Check out my video collage of September, most of which is shaky iPhone footage. YAY.
I don't think it really hits you how fast time goes by until you routinely scan your Navigo métro card in the morning over the reader on the turnstile and it unexpectedly flashes a red 'X' with a loud blaring sound. It means another month has gone by and you need to shell out the€65 to pay for a new monthly pass. It's October, y'all.
I realize I don't ever write about school, which is funny because didn't I come here for that? My daily routine involves me waking up, extremely tired to the point of absolute dread of getting out of my bed, wasting time around my apartment and realizing that I haven't left early enough for my thirty-five minute commute to school. I rush out the door, never completely satisfied with my outfit (Everyone's more stylish than me) or my homework (Everyone's more studious than me) and just hoping that I didn't forget anything up in my room because going back up my stairs is just not in the cards. Once I walk down the boulevard Saint-Michel to the Luxembourg station, I take the crowded, stinking RER B train one stop to Saint-Michel, where I catch the RER C train for three peaceful stops to Pont de l'Alma.
I'm always late for class. Always. My "campus" (Which doesn't exist in the American sense) is a group of buildings relatively spread out throughout the seventh, and I spend the whole time walking to each one formulating excuses as to why I'm late. I always blame the RER for having issues if I'm asked.
Then I have classes and work (In the writing lab as a tutor) until about 5 or 6 PM each day, with the exception of Wednesdays, when I have class until 8. During any and all breaks, I'm usually curating my Google Calendar and email, eating croissants, madeleines and sandwichs jambon-fromage and drinking vending machine coffee.
When I'm done with everything for the day, I always feel like Wow, I live in Paris. I can go do anything I want to! and then pull out my map to go somewhere, but I usually just end up heading home. I tell myself I'll go running in the Jardin du Luxembourg, too, but then I go buy a baguette and a bottle of wine and forget about it.
As for my actual classes, they're all pretty fantastic, but hard. I can't tell you how nice it is to be taking classes you want to take instead of generals in college. For the most part, I take too many notes, which is weird. It's weird to like what you're studying because you spend so much of your education complaining about it all. I'm realizing that translation isn't really just looking up words and writing them down. It's actually a really tedious and grueling process. Today, I met with Anne-Marie, my official directed study advisor, to go over my first translation of Philippe d'Iribarne's sociological article La force des cultures. I thought I did a pretty good job on the first few pages and that translating was coming so naturally and quickly for me. No. Everything was wrong.
On a different note, Paris is really expensive. Like really expensive. I reluctantly spent a bit of time at Franprix and Monoprix today and was astounded when I started really looking at prices of random things, like €13 for nail polish and €18 for a basic towel. A pint of Guinness at a bar runs at upwards of €9. It's painful. And remember, you need to multiply by at least 1.3 to get dollars. Everyone seems to manage just fine because they're all out at cafés and brasseries all day long, while I drink my instant coffee and one-euro wine with a side of baguette. I don't even know how people can afford their cigarettes, but they sure do somehow because Paris is essentially just one really big, beautiful ashtray. I, on the other hand, feel like I'm about one Navigo away from pulling up a chunk of sidewalk next to a homeless man with an Amsterdam beer in one hand and a J'ai faim SVP cardboard sign in the other (Which isn't really all that different than what the bouquinistes do, if you think about it.). I guess Paris is not really designed for the American dollar or young adult.
On to October!
Rachel
Montparnasse-Bienvenüe station
Home
Meeting up with Amelia, another Central alum, at Le Pure Café near Charonne in the 11th
Shakespeare & Company
Canadian expat bookstore, The Abbey Bookshop, in the Latin Quarter. It's a hot mess, but that's how I like my bookstores.
Musée du Louvre
Versailles
Versailles
Versailles
Tartelette aux fraises at the Eiffel Tower in between classes
I have learned a lot of things in my 2 days here. Number one: time doesn't mean much to the French. When I landed at Charles de Gaulle, I raced through the airport to get my bags to make it to my shuttle by 8 am. The shuttle came after 9. So that was an hour of complete panic that had me on the verge of tears. Number 2: the internet in Paris is horrible. I have been told to that I will be lucky to have a website load in five to ten minutes. And forget about the wifi! I have to use the computer in our study lounge and the keyboard is all rearranged so my As are usually Qs and Ms are commas. It was a rough first day on Monday, but slowly things are starting to improve and I don't feel as sad and lonely as I did at first. Plus, we ordered Domino's the first night. I have a really nice roommate named Aude, who is from Normandy. She doesn't speak much English, so it's hard to talk to her. I'm trying not to seem antisocial but I can't always figure out what to say or how to say things. We have mostly had meetings that last most of the day, but today I went with a few girls in the bitterly cold rain to see Notre-Dame and go inside where I lit a candle for my family. We ate dinner at a nearby café called Quasimodo de Paris- fitting, right? The bread and pastries are absolutely fantastic, so I'm definitely not starving!
I will try to get some pictures up once I, fingers crossed, get my wifi up and running so I can use my own computer.
