WOW what a week it has been. Where to even begin?
A good place to start would probably be Sunday, when I moved into my host family's home. All of the students in my program gathered in the lobby of the Foyer Sunday morning, awaiting our families to come pick us up. It was like we were all little children in the orphanage or something; it was weird. My family actually was, much to my delight, the first to arrive. We put all my bags in their car and drove to their home in Asnieres, a suburb close to the city. The drive was beautiful, and the town of Asnieres is adorable. It is not like an American suburb in the sense that it is very much a walkable town. Since moving in, I have explored and found movie theatres, Monoprix (one of my favorite things about France, kind of like an upscale Target), a running path along the Seine, and multiple parks and playgrounds. It's just adorable.
On the car ride over, they explained to me that they, in fact, only have one son living at home right now instead of two, because the other is studying in Korea (pretty cool). Instead, they have another exchange student, a 17-year-old Swedish girl, living with them. Kinda weird, but I'll get back to her later.
Once we arrived at the house, I was very eager to unpack considering I had been living out of a suitcase for the past week. Then it was time for lunch, which lasted for two hours! It was crazy! They made a joke that I probably wasn't used to such a long meal because I am American, but the thing is, it's not a joke at all. I tend to dine very quickly. The highlight of lunch was definitely when my host brother's girlfriend, who studied abroad in Louisiana of all places, asked me if I had ever eaten alligator. So funny.
After lunch, it all kind of set in that I was in another person's house, and I am not joking when I say it was most awkward I have ever felt in my life. I literally just sat in my room from about 2 pm until 9 pm (dinner time), just messaging my friends in my program because we were all in our rooms feeling too awkward to converse with our host families or walk around. And I quote- "I have to go to the bathroom! What do I do?" It truly was the weirdest day of my life.
The Swedish exchange student was not home for my day of awkwardness, but in the coming days I came to realize that it is amazing having her here with me. It is the most ideal situation I could have asked for. She speaks English very well, and we help each other out when we don't know what our host parents are saying. In my mind, having her here with me takes some of the pressure and awkwardness away because we are "sharing the spotlight", so to speak. My family is also amazing. Whomever said French people don't have a sense of humor (*cough my instructor cough*) was very wrong, because I think my host family is hilarious.
On Monday, classes began, and it was finally time to face the metro. Luckily my friend Meghan is also staying in Asnieres, so we get to ride into the city together. The first part of our journey is easy- take the train from Asnieres-sur-Seine to Gare St. Lazare, the train station in the city. Being from the Main Line, I was used to that. Once we got to St. Lazare, however, we quickly realized we had no idea what we were doing, and I silently cursed our instructor for not giving us step-by-step instructions of which stops to take to get to school. We wandered around the train station aimlessly for awhile (during the morning rush hour, might I add) before asking the information desk for help. He told us to go to "Line 14". For whatever reason, despite learning about the metro during our orientation, we thought that this meant to go on another train on platform 14. We were very very close to getting on a train that could have been going to another city in France, or quite possibly even another country, all because we saw the number 14 and assumed it was what the man was talking about. Luckily we came to our senses and realized this was not at all correct, and finally figured out we needed to go downstairs to find the metro line 14. That could have been very bad. Thankfully, I can now confidently say we have got our commute down pat, so hopefully we will never be late to class because we end up in Switzerland.
Since our language classes don't start until tomorrow (Thursday), we didn't have class on Tuesday. So, 7 of us decided to take a trip to Versailles. We heard it was an all day trip if we wanted to see everything, and boy was that correct. We spent a total of 7 hours at Versailles, and we were all completely exhausted by the end. That is one big property. But, honestly, it is absolutely the place to beat for most beautiful and extraordinary place I have ever been in my life. I had chills so many times throughout the day. My only regret is not researching the property and its history of inhabitants before my trip, rather than learning as I went along. That way, I would have been able to truly appreciate all the aspects of the palaces and gardens, rather than just the aesthetics. But, in short, Versailles now has a piece of my heart forever.
There really isn't a way to capture the beauty of Versailles in a photograph, but here are a few of my attempts.
A good place to start would probably be Sunday, when I moved into my host family's home. All of the students in my program gathered in the lobby of the Foyer Sunday morning, awaiting our families to come pick us up. It was like we were all little children in the orphanage or something; it was weird. My family actually was, much to my delight, the first to arrive. We put all my bags in their car and drove to their home in Asnieres, a suburb close to the city. The drive was beautiful, and the town of Asnieres is adorable. It is not like an American suburb in the sense that it is very much a walkable town. Since moving in, I have explored and found movie theatres, Monoprix (one of my favorite things about France, kind of like an upscale Target), a running path along the Seine, and multiple parks and playgrounds. It's just adorable.
