Dorm Sweet Dorm: Enfin à Perpignan!

(First of all, I want to apologize in advance for what could be a post full of errors. I am typing on a European keyboard, and it is a bit different from the ones back home. So bear with me...)

On Friday, I took the slooooow train from Paris Austerlitz to Perpignan. NINE HOURS LATER, I pulled into the station that I will get to know very well this year. Because I arrived at night, I wasn't able to see the city at all, so on Saturday, I got a nice tour of the ville. It really is a very pretty city (I think), with palm trees all over and a nice mixture of very Parisian- and very Catalan-influenced buildings. The Parisian buildings are large and square, with ornate window decorations and long, lean windows themselves; the Catalan buildings are narrow and tall, painted in bright yellows, oranges, and reds, with red and blue shutters. It's quite a striking contrast.

In the middle of town, there is a canal that is really quite something else. It is set below the city streets, and has gardens surrounding it on either side. Palm trees line the canals through the center of town. I can't wait to show you pictures!

My school is nice, too. Right now, I have a lot of bureaucratic issues to take care of; today, I've already jumped through more than a few hoops to get keys fixed, get a food card, etc. Later on, I have to *gulp* open a bank account. Le pire (the worst), as we would say in French.

The people here are very nice. I have a nice little room where I get to stay for free -- I don't yet know if I'll stay there all year or not. I have the option of moving into the apartment across town; yesterday, I got to see the area, and it is beautiful! There is a nice, family-oriented park at the end of the road that is lined with palm trees. So we'll see about that.

This afternoon, after I open my bank account, one of the English professors (who is British) is going to take me to Canet-Plage, the nearest Mediterranean beach. Should be fun!

Bienvenue à Paris!

Well, I made it! I had a very easy, very quick plane ride from Portland (even got some sleep!), and made a few friends along the way. Right now, I am sitting at one of the Starbucks in Paris, waiting for one of the other Fulbright girls to show up. I am so glad to meet someone before orientation begins.

But first, a bit of some true-to-France information: when I got off the plane in Paris, I went over to one of the buses to take me into town, bought a ticket, and waited. Then the guy in front of me says, "Y a des grèves aujourd'hui" (there are strikes going on today). Oh great, I thought. And hello back to you, Paris! So it was a slow trip into Paris, since most of the trains and buses were on strike (and thus everyone was driving their car). But I am here, I am wide awake (thank you, Starbucks), and I really, really miss my cell phone. I am a little too dependent on certain technologies!

After I meet up with the other Fulbright girl, I plan on checking in to my hotel, freshening up a bit (because I am sure that I look looovely after a long flight!), and then getting some things in order before orientation begins tomorrow.

One last thing: I guess I had forgotten (or willed myself to forget) how expensive everything is in Paris! From the 15 Euro bus ticket to the 10 Euro locker rental in Montparnasse to the 3 Euro shotglass of coffee at Starbucks, I can already feel my bank account screaming at me! Luckily, I have everything (and more!) that I could need, so all I must buy for now is food and some other essentials. Well. I say that now...

Waiting at the Airport!

Well, I am now waiting at the Portland airport for my flight to Philadelphia (then to Paris). I can hardly believe that this day has come already -- it sure got here quickly! I'll get into Charles-de-Gaulle around 11 pm (Pacific Time)/8 am (Paris Time) tonight. It's strange to think that in just a few hours I will be hearing more French than English. I haven't quite prepared my mind for that.

We are boarding! More later when I arrive in Paris!

Thanksgiving in September

Hotel des Invalides

Paris,
France






With only six days left until I leave, I have been keeping busy with things to do: packing, cleaning out my room, giving stuff away, throwing stuff out, and saying good-byes (or rather, "see you laters") that I would just rather not say at all.

But one thing has me very excited: I am having Thanksgiving this Saturday! Yes, that is right: Thanksgiving. My mother asked what one thing I wanted to do before I leave, and I decided that I wanted to have a big dinner, with family and friends over, in order to say good-bye to them all at once. And I added to that when I decided to make that a Thanksgiving dinner, since I won't be here in November to celebrate (and I'll probably be teaching that day, too!). So, on the menu is the traditional turkey, stuffing, cranberries, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, etc. etc etc -- but with the added bonus of having it earlier in the year, and with family and friends who ordinarily wouldn't be able to come! I am certainly looking forward to it!!

Here are the details of the week to come:

Sunday, September 21: Leave for Paris (Portland --> Philadelphia --> Paris) at 9 am.

Monday, September 22: Arrive in Paris

Tuesday, September 23: Begin orientation in Paris

Wednesday, Sept. 24: Attend party for the 60th Anniversary of the Franco-American Education Commission at the Hotel des Invalides (the big, gold-domed building where Napoleon is buried)

Friday, September 26: Take the train to Perpignan


I am very excited to leave, but also getting nervous. I still have a lot of things to do, and I am quickly running out of time! But I am certainly looking forward to the adventures that are yet to come.

And, of course, the Thanksgiving dinner.

Two Weeks Left!

