Sedan, Sedan, Sedan

I know I keep apologizing for the lack of updates but it has been difficult here in Sedan-almost from day 1. Writing is difficult when you live in a depressing and desolate area. My window overlooks a factory and an elementary school and our kitchen/living room window overlooks the ZUP (the Zone Urbaniser en Priorité) which is the equivalent to public/social housing. The landscape is dull, the sky is constantly gray, there are no stars at night, and on most days on average there are 2 hours of sunlight. Sounds like a great little oasis in Eastern France?......If only I could say that. Sadly, I'm 100% sure that once this program is done, I will never return to this town again (unless for some odd reason I end up working on a show that tours in the Ardennes).

But, I've been growing more frustrated since returning from the Salon Du Vin and experiencing the amazing Parisian life. We have more than 1 Parisian friend, something we can't say here. Our only friend in this town is one of our neighbors, he is 27 and lives with his father and younger brother. The people here are very nice, but they do not speak proper French (let alone a word of English). Whenever we travel, everyone is sympathetic or scours when we tell them where we live and they respond with "I'm sorry, why do you live there?" Or, "I'm sorry, why don't you move?" 
This is why I haven't spoken much about Sedan since my arrival. It is almost exactly how I expected it to be, but for some reason I thought it would be tolerable. The only tolerable aspects of living here are my colleagues, neighbors, and 12 hour work week. Recently when attempting to describe Sedan to others in the Academy of Reims, someone had come up with the clever notion that Sedan is "the Detroit of France". Everyone laughed, but then the two of us American assistants actually thought about it, and yes, Sedan IS the "Detroit of France."

This is a panorama taken from the street corner where I live/work. I live in the building to the right of the lamppost 

Ever wonder where sedans came from? Well, they were invented right here in Sedan, France. Unfortunately since the recession hit France, the economy here has dwindled significantly. The Christmas lights (not even on every street in down town Sedan) stays on for less than 5 hours......what?!?!?! Why even have them up if they turn off after 9pm. There are more for sale signs than rented/owned space.

Taken on Armistice Day, Place Alsace-Lorraine

This is where all the delinquents hang out. 

Fun Fact: we have to pass this to get to the closest grocery store 

 Taken from the corner of our building

At least the trees are pretty in Autumn 

Blanche Nuit; The only night out of the year where Paris doesn't shutdown after 2am

Nuit Blanche, the only night where everything in Paris theoretically stays open all night. But, just as when Chicago tried to do the same with "Looptopia", things closed as 2am. The nifty thing about Nuit Blanche is that you can get a map/program of the night's event at almost every train station. Unfortunately, the few times I tried to get one at Gare De L'est they were out or no one knew where I could find it when I asked. So, we were left to search for things (without smartphones) via their poorly laid out website. Luckily I found some cool things on their site and printed some maps and saved some screenshots on my iphone. Today was also the day that I finally had a working phone! SFR has a pre-paid weekly plan for 5 euros you get unlimited texting and calling (within France) on nights and weekends and unlimited texts and 2 hours of talk during the day. This plan was perfect for our evening (minus the no 3G) but, since Paris is big and there was a lot of us, we needed a working phone to get in-touch incase one of us got lost. We saw some pretty cool things that night, but the highlight of the evening was the 3 hour fireworks display. While they were re-stocking the fireworks, they had a water and lights show (the fireworks were being set off from the Seine). It was amazing, and something I will probably never experience again.

