10 things I miss about Berlin...

Eileen followed me to Paris. She came about a week after I got here, stayed for a night, then went off to Deauville with her mother. Then she was back for a few more days and is now back in Berlin. She came with an assortment of German candy and some Waldmeister syrup. We even made Berliner Weiße! To commemorate that visit (which was...yes, I know...over a week ago—sorry for not writing in so long!), here is a list of things I miss from Berlin.

1) The prices: Paris is so expensive! Berlin was so cheap! Everything, from groceries to restaurants, was just so reasonably priced. Eileen assures me it's because everyone in Berlin is paid less than everyone else in the world, but it's still nice that my tiny graduate student salary goes a lot farther there.

2) The language: Strangely enough, I miss the German language! This is for two reasons. First, I felt like I was finally making some progress and now I never hear it or speak it at all. Second, it was kind of nice being totally incompetent in a language for once. It reminded me of why I like learning languages in the first place—the challenge. It's been a long time since I had such a challenge. Italian after French must have made me cocky.

3) The people: People in Berlin are much more down to earth than Parisians. This might be because of the difference in prices, but Paris gives off a vibe that it is an "exclusive city." If you can't afford something, you are less of a person. There might be similar things in Berlin, but I didn't notice them. Paris is expensive like New York, and enjoying it requires a certain level of money and social standing. And since the French educational system is essentially designed to keep the rich people rich and powerful, it's no wonder that people act entitled even in the streets.

4) John Muir: the amazing bar that makes its own (reasonably priced) signature cocktails! Though, it's closed right now for renovations, so I'm not regretting it too much.

5) Markthalle: I miss that food lover's paradise! Such good ethnic varieties and such reasonable prices. And it was just a lovely way to spend an evening. I haven't ever found anything like that in Paris...

6) Elevators: Okay, Paris has elevators. But I miss not having to walk up five flights of stairs to get home. It changes the way I plan my day. But, my legs are getting pretty muscular!

7) The lack of purpose: It was kind of nice to have a "vacation" and be able to do random bits of work as I wanted to, with no real deadlines. It was also nice to do that all in a remote location where I was a foreigner, especially a place that had no real link to my work. I could say it helped me have the proper distance from my studies, but that would be silly. It was just a nice vacation.

8) The recycling: this building I live in doesn't recycle!!! I've been keeping my bottles in a corner so that I can take them to the recycling bins on the streets, because the place where we put our trash in the courtyard of this building doesn't have any recycling receptacle. After Germany's intense recycling, this is a big change for me.

9) Monday night Karaoke: so cheap, so much fun!

10) Eileen: it's strange not having someone making sarcastic/ironic comments at everything I say, criticizing the way I hang my laundry on the drying rack, and otherwise acting as a European filter for everything I don't know. Yeah, I know I'm used to life in France and don't need a filter here, but living with Eileen was definitely fun.

La rentrée

So, I bet a lot of you are wondering what it's like to study at a foreign school. And not just any foreign school, but one of France's premiere "Grandes Écoles." Well, it has its ups and downs. Mostly downs at first. Let me tell you about my experience with "la rentrée."

Four years ago when I studied abroad, I didn't deal with any of this stuff. Instead, CUPA gave us a three week orientation in which we learned all about French methodology, worked on our language skills, learned about current events, had practical info sessions on how to make friends at school and how to interact with our host families, etc. This all happened during the three week administrative/pedagogical "rentrée" that normal French students have to deal with. In retrospect, CUPA's brilliant orientation now seems even more so, since it spared me the necessity of dealing with French academic bureaucracy. And even though I was already very displeased with the French educational system upon arriving here this time, the rentrée has convinced me that I have not misplaced my criticisms.

My first day at the ENS was a useless meeting where they welcomed the international students in their broken English with a bunch of irrelevant information about alumni associations, university rankings, and a few useless student clubs. The next day, which I thought was supposed to be important, was actually just five hours of filling out paperwork. The following Monday was a three hour presentation of each department, mostly meant for the new students who will actually be attending this school, but as our schedule said "obligatoire," I decided to attend. After I ditched the end of the presentations, we had to wait for two hours in line to discuss finding a "tuteur" which I can only imagine is some sort of advisor. As I already have an advisor who is concerned with my work, the woman told me that she couldn't do anything for me. She also told me that Princeton is "the best of the best" and that my research sounds "fascinating." I heard a lot of that...though it seems no one at the ENS is capable of giving me any advice about mathematics.

