Sometimes it takes leaving for days at a time to make a place feel like home. Although I've been living here since January, coming back from my trip to Italy was the first time I felt like Paris is home. The familiarity of the city, my neighborhood, the comfort of my own bed and my own apartment were drawing me back home. Vacations are fun but it's always nice to come home.
Italy was a great time and I'll post pictures soon! I need a little time to organize and sort through all of them - you know how vacation pictures are...you look back at them and wonder why you took a picture of that tree or why you took a picture of that lizard. Cagliari felt a lot different from Paris - the streets are so tiny you can barely fit a car between buildings, which are all vibrant colors, the language is fast and the only word I knew was grazie (thank you). I went with two girls from school and in five days we ate and walked our way through the city. Lots of pasta and lots of gelato...and now lots of exercising! We met a lot of interesting people from around the world; it's always fun to see why people travel and find out what brings them to the same place as you.
Life got really busy today as I officially started a job! This has been in the works for a few weeks and I think it will be fun which isn't something I normally say about work. Tom (my step dad) sent me information about a job opportunity that he heard about through someone he knew from when he was getting his certificate to teach English as a second language. The hiring manager is in Minnesota which has made things a little difficult (like my interview via the telephone at midnight my time) but I think it will be a good fit. My job is to teach English over the telephone to French people that mostly need to learn English for work. Teaching over the phone is interesting but as I saw today first hand, it seems to work. Beyond speaking with them I can also assign my students lessons online for extra help - but I'm mostly there to correct their speaking skills and help with grammar. I had a wide range of people today - one girl kept referring to her son as she and could only speak in present tense (which was hard when I asked what she did last weekend), but then on the other end of the spectrum I spoke with a man who's English was nearly perfect but he is required by his company to take courses so we chatted for an hour on the phone about weird things like his recent eye surgery which had me cracking up - in his words "One of my eyes was looking out and one of my eyes was looking in. After my surgery, I don't have to choose which eye will watch tv anymore!" I'm excited to have something to do over the summer and even more excited that it can all be done from home!
This weekend I'll be in the Loire Valley with some friends - we are renting bikes and riding them around to visit famous castles in France. The pictures I've seen of the castles are amazing so I'm excited to see them in person. The friends that I spend most of my time with are in Paris to teach and their contracts are up at the end of this week (they have been here since September). Everyone will be leaving me to head back to the states in about a month so I'll be pretty bummed! There will be nine of us going and it will kind of be the last hurrah before everyone parts ways.
Well, next on my list is finding an apartment so i'm not homeless come July 1st. I'm looking at one on Wednesday so I hope it will work out...apartment searching in Paris is hard!
April 11, 2010
March 18, 2010
spring in paris...c'est si bon
Spring has arrived in Paris and there's no place I'd rather be right now (sorry, Minnesota)...people are out and about at all hours, the birds are singing, the flowers are coming back to life and I can break out the spring shoe collection!
When I first arrived in Paris it was gloomy most days, but within the last couple of weeks we've turned a corner and the weather has been really nice. I've been going to the Luxembourg Garden a lot lately to sit out in the sun and study (and take the occasional break to people watch). It's about a 15 minute walk from my apartment and it's right by my school so it's convenient for me to get to. Here's a couple of pictures from today...it's always this crowded now that it's nice out...sometimes I wonder why people aren't at work or in school at 2 pm...
Today's studying in the garden was cut short...an older man sat down in a chair next to me and at first I was thinking "Good, he's just a solitary old man. He's not five teenage girls singing Elton John that have the potential to disturb me" (which happened yesterday). Well, the man sits there for probably twenty minutes and then decides he needs to clip his fingernails. I don't know why, but this is one of the most irritating sounds and it makes me cringe. When I was working, I would hear people clipping their nails from five rows over and it would drive me nuts. But, we were in the middle of a garden so I wasn't expecting anyone to have a fingernail clipper readily available for a manicure session. After about ten minutes he was still at it, probably down to the bone, but I was scared to look and so I had to leave. Clipping your fingernails is an at home activity - preferably in the bathroom over a garbage can...not in a Parisian garden. The whole way home I was wondering why people do that in public and how many stray nails I step on every day. I don't know what bothers me more...the actual sound or wondering if I'm stepping on them.