 Me at the Myth of Olympia 

 At the Place De La Republique 

 The first thing we experienced 

 In front of the Centre Pompidou

 A garden in the Myth of Olympia

 The Louvre at night

 The three amigos at the Louvre 

 Fireworks on the Seine

 Video of the fireworks

We ate dinner at a creperie called "Camille", they had wonderful crepes and salads (for some reason I was craving a salad). After we ate, we kept going down the Rue De La Republique and ran into some unique things like an outdoor short film festival, a "mythical garden", and a mist spectacle. Around 2am, we hit up a cafe close to the Bastile and leisurely sat in the warm cafe people-watching. After our coffees, we headed back outside and tried to look for something to do, unfortunately 3am is about when the performers abandon their station so by the time we made our way to something that looked promising (from the piece of paper I had printed) no one was at their post and the station was desolate. Since we hadn't eaten since 9ish, we found one of the only things  to eat,  which was Kabab. Then, we strolled the streets of Paris until Gare De L'est opened, which was 5am. Co-incidentally, that is the same time a scrumptious boulongerie opened. Before heading the station, we grabbed a yummy pain au chocolat for breakfast and waited in the station (our train left the station at 7:44am).
Of course right as we entered the station, there was an entire row of pamphlets/programs for "Nuit Blanche". I don't know how I missed that when we arrived, but I took one nonetheless and wrote down the exact location where I found it. I will get one for next year!

All in all, it was a successful evening.

What have I been doing for the past 90+ days

Let me tell you folks, getting internet was both amazing and horrible at the same time.

 Omg, we finally visited the castle (the only tourist attraction in Sedan)!

I've been so busy I have no idea where to begin, so let's start off with Nuit Blanche.....yes, I am aware that it took place October 5th but between then and now I've been dealing with alot- a new roommate, an actual class schedule (which is quite ridiculous- for example on Monday I teach at 9am and 5pm), and lots of daily life/travel organizing/planning/auditions.
Before I recount Nuit Blanche (which could have 1,000 times better had our smartphones been able to be smart, Paris where's your free wifi!) Let me just say that I definitely COULD NEVER BE A TRAVEL AGENT. Planning trips for one person is difficult, but when you add more than two people things get complicated. Needless to say, I took on the responsibility of booking hostels, creating itineraries, and accessing/taking screenshots of maps (of course the printers at the school weren't working) all while creating lesson plans and teaching. Also, right after my birthday I got the flu for four days (not fun while you're trying to plan a vacation). I say this because I've just finished booking everything for my up-coming winter vacation- Rome during Christmas, Vienna on New Years, and home to England to see family (with a trip to the Harry Potter set tours somewhere in there). Luckily, I have three and half weeks to plan this trip (whew), yay! Let's hope this time I won't get sick *fingers crossed*

Invited Dress Rehearsal

Last Thursday I was invited to the dress rehearsal of "La Derniere Nuit De Moliere". It was written by the same person who directed and starred as Moliere. Obviously this wasn't going to be very good-it very seldomly is when you have youur hands in many different jars. So, one of the French professors invited me to her classroom since this man was going to be giving a presentation on the play, his process, and theater. First, I was shocked when he asked the students who had ever been to a theater (there's 1 professional one 20 minutes away from Sedan and a few 1 hour away). ONLY 4 out of 28 had ever been to a theater, and these were Sophomores. I couldn't believe it! It made me glad that I grew up in a city with an excellent Arts scene. The presentation wasn't very interesting (I would never give an actor 55 minutes to speak without prompts). 

Later that night, I went to the theater expecting a half full house. Instead, I quickly realized this was an invited dress- there was me, the theater teacher, two French teachers, and the staff at the MJC. I had no idea what I was in-store for...

Thank goodness for theater history and music history! There were so many inside jokes and historically relevant notes that will definitely go over the kids heads. It was 90 minutes with no intermission, NO MASKING (meaning, you could see the one person stage crew leaning again the wall the entire time), and NO PROPS. There was however, a one man orchestra/stage manager. That's right-the stage manager was the conductor and orchestra. Often times using garageband or some music program (like Sibelius) to play the music....from his Macbook....on stage.....

Occasionally he was also used as a messenger. 

Let me move on to the costumes-this tech/music guy's costume was period correct as was Moliere's. His wife/daughter's (they're the same person, he married his daughter after the death of her mother/his first wife) costume was 1950s large polka dot skirt with black top, and Moliere's doctor wore a lawyer's robe. Clearly, they didn't have a budget. But yet, the few scenery pieces they had consisted of early 1900s womens undergarmets and hoop skirts on a rment rack. Why wouldn't she just change into any of these more appropriate clothing pieces.....

