April in Paris and a Week in Barcelona

Was it really March 21st that I last posted a new update? Good grief. Sorry ya'll. It was definitely a busy month, and although the temperature has still been on the cooler side (still haven't left the house without a jacket) the clouds have finally disbursed and the skies have been consistently more blue. We still have gray and rainy days, it's true, but it's no longer a relentless and unyielding cover of clouds, rain, wind, and bitter cold. It's about freaking time, Paris. Me and my fellow expat friends have come to notice that Paris has about 7 months of cold weather and 5 months of nice weather. If you are ever planning a trip over here, I'd highly recommend only coming from May to September. Just a suggestion. But spring has finally sprung. The trees are green, the flowers have bloomed, and I couldn't be happier that this city is no longer brown and dead looking.

I have just over 2 months left of my overseas adventure, and I'm starting to get excited about setting foot on American soil again. I feel like some people may think I'm absolutely crazy to want to leave Paris. It's a wonderful city and I have made wonderful friends that will stick with me for the rest of my life, I'm sure. But there are a lot, and I mean A LOT of things I desperately miss. Living over here is not the same as visiting for a couple weeks. Coming for a couple weeks is going to be jam-packed with fun things to do. Living over here is a rewarding experience because I am truly getting a feel for a foreign city and it's an experience I wouldn't trade for anything. But this isn't my normal life, and after more than 7 months now abroad, I'm ready to feel like I'm back where I belong. Being 6 hours ahead of everyone I love at home is HARD. Not having a normal cell phone plan where I can easily text or pick up the phone to call someone whenever I want is hard. Having to coordinate times to try to Skype proved to be way more difficult than I anticipated, and there are friends of mine I have literally only communicated with through Facebook Messenger since I left in September, and despite our best efforts, we have just never been able to have a real conversation (I'm looking at you Lori). 

I miss normal American things. I miss living alone. I miss not paying 4 euro for a tiny jar of peanut butter. Having access to real coffee creamer. Being able to drive and not being a slave to public transportation, which in Paris is constantly delayed due to strikes or train traffic or maintenance. I generally have to leave an hour early for whatever I'm doing, and I miss being able to jump in my car and get to where I want to be in 15 minutes. Walking has been good exercise, but I'm so over having to walk EVERYWHERE. I miss having a real job and making a salary. I miss being able to walk into a store and not struggle to communicate. I miss the amount of space stores, restaurants, parking lots, and buildings have in America. Living the city life has been fun for a while, but I'm tired of having to squeeze into a seat when I go out to eat because the restaurant has wasted not an inch of space when it comes to setting up tables. I kid you not, I have been to several places where the waiter has pulled the table away from the wall for me so I could get in because you are literally that close to the people to your right and left. Don't even bother trying to use the bathroom during your meal when this happens. I can't wait to have a giant southern sweet tea and Cheerwine. But mostly, I literally daydream about seeing my friends and family and how wonderful it will feel to hug them once again. My friends here are wonderful, but my history with them is 7 months or less. The people that connect me to my world are thousands of miles away, and although this experience will be a part of me forever, I can't wait to immerse myself in my own country once again. I have been to 9 countries now. I have seen 9 different cultures, languages, people groups, and ways of living and it has opened my eyes to so much in this world. But I can honestly say that I love my own land more now than ever before. I'm so proud to call myself an American. 

But off this rabbit trail and back to what I've been up to. The first 3 weeks of April were pretty chill and I didn't really do a whole lot that is worth noting. After Easter, I basically had a few weeks where I was trying to save a bit of money for my trip to Barcelona. Me and my friend Amanda went to a costume shop to rent our Marie-Antoinette-era dresses for a masquerade ball that we are going to in June at the Palace of Versailles. I don't think it's possible for me to be more giddy or excited about this event. Seriously, my heart is doing cartwheels. I can't wait! That same week, I ended up having coffee with a new friend from my church here in Paris, who also happens to be a Liberty University alumni like me. That was really cool to run into someone from a place that has been such a significant part of my personal and professional life. Talking about the campus and the school was like a breath of fresh air. Not one other person over here has set foot in Lynchburg, so of course this was very exciting to me. She's also a flight attendant, and just came back from the States. She asked if there was anything she'd like me to bring back and I asked for powdered coffee creamer. I literally can't wait to get it from her this week. MmmmMMMM. 

