Two weeks in Paris: Un jour sans pain, c’est un jour sans soleil.

3 September 2008, First day in France, Bethany and Christina

When you recount the story of your life to your grandchildren someday, wouldn’t be nice to say you lived in France for a year when you were in your 20’s? Isn’t that what you do when you’re in your 20’s? I thought so too. So two weeks ago and after about four months of planning, I moved to Paris.

Lisa invited me to see the Château with her and her parents

I’ve had to explain my situation many times since I began this process. I had a full-time salaried job with an internet company based out of Sausilito, CA. I was told I could work from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. Facing the end of the road in my comfortable student co-op, I felt I needed a big change. I was beginning to realize that I could never move forward with my life without improving my French. A future in my chosen field requires fluency, and despite 3 years of French in University, my language skills are sadly underdeveloped. I also wanted a change of scenery as my country falls into disrepair. Moving to France seemed like the only way to position myself for a successful and fulfilling future. In June, my company informed me that our website isn’t garnering the amount of traffic that was expected at this point and I would have my job until the end of September. In July, they informed me that I was to work (very) part-time starting in August. At least that gives me more time to… enjoy myself, I guess.

Château de Versailles

Christina, my fellow co-oper and a European native, convinced me to live with her in Paris for the month in between her internship and the start of school. I didn’t realize she could easily find us an apartment to sublet through her European student network, and before I had even purchased my plane ticket, the apartment was secured. Three months later I stepped onto French soil.

Some highlights from the past two weeks include…

Notre Dame

The Château de Versailles, or the Palace of Versailles. It is an astonishing display of baroque architecture and royal oppulance. The Château was initially built by Louis XIII as small hunting lodge in 1624 and transformed by his son, Louis XIV, into an elaborate and ornate palace. It has become a symbol of  the excessive spending and lavish lifestyles that gave rise to the French revolution. Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette, were at the palace when the angry mobs came marching. And it was in this palace that the treaty ending WWI was signed.

A few dead people in the Catacombs of Paris

We’ve had many guests since I’ve arrived. Christina’s sister stayed with us for the week, and our mutual (German) friend from the co-op, Christoph, came for several days. It was his first time in France! Christina thought it would be fun to invite three of her friends from Germany to stay the same week.  Much like their invasion of France in 1940, six Germans occupied the two-bedroom Parisian apartment for four days. I was outnumbered, but I didn’t surrender. After three of  the  Germans retreated, Christina launched a sneak attack by inviting her boyfriend for the weekend. I forbid any more visitors after the last German hit the road.

Guys performing soccer tricks below the Eiffle Tower

I’ve seen all of the major tourist sites. The Eiffle tower, Notre Dame, the Catacombs, Louvre, Montmartre, the Arc de Triomph. While Christina has been preoccupied with a personal crisis, forcing her to choose between love and stability or excitement and exploration, I’ve been wandering through the arrondissements, scouring the internet for housing listings, mapping health food stores and vegetarian restaurants, obtaining my carte de sejour and opening a bank account.  We have been spending more and more time together as Christina’s life settles, which includes an hour long effort to get Christina out of bed each afternoon. But each day, once we hit the glorious streets of Paris, we have to hurry to our destination before it closes or becomes too dark to enjoy. If you know Christina, you know that it’s impossible to be bored when she’s around. Silence is almost next to impossible too. I’m thankful I’m not completely alone my first month in Paris and that she is around to help me establish myself in the city.