On a completely different note, school is going really well so far - midterms are already next week! Classes are interesting and everyone at school is great. Two girls from school invited me to go to Sardinia, Italy with them over spring break which was too cheap and too tempting to turn down so I'll be spending five days of break on the southern tip of the island in a city called Cagliari:
In other news, I did finally get internet late last week! Basically what's happening is that the two companies that need to work together to make my internet work don't like each other so my landlord told me that he would try to find a different internet provider. Well, that meant there would be at least another month of set up and arranging things so I said I would figure it out...and figure it out I did. I threw on a cute outfit and knocked on my neighbor's door at 9:30pm - internet problem solved. I think he's my age and his parents pay for his internet anyways so it worked out! Skyping people, emailing people back right away and catching up on tv has been amazing!
I'll leave you with one last picture that Jaime took when she came to visit me during the last weekend in February. We climbed 300+ steps to the top of the Notre Dame Cathedral - our legs hurt for days but the view was worth it!
When I first arrived in Paris it was gloomy most days, but within the last couple of weeks we've turned a corner and the weather has been really nice. I've been going to the Luxembourg Garden a lot lately to sit out in the sun and study (and take the occasional break to people watch). It's about a 15 minute walk from my apartment and it's right by my school so it's convenient for me to get to. Here's a couple of pictures from today...it's always this crowded now that it's nice out...sometimes I wonder why people aren't at work or in school at 2 pm...
Today's studying in the garden was cut short...an older man sat down in a chair next to me and at first I was thinking "Good, he's just a solitary old man. He's not five teenage girls singing Elton John that have the potential to disturb me" (which happened yesterday). Well, the man sits there for probably twenty minutes and then decides he needs to clip his fingernails. I don't know why, but this is one of the most irritating sounds and it makes me cringe. When I was working, I would hear people clipping their nails from five rows over and it would drive me nuts. But, we were in the middle of a garden so I wasn't expecting anyone to have a fingernail clipper readily available for a manicure session. After about ten minutes he was still at it, probably down to the bone, but I was scared to look and so I had to leave. Clipping your fingernails is an at home activity - preferably in the bathroom over a garbage can...not in a Parisian garden. The whole way home I was wondering why people do that in public and how many stray nails I step on every day. I don't know what bothers me more...the actual sound or wondering if I'm stepping on them.On a completely different note, school is going really well so far - midterms are already next week! Classes are interesting and everyone at school is great. Two girls from school invited me to go to Sardinia, Italy with them over spring break which was too cheap and too tempting to turn down so I'll be spending five days of break on the southern tip of the island in a city called Cagliari:
In other news, I did finally get internet late last week! Basically what's happening is that the two companies that need to work together to make my internet work don't like each other so my landlord told me that he would try to find a different internet provider. Well, that meant there would be at least another month of set up and arranging things so I said I would figure it out...and figure it out I did. I threw on a cute outfit and knocked on my neighbor's door at 9:30pm - internet problem solved. I think he's my age and his parents pay for his internet anyways so it worked out! Skyping people, emailing people back right away and catching up on tv has been amazing!
I'll leave you with one last picture that Jaime took when she came to visit me during the last weekend in February. We climbed 300+ steps to the top of the Notre Dame Cathedral - our legs hurt for days but the view was worth it!
March 1, 2010
Annoyed.
I've been really annoyed this week and last week with the French as I'm remembering and experiencing how slow, inefficient and inconsistent they can be. Every day, things take so much longer than they should and it becomes draining when you're used to living in a place where life moves fast and businesses/stores are open when you need them to be.
In France, I can expect to wait at least ten minutes in line at the grocery store at any given point during the day. The store doesn't even have to be that busy, but the cashiers and the whole check out process is painfully slow so there's always a line. Last weekend, I waited in line for 20 minutes to buy bananas and cereal. I could have left and come back, but I knew that the line would be just as bad when I returned. A different day, I waited at the US consulate to get something notarized...for three hours. I was directed to five different windows before I got the notarized stamp I needed. Why one person couldn't look at my passport, hand me a sheet to fill out, notarize that sheet and then accept the payment – I have no idea. It's a five person job apparently. Last Sunday, I went to Marie's to have lunch at noon and it ended at 5pm. Things taking forever is normal here, but hard to get used to.
