Paris, je t'aime

I am officially a parisienne! I left Portland early Saturday morning, flying to Paris with a layover in Toronto. My seatmate was very nice but didn’t speak any French and barely understood English, so we bonded over the movie selection (A-Team, anybody?). I arrived at Charles de Gaulle mid-morning on Sunday. On a side-note, I swear that I saw Javier Bardem by the baggage claim. Even if it wasn’t him, I’m going to pretend that it was.

My host mother, Michèle, was waiting for me outside the terminal. She is amazingly friendly and is fluent in English (which I try to only take advantage of when I absolutely don’t understand). When I got to the apartment, I met her youngest daughter and we all had lunch together. 

My room

To the right is a picture of the view outside my window. In the bottom right you can see a little garden; it belongs to the elementary school across the street, and the students tend it during the day.

After unpacking for a bit, Michèle and I took the Metro to the CUPA building (where I have orientation) so that I would know how to do it on my own the next day. Then we walked back through the Jardin du Luxembourg, where Michèle pointed out the old men playing pétanque on the lawn, the playground where she took her children when they were small, and the place where she used to go on pony rides when she was a young child and her grandmother would take her to the park.

Orientation started yesterday. I successfully braved the Metro alone for the first time! We received a ton of information and papers, including a semester-long Metro pass, and took the placement test that determined our Orientation class schedule. Then, we all munched on delicious pastries and got to know each other. In the afternoon, I went exploring with a few other students; we bought French cell phones and then took the Metro over to Notre Dame. A beautiful service was taking place inside, with organ music and singing. The chanteuse is the woman in blue, in the bottom right hand corner.

Orientation today was once again filled with tons of information about practical things like banking, traveling, and host family relations. Tomorrow, we start the actual classes (in French methodology, writing, and grammar). 

A bientôt, tout le monde!