Visitors from Finland

A lot of guests, a lot of photos. Since the end of February, several people from Finland have come to see me here in Paris. First came my cousin with her two daughters and a friend, and we spent a fantastic "family holiday". I finally went up the Eiffel Tower...

...and visited Disneyland. It was, as you can guess, a highly commercial place, but for the little girls it was of course the highlight of their trip.

Then came one of my housemates. At the Centre Pompidou, we saw an excellent photo exhibition: Henri Cartier-Presson. To other museums and exhibitions there was always too long a queue - If you're coming to Paris, I highly recommend you buy all your tickets in advance! Eiffel, museums... (from their websites or FNAC -> Billetterie)

We also walked by the Canal Saint-Martin.

Le Comptoir Général (Ghetto Museum / African bar) by the canal is definitely worth visiting! This bar, Culture Rapide, is in the Belleville district:

My next guests were my longtime friend and her boyfriend. They got engaged here!! A summery picnic with champagne at Parc Floral (part of Bois de Vincennes) was the perfect way to celebrate.

And finally - my boyfriend came to see me! We enjoyed the sunshine at the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont...

...went to the circus (Cirque Electrique):

...and visited the Palace of Versailles:

Getting out of Paris

In the autumn, I stayed in Paris and didn't travel around in France. But I figured I should see more than just the capital, so when my boyfriend came to see me for a weekend, we traveled to Lille, a city in northern France, close to the Belgian border. We found this amazing flat in HouseTrip, a website through which private persons can rent their homes to tourists:

One of the top 10 things to see in Lille is the Wazemmes Market every Sunday:

And the old town is very beautiful:

Around the same time, my big brother and his girlfriend came to Paris. I took them for a tour in Montmartre - here's a photo taken from the hill, in front of Sacré Cœur:

Right after the trip to Lille, I moved out of the shared studio where I had been living since November. I guess I never felt like home there... I hated the coulours in the room and listening to my 18-year-old flatmate speak on Skype in Polish for several hours every evening. In addition, as it was a "convent", I had to come home by 10 pm every night. And I got tired of basically sleeping in the kitchen; it was my bed that is on the left hand-side in this photo:

I don't know if my new place seems any better to you, but I feel comfortable in my little room. I can read books on the bed that folds into a sofa, admire the drawings of my niece and nephew, and write new French words on the white board - I love it, I need to get one back home, too. It's way better than writing words in a notebook and never reading them again.

My new home town, Ivry-sur-Seine, a working-glass suburb south-east of Paris, is by no means a luxurious place. It has an industrial past, there are ugly railway depots and river ports, there is trash in the streets, and 38% of the flats comprise of social housing. But somehow I still like this place; it feels like a good place for a small human-being.
Interesting architecture in the centre, and dismantling of market stalls:

Street art in my new residential area:

Sightseeing in Paris

Towards the end of the autumn semester, I became busier and busier with my studies; group work and exams. Now I'll try to catch up with this blog, mainly by posting some photos. "Tourist photos", as I don't have any photos of me working hard... ;-) My boyfriend visited me twice and we went to see some of the most famous sights of Paris. After showing him Montmartre (Sacré Cœur, Moulin Rouge etc.), I took him to Galeries Lafayette department store. We didn't buy any Prada shoes...

Maybe you recognize what is in the next photo? Notre-Dame is among the largest and most well-known church buildings in the world.

This a close-up of Arc de Triomphe, a monument honouring those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars:

La Défense is a major business district near Paris. Compared to the center of Paris with all its decorative, old buildings, this felt like a real future world.

In the middle of the following photo, you can see the Grand Arche. It is in line with the Arc de Triomphe and the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (next to the Louvre museum).

One night we went out to celebrate my boyfriend's birthday. (Notice the Eiffel tower in the background.)

