Accepting the Parisian Way of Life.

Parisians like to take it slow.
At first it was a little frustrating. In the States, everything is built on a foundation of efficiency and efficacy. Everything happens as quickly as possible and no one waits around since there is always somewhere else to go.
I had to get used to waiting a half hour for the waiter to notice that there were 15 loud Americans sitting in his restaurant, waiting an hour for the food to arrive, and waiting another half an hour to get the check. (Maybe that's why French food is so delicious... the French are so hungry by the time their food actually arrives that every bite is the best they've ever tasted.)
The lines in the grocery store never cease to amaze/confuse me. I somehow always manage to pick the slowest moving line, or the cash register breaks, or someone is getting trained, or something else occurs that I don't understand since, really, let's be honest here, I don't speak French.
Everything closes on the weekends, and a lot of places are also closed on Mondays. The French take lunch breaks for two hours and then leave two hours later. I'm still not sure how anything gets done... but they got something right, since obviously they are productive and successful.

So. I have a point. After almost three weeks of dealing with these changes in culture, I've started to get used to them and even appreciate them.
Example: I choose not to go out to dinner if I don't have enough time, since I know it will be an ordeal. Therefore, I save money and every cafe visit is that much more special.
Another example: I have gotten to know people really well because we have so much time to talk and discuss during meals/waiting in lines for everything.
The example that gave me the idea for this post: I spent five hours lying in a park today. A friend and I had un petit pique-nique, including (a teensy bit of) cheese (with a lot of lactaid pills to add some spice), a baguette, a salad, a meringue, and of course some white wine. We spent five hours lying around, eating, pretending we were French, philosophizing, people-watching, napping, and generally enjoying the fact that we were in Paris in a park on a beautiful day.
Five hours! I can get used to this relaxing French ideology.

Yesterday, I went with a friend to a famous tea room, called the Freres Mariages. It's the oldest tea company (I think?) in France, and was started when two brothers (...the Freres Mariages...) both traveled around the world and came back to France with an intense knowledge and taste for tea. I thought the place was going to be like the Teavana I go to sometimes in the mall.
Not at all. The French have to be classy about everything.

We walked in to the shop and immediately were confronted by shelves and shelves of different teas. Men dressed up in suits walked around and asked us if we would like to smell anything, and we spent a good half hour wandering around and smelling different pots of tea leaves. Eventually, we decided to splurge and sit at the cafe in the tea shop, where I dropped 9 euro on one pot of tea and a muffin. However, it was FRENCH tea and a FRENCH muffin. So obviously.... very different.
And it was delicious. Tea is a science at the Freres Mariages. They take themselves very seriously, so we decided to take them very seriously as well.
After about an hour and a half of sitting, drinking tea, talking about intellectual things, and eating my perfectly baked muffin, we finished our tea (we went through two entire kettles of tea. Yes we did.) and went back into the world.

I was very relaxed. I took a small nap after that.

Anyway, my point is that Parisians know how to live. They eat well, drink well, and rest exceedingly well. Having spent the last two days trying my best to eat, drink, and rest like a Parisian, I'm starting to be a big fan.

My French Checklist.

I have been a massive blogging slacker lately, I know. So much has been going on and I never want to sit in my room at all, I just want to absorb as much of Paris as I can. However, I have a free 15 minutes or so (wow, what a long time.) so here's a quick recap.

So far, I have accomplished the following Parisian things on my to do list:

- Drink wine by the Seine (as in.... every night.)

- Try escargot (Weird texture but nothing special. I'm not sure what the big fuss is about.)

- Try random foods for the first time (As in, I had duck [delicious] and pork chops [eh]. Pork chops on Rosh Hashanah, you like that, mom?)

- Have a picnic under the Eiffel Tower at night (The Tower sparkles every hour for five minutes every night... but as soon as it starts to sparkle, people still ooh and ahh like it's never happened before. It's amazing.)

- Get lost in the Versaille gardens (They blew my mind. I only discovered maybe a tenth of them and I need to go back while the weather is still good.)

- Take a picture on the famous Giverny water lily bridge (We're such tourists.)

There is much more but I can't remember them right now. Essentially, Paris is the most amazing place I've ever been, and every day is fantastic. That sounds very general but I'm not sure how else to say it!

