Here is my weekly course schedule:
Monday:
11:00-12:30: Architecture
12:45-2:15: Literature
Tuesday:
9:00-10:30: Impressionism
Wednesday:
11:00-12:30: Architecture
4:15-5:45: Cinema
Thursday:
9:00-10:30: Impressionism
12:45-2:15: Cinema
2:30-4:00: Literature
I am really enjoying all of my classes, especially literature. In fact, at the moment I should be working on my literature homework, but my lack of focus is leading me to update by blog instead.
On that note, I should go do homework. I should be able to post another update within the next few days!
26 September 2009
I Live in Paris
As much fun as it was, we were all so glad once orientation was over, because we had an entire weekend ahead of us to relax and explore the city on our own. On Saturday, that's exactly what I did. Walking around the city of Paris is absolutely amazing. First of all, everyone in Paris is absolutely beautiful. I mean everyone--men, women, children, old people--everyone. Second of all, the architecture is amazing--all of the buildings are just so beautiful. Third of all, shopping. Shopping in Paris is exactly what you'd imagine it to be. Not that I buy much, but I do enjoy looking through the stores. There are many more reasons, but that is just a few.
The best thing, though, is that every once in a while, while walking around it just hits me: I live in Paris. I live in Paris. Wow.
That night, I went and hung out with a a friend of a friend who is French, and lives here in Paris. His name is Raphael, and it is a lot of fun to have an actual French friend to hang out with. He took me around to a few different bars in the latin quarter, and we had a really fun time. Since then, we've hung out a few more times with a bunch of my friends, and a few of his, which has also been a lot of fun.
The next day a bunch of us went to the Centre Pompidou together, which is a huge modern art museum. There were some amazing paintings and sculptures there, and I got a lot of inspiration for some good poems there. I started writing one actually, which I am really enjoying working on, because it is a lot different than anything I've ever written before. It's based on the painting L'automne, by Michel Larionov. Here is the first two stanzas so far, and I hope to post a more polished/finished version of the full poem soon:
Anyway, that might be shit for all I know, but so far I like it...I have a few more stanzas at the moment, but I am not ready to post those because I don't like them as much yet.
Afterwards, we all went to this great creperie near the Pompidou center. The rest of the afternoon we just enjoyed being in Paris, and having one more day of freedom before classes started the next morning...
The best thing, though, is that every once in a while, while walking around it just hits me: I live in Paris. I live in Paris. Wow.
That night, I went and hung out with a a friend of a friend who is French, and lives here in Paris. His name is Raphael, and it is a lot of fun to have an actual French friend to hang out with. He took me around to a few different bars in the latin quarter, and we had a really fun time. Since then, we've hung out a few more times with a bunch of my friends, and a few of his, which has also been a lot of fun.
The next day a bunch of us went to the Centre Pompidou together, which is a huge modern art museum. There were some amazing paintings and sculptures there, and I got a lot of inspiration for some good poems there. I started writing one actually, which I am really enjoying working on, because it is a lot different than anything I've ever written before. It's based on the painting L'automne, by Michel Larionov. Here is the first two stanzas so far, and I hope to post a more polished/finished version of the full poem soon:
blue blue blue blue
bells on trees and birds with hands
green elixir, woman stands
growing peace for all the lands
green green green green
leaves of love that spray perfume
red of roses paint the room
spreading concord while they bloom
Anyway, that might be shit for all I know, but so far I like it...I have a few more stanzas at the moment, but I am not ready to post those because I don't like them as much yet.
Afterwards, we all went to this great creperie near the Pompidou center. The rest of the afternoon we just enjoyed being in Paris, and having one more day of freedom before classes started the next morning...
22 September 2009
Orientation in Paris
(7-11 September)
So anyway, we arrived in Paris on the evening of the 7th of September. We met our host families at Trocadéro, which is the spot in Paris that has the nicest view of the Eiffel Tower (and it really does). My host father came to pick me up with his son, Alexandre, and they were immediately very excited, and very easy to talk to. They picked me up in a car, thank god, because my bags were so heavy, and would have been absolutely miserable in the metro.
