First two days in Paris

What a whirlwind, non-stop few days it has been! With orientation for CUPA, trying to get settled into my new home, and taking in all the sights of Paris, there has been absolutely no time for jet lag that's for sure! Here's how my first two days went. (More to come when I find more time to write.)

MONDAY - 9/9

I arrived at the Paris CDG airport on Monday morning at 07h35, right on schedule and the time when Monsieur Bouhon said he would be at the exit waiting for me. However, I completely forgot about the time it takes to get through customs and pick up my baggage so I ended up leaving Terminal 2A around 08h15. When I finally did exit, I spotted Monsieur Bouhon right away; he looked exactly as he did in the picture. I waved from a distance and after formally greeting him, apologized for being late and making him wait. He waved off my apologies saying of course I would take extra time for other things and that it was no problem. M. Bouhon is an especially relaxed and understanding person, he is an artist after all!

On the car ride from the airport back to his house in the 20ième arrondissement  (a trip of no more than 30km, but took 2 hours because of traffic) we talked about a variety of topics ranging from my background; studying with CUPA; differences between the US,

Graffiti seen on the highway

France and China; modern day France and its problems; graffiti  adolescence; and gangs. He also asked me if I believed in "destiny" and any thoughts I had on the subject. This was a question that I probably couldn't answer in English, let alone en français. After I rambled a bit about my beliefs, he told me about himself. He is the type of person to always live in the moment. To him, we are in a society that is always working towards the future; going to school to make money later down the road, saving up to buy things in the future, being an aggressive driver to try to gain some time for the future. He is certainly not that type of person and I could see that it was true.  The traffic was pretty bad at some parts and there were plenty of crazy drivers weaving in and out, but we only changed lanes when it was absolutely necessary. And although we were usually suck in the slowest lane, he said it just allowed us more time to talk and get to know each other, and for me to take in all of the sights around me as we were very slowly driving into Paris.

Monsieur Bouhon and his brilliant chapeau :)

While I totally agreed with his POV and enjoyed our time together (my french improved infinitely from not being able to say much of anything the moment i got on the car to sustaining genial small talk by the end) we didn't arrive at the house until 10 am, the time when orientation at CUPA was supposed to start. I quickly changed out of my sweatpants and tshirt into a chic jeans/blazer combo with a scarf and my leather messenger bag, trying my best to fit in with the well-dressed locals. Being the friendly and kind person that M. Bouhon is, he accompanied me to CUPA in the 6ième arrondissement so that he could show he how to get there and back and especially how le métro works.

When I finally got to CUPA (40 mins late) they were only at the end of studnet introductions so it was no big deal. CUPA orientation lasts two weeks and there are presentations in the mornings for the first few days talking about cultural and administrative things like host families, what to expect when living in Paris, selecting courses, etc. Starting on Thursday, there are going to be morning visits to each of the main Paris university where CUPA students can take classes. It was important to locate the bureaus of all the departments we were interested in because informations is mostly transferred by postings on the bulletin boards for each. Classes for french universities don't start until the week of the 23rd, except for science classes which started the week of the 2nd and art classes that start the week of the 30th. 

Crèpe provincale: tomato, salad, chèvre, sunny side up egg

I had lunch with a couple of other CUPA people at a crèperie down the road. I ordered a crèpe provincale with lots of veggies, goats cheese, and a barely cooked through egg that created a wonderful rich sauce when mixed with the chèvre. The crèpe itself was super thin so that all of the edges were deliciously crunchy. Other people ordered crèpes filled with spinach and cheese and also ratatouille and egg.

In the afternoon, I had one class at CUPA for la langue (language). Based on our language placement exams, I was placed into group 1. Not sure if this means that I super fail at French or what, but I'm not going to think too much about it. Before class started however, I took the time to go to the phone store Orange to get myself a french SIM card and some minutes. Thank goodness for AT&T and the unlock code they gave me for my phone so I wouldn't have to buy a new one. 

Sitting across the brooding artist with appetizers. 

Dinner on the first night was quite a pleasant surprise. M. Bouhon is a great cook and has been cooking for most of his life. Madame was going to be late coming home from work so it was only the two of us, but nevertheless, the dinner was quite elaborate. He had asked me in the morning what my dining preferences were and I said that I really liked to eat a lot of vegetables, but I really wasn't a picky eater. Les entrées or appetizers consisted of a chopped salad plate with a mustard and crème frais dressing, toasted peanuts with African spices, and baby radishes dipped in salt. There is a fresh market just down the road that M. Bouhon goes to twice a week so the vegetables were incredibly fresh. The main course was bowtie pasta tossed with chèvre, shaved zuchinni, and marinated cherry tomatoes, sprinkled with a little bit of fresh parsley. I enjoyed the food so much that before the end of dinner, I had refilled my plate three times! Around 9 pm, Missaratou came home and joined us at the table. She quickly made herself some African food (a type of polenta like mash with garlic spinach. M. Bouhon asked me if I would like to have an African meal later on, to which I excitedly nodded a yes to.

