Arrival in Paris
Posted by Martin Orr on Saturday, 12 September 2009 at 15:49
On Wednesday I arrived in Paris. I am here to do the second year of a masters (French, and all other Bologna Process-compliant, masters are two years) in number theory and geometry, at the Université Paris-Sud. Getting here without flying was quite a journey - I got the ferry to Stranraer, train through Scotland and England to London, then stayed overnight with someone in London. I got the Eurostar the next morning, followed by a 40 minute journey on the RER (Paris suburban train).
I live on an island in the river Yvette. It is not very obviously an island, since the river is pretty tiny and the island is ten times the width of the river. Despite the river being so small, it is in a big valley. The university goes up the north side of this valley, and above that there is just trees. Most of Paris is somewhere over the other side of this ridge, so you wouldn't really know you are on the edge of a big city. The towns of Bures-sur-Yvette (where I live) and Orsay (at the other end of the university) go up the south side of the valley. Orsay is 15-20 minutes walk away, and has slightly more shops than Bures. There are a lot of big, quite mixed, trees everywhere.
Today I climbed up the through Bures to the top of the hill, where you come to Les Ulis, a New Town-style suburb with a big shopping centre. According to the map, this is the very southern edge of Paris - after the shopping centre you come to the countryside. It took me about an hour to come down from Les Ulis, probably longer to go up, although I didn't really know where I was going either time.
I have spent the past few days learning my way around and sorting various things - registering with the university, opening a bank account, etc. I don't understand everything that people say to me, and sometimes I have trouble explaining myself, but the people I have talked to have been very patient.