The Toronto airport is a haven of modernity for me—unlike Newark or BWI, they give you unlimited free wifi that you don't have to pay for! They also have those great restaurants with the iPads, but that also have outlets for you to charge your devices. I would say those outlets were the reason I got to Paris with all my devices fully charged, but the airplane had outlets too! I can't remember if I've seen this before, but it was nice to be able to charge my French phone before getting in. Nice, that is, but useless, since it turns out they had cancelled my number.
On the plane, I watched Mean Girls in French for the first half, until I got tired of wondering what the original joke was, so I switched it back to English. The dinner was okay, I guess, for a plane. The real fun was when we started flying over France at last. I just love seeing the roofs of the houses, and the fields that look like different colored puzzle pieces. It just looks different over here, and the first view of that is always from above. You see these red-orange rooftops, churches that are centuries old, and try to spot something that would indicate where you are (like the Eiffel Tower or a castle), but this time I couldn't find any such landmarks. This is the second time that I've gone to Europe for a summer program that wasn't in Paris, but made sure to start in Paris. And I think I can guess why. For me, Europe just has to begin in Paris—my first instinct is always to check flights to Paris, and while the origin of the flight changes, the destination seems to stay constant.
I arrived in Paris, took quite a while to leave the airport since it took the airport quite a while to get our flight our bags...and finally arrived in Paris on the RER B. The RER B (the blue one) conveniently took me right to the station Cité Universitaire, which, if you read my blog about studying abroad in Paris, was right where Alexandra lived. Cité Universitaire is in the very south of Paris, but it wasn't my final destination—I went right through the lovely Parc Montsouris (where I'm sure I will be doing a lot of reading this month), north, until I reached the Rue Boussingault where Justine lives. If you read the last blog, you might remember that Justine was my French TA at Johns Hopkins my sophomore year, and in my opinion, the main reason I was able to learn French. I'm subletting her beautiful apartment this month, and compared to where I was in Avignon last summer, it is the most luxurious place I could ever have imagined! It might actually be the nicest place I've lived in Europe!
When I got there, Justine's friend Olivier gave me the key and showed me around. I love how, when French people meet Americans, the first thing they do is say some sort of obligatory salutation in English (like "Hello!") and then promptly switch to French. Now, he probably knew I spoke French well, given I had emailed him several times in French, Justine had emailed me in French and copied him, and I would assume she told him just to reassure him that this American girl would indeed understand his instructions. But still, they always have to start with "Hello!" As if any American wouldn't understand "Bonjour."
After settling in a bit, I rushed over to the BNP to get some cash, put it in my wallet, went back to the ATM to get more cash, put it in my French bank account (no, it appears there is no better way for me to do it at the moment...), and then headed over to Orange to find out why my French cell phone wasn't working. It turns out they had cancelled my number because I hadn't used the phone in over six months!! This was a bit shocking, considering 13 months after studying abroad, I went back to Paris and the phone still worked. But anyway, they sold me a new number for 10 euros and that was that. Plus, the lady complimented my French and my New York driver's license, so that's always fun. I also got a sandwich, my typical drink (Oasis Tropical!), and a chocolate macaron (a big one!). Oh yes, I was living the life. Then I came back and passed out.
When I woke up from this much-needed nap, I rushed over to Berthillon, bought myself a double, went to my favorite Lebanese sandwich place where I admitted I wasn't actually hungry enough to eat, so I just ordered a drink because I really just wanted to say hi. They gave me free baklava! Yes, they remember me! I snapchatted for a while with Abby and Allie from my favorite park (the first picture I sent was of Notre Dame), and then when it started to rain, I bought an umbrella from a supermarket (cheaper and more durable) and headed back. The wind was strong though, and the umbrella is a bit messed up.
I think I've written enough for the moment, though. And now that I'm done with my favorite French cereal (yes, my dark chocolate Special K which doesn't taste even remotely like the stuff they sell in the US), I think I will get dressed and go book shopping before meeting my friend Mélanie for a fancy lunch! Thanks for reading!
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