Awkward.

Yesterday I went to the Comédie Française with my class and we saw Le Misanthrope by Molière (a play we'd just read) performed. The theater was great. It was kind of small, but with balconies, and old seats, huge chandelier and all that jazz. The play was...intense. Rather melodramatic, I thought. Lots of shouting, running around, falling on the ground, being overly dramatic for a play where there wasn't much action, just conversation, and all in all about a guy who insults another guy's poem, and they're also both in love with the same woman. Of course, there's a lot more to the play, social commentary and all that. But wow. I mean, I could tell that it was very well performed-the actors were really great. But it was a little much for me. Also, with the makeup, they seriously ugly-fied the actors. And two guys had the craziest hair and whitest faces ever. And there was a lot of laughing where I didn't expect. And sometimes things were performed with emotion, or stage direction that I did not imagine while reading the play. And then when it ended...they had to go on bowing FOREVER.
Then I went home, helped out a little to prepare for my host dad's surprise birthday party and then tried to get some homework done. I ended up going down to the party, which was probably the most awkward event in my life. I mean, I'm not that great in social situations where there are a bunch of people I sort of know who are my age who speak english, but this was a bunch of people 10 years older than me, speaking french, and I didn't know anyone. And I'm not really sure what's polite or not to ask, so I didn't really know how to start conversations. So I ate some, and drank a little, and stood around awkwardly occaisionally talking to people.

These three guys were in the kitchen and they all tried a dessert before they were supposed to. Then there was this chocolate cake they wanted to try, but the way it was cut, there needed to be an even number of pieces taken to keep the cake looking full, so I got a piece of the cake. Then, and they thought this was HILARIOUS, they stuck toothpicks in the cake to connect the pieces, so they would stick together when someone tried to take a piece. They were laughing really hard. They probably had also had a bit of wine. Because it was kinda funny, but not THAT funny. Finally, I snuck back upstairs. I really didn't know what to do with myself, and whenever I saw my host mom or her sister I asked if I could help with something but they were always like, no! no! (Oh and one guy confused California with Florida when I told him where I was from, and asked if I was near Miami. So that was funny). Also, I think every guest was part of a couple, and most of the women were pregnant. No joke.

Today, a little after I got up, my host mom came in with a tray with tea, OJ, some small crepes and nutella, and apologized for not attending to me last night. That was surprising. But really nice. I said it wasn't a problem (I mean, she had enough to deal with besides awkward american). Then I went on a walk in the Bois de Vincennes, and discovered just how bad my sense of direction was. We had to do this half hour observation/reflection writing for my professor, so I wanted to go sit by the lake. I went the wrong direction-but found my pegasus crossing sign! And finally found the lake. (You'd think it'd be easy to keep track of a lake, but I couldn't find it for the life of me).
When I returned, my family was having lunch (with leftovers from the party) with a couple of guests, so I joined them. After that, I took a walk with the family down to this flea market, which was nice. A little stressful, because Calixte would sort of wander off, or not follow directions. Also, Maxcence had to go to the bathroom, so he ended up peeing in the gutter. As we were waiting, my host mom turns to me and says that that's the benefit of having little boys. And then we returned, and now I need to get homework done. We actually have quite a bit of work now, which I'm not too keen on doing. Oh well. I suppose technically I am in school, even though at times it doesn't feel like it.

Pegasus Crossing?

Okay, I'm going to apologize in advance for having no pictures today.

So let's see, what have I been doing?

Yesterday was another Musée d'Orsay visit, where I gave a short presentation about the Galerie de Photographie, which went well. We also had these crazy headsets to help us hear our professor. We learned about impressionist paintings (Like Monet, mainly, and some Van Gogh, Degas and a couple of others). Afterwards I went to the Orangerie, which is another museum and looked at some giant Monets that were pretty sweet, but I didn't have my camera with me. And that was kind of all I really did. For dinner we had Raclette, which is usually what people eat after skiing. It's this crazy grill thing with these little dishes you put cheese in, which then melts and you pour over potatoes. And then we had some super tasty meat, little pickles, and salad. For dessert was cookies and pinneapple. Apparently pinneapple helps cancel out a greasy meal, so that was interesting.