Coupled with extreme slowness, there is the other problem that businesses aren't open when I feel like they should be. For example, my bank is closed Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. When they are open, their hours are 10:30 am – 6:00 pm, but they are closed from 12:30pm – 1:45 pm for lunch. Another fun thing about the bank is that although there are branches everywhere, they basically operate as separate entities. If I want to do anything other than get money from the ATM, I need to go back to the bank that first opened my account which, now that I've moved, is a good ½ hour away by metro. The banks here are really intimidating, too, because they are so secure. The French may be inefficient, but they are smart. You have to ring a doorbell before entering the bank and then the person at the front desk buzzes you in – if your face is covered you won't be let in – and everything is recorded on camera. I have had several meetings with my banker, that's right – I have my own personal banker that I work with (because they made me) – and her office is so secure we need a code to get in and a code to get out of the door. So basically, I have to be super efficient during the week with getting everything taken care of because come the weekend, most things are closed. Sundays are the worst because basically all stores are closed – grocery stores, clothing stores, restaurants, bakeries, etc.
My frustrations escalated last weekend when I was walking up the stairs coming out of the metro stop by my apartment and I was caught behind a few people going extremely slow (it's always something stupid that's the breaking point). But really, a child learning how to crawl could have climbed the stairs faster than these people. So I was doing the people equivalent of tailgating when I surfaced and had a reality check...an illuminated Eiffel Tower was staring me in the face and sparkling (it has a “light show” on the weekends at night for the first few minutes of every hour). At this point, I realized I have nothing to complain about – on the contrary, I'm a pretty lucky girl right now because I'm doing what I've always wanted to do. I came here for school and for a cultural experience...if I wanted easy access to everything all the time I should have stayed in Minneapolis. Slowing down isn't so bad. This picture doesn't do it justice, but this is the Eiffel Tower's light show at night:
And in case you're wondering...still no internet at the apartment. It's France!
In France, I can expect to wait at least ten minutes in line at the grocery store at any given point during the day. The store doesn't even have to be that busy, but the cashiers and the whole check out process is painfully slow so there's always a line. Last weekend, I waited in line for 20 minutes to buy bananas and cereal. I could have left and come back, but I knew that the line would be just as bad when I returned. A different day, I waited at the US consulate to get something notarized...for three hours. I was directed to five different windows before I got the notarized stamp I needed. Why one person couldn't look at my passport, hand me a sheet to fill out, notarize that sheet and then accept the payment – I have no idea. It's a five person job apparently. Last Sunday, I went to Marie's to have lunch at noon and it ended at 5pm. Things taking forever is normal here, but hard to get used to.
Coupled with extreme slowness, there is the other problem that businesses aren't open when I feel like they should be. For example, my bank is closed Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. When they are open, their hours are 10:30 am – 6:00 pm, but they are closed from 12:30pm – 1:45 pm for lunch. Another fun thing about the bank is that although there are branches everywhere, they basically operate as separate entities. If I want to do anything other than get money from the ATM, I need to go back to the bank that first opened my account which, now that I've moved, is a good ½ hour away by metro. The banks here are really intimidating, too, because they are so secure. The French may be inefficient, but they are smart. You have to ring a doorbell before entering the bank and then the person at the front desk buzzes you in – if your face is covered you won't be let in – and everything is recorded on camera. I have had several meetings with my banker, that's right – I have my own personal banker that I work with (because they made me) – and her office is so secure we need a code to get in and a code to get out of the door. So basically, I have to be super efficient during the week with getting everything taken care of because come the weekend, most things are closed. Sundays are the worst because basically all stores are closed – grocery stores, clothing stores, restaurants, bakeries, etc.
My frustrations escalated last weekend when I was walking up the stairs coming out of the metro stop by my apartment and I was caught behind a few people going extremely slow (it's always something stupid that's the breaking point). But really, a child learning how to crawl could have climbed the stairs faster than these people. So I was doing the people equivalent of tailgating when I surfaced and had a reality check...an illuminated Eiffel Tower was staring me in the face and sparkling (it has a “light show” on the weekends at night for the first few minutes of every hour). At this point, I realized I have nothing to complain about – on the contrary, I'm a pretty lucky girl right now because I'm doing what I've always wanted to do. I came here for school and for a cultural experience...if I wanted easy access to everything all the time I should have stayed in Minneapolis. Slowing down isn't so bad. This picture doesn't do it justice, but this is the Eiffel Tower's light show at night:
And in case you're wondering...still no internet at the apartment. It's France!
