Life in the 5e arrondissement

I got to Paris on the afternoon of Thursday, 18 September, and my mentor, Leïla, was kind enough to pick me up at the airport and to take me to my dorm, which is across the road from the university. The dorm room was a step down from my apartment in Los Alamos, which I suppose makes sense, given relative property values. The view is great, though. If I lean far enough out my window (not a good idea, since I am on the fourth floor--fifth, by American standards), I can see the Panthéon straight down rue d'Ulm. Across the road is the Ecole Normale Supérieure building, and I am about a five-minute walk from the renowned rue Mouffetard (great name, am


azing place), which is hopping with restaurants, bars, and boutiques where young people browse and shop into the wee hours of the morning.

I've been lucky enough to find some friends in Paris. Not being the type of girl who can just go up to people and to make friends with strangers, I was thrilled to discover that Sunita, an MIT friend, would be earning a Master's degree in Paris. On my second night in town, she and I went out for dinner and some nice Parisian walks, passing by l'Eglise Saint-Etienne-du-Mont and la Sorbonne.

Determined to be good tourists, we took advantage of les Journées du patrimoines, which celebrate European culture and heritage. We started with a late lunch in Place de la Bastille--perfect, since I was still recovering from jetlag, and didn't have an alarm clock--and continued onto Place des Vosges and through le Marais.



















I love people-watching in Paris! Some of them are so interesting. From there, we went to l'Hôtel de ville, which houses the city hall of Paris behind a grand Middle Ages edifice. It was far more spectacular than any city hall I've seen in the US, and the view out onto the Seine was breathtaking. For les Journées du Patrimoine, workers from around the city gave exhibitions on how their handiwork keeps the city hall running. I liked watching the chandelier, doorknob, and fake marble makers, but they also had heating people, custodians, people who track fake money, &c.

Bienvenue à Paris!

Paris: The very name of the city has this aura of magic about it, an unattainability of human perfection, containing the quintessence of Western culture. So I'm still in that dazzled, dreamlike place in my mind. I'm really here? I keep wondering. For real?

I am in Paris on a Fulbright to l'Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS) to do electrochemistry for about nine months. I graduated from MIT last winter, then visited Paris for a few weeks with the January Scholars in France program. I fell head over heels in love with the city and knew I had to come back. I spent seven months doing hydrogen storage chemistry at Los Alamos National Laboratory, which is in the tiny New Mexican town of Los Alamos. The 18000-person town sits 7300 ft above sea level, and snow-capped mountains graced the view out my window. I got to try many new outdoor activities, like rock climbing, white water rafting, and camping, but cultural opportunities are negligible out there in the southwest. I've been aching for a city, and Paris is just what I needed after my time in Middle of Nowhere, USA.

I'm a few weeks late with this blog, having arrived in Paris on 18 Sept 09, but I was busy having a great time. I promise I'll catch up! I am sure I will have more time on my hands as the weather worsens, and as my right hand cramps up in absolute refusal to write in my journal. I've been taking so many pictures of Paris. It's hard to control yourself; everything is picture-worthy! At first, I took pictures of every street and every old apartment building, but after a point, I started deleting them, because really, there are only so many pictures you need of graceful white façades draped with lacy black balconies hanging with vivid red poppies. This blog is intended to be merely a glorified photo album. Actually, my thinking went, All of my friends have cool blogs; I want one, too! So with that sophomoric mindset, let's embark on this Parisian adventure.