Today we had two classes, one where most of what we did was do some grammar corrections, and then started this movie, that was hard to understand, and will probably end up sad. Then lunch was pretty sweet. We found this panini stand, where you could get a panini, drink, and sugar crepe for 5 euros, which is pretty good for the area. Plus, it was super tasty, and the guy didn't skimp on the sugar. And the panini's were pretty big. We sat and ate in the Jardin de Luxembourg, which was really nice. Then was another class, where we found out we actually do have quite a bit of work to do. Oh well.

So then I came home, and decided it was pretty nice out, and pretty early, so I wend on a run, which makes it the second run in Paris, but this one totally makes up for all of the not running I've done. (To be fair, I walk A LOT. I found a pedometer on my phone, and I'm not really sure how it works, but I walked like 4 and a half miles yesterday. whatever that means). Anyways, my run. I started my run outside the gate, and when I stopped my watch when I came back to the gate, it read 1 hour, 50 minutes. Why? I got horribly lost in the Bois de Vincennes.

I'm not really sure where I went. I ended up finding the Hippodrome (horse racing), a bunch of football (read: soccer) fields, a small fishing lake, the Château de Vincennes, a floral parc, saw tons of bikers, quite a few runners, a bunch of walkers, and dogs, some horses, a lot of trees, a few maps, and my favorite, a pegasus crossing sign. Really, it was a horse with wings. weird.

So I ended up finding my way back, but not until after I found a map, chose the wrong direction (when I say I have no sense of direction, I'm not kidding), made a GIANT circle, went around the entire Hippodrome and then some, got rained on a little (but I love running in the rain) and found myself back at the map. I made a better plan this time, and found another map that let me know I was going in the right direction, and found my street pretty fast. Good times. And, I really didn't walk much at all. A touch when I decided my feet hurt a little, but then the going was too slow so I started running again. But for the most part I was running continuously, and must have found the perfect pace, because I barely looked at my watch. The first time I looked, I'd been running for 55 minutes. Sweet.

I'm going to go take a shower now. I'm glad I went on the run though. I'm not sure if I've already said this, but I know why I'm a pentathlete in track. Because I kind of have a short attention span, so distance is hard for me. That is, unless the area I'm running in is totally awesome, and changing, and new. Which is why I didn't run around the Lake again. I'd done that. Today I got to see a castle! So much cooler. (I might go visit it with my host family on Sunday, so that should be fun).

EDIT: Okay, so here's a map of what I kind of think I did on my run. It probably doesn't make too much sense, with all the crossing over and such. Then again, neither did my run.

Ah Euh Eee Oo Ew

Yesterday was probably the longest day, class-wise, I've had. It wasn't a bad thing though. We had our usual Art history class, which I really liked because most of it was about the history of photography. For all of the photography I've done, I've never actually studied its history. That was really neat. For my "journal des arts" I had to go to the galerie de photographie in the musée d'orsay (where I went today). Then we had our super long lunch. Pretty much we walked to the trusty boulangerie/patisserie on the corner and got sandwiches. Then returned to CUPA and played cards. I explained "idiot" to Anna in french (you're not allowed to speak english at CUPA). It was super difficult, but I managed. And we also played crazy 8s. I also learned a hilarious. (okay, not so hilarious) joke from Jess: I kicked a french chicken in the stomach. it said oeuf. (it's very much a play on words. oeuf is french for egg, and when you say it it sounds like oof). Shall I tell another, or have you had en-oeuf? (enough).
Okay. Then we had another class where we talked about our visits to Versailles and Le Misanthrope. Right after that was my first class with the guy named Pierre, and it's a little elective class (there are 6 of us in it). And it's pretty sweet. We started with introductions, then did this sort of meditation circle. (when you hold hands in a circle, your right hand should be on top, and the left on the bottom. We learned that, but I learned that when I was in Hawaii at Miss Akiko's Bed and Breakfast. I guess it's good for energy flow). That was to relax us. Then we worked on vowel prononciation. That's why the title of my blog looks strange. It's roughly the French vowels A E I O U, but how you sort of pronounce them. We made music too! It was sweet...everyone had a different vowel, and you were all on the same beat, just different...hmmm. i'm not sure the words I'm using. Tempo maybe? Anyways, it sounded cool. We did a few random activities, like spacial awareness walking around desks not being able to see, and improv television. It should be a fun class, even though I kind of suck at improv, much less in french.

