So...I've noticed some changes in the way people interact right off the bat. Nobody on the metro really looks at eachother when they get on and nobody strikes up random conversation. Also, nobody really looks at eachother in the street to smile or say hello or anything like that...unless they run into you in which case they say "pardon" and that's about it. The only exception to this rule is man/woman interactions on the street. Men here gawk...a ton. And Natalie? You were right. The second it hits dark it's a whole different story. Men on the street during the day are pleasant enough and are nice...they still gawk but they don't say anything to you. Men at night, however gawk, stare, smile, wink, and cat call. The men here are just way more forward than the ones at home--especially the ones in MN. I haven't decided yet if it's a good thing.
I went to a play last night and understood most of it, which was cool. My host mom gave me free tickets but I couldn't find anyone to go with me on such short notice so I just went alone. It was about a guy who finds out he has a rare disease and he reflects on his life and starts to appreciate the things he was taking for granted like his wife and kids...pretty run of the mill stuff if you ask me but it was a one-man show and wasn't very long. It's nice to just hear French and see things like that for the sake of doing them in my opinion. All in all, a good experience!
I'm picking up on the French spoken in my family pretty well...The dad speaks really fast but I catch most if not all of it. He thinks I don't understand him because I'm so ADD that I start looking around when he's speaking...whoops. I gotta fix that. The kids are adorable. The middle girl Estelle and I read books and played I Spy the other night. I can tell she likes having visiting students in the house. She's really outgoing for an 8-year old! We were also playing a little game sort of like a madgab where you say your favorite animal, food, color, and number and then make up a little story such as "have you ever seen a blue monkey eating chicken soup with 87 hands?"...silly. But the dad came in as she was asking my favorite number and he said "oh you know the favorite number of adults" and i said "comment?" and he said "69!" Bahaha. It was hilarious...and the little girl was like "dad, why 69? Why 69?!" and he just kinda ignored it. I wonder how many times stuff like that happened to me when I was little. :-D
Ta for now!
Friday, May 29, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Host family!
So after much confusion, I arrived at my host family's place without a scratch...
I received a call from IES on Saturday saying so I had to scramble around a little bit to contact my new falily ASAP and to learn how to get to their house, etc. It all turned out fine though. My room is completely disconnected from the family's apartment which is this awesomely huge and beautiful place. They have almost a whole floor of an apartment building in the 17th and it's just gorgeous. The parents, M and Mme Persiaux are musicians; he plays violin and she the piano. They have three kids, all girls: Diane-12, Estelle-8, and Elise-6. The kids all play instruments too! Estelle just made it into a music conservatory for cello, Diane plays piano, and Elise the violin. The younger two played for me as their mom accompanied me and it was super cute. You can tell they like playing for new people.
Back to my room. Technically it's a maid's quarters so it's super small but there's a full bed, a TV, and a shower with the toilets down the hall. It's just my own little escape which I'm sure will be necessary from time to time.
For dinner, the parents were both gone so the kids made, believe it or not, chicken nuggets and canned corn. Sound familiar anyone? In addition, the show on the television as we ate was The Simpsons. And they were watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer before that. I guess the technology age is sweeping the globe because the 12-year old has a facebook and the dad thought I was crazy for not bringing my laptop.
Anyways...I start orientation tomorrow and should think about heading to bed. This morning I slept through my alarm so I figure I should probably try to go to sleep early so that doesn't happen on an actually important day. Bonne Soiree!
Ann
I received a call from IES on Saturday saying
Back to my room. Technically it's a maid's quarters so it's super small but there's a full bed, a TV, and a shower with the toilets down the hall. It's just my own little escape which I'm sure will be necessary from time to time.
For dinner, the parents were both gone so the kids made, believe it or not, chicken nuggets and canned corn. Sound familiar anyone? In addition, the show on the television as we ate was The Simpsons. And they were watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer before that. I guess the technology age is sweeping the globe because the 12-year old has a facebook and the dad thought I was crazy for not bringing my laptop.
Anyways...I start orientation tomorrow and should think about heading to bed. This morning I slept through my alarm so I figure I should probably try to go to sleep early so that doesn't happen on an actually important day. Bonne Soiree!
