Monday, May 25, 2009

Culture shock, exclamation point.


Here are some entertaining and informative updates on my first few days in Paris, just to keep everyone in the loop. Pardon the lengthiness, as well as the somewhat inadequate and not-so-eloquent descriptions of my travels thus far in Paris - I haven't had much time to collect my thoughts and organize them completely just yet. Also, it's currently 5:25 a.m. here - apparently, my internal clock still hasn't fully reset itself to Paris time, either.

Day 1: "Was your dad a baker? Because he put the stars in your eyes."*

Trans-Atlantic plane ride on Air France - great food, complimentary seatmates (literally, a 14-year-old Algerian boy and his father, both of which were kind enough to continuously speak highly of how I looked and what I'd accomplished and help me practice my French; additionally, it didn't hurt that the 14-year-old was completely infatuated with me and kept hitting on me and trying out really hilarious pick-up lines: "Aww, can you not sleep? There's always my shoulder, if you want!")

Met up with the rest of the group, bit by bit, and took a painfully difficult but enjoyable ride on the metro, complete with transfers, heavy suitcase-lifting, and numerous Parisians coming to my aid to carry my heaviest suitcase up and down the flights of stairs at the stations. Also had my first authentic French quiche and Vitesse bottled water for a mid-afternoon meal near campus - the first of many firsts to come, in fact.

*Direct quote from the Algerian boy who sat next to me on my flight.

2 comments:

kp said...

bwahaha, i'm soo using the baker/stars line. that is quality stuff.

Stephanie Chen said...

Yeah, little boys! That's where the money's at!