Also, that it's becoming a chore to write in here. Maybe it's because I'm out actually living my Parisian life as I should? A voir.
Today, I played catch with Trevor in the park under the Eiffel Tower. My other friends didn't show, since it was grey and moche (ugly) outside, but the instant that we stepped foot into the park, the sun shone strong. It really felt like spring.
Trev and I were the spectacle of the Champ de Mars. Everyone stopped to look at us. Little kids literally smiled ear to ear with excitement watching us throw our frisbee back and forth.
Afterward, we went to the Cimetiere du Montparnasse, that, although I have classes a mere .5 kilometers away (pure estimation), I had never visited. We saw Poincaré the mathemetician's grave, with someone's math-y note that they left on it. We saw Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre's combined tombstone, with lots of metro tickets on top of it (curious), stones holding them down.
I made a whole list of things I need to see before the end of the year. This is it:
- Cimetiere du Montparnasse
- Pere Lachaise
- Maison de Victor Hugo
- Musée de l'Orangerie
- Les Catacombes
- Musée Picasso
- Musée d'art moderne
- Musée Rodin (ish)
- Musée Zadkine (free, by Reid Hall)
- Musée National du Moyen Age (avec la tapisserie du licorne)
- Place des Vosges
- Sunday organ recital at Notre Dame, 4:30
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
7
I've gotten over the fact that I don't have a job. I'm going to apply to some, but I might just really like to stay home this summer. I know that it's the summer before senior year and everything. I don't know. It would actually be good for me to get out of the house, so I could get another job as a waitress to make back some money.
I guess I'm glad that I've got all this crap going on while I'm in Paris. If I were at Smith right now, I'd be driving down to Georgia with the frisbee team. As much AMAZING as spring break in Savannah is, I don't think I'd genuinely be able to appreciate it.
In other news, Abby and I went to see Le Roi Lion, and it was awesome. It was such an engrossing theatrical experience. However, there were even some parts where I remembered that it was Disney and kind of felt guilty for liking it so much. The parts I appreciated most were the puppets. Julie Taymor is my idol. There were huge elephants, real-looking giraffes, masks on every lion while not distracting from the actors' faces, Chinese shadow puppetry.. it was SO cool!
School is easing up. I'm not concerned about grades in the slightest, which is helpful.
Anyway! I'm off to work in the library, have some breakfast, get dressed, and get some Thai food for dinner! Whoooooo!
I guess I'm glad that I've got all this crap going on while I'm in Paris. If I were at Smith right now, I'd be driving down to Georgia with the frisbee team. As much AMAZING as spring break in Savannah is, I don't think I'd genuinely be able to appreciate it.
In other news, Abby and I went to see Le Roi Lion, and it was awesome. It was such an engrossing theatrical experience. However, there were even some parts where I remembered that it was Disney and kind of felt guilty for liking it so much. The parts I appreciated most were the puppets. Julie Taymor is my idol. There were huge elephants, real-looking giraffes, masks on every lion while not distracting from the actors' faces, Chinese shadow puppetry.. it was SO cool!
School is easing up. I'm not concerned about grades in the slightest, which is helpful.
Anyway! I'm off to work in the library, have some breakfast, get dressed, and get some Thai food for dinner! Whoooooo!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Directive?
My interview went alright. I found out that they usually do group interviews, and I felt awkward having a one-on-one interview with just one of the directors. We still did the awkward group question and answer session, but since there were only two of us, we both felt kind of silly introducing ourselves.
When I get nervous, I just say EVERYTHING that I want to say in one big blast. I wound up saying everything that I wanted to say, I think, but I can't reflect on what went down to be able to critique my performance. Hopefully, my smile, eye contact, and general charm have kept me in the running. The interviewer seems like a sweet girl, but I don't know if it's just out of necessity or if she really thinks I've got a shot at the program.
In any case! I'll know by Tuesday! And then, it's off to apply to the Bronx Zoo or something. I really hope I get into this program though. It just sucks that the other groups in the program who offered me interviews NEVER got back to me once I e-mailed them to set it up.
Other news: I'm still feeling productive, even without having gotten much done. I've got things organized, I'm seeing friends, and I even picked up "Fried Green Tomatoes" from the Smith library to read once I'm done with my required readings for class. I've been going to sleep earlier than usual, which has been wonderful.
