Life is going great. Life is grand; life is glorious; life is surprising; life is spontanious; life is...life is...life is just simply wonderful! La vie, elle est belle! I've had a change of perspective over the past 48 hours. Since moving into my new host family on Friday, I'm beginning to finally feel a l'aise, at ease, with life. I don't feel like I have to fight or force things anymore--instead, I'm just living. I'm savoring each moment and not thinking about the next or how I got there. I've been trying new things and learning a lot about myself. I haven't been pushing my limits too the extreme, but I have been stepping outside of my "timid American student" persona and trying to pick up new attributes--trying on titles such as "spontaneous American Student" or "Likes-to-try-new-things, ?Young Girl from the States". I like the way they feel. I'm still trying to get comfortable wearing them and they often lead me a bit outside of my comfort zone (ok, let's be honest here, they kind of lead me way outside of my comfort zone...but in a good, healthy way). Don't worry Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Granpa, the "Smart, Logical, Doesn't-go-too-far/Jump-off-the-deep-end, Quiet, American Girl you raised or watched grow up is still lurking underneath, but she's letting these other personas step out for a bit and stretch their legs--even if she's not far behind keeping a close eye on them lol ;D.
Last night, a couple of my girl friends and myself were invited to a French house party. It was an "appartment warming" party for a new roommate in an apartment where a friend of a friend (who is French) used to live. Ok, that's kind of vague and complicated at the same time. I appologize, but basically all you need to know is that I'm FINALLY meeting REAL French people lol! Long story short, my friends and I didn't think we were going to the party (we had heard about it earlier in the week, but we weren't sure what we were going to do about actually going to it...that's the thing, these parties sound like fun, but they can be intimidating--especially for someone who doesn't have a past with going to parties). We had actually planned on going to see Sherlock Holmes 2 at the cinema at Chatlet, Les Halles (one of the larger train/metro stations in the city), but it was sold out. Luckily, due to a few chance communications (even if it takes FOREVER to send a text message here, I'm soooo glad that I can send des textos!) with our French cell phones and through Facebook, we were able to deduce that it wasn't too late to head over to the party near Montparnasse (one of the more central-southern districts of the city--it's also very near where I used to live). It was a great experience. They were all VERY nice. By the end of the night I'd made friends with several really nice French girls. I even got their phone numbers and said if they ever wanted to grab drinks or had another party, I'd love to hang out again! (No guys sadly...lol--mais c'est pas grave lol ;D). Getting back home was a bit tricky. My friends and I left the party about about 2am (the night life here is crazy--people stay up all night at clubs and just hanging out at these low-key house parties) to catch the metro home since it closes at 2:30 on weekend nights. At least, that is what we thought. Since I'm not in the habit of taking the metro during the wee hours of the morning, I guess I should have double checked when it closed. Anyway, we got kicked out of the metro a bit past the hour and ended up having to take the night bus. Oh le noctillin--soooooo funny! This is not a bus you ride by yourself. If you can avoid it, then you should. However, after a quick glance at the bus route maps at the Montparnasse bus stop/station, my friend and I deduced that it wouldn't be hard at all to take the N1 or N2 since our home stays are close to stops on those lines. We quickly hopped on the N1 and away we went. After a few minutes on the bus, a very friendly French man heard us talking in English and interrupted our conversation (about university funding and athletics hehehe--even at two am you can have intelligent conversations apparently lol) asking if he could talk with us and practice his English. "My English, it zees not veeery goot, you zee." We didn't really say "yes", but we didn't really say "no", so he continued to ask us simple questions in very broken, very drunk English. It was quite a hoot. He was harmless, but quite intertaining. When he realized we could speak French, he asked if we wanted to speak French with him, and I, in spit-fire French (I'm getting MUCH better at and MUCH more comfortable with speaking French) I say: "Ouais, bien sur, on peut parler en francais si vous avez envie (yeah, we can speak in French if you want to)". The look on his face was PRICELESS. He and his less-drunk, obviously-more-adept-at-speaking-English friend looked at me and scoffed. I couldn't help but smile. What can I say--I'm proud of the progress I've made in France. I CAN speak the language. It's kind of nice to know that French people (even if they are a bit tipsy...or a bit more than a bit tipsy....) think so too. Anyway, they got off the bus before we did so I didn't have to worry about them trying to follow us (not that they would have I don't think, but it doesn't hurt to be aware/be careful...). The night bus dropped me off at one of the two metro stops that are about equal distance from my new apartment (only about a 1-2 minute walk) and I made it home just fine at about 3am. What an adventure. I was nervous and scared to meet new people, but I'm fine. As my new host mom would say: "nothing changed--you just overcame your fear that was all in your head and learned that the world doesn't end when you try something new or stretch out your comfort bubble a bit". She's right--it doesn't. Hopefully I'll meet up with those really nice girls I met last night sometime soon and see if there are some friendships to be made.
