A (Late) Hello from Paris!

Bonjour everyone, and hello from Paris! It's taken me a lot longer than I anticipated to publish this first post, but it's been incredibly hectic here the past 2 weeks. So, I'm truly sorry that I haven't been keeping you up to date with what I've been doing. At last, here goes an attempt at an extremely long first post.

After arriving in Paris in the late morning, absolutely exhausted as a result of jet lag, it was time to go to the FIAP (a sort of French hostel) where we would spend the 3 days of orientation. About an hour after arriving, I went back downstairs, and formally met the other members who are on the program. In total, I think there are 12 or 14 of us—a perfect size for intensive French immersion. After having done a quick introductory meeting, Brent, our resident director (director of the program) told us we had about 45 minutes, and then we were all going out for dinner, paid by the program. We ate at this really nice little restaurant, that was totally empty when we got there, but packed to the seams when we left. What an amazing meal! First there was wine (of course!), then an appetizer and baguette, which is ten times better anywhere in France than in the states. Then, the main course with more wine. Then cheese—oh the cheese! And then dessert—I picked the crème brûlée. And then, after we thought there would be nothing else, there was the "digestif," which is a small drink of strong liqueur. In this case, it was apricot. By the time dessert roled around though, everyone just wanted to go home and sleep. But Brent forced us to stay up by getting us to order dessert, so that we'd beat our jet lag.

When the three days of orientation were over, it was Friday, and we were told who our host families would be. I ended up being placed with a family in the 12th arrondisement (air-rohn-deez-e-mahn), or district, which is just north of the Seine. The street I'm on is called Avenue Daumesnil, and it's a great area for several reasons. The first is that the street has what used to be an elevated train track that runs alongside the sidewalk, and looks much like an old aqueduct, with a series of continuous archways. When the trainline was shut down, the train tracks were torn up, and replaced with a beautifully planted walking path, that runs the entire length of the arrondisement. The archways below that don't have streets running through them were converted into all sorts of little art galleries, cafés, and upscale boutiques. The house I'm staying in is right behind one of the boutiques, separated by a walled garden. This stretch is known as the "Viaduct des Artes." The neighborhood is also right near Place de la Bastille, which is a hip area for Parisians my age to go on the weekends, filled with bars, restaurants, and cafés, as well as one of the two opera houses in Paris.

I also really like my housing situation. Whereas most people who do a traditional homestay with a French family live right there in the house with the family, I have a room upstairs in a small apartment space that I share with a classical musician from Toronto, and a Turkish man who works at a publishing house in Turkey, but is continuing his education at a school here in France. Although I don't see my host family as much as I would if I lived downstairs, the balance grants me a lot more independence—I can come and go as I please, without really bothering them, but I still eat dinner once a week with them, and they provide support when I need it.

Classes haven't really started yet, except for the intensive French language program, which will hopefully jump start my conversational French. I'm not sure which classes I want to take yet, but I have until February 18th to make a decision.

As for fun, I've been going out on the weekends with friends all over the city. The other night, we met up with some French people one of my friends knew, and hung out with them for most of the night, which was a lot of fun. We also have just gone for long walks around the city, discovering cool little places and areas off the beaten path.

That's about it for me as of now, but there will be much more to write about in the coming weeks. If anyone is interested in Skyping, my user name is "ducktaip." Feel free to add me, but we'd probably have to coordinate when exactly to chat, since I'm normally not just on Skype. Hope everyone is doing well!

P.S.: Some pictures to come really soon (I promise!)