Art of Travel: Arrival/ Departure Story

I finished packing up my bags the morning of the day that I was supposed to leave for Paris. Feeling confident that I had done a descent job pacing, or at least keeping my suitcases under the weight limit (a huge feat for me), I packed the bags into the car and headed to the airport with my family.

While many of the people who would be studying abroad in Paris this semester took the group flight from NYC, I had opted to book my own flight. I would be flying by myself on a non-stop, overnight flight from Atlanta, GA to Paris, France. “Perfect,” I had thought to myself, “I will be able to go to sleep on the plane at night and when I wake up in the morning I will be in Paris and it will hardly be jet-lagged.” There was also something about flying by myself to a place that I had never before visited that made me feel somewhat noble. I have always considered myself to be an independent person and to me this trip was just another opportunity to prove that I could do anything on my own.

I really don’t think that I could have been any more wrong. After a tearful goodbye with my mom and dad, I went to my gate and as I sat there, full of nervous excitement and with a million thoughts buzzing around in my head, I realized that I had absolutely no one to share this with. “You’re going to be fine,” I thought to myself, “just get on the plane and you’re going to go to sleep.” Wrong again. Not only did I not go right to sleep, I didn’t go to sleep at all.

After the nearly nine-hour flight and many, many in-flight movies, I landed in the Charles de Gaulle airport exhausted, but so excited that I was finally in Paris. Now all I would have to do is gather my luggage and get a cab to take me to the FIAP, where NYU was housing us for the next few days, until we moved into our apartments. This was also not as easy as I had anticipated, and as I sat in the taxi, not recognizing anything, I thought to myself, “oh my god, what have I done?”

At the FIAP, I still felt very much on edge, and as hard as it is for me to actually admit this, there was even a part of me that wanted nothing more than to get on the next plane back to the States. Over the next few days, I met more and more people and I began to start feeling at ease in my new “home.” Now, nearly two weeks later, I am having the most incredible time and those thoughts upon arrival are nothing more than a blip on my radar; however I have gained a new found respect for people who travel alone.

Art of Travel: An American Girl in Paris (Part Une)

The first thing that everyone asked me when they found out that I would be in Paris for a semester was, “ Why Paris?” to which I of course responded, “because it’s me!

I guess that would make more since if I introduced myself. My name is Hillary and I am Junior at NYU. I came to New York City, from Atlanta, GA, which was a huge move for me in itself. When moving to New York went so well, I knew that I had to study abroad at some point during my collegiate career. And it was pretty obvious, that place would have to be Paris.

I have always been simply fascinated with the French language and culture. Early on in middle school I knew that I would not be taking Spanish, like most of my friends. I had to take French against the advice of my mother, who questioned the practicality of learning French when I would not have many opportunities to practice my speaking. I, of course, knew better. And since my fashionista dreams started early as well, I knew that I would find myself in Paris at some point or another. After taking French, in school since then, I took advantage of the new availability of a minor in Gallatin and decided that I would minor in French. The rest of my concentration is Fashion, Public Relations, and Marketing. So maybe now you can see more clearly how obvious it was to me that Paris was the only place for me to go.

Now, after month of careful preparations, here I am in beautiful Paris and I can’t wait to see where this new experience is going to take me. I want to return to New York fluent in the language more than anything and I want to take advantage of as many cultural opportunities as possible, including the impeccable fashion, maybe even getting to experience Paris Fashion Week. I am hoping that I will be able to make some French friends as well, as I don’t want to fall into the habit of only hanging out with my American friends at school.

I had never been to Paris before I landed on Tuesday, so for now, I am just taking my time and taking it all in. Like any new place, I am a bit overwhelmed, but I know that I will adapt once again, just as I had to do when I moved to NYC.

Bonjour from Paris!

So here I sit in my new Parisian apartment!! I have been here for almost a week and I have to say that I am settling in quite nicely! They had us really busy with orientation stuff this past week, so it wasn't until this weekend that I actually got the chance to go out and experience Paris a little. This weekend I have just been focusing on trying to make friends. I am living by myself and I don't know anyone else in the program really so it will be a little lonely until I can get a group of friends together. But I am absolutely loving it none the less! My apartment is in the 16 arrondisement (neighborhood) (very comparable to the upper east in NYC) It's a tiny little studio with a bathroom and kitchen. My window overlooks Rue de Passy and I can see the Seine from the window as well! It's simply beautiful and the building is exactly what comes to mind when you think of a paris building... wrought iron railings, flower boxes, ornate architecture. simply stunning! I am going to get some pictures up soon, I promise! My apartment is also just across the Seine from the Eiffel tower... like a 10-15 min walk and even more importantly, I live on the same street as the NYU school, so I only have a 5 min walk to class. Bonjour sleeping in!!!

I also signed up for a 2 credit class through Gallatin (my school at NYU) where I have to do blog entries so I will be posting those on here as well. I thought that they might help give a little more structure to my blog!! I will title all of these posts with the name of the class, "The Art of Travel."