We got to their house after a good drive through the city, and it is absolutely amazing—they live in a huge house in the 14th arrondissement—I live on the top floor, and my room is fairly adequate. It turns out that there is another American student living with the family, Michael, who I share a bathroom with. He is a nice kid and we get along fine.
When I arrived, Madame was working (her law office is in the house), and I think she was in a meeting with someone. After a few minutes, she called me downstairs and introduced herself. She was very nice and welcoming, but I could tell she was very busy. She raced through all of the house rules and procedures so quickly that I could barely understand her, and then she had to leave to go to a meeting across town and said she wouldn’t be dining with us that evening. I got the impression that she is a very busy, hardworking woman, but she was very friendly nevertheless, and I liked her right off the bat.
That evening at dinner, we had chicken. Michael was not around that night either, so it was just Monsieur, Alexandre and me. It was very enjoyable, and I had quite a good time talking to the both of them. Monsieur is very nice and incredibly friendly, and I like him very much. He is an endocrinologist, and has a private practice (at least I think), somewhere in Paris.
The next day, I woke up and left the house early, because it was our first day at Reid Hall (the school), and I had never been there before, and no one really told us how to get there, and so I wanted to make sure I could find it okay. So I left the house and started walking when I realized that I had no idea where the metro station was. I didn’t panic, but I just kept walking in what I thought would be the logical direction for the metro station. Well, after I asked a butcher, and a baker (not making this up), I finally found it. The station is actually quite far away (it takes me about 8 minutes to walk there from my house) compared to some of my friends who live right next to their stations. It is no problem though, because it is a very nice walk.
The ride to school on the metro is fairly painless—it is only 4 stops away on the same line, so it takes less than 5 minutes to get there. After I exited the metro, I had no idea which way school was, so I just walked. Well, I ended up at the Tour Montparnasse, which I knew was not the correct direction, so I had to turn around and walk back. It was not a bad walk at all though, and I still made it to school fairly early. After a few minutes I saw Adam, so I wasn’t by myself for very long, and then one by one everyone started showing up.
We had a few little information meetings, and we met Joelle, the assistant director for the program, who is very nice and agreeable, and also American. After a while we were free for lunch, and then we met Marie-Laure, our tour guide, to see the Sainte-Chapelle and the old Royal Palace, which is the present day Palace of Justice. The Sainte-Chapelle was absolutely amazing—it is a huge old church on the île de la cité, which is a small island in the middle of the Seine River. The Notre Dame Cathedral is on the other side of this island.
After visiting these cites, we took a river cruise across the Seine, which was so much fun! We saw so much from the boat and took so many photos, and just had so much fun. I am definitely planning on taking another river tour with some friends because of how fun that was.
The next day, (Wednesday), we went to the Cluny Museum, which is the museum of the middle ages. It was certainly enjoyable, and they had this one series of famous tapestries that I’d never heard of before, but were very old and very beautiful. I was a bit bored with that museum though, and I was a little sick of walking to be completely honest. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the Latin Quarter, which is a very eclectic, old area of the city. A lot of cool bars and clubs are located there, and I have been back a few times since.
That afternoon I finally bought a French cell phone, so I could finally be in contact with my friend there, and actually have a social life at night. So, that night, Adam and I met back at the Latin Quarter, and just hung out with a bottle of cheap rosé at a local café, and just bonded over old funny stories. We had quite a good time.
Thursday, we went to the Louvre—this was so much fun. I did not know, but apparently The Louvre is the biggest museum in the world. There were so many amazing works of art, and I can not even begin to talk about which ones I liked best because of how many there were. The Venus de Milo, of course, was absolutely breathtaking. It is one of those things that you don’t realize until you’re standing right in front of it. The Mona Lisa was okay. I know that people are often disappointed by its size. To be honest I was not disappointed with the size at all. After all, it is a portrait. Portraits are never huge, but it certainly wasn’t small. I thought it was an adequate size for a portrait. I was most disappointed by the fact that you can barely get close enough to it to look at it because of how many people are crowding around it.