Now I'm off to find if I can find more than 10 synonyms for the verb "to say". Bonne soirée à tous!
When I get nervous, I just say EVERYTHING that I want to say in one big blast. I wound up saying everything that I wanted to say, I think, but I can't reflect on what went down to be able to critique my performance. Hopefully, my smile, eye contact, and general charm have kept me in the running. The interviewer seems like a sweet girl, but I don't know if it's just out of necessity or if she really thinks I've got a shot at the program.
In any case! I'll know by Tuesday! And then, it's off to apply to the Bronx Zoo or something. I really hope I get into this program though. It just sucks that the other groups in the program who offered me interviews NEVER got back to me once I e-mailed them to set it up.
Other news: I'm still feeling productive, even without having gotten much done. I've got things organized, I'm seeing friends, and I even picked up "Fried Green Tomatoes" from the Smith library to read once I'm done with my required readings for class. I've been going to sleep earlier than usual, which has been wonderful.
Now I'm off to find if I can find more than 10 synonyms for the verb "to say". Bonne soirée à tous!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Sssssso.
I've learned that I stutter and stammer a little bit. I thought that it was just in French, but apparently it's in English too. If I don't think a lot about what I want to say before speaking, my words come out mixed up, whether it's in English or French. I'm speaking up more now though, which is better than just shutting up. I've kind of resigned myself to being embarassed no matter what I do/say, so it's become easier to just try to get my ideas out!
Afterward, we waited for the bus with our Japanese friends who were also staying at our hotel, and Hercules sat with us until he got too bored with getting pet to death.
Acropolis
Greece was INCREDIBLE. I've been dreading writing a re-cap, but I'll try to recall what all was done. Alix and I left for the airport on Thursday evening because our flight was very early Friday morning. I brought my HUGE laptop in order to have a video teleconference via Skype with one of the jobs I wanted. We wound up having to hold the interview at 3:40 a.m. Paris time. Being cracked out and on NO sleep at an airport was NO GOOD. HOWEVER! I found out that they offered me a second interview tomorrow evening, where I'll have to teach a lesson on telling time to non-native English speakers via Skype. I'll let you know how it goes!
After no sleep, we headed on the plane for Athens! We arrived, took a nap, and then headed off. I really can't remember in what order we did everything, but in all, we saw the Ancient Agora, the Acropolis, lots of souvlaki, tzatziki, and free wine (pretty ladies get the free crap wine). We also got to go to a wine festival, which was awesome. There were countries from all over the world, and we got to sample little bits of all of the different ones. One of the wines was so smoky that it reminded me of whisky. I couldn't help but think about how weird it was that here I was at a wine festival when in my own home country, and yet I wouldn't be trusted to have a drop of alcohol for another 4 months.
After four days in Athens, we took a 6-hour ferry over to Santorini. It reminded me so much of an aircraft on the inside that I forgot that we were even on water. The seats were like airplane seats, and watching the world go by from my crouched position, we could've easily been skimming the water from the air. When we finally spotted Santorini, we could tell that it was our island because of the red and black sand all over due to the volcano (which has an eruption once every 50 years or so, and it's due!). There was practically no one on the island except for us two, and so we were treated with the utmost hospitality wherever we went. We had particularly exciting adventures when we went to the black beaches of Perissa, since we were literally the only people on the beach. It was raining and cold, but we braved it to dip our toes in the surprisingly warm water. We also made lots of animal friends, including a very cuddly cat and two dogs. The island animals could've quite easily had many diseases, but I'm still living, and we didn't get bitten, so I'm pretty sure that they were just friendly. Through all of Greece, we saw dogs as if they were any other city rodent. Notably in Athens, they were a big nuisance, barking at motorcycles and going up to bite the tires of moving cars. But the dogs on the island were some of the sweetest animals I ever met.
After braving the rain and cold and realizing the next bus wouldn't be around for another hour and a half, we sought shelter in a nearby restaurant, which I'm sure must be hopping during the summer season. However, we were the only two who came in who weren't locals, and we took every chance to try out our newly-acquired knowledge of the Greek language.
We also went to the red beaches, which weren't as red as we would've expected, and we came across a dredlocked dog who showed us around. Alix named him Hercules, but he looked a heck of a lot like our dog, Maggie.
