A Summary of Sorts

First I should set one thing straight, because apparently my venting in my last post was taken a different way than I meant it to. I am starting to dislike the fact that there seems to be bunches of children here 24/7, but it's in no way making me hate my homestay. I love the location, I love my room, and I love Beatrice. It's just the screaming babies, who scream for hours on end without anyone picking them up, that I hate. But I still love my homestay. Julia and I just like to complain about the children a lot, but they also provide us with a lot of entertaining stories to tell.

Something that I learned that I thought was interesting was that you're not supposed to bonjour the same person twice in one day. I think once it turns night you can get away from this rule by saying bon soir, but then you just smile at the person and maybe say cou-cou instead. I just found that really interesting, since I've been bonjour'ing Beatrice tons of times in one day (I'm constantly coming in and out of the apartment). I don't know, just a little fact I thought I'd share with you.

I've already told Amara this (sorry, Amara), but something that I thought was really interesting with trying to speak French as much as possible, and the ramifications of it, was that one night when I was over my friends Alena and Meaghan's apartment, Alena was saying something that I totally agreed with, so I wanted to say "me too" or something along those lines but I ended up saying some really awkward phrasing, like "me also" which is the literal translation of "moi aussi." The NYU in Paris staff sometimes do that, which I always thought was funny, but it's kind of cool because it means this French is actually sticking. I find myself speaking a lot more of it, and then around my friends we all try and speak "franglais," which now only means inserting a word or two of French, but will hopefully progress into more. And then when we go out on the weekends we speak French to each other and to the people we meet. I'm getting a ton more confortable speaking French, and I can even hold a conversation with Beatrice now! I still don't always say full sentences, but that's because by the time I'm halfway through the long sentence in French, she knows what I'm getting at.

Yesterday marked the last day of our Preliminary Courses and we were all too excited to celebrate. We had a god-awful final exam in Phonetics that was probably the most ridiculous thing ever. She would read out loud two sentences that had one slight difference (as in there was a singular or plural noun, but the only difference is the slight pronunciation of le and les). They all sounded the same to us. We had to give evaluations of the teachers and the courses, and one thing that I think we all complained about was the fact that in only two weeks, they expect us to speak perfect Parisian French. They throw all these terms at us and we spend only one day on each sound, only to be actually tested and graded on something that we're completely unprepared for. But oh well, it's over. I'm actually really interested in Phonetics and trying to achieve a better accent, so I'm auditing the semester-long Phonetics class, luckily taught by our other teacher that I really like.

This is kind of random, but I've been thinking about it a lot, and I don't think I like the term culture "shock" very much. Of course landing in a strange country for the first time is shocking, but I don't think I've experienced the "shock" part of it really. There are a lot of surprising and frustrating things about a different culture, but I think I'm just taking it one day at a time, and I'm loving the little surprises. Maybe it's because I'm slightly older, or at a better place in my life (after having an amazing two semesters at NYU), or because I actually know the language, but I'm experiencing a significantly less amount of frustrations than I did in Florence. Or maybe it's because I truly belong in the city. I don't know. But those frustrations and surprises never go away, no matter how long you stay in a different culture; some of the NYU in Paris staff who are Americans tell us they still are experiencing these things, and they've been here for years. Another example: I just met a girl last night who has been here for three years learning to become an interpreter (so cool, right?), and she still got stuck on the metro (the metro closes during the night, and no one really knows when the last train runs, so sometimes you transfer to a station and wait for the train for a while, realizing that it will never come until 5:30am). I can't exactly say I've assimilated yet, only because there's just too much to learn, and I've only been here for three weeks (and yet that feels like months). I don't want to be able to say I've assimilated, I still want to experience the surprises, like learning the bonjour thing. And I like keeping up this blog to share with you the differences in culture that I find so interesting, and this experience is so different from Florence (I feel as though I'm actually experiencing a new culture*) that I love sharing it. Sorry if some of the anecdotes in here are boring, or mundane, but I guess the writer in me is coming out (even though this blog shows zero writing capabilities), and I just want to write about anything and everything. It helps me experience it more--once again, the writer in me is dying to come out. But I'm just taking this time out of writing this blog to thank you guys for reading it, and I miss you all, but writing in here makes me feel closer to you guys.