The set was just some pipe and drape seperating the main playing space and "Moliere's room" which was seperated by a red curtain hanging from the pipe and drape system. 

Since the only thing it really had going for it was the lighting, there were times when it became a light show. But, with nothing interesting happening on stage, I was glad there was something good about this production.

Overall, it was a sad effort, I don't think I could ever sit through that piece again. 

Cracks in French public transit

For the past month (it'll be a month in 2 days) I've been all over the East of France and taken several trains to and from Paris without a problem. Of course there were a few close calls but that was mainly because we left too late. The conductors have been nice and everyone always wait while you are getting your tickets or looking for the correct platform. 

Today was the first day where something didn't go right. Granted France is allowed to have those days, but the TGV and SNCF in general is praised as having awesome transit-maybe that only applies to the trains, My bus (or autocar as its called here) was 15 minutes late!!! Normally, I wouldn't care but this was a bus that was connecting me to Reims, and I have an appointment (for a champagne cave tour and tasting) later this afternoon. So, I need the time to put my stuff down and get a few things before heading to Pommery. 

We arrived in Charleville (where I had my connection) with one minute to spare. Luckily, I flagged down one of the workers on baord the train I need to take, and they held the train for me and a few other people. Yay! Crisis averted. Now, to enjoy some fresh champagne straight from the source. ;) 

Foreign Banking Parts 3-5

I'm taking a break from writing about my daily life here in Sedan to re-surface the theme of "Banking in France"

Banking in France

There are many banking options in France.

The banks I'm going to cover are:

La Poste ( yep, you can do everything at the Post Office-banking; phone services-they are a service provider that offers prepaid and no contract plans; and of course, sending your mail) 

Open from 9am-12pm, then 2:00pm-4:45pm  

To get an appointment: go to the LaPoste and ask for an appointment. It can take up to five or six days to receive your appointment if you go during the weekend. Otherwise, it can be the same week but keep in mind that it depends on the time of the year (beginning of the school year, holidays, etc...) you are attempting to set up your bank account.

To open the account:
Visit the receptionist, the banker will get you at the reception area. He or she will ask you many questions that will inserted into their database (name, salary, when you arrived in France, why are you in France, etc)
Then, the banker will ask you what kind of bank account you wish to open. THERE ARE LOTS OF OPTIONS. If you have no idea, he or she will go over each option with you. I'm going to explain the simplest/most basic account.

For the basic account: you pay a fixed amount every 3 months-10.76 euros every trimester, have no other fees, the carte bancaire and insurance is included in the price.

You will need the following paperwork:

• Proof of housing
• Copy of ID/passport
• Work Contract
• Salary Statement

You do not have to pay to open or close the account 

You will receive two very important letters in the mail, one is about online banking, and the second is your secret code to use your debit card.

Online banking mail arrived 3 days after opening the bank account. The letter was very straightforward and easy to understand

The second letter arrived one week later and contained the secret code needed to pick up and activate the debit card. The secret code is also the PIN.

ATMs:
Surprisingly enough, there are bank postale ATMs located in every city/town in France. If you use the bank postale ATMs it's free
Regarding other ATMS, there is no fee for the first three withdrawals, after that, it's less than 2.00 euro fee. Be wary when traveling internationally as there are hefty fees when using the ATMS abroad.  
Total days: About 7 days (from opening up a bank account to activating your debit card)

LCL (Le Crédit Lyonnais)

Things to note with LCL:

You don't need an appointment to open a bank account, but IF by some chance you do, you can usually get the appointment for the same day or at the very latest, the next day.
In order to open your account you will need these very important documents

• Passport
• Visa
• Proof of housing 
• Work Contract

Voila, that simple!

