Bonjour les amis! It’s been another great week in Paris! I’m happy to say that I am almost fully accustomed to the rhythms of Parisian life, and even without the use of one leg. My day typically involves waking up around 7:30am or so (that’s about 1:30 in the morning for you!) and eating a big breakfast of chocolate cereal. It has become my staple food here; very common, very good, and very full of caffeine-rich dark chocolate. After my breakfast, I usually rush off to catch a bus just down the street. Although I live in the far western corner of the city, the bus that I take actually goes direct from my road all the way to the Panthéon, which is right next to my classes. Every morning I take two hours of grammar class with the most diverse group of young people I’ve ever encountered. In my small class alone there are students from Turkey, Austria, China, Brazil, Norway, U.S.A., Spain, Korea, Germany, Greece, Columbia, and of course Canada:). It’s been such an experience to interact with these people and to learn more about their respective cultures. And the interesting part is that amongst all the variation in language and culture, the unifying factor between us all is...French! The simple fact that we have all come to improve our French makes it easy to meet and speak to people that I may not otherwise have had had the chance to meet because of language barriers.
After grammar class ends at noon I head out into the busy streets of Paris to grab lunch at one of the nearby boulangeries or patisseries. Sandwiches and baguettes are both cheap and practical. You can easily purchase a fresh, full-sized baguette for under a Euro ($1.50). In Paris, and especially in the student quarter, a lot of people eat their lunch “à emporter”: meaning that they eat it either walking or sitting on a nice park bench near a fountain. Luckily I have both those options available to me and I don’t always have to rush. Depending on which week it is, after grammar class I will either find myself in a phonetics lab speaking French with a professor or in the International Student Library finishing that day’s homework.
Three days a week I also attend conferences or lectures that are held in one big hall; usually with more than 200 other international students. The three that I chose are: French Art, the History of Paris, and “la Sorbonne dans la ville”. In my opinion, the greatest advantage to studying in Paris has been being able to see the art, architecture, and museums that we hear about in our classes. Just this week, while studying the works of Eugène Delacroix with a friend, I was able to actually go to the Louvre and see his most famous paintings in the original. What struck me, even more than the detail and the vivid colours of Delacroix’s work, was the overwhelming size and scope of each of the paintings. Many of this 19th century artist’s masterpieces covered entire walls bigger than the glass front of the Peter Turkstra Library. Seeing this sort of thing in person is an amazing experience and I hope to able to return to Louvre in the near future. It is the sort of place where you could spend days exploring at length and still have things to see. A bientôt!
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