Location: somewhere between Paris and Quimper, Bretagne
Days since last round up: 12
Firsts: travelling outside of Paris!
Major achievements: first contribution in a university seminar *in French* + surviving the chaos of rounding up four children, three adults, two suitcases, and a pram to traverse Paris and arrive safely in Brittany four hours later
Reading: Passing by Nella Larsen (huge cheat: one of my modules includes an English book)
Weather: is that perhaps a bit of sun peaking through?
When I last wrote, the SolidariTee Week of Action was just coming to an end, as was my first week of term, and my second week with the family. Two weeks later and things have been just as busy, but not quite in the same way. I’m beginning to feel very settled with the family, although still navigating exactly where I fit in as an au pair (I don’t think that ever goes away), and am beginning to get into the swing of things with Sorbonne classes, but am still getting my head around exactly how things work. I feel like I’ve only just got started and yet next week is already a break from classes for half-term, and just as I was getting into my stride in Paris, after the initial flurry of settling in, it’s all different again with the family’s half-term holiday plan. For now I’m doing my best to ride the wave, and take the experiences as they come.
Just after finishing my last post, I headed out for a Sunday afternoon walk to finish off quite a chaotic week a little more calmly, and ended up strolling through the Opera district and back up to the family’s apartment just as dusk was drawing in and people were finishing off their errands before curfew set in. The city was still alive and as I approached the more residential 9ème, there was a beautiful calm bustle, queues outside nearly every boulangerie, the shelves of which had been cleared, and it even started to snow a little bit. For me it was a perfect Parisian evening, and reminded me just how happy I am with the area I’m living in.
After that, highlights of the week included bedtime stories for both girls, (particularly the older one, who’s a little bookworm like me and is really engaged when you read to her, and even helps me with my French a little), some fab foodie finds (see favourite finds), and a celebration of Chinese New Year with the family (they seem to be quite into Chinese and Japanese culture - the two older children learn Chinese at school and the mum works for a Japanese company).
After a week of introductory classes, the pace picked up with Sorbonne work in week two of term; I still feel a little on the back foot, having only just found out my reading lists, I’m having to do reading and classes all at once, which isn’t an approach I’m used to, usually having vacation time in Oxford to prepare the texts for the following term and then work on them. That said, the academic pace is not as intense as Oxford, and you’re not quite as accountable in larger classes. In contrast to Oxford 8-packed-weeks-maximum-efficiency-most-information-in-minimal-time approach, classes are much longer (up to three hours!), and generally stretch out over a longer time across term, which allows for a bit more time to take things in, but also a fair bit of digression. Both ways of working have their advantages and disadvantages - for now I’m just getting used to the Sorbonne way of working and I’ll reflect more on the comparisons when I’ve experienced a bit more. I’m very happy with my course choices, especially (predictably) a comparative module looking at race and gender in the 20th century via the figure of the ‘mulâtresse’, and (more surprisingly), one looking at Flaubert and Sartre in the context of the historical novel.
Alongside all this, the big event of the week was leaving for Brittany last Friday, where the family have a second home. Mum, Dad, grandma, all four kids, and me, were there for the weekend, before the parents headed back to Paris with the two boys (oldest and youngest), leaving me and the grandma with the middle two girls.
It was a very relaxed set up, with the grandma taking on most duties, especially in the daytime when I had classes, but the vibes were generally very sweet, with bathtime and dinner together each evening, walks to the beach, featuring several stranded starfish, and even a trip to Decathalon to get me some ski gear (more on this to come).
After the weekend, the final few days have come and gone very quickly, and me and the girls are already back on the (very long) TGV headed for Paris, having been dropped of at the station by ‘Mum’ (their affectionate term for the grandma), who’s staying in Brittany for the weekend. It’ll be a quick turnaround tonight, with the whole family setting off to a ski resort in the Southern Alps by car tomorrow, where I’ll join them late on Saturday, having caught the train from Paris. I’ve also got university half-term next week, which means a week of no classes, so it’s set to be a lot of fun; we won’t be properly skiing because the lifts aren’t allowed to open, but I’m told there is a chalet (with hot tub!) so I’m really rather excited to see how it all works out.