Christmas in Paris

Christmas has come and gone in Paris and all of us expatriots joined together and tried to make it the best Christmas that we could. It was definitely hard to be away from my family for the first time on my favorite holiday, but the new family I have found here made it one of the most unforgettable Christmas' ever.

 

We started out the night of Christmas Eve at Jovanni and Kirstie's apartment (of course) with a big feast where everyone pitched in and brought something. We ate and ate until we all felt like DYING. Then, it was time for dessert (naturally), which consisted of macaroons and various other little Bouchees.

 

It was surprisingly warm, so we decided to walk to the Seine and enjoy some wine like we used to do way back in the beginning of this whole adventure. We chose a spot on the Seine that was right under Notre Dame, so when it drew close to midnight, we walked up to enjoy midnight mass.

 

When midnight struck, all of the bells of Notre Dame struck and the choir voices resonated from the cathedral. It was truly a stunning, religious experience that actually brought tears to my eyes. We watched all of the cardinals walk by and into the cathedral for mass. I am so thankful and amazed that I got to experience this breathtaking event.  

 

We walked back to Jovanni and Kirstie's and quickly fell into food comas and slept through the night. I am so grateful that I got to cuddle with Jovanni all night, because I have never woken up on Christmas day by myself before, and was really afraid that I was going to have to.

 

In the morning, it was just Jovanni, Danielle, Amanda and I. By the grace of God we were able to find bagels and REAL cream cheese the day before, so we enjoyed a delicious, almost American breakfast. We proceeded to snuggle in bed all morning and watch Home Alone.

 

Around 2 pm, Jared popped by Jovanni's. I finally decided to crawl out of the warm cocoon that is Jovanni's bed, and went to coffee down the street with Jared. We went to a beautiful cafe by the name of les Editeurs. I got a chocolat chaud and Jared got an espresso. It was a lovely, relaxing time. We then returned to Jov's where we snuggled some more and then returned to our own homes. I tidied up my apartment a bit and managed to Skype my parents and sister and then later Skyped my beautiful cousins!! Once my apartment was nice and clean and my heart was full of family love, Jared came over and we made Christmas dinner together (aka French Toast. Breakfast for supper!!).

 

The past two weeks have been rough (to say the least) and I can honestly say that I was dreading Christmas with every fiber of my being. I just wanted to get it over with and to not think about it again. But it was so much better than I could have ever imagined and that is all thanks to the incredible people who have entered my life in the past 4 months. Amanda, Betsy, Jovanni, Jared, Kirstie, Efren, Danielle, Talia, Mikayla, Bree, Kimberly: You have all seen me at my lowest of lows and have been there for me 100%. I have had a hole in my heart and you have all done your best to fill it with love and make sure that it never drains completely. THAT is what true love is. When the winds change and times get tough, you don't just abandon ship. You might have to adjust the sails and work a bit harder, but you never just give up. So to all of my study abroad family, thank you.

I love you so much.

Thanksgiving in Paris?

In honor of Thanksgiving, I wanted to give a shout-out to everyone in my life who I am thankful for:

Parents: Thank you so much for always supporting me in everything I do, and making my dream of coming to Paris a reality. Thank you for always being there for me. I would not be the person I am today without you. And thank you for giving me and Hann an amazing childhood! J I love you guys!

Friends from home: I am so thankful to have so many great friends who have remained in my life for so long. We have grown up together and made so many beautiful memories. I love you all and can’t wait to be reunited with you!

Hann: I’m still convinced that nothing beats the relationship between sisters. You know absolutely everything about me and you just GET me! We have our own language, our own sense of humor, our own memories that no one else will ever understand. You are my best friend, I love you so much.

Family: Anyone who has ever met my family can back me up on this one. I have THE best family in the whole world. For real, you guys are just awesome and I can’t wait for the clan to be all together again! Love, love, love you ALL!!

Lane family (and everyone related): Even though I have only been in the picture for a little over 10 months, you have welcomed me with open arms and have made me feel as if I have been a part of your family forever. Thank you. It means so much to me. Love you all!!!

