Sunday, October 2, 2011

Sightseeing and setbacks: my 5th week in Paris

Well, I suppose it is about time to give you guys the old weekly update, so hopefully my computer and the internet in my apartment will cooperate long enough for me to write a complete post here. My internet has been on the fritz for about 4 days now, and it pretty much does what it wants, so hopefully it won't decide after I write my post that it doesn't want to let me submit it.Anyways

I have suffered a pretty major setback to my plans of staying over here in France and teaching here for a year, so much so that I may have to return to the States at the end of this month, but I'll get to that later. I'd rather talk about the lighter side of this week first.

Last Friday, I went out with some of my classmates to Cafe OZ, this Aussie bar, to celebrate our completing our course and being certified to teach English as a foreign language. I probably mentioned this in my last blog, so I will just say that I had a blast, although I spent WAY too much money and drank way too much alcohol, as we were there from maybe 6:30pm to 3am or so. The point of me reiterating this was to say that after Friday, I literally spent around 36 or so hours straight in my apartment, holed up with my internet and not much else, because I felt so terrible.

I ventured out on Saturday to get something to kill my outrageous headache and to get some McDonald's for the first time in probably 6 months at least, but Sunday I didn't leave my flat at all. I felt like a total vampire. Haha! Since I know you're curious, the McDonalds was pretty similar to American McDonald's, except that they still did the "add bacon for x amount of cents to any sandwich" thing, which I did, and that you can get Big Macs with wheat buns. Yes, I got two burgers. I was hungry. They also have weird menu options (you can get a value meal with 2 Big Macs, or 2 Royales, for example) and some things they don't have in America (like a "Croque Mcdo," which is like a McDonald's version of the traditionally French Croque Monsieur sandwich), but besides these two things, it seemed pretty similar. I think they sell beer there too, and the actual restaurant was much nicer than they are in the States, but I really didn't mean to spend so much time talking about McDonald's, so I will move on.

Monday, I decided that I had to get out of my apartment, so I walked to this really neat park called "Le Jardin de Reuilly" which is about a 15 minute walk from my apartment. I unwittingly took the long way there, which took about 30 minutes on foot, but the plus side of this was that I got to see a really neat fountain, perhaps the coolest one I've seen since I've been here. It was like a normal fountain with a big basin and a fountain in the middle (I believe), but what made it awesome in my opinion was that all around the outside of the basin, it had these huge metal lions that were spewing water from their mouths into another basin. I want to go back and take a picture of it. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow. So the actual park was pretty cool as well. It had a reasonably large (for Paris) expanse of grass in the middle, with a rather large, elevated foot bridge that carried you over the grassy part, and all along the periphery of the park were these little paths filled with beautiful flowers and other neat looking foliage.

Part of the periphery of the park with these little pathways looked down on the street below (the park itself was elevated above street level), and I enjoyed myself watching cars go by, or people walking to the bus stop, etc. The park also had a playground for the wee ones, lots of areas amidst the paths that were set up with benches to sit down and relax on, a little pool that I think was supposed to be a fountain (but it wasn't working), a little court with which to play games on, I think, and a few very neat looking statues situated amongst the garden paths. It was a really nice experience, and it allowed me a little time to relax, reflect, and soak in the beautiful weather. It was so hot on Monday that I saw several people in the park in swim suits, catching some rays. And it is still pretty hot, even though it's October...we are regularly having days where the high temps are in the high 70s or low 80s, still.

So, also to make myself feel better, I started working out again on Monday for the first time since I had been here, going on a 30 minute run and doing 100 sit ups and 60 push ups. It did make me feel a lot better, and I slept wonderfully on Monday night. I have worked out 2 more times since then, and would like to try to work out 5 timers next week, instead of 3 times. It's good to have goals. :)

I didn't do much on Tuesday either, but Wednesday, I decided to walk to the Notre Dame, since I was running short on cash and found out that it's only about a 40 minute walk from my apartment, which really isn't all that bad. The Notre Dame is probably hands-down the most beautiful church I have ever stepped foot in, and even though I'm no longer a very religious person, I couldn't help but feel moved while in that church. I even sat down and prayed silently for about 5 or 10 minutes, after I had walked around and checked out everything there was to check out in the church. The architecture is just beautiful, as are the stained glass windows and the chandeliers. There is also some pretty magnificent artwork in there, and all along the periphery of the church, there are little rooms dedicated to certain people who helped make the church what it is (Archbishops of Paris, etc).

It also had a really intricate and almost 600 year old wood carving of the apparitions of Jesus, like when he appeared to all of the different people (Mary, Peter, etc) after his death. Also, I stayed long enough to luck into a little 30 minute mass, said entirely in French, and I thought this was a real treat to see. The only difference I noticed was that there was a lot more focus put on the burning of incense, and that they didn't do communion. They just sung some songs (with the help of a hidden female singer with a beautiful voice), read some readings (including a gospel reading), burned some incense, and did some call and response stuff. The organ in that place sounded amazing, and I was really moved. I intend to return there sometime this week, so that I can light some candles, say some prayers for some people specifically, see the bells and the tower (that cost 4 Euro and I had no money on me), and maybe buy a few souvenirs for the people in my life who would treasure that sort of thing...Dad and Mamie, I'm looking at you here. How would a rosary from a more than 800 year old church suit you?

So then on Thursday, I had another interview, but they told me the same thing everyone else has told me so far: that without having my working papers in order, they couldn't help me. More on this in a minute.

