School stuff, internet, Chinese food, and the Moulin Rouge

Hello friends. I don't want to do my homework for my Intensive French MICEFA course right now so I'm going to blather on this blog!

As you may (or may not) know, I am in a program called MICEFA which allows you to choose one of the schools it is partnered with. I am now 99% sure that I have chosen my school: Institut Catholique de Paris! I handed in my application today. This means I have to UN-enroll in Paris 3 Sorbonne-Nouvelle, which took a lot of time and effort to do. But they don't have anything at my level in my major so I can't do it. I need to take classes pertaining to Europe, and they had a "European Studies" major so I thought I was all set, but then I found out they only have L3 classes! (L3 is the third and last year of French university, so we were advised not to take these classes because we are foreign and they're super hard). Catholique, as it's called for short, is a beautiful campus with nuns and priests wandering through it. They have a great office for international students and the employees are super friendly. I debated whether going there was making my life too easy, i.e. skipping out on the French "do-it-yourself" attitude, but I decided that since the orientation was all in French it wasn't too much of a cop-out. And why make myself miserable for no reason? So I'm pretty sure I'm going there and I can take European history all in French but still have the support of the university. And did I mention 2 of my 3 friends here are going there as well? So I think I have made the right decision!

Next subject: French school supplies. I went to buy some supplies the other day at the only office supplies store my friends and I could find and was APPALLED at the prices. I saw one of the pens I buy in multi-packs at home for less than $3 was 2€. FOR ONE PEN. And everything was that expensive: pens, glue, tape, folders, paper, notebooks, etc. I drastically cut down my list of things I wanted for school when I saw THAT. They don't seem to use the same folders we use in the United States, they mostly use binders or accordion folders. They also use different paper, which I was informed I would have to buy because French professors only accept assignments written on that type of paper in pen. Oh, and French schools usually want assignments written out and not typed because they're afraid kids will copy/paste their assignments otherwise.

Accordion folder

So on hearing all this I went to this nifty bookstore called Gibert Jeune near Notre Dame on the recommendation of my French professor. I recommend it to anyone who happens to be in the area! I got a mini French-English dictionary because I'm tired of only being able to translate words I don't know when I'm in my room and the internet is actually working (more on that in a minute). I also got the special paper and a cool book called "1000 Years of Annoying the French" by Stephen Clarke that looks very entertaining. I am finding it is nice to be able to relax by reading something in English before bed. Especially because the internet here is awful.

SPEAKING OF THE AWFUL INTERNET I must warn you that if you ever want to Skype me it probably won't work even if you want to try. I also may not see your messages for forever, or maybe I won't respond even thought it says I'm online. Trust me, when that's happening I am resisting banging my head on the wall trying to get the internet to work. Some days the internet is amazing, like the night before last, and other days it's awful, like most of the time including today. It's especially frustrating because it's my only way to communicate with people at home, but it also makes it hard to do my homework or watch TV or movies or get new music or do anything. Hence the book purchase.

Side story: today my friends and I got lunch after class before splitting off and going our separate ways. We found something under 10€ that wasn't a panini or a crêpe! Chinese food! It was only 6€ for 2 dumplings/spring rolls, rice or noodles, a meat dish, and a drink. That is crazy cheap. And it was good! It was pretty close to the Moulin Rouge if anyone is ever there and looking for cheap food (unlikely).

Speaking of the Moulin Rouge, it was pretty lame. I didn't really know what it was other than a movie to be honest. Possibly about strippers or something. I know my friends from AU will make fun of me for my (usual) hilarious ignorance when I say this, but I thought that movie was set it Louisiana for some reason. Whatever. It was unimpressive and not pretty, so I thought I'd post a picture of it because I like bursting people's bubbles about tourist attractions. Yayy!

*yawn*

Anyway, I should actually do some homework now. Until next time!

Bisous,

La vache espagnole

Going out, Louvre, Latin Quarter/Mouffetard!

I dunno what day it is since I've been here and I am going to stop labeling them as such because I just cannot write every day!

Friday our other friend finally got here. Yay! We went to a MICEFA event in the morning, then went to advising, and then went out in the evening. We had a nice dinner and some wine without paying too too much. But then after that we went to this weird salsa event that other MICEFA kids were going to. We were the first ones there and it was SO LAME. First of all, no one knew how to salsa dance (including me). It was mostly people a little older than us. Also we had to buy a crappy drink and check our coats to even get in, so it cost a bunch of money. So we warned the others off coming and met them somewhere else, which took forever to get there. Once we got there it was super fun, though! I'm glad we're finally hanging out with other MICEFA kids.

