I promised myself to keep a proper record of my year in Paris on this blog, and here comes my first entry. I think I'll alternate between Chinese and English just so I have both languages practiced during the year. My Chinese is hardly any better than my English now. It's pathetic.
I think today's entry will just have to be pure rambling. This year I decide to take the easy but thorough approach of documenting as many things as possible. Simple things count.
Anyway, everything after I got my visa in Shanghai proved smooth, except for the fact that I had to pay 100 extra bucks for my second checked-in luggage. I was mad at myself for not stuffing in more into my second bag. But I couldn't really change that by then. My dad went to Shanghai with me and left early to catch the metro back, leaving me waiting alone with my suitcases for some seven hours before the flight. It was weird having to stay that long there, alone, feeling between the Chinese culture and the French one. I kept imagining possible scenarios I'd encounter once I got to Paris and felt super nervous about my French, which I hadn't spoken for real for months. Another reason was perhaps my not having a phone nor wifi around. It was simply frightening to feel so disconnected from the rest of the world... and I felt so good when I finally found a café with wifi and was able to send Max an email and called my parents on Skype. (My dad managed to get back alright. Another relief.)
The flight wasn't too good. Didn't wear enough clothes for the cold and the sleep was terrible. Couldn't eat much either. Right after I got my tea, we met strong turbulence and it spilled all over my pants! I passed the customs alright, though. And it was fast. I found the shuttle to Opéra quite easily (asking in English though, what a shame) but the trip from Opéra to Sentier by metro was in no way fun. Had to carry everything up and down the stairs. Since there is practically no metro in Aix, I learned for the first time today that you actually have to push a button to open the door of the train. Almost did not get off the first time. (Thanks to the kind monsieur who was quick enough to help me out...)
The center (Centre Parisien d'Etudes Critiques) is located at 37 bis rue du Sentier. It was my first time discovering the secret difference between 37 rue __ and 37 bis rue __. I met the woman esponsible for the financial matters of the center after I got into the courtyard, and she helped me with my suitcases. It felt bizarre to have a first floor (1er étage) on the second floor, but oh well. (I'll have to get the spelling of her name tomorrow.)
Brent, the director of the center met with me and we went through some basic stuff like how to open and close the door of the center. I took the language placement test and was astounded by just how much grammar rules (mainly conjugasion) I had forgotten. Brent is American and graduated from Princeton. I honestly would have liked him more had he just been an ordinary professor in the States. Somehow his French sounds affected. Perhaps subconsciously I was just telling myself "Yo here's an American trying to appear really French and chic here... " He was absolutely welcoming and nice, though!
Lucie, the student life coordinator, is French and teaches high-level language classes at the center. She took me to lunch today, with another American student called Jake. Nice woman. Super friendly. Had great conversations. One thing worthy of note: I only came to know today that French girls apparently find the American accent sexy/attractive? And to be classy in France, we learn German instead of... just French? Anyway, more surprises to come in Paris, I guess. Jake agreed with me on the American accent, and I was content.
The trip to Cécile‘s, my host "mom"'s place (not sure about the punctuation here, somebody help me), was a pain in the ass, with the luggage. But I was happy to have complete strangers help me along the way. Parisiens aren't so cold after all. :)
Cécile's place is really cool, with the sitting room glowing with Asian delight... literally. She's into yoga and hosts friends of yoga all the time and has all these different candles and sand stuff on the tables that are really calming. We went out together and did some grocery shopping. She showed me around, taking me to some of the must-know places like cheap supermarkets and boulangerie etc.. We went to Sorbonne 7, too, which is only some 10 minutes away from the appartement. I'm very happy with my housing arrangement. There is a lot to process and remember at this moment, like names of shops, but I have my little notebook. And I'll have to put more words on it in the days to come.
That's about it for today, I think. Busy and exhausting. I have yet to get dinner and finish some work, and also arranging my new bedroom. Now that I've got a camera, I'll spend some time taking pictures and uploading them as well. Next post will be in Chinese!