The steps for opening the account are as follows: 
When you walk in, head towards the receptionist and say you'd like to open a checking account.
Then, she or he will check something on the computer or call one of the bankers.
Next, a banker will greet you in the lobby and take you to his or her office where he or she will ask you a bunch of questions such as where do you live (both in France and in the States), your social security number, and birth certificate number. This part can be quite laborious as you have to spell everything out letter by letter or in most cases, write everything down then hand the banker the piece of paper. But, if you have a nice banker he or she will offer you some type of beverage such as coffee or tea. Another question he or she will ask you is why you chose this bank. For most people the answer of "you offer renters insurance for 1 euro" is most common as you need to obtain renters insurance for any type of accommodation in France.
The questions are part of the online process the banker needed to complete in order to open your bank account.
After all of that, they take your documents and make photocopies of EVERYTHING
Then, the mounds of paperwork begins, you sign what seems like an endless pile of papers, pick which type of bank card you'd like (they offer three). The cheapest is the carte bancaire, it's the no frills card but it works internationally. If you want more info on the carte bancaire, click here:
http://www.cartes-bancaires.com/spip.php?rubrique49


After that, you're done. Congrats you've just completed the steps for opening a checking account with LCL. Now, you get to play the waiting game.

You will receive two very important letters in the mail, one is about online banking, and the second is your secret code to use your debit card.

The first piece of mail you will receive is your online banking information. This letter will include LOTS and LOTS of numbers for account passwords and other useful numbers.
At first, this can be a daunting process because you have no idea what set of numbers belongs to what piece of information the website is asking.

You can log into your account two ways:
The first way- Plugging in your bank account number AND this secret password. Note, it is NOT 4 numbers which is associated with your debit card. It should be a 6 digit number that can be found on the letter you received.
The second way: enter the 2 different banking numbers that are assigned to your account (given to you when you opened the account AND  the 6 digit secret password)

You must take special care not to lose this paper as you will need the above information EACH time you log into your account.

The second piece of mail you will receive is the debit card letter. This letter states that your debit card has arrived and you can go to the bank and pick it up. Somewhere in the letter will be your PIN. In France, YOU DO NOT CHOOSE YOUR PIN, it is assigned. You will need to memorize this number as every time you visit the ATM, you will prompted for the number.

Steps for activitating your debit card:

Go to an ATM (surprisingly, you don't need to go to an LCL ATM to activate the card, any ATM will suffice)
Insert the card into the ATM, plug in the PIN number that was given to you
Withdraw money

Congrats, you're debit card is now activated and ready to use!

Helpful Info:


You can open the bank account without putting any money into your account
BUT
It is important that you put in at least 10 euros into your account when you open it, because you need to withdraw money from the ATM in order to activate it
  
The bank is closed from noon  to 2:25 on weekdays  


It costs 3 euros to open the account
Monthly fees: very low, less than 5 euro a month
Total for opening account: 5.60

Total days: About 10 days (from walking in and opening up a bank account to activating your debit card)

IT IS IMPORTANT TO LIKE YOUR BANKER, YOU WILL BE DEALING WITH THIS PERSON ALWAYS, THEY HANDLE YOUR ACCOUNT. My friend who is with LCL, highly recommends it because of her banker, The banker did a good job at making my friend feel comfortable and made setting up the bank account a smooth process. If you feel that the person can't understand your needs (or accent), do not open the account. You could inadvertently sign-up for things you don't need/be hit with multiple fees. Wait until you find the person that can assist you properly.


BNP Paribas

The paperwork you need is:

• Passport
• Visa
• Proof of housing 
• Work Contract

I have personal experience with this bank, as it is the one I chose (mainly, again because it's a partner with BOA and you don't have any fees when you withdraw from partner banks which are located across the world). The day after I arrived in Sedan, I went to open my bank account. Unfortunately, you need an appointment to open an account. The receptionist said the earliest appointment was next Tuesday. After several minutes of negotiation, I was able to receive an appointment for the next day at 11am. Since I'm under 25, they have a special account called "Esprit Libre" in which you don't pay any fees and you get your carte bancaire at a reduced price (in France, you will normally pay for the card, even the most basic-carte bancaire). They will give you a set of RIBs (4 per page, you get 2 pages), which you use EVERYWHERE-from setting up your direct deposit (you handover a RIB to paying for your housing. You will definitely want to make photocopies, especially if you are a language assistant and plan on having two jobs.

