La vie à Paris

Saturday I got up early and hopped a train to Vernon, jumped on a bus to Giverny, and arrived at Monet's gardens. It was a beautiful day: clear blue sky, 75 degrees, and breezy. It felt so nice to get around the city and just wander around the gardens for the morning. The garden isn't sculpted and elegant like most famous French gardens, rather, everything seems to be overflowing. The late flowers were in full bloom, and a few water lilies still remained on the pond. What was most amazing to me was the clarity of the reflections on the surface of the water. I have never seen such a perfectly mirror-like surface.

Because we arrived early, we were able to wander around at our own pace without crowds rushing us on. After a couple of hours my friends seemed ready to move on, but I was wishing I had brought a book and could just spend the entire day reading in the garden. However, they managed to pull me away and we stopped in a Creperie for lunch. We drank cidre out of tea cups, each ordered a savory crepe, and split two dessert crepes: one raspberry and one nutella.

Later that night, we met up again at a fondue restaurant in Monmartre. It's a tiny hole-in-the-wall place where you literally have to climb over the table to get into your seat if you're sitting against the wall, and they serve wine out of baby bottles. We had a really good time and afterward, we bought a bottle of cheap champagne from the grocery store that's in the movie Amelie, and sat by the Loire (which is a surprisingly popular gathering place at night in the summer) and shared it.

Sunday I went to the Centre Pompidou, the modern art museum with Aurora and Heather. I'm not going to lie, there were quite a few pieces that I just didn't get. Namely, the video of a naked woman holding a chicken upside down by its feet, the dress made out of meat, and the dead bird in a miniature bathtub. But afterward, we walked across Île-Saint-Louis and stopped for ice cream at the famous Berthillon. The weather was beautiful again so the line was incredibly long, but the wait was definitely worth it. I got a giant waffle cone with dark chocolate nougat, gingerbread, and salted caramel. Yum.

In other news, I finally figured out my class schedule! I was starting to worry that I would not be able to complete my French major (it's my second major) because the French course I needed to fulfill a very important requirement conflicted with my Latin class. But today, after about an hour and a half wandering the Sorbonne (the office number does not correspond at all to the floor it's on), I managed to find the Latin office and found their course listings (they don't post these things online here...ughh...) and found two other Latin courses which fit into my schedule and don't conflict with French Lit! Yay! Now I just have to go through the same ordeal and find the actual classroom at a different building in a different part of Paris...joy... But I can't wait to actually start classes on Oct. 5.

Chez Moi

After about one month in France, I am happy to report that it is starting to feel like home. It's little things that make me realize this: I understand conversations I overhear on the métro without really listening, I'm forming thoughts in French, navigating public transportation is becoming second nature, French people I meet seem surprised that I'm American. I'm starting to feel like this is my country--I'm starting to feel comfortable.

That's not to say I've given up on being a tourist. Monday I visited the Musée d'Orangerie and got to check one major item off my to-see list: Monet's waterlilies. The series is housed in three oblong-shaped rooms, light by skylights. The paintings follow the curve of the walls and as I stood in the center of the room, I truly had the sensation of being on an island in the center of a pond, surrounded by cool blue water, lilies in various stages of bloom, reeds and weeping willows. It was absolutely beautiful, and especially meaningful after studying the paintings, their history, their context and Monet's personal attachment to them last semester. They truly are a statement of peace in beauty in the imminent face of World War I.

After the l'Orangerie, I walked along the Seine all the way to Île-de-la-Cité to see Notre Dame. The sun was beginning to set and the western light hit the face of the cathedral perfectly. Inside, the shone perfectly through the stained glass--everything was aglow, yet without the harsh glare of direct light. To add to the experience, a monk was performing Gregorian chants and burning incense. The effect was magnificent--the perfect way to see the cathedral.

Tuesday I had the day off of class so Aurora and I took the RER to Versailles. As expected the château was both incredibly opulent, and incredibly crowded. Though the 17th century is not my favorite period in art and architecture (I prefer a little less gold and don't think it necessary to have a portrait of Louis XIV in every room), I was glad to have seen it.