In November, I participated in two more visits to historic districts of Paris. (These walking tours, guided by a retired professor of history, have been arranged for exchange students throughout the autumn.) In Saint-Germain-des-Prés we saw the famous cafés, such as Les Deux Magots and Café de Flore. Where there are cafés and hotels, there are also writers: the Saint-Germain-des-Prés area was the center of the existentialist movement (associated with Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir). I could also mention Camus and the poet Apollinaire. With the juxtaposition of old and new, this picture describes well the Saint-Germain-des-Prés area:

Pont des Arts bridge is full of love padlocks (which I actually hate!). The building in the background is the French Academy, the official moderator of the French language in France:

On the last tour, we walked through my favourite street, one of the oldest in Paris, rue Mouffetard, to the top of the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève hill. Have you ever had to queue to a library? These people are waiting to get into a student library, opposite the Panthéon:

Finally, all the exams were over and it was time to go back home to Finland for the long-awaited, luxuriously long Chrismas break. But now I'm back in Paris and will reward those who read this far with a photo of alternative tourism. Not far from my place in the 13th arrondissement, there is an established artists’ squat calles Les Frigos (‘The Refrigerators’, this industrial building used to be a storage depot for refrigerated railway wagons): http://www.les-frigos.com/

Les Frigos’ many galleries have no fixed opening hours, but I happened to be there in the right time and got a chance to visit the studio of the painter France Mitrofanoff (http://www.mitrofanoff.net/):

Apartment rental in Paris

In September, I rented a room (or a place to sleep in the living room, to be exact, costing 600 euros per month) that was available for two months only. So, now I've had to look for the next place to stay. And as this is Paris, a city with an acute housing shortage, and a city where the rents are sky-high, it hasn't been too easy. It is not uncommon to share a studio - I've met three Erasmus students from Germany who live in the same studio flat. Many people live in the suburbs surrounding Paris, but I preferred to stay in Paris and to be able to use the metro and Velib' bikes. I didn't want to go to any international student residence because I wanted to improve my French, preferably with French flat mates, and live in a nicer apartment.

I've heard that when you look for an apartment here, you often need to prepare a folder of documents to show to your prospective landlord. It contains a proof of income and a guarantor document, usually provided by a parent. Hmmm... it would be interesting to see my Dad write a certification, in French, to me, her 30+ daughter!

So, it's time to leave Montmartre...

...and find something new, but what?

Earlier this autumn, I heard about intergenerational house-sharing: a student can live in low-cost accommodation in an older person's home and at the same time save this person from isolation. It sounded like a great idea, so I decided to try it. I sent my application and met the director of an association called Logement Intergénération. She told me about a very kind old woman who would give me a room for free if I vacuumed the flat once a week. In my mind, I visualized the perfect grandma and imagined us watching the evening news together, talking about our families, having dinners... So I was extremely disappointed when I later heard that she had already found someone. And I panicked. And started replying to ads on the website www.leboncoin.fr and in the CouchSurfing house-sharing & accommodation group for Paris. There are several other websites, but I mainly used those two. Some of the people I wrote to never replied to me. I guess they got submerged by messages as there are so many people wanting to live in Paris.

Next I went to see a rental room that I found through one of the websites. It was in the flat of a 60-year-old black woman. The building was somewhat rundown and I had an oppressive feeling about it. I wasn't sure if I would find anything else, but I really didn't want to take that room. Even though I consider myself flexible and adaptable, by the month of May, living in that room, I would have gotten severely depressed, more depressed than ever would be possible back home during the long, dark, and cold winter.

Then I went to see a room that a CouchSurfer was offering in his flat, for 550 € per month. It was in a nice area, close to a big park, and not too far from my university. And it was quite cozy, with a Parisian feel to it. But these beautiful flats in Paris always have some impracticality. With this apartment it was that in order to get to the bathroom, you had to walk through the bedroom. So the guy, who would have slept on the couch in the living room and rented out the bedroom, would have crossed my room every time he needed to use the bathroom. I would have taken the room anyhow, but he decided to rent it to an Australian guy.