(<-- Yes, this is Perpignan! Please feel free to drool)






The countdown is on: I have two weeks left until I leave for France! Part of me is oh-so-excited; part of me knows that reality hasn't quite settled in. And in either case, I definitely haven't started packing...

Today at my store, something unbelievably coincidental happened: a lady came in, and I talked to her for a minute, noticing her strong British accent. I asked where she was from, and she said, "France" (I was convinced she was English!). We began speaking in French, and she told me that she was from Lyons, in eastern France. I told her that I was moving to France in two weeks, to Perpignan. "C'est pas vrai!" (No way!) She said. She is going to Perpignan next week! It was totally bizarre. So we started talking about the town (still in French, mind you) and her impressions of it. What fun to be able to talk to someone who has been there and who knows the culture. She warned me of the strong southern accents. "You won't understand them at first," she warned me. "Or at least I don't." Great. But the best part was that she told me my accent was perfect -- that I didn't sound American at all, but close to a true Poitevin (someone from the Poitiers region). Awesome.

With the limited time I have left, I've started making a list of all the things I am looking forward to when I arrive in France. I thought I would share some of them with you:

- Going to FNAC (my favorite store in France; like a Virgin Megastore meets Best Buy meets Borders)

- Taking a train everywhere and not having to drive (yay, Carte 12-25!)

- Carte d'Or caramel ice cream (oh, if only you knew...)

- Red wine. Oh, the red wine!

- Saturday markets (so wonderful and cheap -- I love it all, except for the skinned rabbits)

- The relaxed culture, so laid-back and at ease (it's great until you need something done RIGHT NOW)

- The food. Oh my. Meat with fruit. Exquisite desserts. Delectable pastries. Fois gras (yeah, I'm inhumane like that). Bread. Cheese. Wine. Have I mentioned the wine? (Need I go on?)

- My apartment. Granted, I won't be moving in until late October, but that won't stop me from being excited. I can't wait to be there! It looks soooooo cute!

As you can tell, I am really looking forward to going back "home." I will keep you updated as the time gets closer! And if you are interested in coming to visit, please let me know! I'd love to have visitors.

Visa Application Completed!

One of the requirements for teaching abroad is getting a long-term visa. I will admit that I was pretty nervous about this, because the French Consulate is very specific about what documents they require and how everything is to be filled out. Worst of all, I had to go down to San Francisco in person to get my visa - a $300 dollar trip for what I thought would be a 15-minute meeting.

The good news is that my mother came with me, and we stayed with my great-aunt in San Jose. So we turned our trip into a mini-family reunion. That part was so much fun. I am so glad that we went and visited her.

As for the meeting at the French Consulate in SF, it went well, too. I thought I would be the only one with an 11 am meeting, but no...there were about five of us. That meant that I got to wait in line for almost a half an hour before anyone would see me. I had way more paperwork than I needed, but I had it all organized, so I was able to give them just what they needed. My application was approved faster than everyone else's in line (thanks to my obsessive double-checking of required documents!!), and all I had to do was wait. And wait. And wait.

Over an hour later, my passport was returned to me with my visa in it. Yay! They say that this is valid for three months after I enter France, but in a way, it'll only last me one month, as I'll need to apply for a carte de séjour during my first week in France. That won't be easy, since I'll be in Paris for the first four or five days of my stay. But it'll get done. I know it will.

In the meantime, the countdown begins: I leave one month from today!

Making Time for Vacations

I haven't arrived in France, and already I am planning vacations. My last "brown package" (as my mother calls them) from the Fulbright had my official, stamped contract from the Ministère de l'Education Nationale de Montpellier. In it, I learned that my lycée was part of Zone A for vacations. (France, you may know, is split into three "zones" and are on completely different vacation schedules; this works out quite well) So, here are my vacation times (if you'd like to come visit):

Vacances de Toussaint: Saturday, October 25 - Thursday, November 6
Vacances de Noel: Saturday, December 23 - Monday, January 5
Vacances d'Hiver: Saturday, February 7 - Monday, February 23
Vacances de Printemps: Saturday, April 4 - Monday, April 20

Yes, the French really know how to vacation!! So, here are some ideas for trips that I am thinking of already:

Trip Idea #1: Basque Country
- Toulouse – Lourdes – Pau – Biarritz – Bayonne

Trip Idea #2: Absolute Mediterranean Paradise
- Aix-en-Provence – St. Tropez – Nice – Corsica

Trip Idea #3: Going North
- Paris – Brussels – Bruges – Luxembourg

Trip Idea #4: Return to the Familiar
- Bordeaux – Poitiers – Futuroscope – La Rochelle – Ile de Re

Other places I'd like to visit:

Eastern France: Colmar, Dijon, Lyon, Grenoble

Outside of France (to the South and East): Andorra, Barcelona, Florence and Venice, Corsica, Greek Isles

Outside of France (to the North and East): Brussels and Bruges, Luxembourg, Switzerland, London (by Eurostar)


We'll see how many of these trips actually happen. Until then, I will have fun daydreaming!