That afternoon we went to Montmartre, located on the highest hill in Paris, all the way in the north part of the city. There is an amazing view of the entire city, and I got some really cool photos. Montmartre is where a lot of the famous writers and artists lived in Paris in the 19th century, and so it has a very liberal, artsy, eclectic feeling. The Moulin Rouge is located there as well, and it was pretty cool to see that in person.
Friday, we went to Versailles, which is a huge palace built by Louis XIV, located about a half hour south of Paris. The palace was so ornate and absolutely beautiful, but the gardens were even more incredible—probably the most beautiful gardens I have ever seen in my life. Not to mention they were absolutely immense. That afternoon, a few of us just sat around a table at a café in Versailles and had a great time enjoying each other’s company, and enjoying the beautiful weather.
So anyway, we arrived in Paris on the evening of the 7th of September. We met our host families at Trocadéro, which is the spot in Paris that has the nicest view of the Eiffel Tower (and it really does). My host father came to pick me up with his son, Alexandre, and they were immediately very excited, and very easy to talk to. They picked me up in a car, thank god, because my bags were so heavy, and would have been absolutely miserable in the metro.
We got to their house after a good drive through the city, and it is absolutely amazing—they live in a huge house in the 14th arrondissement—I live on the top floor, and my room is fairly adequate. It turns out that there is another American student living with the family, Michael, who I share a bathroom with. He is a nice kid and we get along fine.
When I arrived, Madame was working (her law office is in the house), and I think she was in a meeting with someone. After a few minutes, she called me downstairs and introduced herself. She was very nice and welcoming, but I could tell she was very busy. She raced through all of the house rules and procedures so quickly that I could barely understand her, and then she had to leave to go to a meeting across town and said she wouldn’t be dining with us that evening. I got the impression that she is a very busy, hardworking woman, but she was very friendly nevertheless, and I liked her right off the bat.
That evening at dinner, we had chicken. Michael was not around that night either, so it was just Monsieur, Alexandre and me. It was very enjoyable, and I had quite a good time talking to the both of them. Monsieur is very nice and incredibly friendly, and I like him very much. He is an endocrinologist, and has a private practice (at least I think), somewhere in Paris.
The next day, I woke up and left the house early, because it was our first day at Reid Hall (the school), and I had never been there before, and no one really told us how to get there, and so I wanted to make sure I could find it okay. So I left the house and started walking when I realized that I had no idea where the metro station was. I didn’t panic, but I just kept walking in what I thought would be the logical direction for the metro station. Well, after I asked a butcher, and a baker (not making this up), I finally found it. The station is actually quite far away (it takes me about 8 minutes to walk there from my house) compared to some of my friends who live right next to their stations. It is no problem though, because it is a very nice walk.
The ride to school on the metro is fairly painless—it is only 4 stops away on the same line, so it takes less than 5 minutes to get there. After I exited the metro, I had no idea which way school was, so I just walked. Well, I ended up at the Tour Montparnasse, which I knew was not the correct direction, so I had to turn around and walk back. It was not a bad walk at all though, and I still made it to school fairly early. After a few minutes I saw Adam, so I wasn’t by myself for very long, and then one by one everyone started showing up.
We had a few little information meetings, and we met Joelle, the assistant director for the program, who is very nice and agreeable, and also American. After a while we were free for lunch, and then we met Marie-Laure, our tour guide, to see the Sainte-Chapelle and the old Royal Palace, which is the present day Palace of Justice. The Sainte-Chapelle was absolutely amazing—it is a huge old church on the île de la cité, which is a small island in the middle of the Seine River. The Notre Dame Cathedral is on the other side of this island.
After visiting these cites, we took a river cruise across the Seine, which was so much fun! We saw so much from the boat and took so many photos, and just had so much fun. I am definitely planning on taking another river tour with some friends because of how fun that was.
The next day, (Wednesday), we went to the Cluny Museum, which is the museum of the middle ages. It was certainly enjoyable, and they had this one series of famous tapestries that I’d never heard of before, but were very old and very beautiful. I was a bit bored with that museum though, and I was a little sick of walking to be completely honest. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the Latin Quarter, which is a very eclectic, old area of the city. A lot of cool bars and clubs are located there, and I have been back a few times since.
