Living in Paris is more agreeable that I had predicted it would be. In fact, I’m enjoying it so much that I’m 99% sure that I will remain living here for the entire year. A four month stay really is too short; by the time I start to get fully acclimatized to life here it would already be time to leave. Also, in after a whole year I will probably become completely fluent in French. It may mean dropping out of co-op, but I’ve talked to my parents and they support my decision.
Finding an apartment was harder than I thought it would be. A lot of students live in chambres de bonnes which are what used to be the maids’ chambers at the tops of the old, chic buildings. The problem with them is that they are small, usually crappy, and have shared toilets (One of my friends shares a Turkish toilet, which is just a porceline hole in the ground). On the upside, they often have panoramic views of the city.
My apartment, on the other hand, is a cute little studio with a kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. At 18m2, it’s the biggest apartment of all my friends. However, it’s also outside Paris in the proche banlieue of Gentilly. It’s all newly renovated and I’m really quite happy here. I am a bit worried I’ll be lonely without a roommate, but once I get a TV and internet, it will be better.
Last night Sebastian came over for dinner. We had some cheese and peppered pork terrine on fresh baguette which we washed down with the red wine he brought. We then went out for sushi, which was not nearly as good as the sushi back home, and then we came back for more wine. I drank a bit too much and was pretty tipsy. Once he left I polished off the rest of the 2nd bottle and was pretty drunk. I had a very enjoyable candle-lit shower and then plopped into my bed (which is an IKEA click-clack being held up by books at the moment). I slept well from about 9pm until 3:30am, but then I woke up. Since then, I haven't been able to get back to sleep. It's 6:25am right now and I'm still awake! [Note: I’m revising this now at 8am, and I’m still up].
Interesting tidbits about Paris:
The café is a place where you can get a cup of coffee and read the morning paper, get hammered on beer while watching the rugby game, or have a gourmet meal. Usually those activities are conducted at different locations in Canada, but not here.
Mustard here is divine. It's spicy and flavourful and everything you would want a mustard to be. A lot of restaurants keep it on the table with the salt and pepper. I used to not like mustard, but I know realise that I just didn’t like that putrid yellow junk they call mustard back home. French mustard is my new favourite condiment.
Food, especially fries, is less salty here. I think it's just because North American food is over-salted.
Pharmacies can be found on every street corner. They aren’t the convienient vendors of sell personal hygeine products like Shopper’s Drug Mart is; they just have medicine and some over-priced beauty creams. I haven't yet worked out why the French need so many damned pharmacies.
In Paris, students have to sign up for classes in person. It's an archaic and frustrating process that would be easily remedied if the universities could discover the possibilities provided by the "internets."
School toilets usually don’t have seats on them. They are like a regular toilet where someone took the seat part off. It's fine because you'd probably squat anyways, but I thought it was noteworthy.
Canadian stores are open every day and they are open late. Here stores close for Sundays and they close earlier in the evening. This is also true of restaurants. What there is to do on a Sunday if you can't shop? Parisians either sleep in and relax at home (it's a good day to make a fancy dinner), they exercise (there are forests around the city, and the streets lining the Seine close Sundays for pedestrians and cyclists), or they go to museums which are often free on Sundays.
Wine is cheap here. This tidbit is pretty obvious, but I was only 14 the last time I was here and I just now noticing dirt-cheap it is. I don't know anything about wine, but Sebastian (whose father makes wine) told me that we can buy here for under €5 (about $7) would cost $50 at the LCBO. I've been to restaurants where the wine is cheaper than the water.
One of my earliest memories of Paris was from when I was a young girl, maybe eight or so, and I saw a couple making out on a bench, in broad daylight, near my granny's apartment. Having never seen people making out before, this made quite and impression on me. PDA is much more prominent in Paris. It's quite common to see couples kissing—eating each other’s faces, really—in public in this city. It's something that you would never see people doing in Canada (at least not without getting stared at dissaprovingly).
That's all the tidbits that came to mind for the moment. Now I thought it would be fun to give a little description of my friends in Paris (at least the ones I hang out with the most).
Matt and Alan
Matt Ray (23, Florida), speaks Italian (he lived there for a year), used to work at a fondue restaurant (he said he’d make us fondue one day), and is very energetic. He’s not only fun but he’s also someone here that I really trust, which is a hard thing to find in someone. Right now he is in Spain killing time until school starts.
Alan “Japanalan” Kawakai...something Hawaiian (25, California) is not, despite the nickname, Japanese. Well, he’s a ¼ Japanese. It’s just that the men on the métro try to pick him up, asking whether he’s Japanese or not. Japan must be "in" here. He always responds “yes” too! Anyways, he's a very cool guy who has an envy-inducing apartment in the middle of the city for which he pays pays only €500 per month for (damn him!). He always seems to know where cool stuff is happening, like a good party or something.