Ann
Monday, May 25, 2009
Day 3
So the third day we woke up pretty early and set out for breakfast, internet, and more sites. We had been going to this boulangerie/patisserie (bread store/bakery) for the duration of our stay and so we just picked up some pain au chocolat (a kind of croissant with chocolate in the middle) and a tartelette aux framboises (raspberry mini tart). All was delicious. Then we set out for the internet cafe that, due to the fact that it was sunday, was unfortunately closed. So that sucked. BUT we then headed out to the Musee D'Orsay and other fancy French places so all was well again. So the Musee was wonderful. The art inside focuses on the 19th and 20th centuries so it was a lot of pre-impressionism, impressionism, and post-impressionism...lots of Renoir, who I love. So that was fantastic and relaxing. Nat and I were both a bit grumpy because we had been up so late so spending time in a museum was wonderful. Then we left and headed to the tuileries and spent a bit of time walking along the Seine. After the Tuileries we headed up the Champs Elysees for a while but it was swelteringly hot so we popped into a McDonalds of all places for a cold beverage and to pop a squat. We then left and went back to the hotel...completely exhausted and dehydrated. We sat in the hotel for a bit deciding if we wanted to go out again...which we did not. SO we went to another little Greek panini/gyro stand and picked up so much food I can't even believe we ate it all and had our dinner, went out to a little market and picked up a bottle of wine and had ourselves a night in our hotel room. It was so hot and gross...reminiscent of Minnesota temperatures and humidity levels so staying in was nice...but we did end up talking until 3:30am and woke up before 8. Woe is me.
Day 4
Woke up early, got breakfast, hopped on the interwebs. Then we headed to my second destination which is the Oops! Hostel in the Latin Quarter. It's nice. Tomorrow I move in with my host family so I'm a bit nervous and need to call them some time today to figure all that stuff out. But that's about it so far! Lots of sites, sounds, smells, and tastes. Been drinking a lot of coffee and not enough water but I suppose that's nothing new. Speaking French an taking the metro is wonderful. I think the next couple months are going to be really great. :-)
Bonne Journee!
Ann
Day 4
Woke up early, got breakfast, hopped on the interwebs. Then we headed to my second destination which is the Oops! Hostel in the Latin Quarter. It's nice. Tomorrow I move in with my host family so I'm a bit nervous and need to call them some time today to figure all that stuff out. But that's about it so far! Lots of sites, sounds, smells, and tastes. Been drinking a lot of coffee and not enough water but I suppose that's nothing new. Speaking French an taking the metro is wonderful. I think the next couple months are going to be really great. :-)
Bonne Journee!
Ann
Paris is Beautiful!
So all anyone said to me about Paris was that it was dirty and there was literal poop everywhere...in my experience so far, that couldn't be farther from the truth. I mean...it's not like I've seen the whole city in 3 days, but we have walked miles and haven't stepped on a single turd, though there have been a few sightings. Also, the people are cordial if not downright nice. They let me speak French to them unless they realiwe I'm obviously struggling and then they seem to have no qualms about helping me out. All in all, my first few days have been great! time for a play by play:
Day 1
Arrived on the plane and was really tired. Charles de Gaulle is a confusing airport and I quite literally walked in circles for about an hour. Go me. Then by some miracle the girls I was supposed to meet up with found me and we were able to take the RER into Paris where I transferred to the metro by myself and found my hotel no problem. I took a shower to wash all the travel ick off myself then walked around the neighborhood a little. It's not the nicest area but it's a 10 minute walk to the Eiffel Tower so it was nice to be so close to that!
After my walk I couldn't fight the sleepiness anymore so I took a nap and waited for Natalie to show. When she did, it was like in those movies where everything is in slow motion on the beach and the lovers are running toward each other with arms open. Fabulous. I missed my hetero-lifemate. So she got settled in and we freaked out and giggled a bit about being in Paris together. And we got dinner at this little neighborhood place where the waiter asked us to come back later which we fully intended on doing until we puttered out at like 11pm from exhaustion.
