First Day at the American School of Paris

My first impression was a flop...

In 1977 my sister Selina and I were attending high school at the same time.  Selina was a senior and I was a Sophomore.  Being that our Father was the U.S. Ambassador, it was recommended that we get chauffeured to school so off we went.  When our black limousine  pulled up to the front of the school, the buses were unloading all the other students. Our Chauffeur Michel, jumped out of the car and came around to the back and opened our doors to let us out.  Of course, this caused quite the commotion and everyone in the bus loading zone stopped to see who was arriving.  To their surprise it was only two regular students but inquiring minds were a buzz. 

The American School of Paris is located in the outskirts of Paris in a city named St. Cloud, my sister and I arrived in a nervous and anxious state of mind and we promptly reported to the office.  The lady at the front desk looked up at me and started speaking fast and furious...I was dazed and confused and after a long winded speech about something I couldn't understand she stopped and stared at me and said, "well"?  I looked at her is total confusion and I said, "sorry, I don't speak French". She gave me the evil eye and abruptly commented, "you bloody fool, I'm not speaking French I'm speaking English".  Well, to my amazement I suddenly realized that she had a heavy British accent and my first impression was a complete flop.  Over the next years, every time I saw Ms. Pelicott, she gave me the snake eyes.

By the way, after the first week of being chauffeured and being starred at upon every arrival, the word was getting around that we were pompous Americans so we decided we would start taking the regular school bus with the regular students.

The classroom settings were slightly different from those in the high school we left behind in the U.S.  Most of my classes had approximately 10-15 students and they were culturally diverse.  I had classmates that were from Canada, Norway, Sweden, Nigeria, France and more but English was the main language spoken.

The most notable difference was the student teacher relationship. The teachers treated the students as adults, it gave the impression that we were equals and there was a unique display of mutual respect.  To my surprise one of the guys sitting next to the window had a cigarette dangling from his lips.  I thought it was fake until I saw him take a long deep inhale and then exhale out of his nose like a dragon.   I knew right then and there that the teacher was going to throw this crazy guy out of the class but surprisingly the class went on like nothing had happened. Wow this is cool, I thought. 

On my first day, I was in my English Literature class, we were discussing "The Bear" by William Faulkner.  It was a very intense conversation, analyzing the meaning of each sentence and breaking down the allegory behind each paragraph.  When the bell rang the teacher said lets continue the conversation over lunch across the street.  I have to admit, it was a great conversation but I thought it was over until the next time class convened but to my amazement everyone was eager to meet "across the street".  What was across the street? As the newbie, I followed everyone across the street.  Well across the street was a small Cafe.  We all walked in and sat down at a large table that seemed to be set up just for us.  

 The teacher ordered a fish dish and most of the students ordered Jambom et fromage (ham and cheese) sandwiches.  Then the garcon brought out a couple bottles of red wine.  Nonchalantly, everyone started pouring themselves a glass of wine.  I sat there perplexed, I didn't know what to do, the teacher leaned over and poured me a glass of wine and raised his glass, "salut". Everyone stared at me, I knew it was a test.  I knew they were testing me, let's see what the new guy does.  Trying to act like a big shot, I raised my glass and said "salut" and took a big gulp.  Everyone smiled and the teacher began where we left off analyzing The Bear.  Later that day, I was reminiscing about my first day and first lunch and came to the conclusion that I was going to like the American School of Paris after all, I was in France so I'd better act like a real Frenchman.