He led us up on top of a hill to get a view of the other islands, and then we met up with him after grabbing an authentic dinner at a "restaurant", where the whole family was gathered, doing sewing, drinking, watching TV, doing their own cooking, and ironing. They sat us in the corner, where we watched Hercules and his assumed wife with an underbite and their two babies.
Afterward, we waited for the bus with our Japanese friends who were also staying at our hotel, and Hercules sat with us until he got too bored with getting pet to death.
After Santorini, we took the ferry back to Athens, stayed in an AMAZING hostel for 15 euros where we had a room to ourselves (I LOVE the off-season), and took a plane back to Paris in the morning.
Anyway, here are some more pictures!
Acropolis
Athens, theatre, and the new, not yet opened museum of Greek history in the back.
SantoriniNow that vacation is over, I've been surprisingly productive! I'm excited to see more of Paris once my family gets here, and I still can't believe that we only have three more months here. This Thursday, I'm going to an apéro (apéritif, or basically an excuse to have people bring you wine and food for a party) for the girls' frisbee team, Friday I'm going to see my first opera ever, Saturday I'm going to Reims for a champagne tasting, and Sunday we're going to Reid to watch one of my favorite movies, "Kirikou et la sorcière", which I learned about in high school from my bilingual school in New York. My host family and I are on pretty good terms as far as I know, and I've got a bunch of good friends and acquaintances. And the weather is starting to look more like spring every day! As much as I complain sometimes, there's no where else I'd rather be at this moment. Je suis contente, in the Frenchest meaning of the word.
Tonight, I'm going to polish up my lesson plan to show the directors of the program tomorrow night, and maybe finish some homework. Tomorrow, I'm off to hang out with Yael, see an art expo with Abby, rehearse my lesson plan one last time, and show it off to the directors at 9:15 my time! Thursday, I'm probably going to check out if Le Roi Lion still has student rush tickets (how great would it be to see The Lion King in French???) and maybe even just chill out and explore Paris on my own. I've learned that I always like being with someone when going anywhere, but maybe flying solo wouldn't be a bad idea for me to see what it's like.
Je ne le crois même pas. On a moins de trois mois qui nous restent, et je ne me sens toujours pas accoustoumé à la vie parisienne. My goal for the coming week is to see something in every arrondissement, just to get a feel for them. I might even descend at Bonne Nouvelle and see what really goes on at that metro stop!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
It has been SO LONG.
I apologize for abandoning my blogging career for what feels like forever, but while I haven't been blogging, I've been making sweet vids! Here is my latest one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf5fIlOvSHc
School has been pretty darn awesome. I'm glad I made the oft-mocked choice of not taking any classes at the Sorbonne this semester, because Paris higher education IS ON GREVE. In other words, there's a whole lot of shit going down in Guadeloupe, President Sarko is trying new reforms to get (socialist) France to be more like capitalist America, and people are going CRAZY! For Smith peeps in Paris, that means that the girls at Paris 7 (Denis Diderot university) haven't had any second semester classes, and that the rest of the people at Paris 4 (the Sorbonne) are having classes on and off depending on whether the teachers and/or students happen to be striking on that day. I had some crazy videos and pictures that I took from when the protesters were going down Boulevard du Montparnasse right next to Reid Hall (where Smith classes are). I'll post them soonish. Hopefully.
I've been having trouble feeling a solidarity with my protesting peers. Although I think that Sarkozy is making a hella dick move by trying to capitalize France's system of higher education by putting all of the good teachers in certain schools and not continuing the democratic system of a similar education for all by thereby making students pay more to go to "better" schools, I really don't know how I'd feel marching with these students and teachers who are more or less directly related by the outcome of these reforms. Also, since I'm not feeling the repercussions of the striking and the protesting in any real way, I don't feel very strongly for participating. I'm going to try to educate myself on the whole situation further to see what's going on. For living in a city with so many pertinent issues that affect so many, I feel rather dumb on not knowing what's going on with the current French events.
In any case, although my classes are all within the confines of American universities' take on French education, they are all wonderful so far. I'm taking a theatre class, where I've already seen Hamlet IN GERMAN, IN FRANCE, DUBBED IN FRENCH. It was INCREDIBLE. The players were all wonderful, and the modern adaptation did not glaringly take away from the story in any way.
