I was waiting for that first good day that Paris had to offer in order to motivate me to blog – those experiences that just don’t happen anywhere else. I arrived Paris on Sunday after a few flight delays and hurdles.
I thought that classes started Monday (which is what my director told me), but they don’t start until next Monday. “At least you’ll be here for the mandatory library tour … it will be very helpful!” (Sciences Po's location - left)
Tuesday’s library tour comes around – basically the only thing I had planned for that day was to tour the library and meet some other students. The tour lasted 10 minutes as the librarian explained how to check out a book and how many books we can check out. “Any questions?” …non. Wednesday I decided to dedicate to an application that is due in a few hours (just so that it wasn’t lingering) as well as perused the Parisian craigslist.
I think I read every job post for every kind of position you can imagine and wrote a hundred emails. One Swiss lady wanted help carrying luggage at the airport on Saturday – I have nothing better to do, so I responded. I guess she already had a taker that beat me to it along with the man that wanted a care assistance for his French mother. What I didn’t get was why the assistant care giver had to speak English – was she really so intolerable that minimal communication/understanding was key?
There were 2 promising waitressing positions – I called for an interview for one and the other had stop in hours today. I transformed my academic CV into a usable French work CV last night and hardly slept a wink due to a combination of my odd sleep schedule, caffeine, and excitement.
“At Les Deux Abeilles you get good food - delicious, homemade and in an atmosphere that was so unique, so French, so original, Paris has changed, I think this is a taste of the old Paris and we loved it. The tearoom was spotless with white tableclothes, something you do not see any more in restaurants or tearooms which I absolutely love. The walls have beautiful floral fabric, there are antique dressers, and in the window a display of beautiful homemade cakes and tartes, I only wish we had time. In all I would say if you want a taste of the old Paris, somewhere where the owners take so much pride to provide an atmosphere where you can enjoy good homemade breakfast, lunch, cakes, tea, coffeee then this is your place and the price is for the excellent food, atmosphere, setting, originality, clenliness, passion for food.”
This morning I woke bright and early to discover that cyber cafés don’t open before 10h or 12h! I went to my first interview without my CV in hand…the first question she asked was if I had a CV. After the interview I spent the next 1.5 hours wandering around the 7eme looking for a place to print ONE piece of paper. There was a cyber café that I remembered close to the Musee Rodin – 8 Rue de Jouy. If you can find it, then you’re a better person than me. 6 Rue de Jouy … 10 Rue de Jouy. Did I miss something?
I started to head back to Les Deux Abeilles and stopped in a hotel to ask if they knew of a place (I’d apparently passed a photo shot that could print). The concierge asked how many pages I needed printed. ONE. Sit here and print it. The night concierge (a Dominican!) was just getting off duty – he glued my picture to the CV and made several photocopies.
Daniel told me that you have to ask the French for a lot to receive a little … so after I handed in my CV to the mother and daughter proprietors I returned to Daniel to get photocopies of my visa, passport, and various other documents that were necessary for my student ID application. He kindly did so without hesitation (even after I asked for multiple copies of each). “Now you can say that you have cousins in Paris – me and Joan (the Dominican)” – Daniel, Hotel de la Tulipe, 7eme
I then went to the Orange phone store, bought lunch at Carrefour, and ate my baguette at the Parc du Champs de Mars gazing at La Tour Eiffel.
After I did the admin stuff at Sciences Po, I walked to job possibility number 2 in the 6eme. “Cosi is wonderful! Fresh hot focaccia bread straight from a wood fired oven... Over twenty fillings: tomatoes and mozzarella, tapenade, goat cheese and cucumber, tandoori turkey, roasted salmon, to name a few... Country wines... Opera music …”
The lady who greeted me was extremely nice (and I was thankful I had a photocopy of my CV with a colored ID photo!). She said the owner was Irish and there were many international people working at the restaurant. It seemed very upbeat and cool next to the quaint, classy salon de the I went to earlier.
The rest of the afternoon was roses as I walked the streets singing to Jason Mraz on my iPod. I even went to the Place de Notre Dame – I wish I had my guitar on me. My spirits were just right to busk my first song in public.