This afternoon I got to spend time with my friend Fred who was a student at PLU last year. He lives in France and so we met up and had brunch and then explored the Champs Elysees. It was great to see him. It's been over a year since I last saw him, and even though we've stayed in touch over Facebook and Skype, it's always nice to get to see your friends in person again! We explored all the expensive car shops and a few clothing stores on Champs Elysees. It was weird seeing all these really expensive marques (brands) like Chanel and Mercedes-Benz--I laughed a bit when I starting thinking about what it would be like to actually be in this store because I wanted to buy an over-priced luxery car or really expensive parfum. Hahaha, a lifestyle I have never been interested it. It was still kind of fun to pretend though hehehehe (hey, the person in the corner watching me look at the cars doesn't know I'm not actually considering--in a million years--buying a car like this....it could happen....hahaha not). We also explored the Virgin Mega Store on the Champs Elysees and I bought 4 CDs of contemporary French artists for 20 Euro--great deal! I want to have more French music, and I never know what to get, so I bought two albums that looked good and thought I'd try them on a whim! Fred also reccomended one and I found an artist that I already knew. I'm in the processes of listening to all the new songs. Music really helps me better understand the language--there's something about mastering the lyrics of a song and being able to sing along with the artist. I don't know how to explain it, but it's somewhat gratifying--especially if you understand what they are saying (which is becoming a lot easier for me yay!).
This afternoon I'm going to finish my homework, work on planning my trip to Morocco in early April (soooo excited--I hope it works out!), and possibly take a nap!
Je vous aime tous! Bisous!
-Sarah
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
From the South to the North; From the 14eme to the 8eme
So a lot has happened in the past 24 hours. I'm in a completely new host family in an entirely different part of the city. It's like black and white. If Paris is a circle (which essentially it is...), I was living on the southern edge of the circle, in the bottom, right hand corner of the 14th. I'm now in the northern end of the city, more toward the west side, in the 8th (though the 17th only starts one street over). Hopefully this map helps:
I really like the 8th arrondissement. It's a lot more active than the 14th. I adore the 14th and think I'm going to miss it, but the 8th is very interesting. There is a saturday market and lots of cute little boutiques that my host mom showed me around today. I'm totally going to be buying soooo much new and good food on saturday monings--homemade galettes for breakfast? Ummm...yes please!
I'm off to Angelina's cafe for the afternoon with my friends after making lunch with my host mom!
Love from Paris,
Sarah
Sunday, February 12, 2012
When does cultural miscommunication become passive agressive behavior?
