Douce France

Hello friends!

It's been awhile since I've posted, my apologies. But I'm not going to try and recap day by day. Instead, I'll just recap monumental things I can remember in bullet point form, since that's how I think and let's be real, that's sometimes the easiest to read. Apologies in advance for any rambles that ensue. Here we go!

-Had our first week of classes, outside of Le Cours Pratique (our language courses every day from 12-2). I had Architecture and History of Paris on Monday afternoon from 3:30-6, and really enjoyed it! We have a total of 4 days actually IN the classroom, when we'll learn the history of Paris and discuss our readings. Then the rest of the days will be spent out in the city at churches and monuments, learning about their architecture and purpose behind the construction. HOW INTERESTING. I'm really excited for this course and the teacher is BEYOND laid back..he told us day 1 that we would all pass and grades are a silly way to determine one's knowledge of a subject. Then on Thursdays, from 3-5:30, I have class on Multiculturalism in modern France with an energetic little French woman. She's great. It's an interesting course, but may or may not be a struggle to focus completely in, as it's late afternoon on a Thursday, and I don't find her topics exactly stimulating. No matter what though, I know I will leave here more educated and cultured than when I arrived.

-We visited Opera Garnier on Tuesday to tour the beautiful structure without the crowds, as we'll attend a ballet later in the semester. The grandeur and magnificence of the Opera was stunning...something one would picture in the movies or dream of at night. I joyfully anticipate attending the ballet in the next months! Then we walked through the city, seeing different sites and monuments, including the Paris Stock Exchange (shout out to all my finance friends)! It was large and in charge.

-Natalie had some friends visiting in town for a couple days this week. It was wild to look around at dinner on Wednesday night (which Nat and Jess so kindly cooked for us...yummy) and realize that I was sitting at a table with 2 Americans, 1 Australian, and 1 German, all while eating dinner at our apartment in France. Conversation switched between English to French to German to English, etc. WILD. What a fun fun thing to realize and appreciate in life, as it's a rarity.

-Had a lovely Valentine's day, watching men run around and create the perfect day for their amour. I enjoyed riding the metro day, watching people get on and off with bouquet's of flowers. The world just seemed brighter and more alive, as you would see people glowing. Sadly, no proposals found outside the Eiffel Tower. I guess the city of love isn't as cliché as you would think it is! I bought our roomies a beautiful yellow rose, partially because it was less euros and guilty-it's the state flower of Texas! Came home and made a delicious meal of vegetables and salmon-my favorite. Sadly, forgot about dessert, but my usual glass of chocolate milk sufficed!

-Alsoooo found out this craziness-Austin is coming to visit in March!!!! He surprised me and booked a flight to come play over his spring break. WILD. So so SO excited and ready to see that sweet boy.

-It's warmed up some here! Not wearing pairs of tights below pants or layers of tops or gloves and earmuffs anymore! Sadly, it's been quite wet and rainy too. Not the most optimistic weather, but it's Paris!

-We've gotten quite a few solid runs in in the past week or so. Natalie showed us a path down the Seine towards La Place de Concorde...really enjoy that route! We also have done a couple roomie runs, and all 3 been out running together. Make the jog more enjoyable, conversational, and fun! Sadly, we had one fluke this week of a new path. We ran around the Arc to a street that branched off the circle and had nice, open paths and parks. Instead of turning around, like I've done in the past, we decided to continue on, assuming it would somehow curve back around and we'd bisect our street in the end. That was false. We ended up running, and running, and running. Until we ended up at Trocádero and then later at the Marmotton Museum, both were places we had met with other AIFS students to convene via the metro. We were straight up lost. After lots of map consulting and friendly people to point us in the right direction, we made it home safe and sound, just in time for dinner!

-We had dinner with our host mom on Monday night and that was a very enjoyable experience! Who knew that one could have so many segments to a meal. When we arrived, we were seated in the foyer, where we were offered tea and munchies. Then, after about 30 minutes, we were invited into the dining room, where we had a delicious salad and cold fish for our appetizer. Then we had our entrée, followed obviously by a whole course of cheese (a large delicacy in France, usually enjoyed as a dessert, sometimes during the day for snack, but NEVER on a sandwich. At least, not the fancy "fromages" (cheeses) they worship here) and baguettes. Oh, and don't forget the wine. With every course throughout the whole meal. The French can't imagine how Americans enjoy white wine, as they find it too sweet. Le vin rouge (red wine) is a must for meals and throughout the night. Then followed our dessert of chocolate mousse and vanilla glace (ice cream). Then, finishing up the night, we returned to the foyer for some chamomile tea and small talk. It was a wonderful meal, filled with french language, foods, and learning. Madame had invited her two nieces, who are around our age, along with a couple other of her friends to dinner, so it was lovely to discuss topics and matters of life with some French girls our age. I learned so much about the French education system and occupations.  Majority of the time discussing in French. Although I wasn't able to track their conversation fully during the meal, as politics were brought up and ohhhh boy did that bring a line of fire of conversation, but I feel that I was able to converse at ease with the others in French when it was one-on-one. It was an eye-opening and enriching experience to say the least. Made me very appreciative of the experience I get to have here and the opportunity to really expand my language palate!