Day 2
Woke up late because Nat is a saint and let me sleep in. Then we both got ready and set out for some sights. First up, largely due to proximity, was the Eiffel Tower. It was a strange experience because it was both larger and smaller than i thought it would be. It didn't really phase me to be seeing it but at the same time it was surreal. Hard to describe. All of these touristy spots in Paris just look like they belong. They look so natural and it's kinda hard to make a big deal out of them because no one else does. Not to say I'm not excited to be here...it's just interesting to see how the Parisians and tourists alike don't overly freak out over the landmarks. After the Eiffel tower we took a walk on the Champs de Mars. It was really nice out so the walk was pleasant. We headed to the Musée d'Orsay next but we didn't go in because it was about to close. We took w walk to Ile de la Cité to see Sainte Chappelle and Notre Dame. So...we noticed a line outside of Sainte Chappelle and didn't know if the tours were closed or not, so we decided to just stand in line to find out. Turns out, tours were closed and we were in line for a string quintet chamber performance of Vivaldi's The Four Sasons. Did we stay? Hell yes. So we went to this beautiful concert in this beautiful church with wonderful stained glass windows and the works. It was breathtaking. No other word could describe it as well :-). So after the concert we walked around Notre Dame, saw some break dancing street performers, and then got some dinner at a Greek street vending place...awesome felafel. So we were in the Latin Quarter at this point which is an area highly populated with students and noticed it woulbd be a good place to go out on a Saturday night. We hopped on the metro, went back to the room, got dressed up, and went right back. Let me tell you, the one stereotype of Paris that does hold true at this point in my experiences is the MEN. Yes, they are attractive, but they are very...forward. To put it lightly. But we got a couple overpriced beers at this salsa club and were shamelessly hit on by some South Americans and a bar tender. We then left, which made the men sad, but we were going to miss the last metro so we had to book it. Got home safe and sound with no scratches and fell into bed. Day 3 will have to come at a later date!
Love you all! Hope people are actually reading this...it's fun to write regardless!
Ann
Day 1
Arrived on the plane and was really tired. Charles de Gaulle is a confusing airport and I quite literally walked in circles for about an hour. Go me. Then by some miracle the girls I was supposed to meet up with found me and we were able to take the RER into Paris where I transferred to the metro by myself and found my hotel no problem. I took a shower to wash all the travel ick off myself then walked around the neighborhood a little. It's not the nicest area but it's a 10 minute walk to the Eiffel Tower so it was nice to be so close to that!
After my walk I couldn't fight the sleepiness anymore so I took a nap and waited for Natalie to show. When she did, it was like in those movies where everything is in slow motion on the beach and the lovers are running toward each other with arms open. Fabulous. I missed my hetero-lifemate. So she got settled in and we freaked out and giggled a bit about being in Paris together. And we got dinner at this little neighborhood place where the waiter asked us to come back later which we fully intended on doing until we puttered out at like 11pm from exhaustion.
Day 2
Woke up late because Nat is a saint and let me sleep in. Then we both got ready and set out for some sights. First up, largely due to proximity, was the Eiffel Tower. It was a strange experience because it was both larger and smaller than i thought it would be. It didn't really phase me to be seeing it but at the same time it was surreal. Hard to describe. All of these touristy spots in Paris just look like they belong. They look so natural and it's kinda hard to make a big deal out of them because no one else does. Not to say I'm not excited to be here...it's just interesting to see how the Parisians and tourists alike don't overly freak out over the landmarks. After the Eiffel tower we took a walk on the Champs de Mars. It was really nice out so the walk was pleasant. We headed to the Musée d'Orsay next but we didn't go in because it was about to close. We took w walk to Ile de la Cité to see Sainte Chappelle and Notre Dame. So...we noticed a line outside of Sainte Chappelle and didn't know if the tours were closed or not, so we decided to just stand in line to find out. Turns out, tours were closed and we were in line for a string quintet chamber performance of Vivaldi's The Four Sasons. Did we stay? Hell yes. So we went to this beautiful concert in this beautiful church with wonderful stained glass windows and the works. It was breathtaking. No other word could describe it as well :-). So after the concert we walked around Notre Dame, saw some break dancing street performers, and then got some dinner at a Greek street vending place...awesome felafel. So we were in the Latin Quarter at this point which is an area highly populated with students and noticed it woulbd be a good place to go out on a Saturday night. We hopped on the metro, went back to the room, got dressed up, and went right back. Let me tell you, the one stereotype of Paris that does hold true at this point in my experiences is the MEN. Yes, they are attractive, but they are very...forward. To put it lightly. But we got a couple overpriced beers at this salsa club and were shamelessly hit on by some South Americans and a bar tender. We then left, which made the men sad, but we were going to miss the last metro so we had to book it. Got home safe and sound with no scratches and fell into bed. Day 3 will have to come at a later date!
