Ma Nouvelle Famille

Bonjour!

As I write this, I am sitting in my new room in my new house above an adorable courtyard where Olivia (?...je ne comprende pas wtf my family calls her) the adorable and super-smart German Shepard lives. My floor-to-ceiling window over looks the courtyard and my bed is accessed by way of a ladder up to a little nook where there is a small bureau and my soft little French bed! There is a desk, a bookshelf, a metal rack upon which to hang my clothes, and a little set of shelves for my other things.

My brothers Victor, Julien, and Mathieu, along with Mathieu's girlfriend Anise and Mme. Stefani and I all took Olivia on a walk through the neighborhood park after an amazing lunch of mustard-roasted beef, spicy tomato salad, pommes frites, and broccoli with some wonderful Bordeaux biologique (organic) wine. During lunch, everyone talked a lot and quickly to one another and Joel, my host father, would translate the funny parts for me. They're very good about making sure I can understand them when they're talking to me. After lunch, Joel, Julien, Mary-Ellizabeth and I sat and smoked together over some coffee and a glass of cidre, which is exactly what it sounds like.

My host brothers are all gorgeous and very different-looking. Mathieu speaks English pretty well and is very dedicated to speaking French to me. Once the parents had gone inside, he pulled down the front of his pants to reveal a cool tattoo and asked me a question about it. I started laughing my ass off and said "Oui, quelquefois" and he and Julien joined me laughing and said that I've come to the right family!

ALORS, on our walk through the park we met up with a bunch of young Parisians and sat around in a little circle chatting and sharing. People here don't care at all and everyone smokes in the park just walking around with their dogs and friends. Everyone I met kissed me on both cheeks in a way which we Americans would call tres French. Mathieu's girlfriend likes to practice her English translating things to me and asking about slang words.

In sum: they're hilarious, patient, friendly, and Mr. Stefani is an excellent cook! My little brother is now outside playing basketball. I'll take some photos and post them soon.

A bientot!

Le Centre Pompidou

Moi@ Centre Pompidou
L'exterior from the metro station
"Portrait d'e Femme" by Pablo Picasso
For you, Mom! "Le nez" by Giacometti
Also for you, Mom, and you also Dad. Magritte.
Marc Chagall
MATISSE! The best day ever was at MoMA when the entire 6th floor was a Matisse exhibit. This room was like a mini version of that.
The beginning of the elles@Pompidou exhibit of modern female artists. Love it.

My French Assignments

This morning at 10h20 (4:20am on the East Coast), I had an interview with my French professor in order to receive my personalized French language assignments for the next 6 weeks. The questions went as follows: "What do you study?" "What do you like to do?" "What do you hope to get out of your time in Paris this semester?" In between my many "uhhhhh"s and enormous pauses, Mr. Bondurant was able to decipher a few things.

#1. I study Afro-American studies and poetry, which I like. Especially rap music.

#2. I like to cook.

#3. I like to eat.

#4. I like to shop for groceries.

#5. I don't speak French pretty much at all.

Alors, my assignments are as follows:

#1. Buy the French cooking magazine Saveurs for September and October and make two recipes from each magazine at my house. Then talk about what was difficult, what was easy, what I learned. Learn about what fruits and vegetables are seasonal and how they are prepared. Talk about my experiences in markets.

#2. Go online and research 3 French hip-hop artists. Learn things about them, listen to their music, and be able to discuss their lyrical messages in three songs by each artist.

#3. Buy a poetry book by the first President of Senegal, Leopold Senghor, choose 2 poems and discuss their meanings.

C'est bon!

Went to Montmartre yesterday and walked around solo after our hilarious walking tour. Got a coffee, some bottles of wine and some ONE EURO EARRINGS. My ultimate goal in life. Looking at my friend Kas's blog about her study abroad experience in Ghana right now, I'm seeing more and more how unbelievably expensive it is here. Can't wait to move in with my family and start cooking and saving myself some coin. Montmartre was cheaper than most of the city though, and it was truly wonderful to see all of the places from the movie Amelie, including Cafe de 2 Moulins, where she worked as a waitress.

Got sangria with my friend from Lyceum Boyce who is here doing a homestay program as well, but in the south of France. Hadn't seen him since winter of freshman year and he's grown up a lot! He doesn't speak much French either, so I didn't feel like an idiot when the couple next to us leaned over to say something to me and I stared at them blankly then apologized awkwardly and kept drinking my sangria. It's delicious sangria, for the record.

Wish it weren't so cold. I need to buy another jacket. A wool one. Ugh.

A bientot!

Host Family News & More French Behaviors

Received the information on my host family.

Les Stefani

6, rue du Sergent Godefroy

93100 Montreuil (about 30 minutes from my classes - c'est bon!)

I'll be pretty near my current roommate Abby (YES!) and right outside of the 20eme arrondisement in Eastern Paris.

