Catch-up…Again, Part II: « You Can’t Stop the Beat » (The Cooking Momentum Really Picks Up)

(N.B. In a similar style as my previous post...)

Thursday (26): After a late night with my paper, I was totally ready for the weekend and the excitement vis-à-vis cooking that we had in store for our dinner guests. Thursday evening, Gerald, Jill and Sam came over for dinner. Ménu: apératifs, pâte de penne avec une sauce de tomates et des boulettes de poulet et en plus du brocoli, la salade, des fromages et pour le dessert, les poires au four avec une sauce de vin blanc (sucré), de la canelle, et du citron. Of course, we also ended with pains au chocolat et chocolat chaud. (If you couldn't pick up what any of that was, make a note and I'll translate it into English, though I think you should be able to understand all of that.) We also played 1 000 Bourne.

Friday (27): I went to a cooking class taught by Elisabeth, at the Fondation. We made tartlettes, a salad with warmed chèvre, endives wrapped in ham and topped with a béchamel sauce that I made, and mousse au chocolat (there was an extra one that Camille and I shared, at Elisabeth's encouragement to finish it). Our end of the table (including Elisabeth) talked about travelling and food for much of the time, eventually leading me to the kind of cooking I've been doing since I've been in Paris. (Keep that bit in mind...) It was Jane's turn to come over for dinner, and so she and another one of her classmates, Elise, did just that. (Whoa, weird English sentence going on right there...) For dinner, we had: apératifs, salmon (me) with wild rice and asparagus (Trevor), salad, cheese, and had a duo-dessert (halved mango with brown sugar and cooked in rum and lemon juice, and strawberries that had been soaked in a mixture of orange juice, lemon and sugar; the mangoes were served with a reduced sauce of the leftover liquids from both desserts). As always, pains au chocolat and chocolat chaud ended the meal. After Jane and Elise left, Trevor and I continued talking and we got onto the subject of our favourites about our experience so far. Eventually, we got to thinking about who some of our favourite professors are and after recounting my cooking story from earlier in the day, we began thinking about the possibility of us cooking for them before we leave Paris. To make the night even more perfect, we figured out how to open the windows to the balcony. Paris is such a beautiful city.

Saturday (28): Trevor and I met up with Gerald and Jill at the Jardin de Luxembourg; quite exciting was the fact that the day was absolutely perfect (especially in terms of weather). Afterwards, we stopped by St. Sulpice and Tuileries (another garden in Paris). Our final destination for the afternoon was the Arc de Triomphe, which we found out students get in for free! About 50+ pictures and 500 steps later, we made our way back down and decided to do an impromptu dinner (as we were still up in the air as to whether or not we wanted to go to a jazz club). We ended up just staying inside and having dinner: apératifs, baked pasta, cheese and for dessert, dark mousse au chocolat accompanied by strawberries in various forms (including a nutella-filled strawberry with chantilly crème). As we finished up our pains au chocolat and chocolat chaud, we heard a key and were surprised to find our host family having returned from their vacation. Before and throughout their departure, Trevor and I had thought they would be back on Sunday. We (including Gerald and Jill; thanks for all of your help!) cleaned up the kitchen and dining room in the fastest time I had ever seen those two rooms cleaned after one of our dinners. Our host family was extremely nice about the confusion and told us that we could have just carried on, as if they had never arrived. In any event, the day still remained as perfect as it could be in Paris.

Sunday (1 March... when did that happen?!): After the adventure of finding hostels and what-not for my upcoming trip to Italy, I heard a small knock on my door. It was Elisabeth, our host sister, coming to get me for lunch. Our host parents made a wonderful lunch for us, incorporating ingredients from the mountain region where they had vacationed. (Un)fortunately, the food was definitely regional (including the names of each thing) and was not committed to my memory at the time. I wrapped up my hostel searches, booking everything that could be booked, took a bit of a nap, and then went to Sacré-Coeur to meet Patrick for Mass (finally after my fourth or fifth time being in Montmartre, I was able to get to Mass there). Afterwards, we stopped by a crêperie and ate some crêpes en route to the Comédie Française, where the BU crowd watched Cyrano de Bergerac. I'm sure I'd think it'd be as great a play as everyone else thinks it is, if I had been able to understand what was going on. In any event, it was quite the fortunate experience to be at the Comédie Française. For the first time in quite some time, Trevor and I went back to my room to have our first meal outside of our host family's kitchen.

Let's Play Catch-Up! (Part II)

Well, I suppose I'm far enough into the programme to realise that I don't have a lot of time to spend recounting stories that occurred a week ago, as well as keep up with what's going on now. A résultat, I'll simply list some brief snippets of the days leading up to the start of this current week. If something catches your eye, let me know, and I'll explain it in a more in-depth entry!

