Yesterday, I didn't have class, but I still went to school and did some shopping at the nearby mall, met up with a few other students for lunch at the school cafeteria and then 4 of us even navigated the French bus system to find our way to Ikea which was 2 towns over, it was quite the successful day... until I got back to the dorm.
When I walked in I met my roommate who is from Morocco and speaks a little English but mostly French, she is not in the international program like I am, despite the language barrier she seems to be an extremely nice girl. And by the end of the night I was grateful for her French.
Apparently my ultimate goal in life right now is to win the Turkey of the Year Award from abroad, I'm sure my mom has already told most of you about me backing into the entertainment center in our driveway, causing it to collapse and the guy who works for the village coming down the block to help us clean it up since it was literally in a million pieces. If she hasn't told you, just ask her, I'm sure she loves to tell the story, considering she STILL loves to tell the lamppost story. Anyways, on Monday night I decided I wanted to lay in bed and watch tv on my computer while waiting for my parents to get home from work so we could skype. Problem is that when I went to the store to buy my ethernet cord when I got here they only had ones there are 2m long, so needless to say, it doesn't reach all the way over to my bed. I had the great idea to just scoot my bed over so that the cord would reach. Well, while attempting to do so I accidently rammed my bed into my charger, which was plugged into the wall, the adapter cracked, sparked, and then the power on my ENTIRE floor went out, oops. So my roommate called security, who spoke only French (this is where I lucked out that she speaks it as well, the story could have been even more interesting if we had to rely on my French to get the power back on) to come fix the power. The security guy was able to fix the lights and I plugged in my charger I thought I had fixed and it happened again! (There is a reason I'm a business student and not an engineer or anything technical) Luckily security hadn't left yet and even though I'm pretty sure he and my roommate were making fun of me in French, he fixed the power and my charger! It was quite the night, but at least I was able to lay in bed while I Skyped my parents and emailed Chris to find out all about his trip and first day in Spain...
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
The First Few Days!
I guess I should probably start from the beginning of my trip, this is definitely going to be a long post...
I had completely finished packing by Monday afternoon thanks to the instructions and help from my mom, for some reason she thought I'd procrastinate and be trying to hurry to get it done and be crabby on Tuesday before we had to leave for my flight. I have no idea where she would ever get that thought from! I'm still shocked that I was actually able to fit everything I needed for the next 3 1/2 months in one suitcase (that only weighed 35 lbs!), one carry-on, and a backpack. And so far the only thing I've noticed that I left behind are a pair of brown shoes and a winter coat that we didn't think I'd need. I'm so thankful for all of you who stopped by to see me before I left, I'm so lucky to have every single one of you!
On Tuesday we went to Aurelio's for lunch (I had to get my favorite pizza in before I left!) and then headed to O'Hare. My mom and dad came in to the airport with me thinking they'd have to see me off at security but the wonderful ticket agent gave them passes to come to the gate with me. I think she's my mom's new favorite person, and honestly I'm happy they were able to come back there with me, it would have been a long 2 hours to just sit there thinking about everything I had ahead of me. My mom and I both did much better than I expected while at the airport, we both were fine until it was time to board the plane. She started to cry when she hugged me goodbye which of course in turn made me tear up as well.
I lucked out with my seat on the plane, I was in the first row of coach so I had lots of leg room, even us short people feel cramped in those tiny plane seats. And I was on the aisle so I didn't feel bad when I had to get up throughout the flight. The flight was super smooth but for some reason I still had trouble sleeping and only slept for maybe an hour or two on the plane, I felt like a little kid on Christmas. My flight got in on time in Paris and my luggage arrived safely with me (thank goodness!) I literally was through customs in less than 5 minutes, there was no line at all, and found my ride quite easily. My driver's name was Patrice (thanks for the boys middle name, guys) and he drove a Mercedes, so I have to say I felt pretty important! School is about 40 minutes away from Charles de Gaulle and the scenery was gorgeous so the ride really was not that bad at all.
When I first arrived at school I was exhausted and a bit overwhelmed trying to get everything I needed to get done, it's not easy to understand people with thick accents when you've barely slept! I got everything sorted out and they had a shuttle take me to my dorm (thank goodness because it's about a 20 min walk and that would be quite difficult with my luggage!) My dorm is not bad at all, I have a double so when you walk in there are a whole bunch of doors, one for my bedroom, one for the other girls, one for the kitchen (which is really just 2 hotplates and a mini fridge), one for the shower, and one for the toliet. So it looks kind of weird! My room is actually pretty big, it's probably almost the same size as the room I shared with a roommate my freshman year!