Erin (20, Louisiana) is a the most indie girl I know. She's beautiful and voluptuous like a pin-up girl from the 50's. I think she looks rather like Parker Posey. She has short, shaggy, coal-black hair that she occasionally sweeps up into a faux-hawk. She’s also a belly dancer who is searching for a half-decent dance studio in Paris (not easy). She's good to have around because French men find her charmante—which we suspect is a euphemism for "has big breasts"—and they give her free stuff.
Jared Leblanc (23, Louisiana) is someone Erin knew from back home. He’s incredibly handsome, but unfortunately he’s also gay. He’s so handsome that I know of three men who've asked him out since he got here a few short weeks ago. Right now he's dating a 34-year-old banker named Stephane (good name, right?) that he met on the métro. We're all jealous that Jared found his French sugar daddy, something the rest of us are still working on.
Lucas (29, Quebec) is a man we met while we were temporarily housed at the Maison des Etudiants Canadiens. He is good to hang out with because he teaches us a lot about the French language and culture, especially the rude and naughty stuff. After learning that I have French citizenship he also proposed marriage to me, trying to persuade me by saying "I [Lucas that is, not me] have a big penis." I figure I could do worse husband-wise, so Lucas if you’re reading this, if I'm 40 and still single I may just give you a call.
Seb and Nick
Sebastian "Man vs. Wild" Schmoranz (20, Waterloo) is the only person here I knew beforehand. I was so stressed out when I was boarding the plane to come here, but by coincidence he was on the same flight and his presence was such a relief to me (the drinks we had at the airport bar didn’t hurt either). I had always gotten the impression that he didn't like me as he had never made an effort to talk to me or hang out with me in Waterloo. But now that I'm here I find that we are indeed friends. Seb is a good guy to have around because he has a good sense of direction, knows a lot of interesting stuff, and is the token "man" of our group.
Nick (20, Waterloo) is another cool guy to hang out with. His distinctive trait is is very, very low voice. It drives the ladies to him like tornadoes to a trailer park. And did I mention that he's straight? All the straight men came from the Loo! Holla!
Finding an apartment was harder than I thought it would be. A lot of students live in chambres de bonnes which are what used to be the maids’ chambers at the tops of the old, chic buildings. The problem with them is that they are small, usually crappy, and have shared toilets (One of my friends shares a Turkish toilet, which is just a porceline hole in the ground). On the upside, they often have panoramic views of the city.
My apartment, on the other hand, is a cute little studio with a kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. At 18m2, it’s the biggest apartment of all my friends. However, it’s also outside Paris in the proche banlieue of Gentilly. It’s all newly renovated and I’m really quite happy here. I am a bit worried I’ll be lonely without a roommate, but once I get a TV and internet, it will be better.
Last night Sebastian came over for dinner. We had some cheese and peppered pork terrine on fresh baguette which we washed down with the red wine he brought. We then went out for sushi, which was not nearly as good as the sushi back home, and then we came back for more wine. I drank a bit too much and was pretty tipsy. Once he left I polished off the rest of the 2nd bottle and was pretty drunk. I had a very enjoyable candle-lit shower and then plopped into my bed (which is an IKEA click-clack being held up by books at the moment). I slept well from about 9pm until 3:30am, but then I woke up. Since then, I haven't been able to get back to sleep. It's 6:25am right now and I'm still awake! [Note: I’m revising this now at 8am, and I’m still up].
Interesting tidbits about Paris:
The café is a place where you can get a cup of coffee and read the morning paper, get hammered on beer while watching the rugby game, or have a gourmet meal. Usually those activities are conducted at different locations in Canada, but not here.
Mustard here is divine. It's spicy and flavourful and everything you would want a mustard to be. A lot of restaurants keep it on the table with the salt and pepper. I used to not like mustard, but I know realise that I just didn’t like that putrid yellow junk they call mustard back home. French mustard is my new favourite condiment.
Food, especially fries, is less salty here. I think it's just because North American food is over-salted.
Pharmacies can be found on every street corner. They aren’t the convienient vendors of sell personal hygeine products like Shopper’s Drug Mart is; they just have medicine and some over-priced beauty creams. I haven't yet worked out why the French need so many damned pharmacies.
In Paris, students have to sign up for classes in person. It's an archaic and frustrating process that would be easily remedied if the universities could discover the possibilities provided by the "internets."
School toilets usually don’t have seats on them. They are like a regular toilet where someone took the seat part off. It's fine because you'd probably squat anyways, but I thought it was noteworthy.
Canadian stores are open every day and they are open late. Here stores close for Sundays and they close earlier in the evening. This is also true of restaurants. What there is to do on a Sunday if you can't shop? Parisians either sleep in and relax at home (it's a good day to make a fancy dinner), they exercise (there are forests around the city, and the streets lining the Seine close Sundays for pedestrians and cyclists), or they go to museums which are often free on Sundays.
