Bathroom in a Cave and Hemingway

Hello one and all

Yesterday I had language class again, fun fun.  In the evening I took a little aerobics class where the instructor belted out the words to "I want Candy" as we all jumped up and down, and ran in place.  What made it more amusing was that he clearly did not know there was an American in the class because he kept (trying) to sing the songs, which were all old school American songs from the 90s.  

It look about four years, but I finally got to see my friend Candice again!  Candice and I went to French camp in Nova Scotia together the summer before our junior year in high school (and then she went back again with Alex.)  Although she visited Boston, I was at school in Chicago.  I hoped to somehow get to Louisiana someday but it never happened.   Apparently you have to travel over 3000 miles to see a friend who normally lives in the same time zone as you do.  I met up with her and some of her friends at a bar in the Place de la Bastille.  She is studying in Paris for the semester as well, but she got here Wednesday. Because EVERYTHING in Paris is expensive, especially the drinks, we decided to try another location. Not digging the 8,5 Euro drinks...  However, it really didn't get much better price wise.  We wound up at a little bar, with about 15 two-person tables and a 6 foot long bar.  It was classic.  Raging B.O. and intense music.  Needless to say I walked out of there with  headache, but it was really fun.  Oh and the second girl that I meet here who is Greek back home is guess what..... a Pi Phi! (From University of Indiana)  Pi Phis are clearly very cultured and sophisticated women.  I got home around 1:30 and crashed. 

It was wonderful not to wake up to an alarm this morning.  I lazed around for awhile.  I was in desperate need of flat (riding) boots.  I have been looking in every shoe store, particularly with the sales going on right now.  So I asked my sister, Albane, if she had any suggestions and she sent me to a store in the 6e arrondissement called Jonak.  There were two parts to the store, one primarily selling flat boots.  I was in heaven, especially since it was not very expensive with the sales.  I almost walked out with two pairs, but I resisted and bought one beautiful pair of brown leather boots.  Mission accomplished.  After that I walked around the neighborhood a lot, because as Albane had told me there were a lot of cute boutiques and cafés.  

When my brother was in France this past summer with the Zouaris, he went to this awesome hole in the wall bar called Chez Georges.  He told me all about it and how it was not that expensive and you go downstairs and it looks like a cave.  So I planned on going right away.  The first night Candice was here she sent me a text telling me that she was at Chez Georges (however I was elsewhere at that point and did not meet up with her).  I figured Alex must have told her about it, but he hadn't somehow she had heard about it too and fell in love with the place as well.  Back to today... I am walking down one of the little side streets and looking at a few shoe stores when I see on the wall "Chez Georges."  There it was.  I had to go in.  So I walk into the bar area and order an espresso.  It was only 1,2 Euro (not bad for Paris!) After I get my little cup and spoon I walk downstairs into the famous "cave."  It really is awesome.  The walls are all rock so it really does feel like a cave and I think they purposefully built the rooms crudely into the rock.  There was a fire roaring and wooden benches around the room.  Even the bathroom was kind of dug into the rock structure.  The whole place was such a cool ambiance and I can't wait to go back.  

Tonight my host brother and sister (the twins) had their 23rd birthday party together.  They had about 40 or so friends over for food (that Albane worked on all day) and plenty of drinks.  I talked to some of their friends for awhile about the most random things.  One of them kept using all this American slang he had learned, and asked me if I knew what it meant.  His first being: "What's poppin'" Some of the conversations were a bit more intellectual. How often do you try to list famous living French writers at a party?  Hardly ever.  We only came up with Levi-Strauss (actually I came up with that one.)  The guys I was talking to said that French writing has come and gone, and in many ways I have to agree.  They couldn't name sophisticated contemporary writers from France.  One of the guys went on and on about how his favorite writer is Hemingway because of the profound simple style, and that it was accessible to everyone.  All of which is true, I just find it interesting that a 23 year old French guy in law school would choose Hemingway as his all time favorite author.  More later..

Is your Coq Sportif?

Today was an ADVENTURE for sure.  And not necessarily due to the strike.  However, the Parisians seemed to kind of fail at their sport.  This one was not overtly followed so I had to wait longer than normal for the metros (they had anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 of them running depending on the line) but it was not too painful. Because of the strike my language class was postponed until tomorrow so I just had to head to the center for a short rendez-vous with the head of housing for a little check-in meeting.  No biggie.  That took about 5 minutes and then I had to go to St. Michel to pick up a grammar book that I need for class tomorrow.  However, as we are in the tunnel on the way to one of the stations the train shuts down and stops for a good 15 minutes.  Finally it is announced that we have stopped due to a serious injury of a traveler ahead.  The women next to me said that means a suicide.  That shook me up a bit.  Gave me the shivers for a second. 

