Celebrating the holidays, French style

I will be the first to admit that the arrival of the holiday season gave me a few pangs of homesickness. After all, the holidays are a time to relax with family and friends and a time for traditions and comforts - in short, many things I don't (yet) have in France! There was nothing for it but to make my own traditions with my friends and 'family' here.

I celebrated Thanksgiving twice: once the Sunday before actual Thanksgiving with my friend Miri and some of our British teaching assistant friends. We did our best to make the traditional American meal with the limited supply of ingredients available at a French convenience store (the only place in France that is open on a Sunday!). Given the challenge of working in a tiny kitchen with turkey breasts, some potatoes, a can of green beans, and a lot of garlic and mushrooms, I think we did pretty good! Our English friends were impressed (although the British aren't reputed to have the highest culinary standards, so I don't know if this is saying much...)

On Thanksgiving Day, I had a true Franco-American feast with several French people who live in my apartment building, two of whom had spent three years living in New York City and were quite enthusiastic about the idea of celebrating Thanksgiving. Fortunately, they were in charge of the turkey, stuffing, and gravy, which they cooked French style. Turns out that I prefer the French way of cooking the bird! It was simply delicious. I was responsible for the green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, and pumpkin pie. I made a few modifications to Frenchify things (crumbled baguette instead of French fried onions on top of the green beans, candied pecans instead of marshmallows for the sweet potatoes). Everyone loved it! So I think I've done my American duty by successfully proving to French people that some American food is actually tasty.

I must confess that I'm ambivalent about France's low-key, less-commercial approach to Christmas. For one thing, the Christmas 'season' doesn't begin until early December (unlike the U.S., where I know of at least one radio station that begins playing holiday music at midnight on Halloween). I personally enjoy all of the festivities leading up to Christmas - perhaps more so than the day itself. Missing such childish anti- cipation, I located the one place in France where it is Christmas practically year-round: Strasbourg. Once again, Miri and I took off for a weekend, staying with a really great French girl who was more than willing to share her apartment, meals, and friends with us. In the photo you can see Miri, Anaïs and me on a bridge in Grande Île, the historic center of Strasbourg which has been declared a world heritage site by UNESCO (can you tell that it's REALLY cold?).

Strasbourg is famous for its Christmas markets which sell a tantalizing variety of holiday goodies: spiced hot wine, gingerbread of every variety, smoked meats, local cheeses (especially munster), and sauerkraut sauerkraut sauerkraut! Plus loads of Christmas ornaments, decorations, and gadgetry. Strasbourg being situated on the border of France and Germany (and belonging to the Germans for a spell in the 19th century), the architecture is a mix of quaint German timber-frames and the classic French style. The town, particularly bathed in the warm glow of Christmas lights (see photo at the right!), enchanted me. It was just the dose of holiday spirits that I needed!

I was sad to leave this picturesque little Christmas town. However, my next stop is the good ol' USA! I come home to Charlotte one week from today, where I'll spend some quality time with my parents. We'll be making the annual pilgrimage to my grandmother's farm in Tennessee where we'll spend Christmas, and then my best friend Carla is flying in from Boston to spend New Year's with me. January 4th I fly back to Paris. Until then... bonnes fêtes to you all, safe travels, and have a very happy new years!

Two Trips and a Conference

Paris remains quite busy for me! I've moved to my new place, and I'm happily settled in there - pictures to follow, I promise. Not that I spend much time in my room, as I am constantly exploring Paris, France in general, and doing lots of teaching and taking lots of master's seminars.

This being France, we were graced with 10 days off at the end of October, and it seemed to be the perfect time to take a trip to Bordeaux. So off I went with another American teaching assistant. Thank goodness for France's high speed train system - I found myself in the southwest of France in practically no time. There my friend Miri and I stayed with some local Bordelais that we met and saw as much of the town and region as we could.