I've made my decision. I need to leave my host family and look for a new place to live here. I just can't do this anymore. I'm tired of walking on egg shells all the time. I can't do anything right in my host parents' eyes; with each step I make a huge "faux pas" which then escalates into something huge which usually ends up making Madame mad at me for one reason or another. I can only do bad things in their eyes. Take last night for example. I went to McDonald's so I could skype with my parents (yeah, that's right, I have to go find a place with wifi since I don't feel like I can comfortably skype in my host family's house--that should have tipped me off that maybe I'm not welcome here...) but the wifi at the restaurant didn't work. I returned to my host family's house about an hour after I left (around 11:15pm) and when I entered my room, I found this note on my desk and saw that the sheets on my bed had been removed and that new ones had been set aside for me to remake the bed. It's 11:15 at night--how can I remake my bed when it's noisy and I'm constantly being yelled at for shutting doors to loundly? Heck when my bed creaks when I stand up I think Madame is going to come barging into my room and yell at me that I'm making too much noise. Anyway, back to the note. This is what Madame wrote:
"Sarah,
Je n'ai pas pu faire le manage dans ta chambre car tu n'as pas donne signe de vie toute la journee. Ce que tu fais est tres mal eleve je suis desolee. tu aurais pu me dire que tu ne bougerais pas de la journee. Le menage ne sera pas fait cette semaine. Nous avons parle l'autre jour mais je pense que tu n'as rien compris. Il faudra que tu vois avec Celine quoi faire parce que ca ne va pas."
"Sarah,
I couldn't clean your room because you didn't give any signs of life all day long. What you are doing is very rude I'm sorry. You should have told me that you would not move at all during the day (she means leave my room). Your room will not be cleaned this week. We spoke the other day but I think that you didn't understand anything we talked about. You need to go talk with Celine (the housing lady with IES) to figure out what to do because this is not ok."
I give up. I was in my room all day because I had spent the last two days and nights with friends and had to do homework and wanted to sleep and have some time for myself. Is that such a crime? And "didn't give any sings of life all day"--that's sooo not true! I was moving around in my room, I took a shower, I ate meals in the kitchen. I left my room! Also, would it have been so hard for her to knock on my door and ask ME if she could come in and clean my room. How is it that it has escalated to such a point that I'm starting to think that what she did--put a note in my room during the one hour we weren't in her house together during the ENTIRE day--was more along the lines of passive aggressive behavior and does not amount to simply another instance of cultural miscommunication and misunderstanding? I need to get out of this house. I don't feel welcome and I'm actually starting to get a bit angy. I love Paris, but I don't love living in this house. Time for a change I think.
"Sarah,
Je n'ai pas pu faire le manage dans ta chambre car tu n'as pas donne signe de vie toute la journee. Ce que tu fais est tres mal eleve je suis desolee. tu aurais pu me dire que tu ne bougerais pas de la journee. Le menage ne sera pas fait cette semaine. Nous avons parle l'autre jour mais je pense que tu n'as rien compris. Il faudra que tu vois avec Celine quoi faire parce que ca ne va pas."
"Sarah,
I couldn't clean your room because you didn't give any signs of life all day long. What you are doing is very rude I'm sorry. You should have told me that you would not move at all during the day (she means leave my room). Your room will not be cleaned this week. We spoke the other day but I think that you didn't understand anything we talked about. You need to go talk with Celine (the housing lady with IES) to figure out what to do because this is not ok."
I give up. I was in my room all day because I had spent the last two days and nights with friends and had to do homework and wanted to sleep and have some time for myself. Is that such a crime? And "didn't give any sings of life all day"--that's sooo not true! I was moving around in my room, I took a shower, I ate meals in the kitchen. I left my room! Also, would it have been so hard for her to knock on my door and ask ME if she could come in and clean my room. How is it that it has escalated to such a point that I'm starting to think that what she did--put a note in my room during the one hour we weren't in her house together during the ENTIRE day--was more along the lines of passive aggressive behavior and does not amount to simply another instance of cultural miscommunication and misunderstanding? I need to get out of this house. I don't feel welcome and I'm actually starting to get a bit angy. I love Paris, but I don't love living in this house. Time for a change I think.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Il y a un mois...
que je suis arrivee a Paris. I've been in Paris for a month now. It's official. I arrived on the morning of January 11th, and it is now the afternoon of February 11th. It seems like time here has slowed down a bit, and that is nice. I know it's been a while since my last blog update, and I'm sorry for that, but since life has slowed down a lot, I figured you all probably aren't interested in hearing about what I talked about in my European Union class or my French Women Author's litterature class hahaha. But, life has still managed to throw me a few curve balls (adventures and challenges alike) over the past couple weeks--don't worry!
