A couple of days.

Hello all!

I have quite a bit to relate - it all might run together a bit, I couldn't post yesterday because of internet connectivity issues. They are all fixed now though, so hopefully I will be able to keep this regular thing going!

The Entire fountain

I woke up and waited for everyone to leave the house (it happens around 9 - except for Fabien who leaves later but he is usually in his room in the back so it doesn't matter so much) before settling in to listen to some French radio and check my morning e-mail. Imagine my surprise when, around 945, Stephane came home and went into his bedroom to take a nap! These French people have things down! I think he actually does a lot of work from home, because he often comes back in the afternoon around when I do, but it was still odd to see him come back after having left. I had some extra time, so I walked to Reid Hall the long way - around the luxembourg gardens. It was very pretty and nice to see people jogging in the morning. I also saw a super cool fountain in the "garden of the grand explorers". (Photo left and right/below)

I love these horses!

The morning at Reid Hall started with more presentations of classes, we had contemporary literature, the myth of paris, cultural politics in paris (as related through the study of the content and placement of museums and their content), French/African relations, and French/US relations. As in Tuesday, all of the professors were notable for their enthusiasm for their subjects and clear knowledge. We (my orientation group) also realized that they are all professors at other french universities, so we think they are all so excited because at Reid Hall they have an opportunity to design and teach a course about the subject they are most passionate about. We also think they are excited to teach at Reid Hall because the American style seminar is much more involved and personal than that of the french. I have my final schedule, which is as follows:

Academic Writing in the Humanities and Social Sciences (@ RH)

Tuesday 1:30pm – 3:30pm

Friday 10am – 12pm

Introduction to the History of Contemporary Economics (French Lecture @ SP)

AHIS 1480

Lecture: Thursday 10:15am – 12:15pm (Michel Margairaz)

Section: Thursday 8:00am – 10:00am  (Béatrice Touchelay)

French/African Relations (Joint Honors Seminar @ RH/SP)

Monday 12:30pm – 2:30pm (Starts 01-23 ends 04-16)

Thursday 2:00pm – 3:30pm  (Starts 02-09 ends 04-19)

The Sociology of Arab States (French Elective @ SP) – 63257

CAFF 1515 – Monday 7:15pm – 9:15pm

Rafé Jabari 

The sociology of Arab states will be difficult because it meets so late on Monday, but I am excited about the class and I have plenty of time in the afternoon for a nap. On Monday, we start the three week language practicum, which counts for three credits and 1/5 of the courses we are required to take. It meets three hours a day (GAHHH) at alternate times throughout the week. Although I am not really looking forward to that many hours of french grammar, it will be nice to begin to settle into a routine and start to get to know some of my fellow program-mates better. 

After eating the sandwiches offered by the program for lunch, a few friends from Columbia and I went out to a cafe for a coffe and to explore the first day of the "soldes". In France, there aren't sales like there are in the US. Instead, twice a year (January and June, I think) all store are required by law to have huge sales that last six weeks. I am a little fuzzy on the specifics of the thing, but basically all clothing stores, and many speciality boutiques (sunglasses, purses, shoes, luggage, et cetera) have the majority of their merchandise marked SUPER down. It was a little bit crazy, but fun to see all of the stores going all it with their "soldes" designs. There has been quite a bit of debate among Reid Hall students as to whether it is better to go at the beginning of the soldes, when things are (relatively) more expensive but there is more selection, or at the end, when things are cheaper but they are out of many styles and sizes. I haven't been shopping yet, but am thinking about going tomorrow (Friday) or (Saturday) to see if I can snag some sunglasses or possibly a new neutral purse. There was also a long maxi dress I had my eye on in the window at Zara so I might have to walk the 150 feet there from my apartment to see if its still around! 

ANYWAYS, the important part of the story about my friends and I going to the cafe, was that we sat down and waited for a waiter, who eventually came. He took our orders and asked us if we were going to eat or just drink coffee. We said just drink and he said, oh, then you have to go downstairs. We went downstairs, where there was an entire huge room completely empty. We were pretty sure we had been banished on account of being American, and our suspicions were confirmed when we finished our coffees and returned upstairs to see people just drinking at the table we had been forced to vacate. OOPS! Even if this Anglo-discrimination was not the case, I decided to assume it was for the sake of the story. Either way, we all had good attitudes and thoroughly enjoyed our banishment to the table in the dungeon. 

After coffee, we returned to Reid Hall to meet up for our afternoon tour. I was in the group going to "La Maison Rouge" a contemporary art museum. I really liked the museum, the exposition was centered on death, and they did a very good job arranging the contemporary pieces next to art from the middle ages that expressed the same themes. I am looking at the brochure now, and I think that the exposition we saw is touring around all of France, which is cool. One of the more impressive (from a technical) standpoint was a giant (think grandma - or ben! - sized christmas tree laid down flat on the floor). It had ornaments on it and looked incredibly (I mean 100%) realistic, except for the fact that two parrots were sitting on the trunk. The artist had individually cast each pine needle and then soldered them onto thebranches. It was quite a feat and I really cannot imagine how long it must have taken.  I think I am quite enchanted with French modern art, it has a dark and morbid twist to it that I think makes it pretty awesome! 