Bordeaux is famous for two things: wine and prehistoric art. So of course, Miri and I had no choice but to embark on a randonnée de vin (translation: wine hike). It was a fantastic day-long trek guided by a bilingual local Frenchmen who led us through chateaux and vineyards, and across tiny villages tucked into the French hillside. We stopped for lunch in a tiny rural chateau where we ate a picnic of the local specialties: little smoked duck filets and rillettes, rare white asparagus, delicious cheese made from sheep's milk, and spiced bread smothered in jam. The meal was accompanied by a light red wine and a classic Bordeaux red. Later in the day we tried seven (!) more varieties of wine at the largest vineyard in the region, including the best red wine I have ever tasted (and whose name I have sadly long forgotten... I had too much wine, I suppose).

We also took the time to check out Bordeaux's regional museum, the Musée d'Aquitaine. The museum is really quite impressive because it tells the story of the people of the region from the very first people who inhabited Aquitaine - in prehistoric time, tens of thousands of years ago - through the Middle Ages, Renaissance, up through modern time. The caves of Lascaux, for example, which contain some of the oldest recorded human art, are found in the Aquitaine region. The museum is full of artifacts from the area that scan pretty much the entire record of human civilization.

Upon my return from an energizing and informative trip, I immediately got back into a serious mode with my very first academic conference. The colloquium was all about the work of Pierre Bourdieu, an influential French sociologist whose theory and research was a founding element of the school where I am getting my masters, and - not coincidentally - the most important sociologist in terms of the research I do. The conference was attended by many cutting-edge sociologists from around the world who presented their research and explained how it has been influenced by Bourdieu. I had the opportunity to meet many fascinating researchers, students, and professors. And above all, the conference helped solidify my passion for what I study, and how excited I am to be a part of this field.

My next adventure was a long weekend at my friend Laura's house in the French countryside - this time, the southeast region of France, called the Rhône. Laura is half French and half Greek, and her parents gave me an incredibly warm welcome. Her house and little village are the epitome of province - she lives in a little stone farmhouse, which she informs me is surrounded by either corn or sunflowers in the spring and summer, and they have two ponies, a dog, and two cats. We spent the weekend sleeping in, reading, walking around the village, and eating wonderful homecooked French and Greek meals.

We did take the train into Lyon one day, since it is only 45 minutes away. There we explored the old historic section of town, ate traditional Lyonnais pralines, visited beautiful cathedrals with breathtaking views over the city, and climbed over ancient Roman ruins. All in all it was a relaxing weekend in the French countryside - I now understand why so many Parisians own a second home in province! Ahhh the things I will buy when I win the French lottery.

Tout va bien!

I know, I know, I'm terribly overdue for a blog entry. My apologies for the silence, I'll make sure this post makes up for the lost time! But where to begin...

Two weeks ago I began teaching in the high school. So far I have 10 classes total that I teach - the students range in age from 15 to 27, and have a similarly enormous range of English skills! The past two weeks, I played introductory games to make my students feel more at ease speaking with me, and also showed them a photograph of my house back in Charlotte, which led into a discussion of the role of housing in the American dream. You know I can't keep sociology out of it! I think the students found it interesting - as did I! It was funny to hear what they found interesting about my house: the mailbox, the long driveway, the big yard, the American flag on the corner. Most of my students - and most people in France, especially Paris - live in small apartments in town. Very different from the suburban America that I grew up in, to say the least.

I've now had two different orientation sessions for my master's program at l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales. At both meetings, I felt so reassured that I've made the right choice pursuing my masters at l'EHESS. The school, its history, the professors and researchers, the other students are all my kind of people - intellectually curious, eager to do research, pushing the boundaries of current knowledge, challenging everything taken for granted. I think it's going to be a great bridge between Wesleyan and my doctoral studies (wherever those will be...!). My courses (which mostly consist of small research seminars - an anomaly in France!) begin next week and I am SO excited about this. I'm really hungry for some intellectual challenges, and I can't wait to learn sociology from the French perspective.

