Jun. 8th, 2007 04:40 pm
France: the Adventure
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partypaprikaAlright, I'm going to try and post about the past couple of days here in France--exciting or not exciting as it may be. X D
The start really begins with my flight, because that ended up dictating how my first two days went. The flight itself wasn't bad. I'd brought a lot of things to do--books, computer, notebook, guidebook for Paris, and other assorted things. Ironically, I didn't end up needing most of my stuff because I listened to my ipod for a while and watched movies on my computer. However, I didn't sleep at all on the plane from Los Angeles to France. And I had a late afternoon flight, which meant by the time that I arrived in Paris, I hadn't slept in about 20 hours. That in itself, isn't so bad, I've done waaaaaay worse. I am in college after all : P
But, then I had to get to the house by myself, which took a bit of navigating. Apparently, La Place Des Invalides cuts my street right in half. And my house is the second to last one before the cut. Oh well. I finally get dropped off the house, and I have to dig out my instructions because it's like a maze. I have to use several different passwords and turn into several hallways. Up stairs down stairs. Almost getting eaten by a dog. (ok. not really. But it did bark loudly) before I finally find my specific apartment/house.
My host mother lets me in and is very cheerful while giving me specific instructions in french on what to NOT touch. As I've come to find out, most of the rooms in the house/apartment, are NOT to be used except on very special occasions. I'll give a little side note: despite everything that I say, the host mother is very nice. Just keep that in mind and take everything that I say with a grain of salt.
So, my host mother leads me to my room all the while giving me the rules of the house. There's no curfew, but I'm only allowed to have people in my room for school projects and no one after 10. I have to be very careful with electricity (i.e. REALLY DON'T USE IT). A maid comes once a week on Wednesdays, but I have to have my entire room cleaned up by then and can't have anything on the floor. I'm also expected to clean my shower and bathroom, go to a laundromat for laundry, etc etc. So really, I have the responsibilities of living in an apartment, except that I'm not allowed to have people over. *facepalm* I also get dinner four times a week with the family. And all of this is in french. Then she starts on the small details, like keys and stuff, and I think that I might just have a breakdown right there. I hadn't slept in almost two days and people were giving me instructions in french.
I manage to make it until she finishes talking and leaves me to unpack before I have a complete breakdown. And I know that it's not that I really want to go home, but that I'm overtired and confused and everything's coming at me at once. But it really doesn't make it better X D.
So then we have a late lunch. And by we I mean, the father who's a lawyer, the host mother, a grad student who lives above: Mark, and the other girl who's doing the host thing as well: Sarah. Mark got in the day before so he's all cheery and normal, but Sarah and I are ready to drop. However, it's impolite to fall asleep at the table. OH by the way, we ate this meal in the NICE dining room. Which is only used for very special occasions as we were informed. X D The meal itself was really interesting. There was this tuna tarte with cheese which was delicious if odd looking and then there was some salad and then chicken. For dessert, we had melon sorbet. Except it was a huge chunk of it. And we ate it with forks. *laughs*
I wasn't supposed to go to bed until at least seven or eight to attempt to stave off jet lag, so me and Mark went into the living room (ALSO as my host mother informed us later) only used for special occasions to go online. Which brings me to another contentious point. I'm not quite sure where their wifi is set up, but I only get it in one tiny spot sometimes in my room, so I have to pray that the internet doesn't die. (Which it does ALL THE FREAKING TIME, ask![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
4_03_am) or go into the kitchen which ends up always being awkward because when I need to use it past 11 I think I wake up the parents. And I don't want to be mean, so it always means that I'm in my corner in my room, pressing against the wall, lifting my computer up and praying to the internet gods to smile upon me.) ANYWAYS, I go online and I'm so happy to check my mail, I think that I might hug Junpei. But after an hour, my host mother kicks us out, so I end up spending the rest of the evening in my room watching dramas.
And I really want to actually get to the other days, like monday through today. But that turned into something really long, so I'll probably just do another post tonight. BECAUSE I SWEAR THAT PARIS IS AWESOME. IT"S SO GREAT AND I'M LOVING IT. I'm not negative all the time! I PROMISE. And it gets way better. So...erm...don't change that channel because we'll be right back after these brief advertisements!
