September 9 – 14, 2019. It was my first day of class last Monday! It was so surreal that it was finally happening. I’ve never been in a completely international environment with classmates from all over the world, so it was fascinating having the opportunity to be in a class with classmates from Europe, the U.S. and Asia. In the morning we first had our introductory session to the LL.M. program with the director and with some of our would-be professors. After that session, we were free to do our own thing. Most of the class decided to have lunch together. Since we were unfamiliar with the neighborhood, we ended up at one of the first cafes we found–Le Bonaparte at Saint-Germain des-Près–which turned out to be a bit fancier that we expected. I cannot (afford to) eat like this every after class, I thought.
Over lunch we decided to have our preliminary introductions, at least of those who joined us for the meal. I have four German classmates, four Americans, an Italian, a Japanese, and a Vietnamese. Later on we would likewise be acquainted with classmates from Russia, Greece and Belgium.
After lunch I didn’t want to go home all the way to Suresnes so I decided to roam around Paris, around Trocadero specifically because I am not yet over seeing the Eiffel Tower, and because yes I still am a tourist in this city. As an introvert I was still too shy to make friends with my classmates right away and hang out with them on first day.
Later that evening, we had school-sponsored dinner at À La Petite Chaise. Conversations over dinner were fascinating and eye-opening. There’s so much to learn from other countries’ experiences and legal systems.
We didn’t have class until Thursday, so the next two days was spent doing errands, studying for the next class, and exploring more of Suresnes and Paris. I realized that living 45-50 minutes commute from school is not so bad after all, if the trade off is some tranquility of a Parisian suburbia. Anyway, on Wednesday I also met up with a fraternity brod, Yael, who also started studying in Paris this September. He is taking up his masters at SciencesPo. We had dinner and drinks around Saint-Germain-des-Prés because it turns out our schools are just in front of each other along Rue Saint-Guillaume and Rue de Buci was just a few minutes walk.
On Friday, there was an announced ‘grève’ or strike, so there were no public transportation available. The metro lines were shut and so were most of the buses. I lived quite a distance from school, around nine kilometers, but I nevertheless decided to walk all the way just to get to class. I had to traverse the Bois de Boulogne, which is literally a forest in between Surenes and Paris. I was so tired after the seventh kilometer of walking that the moment I saw a bus that was accepting passengers, I decided to hop on even if I wasn’t sure it was going the right direction. The bus eventually traversed the banks of the Seine. Just when I was a few blocks from school, our professor sent an email which said she was cancelling class because she was herself having a difficult time commuting from the court room to the university.
Notwithstanding this petit annoyance, I met up with my classmates and we all hung out for a picnic of sorts at the Jardin de Luxembourg for the rest of the afternoon. I loved that we have such a beautiful park nearby. We got ourselves some chairs and started sharing our stories to get to know each other. Later that evening we decided to walk all the way to the ‘Asian’ neighborhood to have Asian food because it was apparently the mooncake festival. It was a long but pleasant walk to the 13th arrondissement. We ended up having dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant.
After dinner we dropped by the maire (town hall) of the 13th arrondissement to see the ‘mooncake festival’ exhibit. After seeing the displays, we all decided to call it a night. I was told that although there is a strike, some Metro lines were open so I was able to find myself riding Line 1 to be able to get to La Defénse, and then the tram to Suresnes.
On Saturday, I just spent the whole day at our basement apartment in Suresnes, doing laundry and other household chores, watching Netflix and ‘some’ academic readings. My Filipino housemates and I had pizza for dinner.
