The Wandering Narramist

American Stories

2010-09-09T14:44:00.001-07:00

It has almost been a month since I last wrote in my blog and this was not due to lack of will to do so, but mostly, lack of opportunity. I have now arrived in Bishop’s University, which I have been waiting to study at for a long time, but I still wish to catch up on the past month as a whole, and tell about the rest of my vacation. Last time I wrote, I had hardly just arrived in the US and it has been, imaginably, quite an adventure since.

American West

After my trip in Barcelona, I spent a week touring the western United States with my girlfriend and her family. It was a unique opportunity for me to revisit sites I had only seen when I was very young and could not entirely remember, such as the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley. It was a parade of all the different landscapes you can imagine from cowboy movies.

I think I may have preferred San Francisco though, which was the final destination of our trip. It immediately felt like home in a blend of different impressions. Caught in between European culture and Californian West Coast, in between stoic rich and hippie chic and in between the cool of the harbor and the heat of Chinatown, SF was another vibrant city that seemed to have something going on. I was only there for some 24 hours before having to catch a flight out though, so I suppose I only really saw the tip of the iceberg. Though I probably will not be able to go back too soon, I have noted it down on my list of places to return to.

Mexico

After the US, down I went to sunny Mexico. Or rather, rainy Mexico! It is only upon arrival that I found out I had planned my trip to Mexico in the rainy season. So each day did not fail to bring us its rainstorm and downpour. But I actually managed my schedule around it and stayed mostly dry. There were three types of experiences in Mexico:

Firstly were the people I met. I had the very fortunate luck of meeting a friend, Ricky, through a website on which we both posted some writing. That was four years ago and all this time I have lived in France and him, in Mexico. This summer proved to be the first occasion we had to actually meet and with great generosity he and his family housed and fed me for two weeks. They were exceptional people, very warm and welcoming, who were always ready to help me plan my visits around the country. I am very thankful to them for the time they allowed me to spend with them, in Latino charm. Of course, Ricky has a bunch of friends in his home country, so I also got to meet many same-age Mexicans and have a good time with them. What they say about Latin hospitality is not just a myth and I met a variety of great people, even if it was sometimes just for one evening.

The second type of experience in Mexico was the FOOD! Mexicans are very proud of their cuisine, and understandably so. Of course, you need to like spicy food to get around the gastronomic experience in Mesoamerica, but fortunately that is my case and I had a heated blast, tasting all the tacos, quesadillas, sopes, chiles en nogada, tamales… not to mention tasty Margarita! If you go to Mexico, be sure to love the food!

The third type of experience I had in Mexico was the cultural visiting. I saw many pretty post-colonial towns around the south of Mexico city, such as Cuernavaca (where I stayed for my two weeks), Puebla, Taxco and spent a whole weekend in Mexico city itself, exploring this exciting and thrilling capital. My favorite visits ended up being those of temples though. I saw the temples of Xochicalco, near Cuernavaca, which are very impressive and have the great advantage of being relatively unknown to many tourists, making it a very peaceful visit. My host and I were alone, apart from a group of students. However, the most beautiful ancient site I saw was that of Teotihuacan, and this was the last place I visited during my stay in Mexico. It is the largest pre-Columbian site in Mexico and hold the Piramid del Sol, the third tallest Pyramid in the world. Sitting on the latter, while contemplating the smaller and more ornate Piramid de la Luna, while listening to Ennio Morricone’s music from the Mission (it seemed fitting, and there were too many people at the top of the Pyramid to enjoy the silence) I was very moved, as I knew my trip to Mexico was coming to an end and that I felt I had seen what I had come for. I knew that a few days later I would be starting a new life in Canada and moving into Bishop’s University.

That moment has now come and gone and I have effectively arrived at BU and I am having the time of my life. Frosh week (orientation) has been full of parties and events helping us to get to know the students in both our years and the years above. But it’s not all parties and I have also been starting my classes since yesterday, which are good so far. It’s a pleasure to be studying here after waiting for it so long. I’ll be here for a while, so don’t worry if I’m not saying too much about it yet – you’ll probably eventually get sick of hearing me claim that I’ll bleed purple ‘till I die (a BU reference). I’ll be sure to dedicate some future entries to my life at BU. The summer has come to an end and it’s time to head on into another school year, only this time, it promises to be different!

Vacation So Far

2010-08-12T08:01:00.000-07:00

With limited Internet access and great travels going on, opportunities for blogging are rarified, despite having much to tell. I could dedicate a blog entry for each of the trips I’ve taken so far, and I would surely be able to fill them up nicely, but if I do that, I fear I’ll be writing with so much delay that eventually, the content of my entries will have become obsolete, and we’ll be rounding up on Christmas time. So instead, I’ve decided to catch up with my summer adventures so far in a single (somewhat lengthy) entry. Each trip I’ve taken is not a single story, but a collection of a large amount of them, diverse in nature and interest. I’ve decided to select one story to tell for each location I’ve travelled to.

French Riviera

I started my vacation in the town of Antibes, by the French Mediterranean coast, where my grandparents live. As far as my trips go, this was surely the most relaxing and comfortable one, in a very familiar environment. The week went by very tranquilly, perhaps sometimes a little too much so — of course, my grandparents live on a calmer rhythm than I usually like to, so I had to find ways to keep busy. One moment, which really did stand out though, was a talk I had with my grandfather. It was on the evening of the Tisha B’av fast, which my grandparents observe. Sitting out on the terrace of their apartment, my grandfather begins explaining to me what this fast day means, and how it commemorates the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in Judaism. As he does so, a seagull flies around in the background and catches his fascination. He interrupts his very serious explanation about religious symbolism to comment with amusement on the bird’s activities and watches it with an innocent spark in his eye. As he resumes the topic of his talk, I can see his eyes keeping track of the seagull over my shoulder, as he wears a mischievous smile on his face. I found this moment to be very endearing, and it also reminded me of my mother (his daughter), who has a similar reaction whenever she sees a swallow. It was the kind of moment, in between a story about my roots and an attitude, which crosses a generation, when I indeed felt connected to my family.

Normandy

After Antibes, I spent a weekend in Deauville with a few friends, this time on the northern coast of France. It is a privileged beach resort, host to the summer homes of many well-placed people. A main attraction is the extensive beach, where we were to spend the majority of our time. On the first day that we arrived, we immediately set out on the sandy shore and dipped in the cold water of the British Channel. While most of us shyly made it waist-in, shrieking in pitches we didn’t know we could reach so high to, my friend Caroline, used to spending her summers on the cold Atlantic shore, lost no time in tackling the long swim separating the beach from the far-away float, signaling the end of the swimming zone. Admiring her endeavor, I decided to follow her out there, assuming it would be a nice stretch. Now, don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t exactly thinking: “if a girl can do it, then surely I can!” but I’ve never known Caroline to be much of an athlete. However, she completely impressed me, as she swam on and on to a buoy that never seemed to get any closer, without looking back once. In fact, it was only once she reached it and gave it a high-five, before heading back, that she realized I had followed her at all. Panting, and quite far behind after some 10 minutes of swim, I was definitely not pulling this off with as much grace and nonchalance as she was. But I did manage to give the buoy my own fist-pump before making the whole way back, with a certain exauhstion but especially pride. As we roamed the beach trying to find where we had originally set our towels, we ended up walking quite a long way only adding to the effort. As we finally rested, Caroline enthusiastically suggested: “All we have left to do now is bike back home and we can call it a triathlon!” Next time, Caroline, next time.