Then I went home, did some homework, and helped my host mom make dinner. (I didn't actually do too much, but it was fun talking to her, and I learned roughly how to make tasty salad dressing. (They don't buy pre made salad dressing. Instead we have super awesome homemade stuff.) We made this tasty pasta with sausages. That night my host father's father and sister came, so it was kind of exciting to have guests. My host father's father is very nostalgic, and talked a lot about the past. They also told some jokes, that I could follow until the punchline, and then they were kind of lost on me. I think it was both the speed they were talking and the subtlety of the jokes.

Today I had my conversation and composition class where we didn't atually do anything, because today's presentations took the entire time. Next week we'll get to watch a video of a comedian, so that's exciting. We then went in search for this gyro place with french fries that monica wanted to try, but most of us just got paninis at a nearby stand. Then the musée d'orsay where I took notes on the photography gallery for my presentation tomorrow. Then we looked through a few other rooms, stopped in the gift shop (where I brought a small print of this painting, which I really liked for some reason. It's "Raboteurs de parquet" by Gustave Caillebotte):
And now I'm at home. It's weird. It's only 4, but it feels so much later. I made it home just in time to listen to Abby, Lynsey and Chuck's radio show at 3, so that was sweet. I hadn't thought I'd be home then. But it'll be nice to be able to get some work done, because tonight I'm going to go out with a couple of friends to get some cake in celebration of one of their birthdays, and it'll be nice to be done with my homework when I leave. Also, sorry for the lack of pictures.

Je voudrais être un gendarme.

Yesterday I didn't leave my house, and it kind of seems like everything I did was eat. I woke up and had tea and toast. Then my family went to church but I stayed home to take a shower and try to type up an assignment for class (but it didn't really happen).

Then we had a super extended brunch, starting with champagne and appetizers. It was my host mom's mother's birthday, and she and my host mom's grandmother were visiting. (The other day I made an interesting observation. I am closer in age to my host parents (about 10 years) than to my host brothers (about 15 years). So we had presents-one for my host mom's mom, and a couple from the mother and grandmother to Calixte, whose birthday it was last week. So after all of that, we moved to the table, where we had several courses of fabulous food-white asparagus, filet mignon with green beans and these potato(?) ball things. And of course bread and cheese (goat cheese with this gray stuff around it--my host mom's mom said it was ashes). And then chocolate tart, followed by café.

I really liked my host mom's mom. She would randomly quiz me/tell me new vocab. We were out in the garden and I learned the words for shovel, rake, mole, mole-hill, hoe, and some others. And unlike my host parents, she would correct me when I'd mess up grammar. She was really nice, and spoke some english too, like my host father. They left at around 5:30, when I was able to go back upstairs, do my homework that I'd tried to do earlier, and submitted it about two hours late online. Oh well, I don't think it should be a problem, and I was downstairs being social and learning from my host mom's mom. (Who also told me to read to Maxcence, the 4 year old, and ask him to explain words I didn't know. Which could be useful for basic vocab, but I don't think she realizes I'm reading Molière in the original French.)

