Upon arriving in Place Cachée's Métro-Floo station, underneath the Wall of the Ferme Générale, which marks Paris' city limits, Nurcan turns heads among the users because of how lost she looks. She asks one of the locals, while wearing a hijab:

  "échange Scolaire Officielle?" she asks around, in a thick Turkish accent, with other passers-by rolling their eyes. "C'est où?" (Where is it?)

  "Tournez à droite et continuez sur Malabête jusqu'à l'Allée Vation. Ce sera sur votre gauche!" (Turn right and continue on Malabête until Allée Vation. It will be on your left!) a bystander answers her.

  Once she gets out of the Métro-Floo station, she finds herself right inside the Wall of the Ferme Générale, as it rains on the northern part of Paris. Thank Allah for this hijab; it protects against rain, too! Nurcan thins while she takes a right turn as she exits the station.

  But she looks at these shops selling items she couldn't get in Constantinople, such as maroquinerie, and some artwork in a different style from what she encountered at home. Quidditch supplies, and, of course, musical instruments, too. Yet, she's left wondering where to buy books, uniforms and possibly an owl, money permitting.

  Local clothing, too, is very different from what she's wearing right now, and this makes a lot of people roll their eyes, while she walks under the rain, but not question her for now.

  But when she arrives at échange Scolaire Officielle, she gets to the floor of the office dedicated to inbound students, the second floor, since ground floor is for outbound students. She introduces herself to the intake officer while the intake officer dries her clothes:

  "Mon nom... est... Nurcan Topkara..." (My name is Nurcan Topkara) she seems to hesitate a little bit.

  "Nurcan, as-tu tes documents d'échange?" (Nurcan, do you have your exchange documents?)

  She shows the letter from the Bab-I Humayun, with Abdulhamid I's tughra (seal), written in Turkic, along with the Beauxbatons acceptance letter, with the supplies list attached.

  "Tout est en ordre..." (It's all in order)

  "Où chercher mes uniformes et mes livres?" (Where to get my uniforms and books?)

  The intake officer gives her the addresses of both Maison Capenoir and Librairie Magillard, to get these two sets of items.

  And so she sets out for Maison Capenoir to obtain one travel, or dress, uniform, and two sets of everyday uniforms, both made of light blue fine silk, lined with golden trim.

  Upon receipt of the uniforms, she's left wondering why do Beauxbatons have such fancy uniforms.

  Does Beauxbatons design uniforms as if its students were at a Muggle royal court? At least the dress one? Karakalem's uniforms weren't nearly as fancy, they were made of white linen, she keeps to herself.

  However, before she leaves the Maison Capenoir, she's told their price:

  "?a fera trente-neuf bézants et quatre-vingt-dix-neuf centimes! " (That will be 39 bezants and 99 centimes) the clerk announces her.

  As she hands over the coins adding up to Bz40, she can't help but wonder how much these uniforms would cost Muggle women, even when she puts on the everyday uniform in the dressing room, in place of the clothes she wore at home during the summer.

  It will be a while before I get used to wearing Western pointy hats rather than a hijab... she looks in the mirror while she puts on the pointy hat in lieu of her hijab, but her hijab is put away in her magical pouch, or horse pocket, as some wizards like to joke about these magical pouches, as with all other supplies she already has on hand.

  But when she arrives at Librairie Magillard, the bookstore clerk is taken aback. The clerk recognizes the books on Nurcan's shopping list as being mostly standard fare for students at her level, but, for some reason, it seemed unnatural for the clerk to see someone take a second year of Arithmancy this early.

  "Tu n'es pas un peu jeune pour ?a?" (Aren't you a little too young for that?) the clerk points at Mathémagie: La Totale on her list.

  "Je suis une Ottomane en échange!" Nurcan retorts, in a heavy Turkish accent.

  "Chez nous, c'est de la matière de quatrième année!" (Here it's fourth-year material!)

  She keeps track of the various prices of books, so her whole library of textbooks for the year runs her about 15 bezants. Oh boy. I already spent Bz40 on uniforms, and after I bought the textbooks, I'll have Bz5 left of my supplies allowance the Sultan gave me!

  After she gets her textbooks in order, she looks for an owl shop before leaving Place Cachée. As she wanders around the neighborhood, trying to find one, she finally locates one elsewhere on Allée Vation. Au Royaume du Hibou.

  She looks at the price tags of various owls for sale there, and realizes that even the cheapest owl for sale, a barn owl, is Bz10, and hence out of her price range. As such, she quickly leaves the owl shop.

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  Maybe I could buy an owl later in the school year, provided an opportunity for it presents itself to earn the remaining money. I have the feeling that I might have a use for an owl of my own at some point! But, if the attitude of the bookstore staff is any indication, I have the feeling that locals just don't have much of an Arithmancy culture, Nurcan thinks about the implications of the owl's prices on what she could expect out of this whole exchange. Yet, at this point, do I think I'll need to send anything to Constantinople that I might not trust school or postal owls for? If so, is it worth buying an owl specifically to send one highly sensitive message or parcel?

  Once that is done, she returns to the Wall of the Ferme Générale, and, from there, the Métro-Floo station.

  So, as she's about to go to Beauxbatons, other Beauxbatons students from all over Western Europe arrive for buying their supplies: Spain, Portugal, Netherlands (both Austrian and not, but, at this point, the Austrian Netherlands are almost as bereft of wizards as Austria proper). And Muggle-borns from places such as Piedmont-Sardinia as well.

  "Beauxbatons!" Nurcan shouts as she enters the gate specific to getting to Beauxbatons.