*I just want to say that I'm not dissing the Florence program or the town of Florence or hating on my time in Florence--I absolutely loved it and I learned a hell of a lot. I'm just getting a totally different experience here, and trying to explain those differences.

On another note (sorry this is a long post again!): last night, as Julia and I were getting lost trying to walk from the closed metro station twenty minutes south of where we live (and like three metro stops away), we walked by this moped that smelled of smoke, and when we looked more closely, we could see a small fire actually inside it! So we decided to be good citizens of Paris and get someone to help, so we tried buzzing the "guardien" of the building behind the moped, but he wouldn't answer. Then we tried calling the France-equivalent to 911, but neither of us could remember the number! I remembered there being a 2 and a 1, so we just kept dialing 211, 212, etc, but nothing worked, and so we hailed a cab to ask him the number, but he was so apathetic. He gave us some random number for the police, but then it was hard explaining in French that the moped was now literally engulfed in flames. But Julia was able to get someone on the phone who spoke English, who told us that the fire department would come, but by that time the fire was pretty big and there were loud popping sounds, like the engine or something, I don't know what finally caught fire, and it felt like we were in some movie. The helpless taxi driver (he was really nice, not rudely apathetic, but kind of just sat there, not freaking out or anything) then just drove us away, even though we wished we could have stayed to make sure the fire was put out. I kind of feel guilty about that now, but at least we called and did something. It was just not how we expected our night to end!

(one more paragraph, I promise) I kind of just write these posts without realizing what people think of them afterwards (like not realizing my dad thought I hated my homestay and wanted to move out...or so what my mom then later thought as a result of what my dad told her...) and so maybe the generalization you get from these posts about my life here in Paris is that I'm not doing much in terms of exploring...I hope not! I haven't really been including all the exploring and workshops we do, etc, just because then there would be fifty of these long posts, and that wouldn't be fun. But anyways, long story short: I'll include some now. Today I'm going with my roommate Julia and my friend Emily to explore the Marais, which is a really cool neighborhood in Paris. After going to the "Eating in Paris" workshop yesterday that they gave, Emily and I are determined to have steak frites at a legit Parisian bistro or brasserie tonight. It's actually sunny out for once and not raining, so we're going to take advantage of that!

Happy Wine Wednesday!

So my initial obsession with the children at "Beatrice's Day Care" has definitely died down. They're cute, I'll put up with them running around the hallways every.single.afternoon, but I'm getting sick of hearing a screaming baby in the background. I guess my inner-babysitter feels slightly bad and makes me feel like I should go help Beatrice out, but hey, I'm not working here, I'm paying her to live here. So I feel slightly less guilty closing the door to my room and taking a much needed afternoon nap.

Monday afternoon was unusually sunny, and relatively warm, so I decided to use my rare free afternoon to explore the other side of Passy, towards the Bois de Boulogne. I think the Bois de Boulogne is a huge park (like complete with country club, etc) but I'm still not sure. I found a really nice stretch of a pedestrian road that was lined with trees and it reminded me of the Hudson and the West Village, and I only got to go into the beginning parts of the Bois de Boulogne because the sun was about to set. It was nice to get a little lost, and I took a few pictures. The area (outside the park, when I was meandering home) oddly reminded me of a mix of Columbus (IN), South Carolina, and Barcelona. Don't ask me why. The combination didn't exactly make it seem beautiful, compared to other parts of Paris, but it was very home-y (if that makes any sense...probably not unless I showed a picture).

