First Day of School

Another exciting day on my Vélib, picking one up on my third attempt this morning!  I never seem to get to the stand in time – I see via the app that there are 3 available and by the time I get there nothing – nada, rien, zilch.  Anyway, the day started well with me being called a French swear word that begins with S (the equivalent of b****!);  good morning to you too madame.  I wouldn’t mind but it was her who cut across 2 lanes of traffic in Place de la République and tried to turn right, cutting ME up in the process! I dear lady, was in the correct lane for going straight ahead.  Maybe I should buy that helmet after all . . . ?

Anyway, this isn’t about more tales of my journey to school but about school itself.  Orientation Day today, so I got to meet my tutors and fellow students which is really exciting.  It reminded me of working at EuroDisney nearly 20 years’ ago, just after it had opened.  I had such an international group of friends with a host of languages being spoken around the lunch table.  Everyone had an interesting story to tell and I am sure it will be the same here, I just can’t wait to hear them.  I seem to be the only Brit (not quite sure what I make of that).

An introductory chat was then followed by a tour of the school before we were issued with our knives, uniform, books and a bag containing sandwich box (to bring home all our goodies).  Is it weird that this process reminded me of going into prison?  You know, just like on Prisoner Cell Block H when you arrive and are given a jumpsuit and a toothbrush and they take your laces from you.  I’m just glad they didn’t do a full body search!  Not that I have ever been to prison you understand; that reminds me, I must catch up on series 3 of ‘Orange is the New Black’ . . . I digress.

I was like a bag lady – there was no way I was getting all of this in the little basket on my Vélib, so thought I would make use of my time and get my locker sorted out.  I got chatting to a very friendly lady from Peru (I hope you’re not still thinking about that prison) who kindly lent me her permanent marker to mark up all my equipment which took me over an hour – every nozzle, knife and magnet has now got my name on it. (Now I’m thinking about prison again).

So back home with a few bits, and a bite of lunch before heading out in the Parisian sunshine.  By this point it was nearly apéro-o’clock and I thought I should work on perfecting the art of making a small glass a rosé last an hour whilst scribbling my thoughts in my new notebook so I can keep you all entertained with interesting blog posts.

A little glass of rosé at apéro time, along with my new notebook

I thought I would also share with you the lovely view from the terrace.

Straight ahead

If you happen to know who has the roof garden up there, please tell them that I would love a tour!

and looking upwards.

I can’t promise anything tomorrow – we have 9 hours of classes and I think I might just be a bit pooped!