The next day we went to the Louvre. It was nice and relaxed. Then we went outside because we were tired and got café crème from a Paul stand and walked outside where it was a bit cooler in the Jardin des Tuileries. Side note: we should definitely get Paul in the United States. It's basically a chain pâtisserie and coffee shop. In Paris it's not that amazing because there are a ton of amazing local pâtisseries, but in the states it would be ah-mazing. But anyway, while the Jardin des Tuileries was pretty, especially in the setting sun; it is going to be beautiful when everything is green again. We walked from there along the Champs-Elysées to the Arc de triomphe again so our friend could take a picture in front of it, and also because it was pretty outside.

 Louvre courtyard

Painting of the Saint Bartholemew's Day Massacre, which was the reason my ancestors left France. I thought it was powerful (if a bit melodramatic). Notice the three intertwined hands: the killer is holding the father in place, the son is trying to hold back the killer with one hand but is holding his father's with the other, and the father is pushing the son back, sacrificing himself to save his son. And his face is completely unafraid and accusatory.

Wow this ceiling!

Eiffel Tower in the distance

Louvre courtyard 

  Jardin des Tuileries

  Jardin des Tuileries

 Jardin des Tuileries

 Jardin des Tuileries

 Jardin des Tuileries

Not sure why but I thought this was hilarious. It was a Lamborghini.

Arc de triomphe

After that we headed back to the Latin Quarter for cheaper food and to show our friend our favorite street: Rue Mouffetard! It's a cool street lined with tons of bars and restaurants and to-go foods like crêpes and gyros. Basically it's very fun and cute and happening. We got another nice (and not TOO expensive) dinner with wine and walked around Rue Mouffetard for crêpes and gelato. But we didn't get back too late, which was nice after last night! I don't have any amusing or snarky observations for today, but I'm sure I'll be back to doing that when I start being around French people more again instead of being in such tourist-y areas.

Tomorrow one friend and I plan to picnic under the Eiffel Tower while the other two walk up the stairs of the Eiffel Tower. Then who knows what the day will bring! Monday I have to go to Paris 3 (Sorbonne Nouvelle) for a tour and placement test that will take all day. Bring it on.

Bisous,
La vache espagnole

Day 6

I will only write a tiny bit today because it's late and I have to get up early. Today I went to a MICEFA thing in the afternoon and realized they sell cheaper food near universities. After that I checked out the sales. Apparently after Three Kings Day (the end of the Christmas season) there are sales. It was compared to Black Friday but I don't see many similarities. Crazy hordes of people were not shoving people around them. They just had a lot of sales. I got a hat and 2 scarves: my first French clothing/accessory purchases! After that I was invited to my friend's home stay for a dinner party. Everyone was very nice and one woman even complimented my French! I was honored. There was cheese and wine and foie gras  and la bise and everything a French dinner party is supposed to be. It was a lovely and informative evening. To finish up (I'm really exhausted, guys), I'd just like to say more people thought I was French today. I think it's a combination of posture, facial expression, clothes, and that I stopped straightening my hair (the French wear it more au naturel). And it's becoming easier to not smile at everyone; it's actually quite liberating! It isn't rude to not smile and you don't have to go through the effort and awkwardness of eye contact and smiling and the timing of all of that when you walk down the street. You save your smiles for when you really mean it with your friends. I saw a ton of smiles at the dinner party, for instance. Anyway I'm gonna sleep now. Byee!

Bisous,
La vache espagnole

Bonus Post: Food, etc.

I am going to assume that this post will only be read by my most loyal readers since I'm not posting a link on my Facebook (I feel that more than one a day is gratuitous). But I forgot to talk about food! And I think it merits its own post anyway. I'll also add in whatever cultural observations pop into my head while talking about food, because it's all very interconnected.