Yesterday we had some mandatory "cultural activities workshop" where they told us about the free events they're planning throughout the semester, and then a chef came in and taught us about bread. What was the most interesting part though was that at the end they served us a feast-sized smorgasbord of every type of bread imaginable, along with anything that was possible to put on it. From honey to smoked salmon to pate to brie, it was all there. Delicious. And then we were led on a free boat-ride tour of the Seine, which was nice because it was freezing out and there were indoor seats. It was nice to see Paris from that view.

I haven't really talked about this Preliminary Course, have I? It's by far the most annoying thing about Paris so far. It's two weeks, Monday through Friday, from 9:30 to 1pm, of written, oral, and phonetics. The written and oral parts are complete review, and meant to be, and aren't that annoying because at least it's getting us to speak French every day. But then phonetics. Where to start? It's probably one of the most annoying/impossible classes I've taken, certainly as a language class. It's like we're learning French all over again, and I swear I don't hear people speak like that on the streets, much less Beatrice. We're learning the Parisian accent, which is literally to mash everything together. Like, if I were to say, in English, "I'm going to the store today," the English-equivalent to Parisian French is "I mgoi ngtoth est or eto day," spoken really fast. Obviously, showing you the English-equivalent to it makes it seem really really ridiculous and incomprehensible, but that's exactly what it is. Our teacher will say something and none of us will understand a word she says, even though we know the vocabulary she's using, and we would understand what's she's trying to say if she spoke it normally. And it's really hard to add on the fact that all our questions to her are in French, and so if you don't understand something, it's really hard to ask in French about vocabulary (phonetics vocabulary) that you don't even know in English. Basically everyone is really frustrated and as soon as she told us what the final test on Friday is going to be like, I swear everyone just shut down and couldn't do it anymore. And I know we all have American accents and we can hear what a French accent sounds like, but to throw at us all these things that Parisians do...it just makes it impossible. We learned about liasons in New York, but this Parisian accent thing is a completely different matter. Hopefully by the end of the semester we'll be pros, but that's debatable.

Anyways, a few friends and I have officially dubbed Wednesdays as "Wine Wednesdays" (as in, today we went around to each other saying "Happy Wine Wednesday"), where we all get together at someone's apartment and have wine and cheese, and just hang out. What with everyone living in different areas of the city, and classes starting (where we'll all be on different schedules) it'll be nice to meet at least once a week.

English Opera, Opera Tour, Beating Taxi Drivers, and more

(Just to explain...I don't mean beating taxi drivers as in hitting them...)
So like I said, I live in the 16th, which is the Upper East Side of Paris. Old ladies in fur coats are a plenty here. There are also a lot of shops on rue de Passy, which I would take to be one of the main streets (also the street our school is on), where I would guess window shopping was invented. Because all these stores have these big window displays of their items on sale (in France, they're only allowed to have sales during January and July...so everyone is shopping now), and it's very customary to stop in the middle of the very narrow sidewalk and look at the window display for about five minutes, before moving on. Very annoying, but also amusing to see everyone get frustrated at walking down Passy.

Also, another thing I noticed, is that they're very big on juice here. No soda for refreshments, just juice and water (no one drinks tap, even though it's good, everyone just buys those huge water bottles and pours them into cups). And the juice is legit, like our hostlady didn't serve us Motts apple juice, but legit apple juice, which I've never had before. And they have clementine juice...which is so good. But enough about juice, another thing they're big on is buying this bread that is basically the whitest bread you could find, with all the crusts cut off. Like for toast or something, if they don't want a baguette every single day. I see whole wheat offered in some places (but for like 50 cents more than the original price) and I felt like a traitor/cheater when I bought some whole wheat bread at the best supermarket, Ino, that was called "American bread." Oh well. I can't eat baguettes every minute, now can I?

