La vie parisienne d'Alana

Le mercredi 6 juin What seemed like a last-minute decision to venture back to Montmartre turned into one of the most impressionable days of my return to France.   With the ominous, grey clouds hinting at rain, I hopped on the Place d’Italie metro towards the somewhat seedy Place Pigalle stop for Sacré Coeur.  The metro’s overhead announcement always cautions tourists - “Attention aux pickpockets - ils montent ici.”  Basilique du Sacré Coeur is my favorite monument in Paris.  Whenever friends ask for recommendations when visiting the City of Lights, I always give this as my number one go-to.  It’s not just the amazing panoramic view when you finally reach the basilica, or the souvenir shop-lined street before you ascend the steps, or the calm of the candles and respectful silence once inside, or the Byzantine style of painted religious figures beckoning you to look up towards God.  No!  The part of Sacré Coeur that many never see ...

Le mardi 5 juin Before I start, I want to dedicate this post to all of my French teachers, especially Madame Long (formerly Sigg), all of my French classmates throughout the years from PVHS, Cal, or UCLA, and all of my current and past French students.  I have dedicated many years and hours to learning and teaching the language (17 to be exact!), and being here in Paris feels very right at this point in my life.  Learning this language and culture has been a never-ending journey for me. I started off the day with a plan. I headed to the Bobigny market en plein air.  I walked through as vendors shouted “Bonjour, Madame!”  One offered me une cerise (a cherry) to taste. I ended up buying a half-kilo of cherries (remember - everything here is measured in the metric system), a melon, and a packet of raspberries - all organic, all for 4 euros. I was proud of myself for not being intimidated and getting through all of the transactions in French.  There was al...

Le lundi 4 juin I woke up at about 5:30 am to visit the downstairs coffee machine in the rez-de-chaussee of Citadines.  What does a Parisienne wear downstairs in the morning when she might be seen?  I wore a grey pajama dress, my black leather flats and a grey cardigan.  ← Looking back, perhaps I took the “effortless” of Parisian womens’ effortless elegance a little too literally.  Sadly, the coffee machine wasn’t working and so I settled for green tea and hot water.  A few hours later when the city was waking up, I went back downstairs to find the coffee machine still not working. More tea it is! I grabbed a copy of Le Figaro and Le Monde and flipped through the titles.  In France there is a big discussion happening currently over whether separate schools for boys and girls are equal; a lot of parents are in favor of la non-mixitié and argue that it increases young girls’ confidence when they aren’t in class with male peers.  The news is a...

Le dimanche 3 juin After some hesitation, I have decided to blog about my time in the City of Lights.  Why the hesitation, you ask?  I sometimes worry that the time spent composing blogs and my use of technology might detract from the authentic cultural experience of being present in the city about which I’m writing.  But heck, it’s Paris. I want to remember this forever. I ended up on my way to Paris when I spotted an extremely inexpensive flight through a new discount airline called French Bee.  I found a ticket for, get this, under $500 round-trip direct on kayak.com.  It departed the day after I was out of school and I couldn’t say no.   The flight was agreeable aside from the two-hour delay caused by the airport’s immigration holding more than 70 passengers. (I guess it’s just a sign of the political times; it’s a difficult time to be an immigrant in our country under our current presidential administration, as well as in other parts...