On May 7th, I - like the rest of the Parisians - took advantage of the 3-day weekend (Friday the 8th was some holiday - don't ask me which one - I doubt the French know either) and took a 5-day vacation. First stop - London - where my good friend Andy showed me the city in style. I must say - it was quite a relief to be somewhere I could speak English. When I first arrived in St. Pancras station in London, I found myself trying to remember how to say "ATM machine" in French so I could ask someone where to find one. Then I remembered that I didn't have to ask in French! Ecstatic and relieved, I walked up to first English person I saw and asked her for the nearest ATM. At first she gave me a quizzical look and then said "oh, there's a cashpoint over there." Maybe the language is different after all...?
Next stop - Dubrovnik, which is - in case you were wondering - on the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia across the Adriatic Sea from Italy. There I met Rachelle, Megan, and Cagla for a fabulous girls weekend! You can't imagine how beautiful this place is - check out the photos on my website. Although the highlight for me was talking up a storm in English with girlfriends who have known me longer than 1 month. In French, I feel like I have no personality - I can't tell jokes, I have no quick, witty retorts, I can barely carry on a conversation. I'm much better in English.
If that wasn't cool enough, I return to Paris (somewhat reluctantly I must confess) only to discover I will get to see more friends from Haas the coming weekend! Arancha and Bruno surprised me on Thursday with the news that they were arriving the next day, and on Friday I received an email from Andy in London saying he might pop over for the Andy Warhol exhibit, so it worked out that we were all able to meet up in Paris for the weekend. In addition to Warhol, we had a fabulous dinner at Gaya Rive Gauche, which I highly recommend. I'm still smiling remembering that meal. It was so great to hang out all together, although of course we missed the rest of the Albion crew...
After two Haas reunions in a row, I have been enjoying Paris with the ladies of Francais des Affaires (Business French) at Alliance Francaise. Since our school is so close to Luxembourg Gardens, that usually means enjoying a bottle of wine (or two or three) after class! There are four women in particular that I really like - Ina from Germany, Ruth from England, Valeria from Italy, and Viveca from the US. They are all much younger than me, but they don't seem to mind hanging out with Granny Jeanne and humor me by telling me I don't look old. We recently had a huge spread for our farewell picnic for Viveca, who returned to New York on Tuesday. I miss her already.
Thanks for reading!
Double Weekend for DoubleBoom! However, this feels like more than double to me....London, Croatia *and* Paris....
ReplyDeleteBut I DO feel ya hon': as glam as it may sound on the surface, it CAN be quite lonely to not be able to have the kind of pithy, quick, witty, engaging dialogue that comes so easily (and makes you feel like a real person) in "ta langue maternelle."
We must skype again soon :-)