A river runs through it

What a crazy week! Seriously, weeks with Phonetics classes are insane. It's like I live on the metro and in a classroom. Kind of cool though... instead of walking five minutes to class through campus I'm passing the Pantheon. 

It's weird to be so busy in a place that you just "started" a life- usually getting to be too busy is because you have so many friends in one place or you've been doing one thing all of your life and have to squeeze something else in. I'm not even working- it's just a ton of classes, running, seeing NEW friends and oh yeah, seeing Paris. 

Being the mid-point of the semester, this week I finally defined one of my favorite things of Paris. It happened when I was walking back from the Metro around 11pm on Wednesday (my friend Tara always has friends over for a culturally themed dinner- this week it was Mexican stir-fry). There was almost no one around- no cars, and only the occasional biker. It wasn't freezing out, but there was the definitive crisp air that only seems to come on those early spring nights, when the weather is just in between the two seasons. I was walking onto the bridge (Pont Marie) when I just stopped, in the middle of the bridge. It was almost silent, except for a slight breeze that still seemed far away. The Eiffel Tower was lit up way in the distance, and all the way down the river every bridge had their streetlights on. Some of the buildings that lined either side of the river were lit, and some were almost pitch black. It was kind of comforting, almost like I was having alone time in the middle of a city that was usually bustling with noise and crowds. And the people were still there- the lights in the windows indicated the silent presence of the city at night. All the way down the Seine. 

Paris really is beautiful. The people, the architecture, the river... it's all there, and it all just fits. 

Today was finally daylight savings time... so it will be dark an hour later today! Meaning that I had time to procrastinate this morning before getting ready to go for a run. I'm going to go explore the Bois de Vincennes.. it is supposed to be one of the prettiest parks, arguably prettier than the Bois de Boulogne. (I think I still might prefer my afternoon short runs through the Tuileries- even if I'm not going INTO the Louvre all the time I can still look at it every day.) 

A bientot!

Paris: Respire

Sorry it has been so long! I feel like I’m sitting down to write, and all of a sudden it’s two weeks later. It’s kind of crazy how fast time flies, but how it simultaneously feels like I’ve been here FOREVER.

I’m officially halfway through! I don’t really know how to describe it, other than that my brain feels like it is about to explode from the amount of stuff I’ve learned so far. Spring break is only 2 ½ weeks away!

Friday night was Central’s trip to Marseille! What an interesting city. We took the train (the TGV) which was about three hours, and absolutely gorgeous. Seeing all of the mountains and hillsides really made me want to go hiking and be outside. Being in a city for so long, I forgot that there’s a France outside of Paris!

Marseille was not what I expected. It’s a port town, so there were a million boats in the harbor and a fresh fish market on Saturday morning. It’s much younger than Nice in terms of people- and more industrial with a kind of “working class” feel. It is really old though- we toured one of the oldest churches in France as well as the origins of the city (it is still one of the biggest ports in Europe, and the biggest importer in France!) Even with the chilly wind, the sun was spectacular when it hit you in the right place. We were only there for a night, but it was a perfect time frame. Seeing the history and the harbor was beautiful, but after that everyone was about ready to go back to Paris.

The rest of the weekend was pretty calm- it got cold again! It was a little disappointing after such a beautiful week of sunshine last week. Monday and Tuesday were once again crazy days- I don’t really get to sit down until after my art classes end around 9:30. I have mixed feelings about my busy beginning of the week- I really enjoy all of the classes I’m taking, but they’re so smashed into two days it doesn’t give me a break to appreciate them! Today is finally Wednesday- after our CCA museum tour I plan on taking a nice long nap.  On my run yesterday I was thinking about how much stuff I've been doing, and I saw one of the signs that are all around the city: it said, "Paris: Respire!" And I realized that might be something that I HAVEN'T been doing enough of. 

Hellogoodbye (like the Beatles song)

Salut tous!

This week was insane! I feel like it was so incredibly long, yet instantaneous at the same time. My friend Dan came to visit with his dad for the week, and on top of wanting to show him everything cool about the city, I had phonetics (I only have the classes every other week). In short, it was definitely very busy, but really good! Kind of ironic, because on one hand, I’m finally beginning to feel like I’m getting the swing of things the “Parisian” way- conversing, all of my classes, sitting in restaraunts, ect. On the other, I felt pretty touristy trying to take Dan to all of the “must-sees” of the city. Highlights of the week:

 

-Art classes. Just like last week, they are both still SO HARD. But so good! I had live models for both classes, which is both challenging and inspiring to try to work from. In Painting (the Tuesday class) the model had her dog with her.. kind of taking a twist on the whole “still life” effect, as the dog decided to move whenever he wanted. J

 

-The Louvre!! I FINALLY went. I regret to say that it was a required visit for the Central class, so I had to go whether I liked it or not, but I am so happy that we did. We went on a tour of some pieces during Louis XIV’s reign.. including Fragonard, Hubert Robert, Chardin and Rigaud (all artists who I have studied before and thoroughly enjoyed). The tour guide was an older French man who knew everything and anything you asked him, and was so interesting to listen to! Not to mention, he was hilarious. He kept yelling at people who were talking too loudly (we were all listening to him through earphones, and he had a mic attached to his shirt) and he would switch back from French to English whenever he felt like it. I even got to ask him a little about some of Robert’s work- an artist who loved to paint the ruins of the city and give them a fantastical feel- but unfortunately the piece I was thinking about isn’t in the Louvre. Even so, it was a great tour.