I have a creative writing class, which is a good outlet for working around the structure of the French language in a more playful way. Liking it a lot, although we have so many vocabulary words to learn.
The volunteer experience class is ever interesting, though it always makes me feel bad for not volunteering at the soup kitchen more often than I do.
My art and architecture class with the Middlebury consortium is GREAT. We go on tons of field trips around Paris to discuss the intricacies of the city's art and architecture. Although the teacher is sort of presumptuous about our knowledge of the French language and tends to undermine us by showing off her grasp of the English language, I love being able to discover/rediscover places in Paris in a new way.
In other news, frisbee is going great. I love the team, and although I still feel kind of uncomfortable speaking up in the group setting, I like that I'm being included as one of the gang now. It sort of happened without my realizing it, and I'm glad that it came without forcing it. I feel like some students, particularly the American ones, think that because they know how to do the double-cheek kiss, they should automatically be integrated into the circle of friends, and it just doesn't work that way. All the same, I'm glad that I have people outside of school.
Like Abby said in her last post, I really want to see the things that I've missed from Paris. I'm going to start by reading up on exactly what's been going on with Sarko's reforms and what's happening in Guadeloupe, with the continued promise that I'm going to read up on French news once a day.
Other things I need to do:
- picnic along the Seine
- go to the top of the Eiffel Tower
- see Sacré-Coeur
- memorize exactly which arrondissements are where
- take the Montmartre train
- actually stop at Bonne Nouvelle on the 8/9 and see what's there
I'll add more and cross things out as I do them. A la prochaine!
School has been pretty darn awesome. I'm glad I made the oft-mocked choice of not taking any classes at the Sorbonne this semester, because Paris higher education IS ON GREVE. In other words, there's a whole lot of shit going down in Guadeloupe, President Sarko is trying new reforms to get (socialist) France to be more like capitalist America, and people are going CRAZY! For Smith peeps in Paris, that means that the girls at Paris 7 (Denis Diderot university) haven't had any second semester classes, and that the rest of the people at Paris 4 (the Sorbonne) are having classes on and off depending on whether the teachers and/or students happen to be striking on that day. I had some crazy videos and pictures that I took from when the protesters were going down Boulevard du Montparnasse right next to Reid Hall (where Smith classes are). I'll post them soonish. Hopefully.
I've been having trouble feeling a solidarity with my protesting peers. Although I think that Sarkozy is making a hella dick move by trying to capitalize France's system of higher education by putting all of the good teachers in certain schools and not continuing the democratic system of a similar education for all by thereby making students pay more to go to "better" schools, I really don't know how I'd feel marching with these students and teachers who are more or less directly related by the outcome of these reforms. Also, since I'm not feeling the repercussions of the striking and the protesting in any real way, I don't feel very strongly for participating. I'm going to try to educate myself on the whole situation further to see what's going on. For living in a city with so many pertinent issues that affect so many, I feel rather dumb on not knowing what's going on with the current French events.
In any case, although my classes are all within the confines of American universities' take on French education, they are all wonderful so far. I'm taking a theatre class, where I've already seen Hamlet IN GERMAN, IN FRANCE, DUBBED IN FRENCH. It was INCREDIBLE. The players were all wonderful, and the modern adaptation did not glaringly take away from the story in any way.
I have a creative writing class, which is a good outlet for working around the structure of the French language in a more playful way. Liking it a lot, although we have so many vocabulary words to learn.
The volunteer experience class is ever interesting, though it always makes me feel bad for not volunteering at the soup kitchen more often than I do.
My art and architecture class with the Middlebury consortium is GREAT. We go on tons of field trips around Paris to discuss the intricacies of the city's art and architecture. Although the teacher is sort of presumptuous about our knowledge of the French language and tends to undermine us by showing off her grasp of the English language, I love being able to discover/rediscover places in Paris in a new way.
In other news, frisbee is going great. I love the team, and although I still feel kind of uncomfortable speaking up in the group setting, I like that I'm being included as one of the gang now. It sort of happened without my realizing it, and I'm glad that it came without forcing it. I feel like some students, particularly the American ones, think that because they know how to do the double-cheek kiss, they should automatically be integrated into the circle of friends, and it just doesn't work that way. All the same, I'm glad that I have people outside of school.
