J'arrive.

I've been in Paris for a little over a week now, sorry for not updating! Housing is a nightmare, I haven't found anyone who has been successful at finding their own living space. Except for those who have agreed to au pair or babysit. So I've been a bit preoccupied with that. But, definitely trying to be optimistic about it.

I went to my lycée today to meet the head of the English department. On my way there, I was mistaken for a German (twice). I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not, but I suppose I'm at least blending into the European vibe. It's quite a ways outside of Paris, but it seems to be in a quaint suburb.

The English department director is very nice, I will be teaching what seem to be called "European Classes" which are classes taught for the large part in English but concern various issues around Europe. My focus will be with the Economics and History classes. I'm not supposed to speak French at all (except for in the exclusive company of the other teachers at the high school). I got a tour of the school and they said I could take any book I want out from the library! How fabulous! I got a set of keys and also my computer log-in, which is excellent! The department head said I could also brink my laptop in case I wanted to use a projector for anything (which will be useful when I somehow find a way to tie in Arrested Development to my lesson plans...). I start my real first day on Monday, with introductions. I teach 3 days a week (Monday, Thursday, and Friday) for 4 hours at a time. I'm actually excited to meet the students and see (if) how well they can understand what I'm saying!

Here are a few other tidbits that happened in the first week of my arrival:

1. Opened a French bank account. This proved to be difficult due to the language barrier. Since I'm out in the suburbs it's increasingly difficult to find someone who speaks English and although I was confident in my French speaking abilities before I got here, I've found out that I'm somewhat lacking. Especially with financial lingo. But the woman who helped me was very patient and was able to open my account without any problems!

2. I've been mistaken for a French person approximately twice. Once by an actual French person! Though, when I start speaking, it's quite obvious that I'm not French at all (so obvious, in fact, that apparently I used a phrase "too vulgar to be repeated" in a bar. Well, that's probably not the first time that has happened, but it's the first time it's happened to me while speaking French!)

3. Successfully navigated the métro (and bought a permanent metro pass!) and only got lost once, and it was entirely my fault for not paying attention to where I was going.

4. Ate some traditional French cuisine and met up with other assistants, who are all so fabulous and I would be having a very hard time adjusting without!

FWOTD:
Bienvenue (adj.): Welcome

Une fois un blaireau, toujours un blaireau

It's two weeks until I officially leave for Paris. I wasn't planning on writing another blog post until I arrived, but I can't think of a good enough reason NOT to write this post. As many of you know, the Teaching Assistants in and around Paris (for the most part) are responsible for finding their own housing. This is nerve-wrecking as many of the landlords in and around Paris are not comfortable with leasing to Americans (or foreigners in general) which shrinks the available housing pool for all the assistants who are arriving around the same time as each other. So, I'm trying to exhaust all ideas in the search for an apartment.

Fortunately, this lead me to find out that there is a Wisconsin Alumni Association chapter in France (most of the members are in or near Paris). After e-mailing the provided contacts about possible tips for finding housing and standing out as a lessee, one of the alumnus very generously offered for me to stay with her for a few days until I found a place on my own. The outward hospitality and graciousness of the Badger alumni on behalf of a recent grad inspired me to write this post. I know that many people from their various universities swear up and down that theirs is the best or at least "better than yours". I respect their loyalty to their universities, but I have to say, even as an alumnus, Wisconsin continues to outdo itself and inspire me. 

Not many people would blindly take a recent college graduate into their home solely with the knowledge that this grad went to Wisconsin and is moving to Paris to be a Teaching Assistant. Even fewer people would offer to additionally pick this alumnus up from the airport so that they don't have to lug their bags around the Metro or pay for a cab on their meager income. After graduating in May, I knew my time as a Badger would never really come to an end, because as they say "Once a Badger, always a Badger", but this experience was a realization of the interconnected web that are the Wisconsin Alumni and how fortunate I am to be a part of such a widespread and proud group. I'm hoping one day I'll be able to pay it forward in as big of a way as this Badger helped me.

For those of you who aren't Badger alumni, I hope this post at least inspires you to believe that there are decent, kind, and wholehearted people left in the world and you really don't have to look too far to find them. And if that point didn't get across, well, just watch this Badger video* for laughs anyway.

FWOTD: Blaireau (n.): Badger

*-video contains vulgarity, not appropriate for children or my mom (sorry).