To begin, my friends and I have been trying to keep our meals under 10€ because keep in mind that 10€ is about $14 right now and we're going to have to feed ourselves many many times over the next few months. And keeping it that cheap is much harder than it sounds! Pretty much everything good is 12€ or more. Usually at least 14€. So what are the things that you can get for under 10€? Well pretty much every single place that is that cheap sells: (savory or sweet) crêpes, panninis, pizza, and sometimes pizzaninis. Or you could go to a MacDo (McDonalds) or get a pastry from a pâtisserie (pastry shop). That's about it. We've wandered the streets for hours looking for other things under 15€ multiple times. But I suppose it's good we're getting the exercise!

Another thing: I mentioned in another post that the French love chocolate. But they also don't eat a ton of it. They only have a bit. And it's richer than the chocolate in the United States so you don't really want as much either.

Their mustard is also delicious. You can get good mustard in the United States, but here all the mustard is good. It's like whole seeds. Mmm. None of that yellow crap. They put mustard on everything here. And (like in Belgium) you put mayonnaise on fries. Well, there are lots of things you can put on fries here. Including mussels! It's so common that Stromae (my favorite singer! <3) has a song called "Moules frites" (fries with mussels).

But normally, they have fruit for dessert. Which so far has been more flavorful and sweet than American fruit, which is just big but has bad textures and doesn't taste like anything. My mother can vouch for the fact that I don't like oranges because of the white stuff, but I like them here because the rest of the orange tastes like something and cancels out the cotton-y nothingness of the white stuff.

Also French meals at home follow a certain pattern. They almost always are multiple courses, which can be simple. There's an appetizer (today was soup), then the main dish (today was chicken), then the salad with dressing, then cheese and wine, then maybe some fruit. And bread, usually a baguette (there are apparently many types), is eaten throughout the meal. It's used to mop up any sauces - particularly the salad dressing.

On the subject of bread - everyone is obsessed with it and eats it 24/7. I don't know if I'm going to fight it too much because A) I love bread and B) They are all in fine shape and I'll be walking all the time too. Plus I've been eating less in general. When food tastes like something, you don't feel the need to eat as much. But anyway, back to bread. Everyone gets really fussy about their bread and which boulangerie (bakery) has the best of whatever type (they're also super obsessed with their arrondissements and which is the best and has the best stuff, including boulangeries, and they get REALLY partisan about it - I am in the 9th arrondissement). It's all delicious to me so I can't really tell! My friend and I also noticed when they make sandwiches out of crusty bread it doesn't hurt your mouth like in the United States because it isn't as hard, but it's still crunchy. And it's less chewy. Basically it's just really good.

Also, dinner is late which I thought would mean that things stayed open late and people stayed up late. Not so! You eat at like 7:00 or 8:00 and then most people are in bed by 10 or 11. You have to be super quiet because the neighbors can hear everything. I'm afraid to even walk on the floor after 11 because it makes noise. Most stores are closed by like 6:00, although restaurants are open until 9 or 10 unless they're a "late night" crêpe or döner kebab place, in which case until like 12. Also, they love döner kebab and gyros here for late night food. There are lots of Arab, African, Greek, and Turkish people and restaurants. And some Indian. OH and also the métro closes at like 12:30 (1:30 on weekends). It's not what I expected from experiencing Greece! That's all for now. I might update later if other things pop into my head.

Bisous,
La vache espagnole

Edit: Duhh I forgot to mention that France is obsessed with salmon! They eat smoked salmon all the time on everything and it's cheaper here. But they also eat just regular old salmon. This country really gets me: salmon (especially smoked), cheese, wine, mustard, baguette, and chocolate. Yumm.

Day 5: Market and Cooking Lesson

Hello again, friends. Today I had to go on a field trip with MICEFA. I will complain about that in the following paragraph. But after that I got an awesome cooking lesson in French! I will rave about that in the paragraph after. But I want to note that my Madame is awesome and helped me get there on time and fed me a nice breakfast. Plus she taught me to use the RER for the first time!

Alright, so first thing first: as you may have picked up from this blog, I am ATTEMPTING to fit in so people don't look at me on the street and immediately know I am American. Not necessarily because I am embarrassed to be American, but because I want to try to actually experience and live the culture I am living among. During the field trip today, this was not possible. It was a large group of (mostly) American students who all spoke English with a tour guide who spoke in English the whole time. I saw more Uggs and North Face jackets than I have seen since I left the United States. Anyway, the tour guide took us to a market near where the city gates used to be in the 12th arrondissement. Which, as he noted, is pretty much all French people and Americans stick out like a sore thumb. It was pretty interesting, but we blocked THE ENTIRE THOROUGHFARE and everyone was mad at us and glaring at us because no one was buying anything and everyone was yelling in English. He also took us to a little boulangerie and we blocked THAT thoroughfare. Where lots of French people glared at us. One man purposely bumped as many of us as he could with his bag while angrily muttering. It was pretty embarrassing. So I didn't want to exacerbate that by taking pictures, so I don't have any.