I think today's entry will just have to be pure rambling. This year I decide to take the easy but thorough approach of documenting as many things as possible. Simple things count.
Anyway, everything after I got my visa in Shanghai proved smooth, except for the fact that I had to pay 100 extra bucks for my second checked-in luggage. I was mad at myself for not stuffing in more into my second bag. But I couldn't really change that by then. My dad went to Shanghai with me and left early to catch the metro back, leaving me waiting alone with my suitcases for some seven hours before the flight. It was weird having to stay that long there, alone, feeling between the Chinese culture and the French one. I kept imagining possible scenarios I'd encounter once I got to Paris and felt super nervous about my French, which I hadn't spoken for real for months. Another reason was perhaps my not having a phone nor wifi around. It was simply frightening to feel so disconnected from the rest of the world... and I felt so good when I finally found a café with wifi and was able to send Max an email and called my parents on Skype. (My dad managed to get back alright. Another relief.)
The flight wasn't too good. Didn't wear enough clothes for the cold and the sleep was terrible. Couldn't eat much either. Right after I got my tea, we met strong turbulence and it spilled all over my pants! I passed the customs alright, though. And it was fast. I found the shuttle to Opéra quite easily (asking in English though, what a shame) but the trip from Opéra to Sentier by metro was in no way fun. Had to carry everything up and down the stairs. Since there is practically no metro in Aix, I learned for the first time today that you actually have to push a button to open the door of the train. Almost did not get off the first time. (Thanks to the kind monsieur who was quick enough to help me out...)
The center (Centre Parisien d'Etudes Critiques) is located at 37 bis rue du Sentier. It was my first time discovering the secret difference between 37 rue __ and 37 bis rue __. I met the woman esponsible for the financial matters of the center after I got into the courtyard, and she helped me with my suitcases. It felt bizarre to have a first floor (1er étage) on the second floor, but oh well. (I'll have to get the spelling of her name tomorrow.)
Brent, the director of the center met with me and we went through some basic stuff like how to open and close the door of the center. I took the language placement test and was astounded by just how much grammar rules (mainly conjugasion) I had forgotten. Brent is American and graduated from Princeton. I honestly would have liked him more had he just been an ordinary professor in the States. Somehow his French sounds affected. Perhaps subconsciously I was just telling myself "Yo here's an American trying to appear really French and chic here... " He was absolutely welcoming and nice, though!
Lucie, the student life coordinator, is French and teaches high-level language classes at the center. She took me to lunch today, with another American student called Jake. Nice woman. Super friendly. Had great conversations. One thing worthy of note: I only came to know today that French girls apparently find the American accent sexy/attractive? And to be classy in France, we learn German instead of... just French? Anyway, more surprises to come in Paris, I guess. Jake agreed with me on the American accent, and I was content.
The trip to Cécile‘s, my host "mom"'s place (not sure about the punctuation here, somebody help me), was a pain in the ass, with the luggage. But I was happy to have complete strangers help me along the way. Parisiens aren't so cold after all. :)
Cécile's place is really cool, with the sitting room glowing with Asian delight... literally. She's into yoga and hosts friends of yoga all the time and has all these different candles and sand stuff on the tables that are really calming. We went out together and did some grocery shopping. She showed me around, taking me to some of the must-know places like cheap supermarkets and boulangerie etc.. We went to Sorbonne 7, too, which is only some 10 minutes away from the appartement. I'm very happy with my housing arrangement. There is a lot to process and remember at this moment, like names of shops, but I have my little notebook. And I'll have to put more words on it in the days to come.
That's about it for today, I think. Busy and exhausting. I have yet to get dinner and finish some work, and also arranging my new bedroom. Now that I've got a camera, I'll spend some time taking pictures and uploading them as well. Next post will be in Chinese!
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