The end of that week was The Color Run, which was so. much. fun. For those who don't know, this is a 5K race where throughout the course and at the dance party at the end, there are bottles and packets of colored powder thrown at you. Best to keep your eyes and mouth closed when this happens, but looking down and seeing yourself covered in color was so fun. Seriously, it blew all my expectations out of the water and although it started as a very cold day and I had a bit of a mishap in the metro where I tripped up an escalator and ended up with about 6 bruises and a scraped ankle, it turned out to be some of the most fun I've had in a long time. I'm so happy my friend Isabelle was able to do it with me. I'm not a runner, but people were walking, taking pictures, stopping for a beer along the way (really), and then the entire race ended with a massive dance party on the bridge in front of the Eiffel Tower. There were about 30,000 racers who attended. It only rained during the last 10 minutes we were there, and by this point, we were covered from head to toe in pinks, greens, blues, and yellows, and happy as can be. We were quite a site on the metro ride home. 

The week following The Color Run was my last full week with Gaspard while he was on school holidays. I mentioned in a previous post that the kids here have 6 weeks of school and 2 weeks of vacation throughout the year. This was the last school holiday before the end of the year for them during the first week of July. This means the rest of my time here will be pretty open during most days. The Saturday before I left for Barcelona, my friend Isabelle had a few of her friends go to Disneyland Paris. We were really excited about this, except when we get there it was SO COLD and gray that day. Seriously, it was such a bummer since we had been having pretty consistently nice weather. Oh well, we still had fun. Once again, we ended up not staying for the fireworks. I had to be up super early to catch my Megabus to Spain and she had something to do the next day too. 

Barcelona was a blur and so much happened that I'm not sure I have the patience to really recount every single thing, so I'll give the highlights then post a few pictures from the week. I got up early last Sunday and made my way to the south east corner of Paris to the Bercy area. This is where the Megabus would be waiting. These buses are cheap ways to travel around Europe. One direction was around 40 euro and the way back was 28 euro. The downside was that on this particular route, the Megabus company had rolled out their new fleet of buses, which for some reason were having a problem with their WiFi and couldn't figure out why. So for about 14 hours there and back, the WiFi worked for maybe a total of 2 hours. That sucked pretty bad. On the way down, the toilet was also broken, so thank goodness I hadn't had much to drink the night before, so the few stops we made were sufficient. So overall, my bus experience wasn't the greatest; however, I was surprised how quick the trips seemed to feel for me. I slept a lot (not comfortably), and the seats felt pretty tight during the points where I had someone next to me, but overall, I'd probably travel that way again for a shorter trip. Although, I did find it a bit disconcerting that our passports weren't checked at the border. That was a bit strange to me given everything that's been going on. The landscape on the way to Spain was beautiful. I literally gasped when we passed through the Pyrenees Mountains, though it was getting dark at this point so I wish I had seen them more clearly. But I haven't seen mountains that tall since I was in Peru in 2009. Beautiful. 

Things went a bit downhill the minute I crossed into Spain. My French cell service immediately cut off, and without WiFi my phone was pretty much useless. Luckily, I had downloaded an offline map of Barcelona through Google Maps, and before I came, I carefully chose my Airbnb location and made sure I did "street view" from the bus station to my Airbnb so I knew exactly where I was going as soon as we arrived. It was a 5 minute walk straight out of the station. I'm glad I chose this and didn't have to call a cab at 5:30 AM for my return bus to Paris. My Airbnb host knew what time I was arriving since I had communicated with him on WhatsApp the day before. I was renting a room in this guy's apartment (I know, I know...I specifically didn't tell people I was doing this before I went because I didn't want to get the 3rd degree). But he had good reviews, and although the room was VERY tiny, it was about 20 euro a night to stay there and I had my own bathroom. The proximity to the bus station was the deciding factor. Anyway, I show up literally at the exact time I estimated I'd be there, and I buzz his name at the door. Nothing. Long story short, after 25 minutes of me buzzing, borderline panicking, tearing up, and staring at my useless phone, he finally shows up. Someone had let me in the lobby about 5 minutes after I got there, so at least I wasn't standing on the street. But I was not happy. He was super apologetic and asked if I had been waiting a while. He had been out to dinner and lost track of time or something. He kept apologizing for the next 20 minutes as he showed me around his place and got me settled in. By this point, I had started to question my decision to come. I was feeling a little uneasy, because this was literally the first time I have ever traveled to a foreign country completely solo. I'm thankful for the person from home I was texting with at the time (after I got connected to the WiFi at the apartment) because I felt a bit more at ease and not completely isolated, as weird as that sounds. By this point, it was about midnight and all I wanted to do was sleep. The accommodations were nothing special, but they were at least clean and my host was hospitable, so I made the best of it. 

