Bienvenue chez mon blog!

Bonjour!

Y’all probably knew I couldn’t resist the Parisian greeting, eh? Or, for that matter, the (failed?) attempt to blend some good ol’ Suth’n drawl and Canadian vernacular. And though it seems like I have been resisting starting this blog and keeping you all informed, I actually have so much that I am eager to tell you: I will try to constrain my usually verbose and extroverted nature, however, to a first blog post of reasonable length, hitting the basic facts and highlights.

This blog will (hopefully) be a weekly to biweekly update while abroad as an exchange student at a Parisian university during this academic year (August to June). I hope to fill it with updates, encouragements, requests, and highlights from my studies (French-and-English-taught international relations courses at Sciences Po, towards an undergraduate degree in that field at the University of Georgia), new acquaintances (of which there are a few) and friendships (which are rapidly forming), cultural activities (soccer – oh, pardon! le football – is high on my to-do list, and that should provide readership some amusement) and gaffes (more laughs, hopefully), cuisine, et cetera for my family, friends, and other interested persons.

I arrived in Paris on Saturday, 4 August 2012, after a brief layover at Heathrow the night before. The traveling, though tiring, was on the whole remarkably pleasant for plane travel, which owes mostly to the sympathetic and generous stewardesses (a double breakfast and free dessert!).

I got there so early (classes at Sciences Po start in September) in order to take Alliance Français (AF) classes – classroom instruction on the French language bought per the week, essentially -- to give me some momentum for the courses taught in French at Sciences Po.

Anyways, after arriving I took the train from Orly airport, located a bit south of metro Paris, to Arceuil (“ahr–coy”), a district that is in les proches-banlieus de sud (“the close (southern) suburbs”) of the city and is a 10 minute metro ride south from the center of Paris. I might say a word more on this later, but the metro system here is efficient and, because my written French is faring pretty well, fairly easy to use, taking you anywhere from central Paris in under an hour.

Thanks to the generosity of my sister and the perks associated with her employer, I am, at a veritable college student’s price, living in the lap of luxury in a Marriott hotel in Arceuil. I booked the hotel for two weeks because of that advantageous price scheme and my general discomfort with the idea of finding permanent lodging in any other way but being on the ground, in Paris, able to explore, discover, inspect the options, etc...

As it turns out, it’s at an incredibly convenient location, just a five minute walk west from metro line B, which, as one of five metro lines (A-E, I believe) that connect to smaller metro lines (1-14, I think), runs north-south throughout the center of the city. In addition to the metro stop being nearby, the hotel is actually just across the street from la Vache Noire (“the black cow”) shopping center, which has a grocery store (which is the only type of Parisian establishment to house cheap food, but is that food ever delicious!). It is also right next door to a movie theater, where I have been able to practice my French by watching dubbed versions of Batman, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Abraham-Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (the latter two of which I highly recommend, in all seriousness, and the lattermost of which is apparently a ubiquitous success in Europe).

My first full day in Paris was incredibly exciting and helpful. I woke up Sunday morning (05 August) and, doing a little bit of Google research from names dropped during a series of e-mail exchanges with individuals recommended to me by various friends and family, was able to find a French church I figured I would try attending in metro Paris. As it turns out, that decision has been the most important I have made since coming to Paris, and quite providential.

That first Sunday morning at “le 72” (from its address), after a really refreshing service, I inquired after someone mentioned in that e-mail, and, though I could not find that particular person, I was, by various conversations, quickly was direct to a Mr. and Mrs. Jean-Pierre and Sabine Ja--b--c. As it turns out, that elderly Parisian couple has a fairly spacious apartment in Malakoff (another proche-banlieu just a short ways west of Arceuil) that they let out at well below market price (typically quite high in Paris) as a ministry to students who come to Paris. A girl who was considering it turned it down not too long ago, and the German student who had been living there this summer is to leave August 19.

It really turned out to be an incredible timing, incredible location (twelve minutes by walk + train from Sciences Po) and incredible pricing (at least 200 euros less per month than I anticipated paying) for an apartment, and quite the answer to some prolonged prayer this summer.

Le 72 has also provided some kind acquaintances from conversation before and after the service and from a picnic held just this past Sunday night - a lot of natively French persons and a lot of expatriates from a long list of countries, some francophone, some not. Those folks, along with my classmates at Alliance Français (AF), are proving to be some good starting friends/practice in French conversation and cultural practices.

The rest of my first week in Paris was really uneventful, but really, in retrospect, necessary to acclimate to being in a foreign city on my own. I recovered from sleeplessness and a mild bout of sickness, worked to take care of logistical difficulties (e.g., banking) in France, and did a few touristy things (a very interesting visit to Hôtel des Invalides and Napoleon’s tomb there, followed by a piping hot, incredibly buttery croissant while walking to la Tour Eiffel being the highlight of those touristy things thus far).

AF classes started today, and they were quite excellent. They are housed in a very tall, fairly thin building (typical for Paris) on a pretty and quiet road just to the west of Luxembourg Gardens. The building is fairly old; to get to class I can either take an elevator the size of a telephone booth (no exaggeration) or climb five flights of marble stairs, which are worn down at an angle toward the side bannisters from hundreds of thousands of AF students who climbed the steps over the past century and from those who had climbed the steps before them.

The professor for my class – Laur, is her name – is animated, engages the class, and corrects my mistakes – a cultural tendency politely practiced by most of the French I have met thus far, actually, which I very much appreciate.  My classmates will change week to week, but are very much an international group - Japan, China, Italy, Britain, Vietnam, and Brazil were all represented today by a class of 10 students - la langue française really is the lingua franca for that room. Though four hours of class a day might grow to be long or tiring, I really did enjoy the instruction, and I anticipate her teaching and conversation with the other students will help my French grow quite a bit.

I look up from this post that I have been writing and see that I have failed in my attempt at brevity, but I hope that I at least fulfilled my intentions to cover the basics of what I am doing here, in Paris, and the highlights of my first full week.

Thank you so much for reading this blog and other e-mails, writing (e-mailing) to me, praying for me, and encouraging me during these first days. Thank you, each and all, as well, for your various ways of preparing me for this next year – they are truly too many and too large to enumerate here. I really do appreciate it, friends!

Enfin…au revoir!

Joseph (pronounced “Zhjozeff” over here, of course)