31 août 2014

So I found three churches that I'm interested in:

1. Paris Presbyterian Church - It is a Korean/French church in the 11th arr. I went there today because I talked to the pastor on the phone yesterday and he made me promise to come. It was alright. I might continue to go to their college group meetings on Saturdays but we'll see how I like the other ones first.
• It is super close to the ACCENT center and it was a 10min walk away from the hotel we were staying in. However, it'll be quite a trek to get there from my homestay.
• Funny story (or sad, depending on which way you look at it): I spotted a very good-looking halfie and after the service, I had to walk past the bench that he was sitting at. As I was passing by, he stood up and he was just around my height, maybe a little bit shorter. All attraction gone. There always has to be a but, huh? Not gay (like most of the guys I find attractive), BUT he's way too short. :( And Sarah's response to this was hilarious: "sigh, god is fair i guess lol" >_>
• I got a free lunch at the church: 김치 and 닭죽 and 수박! I would have eaten more but it was awkward not knowing anybody and yea. So I just left. Apparently they don't serve lunch every Sunday though... and starting next week, the service is moved from 11AM to 2:30PM anyways so no more free lunch (or Korean food)
2. Église Presbytérienne Coréenne du Pont-Neuf - My destination for next Sunday.
• It is super close to my homestay - a 15min walk away. It takes 15min by Metro too so I could take that if I was feeling lazy but if I walk, I get to walk by the Eiffel Tower so I think I will opt for the scenic route!
• I can't find much information about the college group so I'll have to just check it out for myself. I didn't really interact with anyone at Paris Presbyterian Church so hopefully I'll be less shy? It was very strange to see so many Koreans speaking French o_o And since my French is worse than my Korean, I'm kind of forced to speak Korean which I don't particularly enjoy doing. Meh. I guess I'll just have to improve my French ;)
3. Hillsong Paris - My destination for next NEXT Sunday
• It is pretty close to my homestay - a 25min Metro ride away.
• I am looking forward to going here because the sermon is in French and English (much more comfortable than JUST Korean or JUST French). They also have a lot of different ministries that I can get involved in (which will not only allow me to serve, but I will also get to practice more French and get to know more people).
• Another plus about this church is that since it's so big and well-known, I kind of know what I'm getting myself into (in terms of doctrine, beliefs, etc).

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After church, I just walked around Paris (quite aimlessly) and took pictures. I eventually ended up visiting la Gare de Lyon, la Place des Vosges, le Marais, and la Place de l'Hôtel de Ville. All these places were super beautiful but I think I liked Place des Vosges the best!

I saw la Gare de Lyon from afar and walked towards it without even knowing what it was. I'm glad I did because it was really pretty!

This is la Place des Vosges. I was kind of following my Walking Paris guidebook and this place was so gorgeous. The atmosphere was great -- kids playing soccer with their dads, people having picnics, music playing, etc. It was kind of crowded today but probably because it was a Sunday? It's pretty close to the ACCENT center so I am definitely going to go back there again, perhaps to study or just read a good book or something.

Like la Gare de Lyon, I came across la Place de l'Hôtel de Ville without even knowing it. I saw the side of a building with really beautiful sculptures and this is what I found! So history, much beauty.

And in case you were wondering, le Marais is like an art district with lots of shops and galleries and stuff. I didn't take very many photos there which is why I didn't put one up... I did go to a pop up shop though! Tooooooo expensive. Also, between la Gare de Lyon and la Place des Vosges, I passed by la Place de la Bastille and saw a rollerskating dance class (I may or may not have stopped for 30min just to sit and watch):

Please note the sad man in rollerblades who is not dancing. He left soon thereafter.

LATER, as I was making my way back to the hotel to meet our host family, I passed by la Place de la Bastille AGAIN. This time, I found a breakdancing class for what looked like 8-18 year olds. Very interesting age group... I don't know about the older kids but the little ones were super cute to watch. Also, if you look closely at the photo, you'll see an old couple. They were clapping very vigorously after each boy did his thang:

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I finally got to meet my host family today! Jacqueline et Claude Bouteillon:

For those of you who are wondering, they are sosososo very nice and welcoming. They are also very good cooks! Claude is a retired electrical engineer while Jacqueline does event planning. My first meal with them was ratatouille (a couple things: SO DELICIOUS and SO PERFECT OMG IT'S LIKE I'M IN A DISNEY MOVIE CALLED, OH I DON'T KNOW, RATATOUILLE?!?!?!?!?). I also had champagne for the first time. Blech. Je n'aime pas d'alcool. So we ate with one of their close friends + her daughter + her daughter's boyfriend because they are visiting for a week from New York. The friend brought a bottle of red wine from her own vineyard/wine cellar in Bretagne. They made me a special appetizer because I don't eat raw tomatoes -- it was les pommes des terres avec l'hareng. I don't really know what the actually name of l'entrée is but it was super good. For the la plat, we had chicken, ratatouille, and pasta. As I said before, la ratatouille était incroyable. Then for dessert, there were 3 different kinds of tart -- 2 store-bought and 1 homemade by Jacqueline. And of course, the plum tart by Jacqueline was the best. SO delish.

