Free Time

Something I did not expect to get out of studying abroad: actual and unencumbered free time. I know, I’m stunned. I don’t have any classes on Fridays, and although this is perfect for quick trips to other countries, it’s also great for doing literally all your homework and then having the entire weekend to do whatever you want.

I’m staying in Paris for the whole year, and consequently have the privilege to space out my traveling a little bit more, so I’ve also been using the weekends to explore the different Parisian districts. I can get into most museums for free thanks to the Hamilton in France program and my student status, and I’ve made it my mission to find a really interesting independent-cinema movie theater. Whenever I can afford it, I’ll simply walk around a neighborhood, find a tiny movie theater, walk in and watch whichever film they’re screening in the next half an hour or so. It’s led to some interesting experiences–in the last few of weeks I ended up watching a German-Azerbaijan film called The Bra (which I hated) and a French one called Portrait de la jeune fille en feu (which I really enjoyed), as well as a couple of others. It’s mostly older folks that populate these places, and many times they stay a little longer after the film is done just to discuss it. It’s kinda great. At one point I stumbled into a theater that had a one-time deal of movie tickets for only four euros. Honestly, I could really get used to this whole five-movie-theaters-per-street thing Paris has going on.

Another cool thing about these free weekends: field trips! Hamilton in France has been super nice about organizing field trips for us. The other week we got to go to Versailles, and take a “VIP tour”–which essentially meant that we got to see more of the nook and crannies of the château that you wouldn’t normally get to see on a self-guided tour. The whole thing was amazing. I got a crick on my neck from permanently staring up at the ceilings of the place.

There was also a beautiful, beautiful garden, that seemed to stretch on forever. There was a forest and an actual lake. I very much felt like I was in one of those period pieces, running around the gardens and down marble staircases, with not a worry in the world but court gossip and my possible marriage to a foreign head of state.

I’m definitely keeping an eye out for cheap flights and bus tickets so I can do some traveling on my own as well, but it’s nice that we got to do a little tourism around here too–we took the RER to Versailles, which was quick and easy with our metro cards.

In other news: I’ve been here for a little over a month and still keep committing the most annoying faux pas. For example, there is math involved in what greeting one should use when running into someone you know, or when walking into a store–if it’s earlier than 5 PM, you should probably use bonjour, but after 6 or 7 PM, bonsoir is recommended…except that’s not always the case. Sometimes you just say bonjour all the time…except when it’s already dark outside. Anyway. It might seem like a silly worry, but that’s only if you have not been severely judged by an elderly french lady for accidentally saying bonsoir madame at the wrong time.

So yeah, you can find me digging a hole by the closed-off playground in the Luxembourg gardens, where I will be burying myself and never coming out until the sun dies and it’s dark all the time and I can just use bonsoir no matter what times it is.

-Alina