Paris, Day 1!

I couldn’t have picked a better day to arrive in Paris. Today’s mild 75-degree heat and cloudless blue sky have made this already beautiful city even more stunning and my first day here especially surreal.

I once heard that people often feel a bit out of place when they first arrive in a new location, particularly after a long trip, because our spirits travel more slowly than our physical beings. That feels really true for me today. I feel jet-lagged in a geographic rather than temporal sense – I’ve managed to stay awake (and be quite active) all day, but somehow I can’t quite accept the fact that I am finally here in Paris! This has been so long in coming (I think I found out back in October that I’d been selected for this program) that it seems impossible that I am actually here. And even beyond this particular experience, I’ve wanted to live abroad for such a long time that realizing that dream – even for only eight months – feels so surreal.

Paris also has some unique qualities that enhance that feeling. This is one of those cities that we’ve all heard so much about that it just seems strange to finally see some of its iconic elements in real life. I remember feeling the same way on my second day outside the United States, when my school group took the train into Rome and, after walking quickly without knowing our destination or where we were, we suddenly turned a corner and stood in front of the Colosseum. Paris is a city that is so often hyped (for good reason!) that even its random streets feel special.

My plane landed early, and after breezing through customs, I met my friend Garry outside the terminal. Garry’s offer to pick me up from Charles de Gaulle made my journey so much less stressful, and I’m very grateful to him! In what seemed like very little time, we made our way from CDG to the north of the city around to my neighborhood in the far south. (Because in France everyone gets 35 days of vacation per year and most people use those days all at once in August, traffic is not as crazy right now as it would normally be.) We arrived at my building, crushed into the little elevator, and stepped out onto the third (really fourth) floor just as my landlady and roommate had opened the door.

As I mentioned in my FAQ post, I’m living in an apartment with an older woman who is a theater costume designer. She advertised the room on my university’s housing board, and I feel really lucky to have landed this spot. As classic as a tiny Parisian attic would be, I’m glad that there is going to be someone else around when I’m home, and she has already demonstrated her willingness to help me get to know Paris.

Garry and I chatted with D for a few minutes before heading out to find breakfast. Although Garry grew up in the Paris area, he’s not familiar with my neighborhood, so it was a bit of a new adventure for both of us. We sat at a sidewalk café (where else?!) and shared six mini breakfast pastries (viennoiseries – a really hard word for me to pronounce correctly). Each was delicious, though my favorite bite was the first: the pain aux raisins was flaky, buttery, and sweet, all at the same time.  We also had freshly squeezed orange juice that was amazing (but definitely not for fans of pulp-free juice!).

From the café we wandered north on a major street, ultimately passing through the Jardin du Luxembourg and the Latin Quarter before ending at Notre Dame – a distance of 10 metro stops from my apartment! (Granted, the metro stops are closer here than in DC, but still – we covered almost an entire radius of the city!) I will definitely be returning to the Jardin du Luxembourg in the coming days if this weather holds – it’s a lovely spot with plenty of chairs for sitting near the flowers or the pond. The Latin Quarter is the hip university area and definitely looks like a spot for some good nightlife; my school is somewhere in the general vicinity of where we walked today, but I’ll make a point of finding it tomorrow. Finally, Notre Dame: I glimpsed it last year during a sprint-walk from a picnic on the Seine to dinner in a different area, but I didn’t get as close as I did today. Although it doesn’t seem as big as I’d expected, it’s still plenty grand, and I’ll be joining the throngs of tourists there again in the near future.

The Jardin du Luxembourg:

Notre Dame:

Garry left me on my own around lunchtime, so I unpacked everything during the first part of the afternoon. Now, some of you might be curious about how much stuff I brought for my eight-month stay here. I am proud to say that I made it here with two suitcases that each weighed in at around 45 pounds (just under the limit of 50). I think I may actually have brought less with me for eight months than I did for three months in The Hague last summer! Although I left my winter coats at home, I have more or less everything else I’ll need for the year with me here. Previous visitors of my apartment in Virginia will remember that I kept my walls well covered with pictures and art from my travels; here, I’ve brought only a few pictures, and other than a few DVDs in a CD holder and a few French books, that’s pretty much the extent of my non-clothing possessions here in Paris. Traveling is always an exercise in minimization, even in longer term living situations.

Here's my room for the next eight months and its oh-so-Parisian view:

I set out alone around 3:00 in search of information about sim cards for my phone and a place where I could get the standard array of toiletries. This of course led me into a French grocery store. Readers of my travel blog may recall that I love going into grocery stores in other countries; it’s always fascinating to see what items they stock that you’d never see in the United States. I’m sure this list will expand, but such items today included: rhubarb-flavored yogurt, whole fish (wrapped in Styrofoam and plastic wrap just like any other cut of meat), and children’s string cheese that from what I could tell just looks like a pile of spaghetti.

One great part about my neighborhood is that its lack of tourist attractions means that both tourists and tourist-wary Parisians seem relatively rare. The 14th arrondisement is home to some famous catacombs and an unsightly tower office building that provides the best views of Paris (because it includes the Eiffel Tower); that’s literally all that would draw anyone to this area. In a city that is generally overwhelmed with tourists, it’s a pleasant break to be in a place that’s a bit more normal. The people I spoke with about cell phones had no negative reaction to my very rusty French and refrained from switching to English, which so often happens elsewhere. I’ll write more this week about my journey back into the francophone world – it’s my biggest source of anxiety and I’m sure will provide some amusing stories in the coming weeks.

It’s now 6:30 Paris time, and I’m exhausted and ready for a good night’s rest! My plan for the next few days is to continue exploring the Left Bank. Check back soon!

And a special thanks to all my family and friends in the US who've been supportive and encouraging in the last few weeks. This is an exciting but very challenging adventure, and it makes such a difference to know you're all there!