Oi,

I hope you are doing well. I wanted to share a few photos from the early goings on of our life here in Paris. As well as share some more insights of what it means for me to really live as an Expat studying art at Make Up For Ever Academy.

We are in early October 2012, and to say it has been interesting for me at school and at home is an understatement.

So, as I’ve mentioned before, I’ve made a few fellow student friends; some of them are proper French girls, a fellow Brazilian, a French Canadian, and UK export. And I must say, I am so happy. I love connecting and meeting new people. Specially people with like minded interests as myself.

It’s really refreshing to meet other women that share ideas and inspire one another.

On a bit of a side note, I have to admit something that surprises people a lot about me.

It takes so much effort and a lot of gumption for me to meet people. I love making new friends and learning about how other people live, but the act of meeting people especially in a group setting really frightens me. One would not be able to tell because I believe that I am a relatively confident person in regards to how I approach life; appearance  wise and intelligence wise. However, personally, it takes a lot of guts for me to warm up to people.

I used to not be this way, but I suppose, in the past ten years or so, I’ve been badly hurt by people whom I thought were my friends. Ever since then I really second guess myself all the time when it comes to introducing new people into my heart.

So, it is so nice to just “jump in the cold water” and give it a go to find that it was not so bad after all.

My UK export friend lives in the same area as me, a couple stops after mine, so we’ve coordinated that we’d commute on the Metro together. I thought it was a good idea because we can be support structures for each other and watch each others backs. And believe me there are a lot of really good reasons to have a travel buddy that you can trust.

The other day, whilst we were waiting on the platform of the Metro to go home, this strange man/woman (not sure which) threw their luggage or something on the ground really hard and started yelling and swearing with incoherent words and pointing in our general direction. The platform was really packed so everyone parted quickly away from him/her. He/She was still yelling incoherently when we both jumped on the Metro. Fortunately, my friend had her boyfriend there so we both used him as a body-shield to hide from the raving lunatic. I was really scared. All these scenarios started playing in my head as to how to defend my travel buddy with out getting hurt myself.

After that we were both kinda on the look out for strange things going on at the Metro.

So my commute is about 40 minutes or so, my friend’s is a little longer as she lives a few stops after mine, as I’ve mentioned. We usually talk about  random things when we are off to school and after we usually just either take a breezier from the school or reflect on what we’ve learned.

Most of the time, our commute is pretty Paris normal. Yes, the Metro smells like people urine and feces, yes, there are real gypsy that will rob you with out hesitation, yes, there are really strange men that want to sleep with you as soon as you look their way, but for the most part, we have not had any really life threatening issues. It is not ideal. I detest the Metro and I can not speak for my friend, but I can only observe that maybe she does not like the Metro as well.

But, the good thing about the Metro is that it runs rather efficiently. Most days it is either early or on time. It is the main transport for most residences of Paris, so it has to run efficiently, or else Paris may falter in its’ daily grind. So I am grateful for that. Otherwise my husband and I would have had to shell out a large some of money to purchase a tiny car. Granted, we had that in mind originally, but the budget to move here and live here comfortably way exceeded what we initially thought. So, a car, out of the question.

The area where Make Up For Ever Academy is located is on the 10th eme a couple blocks away from a Metro stop. It was not the same building that was advertised on their Yelp account or even their website.

When we did our grueling 10 day re-con we stopped by the school address that was on some of the emails I received from the administrative staff. I really like the area, I forgot off the top of my head what eme it is located on. It came as yet another shocker that actually they moved and did not inform me. The security guard for the building had to explain that they moved a while ago.

Not wowed at all Make Up For Ever.

The new place that we are at is really sketchy. Around the back of the school is an office for homeless people and really creepy looking men are always hanging out there. There is an arch way that is the alley short cut to get to the back of the building of the school, where the classes are held at.

My friend and I tried to get in from the front and got a serious bitch fest from the receptionist telling us we are not allowed to go through the front of the school. Aw, okay…I totally get it, she is a receptionist, when I worked in construction, my receptionist was also a guard for our office. But my receptionist was not unpleasant or a bitch to people when they entered the office. This receptionist for Make Up For Ever is a serious bitch. It just keeps getting more and more questionable this school. So unprofessional.

The class is just about the same 80 students, (where I was told the most around 20 plus), during lectures girls are reenacting their high school years, the lectures are still in French and I am still sitting in the back. Teachers and some French students are still yelling at the rest of the class during the last half of the day. I am still trying to escape when it gets to be way too much. But now some of the English speaking students are starting to get in my business and tell the teachers that I am not finishing the last half of the class.