February 8, 2010
From Girard to Vaugirard
So I've been MIA lately...neglecting emails, friends, family, blogging, etc. I think I have a good excuse though – I found an apartment! I want to say that I finally found an apartment, but really it took me less than two weeks which is pretty quick. It just felt like a long time. After much searching I found a cute little studio very close to school – it's small, quaint and has everything that I need. Well, everything except for internet but hopefully that will be set up this week. I went from living on Girard avenue in Minneapolis to Rue de Vaugirard here; the street names are similar, but the scenery is not!
I moved in Wednesday afternoon – I'm on the fourth floor, no elevator – which is common in Parisian apartments. The stairs don't bother me as long as I'm not trying to take my heavy luggage up the tiny spiral staircase...not fun. But I've settled in - unpacked, stocked the fridge, had my friends over on Saturday night – I love having my own place! The apartment is furnished which is the case for most studios in the city. A huge perk of this apartment is that it has a washing machine which is not something found in all apartments here, especially studios. The cycles and settings are pretty cryptic, but I've successfully washed clothes so I won't change the buttons and dials around for now...
Unfortunately, this is a short term rental and my lease is up June 30th, but I will have more than enough time to find something else...looking at apartments is fun and less stressful when you have one already. The hardest part is getting all of the documents together in order to be able to rent – I thought getting a phone was hard! The French are scared of foreigners – there are so many different things they need to see before they trust you. Last week was rough – my mom and Tom spent four days trying to help get money from my US bank account over to my French account so I could actually rent the apartment. An American bank account means nothing here and it's really frustrating. Alas thanks to Tom, the money was transferred. To make an extremely long story short, the day ended with me walking around the street with thousands of euros in cash on me – of course the place wouldn't just cut a check. So I ran to my bank while they were in the middle of shutting down and begged them to reboot the system so I could deposit my cash - they weren't happy but they did it for me anyways. I've irritated a lot of French people since I've been here. To be fair, they irritated me first.
I haven't had time to get into the school mindset yet, but I had orientation and registration on Thursday which helped remind me that school is starting. Classes start today and I've got a lot on my plate this semester. I have class Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday which is nice but I'm sure homework, papers and reading will fill up the vacant days. The faculty and students seem nice and helpful – I didn't get the chance to really talk to people because I've still been sick (it turns out my cold won't end because it's not a cold – it's a sinus infection). I mingled as much as I could at orientation but headed home early. I stopped at the pharmacy on my way home from school to get medicine and there was almost an incident once I got home. I bought medicine but when I was checking out the girl helping me said something about spray. I was half listening and when I heard spray I was like YES please anything...throw in the spray. I get home and take the first medicine and then go to dig into what I thought was like a nasal spray but it looked more like a tiny thing of hairspray. The spray nozzle was not conducive to shoving up one's nose for relief...so I looked again and it turns out I was suckered into buying some type of air purifying spray. She even wrote on the box to do two puffs, three times a day so I was so surprised and also let down to see what I had actually purchased. So now, I take my medicine every day and then purify the air around me...three times a day.
Hopefully I'll have internet this week so I can quit stealing internet from my best friend, McDonald's. Here are some pictures from the new place...
I moved in Wednesday afternoon – I'm on the fourth floor, no elevator – which is common in Parisian apartments. The stairs don't bother me as long as I'm not trying to take my heavy luggage up the tiny spiral staircase...not fun. But I've settled in - unpacked, stocked the fridge, had my friends over on Saturday night – I love having my own place! The apartment is furnished which is the case for most studios in the city. A huge perk of this apartment is that it has a washing machine which is not something found in all apartments here, especially studios. The cycles and settings are pretty cryptic, but I've successfully washed clothes so I won't change the buttons and dials around for now...
