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So far I haven’t seen too much of it, but I already feel that I am going to love Paris as much as I love New York, if not more…when I first came to Paris a few years ago I was not as impressed as I’d expected to be, but now that I know I am here to stay for more than a few days, I have already begun to appreciate it in a different way; this is my home now, at least until May! A high-spirited Emily joined me at JFK yesterday afternoon, after my 45-minute shuttle flight from Boston, and we began our journey excitedly. Thanks to a powerful tail wind we landed in Paris an hour earlier than expected, which just meant that we had to wait 4 hours instead of 3 at the Arrivals gate for the rest of the group…I slept with my head on the table for about 2 hours, but that was all the sleep I have managed to get so far!
After finally meeting up with the rest of the NYU group around 12pm at Charles de Gaulle, we took a bus to FIAP, the hostel in the 14th arr. that we are staying in until Saturday…we brought our bags upstairs (Emily and I have our room) and then were taken downstairs for an introduction session…we met EVERYBODY involved in the program, and everyone seems so nice, thanks goodness. Then we all got to introduce ourselves, in French if we could…my skills are definitely being tested already, and so far I think I’m doing ok…what a relief. After the introductions, which basically gave us an overview of upcoming events and orientation sessions, we were taken around the area to get metro cards and cash that we’ll need tomorrow for our first day of heavy-duty orientation. There are some French students who are helping out our group, and one of them in particular, Marie-Claire, is so sweet! She took Emily and I and some others out to get the metro cards and then rather than just bringing us back to the hostel, she and the other French students offered to show us around a bit and take us for a drink. So I have officially had my first drink in Paris…a frozen strawberry margarita, and it was only $3…thank you, happy hour!
The group that we were out with is a lot of great girls…Sam, who goes to Emerson, Julie, who’s majoring in Psych and Cinema Studies, Lauren, who’s hoping to take classes at the Sorbonne too…I think these girls could all be great friends! I’m hoping to meet more of the group tomorrow, when orientation begins…so far I haven’t spoken to any of the guys, and though there is only a small number of them, many seem really sweet…any guy who speaks French is usually at least a bit more sensitive than average.
Marie-Claire lives in the 14th arr. but right around the corner from our apartment it seems, and some of the other girls said that they asked to be in or near the Latin Quarter, so it’s possible that we’ll have some people from our program not too far away, which would be nice.
I really thought going in that I liked the idea of us all being in our own apartments, but the atmosphere at the FIAP is kind of nice, with having other people right down the hall or just a couple floors away…it would have been nice to spend the whole semester like this, but I think having our own place will definitely have it’s benefits too.
I can’t wait to see our place, but we won’t get to do that until Saturday…but tomorrow we see the NYU in Paris Center, and that I can’t wait for either!
For now I am totally exhausted, having only slept about 2 and a half hours since the night of the 8th…I think I will go to sleep! I’ll called Mom and Dad today from the pay phone downstairs and only managed to get Dad for about 4 minutes, but it was good to check in…hopefully tomorrow or Friday we will be shown how and where to get SIM cards for our cell phones. Then by Saturday I should be in my apartment with the internet and up and running, and I will finally be fully functional!
Tomorrow we will have the first two phases of orientation at the NYU Center, learning tips about daily life like transportation and dealing with money, and then getting briefed on the housing situation…Em and I are hoping we won’t have to stick around for that, and we’ll be able to just wander around the campus area…we haven’t eaten any local food yet, and I MUST have something from a café tomorrow!
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