France France France

Welcome to my blog about my adventures in Paris!

I thought a blog would be a good way to keep all you folks across the sea updated instead of me sending emails upon emails. I've never done a blog before, and there are bound to be spelling mistakes so forgive! Let's get this started.

Plane Ride

My flight overseas flew out of Chicago at 6:50 pm on Friday 28th. I flew with Aer Lingus, an Irish airline stationed in Dublin. There was a two hour layover in Dublin, so it was fun to hear all the sweet Irish accents. Then off to Paris I went. But backing up a little. I had never been on an overseas jet before. The seating went (window) 2 (aisle) 5 (aisle) 2 (window). Complicated, I know, but you get it. I of course chose window seats for all my flights! So that ment I got to spend some quality time with the person sitting next to me. Six hours of quality time that is. When I get to my seat I find a girl, my age-ish, sitting next to mine. Well that's a plus. I sit down and notice this chica is sobbing her eyes out. So I thought, gggrrrreeeaaatttt, probably won't be talking to this person. (sarcasm) I didn't know if I should talk to her because there could've been many reasons she was crying...death, something with the family, etc and I didn't want to say something wrong, sooooo I said "Are you dreading this flight that much!?" She started laughing, and we got to talking. She was an exchange student in the U.S., in Michigan and was on her way back to Spain, although it was clear she didn't want to. We talked for almost the whole plane ride except for the mere couple hours of sleep. We said our goodbyes at the Dublin airport and off I went. It finally hit me when I was on the plane to Paris, that I was going to have to start speaking french really soon! Scary thought it was. It was even SCARIER when I got to Charles de Gaulle airport. I managed to make my way to retrieve my luggage but didn't know what to do from there. Someone was supposed to meet me...but where!? I tried to get back to where I had first come off the plane because I thought this person might be there (silly thinking about that now, because security in airports are super stict and that wouldn't be allowed), but I couldn't get back that way. So I saw some people heading towards an exit and just decided to follow them. I emerged to find tons of people waiting for their fellow family and friends and THANKFULLY right in the front I saw a sign "Wells College".

My New Home

From the airport, I took a taxi with Charlotte (the person waiting for me) to my house. Ended up being 30 euro! Which is like 50 bux. Thank goodness I didn't have to pay! Finally got to the house...which is more or less like a typical Paris flat/appartment. I'm on the east side of Paris in the 20th arrondissement. I wish I could've been with a family family.... Mom, Dad, and kids. But I just got a widow. She is very nice though. Her name is Eveylne Fayett. Although, she is a chimney. I think she smokes at least a pack a day. The open windows help suck the smoke out so it doesn't really smell at all. So, we talked for a while, with the broken french I could muster out due to my nervous state, and then I got a tour of the house. Very small, but they know how to utalise space, no space wasted. Best of all, she has a piano! Sadly, no accordion though. (I did just look up an accordion shop and found one! Hopefully I can make a visit there this week). I attached a picture of where the 20th arrondissement is and also where the house is. It's labeled with HOME, but it's pretty small. You get the idea though. There isn't toooooo much near the house. But, a metro stop is a mere couple minutes walk away which is very nice. My school is just three metro stops north. Takes me less than 10 minutes. While all the other students who live in the dorms, which are way in the south, take about 40 minutes. The big green square above my labeled 'home' in the picture, is a huge cemetery. I think it's the biggest one in Paris. All the people buried there have miniature houses for their tombs. They are huge! Hopefully I can get some pictures uploaded eventually.

