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.