Today was pretty sweet. I woke up and I think it had snowed just a touch because there was some melty snow out my window. So that was a little odd. I met Anna and we went to buy our grammar workbooks, and then headed over to the Louvre. It took us a while to really get started, because we had to get these special ID cards that let us go into the Louvre for free, because we had our CUPA cards. But it was worth it. Then I ate the first thing here I didn't like, but it was from one of the Louvre food places, so I guess it's understandable. It could have been good, if it were actually all the way heated (it wasn't) and maybe made with quality food? (It was a croque monsieur, which has like cheese melted over this ham sandwich or something). So we went to find the Mona Lisa, saw that (they've given up on the no cameras rule that they had the last time I was here, in the Mona Lisa room). Then we went through some French paintings, which were cool, because some of them I actually knew about from our art class.

Then we went outside, because the olympic torch was going to pass by the Louvre! We got out way early though. We chilled on the street for a while, and then all of these Gendarmerie vans pulled up, so we got all ready. But it became apparent the the torch still wouldn't be here for a while. We spent a ton of time taking pictures of the Gendarmes (seriously, I want to be one. Or at least have their uniforme. It's freakin' sweet. Their vests have about a million pockets, and they have shin guards, and crazy arm things, and sweet hats.) I was super sketchy taking pictures of them, but it passed the time. Police cars and caravans would intermittently pass, raising our hopes. We probably waited for a good hour and then some for the torch, but it was worth it, and fun to see the gendarmes. I have something like over 50 pictures from waiting, and two of the actual torch. Oh well, a good time was had by all.

Then we went back in the Louvre, looked at some more paintings, and as we were leaving Anna saw someone she knew from back home, so that was a little crazy. And then I went home. Which I'm really glad of, because it's now raining a ton, and I'm glad I don't have to be walking back to my house from the Metro.

Sensory Overload

Yesterday, after class (where we went over a bunch of common grammar mistakes made by us students in our writing we did on wednesday), I walked along the Champs Elysée (pretty much the entire way) all the way to the Arc de Triomphe with a few people who hadn't been there. This time however, we climbed up. It meant even more stairs, but a great view of Paris (see picture above). And then we went on to Père Lachaise, a GIGANTIC cemetery, were we saw the graves of Molière, La Fontaine, Chopin, Delacroix, Bizet and a few other famous Frenchmen, among tons and tons of other super impressive tombs. Jim Morrison is buried there too, but we didn't have the time (or at that point the patience to find more famous graves.) The map that shows where the most famous graves are was off about a block of graves, so we would have to wander around the area a bit to find them, and often came upon the graves just as we had given up and were about to head on to another area. (This picture is from the top of this staircase looking over one area of Père Lachaise. It really is HUGE, as was the tomb we're walking next to on the left. No, it's not a wall, it's just the bottom of a giant grave.)
Today I went to Versailles with six others from my program. It was neat, but there were so many people! So that was exhausting. And there was so much-paintings, ornate doors, mirrors, chandeliers, beds, walls, ceilings, that it was really hard to appreciate anything, or stay too long in one room because of it. Still, it was cool to have been there. One of the things I liked the most was in Marie Antoinette's domain, which was the Queen's Theater. It was really pretty inside, and pretty much a little theater. And her garden was nice to walk around in. In fact, I think I liked the outside more than the inside of Versailles. (Also there was this little building in Marie Antoinette's domain (Belvedere) which inside looked just like the "I am sixteen going on seventeen" set from the Sound of Music, except there weren't benches all around. It was crazy. This next picture is in the Hall of Mirrors, and the one below that is looking over part of the gardens in Maria Antoinette's domain.
I guess the past few days haven't been too full of crazy stories, just some touristy visits, and lots of time on the metro. In terms of my family, I still don't spend too much time with the kids, but they continue to become super unruly when I'm around. Apparently they like me though...because my host mom told me that the other night when they were saying prayers before bed, and praying for their patron saints (I think, I'm not sure how that kind of prayer goes), but Maxcence, the 4 year old, added to the list "prière pour Saint Amy" even though there is probably no saint named Amy. So that was sweet.
Discussions at dinner also are sometimes entertaining. I spent probably 20 minutes trying to describe a fair/carnival that I saw in the Bois de Vincennes, but I didn't know any of the vocabulary in French, and my host mom didn't recognize any of the English words, so that was funny. Also, I really like when my host parents will tell me random information about Paris, or history, because it's often pretty interesting. My host father also pulled out some large books they have on Paris (with lots of pictures) for me to go through (on things like Castles in Paris, and a French art book). And even though they're not supposed to speak English with us if they know it, my host father likes saying various words or phrases in English, and sometimes tries to explain things or ask me things in English, and has me verify words. And speaking of dinners, the food continues to be great, and besides the bread and cheese course, there's quite a bit of variety-we had some sort of tasty fish dish last night, and quiche another, and lasagna another. Plus the salad is just a touch different in terms of ingredients each night, so that's nice.

