C'est vrai - it's true! I have tricked Vassar College into thinking that hanging out in France and seeing shows was worth an academic grant! Well, you can't put a price on life experience.
I arrived on my birthday, Saturday, September 27th. I am living with a family friend in a fancy part of town, rent-free. There is a bus stop literally outside the front door and a metro stop across the street. I am also allowed exclusive use of a new laptop. So in order to say thank you, I cooked chicken for my hostess and me tonight. I think we're even now.
Hee hee. For those of you who remember my correspondence from Japan, this one will be less funny. France is not as funny as Japan. But I will try to maintain a sprightly tone in the blog, and it is more than possible that my being in Paris will be funny to Parisians. Like, for example, when I spilled my coffee yesterday morning.
It's been less than a week of course, but so far I have:
*peeked just around the corner from my front door and seen the Moulin Rouge
*bought an International Herald Tribune and had a petit cafe in a cafe-bar
*spilled the petit cafe all over the floor but got the French waiters to be nice to me and give me another one
*been treated to steak tartare
*bought a monthly metro pass
*met a French professor who said, when I was concerned he wouldn't be able to find me at the cafe, "People who are looking for each other always find each other." Then when I said that maybe the French didn't like the Jeff Koons exhibit at Versailles because it was too modern, he said, "But what does that mean, modern?"
*made friends with everyone by giving them Sweet Sloops candies
Please click this link for my photo album on Facebook. Yes, the university is a dump. But it's free (to some people).
3 comments:
Koon's shiny magenta balloon dog, as seen in the NYT, is awesome.
I can see how in some situations, France might have the potential to be as humorous as Japan. hee hee. I'm glad you've made it out there and
I hope all is well.
-Fellow NK traveler
That was very cruel, making those poor French waiters give you more coffee. How dare you take advantage of the vaunted hospitality of the French so??
We miss you already...
I admit it. I'm a follower, gastronomically vicariously and otherwise. Looking forward to more!
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