(above: photos from the Marais)
I arrived at the Italian couple's abode in the Marais at 10 pm., after cramming my belongings into a cab for my second move in one day. It wouldn't be my last: shortly after arriving there, the Italian woman informed me that she would be leaving for India for 2 months, and would not return until April. (!!!) Needless to say, that evening I started looking for my third, and, I hoped, permanent, place to live.
The next morning, I went to the International Relations office at l'Universite Paris-X Nanterre, hoping for some guidance. From the beginning, I'd known this semester abroad would be unlike my summer studying French in Grenoble, France after junior year of college. Far from the hand-holding and organized field trips the Universities of Michigan and Stendhal had organized, this time around, I was completely on my own. L'Universite Paris-X had sent me a lone "Guide de l'Etudiant International" (International Student Guide) and a sheet of paper detailing when I could report to the International Relations office - and that was it. No orientation, no hand-holding, and definitely no organized field trips. As far as I knew, there weren't even any other students in my exchange program, which I'd found through American University's School of Law. American operates a "bilateral exchange" program with l'Universite Paris-X in which students from that law school (or visiting students from other law schools) can enroll directly in the Universite Paris-X, taking law courses *in French,* alongside other French and international students. This is what had appealed to me: I finally had the opportunity to combine law school with my French background, and return to my beloved Paris. Yet the uniqueness of the program has also turned out to be its downfall: there aren't many other students who have the requisite level of French AND who want to use it to fill a semester-long law school study-abroad program.
When I arrived at the International Relations office, I was informed that they had lost my "dossier" ("file"), and that I would have to return the next day. Meanwhile, the office supplied the name of l'Universite Paris-X's Law School's international exchange coordinator, who would (I thought) finally explain the program and help me pick my classes. Instead, in typical French fashion, I was told to return on Thursday, and hurried out the door with only a packet of current course offerings.
I returned to the International Relations office on Wednesday, as promised, and was finally able to get my Universite Paris-X student identity card, which I needed to register for classes the next day. But upon arriving at the law school that Thursday, I was told I could only register conditioned upon my fixing the "error" on my student identity card. The international exchange coordinator had been new, and was unfamiliar with my diploma (bilateral exchange students may receive a diploma in European and International Law). I was thus told to trek back to the International Relations Office, on the other side of campus, to correct the error. I arrived back in the International Relations Office only to be told that they could not "correct" the "error" until they had proof that I was in my stated degree program. (I was thinking, "isn't the fact that I'm here proof enough??" Apparently not.) Thus I had to return to the law school empty-handed, and was made to register for courses on a provisional basis (conditioned upon receiving proof of my enrollment in the stated degree program).
That evening, I met up at Cafe de Flore in St. Germain-des-Pres with two other American girls who had just arrived in Paris. We "met" each other online, having emailed each other with housing leads (after responding to the same Craiglist housing ad). Alas, while we were unable to find housing together, we decided to meet up anyway, as none of us knew anyone in Paris. It turned out that our mutual love of 80s music, Madonna, and crepes was a match made in heaven. We ended up talking for four hours that evening: I can't wait to introduce them to the Paris I know and love.
Brittany just graduated from the University of California-San Diego, and is working at a small Paris film festival, a prelude to the May Cannes film festival. Michelle graduated from law school in 2007 and has been working as a Federal Transportation fellow in Washington, D.C., for the past year. She recently had the opportunity to relocate to Paris for a few months, and unreservedly took the opportunity.
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