Unfortunately, this is a short term rental and my lease is up June 30th, but I will have more than enough time to find something else...looking at apartments is fun and less stressful when you have one already. The hardest part is getting all of the documents together in order to be able to rent – I thought getting a phone was hard! The French are scared of foreigners – there are so many different things they need to see before they trust you. Last week was rough – my mom and Tom spent four days trying to help get money from my US bank account over to my French account so I could actually rent the apartment. An American bank account means nothing here and it's really frustrating. Alas thanks to Tom, the money was transferred. To make an extremely long story short, the day ended with me walking around the street with thousands of euros in cash on me – of course the place wouldn't just cut a check. So I ran to my bank while they were in the middle of shutting down and begged them to reboot the system so I could deposit my cash - they weren't happy but they did it for me anyways. I've irritated a lot of French people since I've been here. To be fair, they irritated me first.
I haven't had time to get into the school mindset yet, but I had orientation and registration on Thursday which helped remind me that school is starting. Classes start today and I've got a lot on my plate this semester. I have class Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday which is nice but I'm sure homework, papers and reading will fill up the vacant days. The faculty and students seem nice and helpful – I didn't get the chance to really talk to people because I've still been sick (it turns out my cold won't end because it's not a cold – it's a sinus infection). I mingled as much as I could at orientation but headed home early. I stopped at the pharmacy on my way home from school to get medicine and there was almost an incident once I got home. I bought medicine but when I was checking out the girl helping me said something about spray. I was half listening and when I heard spray I was like YES please anything...throw in the spray. I get home and take the first medicine and then go to dig into what I thought was like a nasal spray but it looked more like a tiny thing of hairspray. The spray nozzle was not conducive to shoving up one's nose for relief...so I looked again and it turns out I was suckered into buying some type of air purifying spray. She even wrote on the box to do two puffs, three times a day so I was so surprised and also let down to see what I had actually purchased. So now, I take my medicine every day and then purify the air around me...three times a day.
Hopefully I'll have internet this week so I can quit stealing internet from my best friend, McDonald's. Here are some pictures from the new place...
January 28, 2010
...one week later
I landed in Paris a week ago already but I've been so busy trying to become a real person here that for me it feels like I've been here a month already! Things are slowly coming together – I try to do one “big thing” every day to chip away at my to-do list. Yesterday I was able to do a few major things like pick up my debit card from the bank (perfect timing – it had just been delivered 2 minutes before I walked in the door), set up time to see a potential apartment, and finallllly I got my phone so I can stop going crazy over not having internet or the ability to text people (and by people I mean my one friend Libby). My list is becoming much more manageable every day...instead of “open bank account” things like “buy kleenex” are starting to show up – although I've been sick for a few days now so the kleenex is semi-urgent. Things are getting easier, my French is sucking less every day...life is good.
I'm usually out doing things during the day, but I do eat breakfast and dinner with Marie usually. Meals are weird and entertaining just as they were a few years ago when I was living here. Breakfast is usually at least an hour so I have to take that into account when planning my day out. It isn't a huge production like dinner, but Marie is easily distracted so it takes a while. She always has the tv on and then provides commentary on whatever we're watching – no specific show, usually whatever channel is on from the night before. I don't know why, but Days of Our Lives dubbed over in French (called Nos Jours et Nos Vies = Our Days and Our Lives...I could have come up with a better translation than that) is on every morning after the news and we always catch the first half. I don't so much enjoy the show, but Marie's comments make it fun. She watches everything (including commercials) like it's the most interesting thing she's ever seen and interjects her own commentary...“what a catastrophe...that girl is way too big for her pants, doesn't that guy talking there seem a little feminine?, Did she not run a comb through her hair this morning?”, etc....). She's very critical for a 75 year old French woman, but entertaining.
Dinner is a lot like breakfast but a lot longer (last night was 2.5 hours) and a lot more food. I won't get into all of the weird things I've been eating – good of course – but sometimes I wonder. She made a whole chicken the other night and gave me something from the inside and I didn't know what it was. I sucked it up and ate it and decided to ask what it was after I finished eating it...well when I did she was said “Oh you like it? Here, here take the rest”. So I don't ask questions anymore about what I'm eating – as for the mystery from inside of the chicken, I never learned what it was, but I ate a lot of it. We always have an appetizer with an aperitif, the main course with wine, followed by bread and a lot of cheese, and then dessert with coffee. Here's a couple of pictures from dinners this past week – a very fresh appetizer (with it's eyes in tact) and a delicious dessert. Finding an apartment where I can make my own meals will be good news for my caloric intake.