I can't help but feel my host family is very bourgeoise. Well, actually, they are. They live on the second highest floor and, if you've watched the film Les Femmes du 6ème Étage, you know that's basically the penthouse. Their building is vintage and it even has the service staircases for the maids who live on the 7th floor (I am on the 6th).*** And yes, you got that right, we have maids. What. On top of all that, they have dinner like that every. single. day. Crazy. Oh and did I mention they have a country house that they go to every. single. weekend. ???!?!?!?!? C'est la vie. At least in France, it is. And in the bourgeoisie. Last on this point, please enjoy this lovely view of the Eiffel Tower that I have from the balcony:

After dinner, I gave my host family their gifts and they LOVED it. I gave them cute Korean house slippers - Jacqueline got cats and Claude got monkeys. She put it on right away - she looooved it. I also gave Claude a sudoku book which we bonded over. Then I brought out a set of 공기 and we just got on the floor and started playing (well, me, Jacqueline, et their friend (I forgot her name T_T)). Apparently the French have the exact same game except they used to play it with small pig bones o_o But anyways, it was really fun ^_^ My host mom is so cute haha

***In France, the ground floor is Floor 0, so I guess in American terms, I live on the 7th floor and the maids live on the 8th floor

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Finally, I just wanted to include some funny/interesting signs/tags I passed by today. Enjoy:

Seen on Rue du Titon, 11ème arr.

Seen on Rue du Titon, 11ème arr.

Seen in 12ème arr.

Seen at the entrance of la Place des Vosges

Seen in le Marais, on Rue de Thorigny, 3ème arr.

Seen in le Marais, on Rue des Hospitalières St. Gervais, 4ème arr

30 août 2014

*Désolée pour my franglish mais j'ai beaucoup de chose de faire avant je me couche*

**I took out the memory card in my camera and forgot to put it back before I left so all the pictures I took are from my phone :( désolée again**

Not much happened today. We went on a tour of Île St. Louis mais j'ai seulement compris un petit peu. Most notable place was Notre Dame:

To be honest, the sides (and the back, not pictured) were much prettier than the front. Also, I have a slight obsession with beautiful doors (you'll probably notice when I upload all my pictures on Facebook... I totally regretted not taking pictures of every beautiful door I passed in Baltimore so I'm making SURE I do it here in PARIS)

 

(1) Front     (2) Side     (3) Door on the same side

After the walking tour, we were supposed to go on a boat tour on la Seine mais nous avons eu faim donc we went to grab a quick bite. I got a Croque-Monsieur and it was SO good. I especially loved the edges where the crust was kind of crunchy:

By the time we got to the boat tours, they were on their lunch break so we had to wait an hour-ish. We sat down at the edge of l'Île where the river splits -- c'était magnifique.

(It looked a lot better in person)

Finalement, nous avons réussi à prendre le tour du bateau. Malheureusement, je n'ai pas pu comprendre qu'est-ce que la guide touristique a dit (même si elle a parlé en les deux français et anglais). There were a LOT of beautiful bridges and famous buildings, etc., but my favorite part was seeing la tour Eiffel for la première fois:

For dinner, I ate some boughetto (bougey-ghetto) Chinese food. It was terribad until we got the check and we each paid 5€ for a sit-down meal. #collegelyf But yea. The food wasn't even worth taking a picture of and I felt quite awful when I woke up this morning. Never again? I say that now but I probably will go again just to save some moneeeys for important things like -- I don't know -- better food.

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

Two momentous things happened today:

1) I got a French phone number! I can now text/call anyone in France and make calls to the USA, Canada, and a bunch of irrelevant European countries.

2) I cancelled my Netflix. It was so incredibly difficult to press the confirm button. Especially because if I ever subscribe again, I'll have to pay more than my current $7.99 plan :( But alas, Netflix doesn't even work in France and I don't want to be stuck in my room watching shows all day anyways. Le sigh.

29 août 2014

Ce que j'ai fait:

Je me suis réveillé à 8h00 et pris le petit-déjeuner gratuit par l'hôtel.

This picture is for my mother. So that she knows I am eating food. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture until after I started eating. Also, I was slightly confused about what everything was so I literally put a little bit of everything on my plate -- unless it was too complicated, in which case I just skipped it... Anyways, I watched how other people were eating and I shall try again tomorrow! Side note: BREAD BREAD BREAD BREAD. and green apple yogurt is pretty bomb.

