My flight left at 5:35 from O'Hare and I took the group flight, meaning a group of us from the Illinois Program in Paris all rode together to France. You would think "group flight" means everyone sits together, right? Yeah, me too. However I was the only one who did NOT get to sit with the group. I was in a whole other cabin than the group! What the?? I was not too happy, until I found out there was no one in the 2 seats next to me (woo!) So then dinner comes around and I had a choice between this really funky looking beef dish our cheese ravioli, so of course I chose ravioli, only to find out there was shrimp in the meal. My uncle's words right before I left were "Never choose the fish." Well now I know why. Getting sick on a plane is not fun. Not. At. All. So I got MAYBE 2 hours of sleep. Oh, and I broke my passport/money holder while on the plane too, so needless to say my plane ride was not so fun!
So we arrived in Paris at 8:30a.m. and we were ushered to a bus that carried us to the FIAP - a place that houses foreigners and French travelers. It is very much like a dorm but people of all ages can stay here. We are staying here for orientation until we are transferred to our host families or foyers. We had the afternoon free basically, until a meeting at 6, so we tried traveling around the 14th Arrondissement, but unfortunately there is not much to do in this neighborhood, and we were all verrrrrry tired so we just milled around the fiap. I was out by 9pm because I was so jetlagged and tired - which meant I was wide awake at 4am until 5:30am so that was fun.
Wednesday we had 4 hours (ugh) of orientation, with a 2 hour lunch break in between. I went with my roomie at the FIAP, Beth, and several other girls from my program to this adorable little cafe and had a true, French meal. I had a croque-monsieur - basically a grilled cheese sandwich with ham, and cheese melted on top of the bread, a salade verte, a limonade (not lemonade) AND I tried escargot for the first time. Me. Yes me. I am a terribly picky eater and I tried it. It was actually not that bad! I loved the garlic/pesto sauce with it. I would eat it again if offered totally. It was a wonderful time, and our sever was the nicest man ever, helping us with our French if we forgot a word, and would not give us our "cuillère à cafe" our coffee spoon until we said it correctly. It was wonderful! After, we had the 2nd portion of orientation - about host family housing, and then I took a nap because I was still jetlagged. That night was so much fun though. It started off in 4 of the girl's FIAP room with a little "cercle de mort" and ended hiking to my first Parisian and French bar with a big group of us. The French know you are tourists if you travel in a big group, and there was like 11 of us going into this bar, we had a hard time fitting but we did! In this arrondissement the bars are more like pubs and are very small, but the people are so nice! I had my first Belgian beer, but I totally would not call it a beer. It was called "Framboise" and it tasted like raspberry juice. It was delicious! But don't worry I only had one. We all had our French oral exam the next morning, so we didn't want too get too wild! However, the best part of the night for sure was when I was suddenly woken up in the middle of the night to see my roomie Beth rummaging through her suitcase, throwing things out. I asked her if she was ok, and what was going on, because I was out of it myself, and she just exclaims "I am soooooooooooooo confused!" Well, so was I, so I just rolled over. it wasn't until a minute later, after she had gotten back into her bed, that I realized she was sleep walking/rummaging! We had just discussed before bed how we both had sleep walking issues when we were younger, but they had stopped, so it was super funny to see her doing this so soon after. It was fun telling everyone in the program the next morning!
Thursday, today, was the best day in Paris so far! (I have only been here for 3 days so obviously I have had so much experience.) We went to take our oral exam,s - and it was a NIGHTMARE! First, on their lists they messed up and forgot to mark-off that we took the written exam so they were sending students to take that. Then they recalled those students whom they sent off. Then they told us to get our schedules out - we were never told to bring our schedules so 90% of us did not have them. So after 15 minutes of confusion they decided they could print out the schedules for us before our exam. 10 minutes later they come back and tell us we do not need our schedules and to just go ahead and take our exam. 15 minutes later, several arguments later, and 4 oral exams later for 4 students, we find out we do not have to take the exam (WOO!) My guess is they were sick of us and all of the confusion they just excused everyone from taking it. Fine by me! So then we had quite a few hours before we had to be at the Louvre, so we got to explore Paris - and I mean the real Paris, the heart of Paris. So we walked from the first campus through the Jardin du Luxumbourg, (A-MAZING) to the other campus we will be taking course at (15 minute way maybe so i have to book it when I have 30minutes in-between classes.) After receiving a tour of where our classes were going to be held, we split up into a groups to get get lunch. My roomie Beth, and 3 others, Ashley, Caroline, and Diane, first went to a tiny bookstore - and I mean it was a hole in the wall, barely fit the 5 of us, and bought this amazing book with maps of Paris, including the metro, RER, and bus lines, and a close ups of all the arrondissements. The owner of the shop was such a nice guy, commenting on how great our French was (which made us feel good) and asking us questions. He even gave us free magnets as we were leaving because he liked us so much! And they are cool magnets, thanks. It was great! We then went to lunch after finding a GREAT deal, and after decided to walk around for a bit. We ended up walking to Notre Dame, visiting there for awhile, and then walked to the Louvre. Let me tell you, that is A LOT of walking - like a ton! Paris is HUGE. My feet are killing me, but it was totally worth it. The director of my study abroad program gave us a free tour of the Louvre today, unfortunately I was so tired of walking, and just mentally exhausted, I could not concentrate as well as I could of because the tour is in French. I have many more times to go to the Louvre though, and will definitely take more pictures next time.
