July 28, 2020. Two of my LL.M. classmates who had remained in Paris over the coronavirus confinement invited me to a day trip to Compiègne and Amiens, just short train rides away north of Paris. It served as our first reunion, months after our abrupt separation as a class last March when most of the class (including myself) hurriedly flew out of Paris to seek refuge in our respective countries of origin.
So I met my Japanese and Russian classmates at the Gare du Nord in the morning and we all took an almost-empty summer weekday train, first, to the town of Compiègne, which only took less than an hour.
July 20-26, 2020. The first half of last week was spent contemplating on and preparing last minute necessities for my impending departure from Manila. I made last minute trips to the mall, saw some friends, and finally got myself to pack the relatively few things I would be taking with me–considering that I would be staying abroad for a year. They all fit in just one suitcase and a duffel bag, actually. I flew out of Manila on July 22 and arrived in Paris the day after, spending a brief layover in Doha, Qatar. I wrote a separate blog entry narrating the experience of the entire transit.
[07 Oct 19] Normal class day. Things are becoming more routine. I don’t like to lose that feeling of awe every time I walk the streets of this city. I hope the magical feeling of waking to a dream come true stays longer. When I walk the streets of the city I still can’t believe I’m here.
[08 Oct 19] I wish my eyes were a camera, so I could easily take snapshots of everything (and everyone) that I see–without the discomfort of having to raise my phone or camera in front of people. I wish I could store everything I see in a photo or in a video, and keep all these memories forever.
This experience still feels like a dream come true. The things I see now had only been matters of my imagination, as I’ve seen them in countless films, photos, videos. Now I’m right in it.
[09 Oct 19] First exam of the LL.M. program done! Took a snapshot of my desk before starting. We were allowed to refer to our ‘codal’–European Union treaties. Some of my classmates probably had an easier time since half of them are EU citizens. Night out with some of them after the exam!
[10 Oct 19] Our French language professor forbids any English word in class as a policy and discusses everything in French. I feel like drowning, really, like being thrown in the ocean, me gasping for air (words) and catching my breath, with no choice but to (learn to) swim. And swim I will! French class was my only class for the day. The rest of the day stayed at the apartment.
[11 Oct 19] I met up with my frat brod Yael to hang out and explore some parts of the city. I will write another entry on this day!
[12 Oct 19] It was a slow weekend. Stayed most of the time at the apartment, heading out to La Défense for a while. In this photo I took, a young boy looks out to the Grande Arche de La Défense as the metro approaches France’s main financial district. The Grande Arche stands directly opposite the Arc de Triomphe. A giant graffiti that proclaims “We support Hong Kong!” greets commuters at the tunnel.
[13 Oct 19] Almost half of the Sunday parishioners of this Catholic chuch in central Paris are Filipinos. After mass, many would swarm around ambulant vendors selling Filipino food items from chicharon to turon, sometimes even some ulam. This Sunday we went to the Filipino store to have lunch. After lunch I walked across the Seine to the gym.
[30 Sep 19] We had French language assessment exam today and I’m laughing now at how I did my essay. The topic was the protection of children in armed conflict–and I’m like how am I gonna write this in French?? I just French-ed a lot of English words — société! éducation! service médicale!
[01 Oct 19] In the morning, I attended the foreign students introduction with university officials at Université Paris 2 (Assas). I’m struggling with my French. All speeches were in French. Sink or swim, and swim I will.
[02 Oct 19] Backed out from an 11pm-5am college party coz I was like, what? It just starts at 11pm (on a Wednesday night at that)? I didn’t have class today so I had the whole day to do errands, walk around the neighborhood in Surenes, and take a stroll at La Défense two tram stations away. I took some photos while I was at the Place de la Défense at sunset.
[03 Oct 19] There was a recruitment fair at the university today, and I was contemplating on signing up for something. But I hesitated, and kind of regret it now. Also, apparently Thursday night-outs are a thing among many university students. (And I was like, wasn’t there a party the night before?) I ended up going out with some new friends–fellow Filipino scholars in France who were visiting Paris. We had dinner and some drinks at a bar near Montparnasse.
[05 Oct 19] Despite it being a Saturday, I spent the entire afternoon at the Cujas library to do some school work. I really love staying in the library because I can feast my eyes on so many wonderful… books and readings in one big chamber. Ugh. Lord, am I in heaven.
Later that evening, I joined my Filipino housemates along Rue de Rivoli to watch the one of the weirdest parades I’ve seen. It’s the Blanche Nuit parade in Paris. There were Scottish men with bagpipes, a floating snake, mariachi bands, an Illuminati hand, a float w naked tattooed men and women, robots, then–a parade float spewing out fresh cotton candy?! Di ko nagets yung theme.
Later on that evening we had good authentic pizza nearby.
[06 Oct 19] It was the day of the Philippine Food Festival in Paris. It was such a hit, you’d wonder why there’s barely any Filipino restaurants in the city. The venue was packed to the brim and the lines extended for half a kilometer, I think? Kare-kare was gone by the first hour. Since it was the first event of its kind, the organizers and volunteers seemed to have been extremely overwhelmed and was severely understaffed. I invited some LLM classmates who came and enjoyed some food, but I was a bit embarrassed because of the inconveniences of queuing up for so long and then there weren’t a lot of food choices left once we got in.
September 29, 2019. It’s the last leg of my nine (9) hour bus travel from Amsterdam to Paris, in an almost empty tram to Suresnes back to the apartment where I’m bed spacing. This was such a gloomy and draining day. I came to certain realizations about my stay here in Europe after another encounter with a rude French-speaking person, this time an impolite ground crew at the bus stop who was really rude with my request for assistance. Certainly not the best day.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m having the time of my life here, it’s just that I have to deal with the stereotype attitude that can really feel offensive, impolite and arrogant. That’s just how some of them are I guess, ikaw ang maga-adjust talaga.
September 27 – 28, 2019. For all its hedonistic and liberal stereotypes, Amsterdam remains to be (in the short period I’ve experienced it) a laid-back and charming (and safe!) city. Perhaps proof to the truth that the pursuit of worldly pleasure is and should be no different from other ways of pursuing one’s happiness.
I just continued walking around the center of Amsterdam the rest of the day. I love walkable cities with efficient and convenient public transport where I don’t need to ride a car to get me anywhere.