This memory really stands out from the trip, because it was completely improvised, and took me by surprise. I was not only satisfied to complete this challenge and manage to make it all the way to that buoy and back, but I was highly impressed with my friend, who showed me she was capable of doing something I would have never suspected of her and who showed me it was possible for me to do as well. I owe it to her and thank her for it.

England

Next stop on my paper route was England, which I crossed over to with my friend Tim (who was also with me in Normandy) to hike from London to Oxford in four days. This also proved to be an occasion to overcome my physical limits, especially on the third day, when we took on the crazy challenge of walking the last 25 miles (40 km) of the journey by nightfall, so that we could sleep in a hostel (instead of camping out) and be able to enjoy visiting the city of Oxford the next day. While we did manage this feat, this is not the story I want to tell. The memory I would like to bring up took place on the previous night, after the second day of walking. It had been a hard day on the road, where we kept getting lost and moreover, disagreeing about the road to take. I wasn’t having a good time, and as we entered the evening, I made a wish that we could have something happen to us that evening which would make up for the bad day, and which I would later be able to look back upon and think that the trip was worth having been done for if not for anything else. My wish came true as we entered a small village named Frieth, where we decided to stop for the night. Tim and I are both avid travelers and have been inspired by more experienced hikers, who gave up all of their possessions and means, to take on long walks across continents without any money, relying solely on the hospitality of strangers as a means for survival. While we may not have gone that far, we were both very anxious to try asking people for shelter and food, even though it seemed to be something very daring to do. But, considering we had nothing to lose, and that my wish would never come true if I did not at least try, I took it on myself to knock on someone’s door and ask for help. We were greeted by two over excited Labradors, followed by a woman with her hands covered in orange peel. Not expecting our strange request, it took a few moments for her to think the situation over, while visibly caught in the middle of making a nice dinner. A fortunate rainstorm began just at that moment, surely making her take us in enough pity to at least invite us in. After some ponderings and a few pone calls, our host, presenting herself as Clair, had found us a field to camp out in, and told us we would be eating dinner with her family that night.

So, Tim and I ended up being invited to dinner by a British family, and while the food was certainly wonderful, the best part, and the real reason we attempted this experience in the first place was the human contact we got out of the evening and the amazing feeling of meeting the local population, communicating with them for one night, and receiving their incredible generosity. Clair and her husband Rupert were exceptional people, fascinating in conversation, warm and generous in their attitudes and not without a good dose of humor. Our luck kept up with us that night, as their niece Lucy had just arrived moments before we did, and allowed us to share the delicious meal that Clair had prepared for the event — yes, we did feel somewhat guilty for intruding on that, but our hosts reassured us that our arrival was only part of a chain of coming and goings through their home, as Lucy’s parents would be arriving the next day and that in the meanwhile they were also putting a friend up. Indeed, completing our new acquaintances for the evening was Rosemary, their Neo-Zealander friend, an equally charming person to meet. Overall, the whole evening lived up to what we hoped it would be, and gave me faith in this idea of travelling we wanted to do, but had not yet dared to try. An experience to surely try again.

Barcelona

After leaving Paris, where I wrote my previous entry, I headed down to Spain, where I spent the past week with some friends. Barcelona seemed to be a single moment to itself, in a succession of visiting cultural and authentic Spanish locations earlier on in the day, resting on the beach in the later afternoon, before enjoying the vibrant nightlife of Gaudi’s city, until daybreak. It was a crazy and exciting experience, which allowed me to relax and let go of many anxieties I had carried over from the stress of leaving home and moving. The last night of the trip did prove to be a bit more special though. It was my last night in Europe, and also the last time I would see my friends before I come home from school in the winter, so it was emotionally charged — though not as much as when I left Paris. After treating ourselves to nice Spanish-style dinner with tapas and paella, we settled on the docks with some ice-cream and hung out there for a while. My friend Thibault and I went on to have a very meaningful conversation, which was very useful for me, and will be one of those moments I will remember for long I think. We had spent most of the week going out to bars and clubs in the evenings, with a more electric and hyper mood, which is great and really fun, but also more superficial. This last night had more magic and philosophy, which was what I needed before leaving, and so I was very thankful to have it.

By now, I have made it to the US, and am currently making my way through the American West, which I’m touring with my girlfriend and her parents. I’ve only been here for a few days though (after some 22 hours of transit from Barcelona) and so I think it’s too soon to elaborate on my American adventure with enough perspective. Unfortunately, along the way of my travels, both my picture and video camera broke down, and this was not due to misuse or negligence. As a result I don’t have as many visual souvenirs of my trip as I would like to, despite borrowing other people’s cameras, but in fact, my favorite parts of the journey are the stories I get to take home and share, and these are not dependant on any other hard drive than my brain. I hope you have enjoyed this selection of those I’ve collected so far, and will bring you more soon.

Identity Baggage

2010-08-02T10:03:00.000-07:00

I am on the eve of my permanent departure from Paris. By now, I may be sounding repetitive in my multiple departures from home, in this long anticipated move to Canada. However, it is only in this past weekend that the impression of leaving has actually settled in.

I’ve spent the past two weeks traveling, and I had some wonderful experiences, which I’ll be sure to talk about later, but this is not the subject I want to touch upon today. The last three days were fully dedicated to getting everything together for my emigration and tying up loose ends in my Parisian life. Before, I did know I would eventually leave, but this time, there is a more permanent value to my departure, as I won’t return to France before next winter, when I finish my first university semester. So, I’ve been trying to make sure I have everything ready, and much time has gone into packing my bags. I’m sending a trunk to Canada separately, which I’ll receive in Sherbrooke in September, and I also have a suitcase of things I will be traveling with over the coming month in America. In between considerations of what I need/want in one or the other, weight limitations and how much it is going to cost to send all of this, not to mention the emotion of leaving home, my stress level has been at its highest since I first decided to go to Canada.

In packing, I’ve been thinking much about what makes my identity, or that of a person in general. I don’t generally tend to attach much importance to my possessions, in a somewhat Buddhist philosophy that what it material is irrelevant, but of course, I’m far from Nirvana, and in preparing to move, I’ve taken the things I own under much more serious considerations. What makes something valuable enough to me that I decide I should take it? There are the things that will be useful of course, but packing is hardly ever done with a practical mind. Mostly, I think I’m taking the things that I think I would otherwise miss. I have more clothes than I need, so selection was done on preferential basis: which ones contribute to expressing who I am. The objects and mementos I packed also have sentimental value and in a way contribute to my identity.

Of course, I don’t set out to pack under the question: "What should I take to fully express my personality?", but as I was finishing up on this whole process, I thought it interesting to see what I took and what these things say about me. Back when I was a bored teenager in need of brain-deadening entertainment, I would sometimes come across MTV’s Room Raiders. Garbage as it was, this show did explore the interesting idea that you can pick up a lot about a person based on what you find in their living space. So in going through all of my possessions, I effectively defined which are relevant to who I am.

So now I’m taking the belongings I give importance to with me and I’m leaving home. Home seems to be becoming a vague notion for me. While home may still be here in Paris for me, within 24 hours, I’ll have left it and be off to settle my life elsewhere. Despite being French, I’m choosing to create my future around English-speaking media and storytelling, studying at a university in close geographic and cultural proximity to where I grew up in New York. Is this the place I have designated in my mind as home? Am I creating a new identity, or searching for an old one? I don’t really think I’m in search of the past. My experience in the US surely influenced the way I later decided to build my life, but I still think I’m trying to find my place. Going to Canada will continue to contribute to who I am.

In between two wanderings in the world, I find myself wandering in my own identity. I am at the eve of an experience which will surely make me grow and change much. It’s exciting but scary, and so I’m holding on to the most material things that make me. As I enter this next month and travel to great new places, I will surely let go of this anxiety I’m feeling and begin this adventure I’ve been looking forward to for so long.

