An unfortunate incident involving old world staircases.

This week my mom came to visit me (all the way from Canada) to see the city and to help me figure all the things I had left to do. This seemed like a good idea, as she was going to stay in the apartment I would probably be living in and figure out Internet, help me with phone plans, and generally be a mom when I needed it the most. Unfortunately, things did not work out this way. The first night she was here I took her out for gelato to show her around and introduced her to some of my friends, which was really nice. However, her third night here she took an unfortunate tumble down some stairs and broke her foot in four places. From this experience we learned one crucial lesson: Paris is NOT friendly towards those on crutches or in wheelchairs. For example, the apartment my mom was staying in is four tiny flights of stairs up with no elevator. Most metros do not have accessibly elevators either, and at the stop I usually get off at you literally need to hop over the gap. However, I also learned that many French doctors, while they do make you wait, are incredibly friendly and helpful.

So, while it was amazing to get to see my mom (for the short time she was here), the trip did not exactly go as planned. Today, after spending around an hour at the airport trying to find a porter with a wheelchair, she managed to safely catch a much earlier flight back home. It made me homesick to only get to see her for such a short time (and sad because she couldn’t really do any of the exploring she had planned), but it was still amazing to have a little bit of home here. In a week I will have been here for a whole month! Somehow it still feels like I arrived yesterday.

Tomorrow I finally have my first real class. I planned my schedule so I have Mondays and Tuesdays off for traveling, but that means that I have eight hours of class on Thursdays and Fridays. I’m starting to get a little nervous about the course load; this is definitely NOT the casual year abroad I had anticipated. For my lecture on “Cities and the Urban Experience” on Thursday, I already have over 150 pages of articles to read. (I’m taking 7 courses…starting to really wish I had opted for “the world of wine” instead of things like “Violence, Memory and Amnesia in Chile”). However, I have a feeling that if I were still at UBC taking a full course load of 3rd year poli stuff I would have around the same amount of work, just with a little less of the French rigidity.

While this entry makes it seem like I’ve had the worst week ever, I have still been having fun despite the unfortunate foot incident. This week I decided to lay off the wine a little bit and have a look at some more cultural aspects of the city. By comparing Chateau de Versailles with a graffiti exhibit called “Nee dans les Rue”, I realized that I’m probably going to be more interested in the less touristy attractions. (What an amazing discovery!) Versailles is amazing of course, but it was so packed it was hard to really appreciate it. However, the graffiti exhibit was so well done and unexpected in comparison that it got me really excited for the contemporary cultural scene that is huge in Paris. I also visited my first Parisian techno dance club (aptly named the social club), but I don’t think I’m quite trendy enough to become a regular.

Last little note – I bought a hair dryer today! This shouldn’t be that big a deal, but after blowing a fuse in my friends building with an unfortunate incident involving a faulty converter (or just my own stupidity), I have been terrified of using North American heating appliances. So, tomorrow I’m going to have a shower before my first real class and get to blow dry my hair and hopeful dispel the stereotype that I have propagated that Canadians don’t really know how to groom. Pretty exciting stuff…
A bientot!