First day of classes. Horses. Groceries. Mobile phones.

When we last left our heroine she was trying not to fall asleep on a bus. You will be pleased to learn that the effort was successful. I made it to 10 p.m. last night for a total of 34 hours without (almost without) sleep. This accomplishment was only made possible by the massive level of activity that yesterday demanded. Being a site director is very rewarding but very busy. We're always working on current situations and keeping an eye out for future opportunities or problems. I am pretty proud of myself, not just for high-powered sleep deprivation but also for taking the lead on checking students into our building and other acts of Francophone interaction. This year we are split between 2 maisons. I am in Maison des Étudiants de l'Asie du Sud-Est. The house is very pretty on the outside and nice inside as well. I have a huge desk, more shelves than I can use, and a big beautiful tree outside my window. We got checked in last night in record time, took the students on a VERY short tour of their immediate surroundings, went to dinner, ran over to the Institut Protestant de Théologie (our classroom building) to show some new faculty members where it is, and by the time I made it back from that trip it was time to call Mom & Dad and then go to bed!

This morning started early: I walked a group of students over to IPT at 7:40 before teaching my class at 8:30. It was a beautiful clear, chilly morning that turned into a very warm afternoon, really a perfect day for running around town. Worked in the program office after class, had a nice outdoor faculty meeting in the back courtyard, and then managed to beg off for a few hours to get some much-needed groceries and stuff for my room. After a little bit of excess walking I got to Carrefour, where I managed to remember to buy lotion and sunscreen and thus save myself about 20€ over buying them in a pharmacie. (I do love pharmacies, though. They are oddly clinical and posh at the same time.) On the way back I stopped in at Bazar de Porte d'Orleans, a totally necessary but very weird store of a kind seen frequently in Paris. It's like a dollar store crossed with a garage sale, where you can buy one spoon, an incense burner, a 3€ bath towel, and a cell phone cover in a store about the size of my dorm room here. While the cashier was ringing me up I noticed a piece of Arabic calligraphy on the wall behind her and we had a little conversation about Ramadan and whether fasting is difficult. She says "If you have the will power to do it, you really don't think about it after a while." That is some serious strength of mind, especially since the days are so long here. She said she can only eat between about 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. I couldn't do it, especially not here where we walk so much.

Finally I had to return to IPT to meet students who wanted to go to the Orange store to get phones/SIM cards. It turned out to be a large group and a small store. After taking the first few students inside and using my best translation skills it became clear that another approach was needed. We encouraged independent research followed by a return to the store in a smaller group. God bless the gentleman that waited on us. Customer service gets a bad rap in France but everyone I've dealt with the past two days has been a gem. The front desk staff in our maison has already seen too much of me and been very kind. The lady at the post office gave me directions and was only a little skeptical when I asked if I could use a card without a chip in the ATM machine. (La Banque Postale is a subsidiary of the French postal service--could be something for the USPS to consider as a solution to their liquidity problem!)

Funny things from today:

• On Boulevard Jourdan near Cité U. I saw four large vans (like tour buses but without windows) whose livery indicated that they carried horses. One specified that it contained the horses belonging to Qatar's national equestrian team. I was glad I saw them because it reminded me that I'd seen an equestrian event advertised. Some Googling got me to Paris Eiffel Jumping, which is this weekend and which unfortunately is sold out. Quel bummer! 
• I was asked for directions twice today. Why does this continue to happen?

In short, everything is happening and nothing is happening. It's a million small things a day. To be honest, when I agreed to be site director I was not sure I was ready for it, but having that challenge to rise to is good for me. Pushing myself to wade in and take care of things is good for my confidence. And having been here before makes a huge difference. I'm surprised at how much I remember from last year without even having to try. 

We are all excited for tomorrow evening when we have a dinner cruise on the Seine. Can't wait to get my camera out! Photos incoming!

Paris, we are in you.

It's been  an epic, hectic day of travel that is, as of this writing, still ongoing. I left Macon at 11 a.m. EDT yesterday (June 30), flew overnight from Atlanta to Frankfurt, had a short layover in Frankfurt, then on to Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport--which is not in Paris at all, as everyone knows. There are 85 students in the group this year plus 10 faculty members, so we were split among a total of 3 flights for the trip over here. Some of us had to wait at Frankfurt for a later connection to Paris; some got to come to Paris right away but then had to wait for the rest. A lucky few flew directly from ATL to CDG.  We finally got everyone and all the bags collected in to 2 buses and now we are en route to Cité Universitaire. Barely moving, but en route. Ah, la circulation Parisienne.

It's been a long day but everything has gone well. The Lufthansa flights were very good (again) and my colleague Dr. Mauldin said the Delta flight was excellent. No one lost any bags or missed their connection. I have already gotten to speak French to a few unsuspecting citizens of the republic and even got a café waiter in the airport to laugh at my joke about wanting my coffee to be "jet lag size." It must be said that I have terrible décalage horaire. One day, perhaps, I will master the art of sleeping on planes. As it is I'm sure I slept less than an hour and have thus been awake for the better part of 28 hours. The end is in sight. Check in at Cité, small walking tour of the immediate area, cafeteria dinner, and then I will set a record for most blissfully comfortable sleep in a dorm bed.

Plus, les Bleus won their soccer match last night. And I got to watch Banksy: Exit Through The Gift Shop on the plane. And I have already had a stroke-inducingly strong cup of French coffee. Now if I can just avoid falling asleep on this bus ride. No sleep till the 14th arrondissement! (As the Beastie Boys never said.)

