Today we woke up bright and early at 6 am in order to get everything finalized and ready for our departure at 8. After finish up last minute packing and grabbing a light breakfast, we headed boarded a bus to bring us to the Eurostar. It was kind of like an airport where you had to show your passport and go through security to get to the gate to board the train. We had to lift our suitcases (which mine barely closes now...I don't know what I'm going to do if I buy more souvenirs in Paris) onto a platform for them to xray. We went through metal detectors, which I set one off, so I had to get the pat down and metal wand-ed. That was a little awkward. Then we had to wait for about an hour to be loaded onto this huge train, again, lifting our own suitcases into little storage areas. I'm glad we're going home in an airport so someone else can deal with my suitcase then. It's heavy. The ride wasn't bad at all. The seats were comfortable, the view was gorgeous (except for the tunnels- which were just dark), and the ride was quite fast.
My first impression of Paris was that it was kind of frightening. It's strange being in a place where you don't understand anyone nor can you read the signs. Luckily, it, much like London, is a beautiful city. Brittini is very excited to exercise her French skills- so I was happy to let her take the lead. She taught me very basic phrases ("Hello", "Thank You", "Can I please Have...", "Sorry", "Excuse Me", etc) so that I could barely function in public. Our hotel is VERY nice. The lobby is colorful and bright, but I'm sort of afraid of the manager. He insisted that if anyone were too loud they'd be kicked out. Furthermore, he warned that he hasn't allowed children into the hotel in five years to keep it quiet. I wonder how some of the students on the trip will do- since they are pratically children, especially when they're drunk. When Danielle and I got up to our room we were amazed. It was so large and spacious, especially compared to our last room. It's very modern, but simplistic. We even have a Matisse print on our wall. I like it. I'm especially happy because we have three beds, two of which are pushed together to make a king sized bed. Danielle said she didn't want it, so now I have a ridiculously large bed with lots of pillows. It's nice.
After we got settled into the room, Brittini, Danielle and I went to go find lunch. I was really nervous about this because I was afraid I'd not be able to understand anything and just embarress myself. We walked a little ways down the road to this sandwich place and decided on that. When we walked in, the owner of the store smiled and immediately asked where we were from in English. Clearly we're not too convincing of French locals. He spoke pretty fluid English so he joked around with us and tried to teach us how to say certain things (Diet Coke is pronounced Co-ka Light) and was very friendly. So, my first French-speaking experience was not too bad in retrospect. It's still nervewracking because I can't read any of the signs and don't really know what I'm ordering. I figured all I need to know is the word for chicken and diet coke.
We wandered down a little further to see what was around our hotel. I don't think the placement of this hotel is as nice as it was in London. I really loved the convenience of the mini-mall in London. We found this one clothing store that we wandered around for a while. Brittini went to buy a shirt but had issues when she wanted to use a 100 euro note. Luckily she could ask for someone who speaks English and things got settled. I'm so thankful she speaks French well! We also went to a sports store which was having a ridiculous sale and we all got some cheap bathing suits (1 euro each!). This was my first experience on my own talking to a cashier...luckily I just had to smile and hand the money over to him. I think this will be my tactic the remainder of the trip.
Since we wanted to actually do something our first night, we decided to go see a French film. There's a movie theatre not too far away from our hotel so we went there to see "Le Fils A Jo". I thought maybe I'd learn some French by watching it. Tickets for movies here were ridiculously cheap (3.50 Euros!). We missed the previews because a worker told us (in very broken English) that it "smelled" down there so she wanted us to wait. I'm not sure what smell prevented us from going down...but we didn't miss the start of the movie...and it smelled alright to us. The movie going experience was kind of strange. As you can imagine, if you can't understand a word that is being said...you naturally get a bit confused, but fill in the blanks with your own imagination. It was kind of funny how just the body language and traditional theatre really progressed the plot for me- despite not knowing what was being said. The film was about a father who was a professional rugby player and wanted his son to excel in rugby as well. After his wife died and his rugby field was going to be taken away (For a reason that is still unclear to me) he gets his friends to help organize a ruby game that will save the day (again, some details make no sense to me, but hey, it worked). It was a fine movie...and at the very least, a great experience.
That was pretty much it for Paris day one. I feel that Paris is more foreign than London was, and I'm sure it's because of the language barrier. As a result, it's a bit uncomfortable at the moment to try and go out and do random things. Hopefully I'll get used to it and it'll be as fluent and enjoyable as as London was. Either way, I'm excited to see the Eiffel Tower tomorrow!
Question of the Day: How does it feel to be in a foreign country when you can't understand the language?
As briefly described above, it's quite uncomfortable. I feel like I'm either embarressing myself or completely lost. It's strange to know that I can't just approach anyone and ask for directions or help. It's also strange that I don't know what I'm ordering in resteraunts, or what signs say. I feel very disconnected from everything around me, it seems very foreign to me as where London felt quite comfortable. I've had plenty of people come into Quiznos (where I used to work) and struggle with English to order food, I completely understand how they feel and commend them for what they were able to say! I had to write down how to say "Can I please have..." on my hand so I could remember it. I sort of feel like I was set down on another planet and even though I recognize everything- shoes, roads, sales, etc...nobody knows what I'm saying! It's like I'm speaking gibberish. Now, I understand it's not THAT bad because everyone we've come in contact with thus far has been able to understand English well enough, it's still my initial feeling. It's a bit bizarre and I completely respect people who are trying to get along in America when they were raised in another country or speak another language.
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