Like Abby said in her last post, I really want to see the things that I've missed from Paris. I'm going to start by reading up on exactly what's been going on with Sarko's reforms and what's happening in Guadeloupe, with the continued promise that I'm going to read up on French news once a day.
Other things I need to do:
- picnic along the Seine
- go to the top of the Eiffel Tower
- see Sacré-Coeur
- memorize exactly which arrondissements are where
- take the Montmartre train
- actually stop at Bonne Nouvelle on the 8/9 and see what's there
I'll add more and cross things out as I do them. A la prochaine!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Once again...
It's been awhile again since I've posted. Sorry, faithful readers! This week has been finals week, though I really only had one final on Monday, and my last assignment is an essay that I thought was due this Friday, but it's really due next Friday! Whoo! I've already finished my art history final (a 4-hour dissertation. Eep.) and my history final (2-hour dissertation). I just have to do some interviews for my essay, since it's in my class about volunteering in France.
Aside from that, I've been slacking a lot on sending things in the mail, but it'll come! I've also been trying to benefit from the sales, since all of Paris goes on sale during the month of January. It hasn't been easy, since my tastes are sort of particular and my body is also sort of particular, as is my bank account. I haven't made any purchases yet, but I hope to go shopping tomorrow after a friend's birthday lunch.
I thought that since I didn't have much to do this week, I would be so productive. I was so wrong! I've been sleeping more and doing neat things that I wouldn't have done otherwise.
INCLUDING!!! I was interviewed for a radio show this morning!!! My friend Hannah was interviewed by a woman last night after watching Obama's inauguration on TV inside "Breakfast in America", and the interviewer invited her to the radio station this morning. I decided to accompany her there, and they wound up interviewing me, too!
http://studioecoledefrance.com/podcast.php?select=mercredi
(Click on the plus sign next to 10h00-10h30 to listen to our interview! It starts sort of in the middle, so you can drag it there to get more of a gist of our conversation)
SO EXCITING! And then, I've been seeing movies, going to outdoor frisbee practice, meeting new people, celebrating the depart of the old president and welcoming the new, going window shopping, seeing friends, volunteering for the first time at the distribution of meals with my soup kitchen, and other things that have been time well spent.
On that note, I'm going to make a list of things that I have to do soonish!
Tomorrow:
- 10:00 - Buy gift for friend with birthday
- Lunch
- Mail things!
Friday:
- Do interview at LaChorba
- Make soup
- Partytiiime
Other things:
- Buy boots and things
- Read Hamlet for theatre course
- Figure out song and dance routine options for next frisbee tournament
- See Sacré-Coeur
OKAY. I'm going to start reading Hamlet! Whoo!
Aside from that, I've been slacking a lot on sending things in the mail, but it'll come! I've also been trying to benefit from the sales, since all of Paris goes on sale during the month of January. It hasn't been easy, since my tastes are sort of particular and my body is also sort of particular, as is my bank account. I haven't made any purchases yet, but I hope to go shopping tomorrow after a friend's birthday lunch.
I thought that since I didn't have much to do this week, I would be so productive. I was so wrong! I've been sleeping more and doing neat things that I wouldn't have done otherwise.
INCLUDING!!! I was interviewed for a radio show this morning!!! My friend Hannah was interviewed by a woman last night after watching Obama's inauguration on TV inside "Breakfast in America", and the interviewer invited her to the radio station this morning. I decided to accompany her there, and they wound up interviewing me, too!
http://studioecoledefrance.com/podcast.php?select=mercredi
(Click on the plus sign next to 10h00-10h30 to listen to our interview! It starts sort of in the middle, so you can drag it there to get more of a gist of our conversation)
SO EXCITING! And then, I've been seeing movies, going to outdoor frisbee practice, meeting new people, celebrating the depart of the old president and welcoming the new, going window shopping, seeing friends, volunteering for the first time at the distribution of meals with my soup kitchen, and other things that have been time well spent.
On that note, I'm going to make a list of things that I have to do soonish!
Tomorrow:
- Lunch
- Mail things!
Friday:
- Do interview at LaChorba
- Make soup
- Partytiiime
Other things:
- Buy boots and things
- Read Hamlet for theatre course
- Figure out song and dance routine options for next frisbee tournament
- See Sacré-Coeur
OKAY. I'm going to start reading Hamlet! Whoo!
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