Paris- where to begin? We arrived on Tuesday (I have a lot of trouble keeping track of what day it is right now) around 4:45 after an uneventful train ride (even though we went under the Channel, which is weird when you think about it but not when you actually do it). My first view of Paris was of two huge plaques commemorating the casualties from WWI and WWII, and upon this backdrop was one angry man trapped in a headlock by another equally angry man, and two others trying to pull them apart. Welcome to the most romantic city in the world!
However, Paris soon redeemed itself-- between the impossibly ornate buildings, the famous works of art and the beautiful scenery, it's hard not to be enchanted, no matter how tired, overwhelmed, or in-shock you are. It’s impossible to describe it in a few words. The whole trip, I was wishing I had a magical thought recorder so I could remember everything I wanted to write down about. So I’m going to make a list of the things I loved and hated about Paris.
1. The food. I loved it because, um, duh. I hated it because it was often trop. Trop is a French word that is beautifully versatile (pronounced troh for all you non-French speakers), and it basically means “too much” or “too.” Like you can just say it on its own, “C’est trop,” but you can also use it with an adjective—“C’est trop délicieux.” Anyway, Parisian food was just trop. The desserts were amazing (although a dessert for every meal was kind of overwhelming… not that I ever refused). Things we never even think of serving in the U.S., even though we probably should because they are delicious. I had a raspberry macaroon, a baked apple with caramel and ice cream, chocolate mousse, berry and ice cream plate, mango and chocolate sorbet…. It was amazing. And a couple of the meals were pretty good. We went to a vegetarian restaurant for lunch on Thursday and it was so refreshing. I had the best polenta and vegetables. But a lot of them were too fancy/gourmet, or there weren’t enough choices on the menu and there just wasn’t really anything that jumped out at me. It was also very hard to eat nothing but a baguette and a croissant for breakfast. I mean, I know it’s France, but who does that? No fruit, no protein…. After the first day I abandoned the croissant even though they taste about fifty times better here than at home. The upshot is, Parisian (French? I don’t know because I have yet to experience very much food in Dijon or anywhere else) food, especially at fancy restaurants like we got to go to, is probably best in small doses. But being able to order whatever we wanted, including dessert all the time, was really fun.
wednesday afternoon's dessert
2. The city. By this I mean the specific city aspects, like the metro, the sidewalks, etc. I hated this. London was so much better. I thought Paris wasn’t well organized at all, and the metro was more confusing and took longer than the tube. It was also a LOT dirtier and always smelly, unlike in London. And speaking of smelly, it felt like I couldn’t go anywhere without inhaling cigarette smoke or exhaust, and I was not okay with that. This category was probably the most annoying thing about Paris (which is good because it is fairly easy to ignore, although I wouldn’t want to live there for an extended period of time).
3. The art. Paris is, in my opinion, much cooler for what it contains than what it is. The Louvre, Musée d’Orsay and l’Orangerie were all great. Seeing Monet’s water lilies was probably my favorite thing, but all the museums were lovely. It was unreal seeing the Louvre, and although we couldn't, of course, see everything (fun fact: you would have to go every day for six weeks to see the entire contents of the Louvre), it was a great tour, made even better by the fact that we were able to understand our French guide.The buildings themselves are works of art, too, and it’s impossible to take two steps without wanting to take a picture. L’Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower were also fun to visit, obviously, and the Opera house was probably my favorite thing we did. The Seine is also beautiful, of course. So it was really fun to explore all that with the Dijonettes.
le louvre!
4. The people. It was so much fun to be with the Dijonettes! We had a great time at dinners and exploring and on the train and in the hotel (it was like living in a dorm again, except better). And Nathalie, the woman who is in charge of us and the program, is simply amazing. She doesn’t speak any English, which is cool because it forces us to speak in French, and she is so nice and capable and helpful (and chic!). We all love her already. And it was just great to be able to explore on our own during the bit of free time we had-- it was so weird just being like, okay, we're going to walk to the Eiffel Tower now, see you in a couple hours! On the hate side of this are the actual people of Paris—we encountered quite a few not-exactly-friendly people. When we ventured to the cell phone store, it took us an hour and a half to buy prepaid phones, and the men working there were so frustrating. The lesson of that day was that a mocking salesman or a wrong turn can completely knock down our self-confidence, but that it will seem like a funny story later.
toutes les dijonettes a la notre dame!