Missing everyone from home and wishing ya'll could see this beauty that is surrounding me!

à bientot!

Hill

2 Suitcases< 100 lbs+ 1 carry on = ?? WTF

I am in the middle of packing for this whirlwind adventure upon which I am about to embark. Of course, now I have become too frustrated so I am writing a post instead of continuing.

Now really, I have to rant for a little bit because I have become so frustrated with the whole flying scenario. Since when should I have to pay to check baggage? I mean really. Who travels without checking a bag? If people are flying somewhere, they're probably going for a long time and there for need a sufficient amount of clothes. Regardless of my personal overpacking issues, even normal travelers need a large bag if they're going somewhere for even a week. Why can't they just go ahead and include my bag in the price of my flight and stop hassling me at the airport when I am most likely already stressed/worrying about other nonsense? ANDD leave me alone about how much my bag weighs, for crying out loud!!! If I, a meagre girl, can lift my bag then everyone else should be able to deal with it. And now don't even get me started about the international thing... I mean they act like their doing you a favor by letting you check one bag for free and then charging you $50 for the second one. Guess what, I already paid $1000 for the ticket, so just put my damn bags on the plane so that I can get to Paris with enough to survive for four months. If anyone gives me any trouble when I go to the airport on Monday, they are going to be mighty sorry, because they picked the wrong girl.

What kills me the most about the whole thing is how frugal and practical I have to be with what I am choosing to bring. I mean, here I am going to PARIS- mega fashion capitol/ one of the most fabulous places that I can think of and all I want to do is go and prance around in impossibly chic outfits. But I can't even bring my most beautiful things because I won't have room or "use" (Sheri's term- not mine) for them. I mean as of this moment, I have only one pair of simple black heels packed. huh? that's not me at all... but when you can only check two bags without selling your soul, who has room for yellow python heels or royal blue, metallic pumps?

One Adventure Ends and a New One Begins!

So I wasn't as good at keeping up with this over the summer as I thought that I would be. I guess I just didn't have as much free time as I thought! Well here's a little re-cap of the best summer EVER. My prediction of a nomadic sumer surely didn't disappoint!

I arrived in Point O' Woods on Fire Island around the end of June for another summer working as the Rice family's live-in babysitter. Point O' Woods is simply a place that you can't describe. First of all, there are NO cars... you wanna go somewhere? grab a bike. All the houses, with the weathered, grey shingles, are dispersed throughout the trees and dunes with winding bike paths to take you through the community. There are many different communities on Fire Island and each has its own little niche, if you will. Point O' Woods, however, is the only private (gated) one. It has its own ferry boat that brings you over from Bay Shore, Long Island. If you ever spend time there, its easy to see why the community would want to keep it a secret! The best term I can use is like a summer camp for entire families! The kids shuffle out the door bright and early at 8:30 am to go to Sports Camp, where they get to play tennis, do arts and crafts, go sailing, swim in the bay, and explore the nature of the island. While the kids are at camp the parents play tennis at the huge tennis facility-- fully equipped with hottie tennis pros ;)

The kids typically start camp at age 5 but there is a little "playgroup" for the kids who are 3-4 and I got to be the head counselor of that this summer.

Let me tell you- that was SOO fun. I was a little apprehensive at first, because lord knows that kids can be hard to deal with and 20 of them??? but it was hysterical!! They kept the counselors laughing all morning with the stuff that comes out of their mouths.... anti-american sentiment? underwear contests to win the boy? and little girl/girl action? budding relationships? we had it alll! Anyways, every morning I took Cokie with me to Playgroup while Lila went off to Sports and by lunchtime, everyone was back home and ready for an afternoon of BEACH time!

Night around POW is super fun too!

$1 beer- Monday, Karaoke- Tuesday, Gay Bingo- Wednesday, Margarita Madness- Thursday, and Friday and Saturday there inevitably will be a beach-keg party or some community wide event such as the infamous Lobster party. Take your pick. There is certainly never an excuse to be bored. I already knew all this from last summer, but I was even more excited for this year, seeing as I had already made a bunch of friends out there and my friend and roommate Liz was joining me, nannying for another family, this summer!

I spent the next 5 weeks living on this glorious island, playing with Lila and Cokie and taking in tons of sun! After that I went with the Rice's for another week to Martha's Vineyard, which was really cool because I had never been there before. It was really beautiful and we had so much fun!

After Martha's Vineyard, was my time to depart and go back to Atlanta for the remainder of the summer, but it was ok because I had made plans to head to the lake with Suzanne the weekend that after I got back. We had a fabulous long weekend! skiing, jet skiing, rope jumping, tubing ect... I was so happy that I got to spend some time with Suzy (seeing as she had been gone all summer too, working at a ski camp in NC) While I was there I got an email and the Rices' wanted me to come back to the beach so of course- I got on another plane and took my but back to NYC and enjoyed another amazing week in Point O' Woods! The first weekend that I was back in POW, the Rice's had a cocktail party, so we had the idea to recruit Whitney of Nosh and Tell to come help cook. I was really glad that she got to come out and experience POW too, seeing as she as had to hear me talk about it incessantly for like the past two years! We had such a good time and I think I may have even added another accomplice for next summer's fun!