In other news, while my courses at the Sorbonne have not yet commenced, I have started my Sweet Briar classes and am very happy to get back to the world of academics. Both my writing and art history professors are very animated and very effective teachers, so I look forward to the upcoming semester. However, I'm still a little worried about my classes at the Sorbonne. All of the courses I want to take seem to overlap so coming up with a schedule that works has been very difficult. I finally figured out a plan, but I'm not sure if the French literature class I have selected with count for the credit I need. I've emailed the study-abroad contact in the French department and am still waiting approval. Hopefully I will know before classes start on October 5.

London and other such nonsense.

After three spectacular days in London, it is now in the running for my favorite city in the whole world. I had a fabulous time and am already counting down the days until I return (40!). I'll start from the beginning:

I woke up Thursday morning at 4:30 a.m. and was out of the house by 5:10. I arrived at the métro station about 5 minutes later, only to find out that the first train doesn't reach Place de Clichey until 5:35. Unfortunately, it's not just early-risers who take the metro at 5:30 in the morning. There was a rather large contingent of people still up from the night before, most of whom smelled pretty ripe. However, I made it to Gare du Nord safely, went through customs (not without a little hassle when I didn't know the address I'd be staying at in the UK), boarded the train and immediately passed out.

Stephen met me in the train station. It was so good to see a familiar face! We ran back to his aunt and uncle's house where I met his aunt Marianne and dropped off my stuff before we headed out to get breakfast in Hampstead. I chickened out and did not get the full English Breakfast like Stephen did. However, I did pick sausages, tomatoes and mushrooms off his plate (as per usual) to add to my order of scrambled eggs, smoked salmon and toast.

After breakfast we hopped on the tube (which was infinitely cleaner than the Métro) and took it down to Trafalgar Square. We walked by the National Gallery and spontaneously decided to breeze through a special exhibit of landscapes by Corot, Monet and others. Afterwards, we walked...and walked...and walked...down Bond Street, Oxford Street, New Oxford Street... By the time we stopped for tea around 3:30 my feet were killing me, but I couldn't have been happier. I love just walking around a new city, enjoying the architecture and atmosphere.

Tea at the Wolseley was absolutely wonderful. We each got a pot of tea, scones, assorted finger sandwiches and pastries. Everything was delicious and we left full and well rested. We even saw a minor celebrity there! As we got there, Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) was just leaving.

After tea, we walked along the Thames and across the Millenium Bridge towards the Tate Modern. It was our plan to explore the museum before going to see As You Like It at the Globe. However, we got there with only an hour to spare before we were supposed to line up for the show. So instead, we got drinks and oysters at the Swan, a little pub attached to the Globe. As You Like It was amazing. The entire cast was absolutely hilarious, and there's nothing like dirty Elizabethan jokes. However, we were groundlings and had to stand. The atmosphere was unbeatable--there was only one row of people between us and the stage--but by the end both of us could hardly stand our feet hurt so badly. So, we went home and immediately crashed.

The next day we had planned to sleep in but I accidentally got up early. I didn't know that my phone wouldn't automatically switch timezones so it was set an hour later! Apparently, Orange (my cellphone company here) has technology advanced enough to know when I leave France and then bombard me with text messages about Concierge services, etc. but switching timezones is just too difficult.

We ate breakfast at the house and then set off again for some sightseeing. We started off at the Natural History museum. I had read on the website that they had a blue whale there so obviously, I had to go see how big the largest mammal actually is. Stephen informed by that this is a standard attraction at most Natural History museums, and is not in fact, unique to London. However, never having been to a Natural History museum, I dragged him there anyway. It turns out, that what they actually have is a real blue whale skeleton. The "whale" is a life-size model with the actual skeleton hanging over it. Lame. But the building was really lovely and we had fun looking around a bit.

Next we headed over to the Victoria & Albert museum which houses an enormous collection of decorative arts. The museum is absolutely massive. To see it all would take days, so we limited ourselves to the fashion and jewelry exhibits. The jewelry was my favorite part. The collection was stunning, spanning from 2500 B.C. to present and housed in an ultra modern two-story series of rooms that reminded me of some high-security bank vault you would see in a movie. Everything was black and the room was dark save the light from the display cases.

After the B&A we were starving so we wandered around looking at restaurant menus until we decided on Dim Sum. The food was fabulous. I have a weakness for the little pork buns, and they had a prawn dumpling in chili sauce that was fabulous.

After lunch, we ran across the street to Harrods to browse. We ran all around the store looking at pretty things we can't afford and then went down to the food stalls, where there were free Champagne and rum tastings. So, after two glasses of Champagne and a few samples of rum, we headed over to Ladurée for a snack. I had a really pretty pastry with raspberries, hazelnut meringue, and many other layers of yumminess I can't remember. It was amazing.