The first night I was there they had pizza for all of the international students to meet each other. Let me tell ya, french pizza is no Aurelios, I don't even know what they were thinking when they added some of the toppings that they did. But besides the gross pizza I was able to meet some people from all over: Germany, Turkey, France, Italy, Australia, Ireland, China, and even one from San Diego! It is a bit intimidating to hear how strong most of their French is but it is also a relief to hear all of their English is even better than their French. The people I met were all super nice, and one of the guys from Finland even asked me about the Blackhawks and Niemi, who knew I'd have to go to France to find a school where people care about hockey!
On Thursday I had my first day of orientation, it went really well and I met 2 people from UNC, Ken and Caitlin, it is such a great feeling to meet another American when you're feeling so outnumbered and out of place! We ended up hanging out most of the day, which ended up being pretty long, I was on campus for almost 12 hours but it was not as overwhelming as the day I arrived. I'm very impressed with the school, but I still don't know how I exactly feel about the town of Cergy itself. It's a lot more modern than I expected, at least from the areas I've seen, it's not what you'd imagine when you think of France. When I got back to my dorm I attempted to shower only to find I had no hot water! Definitely not a good thing, needless to say it was quite quick and I don't think I even got all of the shampoo out of my hair, luckily it was fixed the next day.
On Friday I had the 2nd part of my orientation and our presentations were less on the school but our life in France. We still have lots of paperwork to fill out and send in before we get our residence permit so our first meeting was about that. We also had a presentation about traveling around Cergy and Paris which was actually extremely interesting and helpful. Then then intramurals and World Wide Welcome (WWW) people came in to talk to us about sports and the trip to Paris they arranged for all of the international students.
On Saturday we went to PARIS. And it was amazing. I met up with Caitlin, Ken, and Lauren (who is from San Diego) at the RER station and we headed into Paris at around 10:30. It's only about a 30-40 minute train ride so it's better than going to Chicago, and they have a special on the weekends for people under 26 they can by a 1 day ticket that can be used on any of the public transportation in Paris for about 7 euros, which is super cheap! When took the escalator up from the train station, the first thing we saw was the Arc de Triomph, it was amazing! We took pictures and went under it before making our way down the Champs-Élysées, we walked all the way down ending at the Place de la Concorde and went through the Tulierie gardens. We then had lunch at a little café and went to the Musée d'Orsay, we quickly learned to always bring our visas with us when we go places because many students get into the big museums for free, which was awesome! After spending a couple of hours wandering around the beautiful museum that used to be a train station, looking at all the Monet and Manet, and van Gogh paintings as well as many others. We left the museum and still had some time to kill so we made our way over the the Eiffel Tower, I know I've been here before but I honestly forgot how amazing it really is! We didn't have much time to spend there so we just took some pictures from the ground and of course I forgot my camera died while I was there because I forgot to charge it, oops! We then headed over to meet up with the rest of the international students from EPSCI at one of the train stations right by the Seine for excursion with the school.
The school had organized a boat ride down the Seine for us, so we were able to see all of the big sites in Paris which was pretty cool. It also was extremely chilly! It may be August, but it is nothing like August in Chicago or Louisville, it was about 70 during the day but as the sun started to set and a breeze picked up the temperature dropped and I definitely was not expecting that. Despite being cold though I really enjoyed the trip. After the boat ride they had a dinner set up for all of us at a resturant called Flam's (there are 127 of us, and most of us came so we took up the whole upstairs of the resturant) The food was interesting but surprisingly good. It was kind of like super thin crust pizza with random toppings on it. Some of the combinations they came up with were quite odd but you'd be proud of how much I tried and actually enjoyed. Beer and wine were included in our meal, and it was so weird to be able to drink at a resturant. Dinner was also a lot of fun, I sat with the 3 people I went to Paris with along with a girl from Ireland who is hilarious, a girl from Tulane and a few girls from Germany. We may be from all over the world but we all have a lot in common. We finished up dinner at around 11 and we were completely exhausted so we headed back towards Cergy while some of the others stayed in Paris to go out. On the train I was able to meet some people who lived in my building, the residences are pretty spread out and there are international students living in all of them, so to know people living in your building is a big deal! It was an exhausting but awesome day!
