Morning dear readers!
I
have missed you loads! I was on “vacation” for a while but now I’m back and I
have many post ideas for you! I actually was on a kind of internship about the
French culture with 30 young people from 23 different countries. It was one
great experience that certainly changed me forever, and most importantly
changed the way I see other religions, cultures, countries, and people. Those
few lines are certainly not enough for me to tell you all about this
life-changing experience… That’s why I have decided to divide my trip into 4
major parts: The first 3 days of my stay in France (in Paris); the first week
(Gap); the second week (Nimes); and the third week (Marseille). I will tell you
all about the towns and cities we visited, the places we went to, and most
importantly the memories we made along the way… good ones and bad ones…
July
4th:
My
flight is at 7:55am from Rafic Hariri International Airport – Beirut. I got
there about 6 o’clock, checked in, and then waited in the Cedars Lounge. There,
one of my friends who also happened to be travelling to Paris on the same plane
joined me for a little breakfast. Then,
we headed to the plane which took off on time to land approximately 4 hours
later in Charles de Gaule airport. The weather was not so good and rain was
predicted for the afternoon. After getting my luggage, my Parisian adventure
began. The organization which had planned the whole trip for us had given us
instructions to get from the airport to the Ecole Centrale where some instructors
were waiting for us. But being a Lebanese girl who travelled not so often, I
wasn’t used to taking buses and subways. So I went to the information office in
the train station below the airport and asked how I could get to my
destination. After getting all the details needed, I went to buy my ticket and
I had to wait a long time to do that. When I finally did, I went to the
designated gate to catch my train and to do so I had to take some electric
escalators with my huge luggage and my carry-on in addition to my backpack. It
was kind of hard to manage all those specially that I was afraid a pickpocket
would steal something from me. Once I was on the train it was easy for me to
wait for the station where I should get out. The journey was long but I was lucky
enough to meet a Russian tennis instructor coming from Egypt who chatted with
me for a while and a French man and his son who hopped on the train with their
jukebox and started singing traditional French songs that instantly gave me
that Parisian feel. When I got to the metro station, I hopped off and one man
welcomed me and showed me the way to the school. I went with all my suitcases
and there I was greeted with some chips and pretzels because I had skipped
lunch. After that my instructor Alina-Maria was nice enough to help me carry my
bags to the fourth floor and to open my room for me. I was happy to find out
that I had an Indian roommate called Isha. She wasn’t in the room, but her
things were :P I took advantage of that time to take a quick shower and unlock
some of my things. Then I headed to the reception area where I met for the
first time one of the other interns of my center: Rok from Slovenia. He was
really talkative and we instantly clicked. We took a walk around the school
campus and then we went out for a while, trying to find a shop where I could
get a French SIM card. We talked about everything we had in our countries:
food, people, geography, history, traditions, religions,… and it wasn’t so bad
after all for two strangers who had just met. Later in the evening, all the
interns came back and we all had dinner together. Then, each center had its
first reunion…It was lovely to finally meet the people I had been tracking on
Facebook since the instructors had created the group “CIFP 2014” to communicate
with us. It was very emotional to hear all these young people speak in French
with accents from different countries…
July
5th:
After
getting up early in the morning and having breakfast, the CIFP group gathered
in the entrance hall to leave for a day in Paris. Many stops were waiting for
us on that rainy day…
The
first one was the Archeological crypt of Notre-Dame. A guide was waiting for us
there and she gave a not-so-quick look about ancient Paris, Lutèce: its
different parts, how it was built, the evolution it went through… etc.
After
that very instructive tour, we took a walk along the Seine during which we saw
the famous bouquinistes who sell old books and posters and the famous
Laperousse restaurant. I was really surprised to know what was the story behind
this place. Its name actually referred to a French discoverer but the place was
known to be the restaurant where all MPs and senators used to meet their
mistresses and offer them diamond rings. In order for the women to make sure the
stone was real, she used to scratch the window with it and write her name as a
souvenir. This restaurant was also the
place for all the well-known French writers to hold their meetings: Victor
Hugo, Emile Zola, Jean-Jacques Rousseau all had food at this beautifully
decorated 18th century restaurant.
For
the rest of our pedestrian tour, our guide whom we nicknamed “Superman” (although
he was over 70 years old, he was such a quick runner) talked to us about the
different Parisian bridges, when they were built, the architects who designed
them, the story behind them, etc.