I've been exploring more areas of the city lately. Like the night I got lost in the Latin quarter at 5am. hahaha fun night! I went to go watch the superbowl with another girl from the IES program and we ended up in an underground, exclusive bar (scary bouncer and all at the door!) run by a group of really nice South African immigrants. It was really fun getting to watch the game--I'm starting to feel a bit homesick and it was nice to get back to something that is truely American for a bit. Of course I was in the company of some very high-spirited and sometimes extrememly drunk French and American 20-something year olds. (How many female, American exchange students does it take to explain the rules of football americain to a group of tipsy french guys? Good times, good times...). I guess the fun thing about being lost in Paris at 5 in the morning is that you have really good views of all the national monuments and tourist attractions, such as Notre Dame. No lines or hoards of people! It was great to just gaze upon the cathedral as the sun was starting to come up, and there were enough people around and bakeries starting to open that I felt safe. It was one of those moments in life where I lived in the moment and not so much in the next or the one that just happened. That was a good night.
I've also been testing out the Paris nightlife. It's very intimidating for someone like me who has never gone to a club before. Sooo....I convinced one of my girl friends here to come with me to this party being hosted somewhere in the 9th. The party was just for students from all over the world who are studying or who are in Paris for one reason or another. After standing in line for hours, my friend and I finally made it into the club. There were soooo many people! IT WAS CRAZY! IL Y AVAIT DU MONDE LA-DEDANS! OH LA LA! But by about 2:30am (we got there at 11 when it started), we were dancing and having fun. They played mostly spanish and english songs, so I recognized most of the music and enjoyed it. Also, whenever, shall we say, an "unwanted advance" on the part of a guy who asked either myself or my friend to dance would happen, it was great to just say "No, I've already got a dance partner, but thanks anyway." and just start dancing with my friend again! It was sooo great to just get to dance and let lose after last semester. Life in Paris is sooooooo much more relaxed for a student. It's so much slower and calmer. I can enjoy life and not worry about if I'm going to have enough time to actually live it (if that makes sense...). Of course there were some guys who asked me to dance, and I said yes (big step for socially-awkward, timid Sarah, I know) and it was fun. (There was a really cute Italian guy who wanted to dance until he found out I could only speak French and English--if you're reading this cute Italian guy, I'm working on learning Italian, I promise! lol!). I can honestly say that I don't really need to repeat that experience again. It was EXHAUSTING! Fun, but exhuasting. I didn't get home until about 7am (because the party got over at 5am and my friends and I--I found more IES people at the party--decided we would just hang out for a bit until the metro opened again at 5:30, and then it was a good hour ride back to my host family's house in the south of the city). It was kind of a lot at once, but I'm glad I tried it. I just don't think that is the lifestyle for me lol! (Also I ended up losing my wallet--It disappeared from my coat sometime when my coat was in the coat check. In the end, I lost an ISIC card, 40 Euro, my WA state driver's liscense, and my debit card. I got the card canceled immediately and the driver's license is easily replaceable and not very vital while I'm here since I have my passport, but the 40 Euro in cash is kind of a hard hit to take. Oh well, you live and learn, right?)