Friday, I went to the U.S. Embassy, where I received my very bad news, and then I walked to L'Arc du Triomphe and the Champs Elysee, which is basically just like a big shopping district, but that I still thought was pretty cool. They had a Disney store, a Swarovsky crystal store, a big Virgin records store, a Gap, a big movie theater, and all sort of other nice-looking shops (Luis Vuitton, etc). It seems like this is one of the premier shopping districts in the world, and I am thankful I didn't bring very much money with me, or I would have been tempted to buy something...at the very least, a souvenir from one of the many little souvenir shops that are in this area.

L'Arc du Triomphe was really neat though...it's basically like a big war memorial to all the people who have fought for France, and all the wars it has been in. I knew this, but had forgotten it, so I thought maybe I should tell you what it is. Again, I took a ton of pictures, despite the batteries in my camera dying, and I had a great time exploring basically the last "big" Parisian monument that I had yet to see...I have actually never seen L'Arc du Triomphe up close, since we didn't get to that when I visited here the first time. I also plan on coming back here, since if you wanted to go up in the monument, it cost 9 Euro, and I had very little money on me at the time. On second thought, the monument is very tall, and I don't know how much I would like being on top of it, since I'm not the biggest fan of heights and all that. But I will think about it. I'm sure it has a really cool view of Paris from the top of it, so I may just have to try to squash my fears so I can take some awesome pictures. But anyways, to describe the monument itself, it's just like a big square arch with 4 legs, and awesome carvings and statues and people's names carved all over it. It also has plaques all over the ground in remembrance of those who gave their lives for France in the various wars France was involved in, and a memorial for an unidentified French soldier, complete with a huge plaque and one of those eternal flames at one end of it. It was really neat, and I felt like I learned something about France's history as well. Also, it had a really cool view of La Defense, the city's downtown area, with all the skyscrapers, from the center of the monument, so that was neat to see as well.

Last night, I went out with my friend Angus and his Italian friend Rico that he met at one of the hostels he was staying at over here. They came over for drinks at about 7:30 at night, since drinks in bars are ridiculously expensive and to drink before going out saves us money. We hung out, drank, and chatted until about 9:30, and then we hopped on the Metro to go to one of Rico's friend's birthday parties. She had rented out a bar, so we got in for free, and there was free food and cheap drinks all night long, which made me happy. Unfortunately, after leaving the bar, our nights took a definite turn for the worse.

Last night was "Nuit Blanche," a night in which, we were told, a lot of shops were open all night, they had cool art shows and gallery openings and music in certain places, the metro was open later, etc. The bad part was that we found none of these festivities, missed the last Metro because it didn't stay open later than we thought, almost got the cops called on our group because we were apparently being a little rowdy in the metro station, went with Rico (Angus and I did) and this girl he liked instead of going and doing our own thing, and then had to walk literally 3 hours or more back to my apartment. It didn't seem like any of the cabs wanted to pick us up, and we didn't find any place that was open, not even to get a bite to eat, until we were almost back to my place. Also, I somehow twisted my ankle in the course of the evening, and it has been really sore today. So sore that I had to walk around with a limp, and honestly haven't spent all that much time on my feet today. But I am still in Paris, so that's something. ;)

Now, for my setback. I hate to end on such a negative note, but I feel like I have to get this out of my system, and to let everyone know about it. When I went to the Embassy on Friday, they gave me a handout that made it very clear that I most likely won't be able to stay over here to teach. It said a number of times in the handout that Americans can't come to France with only a 90 day traveler's Visa, like the one I have, and expect to exchange it for either a working or a student Visa.

Getting a working Visa is pretty much impossible as an American, so I was hoping I would be able to get a student Visa by taking a class or two and staying here to teach, if nothing else, as a last resort for staying here. But apparently, if I wanted to get a student Visa, I should have done this BEFORE coming over here, by applying at a French consulate in the U.S. There's one in Chicago, and if my advisor from the TEFL institute, Brian Kruk, who I had been talking to for the entire month before I came over here, had TOLD me that's what I had to do, I would have just done it, since we had a month to prepare for me coming over here. Brian told me more than once (I asked several times because it didn't sound right to me, even then) that all I would need is my traveler's Visa, and I would be able to figure everything out after I got here.

Now, if I wanted to get my student Visa, I would have to return home, and to be honest, if I come back home, I'm not coming back to France. I wrote Brian an angry e-mail though, and I am hoping there is some kind of a loophole that isn't just for me to overstay my traveler's Visa and to try to support myself by doing under-the-table jobs (because that wouldn't help me with one of my main goals, to boost my resume up), or that he can find me work in some other country that I wouldn't mind being in, but to be honest, I think the chances of this happening are very slight. I honestly wouldn't mind returning home, and I am already sending out resumes for jobs in St. Louis that I heard about before leaving, I just don't want my Dad to be upset that he paid for all of this and that it didn't work out. But if there's really no legitimate way for me to stay in France, and I did all I could do, then I feel like he has to understand. Right?

Also, I feel like I should have done some more research on my own into the Visa situation, instead of just believing whatever Brian told me, but as he was my advisor, I figured he knew what he was talking about, and I trusted him a great deal. It's unfortunate that me trusting someone like this has blown up in my face again, but hopefully some good will come out of it, and I can just move back home and find an ESL job, or substitute teach full time, both of which would allow me to get my own place and be more independent, which were a few of the things I wanted to get out of this experience regardless. And at least I got a new certification and can apply for a wider spectrum of jobs now, and I got a great amount of experience from it all. Maybe I'll be seeing everyone a lot sooner than we expected. But I should wrap this up, as I have rambled on now for what feels like days and have therefore said everything I wanted to. Besides, it's about 8:30pm, and I'm starting to get hungry. I hope you enjoy reading this, and if things change regarding my situation I will of course update you, but as of right now, it looks like you all will be getting to see me a lot sooner than we all expected. Have a good week, friends! I love you all. A bientot!

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