Honestly, I finish the makeup application fast and when I have the teachers critique my work I always get positive reviews. One teacher, the head teacher for that matter, tells the other students that she does not provide compliments. But every time she checks my work she always looks really hard in detail of what I’ve done and then pays me a compliment. I think she could not help but try to find some flaw, but when she does not see anything and the over all looks is perfect she tells me “good job”, “I like this look”, “good colors”, etc. I don’t think some of the students that notice appreciate that very much. Specially the students that try to garner some sort of favor from the teachers.

I can’t help it. I like action and results. I don’t like to smooch to try to compensate for lack of skill and talent.

My fellow student friends are really cool, we support each other.

I feel as if I am a bit too old to deal with this sort of cattiness and unnecessary competition. I have always held the belief that the only person I can compete with is myself because I can not control (nor want to) the thoughts and actions of others. So I can only do the best I can and try to challenge myself to be better.

I may have mentioned in a previous post that I would wait to see what products of Make Up For Ever I really need to purchase and start to build my new kit from there. So fortunately, we factored in a new kit budget and am able to purchase most of the dry eye shadows, powders, bronzers, and blush. I’m really glad I did because one, the school provides one of each product for the class to use the later half of the day, so this means 80 students are competing to use products, two, safety and sanitation practices are not even considered at all what so ever, god help us all, here, so there is a lot of cross contamination from germs, colors, dirty hands, and so on, and lastly, three, there are some students that are stealing makeup.

Yes, stealing makeup.

The school only provides one of each product and students that steal are really stealing from their selves as well. Every morning there is a student that is assigned to ensure the school’s makeup is put back and locked in their vault. The next day, that same student (it switches every week) writes a list of each product that has gone missing.

Eventually, I predict that the list of makeup missing is going to encompass the school’s entire work shop collection. What would happen to the students that don’t have a makeup kit factored in to their budget? I don’t think it is very fair really. But again, I am just not impressed with this school. It feels very smoke and mirrors to me.

School aside, home life is going okay. I can tell my husband is getting drained by doing his work and cooking for me. It’s not as easy to pop into a Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s as there is none of that here. It’s usually a mad dash to the fruit and vegetable market early in the morning to ensure freshness and then another mad dash to Monoprix for the other ingredients. For my husband, being rather new to this type of schedule, can be a bit difficult to acclimate to. Plus, he has his work.

Midori is always a happy dog, but lately she’s been going through a few difficulties whilst walking on the streets of Paris. There are a ton of broken wine glasses and beer bottles on the floor. A few times now she has had cuts in her paws. Poor baby. I truly feel bad for her being here. There aren’t really any parks that allow dogs. There are tiny parks here all throughout our eme, but dogs are not allowed in. So we take a walk to the Eiffel tower and have her play there. There are other dog owners as well, so she gets to interact with other Parisian pups.

One thing I’ve really noticed a lot, is that people would ask us for directions. We get stopped by tourist all the time when we walk about with Midori. It’s kinda cool. Most tourist are English speakers and they try to ask for directions in French. I reply in French then move on to English just to make them feel at ease. Some folks are surprised that we speak English. Odd how we get mistaken for being locals. I mean do you know what I look like? I do not look like I have any French descent at all. If anything Asian people always think that I am part Asian and Caucasian. My husband for that matter does, so maybe it’s that.

I also get up and down stares a lot when I am off to school, running errands, or walking. I think it has to be my wardrobe choices. I love fashion. I have always had a knack for putting together looks since I was a preteen, so maybe other women that give me the full run down think I dress nice. I mean, if I were to discreetly admire another woman’s outfit it is not because she choose wrong pieces or that she looks funny, it’s because I admire it. So hopefully that is the case with the everyday looks I get from women.

Speaking of which, I’ve fallen in love with a brand called Gerard Darell. I love their clothes. I’ve already purchased a few pieces from them for winter. I just think their pieces are made with really good quality and are classic yet modern. And…Repetto’s! I love Repetto’s classic ballet flats. So comfortable. I wear my ballet flats all the time. I even carry a pair in my school bag when my feet are a bit soar from wearing heels or wedges.

So, that’s all for now. I hope to see you again.

Beso,

Odeliza

@odeliza

Tags: daily musings, life in paris, Make Up, MUFE Academy, my life in paris, paris france