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.