{"id":150,"date":"2008-07-07T14:33:39","date_gmt":"2008-07-07T18:33:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/?p=150"},"modified":"2021-01-11T19:57:57","modified_gmt":"2021-01-11T19:57:57","slug":"studying-abroad-in-paris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/2008\/07\/07\/studying-abroad-in-paris\/","title":{"rendered":"Studying Abroad in Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Joseph P. Andriano ’10<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>When I exit my apartment building every morning, it is quite clear I am no longer in Farmville, VA.\u00a0 I make a quick left off my street, and I am on the hustling and bustling Avenue de la Grande Armee.\u00a0 This road runs under the Arc de Triomphe, and on the other side of the Arc is the very famous Champs Elysees.\u00a0 I quickly enter the Paris Metro, a world with countless people each doing his own thing.\u00a0 The Parisians keep very much to themselves, and they do not make eye contact with each other.\u00a0 It is amazing to turn on your I-pod, pronounced \u201ce-pod\u201d here, and to have a great sound track by which to watch all the different people on the Metro.\u00a0 I love having unlimited access to the Metro; it is truly amazing.\u00a0 I ride it to and from school and then wherever else my day takes me.<\/p>\n

The French have very interesting cultural differences, and contrary to the typical stereotype, they are some of the nicest people.\u00a0 When I first met my host family, it was quite comical.\u00a0 I was exhausted from my trip and struggling for the right words.\u00a0 I definitely doubted my French skills, and I realized I had a ton to learn but that was why I came here.\u00a0 I sat down for dinner a few times with my host family when I noticed that they always placed their bread on the table, not on their plates. They also were very particular about always using forks and knives while eating, and this goes for anything.\u00a0 One night my host mom made pizza.\u00a0 I watched for a minute as they carefully dissected it with fork and knife.\u00a0 However, this was where I drew the line; I mean, hey, I have culture too.\u00a0 I picked it up, folded it, and ate it like it was made to be eaten.\u00a0 They thought it was funny.\u00a0 Also trust me, they love their baguettes; they always have a fresh one for dinner.\u00a0 They also eat one for breakfast; beaucoup de bread.\u00a0 In the Metro, I have been hit by a baguette or two\u00a0by people on their way home.<\/p>\n

The French care very much about the environment, and it makes me think about our habits in the United States.\u00a0 My host family only uses lights at night, air dries their clothes, recycles almost everything, and keeps their heat very low.<\/p>\n

One of the first nights I was there, I walked in a little store near my apartment and, when I entered, I said \u201cBonjour\u201d to the owner, who replied \u201cBonsoir.\u201d\u00a0 I was confused at first, but they change their greeting at some point in the afternoon.\u00a0 However, I think it confuses them sometimes, too.\u00a0 It really has been such a great experience living with a host family.\u00a0 Each night I have dinner with them, and we talk about all kinds of things in French, and it has really helped improve my language skills.\u00a0 The French love to talk about politics, especially American politics.\u00a0 They always want to know who I think will win the American election, Barrack Obama or Hillary Clinton.\u00a0 I tell them John McCain.\u00a0 Learning another language can be such a brain tease, and there are definitely times when I catch myself saying ridiculous things.\u00a0 I definitely understand why people trying to learn English sound the way they do.<\/p>\n

There are literally too many things to see in Paris, but I started with the obvious ones.\u00a0 The first time I laid eyes on la tour Eiffel overlooking the Seine, I would have to say I was a bit disappointed.\u00a0 It looks like a hunk of metal, but it grew on me, especially when it is lit up at night.\u00a0 I pass it everyday on the way to school from the Metro, and I later found out the French did not like it at first either.\u00a0 When it was first built, it was called the \u201cWire Asparagus.\u201d\u00a0 An amazing monument is l\u2019Arc de Triomphe, conceived by Napoleon I.\u00a0 The workmanship on the monument is incredible.\u00a0 In my opinion, the most amazing building architecturally in Paris, is the Opera.\u00a0 The stone and marble work inside is like nothing I have ever seen before.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Paris is amazing, and it is incredible that from my doorstep I could easily throw a baseball and hit anything you would ever need, a place to get your haircut, a grocery store, bank, multiple car and motorcycle dealerships, countless restaurants and cafes, a couple discotheques, etc.\u00a0 After living most of my life in pretty small towns, from time to time, all of the people can be overwhelming; however, I have absolutely loved the experience, and I am sure that when I leave here, I will miss so many things about Paris.<\/p>\n

July 2008<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Joseph P. Andriano ’10 When I exit my apartment building every morning, it is quite clear I am no longer in Farmville, VA.\u00a0 I make a quick left off my street, and I am on the hustling and bustling Avenue de la Grande Armee.\u00a0 This road runs under the Arc de Triomphe, and on the other side of the Arc is the very famous Champs Elysees.\u00a0 I quickly enter the Paris Metro, a world with countless people each doing his own thing.\u00a0 The Parisians keep very much to themselves, and they do not make eye contact with each other.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,25],"class_list":["post-150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-semester","tag-andriano","tag-france"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2741,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150\/revisions\/2741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}