Three Major Tourist Attractions, Two Carleton Students, One Day

The title is pretty much what I did yesterday after our first and only class of the day. We had five hours before a little reception at CUPA so me and Anna went first the the Tour Eiffel. We wandered around a little and then looked for lunch. We found a little grocery store where we bought a small baguette and some goat cheese, plus this crazy nutella snack and drink all in one sort of thing. Anything with nutella is fantastic, but it was a little weird to have juice connected to it. Still, it was tasty. I also hope I don't get sick of bread and cheese, because I sure eat a lot of it.

Then we took the metro to the L'Arc de Triomphe and wandered around there for a little bit, which was cool. All of these places I'd visited when I went to France with my high school exchange, but it was neat to be back. After that we headed over to Notre Dame, where I got to do something I'd never done: climb to the top. (It costs money, but we have CUPA ID cards that let us into a lot of things free, because it names us as L'étudiants de l'histoire d'art). Despite the wait and all of the stairs. (So many stairs!!! It was one long, never ending spiral staircase to the top). And despite being forced to spend 5 minutes (it was actually probably more) in the gift shop on the way up, the view was worth it. And the gargoyles? pretty awesome.

Then we had the reception, which was pretty much drinking some juice, eating some super tasty pastries and sort of meeting a couple of students at CUPA (which is the center for about 50 students from various US colleges, who are in Paris for the semester, and are taking classes in Paris universities).

That night my "parents" had a babysitter, so I ate dinner with her after the kids had gone to bed. It was slightly awkward. Half the dinner was spent in awkward silences, and the other making small talk about school, family and so on. But I also had dinner an hour earlier than normal, so I could go to bed a bit earlier. I got to sleep in this morning though.

Today we had one class in the afternoon, and it was a museum visit. Me and Anna decided to meet for lunch and wander the museum (Musée d'Orsay) for a little bit, because we would only be looking at specific rooms for our class, and not the whole museum. Lunch was tasty. (I think everything here is). I had an orangina, and then a sandwich with goat cheese and salmon (I wasn't positive that's what it was going to be when I ordered it, but I panicked at the last moment because I wasn't sure what to order and it was my turn...and I saw it had goat cheese, so there you go.) The Musée d'Orsay is a pretty cool museum. It's an old train station, so the interior layout isn't like your normal museum. There are a lot of sculptures, as well as a lot of super famous pieces of art. It was a long day though, and it was a little tiring to go back in and stand and listen to our professor, but it was interesting to actually hear more information about some of the pieces. Because for the most part, when we weren't with the class, there wasn't really a way to find out more about each piece, or what was happening in a painting. We'll be back at the Musée d'Orsay next week, looking at a different set of paintings. (Today was mostly neo-classicism and romanticism paintings). I'll have to go back again too because I have a short oral report on the gallery of photography there (which I looked a today and is all one guys work, and it's older stuff. So that should be neat to look at more in depth).

And that's pretty much what I've been up to. It's weird to have hit three major Paris locations in one day, and see so much in my first week here, and then realize I still have two more months. Of course, there's always things to see in Paris.

Ma Chambre et les Premièrs Cours

So, as per request from my mom, here are a couple of pictures of my room. One is from my desk looking at my bed, one is from my bed looking at my desk, and the other one is out my window at night.