Week 1

Welp, I got the first week under my belt and going strong. After some schedule shifting I am set on my schedule. I'm taking 18 credits. Two french courses. Intro to the Louvre - (which is me going to the Louvre every class period for 3 hours. During our first class we had one hour to try and get lost in the Louvre....pretty easily done. It's a massive place). Intro to photography (art history). Photography and Painting. On monday we went to the language school, because the language school is separate from the Wells College to take a written and oral placement exam. I thought it was fairly simple until I got to a story in which I had to answer questions about. I'm not very good at understand a reading and then answer questions in french, plus it was super noisy due to everyone being practically done. So I just left the whole page blank. I thought this would bring me down a bit, but I think I ended up in the most advanced class. I dont know if this is a good thing though. There are only 7 students in the class (I'm the only boy....just like in my painting and Louvre class.....cool huh?!) The students are from all over...Germany, Sweden, Spain, etc. and they are all practically fluent in french. I am by far the worst in the class. My teachers at UNL didn't do my two years of french knownledge justice. So the class is quite difficult for me. But you can tell my teacher loves what she is doing (which is hard to find) and the other students are really fun people so I'm sticking through til the end. French meets every day except thursday and all the other classes meet once a week. ALTHOUGH, each class is 3 hours long!!!! 3 hour long courses remind me of my science lab and architecture courses at UNL. It's just toooo long to have a course. Your brain actually hurts afterwards. And lucky me, on wednesday I have 3 classes = 9 hours. Ofta. I could go into detail about each class, but meh, think I'm going to pass. I'll post something if it's worthy.

So now some random things. I have to take the metro ALOT. All the students got a free pass for the first month, which is SUPER nice. But sadly I will eventually have to start paying for tickets. A fun story! I always carry my backpack with me for my books, groceries, coat, etc. Nothing really toooo valuable but I was on my way down some steps to enter a metro and I kind of noticed someone was right behind me....like really close. I finally caught on he was trying to open my backpack so I swerved to the side right away and he kept going. Silly man can't get Nathan that easily. He had barely moved the zipper. Anywho, now I am super concious about my surroundings. I always take a glance to the sides to check who's behind.

Food. Food is good. Since I'm doing home stay, I get food made for me! (plus my host my does my laundry!!!) I get breakfast in the morning and three dinners a week...so I make four for myself. Breakfast consists of coffee and a slice of bread. I have recently bought some delicious nutella to go with my slice of bread, so I look forward to my breakfasts now. I usually dont have lunch. But I've been getting by. I'll go out to lunch with friends, friends that are girls, these girls who have lots of money and claim they have small stomachs so they never finish their sandwich and they so generously ask if I'd like it. See I have it under control. And by doing that, I was able to not spend a single euro for a whole week! Spent my first euro on friday on some groceries. Cheese, baguette, yogurt, and a bottle of wine. It's a good combination if you ask me. The three meals with my host mom are something to look forward too. We have them tradition french style which is some fruit or soup first. Then the main meal with a side such as a salade or rice, afterwards the BEST part, cheese and bread. My host mom has a plate of cheese to choose from. Each one amazing! Then after that there is dessert which is usually pie or cake. And of course every meal comes with wine. All of this usually takes about two hours.

On friday night there was a planned dinner for all the students at a fancy french restaurant. I had chicken on a shish kabob served with fruit and rice. (picture <----) Then for dessert I had some chocolate cake that had fudge in the middle. O, and there were wine bottles galore on this table. The waitress spaced them so it was like one bottle for 2-3 people. Excessive wine! Fun fact. The waitress would pour a little wine into the person closest to her for the group of people, and that person was the taster. They are supposed to taste the wine and if they like it, she pours out the rest of the glasses...and I guess if the taster doesn't like it she brings a new one. That wouldn't be nice. I was the taster though! What an honor it was. Then on saturday I went on a boat ride on the seine with the other students. It took a good hour. Unfortunately it was cloudy and super cold. But right when we finished the ride, the sun came out! Errrrr. At night, I went with some friends to the le tour de eiffel for the first time. By the way, that first picture was taken by me. It tooks professional huh? We sat on some grass, ate cheese and drank wine and watched the tour sparkle every hour. It sparkles for a minute every hour. It's quite the magical sight.

Thus marks the end of my first post.

Hope all is well everyone!

Nathan