I get to the "librairie" (bookstore) Gilbert Jean, which is the largest in all of France.  However when I get out of the metro, I soon discover that the bookstore is so huge it has about 8 locations all around the area divided by subject.  So I find the one that sells grammar books, and make my purchase.  St. Michel is really pictoresque so I thought I would walk a little bit before going home or something.  I walk less than a minute and out pops Notre Dame de Paris.  I swear!  I was walking and literally turned, and bam.  Notre Dame is looming in the distance.  However, it is not actually that far away.  With that image in my mind, I am pumped and ready to explore.  It was just too crazy to see such a monumental building in MY city.  So I walked... I crossed the Seine river (I saw the Tour Eiffel peaking out way far away) and meandered by Palais de la Justice.  I saw some of the most prominent apartments in Paris.  I browsed in some of the stores.  Right now les soldes (sales) are on in all of France.  The French government controls the sale periods.  Thus, there are only two times throughout the whole year that all the stores can have any sort of sale.  Thus, every store can only have sales during a specific time period in the middle of January to mid February, and again in June/July. Yay for Socialism.  There were some stores I did not hit up, mainly the American stores that seemed to have leaked into France. Foot Locker, Gap, The Body Shop, and so on.  So I walk...and then WHACK!  The Louvre smacked me in the forehead.  I wandered around it, then in the courtyard areas, and around the Glass Pyramids.  Don't worry I took many photos of  my voyage, so look for them at a later date because Brittany has the memory card reader.   

With all this excitement, I head to the Metro, but I decide that I want to hit up some other cool place.  I just wanted to hop on the train and head somewhere.  Monmartre!  I had never been there, and I had always wanted to experience this Bohemian splendor.  After about 25 minutes, and a ton of stairs I was there!  However, I really had to go to the restroom so I found the closest café, ordered an espresso and rushed to the facilities.  I took my lovely coffee out to the front walk where I sat (it was a beautiful day today, brisk but sunny!) and sipped as Monmartre meandered by me.  Things were slower here, different.  Everything seemed a bit sleepy.  It was a perfect place for me to sit and collect myself as I had already been walking for a long time.  It was getting late, so I decided to keep going for a bit and find the first metro stop and head home.  Then another lap of my journey hit me.  Neon and cheap deco replaced the sleepy artists' locale.  Sex Sex Sex.  That's what I saw all around me.  Sex Shop this and Sex shop that. EVERYWHERE.  It was wonderfully amusing (I have plenty of pictures).  One of my favorites was called Sexodrome. A huge sign said that you could have private viewing, and/or check out their toy shop... I saw a few people scurry out of it.  It was a fantastic area.  I continued down the street because I saw a familiar glowing windmill in the distance.  On the way, I passed a tall woman wearing all black leather, combat boots, cheap makeup, a blonde wig.  I didn't have to get too close to see that this Queen did not have the same anatomy as I.   5:30 PM and she was getting ready to roll!  I snapped a number of shots of the red windmill, which is the Moulin Rouge in case you did not catch on.  Luckily I was prepared for the neon and cheap mechanical windmill on top.  As some of you may not know, the original Moulin Rouge burned down many years ago.  The current establishment still holds crazy shows; however, I doubt the girls are dressed how Nicole Kidman was in the film.  

Back on the metro!  I was soooo tired.  I realized that I had left my house at 1 and it was almost 6:45.  It was time to go home, for sure.  It took awhile to get home due the the mix of a rush hour mess and of course, the strike. Clearly I made it home, and I am pooped.  I didn't want to miss anything so I had to write everything down right away!  

bisous,

J

GW Bush doesn't like Stinky cheese

Today I had my first intensive language class, which was basically a bunch of grammar stuff, but it will be really helpful to review.  I got a little tour of the street where my program is.  There are a bunch of wicked cute boutiques and food places.  I can't wait for it to be really nice out so I can just wander around in between classes.  It's in the 40s these days, so it's not ideal roaming weather.  Since France has been invaded by Arabs, I have found that they have brought one good thing.  Their food.  Yummy couscous, tabouleh, kebobs, etc.  Today I went to my first French-taught aerobics class.  It was called Body Pump.  The instructor was wicked nice.  She was kind of crazy and had a strong accent.  I think she is originally Spanish or Italian.  She kept yelling yayaya and other European-sounding noises of encouragement.   