After signing a bunch of paperwork, I was ready to open an account. Again, you can open an account without depositing anything into it-but, I prefer to have some money in my account so I know that when my debit card arrives I will be able to stop withdrawing from my US account.

The process was simple, and luckily the banker spoke some English, so if I didn't know the word in French she was able to figure it out and explain it in half English/half French which was nice.

Just as LCL and La Poste, you will receive three documents.
The first piece of mail you will receive is your online banking information, it includes two pages. Luckily, this letter does not include as many numbers as the LCL letter.
In the middle of the page on the first page, you will see Monsieur, Madame, Mademoiselle YOUR NAME followed by a 10 digit number, this is your account number
On the second page is your secret code, it says code secret: 6 digit number
You will need both these pages in order to log onto your account.
Once logged on, you can view your messages, see your balance, and do online banking.
You also have the option of going paperless

You must take special care not to lose this paper as you will need the above information EACH time you log into your account.

The second piece of mail you will receive is the debit card letter. This letter states that your debit card has arrived and you can go to the bank and pick it up. Somewhere in the letter will be your PIN. In France, YOU DO NOT CHOOSE YOUR PIN, it is assigned. You will need to memorize this number as every time you visit the ATM, you will prompted for the number.


It is free to open the account
The cost getting the carte bancaire is 5.50 euro
You must get insurance for the account which is 1.50 euros
Total for opening account: 7.00 euros

Total days: About 16 days (from walking in and opening up a bank account to activating your debit card, my letter with my PIN got "lost in the mail" so while I had my debit card, I couldn't activate it until I received my PIN) This is very long and abnormal, normally it only takes 5-10 days.

First Day in Sedan Sept.27th/Foreign Banking Part 2

This morning, I had a lot on my to do list. The assistant from last year is currently in Sedan to help me take care of practicalities, like opening a bank account. Since everyone takes a two hour lunch from noon-2pm, we decided to have lunch at Les Halles, a great place to get some cheap decent pizza.
Next, we headed over to BNP Paribas- turns out YOU NEED AN APPOINTMENT TO OPEN A BANK ACCOUNT!!!!! They don't accept walk-ins. After James explained that I needed to open a bank account ASAP (I needed it open before my orientation in Reims, which was October 1st) the man at the welcome desk made a few phone calls, and voila, I had an appointment set for tomorrow at 11:00am. Yay! Now, hopefully I can do this myself............

Then, he took me on a tour of Sedan and the school-nothing too interesting. There's a "Botanical Garden" and some of the buildings still have bullet holes in them from the Wars. 

 
Still no internet, phone, or public transit. After our tour, we went back to drink some champagne that he brought from the University he's working at.  It was quite yummy, then we went shopping for practical things. Got back, ate a late dinner. 

Day Three: Trip to Reims with 10-minute connection to Sedan

I woke up the next morning at 9:00 am thinking that would be plenty of time to get to the train station by 11:30 and also stop for a sandwich before leaving.      Boy was I wrong......

Last night, I met a German guy at the B&B in the common room/living room. We ended up chatting and he seemed really cool. This morning I saw him again in the kitchen making some coffee and we started talking, which was a huge mistake since I needed to leave the B&B at 10:30 if I wanted to grab the sandwich, come back, wait for a taxi (yes, even though I booked a room someplace 4 BLOCKS from the train station, I needed a taxi because there was no way I would be able to walk 4 blocks with my ridiculously heavy suitcases), and get to station all before 11:30am. Anyway, we began talking and when I looked at the clock again, it said 10:30am. Guess I wasn't going to get that sandwich. 

Luckily I had packed everything the night before so all that I needed to do this morning was eat and grab my stuff and go. 

Unfortunately, the people who run the Bed and Breakfast actually had a wedding to attend that day so they left at 10am with all the information needed to book a taxi and ensured me several times that my French was good enough to be able to do this. 

