StudyAbroad – Take Me to Paris

Remember the tall, dark handsome boyfriend of the last post? Ah yes, Hamid. Algerian. Never was exactly sure what the deal was with him. Student? Working? He said he was studying computers.

We both had no $$ really, so we often spent our time just wandering together & sitting by the Seine until it was time to make my way back to my apartment later at night.

There was no internet, email, cell phones, texting & neither of us had landlines where we lived. SO. Every day when parting, we’d make a plan to meet again at a certain day/time and it was almost always in front of the St. Michel Fountain in the Latin Quarter (quite close to two favorite bookstores).

One evening after meeting we picked up a bottle of red wine & headed for the Seine. We walked down the steps below Notre Dame, on the same side as the cathedral, to sit & drink, talk, kiss.

Every evening in Paris the Bateaux Mouche cruise the river & shine huge spotlights on the monuments as they pass by. We saw a few pass us and a third was coming toward us. Just as it reached us, and shined its beacons on the quay & Notre Dame cathedral, Hamid pulled me into his arms, dipped me back & kissed me deeply!

I was totally surprised and the best part was that the entire tour boat erupted in cheers and applause!

One of my favorite memories from my time studying in Paris.

I’ll always have Paris ❤️ and that memory of romance & fun.

I didn’t speak in French for an entire week when I arrived in Paris for the study abroad. Not because I didn’t understand French.

I’d taken 3 years in high school & 5 credits in college. Not like I was serious as an undergrad (I certainly didn’t live up to my potential then). So I could read & write in French. Listening was okay- could usually understand. But speaking? Ugh. My level of confidence was very very low.

And speaking another language is all about confidence & not letting it bother you if you make a fool of yourself (which I def have).

So it took me a week. And I was hungry so I had to make a request. I was at an outdoor market, eyeing some cheese, and finally quickly said “Je voudrais un peu de Gouda s’il vous plait”

I would like a piece of Gouda, please.

So exciting! I did it! I also got my piece of cheese 😀

Fall 1986 I flew from Buffalo to NYC, long layover at JFK (or was it LaGuardia?) and on to Paris where Professor McCreary was waiting in the airport for several of us in the fall Paris program.

We spent the first week living in a hostel – sparse shared rooms with bathroom & showers down the hall. & We were given a list of places we could contact to set up our semester housing. Some students in my program knew one another already and some knew no one (me included).

Housing ranged from old maid’s quarters at the top of 8 flights of spiral staircase (yes, I made that climb once) to shared places in la banlieue (suburbs) that had a real kitchen & shower.

I chose a shared appartement in Creteil about an hour (two changes on the metro) from the center of Paris at Odeon where my classes were held.

Two other classmates also lived there and a French guy who rudely made fun of my French so I learned quickly not to speak to him (ugh- not fun).

I haven’t been back to that suburb in any of my returns- but maybe sometime I will take the metro trip out. It’s a haul though, and I mainly spent all day & evening in Paris anyway. Slept in Creteil but not much else.

So when did I become obsessed with Paris? It started in London actually. When my father took my sister and me for a trip to Scotland and London. Scotland to visit family and then London because it was too close not to go. Once in London I begged my father everyday to just take the train and ferry (?) over to Paris. We were soooo close. Pretty please daddy? I was 19 years old, soon to be a junior in college. The answer was no of course.

I was not to be deterred. During my junior year of college I found a study abroad program in Paris! One of many but for this one you didn’t need to be fluent in French and it was part of the SUNY system so I’d pay the same tuition and get transfer credits (but grades didn’t count as long as I got Bs). Sounded perfect!

So began my journey to Paris for the first time.

Tag: StudyAbroad

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My First French Sentence

Senior Year Abroad

The beginning— in London