Aussie Visitor #2

As I mentioned in my last post, Tim came to visit me here in Paris last weekend. He had already been to Paris before so we didnt need to do all the touristy things but had lots of fun hanging out around Paris.

We also had a picnic by the Seine with lots of cheese and wine. This is becomming one of my favorite ways to spend a summer evening in Paris. We also went to Musée D'Orsay which neither of us had been to before, which was really interesting. It has art from 1848-1914. It is amazing to see how quickly the style changed between the 1860s and 1870 once impressionism hit. Suddenly gone are all the dark colours and religious symbolism (thankfully) and suddenly there are all these gorgeous landscapes.

We also had an amazing french meal at a cute ivy covered restaurant in Montmartre which was recommended to me as it actually has vege food. The food and service were great and afterwards we sat on the steps of Sacré Coeur over looking Paris.

Unfortunatley Sunday was rainy but we still managed to fill the day eating a tonne of pastries for breakfast at home and then drinking coffee in a little bar at one of my favorite little squares in Paris. Luckily the weather cleared up a bit later and so we walked over to the Arc De Triumph.

After Tim left on sunday night I actually felt really home sick for the first time since I have been here, but I was feeling better again by the next day and although I do miss you all, I am still very happy to be here in Paris.

Aussie Visitor #1

Last weekend I had my first Australian visitor, Marty. The first of many I hope. It was great to have someone to show around Paris and it made me realise all over again how amazing Paris really is. We spent most of the time enjoying the amazing food and wandering the streets of Paris, stopping every five minutes to admire another amazing building or gorgeous street. We had a picnic by the Seine over looking Notre Dame and ate heaps of different kinds of cheese, delicious bread and plenty of french red wine! We also went to a few restaurants and several bars and had a fun day on sunday watching the football in an aussie bar (even though we did lose) and then watching the french game in another bar.

Tim (another friend from sydney) is coming to visit me this weekend so I guess I will be doing it all over again. I am not too disappointed about that!

Apart from that everything here is going well. I am getting a lot of calls about jobs but so far no luck. So far the main problem is my visa, as most IT jobs want people to stay for more than a year, and also my french is a bit of problem for some jobs, but I expected that. I have an interview on thursday and a few other things I am waiting to hear back from, so hopefully something will come along soon.

My french is improving slowly and I am getting over my fear of talking on the phone. I managed to discuss jobs with two different people today completely in french without any major problems, so I am feeling a little better about that now, although I am still pretty bad and I still get totally stuck every now and then. I have finished my french course which was really good and helped alot. I would like to continue but it is quite expensive and I really need to focus on finding a job now. But I think I will start another one once I get a job.

Real Life

I finally moved into my appartment on the weekend. It is great and I feel really at home there. The place is quite big and really nice and my flatmate seems really friendly. The first morning she bought croissants, fruit, yohgurt and bread for breakfast for both of us and her boyfriend who had stayed the night. They are both really nice and speak english well. They have gone away together for a holiday for about a week but I think they will be both be around alot once they get back, which is great, and we are going to try speak in french most of the time. So hopefully that will help my french improve alot.

I have also started an intensive french course at Alliance Francais. I started today and it was really good. The teacher is really nice and so is everyone in the class and we are only allowed to speak french, which is great.

I also openned a bank account today, which i feared might have been hard, but was actually easy, although I did have to make an appointment in advance and have a meeting with the branch manager. But it all went well and I managed to do the whole thing in french, including making the appointment over the phone, which I usually find very difficult.

So I feel now like I have started my 'real life' in Paris and so far it is going really well. I feel quite at home here now, I pretty much know my way around the city now and have the metro completely sorted, and basically I have the hang of how most things work now.

Tomorrow is my birthday and I am going out to a restaurant for a real french meal. I hope there will be some vege stuff there! I think there will only be about five of us as I dont really know alot of people here yet, but i think that I am doing OK after only a few weeks.