Booking a taxi in Paris

You might think this is quiet an easy task, but it's not. First, you're put on the phone with an automated machine in which the person who is speaking mumbles and talks very fast. I had no idea what number to press. After my second listen, she was asking if I would like a taxi now or for a future time. Since I didn't need the taxi until 11:30 or even 11:45 (my train wasn't until 12:48, and the station is 4 blocks away) I pressed 2 (future time). After that, they only gave me options of 9am (um, it was well past 9am), 2:30pm, and 9pm. There was no option that I heard of speaking to an actual person. I hung up, re-did the entire process, and then chose immediate. I got all the way to booking information, but apparently the automated machine couldn't tell what street (rue) I was saying. By this point it was 10:58 and I started to freakout and realize there was no way I could book a taxi by phone. Then, I remembered thank God I have the Uber app! It's Paris, they must have black cars or taxis here. I went to app and it pulled everything up but when it told me how much it would cost ($15 minimum) I decided I would try online with a different taxi company. There was no way I was going to pay $15 to go 4 blocks, even if I have 2 huge suitcases. Luckily, the online process was smooth with bleu taxi, and the minimum was $5. I figured it would probably cost that anyway since traffic in Paris is about just as bad as traffic in New York. The taxi arrived at 11:24 (super early, but it was in the neighborhood) and me and my luggage made it safely to the train station.

Next task, meet my friend (also doing the program and actually going to be working in Reims, not the middle of nowhere) at the train station. 

Rendezvous point

So, my friend, Jane, and I were supposed to meet right outside the SNCF station underneath the sign that said "Gare De l'est". In theory, you might think this is quite an easy task....WRONG. They had TWO of these signs! So, luckily I showed up at 11:35 and had plenty of time to wait around. We weren't going to meet up till 12:15 anyway. I waited by one them for 15 minutes when I saw another girl waiting at the opposite end. After a few minutes of deliberating (neither one of us had a working phone) I began to make the trek over to her side. It took me a good 10 minutes to make it across thanks to the theft of the luggage carts. But I finally reached her and we went inside. Then, we found our track color (the tracks are divided into yellow and blue sides and the times don't appear until about 20 minutes until your train departs). Since we still had about half an hour left, we decided to find a bench close to the track we thought the train would arrive on (we guessed track 30 based on the surrounding trains leaving to the same region). 10 minutes later, they announced our train track- it was 26. With not much luggage, crossing four tracks would be a piece of cake; but with all my stuff and no help, it took me 15 minutes. Luckily once I got on the train this lovely man helped me put my luggage onto the luggage rack (yay! everything all in one place). We took our seats and talked about our flights, Reims, and school for the next hour and 14 minutes.

Making the connection

We arrived into the Reims train station right on time! Being totally unfamiliar with this train station, I had no idea where I needed to be to make my connection. Luckily, Jane helped me find the track which of course was on the opposite side and you either had to take a set of stairs down or take an elevator. I opted for the elevator. We said our goodbyes and I told her I'd contact her once settled in at the apartment. I told the people waiting for the elevator (all of whom were speaking English) that I needed to make a connection and that I had to get on the next elevator or else I would miss it. Since I didn't hear any objection and I only had 5 minutes left, I went in. The elevator can hold either 6 people, or 2 people with four suitcases. After I got in with my three suitcases, there was still some room left and another woman squeezed in with her one suitcase. We made the descent and I followed some signs only to be met by more stairs! I had three minutes left or else it was wait at the station for another two hours.

Knowing that there was no way I could left these bags up 12 stairs, I began imploring help from people. Luckily 3 strong Frenchmen came to the rescue and proceeded to carry all my bags (leaving me with just my laptop bag) up the flight of stairs. I thanked them profusely and began running towards the train. I managed to get everything on the train and used the first suitcase to hold the door open as I got the second one (the carry-on was attached to the 2nd suitcase) on board and next to my seat. Then I pulled the first suitcase, which was holding the door open, closer to me and away from the doors. People most likely thought I was part of the puppet festival that was beginning that day in Charleville because why else would there be someone on board a regional train with that much luggage. I had made it with 30 seconds to spare! I'm never traveling with this much luggage again, no matter what anyone says. It's not worth it. So you might save yourself 200 euros or 400 euros- in the end, it's better to spend the money on winter clothes where you'll be living rather than attempt to carry it all with you. 