After passing out, I woke up around 9:30 AM and honestly didn't have a plan for exactly what I wanted to do. I mean I knew places I wanted to check out, and I had a few tickets I had bought in advance for a few major sites to see, but in the meantime...being in a new city is really intimidating. I'm actually very good with directions, and having my offline maps made me feel comfortable that I wouldn't get lost, but still having to figure out what to see and try to make the most of a week in a new city can be a bit scary. Still laying in bed, I looked up free walking tours in Barcelona and decided that I'd get ready quick and do the tour of the Gothic Quarter that started at 11 AM. I hoped I would at least learn something and prayed I'd meet some cool people to maybe pal around with the rest of the day. I left the apartment and made my way toward Plaça de Catalunya, a large central square that was bustling with tourists (and hundreds of pigeons). It was an easy walk to get here from my place and took about 20-25 min to get there. Once I arrived, I was a little early, so I was sitting around and realized Barcelona offered free city-wide WiFi. It doesn't work that well and usually only picks up in the bigger, more popular areas, but it was handy when it did work. Most places in the city offered free WiFi though, so whether I was eating dinner or getting a cup of coffee, I was able to connect pretty easily unless I was out walking.

Finally, I see the group I was meeting, literally called Free Walking Tours Barcelona. After checking in, they split us up depending on which tour we wanted. Our guide was really great, and took us down the famous street La Rambla. It was packed with tourists, and we were told not to buy anything on this street because the markup was so high for being such a popular tourist attraction. However, it was nice having someone show us around parts of the city and explain a lot about the history of Catalonia. I had no idea that there was such tension between Catalonia, which is a large region of the country, and the rest of Spain. After a civil war and a lot of back and forth over the years, it's very clear that the people of this region want their independence from Spain. Catalan is a language that is widely spoken in this area, even though Spanish is also an official language. There is even a flag of Catalonia which is an unofficial flag that many private citizens will fly from their homes to show their desire for independence. This flag isn't allowed on any official buildings. Being a lover of history, it was really interesting to learn about, and to be honest, I didn't know much about Spanish history before I arrived. 

The best part of the tour though was meeting two guys I ended up hanging out with for the next 3 days. Both were solo travelers, one from Italy (Davide) the other from Germany (Stefan), but they met because they were staying at the same Airbnb. Such nice guys and I had a blast with them both. After the tour, a big group of us went to lunch, then about 7 of us went down to La Barceloneta, which is the beach and harbor area. We spent a few hours walking around, then Davide had a dinner with friends, so Stefan and I wandered around the Gothic Quarter looking for a place to have dinner. We ended up at this cool little place called Colom (think Christopher Columbus) which looked like an old ship on the inside. We decided to try some authentic Spanish food and opted for some tapas and seafood paella. Stefan wasn't a fan of the paella, but I actually really enjoyed it. It's basically a rice dish seasoned with curry and with seafood added to it. I wish I had taken a picture. I meant to, but got distracted when the paella came out with it's 4 whole giant shrimp staring up at us. It was a fun experience, and Davide ended up meeting us for drinks later that night. 

The next day, I had tickets to see La Sagrada Familia, which is a church (still under construction and will be for about 20 more years they said) which was designed by the famous architect Antoni Gaudi. Gaudi was responsible for a lot of the famous architecture in Barcelona. I meant to take another free walking tour that discussed his work, but I missed it. Next time. The church was amazing. I'll let the pictures do the talking, but seriously, it was incredible. My ticket included a trip up the towers, which had fantastic views of the city.

