Wednesday, 03 September 2008
I'm pressed for time these first few days in Paris, since I'm still learning the names of other students studying with my program, taking placement tests, seeing the city, grocery shopping, and scouring the stores for all the little things I neglected (or didn't have room) to pack. I'm lucky to get a few hours of down time each day, which I use to cook meals, nap, and generally recover.
I begin French classes tomorrow à la Sorbonne, and Friday I have orientation at the American University. Tomorrow evening there's a social event with French students and other international kids, where I'm sure we'll be mixing wine with dancing and a little franglais. Keeping up with folks back home (and not to mention the internet) is a little difficult so far, but I suspect after a week or two of settling into a school schedule, things will be a little less crazy around here.
The amount of information thrown in my general direction has become overwhelming. In my few days here I have accumulated piles of little booklets and brochures with maps, lists of activities, and I've made dozens of little notes to myself about which market is where, which stores carry what, and which metro lines or bus stops will take me where I need to go. Add this to finding ATMs, keeping up with money, setting up a monthly metro pass with an ID photo, and things like buying a bag of groceries become large ordeals.
It probably goes without saying that, despite having a brain full of rusty French, I am still confronting a language barrier. I know enough to read and comprehend, and am able to speak well enough to sound like a blathering idiot, or perhaps a robot that strings words and phrases together into incomplete sentences. "Excuse me, there are two things of pine nuts and cinnamon here. I have bought each. Just one. See? I would like some money." "I would like here. Do you have here? For fifteen euro? What? I don't understand. Yes. I pay with paper." Me Tarzan. You Jane. Me want hair dryer.
Because I didn't receive keys to my apartment until tonight, I've been attached at the hip with my room mate, who does not speak or read a lick of French. She's Jewish and just spent three months completing a music internship in Israel. On our shopping adventures today, we stumbled through Chinatown and bought what we could find, speaking Hebrew, Arabic, and what French I could muster.
Some observations, until I can write a better recount of the events in Paris so far:
That's all I can muster for now. I'll tell you about my apartment and my neighborhood soon enough, and I'll have plenty to report tomorrow after I attend my first class at the Sorbonne. I'm already exhausted and can't wait for the weekend.
(Pssst....could someone throw in a test comment here? I'm still concerned they're not working properly.)