Now I could be wrong about all these assumptions/observations. Because I hope I'm wrong, but it seems to me that coffee isn't the greatest here. I've gotten a cafe au lait, which was eh (I'm sad to say that I like the one in Le Pain Quotidien in New York best of all), and the only coffee I've really liked was surprisingly at the FIAP breakfasts (because everything else about the FIAP food was awful). Every other coffee has been watered-down espresso. And I'm not big on espresso, because it's expensive for such a little amount--like a shot, but maybe I'll try it soon. I've been severely missing Starbucks, not because of the brand (I refuse to miss the brand and give in and buy it here) but because of Dining Dollars, ha. I didn't really ever have to pay for coffee in New York because it was included in my meal plan, so I got it every day, usually twice a day. Now my only option for getting coffee is at the coffee machine on campus, which is instant--and at home I want to shudder at the idea of instant coffee. But I guess here it's not so bad. Oh well.

So to put all these assumptions/observations aside, I guess I should recount what I've done these past couple of days. Thursday night I went to the opera at L'Opera Comique, which isn't the famous one in Paris, but still really pretty nonetheless. It was in English, and based off of Shakespeare's A Mid-Summer  Night's Dream. And four hours long. Basically, they acted the entire play, but less in Shakespeare's actual words, and the opera parts were these barely-brief pauses in the play to entertain the Fairy Queen, or whatever. So the opera parts, although sometimes beautiful, were hard to understand (even though they were in English) and had nothing to do with the plot. A lot of NYU people left at the half-hour intermission, but I decided to try and stay because I felt guilty leaving. And I'm glad I did, the second half, although containing the longest and most boring opera song of the night, was amusing. But I'm really glad I went and that my first opera was in English, so it was kind of like a transition into better operas.

Later in the semester we're going to be able to go to operas and ballets at the famous opera theatre, L'Opera Garnier, for free, but I found out we can also student rush the shows for only 8 euro. That's less than a movie ticket...On Friday afternoon I randomly went on the walking tour that one of the professors was giving at L'Opera Garnier, and I'm really glad I went. It's so beautiful inside and outside, and the professor knew a ton about everything to do with the building. And then after the tour, she took us to the bank right across the street that was based off of the architecture of the Garnier, and then we went to the Galleries Lafayette, which is also really beautiful. And we went to the roof of the Galleries Lafayette, which was FREE, and had the best view of Paris I've seen (besides Montmartre). Everyone should go because it's FREE, unlike most of the other views. But because I went on the tour so last minute, I forgot my camera. I'll just have to go back there! Oh, and I forgot to mention that there was also a really cool exhibit going on at the Garnier of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, which included his actual NOTES (really cool), and all the costumes that they used, which were really cool (and scandalous at the time) as well.

But yeah, and that Friday night I went to an American bar with some friends, but hopefully this won't turn into Florence (which only contains American clubs) again...I really hope not, I would like to go to some FRENCH bars and not act like an American tourist. Unfortunately we didn't get the time right of when the metro closes, so I had to take a taxi home. And the taxi driver tried to rip me off, telling me he didn't have change (it was an 11 euro cab, and I only had two tens), and basically I surprised myself (because in any other circumstance I would have given in...I was just too cranky to let him rip me off because I was so tired) because I stayed in the cab, with cars honking behind us, demanding him to either accept 10 euro only, or to give me change. Because he obviously had change. And in the end I won. Take that, stupid taxi driver! I'm still proud, because if you know me well, you know that I don't normally stand up to people like that. But I'm too stingy here (because Paris is expensive!) to get ripped off.

So yeah, that was the rest of my week! Right now I'm about to head off to the Louvre (it's free on Sundays...see more stingy-ness, but amazing-ness as well). Just another Sunday in Paris...

food, among other things

So some comments on the food here that I forgot to mention earlier: milk comes in these cartons that you don't have to refrigerate and lasts months. And if you buy a ham and cheese baguette, it's most likely going to come with chucks of butter in it.

