Basically these are the excuses I'm giving for not having updated in quite awhile. The reason being was a recent trip to Marseille this past weekend. In anticipation of this weekend away, I had to work ahead on an oral group expose that I was presenting on Monday. Added with moving on Wednesday, last week was so packed I neglected my "postcard" writing. Fortunately, I had some time to reflect on the past few weeks on the train rides to and from Marseille.
I think my banking woes are almost all behind me. Two wednesdays ago my bank almost made me cry. I might have, if I hadn't had to go straight to the metro and off the salsa class, which of course but me in a much better mood. At that point I'd been in Paris for just over three weeks and still didn't have a french bank account or cell phone number. Having not received any notifications by email or mail from my bank account of my account I had started opening two weeks preceding, I thought I'd just pop in and see about my password, account slips (RIB), chequebook and bank card were ready. This is kindof the way the ensuing hour of waiting and dialogue with four various french bank agents went:
- "Oh yes, looks like your card has been here for a little while. Oh you didn't get an email? That's too bad. Well you can't use the card until we send you your pin in the mail, which you don't get to choose, which you should have received by now. You didn't? Ok, we'll resend it. Until then, the card is no good. No we can't just tell you the pin, its sent to you confidentially. Yes we can just print off the RIB's you need so you can get a metro pass (but we couldn't do that when you asked two weeks ago). Looks like we forgot to order your chequebook, which you need to get a cell phone. You'll have to wait another 8-10 business days. We won't notify you when its here. You can just come back and waste an hour of your life struggling to understand us speak really quickly about your financial future.
I love French banking customer service.
After that horrible banking experience, things have been looking up. Despite being unable to set up online banking just yet, and still not chequebook, I was able to use my French bank card for the first time last Friday! So exciting! It was very handy because in France, automated machines don't accept foreign credit cards. Very inconvenient, and shatters the myth that the credit card is supposed to work everywhere. They will accept Euro mastercard, but not regular mastercard. Frustrating? I thought so. But now I have a French card that will work everywhere! Hooray!
On to the cell phone dramas. Despite having been told that to get a contract I needed to present a void cheque with my RIB from my French bank, I decided I couldn't survive any longer with my canadian number racking up long distance charges and headed out to try and get un mobile. Success! Incredible I know. I managed to convince the lovely staff at SFR the give me a contract with only the RIB (which allows direct account transactions) and bring back a cheque as soon as I get them. New number 33 (0)6 22 97 93 78. BB pin for all you blackberry users is 22FA26E68.
After all those troubles, I was really looking forward to that weekend. The highlight was going to see an English band, Mumford & Sons, with my friend Tom from groupe Madeleine. The previous Friday, Tom had mentioned he had an extra ticket to see them and I jumped on. I started loving them this summer while listening to good old 98.9 the Drive everyday at work. Best call ever. The show was at a very a very intimate club in the 19th - Le Trabendo. About 300 people or so at most in attendence. Tom and I managed to score and got within 2 metes of the stage! It was an absolutely incredible show,
and being so close to the stage was unreal - the energy of the club was great. Added bonus of 4euro beers put us in an even better mood. As if the night couldn't get much better, we waited around after the show with a cool young French couple and got to snag picture with the lead singer Marcus and the keyboard/accordion player Ben! They both seemed super down to earth and I still can't believe we were so lucky.
Tom and I reveling after the show.
Picture with Marcus!
I have also come to realize that Paris' biggest default is the night transportation system. After the concert Tom and I met up with some other friends to go out. We ended up failing at that plan so Glenn, Marina, Tom and I just went for food. So necessary, as in our excitement to get to the show Tom and I both had neglected to have dinner. This mission for food distracted us however and we missed the last metro. We decided to night bus home. After finding the right line the other 3, we assumed my bus stop was across the street. No such luck. Despite the number of bus stations, apparently night buses only ran in one direction around that street. I then spent the next 45 min trying to find my bus route, with no success despite intense consultation of the map. Exasperated, tired, cold and wet, I decided to bite the bullet and just cab home, seeing as it was 3am. Not one, two, but three cabs all turned me down because I live "too far". I was shocked. It couldnt have been more than a 25 min drive to my place from there, and I couldn't believe they would turn down a girl alone on the street in the rain at that hour. Needless to say I was a bit distraught, but fortunately I was able to get a hold of Tom and crash on his floor for the rest of night. In retrospect I could have cabbed to the city center and then taken another cab from there, but really, for Paris being such an amazing city at night, the transportation sucks. I really understood at that time why people stay up until 5:30 or 6am before heading home if they've missed the last metro.
As I mentioned before, after that weekend, the week the week of Sept. 27th was really busy. I suddenly realized that readings were piling up and needed to be dealt with and school overall was catching up with me. I had to work even harder with my pending Marseille trip, decided on Monday, departing Friday morning. I had to step up my game what with moving on Sunday and wednesday all my stuff over to my new apartment! So far the apartment is working out spectacularly. I love my room - it is bright and overlooks a courtyard of an old nunnery, giving a sense of calm that is fabulous. I have a massive closet that spans an entire wall, a big desk and a double bed. A student's heaven. My roommate Etienne, is super chill, and this week I got to meet his mother, Gaelle, as she was in Paris for a medical appointment. She is your classic mother figure, making us a delicious home cooked meal, taking us out for dinner twice and insisting I make a trip to visit their family home in Bretagne on my list. Having a sense of family for the first time in a month was so nice, and having the feeling of having an actual home to come home to is a rarity for a Paris student that I am sure I will appreciate.
Also this week I got to take part of a very sweet Sciences Po tradition called the Diner de Conference. Essentially, in all of your small electives, your class delegate organizes a dinner out as a class with the teacher to meet and socialize with your other classmates. I had mine for my Chilean history class on Monday night. Not only was the food really good at this nice Chilean restaurant in the 19th, but it was very valuable to get to know the other students in the class, many of whom are French. As an international student, its easy to make friends with primarily other exchange students, so I always relish getting to meet actual frenchies. It was also sweet talking to our teacher, who is a leader in her field of Chilean history during the Allende government and Pinochet dictatorship. Now when you come to class everyone chats together way more than before, and already I have been invited over to a French soiree!
The other exciting thing of last week was an evening of Salsa at a bar at Montparnasse, La Pachanga. Emmanuelle, the leader of my welcome group, found out I was taking salsa classes and convinced me I had to go out with her friends to this authentic salsa club after we had been out dancing together the previous Saturday. It was amazing! There were so many good dancers, but there were also lots of beginners trying to improve their skills. Emmanuelle did her Sciences Po exchange to Mexico last year and has lots of latino friends so I had lots of very good dance partners throughout the night, and boy did I improve quickly! As it is only a 5 min metro ride from home, I am sure evenings at la Pachanga will become regular occurances.
That's all for now, I will post a seperate account of my spectacular trip to Marseille hopefully by Friday!
Love Lauren
No comments:
Post a Comment