It’s almost 8 p.m. here, on Wednesday night. (side note- I had to stop half way and restart on Friday at 8:26 p.m) At home it’s most likely humid and muggy, 2 p.m., and people are feeling way too full from lunch. Atleast that’s what life was usually like on a Wednesday at 2 p.m. for me.  I’m sitting in my flat, listening to Avril 14 and reflecting on my first week in France. I’ve been quite emotional the past few days, while letting the feeling sink in that this is my home for the next year.  I haven’t done too many tourist-like activities; I did see The Louvre, The champs-elysees, and the l’arc de triomphe. I’ll start by writing about those experiences first.

The Louvre was quite overwhelming. I went with a hangover and a completely sore body from dancing at The Duplex. Not only did the meticulous masterpieces overwhelm my sight- but I was exhausted within 15 minutes just by having a constant flow of people speaking different languages pushing by. I think I heard maybe 10 different languages— who could know?  The exhibit I most wanted to see was, of course, Mona Lisa.  There was a massive crowd gathered around this tiny painting in a glass frame. I thought the Mona Lisa would be huge- but alas, it wasn’t.   Many people had different reactions to seeing it; One woman stuck out to me, her eyes were full of tears as she was making her way through the crowd. On the inside I felt the same.  Not only was I amazed by my surroundings, but it was also sinking in, finally, how incredibly drastic my life has changed.  More on that later. You basically need about 5 days total to see the whole Louvre, somehow my mom and I were trying to push it all within 5 hours. This exhausted me, leaving me constantly taking a seat and trying to soak all the surroundings in.  I ended up surrendering to my fatigue, and sat outside on the lawn and read some of Dave Eggers. It was very refreshing to read in English and have silence, well semi-silence with hums of different accents and laughs from children around, as background. There was this cute English boy, maybe about 8 years old, that was shoo-ing pigeons away and calling himself “Pigeon Patrol”. Anytime I looked over to smile at him, he shy’d away and retreated to his family.  After awhile I became extremely hungry, so I got Pain au chocolat from a food stand, and while I was there a little girl from England said “hello” to me, and was just as relieved as I was to hear an English reply! She talked to me for 10 mins about how she broke her arm. It was pretty cute. 

The day before The Louvre, My mom and I walked around Paris and saw the L’arc de triomphe and the Champs Elysees. The only things I can say about this are-SO MANY TOURISTS-unexpected rain-sore feet-confused mom in metro- and I saw 6 full condoms in a drain on the street and was shocked by it.  I’m just kidding, there’s much more that I said that day- Like; “Holy shit I’m in Paris, finally!!!” and “wow, this thing is huge” (talking about the L’arc) and “Why do we have to walk so muuuuuuuchhh”— I was suffering from jetlag and culture shock.   

As mentioned before- I went out (with my friend, Jerome, that night.)  It was relieving to be able to see things without my mom, and with a friend I hadn’t seen in months! We went to a side store and bought two beers before we went out, went to mcdonalds on the champs elysees, and then he ate and we drank in his car before heading to the club. Now, this specific club makes you pass an appearance test before you are allowed to get in- they look at your outfit, your shoes, your hair- the works.  Luckily, we didn’t have to try really hard, because Jerome knew a girl at the door. The club had an entry fee of 20 euros to get in, which included a drink. There were three different rooms with all different themes. The first room was playing music like Shaggy, Usher, J.T— things I totally heard at my 6th grade dance.  The next room was kind of Salsa-esk. The third, was more modern, with basically top 40 rap, electronic, dance, etc. We stayed in this one the majority of the time.  We danced until maybe 3 a.m. and pretty much limped back to the car. 

A few days later, it was time to move the house in Rueil-Malmaison, which by the way, I cannot pronounce- no matter how hard I try. You have to roll the beginning R and kind of lift the vowels at the end. It’s very unnatural for my mouth. Rueil-Malmaison is a suburb of Paris, the first part “Rueil” means little creeks and the last part “Malmaison” means “estate of ill-luck” … HOPEFULLY it won’t mean that for me in the next year. haha. You can google the rest of its’ history.   The house I’m staying in has 10 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms.  I am looking after two children , one girl who is 7 and one boy who is 14. (preface over). When I arrived, we all started off with, of course, introductions, and then aperitifs- appetizers, which are usually served with champagne or wine. We had sort of a sparkling wine, with blackberry wine added in. The rest was pizza.  Shortly after, we ate pork kabobs, with potatoes au gratin, baguettes, more wine (red and white), and for dessert we enjoyed a chocolate type of cake, and chocolate mousse.  Everything was incredible! After dinner, I was stuffed, and exhausted; so I was shown the house, my room, and then shortly after- fell asleep.  

My days have been spent by- waking up, playing piano, watching cartoons, eating breakfast, eating lunch, going swimming, drawing, piecing together puzzles, getting owned in wii mario kart, having short conversations in english and trying extremely hard to understand french.  It’s a very relaxing routine, which will change soon- as the children are going to school on Monday, and my school starts in a few weeks.

On Wednesday night- this is why I stopped writing- I went with Pierre to meet a few of his friend’s and talk. When we arrived, they had pizza hut- I was shocked that they have pizza hut here!!! (They had bbq chicken) I am really starting to miss bbq(side note).(add kicking in)… another side note… Anyway, They were talking in french, which is always a learning tool for me. I listen intensely and try to piece together words, stare at their lips to understand what they’re saying, try to remember certain words I may not know, etc.  After that we went home and I went to sleep.  The next night, I went with Pierre to meet a few more friends,  we drank, cooked pasta, and talked- my french is terrible, so again, I was learning, and trying desperately to understand what they were saying.   We played a drinking card game- I’ll have to teach it to my friend’s back at home, because it’s so much better than ours.   We stayed out very very late, and I drank too much, so the next day (yesterday) I was miserable while working.  

I don’t know what my plans are yet this weekend, but I’m really going to try to keep up with this blog so that not all my entries are this boring. If you want to ask any questions, ask away!

ciao