Today we had a mandatory seminar on the history of Paris, and they showed us a bunch of clips of famous old movies set in Paris. You might get a kick out of this clip, from An American in Paris.
Watch from 1:06 to 2:06:

update

As Amara pointed out to me, I haven't really updated this week. And that's because there really hasn't been much to update on, since we started our preliminary classes (French review, basically), which last from 9:30 to 1 every day for the next two weeks. I've been insanely tired as a result, and still trying to get over this cold that I got right before I even left for Paris, but all's been well. Our hostlady (I still don't know what to call her...Beatrice for now I guess) has made us two dinners so far, and our third one is tonight. Every one has been spectacular, and she feeds us every course (complete with a cheese course, of course) so I basically have to eat one giant meal the whole week as a result, and not really eat much the other days. With having to speak every day in French for a few hours, I've been getting less rusty and less embarrassed with my French, but it's not like turning on a switch, as I had surely hoped.

Even though I still sometimes feel like I'm crazy for choosing a homestay (which is stupid, because it's only because I'm one of two people in my level who chose one...everyone else in a homestay is a level higher in French), I'm still really glad I did. Every afternoon there are tons of kids running around (they can't all be her grandkids...she must be running a daycare or something) and some day soon (I think by the end of next week) I'm going to get up the courage to go and hang out with the little kids in the living room...it's just awkward because it's not like once I get home I have any reason to go by that part of the house...so it's bad and nice having a wing (I don't know how else to describe it, but saying a wing sounds like the house is giant) of the house to ourselves. Plus she does our laundry. And gives us afternoon snacks if we're home.

But after hearing of people complain of taking the metro to class every day, I'm so incredibly glad I'm only a ten minute walk away. It's both good and bad though, because I feel like everyone is going to get to know Passy (the neighborhood in the 16th, where campus is) automatically because of classes, but then they'll get to really know the neighborhood where they live. Whereas I'm going to get to really know Passy...and will have to work harder to get to know the other arrondissements. But how do I describe Passy? The only thing that really works is describing it as the Upper East Side of Paris. It's really ritzy, full of older women walking around in fur coats (and I mean practically everyone has one), more residential than full of cafes or bars. But it's nice, and pretty, and quiet.

Tomorrow night I'm going to the opera (!!)...for free...yep this is my life.

P.S.--by the way, I totally lied when I said the Eiffel Tower was in the 16th, not that you probably care. Like the Empire State Building, you can pretty much see it from wherever in Paris (kind of), so I just assumed it was in the 16th. Saw it on Sunday, though, right up front. Amazing, as usual. I'll put pictures up later.

settling in

I'm getting used to living in someone else's home pretty quickly since it seems pretty easy to do so here. We have our own corner of the apartment, by the kitchen, and our own bathroom. To be honest I don't know where her bedroom is. Friday night she cooked Julia, Martin (? I think that's his name...he looks 13 or so), and me dinner, a really good quiche avec jambon, and we had some conversation. I'm getting used to speaking to her in franglais, and through it I'm learning new words that I've probably already learned but never needed to remember in the classroom. Like plate. Assiette. I never really knew that word until yesterday morning, when I had to ask where I could find one to put my croissant on. And coucou, just a fun way to say hi. She said that to me when she saw me up this morning. Haha, and I've been practicing my French on Edgar (try pronouncing it French: Edgahhr), one of the two dogs that live here. Edgar's no Winnie--he's definitely ten times dirtier--but he's a little puppy.

One thing I'm starting to miss (but will force myself to get used to--no wimping out and paying 6 euro for a tall Starbucks latte and getting dirty looks from everyone on the street): to-go coffee. I don't even care about the Starbucks brand, I just miss being able to walk around with it, drink it on the subway, etc. But that's just a small inconvenience.

One thing I'm going to have to get used to: hand-held showers.

I surprisingly haven't taken any pictures. I think it's just because while I am admiring the beauty of it all, I'm mainly trying to get used to living here and getting settled and speaking a different language. But I will start taking some soon.