From Paris to Sherbrooke... with a few stops in between!

2010-07-15T14:29:00.000-07:00

I have finished work, my bags are packed, and I am on the eve of my departure from Paris! Well, in reality I am going to be coming through the city a few more times before I leave permanently, so I'm not totally finished, but I don't expect to do much more here. I may not have left home yet, but I'm done with Paris. I'm going without any regrets, because I have waited quite a while for this moment. This is the start of a summer which will bring me to a very promising place in my life. I want to enjoy it fully and make the most of it.

Since I've been working for the past two years, over different jobs, without taking much vacation, I was able to plan quite a great trip for myself, which will lead me from my hometown, Paris, all the way to my new home away from home, Bishop's University in Sherbrooke, Canada. So where can you expect to see me blogging from?

Tomorrow I'm leaving for the south of France, in the seaside town of Antibes, where my grandparents live. This will be a great way to start the summer vacation, as it will be full of calm family moments. Well, that may be idyllic and hopeful on my part. As far as the mediterranean side of the family goes, family moments tend to be loud agitated rather than "calm". But overall it should prove to be a great week to unwind and get into the vacation mood.

Next, I will travel to Normandy with three other friends, for a weekend in Deauville, a popular seaside resort on the northern beaches of France. With one of these friends, we'll then head off to England, on the other side of the Channel, and attempt to hike from London to Oxford in three to four days.

I'll then return to Paris for a weekend, just in time to see my other grandmother, who will be visiting the family, and to tie up all loose ends. Indeed after that, I'll definitively leave Paris, and won't return until the winter. So, in early August, I'm heading down to Barcelona with four other friends, to spend a week in this exciting Spanish city. I'm currently going through travel guides to plan what I want to see, and I've also picked up a book to learn to speak some basic Spanish, seeing how I've never studied it before.

After Barcelona, I'm taking the great leap across the Atlantic Ocean, to end up in Las Vegas, where I'm meeting up with my girlfriend and her family. Indeed, my girlfriend's brother is getting married in California in July and afterwards, she and her parents are taking a two-week tour of the American West. I'm joining them halfway, as they enter the wonderful desert landscapes of the inner western states. Promised sights include the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley and Lake Powell, among others.

My trip with my girlfriend ends in San Francisco, after a week. Her family and she are going home to France, but I'm staying in America, of course. I'll be spending the last two weeks before moving into University in Mexico. This was, by far, the most complicated part of my summer to organize, because the friend I'm staying with was very unsure of his situation. Having just graduated from high-school, he wasn't sure where he was going to end up for university, or when he would be starting classes. This lead to a lot of worrying and frustration, as well as a lot of waiting, but eventually it all worked out and I'm very pleased. I have something of a bet with myself to cross borders and to visit a new country every year. Originally, I wasn't supposed to end up in Mexico at all, but I'm very glad that I am, because it will be my new country of the year (believe it or not, despite all the traveling I've done and have planned this year, Mexico is the only new one).

On September 1st, I'm flying out to Montreal, entering my new country of residence and on the 3rd, I finally move into Bishop's, making a long time dream come true. I've put a lot of effort into planning this whole summer and these past few days I've been trying to make sure everything is in order. But, as of today, I have all the documents I need to immigrate, and all the plane tickets I should have to be in the right places at the right time. This summer promises much fun, and I'm glad to see it get started.

Paris Music Festival

2010-07-07T13:48:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, Paris' annual music festival (or Fête de la Musique) took place. In an ideal Internet, I would have written about this sooner, but laziness is a factor that needs to be taken in an account when considering my capacity to blog with immediacy. But despite procrastination, I do think this is a great event worth mentioning.

The Music Festival takes place every June on the first day of summer, to celebrate the new season in song. The whole point is for everyone and anyone to enjoy music and, by consequence, it is for the masses. One of my colleagues, who is a professional pianist by night, spoke with much distaste of the event, saying: "It's not my thing to hang out with all those rednecks who think they know something about music". He does have a point in the sense that this is not the time to take music seriously. Since that's my case, I am effectively able to have a blast every year roaming the streets of the French capital, vibrating to the beat of songs played by all sorts of people.

This year's musical adventure took me to the picturesque hill of Montmartre in the north of the city, which is one of Paris' most famous artist neighborhoods. Montmartre corresponds, I think, to the idea foreigners have of Paris: paved streets, little buildings, cute cafés, artists painting in the middle of the street and some animation or street theater on every corner. In fact, it is a very popular tourist spot, and so the local businesses take full advantage of that to pull on all kinds of Parisian stereotypes and please the foreign mind. Montmartre is actually a very special neighborhood, with its own style and mood, which doesn't resemble the rest of the city much. I usually avoid this place for several reasons, the first being that it's on the other side of town from where I live, so just getting there isn't easy and also, in between the all the tourists and con artists trying to rip you off, it's not my favorite neighborhood. But every now and then, it makes a good location for a night out, and the evening of the music festival was such an occasion.

In fact, when my friends and I got there, things were just setting up, so we didn't see that many great shows. In front of the steps of the infamous Sacré-Coeur basilica, one singer would hand over the mike to a member of the audience every other song, which I thought was a good idea, because the music festival is really about sharing music, and the idea is that anyone can take a part in it. The atmosphere was laid-back and of course subject to the amount of talent the one-night-musicians could actually show. Eventually, it did start feeling like Karaoke, and so we left.

Later in the evening, we ended up in the area of St. Michel and Cité, adjacent neighborhoods in the center of Paris and one of the major hubs of the music festival. I'm always quite torn about exploring this part of town on Music Festival night, because it is overwhelming with the great amount of people there, and depending on the year, you'll either find a really great mood there, or just nothing interesting at all. At first, my shortcomings seemed to be confirmed, and in between the heavy crowd, hunger and trying to find other people we were supposed to meet up with, everyone was having a hard time enjoying themselves. But, after all meeting up and being fed and watered, we settled on the docks of the river Seine and things starting looking up.
One of my friends, Jerome, is quite proficient in all percussion type instruments, and the docks of the Seine are usually a good place to find groups of hand-drummers at the Music Festival. So, he carried a Djembe drum around with him throughout the evening and eventually made some new friends beating the rhythm on the quays in front of the Notre-Dame cathedral, as we all gathered around. As the evening progressed and night fell, things got very animated in our location with song battles from one dock to the other, and people taking turns jumping from a bridge into the river, turning the evening into an odd underwear fashion show.

So that was the Paris music festival. It may not have much class or elegance, nor is it really about good and talented music performances, but it's more about having a great time with strangers for one night, to send off the summer in popular festivity and song. Not to be taken seriously. I'm leaving Paris in a little over a week and so I'm enjoying my last nights out in the city, which if always full of new places and opportunities to have a good time. It's becoming a habit of mine to not sleep much at night, because I have to get up early for work, and so, I'm looking forward to the beginning of my summer vacation, with much impatience.

Summer in the City

2010-06-25T10:45:00.000-07:00

    I'm afraid I lost track of time in the past month, and was surprised to see how long it had been since my last entry. After sitting and passing my final exams for the year, I took some time off from living – a well deserved break, during which I did not get a whole lot done, but surely had some fun.