I also left my own ad on a notice board at my university, and a Polish/French girl living in a studio called me. I wasn't too eager to share a room with somebody but decided to go and see it anyways. It was in an institution run by a Polish Catholic charity (http://saintcasimir.net/). It wasn't very appealing, but I thought I could live there. And eventually, since I got tired of waiting and of the stress, I ended up choosing this shared studio of 30 square meters for 450 euros per month. It is relatively cheap and close to my university.

But look at these colors, and the interior decoration of the kitchen corner:

Oh, I might get depressed here, too! Maybe the room doesn't look as bad in this photo:

And this is the best part of it, the view through the window - a bit of countryside in the middle of the city!

Montparnasse, Montmartre, Marais...

My life in Paris could be described as balancing on the fine line between enthusiasm and exhaustion. I am eager to learn and I am happy with the diverse range of courses I managed to choose: didactics, literature, translation, pragmatics, French culture... But studying all of this in a foreign language, in a new environment in a city packed with people makes me tired. The good thing about it is that I am finally learning how important it is to go to bed early. My exchange university is Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3. The school buildings are somewhat decrepit and the air in the classrooms is stuffy - I recently read that because of health problems a new campus will be built by 2018. Alongside the gloominess of the buildings, I have found two things that I absolutely adore at my university here: a cinema showing classic films twice a day and a grand piano in the corner of a student café. At the cinema, I've watched early black and white films, and 'Hiroshima mon amour' - a very beautiful film. At the café, anyone can play the piano, and the classical melodies always get me on a better mood, even make me, a Finn, smile at strangers.

I'm used to traveling, to changing places quickly, but now I'm staying in one place for a long time, and it feels good. I can have some routines, and little by little get to know this new home city of mine that has plenty of new places to explore. A couple of times, I've gone for a picnic that tutors have organized for us Erasmus students. The picture above was taken at Canal Saint-Martin. We've also had a picnic on a wooden bridge next to Parc de Bercy. On Saturdays, Erasmus students can go for visits to historic districts of Paris, guided by a retired professor. The first walking tour took place in Montparnasse, where artists moved from Montmartre during the first decades of the 20th century. Picasso, Modigliani, Lenin, Sartre, Hemingway... They loved the atmosphere of Montparnasse and enjoyed sitting in the cafés, such as Dôme (in the photo below, with Tour Montparnasse in the background), Select, Coupole, Rotonde...

Next we visited Montmartre, the original center of bohemian and artistic life in Paris, and the district of cabarets. One of the sights is the building of the artist residence Bateau-Lavoir, which was home to Picasso, Modigliani, Apollinaire... Montmartre is also where I live for the moment, right next to Sacré-Cœur Basilica.

In Montmartre, our guide tactfully avoided the street with all the sex shops and obscene nightlife. But living around the corner, I have been to the boulevard a few times. It was here that I finally found a sauna. But as it was right next to the sex shops, I didn't dare to go in. In fact, I was totally disgusted to see how they had ruined something so sacred in the Finnish culture, our symbol of purity.

Last Saturday, it was time to visit Marais. Long the aristocratic district of Paris, it hosts many outstanding buildings of historic and architectural importance. We saw several 'hôtels', i.e. Renaissance mansions of aristocratic families. Later the district went into decline, but nowadays Marais has become a fashionable district, home to many trendy restaurants, fashion houses, and hype galleries.

Oh, and I have also been on a short holiday back home in Finland. At the beginning of October, my little brother got married, so I went to the wedding. It was so good to see my boyfriend, my family, my house mates - all the loved ones! I miss you! And I miss sauna, and the forest, and the autumn colors I've seen in Facebook... but not the cold and the autumn storms and the snow that people complain about. :-) Luckily during my visit, I had time to go cranberry picking on a bog.

