First Week in Paris

I haven’t said much about Vietnam because I just did not have time to write blogs. I will catch up on it later but right now I am having lots of thoughts about Paris. Obviously, I came very nervous about using my French. But when I stepped off the plane using French was like my survival skill. Many people might think that the most Parisians speak English but in my experience they don’t. If they do speak English, it is very minimal. When I arrived I had a 70 pound duffle bag with no wheels, a purse, and a small carry-on that had wheels. For the sake of getting to my destination for cheap and with as little hassle as possible, I first asked the representatives at the train station if they spoke any English so I would get direction in English and not get lost. To my surprise, they only spoke French. Despite this fact I still made it to my destination with little difficulties. While on the train I was bombarded by Parisians and it was very difficult to move around with all my stuff because I had to change trains a couple times. But it was worth the small hassle, 8 Euros opposed to a 60 euro cab ride. Another stereotypical thought about Parisians is that they are little more laid back. In some sense they are but not the way I thought. The stores and life definitely does not start until about 10 or 11am but in the train station, everyone was walking so fast. If you do not know where you are going, you better move out the way before you get run over because people will bump and push and will not even say excuse me. And do not ever ask for directions….

There is a lot I still need to get used to. One thing that is extremely annoying is the fact that you have to pay for public bathroom. I always have to go so bad and sometime I am on verge on wetting myself and I can never get in. The lack great internet access here is also very frustrating. But I guess the great bread, fresh fruits and vegetables, and the wonderful food makes up for that. There is also another concept I am very foreign to, “les bisoux,” which are the kisses they give to greet one another. I almost always put my hand out to greet with a handshake because forget the cultural difference. And the other day I was sitting in the hairdresser when a man came in and greeted us all and when I turned to try and give “les bisoux” I kissed him on the mouth! It was disgusting. I thought I was going to die from swine flu from kissing his crusty lips. Ugh! While I was at the hairdresser, I became friend which the lady that was doing my hair and she told me that this man has been trying to talk to her for a long time and he always comes in the shop trying to get her to go out with him. THIS MAN HAS A WIFE AND KIDS! She said the men here are like that….. She also said that it is in style for white men to be dating African woman….BIZARRE! Everything seems to be about style here.

The family I am living with is nice. They speak no English so we have t speak French. They get whatever food I want, clean my room, wash my dished, and do my laundry. Although, have gotten mad at me a couple times. The first night I locked myself out the apartment. I had no cell phone and they have no intercom to call up to the apartment. So I sat outside for hours before someone finally came home and opened the door. But then there is another door after the ground floor that I was still locked out of. After another hour of waiting I started searching my pockets and found my code. The next day I locked myself out again. At this point my host dad was like you are really irresponsible, which was in some ways true  They also got mad at me for slamming the front door when I come in and out the apartment. I live with another girl that is Japanese. She speaks no French and it is very frustrating because she doesn’t not understand simple things like, “where are you from,” or “what do you want to eat” So she only speak in English with me and I do not want to do that so I just don’t talk to her. Last think that was super awkward, yesterday my host family walked into my room while I was in my bra and underwear…!>!>!>!! And they proceeded to talk to me after they noticed! Awkward!