That afternoon I finally bought a French cell phone, so I could finally be in contact with my friend there, and actually have a social life at night. So, that night, Adam and I met back at the Latin Quarter, and just hung out with a bottle of cheap rosé at a local café, and just bonded over old funny stories. We had quite a good time.
Thursday, we went to the Louvre—this was so much fun. I did not know, but apparently The Louvre is the biggest museum in the world. There were so many amazing works of art, and I can not even begin to talk about which ones I liked best because of how many there were. The Venus de Milo, of course, was absolutely breathtaking. It is one of those things that you don’t realize until you’re standing right in front of it. The Mona Lisa was okay. I know that people are often disappointed by its size. To be honest I was not disappointed with the size at all. After all, it is a portrait. Portraits are never huge, but it certainly wasn’t small. I thought it was an adequate size for a portrait. I was most disappointed by the fact that you can barely get close enough to it to look at it because of how many people are crowding around it.
That afternoon we went to Montmartre, located on the highest hill in Paris, all the way in the north part of the city. There is an amazing view of the entire city, and I got some really cool photos. Montmartre is where a lot of the famous writers and artists lived in Paris in the 19th century, and so it has a very liberal, artsy, eclectic feeling. The Moulin Rouge is located there as well, and it was pretty cool to see that in person.
Friday, we went to Versailles, which is a huge palace built by Louis XIV, located about a half hour south of Paris. The palace was so ornate and absolutely beautiful, but the gardens were even more incredible—probably the most beautiful gardens I have ever seen in my life. Not to mention they were absolutely immense. That afternoon, a few of us just sat around a table at a café in Versailles and had a great time enjoying each other’s company, and enjoying the beautiful weather.
19 September 2009
Arrival, and Caen for the Weekend.
On Thursday morning, 3 September, I woke up early, and finished packing. I was finally ready.
But not until I went to a diner and had pancakes. To me, there is nothing like pancakes from a diner, and you certainly can not get that in France, so that was my last meal request. And let me tell you, it was amazing.
So that afternoon I got to the airport, and all went really smoothly. My suitcases just made the weight limit (48 lbs, and 46 lbs, thank you). It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be saying good bye to my parents and family, but I certainly did tear up a little bit. It was surprisingly quick getting through security and everything, and I arrived at the gate with 2 hours to spare. While waiting, I started talking with a group of American students who were also studying in Paris for the semester, through a different program. None of them spoke French, and none of them really seemed all that excited about going. I couldn't believe it. To be honest, it made me start to get worried that the people in my program would be just like them. Boring, and unenthusiastic.
Anyway, we finally started to board the plane, which went surprisingly quick. I, luckily, had a window seat, which is my favorite place to sit on a plane. I also sat next to a really cool woman. Her name was Grace, and she works for Juicy Couture, and was on her way to Paris for some sort of fashion expo. She and I hit it off right away, and it was actually quite enjoyable to have someone to talk to during the plane ride.
The flight was very easy, and a lot quicker than I expected it to be, and we landed a few minutes early. It was very easy getting through immigration--they barely even looked at my visa (figures). I walked out of the gate, and the baggage claim was right there. Oh, and guess who's bags were the first two to come out? That's right--mine. So far, everything was really going my way. Next I checked the arrival information for Adam's flight (his was due to arrive just after mine in the same terminal). It had just landed, and 5 minutes later I saw him walking towards baggage claim. It was so nice to have a friend there right away, and together, we made our way to the meeting spot for our group.
It took us about 20 minutes to get to the meeting spot, because CDG airport is so confusing, and the only way we could figure out how to get there was to walk. And so, we walked, and walked, and walked, and walked, and walked. Imagine what that was like with two 50 pound suitcases, a 20 pound carry-on bag, and a computer bag that probably weighed 15 pounds. But we made it, and almost right away we found Marie-Ange, who is the director of our program. She is so wonderful, by the way, and I will definitely be righting more about her in future posts. So, one-by-one the rest of the group started to show up. Remember how I said I was nervous about the group because of the students I met on the plane? Well, there was no need to worry, because everyone was absolutely amazing and excited when they arrived, and we all hit it off right away. I can not say enough about how amazing our group is--we all get along so well, and I can't imagine having a better group of people to study abroad with. I will talk more about everyone in a future entry.
