devenir (v.) ~ "to become"

When asked at our orientation session our goals for our stay in Paris, the majority of the students in my program replied with some variation of "to appreciate life like the Parisians," "to eat great food," "to live in a world of art and culture," and "to become French." While I cannot attest to the reasoning behind these statements, I would imagine that this desire to transform into someone who is more cultured, has better taste, speaks perfect French, and has can appreciate a life and a pace that is plus décontractés (more relaxed) is something that all of us here dream about at night. It's one thing to be an American with pretty good French who lives in Paris, but it is another to take the risks involved, to be vulnerable enough to try to really become French.

Funnily enough, the second that you set foot on French soil, your nose does not turn up in the air to look down upon others, you do not immediately begin to think existential and philosophical thoughts, and you do not begin smoking. At least that was not my experience. It seems, though, that there are certain things that I've been able to pick up upon that have helped to blur that distinction between obvious "guidebook and camera schlepping, tennis shoe wearing, English speaking, Starbucks drinking" American and les vrais Parisiens. The following are some examples:

• I'm working on learning the abbreviations and special names for things in French. For example, when ordering water in a restaurant they might ask you whether you will accept San P (pronounced sahn-pay). If you are thinking about what that could possible mean, as I was the first five times I heard this at a restaurant, fear not! I am here to inform you that this is the cute name the French have given to San Pellegrino sparkling water! Why don't they serve the french Perrier? Good question.

• Drinking coffee at all hours of the day and night is very common and perfectly acceptable here, which is wonderful for students like myself. Unless you want to drink your coffee at the same time as your meal, which is somehow impossible. I wanted to drink some coffee whilst eating lunch one day and despite my lengthy conversation with the waiter about how I really did, in fact, want the coffee at the same time as my food, it was brought out about 20 minutes after I finished. Moral of this story: coffee and food together after breakfast? Quel horreur!

• As difficult as this may seem to my peace-loving California compadres, I have now solidified my belief that one cannot classify his/herself as Parisian without elbowing someone out of the way to get a seat on the Métro. I realized, when I felt a jabbing pain in my rib and looked to see a woman of about 75 running past me, that in this realm I must have no mercy. It's a rough world out there, folks.

Although it's difficult and I know that, if I'm lucky, it will take a lifetime to live the real vie parisienne, but I do find that each day I learn something new and it gets a little easier to understand the people, the culture and the mentality that makes up this crazy, wonderful city. I'll post soon about my weekend in the Charente region of France - three days full of beautiful countryside, a comic-book festival, Roman ruins, lots of cathedrals, and a whole lot of Cognac :)

the wonders never cease...

Sacre Coeur Basilica, Montmartre

A few weeks back when I was in San Francisco, I went to an exhibit on Harry Houdini, the tagline of which was one of his quotes reading, "Will the wonders never cease?" I recall thinking that it was a bit idyllic and perhaps naive, but I am beginning to feel more and more as though Houdini had it right. I had quite a week, filled with a lot of wonderful things and some less wonderful ones too, and my thoughts always drifted back to Mr. Houdini reminding me to look at every moment with awe and thanks.

Because it is late here, I will be brief and I hope that you'll accept my apologies and promise for a longer post later. Highlights of the past week:

~ Had my first Art History class at the Louvre. I have never taken Art History before, but I feel particularly grateful to not have a textbook because, after discussing "The Coronation of Napoleon" by Jacques-Louis David in class on Tuesday, we went and SAW it on Wednesday. Crazy?? Yes.

~ I fell in love with Monet again on Friday, and all of the impressionists we saw at our visit to the Musee d'Orsay with my "Intro to French Society" class. Also saw the Stein Family collection of Cezanne, Matisse and Picasso at the Grand Palais :)

~Explored a new neighborhood, Montmartre, with my friend from home, Nora. N and I danced together from ages 8-18 and she is now studying in Paris too! I am excited that we willbe able to have many more adventures together this quarter! We found a really cool antique store, great restaurants and shops, a Breton parade, lots of street art, and, of course, Sacre Coeur!

~Went to a cupcake and champagne fête hosted by my Stanford mentor, who is an alum living in Paris with his wife and they are awesome! And they have a house in the Marais, which is the neighborhood where I will have a pied à terre one day.

~ Went to a cooking workshop at the Maison de la Culture Yiddish, where I learned to make Ashkenazi cheesecake and pareve sponge cake. The cakes were fine, but the most awesome thing was that I got to tour their archives - the largest in Western Europe - which are full of Yiddish periodicals, books in French, English and Yiddish, and tons of other really, really cool things for nerds like myself.

When I finally returned home Sunday night after a weekend of running around, I had one of my many "What is this life?" moments and recounted all of the exciting things that had happened in the last week. The fact that I am still stressed about my summer plans, that my college graduation is approaching and I have no clue what I might want to do after June 2013, do not seem as big a deal. For now, I am trying very hard to just be (present tense, not future). Because, in fact, I am perfectly content to sit at the Boulevard St. Germain and take comfort in the fact that there will still be wonderful things ahead.

p.s - I have determined that it would be actually possible for me to live in Paris because I could satiate my need for delicioso Mexican food. The photo above is courtesy of my evening with Nora where we each had two tacos, guacamole, an amazing black bean brownie (yes, you read that correctly - flourless, but made with black beans), and some beverages - mine happened to be made with chile-infused tequila... mmm caliente! Viva Paris :)