Trials and Tribulations

NB: I will be including photos I have taken throughout my time here from now on. I am not the best photographer, but I have decided to work on improving my photography skills (by enlisting the help of my friend and photographer extraordinaire, Janey). This is of the Roue de Paris at the end of the garden of Tuileries next to the Musee de Louvre.

Someone should stick me in the chokey like Miss Trunchbull did to Matilda to teach me a lesson about slacking on my posts. I guess I can't really blame myself - I hope you don't either - because every day is a constant spiral of activity and new experiences. It is hard to catch my breath sometimes, let alone sit down and gather my thoughts enough to reflect on recent events in my Parisienne life.

Well, the coolest thing that has happened to me in the past week is that I have solidified my plans for spring break! My "study abroad BFF," Kortney (iamlivingamoveablefeast.wordpress.com), and I are going to be schlepping ourselves to Prague and uncovering everything that the Czech Republic has to offer. Beer, hearty & meaty meals, and medieval castles? I am so there. Not to mention, there is an old Cold War-era underground nuclear bunker that has been turned into a quirky night club. I am going to be creating so many memories, it's hard to believe that my brain has enough space to store them all.

It has taken almost three weeks, but I think it is safe to say that I have comfortably settled into my life here. I have my group of friends (or 'salopes') that I surround myself with, I have the art of feeding myself down, and I am definitely beginning to get a grasp of Parisian night life. It is definitely different, coming from a college town like Boston, where everything is catered towards students, but still closes before the party even had time to develop. In Paris, the fête doesn't even start until after midnight, yet the Metro still closes around 1:30am! This is France's way of saying: "You either go hard, or go home because, here, we party until the sunrises and the Metro starts running again. D'accord?"

Hey, at least it's safer. Walking around the streets of Paris at 3 a.m. is a sketchy proposition. As Ted Mosby's mom says, "Nothing good happens after 2 a.m." I can attest to that - one of my many interesting late-night French encounters included a strange man frantically chasing my friend, Janey, and I into the Metro station, propositioning us for a ménage-à-trois with him for 50 Euro. Come on, man! No one is that cheap! (Kidding, kidding)

Every day here is like another step into adulthood - I am learning things, whether it be the easy or the hard way. A lot of times, it's the hard way. Like thinking we were buying bottles of alcohol for under 2 Euro, when really we just read the price tags wrong and they cost 10. Or being nice to a crepe-maker man just because he makes the absolute best crepes, so much so that he gives your group of friends his number, and then complains to you that you didn't text him when you return to his creperie because you cannot live another day without his crepes with Nutella (#awkward). Or even getting fined by the RATP police because you didn't read the fine print on your Navigo monthly public transportation pass about attaching a photo to your card and, with my luck, being singled out during one of their random checks. Such is life as a foreigner. There has definitely been a fair share of these...unfortunate times, but I value each of them as much as the good because I learned.

To be honest, I now understand how foreigners feel when they are in the US and I sometimes (heartlessly) laugh at them and their mistakes, the solutions to which seem self-explanatory to me. But, being in a country where you aren't fluid in the language, the culture is different, and being ripped away from the comfort of having Mommy & Daddy help with everything (although, they still try to do their best from across the large pond), has catalyzed my maturation.

I'm still far from being a true Parisienne woman, but I am definitely a few steps closer to being a self-reliant adult.

Quatre jours

I've been dreaming about this since I was in kindergarten. It seemed like a given, or a milestone that I would eventually reach because it just had to be in my destiny. Studying abroad in Paris is something that I set in my path but, until now, I had been taking it for granted.

I had visited Paris once before several years ago, in a whirlwind tour through six European countries in 20 days. France did not receive the special attention it deserved, so I plan to do it justice.

You hear all of these amazing things - it's the center of fashion, the food is fresh and rich in taste, the wine is unbelievable, the language is like eighth- and sixteenth notes dancing off a staff, the artwork is diverse and plentiful. My biggest fear as I am about to embark on this journey to Paris is that I won't live up to it's expectations for me.

It has taken me until today, four days before my departure, to realize that I am leaving. And not for Boston, but for another country. Another continent. I have yet to earnestly start packing, I have yet to say my goodbyes, and I have yet to really grasp the reality of this dream come true.

I can't really place my finger on what's holding me back. Am I afraid of being so far out of my comfort zone? Am I afraid of missing those I leave behind - my supportive family, my loving boyfriend, my loyal friends? Am I afraid that when I get back to Boston, everything is going to have changed - and I will have changed, too - so much so that I can't integrate back into my old life? All of the above. But, I need to put this all behind me because this is truly the opportunity of a lifetime. It fits every cliché and I don't hate it.

When I set foot off that plane, I cease to be simply Gabie, the BU student with dreams of Paris. I am going to be Gabrielle, the Parisienne-in-training with the City of Light in my palm and a desire to discover in my belly. I call this blog "Demain il fera jour," or "Tomorrow is another day." This will be my motto as I explore Paris - tomorrow is another day to learn about the city, the culture, the people and, most importantly, myself.

"Sitting there, alone in a foreign country, far from my job and everyone I know, a feeling came over me. It was like remembering something I'd never known before or had always been waiting for, but I didn't know what. Maybe it was something I'd forgotten or something I've been missing all my life. All I can say is that I felt, at the same time, joy and sadness. But not too much sadness, because I felt alive. Yes, alive. That was the moment I fell in love with Paris. And I felt Paris fall in love with me." - Paris, Je t'aime