La Vie Parisienne

Well I made it to Paris on Wednesday and life has been super hectic since I step foot into the city.  Françoise and Manu drove me to Paris on Wednesday and dropped me off at my foyer.  I was so thankful that I had them there to drop me off.  My foyer is a co-ed foyer and I have to cook all my food because no meals are provided.  I was super bummed when I found out that my foyer does not provide food because now that means I have to go grocery shopping and everything is expensive around here.  My foyer does have wifi but it is the worst internet connection I have ever experienced!  That is something I do not like at all.  However, it does keep me from being on my computer all day which is good because I need to go out and explore the city.  Here is a recap of my week thus far:

Wednesday, September 7th:
Got up and got ready to head to Paris with Françoise and Manu.  I had to say goodbye to Gilberte and we dropped off Calline and Gilberte's place.  We then drove into the city and the traffic was horrible!  The mopeds and motorcycles just zoom right between the cars, it is a little frightening witnessing all this!  On the way there I was so nervous, my stomach was full of butterflies.  Living in the city is a lot different than living in the country with my cousins!  I met Lily, the other girl from the Central Study Abroad program in my foyer, she seems really nice and lives on the floor above me. Françoise and Manu had to say goodbye but I know that I will be seeing them again throughout the year because I can easily take a train.  I got a tour of the foyer and then got to go to my room and arrange my stuff.  I do have a roommate but at this point I had not met her yet, however all of her stuff was set up on one side of the room.  I then moved around my furniture and started unpacking and making this my home.  Once I was done I went to Lily's room and hung out with her for a while before we took the métro to our meeting at Shelley's office.  When we got there we ran into some other students from our program and we couldn't find the building!  I even asked a lady in French where it was and while she was helping us out pops Shelley from a building!  We had our meeting and then Lily and I were going to meet up the rest of the group at le Jardin de Luxembourg because it is right down the street from Shelley's office and it was closed when we got there!  We then couldn't find them so we just walked around before heading back to the foyer.

Thursday, September 8th:
We had another meeting at Shelley's office and that is when we got our French bank accounts and cell phones!  So that is good that I now have those to necessary items!  We then took the bus to l'Ecole des Etoiles for our written and oral placement exam.  We took the written part first and I did not think it was that hard.  I know I had some mistakes but I recognized everything on there.  I then had to go and take my oral exam.  That was rather easy and the lady that was assessing my speaking/listening abilities said that I speak French rather well and have very good comprehension.  She said that I am already at a rather high level.  That was a major confidence booster and made my day!  Eventually Lily and I went home and we had dinner at a crêperie which is right around the corner, I had a crêpe with an egg and ham in it. It was very good!  We then went to the Eiffel Tower to see it all lit up and meet up with other students from our program.  It was fun and pretty.  That is until my stomach started hurting!  I had gotten sick and had to take the métro all the way home which was a 30min ride with changing lines and everything!  It was horrible!  I will spare you the details but it wasn't fun being sick!  The internet did work briefly so that I could facetime with my mom but then it didn't work so I went to bed.

Friday, September 9th:
Had class this morning and it went quite well!  I am in the advanced class with some other Central students and a bunch of international people.  There are people from Mexico, Spain, Canada, Poland, China, Japan, Italy and other places!  It is really neat!  The professor is super nice and the class seemed to go by quickly even though it is from 10am to 1pm and we get a 5min break in the middle.  We already have homework, of course!  Then the whole group went to a falafel place but I didn't want to push things since I was sick the night before so I just ate my PB&J.  Lily and I then headed back to the Central office for a meeting and decided to walk some of the way instead of being on the métro all the time so that we could see some of the city.  It was fun just walking around and seeing stuff like the Seine and the Eiffel Tower, and Notre Dame.  We made it to our meeting and 2 people from the U.S. Emabassy came to talk to us about safety and the U.S. Embassay in Paris.  It was nice and very informative.  Lily and I then headed back to our foyer because I thought we would have time before the concert at La Sainte Chapelle that our program was attending (but man was I wrong!).  But when we were at our foyer I met my roomie, Perrine, she is French but studied in the States for 4 years and earned her bachelor's so she also speaks perfect English with a perfect American accent.  However, when we talk it is in French.  We had to be at Sainte Chapelle at the very latest 7pm.  Lily and I were running late and we ran the entire way there when we took the métro. I was praying the whole way that we would make it on time because once they closed the doors that was it!  Thankfully, we got there just in time and they let us in.  It was a beautiful location for a concert!  Afterwards, I hung out with people from the group in the area and had a yummy crêpe au jambon for dinner!  I eventually found Lily who went off elsewhere with some other people from the program and we took the métro home together.

Saturday, September 10th:
Well I got up kind of late and just hung out around the foyer in the morning.  Then Lily and I did some much needed shopping.  There is a whole road that has shops along it and a Monoprix (kinda like a Target with grocery store).  I picked up some stuff.  We then went to Montmartre.  It is not that far from where I live.  We visited the Moulin Rouge and Sacre Coeur.  It was really pretty but Sacre Coeur was crowded with tourists!  I finally went inside Sacre Coeur (I have visited it several times before but never went inside) but couldn't take any pictures since it is not allowed.  It is a beautiful church.  We then just walked around and ran across a little park that a lot of the locals go to with their children.  It was so cute seeing all the kids running around and just having fun!  That is something I miss from home, getting to interact with little kids!  We did some more walking and picture taking and then headed home for dinner.  I stayed at the foyer last night and tried skyping with my family but it didn't really work so my mom just called my cell phone.  It was so great to talk to my family back home because I have been feeling super homesick and alone lately.  I guess I am going through culture shock.  I am slowly adjusting to life here.  Most people in the group right now are loving Paris and I am at the moment not completely in love with Paris.  I feel very much like a tourist and just want to fit in with the Parisians.  But maybe it is because I have been in France a little bit longer than everyone else in the group so my culture shock is starting before theirs.  When I go and see the monuments I think wow that is cool but I have already seen it.  I don't know, I am just kinda in this weird funk. I know it will get better as the year goes on. Hopefully I will become friends with people in my foyer and won't feel so out of place anymore. 

Sunday, September 11th:
Today I got up and got ready.  I then went to the bakery right around the corner by myself and got a baguette.  When I was walking back to my foyer I felt very French because I was walking down the street with a baguette in hand and I didn't have a map in the other like a tourist.  I ate some bread and jelly for breakfast and then went to the lounge to work on my homework.  I am not completely done with it but will finish it later today (I just wanted to take this opportunity since the internet is working at the moment to post an entry since I haven't in a while). It was raining earlier but for now it has stopped. I think once I am done with my homework I will walk over to a nice park that is not too far away and explore.  Hopefully that will help with my homesickness and getting out and exploring should help me with my culture shock.