Sedan-the happening town in the 1600s

 View outside the train station

Outside the train station

When I got to Sedan (the last stop on the train-so I could take my time getting my luggage off the train), I looked around. It wasn't that bad of a town, or as bad as I expected. The weather was nice, I saw a bus while waiting for Sandy, my contact person. I will have to investigate this town further. A plus side, they have landscape/mountains! Obviously they're nothing like the Alps, but I literally thought there wasn’t going to be anything interesting or pretty about this town. In reality, the Ardennes are quite lovely.

After waiting for a bit, my contact person, Sandy (names have been changed) arrived. I got all my stuff in the car and we began chatting. She then informed me that there’s no German assistant. He backed out a couple of weeks ago and they can't find a replacement. WHAT?!?!? NO! Now it's not going to be anything like the l'auberge Espagnol. How could he do that to us!?!?! He was the one with the car!!!! Sedan has no public transportation system so our only way of getting around this town will now have to be by foot....awesome. 

It's making me begin to second guess my decision on accepting the position. 

We get to the apartment and I spend the rest of the night unpacking.

Paris Days 1-2-September 24th/25th

Hello! I finally have internet. In France, it takes 12 days from when you sign up for a router/wifi to actually get it activated. I will go into further detail in a later post. Therefore, I have been keeping a journal for the past 2 weeks and will backlog these posts.

I arrived in Paris on Tuesday at 9:25am, with only getting 3 hours of sleep on the airplane. They were showing “Beautiful Creatures” dubbed in French, it was NOT very good, so I decided to watch “Midnight in Paris” and “Modern Family”. Customs or more like boarder patrol, looked at the wrong visa (he looked at my study abroad one, from 2008) and said, have a good time studying, and stamped on the page after the visa. I was confused when he said “good luck with your studies” but I thought I misheard him. Then, when I was on the escalator to baggage claim, I debated about going back and saying you stamped in the wrong place but hopefully it won’t be that big of a deal, I’ll have to wait until orientation (October 1^st) to find out. My bags ended up being way heavier than I anticipated, so I took a taxi, which ate up about a fourth of my allotted budget for the trip to Paris(meaning no awesome gastronomy experiences, hopefully next time). I arrived at my B&B around 11:15am, unpacked a bit and headed off to the first destination, the Latin Quarter-I swear I missed it the first time. So, first stop was the Luxembourg Gardens for a relaxing lunch by the fountain overlooking the Eiffel Tower. With no cellphone and a weird map of Paris from my Frommers Paris Day By Day book (circa 2008-my study abroad trip), I went to explore. First, I went over to the Sorbonne and sneaked a peak of a group meeting in the corridor and talking with a professor, a very French scene. I tried taking a picture but it turned out very shadowy.  As I passed that entrance, I found their library. Apparently in order to get into the library you need your student id and class schedule. There were at least 10 people in line- I have never seen a line to enter a library at a university. Then I went to the church across the street, which was pretty, but it was definitely a typical Parisian church.

The best part of the day was that I didn’t get on the wrong metro, yay! It really does remind me of the EL but super fast and you’re never waiting for more than 5 minutes for a train. I ended the day by stopping by the Eiffel Tower and taking a few quick pictures. I totally forgot the purpose this day, to scout potential locations for my moving audience "La Boheme" that I want to do this summer. Bah! I must remember to do this tomorrow!

Day 2 

I went to SFR today to get my phone; unfortunately they said I couldn’t do it because I needed a bank account. Wtf, I just wasted 15 minutes getting here to be told I can’t have a phone yet. This doesn't bode well for the rest of the day. 

Next on my list was to explore Montmartre, the Gare de l’est, get my carte de jeune, book my train to Reims/Sedan, and explore the arrondisment I was staying in  (19^th ). I found a fromagerie that won a M.O.F.!! Definitely the highlight of the morning and much needed after SFR. A M.O.F. is a highly skilled prize given to the best workers in France (there isn't a limit on how many people can win, but the exam required to win the prestigious award is quite rigorous). 