Puis, nous avons allés au centre d'Accent pour l'orientation général et l'orientation sur les familles d'accueils. J'ai découvert quel famille que je vais vivre avec pour le semestre. C'est une couple, Monsieur et Madame Bouteillon. Ils ont deux enfants qui sont mariés et ont leurs propres maisons. Monsieur est un ingénieur électricien et Madame est une organisatrice d'événements. L'appartement est situé dans le septième arrondissement. Je vais avoir une belle vue de l'École Militaire. J'espère que je vais aussi avoir une vue de la tour Eiffel parce qu'il est très proche.

À droite d'Invalides, il y a aussi le Louvre et le Musée d'Orsay. Je veux explorer plus et sentir comme une vraie parisienne. De plus, maintenant que je sais un peu de plus d'information de ma famille d'accueil, je suis moins nerveuse et plus surexcitée!

Nous avons quelque temps pour explorer aujourd'hui mais il était très limité. Curran voulait des timbres internationales donc nous avons cherché pour la poste. Elle est située dans une petite rue qui est très mignonne -- mais c'est comme tous les rues dans cette ville, à mon avis.

Finalement, nous avons mangé dans un restaurant qui s'appelle "Bistrot du Coin."

J'ai commandé le saumon fumé pour mon l'entrée:

This was just okay. The bread, of course, was delicious but the salmon could have been better. I still can't figure out if I liked the white thing or not. It was like... sour cream cheese... Hm...

Pour le plat, j'ai pris le parmentier de canard:

This was SOOOOOOOOOOO good. Not only was the mashed potato amazing, the duck was super good too. I've only tried duck twice (once at a Chinese restaurant and once right before this when my friend ordered foie gras de canard) and I didn't like it either time. But this. Wow.

Et pour dessert, j'ai commandé le coupe de glace (bien sûr):

Ce n'était pas extraordinaire, mais ce n'était pas trop terrible non plus.

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

It seems like everyone else is getting along really well and have all gotten pretty close. But for me, I haven't really connected with anyone yet; and I don't think I ever will. A small group of them have formed a clique and are very exclusive. Another clique has formed and, though they are more inclusive, I don't really have anything in common with them. For one, they seem very condescending to me as a person of color--which is annoying. Secondly, I am much more conservative than them. Yesterday, they talked about their experiences with drugs (and not just marijuana) and I was pretty shocked. I guess you could say I'm pretty sheltered, but I think our moral and ethical values are just very VERY different. To me, drugs are bad; to them, ce n'est pas une problème. It's not something to be ashamed or embarrassed about; it opens your mind and is extremely sobering. Thirdly, a lot of the things that they talk about are kind of deep-ish, I guess. And although I enjoy having deep talks with people, the way they talk about it is kind of... off. It seems fake or like those stereotypical white girls who are embracing trends like meditation, hindusim, buddhism, veganism, etc (in the case of the first three, they are pretty ignorant about it too). But I feel like it's very... fake? And I also feel kind of offended because it comes off as condescending as they exotify people's cultures and religions. I'm going to church on Sunday so I hope I can find a really solid group of FRENCH and CHRISTIAN friends so that I can practice my French as well as work on my walk with God. Prayers are much appreciated!

Bienvenue à Paris!

Ma famille et ma meilleure ami m'a accompagné à l'aéroport. Je suis chanceuse d'avoir ces gens supers dans ma vie... les gens qui se réveillent à 4h30 juste pour me dire au revoir, bon voyage, et bonne chance en Europe. La première photo est de ma famille prier pour moi. J'ai une expression un peu bizarre parce que j'éssayais de ne pas pleurer. Je n'ai pas réussi. La deuxième photo est moi avec ma famille et la dernière photo est moi et ma meilleure amie. J'ai plus de photos que j'aurais pu utiliser, mais j'ai choisi la photo plus derpy.

    

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

C'est moi dans l'avion.
Je suis partie de LAX le 27 août à 7h13.
This is me on the plane.
I left LAX on August 27, at 7:13AM.

Insta caption: Catch ya later, LA. First stop: Seattle, then: PARIS! #windowseat #delta #studyabroad #USCParis #europe

Sauf pour les sous-entendus, les usages ironiques, et la publicité pour quelque chose, je ne comprends pas pourquoi les gens utilisent les hashtags, mais je le fais de toute façon.

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J'ai pris beaucoup de photos sur l'avion. J'aime vraiment prendre des photos des hublots d'un avion après nous décollons (c'est la raison pour laquelle j'étais heureuse d'avoir un siège pres du hublot. Voici quelques exemples:

Pre-departure from LAX

Post-take-off from LAX (once we reached cruising altitude)

Getting ready for descent into Seattle. I think that's Mount St. Helens

Arriving in Seattle!

