My First Days in France

So now that I finally feel like I've settled down here a little bit, it's time for me to update everyone on how my first three days in Versailles have gone.  It's going to take me a very long time to adjust to the language, culture, and my living situation here... but hopefully I'll figure it out soon.

FRIDAY, SEPT 03

We arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport around 1 a.m. Chicago time, meaning that it was 8 a.m. here and we had to begin a new day after very little sleep on the plane.  After waiting an hour at the airport, we boarded a bus that took us from the airport (which is northeast of Paris) to Versailles (which is southwest of Paris).  It was a long ride due to traffic, but it was fun to see things like the hill of Montmartre and the Eiffel Tower as we drove along the highway.  Arriving in Versailles, all of the buildings were very picturesque and the weather was beautiful -- but nothing could compare to our first view of the Château de Versailles.  When our bus crossed the city's main intersection, I think all 48 of us took a collective gasp when we saw the shiny gold expanse of the royal palace.

It turns out that our school is only yards (or should I say, meters?) away from the Château's grand entrance.  The bus dropped us off and we entered ENSA-V, or l'École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Versailles.  We gathered in a courtyard and got to have some food and drinks (it didn't feel like lunchtime, but apparently it was).  Brandon and I, the two student representatives, went off with the program director Alejandro Lapunzina to make some copies of passports and visas.  The director and the rest of the staff all seemed very nice.  While eating lunch, we got to meet one of the French students and the director's daughter, who later took us shopping for some sheets for our apartments.

Then came the scary part: being dropped off at our new homes.  My roommates Brittany and Sonia and I got to our house just as the mom was about to go pick up her kids from school.  She was very nice and offered us some help and some refreshments before leaving.  We had some time to unpack alone before anyone else came home.  Essentially.... our place consists of 1 main room with 2 beds, a smaller side bedroom, a tiny kitchen, and a bathroom on the third floor of the Poussin family's townhouse.  To put it nicely, this is place is a piece of s&*@!  It was built over 300 years ago... no joke.  We're lucky enough to have a shower with warm water, but we have no oven, no freezer, no closets, and no access to the rest of the house.  Fortunately, the Poussin family has cute kids that are perhaps a bit friendlier than their parents.  The oldest is Solange, who's 11, then there's Jean-Baptiste, and Jeanne, and little Célestine who's just 4.  Solange knows a little English, but I doubt the others do.  Hearing them speak French is the cutest thing I've ever heard!  I think they sent us a friendly gesture when they left "Happy" the family bunny in a basket outside our door later that day... pretty random!

That night the three of us decided to splurge on our first French meal.  We walked down the street and found a pretty crowded restaurant called Café XXL (no, it was not extra large) and sat outside.  We could barely read the menu and almost nothing sounded familiar.  Not wanting any escargot or frog legs, I randomly chose something called “boudin”, which turned out to be a pretty scary-looking sausage with mashed potatoes and squash.  It looked gross, but the taste wasn’t too bad – just unusual.  We still have absolutely no idea what the meat was… it’s a mystery!  That café was a funny way to end the night, especially when Brittany repeatedly told the waiter she wanted “lait” (milk) and got a glass of nasty cream instead of “l’eau” (water), which is what she really wanted.


UPDATE: A "boudin noir" is apparently a kind of blood sausage.  Eww!

It was a little hard to sleep that night, what with the construction occurring on the street outside my window and the lack of big pillows… but it had been a 32 hour day so I passed out pretty quickly.

SATURDAY, SEPT 04

On Saturday morning we got up early to shower and then headed off to school for a tour of Versailles.  We split into groups and Professor Lapunzina’s older daughter Andrea showed us around town.  It turns out that my apartment is a lot closer to some cute shops, cafés, and movie theaters than I thought.  Afterwards a group of girls and I walked down one very picturesque cobblestone street to get lunch.  We ended up at a cheap Italian restaurant and ate outside; it was great!  Then we stopped by Natalie, Allie, and Andrea’s apartment since they’re allowed to have guests over… I couldn’t help but be jealous of their 10 foot ceilings, their floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the street, and their large kitchen. 

Afterwards, we stopped at a nearby grocery store called “Super U” to get some food.  I had a very embarrassing moment (the first of many) when I got to the cash register and realized that I had not weighed my fruit beforehand.  Fortunately, I could understand the lady telling me, “You need to weigh this downstairs first and put a sticker on it!” so I spewed out some awkward French apologies and ran back into the store.  She nicely held the line up, at least.  My friend Brittany had the same problem was less lucky: her cashier didn’t know a word of English, and she doesn’t know a word of French… so the guy behind her in line had to translate!