    Of course, my freedom has had its limits as I've continued working my supermarket job. While the latter is boring, and makes me get up very early, it is a necessity, so that I can have some spare money for this summer and then while I'm at college. The downside is that it continues to make me very tired, because I am definitely not a morning person. As a student, in Paris, with all my friends starting their summer break, opportunities to go out in the evening and have a good time are numerous, and it's quite a shame to miss out on a party. So, in the accumulation of late nights out and early mornings up, I've accumulated some fatigue and am often sleepy during the daytime. Lately, I have been trying to make efforts to keep my rhythm a bit more reasonable and I also am just learning to accept that this is the way things are for the next month.

    Indeed, it came to me with a certain amount of shock that I only have one month left to live in Paris, before I start traveling for the summer, and effectively leave this city, my home for the past eleven years. I finish my job on August 15th, which means I depart either that same day or on the sixteenth. In the meantime, I fully intend on making the most of my Parisian living one last time.

    Lately, I have been taking great pleasure in spending afternoons in the city's many parks with some friends. Unlike some great cities like New York or London, who have one famous large park (Central Park, Hyde Park, etc.) Paris is full of a variety of green areas, neither being remarkably better or more popular than the other. Within the city proper, you'll only find relatively small parks, while two major ones are at the city limits.

    In the 15th arrondissement (district) where I live, you'll find le parc André Citroën, which is a very curious public garden. It was designed by architects and is effectively very modern and angular in its construction. Nature is heavily contrasted by the use of a lot of geometric constructions in slates of stone, wood and metal. It contains a number of themed smaller areas to discover, each unique and interesting. It is one of my personal favorites and I especially recommend it in the summer time, because of its terrace with walk-in fountains.

On the other side of town, in the 19th district, is another one of my preferences: Les Buttes Chaumont. This parc is caracterized by its many hills (buttes = hill), which were actually artificially constructed. Its terrain is very steep, but it has a number of wonderful areas with comfortably tall grass, where you can completely relax in, and you'll also be sure to enjoy the scenery, with the lake surrounding impressive cliffs, surmounted by a good viewpoint over the city.

    These are probably my two favorite parks in the city, but a number of other ones are also well worth checking out, including: le parc de Belleville, le jardin d'Éole, le jardin du Luxembourg, les Tuileries, etc.

    In addition to these traditional parks, you also get several long areas of the city with a lot of great lawns, which are popular places for picnics, especially in the evening. The most famous one is undoubtedly, Le Champs de Mars, which is where you'll find the Eiffel Tower, but l'Esplanade des Invalides, and l'Avenue de Breteuil (which both surround Les Invalides, a famous military monument and resting place of Napoleon I) are quite similar, and usually less crowded.

    Finally, le bois de Boulogne and le bois de Vincennes complete our selection of green locations. Both are much large than the previous ones I named and are respectively located on the western and eastern border of the city. So, while they're not necessarily easy to access, they are the best natural locations available near Paris. Of the two, I prefer Vincennes, which is wilder and have spent a number of afternoons tanning in the sun there, this past month.

So, with the return of warm weather, I have been spending a lot of time enjoying what Paris has to offer as a version of nature. In between evening celebrating birthdays at the Champs de Mars, and afternoons of laziness and catching up on sleep in the sun, I've found my niche in the outdoors, relaxing and having a good time. However, in an upcoming entry, I'll be sure to tell you all about my equally interesting nightlife activities.

When In Paris... Bike on Vélib and Eat at MONOP'!

2010-05-20T13:15:00.000-07:00

    The rest of my trip in Abu Dhabi continued in the same spirit as the first few days, as I explored the oriental metropolis further. Later adventures included shopping for the infamous purple clothes for Bishop's, and taking a day to cross the country and go swimming in the sea of Oman, on a beach infested with miniscule jellyfish. Good times.

    While I may have been enjoying the good life and relaxing in the UAE, upon returning the Paris, I was suddenly so busy, that I lost track of blogging for a couple of weeks. I have entered an exam month, and seeing how little work I got done during spring break, my precarious knowledge foundations caved in, so I had a lot of catching up to do. But I made it through, and I'm quite confident about my upcoming exam week, after which I will be study-free until I hit the BU campus in September.
    In the meantime of all this, I got a job, or rather, picked up a number of extra shifts at my old job. After dropping out of art school last year, I worked for about six months in a mini supermarket called MONOP'. For those unfamiliar with Paris, allow me to introduce the concept of this store. MONOP' stores are spin-offs from the bigger MONOPRIX supermarkets, a trusted name in France. They only sell those products which have the highest demand in the bigger store, and are open for longer hours, from 8:30 AM to midnight. Anyone who has spent time in France will know that stores generally do not stay open very late, so the idea of a store being open until midnight is very appealing to Parisians. Moreover, MONOP' stores have a selection of sandwiches, salads and ready-to-eat meals to go, and provide customers with tables to sit at, for a quick but healthy lunch / dinner. The concept is similar to that of the PRET food chain in London, combined with a mini-supermarket.

One of 45 MONOP' locations in Paris

Anyway, I've been working for this company on and off for the past year and a half, as you can tell by my promotional speech there. Last year, I worked at a small store by my apartment, full time, before eventually leaving them, to pick up my study track again. However, earlier this January, MONOP' stores began opening on Sundays (which, once again, is not common in France), and I picked up a shift at the same store's new Sunday crew, since it was convenient with my schedule. So for the past four months, I have been working six hours a week on Sunday. Upon returning from the UAE, things started getting mixed up at my job. New regulations caused the stores to have to close at 1PM on Sundays, effectively making the Sunday crew way too numerous at my store and I was transfered to a new store, near the Parisian stock exchange (la Bourse). In the passing, I started negotiating with Human Resources to obtain an extra shift with more hours in the week time, as I would appreciate working a bit this summer before leaving for vacation. After a first ten day contract in the same store, I finally ended up getting an early shift in a brand new store: MONOP' Victor Hugo, which just opened today! It's not far from the legendary Champs-Elysées, if you need more of a reference. So it's been a couple of crazy weeks with my job, and if you managed to keep up with all the different shifts and contracts I had, well more power to you, because I surely did not.
Anyway, apart from explaining what has been keeping me so busy, I though it would be a good idea to talk about MONOP' stores, because by now I know them quite well, and I think they're a very good option for tourists visiting Paris. The concept is relatively recent, so it is still expanding (in the past two weeks I have worked through the opening of two new stores), but you can already find a good number of locations throughout the city. Now, I'll be honest with you, MONOP' is considered to be on the higher scale of quality, as supermarkets go, so the price follows that trend. It's certainly not a place I would go do my daily shopping (my salary unfortunately not being higher than anywhere else), but it'll definitely be a cheaper alternative to eating in restaurants all of the time, if you're on visit in the city. For under ten euros, you can get a fairly decent meal, drink and desert, of good quality and taste. It's worth checking out if you're ever around.

Another tip I would have for foreigners is the use of the Vélib system. With the return of warm weather, I've begun taking advantage of Paris' pick-up / drop-off biking system. Such systems exist in various places around the world now (though I've heard the proposition to introduce them on the Bishop's campus was turned down), and the concept is usually the same. Stations are positioned throughout the city, where you can pick up a bicycle to get around on. Once you're done using it, all you need to do is drop it off at any station. This system has two major advantages, the first being that it's cheap. The price for one day is 1 EUR, and 5 EUR for a seven day subscription. If you're going to be in town for a bit longer, the year-long card quickly becomes an advantage, at only 29 EUR. This is the base price you pay, which allows you to borrow a bike for half an hour between two stations for free. You'll pay extras for every additional half hour your bike is kept out of parking, though if you're smart about it, you'll never need to do that. Many people simply borrow a bike from one station to another for less than half an hour, and then pick the same bike up again to continue their journey, after a few minutes delay.

