WELCOME TO
M Y L I F E
photo by Gillian Smit
Hey everyone! So much, and I mean so much has happened since I last posted. And as you can see from the title, things got worse, and then they got much better. For one thing, I got sick. Like, really sick. At home, I hardly ever get sick, and when I do, it’s just a little head cold that’s annoying but doesn’t prevent me from going to class. Last Saturday, my throat hurt so much that I was going to the sink to spit so I wouldn’t have to swallow. I had the chills and my whole body ached, so even though I spent almost the whole day in bed, I could never get comfortable. I couldn’t focus on anything, and I kept going from shivering to having to take my sweatshirt off because I was so hot, even though our bedroom is always cold. I didn’t eat anything until seven o’clock, when I heated up some rice for dinner. My roommate was an absolute saint and went to the pharmacy to get medicine for me and told our host mom I was sick at breakfast because I couldn’t even make it down the stairs at that point. The worst part about all this was that I had to cancel on my friend I was supposed to meet up with on Sunday. She lives in Normandy, and she had already booked her train ticket to Paris and everything was all set up. I felt so bad, but I knew there was no way I could spend the next day out in Paris when I could barely get out of bed the day before. That coupled with trying to explain how sick I was to my host mom in French and her not really understanding made me feel not only physically awful, but emotionally awful pretty much all weekend. Luckily, by Monday I was feeling well enough to go to class so I didn’t end up having to miss any school. I was still sick all week, but I was able to function even though I didn’t quite feel 100%. Classes have been going … okay. I have friends from my program in almost all of them, which is super nice and will be great when it comes time to study for tests and do our group presentations. I’m taking a French language class, History of Architecture through Parisian Monuments, Art History, and History of Famous French People. These are subjects that I wouldn’t normally get to take, so it’s kind of cool having a change. The classes are specifically for international students, so I’m in class with people from all over the world (Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Columbia, Iran, Ethiopia, etc). They’re also very small (one of them is only four people!). It’s still difficult to figure out how hard they’re going to be. So far, they don’t seem that bad. I didn’t have to buy any textbooks, and there is very little homework except for studying for two tests throughout the semester and one group project. I just don’t know how hard the tests are going to be or how hard things are going to be graded. The classes themselves are three hours long, which is killer. My language class is twice a week, and my electives are only once a week, which is nice, but my brain pretty much shuts off by the end of class, especially on Wednesdays when I have two in a row. It takes double the concentration to understand a lecture that’s all in French. The campus is beautiful, there’s a cheap cafeteria for lunch, and there are coffee machines with .60 cent espressos that we all flock to during breaks. The whole school experience is very different from what I’m used to at home. It’s funny that I wrote in my last post that I was excited to get into a routine and that the city hadn’t lost any of its magic because that’s exactly what I’ve been struggling with in the last two weeks. I’ve realized just how much of a romanticized view I came into studying abroad with, because there is a big difference between visiting a city and living there. It’s not all fun and games when you have to grocery shop, try to find the medication you need, and take the same commute to school everyday that involves a crowded tram and metro. When all I was doing was going to class and then coming home and lying down because I didn’t feel well, it didn’t even feel like I was in Paris anymore, and I was pretty miserable. But this weekend, things finally started to shift. It was honestly one of the best weekends of my life, which was quite a surprise after having such a rough week. I think a big factor is that I’m starting to get closer to the people in my program--we’re really becoming friends instead of just acquaintances. It helps to have people I can talk to that are going through the same thing and makes me feel less alone. I am also starting to feel more comfortable both at home and in the city now that I know my way around better. When everything was new and different, it was stressful, but it’s finally starting to feel like home. Also, I have finally started to adapt to the food here, and I’m feeling much better :) Basically it has gone from being enamored with the city and super happy to be here to a stress whirlwind to reality setting in to just being comfortable, which I think is a good place to be. Of course I still miss things from home (believe me, I miss A LOT of things), but I don’t miss them so much that I want to go home anymore, when I definitely would have been down to go back any second last week. I was actually talking to my friends about the things I missed from home when I realized that I wasn’t as homesick as I had been (also talking about it helped). There are also still a lot of things I dislike about being here, but they’re not bothering me as much as they were either. Recap of the weekend: Friday started off with my last class of the week, and then I got lunch at my favorite boulangerie and ate at my friend’s apartment before we all headed over to the Cluny Museum to see a special exhibit on unicorns. After that, we did some window shopping before heading over to Montmartre. We climbed a TON of stairs, but it was worth it to see Sacre Coeur and a beautiful view of Paris. We walked around the area and also saw the Moulin Rouge. Then, we took the metro to Trocadero, where I had been wanting to go since I got here, and finally saw the view of the Eiffel Tower I had been waiting for (I went to see it on the first day, but I got off the metro at Bir Hakeim, which takes you right to it. I thought it was small and underwhelming--Trocadero is where it really looks magical). We watched the sunset behind the Eiffel Tower as a guy sang Ed Sheeran and Coldplay songs and played guitar. I also got to see it sparkle for the first time since I’ve been here, and I have to say, that was pure magic. We all got dinner at a pub afterward, and I ate way too many sweet potato fries. Saturday, we decided to have a picnic because it was so nice outside. We all met at my friend’s apartment, and from there we walked to a nearby park, stopping to pick up food along the way. It was warm (ish) and sunny, and we all had a great time talking and eating some great food. Then I met up with my friend who I had met last semester when she studied abroad at CSULB--she lives near Paris. We got ice cream and walked around the Luxembourg Gardens and then around the city. We got dinner at an Italian restaurant called IT, which had SUPER good pizza. After that, we walked along the Seine, and we could see the Eiffel Tower sparkle (again!). It was such a great evening, and I’m so glad I was able to see her and catch up. Sunday, a few of my friends and I took a day trip to Provins, a small town that’s about an hour and a half train ride on the RER away from Paris. It was absolutely beautiful, and it was so nice to be in the countryside after having been in a busy city for weeks. We had lunch at a great pizza restaurant (yes, I got pizza again … but it was so worth it ;)). I got one with goat cheese and honey, a combination I never would have thought of, but it was heavenly. We climbed to the top of Caesar Tower for an amazing view, looked into a lot of cute shops, and walked around some really pretty nature areas. My two favorite moments of the day:
1. I asked one of my friends to take a video of the rest of us walking up the stairs to the tower entrance because it was a pretty shot and I wanted to put it in my new vlog intro. We started walking up, and one of my friends tripped on the stairs. We then rewatched the video over and over and laughed. 2. On the train ride back, I was doing homework with headphones in, and I could see out of the corner of my eye that my friend sitting next to me was moving her head from side to side. I looked over, and she was dancing. I looked across the table to see my other two friends dancing too. I took my headphones out and they all started laughing—I had my music up loud enough that they could all hear it! (Also, it was Zumba music lol). Thanks for reading! Talk to you soon :) -May
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorHey guys, it's May! I hope you'll join me as I document my semester abroad. Archives
May 2020
Categories |