First of all, I finally started school! Super exciting. I am taking French Language, Written French and Oral French. Yes, I know sad, I'm not actually taking an art history or anything fun like that. But sounds like my French will really be improving right? Well I hope. I have class Tuesday through Thursday. On Tuesday I go from 9am-1pm and on Weds and Thurs I have class from 9am-5pm. Those two days will be super long and exhausting but I mean tots worth not having class on Monday and Friday (4day weekend.) Having those two days off means I get to travel!
Speaking of travel, I have an official travel date!!! and its to........Tangier, MOROCCO!! I finally get to go to Morocco! Bucket list item! Not only is going to Morocco on the list but also camel ridding, which...will be done, Yay! I looked into some hostels for the Trip, and there is one in particular that I would love to book. The hostel is called Dar Jameel, and it looks super super cool. The rooms are covered in colorful tiles, the views look beautiful and there are really good reviews. Another really exciting aspect of Morocco is the cuisine, I have a feeling I will be in Vegan heaven. Eating in Paris is awesome but just a bit challenging because everything contains milk...everything. Tangier will will be a break from always having to be super worried about what I am consuming. Not only from the food but also, I will be getting out of Europe. I think Morocco will be a nice relaxing experience.
So what have I done in Paris? Beaucoup(a lot)! I've been to the Louvre once with the flatmates and once alone. It's so cool cause I always wanted to go to a museum by myself and I finally got to go, and I mean how cool is it that I got to hit up the Louvre. I went around 7 ish and as I was walking around, the sun started setting, it was beautiful! You could see the horizon and the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and the Pyramid. I was tots overwhelmed at that point! I was taking pictures when one of the museum security guards asked if I was in Paris on vacation. I explained that I was here for a semester and guess what, he actually said that my French was pretty good! yeyaa! I mean I know its not but that's a confidence booster.
Alright what else has there been? I've been to some pretty cool Cafes, meet some pretty cool people, bought a few things, spent an unnecessary amount of money, finally have my bank card (long crazy process) I actually now understand the majority of what people are saying to me (HUGE deal), I'm vegan again, visited Dzifa in Besançon, I no longer feel like a total American I feel more Parisian, explored paris a little more since the weather is way better, visited the nearby park which is really nice on Sundays because everyone is out jogging and with their family, gave myself a budget, checked out
Cézanne à Paris at the Cluny Mueseum, had many
adventures with trying to get home after the metro
stops running (which are just as fun as the actual
night this includes asking a hooker for directions,)
went to the movies to see War Horse and sprinted
in the station to make it on time for the
last train, and overall have had a blast for the past month!
A little on taking the train here in Paris. Not the Métro but the SNCF which are the trains that take you out of Paris. You can buy your tickets online, at the agencies that are all around town, or right at the station. So the day before I was going to Besançon, I wanted to go pick up my reduction card and also figure out the train system before my 7am journey the next day. In order to get to Gare de Lyon, I took two trains and about 30 mins. Not a big deal at all, it was all pretty fast and transferring was a breeze. How ever once I arrived it was a little crazy. Basically, everything is done at machines. People just show up and confirm their ride in this big yellow machine and you are done. The machine prints out your ticket and then you are set to go. There are people to help people out at counters but everyone mainly uses the machines which are actually in many languages. This was nice because without having the options in English I would have had no clue what to do. Not that I actually successfully printed out my ticket from the machine or anything because I had trouble with my card. When you get ticket, you need the credit card that you used to purchase the ticket as confirmation. My card from Chase has given me many problems over here in Paris. The card does not always work even if I go have the sufficient funds. I think the card is rejected mainly because it is missing a chip that allows machines to read your card. So if you are coming to Paris anytime soon, it would be a good idea to get a card with the little yellow square at the front so there are no problems when paying, because I never knew when the card would actually work and sometimes had to have my roommates pay for me :/
Anyway, the trip itself was only 2hours long and went by super fast, seats are comfortable and the conductors were very helpful. Another note about the train is that seats are assigned. I of course did not know this and just plopped down on the first available seat I found. However I soon realized that I had a designated place once I saw people looking at their tickets and then looking up at the seat numbers. I quickly grabbed all my belongings and went to find the seat that was indicated on my ticket. Places by the way are established based on cart and on seat number. The disaster of the trip however was that there were two Besançon stops, and I obviously was not aware. So when we get to the first I get off the train but am not sure if that is my stop!!! I heard the conductor say the name of the stop and then I heard him say that the last stop would be Besançon center. What was I supposed to do?! Was this my stop? So I ran over to the conductors and asked what the difference was between the two stops. He asked for my ticket and said, well this is the ticket you bought so this is your stop but yes there is another one after. He asked if I had someone at this particular stop to pick me up I told him no, he gave me a disappointed look and said, okay, just get on its fine. I could tell he was not too happy but he was compassionate and let me slide. However, I was not at total ease, I wasn't sure that the next stop was where I wanted to go! Luckily, I made the right choice by hopping back on because Dzifa was at the Besançon Viotte stop waiting for me! YAY! happy ending right? After, well I had a blast visiting her and finally got to see a city other than Paris. Seeing Dzifa was great! we had some Thai food, went to a museum, went to a princess looking café, caught up because we hadn't seen each other since freshmen year, and partied on Saturday night.
Pictures of Besançon:
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| The river that crosses the town |
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| A plaza...I think it was downtown? |
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| Victor Hugo was born in Besançon This is the house he was born in |
Alright so an observation that I made while in Paris: people here are very independent. Everyone does their own thing and does not seem to care about what others think. All the Parisians are in their own little world. They cross the street without caring if a car has to wait for them, they spends hours at cafés alone reading the paper or a book, and they ride the train with their headphones blaring and enjoying the music. This is really nice and I feel like I totally fit in with the scene. Only because I kinda live in my own little world and can have a blast even if I am walking down the street by myself. What I do not like however is that people here are not very friendly. Well, they are help if you ask them something, but nobody stops and takes time to give a smile or say hello to the person sitting next to them on the métro. I guess just being overly friendly is not a necessity here, even waiters and ticket agents are very much straight to the point and strictly about business.
A few Pictures of Paris:
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