"the pose"

Before we left I told dorene to think of a pose we can do for pictures in front of all the monuments we visit just to be, you know, cute.  Dorene said “that is the best idea ever!! even though i feel like it's going to just come to us, but we apparently need to be prepared cause on the spot thinking may produce some interesting results. scenario: trying out these different "poses" in front of the eiffel tower while a poor asian dad tries to take pictures of us cause you told me to go ask the only other cheshtang family to take this photo montage of us.”

So we get to the arc de triomphe, our first real monument and realize we need a pose. Lily had found this old semi candid semi crazy picture of us and said that should be our pose so we decided to go with it.

 As I turn around to see who we can ask to take a picture of us I see a cheshtang (asian) family standing right behind us and we both start cracking up. So of course I made dorene go ask the dad to take a picture of us and thus “the pose” was born. Voila! (I know, I know, I messed up and put both hands up in the new pose, deal with it.)

the first two days

The first day we got here we were starving so we went out walking around looking for something to eat. Our luck, it was Sunday and almost everything is closed on Sunday. We finally found this boulangerie that sold sandwiches they made on the spot. We each got a jambon crudite, a ham sandwich with more butter than I’ve ever had on a sandwich but the girl didn’t speak English and I was not about to attempt telling her in French. Then we walked to this park looking thing we saw along the way and ate our sandwiches there while observing French children learning how to ride bikes without helmets or their parents help all while eating a cookie. It was quite a sight.  After attempting to find a place to eat for dinner, we gave up and just went to this café down the street from us for some food. Came home after, and passed out thanks to jetlag.

The second day we had to meet at school, “catho”, at 930am so we decided to leave at 845 thinking we would have plenty of time to get there. We set off down this one street dorene had seen on the metro map as having a stop. So we walked for a good 5 minutes at a power walk pace until dorene said we should turn around. I was confused because I thought she knew the metro was down that way. Turns out I misunderstood and I thought she knew which way the metro was when she just meant she knew there was one somewhere on this street.  So by the time we walked back to where we started we noticed we didn’t have much time left and just took the metro line that’s right next to our apartment. The problem with that line is that you need to transfer twice but we figured it would be faster than anything else at that point.

By the time we got off the metro stop near our school, I thought the vague directions our program gave us wouldn’t be enough so I took out this detailed map my dad gave me to use. I found what I thought was our destination and started walking. And we kept walking and walking until dorene started to question where we were going. When I relooked at the map I noticed that I had picked the wrong destination. We had already passed our school 5 blocks ago.

We turned around, finally found our school but at this point we were 30 minutes late and no one was out in the courtyard, where we were supposed to meet. We found the front desk and asked them in our franglais (french/english) if they knew where everyone went. They gave us this map of the school and told us to go around the block to this one corner where they were. We did. They weren’t there. At that point I was about to ask one of the french students to use their cell phone but chickened out. We gave up and walked back to the front desk and some girl there knew what room number they were in.  If only it was that easy. Luckily a really nice French lady saw us looking around and took us back to the front desk to find out where it was we were looking for. At that point another one of our program’s directors found us. We were officially an hour late and had missed all the introductions. Go us!

At night we went to the champs elysee because we had bought our weekly unlimited metro pass already and thought we would put it into good use.  Walked from the concorde to the arc de triomphe trying hard not to feel like tourists the entire time. We’re so not tourists. We have unlimited metro passes, we just slide our bags along the top of the metro entrance. We’re so not tourists.

I saw the disney store on the champs and freaked out. Made dorene go inside with me. I felt like I was at work again and got really excited. Here’s a photo I made dorene take with my blackberry because my camera broke. That black body on the right is me.

We ate some pizza and salad outside and then went to the arc de triomphe where we debuted “the pose”(see above post.) During dinner, when they gave us the check, for some reason we couldn’t divide 31.10 by 2 so we both started to laugh. Of course I ended up snorting which caused the French girl sitting 3 inches away from me to laugh very very hard which then caused dorene to cry from laughing so hard.  Maybe you had to be there to find it funny, but trust me it was.

