Rot denken, grün wählen, schwarz arbeiten

I'd say it's about time for an update.

I did indeed make it to Paris, and the past two weeks have been amazing! I kicked it off by going to the Fête de l'Humanité (essentially a big communist festival [I am so tempted to say party!] with some great concerts, including big names like The Kooks), then went to Sicily where it downpoured before giving way to clear skies for the rest of my all-too-short visit. (But with all that fried food, perhaps it was for the best.)

Other than that, I have mostly been calling landlords nonstop. The Paris housing market is a bitch--there's no other way to put it--and after going to a few visits with unreasonably large amounts of people and being flat-out rejected for either not making enough money or not staying for a long enough time, I decided to go to an agency. And now I have an apartment! It's a studio in the 11ème, pretty snazzy and otherwise decked out, with a nice view and a bed which pulls out from a platform. I find that beyond cool.

But of course, as with everything in France, there is a ton of paperwork. Thankfully, I had most of it already from my scramble to throw together a dossier, but I still had to call the rectorat to get a specially issued document which shows how much money I'll be making.

Which is, thankfully, slightly more than anticipated due to my new job at the Vision Lab at Réné Descartes. I'm looking forward to working in this lab; I've now visited twice and I get a really positive vibe. I'm also in an excellent position where I am in contact with many people who are temporarily in Paris and wish they were making more money (other assistants, Erasmus students [thanks again, StudiVZ!]).

All in all, it's shaping up to be a great year--I just hope I don't get too lonely in my studio. I've never lived this alone before. And oh, how I will miss the delicious French dishes my friend's parents have been making for me...:)

A bientôt !

This jeu de mots doesn't translate

My plane will take off from Paris in about 15 hours, and while I am--amazingly--nearly completely packed, save the necessary toiletries for my morning routine, I still find myself scanning every inch of my room, opening drawers and inspecting neglected nooks and crannies for anything I may have forgotten.

One thing I noticed on my dresser was my old egg-timer, almost exactly like the one in the image to the left. You know, one of the ones my 16-year-old self would think was so clever because it was an EGG-timer and it was shaped like an EGG. I haven't touched it since my debate years, but I think I'm going to throw it in the suitcase. One thing I mentioned to my contact person at the school I will be working at while discussing how I could be more involved with the students is that I could lead a debate team. It has taken awhile for me to truly appreciate how important debate (and forensics in general) was to my intellectual and academic growth, but now I am strongly convinced (resolved?) that there is little better one could do in their "free time" to this end.

It's still undecided whether these debates would be conducted en français or in English, but I'm open to both. I think having the debates in French might prove more valuable--God knows just thinking about debating in a non-native language still makes me squirm. But then again, talking and thinking about such complex topics could also do wonders for their English.

Thoughts?

T minus 4.5 days

...and I am slightly panicked. I was just informed by a (very kind!) German ex-Erasmus student what exactly it means to have a "dossier" when looking for housing in Paris. CV, copy of ID card, copy of Uni acceptance letter (in my case, probably the arrêté de nomination), parental guarantee, copy of parents' tax return as well as their last paystubs. Oy. And that's just to be taken under consideration!

I'm also trying to come to terms with the fact that I will need to pay a good 600 Euro/month to live anywhere halfway decent (in other words, not a closet), plus agency fees.

Thankfully I have a good number of kind people helping me with my move; otherwise this would be truly overwhelming. Nevertheless, it has added tension to my final days, which I had hoped would be filled simply with relaxing, homey things, such as floating down the Mississippi in a canoe and watching American football with my extended family. (Both of which I admittedly did, but with the horrible dread of my upcoming apartment search hanging over me).