Parisian Friends: Never have I grown so close to a group of people in such a short amount of time in my whole life. You have all made this experience 1000x easier and I love every last one of you so much. You are my family and I look forward to many more years of wonderful memories J

And of course last but certainly not least:

Casey: Oh my, where to start? Thank you for being the kind, patient, loving person that you are. It is so hard being far from you and I miss you everyday. Not even 6,000 miles can sever the connection we have. You are the only one for me. Thank you for showing me what true love is. I love you forever.

Un amour interdit

So I've been extremely horrible at keeping up with my blog lately, and I apologize. A ton has happened in regards to continuing to explore the city and discover new things, but the biggest change has been my state of mind. As I cross off days on my calendar, I am noticing how quickly time is passing which makes me realize how temporary this whole experience really is! I grow more and more saddened at the thought of leaving this beautiful city in a mere 6 months! And before all of you get upset and think, "What?! Simone doesn't wanna come home?! Ah! She hates us!" No, let me finish. It's not that I won't want to come home, it's that I won't want to leave Paris. If I could some how do both, that would be magnificent! I am growing incredibly accustommed to my life and dare I say it, I love it here. If I'm already feeling this way, and it hasn't even been 3 months yet, how am I going to feel after another 6? I am beginning to feel torn between 2 lives, the new and the old. They feel like two completely separate entities, and I'm wondering how they are going to meld once I return home. I feel like I have already changed so much from this experience, so I'm curious and excited to see how I am going to fit back into my old life. They warned us about this in the beginning; they said that we would no longer feel completely American, but we would not feel French. I thought they were crazy, but now I completely understand the identity crisis that they were talking about. But I am oddly fine with it, if that makes sense.

One thing that I do regularly, that has helped me grow content with my new life, is take walks without any destination in particular, and see where it takes me. Yesterday I wasn't feeling too incredibly ambitious, so I decided to just take a stroll around my neighborhood. I was walking by les Invalides and saw all of the beautiful trees flaming with their vibrant yellow leaves. It was so stunning with the gold dome as a backdrop that I just thought "Yep, I am in love with Paris". I get really overwhelmed with the feelings that I am starting to have for this city and I am growing attached to it. I am even starting to understand the locals and their mindset, which makes life a whole lot easier. The French are really beautiful people when you peel back the layers. Words really cannot describe how strange, yet amazing, this experience is. I am already looking back on certain things with great fondness, so I know that I will remember this for the rest of my life with only positive feelings.

 

And the living's getting easier

For the past few days I have slowly started feeling more and more content with my life in Paris. Where I used to feel more sad than happy, I am now feeling quite the contrary. Perhaps it's the Fall weather that is filling me with the warmth of happiness, I don't know. One thing that is really helping are my "Simone Times". Sounds weird, I know. But I find that when I go to my special place to write in my journal, or go on adventures through the city by myself, I feel much better afterward. With the fast pace lifestyle in the city, I need my alone time to have time to think and reflect. I am really beginning to see the beauty of the city again. I am discovering places that fill me with happiness (always gardens) and am beginning to frequent them. Aside from being by myself, my friends are also an incredible support system for me. I do not know what I would do without them. I will always look back on our experiences together with the fondest of memories. I have gotten used to my routine, which helps pass the days and makes it easier to live here and not feel like such a foreigner. In addition, I have signed up for a Language Exchange Partner. I filled out a questionnaire, and the program sets me up with a Francophone student based on our compatibility. So I'm very curious to see who I get paired up with. I'm hoping that making French friends will make me feel more at home here.

As for what I've been up to for the past week. There's quite a bit to catch up on:

First off, there was the OFII experience. Which is the immigration medical appointment that we've all been awaiting for months now. It was the LAST thing we had to do to officially be accepted into this country. I had no idea it was going to take so long, but when we walked up to the building, there was a line wrapped around the building. Luckily, we were all let into the building and out of the cold weather fairly quickly. But then we underwent a series of being shuffled from one waiting room to another. After about 2.5 hours of waiting, I was finally called in for my medical exam. It was pretty straight forward. I was weighed, measured, and my eyes were tested. Then I was sent into this strange dressing room where I had to take all of my clothes from the waist up off and wait to be beckoned into the next room. This is where we got our chest x-rays to make sure we didn't haven't tuberculosis. Good news, I'm TB free (shocker). Then it was back to the waiting room where I waited until another doctor called me into his office and questioned me about my medical history. He then said that everything checked out and I was ready to go. So after 3 hours, I was finally officially allowed to live in France.

