Rome and My Second (and last!) Semester in Paris so Far

As you may have already heard, the day after I posted my blog about Chartres, I and three of my American friends decided we needed another vacation already. Yes, two and a half weeks after a 15 day winter break. Don't judge, Paris does that to you. So, taking advantage of the close proximity of each European country to the next, given their minuscule size, we booked some tickets to Rome. For the following weekend. Which was 4 days away. At this point, though, I have realized just how little work I need to do to get a decent grade at the Sorbonne, and that Paris is somehow worse than Minnesota in the winter, God forbid. Anyhow, we flew in to Rome on Friday morning, on the world's sketchiest airplane (Ryanair, y'all), and when I stepped off the plane I realized that this was the first time I had seen the sun since October. Seriously, I felt like Dorothy right after she ends up in Oz, when the movie goes from black and white to Technicolor. Gotta love that Mediterranean climate. Needless to say, Rome was amazing, and it was so hard to come back to Paris. It was sunny and cloudless all weekend, I ate nothing but pizza and gelato three times a day, and I got to see the cradle of Western civilization. Not a bad deal. So here is a quick glimpse of my weekend.

We rented an apartment right next to the Vatican, from a woman who spoke no English. (And we spoke no Italian). But it was a great place, and this was our view upon stepping out of the front door. That is St. Peter's Basilica, by the way.

We essentially just walked around the city for 12 hours each day. Here's a shot on the banks of the Tiber.

We climbed up some hill and got a great view of the city. 

The birthplace of Western civilization at night.

A rather blurry picture of me making wishes at the Trevi fountain. Legend has it that the first wish is to return to Rome (duh) and the second is the one where you get to choose.

The Colosseum. Yes, I'm aware that the background looks fake. I swear I was there!

Probably standing where Julius Caesar once stood or something.

Casual ruins

Soaking up the sun at the Forum.

On Saturday we took the metro to the edge of Rome and found this amazing park. It felt like we were in Tuscany or something. Also, we got terribly lost there, ended up on someone's private property, then a military zone, then walked along a super narrow highway (hazardous), and finally found the bus stop just as the sun went down. So worth it, though.

Something old.

The Pope. Also, for more details on the seagull/dove attack, click here. 

Inside St. Peter's Basilica. We also went inside the Vatican (the last Sunday of every month it is free), and got to see the Sistine Chapel and everything, but you can't take pictures of it. On a related note, there were a ton of nuns visiting that day too (I guess they are also thrifty), and I learned that they can be super rude! They were basically running through the museum and pushing people out of the way. I guess it's similar to how groupies act at their band's concerts?

Loving the view, and feeling a bit less Vitamin D deficient. 

Returning from Rome, however, was a bit of a struggle. Not only because classes were in full swing again and Paris was as grey and damp as ever (why do they call it the City of Light?!), but also because I fell victim to a week-long bout of tonsillitis and the escalation of a knee injury that basically left me unable to walk up and down stairs. After some low moments, including not leaving the house for two days straight and eating 500 grams of ice cream in one sitting, I was finally cured of both ailments at the same time. It was kind of a miracle. But no, I don't believe me seeing the pope had anything to do with that. I may not go to church, but I'm still a Lutheran (to the bewilderment of many French folks. They forget that France had Protestants too, until they killed them all.)

But I digress. I'll get you update now on semester II of Tufts in Paris. I'm taking three classes this semester and an internship. My classes are: Contemporary Islam, the Geography of Human Populations, and A Modern History of European International Relations. But my internship is really my main focus this semester. I'm interning 16 hours a week at the  Association of Solidarity with Algerian Women Democrats (ASFAD), which is funded by the French government. The name is kind of misleading, as it's an organization that aids immigrant women and men who are seeking regularization papers, escaping domestic violence/forced marriage/excision, etc. The majority of clients come from North Africa, as the organization was originally founded to aid Algerian women escaping violence perpetuated by the state in the 1990s, but since I started last week we have also received people from Pakistan and Senegal. My boss is the only person who is paid and works full-time at the office. She's a French-Algerian legal expert in the rights of foreigners, and from my knowledge runs the whole operation herself.  My job consists of helping her receive clients, usually about 3 a day for an hour at a time, and prepare the judicial case files for said clients. Lately I've also been doing some English-French translation for her, and research to build an asylum case for one client. I've known for awhile that this is the kind of work I want to do, and now I'm seriously looking into programs in immigrant law and/or social work. (If you've got any advice, send it my way!). So, even though I'm really busy now, I'm really enjoying this opportunity, and even though I will probably be ready to go home in June, I am so so so glad I decided to spend the whole year here.