  At this point, she's thrust into a fireplace right next to the main gate of the chateau, where Griet, its Chief Attendant of Witchcraft Provisions, gives her dorm assignment.

  "Votre nom, s'il vous plait!" (Your name, please!) Griet asks, in a "Austrian Dutch" accent (which would be known decades from now as a Belgian accent).

  "Nurcan Topkara!"

  "Chambre deux-cent-vingt-six!" (Room 226)

  As with Karakalem, Beauxbatons has unisex dorms. However, whereas Karakalem tended to have dual-occupancy rooms, here she shares a room with more second-year female Muggle-borns, Room 226 for the year. And more female second-year Muggle-borns on the other side of the hallway.

  Upon entering the room, she looks at the four-poster beds, whose curtains and bedding are not unlike those found in Muggle upper-class h?tels particuliers.

  Is that what it would really feel like to live in the Muggle Imperial Harem? It seems like French wizarding society sees youth as a period to be treasured in a wizard's life, much more than in the Middle Eastern eyalets'. Karakalem, while still nicer than a lot of Muggle peasant homes, is a much less luxurious place compared to here. And I thought even Karakalem would be envied by so many Muggle women, let alone Beauxbatons... Nurcan, amazed by the living conditions of Beauxbatons students, can't help but compare her old life to her new one.

  And, as fate had it, Nurcan was the first to arrive. Other female Muggle-borns come in, intrigued by what they see as a newcomer.

  "Qui es-tu?" (Who are you?) the first Muggle-born girl asks her, in a Piedmontese accent.

  "Tu es nouvelle ici?" (Are you new here?) the second Muggle-born girl asks, in a Spanish accent.

  "Nurcan. Oui, mais je suis en échange pour un an!" (Yes, but I'm on exchange for one year!) she tells the two Muggle-born girls in a thick Turkish accent.

  And then the two introduce themselves as Isabella and Alejandra respectively. They seem to discuss their origins, and especially Nurcan's life at Karakalem, along with life as an Ottoman Muggle-born, but Nurcan sometimes struggled with the other two's accents, and the same in reverse as well.

  But when everyone has arrived, the students are brought into the great hall of the palace, and they stand at attention before the headmaster, Armand, sits down. Only then could they sit down, but they couldn't eat yet.

  With Isabella and Alejandra on Nurcan's sides, they listen to the opening speech, which Nurcan found a little... empty, but the Turkish student's ears perk up when she hears about weekend trips.

  "Dès cette année, tous les étudiants en règle ayant un bon niveau scolaire seront autorisés à effectuer des visites de fin de semaine à Visigny!" (Starting this year, all students in good academic and disciplinary standing will be allowed to take trips to Visigny on weekends!) Armand announces to the student body.

  "Que constitue un bon niveau scolaire pour les fins des visites?" (What does good academic standing mean for visiting purposes?) a first-year student raises his hand.

  The answer involves knowledge of the grading system, which is explained in depth. So Optimal, Effort Exceptionnel and Acceptable are passing grades, Piètre, Désolant and Troll are the failing ones.

  To visit Visigny, no grades below Acceptable. But merely getting good grades might not be enough to show the Bab-I Humayun that I was worth the money they spent for me to be here! They use the same six levels as used at home, just with different names. But how hard is it to achieve Acceptable here vs its equivalent at home? Nurcan starts trembling upon hearing more about the grading system.

  At this point, the plates are conjured in front of every student, and the cloches, removed by nymphs. And Nurcan sees the wide array of food being served, of which the majority consists of food she never ate in her life, and she's not familiar with. With, a cup of wine.

  "C'est quoi tout ?a?" (What's all that?) Nurcan asks her neighbors, upon seeing all these dishes, after the cloches' removal.

  Dishes being served include onion soup, garlic snails, roasted boar and coq au vin, but she doesn't touch the roasted boar since, in her mind, it was the same as eating pork. They never served anything with pork at Karakalem, nor did they serve this... coq au vin as they call it!

  And, of course, they serve the same wine to both cook the coq au vin and for the students to drink. She starts drinking the red wine, and realizes there's something amiss, with her own face turning red.

  "Est-ce que ?a va?" (Are you alright?) Isabella asks her.

  "Jamais bu ?a... avant!" (Never drank it before)

  "Du vin rouge de goblin!" (Red goblin wine) Alejandra explains to her.

  So while eating the garlic snails and the coq au vin doesn't seem troubling to the Turkish girl, drinking the red goblin wine with which it was prepared did. Do they drink wine all the time? They never served any wine at home either!

  "Où est Visigny?" (Where is Visigny?)

  Before this year, visiting Visigny was restricted to third-year students and above, and required a permission slip, but I guess Armand realized the hypocrisy of the previous regulations... Isabella reflects on what the relaxation of rules means for Visigny, while Alejandra tells Nurcan about Visigny and what makes it so special.

  About how Visigny is the village with the highest wizarding population in France, but some Confounded Muggles still live there, and how it's within walking distance of the school.

  But when the feast ends, she returns to Room 226, and she feels like she has more questions than answers. And she starts crying in her bed... I'd let the Sultan down if I don't last the whole year here! I didn't think the difference between here and home would be that drastic!

  Another occupant of room 226 notices her crying before going to sleep:

  "Pourquoi tu pleures?" (Why do you cry?)

  "Tout est différent ici, est-ce que je vais y arriver?" (Everything is different here: will I make it?) Nurcan keeps crying.

  "Je suis s?re que tu vas réussir..." (I'm sure you'll succeed...)

  "C'est quoi ton nom?" (What's your name?)

  "Emmanuelle!"