Once I arrive in Paris, my number one priority is finding a place to live from October until June/July of next year. As of now, I have a room at a student housing complex for the month of September, but nothing set October 1st. I've been scoring the online ads, and so far I've emailed a lot of people, some of which seem kind of promising. I've set up a viewing appointment for the day that I arrive, but I'm definitely going to be conducting an intensive housing search once I get there. Housing in Paris is super expensive, but luckily the French government subsidizes student rent, which should take some of the financial pressure off.
Speaking of financial pressure, my second priority is to find a job as quickly as possible. Government subsidies aside, the euro-CAD exchange rate is pretty terrible now (currently, the exchange rate floats somewhere between 1EURO=1.55-163 CAD; just to give you an idea of how much the Euro has appreciated in value, when I backpacked around Europe five years ago, the exchange rate was something closer to 1EURO=1.30 CAD), so I need to start making local currency as soon as possible, otherwise I can see myself burning through my savings pretty quickly. As blech as I currently feel about it, I'm probably going to wind up working at a Starbucks in Paris for awhile, just until I get my Parisienne life going and can maybe start looking for something else a little more local/Parisian.
Even though I'm feeling an increase in my stress, I'm beginning to get excited. I'm looking forward to exploring Paris, starting new classes, and meeting lots of (politically-minded) young people from all over Europe and the world. Although I have steadfastly maintained that I am not a Torontonian (I'm ABSOLUTELY an Ottawan at heart), I do feel a twinge of sadness when I think about leaving Toronto. This was the first summer that I've spent almost entirely in Toronto, and I definitely developed a newfound appreciation for the city. Mostly though, I'm sad to be leaving behind some very good friends that I've made over the last few years.
On an entirely different note, my Asia trip was fantastic! This year my mom's brothers and sisters decided to throw a huge birthday party for their mom (my grandmother, obviously), which involved buying plane tickets for almost all of her grandchildren from around the world, and inviting 75 of her closest friends to a big dinner party in Hong Kong. After the party shindig, my mom and I headed to Malaysia for a weeklong vacation. We spent almost all of our time on the island Pulau Perhentian Besar, on the northeast coast of peninsular Malaysia. The food was mostly delicious (luckily no cases of traveller's 'stomachache'), the weather was almost entirely beach friendly (although the one night that it did rain, it was the most insane downpour ever), and it was nice to just spend some time with my mom, who I don't see
very often because she lives in Vancouver. The highlight of my trip was that I became a PADI-certified open-water scuba diver! This has been a goal of mine for quite awhile, so after four days of spending eight hours in scuba class, I'm finally licensed to dive! In the four dives that i completed, I saw a bazillion clownfish, lots of beautiful corals, a pair of sharks (!), sea cucumbers, and just about every kind of tropical fish you can imagine. It was very "Finding Nemo". I'm addicted, and I'm already planning on trying to make a trip to Egypt in the next year in order to go diving in the Red Sea...and maybe also see the Pyramids.Anyhow, there's nothing much else to write about at the moment. My next post will most likely be coming from the otherside of the Atlantic!
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