Vélib: Rent a bike in Paris

    The second advantage to Vélib is that it allows you to see the city as you go along. Paris has a good transport system, so the local subway does have its advantages, but it remains stuffy, crowded, dirty and smelly. Many roads in the city have special lanes for bicycles (usually shared with taxis and buses) and, apart from your occasional madman, Parisian drivers are generally quite safe, compared to those I've seen elsewhere. So, using Vélib bikes should prove to be a good experience, so long as the weather is agreeable and that you know where you're going. I should warn you that using Velib at night is not necessarily a smart option, depending on your destination. If you're heading for a mostly residential neighborhood in the low-altitude parts of the city (such as the neighborhood I live in for example) chances are that all of the local drop-off stations will be full, and you'll need to go back a long way to find parking spaces.

    So, these were my little insider tips of Parisian living for tourists. In other news of my recent activity, I actually have a new blogging platform. After posting my first entry in this blog, it was suggested to me that I join the blogging team for Bishop's University, which comprises of current and future students, who blog about their experience with the university. After sending a few emails back and forth, I finally put up my first post there earlier this month. If you're interested in checking it out, you'll find it on the Official BU blog. I'll be regularly updating that as well, with posts more focused on my Bishop's story.

    I'm about to enter a week of exams, though the results of these won't be relevant to any future studies, so I'm really just doing this for myself, to bring closure to my past year. The university system I'm in works in the following way: my final grade is accumulated through exams and what is called Contrôle continu (CC), which means that, regular tests throughout the year give me an average of points, which contribute to a specific percentage of my grade. The maximum grade you can achieve is of 200 points, and you need 100 to pass the class. With my CC and my first semester exams, I have actually already accumulated 100 points (100,9 to be precise). So, I technically already have my diploma, though the exams I'm sitting next week are worth 40% of my grade, so I should be scoring some good points there as well. Basically, all of this to say that I'm not worried, though I am still working hard, to try and make the most of it.

I ♥ Abu Dhabi

2010-04-28T12:52:00.000-07:00

It is near 40°C outside and a baby camel nearly ate my shoe. Why, I must be in Abu Dhabi again! Indeed, I arrived in the capital of the UAE on Monday night, and have been enjoying my spring break with my family in this crazy city.

Leaving Paris was actually quite an ordeal. For some reason, I mixed up my flight information, and thought I was taking off at 2PM So, I got up at 9AM, took a shower and, lazily browsed the web. In doing so, I decided to check which terminal I was supposed to leave from at the airport, since I did not have that information. That’s when I realized that my flight was actually leaving at 11:30, and that I had an hour to get to the airport before check-in closed. Thankfully, I had packed my bags the previous evening and so within five minutes I was out the door. I ran quite a lot through the subway halls, hoping I would be able to get there on time. The worst part was upon arriving at Paris CDG airport, and having to run for about 10 minutes, heavy luggage dragging behind, to get from the train station to the Etihad Airways counter. I really arrived at the last minute and they had to call a guy in order to make sure I could still get in on the flight and all, though eventually I got through, and, after what was surely the shortest flight boarding of my life, I got to my seat on the plane, heading off to the Emirates.

Now, I’ve flown a few airlines in my life, notably last December, when I cumulated flights on Air France, British Airways and Gulf Air. I have to say, I’ve probably never had a flight as comfortable as the one I had on Etihad. While I’m not a very difficult traveler, I have to say I was very pleased with the six-hour journey, so I would definitely recommend the company. I looked it up a bit, and apparently Etihad, the flag airline of the UAE, is one of the rising airlines in the world. They’ve received a bunch of awards recently as being one of the best, so I think my return home should be comfortable. On the plane I watched two movies: The Lovely Bones, which I loved and Up In The Air, which was quite appropriate given the circumstances.

Abu Dhabi Skyline

I’m now at the end of my second day of vacation here and I must say I’ve been pleasantly surprised by my stay. When I came a few months ago, I was under the impression by the time I left that I had seen pretty much everything there is to see in AD. In fact, I feel that this time around I’m actually starting to see the city with more depth and I must say that I find this place to be very fascinating.

One of the amazing things you have to remember about Abu Dhabi is that 50 years ago, it was merely a fishing village surrounding a small fort in the middle of the desert. Today it has become a big city with a bunch of skyscrapers. I did not like the city much the first time I came. I come from Europe, a place where cities have grown progressively over a couple thousand years, leaving behind complex layouts, filled with history and culture. Abu Dhabi is a young city, and it basically grew overnight. And that growth is only beginning. Seeing how I live in Paris, I’m used to being in a city which has a properly established layout and which is not expected to change much in the coming years. I realize however, that Abu Dhabi is in no way similar to this aspect. The city is still expanding at a very quick rate and there are actually large areas of land surrounding the city, which are still totally empty. Many urban planning projects intend to use this space to create new neighborhoods dedicated to administration, culture and education, or tourism. It’s fascinating to see this place developing right under our noses and knowing how in just a few years it will already be a different place. There is such energy and dynamism here! So far, the city only feels half complete, but you can tell there is more to come. There seems to be a major urban planning project which will unroll until 2030, and so I think that it will be a very interesting experience to come back here in twenty years and see what it has become, looking back on the present situation.

One odd thing about Abu Dhabi is that culture is sort of hard to come by. That’s not to say that there is none, but there is very little advertisement for the things you can do. There are a handful of landmarks you cannot miss such as the Sheikh Zayed Mosque, the Emirates Palace (the most expensive hotel ever built), the Corniche and the Marina Mall. These are all places I visited during my previous visit and it seemed that this was basically all there was to actually see. In fact, there are other places which are interesting to visit, and there will be even more in the upcoming years, but you have to know they’re there.

On the first day I was here, I went with my mother to a museum dedicated to Sheikh Zayed. The latter is the former ruler of the country, who brought the Emirates together and founded the UAE in the 1960s and 70s, making him largely revered by the population. So we headed out to this little museum, which is among those off-the-map attractions in the city. It is located in this little complex of traditional-styled buildings. In the court, in the middle of all the buildings was a little fenced space where four camels were kept. Among them, two babies. We spent a bit of time watching them and petting them and they were curious too. Eventually one of the baby camels stuck his head out of the fence, leaned down and started licking my toes, before grabbing on to the edge of my sandal and trying to take it. It was a funny moment, though I did have camel spit on my foot afterwards. The museum itself was actually closed when we got there and it was only when we tried to open the doors that someone opened it from the inside, as if surprised people would actually like to visit. The man who opened the doors was alone there, and actually asked us to wait five minutes before letting us in, so that he could go pray. Talk about cultural shock!

Inside the museum

The museum itself was full of memorabilia surrounding the Sheikh. The entrance held a bunch of portraits and pictures of him. The man I mentioned earlier gave us a guided tour of the exhibit, probably quite happy to actually have visitors, and his explanations were insightful, despite his English being vague. He took us to another room, which was the main section of the museum. It was a very strange — halfway between a car showcase room and the reception hall for an official international meeting. It contained many of the Sheikh’s possessions, including a broad collection of perfume, gifts from foreign states, stuffed hunting trophies (lions, jaguars…) and four of his cars. There were also many more pictures of him with various state officials or on hunting trips. One whole side of the room was occupied by bleachers with very ornate armchairs, in front of an enormous Emirati flag, the whole facing a screen, which was supposed to display a documentary film in Arabic about Sheikh Zayed, though our guide apologized, explaining the television was not connected to any power cable. Oh well…

The visit of the Sheikh Zayed museum was a great experience to get an insight on the country’s culture and background history. It was odd, since we were the only people visiting the museum, though I think a bigger cultural center dedicated to the Sheikh is expected to open in the future, which might be why the current one is so low profile.