On the way back home we went to the mcdonalds on champs. I wanted a mcflurry but none of the flavors excited me. I thought France would be more creative than oreos and m&ms. They had a cute little mccafe section that I loved for no reason. Too bad it was closed at midnight but all in all it was a great second parisian night. 

our apartment

So once our program director, Gabriel, arrived we were relieved to find that our apartment had an elevator. Our over 250 pounds of luggage collectively was not going to make it to the sixth floor without one.  Gabriel managed to fit all of our luggage in this tiny elevator and asked us to come in. I was pretty convinced the elevator cable was going to snap.

Somehow we made it and struggled to take our luggage out all while Gabriel attempted to teach me how to open the door. Eventually he gave up and had dorene try it .  Our key end? (not sure what you call the key part of the key, not the top part where the 

keychain goes) is basically a circle.  He told us that these type of keys cannot be duplicated so if we lost one we would have to pay to replace the whole lock, which would cost 800 euros. Imagine my paranoia.

As Gabriel put it,  “our apartment is like a 5 star hotel”, kinda. It’s been remodeled inside so it feels pretty new.

Our bathroom is completely new, very modern and unparis like. We have a normal shower with a normal shower head, no tub or needing to hold the shower head up sort of thing. We also have a modern “waterfall” faucet and sink. 

Our kitchen is very modern as well, brand new refrigerator, oven, sink and dishwasher. It’s very small though, but it does the job.

 Our living room area has a nice suede white couch (I put an airline blanket on one side of it so I could sit on it),  a very low to the ground black table, a white and black rug and a little 12 inch cube looking tv with cable apparently.

In the hallway looking sort of thing they’ve built in a wall cabinet. This is where our closets are. We’re not done packing yet but we’ve hung up what needs to be hung, and designated a shoe closet near the door so it’s starting to feel a bit more like home.

Now for our bedroom, as Gabriel was opening the door he asked if we had met each other before today and we said yes, and he said good. Soon we found out why he asked that question…we’re sharing a bed. So our bedroom has this like modern for france wall cabinet thing built so only a full size bed fits in the bedroom. Two twins beds, what we told we were going to get, can’t fit.

Gabriel felt like he came to the rescue though by giving us three options. He said we could sleep together in the same bed, or one of us could sleep on the couch in the living room, or he could remove the couch and add a bed in the living room instead. The living room has this sliding door thing that can make the living room into a separate room. Just go with me. For now we’ve decided to try to sleep together and see how it goes.

Wish us luck, we need it. 

the beginning

I’ve been in Paris for two days and two nights now without internet. Insanity I know. Good thing I have my blackberry to keep me from crying.  I’m officially writing my first blog entry from my Parisian apartment. “Parisian” seems to be the word of the week for me and dorene.

I guess lets start from the be

ginning. I landed in Paris an hour late but so glad for the flight to be over. The customs line was a bit of a joke, as in there literally was no line. I just went up the customs officers, got my stamp, and was on my way to baggage claim. She didn’t even look at my visa. I might show them my visa on the way back just so that I can feel like that whole process was worth it.

All my luggage arrived, yay, and I was able to carry it all easily with the free luggage carts right next to baggage claim. I thank CDG airport for making one part of my trip less stressful. I met another girl in my program that was on my flight and together we walked across the terminal to the other side. It was quite the walk weaving this impossible cart in and out of the people version of the 405 during rush hour.

When I got to the door we were supposed to meet at I saw dorene and couldn’t help from screaming a little and doing a weird dance as she ran toward me. As she liked to point out, everyone was looking, but of course I didn’t care. We waited a bit there with some of the other girls fromour program until our driver took us to our new apartment.