The good part is I heard a bit about the Picpus neighborhood and cemetery. The neighborhood is named after a local vaccination hospital from back in the day. You can guess why if you know how vaccination used to work... The cemetery is where many decapitated bodies were buried in a mass grave during the Terror. Fun fact: La Fayette is buried there because he wanted to be buried next to his wife, and SHE wanted to be buried near her relatives who were nobles and were somewhere in the mass grave. Every year the US Ambassador and a French official, possibly the Prime Minister or the President but I forget, put a wreath on La Fayette's grave. So a pretty uplifting start to the day!

"Here at the gate of the throne, the scaffold was installed from the 13th of June to the 28th of July 1794."

The good part was after that we had some time to kill before the cooking lesson. I had to get change for a large bill so I bought some small things at a small grocery store. And my observation is DEAR LORD French people love chocolate. On and in everything. Especially cookies. Anyway, my friends and some of the Puerto Rican students and I all went back to the market after I got change and we got Lebanese food. This time no one was mad at us (because we weren't blocking the road or yelling in English). On our walk back we saw a cool statue and a plaque that made me sad.

 Cool statue

"Here Roger Guimet fell gloriously for the liberation of Paris on August 25th, 1944 at the age of 20."

Side note: there is a child screaming bloody murder somewhere in this apartment building and I hope he isn't being beaten. I don't know if French people do that or not. They're usually strict but I don't think they usually use physical punishment. It could possibly be that he was put in time out and is trying to get attention. He's been screaming for like 10 minutes.

So anyway, later on we made our way to the cooking lesson, which was at some sort of restaurant or something. It was awesome and it was all in French and I didn't ruin anything! I think it really gave everyone confidence and it was a fun way to do so. We made financiers and a lemon meringue pie and cream puffs stuffed with chocolate mousse. Now that I'm sitting down to write this I realize I don't have much to say about it other than it was fun and a confidence booster and I felt better that I finally got to use French instead of listening to a guy yell in English.

Chocolate mousse-filled cream puffs and lemon-meringue pie

The previous two things plus financiers in the middle

I then made it back to my home stay and talked to Madame's son about politics and university and law school. I think he had trouble understanding me but he was patient which was nice because he told me later that he had to study (but it's okay because he was taking a snack break). Anyway, until next time!

Bisous,
La vache espagnole

Day 4: Meeting my home stay family

Today was a big day so let's see if I can write this all down before passing out. I know that yesterday I said I was going to tour the Sorbonne, but I do not know how to read schedules and was wrong about that. I ate breakfast at my hotel and found out it was free! I could have been getting free breakfast this whole time but the maid was confused and told me it was 8€. But it a ton of food which I was glad of because I hadn't really been eating much and I wanted it to last.

Hot chocolate, apple sauce, pain au chocolat, croissant, cheese, and 2 different types of baguette with butter and jam

So I got to my interview appointment super early and got done with that in a jiffy, as did my friends. After that, I had to kill like 6 hours until I met the ACCENT coordinator back at my hotel to move into my home stay. So my friends and I decided to just tour around. I'm glad I've had so much experience on the métro, and my time using the DC metro has helped a ton, too. We saw Montmartre and La Basilique du Sacré Coeur with great views of Paris.

Sacré Coeur

The usual tourist crap further down the hill. 

Recycle your Christmas trees near Sacré Coeur!

The view

Sacré Coeur from close-up

Panoramic of the view. Paris is huge!

 Yay friends!

Obligatory. Don't hate.

Oh did I mention I have an unhealthy obsession with Stromae (hence the earbud I forgot to take out)? It makes me feel more French even though he's Belgian. There were also tons of shops around there.

Including this scary taxidermy one!

 Fun!

Cute!

We saw Notre Dame but are waiting for our other friend to arrive to pay to go inside.