Yesterday I slept in until just about 1pm. I set my alarm for 11am, but didn't really have the motivation to get out of bed. I had woken up at around 6am and couldn't fall asleep until around 8am. The day before I'd woken up at about 8:30am and couldn't fall asleep until about 9:30am. And this morning, when I actually had to wake up early, I woke up at about 3:45am and couldn't fall asleep until 6am (in the meantime I'd gotten up and checked my email, just for something to do). So that's weird. And annoying.

Yesterday was the first time since Saturday afternoon we saw the other students on the program. Which was refreshing, because it's hard speaking and hearing French all the time. We met at our professor, Cathy's apartment. I've discovered I'm good at figuring out the Métro, but once I get to the streets, I'm lost. I walked in a bunch of circles and probably took the longest possible way to find the apartment. Then, I got to the building and I thought she'd said the door was unlocked, but apparently it wasn't. So I called up to her room and she said (in French of course, and over those little intercom things) that she was on the right on the second floor). I thought maybe she'd come down, because the door was locked. Well, 2 other girls from my program showed up (and tried the doors too) and then some random old ladies just walked in and opened the door. So we'd been standing there a while, when the door was unlocked. I felt pretty dumb. I swear I'd tried the door!

Then we had an introductory class with Jérôme, our professor of Introduction to Modern and Contemporary Art. (I keep almost typing random little things out in French. I guess that's a good sign). I also discovered that a couple of people on my program are decently nearby, so we take almost the same métro route home, and it's nice to have company. By the time I got home, the kids had gone to bed, and I ended up eating with just Lorraine because Xavier was late. I had a pretty large meal (fantastic lasagna, salad, bread and cheese as usual and mousse au chocolat) but it was also all I'd eaten that day, besides some cookies and juice at Cathy's apartment. (I slept in until 1 wasn't that hungry, and left to get to the apartment just before 2).

That's the other thing I have to get used to. Getting up extra early so I can make the 30 or so minute commute to CUPA. I really like taking the métro though, and haven't gotten lost on the métro. The streets, yeah, but the métro, nope. C'est hyper chouette. Which brings me to today, the first day I had to leave early. My first class was the Art class and we learned about the origins of art in France, and mainly the role of the Louvre and how the Louvre evolved. Then we talked about neo-classicism and romanticism. The other class was the one taught by our Carleton professor, Cathy, where we discussed the first act of Le Misanthrope and read a poem. Nothing too difficult yet. (But we will have to do actual work besides reading...a 10 minute oral presentation about a contemporary artist that we were assigned, among other things).
In between classes, we had three hours. I got lunch with Anna (one of 3, sort of. There are 2 Anna's on our program, but also a Hannah, which is pronounced th same as Anna). And then we went in search for a place to buy a notebook, because I didn't have one. You'd be amazed at how hard it is to find something that simple. We walked all over, for at least an hour and a half and finally found a store. We also sat in the Jardin du Luxembourg for a little bit (where I took the picture above), and the sun came out, which was great.

After class I went running for the first time, and I ran around the lake in the Bois de Vincennes. It was super pretty out, and I also ran some along some random trails, but I didn't really know where I was going, I just wandered until I felt like going home. And now I'm writing this. Maxcence and Calixte came in and said hello (sort of. They made some faces and showed me the candy they were eating. and Maxcence talked really fast, so I wasn't entirely sure what he said. but I made some faces back. Then Lorraine came back and told them not to bother me. They're pretty loud kids too. Especially when they wake up, but I think that's good, because it helps me wake up.

I'll leave you with one last picture...On our quest to find a notebook, we saw this, and thought it was rather funny. Well, we thought one was kinda funny to see in Paris, but then there were two. (Also, everyone here jaywalks all over the place. If it's clear, it's fair game. I almost got run over by a bus today. But really, it's pretty safe, and convenient. Because who really wants to wait for a traffic light? Especially when you have somewhere to be in 5 minutes and you have no idea where that somewhere is relative to you.)