoon.

And here are some memorable stories for the week:
- Monday: I tried my first real French crepe. Good, but surprisingly, Dad's are better! Obviously, the crepe was authentic and I felt very French to walk around eating a crepe, but nothing beats crepes a la Dad!

- Tuesday: After our tour of St Germain and the Latin Quarter (which I absolutely loved!!), a group of us got some Greek food in some little alley, took it down to the Seine where we sat on the edge of the water eating and waving to the people passing on boats. We all ended up dripping grease onto our pants and attracting seagulls, but the weather was nice and we were happy to be where we were and with each other. Later that day, my roommate (also named Rebecca with the SAME middle name as me) and I went to the grocery store in our neighborhood. We walked up and down the aisles trying to figure out what half the stuff was. Luckily our host lady Mme de Boudemange clued us in on the all the grocery stores in France's BYOB policy-- "Bring your own bag." It's good for the environment. We cooked dinner in our apartment kitchen (French kitchens are a little different from American kitchens, but not so different we couldn't figure it out) and after dinner we danced in our living room. See, sometimes at our host house we feel a little banished to our rooms like we don't want to disturb Mme de Boudemange in the common rooms, but since she wasn't home, we danced around the room singing, "When the host is away, the guests come out to play!"

-Wednesday: At Sacre Coeur, we stopped to take pictures and a man came up and tried to braid a bracelet onto my wrist. I'd heard of people doing this, so I firmly said, "No, monsieur." It was totally under control and the guy backed off, but my director saw and yelled loudly, "Get your hands off her!" Then they argued and Prof Fry pretended to call the police. That day, my French was really good, but I fear my English was very bad. When I tried to say "spoon-feed" as we walked home from the metro, I accidentally said, "food-speen" and my roommate laughed at me!

Thursday: We ran into the missionaries during our tour! There was eight of them that had set up a booth on the sidewalk with pictures of Christ up. They sang hymns and we listened for awhile. Later that day, we got lost and then when we finally found the metro, we ended up on what I now call the "ghetto line." It was an obscure line that we've never taken before and we found ourselves to be the only white people surrounded by blacks, Arabs, and homeless people. If I were to be pick-pocketed, threatened, or stalked, this would have been the place! It was a little scary, but mostly just a smelly experience (those homeless people can sure stink up a metro car!).

Friday: Today, I led a group of us to a famous ice cream parlor on Isle St. Louis called Maison de Berthillon. I got to try chocolate, hazelnut, cinnamon, and raspberry-rose, which were all delicious. Then we went and saw the puppet show and stamp market that is featured in Audrey Hepburn's "Charade." So cool! But on the way there, we saw an touring open market under a bridge. It was from the South of France and they were giving away samples of wine, cheese, and produce. We walked around and listened to the band who at one point tried to play "The Star-Spangled Banner" and butchered it so badly we had to laugh.

Saturday: We toured the Versailles gardens! So peaceful in the morning, but very touristy in the afternoon. That night, my roommate and I made dinner with another set of roommates in the group. It is really fun to get to know everyone in the group.

So, that's about that. The main thing I am struggling with at the moment is feeling like an outsider. Yes, I am living in Paris, but it is obvious that I am an American. I really don't like feeling like I don't belong, but at the same time, I like America and I don't want to be completely separate from it. Despite its lack of fashion, overreating habits, and inefficient ways of spending time, the United States is still a great country. My director talked to us the other day about something called "best of practice," which is basically taking the best of both countries into our lifestyle. Some things about France is SO much better than the United States, but the U.S. has some advantages that France does not. For example, the French do NOT wear flip flops and all I can think of when I see little French woman walking around in heels is, "Do they KNOW what they are missing?!"

Thanks so much to everyone whose written me. Your comments and emails really pulled me through a tough week of transition and I'm grateful for that. I feel like I'm back on my feet, but don't stop the correspondence because I want to know what's going on in all of your lives! One thing I am quickly realizing here is that no matter where I am or what I am doing, my family and friends are still the most important thing in the world to me.

Until later, a bientot!

Bonjour de Paris!

Hey, everyone! I've been in Paris for three days now, but it feels like it's been longer. Pretty much, it has been the longest three days of my life, but it has also been a good experience. The flight over here was not without event. First, a girl I was traveling with went to shop for a book as we were boarding, so when the announcer said it was final boarding and I was the last one in line with her carry-on and mine, I told them to hold the plane, sprinted down to the bookstore to get her, and ran back to make it just in time! It was pretty crazy.

Then when I got on the plane, I found my seat next to a French guy about my age who was coming back from his internship in Texas for the summer. I could tell he was French as soon as I saw him because of the way he was dressed; sweater, khakis, nice watch, and non-tennis-shoe shoes. His name was Annadoor, or at least, that was the name he wrote down on a slip of paper next to his phone number and email he gave me as we parted at the gate :). He said that he could be a good tour guide for us in Paris and show us "all zhe best barz." Haha!

My first day in Paris was really hard, though. I was jetlagged, couldn't seem to remember any of the French I learned, and got totally lost on the metro that night. On the other hand, I did find my way around a major city, make new friends, and see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night, which was awesome. I've had mixed feelings about being here. Paris is a lot dirtier than I expected, and more expensive as well. But I have to admit, it is still quite an exciting city.

My second day in Paris was even more overwhelming, but also better than the first. A group of us went across town on the metro to a "marche des puces" (flea market) and then had baguette and salami for lunch before checking out of our hotel. We then met our host families, which I had been worried about for the last day.

My host family is actually just one lady, Madame Boudemange. She is a very nice, talkative French woman probably in her fifties who is very accommodating to mine and my roommate's needs. The apartment we live in with her is in the suburbs of Paris (a thirty to forty minute metro ride to town) that is extremely chic and modern, which is a step up from a lot of the older buildings you find in Europe. I look out my bedroom window and see the Seine River no farther than 300 feet away! I couldn't have picked a better location. True, we will have longer to go on the RER and metro to get to school downtown, but for me, it's worth it to get to live in such a beautiful, comfortable place. I think I will like living here.

The first night with Mme Boudemange, we went over to another host family's house for "diner dans la jardin" (dinner in the garden). My first real French meal was amazing, not because it was an over-the-top meal like everyone says French meals are, but because it was totally French; the courses, the food selection (cantaloupe, chicken with olives and cous cous, bread and cheese, and a fruit cake), and even the table settings and silverware.

The hardest part has definitely been the language. I am much more motivated to improve and I've already learned so much being here just two days. I'm hoping to pick up a lot while I'm here.

In other news, it turns out that I really miss everyone and not being able to call is killing me. Twenty euros for forty minutes is tres, tres cher! Pauvre moi! It's been a rough transition with so many changes to adjust to, so if anyone would like to send me an email, a facebook message, ANYTHING, I'd love to hear from you...

In the meantime, I love all of you and wish you the best! Just wanted to let you know I am here, alive, and doing my best to explore the streets of Paris!