We were told to wait outside the apartment building until one of our program directors got there to take us in. During this time I found out dorene is scared of pigeons, birds in general I guess. Apparently it looked like a pigeon was about to land on my head from the back but all I heard was dorene screaming as if there was a guy with a gun behind me. I turn around to find that it was just a bird. Since then we’ve seen a bunch of pigeons, duh, flies and bees. Dorene “swears Parisian animals hate her.” 

intercontinental plane rides with crying babies rock

I’m on the plane! Of course I didn’t post this while on the plane but I’m typing this on the plane. I figured I would kill time by getting a post all ready to go for when I get to Paris. This flight is taking forever. Last time I went to Europe I took half an ambien and passed out. I really didn’t notice how long 11 hours in a plane really is.  I’ve tried sleeping this time around, drug free, and it sucks. 

So I’m on Air Tahiti and I’m pretty convinced that we’re actually going to Tahiti instead of Paris. The flight attendants are wearing orange and pink long floral dresses with white flowers in their hair, they’re playing Hawaiian sounding music, and there are a bunch of Samoan looking people on the flight dressed in some sort of Polynesian hula dancing looking outfits.  Trust me, you would double check to make sure you were headed to Europe too.

On to the most exciting moment of my flight so far, a flight attendant was walking by offering water. I took a cup and said  “a little please” and she basically looked at me with a “what did you just say” look. Aurore, my French alias, came to the rescue and said “un peu” and she understood! She poured a little, and then I said merci. I’m not even in France yet and I passed as French for 2.8 seconds. Super exciting I know, it’s been quite the exciting flight

At this point I have four hours left. We were delayed by about an hour, even though they never announced that we would be delayed. I love it when they do that. Reminds me of my flawless Air Italia flight back from Rome.

For now I’m waiting for them to serve breakfast. They already served lunch/dinner. I had beef, and kept thinking I can’t believe I’m eating reheated beef on my way to Paris when I could be saving up my beef room for the amazing steaks over there.

All the movies they’re showing on the plane I’ve already seen so I’m pretty bored but go me for being on top of my movie going game. They’re showing star trek, the proposal, the night at the museum two and some other stuff I’m not interested in.

Well enough for the complaining, even though it is my favorite thing to do, I’m officially in France by the time you’re reading this so I’m off to do French stuff. Yay! CANNOT BELIEVE IT!

procrastinating packing

who knew packing for three months would be this hard or stressful? i tend to always overpack, whether it be for a sleepover or a two week vacation but three months?! is that even possible. i'm already stressing about how im going to pick up my big check-in bag in the baggage claim area. i hope i'll have enough courage to ask some guy around there for help, even though i probably won't and end up with a hernia. i'm not sure if girlas can even get hernias. 

if you couldn't tell i found out how to upload photos! yay! this is a picture of my sad attempt at packing. i figured i would lay everything out first and then find a way to cram it into my suitcase. i'm using my sister's room as a temporary closet/packing room in order to speed up the process. too bad im sitting here, on the bed you see above, procrastinating. 

i called my program today and found out that i was placed into intermediate french. i know i said i was before but i honestly thought there was some sort of mistake or that they were kidding. i told the lady that i don't really know french so she lowered me to the elementary 3 level french class. i also signed up for "discovering paris" and "french culture and gastronomy." both sound really fun but they're both taught IN french. i'm not sure how much fun it will actually end up being and i might end up switching out but until then i'll be excited. i also enrolled in a third class called "fashion in france" which is taught in english. i'm pretty sure every girl in my program will be in that class. 

i really should go work out (i figure i need to burn as many calories as i can before i get to the city of butter and bread) and continue "packing" now. i'll post more pictures when i'm finally, hopefully packed and ready to go.

five days! ahh!

my home away from home

I know I've said this at least ten times already but I cannot believe I'm leaving for France in less than two weeks. In 13 days I will hopefully be sitting in my home away from home, my parisian home, my very own apartment with Dorene. We got our housing assignments about a week ago. Through our program you could choose to live with a French household or you could apply to be in an apartment on a first come first serve basis. Since I literally applied three days after the program deadline I was sure I would end up in someone's house. I didn't entirely mind living with a family but I just thought living on my own would be more comfortable. I might have ended up with the most amazing family ever but knowing my luck in these type of things I would have probably ended up with some ex-murderer and his grumpy wife. For anyone who thinks I'm exaggerating, you really should have met my roommates from freshman year. I have that kind of luck. 