Last night, I read that the TGV can have your luggage delivered to you if you give them 24 hours notice. At around 12:00pm, I arrived at the train station, had to ask a few times where to buy the SNCF tickets, and finally after about 10 minutes of wandering, found the booth. The woman behind the counter kindly explained that even though the website says 24 hours in advance, they require a minimum of two days in advance. URG! My bags weigh more than I do, so having to take yet another taxi to the train station was a daunting prospect. Oh, and due to theft, the train station NO LONGER HAS LUGGAGE CARTS. Meaning, unless someone takes pity on me, I have figure out a way to lug three suitcases (2 checked bags and my carry-on) onto the train plus my 15-inch laptop bag. You might be wondering, why do I need so much luggage- well Sedan is like Chicago, one day in Fall it might be 80 degrees and the next it’ll be 52.  Since I get the pleasure (not really) of experiencing 4 seasons during my time in France, I packed 7 of every type of top: t-shirts, tank tops, long-sleeved shirts, shirts for winter, and dresses; 2 dress pants, my winter jacket, fall jacket, a few cardigans, several scarves, boots, etc…. now, I can spend my money on traveling, NOT on clothes (as the season ends I’m going to ship the clothes back, mainly winter because that is really what weighed the most but also is the most important-it snows from November-March in Sedan).  After the gare de l’est it was off to Montmartre.

It didn’t go so well in Montmartre, I literally explored practically half of the town. When I got off the metro at the “Abesse” stop, you have to walk up a lot of flights of stairs, after flight three, I saw no end in sight and walked back down and waited for the elevator. I don’t know how people can walk up all those flights of stairs. I wandered for a bit, my google maps GPS wasn’t cooperating so I just went whichever direction I felt like going. I ended up getting lost and couldn’t find where Degas had his garden, L

I ended up going back to the B&B and made some pasta for dinner, then I went out for a nutella banana crepe and came back and went straight to sleep.

that the TGV can have your luggage delivered to you if you give them 24 hours notice. At around 12:00pm, I arrived at the train station, had to ask a few times where to buy the SNCF tickets (it's really not clearly marked anywhere, I swear) and finally after about 10 minutes of wandering, found the booth. The woman behind the counter kindly explained that even though the website says 24 hours in advance, they require a minimum of two days in advance. URG! My bags weigh more than I do, so having to take yet another taxi to the train station was a daunting prospect. Oh, and due to theft, the train station NO LONGER HAS LUGGAGE CARTS. Meaning, unless someone takes pity on me, I have figure out a way to lug three suitcases (2 checked bags and my carry-on) onto the train plus my 15-inch laptop bag. 

You might be wondering, why do I need so much luggage- well Sedan is like Chicago, one day in  it might be 80 degrees and the next it’ll be 48.  Since I get the pleasure (not really) of experiencing 4 seasons during my time in France, I packed 7 of every type of top: t-shirts, tank tops, shirts for winter, and dresses. Then, 2 dress pants, my winter jacket, fall jacket, a few cardigans, several scarves, boots, etc…. so that I can spend my money on traveling, NOT on clothes (as the season ends I’m going to ship the clothes back, mainly winter because that is really what weighed the most but also is the most important-it snows from November-March in Sedan).  

I got my carte de jeune with no problems, booked my ticket to Sedan, and dropped off my ticket, carte de jeune, and passport at the B&B.

After the gare de l’est it was off to Montmartre. 

It didn’t go so well in Montmartre, I literally explored practically half of the town. When I got off the metro at the “Abesse” stop, you have to walk up a lot of flights of stairs, after flight three, I saw no end in sight and walked back down and waited for the elevator. I don’t know how people can walk up all those flights of stairs. 

I wandered for a bit, my google maps GPS wasn’t cooperating so I just went whichever direction I felt like going. I ended up getting lost and couldn’t find where Degas had his garden, the Moulin Rouge, or even the same Metro stop. 

I ended up going back to the B&B. But on the way, I stopped for a nutella banana crepe (I have to get them while I can, Sedan certainly won't have any creperies) and came back and went straight to sleep.