It has been 12 years since I went to France for my first job after graduation. I didn't realize it until Facebook started posting 'on this day' memories, reminding me of the photos and posts I had posted back then on my account.
I graduated in 2008, in the middle of the financial crisis. After a long search and several interviews, I received two offers. One was a short term job, and the other was a more stable, better paying one. Both in France.
I had done a 5 week internship in a city in South of France, and had already fallen in love with French culture. During my internship, I realized that I enjoyed teaching more than anything else. My field of research required me to work in dark rooms for hours, and the constant pressure to publish, meet deadlines and look for funding did not appeal to me. I wanted to teach, with minimum or no research for a while. I needed to build a strong resume with both teaching and research credentials. So, after thinking long and hard I decided to accept the short term job. It was a postdoctoral researcher position at a university in Paris, employed by CNRS-
the French National Centre for Scientific Research. So a couple of weeks after my PhD defense, I sold / donated most of my stuff, packed two bags and left for France.
It was the beginning of winter. I rented the apartment of a faculty member at the same university who was in a 3 month research training in Boston.
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| Neighborhood of my first apartment in Paris |
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| First apartment |
The first couple of months were not easy. At work we communicated in English, but it was challenging to navigate everything else with my extremely limited French. However, I found French people to be very polite and helpful when I tried speaking French. My favorite sentences were "Je ne parle pas français. Parlez vous anglais?" 😁 Sometimes I'd memorize what I needed to say, and even write sentences on my palm. With my poor French, I still managed to open a bank account, deal with the post office, and navigate French bureaucracy.
By that time, I had lived away from my family for 6 years. Still, I think the time in France made me more independent and confident. I had colleagues - who later became good friends - who were willing to help me, and a very nice supervisor, but most of the time I enjoyed figuring things out by myself.
I still remember going to the Sunday market, pointing to mushrooms and asking how much those champagne cost! What I meant to say was champignon (mushrooms). 😂 The vendor laughed, but very kindly and patiently wrote the price on a piece of paper. I always had a map of the city, and a compass with me because I often had a hard time figuring out where I was after coming out of an underground metro station. 😀
Almost every weekend I went to visit a new place. I visited almost every museums in the city. Because it was still winter, there were not many tourists and most sites were not crowded. I also took the train to see places like Chateau de Fontainebleau, Chateau de Vincennes, Chateau de Versailles and my favorite - Chateau de Vaux-le-Vicomte. After a while I knew how to find the correct metro without asking anyone. Sometimes I even helped foreign tourists and that made me so happy. 😊
Three months later I moved to another apartment. It was a small studio apartment, with a two burner stove, a countertop microwave/convection oven, and a small washer under the counter. In that small kitchenette I learned to make crepe, coquille Saint-Jacques,
tartiflette and different types of fish and meat. Sometimes I bought fresh produce from the market, but often I found it easier to go to the nearest Monoprix because it was easier to pick produce without knowing French names. 😄
The new apartment was in Saint-Mandé in the eastern suburbs of Paris, so I took two metro trains to get to work. I used to take a bit longer route so that there was a 5 minute walk between the metro stations. Every morning, when I walked along the Seine I felt it was like a dream. I was living and working in Paris! I enjoyed going to the nearby boulangerie to buy a freshly baked pain au chocolat, and a loaf of baguette on the way home from work.
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| Saint-Mandé |
On Wednesdays I went to an evening class to learn French, and during long weekends traveled outside Paris. With three colleagues I took the train to Amsterdam. I flew to Sweden to visit a friend. I went to Nice with another friend whom I met during the internship previous year, and with her and her mom crossed the border to Italy to have a 3 hour lunch. 😀 I think in France people have a better work-life balance than in the United States. My colleagues worked hard, and at the same time they took their vacation time very seriously. No one had their lunch in front of the computer at work. Except me! And they didn't let me do it very long. 😊
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| In Italy |
Time flew very quickly, and soon it was time to say good bye to my life in Paris. I could have stayed longer, but a stronger bond called me back to the US. As it often happens in life, bonds and people changed with time, and sometimes I wonder how my life would have been different if I had stayed in Paris.
All this time, I've been dreaming of going back. One of these days I will visit France again. 💗
XXX
Nil