The great thing about Abu Dhabi is that you can feel it is currently in its beginnings, but it is becoming a large cosmopolite cultural metropolis very fast, and I know there is much more to come from it than what we’ve seen so far. So my advice is to watch this space, because this is just the tip of the iceberg (yay for using two clichés in one sentence!). I’m definitely growing fond of this city, and will continue my exploration of it in the coming days.

Upcoming Plans

2010-04-23T10:49:00.000-07:00

I've been on spring break this past week and have effectively fallen into a mild lethargic state. While saying that I've done nothing would be an understatement, I suppose I could remark that I've been taking a break. My brain has shut down on matters that require attention, and I've been spending most of my time reading. I at least got through some interesting books, but eventually, I get frustrated when I start realizing that I've been neglecting other parts of my life. Procrastination works in a vicious circle with me: I progressively let go of more and more things, delaying them until later, until eventually I'm closer to being a vegetable, too lazy to make myself some breakfast.
    Not to worry though! In those moments, I get a sort of awakening and bounce back up fully energized. I guess taking a break does have its advantages. Today is one of those days, when I'm deciding I need to get busy. I still have over a week left before classes start again on May 4th, and during that time, I expect to get more things done than I have lately.

    First of all, I'm flying out to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) this Monday. My parents moved there last September because of a job opportunity my father got, and one of the perks from his office is that until I turn 20 (later this year), I get a free trip to go and see them every ten months. So, while I already went to see my family in Abu Dhabi (the country's capital) in December, I'm heading back out there next week and that should already be very exciting. I'm not too sure what I'll be doing there exactly, since my parents are taking care of organizing that though I have heard rumors of evening barbecues in the desert and a possible day-trip to the nearby Kingdom of Oman. Being an avid traveller, I take all of these upcoming experiences with much enthusiasm and will be sure to find a few things to write about in here during the trip.

    Concerning the whole moving the Canada project, I finally received my official letter of acceptance from Bishop's last week, over a month after finding out I'd been accepted on the Internet. Apparently, the first letter got lost in the mail, because I never got it, so I asked the university to send me another one (since it's an important official document) and a week later here it was. What I still need to do, before leaving, is to apply for two immigration documents: the CAQ and a Study Permit.
    The CAQ (standing for Certificat d'Acceptation au Québec, or Quebec Acceptance Certificate) requires that I prove to the Quebec government that I've been accepted in a school in the province, and that I have the financial means to actually study there. Once I've validated that information, I can apply for a Study Permit, which is my actual immigration document (I believe). Basically, both documents are necessary for me to study at BU, but I know that I need to get the first in order to apply for the second.
    Next week in the UAE, I'll need to find time to work out my CAQ application with my parents (seeing how they need to provide me with certain documents and all...). I also plan on taking advantage of cheaper prices, to update my wardrobe with some more BU-colored clothing. Meaning purple clothes. For now, I have virtually no purple among my clothes, which could prove to be a problem for next year, when trying to show off purple pride. From what I gather, having something purple to wear at BU is a survival necessity, so I'm going to prepare.

    Apart from that, my upcoming plans should mostly consist of me (attempting to) study Chinese, which – let's not forget – is my ongoing course for this academic year. I've also been working on my fiction writing lately, and am doing a lot of research, so that should surely prove to be interesting, if I ever decide to move my butt and actually get to it. Otherwise, my pile of "books to read" is still full of many titles, including The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, which I'm currently six chapters into.

    Apparently I have many things to do, so I'd better get to it. I'll be sure to track my progress as I go along.

The City Where Nobody Knows Your Name

2010-04-15T15:22:00.000-07:00

Spring has definitely returned to Paris and with it, I find myself indulging in one of my favorites activities: walking. While in winter, I can't go for a long distance without using a subway, when the warmer months of the year come around the corner, I have a tendency to skip public transport and use my feet instead. The choice is definitely not one of practicality, especially seeing how I'll often explore detours, but the view is definitely rewarding. It is in these moments that I realize how lucky I am to live in a city as beautiful as Paris. Much can be said about the French (refer to my previous entry for that) but we surely have a sense of aesthetics. Walking on the docks of the Seine at sunset is a magical sight, which I am privileged to have the opportunity to contemplate from spring to fall.

Most times, I'll just spontaneously decide to walk. Today for instance, upon leaving my university at 5 p.m., I cringed at the idea of having to ride crammed smelly subway trains for a half hour. Since it's the beginning of my spring break and that I have just about nothing to do, I decided on a whim to walk home. Of course, had I gone home directly, it might have been a shorter way, but I aimed to pass through some of the city's nicer spots, including the Avenue des Champs-Elysées, the aforementioned Seine docks and the Champs de Mars, which is where the Eiffel Tower stands. So I arrived home a couple of hours later, very satisfied to have enjoyed another pleasant Parisian evening.

It makes me wonder, as I pass by the Eiffel Tower so nonchalantly, how many people in the world would kill to be in my place. Paris is, I believe, the most important tourist destination on the globe. Walking through the city as I did, it's not hard to see why. It's not very hard to find a monument whichever way you go, and even I, after living here for 11 years, can be awed by the sights. So naturally, we get a lot of tourists, especially in the summer months, which can eventually become irritating at times, for various reasons. But I am trying not be too jaded, and instead to be thankful for where I am, while I'm still there.

While I have been considering moving to Canada for over a year, and it's certainly not a decision I regret taking, the confirmation that I actually was leaving started making me look at all the things I'll miss from Paris.

First off would be my friends. I would like to include my family in this as well, but seeing how my parents live in the middle east for at least half the year, and that my sister has been working in South America this year, I can't say it'll be that big a difference whether I'm in Quebec or in Paris. There was a party at my apartment last week, and I invited a lot of my friends. It was technically to celebrate my acceptance at Bishop's, though there were moments it felt like a goodbye party, with people wishing me well in my new adventure. Of course, I'm only leaving Paris in a little under four months, so I still have the opportunity to see them all again, but it made me feel that my time here was limited and I had a wave of anticipatory nostalgia. I don't doubt the fact that I'll meet a bunch of amazing people where I go next, but spending an evening with 30-something people, most of whom are friends of mine, also made me a bit sad.

All in all, I'm leaving Paris feeling I know the city very well, and I'm not sure I'll miss the monuments or museums themselves. I'm more likely to miss the general mood. From what I understand, Lennoxville, where I'm going, is quite the contrary of my current city. While Paris may not be everyone's cup of tea for daily life, I would define myself as a city guy, and I know they'll be moments when I'll think of home, and the strange comfort there is to walking anonymously among a crowd of hundreds of people hurrying off to their own way. Bishop's on the other hand is apparently a campus where you cannot walk to class without meeting half a dozen friends. I'm completely looking forward to my upcoming college experience, there's no problem there. But Paris has somehow found a way into my heart, despite my reluctance to come back to France after living in the United States, and despite what Cheers says, I think sometimes it is also good to be in a place where nobody knows your name.

But, I'm not the whining kind, never really have been. I can't see myself actually being homesick next year, but that being said, I do want to take advantage of Parisian life, while I still have it. I may not miss the Paris landmarks, but it would be a shame to not give them a little goodbye. So, I'm going to set a list of challenges for myself to accomplish in the upcoming months. They're not so much "mandatory" as they are ideas of things I would like to do before I leave. In any case there is no prize for doing them all, nor punishment for failing to complete the list. So here are the top 15 things I wish to do again before leaving:

* Visit all sections of the Louvre

* Soak in the fountains at the André Citroën park on a hot day

* Cross the city on foot and back in a day

* Climb up the Eiffel Tower (tacky, I know)

* Go biking with some friends through the city after midnight.