I've continued my exploring and am never disappointed, because I always seem to discover something.

A bear dedicated to each country. All lined up in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Taking advantage of a beautiful day to explore beautiful Montmartre with the beautiful Jovanni!

Le Jardin des Plantes. So wonderful. I can't wait to return here to further explore!

 Today, Jared and I explored le Jardin des Tuileries (shown above). It was a gorgeous, freezing day that ended up being very enjoyable! Afterward, we decided to go to the Champs-Elysees and get up close and personal with l'Arc de Triomphe.

 We were even lucky enough to run into a fantastic orchestra in the metro station. We paused and listened to them for a little bit.

During the night on weekends, we have developed quite a routine. Everyone meets at Jovanni and Kirstie's place and ventures from there to the various pubs. It's always a great time when we're all together.

 

 

 

It's taking a while to fully adjust to my new life, but it's getting easier and easier as time goes on. I'm excited to see what the next few months bring. 

The ups and downs of studying abroad

So it's been awhile since my last post. To be honest, I haven't been posting because I haven't been having the best time. "But you're in Paris! You're living the dream!" Is what many people say to me. However, Paris is a completely different place when you are a foreigner who is trying to LIVE here and fit in. It seems like no matter what I do, I stick out like a sore thumb, which can be incredibly frustrating and discouraging. This leads to a great amount of insecurity and makes me never want to leave my apartment. In addition, it NEVER stops raining, which is something I'm not used to. With staying in my apartment, I tend to lose sight of where I am and forget that I live in a huge, beautiful city full of history. Whenever I get the courage or drive to explore the city, I fall in love with it all over again and remember why I am here. But it is hard to see the beauty of the city when I am constantly underground on the metro, going to and from school, and my eyes are clouded with the haze of the immense stress that I am constantly under. I am struggling with feelings of sadness, anxiety, and the intense desire to go home on quite a regular basis; but, this is something I have to do and I know I would regret it if I went home early. I feel like I am still in the culture shock/homesickness phase, so I am praying that these feelings will pass. I don't mean to totally shoot Paris to hell. I have really awesome days too, but lately it's just been more bad ones. I will get through this though and I'm sure I will look back on this experience fondly. I would never just quit when things get tough, especially when I have wanted to do this for so long and have made a commitment. Right now I just need to take it one day at a time. I am looking forward to falling in love with the city again. For example, today was actually a very good day. I had my History of Paris class, which is a class where the first half is lecture and the second half is touring around the city to different historical sights. The reason today was so great was because we went to le Jardin du Luxembourg, which has been my favorite place in the whole city since Day #1. It was overcast (of course), but not rainy, so it was a beautiful autumn day in the city. I saw a part of the park that I had never seen before and really enjoyed it. I also had a really great evening au pairing with Solene. She continues to be my little ray of sunshine in this bleak city.

I will never get used to the view from my apartment.

Eglise Saint-Sulpice

 

Otherwise, classes are going well. Since all of my classes are "Francais Langue pour Etrangeres" (French Language for Foreigners) classes, I have met people from ALL over the world. It is really awesome that we can all communicate despite our vastly diverse backgrounds. My comprehension is improving greatly because all of my classes are conducted completely in French, which is awesome. I am learning something new everyday. As long as I can get through this culture shock/homesickness phase, everything will be close to perfect! This experience has caused me to experience absolutely every emotion possible, although overwhelming, it's kind of great because all of these emotions make me feel more alive than ever. Despite the persistent stress and sadness, I know I can do nothing but grow from this experience.

The thrill of living in a city!