Finally, after another long day, we headed back for my first ever Rosh Hashanah dinner. Stephen's family is hilarious and the food was amazing. After dinner, we watched a couple episodes of Mad Men and turned in early.

Saturday we were so exhausted from running all over London for two days straight, we slept until 10:30 and were still exhausted so we decided to take it easy and stay in the neighborhood for the day. We ate breakfast then went out to explore Hampstead. We walked around, visiting different shops, and stopped at a pub for lunch and a pint of cider. We shared fish and chips with mushy peas and an antipasti platter, before heading off to visit the Keats' House. Apparently, Keats lived in Hampstead right down the road from Stephen's aunt and uncle. The house was cute with a nice little garden in back.

After the Keats' house, we were ready to rest our sore feet again so we headed back to relax, grab some food and watch The Graduate before my train left. Stephen had never seen it before and I thought he would really like it. He did, but I destroyed all respect he had for Wes Anderson when he realized that Anderson's entire style was stolen from that movie.

I got back to France without any problems, but I already miss London! I had an amazing three days and can't wait to go back.

Rainy Days in Paris

Since my last post, the euphoria about being in Paris has started to wear off. I am still loving this city and incredibly grateful to be here, but it's starting to feel less like a fairytale and more like a real city.

My first day here was the only sunny day we've had thus far. Every day since has been cloudy, gray, and cold. The weather feels like October in Minnesota. In my imagination, Paris wasn't rainy and dreary like this, and I definitely couldn't catch colds like the one I feel coming on!

But besides the gloomy weather, my relationship with my host family still has not improved. Everything here is perfectly fine, I just wish they seemed more interested or excited about me. Instead, I feel a little like a boarder renting a room here, and that gets a little lonely. It just seems like the host family experience here is much less personal than what I was expecting.

I've been dealing with this little case of the blues by getting out and walking. I've explored the Marais, the 8th and the 16th. Paris is such a beautiful city that just walking around, enjoying the architecture, looking for fashionably dressed people and cute little dogs, tends to cheer me up.

Today, I wandered down to the 16th to the Musée de Marmottan. I love the Impressionists so this was a really wonderful experience for me. I got to see a lot of pieces I have studied in books, which was really really nice. I was particularly interested in seeing one of my favorite paintings, a Berthe Morisot piece. I love Morisot because of what she accomplished as a woman working in a sector usually reserved for men, and gaining really clout in the art world. At the time of her death, her pieces were selling better than Monet's and all of the other male Impressionists. Her personal history is like a 19th century soap opera, and I really had a good time studying her last semester. I particularly like "Jeune fille au bal" because of the girl's expression. She's not one of Renoir's doe-eyed, rosy cheeked girls. Her gazed is focused, discerning and intelligent.

After my visit, I stopped in the gift shop to pick up a couple of postcards and a poster of "Jeune fille au bal." Art museums in general have a very calming effect on me, so I left feeling a lot more zen about my living situation.

Now, I'm back at the apartment, eating a bowl of cereal and packing up. I'm heading off to London Thursday-Sunday to visit Stephen!

Le premier jour à Paris

Yesterday was a very full day. I marche-ed until I could not marche anymore. Aurora and I decided to enjoy our first day in the city by walking around and exploring. We started out the day in Monmartre, winding our way up the hill to Sacré Coeur. There were tons of people there, speaking dozens of different languages. We went into the church, walked around a little, then parked ourselves on the grass outside to people watch and plan our route from there. Outside, besides the hundreds of tourists, there were street musicians (including a man who had managed to station his full-sized harp on the steps), men selling model Eiffel Towers and cheap plastic sunglasses. There were plenty of interesting characters to hold our attention as we took a quick break.

From there, we went down the hill and made our way to the Cemitière de Monmartre. It was a beautiful day--70s with a bright blue sky. Unfortunately, we both forgot our sunglasses and wound up squinting all day long. We won't make that mistake again! We got to the cemetary and consulted the map so we could find the graves of some of the famous people buried there (Zola, Berlioz, Degas, Dumas, Stendahl, etc.). Despite this effort, we were woefully unsuccessful. We didn't manage to find a single famous grave!

