A FIRST-TIMER AGAIN… FOR THE THIRD TIME

The first shock came when I heard, just a few days before flying over to Paris, that the place where I had lived last year was no longer available. This shook both me and my phone. A marathon of searching for a new place to stay had begun, and I also had to find short term shelter while I looked. Happily, my fellow students offered me asylum, so I had a place to stay. It took a full month. I moved three times, from friend to friend, from a tiny seven-square-meter pad on the seventh floor with no elevator and draughty windows that would not close properly, to a roomier spot that was a full five square meters larger. These were all shared places. It was exhausting not only because it involved sharing beds and tiny spaces and having to move across Paris with a 20-kilo suitcase every week, but also because of more than 20 telephone calls and more than 40 emails addressed to landlords offering efficiencies, suites and apartments. I got to see many places, and I really wouldn’t wish anyone to go through what I did over that hectic month. It ranged from highly uncomfortable and unpleasant offers to alcohol-induced madness to underground studios with no windows or heating!

However, I got lucky eventually. One day I again responded to an ad. A very nice gentleman answered the phone, and we agreed for me to come to see the place the same night. We were both more than happy, we shook hands and I went ‘home’ feeling happy for finally having found a roof over my head.

Aside from accommodation, I had a lot of other things to take care of as well. Since bureaucracy rules the world – and very much so in France – what I did was basically all paperwork. I could not escape the one-month process of obtaining a student card, which you need for virtually everything here. Every year there are a lot of new requirements and so there was no way I was going to be ready for what I was in for. Following three weeks of tediously and endlessly filling out forms, having translations and signatures certified and liaising with people and institutions in both the Czech Republic and France, even I officially became a student for this academic year at last.

This is just a small taste of what I am tackling here. Let me be honest – even though this is giving me a lot of experience for my life and is rapidly pushing me forward, it also saps the energy that I need to put into my playing. Then again, it makes one feel resilient and seasoned. It’s funny to realize that I have been experiencing the same thing for the third consecutive time, although it has been different every time! But this does not change anything about the fact that I am happy here and that I have developed a positive and friendly attitude to the Parisian environment and the French mindset after studying here for two years.

A très bientôt!