Wine is cheap here. This tidbit is pretty obvious, but I was only 14 the last time I was here and I just now noticing dirt-cheap it is. I don't know anything about wine, but Sebastian (whose father makes wine) told me that we can buy here for under €5 (about $7) would cost $50 at the LCBO. I've been to restaurants where the wine is cheaper than the water.
One of my earliest memories of Paris was from when I was a young girl, maybe eight or so, and I saw a couple making out on a bench, in broad daylight, near my granny's apartment. Having never seen people making out before, this made quite and impression on me. PDA is much more prominent in Paris. It's quite common to see couples kissing—eating each other’s faces, really—in public in this city. It's something that you would never see people doing in Canada (at least not without getting stared at dissaprovingly).
That's all the tidbits that came to mind for the moment. Now I thought it would be fun to give a little description of my friends in Paris (at least the ones I hang out with the most).
Matt and Alan
Matt Ray (23, Florida), speaks Italian (he lived there for a year), used to work at a fondue restaurant (he said he’d make us fondue one day), and is very energetic. He’s not only fun but he’s also someone here that I really trust, which is a hard thing to find in someone. Right now he is in Spain killing time until school starts.
Alan “Japanalan” Kawakai...something Hawaiian (25, California) is not, despite the nickname, Japanese. Well, he’s a ¼ Japanese. It’s just that the men on the métro try to pick him up, asking whether he’s Japanese or not. Japan must be "in" here. He always responds “yes” too! Anyways, he's a very cool guy who has an envy-inducing apartment in the middle of the city for which he pays pays only €500 per month for (damn him!). He always seems to know where cool stuff is happening, like a good party or something.
Erin (20, Louisiana) is a the most indie girl I know. She's beautiful and voluptuous like a pin-up girl from the 50's. I think she looks rather like Parker Posey. She has short, shaggy, coal-black hair that she occasionally sweeps up into a faux-hawk. She’s also a belly dancer who is searching for a half-decent dance studio in Paris (not easy). She's good to have around because French men find her charmante—which we suspect is a euphemism for "has big breasts"—and they give her free stuff. Jared Leblanc (23, Louisiana) is someone Erin knew from back home. He’s incredibly handsome, but unfortunately he’s also gay. He’s so handsome that I know of three men who've asked him out since he got here a few short weeks ago. Right now he's dating a 34-year-old banker named Stephane (good name, right?) that he met on the métro. We're all jealous that Jared found his French sugar daddy, something the rest of us are still working on. Lucas (29, Quebec) is a man we met while we were temporarily housed at the Maison des Etudiants Canadiens. He is good to hang out with because he teaches us a lot about the French language and culture, especially the rude and naughty stuff. After learning that I have French citizenship he also proposed marriage to me, trying to persuade me by saying "I [Lucas that is, not me] have a big penis." I figure I could do worse husband-wise, so Lucas if you’re reading this, if I'm 40 and still single I may just give you a call.Seb and Nick
Sebastian "Man vs. Wild" Schmoranz (20, Waterloo) is the only person here I knew beforehand. I was so stressed out when I was boarding the plane to come here, but by coincidence he was on the same flight and his presence was such a relief to me (the drinks we had at the airport bar didn’t hurt either). I had always gotten the impression that he didn't like me as he had never made an effort to talk to me or hang out with me in Waterloo. But now that I'm here I find that we are indeed friends. Seb is a good guy to have around because he has a good sense of direction, knows a lot of interesting stuff, and is the token "man" of our group.
Nick (20, Waterloo) is another cool guy to hang out with. His distinctive trait is is very, very low voice. It drives the ladies to him like tornadoes to a trailer park. And did I mention that he's straight? All the straight men came from the Loo! Holla!
2 comments:
Your friends sound like some really cool people - I can't believe you met them all in Paris! It's good to hear that you made so many friends though. :)
99% chance you'll be staying for the rest of the year?!? Not only am I jealous, but I'm also sad you won't be here next term. Does that mean that you won't be in school until next fall?
Also, thank you for putting all your photos up!! Holy geez, I didn't (fully) realize that you had taken so many! It's a good thing, because otherwise I'm sure you would forget something. I think it's cute that you named your url link 'Le chat parisienne'. How true.
Looking forward to hearing you soon! (and thank you very much for the postcards! I should send you some mail...) Keep up the hard work at school! :D
p.s. unfortunately, I have no apple picking photos, but I can take photos of the biggest apples that we picked - they're bigger than my hands!
Yeah, I'm 99% sure. I just don't know if I'll be here studying or working; I'm waiting to see if they will have room for me in the exchange program. I want to see these enormous apples!
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