In those first three weeks, I also got my all-purpose card, learned how to request library access (no, that doesn't come on the card for some reason...), put money on it for the cafeteria, and open a French bank account (see my previous blogs—I already know that I don't want to open a new account). Getting library access was a bit tricky, since I requested access to both the humanities and sciences libraries. In France, academics is divided into "lettres" and "sciences," which traditionally just do not mix. So, the librarians were extremely confused when I barged into the math library even though my card says "lettres." I explained my research and...guess what! It sounds really interesting! But they tried to send me to the math department anyway. Eventually they caved in once I told them I had a BA in math. Not sure why that should be required to take out math textbooks, but who knows with these people?

So, you may be wondering: what about the classes? The students? Well, I'll be writing about that soon. Courses just started yesterday, and even though I'm not going to be taking many (too much of my own work), I definitely have some observations to make about my first introductory Hebrew lesson yesterday.

All I can think of to end this post is this: thank you CUPA for being such an excellent study abroad program! Not only did you prepare me for a lifetime of French literature research, but you spared me from the rentrée and I am eternally grateful!

My Parisian Apartment

So, the reason for my lack of posting is that I had a bunch of things to do before leaving Berlin, and then had a lot of administrative things to take care of upon arriving here in Paris. But, today I'll get caught up and explain what I've been doing in the past few weeks. 

First off, I'm in Paris now. Getting here involved dragging my two extremely bulky and heavy suitcases through Berlin U-Bahn and buses, to the airport, off the luggage belt at Orly (the other Paris airport), through the OrlyVal (terminal shuttle), into the RER B, then up the escalator at Luxembourg Station. That's where the problem happened. It wasn't totally on the step, the bigger suitcase, and brought me down with it. A guy behind me had to hold me on the suitcase to avoid the suitcase dragging us both down the up escalator! At the top, he asked if I was okay, to which I responded: "um...oui, ça va" at the exact moment when my suitcase's handle snapped clean off. Good thing my new flatmate Louise came to find me and help me get these ridiculous bags up the five flights of stairs in my new elevator-less Parisian apartment. 

To sum things up, this apartment has the best and the worst of Paris all wrapped up into one. I'll just go through the pros and cons, then give you some "before" pictures. I'm in the process of cleaning and buying things to make it a bit more livable (read: American). 

Pros: 

• Location, location, location: This apartment is in the heart of the Latin Quarter (where the universities are). It is a ten minute walk from the ENS, a five minute walk from the rue Mouffetard (a very famous street, with very good crêpes), a five minute walk from the Panthéon (my favorite building in Paris, which is unfortunately under construction right now), a five minute walk from Berthillon (my favorite ice cream, which I've almost been having daily, and also very close to my Lebanese sandwich place, favorite garden, etc. It's the perfect location. 

• The building is typically Parisian, and therefore quite charming. While the lack of an elevator is a pain when bringing the suitcases up, it has an old-school feel and is very charming how old the staircase is and how each step creaks a bit as you walk up. It's a spiral staircase as well, so you even get dizzy going up! 

• The balcony: overlooks some very beautiful buildings in one of the oldest parts of the city. 

• The wood floors of the apartment creak, the old fireplaces are delightfully nonfunctional, the doorknobs are all loose, the toilet and the bathtub are in separate rooms, and if you're in a room on the street side of the building, you can hear literally EVERYTHING. 

Cons: 

• Basically all of the pros are also cons when you think about it. 

• The wood floors of the apartment creak, which is loud. They are also kind of dirty. I've been so busy buying sheets and stuff that I haven't had a chance to clean it all yet. But I did buy a bath mat and slippers, so my bare feet never have to touch the floor. 

• The white tile gets very dirty, very fast. 

• It is very small, especially the kitchen which has no built-in appliances. The only cooking options are: a portable stovetop (with two burners), a toaster oven (which Louise assures me is sufficient for baking a cake...), a toaster, and a microwave. We also have a somewhat small fridge and a sink with a slightly temperamental faucet. 

• The toilet and the bathroom are separate, and the sink is in the bathroom. So, after using the toilet, you have to go into another room to wash your hands. Seems awfully unsanitary to me. I might buy some hand sanitizer to put on top of the washing machine, which also makes the toilet quite cramped. It also doesn't close too well since the light switch blocks the top from opening. 

• No dryer: just one little drying rack in the salon area. 

• The bathroom is also quite dirty. But I will be cleaning that soon. At least I bought the bath mat. 

• The sheet situation was a bit unacceptable. But I have now bought myself a "drap housse" (the thing that goes over the mattress pad), a "drap plat" (a sheet to sleep under), and a blanket, as well as two pillows, pillow cases, and a comfy purple blanket. I even got extras. Louise told me that French people only use one sheet and a blanket, but the people at the store assured me that she was wrong. 

Anyway, here is a before picture of my room. I'm going to go eat a crêpe with Mélanie.