So tomorrow will hopefully be a good update because the French are going to be engaging in their favorite sport: les grèves (strikes!).  Therefore, they have decided to shut down or just mess up all the metro systems, buses, RER (trains), TGV, airports, postal system, government stuff, etc.  Plus they predict about 40,000 people will be protesting in the streets.  Low wages: Strike! Students think they have too much school: Strike! Economic crisis: Strike!! Let's cause distress and chaos to solve a world crisis....such is the way of the French.  

PS One of Bush's last decrees was to increase the tariff on Roquefort cheese by 300 percent.  It is the talk of the nation right now.  A least Bush left a great lasting impression...

Are You Afraid of the Dark? Or just Parisian driving?

Bonjour/Bonsoir!

Sunday was hanging out with my family day.  Which is typically French/European because EVERYTHING is closed on Sundays.  I mean everything. It was great, my host mother's mother came over for lunch and then we went to le Marais.  It is one of the oldest areas in Paris, and is also known as the Jewish quarter, thus everything there is open on Sundays.  It is the only place in Paris that has its shops, restaurants, cafés, and so on open.  The quarter itself is also gorgeous with a lot of nooks and crannies.  It is not just Jewish stuff at all, most of the stores are cute little clothing boutiques.  Albane, my "sister," and I wandered into a few shops.  I fell in love with many things, but resisted.  Some of the shops could probably fit about 12 people maximum and had a few racks of clothing and maybe one wall.  I think shops such as these were the best to browse.  After milling about we went to the musée Carnavalet, which is a museum dedicated to the history of Paris.  It was really interesting to see paintings, scultures, architectural replicas, etc from different periods.  But everything had to do with Paris.  Another thing I learned about Paris that day was the difficulty, rather impossibility to park in the city.  Bertrand, a friend of the mother's, drove us in and we had different experiences parking the car.  First he parked us in a spot that probably had 8 inches total of space bigger than the car itself.  After a lot of bumping and wiggling we managed to get in the spot, but then the police came by and said it was illegal to park there on Sundays.  However, I learned that a lot of people just park illegally in the streets because a parking ticket for "poor parking" is just 11 Euro.  On the other hand, any of the meters can get up to about 6 Euro or way more each hour, and the public parking is even worse.  Therefore many Parisians park illegally instead (on sidewalks, in make believe spaces, in front of entrances or little crosswalks, etc.) Therefore, if one has to pay such 11 Euro, they can park all day and make their own spot as convenient as possible.  However, this is still a really hard feat. 

My feet hurt.  Walking ten million miles today is tiring.  At least I will have killer calves when I get back.  I am on the hunt for riding boots, so my feet don't die just wearing converse everywhere.  I am still in the orientation phase of my program.  Themes being things such as: safety, how to meet French people, extracurriculars, coping with culture shock, and the like.  Yesterday after orientation some friends and I decided to go to a random place in Paris, so we hopped on the metro and found Place de la Bastille.  Basically another phallic symbol commemorating something...Anyhoo it's a big monument in the middle of a wicked big "roundabout," as we say in Boston.  It looks like a big free for all.  Because that is how Parisians drive after all.  

Today, after our information session on volunteering opportunities (not a big thing in France as of yet) and some other activities some friends and I headed to an area known as les Grands Magasins (ie Galerie Lafayette).  We only made it to Zara, which is much better in Europe.  Mainly good for staples (I got two sweaters for 20 Euro.)  

Tomorrow we start language groups, I guess it's like pre-class intensive language study.  We had to take a test to place us in a level.  It was just grammar stuff.  Aka stuff I haven't looked at in who knows how long.  I made it into the highest level.  wahoo, should be good stuff.  

Oh and I have been watching "Are You Afraid of the Dark" episodes sometimes.  It's pretty old school but awesome.  

Ok so there wasn't much to report, more to come.   