Today was definitely a lazy one, I hadn't slept very well this week, I would go to bed for a couple of hours and then wake up, wide awake for a few before finally falling asleep so I was averaging about 4 1/2 hours of sleep a night which is definitely not enough, I think my body was just still having trouble adjusting to the time change, 7 hours is a huge difference! I've been homesick when I haven't been busy at orientation and exploring Paris, which is to be expected, I'm a huge homebody, how could I not miss everyone! Classes start this week, but for some reason I only have one class on Thursday this week and one on Friday the following week, which gives me a ton of free time that most other people don't have. The credits transfer differently to each school and apparently Louisville's requirements are a bit easier than other school's. All this time could either be a good thing or a bad thing, so even though I don't have class, I'm going to go to campus to meet up with some people and make some more plans for this weekend and figure out the places we all want to go visit. It hasn't been an easy transition but I know I'm going to love it here and in 3 1/2 months I'll be wondering why I was every worried! I'm a lucky girl and I can't wait to share all of my adventures with all of you!
Love and Miss you all, sorry this is so long, it's been a crazy few days!
I had completely finished packing by Monday afternoon thanks to the instructions and help from my mom, for some reason she thought I'd procrastinate and be trying to hurry to get it done and be crabby on Tuesday before we had to leave for my flight. I have no idea where she would ever get that thought from! I'm still shocked that I was actually able to fit everything I needed for the next 3 1/2 months in one suitcase (that only weighed 35 lbs!), one carry-on, and a backpack. And so far the only thing I've noticed that I left behind are a pair of brown shoes and a winter coat that we didn't think I'd need. I'm so thankful for all of you who stopped by to see me before I left, I'm so lucky to have every single one of you!
On Tuesday we went to Aurelio's for lunch (I had to get my favorite pizza in before I left!) and then headed to O'Hare. My mom and dad came in to the airport with me thinking they'd have to see me off at security but the wonderful ticket agent gave them passes to come to the gate with me. I think she's my mom's new favorite person, and honestly I'm happy they were able to come back there with me, it would have been a long 2 hours to just sit there thinking about everything I had ahead of me. My mom and I both did much better than I expected while at the airport, we both were fine until it was time to board the plane. She started to cry when she hugged me goodbye which of course in turn made me tear up as well.
I lucked out with my seat on the plane, I was in the first row of coach so I had lots of leg room, even us short people feel cramped in those tiny plane seats. And I was on the aisle so I didn't feel bad when I had to get up throughout the flight. The flight was super smooth but for some reason I still had trouble sleeping and only slept for maybe an hour or two on the plane, I felt like a little kid on Christmas. My flight got in on time in Paris and my luggage arrived safely with me (thank goodness!) I literally was through customs in less than 5 minutes, there was no line at all, and found my ride quite easily. My driver's name was Patrice (thanks for the boys middle name, guys) and he drove a Mercedes, so I have to say I felt pretty important! School is about 40 minutes away from Charles de Gaulle and the scenery was gorgeous so the ride really was not that bad at all.
When I first arrived at school I was exhausted and a bit overwhelmed trying to get everything I needed to get done, it's not easy to understand people with thick accents when you've barely slept! I got everything sorted out and they had a shuttle take me to my dorm (thank goodness because it's about a 20 min walk and that would be quite difficult with my luggage!) My dorm is not bad at all, I have a double so when you walk in there are a whole bunch of doors, one for my bedroom, one for the other girls, one for the kitchen (which is really just 2 hotplates and a mini fridge), one for the shower, and one for the toliet. So it looks kind of weird! My room is actually pretty big, it's probably almost the same size as the room I shared with a roommate my freshman year!
The first night I was there they had pizza for all of the international students to meet each other. Let me tell ya, french pizza is no Aurelios, I don't even know what they were thinking when they added some of the toppings that they did. But besides the gross pizza I was able to meet some people from all over: Germany, Turkey, France, Italy, Australia, Ireland, China, and even one from San Diego! It is a bit intimidating to hear how strong most of their French is but it is also a relief to hear all of their English is even better than their French. The people I met were all super nice, and one of the guys from Finland even asked me about the Blackhawks and Niemi, who knew I'd have to go to France to find a school where people care about hockey!