When I came back to Atlanta the next time, my friend Joe came with me to spend a long weekend. He had never been to ATL before and much less experienced the south so we had really a good time! I took him to Athens for one night to see all my friends at UGA and Joe and I both found in refreshing to be in a college town. We also went to the GA aquarium and tubed on the Chattahoochee River (which ended in slight disaster- since there was NO current that day) It was a good visit and I was really glad that Joe got to come!

Now I am just hanging out at home for another week or so while I get ready for my next adventure... and full semester in Paris!! I cannot wait and I have a lot to do before I leave, so I am sure that the time will pass by quickly.

à bientot!

Hill

Paaking caas... and stealing license plates

Back in New York. hoooray

Last weekend Joe and I took a little trip out to visit our friend Sam at his house on Cape Cod. This was such a fun trip. we got there on friday and went out to dinner and hung out/pre gamed at his house. Once we were good to go, we headed out to the bar that's within walking distance of his house. At the bar we proceeded to dance our asses off and just have a general rocking good time. Funny story from this excursion... I tried to steal a license plate off the rafter in the bar- that got shut down immediately because the bartender just didn't understand that I clearly NEEDED that license plate because it was GEORGIA and more specifically, fulton co.-- gotta represent. oh well. that was a fail. but all together the night was a great success. 

The next day we spent the whole day at the beach and then had a cook out and went to a party in another town on the Cape.  I learned a new drinking game called beer kill. good times- I ended up tackling this girl who was on the opposite team, but she loved it so NBD. 

(some photos for your enjoyment...)

Sam and me relaxing on the Beach

Sam, me and Joe at Joey's house in Chatham

This past week I just hung out in the city at Joe's apt. and tried my best to catch up with my friends in NYC. It was rather hectic. Thursday night Mike and I went to this bar/restaurant down by campus. three mojitos later... wow! enough said. 

Today I got up and got ready to leave for Fire Island. (where I will be working as a nanny for the next month and a half) yyesssss! been waiting for this for months. We got out here late this evening and after we got here and brought all our bags to the house, we went to the club for dinner. delicious- as usual. and now I am wiped out and laying in bed, looking forward the next month and awaiting Liz to join me for another absolutely amazing summer full of bikes, beaches, parties, outdoor showers, and of course.... my two favorite little girls!  

In the meantime time for me to start scoping out the summer potentials...  ;) 

summer on Fire Island = lots more stories to share! finally. 

Beautiful view of the houses along the bay

à bientot,

Hill

Just thought I would share...

So since I have been home for the summer I have been working for an events and catering company here in Atlanta. It isn't exactly what I thought it was going to be like and it's a LOT of hard work but it's good money and really flexible! (which is what I need) Basically what I do is some of the set up before the event and then once it starts, I serve the food and then bus the tables as people finish their meal. Most of the events that we work are weddings which is actually really fun for several reasons...

for one, people watching is always a favorite hobby of mine and weddings are definitely good for that! 

second, as I walk around I like to imagine what it will be like when my friends start getting married and we all start going to each others weddings... not that I am in any great hurry for this to happen, but it is just cool to think about. Eating, drinking, dancing, toasting- how could this not be fun?? And also just trying to imagine the types of people who everyone will end up with is crazy too. What if you already know the person? 

In particular, I have a story from the wedding I was working tonight that I want to share because I found it really moving...

Before the event started, the event manager took all the staff aside to tell us various things about the party and what we are each responsible for. Usually this is all pretty standard but tonight he told us that we needed to make sure that everything went particularly well. The bride has a cancerous brain tumor and she has only been given a year to live, so everyone wanted to make sure that this day was as perfect as possible. To make things even harder on this poor girl, her mother died a few years ago, so she only had her dad and her sister. 

All of this just made me feel so blessed, I can't imagine what it would be like not to have my mother at my wedding, much less what it would feel like to know that my life is going to be cut so drastically short. This girl was so strong- she was completely happy and carefree on her wedding night, just as anyone should be. You would never know that anything was wrong with her. It was really inspiring to me how she has obviously decided to continue on with her life and not let this tragic situation keep her from living the life she wants to live and do all of the things that she wants to do. 

And most of all I was amazed by the love that these two people must have. This man is marrying her despite the fact that he knows that he might loose her before they even have the chance to celebrate the first year of their life together. That is honestly one of the greatest displays of love that I have ever seen. I really wish them the best and hope that maybe God will give her some sort of miracle. 

Sorry for the mushy post... but I had to share. 

à bientot!

Hill