Take off from Seattle

Ocean of clouds - somewhere above the Midwest

Sunrise from somewhere over the Atlantic. I wish my camera could capture all the stars! It was breathtakingly beautiful

My first look at France!

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

Je suis arrivée à Paris à 8h35. J'ai besoin d'attendre pour vers quatre heures avant nous avons rencontrés et nous sommes partis. Moi, Justine, Curran, et Audrey, nous avons pris une promenade de trouver quelque chose à manger. Curran et moi, nous sommes allées à un resto tout petit. Elle a commandé une pâte et elle a emprunte €5 à moi. Elle parle français très bien. Elle parle avec le propriétaire pour quelques temps. Quant à moi, je n'ai pas dit beaucoup.

Après un peu de temps libre, nous avons pris un "walking tour" de l'hôtel au centre d'Accent. Le centre d'Accent est très loin de l'hôtel. Nous avons mangé un casse-croûte et j'ai mangé une quiche pour la première fois. Je n'aime pas beaucoup... Elle était très épaisse et il y a trop d'épinards, à mon avis. Je voudrais essayer de nouveau; je pense qu'il était le goût que j'ai choisi que je n'aimais pas.

Puis, des autres et moi, nous avons exploré un peu. J'ai vu la Bastille et le Seine. Malheureusement, nous sommes allés directement à partir du centre d'Accent donc je n'ai pas eu mon camera. Je me suis contenté d'utiliser le camera sur mon iPhone. Au moins, j'ai pu prendre une photo panoramique. Voilà:

La statue qui a remplacé la Bastille

La Seine

Les autres sont allés à un bar mais j'ai rétourné à l'hôtel. J'ai eu besoin de temps pour réfléchir. J'ai observé les gens de la fenêtre de l'hôtel et commencé ce blog. La vue de mon chambre d'hôtel est très belle:

People-watching always makes me wish I was better at drawing. Unfortunately, I didn't have a paper to doodle on. But be excited for the doodles that are to come. I even brought some watercolor paints! Also, you can kind of see what I mean in this picture, but, the streets here are so strange; the store fronts are generally pretty modern but the floors above them look so old and rustic.

Isn't it beautiful? J'aime les balcons et les palissades en fer forgé.

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

I hope I can explore Paris more tomorrow and on Sunday. I kind of want to go back to where I went today, just so I can take better pictures on Pachelbel... we'll see. The streets and buildings and trees and everything is so pretty... but the infrastructure is pretty whack. Someone really messed up when they were making all the streets. There aren't really any blocks; you just have tons of tiny alleys and 5-way intersections and... it's a mess.

I'm not really missing home yet because it's only been one day and I've been gone for way longer stints than that. And because I don't feel like I've been away from home for very long, it feels so surreal that I am actually here. In Europe. In France. In Paris, the city of lights. For TEN MONTHS! I am most anxious about two things, and they both happen on Sunday.

1. I really hope I get a good host family. I've heard such horror stories about absolutely awful host families. I hope they like me. I hope I like them. I hope they like my gifts and they don't mind that my French sucks.
2. I hope that I will be able to find a good church that I can go to and make a solid group of friends. I was hoping to find a Korean church, but I'm not so sure about that anymore. On one hand, I will have more in common with a Korean-French person than just a French person; I will be able to understand more of the sermons; I will feel more comfortable. On the other hand, I came here to be uncomfortable; and I don't want to be one of those people who only ever hang out with people of their own race. I don't know. I think for now, I will find a Korean church to go to and see how it works out. It's okay, Jane. God has a plan and it will work out exactly has He planned.

D'accord. J'ai besoin de réveiller tôt à demain donc je me coucherai. Bonne nuit.

À moi, Paris!

Bonjour tout le monde. Ceci est mon blog pour documenter mes aventures à l'étranger. Bien que je vais probablement partager ce blog avec mes amis et ma famille aux États-Unis, ce blog est plus pour moi et mes souvenirs personnels que pour quelqu'un d'autre (please excuse my dit-à-dit translations... hopefully my French will improve during my 10-month stay). Cela dit, je suis désolée si ce blog vous ennuie, mais je ne m'inquiète pas vraiment (read: sorry not sorry). A l'avenir, je pourrais écrire un post sur mes idées à "study abroad," Paris, voyager, etc. mais maintenant, appréciez les photos jolies!

Hello everyone. This is my blog where I will document my adventures abroad. Although I will probably share this blog with my friends and family back in the US of A, this blog is more for me and my personal memories than for anyone else. With that said, I am sorry if this blog bores you, but I really don't care #sorrynotsorry. In the future, I might write a post with my insights and tips on studying abroad, Paris, traveling, etc. but for now, enjoy the pretty pictures!

À moi, Paris!

Paris, here I come!