The start really begins with my flight, because that ended up dictating how my first two days went. The flight itself wasn't bad. I'd brought a lot of things to do--books, computer, notebook, guidebook for Paris, and other assorted things. Ironically, I didn't end up needing most of my stuff because I listened to my ipod for a while and watched movies on my computer. However, I didn't sleep at all on the plane from Los Angeles to France. And I had a late afternoon flight, which meant by the time that I arrived in Paris, I hadn't slept in about 20 hours. That in itself, isn't so bad, I've done waaaaaay worse. I am in college after all : P
But, then I had to get to the house by myself, which took a bit of navigating. Apparently, La Place Des Invalides cuts my street right in half. And my house is the second to last one before the cut. Oh well. I finally get dropped off the house, and I have to dig out my instructions because it's like a maze. I have to use several different passwords and turn into several hallways. Up stairs down stairs. Almost getting eaten by a dog. (ok. not really. But it did bark loudly) before I finally find my specific apartment/house.
My host mother lets me in and is very cheerful while giving me specific instructions in french on what to NOT touch. As I've come to find out, most of the rooms in the house/apartment, are NOT to be used except on very special occasions. I'll give a little side note: despite everything that I say, the host mother is very nice. Just keep that in mind and take everything that I say with a grain of salt.
So, my host mother leads me to my room all the while giving me the rules of the house. There's no curfew, but I'm only allowed to have people in my room for school projects and no one after 10. I have to be very careful with electricity (i.e. REALLY DON'T USE IT). A maid comes once a week on Wednesdays, but I have to have my entire room cleaned up by then and can't have anything on the floor. I'm also expected to clean my shower and bathroom, go to a laundromat for laundry, etc etc. So really, I have the responsibilities of living in an apartment, except that I'm not allowed to have people over. *facepalm* I also get dinner four times a week with the family. And all of this is in french. Then she starts on the small details, like keys and stuff, and I think that I might just have a breakdown right there. I hadn't slept in almost two days and people were giving me instructions in french.
I manage to make it until she finishes talking and leaves me to unpack before I have a complete breakdown. And I know that it's not that I really want to go home, but that I'm overtired and confused and everything's coming at me at once. But it really doesn't make it better X D.
So then we have a late lunch. And by we I mean, the father who's a lawyer, the host mother, a grad student who lives above: Mark, and the other girl who's doing the host thing as well: Sarah. Mark got in the day before so he's all cheery and normal, but Sarah and I are ready to drop. However, it's impolite to fall asleep at the table. OH by the way, we ate this meal in the NICE dining room. Which is only used for very special occasions as we were informed. X D The meal itself was really interesting. There was this tuna tarte with cheese which was delicious if odd looking and then there was some salad and then chicken. For dessert, we had melon sorbet. Except it was a huge chunk of it. And we ate it with forks. *laughs*
I wasn't supposed to go to bed until at least seven or eight to attempt to stave off jet lag, so me and Mark went into the living room (ALSO as my host mother informed us later) only used for special occasions to go online. Which brings me to another contentious point. I'm not quite sure where their wifi is set up, but I only get it in one tiny spot sometimes in my room, so I have to pray that the internet doesn't die. (Which it does ALL THE FREAKING TIME, ask
4_03_am) or go into the kitchen which ends up always being awkward because when I need to use it past 11 I think I wake up the parents. And I don't want to be mean, so it always means that I'm in my corner in my room, pressing against the wall, lifting my computer up and praying to the internet gods to smile upon me.) ANYWAYS, I go online and I'm so happy to check my mail, I think that I might hug Junpei. But after an hour, my host mother kicks us out, so I end up spending the rest of the evening in my room watching dramas. And I really want to actually get to the other days, like monday through today. But that turned into something really long, so I'll probably just do another post tonight. BECAUSE I SWEAR THAT PARIS IS AWESOME. IT"S SO GREAT AND I'M LOVING IT. I'm not negative all the time! I PROMISE. And it gets way better. So...erm...don't change that channel because we'll be right back after these brief advertisements!