After the museum, the entire group was taken out to coffee (again!) by our group leader. A few friends and I had a fun time talking with her about nightlife in Paris and things to do/places to see. My favorite part of this conversation was when she proclaimed (in her halting english) that "I went to New York. Nightlife there is dead, everyone is from New Jersey. Paris is much better". French superiority at its best, non? 

King of Pop boutique!

After this coffee I went out for another coffee (gah.) with my buddy at Sciences-Po. This is sortof an oldgirl/newgirl program in which one first year at Sciences Po is given an international student to befriend and help show the ropes. My buddy is AWESOME!!! She is so nice, and after our conversation (in french!) over coffee, in which she explained the entire french university/high school system (SO helpful - and pretty interesting for a kid form the US) she took me on a tour of her neighborhood and then back to her apartment for a dinner party of sorts with her core group of friends. Before I get to the dinner party I would like to point out the photo at the right, which is an entire store on a main boulevard in Paris dedicated to the king of pop himself- Michael Jackson. It was even crowded! Who woulda-thunk it?

The dinner party with Amelie and her friends was very nice and a great introduction to French people my age. They were all super nice to me and I enjoyed trying to understand what the heck they were talking about. They helped me participate in the conversation by explaining major topics slowly and teaching me a bunch of new slang! Two of her friends are french canadian (and Amelie is super good at english - it is comparatively much better than my french) so it was pretty easy to understand one another. I answered a few of their questions about America, but mostly I just listened to their stories. I was surprised by how welcoming this group was, and especially by how well they responded to my token American joking familiarity! In total, I spent 7 hours with Amelie and 5 with her friends before taking the metro back with her friend Pierre to the sixieme. Pierre knew less about America than all the others, so it was fun talking to him - he told me he was thinking about coming to New York for an internship and asked me about American greetings, so I taught him the handshake, the pound, and the high five! I think it confused him (especially in my sub-par French) - but it was fun for me!

I passed out when I got home, and woke up in the morning to by a subway pass and then go for another outing with Reid Hall. The subway pass was notable because I made a pretty embarassing rookie mistake. I got the pass (see right) and then went to refill it. I bought a week, thinking that would be a good amount of time to see how much I would actually use it. What I didn't realize was that the week is fixed, when you buy a week it is from the 9th-15th. So, I paid a week price for three days! Ohwell :( at least the weekend is coming up! 

A Brochure for the Exhibit

My outing this morning, was to le conciergerie - the prison where people (notably marie antionette) were kept during the French revolution. The exposition space in front of the museum had a VERY cool exhibit - "betes off" which explored "The animal as other" I liked it very much - especially two pieces. One was an owl suspended in mid-air in a vortex-of-sorts created by grids of wires, and the other one was a horse created by draping some sortof fabric/animal skin over a sawhorse.

Photos from the brochure of my two favorite exhibits

The prison itself was pretty cool, if a bit unremarkable because 1. we didn't get to see the whole thing and 2. a lot of it was changed post-revolution in an effort to do something-or-other. Still pretty cool to have the history though! I would like to read more about it, if anyone (dad) has a good book to recommend! After the museum, we went back to Reid Hall for more sandwiches (I am desperately tired of sandwiches). I skipped the afternoon tour in favor of a nap at home. 

After my nap, I summoned up the courage to ask Stephane to help me fix my internet - which he did very graciously! I do love my host family, although sometimes it can be difficult because you feel like an interloper (and one who doesn't speak at that). We had sauerkraut for dinner though, so that was pretty cool. I am a big sauerkraut fan. 

Veronique and Stephane are leaving for the weekend for Normandie (where they have a second home) so it'll just be Fabien, me and Cedric in the house. Hopefully it will be a fun weekend! More exploring tomorrow - look forward to updates! Also, send me good luck wishes for when I go to the post office tomorrow! Please send them in French so I can practice my speaking! Before I sign off, a few random notes that didn't fit anywhere else: 

This is a random poster that is literally all over the city. Did the apple even originate in France? Why does anyone care? Questions to ponder on a rainy day. 

This is a poster I got super excited about because I thought it was about riding. Then one of my friends pointed out that it was clearly about french ladies and their man-ensnaring (and possibly killing) ways. Oops. I probably won't go see it. 

Kitty looking mad and wanting to be petted

And last, but certainly not least - THE KITTY!!! I don't know its name, and I forgot whether its a boy or a girl, so I call it alternatively monsieur chat or madame chat. Sometimes it swats at me when it is lying on my bed, which I do NOT appreciate. But, realistically, its really more the cats bed than my bed. Ohwell! It is nice to have a kitty around, especially one who generally enjoys being petted. Also, French people give their cats milk to drink, its so cute, (s)he has his/her own saucer!!

 

 

Kitty looking mad and wanting to be petted part 2

Kitty asleep on my lap and happy to be petted