From there, we made our way back towards the 9th, grabbing a quick lunch from a boulangerie on the way. Sandwiches (on baguette of course), fancy pastries, and sodas, all for 5 euro. Yum yum yum. We ate on some park benches in front Église de la Trinité, the church my host parents go to.

From there, we continued to Galleries Lafayette to do some window shopping. The flagship store is seriously the most beautiful store, and one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen. It carries every designer brand you could possibly think of. Aurora and I had fun just walking around all of the fancy clothes. Everything was so entirely out of our price range there was no temptation to buy.

Afterwards, we hit the streets again and walked all the way to the Louvre. Aurora wasn't in the mood for a museum so we walked around the Tulleries and then down by the Seine. Finally, we grabbed the metro home. It was one very full, very fun day.

Finallement: Paris.

I'm here! Je suis arrivée! The bus ride from Tours was painfully long without jetlag to knock me out, but I survived and I'm IN PARIS!!!! I was definitely sad to leave my host family but I'm excited by all that lies ahead for me in Paris.

Saying goodbye to the Chidiacs this morning was definitely difficult. I felt a little choked up leaving such a warm, welcoming, generous family. Thus far, my Paris family just isn't the same. Then again, the bar has been set extremely high! My first impression of the Fouques are a little more formal, a little less engaged than the Chidiacs. This isn't necessarily bad, it will simply be a different experience. Whereas the Chidiacs were quick to ask me to help with dinner, take me out at night, and socialize with me, the Fouques seem to want to give me my space. With them, in Paris, I'll just have to be a little more outgoing and independent. They have a daughter who is 21 and lives in the same apartment building as them, though not on the same floor, so tonight for dinner it was just me and the host parents.

That said, the Fouques are very nice and we had a lovely conversation at dinner. Both of my French families have been very very interested in the American healthcare debate, which I'm happy to discuss with them. It's very satisfying to know that I can carry on a complex conversation about a current issue in French! After that, talk turned to art history. My host father is an architect and when I told him that my family had Scandinavian heritage, he ran to get a couple of books on Scandinavian painters. He particularly likes the Swedish watercolorist Carl Larson. A couple of the more abstract paintings he showed me reminded me a lot of Grandpa Jensen and Howard's paintings.

Tomorrow I have nothing on my agenda so the plan is to get lost in Paris! I'm thinking of meeting up with a friend or too, wandering aimlessly, and taking in the sights. I can't wait to experience Paris!

More Pictures! Favorites from this week.

Pictures Pictures Pictures! Favorites from Chenonceau.

News news news!

It has been a few days since my last post so I have lots of updates! First, I'll explain my absence from the blog: my computer crashed! In fact, I was trying to post a lovely new update when the problems began. The connection was slow, things weren't working, etc. so I tried to reboot the computer. When I did, it couldn't restart! I brought it to a shop in Tours and, after my host dad called and talked to them, they were able to fix it right away.

So, to recap everything that has happened since my last post:

Chenonceau
The entire group went to Chateau Chenonceau last Saturday. All in all it was a great time. I had already been when I traveled with Leah and Shana in 2006, but it was equally beautiful this time. It is easily my favorite chateau both for it's history and it's architecture. Not only is it incredibly picturesque, spanning the river, but it is also surrounded by beautiful, meticulously maintained gardens. It was built by François I (who reigned at the same time as Henry VIII ruled England) for his mistress, Diane de Poitiers. When François died, his wife, Catherine de Medici, seized the castle for herself, "trading" Diane for the less valuable Chaumont (which I visited later with my host family). I don't blame them for fighting over it! It's really beautiful.

Chaumont
Sunday I visited Chaumont with my host mom and Mika, the Japanese student who also lives with us. It is famous for it's gardens and there was an exhibition going on. Some gardens were modeled after paintings or inspired by poems, others were purely artistic. It was a beautiful day and there were lots of people (and dogs) there to enjoy the weather.

On a fait l'equitation
My oldest host sister, Emilie, rides horses at a club just across the river from Tours, on the grounds of an old chateau (which, in France, is apparently a very normal place to have a riding club), so she invited me to take a lesson with her! I was very excited to participate and get to ride while I was there but a little nervous about the language barrier. Vocabulary like girth, stirrup, right lead, etc. never really came up in French class! But I had a very nice horse and ended up having a great time. Mika had never even touched a horse before and had a great time coming to watch and feeding the horses sugar cubes after we were done. It was impossible to get a clear picture of her feeding the horses because their noses tickled her hands so much she squirmed and squealed!