But I definitely have been taking advantage of the food and wine here. A couple of us went to this really good restaurant in the 9th last night, which was SO GOOD, called Fuxia. And then Beatrice (that's what Julia and I have been calling our landlady...but not to her face yet) is making us dinner tonight. I could get used to this.

sitting in my new room, feeling awkward but happy

I kind of think I may have made a mistake picking a homestay over an apartment. But really no. It just may not have been a smart choice, that’s what I’m saying. I wasn’t brave when I decided I wanted to live with a family, it’s more like I was just stupid. My French (or ma confiance) is nowhere near strong enough to carry a conversation, let alone give me the guts to walk out of my room and start talking to the five kids in the living room. I know it will get better, and I’ve hardly been in this apartment for more than an hour, but still. Most likely those of you who knew me taking French know that I’m really self-conscious when it comes to speaking French, and it takes me so much effort to ask a simple question, or even answer a simple one, which is much easier. I’ve probably said “merci” and “bonjour” a thousand times since I’ve been here because those are the only parts of conversations I’m good at.

And I have the ability to carry on a conversation, I’m sure I do, but it takes so much effort and confidence for me to try. For example, when I had to ask the front desk at the FIAP to call me a taxi (because for some reason I’m much more freaked out about calling a taxi in French than I did in Italian…I didn’t care about Italian whatsoever so I didn’t care if I made a fool of myself…weird.), I first asked a friend how to say it to make sure, then I wrote it down, said it over a few times, and then finally asked the woman the simple question: Pouvez-vous téléphoner un taxi pour moi, s’il vous plaît? So I’m literally taking baby steps with my French. Hopefully by starting the preliminary class on Monday I’ll get more used to speaking. And it’s not that I don’t try, because I really don’t think I could try harder (except by actually talking). Wordreference.com these past couple of days has been my homepage. My dad said you know you’ve got it down with a language when you start thinking in it instead of in English. Does it count if I’m constantly carrying a French conversation with myself in my head? That may sound really creepy/weird/psychotic, but I’m so obsessed with getting better and for some reason proving to everyone that I really have taken 4 semesters of French, that I am constantly thinking of phrases I can say.

Sorry I’m making this post so long by going on and on about speaking/learning French, but this has been on my mind much more than my homestay for some reason, even though you are probably wondering about that more than my crazy antics and insecurities. But whatever, I just wanted to say that I was thinking about learning French in New York while taking the taxi over here, and I’ve come to the conclusion that learning a different language in the states is complete crap. I’m not saying I haven’t absolutely loved my French classes and learned a hell of a lot, but it’s just that everything that is actually relevant in the language is so boring and seems completely irrelevant in the classroom. For example: there is no way that I care about how to write a letter in French or speak on the phone in French or how to tell someone to use the tu form for you instead of the vous when I’m in New York. And even if it seemed kind of interesting in the classroom, there was no way we ever had to apply it. And who the hell do I tu and who the hell do I vous? Do I vous my 18-year-old homestay “brother?” Do I vous the six-year-old in the next room? But yeah, so that’s my ranting about French. Sorry. Here’s a quick note on my homestay: as soon as I walked in with my 3230980 bags, there were like five children hanging out (ages baby to teenager)…one of which is her really cute grandson, and if we ever get past the whole awkward-homestay-almost-brother-but-only-saying-bonjour-and-ca-va?-to-each-other-relationship and become friends on Facebook, I’m going to have to remember to take this post down.

You all know how much I love kids, but there are two problems here in France: 1, I feel creepy saying “J’adore les enfants” (just imagine an older French man saying that with a French accent, emphasis (as always) on the “j’adore”) , and 2, I don’t know enough to be able to go over to them and hang out. The little ones are playing Super Mario right now, and I’m too shy to go over and ask to play with them…they're all her grandchildren I presume. My floor-length window (that opens up to this mini-faux-balcony) looks out into the backyard and the girls are running around screaming/singing really weird pop songs in English that I’ve never heard before. Zöe (sp? pronounced Zooeh, or Zooé) is six (picture a younger Kit Kittredge from American Girl and you’ve got her) and loves speaking English to me, and she says “hello” and “see you soon” the cutest out of any child I’ve seen…sorry American children, these French ones speak cuter English. Because all these kids have been here both times I’ve come, I’m assuming that they come over every weekday? It’s nice to have a noisy house, I’ll definitely take feeling uncomfortable and antisocial than being alone in my apartment.