That night, a bunch of people agreed to meet up at a restaurant/bar called “O Paris”.  Tons of teenagers were there, so it seemed like a good location.  Afterwards we went down the street to “Les Grapes”, where we found the rest of the U of I group!  Only 4 of the 48 kids weren’t there… so we felt kind of bad invading the place.  It was a long, rough day, so we left fairly soon.

SUNDAY, SEPT 05

The previous night had been a little sad, as I had been overwhelmed by the culture shock and fed up with French people, so I was very excited to finally revisit some beloved sites in Paris.  Since we had the whole day free, about 20 people opted to take the train from Versailles into the heart of Paris.  Everyone decided to depend on me for the day’s “plan” since I was more familiar with Paris than anyone else… which was cool, but it felt like I didn’t deserve that level of authority!  But since everyone seemed kind of lost and hopeless, I just took the reigns and told them the best route to take on our first tour of the city.

The RER train ride in was incredibly smooth and fast.  The distance was about equivalent to the distance from Park Ridge to downtown Chicago, but it took half the time and the train (a double-decker) was almost completely silent.  We got off at the Saint-Michel-Notre-Dame stop, and when I walked up the subway stairs and got my first new glimpse of the Notre Dame cathedral, it was the best feeling I’d had all week!  I felt like I was finally back where I belonged.  Versailles is charming, but Paris is just the most amazing place I’ve ever been.  I remembered that THIS was why I came here.

We approached the cathedral and walked around the back to see all of its best views.  The church bells were even ringing as we did so (by the Hunchback, perhaps?!).  Since Notre Dame is on an island in the middle of the Seine river, we crossed a bridge to the southern half of town and began exploring the Latin Quarter.  It was GORGEOUS, to say the least – adorable cafés were buzzing with happy people on every corner!  I ate at a rather touristy café and got a cheap sandwich.  It was funny because our waiter thought we were crazy… we downed three “carafes” (little tiny pitchers) of water and kept asking for more!  Apparently French people just don’t drink water.  I have no idea how, because we were dying of thirst after walking around so much.

Next, the group joined up to walk over to the Jardins de Luxembourg.  I don’t think anyone was expecting it to be a very interesting garden, so they were amazed when they saw how huge it was!  It’s crazy how such a vast space can be set within such a cramped, busy city.  People were everywhere, picnicking on the grass, playing in the wooded park, sailing mini boats in the pond… it was a beautiful day. 

To save a metro ticket, we decided to walk from the gardens all the way up to the Musée d’Orsay museum on the Seine.  This was a LONG walk but we found some great neighborhoods in between!  In particular, I really enjoyed walking along the street called St. Germain, which is where my family and I will be living over Christmas break.  It features some of Paris’ oldest and nicest cafés, a lovely church, and several cute shops.  I can’t wait to stay there because it’s such a central location and simply very Parisian-looking!

We sat along the river for a break and then crossed it to explore the Tuileries Gardens that lead up to the Louvre.  When we left the shaded path and walked onto the main axis, we discovered an amazing view: you could see the Louvre, the Egyptian obelisk at Place de la Concorde, and the distant Arc de Triomphe down the Champs Elysées street all lined up perfectly!  Clearly, this once served as the old French kings’ main driveway.  In fact, the entire layout of Paris is indicative of the royalty’s old style – many landmarks are laid out upon giant symmetrical axes, which definitely give the impression of supreme power and what not.  We all laughed when we looked at the enormous Louvre, and remembering our French history, thought, “Really, Louis XIV?? This palace wasn’t good enough for you, so you had to go build Versailles?? Really??”  They should make an SNL skit for that…

Exhausted and thirsty, we finally went back to the train to head over to the Eiffel Tower (it was way too far to walk).  Once it came into sight, we couldn’t help but smile and snap photos like ridiculous tourists.  It’s being touched up with paint, so unfortunately there were some tarps covering it up a bit, but it was still a breath-taking sight.  There was a bizarre Native American-themed performance going on beneath it, so we listened to the music and enjoyed the weird clashing of cultures as we sat in the shadows of the Tower.  It was very relaxing and a great end to the day before we headed home.