Hey Folks,
I haven’t been here long, but the City of Lights is definitely going to be one of my new favorite places! I can’t believe this whole long process of paperwork and more paperwork and meetings and preparations have finally cumulated in my sitting here in my little room at the FIAP youth hostel on rue Cabanis in Paris. My flight to Dallas was uneventful, and even though my flight to Charles de Gaulle was delayed about 30 minutes, it gave me time to have a lovely conversation with an absolutely ancient couple retracing the steps of their 25 wedding anniversary trip and an older, French ex-pat, painter, art teacher on her way to visit her sister. They were so kind and encouraging and were glad to dish out as much advise as, and maybe more than, was deemed sufficient. Despite not being able to sleep a wink on the plane due to the persistent problem of my head falling over in a rather painfully awkward position anytime sleep came near, I did catch a few lucky breaks with a surprisingly good dinner, getting an aisle seat with an empty one next to me, and a warm croissant with strawberry jam and orange juice to greet me when the sun came up.
Rather exhausted, but excited from catching my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower, I sped through customs as fast as he could stamp my passport and headed for the gate where Mme. Suraqui picked us up. That is where I was able to email yall, and we hopped onto our bus to come here. There are about twenty of us total in the program this semester, but currently only eleven of us are here at FIAP.
FIAP courtyard view from my room
My room
As soon as we dropped off our bags in our rooms, we all grouped up (minus one) and headed out for Le Monoprix to get our I.D. photos and pick up a few last minute things such as the toothpaste I forgot. The streets around here are absolutely picturesque. I forgot my camera, but the narrow, rather angular streets are lined with tall stone and plaster buildings covered in decorative cast iron railings and staircases. Little nooks and crannies lead to leafy courtyards and cobblestone alleyways, and little shops selling a variety of bonbons, newspapers, baguettes, powdered paints, raincoats, and scarves. The streets are so walking friendly that you almost forget that there are cars around. We eventually made our way back to FIAP (about 15min. walk) and picked up the guy that stayed behind before heading out again to find a park that we had seen on a map. This walk took us more northeast along a gorgeous boulevard. The median was about a twenty-five foot wide sidewalk lined on both sides with huge sycamore trees and smaller shrubbery. It was so picturesque. I will have to find it again and take pictures for yall. The park itself was also something out of a movie. The big sloping green lawns and ancient trees all surrounded by tons of young children playing soccer and tag while their parents sat in little groups chatting without seeming to fear too much for their children’s safety. It was just lovely and a literal and figurative breath of fresh air. On the walk back we were all exhausted and quite hungry, but managed to stay awake long enough for our supper. Dinner was a simple but complex looking buffet of unnervingly raw roast beef, a slaw of sorts that I had one bite of, baked lentils, a delicious hard crust roll, and a parsnip (?) salad/slaw. It was interesting because we could either go by looks or the French description, and both proved to be unreliable methods of determining what we were eating. Thankfully all of us get along quite well and have formed a rather cooperative and energetic group eager to see the city and experience it to the fullest. My roommate for these next two nights, Victoria, is very pleasant to be around and smart to boot. She too is an Art History major, and so we probably will be taking a lot of our classes together. Tomorrow we have plans for half of us to take the metro up to the Louvre area for a few hours before afternoon meetings and the other half of us (myself included) is going to stay around this area to explore further and hopefully take some pictures of this amazing place. Well, it’s about time for a long needed shower and sleep! I am so sleep deprived! I have basically been up since 6am on the 11th and it is currently 9pm on the 12th, and have missed three meals in the process. Not to worry though, things should get a bit more steady from here on out. Our schedule seems pretty relaxed after the 14th, so I should be able to get in a lot of exploring. Hopefully one of the other students in the program will live near me so that I will have someone to do things with; however, it is also a crutch because it is just too easy to speak English with each other and our French gets forgotten when we want to have an actual conversation. Light remarks are said in French, but it is hard to have a group conversation when everyone is still a bit shaky in their conversation skills. Well, my thirty free minutes on the internet is almost up, so I must go. I miss yall much, but am positive that a good life is waiting here for me as well.
-Kate Alice
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