My Favorite Experiences So Far

– seeing the Venus de Milo at the Louvre

– visiting Château Chenonceau, in the Loire Valley

– stumbling across views of the Eiffel Tower without seeking them out

My first sighting of the Eiffel Tower was my second week in Paris; from the top of Montmartre, I glimpsed the tower through the trees. Then a week later I caught a view of the tower from between two buildings in the 15e. Finally, 4 weeks in, I walked underneath the tower and took photos with it. But my favorite is still the sudden, surprise views I get of it sometimes: This week I turned around on my way to class for some reason and saw the Eiffel Tower across the Luxembourg Gardens — I’d been walking that route at least once a day but had never looked back before! A few days ago, I was walking along the Seine in the rain and saw the Eiffel Tower beautifully shrouded in fog. 

– going on the terrace of the Institut Arabe, and the hypostyle room

– seeing Frozen in French

La Reine des Neiges was amazing, even the 4th time — I don’t think I’ll ever tire of seeing it! I am proud to say that I now have all the lyrics to “Liberee, Delivree” memorized (that’s “Let it Go”), and I’m working on “Je vais feter ce renouveau” (“For the First Time in Forever”).  I really love the French versions of the songs — while some things are lost in translation, like the open door imagery (the French version of “Love is an Open Door” translates to “Love is a Gift”), other unique imagery is created (in “Do you want to build a snowman,” Anna sings that it’s like her sister has turned to ice). 

– walking through the Luxembourg Gardens

I hadn’t been doing this often enough, but now I’m taking more time to enjoy them when I have time between classes.

– couscous dinner at Chez Mamane

While looking for a restaurant in the 13e arrondisement, some other CUPA students and I found a place that serves nothing but cous cous. You order the meat you want, and it arrives accompanied by a gigantic platter of cous cous and bowl of vegetable stew to share. They also had some very intriguing Algerian wine that was unlike anything I had ever tasted before.

– 12-piece string orchestra in Châtelet metro

– Onéguine ballet

I haven’t seen that much ballet, and so this was a great experience. The piece is based on the story of Pushkin’s novel Eugène Onéguine, set to lesser-known music by Tchaikovsky, and choreographed by South African ballet dancer John Cranko.  It was absolutely beautiful.

– tea and fries at Turkish (?) place

This hole-in-the-wall restaurant is located near Sorbonne-Centre Clignancourt. Their menu is varied, so it’s hard to pin down whether they’re Turkish, Greek, or something else along those lines, but whatever their cuisine it’s cheap and delicious. I had the chicken cordon bleu sandwich both times I went. I guess the servers remembered me the second time, because despite ordering the sandwich instead of the menu they gave me a helping of their signature fries and offered me sweet honeyed mint tea, similar to the tea I drank at the Mosquée.

– walking through the courtyard of la Sorbonne

I never fail to be amazed by this! And because of my class schedule, I have the opportunity to see it at all times of day. 

– Julien

Julien is officially my favorite boulangerie. They’re right near CUPA, so I fell in love with them early and since a lot of my classes are still nearby, I go back several times a week. Their chocolat chaud is delicious, and I love their jambon-beurre sandwiches, but my favorite is days where they have their saumon-épinard quiche, which they serve hot. Their pastries are also wonderful!

– 2 encores by Lise de la Salle

– Mariage Frères tea

There is a wonderful crêpe place in Pittsburgh that imports Mariage Frères tea, which is where I was first introduced to it. After daydreaming of it for weeks, I finally went, and wow was it worth the steep price tag. I can’t say enough good things about it. The tea (I ordered Thé de Lune) was delicate enough to drink without milk, and the teapot contained a good 4 or 5 cups worth. The dessert was even more amazing — a Splendeur de Tibet which was a Marco Polo tea-infused crème brûlée topped with the first berries I’ve had since arriving in France. I went with my first new French friend and we sat there for a good two hours eating and talking. 

Balade de Saint-Germain-des-Près

Today was the first of several CUPA-organized walking tours of various Parisian locales. We started off at the Censier-Daubenton metro stop, ligne 7. Even just getting to the meeting place was an adventure, as I had to change modes of transportation/metro lines 3 times!

Initially, we just strolled along la Rue Mouffetard, taking in the lovely architecture of a true Parisian boulevard. Soon enough, however, we ended up at the first major tour stop: The Arènes de Lutèce, or the ancient Roman amphitheater of Paris.  It was rediscovered in the 1860s during Haussmann’s reconstruction of Paris, which caused some interesting impacts on the neighboring buildings!

Then, of course, there are the buildings inhabited by the famous, notably Rene Descartes and Ernest Hemingway. We saw the building Descartes resided in during his stays in Paris in the 1640s, as well as the building in which Hemingway invented the Bloody Mary (although upon further research this is not actually true). As our story went, however, Hemingway’s wife Mary did not like the smell of alcohol, and when Hemingway discovered that adding tomato juice to vodka covered the smell, the Bloody Mary was born.

We were led down a couple of narrow streets, and then emerged out onto a square housing three very prominent buildings: The famed Lycée Henri IV, the church of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont, and the Panthéon. I got pretty excited about the Panthéon renovation – it’s an incredible feat of engineering!

A couple of blocks later, we were right next to the Sorbonne. I hadn’t quite realized how big it is – it appears to span more than two whole city blocks, although it could be even bigger. From the sides, its façade appears to continue on forever.

