Hello, bonjour, hola!
10 days after my arrival in Paris, I can confirm I have made it, I have an apartment and I have just about worked out how to use the metro. Miracle.
So, getting to Paris involved three suitcases, two trains, two taxis, one stressed mum and a very scared Jodie. But we made it! We got the train from St Pancras in London to Gare du Nord in Paris, it took about three hours I think and that went by really, really quickly. We then queued for a taxi to our hotel, about five minutes into the queue we realised we didn't actually have any euros to pay the taxi driver, great start!
Mum was planning to stay in Paris with me for the first 5 nights to help Sam (friend, course mate and now roomie too!) and me find an apartment. All I can say is thank god she did stay. Finding an apartment was really, really hard work. It took endless amounts of scrolling on websites, countless trips to the American Church and a heartbreaking number of ignored texts and emails.
[Tip for anyone reading this and going to Paris for their year abroad: the American Church is based in the 7th arrondissement, its address is 65 Quai d'Orsay and the nearest metro station is Pont de l'Alma, line C. There's a noticeboard there with loads of housing and employment offers which are updated everyday. I found my apartment on Particulier à Paticulier, its really easy to use. There's also Lodgis and Appartager, but I found their process was a bit slower and much more complicated.]
On our first day, mum and I went to the American Church and met a man called Paddy, who was very keen for Sam and me to live in the flat he was trying to rent. He seemed like a lovely and relatively normal guy and the apartment sounded perfect, so we arranged to go and see it the next day with Sam. I'm laughing as I write about this because it really was the most hilarious situation. We got on the metro with this stranger, walked a bit further, declined lunch at his favourite Chinese restaurant and finally we arrived outside the apartment building. We went through a door, then a gate and came to some stairs which looked like they were going to fall to pieces the moment we stepped on them. Scary. Once we had climbed the stairs to the fourth floor, we walked into the apartment (read: cupboard). Picture your bedroom in uni halls, add a room that size again and that is roughly the size of this flat. There was a sink, mouldy walls, a hob, a sofa bed which blocked the way to the bathroom and front door and a fridge with some plants growing inside it. We swiftly said goodbye to Paddy, but not before he showed us his shut down restaurant at the bottom of the building!
Eventually, after being stood up on the Sunday and rearranging the viewing for the Monday, we found an apartment! We are living on the fifth floor of a gorgeous building in the 15th arrondissement. Viewing the apartment was hilarious, the landlady and my mum sent us up in the lift first and Sam and I knew straight away that we loved it - who knows why. We walked round the apartment and all we could say was 'ohmygod ohmygod'. Its fab! We went away to get cash out for the rent and signed the contract that day. Sam stayed that night and I moved in the following day. Et voila, nous ne sommes plus sans-abri!
I'll do a separate post on the apartment (I know, I spoil you).
À bientôt!
Bean x
