My Parisian Apartment

So here it is, my Parisian home for the year. It's a really great apartment and after three weeks here now, I'm getting along well with the family too. I definitely like my arrangement!

 Entry

to the right is the living/dining room, the stairs go up and the kitchen is to the left

 Kitchen

tiny, with little counter-top and less cupboard space, but fortunately well-equipped!

 Living / Dining Room

definitely the coolest part of the place, it's modeled after an artist's studio

 the huge window looks out to the street and gives a lot of light

 the stairs were installed the week after I arrived!

 Mezzanine

above the living room is this space that serves as bedroom and work-space for the mother

 My room

I love the big window with lots of light

 plenty of space for books, stuff and doing work

each room has a (closed) fireplace and mantel

The family I'm living with is great. The mother, Laurence, is an architecte des bâtiments de France, which seems impressive, though vague in English. What it actually means is that she's in charge of the patrimoine, or heritage sites in about 100 towns and villages in the département of Seine-et-Marne, just to the east of Paris. It's her job to drive around, visiting the heritage sites/monuments and ensuring that upkeep and care is going as it should. She also is responsible for ensuring that everything (other buildings and such) within a certain radius around said site/monument also follow specific rules and regulations about upkeep and modernization. She keeps saying that we'll have to organize a date when I can go to work with her and visit some cathedrals and/or châteaux. Yes, please! There's also a grand piano in the living room which Laurence plays every now and then.

Laurence has two daughters: Isaure and Constance. Isaure turns 19 this week and is a student at the faculté de médecine in Paris. It's a really difficult program and she's redoing her first year, hoping to pass a big placement exam in December that will allow her to continue at the school. She studies all the time, working both for the concours and doing normal classwork. 

Constance is 16 and a junior in high school. She's in the "ES" (sciences économiques et sociales) section for the BAC (end of high school national exam) so has a concentration in math, economics, history/geography and a foreign language (or two). At the end of this year, she'll take the first round of the BAC in French and in earth and life sciences. All juniors take the BAC in French and one other less important subject for their concentration. (If you're concentrated in lit, you'll "get rid of"math and science after junior year; if you're concentrated in sciences, you'll get rid of history/geography and maybe a language. This allows for more concentrated study in only the principal subjects of the concentration during senior year.) So this year is a big year for Constance as well.

So far we get along well. I haven't actually seem a whole lot of anyone since we've all been really busy since the beginning of the school year. Though I assume once everyone's schedule (I guess I'm the only one still waiting to figure it out!) gets set for the year, there will be a bit more regularity to things. I share one meal per week with the family and so far it's been on Sunday nights because that's what's worked out for us all. Otherwise, I have my shelf in the fridge and have free reign to cook as I like in the kitchen.

I'm definitely happy to be living with other people, for both the company and for the language skills, and I think this is a good fit!