The next Roman stop on the tour was the thermal baths, which were actually incorporated into architecture of the hôtel de Cluny when it was constructed in the 14^th and 15^th centuries. We were then swept up into the Middle Ages, as we entered the courtyard and gardens of the Musée de Cluny (you can see pieces of the thermes through the archways in the first photo and to the right of the museum in the second).

The tour then took us wandering through winding streets filled with crêpe vendors, bookstores, and nice restaurants. Our final stop was in one of Paris’ few remaining galeries, paved and covered streets built by Haussmann so that the ladies of the 19^th century could walk in safety without dirtying their gowns.

After the tour, I ended up wandering for a little bit longer with some of the other students and getting my first view of Notre Dame! We didn’t enter it today, but soon, soon….

Orientation

At this point, I have been through too many Orientations to count (not really). You’d think it might have lost a little bit of its lustre by now, but I still think every day of Orientation is the most exciting thing. Whereas over the weekend I could barely drag myself out of bed, these past three days I have practically bounded out the door. I showed up 15 minutes early on the first day, although those of you who know me will probably find that difficult to believe.

This orientation experience, unlike the previous three, is actually a three-week long process composed mostly of classes. Yes, there are social activities and yes, there are city explorations and yes, there are lots of new friends. But this is an academic orientation above all. I have 10 hours of class on the methodology of the French University, which is both an incredibly fascinating cultural introduction to the French and probably the most useful orientation lecture I’ve ever had. I also have 16 hours of French language instruction and 4 hours of French conversation workshop. And in between all of this, I have classes on how to select courses, immigration information sessions, university tours, and course selection meetings.

As for the food…. Yesterday, I discovered a new crêpe and panini stand with some other CUPA students. I bought a soft ham, tomato, and mozzarella baguette panini and a bunch of us ate together while wandering the Jardin de Luxembourg.

Then in the afternoon I purchased my first French crêpe from a stand on Boulevard du Montparnasse and ate it while wandering the sunny street. Buttery, sugary, and crisped to perfection.

Today wasn’t quite as pleasant outdoors; it was drizzling and so me and two other girls ended up in an indoor crêpe restaurant, ordering the prix fixe (fixed price) menu. Luckily I was very hungry, because it was a lot of food! The meal started off with a savory galette (pictured below) which was so huge I could barely finish it despite my hunger, and was followed by a sweet dark chocolate crêpe.

Even more impressive, the three of us spoke completely in French for the entire hour that it took us to eat! Yes, we’re all pretty much fluent in the language, but I still consider it an accomplishment. While meeting completely new people, it is all too easy to morph back into using English outside the CUPA offices because we don’t have the rapidity of language necessary to get to know each other as quickly as we would like. When you know that you could express yourself better in a different language and be understood better, it’s very difficult to have the willpower to keep speaking French.

First Impressions

To wrap the week up, some notes on my impressions so far…

• Paris is a lot warmer than expected, although apparently this is unusual weather we’re having. It’s been a perfect 43-50°F every day so far, although the evenings are a little bit chillier, as I discovered when I ended up wandering the Rue Rivoli after dark yesterday.
• The Metro system is fantastic (buses not quite so much, but still very good), despite how crowded it gets on Saturday evening (although I have yet to experience it at rush hour – I’m not sure I want to!).
• Paris is expensive, especially compared to Pittsburgh. For the last 2 years I’ve become very used to spending $5-8 for a decent lunch, whereas here the cheapest lunch menus seem to be more like €7-9 ($9-12). In Pittsburgh you can get dinner for around the same price as lunch, but here you can expect to almost double the lunch menu price. I’m sure there are places I haven’t discovered yet, so I’m just going to have to keep an eye out for them and seek help from local students once classes start.

• That said, I love the bakeries (and their prices). I’ve only stopped in two of them so far (I know, I know, but it’s only my fourth day here!), and I’ve been more than happy with them. Pains au chocolat, baguette sandwiches with all sorts of fillings, gorgeous tropéziennes, and all sorts of unfamiliar pastries that I can’t wait to try beckon to me from the counters.
• There’s a weird mix of French and English around. Pizza places are named things like “Speed Rabbit Pizza” with menus entirely in French, while the radio announcers speak in high-speed French but play Katy Perry along with Stromae and Swedish House Mafia.

Since I’ve only been off by myself or at my new home pretty much since arriving, I haven’t had any real French immersion yet except at dinner. This will certainly change when Orientation starts tomorrow!

First Day

9 janvier 2014

Today was my first full day in Paris. After a long night’s sleep I still felt tired, but I knew that I had to wake up or else I’d never get over the time difference. So I dragged myself out of bed and headed to the CUPA center using the metro system. I brought my passport for them to scan, and now I’m very relieved that I don’t have to carry that around Paris anymore!

Today’s big excitement was getting my student cards from CUPA. There are three major ones:

1. My NaviGo pass, which gets me unlimited access to all public transportation in zones 1 + 2 on weekdays, and transportation in all 5 zones on the weekends.
2. My Student Card, which says that I am a history of art student at the École Supérieure de Beaux-Arts. It gets me into many museums free or at a discounted rate.
3. My Amis du Louvre Jeune card, which is unlimited access to the Louvre. I’m especially excited to use this one!

I bought a ham + butter baguette for lunch, which I ate while wandering through a lovely park down the street from CUPA. It wasn’t until I googled it later that I realized I had been in the Jardin de Luxembourg, the second largest public park in Paris. That means it’s a lot bigger than I anticipated – I’ll have to devote more time to exploring it in the future!

 

A plus tard,

Abigail