So we arrived in Paris at 8:30a.m. and we were ushered to a bus that carried us to the FIAP - a place that houses foreigners and French travelers. It is very much like a dorm but people of all ages can stay here. We are staying here for orientation until we are transferred to our host families or foyers. We had the afternoon free basically, until a meeting at 6, so we tried traveling around the 14th Arrondissement, but unfortunately there is not much to do in this neighborhood, and we were all verrrrrry tired so we just milled around the fiap. I was out by 9pm because I was so jetlagged and tired - which meant I was wide awake at 4am until 5:30am so that was fun.
Wednesday we had 4 hours (ugh) of orientation, with a 2 hour lunch break in between. I went with my roomie at the FIAP, Beth, and several other girls from my program to this adorable little cafe and had a true, French meal. I had a croque-monsieur - basically a grilled cheese sandwich with ham, and cheese melted on top of the bread, a salade verte, a limonade (not lemonade) AND I tried escargot for the first time. Me. Yes me. I am a terribly picky eater and I tried it. It was actually not that bad! I loved the garlic/pesto sauce with it. I would eat it again if offered totally. It was a wonderful time, and our sever was the nicest man ever, helping us with our French if we forgot a word, and would not give us our "cuillère à cafe" our coffee spoon until we said it correctly. It was wonderful! After, we had the 2nd portion of orientation - about host family housing, and then I took a nap because I was still jetlagged. That night was so much fun though. It started off in 4 of the girl's FIAP room with a little "cercle de mort" and ended hiking to my first Parisian and French bar with a big group of us. The French know you are tourists if you travel in a big group, and there was like 11 of us going into this bar, we had a hard time fitting but we did! In this arrondissement the bars are more like pubs and are very small, but the people are so nice! I had my first Belgian beer, but I totally would not call it a beer. It was called "Framboise" and it tasted like raspberry juice. It was delicious! But don't worry I only had one. We all had our French oral exam the next morning, so we didn't want too get too wild! However, the best part of the night for sure was when I was suddenly woken up in the middle of the night to see my roomie Beth rummaging through her suitcase, throwing things out. I asked her if she was ok, and what was going on, because I was out of it myself, and she just exclaims "I am soooooooooooooo confused!" Well, so was I, so I just rolled over. it wasn't until a minute later, after she had gotten back into her bed, that I realized she was sleep walking/rummaging! We had just discussed before bed how we both had sleep walking issues when we were younger, but they had stopped, so it was super funny to see her doing this so soon after. It was fun telling everyone in the program the next morning!
Thursday, today, was the best day in Paris so far! (I have only been here for 3 days so obviously I have had so much experience.) We went to take our oral exam,s - and it was a NIGHTMARE! First, on their lists they messed up and forgot to mark-off that we took the written exam so they were sending students to take that. Then they recalled those students whom they sent off. Then they told us to get our schedules out - we were never told to bring our schedules so 90% of us did not have them. So after 15 minutes of confusion they decided they could print out the schedules for us before our exam. 10 minutes later they come back and tell us we do not need our schedules and to just go ahead and take our exam. 15 minutes later, several arguments later, and 4 oral exams later for 4 students, we find out we do not have to take the exam (WOO!) My guess is they were sick of us and all of the confusion they just excused everyone from taking it. Fine by me! So then we had quite a few hours before we had to be at the Louvre, so we got to explore Paris - and I mean the real Paris, the heart of Paris. So we walked from the first campus through the Jardin du Luxumbourg, (A-MAZING) to the other campus we will be taking course at (15 minute way maybe so i have to book it when I have 30minutes in-between classes.) After receiving a tour of where our classes were going to be held, we split up into a groups to get get lunch. My roomie Beth, and 3 others, Ashley, Caroline, and Diane, first went to a tiny bookstore - and I mean it was a hole in the wall, barely fit the 5 of us, and bought this amazing book with maps of Paris, including the metro, RER, and bus lines, and a close ups of all the arrondissements. The owner of the shop was such a nice guy, commenting on how great our French was (which made us feel good) and asking us questions. He even gave us free magnets as we were leaving because he liked us so much! And they are cool magnets, thanks. It was great! We then went to lunch after finding a GREAT deal, and after decided to walk around for a bit. We ended up walking to Notre Dame, visiting there for awhile, and then walked to the Louvre. Let me tell you, that is A LOT of walking - like a ton! Paris is HUGE. My feet are killing me, but it was totally worth it. The director of my study abroad program gave us a free tour of the Louvre today, unfortunately I was so tired of walking, and just mentally exhausted, I could not concentrate as well as I could of because the tour is in French. I have many more times to go to the Louvre though, and will definitely take more pictures next time.
Tomorrow we are off to Versailles, and Sunday to our host families GAHH! Should be interesting and I will keep you posted. Until then AU REVOIR!
Erin~
ReplyDeleteYour blog is fantastic! I shall enjoy following you through France and learning of your experiences.
Your writing style is very entertaining so thanks for taking the time to write. I shall look forward to the next installment.
Please have fun and stay healthy!
Love,
Aunt Kathy