* Return to the Parc Asterix (theme park north of Paris)

* Eat in a typical Parisian brasserie

* Picnic on the Champs de Mars

* Have a blast at the Fete de la Musique (music festival in the city streets around the beginning of summer)

* Ride on each subway line at least once (bonus points for going through every single stop in town)

* Make a ham-cheese-pickle sandwich with the baguette I buy at the bakery up the street

* See at least one play, and another live show

* Spend a day at Versailles castle (outside of Paris)

* See the sunset over the Seine, Eiffel Tower and Beaugrenelle skyscrapers, from l'Allée des Cygnes

* Write one article about something interesting to do for each of the 20 parisian districts

If I manage all that, I dare say I'll have accomplished quite a lot, and will be able to leave Paris, a (relatively) happy man.

Caught In Between France And Canada

2010-03-31T17:42:00.000-07:00

    In preparation for this adventure I am about to take to a new nation, I find myself contemplating the two countries I'm currently in between. On the one hand, I have France, my home country that I've been living in for the past eleven years and on the other, Canada, where I'm apparently going to be spending a great deal of the next four. It has become a daily routine for me to compare both. At various moments of the day, I'll find myself in a situation, and wonder about how the same simple things will take place for me next year.

    Now, when considering countries, one immediately tends to resort to stereotypes to get a basic imaginative layout of the state in question. One thing you probably should know about me is that I grew up in the US, in the suburbs of New York City, which is where I picked up on fluent English (more on that later). Naturally, I developed a biased image of Canada being something of "the US's little sister". Overall, it's the same culture, mostly the same language, just about the same people, but with colder weather, free health care and a moose and maple leaf serving for national emblems. You think of Canadians and this image of a large, bearded man wearing a checkered red shirt, a fur cap and sporting an axe and some hunting gear pops into mind. As for the country... you mean, other than huge snowy forests?
    So yes, that's pretty much the image I grew up having of Canada, though I am ready to revise that statement. With my upcoming move, I've found myself curious to know more about this country I'm moving to. So far, my research has been a bit random, covering basic geography one day, and canadian music the next. I was very proud of myself the other day when I realized I had accurately remembered the spelling of the province of Saskatchewan, which believe me is an uncommon word in my linguistic range. I've now correctly remembered the locations and names of all ten provinces as well as the three territories.

Canadian Provinces and Territories

    Among my research, I think I also found a reason to serve in my defense of being so stereotypically prejudiced regarding Canadian culture (warning: history lesson coming up). While I have yet to properly cover Canadian history, I came to realize that Canada is somewhat of a young country. Originally occupied by aboriginal tribes and later conquered by the United Kingdom, it is only in 1867 that it actually gained a semblance of independence, by becoming a Dominion of the UK. Basically, it had its own government, but was still "property" of the UK, so when the latter entered WWI in 1914, for example, Canada had to follow in as well. Since that time, there has not really been an official change on the status of Canada regarding the UK as far as I know, but at some point in the 20th century the term "Dominion" fell out of usage, and Canada progressively built its own identity and gained its independence. In 1965, the Maple Leaf Flag was adopted, which is the flag currently in use, and Canada only gained its current administrative layout of 10 provinces and 3 territories in 1999, with the creation of the territory of Nunavut. Officially today, Canada is still a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II as the head of state (apparent). Interestingly, Canadian monarchy is listed on a separate Wikipedia page from the British monarchy, since both Crowns are separate legal institutions, but in fact they involve the same people.
    All this to say that Canada is something of a country in the making, from what I can tell. That's not to say I don't consider it to be a country proper, but I believe it really started forging its identity sometime in the last 50 or 60 years, which is a fairly short amount of time on the scale of a country. So while all of this may not explain why I used to imagine the average Canadian to resemble a yeti modeling for the Timberland catalogue, I think it does show why Canada always seemed to be a mix of different cultures. From what I understand, Canadians actually embrace their cultural diversity, and I think in time, as history writes itself, its proper identity will grow and be more clearly defined.

    How ironic that I should choose to study in a country which seem to be searching itself as much as I am! Not that I believe it is lost or needs to find itself, but I think if we equate it to a person, Canada is probably a twenty-something college student, trying different things and making way for its future. Sounds like we would get along. Anyway, I intend on finding out more about this country and will keep reporting my findings.

    Now, as far as France is concerned, we have quite a different picture. France is old; founded back around the year 498, it has accumulated a lot of history and along with it created a people who are one of a kind. The French are grumpy, snooty, haughty, cynic and have a taste for proper living or art-de-vivre. Yes, the French consider that living is an art, and in their opinion, the rest of the world suck at it. So it is their natural reaction to look down on anyone else who is not of their own. The French are also very proud of being French and entertain a weird pleasure in remaining distinctly so. What can I say? We're an exclusive club. I myself am a Parisian, which is sort of like an exponential French. All those traits mentioned above are only further exaggerated in the average Paris inhabitant. We basically consider ourselves to be at the top of all things French and consider those who live in the rest of the country to be our inferior minions (anyone who understands the language decently can check out this humorous Facebook group as a witness for what I'm saying).
    So by now, I've probably scared you off into believing I'm this horrible xenophobic moron, who even despises his own people (technically even among Parisians you'll find that not everyone considers himself on equal ground, but let's not get into those antics). We French have very weird social games, which may appear to be mean and offsetting to strangers, but if you actually get it, you realize it's sort of like an inside joke (at least, to most of us). As a Parisian, I annoy my girlfriend who lives just literally a couple hundred meters away from the actual limits of Paris, by regularly informing her she does not actually qualify as a proper Parisian. I've also been known to say that just because you live in Paris, doesn't mean you're a Parisian. But it's all for the joke.
    In truth, I'm not so closed-minded. While I'm proud of being French, there are also many points on which I disagree with my country. I think that statement is fairly obvious, seeing how I've been spending the better part of the past year or so, trying to find a way to leave it. The rest of the world as a whole fascinates me and I make it a point to travel regularly and see new spaces. This cultural trend of mind is how I ended up taking up Chinese as a subject of study for this past school year. But China is a whole other story we won't get into today. Back to the point, the French character has a behavior which may appear weird to the outside, but it's more of a game than an actual belief system. Learn to play it, and you'll be in.
    Now, as far as stereotypes go, other than what I've already stated above, here's what I've heard said on my country. Already, the average Frenchman is represented wearing a beret and old-fashioned clothing, while carrying home a basket of food, with a baguette sticking out. This image is somewhat outdated. My best explanation for it is that it's how the Americans described the French when they came back from WWII, and seeing how American culture is easily widespread, the world would go on to remember the French and generally France as it was in the 1940s. So no, we don't dress like that, most apartments don't have a view on the Eiffel Tower (those which do are highly expensive) and cobble-stone paved streets are just not so fashionable anymore – nor practical for bikers for that matter. That being said, concerning food, you will find it in smaller proportions in France. I was shocked when I visited Canada over a few days last December to see how everything was bigger in supermarkets (including supermarkets themselves). In America, Supermarkets are probably the flagship institution of a lifestyle promoted during the Cold War, where "more is more", so naturally everything comes in large quantities. In France we do eat on a smaller scale. And yes, we do eat baguette.
    I've also heard that French make for the worst tourists. While I'm pretty this is true, I'd like to offer a few explanations which, while they may not excuse my people, might help you understand why we act the way we do. First of all, I have to say that tipping is not a widespread custom in France. While you may tip at a restaurant or café, this is merely a sign of your appreciation of the service given and not a mandatory custom. Of course, tipping is not a "mandatory" practice anywhere else, but it is a much more enforced tradition in Anglo-saxon countries I believe. So, this is why the French are generally considered to be bad tippers – it's just not in their habits. Secondly, while foreigners may consider the French to be very cold, we actually find our attitude to be completely normal. So if you happen to come upon French tourists and that they seem cold and distant, don't take offense: it's not a sign of hostility but one of respect and courtesy towards you. Basically, they assume you don't care for their friendliness (as they don't care for yours).
    One stranger stereotype I've heard of is that French people are dirty. Now, I'm not implying any innuendo here, but simply that the French are not clean. I have no idea where this comes from, and while you'll surely find some people who need an education in personal hygiene in France, they won't be in any larger proportions than those in other countries. So let me just clear this up and say that in the 20th century, be picked up on very useful habits like showering everyday, just like the rest of the world. I actually find this rumor to be paradoxical, seeing how the French are all the while renowned for their beauty products and fashion brands such as Chanel and Dior, which obviously place high standards on appearance, and that usually starts with a clean face.