After I left, I decided to give the metro a try. There is a T10 ticket for the metro that was about 10 euro for 10 trips. This was perfect for my week and I ended up using it all without needing to buy another ticket. From La Sagrada Familia, I decided on a whim to visit Plaza de España, which was a famous plaza I had seen a lot of pictures of during my research for my trip. I saw this beautiful building up on the hill, so I made my way toward it. Turns out, it was the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, and it had beautiful views of the city. I went up there and hung around for a bit and used their WiFi. But I didn't feel like being in a museum on a beautiful day, so I made my way back toward Plaça de Catalunya to meet up with Davide for another free walking tour. This particular tour went through the El Raval, which is a neighborhood previously known for being shady, but over recent years has developed into a pretty diverse and quaint area. During this tour, our guide told us all about the street art in this part of town. It was something I didn't think I would enjoy as much as I did, but our guide went even deeper into the political strains between Spain and Catalonia, and the street art was really cool.

After the tour, Davide and I wandered back down and explored more of the harbor area, which was really beautiful. We finally found some WiFi and had Stefan come meet us, who had been off on a hop on, hop off bus tour all day. That night we found a cute and very delicious little tapas place called Sensi Tapas in the Gothic Quarter. After waiting a while for our table, the waitress came and gave us some free tapas because the people at the table she was planning to give us were taking their sweet time leaving. Hey...free food? No complaints here. Finally we get a seat, and we ate our way through about 6 different tapas dishes. I was so full, that I only had room to sample most of it, but it was soooo good. And seriously couldn't have asked for better company.

Wednesday was Davide's last day, so I had the guys meet me at Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria, or more commonly called La Boqueria market, which I had visited on Tuesday. The food was fresh and authentic and a really inexpensive way to fill up on a variety of foods. After the market, Stefan and I said goodbye to Davide and then wondered around the Gothic Quarter back down to Barceloneta. Stefan was leaving Thursday, so he was determined to go to the beach for a bit, even though this particular day was gray and chilly. We ended up going back to our places for a while to change and shower, then ended up meeting later for dinner. We found a really cool place in El Raval called Bar Lobo. Great food and we had a lot of fun. By this time, it had begun to rain a bit, and the metros in Barcleona generally stop running around midnight and it was getting close. Stefan walked me to the station, but due to an organized strike (of course), the metro was taking forever and I ended up giving up and just walking back to my place. Walking 25 min or so in the rain at midnight in a strange city wasn't exactly something I was thrilled about. But luckily, the main street to my place is a really wide popular street, and it was a pretty peaceful night, so I made it back no problem.

Thursday, I had to get a bit creative since my Barcelona buds were now gone (sad). I'll admit, I was kind of boring and ended up not going out to any restaurants alone on my last two nights because I didn't want to walk back in the dark by myself, not to mention I was really lacking a few good nights' sleep. So Thursday, I mostly just meandered through the streets I had grown comfortable with, and bought some authentic handmade espadrilles from a famous shop I read about before I came. Friday, I ventured out to Montjuïc Castle, which is set up high on a hill right next to the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The views up here were gorgeous and it was a sunny day so I got some amazing pictures. I couldn't stop staring at the view. I took the cable car up, which also offered some great views of the city. Once I got back from the castle, it was still pretty early, but I grabbed some dinner and took it home to start packing since my Megabus back to Paris left at 6:30 AM. But after such a fun-filled week full of walking everywhere, I was pretty tired, I have to admit.

All in all, Barcelona is a beautiful and interesting city everyone should visit. I just uploaded about 200 pictures of my trip to FB, so be sure to check it out! I wish it had been hot enough to hang out on the beach, but alas it was not. But I did learn a lot about the city and it's history and met some awesome people, so my first trip traveling completely solo was a big success. Seriously, I encourage everyone to take at least one solo trip. To be able to meet random people from all over the world, and just do what you want when you want is such a liberating experience, and it once again has built my confidence and changed me in ways I'm sure I don't even see yet. Free walking tours are the best thing ever when traveling to a new city alone. In fact, I looked up some free tours in Paris that I plan to do this month so I can learn more about areas I haven't yet ventured to in the city. It's been a great month, and so far May has seen mostly sunny days, so I think there are some great Parisian times ahead for me.

(Supposedly, if you drink from this fountain, you are destined to fall in love with Barcelona and return one day.)