Love you all! Hope people are actually reading this...it's fun to write regardless!
Ann
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
I LEAVE TOMORROW!
Ok all...I head out to France tomorrow. I'm feeling so many waves of different emotions and feelings and what not that it's unbelievable. I'm not even all packed yet! Whoops! I hope that everyone wants to pop in every once in a while to see what I'm experiencing over in Paris. This is just a start-up post, so it will get more interesting I promise!
My flight leaves tomorrow at 3:30pm and I'll be getting into Charles de Gaulle at around 9:30am Paris time. So it's a long journey. I'm meeting a friend from work at the airport and she and her friend are going to help me navigate my hotel (which is extremely nice and generous of them!!!), so that makes me a little bit less nervous. Then when I get to my hotel I'm going to settle in a little bit and wait for Natalie (my hetero-lifemate) to arrive so we can start our adventure!! I haven't seen her in 4 months and it's about damn time!
For my host family I got them a couple books about Minnesota. One is focused around Mpls/St. Paul and it's full of pictures and little captions, then the other is a book about greater MN that has gorgeous photos of the lakes up north and fall colors, etc. I think it is a good representation of how beautiful MN is. Also, I thought it would be cool to take mom's advice and get some wild rice to bring them considering it's the state grain and it's tasty! Plus, before I arrive I intend to buy some flowers to bring. I think that it's a pretty good set-up and will show that I'm really excited and gracious of this family for being my host.
The family lives in the 17th Arrondissement which is a decently ritzy part of town. They have a couple kids and to be honest I don't know much else about them. I know that the area of their apartment/house I'll be in is the "chambre de bonne" which translates to maid's quarters. It will basically be like a little studio apartment that most likely won't have its own bathroom, but I'm not about to complain! I hope their kids are old enough to be able to hang out and show me around town a little bit, but little kids would be a joy as well!
Well, I better get back to finishing up my packing and stuff. I love you all and will miss you dearly! Please keep in touch but don't get frustrated with me because I'm not bringing my laptop so my computer access will be sporadic. Have a great summer everybody! I know I will!!!
:-)
Ann
My flight leaves tomorrow at 3:30pm and I'll be getting into Charles de Gaulle at around 9:30am Paris time. So it's a long journey. I'm meeting a friend from work at the airport and she and her friend are going to help me navigate my hotel (which is extremely nice and generous of them!!!), so that makes me a little bit less nervous. Then when I get to my hotel I'm going to settle in a little bit and wait for Natalie (my hetero-lifemate) to arrive so we can start our adventure!! I haven't seen her in 4 months and it's about damn time!
For my host family I got them a couple books about Minnesota. One is focused around Mpls/St. Paul and it's full of pictures and little captions, then the other is a book about greater MN that has gorgeous photos of the lakes up north and fall colors, etc. I think it is a good representation of how beautiful MN is. Also, I thought it would be cool to take mom's advice and get some wild rice to bring them considering it's the state grain and it's tasty! Plus, before I arrive I intend to buy some flowers to bring. I think that it's a pretty good set-up and will show that I'm really excited and gracious of this family for being my host.
The family lives in the 17th Arrondissement which is a decently ritzy part of town. They have a couple kids and to be honest I don't know much else about them. I know that the area of their apartment/house I'll be in is the "chambre de bonne" which translates to maid's quarters. It will basically be like a little studio apartment that most likely won't have its own bathroom, but I'm not about to complain! I hope their kids are old enough to be able to hang out and show me around town a little bit, but little kids would be a joy as well!
Well, I better get back to finishing up my packing and stuff. I love you all and will miss you dearly! Please keep in touch but don't get frustrated with me because I'm not bringing my laptop so my computer access will be sporadic. Have a great summer everybody! I know I will!!!
:-)
Ann
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