Day Two- Getting Settled

(This is really from August 22^nd)

Bonsoir! I’ve only been here for two days and I already have a tendency to want to write in French. Sometimes I have to remind myself that if I wrote my blog in French, most people wouldn’t be able to understand it. Maybe down the line I will, when I get better and it comes more naturally. For now, I’m still seeing improvements and I speak French 99% of the time. Sometimes there are just certain things I don’t know in French. I wonder if I’ll learn more in my classes, or from listening to others and making friends with French students. I’m really happy I have ten years of French behind me because I can definitely get by with what I already know. La prochaine etape serait devenir bilangue!

I wish I could say I slept well last night. My room overlooks the main road and people on motorcycles—there are A LOT here—sped down the road as if they were racing each other…long into the night. The noise was so loud and so frequent that it was kind of scary and really hard to sleep. Nevertheless, I slept until 10:45 this morning! Emily and I decided to take a walk to a big park so we could run. Big on this semester’s list of priorities: getting in shape. The walk took an hour and we didn’t even realize until we got back that we didn’t even wind up in Paris! The park was just outside the city limits. It was absolutely gorgeous—blue skies, a huge lake, and even ponies, haha. We ran around the lake, which I think was a little over a mile. I won’t lie—I was hurting. It’s hard to get back into an exercise routine (for me, at least) and so it wasn’t my best run. But we hope to keep doing it, as often as possible, so it should get easier. When we got back to our rooms we did more stretches and pushups (ugh!) and crunches. C’est bon. I took a shower in my matchbox-sized shower and felt really good after. Emily and I both wanted to explore some of the city. The area where we’re staying isn’t a bad area, but it’s not the Paris that I normally think of. In other words, it’s like a regular city. I wanted to see all the enormous monuments and attractions that the city is famous for. That requires getting out of the 11^th arrondisment. We decided to walk to get some more exercise. You walk everywhere in Paris. I wonder if that’s why I’ve never seen a fat French person.

We walked to the Seine and it only took a little over 30 minutes. THIS was the Paris that I was waiting for. It was almost sunset. I took a lot of pictures, of course, since I get a little camera happy. We took the steps down to walkways right alongside the water and sat on the edge, enjoying the shade and breeze. Lots of boats went by full of tourists, and some even waved to us! Most were little kids, but it still felt kind of cool. We walked around Ile Saint Louis, and on Ile de la Cite we saw the Notre Dame. It’s truly incredible. The architecture amazes me, and I can’t imagine ever being able to construct something to grand yet so intricate. I think another day we’ll go inside, but it would’ve taken too long and I was getting hungry.

I treated myself to two desserts tonight—delicious gelato and a nutella crepe. Mmm! If I’m not careful, I’ll eat one a day! I could, they’re so tasty. One thing that interests me about the French and daily routine is that most people don’t eat dinner until much later, around 9 pm. When Emily and I were on our way to the Seine, around 6:30, most cafes were full of people at tables drinking. Always drinking. But on our way back around 10 pm, the cafes were full of people eating dinner. I would be on my second dinner by then! But I really love how there are so many cafes with tables outside that people sit and dine at. I wish we had more of those in the Unites States. A person’s night could revolve around eating at a café, wither with friends or alone, just people watching. And it seems like people have regular places that they frequent, because everyone was always seeing someone else they knew, even just walking by. No matter how many cafes/brassieries/bistros/restaurants there are, there are always people there. It’s such a key part of socialization here, both relaxing and invigorating. I love to people-watch, too. If I could afford to eat every meal at a café and sit outside, I would in a heartbeat. I’m going to try to go to bed early again tonight so we can get an earlier start on our walk tomorrow.

Everyone else from Goucher on the program flew in today. Unfortunately, there’s no real way to contact anyone since we don’t have international cell phones yet and the internet here isn’t working. We could go over to the foyers (one’s ten minutes from us but the other is on the left bank) but it would be a guessing game and I’m not sure if we would be let in. This might mean we won’t be able to see anyone else until Wednesday, when orientation starts. I love having these free days to romp around Paris. It’s really liberating to not have to report back to anyone, and we can do whatever we want and go wherever we want. I haven’t braved the metro yet, but in time, I will. For now I want to walk as much as possible so I can get familiar with the streets. I’ve always had a terrible (re: nonexistent) sense of direction, and it’s not much better here! Bonsoir!