I will admit though, my heart is already ahead of me in North Carolina and I am so excited to get back and start my new life there. Missing my family and friends, and being a bit tight on money, actually caused me to cancel my overnight trip to Iceland. The logistics were just becoming too much trouble. I'll still be flying back via Icelandair because of their inexpensive flights and 2 free checked bags, but I want to come back as soon as I can. So no, I won't get to see the Blue Lagoon in Iceland just yet, but I guess I'll just have to plan some trips as soon as I get a job and can start saving some money again. I have just over 2 months left. That's crazy. This year has flown by, even though parts of it felt so slow. I'm excited for what's ahead, and I'm really anxious to see how this experience will impact my life in the long run. I'll make sure it's not another month and a half before I post another update. Thanks for reading!

the last 3 weeks of winter

SPRING IS HERE!!! IT’S FINALLY HERE!! I've been waiting months for March 20th to arrive. It has been such a COLD experience so far here in Paris. It’s unfortunate the school year takes place during the coldest months. If I could have chosen any 9 months to live in Paris, it would have started around March and finished with a spectacular Christmas. Christmas in Paris is for sure worth seeing, but after they pack up all the decorations and festivities, you can tell the residents are just playing the waiting game until spring emerges. But printemps has finally made its debut. I had a countdown on my phone that I started 72 days before spring, and I can’t believe all of that time has now elapsed and here we are. It’s still cold. It’s been hovering around high 40s, low 50s most days, but the sun is starting to shine more, so the days are easier to get through. And the forecast for this week has several sunny days and mid-50s. So while all my friends in the USA are enjoying their 70+ degree weather (and yes, I have in fact been insanely jealous of you all), we are slowly but surely catching up across the pond. This coming Saturday, March 26^th will mark 6 months since I moved to Paris. Half a year already! That’s crazy. It has felt slow and fast at the same time. And It’s been 3 weeks since my last post, and I have so much to write about, so prepare for a long update!

During the first week of March, G turned 9 years old. I’ve been really happy with how comfortable he and I are with each other now. We can communicate a little more in French, and sometimes I will ask him “comment dit on ____ en anglais?” (“how do you say ____ in English?”) to quiz him on words or teach him new ones. Since they teach English in the schools here, he actually knows his colors, numbers, and a few other things already. He will really start to take English classes in school when he’s a little older, but he has had to learn a few things here and there at his age. Some evenings, he’ll come in my room just to sit and play with his iPad or Rubik’s cube, which he usually hands to me to solve for him. I can honestly say I’m gonna miss that kid when I leave. He will have an au pair for 1 more year, then he’ll be old enough to do without one. To be honest, I like the family and G a lot, and I can see myself keeping in touch with them after this experience, but I’m kind of over being an au pair in general. It has nothing to do with G or my host family, and everything to do with just being ready to get back to work and have my own place.

But as it gets warmer and I’ve been doing more and more fun things, time is starting to slip through my fingers like sand, and I feel like I’m going to blink and find myself on a plane back to America in the middle of summer. I have made so many wonderful friends here, and the closer I get to being back in the States, the more I realize these friendships will just look so different when I’m gone, and that’s really sad. It’s a strange thing to do when first living overseas to try so hard to put down roots and make a home away from home, knowing that your days are numbered and they will be uprooted again in the end. Then when I get back, I’ll be starting all over again in NC. But I can say that Paris does feel a bit like home now. When you’ve become used to the commute times, the language barrier, and develop favorite go-to places, you know you’ve started to acclimate to living the life of a local. When I inevitably come back to visit one day, it’s not going to feel like a foreign city. It’s going to feel like coming home. That’s really an awesome feeling.