The
next stop for our first day in Paris was the famous flower market where Queen
Elizabeth of England had stopped a few months earlier during her stay in
France. There, we walked between orchids on one side, musical boxes and
decorative objects on the other. It was heaven… but with very expensive prices.
The
clock of the Palais de Justice started ticking at noon so we all went to have lunch
at the gardens of the Hotel-Dieu de France. After this quick break and almost
30 minutes of wait to go to the restroom (since we were 20 out of 30 to need to
go to the bathroom, the line we had was way longer than the line of people who
were waiting at the ER to get checked by a doctor), it was time to move again.
The
group took the subway to get to Montmartre. Once we got there and after walking
through a kind of Ghetto area, we posed on the stairs of the Sacré-Coeur than
had a tour around Montmartre during which, out of nowhere, it started raining
heavily on us. The sudden rain didn’t stop our guide from showing show us every
window, every corner, and every stone of the small town: La maison rose, le
cabaret du lapin agile, the smallest Parisian sidewalk, the famous Dalida
statue…. We saw it all. Our day was long, everybody was tired and cold but we
all managed to gain some energy to do one final thing we’ve all been wanting to
do: Talk a walk on the Champs-Elysées while singing “O Champs-Elysées… Au soleil, sous la pluie, à midi, ou à minuit,
il y a tout ce que vous voulez aux Champs-Elysées ». And so we did, but after leaving the famous Place de la Concorde,
we realized that we weren’t 30 persons… someone was missing… a girl… it was
Cholpon, the Kirgiz girl! We had lost her somewhere along the way. No one had
her number to call her and we had no idea if she knew how to contact us.
Everybody got worried but instead of panicking like I usually do, I started
telling everybody that from what I saw in the last two days, Cholpon was a good
French speaker and a smart girl who certainly would find her way back to
school. And I was right! When we got out of the metro station in Antony and
while we were waiting for the bus to take us to school, we were surprised to
see Cholpon, walking towards us, with some baguette and other goodies in her
bag. She did get lost but she managed to get back and even did some grocery
shopping :D Everybody was relieved to see her safe and sound…
That
night, after dinner, all the participants coming from the same country or from
some neighboring countries gathered in different corners of the school to
prepare a dance, a song or a theatrical performance for Sunday’s opening ceremony.
I was with almost 15 young men and women from Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon of
course. As usual, there was a great conflict about the song to choose, the
moves of the dance, and the representation of each country. I thought it was
mission impossible to get Arabs to agree on something. But a few minutes before
Sunday’s show went on, my mates proved me wrong when we finally managed to do
something acceptable, all together as one single group. It was an exploit.
July
6th:
On
that Sunday, my roommate Isha and I woke up to the sound of the rain. We got
ourselves ready and then we went to have breakfast. 45 min later, breakfast was
finally ready. We ate quickly and left for our last day in Paris. We went for a
tour in the bateau-mouche over the Seine and under the rain. While everybody
took pictures, I sat there quietly, afraid to get motion sickness. During this
tour, we got the closest look to the Eiffel Tower since we weren’t going to
have the time to visit it. Seen from the Seine, it looked huge!!! I wish to visit
it one day.
One
hour and a half later, we were back on the ground and our head organizer was
kind enough to give us 30 min to do some souvenir shopping. Everything was
closed because it was Sunday but we somehow managed to buy some small gifts. Before
we got back to school, we all gathered in front of the Notre Dame. It was
raining heavily. The cold wind was blowing and we were 28… not 30! Two persons
were missing! Sinda from Tunisia and Saleh from Syria! Mrs. Liliane, our
head-chief decided to leave them behind and just let them find their way back
to school alone. What had happened with us in Paris reminded me a lot of the
television series that was airing here in Lebanon while I was away… 10 little
Indians… It looked as if it was 30 little interns who will all be missing at
the end of our trip. Scary!
Back
to school, everyone took a shower, got ready, wore their traditional costume
and practiced one last time before the show went on (for us Arabs it was
actually our first practice… always behind as usual). After a quick dinner, the
show went on. It was one country after the other presenting itself. It was
amazing! The dances and the songs were all great. Everybody had worked hard and
it was obvious. After the actual show was the actual after-party. We all put
the chairs away and started dancing to the beats of the DJ’s music. Amazing
party…When the music stopped and the lights went off everybody knew that it was
time to say goodbye… goodbye to the people from other centers. So we did and I
went to sleep while some of my new friends went to the party in the fifth
floor…
To
be continued…
Xoxo,
T
