{view from my room // catching the golden hour}
things i have learned from my 2 days in Paris, thus far:
1. parisians are SO QUIET. well, compared to the new yorkers that i'm used to. while waiting in line for train tickets at the charles de gaulle airport, there were probably 20 people in line and i probably could have heard a pin drop.
2. my home stay is 3 rue de XXXX, not 2. i spent two full hours knocking on apartment doors in the wrong building thanks to the company that sent me and my roommate the wrong address. when i realized that i didn't have internet connection and couldn't call anyone, i was that crazy american asking strangers if i could use their phone to call my home stay. a third of them said "non," until some nice monsieur took pity on me and decided that it would benefit everyone if the crazy american was helped off the stoop of his apartment building.
3. you actually do look like a tourist if you wear shorts. after finally finding my home stay, and meeting the wonderful and stylish 80-year-old parisian who would be housing me for the summer, i decided to venture out to find a bank and exchange for some euros. as i was opening the door in the shorts and t-shirt i had changed into, she told me to be careful of the men on the street. "to a french man, you are naked." i quickly changed into pants.
4. it gets dark here at 10:00 pm. and i really can't tell if that's a good or bad thing for my jet-lag. i feel as if i'm walking around in a daze, as 2 pm here is 8 am there, and at lunch i want breakfast and at dinner i want lunch. but i won't complain about the amazing food because....
5. bread is EVERYWHERE. literally. everywhere. and cheese. i wouldn't find it weird if i saw a parisian down a whole baguette as an afternoon snack, and then lose 5 pounds from the act of chomping down.
i'm uncomfortable, and feel out of my element, but i ride and die (<- i'm saying that ironically, by the way) by the idea that making yourself uncomfortable is the only way to grow. sounds like a miley cyrus song lyric but gotta find that joie de vivre from something.
today was our first day of work of meta-analysis and other epidemiology things. we'll be interning at the hospital hotel dieu on l'ile de la cite, and i can't wait to walk through a horde full of tourists everyday as i pass the notre dame on my way to work. a bientot!
"whenever you find yourself on the majority, it is time to pause and reflect."
- mark twain