Paris Delinquent

Last night was my first night going out in the city since I got here.  It was...well interesting.  One of my host mom's best friends is also hosting a student as I said.  She goes to Depaul, as well as a bunch of other kiddies who are studying in my program.  Since Brittany lives right behind us, our "moms" decided we should get to know one another (kind of like the old school playdate stuff except they just gave us the other girl's cell number).  Brittany and I met at the corner of our two streets to head to the metro and meet up with some of her friends.  The goal was to find what we imagined would be typical Parisian bars.  As you all know, I don't drink but I love going out anyway. So we buy our little tickets since we haven't bought month passes yet (the metro tickets are small little stubs, that you can only use once so I bought one to go there and one to go back.)  Brittany and I get on the train and I toss my ticket into the trash so I don't confuse it with the unused one. Don't worry I am getting somewhere with this.  She and I have to get off in a few stops to wait for another girl at one of the stops on our line, and then we were going to all continue to our final destination, which is an area known for lots of little bars and cafes and stuff.  As we are waiting on the platform, a man comes up to us and says "Billets, billets."  (tickets)  We were really confused so he switched to English when he heard Brittany on the phone with her mom.  When we responded in French that we didn't understand what he was asking, he switched back to French.  Brittany handed him her ticket because she had just stuck it in her pocket to get rid of later.  The officer put her ticket through a little machine a few times and then asked for him.  He was a Paris metro police officer, and a real asshole.  He looked kind of like an SS officer to be quite frank and he treated us as though he was one. I gave the officer my unused ticket since I had gotten rid of my other one and we were still confused why we were asked for our used tickets.  However, when the ticket showed that it hadn't been used, he demanded that I give my other one.  I told him nicely that I had thrown it away because it was used.  He said (in French) well that's an "infraction," so you must show me your ticket or pay the fine!!  I was frantic and pissed.  Brittany and I both explained that we were American and had just arrived.  We told him we had no idea that I was supposed to keep the stub and I had thrown it away.  He responded, 'well it doesn't matter, you are in Paris, so you must know the laws.'  I told him that I was really sorry but still confused and I had only jsut arrived.  He kept on repeating.  'Maybe that's true, maybe not.  I don't know'  I asked how I could have gotten in otherwise and his response was, 'Oh there are ways, and that is an infraction.' Well my French was going to shit because I was so pissed and still confused as to what was going to happen.  Brittany continued to argue with him about the fine, which by the way was 25 Euro! A ticket costs 1,60 Euro.  She and I both asked if I could just use my other ticket that I had and come back in, because clearly I had one on me.  He told us that was impossible and I must show the old one.  After who knows how many minutes, I finally said that I would pay the fine, because otherwise it seemed the consequences would be much worse.  So he told us to follow him up a flight of stairs.  Then I had an idea.  I told him I only had a credit card, which was partly true, because I had only brought 25 Euro in bills.  However he said, "Pas de problème (no problem)" and called over another officer who also looked kind of like an SS officer and had a portable machine for cards (there was a group of ten or so officers stopping EVERYONE who came in or out.)  He gave me a ticket (receipt) in case I got stopped again. As we were walking back we saw another guy being charged, another girl frantically looking through her stuff, and some others digging through their pockets.   

So that was a weird way to start the night.  I won't be getting rid of those tickets again, that's for sure.  And I probably saved a bunch of the other girls 25 Euro because Brittany and I warned everyone else about what had happened, and they all agreed that they might have done the same thing.  I have never even heard of that process.  That was the annoying part.  My IES program had spent about an hour telling us how to use public transportation, how to buy tickets, which ones we should buy, etc.  But they NEVER mentioned anything about keeping your used ticket.  That seems like an important piece of information to have known.

Anyway,  we arrived at our stop and went to a few bars.  The girls all shared a pitcher or red wine at one, and hit the beers and mojitos at another.  I sipped a decaf espresso so I wouldn't be up all night, especially since I wanted to check out Club Moving the next morning. All in all it was nice to get to know some of the girls, and go out and explore the streets a bit.  There was a bit of hooting (could they be more stereotypical!), some Europeans trying to dance and sing to American music.  They failed.  And there were plenty of over-priced, not spectacular drinks.  There really aren't any "dollar nights" or open bar options in this place.  I guess I'll be saving my money, since I know where everyone elses' is going to go!   At midnight, four of us took the metro back so we wouldn't go home alone.  (That would be bad idea in Paris.)  

I guess I can say I am happy that I got to sleep in my own bed, and not some Paris cell or who knows what... 

How I shot the arrow and threw a cat.