So that just about sums it up for my considerations of both countries. I naturally have more things to say about France, since I know it so much, while I'm still in the early stages of figuring Canada out. I actually find Canada to be an interesting choice of a place to go next. Like I said before, it's as if the country resembles me in some aspects. It's a mix of different things at once, still young and in the process of being built. Sherbrooke, where I'm going, is a French speaking town, but my University itself is English-speaking, summing up both of my languages in one place. Concerning my languages, I actually learned to speak English a mere three years after French, so it's been a part of me since I can remember. When I started writing fiction a few years ago, the story naturally came to me in English and overall I think English is the language with which I'm most comfortable. But that being said, I certainly don't reject my French heritage.
The interesting thing is that while my fellow BU students will most likely see me as a French guy, here in France, my friends tend to identify me as "the American one" or "the International one" and I regularly get annoyed by sides of their "Frenchiness" they're too, well, French to see. So I guess I'm caught up between different cultures, never really belonging to one entirely. We'll see how Bishop's shapes me.

The Journey Begins

2010-03-22T17:06:00.000-07:00

    I imagined setting up a blog would be a big deal, but that's just my general neurosis. I'd be more than glad to spend about a year or so planning out constructive themes and topics to develop in a blog, write out all the entries in advance and only start posting anything at all after that. I could write a blog like I would write a book. But actually that is not what I'm looking for here. A blog should be about spontaneity, I suppose, entries acting as reflections of the time they were written at, rather than being in a chain of coherent well constructed ponderings, which form a set-in-stone ensemble when put together. I've wanted to start blogging for some time now, and have actually been seriously considering it for the past two weeks. It seems like a good idea right now, but of course, I've been going back and forth doubting it. After all, reasonable questions come up when contemplating to join the blogosphere. What's the use? Who will read me? Who will care?

    Well, I may not know why or how you ended up here, but I've figured out why I've come. The point for me is (quite obviously) to get some writing out there to a reading public. I am a self-proclaimed writer. I actually started posting fiction in an online community about five years ago. It was mostly for fun, to occupy myself with something I actually enjoy doing for a change, as I went through high-school. However, over time, it progressively grew on me, and I discovered a true passion for writing. In the process of doing so, I created a story, which I've been working on ever since. I posted a couple of incomplete drafts of this story online, without having any bigger intention for it, but eventually it grew bigger, and I decided to rework it on my own for a while, to make it better and stronger. I've been doing that for the past year. Meanwhile, I outgrew my fanfic community. So, I've been writing just for myself lately. It's been a good experience, I certainly don't regret what I've done, but that does not mean I don't miss being part of a community. I used to have feedback on my writing, and interact with people, which even made me a couple good friends over time. Writing alone has its advantages, but it does get a bit lonely. I'm not ready to post any fiction so far; my story still needs work, but I would certainly like to put something out there. Hence this blog, through which I hope to post some lighter writing, than that I've uploaded in the past and become part of an online community again, which was a great experience for me before. So, this is why I'm here.

    Concerning the content of this blog, what can you expect? I've already established I'm a writer, but that is about as precise as trying to point out a single strand of grass in a field. Everyone is a writer, at least to some extent. Even among those who self identify as writers, you get a vast range, from the best and most successful publishing authors, to the darkest and lowest corners of Yaoi fanfic (no offense intended). While I'll leave it to you to place me wherever you please on the latter scale, I will give you more detail as to what my intention here is.
    Like I said, the time is right for me to start a blog. I currently live in France, but this is not going to last. I've been living in France for the past eleven years, and am French by birth. I completed my whole secondary education here, and graduated from high-school two years ago. Ever since, I've been struggling to find what I want to study. After studying art for one year, and picking up on Chinese for another, I eventually decided that my place was not in France. I've well established that I love writing by now. In fact, on a broader scaler I consider myself to be a storyteller. Writing is my media of comfort for now, though I'd also be interested in studying and using new ones. The problem is, as a whole, storytelling is not something you can study in France. You can study literature, but not creative writing; you can study the technique of film, but not so much script; you can study computer programing or art, but not the actual conception of a video game. Basically, as far as the French are concerned, you can study what others have done, but no one is going to teach you how to make your own stories. That talent, you'll have to develop on your own. That's just as well – I wouldn't want to study writing in French. So, I realized I had to look for opportunities beyond my country's borders. That's when I came across the idea of studying in Canada, notably Quebec. Indeed, while it would generally be very expensive for me to go study anywhere else in North America as an international student, French students actually get preferential tuition fees in Quebec, and so it turned out to be a great option for me: my open door onto English-speaking education, which offers the possibility to study my areas of interest. There are three English-speaking colleges in Quebec: Concordia, McGill and Bishop's University.

Bishop's University Campus, in Sherbrooke, QC

Among the three, I narrowed down my choice to Bishop's (BU for short), a small liberal arts college, an hour and a half away from Montreal, and just 50 km north of Vermont. From what I gather, it is a very close-knit place with an amazing school spirit, and a very positive learning environment. Best of all, they have a program which encompasses the study of various forms of storytelling: the Popular Narrative program. So, it's basically my dream study path, in an ideal University, in English. What more could I ask for? Going to study in Canada, and notably at BU has been my ambition for the past year or so. There wasn't much to "do", technically, for my admission, so the process has mostly been a lot of waiting, projecting myself, imagining, doubting, changing my mind back and forth and wondering. Eventually, last December, I headed out to Canada and visited the BU campus. Unfortunately it was on the eve of the campus' closing time for the holidays, so I toured with my student ambassador in an empty campus, with a lot of closed doors. I was disappointed not to actually see much, but the information my guide gave me about the school was great, and really made me sure this was the place I had to be. So I went back to France, passed the TOEFL test to prove I know how to speak English, filled out an admission file, sent all the documents and waited... And finally, a little over a week ago, I finally found out I had been accepted. So, I'm moving to Canada next year to study storytelling in English, just like I wanted.

I'm at an exciting crossroad in my life. I have some four months left to live in Paris, my hometown, before things start changing. I want to take advantage of the fact that I still live here, and reflect on this past decade of living in the capital of France and prepare for the transition. This summer, I plan on traveling to various places of Europe and hopefully North America as well if I can manage it. After that, I'll be moving to Sherbrooke, QC, the town in which Bishop's University is located. I not only want to have a log to track this experience in, I also want to share it with other people – my friends, people who have read my stories in the past, and my future fellow students at BU. So, what is the Wandering Narramist? In one sentence, I guess I would sum it up as being the journey of an aspiring writer, as much through the world, as his life. And it is just starting up...