Days since last round up: 21
Lockdown status: officially in a semi-confinement, but you wouldn’t think it from the streets of Paris
Best random year abroad moment: a chat about French literature with the owner of a little sandwich shop while she prepared my click and collect!
Best bit of vocab: donner un câlin à (quite literally to give someone a hug - I just love the word câlin, it’s so cuddly, and the best thing is that this is the reaction I’ve been getting when I pick the little boy up from creche)
Reading: Le Sursis by Jean Paul Sartre (I’ve always steered away from Sartre, because philosophy terrifies me, but was pleasantly surprised by a reading experience which hugely reminded me of Virgina Woolf)
Weather: summer has arrived
You might have gleaned from my last post that a regional lockdown was imminent, and the inevitable has happened: the figures kept rising and the French government seemed to have no choice but to announce a month-long confinement, however reluctantly. It’s not as bad as it sounds though (and it could sound really bad, because in the last two French lockdowns you couldn’t go further than 1km from your house and had to fill out an attestation each time you did), and Macron has even said that the term ‘confinement’ (lockdown) is a bit strong. They’ve allowed us a 10km radius and no time limit for exercise, which in practise means that very little has changed in terms of what I am and am not allowed to do, and that the streets of Paris are still pretty busy.
Other than that, there isn’t a huge amount to report from the last few weeks. After the initial settling in period, things are running along slowly and smoothly, especially when it comes to my relationship with the family and the kids, which is developping really nicely. There were a few slightly chaotic evenings at the start of this week because we were one nounou down, with the other nanny having got a work placement for part of her business degree, but the mum (who is scarily efficent sometimes) quickly found a replacement, which introduced a slightly new dynamic. I was suddenly the experienced one, or at least the one who knows the household, which is a really nice way to see how far I’ve already come, and it also means that it’s now my job to pick up the youngest boy (who I’m definitely falling in love with) from creche each day. The absolute highlight of the week was taking him to the carousel on Rue des Martyrs after nursery last Friday, and the park this week.
It’s been a heavy fortnight in terms of work, with three consecutive assignments, probably not even quite as much as I’d have for eight weeks straight in Oxford but somehow more taxing, partly because it’s in French of course, but also because the structure of assessments is a bit different and you’re working out exactly what the task is at the same time as trying to do it. At points it was really rewarding to get back to the academic mindset, but there also comes a point where you have just written too many words in a language that’s not your mother tongue. There seem to be two points in term where there’ll be a big round of assignments and I’ve just finished the first one, which was a big sigh of relief. As for grades, they’ll start coming in in the next few weeks, but as far as I’m concerned that can wait for a little while!
There’s also been the usual exploring, which starts to feel a bit different as I really get to know my way around the city and revisit certain areas to orientate myself better, and try and find the hidden gems, although I’m not sure total originality is ever possible in this amazing city. Favourite discoveries have included Canal St Martin, with its sunny quayside, and the cute side streets of the 10th arrondissement just off the big boulevards, as well as heading down and a little east to where the 2rd and 3rd meet, or upwards into the 17th, and the bougie Batignolles. A cancelled language class last week lead to a full day exploring Le Marais, and I also finally got round to enrolling at the Bibliothèque St Geneviève, a big old library right next to the Pantheon which anyone can sign up to for free, as well as checking out the Malesherbes campus of Sorbonne, which has a little library, plenty of workspaces and a canteen, as well as lots of other students, which is great for keeping up motivation. Listening to lectures while walking has become a bit of a favourite, now I know where I’m going a little better. For the best foodie finds (and there have been a surprising amount of vegan-friendly ones), you can check out the latest favourite finds.
The weekend after I last wrote was the Paris celebration of the older girl’s birthday, so I headed to the family’s for lunch and cake, before meeting the Parismus group (international students at the Sorbonne) for a walk through the 8th arrondissement, from Invalides to Arc de Triomphe via the Champs Elysées. The weather was disappointing but the company was good. Weekends generally have a bit more scope for full-on exploring, and last Sunday I met up with some Manchester friends to really tick some places off the list, starting at my favourite ever vegan brunch place (in the 11th - upcoming in a favourite finds), before heading up to Père Lachaise cemetry and carrying on up all the way to Buttes-Chaumont park, on the way to which we stumbled upon a market and a secret allotment garden (perhaps a truly original find) and finishing with some solo consolidation of Montmartre and the 18th. Last weekend was a little work-heavy and I didn’t want to push it too much with the new rules (although I discovered that no one else in Paris had the same thought), but I did get chance to walk up Canal St Martin towards Parc de la Vilette, the site of a cancelled Parismus picnic, back down through the 10th, and across via the grands boulevards. By this weekend I’d learnt that outdoor restrictions weren’t really stopping the Parisians, so I headed out for an exploratory wander in the Latin Quarter, which I’ve visited various times but never really got to know, featuring the *beautiful* Jardins de Luxembourg (see favourite finds for me trying to work out my favourite Parisian park, because a second trip to Buttes-Chaumont made it a close rival), and a socially-distanced-ish get-together with some Oxford friends.
Seeing Oxford people added to a feeling that’s been in the background for a while, not exactly of homesickness but just of feeling far from home. Generally that’s not a bad thing, because it’s exactly the adventure and the charm of Paris that I love, but I think COVID has made the people back home feel further away than usual on a year abroad, because at the moment there’s no prospect of receiving a visit or a quick trip home, so I really have to set myself up here. Obviously everyone I need is just a phone call away, and with the family here, plus some familiar faces from university, nothing major is lacking, but you definitely have to learn to spend more time on your own than you’re used to in the very close-knit university lifestyle.
Looking back on what I’ve written it’s still amazing how much I’m managing to get up to given the circumstances, and I really do feel like I’m making the most of it, and have been incredibly lucky, even if I’m really starting to miss being able to socialise in the evenings, and all the other aspects of student life which lockdown and curfew make difficult to impossible. I’m so glad I have the family, because that’s giving me a grounding and a centre, as well as a nice break from studying and plenty of French exposure. Paris is still one of the best places to be, even though in COVID times it does feel quite far from home. I’m all set for a quiet few weeks, but then where better to have time on your hands?
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