Getting back on track...me and Dorene/Dorene and I, whichever is correct, ended up in an apartment!  Our exact address is 7 rue Oscar Roty 75015 Paris, France. Just in case anyone loves me that much and wants to surprise me and send me something, don't bother. I wont be able to get mail at my apartment, but thank you for loving me that much! I got lucky and basically got the best housing out of everyone in my program. My apartment is in the very nice 15th district of Paris, the same district the Eiffel Tower is in. It's south of the river, on the western side. I already google mapped it and "walked" around my future neighborhood, saw the Boucicaut metro stop I'm going to be using. I also found the nearest hospital and pharmacy so that Dorene knows where to go when I get sick. I say "when" instead of "if" because my horrible immune system and European cold weather just don't get along. It looks like a real Parisian city, very untourist-y. My sister said you can tell that it is a nice area because there are a lot of trees, apparently you don't see many trees in Paris. 

Apartment Boucicaut, what my program calls my apartment, apparently has a large balcony, one large bedroom, a living room and a bathroom, all fully furnished. Too bad it will be below zero and raining 90% of time so the balcony won't be used but it's a cool thing to brag about. Can't wait to move in, take pictures and post them, assuming I learn how photo posting works. 

visa and flight, check

I got my visa today! Okay well technically I got it yesterday but I was too busy to sit down and write about so I will just pretend like I got it today. I went to the French consulate about 30 minutes before they closed and thought I would never make it but I did! The guy who printed out and stuck my visa in my passport sang the “Roxanne” song again (I say again because he sang it when I first went there to apply for a visa) and smiled and said “I remember you.” Apparently not many roxanne’s apply for French visas. Anyway, once I got my visa I couldn’t wait to see what it looked like so I took it out of my bag as soon as I got out and was too excited to notice the uneven pavement in the alley and tripped and skinned my toe and broke a toenail. Was it worth it? Absolutely. The visa looks stunning. It’s pretty sophisticated, has my picture on it, the dates I’m allowed to stay for, the fact that I’m an etudiant and a French Consulate of Los Angeles stamp on it.  I realize its just one big sticker that ended up costing me 200 dollars but it’s my official ticket into France.  

Speaking of tickets, I also booked my flight. I’m going on Air Tahiti Nui Flight 8. I leave at 12:30pm September 19^th, 14 days from now. It’s a direct flight because I have the biggest losing my luggage fear so I figured a direct flight would decrease my chances of it getting lost. I totally just jinxed myself now but I guess as long as I get there safe that’s all that truly matters, and by “I” I mean all my fabulous clothes and I.

This is really happening. I’m going to go live and study in Paris for three months. Je suis très excitée! (I think it’s a double e at the end because I vaguely remember that feminine rule from 9^th grade French but I could be wrong so don’t quote me.  French people are going to hate me.)

there's a first time for everything

i usually never prepare for things in advance. for some reason i need to do everything at the last minute while stressing out. given that i will only have 19 days after i stop working to buy, pack and start to miss everything before i leave for france i figured i should have at least one less thing to worry about. 

i'm going to study at "catho", the catholic institute of paris. apparently everyone who is actually from paris has never heard of it so maybe i should just lie and say i'll be studying at sorbonne. sounds way cooler, i know. so far i have no idea where i'll be living or what classes i'll be taking. all i know is that i placed into intermediate french based on my online placement exam. im confident that once i take the oral part of the exam at catho i will be lowered to beginner french which is more than okay with me. 

i'm going with dorene, we decided to go together i think two years ago. 96 stressed out phone calls, thousands of dollars, 13 visa documents, and one barely passed deadline later we're actually going! i might be completely jinxing myself because i haven't gone to my visa appointment yet nor have i booked a flight but trust me, i didn't even think i would get to this point! 

so here's to paris, may you please please be not that cold for me.