As you would imagine, it's an odd feeling moving from married life in the States to single life in a foreign country. As a "GSI" (Graduate Student Instructor), we aren't provided with the kind social security blanket that the undergrads get. We're supposed to be adults with a purely academic purpose here. So far, it hasn't been bad. I've been mostly preoccupied with checking out the neighborhood and peeking my nose shyly into this brasserie or that bookstore.
But yesterday was a miserable rainy day and, even though I went out for a very nice social lunch, I was faced with the rest of the unplanned day. Not only do I feel pathetic simply because I am friendless in a big city, I also get a glug of anxiety whenever the thought crosses my mind to venture out to populated areas where someone might try to talk to me. You know, in French.
So my goal for the time being is to have one substantial activity per day that I successfully accomplish. Today I had to do another excursion to Sacre Coeur with a different group of students. Check. And then I wanted to check out a museum up there on Montmartre, The Halle St. Pierre, which was having a show of contemporary artists under the theme of "Interiority." I'm not sure how these pieces were an expression of interiority -- some of them were paintings of american subways, some were self-portraits, some were fabulously detailed patterns -- but they were mostly all creepy, in a good way.
No comments:
Post a Comment