-Friday night we had an enjoyable night. A friend from class invited us all to meet up at a bar to have a couple drinks and get to know other study abroad students. I made new friends from all sorts of backgrounds-Chinese, Italian, German, Mexican, other Americans, etc. As per the bullet point above, it was so interesting to learn about the different cultures and lives of students around my age, but in a completely different stage of their life due to the education system they were brought up in or what was esteemed and held as honorable in their native country. Sadly, no new French friends, but that will come in due time hopefully! Afterwards, we all went to a local club where we had fun dancing and moving to the music. Despite the fact that I may or may not have misguided us on the RER in the wrong direction at one point, it was still a fun night with some new friends.

-We start phonetics lab this week. It's something we'll have every day for 5 days from 10-11, and then we'll have the next week off. Then pick it back up again for 5 days. Then none. And the cycle continues. It's 30 minutes of working in a classroom with our teacher, whether it be dictation, pronunciation, or working on spelling as she speaks out loud. Then the next 30 minutes is spent in a lab with cubicles and headphones, where we are given phrases to repeat. We then rewind the tape to listen to ourselves and then re-do and work on our pronunciation with the same phrases. Repeat cycle. We'll see how it goes. I'm excited to hopefully improve my speech and pronunciation!

-Nanny things are stagnant right now. I'm searching for a family that fits my schedule and isn't more than a 30-45 minute commute. Sadly, nothing seems to be matching up, which is dismaying as I was so excited for this, but I'll keep on searching!

-Attended Hillsong Church again this morning and it was magnificent. I just can't get enough of singing worship songs in French, or even just reading and learning the translation of phrases, as they post them on the screen. The speaker today was French, so he would speak first, and then they always have a translator who follows. It was exciting to listen to the French pastor and understand parts of what he would explain and be able to partially follow in French, only to have it clarified after in English. I just thoroughly enjoy the French language so much, no matter what form or environment.

-And finally to conclude, there are some fun things I've observed while being in Paris about the Parisian culture which I wanted to share:

1. They wear heels like tennis shoes. No matter where they're going, how far they're walking, or what the weather looks like, you are bound to find at least 10 women on each metro car in heels or wedges. How they do it? I have no idea. I think my feet would fall off after a week of commuting in Paris while wearing heels.

2. I used to be disturbed by the high percentage of lougies we would find all over the sidewalks in France. Having to watch your step or being repulsed by a glob of snot on the ground which someone spit out is a common occurrence. I found this disgusting and unnatural. Until I went running. Maybe it's a mix of the high body temperature and cold weather, or the exercise and large amount of people having a cold in the winter...I'm not sure. All I know, is that running will take the snot right out of you and the Parisians have no issue sharing it publicly. It may be considered revolting and improper in the states, but here in France, I have no issue fitting right in with the locals.

3. While on the topic of running, I think it right to point out how the Parisians don't run in sweats, shorts, or tshirts. Oh no. It's home to the fashion industry. Parisians run in fit, running leggings or capris, under armour tops, or fashionable wind breakers. Nothing against this running attire, I sometimes sport it myself as well. It's just too easy to spot the Americans on the streets, as they jog around in sweat pants/shorts and big, oversized, baggy tshirts. Note to self: to be a local-dress well, make mile 4 look like a breeze, and don't sweat too much while working out. Impossible.

4. And finally, as you can imagine, they kiss everywhere. Over bridges, in parks, while waiting for the metro, while riding the metro, right after getting off the metro, in front of monuments, while having their picture taken, before ascending a set of stairs...together, while waiting on the bus, in the train station, waiting on the cross-walk, stopping mid-stride on a street to kiss, on benches (on Valentine's day... precious). They are enamored with each other, and they're not afraid to show it. It's called the city of love for a reason, and they definitely fill out the title.

Sorry for the novel-long, rambling blog without pictures. It's like giving a child a chapter book, when all they want to see are the illustrations, but our internet just wouldn't permit it. It's a tad fickle and doesn't really ever like to fully work for us, so the pictures will have to wait for another day when our Wifi is in a better mood.

Per usual, I'll leave you with a French phrase (+ history), which also happens to be the title of this post:

"Douce France" which translates to "Sweet France". This is sometimes used when referencing France, in relation to all of the women in France that make French life sweet due to their strong contribution to literature and their history of making it flourish. Fun fact from class.

Know I'm loving life here and learning daily. It's an amazing experience that I could only hope everyone gets to taste at some point in their life.

À bientôt,

Mary Catherine