Paris: Week One, Day Two
Friday, June 30
Today, I woke up in pain. My back hurts, my knees hurt, my neck hurts, everything hurts. This bed is NOT working for me. I have to figure out how to make adjustments so that I’m not stiff every morning. There are only two things on my agenda today. First, I have to go to the AIFS orientation at 11am, and then I have the AIFS welcome dinner at 6:45pm. I’m really curious about orientation.
Just a reminder, AIFS is the organization that offers study abroad and internship abroad opportunities. To learn more about them or to plan YOUR trip abroad, click here. You don’t have to be a student to study abroad. I’m just saying…LOL!
My day started with a text from a friend, Philibert, who lives in Bergerac. I think in the YouTube video (which hasn’t been released yet) I said Paris. But that’s not the case. He lives near the southern part of France, waaaaay far away from Paris. We’re online language buddies. You can click the link below to see a map of France. Paris is marked with a star. Bergerac is not on the map, but it is down near the south near Bordeaux and Dordogne. I believe Bergerac is an arrondisment of Dordogne, but my geography isn’t so great.
https://francemap360.com/france-map
Just an interesting note, that is the same Bergerac from Cyrano de Bergerac. Just a little tidbit of trivia for anyone familiar with that big nosed sweet talker. Having a big nose myself, I’ve always enjoyed that story. You can learn more about the real Cyrano de Bergerac here. Anyway, Philibert told me that the country is in a state of unrest due to the police shooting of a 17-year-old boy. You can see the messages below.
I do love France and their overall treatment of minorities from a governmental perspective, especially compared to the USA. Although, I’ve heard from actual Black French people that it’s not good. I guess it’s all relative. That being said, no place is perfect and they do have issues with police. I guess this is true everywhere. Personally, I don’t think it’s a police thing. I think it’s a power thing. Anyway, I looked a little deeper into this event. It hits close to home considering the issues of police brutally we’ve been addressing over the past few years in America. Below, I shared some YouTube videos where you can get a brief look into the situation here in France.
CAUTION! SENSITIVE SUBJECTS! VIEW AT YOUR OWN RISK!
After that brief interaction, I went on to get ready for my day. I was cautious, but felt safe being out during the day.
I rushed to get to the orientation on time. There was a delay on both the metro and the RER. One delay was for lost luggage and the other was just because. Who knows why? I planned to leave an hour early, but my sore body took a while to get moving. I left about 10 minutes late, but the actual trip was only supposed to take about 26 minutes. Plenty of time, right? I waited forever for the elevator to come to the 6th floor. About halfway down to the ground floor, the elevator stopped. Without even thinking, I hopped out into the hallway. It was on the 3rd floor. By the time I realized it, the elevator was already gone. I pushed the button to wait some more, but finally gave up. I took the stairs instead. This elevator thing is going to get old quick! Anyway, I arrived at the AIFS building with about 2 minutes to spare. I rushed through two layers of code-based security doors, ran up the steps, and entered into the office all sweaty and breathing hard. I asked the lady “Parlez-vous anglais?” She responded, “Are you here for the orientation?” LOL! Of course she speaks English. What was I thinking? She then tells me it doesn’t start until 11:30am. I showed here my email which stated 11am. She said there must have been a mistake. So, I was just really early and really hot.
Orientation went by quickly. I ended up getting 140 euros from AIFS as a breakfast stipend because my housing arrangements don’t offer breakfast. That was a wonderful surprise! I plan to buy fruit with it because I’m really hungry these days. After orientation, AIFS gave us (all 3 of us) tickets to the Toot Bus, the Palais Garnier (my favorite building in Paris), and a boat tour. Should be fun.
After orientation, I wandered around a bit. I went to the store again. Monoprix this time. Bought some tomatoes (score!), crackers, breakfast bars, drinks, and other things. Again, it all cost less than 30 euros. I really love shopping here compared to the USA. It’s just so much cheaper and, overall, the foods are healthier. Once I finished that, I went back to my place to unload everything and relax for a bit. I tried to take a nap but I just couldn’t quite get to sleep. I “woke up” about an hour later, feeling groggy and foggy in my brain. It was time for the dinner so I had to go.
Another 30 minute rush across the city just in case the metro was delayed. It wasn’t. I got there with 30 minutes to spare. The place was located down a pedestrian alley which housed various businesses and restaurants. I just hung out in the street until I saw the leader from AIFS at the restaurant. We headed up stairs. There was some small talk and a bit of logistics as she made sure they could meet my pescetarian needs. They couldn’t, which was surprising. Instead, they planned a vegetarian meal for me. Everyone else was getting chicken. I could have eaten the chicken, but my stomach often gets angry when I eat meat. Some days, it gets angry when I eat anything. It’s in my genes. (NOTE: I literally spelled that ‘jeans’ before I realized the mistake! Haha!).
The next hour was one of more waiting. I guess the theme is hurry up and wait! Many students were running late. It turns out this dinner was not only a welcome dinner, but also a goodbye dinner for those students who are already here. I did meet a student who had been in France for about 8 months. First he did a semester of study, and then an internship with Dolce and Gabbana! That’s pretty cool, especially since he claimed to not speak French. I just need someone to explain to me how you can be a sales associate in France and not speak French. Help me crack the code!
The rest of the night was filled with conversation about hair (everyone needs a hair cut, apparently), nails (they want manicures in France), religion (basically bashing every religion), the Amish (apparently there was an Amish expert at our table who is not Amish, nor has she ever lived with the Amish…), sharks (they support the sharks), dolphins (they hate dolphins), and tips about France (they know it all). They were very loud too. That is a big faux pas here. Loud Americans are a true stereotype. I think sometimes we don’t even know how loud we are. I felt bad for the other customers around us, especially when I heard the waiter yelling to be heard over our group. After about an hour, I was ready to go! But, for better or for worse, this was a three course meal.
We had onion soup, which was delicious, but very heavy. Most people didn’t finish it because it was so thick. The fried onions on top were sweet and the soup didn’t taste like onions at all. They also put little cheese raviolis in it. Cute! Then we had the main course. They had chicken with sweet potato puree. I had fried tofu strips with spinach (eewww! spinach!). Desert was a chocolate lava cake with a light custard crème on top. It was dark chocolate and not sweet at all. I quite enjoyed it.
After it was all over, about 3 hours later, I headed home. I couldn’t sleep though. It seems there are people in the USA waiting for me to create blog posts, send photos, and upload videos. So, I had to get to work!