Finally, it is with much relief that I can officially say that I have found housing! Yesterday I responded to a small announcement I found on a bulletin board at school for a room in a woman's apartment. I called and she immediately invited me over. We both clicked and so I will be moving in next week. This is an immense load off my shoulders, because I have spent a lot of time, money, energy, and stress trying to find a place. Apparently Paris is now officially the second most expensive housing market in the world, after Tokyo. The location is truly ideal, a good place in between my master's classes and the high school where I teach. It's on the tenth floor, so I have a magnificent view of Paris from my room - and from the kitchen, I can see all of Paris, including the Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur, and Montparnasse Tower. Not too shabby! Not to mention the price is extremely affordable, and the woman with whom I'll be living is very nice and welcoming. I can't wait to finally have a place to call home!

Welcome (back) to Paris!

I've been in Paris over ten days now, and it really feels as though I never left! As soon as I arrived, everything felt familiar and right, kind of like I was 'home' again. My flight came in very early Monday morning, and I took a long cab ride from the airport to the monastery where I am staying for the moment. With the help of two nuns, I somehow managed to carry all of my suitcases up to the third floor where my room is located. It's a pretty nice room - I have a small bedroom with a bed and desk, and a large walk-in closet plus a bathroom with a shower and toilet. There are 30 girls living at the monastery, all of them in college here in Paris. They're all French, except for one, who is Taiwanese and doesn't speak much French and who prefers to speak to me in English. It is definitely a good opportunity for me to practice my conversational French skills and to meet French people my age. We're all served breakfast and dinner together, although I am very sad to report that the food is simply awful! But since it's included in the price of the room, I have a hard time justifying buying other food when I know I can eat for free...

These past two weeks have been filled with formal and informal meetings for the other teaching assistants. Thanks to the wonders of Facebook, we've all been able to communicate with each other and there were a few outings organized amongst the assistants. The assistants are not just English-speaking Americans - they represent languages and countries from all over the world. They're really a diverse group of people in terms of age, background, origin, etc, and it's really neat that I get to hang out with such fascinating people!

Next week I begin teaching at the high school, and I also have my first class for my master's. However, much of France will be on strike beginning on Tuesday, so I'm not quite sure if the high school and/or my university will be functioning! Ah the joys of France. In the meantime, the weather here is simply beautiful and I am off to enjoy a weekend of picnicking, museuming, and general enjoyment!

Deja Vu!

I don't think that I ever imagined that I'd write another entry on this blog... yet here I am, preparing once again to leave for Paris! Funny how similar I feel now as to when I was preparing to leave for Paris the first time - nervous, excited, anxious, and generally overwhelmed.
I am planning to fly out of Charlotte on Monday morning. I'll be flying standby on Delta, so this means an obligatory connection in Atlanta. Hopefully I will then catch an afternoon flight to Paris so that I arrive in France early Tuesday morning.
I'll have Tuesday and Wednesday to recover from jetlag, take care of some basics (cell phone, hairdryer, bank account, etc), and then Thursday I have my first meeting with the English teacher who I will be working with at the high school where I'll be a teaching assistant. Friday is the general meeting for all teaching assistants. Thankfully, the orientation for my master's program isn't until October 25, so I have a while to settle in with my teaching job before I have to worry about being a student myself.
Unlike the last time I left for Paris, all of the arrangements and logistics are left up to me. There's no group flight, no one to meet me at the airport, no one to make sure I get from the airport to where I'm staying, no one to help make sure customs goes smoothly. This both thrills and terrifies me, and I think is an accurate microcosm for the experience I'm about to embark upon. It will be truly a French experience in that I must learn to se débrouiller: a fantastic French phrase meaning 'to figure things out for oneself.' There is a lot left to do, a lot that is unknown, but that is all part of the adventure, I suppose...!
Hopefully the next entry will come to you from la belle France. A bientôt !