Bonjour family and friends,
After 10 days in a far away land, I finally have some free time to catch you all up on the last week and a half. First chronology, then current situation, then observations.
Left Charlotte at 9pm EST on New Years Day. Yes, i was supposed to leave at 8pm but we had maintenance issues just before take off - a wonderful thing to have right before a 9 hour flight over an ocean. My train was leaving Gare de Bercy 4 hours after my flight was scheduled to land, so I'm already down to 3 hours to spare not including customs, getting my bags, and a bus ride to this train station. No exaggeration, customs took a total of 5 minutes and 30 seconds. 5 minutes of waiting in line, then a 30 second view-and-stamp on my passport. That was the highlight of my travels.Picking up my luggage wasn't too bad, and I was on my way to the bus after an hour in the airport.
The bus took longer than expected. It took an hour after all the different stops to pick up people and then the drive to the train station into the city. The Dean of the French school where I'm studying said "after you get off the bus, you'll be at Gare de Lyon. Literally turn 180 degrees and the Gare de Bercy will be right in front of you." This was my first lesson of french people: they tend to simplify things. I hop off the bus with an hour left until my train departs with no other train station in sight. After asking a few people in french where is the Gare de Bercy (gare is a regional train station in French), I quickly realized most Parisians have never heard of this train station and could not give me directions.
While wheeling around two large pieces of luggage, I found Gare de Bercy on the map and found the metro that took me to the station. I literally walked over a mile underground to find the right metro line going in the right direction. I made it to the train station with 15minutes until departure and settled down across from an old french lady who insisted on speaking to me in french while I understood maybe 10% of what she was saying. It was a nice 3.5 hours to Clermont.
Currently, I still do not have an apartment due to a silly french law that says non-french citizens must have a in-country cosigner to rent an apartment in France. Awesome. Luckily, the school reluctantly agreed to be our guarantor and I should move in tomorrow or Friday. I have a french phone number, french bank account, and soon I'll have a french apartment. I'm assimilating nicely.
Class is quite difficult. I was placed in the advanced class with two other people that speak french A LOT better than I do, so I'm having to play catch up. A typical day is either 3.5 or 6.5 hours of class where I understand about 20% of the sentences while the other two understand +90%. I know its part of the process but my brain is exhausted every day. In time, I'll adjust.
There are some stark differences between France and the US, as you might guess. Some differences are great such as long lunches, the emphasis on greeting people when entering and exiting a room, and greater respect for elders and those in authority positions. Some differences are not so great such as frequent littering, dogs allowed to poop wherever they want (on the sidewalk), and everyone smokes...everyone. Other differences are just different and adjusting will take time like businesses are closed Sundays, weekdays from 12-2pm, Monday mornings, and just whenever else they feel like it, unisex bathrooms throughout the school and city, and walking/taking public transportation everywhere.
I love that wine and cheese (du vin et du fromage) is cheaper than Coke and fries (un Coca et des frites). But I don't love that almost everything else is more expensive.
I have many many many more opinions on the city that I will be happy to share with you if you want to know more.
Take care,
Anthony