On Thursday I had my first day of orientation, it went really well and I met 2 people from UNC, Ken and Caitlin, it is such a great feeling to meet another American when you're feeling so outnumbered and out of place! We ended up hanging out most of the day, which ended up being pretty long, I was on campus for almost 12 hours but it was not as overwhelming as the day I arrived. I'm very impressed with the school, but I still don't know how I exactly feel about the town of Cergy itself. It's a lot more modern than I expected, at least from the areas I've seen, it's not what you'd imagine when you think of France. When I got back to my dorm I attempted to shower only to find I had no hot water! Definitely not a good thing, needless to say it was quite quick and I don't think I even got all of the shampoo out of my hair, luckily it was fixed the next day.
On Friday I had the 2nd part of my orientation and our presentations were less on the school but our life in France. We still have lots of paperwork to fill out and send in before we get our residence permit so our first meeting was about that. We also had a presentation about traveling around Cergy and Paris which was actually extremely interesting and helpful. Then then intramurals and World Wide Welcome (WWW) people came in to talk to us about sports and the trip to Paris they arranged for all of the international students.
On Saturday we went to PARIS. And it was amazing. I met up with Caitlin, Ken, and Lauren (who is from San Diego) at the RER station and we headed into Paris at around 10:30. It's only about a 30-40 minute train ride so it's better than going to Chicago, and they have a special on the weekends for people under 26 they can by a 1 day ticket that can be used on any of the public transportation in Paris for about 7 euros, which is super cheap! When took the escalator up from the train station, the first thing we saw was the Arc de Triomph, it was amazing! We took pictures and went under it before making our way down the Champs-Élysées, we walked all the way down ending at the Place de la Concorde and went through the Tulierie gardens. We then had lunch at a little café and went to the Musée d'Orsay, we quickly learned to always bring our visas with us when we go places because many students get into the big museums for free, which was awesome! After spending a couple of hours wandering around the beautiful museum that used to be a train station, looking at all the Monet and Manet, and van Gogh paintings as well as many others. We left the museum and still had some time to kill so we made our way over the the Eiffel Tower, I know I've been here before but I honestly forgot how amazing it really is! We didn't have much time to spend there so we just took some pictures from the ground and of course I forgot my camera died while I was there because I forgot to charge it, oops! We then headed over to meet up with the rest of the international students from EPSCI at one of the train stations right by the Seine for excursion with the school.
The school had organized a boat ride down the Seine for us, so we were able to see all of the big sites in Paris which was pretty cool. It also was extremely chilly! It may be August, but it is nothing like August in Chicago or Louisville, it was about 70 during the day but as the sun started to set and a breeze picked up the temperature dropped and I definitely was not expecting that. Despite being cold though I really enjoyed the trip. After the boat ride they had a dinner set up for all of us at a resturant called Flam's (there are 127 of us, and most of us came so we took up the whole upstairs of the resturant) The food was interesting but surprisingly good. It was kind of like super thin crust pizza with random toppings on it. Some of the combinations they came up with were quite odd but you'd be proud of how much I tried and actually enjoyed. Beer and wine were included in our meal, and it was so weird to be able to drink at a resturant. Dinner was also a lot of fun, I sat with the 3 people I went to Paris with along with a girl from Ireland who is hilarious, a girl from Tulane and a few girls from Germany. We may be from all over the world but we all have a lot in common. We finished up dinner at around 11 and we were completely exhausted so we headed back towards Cergy while some of the others stayed in Paris to go out. On the train I was able to meet some people who lived in my building, the residences are pretty spread out and there are international students living in all of them, so to know people living in your building is a big deal! It was an exhausting but awesome day!
Today was definitely a lazy one, I hadn't slept very well this week, I would go to bed for a couple of hours and then wake up, wide awake for a few before finally falling asleep so I was averaging about 4 1/2 hours of sleep a night which is definitely not enough, I think my body was just still having trouble adjusting to the time change, 7 hours is a huge difference! I've been homesick when I haven't been busy at orientation and exploring Paris, which is to be expected, I'm a huge homebody, how could I not miss everyone! Classes start this week, but for some reason I only have one class on Thursday this week and one on Friday the following week, which gives me a ton of free time that most other people don't have. The credits transfer differently to each school and apparently Louisville's requirements are a bit easier than other school's. All this time could either be a good thing or a bad thing, so even though I don't have class, I'm going to go to campus to meet up with some people and make some more plans for this weekend and figure out the places we all want to go visit. It hasn't been an easy transition but I know I'm going to love it here and in 3 1/2 months I'll be wondering why I was every worried! I'm a lucky girl and I can't wait to share all of my adventures with all of you!
Love and Miss you all, sorry this is so long, it's been a crazy few days!
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| Little me in front of the HUGE Eiffel tower! |
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