I've also been looking (with my friends) for really good, really inexpensive places to eat in the city. Life in Paris is expensive, and with the Euro to US Dollar exchange rate, you can add at least another third of what you're already paying on to the price of something you buy. Last night, my friends and I were extremely successful! We found the cutest little cafe in the 13th. It's called Chez Gladines and is SUPER popular and SUPER tastey! I had the best salad I have ever eaten in my entire life there: mozzarella, a fried egg (sorry mom!), really fancy (yet really common for France) thinly-sliced ham, tomatoes, tons of lettuce, fried, thinly-cut potatoes (sooooooo goood), some creamy sauce, and probably a few other things I'm forgetting. It was also HUGE and only 8,50 Euros, and with a glass of wine for 2,50 Euro, that's an amazing deal! Plus the atmosphere is qwarky and fun. The waiter we had was hallarious! I don't envy him his job though--the place was jam packed and he was constantly running around. After we ate dinner, my friends and I went and saw La Taupe (or Tinker. Tailor. Soldier. Spy. in English). It was very confusing and heavy, but well done. I think it's one of those movies I'll need to watch again sometime in order to follow everything that was going on (and maybe attempting to read the book on which it is based wouldn't hurt either). Also, I saw L'Artiste (The Artist) a few weeks back and it was REALLY good (I can't remember if I already blogged about it or not, but you should all go see it if you can--it's such a good movie!).
I've recently lost my voice, and I sound like Roz from Monsters Inc. It's actually kind of funny, to a certain point. It's making it hard to communicate in any language. This happened to me once before at the summer camp I worked at where I could only speak in French. My theory is that the French language (especially the Rs and the accent itself) force my vocal cords to work in new/different ways and thus stresses them out. I highly doubt that's true, but it could explain why they hate me right now and refuse to work lol! I'm also finding it harder and harder to speak and write in English. That is a weird feeling! But a good thing, right? lol!
Sadly, outside of my love for the city and the slower-paced lifestyle, my transition into living with my host family is not so much of a positive in my life right now. It's a long and complicated explaination, but what it amounts to is that I'm in the process of looking at moving in with a new host family. I will know more about what will be happening by the end of next week (and will try to remember to keep you all posted). I just don't feel welcome at my host family's house. In fact, I just feel like a burden and that cultural miscommunications are being taken to an extreme (they're going to happen, yes, but they shouldn't be occuring to the level they have for me in my opinion...). I just don't feel comfortable living with them. It's no fun feeling like I'm walking on egg shells all the time. But who knows, as I continue to talk about all of these feelings and this situation with my host parents and with the housing lady at IES, things may work out in such a way that I stay (but I think in this moment, I'm leaning more toward switching...).
I hope all well with your lives!
Love from Paris,
Sarah
I've been exploring more areas of the city lately. Like the night I got lost in the Latin quarter at 5am. hahaha fun night! I went to go watch the superbowl with another girl from the IES program and we ended up in an underground, exclusive bar (scary bouncer and all at the door!) run by a group of really nice South African immigrants. It was really fun getting to watch the game--I'm starting to feel a bit homesick and it was nice to get back to something that is truely American for a bit. Of course I was in the company of some very high-spirited and sometimes extrememly drunk French and American 20-something year olds. (How many female, American exchange students does it take to explain the rules of football americain to a group of tipsy french guys? Good times, good times...). I guess the fun thing about being lost in Paris at 5 in the morning is that you have really good views of all the national monuments and tourist attractions, such as Notre Dame. No lines or hoards of people! It was great to just gaze upon the cathedral as the sun was starting to come up, and there were enough people around and bakeries starting to open that I felt safe. It was one of those moments in life where I lived in the moment and not so much in the next or the one that just happened. That was a good night.
