I take the subway, moi toute seule, for the first time...

     It's been a very busy few weeks... for the Paulello household. Why, you might ask? Because we are job searching! And as you all know, that can be a very time consuming and stressing task. So here is Tristan all shaved for his first interview: 

  

Enjoy, you may never see it again. Hahahaha... He's cute huh?

      I have had three interviews myself, all for English teaching positions. The first two, I passed the interview, but I didn't accept because the hours were horrible. One of them was only 6 hours per week, but I would have had to travel 45 minutes to an hour by subway to teach 14 and 15 year old boys at the Saudi Arabian Embassy five days per week; not worth the commute! I am still waiting to hear back from my 3rd interview, as they had several people left to interview, but I have my fingers crossed because I really like the job offer. ;)
      So for my job interview on Monday I had to take the subway, not only for the first time since we have been back in Paris, but for the first time by myself as well. I was soooo nervous! I knew I would make it to my destination in one piece, but I was nervous nonetheless because I also knew I would get lost. And that I did, sooo many times. 

     I entered the subway with no problem and boarded my first train. I would have to transfer from line 3 to line 4, and then find my interview location from one of the many exits. It was supposed to take 35 minutes, so I gave myself an hour and 15. As I sat on my first train I looked up at the blinking dot of the subway line showing me where I was and where we were going next. After a few stops I was confused because it seemed we were going the wrong way. Had I boarded the train towards the wrong direction? At the next stop I looked out of the window and realized the indicator was broken; it didn't match up to the name on the wall. Not only that, but I had missed my transfer and would have to get off. The door would not open, I guess if was too late. So, I had to go one more stop, get off, get back on in the other direction. I made it the rest of the way and found the exit I thought I was supposed to use.

  

     

     It didn't match up with my google map, of course, and so I got rather lost for about 15-20 minutes, but at least I just looked like a tourist taking pictures of the many sights of Paris:

 

      I did, somehow, make it to my interview with ten minutes to spare. Phew!

     You would think I would make it home with no incident, but I must be really directionally clueless when it comes to the subway, because I couldn't find the train I was supposed to take in the right direction. I couldn't go back out of the subway station because I had already used my last ticket. And I couldn't call Tristan to help me because I had accidentally turned his mom's cell phone off and didn't know the code to turn it back on. So, I boarded the line I needed to take going the wrong direction, took it two stops, got of where there were no transfers, crossed over and finally had my line. I proudly made my next transfer, but got off at the wrong station. I got off on République instead of Rue Saint Maur, because we live on Avenue de la République. Thankfully I realized my mistake before exciting. I was able to get back on the train, and make it all the way home.

     I am not sure when I will be doing this again, but hopefully I will have gained a bit of a sense of underground direction in the meantime!