Les Premières Jours

"Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things-air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky-all things tending toward the eternal, or what we imagine of it." Cesare Pavese

All of Sunday passed in a sort of daze. After I got off the plane I had to pass through customs and find the rendez-vous point with the ISA director. Everything looked vaguely familiar because I'd been there before, it sort of felt like walking through a dream land. The lack of sleep didn't help with this.

The one thing I hate about traveling is the waiting. There's constant down time, you're constantly waiting for something, for someone, for anything to happen. But you can't be relaxed, especially NOT at Charles De Gaulle airport. I really don't like that place. So of course once I found the ISA director, we had to wait for 6 other people to arrive. And then it was off to my new apartment!

So Madame Dugan answers the door in a bathrobe with crazy hair and glasses and just sort of stares at me with these beady little eyes. She kept staring and finally said "Vous etes blonde." Meaning you're blonde. Well obviously I'm blonde but I really didn't understand the significance of this. She repeated herself, "Vous etes blonde." I responded with an apprehensive "oui." She explained that in the picture that they sent I looked like I had brown hair. Needless to say after this first exchange I was feeling a little unsure about everything. My roommate hadn't arrived yet so I was by myself. Next Mme Dugan stared in absolute awe at my luggage and casually asked me if I brought my whole house. This offended me slightly because I thought a medium size and large size suitcase was pretty damn good for 5 months. But whatever.

The apartment is nicer than I expected and our room is well thought out. I miss my bed though. My roommate, Gabi, seems really awesome so far, we get along very well which I am very thankful for. We unpacked and talked and explored our neighborhood a bit. I had my first sandwich from a street vendor...blue cheese, swiss cheese, and tomatoes on a baguette :)

I forgot how much of a shock it was to be constantly bombarded with a different language all the time. I forgot how hard it is to constantly try to think in that language after such a tiring journey. I forgot about that state of off-balance confusion at first. I forgot about being homesick. I'm definitely more homesick this time around than I was in Spain. It finally hit me last night that I was going to be here for 5 whole months. When I come back to the States I'll be wearing sundresses and flip-flops as opposed to peacoats and boots. But I haven't cried yet, I've had brief moments of panic but no tears so keep your fingers crossed.

First dinner in Paris: potatoes. Okay and chicken and salad and bread and a good cheese sauce too. I forgot about that too, eating something you might not like just so you don't go hungry. I just have to keep reminding myself that if I wanted everything to be predictable and comfortable I would have stayed in Columbus; this is half the fun of traveling abroad. Half the frustration, but also half the fun.

Last night was the first night out in Paris. And my oh my did it hit me then. We came out of the metro stop right by Pont Neuf and got our first glimpse of La Tour Eifel all lit up and sparkling on the Seine. Yea this is really happening. So we went to a few bars, had a few beers and took it all in. All in all it was a very good first night. Minus the part where I woke up at 2 in the morning and couldn't go back to sleep until after 5. I hate jet lag.

Today we got lost trying to find the ISA office. But that was bound to happen eventually. And it was snowing! I thought I left all that behind in Ohio. The meeting went well and we got our monthly passes for the metro. Slowly but surely everything is falling into place. It's been a dizzying process so far, but so very worth it.