But back to what I’ve been up to so far this month. On March 9^th, I had a mandatory appointment at the OFII, Office Français de l'Immigration et de l'Intégration or French Office for Immigration and Integration. As part of my visa requirements, after living in France for at least 90 days, I am required to visit the OFII for a medical exam.  I knew that this was coming since I arrived, and I was not looking forward to it. Just more paperwork and a mandatory visit, which of course had to be on a Wednesday, my busiest day with G since the kids get out of school at 11:30 on this day each week. My appointment was at 8:30 AM, in a town south of Paris, so I had to leave about an hour prior to my designated time and my host mom took G to school that day. Thankfully, I made it back in time to pick him up, especially given the fact there were train strikes happening later that morning. They like to strike here in Paris. A lot. It was also one of those horrendous rainy and windy days where using an umbrella is pretty useless because I got soaked anyway. Cold, rain, and wind…nature’s winter trifecta out to make my life miserable. But I digress…

Before my visit, I received a letter in the mail telling me what I needed to bring to my appointment. My passport, obviously, a document proving that I’m living with my host family (I took my banking paperwork), and some kind of stamp paying a tax of sorts of 58 euro. At first, when asking my host mom where to get this stamp, she told me they sold them at Tabac (tobacco) stores, but not all of them sell this stamp. That part was so strange to me. Going to a Tabac store to ask for a timbre (stamp) for my immigration appointment. I was not looking forward to running around my town of Houilles to all the Tabac stores trying to communicate what I needed, and not knowing if they would sell it there. But after reading through my paperwork again, the OFII now has a way to purchase the stamp and pay the tax online through their office. Yes! I was so happy when I saw that. Easy.

I arrive for my medical exam and am ushered into a waiting room. About 10 minutes later, one of the staff returns and calls about 6 of us into the next room. This room has a small waiting room, and numbered rooms. One by one, the lady calls us forward to check us in and is asking us questions…in French…thankfully, she spoke enough English to say a word here and there and I just answered yes or no. She didn’t seem too excited about my lack of French, however, all of the other staff I found friendly and helpful, and much more inclined to speak English if I couldn’t understand them. After being checked in, I was told to go to room #1 Analysis, aka pee in a cup. After that, they took my height and weight, and I was back out waiting for my turn in the next room. After waiting what seemed like a while, Not Happy Lady took me to room #2 for an eye exam. She asked me in French if I wore lunettes (glasses) or contacts, then I had to read from the chart on the wall across the room. Thankfully, knowing a word here or there gave me enough context to understand what she was asking, and she seemed more satisfied with my language skills since I could at least give letters and numbers in French.

After this, I was taken to room #3, which was less a room and more of a tall cubicle in the main room, with a door inside that led to an x-ray room. At this point, she opens the cubical door and points to a photo on the wall which explained what to do next…strip from the waste up. Great. So after I do this, I awkwardly wait inside the cube until I hear the girl in the cube next to me return from the room beyond. I knock and peek through to the next room, and there’s an older male doctor waiting for me. I make my way into the room with my arms across my chest, and he tells me I need to pull my ponytail up higher so it’s not falling down my back. Thanks for letting me know. He’s standing there waiting, so I turn around so I can rip out my ponytail and put my hair high on my head. “Awkward…this is so awkward…” is all I’m thinking at this point. He calls me over to an x-ray machine, tells me how to stand and goes back to take the x-ray. I know he’s a doctor, and he was very nice and professional, and to him I was just one more of probably a hundred people a day he sees walk through those doors, but I was not a fan of this particular part of the visit. He dismissed me and I went back into the cubical and got dressed. I was hoping that was the last awkward thing I could expect.

Hah…I wish. The next part was when a doctor came and took my file and called me into another one of these cubicles with a door into the next room inside of it. As I walk in, he tells me to strip from the waste up down to my bra then come into his office. Ugh. I do this, and walk in. There is a table on the far wall you’d find in any ordinary doctor’s office and I expected to be told to sit on it, but no. He calls me over to a chair at his desk, and I’m sitting there practically knocking knees with him, cold, in my bra and jeans. He has my x-ray up on his screen and is looking over my file. In what I’m assuming was an attempt to make me feel more comfortable, he starts asking me about the origin of my name. I said it was English, and like everyone else here, he made a joke about the English soccer team. Then he asks what I’m studying, and I told him I finished school a long time ago. He asked what my degrees were in and poked fun when I told him I was studying French here, but couldn’t speak it. I tried to explain it was a requirement of my visa that I take French classes, but at this point, I’m trying to limit the conversation so I can get this over with. So why did I have to strip this time? So he could take my blood pressure and listen to my heart through my back. Really? In America, I don’t recall either of these ever requiring me to take off clothes. After he did this, he told me I could get dressed then come back in. After a few more minutes, he stamped my paperwork and told me to take it to the receptionist. Gladly. Bye Felicia.