Supposedly well-rested after an exhaustingly long day, Wednesday rolled around, marked by the following:
1) An introduction to the BU staff: Renée, Odile, Isabelle, Dorothy and Karell
2) The realisation that our classrooms and the BU space in general is pretty much AWESOME!
3) Catered sandwiches tied up with ribbon, with ham, chicken and egg as the variants. Guess which one was barely eaten.
4) A bus ride, after a group photo on the Champ de Mars that superseded a day of orientation formalities, that lasted 2,5 hours! Sans doubte, it was at least a comfortable bus.
5) The purchase of identical cell phones… I still need to make a Facebook group for that.
6) Our first dinner by ourselves in Paris, i.e., not prepared by our host families, brought us to a Mediterranean/Middle Eastern restaurant. Perhaps there’s something wrong with this choice; not only has the choice been made, I tried schwarma for the first time. (Is that proper English?) At least I’m trying new things here, yebo?
7) Nearly a 2,5 hour conversation (en français) with our homestay dad, Antoine.
8) Stanislas joining the guys and proving that he’s one of the big kids, too.

Thursday started off and ended great, especially because:
1) Trevor and I began our day at the boulangerie that’s about a one-minute walk away from our homestay location.
2) The boulangerie, the food and the people are great. Trevor and I have since called it « our boulangerie » and intend on making it one of our staple spots.
3) We felt like Americans eating/drinking our breakfast en route to the classrooms. This is only a great thing because we came up with an even bigger question: How do the French eat their breakfast?
4) Mastered the Métro the night prior and were able to get to school on our own.
5) Le Week End, a bar-ish type place, was the location for my first croque monsieur in France, as well as the site of my first lunch not sponsored by BU in any way.
6) I may be able switch from niveau 1 to niveau 2 for my French courses, which means I could also possibly take the highest-listed course.
7) I got to see Lauren and Emily again (thanks for being so patient with me!).
8) The three of us were able to spend some time at the Arc de Triomphe.
9) I bought my first round of mini-macarons.
10) I completed my second round of groceries, where I saw even more Filipinos, and also had a difficult time (eventually failing) in attempting to explain bread crumbs.
11) I visited Nicolas across the street from Franprix, the supermarché. At Nicolas, I bought to my surprise, amazement and complete joy, a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc that was made in SOUTH AFRICA!!! So that I wouldn’t be a complete backstabber, I also bought a bottle of cabernet sauvignon, made in Bordeaux.
12) Trevor and I had our first meal at the Fondation with some of the other BU students.
13) We found the non-clubbing group, randomly got off at a Métro stop, and walked around Paris, taking pictures of buildings late at night. Eventually, we realised that it was nearly midnight and tried to rush back, until we further realised that, at the rate we were walking, it was still quite a ways away. Nevertheless, we made the trek back, and walked along the Champs-Elysées, one of the few streets that made me think of New York. I remember talking to Trevor after the long bus ride on Wednesday and saying that, if anything, the bus ride made me anxious to see them all in person and not just in a bus. I definitely did not plan on doing the same thing, but on foot.

Friday began to round out our week of orientation in Paris and included:
1) Meeting Julie, my internship placement coordinator who has found me an awesome potential internship.
2) Meeting past BU students and BU Paris interns.
3) Eating again at Le Week End, thinking beforehand that we were actually eating there for the first time.
4) Going to a French open air market under the bridge between Dupleix and La Motte Picquet Grenelle.
3) Watching "Paris, je t’aime" with my classmates and professors at Studio Galande.
4) Eating a wonderful galette (« chicky ») and crêpe (chocolate). At the restaurant, there was a giant American flag that was hung and, at one point, the American national anthem was played.
5) Discovering that mixing Coca-Cola with various beverages can actually make them taste better [at the crêperie].
6) A what-should-have-been-cool-disco-light-bathroom-but-is-actually-kinda-creeper-ish.
7) Finding another non-clubby group and eventually happening upon a piano bar. The music was great, and the pianist and singer (sitting atop the piano cover) had great personalities and characters.
8) Splitting off into smaller groups and finding a rather empty diner/café. We spent some time taking photos in the diner and enjoying our time together.

