It has snowed almost every day since my arrival in Paris and I have decided this must be some sort of good omen indicating luck and many magical experiences to come. While the snow has quickly turned black and slushy as it does in every large city, and real Parisians are far less enchanted with it than I, this will hardly stop me from waking up every morning and rushing excitedly to my window.
The technical aspects of my arrival were far less interesting and filled with far more upper body strength as I dragged two suitcases filled with my life through Columbus Port International, JFK, and finally Charles de Gaulle. The flight itself was as pleasant as I expect any 24-hour sojourn can be, and after CDG we were whisked off to a hostel for the first two days. The coordinators have been excellent, the other students have been incredibly sweet and supportive, and my recently-acquired host family has been perfectly lovely. While my first few days in the hostel were spent on basic orientation conversations and recovering from jet lag, the weekend with my family has been filled with tours of my neighborhood, time with my host brothers, and a great deal of food. I now live in an apartment in the 17th arrondissement (a neighborhood in the NW of Paris with Haussman-mandated apartments and many host families in my program) and have three host brothers and one host sister. All approximately my age, I've been able to ask them about their lives and school, talk about TV and movies, and even attempt a few jokes.
My trip is still early and it does become increasingly frustrating to feel as though I'm stumbling through each sentence, but I am confident in my ability to persevere! Or to at least become eloquent enough to the point that every restaurant and cafe server can't immediately tell I'm American... I'm slowly learning to kiss everyone I meet on each cheek, eat a chicken with the precision of a heart surgeon, and comfortably work my way into an unfamiliar family life. Every hour is another adventure and every street corner feels like a work of art. The feelings of nervous awkwardness come and go, but the initial excitement has remained.