On the car ride over, they explained to me that they, in fact, only have one son living at home right now instead of two, because the other is studying in Korea (pretty cool). Instead, they have another exchange student, a 17-year-old Swedish girl, living with them. Kinda weird, but I'll get back to her later.
Once we arrived at the house, I was very eager to unpack considering I had been living out of a suitcase for the past week. Then it was time for lunch, which lasted for two hours! It was crazy! They made a joke that I probably wasn't used to such a long meal because I am American, but the thing is, it's not a joke at all. I tend to dine very quickly. The highlight of lunch was definitely when my host brother's girlfriend, who studied abroad in Louisiana of all places, asked me if I had ever eaten alligator. So funny.
After lunch, it all kind of set in that I was in another person's house, and I am not joking when I say it was most awkward I have ever felt in my life. I literally just sat in my room from about 2 pm until 9 pm (dinner time), just messaging my friends in my program because we were all in our rooms feeling too awkward to converse with our host families or walk around. And I quote- "I have to go to the bathroom! What do I do?" It truly was the weirdest day of my life.
The Swedish exchange student was not home for my day of awkwardness, but in the coming days I came to realize that it is amazing having her here with me. It is the most ideal situation I could have asked for. She speaks English very well, and we help each other out when we don't know what our host parents are saying. In my mind, having her here with me takes some of the pressure and awkwardness away because we are "sharing the spotlight", so to speak. My family is also amazing. Whomever said French people don't have a sense of humor (*cough my instructor cough*) was very wrong, because I think my host family is hilarious.
On Monday, classes began, and it was finally time to face the metro. Luckily my friend Meghan is also staying in Asnieres, so we get to ride into the city together. The first part of our journey is easy- take the train from Asnieres-sur-Seine to Gare St. Lazare, the train station in the city. Being from the Main Line, I was used to that. Once we got to St. Lazare, however, we quickly realized we had no idea what we were doing, and I silently cursed our instructor for not giving us step-by-step instructions of which stops to take to get to school. We wandered around the train station aimlessly for awhile (during the morning rush hour, might I add) before asking the information desk for help. He told us to go to "Line 14". For whatever reason, despite learning about the metro during our orientation, we thought that this meant to go on another train on platform 14. We were very very close to getting on a train that could have been going to another city in France, or quite possibly even another country, all because we saw the number 14 and assumed it was what the man was talking about. Luckily we came to our senses and realized this was not at all correct, and finally figured out we needed to go downstairs to find the metro line 14. That could have been very bad. Thankfully, I can now confidently say we have got our commute down pat, so hopefully we will never be late to class because we end up in Switzerland.
Since our language classes don't start until tomorrow (Thursday), we didn't have class on Tuesday. So, 7 of us decided to take a trip to Versailles. We heard it was an all day trip if we wanted to see everything, and boy was that correct. We spent a total of 7 hours at Versailles, and we were all completely exhausted by the end. That is one big property. But, honestly, it is absolutely the place to beat for most beautiful and extraordinary place I have ever been in my life. I had chills so many times throughout the day. My only regret is not researching the property and its history of inhabitants before my trip, rather than learning as I went along. That way, I would have been able to truly appreciate all the aspects of the palaces and gardens, rather than just the aesthetics. But, in short, Versailles now has a piece of my heart forever.
There really isn't a way to capture the beauty of Versailles in a photograph, but here are a few of my attempts.
I don't know if it was the trip to Versailles, or just getting better acclimated in my new house, but I am really starting to fall in love with Paris. The fact that I have only been here for a week and a half blows my mind because it feels like a month. I can't wait to see what other adventures it has in store for me!
I am headed to Caen in Normandy this weekend to wander around a new area of France. I need to learn from my mistakes and actually research what happened on Omaha Beach before we take a tour. Stay tuned for that!
Gotta get some sleep; French class finally begins tomorrow.
Bisous!
Claire
I am headed to Caen in Normandy this weekend to wander around a new area of France. I need to learn from my mistakes and actually research what happened on Omaha Beach before we take a tour. Stay tuned for that!
Gotta get some sleep; French class finally begins tomorrow.
Bisous!
Claire