Also, a few people have asked about the drawing on my blog...my good friend Brian made this for me before I left – he's an amazing artist - you can check out his blog here and his stuff for sale here!
I'm usually out doing things during the day, but I do eat breakfast and dinner with Marie usually. Meals are weird and entertaining just as they were a few years ago when I was living here. Breakfast is usually at least an hour so I have to take that into account when planning my day out. It isn't a huge production like dinner, but Marie is easily distracted so it takes a while. She always has the tv on and then provides commentary on whatever we're watching – no specific show, usually whatever channel is on from the night before. I don't know why, but Days of Our Lives dubbed over in French (called Nos Jours et Nos Vies = Our Days and Our Lives...I could have come up with a better translation than that) is on every morning after the news and we always catch the first half. I don't so much enjoy the show, but Marie's comments make it fun. She watches everything (including commercials) like it's the most interesting thing she's ever seen and interjects her own commentary...“what a catastrophe...that girl is way too big for her pants, doesn't that guy talking there seem a little feminine?, Did she not run a comb through her hair this morning?”, etc....). She's very critical for a 75 year old French woman, but entertaining.
Dinner is a lot like breakfast but a lot longer (last night was 2.5 hours) and a lot more food. I won't get into all of the weird things I've been eating – good of course – but sometimes I wonder. She made a whole chicken the other night and gave me something from the inside and I didn't know what it was. I sucked it up and ate it and decided to ask what it was after I finished eating it...well when I did she was said “Oh you like it? Here, here take the rest”. So I don't ask questions anymore about what I'm eating – as for the mystery from inside of the chicken, I never learned what it was, but I ate a lot of it. We always have an appetizer with an aperitif, the main course with wine, followed by bread and a lot of cheese, and then dessert with coffee. Here's a couple of pictures from dinners this past week – a very fresh appetizer (with it's eyes in tact) and a delicious dessert. Finding an apartment where I can make my own meals will be good news for my caloric intake.
Also, a few people have asked about the drawing on my blog...my good friend Brian made this for me before I left – he's an amazing artist - you can check out his blog here and his stuff for sale here!
January 25, 2010
So far, Paris is gray(t)
The first few days in the city of lights have been (not surprisingly) very gray and damp but really great so far. No complaints yet...ok a few complaints but I'll get to that later.
I've been very busy since I landed on Thursday, accomplishing more than I had planned to in the first few days. I was originally going to wait until this week to be productive but was forced into it earlier when I ventured out Friday morning to buy a French plan for my cell phone. You wouldn't think that going to the phone store would be the catalyst for a chain of ridiculous hurdles to jump through, but it was.
So I'm at the phone store where it's always so busy you have to take a number and wait for at least 20 minutes. I figure out what I need for my phone plan when the girl helping me asked for my French banking information. Well, I definitely didn't have that and didn't think I would need that but apparently it's a must. I figured I had time and energy so I went and opened up my French bank account which I would have needed eventually but didn't plan on doing this on the first day. To make a very long story short, I opened my account and thought that I was set. I had my account number, the debit card would be ready in a few days and I would have personal checks in a week. I was exhausted after the bank because I was running back and forth between the bank and Marie's apartment to get all of the required documents for a foreigner to open an account - which is a lot of random things that you wouldn't normally have on you – but I wanted my phone! The obsession with having a phone stems from Marie not having internet at her apartment. Or a computer. She's 75 so I'm not shocked, but it does drive me nuts. If I have a phone with internet I'll be a happy camper.
