Day One

Hey there,

Yesterday evening I was more emotional than I anticipated when waving goodbye to my parents. I definitely cried (I don’t think they saw it) because it truly started to become real. It wasn’t just a vacation “goodbye” this time. I’ll be gone for a while and that’s, well, crazy. I’ll be living and working half-way across the world. It’s really kicking in that this isn’t just a week in my beautiful city, it’s 104 days, and that’s nuts. I wasn’t nervous or even excited leading up to this day, but now I’m flooded with nerves! I had a good friend tell me that that’s a normal thing to feel when you’re conquering a new challenge in your life, and they’d be concerned whether or not it was the right decision if I wasn’t feeling something. Wise advice.

In very un-French fashion, my flight landed earlier than anticipated in Paris. But to balance things out, the landlords were late, so the universe has realigned. And then a banker had zero interest in starting me a bank account because I already started it online so, “It’s not her problem.” And I’ve had the landlord skip out on coming to do a security check on the apartment because he is, “Tired from vacation.” And then I had a family I was supposed to work with (who lives five minutes from where I am living — omg I’m living here), apparently lurk my social media and discover something about me that they didn’t like. My company said it was very discriminatory and they do not tolerate it, but they wouldn’t tell me what it was. I can take a guess. So I’m totally feeling the French, right now!

But, you know what, that’s okay. Because it’s one of their quirks and if you don’t laugh about it or shake your head, you’ll cry. I’m Canadian, that’s not how we do things, and okay, that’s how you function here, that’s fine. But I know how you envy North America for the simplicity of people being on time, banks not denying you service, and an endless compassion and acceptance, so I’m going to let you be a little jealous of me while I stay a little jealous of your city. I only say “a little jealous” because now it’s my city too… heh heh heh…

I’m feeling really grateful to the universe for helping this manifest, but I also feel like shaking the universe and saying, “WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO OMG WHAT THE HECK THIS IS REAL WHAT DO I DO AHHH OMG WHAT HAPPENS NOW IS THIS FOR SERIOUS I’M SIMULTANEOUSLY SCARED AND EXCITED ALSO WAS THIS A BIG MISTAKE?!”… ya’know what I mean?

Oh! And my apartment is adorable. It’s a perfect size for me. It’s not as “cubed” as I anticipated. It’s got quite a bit of room and I was able to store everything I brought without struggle. It would have been small for Amelia who likes to run, hide, and explore. I think she would have been very unhappy.

Here are some photos of day one, which was just spent in my neighbourhood. So, yes, these are photos of the neighbourhood I will call home for 104 days.

Click each photo to enlarge it. Scroll over to see the captions (only some have them).

outside my apartment window

first coffee in paris

kitchen tingz

#ootd – after 3 hours of sleep…

outside view from my apartment

A few cool things that I’ve discovered about my neighbourhood thus far:
– The closest grocery store, which is just across the street, is a natural food store! Lots of interesting items to choose from.
– There is literally everything within walking distance from my place.
– There’s an awesome cafe called HUBSY just a five minute walk away that gives you a working space (with coffee) that is solely for young individuals who have laptop based work to do! Neat! It’s pay by the hour though, and they offer endless hours if you buy a monthly pass. It seems like a scam but this place was damn-well packed.
– There’s a lovely hotel called Hotel Bellevue et du Chariot D’or just around the corner if anyone wants to come visit 😉
– There is a tattoo parlor down the block and I went in and had an amazing in-English conversation with their wicked artist (sorry ma – need to memorialize this personal journey in some permanent way 😉 )
– My closest metro stop is a one minute walk from my apartment door, if that.
– When I turn the corner, I can see Notre Dame which is a ten-ish minute walk away!

I took more pictures but these were my favourite of the day.

Unrelated: I just had a Skype interview for an online tutoring group that would bring me up to 30 hours of work a week and pay enough to allow me to spoil myself more frequently! USD no less! The woman doing my interview stopped the recording of the interview that needs to be sent to HR and then shouted, “OH MY GOD GIRL THAT WAS AMAZING! IF THEY DON’T HIRE YOU, AND I DON’T SEE WHY THEY WOULDN’T, I WORK FOR FIVE OTHER COMPANIES LIKE THIS AND WE WILL FIND YOU A HOME!” hahaha she was so passionate and so, so friendly!

Tomorrow, my plans are as follows:
-Get a phone card (add me on WhatsApp if you haven’t already!)
-Finally meet with landlord at around 12
-Bon Marche! I’m going to be living here for 104 days, I want some cheap and comfy -pillows because the thought of using “AirBnB” ones weirds me out. And I need one of -those old people grocery cart things, too!
-Dinner at Pink Mamma (check it out – Instagrammer’s heaven) with a BabyLangues connection who I can’t wait to meet in person!

Sunday I might go to DisneyLand because I can.
Wednesday Giverny.
Maybe a weekend trip before I start work. My dad did tell me to take advantage of living in Europe…

Alright, it’s 10:40pm on my side of the sea and you guys are just starting your evening. Thanks as always for reading and for your endless support, especially now that my nerves have kicked into high gear. Let me know if you have any questions for me for my next post 🙂 I’m hoping to make this a daily thing…

xo
C