I have three brothers, Mathieu (21), Julien (18), and Victor (12) and they have a dog! And a piano! I bought my Zones 1-3 Metro pass this evening after a successful visit to Centre Georges Pompidou, which I will post photos of tomorrow.

Now for the good stuff:

#1 French people shut their doors all of the time. This is not to keep people out, necessarily, but rather to demonstrate the idea of privacy. Not that they don't want you to knock, but it seems strange to Americans since an "open-door policy" is pretty much standard for us. So, if you're wondering why your dorm's foreign exchange student seemed so antisocial, keeping his door shut tight all of the time, know that all you had to do was knock.

#2 It is considered rude to not say hello AND goodbye to everyone in most places that are somewhat intimate, e.g. not the metro (super awkward), and not the street (people just look at you like you're insane). For instance, going into a shop you should say "bonjour madame" when you come in and something like "merci, au revoir!" when you leave. If you don't, the French will totally call you out on it by making a dramatic point of saying "BONJOUR MADEMOISELLE." My favorite scenario: in the elevator, you are to greet people when they get on and when they get off you are to bid them good-day. Hilarious.

#3 French people do NOT sit on the floor NOR put their feet up whilst sitting. It is, as Dr. Costello would say, just not French. Amusant, to be sure.

Jeudi...So Far

Well just hustled back from our French placement test in Montparnasse (14eme) to the Foyer in the pouring rain with no map and no assistance! It's ironic how much the program babys us with "safety regulations" and then takes us to the middle of the city and leaves us there, floundering with our bad French.

The placement test was dreadful so I just started making things up, like I always do in French class. I couldn't understand what the redaction (essay) question was asking so I talked about going to the beach and cooking with mes amis every summer. Whatever. Choose verbs you already know, people. That's how I've passed every French so far. There were also a bunch of "fill-in-the-blank" type of questions that I just made up answers to as well. Oh well. Looks like I'll be in elementary French. Quel surprise !

The interview section was crazy too, and my interviewer asked me some questions I didn't understand so I just stared at her and started talking about AFAM and food and coming to Paris with my mom a few years ago. Zut!

Going to read The Unbearable Lightness of Being and surf Paris food blogs until my next meeting at 15h (3pm) to find out my host family!

Le Premier Jour Mavais dans Paris!

Cheers to my first bad day in Paris. Not all bad, but I realize more and more that I understand the least French out of all of my fellow NC Consortium participants. Went on a walking tour in Marais (4eme), led by Dr. Costello en francais. Did not understand a word, so instead took some photos and generally lingered around, catching "septieme siecle" and "Louis XIV" and that was about all over 2 hours of tour.

Then the four ENORMOUS pages of homework assigned by dear Monsiour Bondurant made no sense to me either. Despite my claim that I can read some French. I can't really. Our placement test is tomorrow. At least I'll be in the easiest of all of the classes. It rained again, my head ached, I got a bit depressed about home, mainly trying to stay in touch with some people I miss a lot who I know are very busy and important but whom I would very much like to hear back from.

After the walking tour, though, some of the girls and I went out to eat at this not-very-good cafe on Blvd St-Germain but sat outside and generally had a great time just chatting. After that, I watched Top Chef and started the homework...for about 3 hours...and right as I was about to take a shower so I could cry a bit out of desperation in private, my dear poetry class friend Caroline texted my shitty French phone to go get wine in my neighborhood!

SO decided to give up on the p.c. vs. imparfait debate since none of it made any sense whatsoever and am going to walk a few blocks to meet her at Chez Georges off of Rue St-Sulpice for some cheap wine and to meet new friends.

I've only been washing my hair with soap (since shampoo is mad expensive) and it makes it look totally insane, but there's not much else I can do about that.

Will have more weird French habit news tomorrow. I've been collecting some good ones.

A bientot!

More Bizarre French Things

Le Tour Eiffel lit up a 22h; moi avec le Tour Eiffel (it's very tall!); le 5eme arrondisement (le Quartier Latin, where the Foyer is); some crevettes (shrimp) sauteed in delicious Asian sauce with serrano peppers and some weird styrofoam-textured bread substitutes

Some more French things:

#1 French people wear "slippers" indoors. Slippers are just shoes that one has for the home and does not wear outside. The French do not go barefoot. Assez tacky or something.

#2 The toilet paper is all pink.

Going to catch the last hour of "happy hour" at the bars, which happens after dinner (around 20h or 8 o'clock). Ate baguette and a tomato on the terrace while reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being. It's quite wonderful and accessible, which I appreciate in a book of such a title. Tomorrow we have more French class and are supposed to talk about what we want to ask our host families about come Sunday.

For housing interviews, I told the sweet but hilariously long-winded Dr. Costello that I want someone who cooks copiously and maybe has pets. He said he would place me with someone lively since I seem quite so myself. Haha. Maybe he's right. I hope I'm lively.

Anyway, Abby's finishing her weird Desperado beer that tastes like fruit braised in Corona and off we go!

A bientot!