I've also been testing out the Paris nightlife. It's very intimidating for someone like me who has never gone to a club before. Sooo....I convinced one of my girl friends here to come with me to this party being hosted somewhere in the 9th. The party was just for students from all over the world who are studying or who are in Paris for one reason or another. After standing in line for hours, my friend and I finally made it into the club. There were soooo many people! IT WAS CRAZY! IL Y AVAIT DU MONDE LA-DEDANS! OH LA LA! But by about 2:30am (we got there at 11 when it started), we were dancing and having fun. They played mostly spanish and english songs, so I recognized most of the music and enjoyed it. Also, whenever, shall we say, an "unwanted advance" on the part of a guy who asked either myself or my friend to dance would happen, it was great to just say "No, I've already got a dance partner, but thanks anyway." and just start dancing with my friend again! It was sooo great to just get to dance and let lose after last semester. Life in Paris is sooooooo much more relaxed for a student. It's so much slower and calmer. I can enjoy life and not worry about if I'm going to have enough time to actually live it (if that makes sense...). Of course there were some guys who asked me to dance, and I said yes (big step for socially-awkward, timid Sarah, I know) and it was fun. (There was a really cute Italian guy who wanted to dance until he found out I could only speak French and English--if you're reading this cute Italian guy, I'm working on learning Italian, I promise! lol!). I can honestly say that I don't really need to repeat that experience again. It was EXHAUSTING! Fun, but exhuasting. I didn't get home until about 7am (because the party got over at 5am and my friends and I--I found more IES people at the party--decided we would just hang out for a bit until the metro opened again at 5:30, and then it was a good hour ride back to my host family's house in the south of the city). It was kind of a lot at once, but I'm glad I tried it. I just don't think that is the lifestyle for me lol! (Also I ended up losing my wallet--It disappeared from my coat sometime when my coat was in the coat check. In the end, I lost an ISIC card, 40 Euro, my WA state driver's liscense, and my debit card. I got the card canceled immediately and the driver's license is easily replaceable and not very vital while I'm here since I have my passport, but the 40 Euro in cash is kind of a hard hit to take. Oh well, you live and learn, right?)
I've also been looking (with my friends) for really good, really inexpensive places to eat in the city. Life in Paris is expensive, and with the Euro to US Dollar exchange rate, you can add at least another third of what you're already paying on to the price of something you buy. Last night, my friends and I were extremely successful! We found the cutest little cafe in the 13th. It's called Chez Gladines and is SUPER popular and SUPER tastey! I had the best salad I have ever eaten in my entire life there: mozzarella, a fried egg (sorry mom!), really fancy (yet really common for France) thinly-sliced ham, tomatoes, tons of lettuce, fried, thinly-cut potatoes (sooooooo goood), some creamy sauce, and probably a few other things I'm forgetting. It was also HUGE and only 8,50 Euros, and with a glass of wine for 2,50 Euro, that's an amazing deal! Plus the atmosphere is qwarky and fun. The waiter we had was hallarious! I don't envy him his job though--the place was jam packed and he was constantly running around. After we ate dinner, my friends and I went and saw La Taupe (or Tinker. Tailor. Soldier. Spy. in English). It was very confusing and heavy, but well done. I think it's one of those movies I'll need to watch again sometime in order to follow everything that was going on (and maybe attempting to read the book on which it is based wouldn't hurt either). Also, I saw L'Artiste (The Artist) a few weeks back and it was REALLY good (I can't remember if I already blogged about it or not, but you should all go see it if you can--it's such a good movie!).
I've recently lost my voice, and I sound like Roz from Monsters Inc. It's actually kind of funny, to a certain point. It's making it hard to communicate in any language. This happened to me once before at the summer camp I worked at where I could only speak in French. My theory is that the French language (especially the Rs and the accent itself) force my vocal cords to work in new/different ways and thus stresses them out. I highly doubt that's true, but it could explain why they hate me right now and refuse to work lol! I'm also finding it harder and harder to speak and write in English. That is a weird feeling! But a good thing, right? lol!
Sadly, outside of my love for the city and the slower-paced lifestyle, my transition into living with my host family is not so much of a positive in my life right now. It's a long and complicated explaination, but what it amounts to is that I'm in the process of looking at moving in with a new host family. I will know more about what will be happening by the end of next week (and will try to remember to keep you all posted). I just don't feel welcome at my host family's house. In fact, I just feel like a burden and that cultural miscommunications are being taken to an extreme (they're going to happen, yes, but they shouldn't be occuring to the level they have for me in my opinion...). I just don't feel comfortable living with them. It's no fun feeling like I'm walking on egg shells all the time. But who knows, as I continue to talk about all of these feelings and this situation with my host parents and with the housing lady at IES, things may work out in such a way that I stay (but I think in this moment, I'm leaning more toward switching...).
I hope all well with your lives!
Love from Paris,
Sarah
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