Paris, My Home City for the Next Nine Months

Bonjour! After spending two months in Alaska and a few weeks back home in Finland, I am now in Paris, doing my Erasmus exchange and learning the French language. So far, I have only been studying the French bureaucracy by personal experience: how you first need to have a bank account to get a cell phone contract, and to get a bank account, you need an address and a document to prove that you live there. Also at the university, I have been queuing for hours to different offices to do my 'inscription administrative' and 'inscription pédagogique' (enrollment for courses). Sometimes they close the office and tell you to come back the next day. I will definitely learn a lot of patience here! Actually, I already have: this week I noticed that I do not get so irritated anymore. "C'est normal!" (It's normal) seems to be the answer to everything that does not work. The enrollment - at least of the Erasmus students - is done on paper, not online, and people at the university want to meet you personally in their offices instead of replying to your emails. The trick to survival is to be active, hang around at the university, talk to other people... That is how I accidentally found out that I have a tutor! He is really nice and helpful, he even speaks some Finnish!

As inspiring as it is to be in Paris, it sometimes gets quite exhausting. Everything is new and I have to find out how things work and how to navigate in this metropolis. I have felt uncertain, insecure, frustrated... But I just cannot regret coming here because Paris is sooooooo beautiful! And once I get into routines, life will be much easier. I thought I hated routines but now I seem to miss them...

I was lucky to find a reasonably priced and beautiful room in Montmartre, an area preferred by artists and famous for the Sacré-Cœur Basilica and Moulin Rouge. I felt good about the place so I decided to take the room even though it was only for two months and then I have to find a new home. I am actually living in the living room, but my flat mate, a 26-year-old Dutch girl, is so nice that I have adapted very well and do not really mind the lack of privacy. Photos of my room:

And this is how my street looks like:

Last weekend, when I had hardly settled to Paris, I traveled to Milan to see my boyfriend who was there on a business trip. First date (during my Erasmus time) in Milan, not bad! I had not booked any flights and was unable to figure out how to buy a ticket to a night train, so I was very happy to find a shared ride through Covoiturage.fr. The drive through Switzerland was beautiful, but long. But I got to Milan and met my boyfriend. I had booked us a small apartment through Airbnb. It was the first time I used the website and I can say everything went fine. Asser and I spent our time by sleeping late, eating well, walking through the fashion streets and visiting Duomo, the cathedral church of Milan:

...and the beautiful shopping mall called Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II:

Back in Paris, I needed one day to recover from traveling back from Italy in the night train. And then I have gone through the chaos of signing up for courses. Tuesday evening, there was an event called Vogue Fashion Night Out. I did not participate but decided to check it out as a tourist, so on my way home, I walked through the street rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, cited (according to Wikipedia) as being one of the most fashionable streets in the world, thanks to the presence of virtually every major global fashion house. Unfortunately it was raining, as it - based on my short experience - often does here. I felt sorry for the finely dressed people queuing to the stores... http://fashionsnightout.vogue.fr/ Oh, I must also tell you about Vélib', a bicycle sharing system run by the Paris Town Hall! There are stations all around the city, you take a bike, ride it where ever you need to go and leave it at another station. It's great! (Or well, nothing is perfect: sometimes the stations are empty when you need to get a bike, or full when you need to return one.) At first, I got lost several times - which is sometimes nice, but not when you are in a hurry! Now I have learned to take the boulevards - they have bicycle lanes and make navigating easier. Yes, in this mosaic of small streets I have sometimes missed the boring but clear American grid plan of Anchorage, Alaska, with its A, B, C etc. streets!

Yesterday, I visited The Louvre with another Erasmus student. It is such an enormous museum! Of course, we went to see Mona Lisa. But in the internet you find better photos of it than the one I took, so instead, I chose you the photo above showing the crowd that had come to see the famous painting. And here's just a picture of another young woman that appealed to me:

Tomorrow, I finally start my studies, which will be keeping me very busy... I came here to study and really learn to speak French, not to party... But at least tomorrow evening, I will drop by (for the third time!) at the CouchSurfing Weekly Meeting to say hi to my new friends.