Anyway, we waited around in the airport for a while because a few of the flights were delayed. We finally left the airport around 11:00 am (i think), and started heading towards Normandy. We stopped at a rest stop about halfway to Caen to eat lunch, and it was so different from an American rest stop. All the food was fresh and clean--not like McDonald's and Wendy's (although there are quite a few McDonald's in France).
We finally made it to Caen about and hour and a half later, and we finally had some time to freshen up, and rest for a bit. We were then taken on a brief walking tour of the city, and were set free for the evening. About 5 of us decided to go to this small cafe on a very old quaint street for dinner, and we had a blast. It was so much fun to speak French, and get to know each other, and start making inside jokes, and eat good food, and drink good wine. Get this--bottled water in a restaurant it more expensive than table wine. You can order a pichet (pitcher) of red wine for about 7 euros, and bottled water for 8. Ridiculous, I know. But, in a good way, of course.
So the next day, Saturday, we went to Mont-St-Michel, which is a huge cathedral built on a tiny island, off the coast of Normandy. It is absolutely beautiful, and quite a lot of fun to see, since I had always seen pictures and heard how beautiful it was in person. Afterwards, we went to the D-Day beaches, and I can't even explain how crazy it was to see those. It is so hard to imagine that such a huge surprise attack occurred there, and today, the beaches are used as recreational beaches, and it has turned into a sort of seaside resort. Again, it is just so hard to imagine. Later that day, we also went to the American cemetary, which was really strange to see as well, but certainly patriotic. The next few days we just toured the Norman countryside, which is absolutely beautiful. There is an amazing town called Bayeux, which I absolutely loved--it is in fact the only town in Normandy that was spared during the war, so everything feels so old and charming. There is also a great seaside town called Honfleur, which I loved so much, and I wouldn't mind going back there to spend a few days.
Monday afternoon, we started to make our way back to Paris. It was the most exciting feeling when we finally drove into the city and made our way towards the Eiffel Tower, where we were meeting our host families.
To be continued...
But not until I went to a diner and had pancakes. To me, there is nothing like pancakes from a diner, and you certainly can not get that in France, so that was my last meal request. And let me tell you, it was amazing.
So that afternoon I got to the airport, and all went really smoothly. My suitcases just made the weight limit (48 lbs, and 46 lbs, thank you). It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be saying good bye to my parents and family, but I certainly did tear up a little bit. It was surprisingly quick getting through security and everything, and I arrived at the gate with 2 hours to spare. While waiting, I started talking with a group of American students who were also studying in Paris for the semester, through a different program. None of them spoke French, and none of them really seemed all that excited about going. I couldn't believe it. To be honest, it made me start to get worried that the people in my program would be just like them. Boring, and unenthusiastic.
Anyway, we finally started to board the plane, which went surprisingly quick. I, luckily, had a window seat, which is my favorite place to sit on a plane. I also sat next to a really cool woman. Her name was Grace, and she works for Juicy Couture, and was on her way to Paris for some sort of fashion expo. She and I hit it off right away, and it was actually quite enjoyable to have someone to talk to during the plane ride.
The flight was very easy, and a lot quicker than I expected it to be, and we landed a few minutes early. It was very easy getting through immigration--they barely even looked at my visa (figures). I walked out of the gate, and the baggage claim was right there. Oh, and guess who's bags were the first two to come out? That's right--mine. So far, everything was really going my way. Next I checked the arrival information for Adam's flight (his was due to arrive just after mine in the same terminal). It had just landed, and 5 minutes later I saw him walking towards baggage claim. It was so nice to have a friend there right away, and together, we made our way to the meeting spot for our group.