French Trains For Noobs

Most of us from non-train-taking parts of the country are perplexed, at least at first, by the wealth of rail-based transit offerings in Paris and throughout France. Maybe we group them together under the broad heading of "The Train" (or even "The Métro") and try to generalize about them on that basis. However, the generalizations will not be sound or helpful. Herewith, what I've learned about French trains so far. May it serve you well. (And may you correct me if I get things wrong.)

You should know that there are (approximately) 3 types of trains that will take you around and in and out of Paris. They are:

• The Métro: The métro is what New Yorkers would know as the subway or Londoners would know as the Tube. It runs (mostly) underground within Paris, with trains running every few minutes from roughly 6 a.m. to midnight. It is run by the RATP, Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (Paris Public Transit Company, which also runs the buses and tramways within Paris). If you have a transit pass such as a Navigo you can use it on pretty much any métro train, bus, or tramway and also on the funicular that takes you up the Butte de Montmartre to Sacre-Coeur. 
• The RER: The RER is a small train that runs within Paris and out to the Paris suburbs. The letters stand for Réseau Express Régionale, i.e. Regional Express Network. For certain destinations within Paris it is easier to take the RER than the métro. If you go outside the city center to a place like Euro Disney or Charles de Gaulle Airport, you will take the RER. It is run jointly by the RATP and the SNCF, Societé Nationale des Chemins de fer Français (French National Railway Company, which also runs the grands lignes). The RER, like the métro, runs from roughly 6 a.m. to midnight. Your Navigo will take you only so far on the RER, so be careful. If you are going to Charles de Gaulle, for example, you will have to pay extra because it's a longer trip.
• The grands lignes ("major lines"): Run by the SNCF, these are proper trains that will take you from the main train stations in Paris to other cities in France and beyond. For this type of train you have to buy a ticket and, in many cases, get a reserved seat. They leave from one of the seven main stations depending on the direction/region they serve. The hours are more limited because the journeys are longer. The SNCF runs several different types of trains, including the well-known TGV high-speed train. 

If you know the differences among trains you can figure out how to get where you need to go and how to pay for it. The métro and RER are very easy and fast once you learn to use them. The major lines are a great way to see some countryside en route to your destination.

Leaving France to learn French?

Longtime readers (both of you) may remember that Ta-Nehisi Coates of The Atlantic was in Paris last summer at the same time I was. I recently started following Mr. Coates on Twitter (@tanehesicoates) in time to discover that he will be in Vermont this summer studying French at the Middlebury Language School. Middlebury is really serious about immersion.

I am pretty jealous.

Mr. Coates posted this write-up and video about his summer plans. Be sure to watch the video; it's a hoot. So much for my hopes of running into him on the street this summer but what a cool thing to do.

We Talk Pretty

When I read David Sedaris's Me Talk Pretty One Day, I laughed until I cried on multiple occasions. Listening to this segment from This American Life is even better: still funny, but also profound. Ultimately he gives a good answer to the question of why we take the risk of entering a foreign culture: the slight strangeness of everything and the need for heightened observation are exciting (albeit occasionally defeating). It is probably preferable to experience gaffes in foreign countries as adventures rather than as humiliations--unless one is David Sedaris and can make such fantastic material out of the humiliations.

Also, frankly, I love the way he transliterates his hardware-store French. "And now I have come to find a table that might work with my iron."
Him Talk Pretty Three Days

Student Orientation: mission accomplished!

Yesterday was the European Council program's student orientation meeting in Milledgeville. Second to the actual departure day for Paris, orientation day is the most exciting on the program calendar. Students get to meet each other, professors meet their classes, everyone learns way too much about packing, changing money, and beating jet lag, and overall, stuff gets real. I have a great group of students this year: a mix of experienced travelers and newbies with a wide variety of majors. Since I am teaching World Literature, we had an interesting discussion about reasons to study World Lit. in a foreign city. This group has some good ideas and I am eager to work with them in Paris.

As co-Site Director I also got to give part of the orientation presentation to the full group. Since pre-trip preparations are a topic near and dear to my heart I talked about what to pack and about what to do with/about money. It's clear that my only shortcoming (ha) is that I do not use a hair straightener. Students with their long, glossy tresses are extremely interested in whether to pack a straightener or buy one. My heartfelt response as a person with maybe 2" of hair is "Just have curly hair!" I do not use a straightener and, when abroad, I do not even use a blow-dryer. But "Why Short Hair is Better" is a topic for an entirely different blog. For the record: everything I've heard suggests that straighteners respond badly (they either don't heat up all the way or they blow out/burn out) when used with a voltage converter. Thus, one would be better off buying one on arrival.

Or you could just have curly hair.

43 days to departure. Is it too soon to start packing?

Paris 2014: The countdown is on!

After today's European Council faculty meeting I can officially say that I have my field trips planned (except for one--still weighing a couple of options) and I already have an exciting treat to look forward to in the first week:

My colleague Dr. Chen, who teaches theatre, has some great excursions planned including this one. She was kind enough to invite other faculty and students to join in. Getting to see a ballet at the Opéra Garnier is amazing enough. Getting to go two years in a row . . . I can hardly believe my luck! 

Student orientation in 28 days. Departure for Paris in 72 days. But who's counting?