Let's Play Catch-Up! (Part I)

Well, I suppose the best place to backtrack to is the day of my flight to France. After much anticipation, anxiety, frustration, packing, preparing, and all of that, it was finally time for me to head to the airport, where I faced potential overweight baggage fees, close-calls and so forth. However, I ran into many good bits of luck throughout the whole process (including a direct transport of my luggage to CDG and running quick enough to arrive before boarding even began) and eventually made it on the plane to JFK. The plane was extremely cramped and even though it was fairly chilly, it was very hot on the plane. I arrived in New York about seven hours before the plane to France would depart and, as a result, I had much time to kill on my own. I was able to sift through all of my music, etc. Surprisingly, I didn't really meet any of my classmates (except for one, but even at that time I still wasn't entirely sure what was going on), nor did I meet up with any staff of the programme. Thankfully, I got onto the Air France plane and found a group of students who were indeed going to France on the same programme as me; I sat next to Misha on the plane ride. I don't know what I was really thinking, but I got a mini-bottle of red wine to go with my dinner and combined with the hectic heat inside the plane, let's just say the ride wasn't entirely comfortable. I was able, however, to get some sleep, albeit not too much of it.

And then, it happened... Tuesday morning, at about 08h00, we landed on French territory. We were then picked up by Dorothy, an alumna from BU who completed the Paris Internship Programme (PIP) a few semesters beforehand. The 25 of us who were apparently on the plane at the same time met each other for the first time. Perhaps as a result of the fatigue and shyness, no one barely spoke a word. Instead, we got onto a group bus and were sent to the headquarters of our programme in Paris, i.e., the BU building in Paris. En route to the classroom, I'm fairly certain that many of us fell asleep, as the bus made its way through quite a bit of traffic. Finally, we arrived to the classroom, where we were greeted by Renée (the programme director) and Odile (the academic director). After filling in our initial round of paperwork, we were sent off directly to our homestays.

I soon found out that I would be having what I thought was a roommate, Trevor. We got into a taxi cab and, while talking to the driver about various subjects, including the French take on American politics, I noticed three things. First, Paris has barely changed since I last remembered it; second, my French has not completely disappeared as I had thought; third, as I passed familiarity, I felt Paris beginning to steal a bit of my heart.

We arrived at our house on l'avenue de la Grande Armée and realised that we're in a rather rich area. From the door, one can see the Arc de Triomphe, and a short walk away is the Champs-Elysées. We were greeted by the mother of our host mom and I felt totally at ease in Paris. She reached out to shake my hand and for a moment became completely American and motioned that I only give hugs. As my 'roommate' once described, she's like a grandmother, only 'Frenchified.' I say 'roommate' in loose quotes, as we soon found out that we would be living in not only separate rooms, but also in separate parts of the building. Before we get to that point, however, I must mention that our pseudo-hostgrandmother (as she doesn't live in the apartment), spent a great a deal of time talking to us in French about the Paris map, the métro, our interests, etc., and prepared a wonderful first French meal for lunch. She then took us downstairs and showed us around the immediate area, before finally showing us to our rooms. Trevor's room is across from the kids' room, while my room (known as a 'chambre de bonne') is two floors up (i.e., on the top floor). It's a completely independent room, with its own kitchen and bath. In actuality, if I didn't want to see my host family at all, I would be able to do so (outside of our weekly meal together). However, that certainly won't be the case, as they are a great family to be around.

After a bit of unpacking, Trevor and I, after a bit of trouble in the beggining, met up with girlfriend, Lauren, and Emily (both also from Albion), at La Défense. They were in Noisy-le-Roi/Bailly for the week, until Saturday, before moving to Grenoble for the semester, and were able to come that day to Paris. We walked around for a bit and eventually made our way to a restaurant where we ate and chatted, catching up and beginning to talk about our upcoming semesters. After departing, Trevor and I made our way back to the apartment where we met Christine, our host mom, and the two kids, Elisabeth (6) and Stanislas (3). Antoine, our host dad, was still at work at the time. If you read my previous blog, I believe I mentioned André (2,5), who spoke toddler Afrikaans; Stanislas speaks toddler French. I am such a fan of younger kids who speak languages outside of English. While Christine was preparing dinner, Trevor and I went to our respective rooms to continue the unpacking process and rest for a bit.

Eventually, dinner time rolled around and I went downstairs to meet up with Trevor and Christine. For an apératif, Trevor and I tried pastis for the first time; it smelled heavily like licorice and had a not-so-bad after taste. Soon joined by Antoine, we each had an avocado half that was filled with pasta where the seed would normally be, salad, chicken curry with wild grain rice, a round of cheese, and a homemade tarte aux pommes (apple pie). All of our conversations were and have been in French since the moment we got here, and soon dinner time became bed time. Before going to bed, we presented our homestay gifts (Christine loved the Target bags, just as my host moms in South Africa did). I made the short trek (did you know that's an Afrikaans word?) back to my room and settled in for the night. I was extremely happy with the current situation, and as I shall soon write (after getting a bit of sleep just now), Trevor and I continue to realise how much we each love it here.

I was settled in a bed, as I shall do so now... in Paris.