“This is what you do on your very first day in Paris. You get yourself, not a drizzle, but some honest-to-goodness rain, and you find yourself someone really nice and drive her through the Bois de Boulogne in a taxi. The rain’s very important. That’s when Paris smells its sweetest. – It’s the damp chestnut trees.”
– Audrey Hepbrun in “Sabrina”
So, finally, after much packing and thinking and planning and worrying, I am in Paris. My mom packed me kotleti, Russian meat patties (https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRAZn9myK2d2rbEcAHKtXgZ2LFfvZZN-9cBUkckBbZmzWForwGb), sliced Kosher dill pickles, green onion, baby tomatoes, and Russian chocolates for the road. Airplane food was bad as expected so I had a delicious Russian meal to munch on. On the flight there, I didn’t sleep or drink wine like I really wanted to, but instead studied relentlessly for our Wednesday Sorbonne placement test.
The first few days were rough in a lot of ways. I couldn’t believe I was actually IN Paris about to be living IN Paris for several months. After getting lost on finding the program guide/people in the airport (the umbers of the terminals had been switched just days before), I found them feeling slightly nerve-wracked and sweaty. I was super excited upon meeting people at the airport — also extremely sleep deprived and therefore overexcited. I was also very nervous to meet and befriend people, although I never really have had trouble in befriending people before. I figured many were just as nervous/anxious as I was to adjust to living in a new environment with new people for several months so I let that calm me.
I have three roommates living with me in a small apartment in the 15th. Our apartment is nice, actually. We have a fairly large kitchen, a little den/guest room area with a computer, desk, and a phone where we can make free US calls (more on how I STILL don’t have an international phone later), a bathroom with a tiny water heater, shower, toilet that frequently does not flush, and a tiny laundry machine, and finally, a bedroom with low ceilings with our four beds, dressers, and a desk. The living space is nice and the neighborhood is very safe and absolutely adorable. By us, there’s a bank, a Laundromat, several grocery/department stores, boulangeries (bakeries), even a chocolaterie (if you can’t guess what this is you don’t deserve to know =P). Our metro is only a two minute walk away.
Our first meal was excellente, at Café de la Tour Eiffel. I had l’escargot, la soupe à l’oignon gratinee (French onion soup yessss), and un café (which is coincidentally not a coffee but an espresso. If you want a regular coffee, order un café americain).
First Parisian meal: French onion soup, escargot, and an espresso!
Courtyard right outside our apartment
Now excursions/planned events. For the first week, our program planned a few things for us in our orientation. The first two days they explained some program requirements/rules/useful information. The first day (Tuesday), we had time to grab lunch in between orientation times, and one of my roommates and I diverged from a big group to go check out the Notre Dame. So disclaimer, I traveled to Paris before when I was a kid (I think 9? 11 at most?) and it was magical and wonderful and so exciting. It still is, sure, but I’m experiencing it as an almost-20-year old and going about it on my own for four months. So seeing the Notre Dame again was like remembering a dream; it was just as beautiful and it was pretty awesome to be able to understand everything that was written on the plaques within.
Moi in front of Notre Dame
Notre Dame
Then, we went to go have lunch at Café Panis near Notre Dame. I ordered my first croque monsieur and a double espresso to beat off the jet lag.
un cafe, s’il vous plait
Croque Monsieur
For the first few weeks, you’re going to be seeing a lot of pictures here of food so sorry about that.
After the second part of orientation, a small group of us went to Champs-Élysées. Some people went to do some shopping, but another student and I walked up and down the famed street towards l’Arc de Triomphe.
The evening ended with some grocery shopping at Monoprix, a lot of jet lag, and skyping with/missing my boyfriend, friends, and family from home.
The second orientation day we took our placement test for the Sorbonne. I’ll be honest, it was a bit brutal. Not because the test was particularly hard or because the oral test was difficult, but because the European school system truly does expect much more out of you than the American school system. It felt very independent and cold, and more difficult in the sense that you were entirely on your own and had a really short time constraint to prove to the test-givers that you knew your shit. No hand holding, practice tests, or leeway. Probably the best way to learn a language but also really difficult for someone still adjusting to life in Paris for four months. C’est la vie.
La Sorbonne
That evening included a lot of bread, butter, nutella, a short conversation with a cute old French man about washing machines, and Skype calls. For all the future study abroders reading this, it’s normal. I’m unique in the sense that I’m used to eating and living European so I don’t really miss French fries or tacos or cereal, but I miss my people. I’ve heard from a lot of past study abroad students and current ones that Skypying friends, family, and loved ones frequently in the beginning happens a lot. You miss home and people from home. I know I do and will, but you just need to give yourself time to adjust and think positively/happily about all the new experiences you’re about to have.
The roommates and I cooling off with some wine, bread, and cheese. Parfait!
The next day, we walked through Montmartre and stumbled upon some pretty famous and beautiful locations:
Moulin Rouge
Café des 2 Moulins – Amelie’s Cafe
Le Moulin de La Galette
where monet, manet, picasso, van gogh wined, dined, and discussed their ideas.
About 15 of us went together as a huge group, and though it was fun, I’ll tell you now that it’s hard to stick together and talk/interact with everyone in such a large group. Personally, I prefer going out with a minimum two, maximum six people so you can stay together and interact with everyone. Also it’s easier to blend in with the natives because they tend not to travel in packs in Paris, mostly groups of two, three, or four. It’s a common European culture thing to go in these small groups and meet up with other small groups later where everyone can mingle and possibly meet new friends.
After Montmartre, one of my roommates and I split off from the group to go to the l’Arc de Triomphe. We were able to get in for free and go up to the top for free (woo European student ID card discount!). It was absolutely incroyable (incredible) up top, with a view of all of Paris. Honestly, compared to the view on top of the Eiffel tower, this one is a bit closer to the ground so you can see things more easily.
Quick note for the money-savers/diet conscious people: I’ve mostly been eating baguettes, goat cheese, Brie, clementins, yogurt, salami, and jambon (ham) that I bought from the grocery store/boulangerie and carry around in a Tupperware container. I’ve been saving a lot of money that way and don’t get hungry as we go from place to place. It also helps my mission to lose some weight while in France because I’m constantly fueling my metabolism and eating smaller meals.
The next day, our program took us on an excursion to Versailles. I’ll allow the pictures to explain it all:
ISA Sorbonne program in front of Versailles!
Descartes and I are having a moment
Jasmine and I fainting on the steps; we clearly haven’t had our Afternoon High Tea yet
Jumping picture 1
Jumping picture #2
That night, as I mentioned earlier, we went to the 5th arrondissement looking for bars and ended up going to the restaurant/bar l’Epoque – a quaint little haunt with cheap drink prices and a great atmosphere that’s coincidentally (and indeed, it was a coincidence) located in front of Hemingway’s old apartment.
Bar across the street from Hemingway’s old place
Today, we’re going thrifting and perhaps finding a neighborhood bar. Tomorrow, Carnavale de Paris! Classes start Thursday for us, so we’ve got a few more days under our belt to run around this city responsibility-free.
Dani-isms/French language slang I’m making up as I go along:
- Fou-fou – instead of cray-cray
- L’Asianoix – when my friends and I were not able to identify which Asian country a tourist in sweatpants was from
- L’eau de tap – because I’m too poor to spend money on bottled water and don’t know how to say ‘tap water’ in French
- Paris-ing – the official and medical terminology for the adverb related to exploring Paris
**will add in photos later – sorry mesdames et messiers*
Paris Is Always a Good Idea 