Sara’s abroad in Paris, France, until Dec. 13.

After a long car ride to O’hare and an unexpectedly teary goodbye, I found myself navigating the confusing terminals from where a plane would whisk me off and finally deposit me in Paris. Slowly, Northwestern kids began trickling into the gate and we anxiously exchanged names, majors, and all manner of information that will be repeated hundreds of times over the course of the next few days.

Once on the plane, I end up sitting behind a large college freshman who reclines his chair as far back as possible, which earns me sympathetic looks from the exotic French woman sitting next to me. What is it about the French? Something about them – they always seem exotic, cosmopolitan – even when they probably just live in the ‘burbs like everyone else, drive a Smart Car to work and have a husband and two kids. Even French children I’ve come to realize today, after eavesdropping on some of their conversations as we began to explore our advertisement in Paris, have an air about them.

And that is what I did most of today – not eavesdrop on French children – but explore our small neighborhood in the 14 advertisement. Unlike Chicago, whose neighborhood boundaries are somewhat malleable, Paris is a city of strictly delineated neighborhoods or advertisements. They’re more like districts or the wards of Chicago but each seems to have its own character, and we’re slowly learning the character of the 14th.

Exploring part wasn’t really in the plans. The three other girls that were on my plane and I all wanted to plop down and call it a night (or day?) when we got to our hostel – FIAP – or home, as it will be known to me for the next three months. But we had to wait until 2:30 PM to check in, leaving us with three glorious hours for exploration. So we had our first French lunch (ham and cheese baguette), which was an experience straight out of your French Level 2 textbook (Je voudrais le sandwich au jambon s’il vous plait!). After that we carried on, a group of about seven NU students all studying in Paris, and wandered the streets finding a cell phone store, a grocery store and several little cafes. Basically, all the essentials.

I’ve yet to get my French phone to work and am only moderately stressing about this. But I do have some internet paid for - 50 hours, which should last me more than a month as I definitely won’t be online for an hour a day, though my status as a blogger might suggest otherwise. Toiletries have been bought and I’m completely moved in.

The, as one fellow NU student put it, “orphanage beds” are not the most accommodating, but we’ll live. After all, this is Paris. The meager meal plan already outshines NU’s, with breakfast plus an 11 euro food tab for dinner five times a week. The tab can also be used at the bar in the hostel, a significant point that was clarified early on. And then the scenery, it’s oh so Paris. The neighborhood is quiet, filled with old white building and winding roads, littered with people from all over the world. We’ve been told there’s a trendy neighborhood just blocks away, but the empty look of the streets in the immediate vicinity would never lead you to guess that.

While I do miss friends and family from home, especially since my roommate hasn’t arrived and I’ve been doing the whole adjustment thing alone, it’s good to be here. This first day felt long and short, all at the same time. That’s because on our first night, a group of about ten of us decided to head out to find a Parisian good time. Unfortunately, the French don’t seem to have the same appreciation for Monday nights that us NU kids do, so the pickings were slim. But our downtown walk, which started as a meager bar crawl, ended up a nighttime sightseeing adventure.

That’s the thing about studying abroad: You just have to get up, head out and see what you see. You rarely have a plan that you stick to and you kind of let the wind take you. We went out hoping to sample some Paris drinks but instead found the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and the Musee d’Orsay. We walked over a wooden bridge where we found French kids chugging from wine bottles and playing what seemed to be their version of kings. I guess we’re not so different after all.

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