So it's been a crazy week, full of stress on so many levels that I haven't been inspired to blog all week. But yesterday (Saturday, 6 October) was a crazy, awesome day; therefore, it deserves to be written about. I got on the metro in the morning to meet Mikayla and Jared at Mikayla's place for a homemade brunch. I get on the metro, and right when the doors closed the conductor comes onto the loud speaker and says "Attention, there is a pickpocket onboard, in car 2". Luckily, I wasn't in the 2nd car, so I wasn't too worried about it, but was still very cautious. AND THEN, we get to the next stop and right when everyone boards, the conductor comes onto the loudspeaker and says, "Attention: The pickpocket has moved to the 6th car".....and guess who was in the 6th car....Yep, this would happen to me. Right before the doors closed, a man who had just gotten off the metro points to a woman who had just boarded my car  and shouts "Attention! Pickpocket!" The woman shouts "Salut!", spits at him, and then the doors slam closed....so we are stuck in the car with the pickpocket. The pickpocket was this tiny, pregnant woman who couldn't have been much older than me. She was with a bunch of her cronies and they were certainly scoping the place out with their shifty eyes. This poor American who was standing right next to them obviously didn't speak any French and was not aware that there was any drama going on. Luckily, this lovely woman patted him on the back and told him to look out. At first he ignored her, clearly not understanding what she had said, but she poked him again and in English said "BEWARE" and pointed at the pickpockets. So he checked his pockets and moved away from them. Everyone was clutching on to their bags until the next stop when the pickpockets got off and moved on to the next metro car. It was so intense! Oh, the thrill!!

When I got to Mikayla's, the three of us went to Franprix to get some maple syrup, champagne, and orange juice. While heading back from Franprix, we witnessed a crazy fight between 3 homeless guys, it was pretty intense! So much excitement in one morning! We returned to her place and enjoyed some wonderful French Toast (or....just toast, I guess?) and mimosas. Afterward, we went to Conforama and I purchased some sheets and various and sundry items for my apartment. We shopped for quite a while, so I was really tired when I got home. I needed to take a nap because that night was the Nuit Blanche where we were going to stay up all night!

A big group of us met at Jovanni and Kirstie's place to pregame a bit before going out. The Nuit Blanche was awesome! There was so much going on throughout the whole city! We wandered around for a long time and there seemed to be something going on around every corner. There was such a great energy in the air, it was fantastic. By the end of the night, we ended up going to a bar that we've been to before called "The Mad Maker" where we danced the night away.

It was a great time and I didn't end up getting home till almost 6am. I settled into bed with a cup of hot chocolate and didn't fall asleep until about 7. Needless to say, I didn't do much on Sunday. 

You never know what you're going to run into....

Another beautiful day in life. I woke up this morning and there was not a cloud in the sky!!! I went on yet another one of my solo walks and explored the 7th and 16th. I started off the day with walking across the street to the Champ de Mars. I ran into a random gathering of people square dancing, and a man shouting out the dance moves in English, with a Southern accent. Very unusual, you never know what you're going to run into....

I really love the 16th, it is so beautiful. I discovered an aquarium right across the river from where I live, I'll have to check it out one of these days. Right next to the aquarium was a nice park, where I sat and soaked in the beauty of life.

After exploring for quite awhile, I had worked up quite an appetite, so I found a boulangerie and got a sandwich and a DELICIOUS brownie! I enjoyed my lunch back at my apartment with a lovely breeze coming through my windows. Mikayla met me at my apartment and we went to the Trocadero because we heard that there was going to be a flashmob at 2:30. Unfortunately, the flashmob was SUPER lame, and not even worth mentioning. But we enjoyed a nice afternoon on the Trocadero with all of the tourists.

Trocadero

After suffering through the horrible flashmob, we decided that it was necessary to participate in Happy Hour, so we met Jared at the Indiana club near Mikayla's apartment and enjoyed a drink. While we were drinking, we kept hearing the sound of heavy base, so we decided to investigate. We approached Rue de Rivoli, one of the main roads in the 1st, and there was a HUGE crowd and loud music! There were multiple moving stages with bands and DJs and hundreds of French youths following in mobs and dancing. So obviously, we decided to join. It was AMAZING! The music was great, everyone was either drunk or high and dancing their hearts out. Only in Paris can you enjoy a rave in the streets at 6 pm on a Sunday evening. Apparently it was to raise awareness about AIDS. It was one of the best times I've had so far. The French know how to party, that's for sure.

 

And of course it was Sushi Sunday, so after we were done partying it up, we met everyone at sushi and caught up with eachother. A few of us decided to go to gelato afterward, but we made it an early night, because tomorrow is the first day of school! I'm excited to get a routine, but I'm sad to see my free time come to an end! Wish me luck tomorrow!