I woke up early this morning at 8:00 to get ready for our orientation at 10:00 (this is a HUGE accomplishment for me to wake up so early on my own). I was even the first one in the lobby. Pretty soon some people started to trickle in that were also part of the program. I was surprised by how many people I didn't know or had never seen considering French isn't the largest department at the U. We moved into the pretty courtyard and soon after went to Helene's studio to get breakfast. She bought us the most amazing croissants and made us 'des cremes' which is basically cafe au lait but I guess you never order it as cafe au lait- it's 'un creme' if you don't want to look too foreign. After that we went back to the orientation and learned the rules of the house and some of the stuff we'll be doing while here. I was so angry to be put into the 'advanced' french class. How fair is this? The intermediate class gets to practice pronouncing words and sing songs while we have to read a book by Paul Morand Fouquet and answer questions about it for each class. This shall be interesting.
After orientation we went to the local carrefour which is basically a big grocery store. I bought some brie, plumbs, olives, sausage- you know the obvious essentials. After that we did some shopping and again found some great deals! I really am so surprised by how affordable a lot of stuff is over here- even with the exchange rate I don't feel terribly ripped off. Ok I actually take that back- after shopping we were dying to have starbucks. Guess how much a tall drink costs? The frappacinos and the machiatos were both 4.50 Euros! That translates into somewhere over $5.00. That will have to be a rare treat while here. Oh yes I almost forgot to mention getting pooped on. Of course this would happen to me since it always seems to nowadays. I was standing outside of a store with my friends Julie and Mel and I was like "is there a leaf in my hair?" No it was not a leaf; it was bird poop! Some say this is good luck so maybe I should be excited about that. I went to the nearest self-cleaning bathroom and literally shampooed my hair. It was pretty nasty.
After walking miles yet again we came back and took naps as always. My room is SO warm and it makes it so easy to just pass out for hours- not good. My trusty friend Seren gave me my daily wake up call to make dinner with her (I would probably sleep all day if it wasn't for her!) We made pasta and sausage for dinner and ate it out on the terrace. overlooking the park. After that Seren and I had some really good conversation and went on a walk around town. I'm so happy I have people here that I'm already friends with. I feel like I've known these girls for a while. Now that's a good feeling to have while away in a far away land :)
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
Day 2
I woke up at 6am today- probably because of the change of timezones. I met up with my friends to go get pastries and explore the city. I got a chocalat au pain and it was amaaaaazing. After that we went to the grocery store and bought sodas and went to stroll through the park. It was so beautiful. There were flowers all over and pretty fields and a river flowing through it. I wanted to take pictures for hours! My friends quickly learned how picture crazy I am. After that we decided to walk all over and see what the shopping was like in our area. To our surprise we actually found some decently priced boutiques! After walking for miles we decided to head home to rest before dinner. We decided to check out a little cafe near our school. It was great- I got STEAK my favorite :) It was a great way to end a very french day!
First day adventure
So I decided to create a blog to keep track of my trip and share with everybody back home. I'm going to TRY to stay consistent but I'm already posting behind a day- not a good start!
Yesterday was really hard for me. I actually found myself not wanting to leave home and my family and friends which is weird for me since I usually love to travel and get out of Everett. I just love you all so much! I managed to get over it when I remembered I was going to the place of my dreams, literally: Paris!
So after a very tearful goodbye with momma and roxy at the airport I was off to fly alone for the first time in my life. No big deal right? I've flown hundreds of times and felt confident with seatac (too bad I forgot I'd have to deal with charles de gaule airport later!). I made it to my gate in 5 minutes and was rather proud of my navigating. Once we finally boarded the plane I realized my seat partner was IN MY SEAT ( this is a big deal because I specifically reserved the window seat so I could sleep haha). I sat down and debated whether or not to say something...being a Zakhary I did. "Hey I think you're in my seat.." all I got back was a very confused look, time to switch to french..."ahh je pense que vous etes dans ma place" now I received not only a confused look but also scared and a "no anglais..hablas espagnol?" GREAT just my luck. I decided to back off and just smile and sink into my seat for a 9 hour flight in the aisle. The whole way the guy kept asking me if I was SURE I didn't speak spanish- did he think I was just lying?? We spent 9 hours communicating via signals and our own version of sign language. It was quite the sight. The plane ride actually wasn't too bad, we got 2 meals and watched videos and played games. Fancy shmancy new airplanes.