After dinner, we sat around the table and chatted. I also took this chance to give them the present I had brought for them, a Chinese hand-stitched picture of pandas under a blossom tree set in a circular dark cherry frame with a stand. It took me a while to convince them that it was not a painting, but actually different colored thread sewn on the silk fabric to look like a painting. They both really seemed to like it, which made me extremely content. I really like my host family and appreciate the comfortable and relaxed environment they have at home. Judging from how well we got along in the first day, things look promising for an unforgettable semester. :)

TUESDAY - 9/10

Tuesday morning was pretty hilarious. Monday night, we were looking at my orientation schedule and the block that said famille d'aceuille (host family) 10 am. He was convinced that it was only he who needed to go and that I could sleep in and head into CUPA later at 11. I wasn't too sure so I decided that I would accompany him in the morning and just wait around for a bit if it was actually true that I didn't need to be there. Turns out, it was a meeting for students only! I felt bad that M. Bouhon had to accompany me to CUPA again, but he just laughed about it. He was going to pick his daughter up from the train station anyways so he ended up killing some time in the nearby brasserie (restaurant usually with a bar). 

The morning was filled with more presentations and administrative things, like In the afternoon, I had two classes. The first was my French language class again and then a class called Methédologie, or the French Method. France and the US have very different education systems both with the administration and content wise. Americans are much more used to a contractual education system where all of the expectations and regulations are clearly defined in a rigid system. The American university is a great metaphor for how the education we have in the US encloses us in a bubble and hand feeds us many things. In France, it is the complete opposite. French students have much more autonomy and are expected to do most things by themselves. Our comparison of the American "syllabus" and the French "programme" highlighted this fact. A syllabus has 5 times as much information on it than a programme does. A syllabus will list things such as the time, location, info about the class, contact info for the teacher, all the readings and home work listed by days or class, expectations for the classroom, the breakdown for grades, penalties in the class, etc. The only things on a programme are a list of the class dates, the topic to be covered in each lecture and the homework due. However, each student is only responsible for one of these assignments. How do we know that? The heading of the column states that it is les devoirs, which is the plural for of work. Thus, it is to be assumed that this lists the work for all of the students, not each student. There was also a bibliography listed on the back. From this, the students were supposed to know which one is the textbook and which are supplemental readings. Quite different isn't it?

In this simple analysis, we were able to unveil differences in fundamental ways of thinking between countries. Michel told us that we become the machines of the education system we grow up in and to only way to discover this is to study elsewhere. He himself had a similar experience to us, but the other way around, he went to the United States for graduate school. Only then did he realize how mechanical our brains have become to focusing on one method of learning and thinking. It is really an invaluable experience to be taken out of your comfort zone while still in school and be forced to approach learning in a whole method and with different goals and expectations. While I am a little apprehensive about this change, I know that the end result will be rewarding. 

The exquisite Notre Dame

Dinner was going by myself today because M. Bouhon was at an artist meeting/class/gallery thing. Because it was a beautiful day out and it was only 17h30, I decided to walk around a little before heading home. One of my good friends Jordana, who was just studying in Paris over the summer, told me about her favorite past time, picking a place in Paris to walk around and get lost in. So I did just that. I wanted to walk by the Seine River so I got off at a nearby stop and started exploring. Conveniently, I passed by the Notre Dame and took tons of pictures like a true tourist. I forgot to bring my camera with my, but thankfully my phone has a quality camera!

When I got home quite late, the appetizers were already laid out on the table for me, consisting of half a cup of pasta left over from last night, a bowl of olives, and nuts. The main course was a famous french dish called ratatouille or vegetable stew. It had probably been cooking for hours that afternoon because the sauce was thick and sweet and all of the flavors melded together ever so wonderfully. There was also bread (which is eaten at every meal lol) that I could toast up in the toaster at the edge of the table. Monsieur Bouhon returned home right as I was in the middle of eating and embarrassingly using my computer at the same time on the dinner table (not sure if this is allowed in french culture). He brought several close friends with him and there were to talk over some wine. He called it a "family gathering". Not wanting to be a bother or intrude on their evening, I excused myself and returned to my room. I spent the rest of my evening beginning to write this blog (Turns out i did't get to finish it until Friday! Yikes!) and also researching different activities to do in Paris around this time of year. I also became absorbed in researching each of the 16 different cultural events that CUPA offered this year and, which 4 of the 16 I would choose.I'll update later on about which ones I actually get into. 

Faux leather jacket + fringe scarf? Mais, oui!

BTW, I decided to upload photos of some of my outfits (when I remember to take a photo of them). Their mostly for me to remember when I look back on the blog in the future (hello future me!) and also just cause this is pretty different from the stuff I would wear in the states. Everyone of every age is always dressed impeccably here in Paris, it's kind of crazy. None of that college non sense where people wear sweats and flip flops everywhere. 

Let me know what you guys think and I'll try to update the next one really soon!