I have started to accept the fact that I am the stereotypical American here. I travel in large groups, make lots of noise, make mistakes and cause general disturbances, and on top of that my French leaves a lot to be desired. At first I hated fulfilling the stereotype, but honestly... I'm in Paris and I am a loud person who laughs and talks and gets excited... so the Parisians dressed in black reading their intellectual books on the metro can just judge me if they want.

Parisians here really have been great. They are definitely quieter, more subtle, and not as outwardly friendly, but I haven't had any bad experiences. Everyone is helpful and at least appreciates the fact that I'm trying to speak their language.

Even if I'm failing immensely.

This week, classes start at the University of Paris. I thought I had a class yesterday but when I went to the classroom, there was a sign on the door that said it wouldn't start until the next monday. So... I tried to go to class. And I ended up with some nice free time.

Going to go lie around in the Jardin du Luxembourg. I promise to update more thoroughly soon!

Wine by the Seine.

The past few days have been so busy. I never want to sit in my room because Paris is outside waiting to be explored. However, I do need some time to chill out so today I decided to take a breather before my 16h00 grammar class.

Two nights ago I fulfilled one of my only goals while here in Paris. I went to a very Parisian cafe for dinner and people watched with some friends, and then a group of kids and I bought bottles of wine and went down to the banks of the Seine and sat and talked and sipped. It was fantastic. I am the little Emory adoptee of a group of Duke kids, and it's nice to meet new people in new places. We waved to passing boats and took too many pictures and drank too much wine and it was fantastic. We also were joined by a group of four french boys from les banlieues (suburbs). They were in a band, called the Best Winers, and they probably regretted coming over to say hi because we made them help us figure out our metro stops for about a half hour. One of them spilled his drink by accident, so we taught them the phrase "Party Foul." When party foul becomes internationally known, it's because of us.

The only issue I have with Paris is that the metro closes at 1 am! Our nights always have to end somewhat early... although there was a girl who apparently missed the last metro and had to walk around until 7 am until it started up again.

I have a feeling it's not going to be difficult to accidentally do that, but i'll hope my "sense d'orientation" greatly improves.

Last night I discovered the University of Paris' cafeteria, which will save my wallet. An entree, a side dish, and a desert (and of course, a small loaf of bread) is only 4 euro, and although it's not fantastic food, it's worth it. Everything is priced so differently here than in the US. A cigarette lighter (un feu) is about 5 euro, while a delicious, massive sandwich on a baguette is 3 euro. Personally, I'm a big fan of the cheap, delicious baguette.

My grammar classes have started, and at first I was incredibly overwhelmed... I actually switched down a level yesterday. Now, my class is perfect. I want to improve my french, but was having trouble understanding all of what my first professor was even saying, so I feel like the switch down was an excellent idea. Plus there's less homework. Always a benefit.

This morning we toured the Opera National de France- Garnier, which was unbelievable. Tickets for students are something like 10 euro only, so I am definitely definitely going to go see a performance.

Right now, I believe it is nap time. I've been having inner crises about napping, because I want to be out discovering the city. However, since I almost fell asleep during our tour of the Opera, I think it will be a good decision to take a break.

This blog post is very out of order... that's a signal for nap time too.

A Bientot!

Some of the pictures I've taken already-->

Bonjour!

I am in PARIS.

Just in case you didn't know.

The last few days have been so insane that I wasn't able to really take a breath, much less get on the computer and write, but I have a tiny bit of time right now, as I lie in bed in my new room in my host family's apartment in the 6th arrondissement of PARIS!

I will stop capitalizing every time I write Paris, I promise. It's just all very exciting.

My flight was okay... I couldn't sleep very well, so I spent most of it reading my book, a Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and playing Chuzzle on my ipod touch, which is severely addicting. When I looked out the window, I could see a perfect view of the Big Dipper-- every few hours I would look out the window and the Big Dipper would be a little rotated. It was a very cool way to track the progress of the flight. I also got to see the sun rise over France, which was amazing. I took a picture of it from the window of my flight... what a tourist.

So, once I finally got on land-- I took a cab from the airport to the hotel, and became bffs with my cab driver, Paul. He told me je t'aime about 10 times, and taught me how the French kiss on both cheeks about double that. Lots of bissous and je t'aimes, but it was an experience, and a fun way to be welcomed to Paris. He was about 50 and balding.

