Campus is spacious, and there are a lot of trees. It is located at the top of a hill, and it is a bit of a hike to make it back down into the village. I think it might get a bit dangerous to go down the hill when ice arrives as it can be quite slick at times. The majority of the buildings on campus are dorm rooms. They are small, seventies-style buildings. The rooms are fairly large. I share an apartment with another lectrice, Anna. We each have our own bedroom, but if I want to go to the bathroom I have to go through her room, and if she wants to go to the kitchen or leave the apartment she has to come through my room. It’s a shotgun setup, but it is working out well right now. My mom also sent me a better quilt than the one that was provided, so now I am starting to feel like this place is more like home. Not to mention my new Halloween decorations :-).
There is really not much in Jouy, but there is more than there is on campus. There are two grocery stores, two boulangeries, a tabac, a librarie/papeterie, a post office, train station, and several restaurants. I've only tried the pizza place, but it was fairly good. I'd say it takes 15-25 minutes to make it all the way down to the train station, and then climbing back up the hill is not very fun. Luckily there are several busses that go up to the campus, but they are few and far between.
My job is going well so far. I'm really not working many hours per week, but it is a bit difficult to be around all of the time. Since it is the beginning of the semester, there are a lot of last-minute things that need to be done, so if I originally have an afternoon off I might find out that morning that I need to help give a TOEIC exam or something else of that nature. But, my job basically consists of correcting English CVs, helping with the language resource center, and being generally on call to help with classes (if a teacher is sick or if they want us to do a presentation about American universities or other things).
I've been to Versailles a few times. A couple of times for the carte de sejour with Anna, a couple of times for fun. The carte de sejour visit was not too difficult, they just refused to give it to us the first time we went because the school was meant to do the paperwork for us. However, since I am not a real student (and not a real employee) the school will not do any of the paperwork. So, I had to go back the next day with a letter from the school basically saying that I was not a student and they would not prepare the carte de sejour for me. After that, it literally took the person working at the desk 2 minutes to fill out the paperwork. Now I need to return in December to continue the process.
During both of those trips, I made a trip to Monoprix as well. I was able to buy a lot of the household items I needed. Monoprix is really just a great place, a bit like Wal-Mart, but a little more pricey. But they seem to have nearly everything a person might need. Too bad there's not one in Jouy :-).
I also recently had my first late night out experience in Paris. I went with a group of people, and we walked down the Champs Élysées and window-shopped. It was a nice leisurely pace, and the streets were still crowded with people.
My second trip into Paris was even better. We started out by grabbing lunch and taking it down to the river and eating by the Seine. Since Saturdays are mainly the day for weddings in France, we saw 3 different couples go by. Where we were seemed to be a popular place for wedding photos.
It was also the weekend of the Patrimoine (where people are able to go into government buildings for free), and so we went to the Palais d'Élysée, or the home of Sarcozy. I guess it is the equivalent of going on a tour of the White House, but in this case security seemed pretty minimal and anyone was allowed inside. We waited in line for 4 hours, but it is definitely worth saying I was there. And it was also so much larger than the White House! I was impressed :-).
Last Saturday I also went into Paris for the day. We went to Les Halles metro, and walked down a street until we found a boulangerie called ‘Paul.’ Apparently everyone loves that chain here. We ate lunch there and it was pretty good.
And, since we were in the area, I decided to check out the yarn store that is supposedly the place to go for yarn in Paris. It is called La Droguerie, and it does have quite a fine selection of yarn. I bought enough to make 2 scarves since I didn’t bring many with me. I plan on going back in the next week so that I can buy enough to make an afghan and have a blanket to curl up under.
After La Droguerie, I went to Montmartre with Anna, Sarah (the British lectrice) and Sarah’s friend Rebecca. I had never been to that area before, and it was quite interesting. We went to Sacré Coeur, which was beautiful. You climb this hill all the way to the top, and there are people everywhere. There were some guys break dancing right outside of the entrance to Sacré Coeur, and it just felt sort of surreal. The funniest part was after you walk through the church, and everything is so quiet and peaceful and then you get to the exit and the people right outside are break dancing to very loud music.
That evening, Anna and I continued on to meet with another American working at HEC, Mandira. Together, we all went to watch the first presidential debates at this place called CineAqua. It is located right next to the Seine, across from the Eiffel Tower, and the entrance looks like there is nothing there. However, once you go underground, the place is massive. It is a huge aquarium, but it also has a lot of movie props and movie information. There are at least two movie theaters inside this building, and they show movies throughout the month. For example, in October they are showing movies like Dracula and The Addams Family. But, for some reason, they decided to show the first presidential debates free of charge. Pretty cool, huh? And did I mention the view of the Eiffel Tower? It was gorgeous! And after nightfall, the Tower is lit up with blue lights. I have been told that this is because it is supposed to be a representation of the European Union flag since Sarcozy is the EU president right now.
I’ve also had a nasty cold the past week. It has been quite a roller coaster ride – felling like I am getting better then going way downhill again. I was way downhill yesterday, so I didn’t end up going out to Paris like I had originally planned. Last night was ‘La Nuit Blanche’ in Paris, and everything stayed open all night long and it was just supposed to be a an interesting experience. Although I missed out on it, I’m sure there will be more events in the future.
A bientôt!
1 comment:
Sounds like you have a really cool mom!
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