 

-Les Eglises. Dan’s dad really loves organs, so whenever we were walking down a street and saw a church, we went in to examine the organ size and age as well as the history of the church. Once again, I want to slap myself for not doing this before! Every church we went into was absolutely beautiful. I don’t remember the names of the 6 or so that we went into, but there was also a visit to Saint Severin and Notre Dame. (The Sainte Chapelle is next on my list!) I have also been seeing a lot of signs for free concerts in different churches, so I definitely want to try one of those soon.

 

-Père Lachaise. What a beautiful place. It is by far the most serene, peaceful place in the city- and even for a cemetery it just has an air that is both solemn and comforting. We spent all of Friday morning walking around- seeing Jim Morrison’s grave, Chopin, Oscar Wilde, Balzac, Moliere and Lafontaine, but in truth every grave was beautiful in its own way. There was one statue that really struck me- a life sized bronze (now green-ish) statue of the Virgin with her hand covering her face. It was so sad, and just seemed so real. On a lighter note, there was a grave right across from Chopin’s that had a clay painting on the tombstone, along with a pretty poem. On a closer examination of the person’s grave- the painting had a signature- Marc Chagall! How insane is that- a grave of a person I had never even heard of, with a personal tombstone by Chagall. I wonder how many people walk by it every day without even knowing what it is.

 

The week ended with a Friday night raclette dinner and a trip to the Eiffel Tower. It was so, so beautiful out- the air was crisp but not too cold, and we watched it start to sparkle as the clock struck eleven. I was sad to see Dan leave, but I’m pretty sure he got a good idea of La vie Parisienne. Let’s see what this week brings!

It's March!

Who would ever think that not having the internet in your room would be such a pain? I hate to say it, but I actually miss instant internet access. Oh well, you live and learn! I’m sure this is a good thing.. but it sure does make it hard to write a blog regularly. So here comes a big one.

The past two weeks have been a blur. I have officially taken ALL of my classes (including art school! Ah!) and I officially like all of them. They are all two hours (except for phonetics, or phonetique), and as of yet my restlessness hasn’t gotten to me. The conferences are well taught- the Art History professor is easy to understand and hilarious when he’s addressing the students. I’m sure it helps to have a background in most of the things he has gone over, so when we learned words like clair obscure talking about Rembrandt, I knew he was referring to the artist’s famous use of light in his works.

Anyway. Something new every day, always learning new words… blah blah blah.

ART.

Oh my goodness. I don’t think I’ve ever been challenged as much as I have in the past two days. Monday night was the first night of my drawing class (croquis et dessin) and WOW. To start, we examined a human skeleton (a real one… that was deteriorating and missing a few bones!) to see the patterns that even the skeleton alone presents when drawing a figure. We went on to draw the model, as the entire class is based around a live model each week. It was so difficult- I’m used to using a huge piece of paper and focusing on specific sections of the body- here we were instructed to draw the entire figure and I was using a much smaller piece of paper! It was frustrating, but exhilarating at the same time to work on something that challenges me so much. The professor was very descriptive and instructing, and surprisingly I understood him! That was also an accomplishment. I am the only foreigner in both classes, so it’s nerve-wracking but so cool.

On Tuesday I have painting and drawing, focusing on both live models and still lives. Coming into this one I knew was going to be tough- in painting I have always depended on either abstract figure paintings or nature/landscapes (more of the latter). Everything here is indoors! The professor is absolutely insane, and a perfect art teacher. He’s an identical Robin Williams with a ponytail, and a little bit shorter, short enough so that while you’re sitting on the stool with the canvas in front of you, he can stand and get right in your face to try and make his point.

Which is what he did. I couldn’t believe how much this guy ripped me apart. It was kind of like going to art reform school- he told me to sit up straight, slow down and hold my pencil a completely different way (as he shoved the canvas away from me and said I was too close). He said he “doesn’t understand why the young ones are always rushing- they have nowhere to go!” It was SO intimidating, but I guess it’s what I need. I do also think I’ve found someone who makes more funny noises than me… J

It’s only Wednesday and I feel like I’ve had a whole week! All of my conferences and art classes are done for the week- so just Grammar from 8-10 the next few mornings and then it’s the weekend! I can’t wait to have some free afternoons to do some exploring. This afternoon we (the CCA kids) went to the Musee Galliera- a fashion museum from the 1800s! It was absolutely insane to see how small the women were- their waists were about the size of one of my legs. The dresses were very pretty too- it was cool to go to something I wouldn’t normally look for on a day off, and it turned out to be interesting. (Although, one of the dresses had the same pattern as my parent’s bedsheets when I was little.) Shelley also gave me a list of lectures held at the Ecole du Louvre- which are once a week and a free hour lecture on something in the museum by a French professor! I can’t wait to go. And no, I have not been to the Louvre yet. The end of this week. Period.

On a side note before I head to dinner- Lauren and I took an accidental detour on the way home from school yesterday, and just happened to see a sign on a building that said, “Hotel de Marcel Proust.” And underneath, “Hemingway lived here from 1921-1925.” Oh, the things you just happen to see in Paris.