I settled in to the hotel and met up with my friends Chase, Ian, and Alex who are also on the program with me. We wanted to fight the urge to nap, so we trekked literally across Paris. We walked all day, starting at the Place d'Italie, to the Louvre, to Notre Dame, to the Eiffel Tower, then to Ian's apartment in the 16th arrond., and then we took the metro back to the hotel at Place d'Italie. We walked from the 4th arrond to the 16th, which is slightly insane. It was great though- a beautiful day, I was wearing a skirt, and I was in PARIS. (I'll stop doing that.) By the end of the day, we were all wiped, though, and I had been up for more than 24 hours, which is more than I've ever stayed up. We were in bed by 9:30 (or 21:30) and it was wonderful.

Yesterday morning we met up with my roommate, Dorothy, and a bunch of kids that are here from Duke. My study abroad program, for those of you that don't know, is called Educo, and it stands for Emory, Duke, and Cornell (with the recent addition of Tulane-- the future Educot? Teduco? Educane?). There are seven Emory kids, 5 Tulane kids, 5 Cornell kids, and 37 Duke kids. Duke students, apparently, always generally go abroad Fall semester because they don't want to miss basketball season. Emory doesn't really have those priorities exactly.

Anyway. The kids I'm meeting are so great. There are about 7 guys total, and the rest are girls, so I'm thinking whichever guys are straight (maybe two of them) are going to have quite the semester.

Today we moved out of our hotel into our host family's apartment! Dorothy and I are living in the 6th arrondissement, which is, according to our host mom, Marie Madeleine, the best quarter, but the most expensive. There is a boulangerie (bread shop) down the street, and I plan on having a sandwich at least once a day. After some introductory meetings this morning, we walked down the street and found a boulangerie. I had the best sandwich I have ever had in my life. Just thinking about it right now is making me hungry. It was un baguette avec le thon et des crudites (tuna and veggies) and we went and sat in a park and ate our delicious sandwiches. It was so fantastically Parisian.

Of course I took a picture.

My host family is great. My host mom is very sweet and welcoming, and a self-proclaimed "cool mom." She is fine with us coming and going, and her only request is that we don't use the microwave at night because it's loud. I think if that is her only request, I'll be fine. I have two 15 year old twin host sisters, Maude and Juliette. I've only met Maude, because Juliette goes to boarding school in Montpelier and she will come home for a visit in November. Maude is nice but I think she needs to get used to having two more girls living in her apartment. She really liked the stuffed animal dog I brought (Yes I did. it looks like my dog, Hershey.) and showed me her favorite stuffed animal dog, and we decided that they would be friends, so I think we'll be fine.

We had a delicious dinner of potatos (pommes de terres) and eggs, with melon and salad and, of course, bread. My lactose-intolerance is going to be reeallllly interesting here. But Marie Madeleine seems flexible. I could also eat sandwiches nonstop, so it's not a huge problem. I wish we had recorded our meal.. it was laughable. Dorothy and I tried so hard to communicate, and while we could understand most of what they were saying, we could barely respond without correcting ourselves (or getting corrected by Marie Madeleine). If we could listen to that dinner in three months, I feel like that would be the true sign of our progress.

Overall, I am having a fantastic time. We live right next to a park, le Jardin de Luxembourg, and I can't wait to spend lots of time there. Tomorrow night's plan is to buy some bottles of wine and sit under the Eiffel Tower. I'm pretty excited.

Paris is wonderful. I'll gush more about it later!

A Bientot!

the Pre-Paris Funk.

Welcome to my blog.

You must really like me if you’re reading this. So, in general, thanks for liking me so much. I hope you like what I have to blog too.

How do you say blog in French? Blogger?

I’m in Paris studying abroad at the University of Paris for the Fall semester-- keep reading for news of my embarrassing french translation mistakes (je suis excite!), ridiculous stories, and other general attempts to procrastinate doing les devoirs.

T-minus 16 hours til I’m on a plane to Pareeeee. Lots of packing, getting nervous, and waiting. Having fun setting up my blog even though I should be sleeping.

J’espere que vous l’aimez!