My First 48 Hours in Paris

Let me begin this post with a disclaimer: this post will contain exactly zero pictures of my exploits in Paris. In fact, it will contain absolutely no pictures of anything at all. It's not that I haven't taken pictures, because I HAVE, but I'm on my iPad at the moment, not my computer, so pictures will have to come later. Promise.

Okay, so. My flight to Paris was relatively uneventful and minimally miserable. Being trapped in a confined space without much room to move and no way to lie down for seven hours six miles above the earth is pretty much my definition of Hell, but it was as bearable as it could have possibly been. Everything went fairly smoothly after landing: my luggage didn't get lost, they didn't detain me at Customs, student advisors from AUP met me and Brian as soon as we got beyond security, and we were in a shuttle on our way to the hostel less than half an hour later. On our way there our route took us through the roundabout that encircles the Arc de Triomphe, on down the Champs-Elysses, and pretty close to the Eiffel Tower. I have a feeling I will say the following a lot: no matter how many pictures or movies you see of stuff like that, nothing prepares you for seeing it in real life. Nothing.

Our hostel is the FIAP Jean Monet on rue Cabanis in the 14th Arrondissement. For those of you unfamiliar with the layout of Paris, the city is divided into 20 "arrondissements" (districts) that start in the city center and spiral outward. (AUP is in the 7th.) Brian and I were sent through a long queue line of orientation and check-in tables before being sent up to our rooms. There are SEVEN people in my room . SEVEN. All of us AUP visiting students, all but one from GW. The majority of the visiting students are from GW. Brian is the only one I knew beforehand, but he has several other friends here as well.

The rest of the day was spent in various orientation meetings with all sorts of info about Paris, how the housing process works at AUP, stuff like that. The number one question people asked me before I left was "Where are you living?" And I hate to say it, but the answer is still "I don't know ." Brian and I have a joint housing meeting tomorrow evening where we'll talk with a housing advisor about what kind of place we want to live in, they'll pick three options from their substantial arsenal of rooms and apartments and we pick one to go visit in person. If we like it, we take it. If we don't, it's back to the drawing board for Round Two. Our biggest problem is that we want to live together, and AUP, while having more total rooms and apartments to rent out than they need, only has a very limited number of options that are adequate for TWO people. So we'll see.

While Brian went with a big group of people out to the Eiffel Tower Saturday night, I went straight to bed. I figured Paris would still be there in the morning to see and that I would appreciate it more if I wasn't falling asleep where I stood (I was right on both counts, as it happened). Yesterday morning a few of my roommates and I ventured out to the Jardins du Luxembourg, which wasn't too far from the FIAP. It was amazing, and that's all I will say about it for now. Details and a brief history lesson will come when I put up the pictures I took. 

In the afternoon I went on a tour led by some of the student advisors to learn how to use the Paris metro system (very similar to the DC metro, only ten times as big). Then we we all met the Dean and President of AUP (they're going to be awfully busy people this year as it's AUP's 50th anniversary), and our advisors each took their individual group out to dinner somewhere. My advisor (a senior from Paris named Canelle) teamed up with a few other groups and took us all to the Champs de Mars (the big green lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower) where we bought crepes from a vendor and watched the sun set behind the Eiffel Tower. Sound good? Let me put it this way: imagine how amazing you THINK experiencing something like that is. Now multiply that times ten, and that's ACTUALLY how amazing it was. 

Today I actually made it to AUP's campus for the first time. But the thing about AUP's campus is...there is no campus. It's roughly eight buildings scattered around a few blocks very very close to the Eiffel Tower, shoved in between cafes (including a STARBUCKS, thank God) and hidden behind churches. But it's all surrounded by beautiful Parisian apartment buildings and restaurants and cafes and churches, so it's not so bad, really.

More info will come soon, I promise! Grosses bises! xoxo