So I’m all moved in, and the other NYU student who’s living here, Julia, is moving in shortly. Our homestay lady (what do I call her? Madame Raynaud? That’s kind of awkwardly formal…and how long do I vous her??) is going to cook us dinner tonight, even though she’s going out to dinner later on. She’s cute. And so I’ll take some pictures of the place later on, when no one is here, so I don’t look like the American creeper. Once again sorry for the long post!

two days down

So day two went well! I'm back now from having a glass of wine at this restaurant near the hostel, but I guess I should talk about day one first. Well, we got picked up from the airport and driven to the FIAP hostel--the ride over here was a little unnerving I'd say just because the airport is on the outskirts/the suburbs of Paris, so it didn't look that nice, and the FIAP isn't located in the best neighborhood...it might have been asking for much, but we didn't see the eiffel tower on our drive over here or anything--which would have made us feel more in France (I'm partially kidding). So we arrived at the FIAP and were immediately bombarded with orientation materials and free food at the dining hall (not so good). The FIAP is this weird combination of part-hostel, part-convention center, with apparently a nun convention going on. That was a nice introduction. And so we had a quick break and then more orientation meetings, even though we were all jet lagged and so not interested. What's more is that half of the orientation was conducted in French, and my brain was way too tired to try and keep up. But it's interesting to see how different this program is already feeling compared to Florence (I guess that's a duh), since I hardly ever heard the staff speak Italian, let alone expect us to speak Italian, save in our actual Italian language classes. But everyone seems really nice and friendly, and eager to meet new people, since we're all in the same situation. We get free breakfast and dinner in the hostel until Saturday, which is nice, and I get my own room because my roommate actually moved out the first night since she got to move into her homestay early. So lucky me. Even though the FIAP doesn't seem to be in the greatest location (it's in the 14th arrondissement, or so I believe), it's nice to have everyone in the same place. It'll feel weird once we all move into our different locations across the city.

So day two started really early and there were NYU helpers that took us on the metro to campus, which is beauuutiful, in the 16th arrondissement, right near the eiffel tower. The night before we had been sent in groups with French helpers to get metro cards and phones, but now I'm kind of feeling a little poor and ripped off since our people apparently sent us to the more expensive phone store (10 euros more expensive than everyone else for the SAME phone) and we were somehow forced into buying a monthly metro pass, yet it's still not clear whether or not it's a month meaning for January or a month meaning 30 days...(people are leaning towards January) and plus, I just found out I'm not going to be needing to take the metro to class every day (which is good), but I just spent 60 euro on a card I apparently don't need. Oh well. I guess that's just a lesson to keep us on our toes maybe? I'm trying to be optimistic. And keep my wallet closer to myself, that's all. If that makes any sense. But anyways, I got offtrack. So we went to campus and had so many more orientation meetings but ones that were actually helpful after having sleep. The most important (or so I believe) that I learned: THE MUSEE D'ORSAY IS CLOSED. Indefinitely. For Construction. I KNOW. My favorite museum in the ENTIRE WORLD (so far) is closed. But I'm being optimistic! This will just force me to go to museums that I haven't been to yet! But still...

The only other thing that you might find interesting is that I found out my housing assignment today and I'm in a homestay. I'm living in the 16th arrondissement, walking distance from campus, with this older lady who has grandchildren that live right next door. She was so cute, as soon as we walked in to the courtyard (yes, I said it: we have a personal courtyard) her 6 year-old granddaughter Zoey greeted us and our homestay mother had orange juice, macrons, and some dough goods for us, it was too cute. And she literally said we were to be like her daughters, since her children are all grown up. I couldn't have asked for more. Did I mention that we're paying a lot less than NYU in New York rent??? I might move here for good. Plus we live in this ritsy neighborhood with some famous garden across the street, and her apartment (or house, rather, I should say, because it's pretty big and doesn't feel like a New York apartment in the slightest) is fabulously decorated with all these paintings. And she's going to cook us dinner twice a week, do our laundry, give us breakfast every day, and basically be this cute woman who makes us speak in French! I seriously don't think it could get any better.

