WELCOME TO
M Y L I F E
photo by Gillian Smit
Tomorrow, it will have been a week since I landed in Paris--crazy! This week has been full of activities, meeting new people, and exploring Paris. Everyday has been a roller coaster of emotions, some good and some bad, but overall, I’m glad that I am here. On Monday, we had the day to get settled in with our host families. I met my roommate for the first time at the airport, and we bonded quickly on the shuttle ride with talking about what movies we had watched on the plane (we had both watched Mamma Mia 2 :)) and what music we liked. I also got really carsick, but luckily we were the first ones to be dropped off. We are living in a large three story house in Malakoff, a suburb just below Paris (like literally, right across the street) with a retired woman. There is another student who lives in the studio apartment attached to the house, but we don’t see too much of her. Our host mom doesn’t speak any English, so we have to communicate in only French. It’s nice to have a roommate--someone to help translate phrases, figure out the metro, and just go through the experience with. We both agreed on the first day that we probably would have been in tears or completely shut down had the other person not been there. I knew it would be hard to make friends when I didn’t know anyone, and it was. It’s hard to start over after having such close friends at school, and everything seems so superficial (like asking people where they’re from, what their major is, etc). Again, it was nice to have a roommate because that was then one person I already knew when orientation started. As the week went on, I met some nice people and explored different parts of Paris with them. I actually met one girl who has already been here for a semester, and she is super nice and helpful when it comes to figuring out things like getting a SIM card, good places to eat, how classes are going to work, and so on.
I think the hardest thing so far has been that most of the group wants to go out … all the time. There are some people who have been out every night since we’ve gotten here. I’d like to try going out at some point (I MIGHT go out next week for Valentine’s Day), but I doubt I’ll be doing it very much. For one thing, I don’t drink, so I would only want to go to a club and go dancing, not just a bar. Also, the metro stops running around midnight (sometimes a little later depending on the day), so if you’re out later than that, your choices are to stay up until five am when it starts running again or to Uber home. And Ubers are NOT cheap here. I would be fine doing it once, but I would rather spend my money on other things for the most part. I just have to remind myself that I can still have fun with friends during the day and that I am not necessarily missing out on anything when I choose to stay in at night. I need time to rest and recharge, even more than most people do, especially as an introvert and as I adjust to this new environment. Speaking of adjusting, it’s been hard. I was worried about a lot of things before coming here. Some have worked out fine, and some of the worst case scenarios really have played out. The good things are that I get along really well with my roommate, our host mom is friendly, the metro is pretty simple to figure out, and I got to keep my classes after we took the second part of the placement exam (there was an online portion that we did before we left and got a preliminary level, and then we had to do a speaking and writing in-person portion last week, and there was a chance that people could get moved down a level and have to change their classes). Health-wise, things could be better. There were a few things I was worried about, but I also thought that somehow because I was in a different country, I wouldn’t be affected the same way as I am at home. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Being vegetarian here is hard. A lot of boulangeries will have one sandwich option without meat (at most), and it usually has cheese in it, which I try to avoid eating too. Some places label things well and some don’t. Especially at student cafeterias, it’s hard to figure out which dishes I can eat. Sugar gives me an instant headache and brain fog, and there’s sugar in just about everything here (whoever said France is healthier than the US, I beg to differ :/). I knew that eating sweet things in the morning on an empty stomach will pretty much guarantee that I’ll feel awful for half the day and that French people eat white bread and pastries in the morning. And for the first few days here, that’s exactly what happened. But my roommate and I went shopping for some groceries at Monoprix and I was able to find some peanut butter (a brand that, of course, has sugar in it, but it was better than nothing). I’m starting to put that instead of jam on my bread in the morning so I’m at least getting some protein. Today our host mom asked if what she had been putting out for breakfast was enough or if there was anything else we would like, and I asked for eggs. It was uncomfortable for me because I felt like I was being extra-American (French people never eat eggs for breakfast) and high-maintenance, but I knew it was necessary for me to feel better. She didn’t seem bothered by it at all and said it wasn’t a problem. I also thought my headaches would magically go away when I got here, but I’ve had one everyday and will probably go through my Excedrin extra strength bottle within a month. I’ve had two evenings when I’ve had severe stomach cramping, so bad that I’ve been in tears and couldn’t even walk from our tram stop home last night and had to call an Uber. I have never wanted to be home more than on Thursday afternoon when I was sitting on a bench in Chatelet Mall while my friends shopped in Pull&Bear, on the phone with my mom and sobbing as I clutched my stomach. I wanted to be in my actual room, face down on my bed with the lights off. But I knew that the best I could do was go back to my room here, which would be a 40 minute commute on a crowded metro train where I wouldn’t be able to sit down, a tram ride, and walking. That has been my worst breakdown so far, but luckily my roommate was there to help me. I went into the store and told her I needed to go home, and she went with me and when we got back, she explained what was happening to our host mom while I went upstairs and slept for three straight hours. Sorry if it sounds like I’m complaining a lot, but I just want to make sure that everyone reading this knows that while I may be posting fun pictures of Paris (and I really am having fun, don’t worry), this is not a walk in the park. It’s uncomfortable, awkward, and unfamiliar, and the only way through it is to just keep moving forward. BUT. With all that being said, I really am enjoying my time here for the most part. Paris is my favorite city in the whole world, and I am insanely grateful for this opportunity. I’ll be walking down the street and see the tip of the Eiffel Tower over the top of the buildings and have to remind myself that I’m really here and that this is real life. I’ve always thought of Paris as nothing short of magical, and that hasn’t gone away in the slightest. Classes start tomorrow, and another set of challenges and adventures along with them. I’m extremely nervous, but I’m looking forward to finally having more of a set routine and for the last bit of the unknown about this semester to be revealed. If you made it all the way through that word vomit, you’re a rockstar! Please keep in touch with me--it helps me feel connected to home :) Love y’all, May
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AuthorHey guys, it's May! I hope you'll join me as I document my semester abroad. Archives
May 2020
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