At this point I thought I had everything to get the phone so I went back for the second time that day and showed them that I had my bank account now. The people at this phone store only give me information as needed so finding out what I need is like putting together a puzzle. From opening up my bank account, I had Marie's ID card and an electric bill with her name on it. I understand the bank needing this information (somewhat) but never thought the phone place would need it. Well, they did. And they needed a letter from Marie stating I was living with her at the moment. I'm sure if I had a first born they probably would have asked for that, too...and I probably would have given it to them because I want a phone that bad. So I walk the couple of miles back to Marie's and she writes a letter for me to bring to the phone store again. I walk in for the third time that day...take a number...wait...wait...and then I'm told I need a voided check or my debit card to prove that the account information I have matches up with the debit card and checks that I should have but won't have for a week. I'll try again in a couple of days – fourth time's a charm, right? Until then, I'll keep stealing internet from McDonald's until they kick me out. But in my defense, McDonald's should not have a stellar internet connection if they don't want people to use it.
I have a feeling this is how most things will play out for the first couple of months here. I was warned by Jaime (my sister living in Germany) that everything abroad is ten times harder than it needs to be but Germans are super strict so I was hoping it was country specific...not so much! My next adventure is apartment searching which is already more difficult and complicated than I thought it would be, but like everything else it will all work out in the end.
When I'm not making circles around the city trying to get a phone, I've been hanging out with my friend Libby from Minnesota who has been teaching English in Paris since September. I met Libby while studying abroad in 2006 and it's so nice to have her here while I'm getting settled. When she left in the fall, I told her to find us friends to hang out with and she did a fine job! Everyone is super welcoming and fun – the perfect escape when the city wears me out.
Ok, time to go apartment searching again!
I've been very busy since I landed on Thursday, accomplishing more than I had planned to in the first few days. I was originally going to wait until this week to be productive but was forced into it earlier when I ventured out Friday morning to buy a French plan for my cell phone. You wouldn't think that going to the phone store would be the catalyst for a chain of ridiculous hurdles to jump through, but it was.
So I'm at the phone store where it's always so busy you have to take a number and wait for at least 20 minutes. I figure out what I need for my phone plan when the girl helping me asked for my French banking information. Well, I definitely didn't have that and didn't think I would need that but apparently it's a must. I figured I had time and energy so I went and opened up my French bank account which I would have needed eventually but didn't plan on doing this on the first day. To make a very long story short, I opened my account and thought that I was set. I had my account number, the debit card would be ready in a few days and I would have personal checks in a week. I was exhausted after the bank because I was running back and forth between the bank and Marie's apartment to get all of the required documents for a foreigner to open an account - which is a lot of random things that you wouldn't normally have on you – but I wanted my phone! The obsession with having a phone stems from Marie not having internet at her apartment. Or a computer. She's 75 so I'm not shocked, but it does drive me nuts. If I have a phone with internet I'll be a happy camper.
At this point I thought I had everything to get the phone so I went back for the second time that day and showed them that I had my bank account now. The people at this phone store only give me information as needed so finding out what I need is like putting together a puzzle. From opening up my bank account, I had Marie's ID card and an electric bill with her name on it. I understand the bank needing this information (somewhat) but never thought the phone place would need it. Well, they did. And they needed a letter from Marie stating I was living with her at the moment. I'm sure if I had a first born they probably would have asked for that, too...and I probably would have given it to them because I want a phone that bad. So I walk the couple of miles back to Marie's and she writes a letter for me to bring to the phone store again. I walk in for the third time that day...take a number...wait...wait...and then I'm told I need a voided check or my debit card to prove that the account information I have matches up with the debit card and checks that I should have but won't have for a week. I'll try again in a couple of days – fourth time's a charm, right? Until then, I'll keep stealing internet from McDonald's until they kick me out. But in my defense, McDonald's should not have a stellar internet connection if they don't want people to use it.
I have a feeling this is how most things will play out for the first couple of months here. I was warned by Jaime (my sister living in Germany) that everything abroad is ten times harder than it needs to be but Germans are super strict so I was hoping it was country specific...not so much! My next adventure is apartment searching which is already more difficult and complicated than I thought it would be, but like everything else it will all work out in the end.
When I'm not making circles around the city trying to get a phone, I've been hanging out with my friend Libby from Minnesota who has been teaching English in Paris since September. I met Libby while studying abroad in 2006 and it's so nice to have her here while I'm getting settled. When she left in the fall, I told her to find us friends to hang out with and she did a fine job! Everyone is super welcoming and fun – the perfect escape when the city wears me out.
Ok, time to go apartment searching again!
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