You know you're really living when you are so busy experiencing things that you never have the time to sit down and reflect on what you have been experiencing! That's exactly why it's been so long since I've written a blog—every night I get back to my apartment completely exhausted after a full day of class and Parisian exploration, practically fall into my bed, and crash until the next morning. Then I do it all over again.
It's Friday evening here in Paris, and I finally have some time to rest. These past weeks seemed to have gone by so quickly, but then at the same time, I feel as if I have been here for a lifetime. I don't even know how to go about processing and reflecting on all that I have seen, done, and noticed... Where to begin?
I started the French Language Practicum this week, which meets for three hours a day five days a week, directly followed by a 1-3 hour "excursion" to different parts of Paris (once the actual semester starts, I'll only have French for 3 hours a week, luckily). My professor, Madame Clemence, is this fabulous little Parisian woman who speaks to us only in French. We spend all day in her class, we go on little field trips, we have break time and lunch time, and she teaches us things like the days of the week, months of the year, the numbers, and the alphabet. So yeah, it IS just like being in first grade again. Only better, because I'm in Paris! However tiring our afternoon excursions might be, I really appreciate what they have planned for us; I'm seeing parts of Paris, away from the monuments and tourists traps, which I may never have found on my own.
For example, we visited Belleville, which is a part of north-eastern Paris which has historically been a community of immigrants; the typical Parisian architecture in this part of the city is colored with vibrant street art which is, I'm told, in protest to plans to renovate and gentrify this largely residential area to make it more upper-class bohemian and bourgeois (or "bobo").
It's amazing how easy it is to pick up a language when you're totally surrounded by it 24 hours a day. When we learned to speak as children, we were totally surrounded by language, and eventually we had to learn that language in order to communicate our own needs and thoughts. I feel like that's what I'm going though all over again. Right now, I can listen to people speaking French and understand everything that they are saying (except when it gets really complicated, like when the man giving the tour of the Mosque of Paris got into a heated debate with another man, in French, about the philosophical and spiritual implications of determinism vs. free will... that was a tad over my head. Luckily I had Madame Clemence to explain it afterwards!). So I can hear and read French well at this point, but I definitely have a hard time speaking the language still. It's frustrating, but I'll get there.So, I guess we can logically conclude that even though toddlers might be able to talk much yet, they very well might be able to understand everything that we're saying... so be careful!
I wish that I could share all of the lessons I have already learned and adventures I have already had. Words are powerful, there is no doubt, but the English language (or at least my ability to manipulate it) doesn't seem to have the capacity to describe my experience thus far. Maybe that's why I should learn French...
Anyway, there are more places to see and adventures to be had. Au revior, et amour de Paris. :)
It's Friday evening here in Paris, and I finally have some time to rest. These past weeks seemed to have gone by so quickly, but then at the same time, I feel as if I have been here for a lifetime. I don't even know how to go about processing and reflecting on all that I have seen, done, and noticed... Where to begin?
I started the French Language Practicum this week, which meets for three hours a day five days a week, directly followed by a 1-3 hour "excursion" to different parts of Paris (once the actual semester starts, I'll only have French for 3 hours a week, luckily). My professor, Madame Clemence, is this fabulous little Parisian woman who speaks to us only in French. We spend all day in her class, we go on little field trips, we have break time and lunch time, and she teaches us things like the days of the week, months of the year, the numbers, and the alphabet. So yeah, it IS just like being in first grade again. Only better, because I'm in Paris! However tiring our afternoon excursions might be, I really appreciate what they have planned for us; I'm seeing parts of Paris, away from the monuments and tourists traps, which I may never have found on my own.
For example, we visited Belleville, which is a part of north-eastern Paris which has historically been a community of immigrants; the typical Parisian architecture in this part of the city is colored with vibrant street art which is, I'm told, in protest to plans to renovate and gentrify this largely residential area to make it more upper-class bohemian and bourgeois (or "bobo").
It's amazing how easy it is to pick up a language when you're totally surrounded by it 24 hours a day. When we learned to speak as children, we were totally surrounded by language, and eventually we had to learn that language in order to communicate our own needs and thoughts. I feel like that's what I'm going though all over again. Right now, I can listen to people speaking French and understand everything that they are saying (except when it gets really complicated, like when the man giving the tour of the Mosque of Paris got into a heated debate with another man, in French, about the philosophical and spiritual implications of determinism vs. free will... that was a tad over my head. Luckily I had Madame Clemence to explain it afterwards!). So I can hear and read French well at this point, but I definitely have a hard time speaking the language still. It's frustrating, but I'll get there.So, I guess we can logically conclude that even though toddlers might be able to talk much yet, they very well might be able to understand everything that we're saying... so be careful!
I wish that I could share all of the lessons I have already learned and adventures I have already had. Words are powerful, there is no doubt, but the English language (or at least my ability to manipulate it) doesn't seem to have the capacity to describe my experience thus far. Maybe that's why I should learn French...
Anyway, there are more places to see and adventures to be had. Au revior, et amour de Paris. :)
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