When we finally landed it took about 40 minutes to get off the plane and then we had to be shuttled from the plane to the baggage claim. Reality started to set in when nobody around me was speaking english. I had to speak only french and ask questions to people who would probably hate me since I was American. It began the second we got off the tram, I had no idea what was going on! I managed to recall french and ask a lady that was rather annoyed. Apparently I had to go through customs in a random line reserved for the slow Americans. After that I also realized that I had to get internet asap to find my friend Julie to get to the school together. I didn't have the directions so I was in big trouble if I didn't get internet to email her. Of course the internet did not work. How on earth was I supposed to find her in this big foreign airport?? I decided to ask a lady where the baggage claim for the Continental flights was- she didn't know. The next lady I asked told me to "arrete" when I was speaking to her, this translates into "stop". She proceeded to roll her eyes then say "what do you want?" I almost lunged at her. Not only was she mean but she also was of no help to me. After about 1 hour of waiting for my baggage I gave up on the waiting and took a stroll to find her baggage claim: no luck :( . I literally sat there and prayed for a miracle to find her or else I'd be lost with no idea of how to get to the MEC. I went back to my baggage claim and saw a man on a pay phone. I asked him if you needed a phone card to use them; of course you did. GREAT. He came back and told me he would give me his phone card. I called Julie and by an act of God she answered and we were finally able to find each other! This story doesn't sound that bad but trust me I was actually quite worried.
After we finally left the airport we began our trek to the school. We had to take a train ride which was quite the experience. Everything from people smoking in our faces to getting hit on by strangers winking, blowing kisses and saying "bon voyage". After about an hour of that we finally arrived to the school! I have never been so happy to see a college campus in my life. We got to school and got our rooms at la maison des etudiants canadiens. I have my own room and bathroom , pictures will be posted soon! The rest of the day consisted of roaming the area and eating food.
Yesterday was really hard for me. I actually found myself not wanting to leave home and my family and friends which is weird for me since I usually love to travel and get out of Everett. I just love you all so much! I managed to get over it when I remembered I was going to the place of my dreams, literally: Paris!
So after a very tearful goodbye with momma and roxy at the airport I was off to fly alone for the first time in my life. No big deal right? I've flown hundreds of times and felt confident with seatac (too bad I forgot I'd have to deal with charles de gaule airport later!). I made it to my gate in 5 minutes and was rather proud of my navigating. Once we finally boarded the plane I realized my seat partner was IN MY SEAT ( this is a big deal because I specifically reserved the window seat so I could sleep haha). I sat down and debated whether or not to say something...being a Zakhary I did. "Hey I think you're in my seat.." all I got back was a very confused look, time to switch to french..."ahh je pense que vous etes dans ma place" now I received not only a confused look but also scared and a "no anglais..hablas espagnol?" GREAT just my luck. I decided to back off and just smile and sink into my seat for a 9 hour flight in the aisle. The whole way the guy kept asking me if I was SURE I didn't speak spanish- did he think I was just lying?? We spent 9 hours communicating via signals and our own version of sign language. It was quite the sight. The plane ride actually wasn't too bad, we got 2 meals and watched videos and played games. Fancy shmancy new airplanes.
When we finally landed it took about 40 minutes to get off the plane and then we had to be shuttled from the plane to the baggage claim. Reality started to set in when nobody around me was speaking english. I had to speak only french and ask questions to people who would probably hate me since I was American. It began the second we got off the tram, I had no idea what was going on! I managed to recall french and ask a lady that was rather annoyed. Apparently I had to go through customs in a random line reserved for the slow Americans. After that I also realized that I had to get internet asap to find my friend Julie to get to the school together. I didn't have the directions so I was in big trouble if I didn't get internet to email her. Of course the internet did not work. How on earth was I supposed to find her in this big foreign airport?? I decided to ask a lady where the baggage claim for the Continental flights was- she didn't know. The next lady I asked told me to "arrete" when I was speaking to her, this translates into "stop". She proceeded to roll her eyes then say "what do you want?" I almost lunged at her. Not only was she mean but she also was of no help to me. After about 1 hour of waiting for my baggage I gave up on the waiting and took a stroll to find her baggage claim: no luck :( . I literally sat there and prayed for a miracle to find her or else I'd be lost with no idea of how to get to the MEC. I went back to my baggage claim and saw a man on a pay phone. I asked him if you needed a phone card to use them; of course you did. GREAT. He came back and told me he would give me his phone card. I called Julie and by an act of God she answered and we were finally able to find each other! This story doesn't sound that bad but trust me I was actually quite worried.
After we finally left the airport we began our trek to the school. We had to take a train ride which was quite the experience. Everything from people smoking in our faces to getting hit on by strangers winking, blowing kisses and saying "bon voyage". After about an hour of that we finally arrived to the school! I have never been so happy to see a college campus in my life. We got to school and got our rooms at la maison des etudiants canadiens. I have my own room and bathroom , pictures will be posted soon! The rest of the day consisted of roaming the area and eating food.
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