I can already feel my French getting a little better. Well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but if I'm going to be speaking French at home, it definitely will. So yeah, everything's great here. I'm moving out of the FIAP and into the homestay (in the neighborhood called Passy) Friday afternoon, so that's exciting. And more orientation is in store for tomorrow. I'm excited for classes to start...February 1st. Orientation might get a little old, but whatever. It's Paris.
Bonne nuit!

airport mumblings

So I've made it through part one of the trip! I'm in Heathrow airport right now, waiting for my flight that's supposed to start boarding in a half hour. Surprisingly it took me literally five minutes to get through security at Logan (here it took more like a half hour...ugh), and I was having this "nervous excitement." But Amara Katherine Dieter sent some amazing texts for which I love her and wish we could have been studying in Paris at the same time! (AKD, je te manque deja!) The flight over here was fine and I sat next to a girl who's studying abroad in Lyons. Hearing the accent is making me kind of want to stay, I must admit (and of course among other things). But I have to remind myself that I'm going to be here after graduation (fingers crossed) and I really came to study abroad for the language...but still, I can't help but get excited for my next trip! I know, really ridiculous I should "live in the moment" but I can't help it, I haven't slept yet. Right now I'm sitting across from two men speaking in French, and I'm trying to snoop in on their conversation. I'm getting excited for that. Not snooping, per se, but speaking French! My flight's now boarding, gotta go! Love you all.

only two days left

So I'm supposed to be packing right now, but I've been looking at my friend's abroad blogs since a few of them have already left, and I wanted to start this preliminary post. I'm not really sure what to say in this post, since I'm still in the U.S. and nothing amazing has happened yet. But I guess I should explain about my program? Maybe? Well. I'm going to be flying to Paris this Monday night, with a brief stop in Heathrow, but I should be in the land of the French by 11:30 their time Tuesday morning. I tried coordinating my flight with NYU's group flight so I can mooch off of their free shuttle from the airport, instead of paying a whole 60 euro for a taxi. But I guess we'll be staying in a hostel for a few days/a week all together, and then we'll find out about our housing assignments and move in there. So that's right. I have no idea where I'll be living, or who will be there with me, but hopefully it will be in a homestay. An apartment would be cool since it turned out so great in Florence, but I want to try and get outside the "NYU bubble" that happens at every one of their study abroad sites.

For those of you that don't know, I'm studying at the NYU program in Paris, so with other NYU students, and we'll be taking classes at the little "campus" with only our program. We can choose to take them in either French or English, but we don't really choose our classes until we get there. I haven't really thought about it too much, but I'd like to try and take at least one class in French. We'll see though. I'm not too confident in my French-speaking abilities, but I feel like if I just got over that I could do it. And then we have the option of taking classes at the University of Paris, in either French or English, so if all goes according to plan/this romanticized view I have, I'll hopefully take a class in English with French students there. But we don't actually start classes until February 1st because we have this two week "intensive french workshop" or something like that, worth 2 credits, which apparently is really stupid. But it might be a nice refresher. So I'm hoping to be able to explore Paris a lot during that time. Maybe meet a French boyfriend then. Haha. I kid...

So yeah, that's pretty much the program! I feel kind of stupid writing in this blog, but I really like the idea. It just feels a little "Dear Diary"-esque. But we'll see. Maybe when I actually have something to say I'll feel better about it. But I'll try and keep it up, it's a nice way to keep in touch with people I guess.

*Here are two videos to leave you with. One, with Joey learning French on Friends. And then, of course, Eddie Izzard on learning French...I just had to put that there.