la belle ville!

Well, it is day four in France, and it feels as though it’s already been a week! Every minute of this is an adventure, zut alors!

On Wednesday, I left home, which was a fiasco. Dad gave me a father’s blessing, and then we got ready to leave for the airport. As we were leaving, the airport called and said that my 12:40 flight had been cancelled, and I had been rescheduled for a flight at 4:15. Of course, I started to panic because I was meeting some of my classmates at eight, when they were also arriving in Paris. Fortunately for me, I was still arriving around the same time, so they were still there when I got off the plane (phew!). The hardest thing about leaving was saying goodbye to my parents and watching them disappear as I walked through security. The next hardest thing to deal with was wondering how on earth I was going to deal with this. Thankfully, as alone as I felt on that plane, I’m sure not alone here.

My first taste of Paris was the taxi driver’s mad driving skills. It was worse than Dad’s driving. Our taxi driver was wearing a beret and a mustache, the most common of stereotypes, though I suspect that was for the tourists. He dropped us off at our hotel, told us (in French) we needed to walk up three flights of stairs (with our heavy baggage) to the hotel doors. He was nice enough, but the stairs were not. We were gasping and hacking lungs by the time we reached it. The hotel itself was very quaint, and the rooms were très petite, but they sure were comfortable (or maybe I was just tired). It seems that everything in Paris is smaller. Small bathrooms, small beds (I barely fit mine), even small people! I tower over everyone here!

After we got to the hotel, Madame Sprenger (our professor), took us to get our metro passes, and then we split. My roommate, Sutton, and I went off to get food, and then we returned to the hotel to take an hour-long nap. Unfortunately, an hour turned into three, and before we knew it, we had to meet with Mme. Sprenger for dinner. It took us a while to get there, mostly because Mme. Sprenger showed us the different ways to get around Paris. First, we used the bus system (which tourists generally don’t use because it’s too slow for them – they like to use the metro), then we got out and walked the rest of the way. I saw the Seine River! Et la Notre Dame! C’était incroyable! Our restaurant was very quaint. Think of any French painting of a restaurant, and you’ll get the picture of where we ate.

The next day, we had orientation. We arrived at the Institute (after a small detour – we got lost) at about 10 am. We walked around the area a bit, and then returned to the hotel to get our stuff and go to our host families. It was rather difficult, since we were scheduled to get to our families during rush hour, and also it was Ramadan (most of the taxi drivers are Muslim), so they didn’t want to work. Luckily for Sutton and I, we were one of the first to leave, so we got to our host family at a decent hour. They are very nice. The parents aren’t here – they are at a wedding and won’t be back until Sunday night, but the kids were. Our parents have 4 children – two have grown and left the house, the other two still live here, although Fannie (I don’t know the spelling) is moving out to live with her friends. The son, who is the youngest, has graduated and is still at home. Fannie’s English is very good, although we used French the entire time. I think my brain exploded by the end of the night because we were using so much French.

Saturday, we left at about 9 am to the Institute (via the metro). We toured through France, spoke a lot of French, and then split again around noon. As we were walking through Paris, we saw l’Eglise de Madeline, la Tour Eiffel, les Champs Elysées, et l’Arc de Triumphe. They were all magnificent. By then, Sutton and I had gotten so tired, so we decided to go home and rest a bit before we went out and wandered the streets around our Paris house. Everything was going perfectly fine, but when we got off the metro and started walking towards what we thought was our street, we got lost. We asked someone to help us, got lost some more, asked another person, and was set on the right street (thank the kind Parisians!). Overall, our excursion from the time we got off the metro and arrived at our house was 45 minutes, where normally, it would be a five-minute walk. Isn’t that amazing? Phew! I’m tired. Well, at least I learned a new word: se perdre. Nous nous sommes perdu à Paris.

Then, we napped, got up, bought some shampoo (yay!) except I don't think the use conditioner. We went to la pharmecie, but all of the cheap shampoos didn't have any conditioners. Maybe if we went to the supermarchée, we might have found it, but we didn't get a chance to. All of the shops were closing, and the only available stores were the ones with food. So we bought food and went home and had a stellar meal of.... wait for it... SPAGHETTI! I can't wait to meet the parents.

Sunday, today, was less rushed than all the other days. Well, not quite. This morning, we left the house a little late and we were late to church. Our ward meets at 9:30, and we have yet to buy an alarm clock. But church was amazing. I mean, I found out that my French was even more mediocre than it already was because I could hardly understand anything the speakers said, but... c'est la vie. I'm here to learn. (Of course, it might help if they spoke a little more slowly...)

After church, the most random thing happened. I saw Melissa Avila, a girl from my home ward. I mean, I knew she was going to be in France for a while, but I didn't know she was still going to be here! Turns out, she's here for another year. Never thought I'd see a familiar face...

OK, so then a group of us went off for lunch. Unfortunately, none of us had the foresight to make some sandwiches beforehand, so we ended up spending money on Sunday... oops. It was a good sandwich, though. La Brie. Yummy. We sat in the courtyard of the Modern Museum (I still haven't learned the name to that place, yet. I want to go in there, soon) and ate our lunch, then afterward, we went to la Notre Dame. Our group split up, but I stayed under the shadow of the Notre Dame with Hannah (a girl in our group) and her husband, Micheal, and just adored the facade of the cathedral, looked at all the rats with wings (pigeons), and observed the people (mostly figuring out who was a tourist and who was a native. They're pretty easy to figure out. Basically, if they're wearing Nikes, or have giant bags, or a camera hanging around their necks... or if they're shouting in English to each other, they're pretty easy to label as tourists). Oh, and a pickpocket tried to nab us - but we outsmarted him/them. HA! If I ever DID become a victim, though, I should be good. I have nothing in my wallet, but I always carry it with me. I'm sure if they ever did get past my defenses, they would grab the wallet first and run... and find nothing. I'm so good :)

So after a couple of hours, we went inside the Notre Dame, sat in its splendor, and enjoyed an organ concert. It was... amazing, wonderful, incredible, magnifique... really there are no words to describe anything about that place. The huge, vaulted ceiling; the gigantic columns; the whole vastness of the place, inside and out - coupled with loud organ music echoing off of the walls... it was beautiful. There's a free concert every week, so I'm definitely going back.

Then Sutton and I went home, and finally got a chance to get on the Internet, which is why I didn't update right away. But now I have. Voila!

A few suggestions for all who are considering coming to Paris: don’t be loud and obnoxious in either language. Parisians hate that. If they can hear you across the room, then they will be rude to you. Also, speak the language. They are very kind and helpful if you talk to them in French. Still, this may not always help you. Sutton and I went out for lunch today, and they weren’t very patient with us, mostly because I had forgotten most of my vocabulary having to do with eating at the restaurant (l’addition, s’il vous plait – l’addition, s’il vous plait). Also, I was very ignorant and didn’t know that they don’t give you a receipt. Apparently, you leave after you pay, and you don’t wait for anything else. I felt very stupid and embarrassed, especially since the table next to us were laughing at us. Not nice. Say, “Bonjour monsieur/madame,” before anything else. It is considered very rude if you don’t. After they help you, say, “merci beacoup,” because that is also considered polite. They also seem to really like it if you say, “Bonne journée,” the equivalent to “have a good day.”

So far, Paris is incredible. I feel overwhelmed at being here and looking around at all the wonderful things. Several times, it just hit me that I was in Paris, and holy cow, how incredible is that? A whole ocean away from home! A whopping 5,234 miles away from home! This is amazing – sometimes I still can’t believe I’m here…