It took us about 20 minutes to get to the meeting spot, because CDG airport is so confusing, and the only way we could figure out how to get there was to walk. And so, we walked, and walked, and walked, and walked, and walked. Imagine what that was like with two 50 pound suitcases, a 20 pound carry-on bag, and a computer bag that probably weighed 15 pounds. But we made it, and almost right away we found Marie-Ange, who is the director of our program. She is so wonderful, by the way, and I will definitely be righting more about her in future posts. So, one-by-one the rest of the group started to show up. Remember how I said I was nervous about the group because of the students I met on the plane? Well, there was no need to worry, because everyone was absolutely amazing and excited when they arrived, and we all hit it off right away. I can not say enough about how amazing our group is--we all get along so well, and I can't imagine having a better group of people to study abroad with. I will talk more about everyone in a future entry.
Anyway, we waited around in the airport for a while because a few of the flights were delayed. We finally left the airport around 11:00 am (i think), and started heading towards Normandy. We stopped at a rest stop about halfway to Caen to eat lunch, and it was so different from an American rest stop. All the food was fresh and clean--not like McDonald's and Wendy's (although there are quite a few McDonald's in France).
We finally made it to Caen about and hour and a half later, and we finally had some time to freshen up, and rest for a bit. We were then taken on a brief walking tour of the city, and were set free for the evening. About 5 of us decided to go to this small cafe on a very old quaint street for dinner, and we had a blast. It was so much fun to speak French, and get to know each other, and start making inside jokes, and eat good food, and drink good wine. Get this--bottled water in a restaurant it more expensive than table wine. You can order a pichet (pitcher) of red wine for about 7 euros, and bottled water for 8. Ridiculous, I know. But, in a good way, of course.
So the next day, Saturday, we went to Mont-St-Michel, which is a huge cathedral built on a tiny island, off the coast of Normandy. It is absolutely beautiful, and quite a lot of fun to see, since I had always seen pictures and heard how beautiful it was in person. Afterwards, we went to the D-Day beaches, and I can't even explain how crazy it was to see those. It is so hard to imagine that such a huge surprise attack occurred there, and today, the beaches are used as recreational beaches, and it has turned into a sort of seaside resort. Again, it is just so hard to imagine. Later that day, we also went to the American cemetary, which was really strange to see as well, but certainly patriotic. The next few days we just toured the Norman countryside, which is absolutely beautiful. There is an amazing town called Bayeux, which I absolutely loved--it is in fact the only town in Normandy that was spared during the war, so everything feels so old and charming. There is also a great seaside town called Honfleur, which I loved so much, and I wouldn't mind going back there to spend a few days.
Monday afternoon, we started to make our way back to Paris. It was the most exciting feeling when we finally drove into the city and made our way towards the Eiffel Tower, where we were meeting our host families.
To be continued...
Visa Approved
So here is the end of my visa saga:
I was told to go back to the consulate on Monday morning, August 31, and I would receive my visa. So, I went back to the consulate on Monday morning, August 31 to get my visa.
Except, I was told to go back at 3:00.
Back up a little bit. The last time I had been at the consulate I met a boy, Adam, who is in my Hollins Program. He and I got along very well, which made me very glad to know that I would have a good friend in
This entire visa process has been absolutely miserable, and I learned from meeting other people at the consulate that I was not the only one who had problems with getting it. There were people there who were leaving later that day for
So, for five hours, Adam and I sat in a Starbucks near the consulate and just talked (and talked and talked and talked and talked…). We actually had a really great time together. We have a lot of the same interests and the same humor about pretty much everything. It was definitely a day well spent with someone who I think may end up being a very good long-term friend.
At 3:00 we went back to the consulate, and it there was a horrible line. There were so many people there who were in very similar situations, and by so many, I mean about 50. No exaggerations. Finally, the line started to move into the consulate, and when we walked in, there was a lady standing there who handed us our passports, and inside, were our visas. It was too good to be true. Thank God my name was spelled right in it, because someone’s wasn’t, and they had to start all over again. But there it was, in my hands, my French visa, and it was finally real: I was going to go to
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