I do as he says, then am directed to the second floor to another waiting room. This is where I have to present my stamped medical report, passport, stamp from the tax, and proof of address. It took about 5-10 minutes for each person, but thankfully I was the 3^rd one to arrive. The lady was actually very nice and asked which language I spoke. She already had my file full of documents I hadn’t seen since I was compiling my paperwork last summer. I had everything they needed from me ready to go, and it only took about 5 minutes. She told me to hang on to the medical report I had stamped because if I wanted to renew my visa in September when it expired, I had to have this and it could not be replaced. Not a problem, I won’t be here or be renewing my visa. Finally, I got the final stamp I needed in my passport, and the entire reason for the shenanigans I had just gone through downstairs, my long-stay/temporary resident visa. And then I got the heck outta here. But in case you were curious, here is what a French visa and my long-stay visa look like, with my important info and bad photo blacked out, of course. ;)

French Student Visa

Long-stay Visa I received the day of my OFII Medical Exam

The rest of the month went uphill from there. The Saturday after my OFII visit, I got to spend the day with my French friend Isabelle, who took me to the beautiful Forêt de Montmorency to go hiking. It was a bit warmer than it had been at that point, and we enjoyed being outside the city for some fresh air. We finished our hike with a picnic by the beautiful lake in the forest, then went back to her place for tea and Netflix, then headed to Bercy Village later that night to see a movie. Lately, my weekends have included a movie with her because of this special ticket she pays a monthly fee for that gets two people into an unlimited amount of movies each month. She gets the tickets, I get the snacks. Here at movie theaters, you have a choice between sweet or salty popcorn. I explained to her that movie popcorn in the States is always salty and always hot. Here, it’s generally popped beforehand, so you don’t get that fresh popcorn and melted butter taste, and most people here will choose sweet popcorn. What a shame. But I convinced her to try the famous combo of salty popcorn and MnM’s, and now she thinks I’m a genius. That’s now our go-to snack when we see a movie. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know her and so thankful for her friendship. As it gets warmer, we have lots of outtings planned and places she wants to show me. It’s awesome having a French friend that knows the best places outside of the city. I also signed up for the Color Run Paris next month, and she’ll be doing it with me. I’m so excited for it! It’ll be a really fun time.

The last 4 days have been the most fun I’ve had in quite some time. Thursday was GORGEOUS. Clear blue skies, not a single cloud, and the temperature reached 60 degrees by the afternoon. Me and my American friend Amanda had planned to meet for a day in the city and visit Sacré-Cœur, the cathedral in the Montmarte district of Paris. We couldn’t have asked for a prettier day for it. The warmer it got, the more excited we got. She and I have both been so over the winter season. It hasn’t helped our homesickness for America. Her older two kids had school, so it was just us and her 2 year old cutie Penelope. We met up for coffee, then headed to Montmarte. Our first stop was to the Le Mur des Je T'aime, The Wall of I Love You, just outside of the metro Abbesses. The wall was created in 2000 and has the words “I love you” written in 250 languages. The splashes of red paint symbolize parts of a broken heart. There were a lot of people around, so it was clear it was a popular spot, but it was still really beautiful. One day I'll get a picture without the horrendous shadows ruining the shot. But can you spot "I love you" in English??

After this, we started the uphill trek toward the cathedral. Getting to the cathedral is tiring enough. If you want to go to the top, it’s 300 steps. We definitely got our workout in that day. We stopped for a few minutes at the main square near Sacré-Cœur, where artists come and show off, sell, and create artwork right there for anyone to watch. It is a pretty touristy location, but still felt very Parisian to be watching all these artists showcase their work. We continued on to the front of the cathedral then went inside to see the interior. The mosaics inside were incredible. The main one featured Christ and was basically the size of the main dome inside. We had to be quiet because there was a mass happening at the same time, and you weren’t supposed to take pictures but everyone was. Oh well. After walking around, we came back outside, then went around to the side of the building to head to the top of the dome. It was only 6 euro, but man was it an exhausting climb. Tight, spiral staircases, and 300 steps. Poor Amanda had Pen on her back the whole way up, so I took her on the way down. The views were worth every step. Perfect day, though a little hazy, but man…Paris is beautiful. After leaving Sacré-Cœur, we found a cute little café called Le Carroussel. It was so nice by this point, we took off our coats and sat outside in the sun. It was wonderful! There was even a guy playing the accordion outside, so we sat there eating pizza and enjoying the ambience, chatting about how this was going to be a regular occurrence as the weather got nicer. So excited.