Well well well.  I had my first day of orientation yesterday, and by orientation, I mean a lot of stuff that was already in our packets.  (Oh and I happened to sit down next to my sister, sorority sister that is.  She happened to ask me if I was Greek and if so what house.  When I said Pi Phi- well yea...she told me that she was too, so I shot the arrow.- She is a Texas Delta, TCU)  That was the only thing that one may say was "familiar."After having some lunch at a little brasserie near the school with some people I met, I got back to the Paris metro stop without any difficulty and got back to my stop without pulling out my map.  The metro ain't too bad, and it's really efficient.  Nothing like the green line trains of the Boston T, or the waiting outside for the slow Chicago El.  Two minutes or less waiting time and off you go!  

 

So I got back to my station just fine (Billancourt on ligne 9) and then I tried to go out the exit that my "brother," Romain, told me to use.  Except...I guess it failed because I had no idea where I was.  I knew the names of about three streets at that point and that was about it.  None of which were in sight.  So I decided to walk… I had half joked earlier that I wanted to get my self really lost (on purpose) and then just wander.  Well I accomplished that, minus the on purpose part.  I walked around for about two and a half hours, sometimes trying to find my way around, sometimes in a panic.  Needless to say, I got back to the house. And I learned a lot of stuff about my city, Boulogne Billancourt (B B) in the process.  After dinner that night, I bought some prepared stuff from a local grocery store, I went online and made a map of B B. 

 

Today, Saturday, I got to wake up late (10 am) and lounge around for a bit, and chase their cats away from my room.  One of them is not too intelligent and pretty ballsy, therefore he likes to jump all over stuff without a care in the world for what it is...  For example on my desk, and then over and ON my computer…at which point I throw him off.  (He stopped after the second time when he hit the little chair next to my desk.) I went out this morning to pick up some stuff that I had forgotten at home, such as a comb and gym bag. There is a “gym” nearby that I am going to join called Club Moving.  It is really small but really high quality.  For example, the front hallway has a mahogany desk at the entrance.  It looks like it has some cool classes and such.  I want to do something different from home of course, so I think I want to try some of them.  It should be especially interesting to get “pumped” to a French instructor.  I will surely let you know how that goes.

 

After lunch with the fam, who are amazing if I haven’t already made that clear, we went for a walk so they could show me around a bit more and show me the town library.  Because most students live at home, they use not only their school library, but the town one as well!  I guess my brother and sister go there a lot because it’s quiet, and has a lot of materials to use.  I am sure that I will be hitting that up sometimes too.  (The IES “library” has about three little walls of books so it is a bit lacking…) Later I wandered around a bit more, which is actually really helpful because I learn the streets and landmarks well.  It is fun walking by a French pastry shop and smell the fresh croissant or tarts.  It is not as fun to walk by the fresh fish stalls and smelling the fish…

 

I called one of the IES students, who is staying with my “mother’s” good friend down the street.  I think we might head into Paris tonight. Should be interesting if it works out… (Initially my mom thought that she went to the same school as I do because she goes to school in Chicago.  Close enough.  Brittany goes to Depaul.)

 

Bisous!

No longer a hobo...

So I am finally at my resting place (not dead), I mean my home for the next four months.  It is in Boulogne Billancourt, right outside of Paris.  I am really excited because I have a nice big room, the family seems wonderful, and the house is ultra-modern and cool.  There are 3 "enfants" an 18 year old boy, and a set of twins who are 23 (a guy and a gal), and then zee mom.  I got a little tour of the area: the metro stop, their little mall (with a Starbucks no less, Viva America!), a cinema, some of the cafes, a grocery store, and so on. Tomorrow I have to be at the program center at 9:30 AM for orientation stuff so that should be interesting.  we are about to have dins.  More laters.

Zee First One

Paris. Well it's Paris. Actually, I haven't been into the city yet. I am with my family's close friends in Sartrouville, a suburb. Tomorrow I will go to the house of my host family!! So besides being extremely jetlagged and sleeping a lot, I went to visit a notary today with Michele (the mother) because I am very interested in French law and the differences between theirs and ours. Unlike back home a notary in France is VERY important and prestigious. They do all the personal documents (wills, the deeds for houses, etc.) basically all the important paper work. A guy was buying two apartments from the Zouaris so I went to go watch how it is done. Lots of technical stuff. I went shopping at the Carrefour (a hugeass grocery/everything store, they hqve the lqrgest one in Europe right here in Sartrouville!) And trust me, it has everything. It's so big that some of the clerks travel by roller skates!! Anyhoo, I got a cell phone and some bath stuff, but mainly I just looked around. Yea so that's it as of now. More later, once things really get crack-a-lacking. kisses!