We then took a bus and just rode it around to see where it took us because our unlimited métro passes also work on the busses. I don't have pictures of that because it was hard to see, but we saw L'opéra and some generally cool stuff. Oh, and fun fact: you probably can't see it, but in the picture below that white dispenser is a préservatif (condom) dispenser. They are EVERYWHERE. On the street, in the métro, in bathrooms, etc. Just interesting we don't do this in the US. You'd think it would be a worthwhile public health campaign. And France is pretty darned Catholic, so I think the US could do it, too. On a (probably) unrelated note, the cat calling continued. I think I'll just have to get used to it but it's super annoying. A guy asked for my number and another yelled "Hé, bébé!" ("Hey, baby!"). If I am not looking at you, don't talk to me unless you have something important to say!

Préservatif dispenser

After all that excitement I went to the hotel to meet the ACCENT coordinator and pick up my bags. I took a taxi to my home stay and now I am here! The family is awesome and I love them already. I get my own room and there's WiFi and I even get my own shower! Madame loves to talk and I understand most of what she's saying but I have trouble speaking. But she's patient and helps me through it. They have 4 kids but only 2 live here, and they're both close to my age. There's one boy and one girl. Basically I think it's going to be great and I'm super excited about the whole thing. OH, and I live very very close to Montmartre and can see it out the window! And I'm near a very convenient métro stop. So I will end this post for tonight because tomorrow I'm getting up early to tour an old market with MICEFA, which will FINALLY be my first MICEFA outing because I kept missing them for other things. I'm very excited and will keep everyone updated!

Bisous,

La vache espagnole

Day 3

Don't worry everyone, I won't post this often normally. I swear! Once again I didn't do much today but I have some observations. This morning I went to my meeting at ACCENT, which is the program providing my home stay. I managed to get myself a pastry for breakfast and get there early despite the fact that the building was set back in a courtyard. I will meet my home stay family tomorrow, but we had an orientation today. I learned things such as:

1) French people will be able to tell you are American without you opening your mouth and you will have no idea why. It might be your clothes or your facial expressions or the way you hold yourself. Don't feel bad. It isn't an insult if you decide it isn't!
2) French people do not have fire or carbon monoxide alarms, so I was provided with both.
3) French washing machines are extremely complicated and your home stay family will probably tell you they will just do your laundry for you.
4) I am not here to LEARN French, I am here to PRACTICE French. My goals should not be so overwhelming.
5) Pickpockets can look like old grannies or students. TRUST NO ONE.
6) Just carry a copy of your passport, not the real deal. And don't bother bringing your driver's license; it doesn't mean anything here.
7) Never take the night bus because everyone is drunk and rowdy. Take a taxi if the metro is closed.
8) If a man hits on you and you don't want to talk to him, look him up and down pointedly and then look away. Do not respond. It isn't rude here, it's the norm.
9) French stores never have enough change.
10) Everything closes super early. Like 6 PM.
11) Door locks are inexplicably complicated here. My friend was locked in her house and couldn't get out today.
12) Doctors here make house calls! They're called SOS médecins.
13) About half of the people in Paris live alone.
14) French people NEVER use toilet paper as tissues because they think you will get sick from it.
15) Americans tend to leave about an arm's length of personal space. French people do half an arm's length. And even less on the métro. It will make you uncomfortable at first but you just have to get used to it.
16) Everything is different in France. Don't fight it. The Coca-Cola example: It's smaller, more expensive, tastes different, won't have ice, there won't be a free refill, and there might be some lemon in it. Keep an open mind.

After the meeting, we walked down the Champs-Élysées. The holiday village was closing up so I didn't get to see it, but it was pretty and there were more Christmas lights.

Once again, classy spheres. In a fountain!

Panthers! Or maybe lions.

We got to the Arc de triomphe and couldn't figure out how to get to it until we realized you had to take a tunnel underground. We went in the tunnel but then realized it cost money so we bailed.

L'arc de triomphe!

Obligatory picture of me in front of the Arc de triomphe that I did not want to take.

We found the hidden tunnel!

Inside the tunnel.

I figured I should get back early anyway because it was raining, I'm moving out tomorrow, meeting to have my interview in the morning, and then touring the Sorbonne. And in the evening I'm moving into my home stay! So I have a long and busy day ahead of me starting early. In the metro a boy yelled "Bonjour les filles, vous êtes charmantes!" (Hello girls, you are lovely!), which was at least polite if obnoxious. Anyway, that's all for now.

Bisous,
La vache espagnole