The Date: Thursday, November 10, 2011
Location: L'hay les Roses, France
I am sitting here, in room 212A of Collège Chevreul listening to Just a Little Heat by the almighty Black Keys, thinking to myself that I should start a blog. I have been in Paris on this crazy adventure since August 31st and have only kept half-assed accounts of my happenings cataloged in a silly journal... the last entry is dated September 11th, so you see, I need to get back on track.
My reason for being in Paris, France, you may ask? I was
The set up is actually quite nice and the benefits that this program provides for the students are wonderful. I am responsible for teaching 12 hours of English lessons per week in exchange for almost 800€ per month. This amount of money is sufficient for people that know how to budget; I am not one of these people (but that is a whole different story).
Aside from teaching and studying, I have been up to many other things in the city of lights.
I arrived here on August 31st with temporary housing at La Cité Universitaire. Looking back on this time, I remember being woken up at 5am on a daily basis by my roommate who would religiously get up and run for 45 minutes then come back to disrupt my sleep again at 6am. Otherwise, the temporary housing was a fantastic way to meet other students/teaching assistants going through the same transition of getting used to a foreign land.
I hit the jackpot when it came to finding an apartment.
When I arrived I had been told that there was a housing crisis in Paris. I was advised to accept a hole in the wall for 600€ if I came across it... luckily, Buddha had other plans for me. I came over the Atlantic with two potential roommates: Rose & Rhea. I had known them from my university at home and we had been planning to room together. After several days of frustrating apartment searching we found ourselves at our program headquarters with the housing coordinator. Ellen is her name. Ellen was assisting us with phone calls to potential landlords when we came across a document citing a lavish 3 bedroom apartment in the 9th arrondisement. Rose, Rhea and I gasped for air when we saw the rent (2600€) per month but decided that we must see it. Serendipity would have it that, sitting in the corner listening in our conversation was Adriana, who would soon become our 4th roommate. We set up a visit with Madame Kaplan for the following day.
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We take the 12 to Saint Georges and locate 4 Rue Henry Monnier. We wait. We wait. We wait. We see a chic French woman approach. She smiles. We smile. She introduces herself. We introduce ourselves. IN ENGLISH. We walk in. We walk up. We enter. We gasp.
THE APARTMENT IS AMAZING. Classic. Parisian. Apartment.
We take a tour of the apartment. Enter. Foyer. Wooden closet to the left. To the right, the toilet room. Step forward. To the right the kitchen. Enter the kitchen. MARBLE counter tops, dish washer, washer, dryer, refrigerator, oven, appliances, fully furnished. Leave the kitchen. Walk across the hall. 2 bedrooms. French windows. French doors. Walk out to the hall and into the living room. GRAND. White walls. Yellow curtains and furniture. PIANO. Fireplace. Art. Walk to the right. One more bedroom. White walls. Red curtains. Beautiful view. Fireplace. The entire apartment is a dream.
We agree on first site that this magical place is to become our Parisian pad. We sign papers. We move in.
HOME SWEET HOME.
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Roommates
Rose: Rose and I live in the same room. For a while, we were sharing the same bed. We agreed to this, and thankfully I actually enjoyed her body next to mine ...Aside from the several nights she was snoring like a lumberjack. (haa) Rose is an outgoing, vivacious young woman with a zest for life much like myself. I can say with all honesty that we get along VERY well.
Rhea: Another vivacious personality. She is the mother figure (although Rose packs a mean first aid/sick kit)... Rhea is a nurturer with a really caring outlook for her friends and family. Rhea is fun and down to celebrate everything. Like me, she is also addicted to white chocolate mochas from Starbucks. It's safe to say I have a coffee buddy for the entire year!!!
Adriana: Adriana is from New Jersey, but absolutely nothing like the ridiculousness that encompasses Jersey Shore. She is intellectual, quiet, and somewhat awkward (this is a self proclaimed analysis). She keeps to herself most of the time in her Harry Potter sized bedroom, and she is ok with that!
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The bell just rang, I must be off to teach! TTFN.
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