Cooking Class
Today I took a cooking class that was offered through my program. After classes, ten of us headed over to a professor's house to learn to make Tarte Tatin, the French version of apple pie. It was a lot of fun and the result was very tasty. Especially with the hard cider (a specialty of Normandy) that our professor provided.

In other news
After cooking class, I returned to the Institute to pick up my housing assignment for Paris! I will be living in the 9th arrondissement near the Opera, Galleries Lafayettes and Printemps! The Monsieur Fouque is an architecht and his wife works for a bank. They have three children, but I don't know their ages yet. Knowing where I'll be living makes me even more excited to go to Paris! That said, I will be sad to leave my host family here in Tours. The Chidiacs have been incredibly kind and welcoming. I can't imagine having a better experience with a host family. I can only hope that my Parisian family is half as wonderful as they are.

Oh Galleries Lafayette how you taunt me...

For the first time since I arrived in France, we had bad weather. It rained almost all day. Perhaps the weather was simply reflecting the feelings of French children today: it was their first day of school. As I walked to class this morning, parents were walking their children to school. There are no school buses so everyone walks or takes public transportation. This morning all of the children, dressed up for their first day, were absolutely adorable.

Morning classes were relatively painless. I'm still adjusting to the lack of air-conditioning in our attic classrooms, but overall, the language classes are going well.

After class we had an hour and a half break before our group photo... No one was excited about said photo because it was raining, everyone's hair was frizzy, their clothes were wet, etc. etc. But the program had hired a professional photographer so the administrators clung to the hope that there would be a break in the rain long enough to snap a couple of photos of all of us sad-faced, drenched exchange students. So, while we waited, a couple of friends and I grabbed coffee and pastries. Reason #546 to move to France: pastries. I had aux framboises and almost died of happiness. We returned to the Institute in time for the picture, which, despite all of the stress and build-up, was over in about 2 minutes.

Since we had the afternoon free, a couple of girls and I went shopping. I had only planned on buying a curling iron (which is surprisingly difficult to find in France), but ended up with a pair of shoes (patent purple ballet flats... my entire wardrobe will soon be purple) and a blousy blue silk dress. Needless to say, I could not find the one thing I actually needed. And, after viewing the exchange rate, I need to remember that 1 Euro does not equal 1 dollar. I highly doubt, however, that I will be able keep me out of Galleries Lafayettes for long. I already have plans to go back later in the fall for winter accessories. They had a large collection of adorable cloches (I've been searching for the perfect cloche for close to a year now) and really lovely gloves.

On my way home from shopping I witnessed my first French protest. The professor for whom I do research stood on a baracade in 1968 and student strikes are a very real possibility this year (ESPECIALLY at the Sorbonne), so seeing a "manifestation" in person was really interesting for me. For the French, strikes, protests, etc. are a very normal part of life and a very valid form of political expression. Tangible results are gained from such actions. Very normal people with normal attitudes and opinions, not just the extremely political participate. It's very much a different attitude towards political participation that I find very interesting.

When I finally got home, I made a salad for lunch, relaxed a little, and finally broke out some comp exam books. I've made very little progress on my preparations so far. I've only gotten through 1 book out of 12. But I'm really starting to like Mrs. Dalloway so soon, it will be 2 down, only 10 more to go. At first, the book was a little intimidating to me. I didn't think I would like it as much as To the Lighthouse because the style seems more forcibly stream of conciousness. I found myself struggling a little with the rythm of the book, having to reread passage after passage, searching for the subject of the description. But as I get farther and farther along, that seemless flow between characters, between descriptions, between the future, past and present, becomes really absorbing. More and more, I'm starting to see that it's the sort of book that engulfs you, and once you enter that world, it's much easier to follow the flow of the text.

This evening, the Chidiac's had friends from South Africa over for a visit. We all helped make dinner and sat down together to eat. It was another beautiful French meal: tomatoes in a vinagrette, melon, roast duck, potatoes, wine, cheeses, and pleanty of wine. Tonight, the conversation moved more quickly than I am used to, as old friends got together to exchange stories, jokes, etc. I tried to keep up and succeeded for the most part, but had to have a few things explained to me. All in all, it was a long, wonderful, and entertaining evening. I'll sleep well tonight.