The next day, I started my private French lessons. I was super nervous about this. I’m not really sure why, I’ve just been so hesitant and shy about it. But when I arrived, I saw my old teacher and chatted with her for a few minutes. I missed her. She really was a fantastic instructor, and if she had taught a class that would have fit better with my schedule, I would have stuck with her. She was really kind and gave me a pep talk to not be so hard on myself and that it was just me and the instructor and I would be ok. Next week, I hope to get there a bit early and see some of my old classmates. Once I was taken to the private classroom, the instructor walked in and I recognized her. She had been our tour guide to the museum we visited the morning of the Paris attacks, and she and I had chatted on the metro after class that day. She wants to move to California really bad to be a French teacher, and hopes one day it’ll happen. But it was great to see a familiar face. She told me about her own experiences learning English and asked me how I would like our lessons to go. I told her I needed to be forced to speak the language, because my reading and writing is better than my oral comprehension and ability to respond. She said that was exactly what happened to her when she was learning English too. Overall, I felt way more comfortable, and it was a much better environment then a full classroom. She said if you need to take a few minutes to respond, I could do that in private lessons, whereas a classroom can be more challenging since everyone has to participate. But I will have these lessons with her every Friday for a total of 8 weeks. Hopefully, that will help me a lot.

By far the most awesome thing I’ve done this month is the cooking class at Le Cordon Bleu I signed up for this past Saturday. I learned how to make French macarons and everything from the chefs to the class to the macarons themselves were fantastic. It was a little pricey at 110 euro, but worth every penny. I got to learn from pastry chef Xaviar Cotte, who began teaching at LCB 14 years ago after a stellar career. He has a translator for the class, an American from Texas actually, but was so funny and clearly loves what he does. French cook Julia Child learned her cooking skills from this very building. So amazing. They are actually opening their new facility in June and will be moving locations. I guess I’ll have to do another class when I come back to visit one day and see the new place. In the end, my macarons turned out really good, just not perfectly round since my piping skills leave something to be desired. But hey, I’ll practice and get better. We did everything by hand, so it was pretty labor intensive, but I feel like I earned the end result. They had certificates of completion ready for us at the end, and we got to keep an official apron, hat, tea towel, and isothermic bag. If you ever come to Paris, this is truly an experience worth paying for. Such a blast.

Confession. I only took this next picture because of the tall, handsome chef.
We kept catching each other's eye, not gonna lie. ;)

Yesterday, I finally got to see my friend Alicia after about a month and a half. It had been a while since we hung out because we are equally intolerant of the cold weather we’ve had. She’s from Columbia, so her intolerance might be higher than mine, but in any case, neither of us have been thrilled about the lack of color on the trees and the gray and cold skies. When it gets warmer, we’ll both be out with our cameras photographing every corner of the city. Cannot wait. It was supposed to be pretty yesterday, but it turned out to be 40s and gray, so we opted for an indoor activity instead. We went to the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Modern Art Museum of Paris. The first painting we saw was really beautiful. It had a room all to itself, and if you started from the right side of the room, it told the story of how electricity came to be over time, specifically in France. I didn’t realize this until I started from the left and saw the beginning, then it dawned on me. Oh well. The rest of the museum was really not my taste. I’m clearly not an art connoisseur, because about a half a dozen times I found myself saying “I could make that.” And really….I could. A wall of huge canvas paintings of vertical stripes in various colors? Umm…yeah. Can’t say I really can appreciate most of what I saw, particularly the giant spider sculpture that horrified me. But oh well. At least I tried it, right?

I named him Aragog. If you don't get that, I'm sorry for you.

Well that’s been a lot of experiences to pack into one blog post. Thanks for reading though! I have a feeling that the arrival of spring is going to spark more adventures and more to write about in each post. I truly believe my best days of this journey are ahead of me, and I can’t wait!

À bientôt!