So I suppose that’s Paris in a nutshell! We ate a lot of food, walked even more than we ate, and got acclimated to French and being together and everything. Yesterday we took the train to Dijon (our baggage was ridiculous—the train station was Struggle City, population Dijonettes. I am never traveling with this much stuff again) and the train ride was really fun, and then we got to the Centre Condorcet, which is where Nathalie’s office (which is like an apartment) is, and which is our home base. We (finally) got some information about what’s going to happen in the next couple of weeks and then we sat in nervous anticipation for our families to come pick us up one by one. When the bell rang the first time, everybody screamed. Nathalie said, “Bonjour, Catherine,” and I clapped my hands to my cheeks and everyone screamed again and started wishing me good luck. It would have been comical if it wasn’t so strangely nerve-wracking. But Catherine picked me up and we walked home (my wrist almost broke with my luggage) and her house is very pretty. I love my room, and that made me feel better right away—it is light blue with a big bed and fluffy white sheets and covers and a big window. I unpacked while she made dinner and then we ate, and it wasn’t hard to converse, so I felt pretty at ease. She went to bed soon after dinner and I finished unpacking before showering and then writing a few emails, which I saved on my computer to send later because I don’t have internet here yet because she doesn’t know the password for me to get on her network and she doesn’t actually have a computer. I’m really frustrated because I pretty much want nothing more than to get on facebook and check my email and post a blog and I don’t know if I’m going to be able to before we’re back at the Condorcet on Monday. This morning we went to the supermarché, which was inside a mall. There weren’t even doors, you just walked through the mall past the cash registers and into the market. I think it might be like the French Wal-Mart, but maybe not as evil, because there were some clothes and stuff sold too. Anyway, we walked around for quite a while and picked out a lot of things that I said I liked to eat, including a lot of produce. Catherine seems to like eating healthily, and she even has sliced wheat bread and she said she liked salads. She was also very emphatic about me eating what I want to eat and telling her what I like and stuff, so this is kind of a relief for me. We talked all morning so that was good and then we got home. She went to meet a friend and Kathryn and I decided to meet up to go to the market. I successfully took the bus to our meeting point and discovered that it was only a block away. While I waited for Kathryn, I found the Square Darcy, which was this beautiful little park with a huge fountain and a lot of benches. I took a bunch of pictures and then Kathryn arrived and we walked around until we found the downtown area with stores and street vendors, because Saturday is market day, I guess. We went in a store and bought some snacks (pretzels, which are called bretzels, Nutella and gummy bears—sugar and chip/pretzel type things are the only things Catherine doesn’t seem to buy) and walked around some more before parting. I successfully got back home, but then I couldn’t find the door I had come out of (there are two doors to Catherine’s house, so I have keys to one and she has keys to the other, but I hadn’t yet come in the door to which I have the keys) and so I walked around the house for like ten minutes and then when I did find it I couldn’t get it unlocked. It turned out the key went in upside-down. Anyway, I made a lunch of salad with turkey meat and cheese and carrots and an apple (and bretzels with Nutella for dessert) and Clementine juice and it was really good and such a relief from all the rich food in Paris.
Now I just really want internet and want to email my parents and post my pictures and let my friends know that I am here. Catherine is at the hairdresser, and she told me I could invite a friend over but everyone is kind of doing their own thing so I am just writing and hanging out. She said that we could go for a walk when she got back. I think I am having roasted chicken for dinner tonight and I want it to be dinnertime because after dinner the Dijonettes are going to go out somewhere and I really want to see everyone and hang out with people. I don’t know what we’re doing tomorrow but hopefully I can meet up with some people/somehow obtain internet. I don’t want to wait until Monday!
Now that I finally have internet I'm going to post this! This morning I got to sleep in until 11 which was wonderful and then Catherine and I walked through old Dijon to a florist and then we stopped at a museum on the way back. It was very cool seeing all the old buildings, some of them dating back to before the 18th century! Tomorrow we have our placement test and we have other activities throughout the week. We start classes next Monday, thankfully. I am excited to have a schedule and occupation again! In all, things are going really well so far! Wish you were here!
my room a dijon!
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