update!

Finally! I have achieved what seems to be the impossible and found a few minutes to update everyone on the final days of my Parisian life. Besides the usual IFE classes with the wonderful and adorable Jeromes, I finished up classes at the Sorbonne and took the final exam there. I probably could have done a lot better but I became sick the night before the test last Saturday (mmm love weekend exams) and pretty much slept until the moment I had to drag my lifeless body to the Sorbonne. I did in fact pass, that's all I am aware of. They posted what I expected to be the grades a few days ago, but it turns out they just tell us if we passed or not. That same weekend I was sick, I somehow pulled together two oral presentations, one on this French law on the mécénat, or the foundations that fund the arts, and the other on Picasso. I unfortunately had to pull an all-nighter to get them done, so needless to say I wasn't in top form. The first one was pretty bad because I could barely put together a sentence in English let alone a 15 minute presentation in French. By the time we got to the Picasso museum that same day, I was so overtired that I was able to ramble in some form of French that apparently was comprehensible because Jerome seemed to enjoy it. After that, the majority of the work was over and I took a few days off to recuperate, which was pretty enjoyable since I didn't do anything but sleep and roam around the city. Then, Friday I left to go to Bristol for the weekend which was so much fun and spent time with CRAMM, which was, like always, very excellent. It rained all weekend, which it did all over Europe apparently, so we were limited to what we could do, but it was like having a nice and relaxing weekend at home which I was definitely in need of. Romesh and Annie took such good care of me and fed me amazing meals including lamb and curry and a huge breakfast. I got to see a bunch of Romesh's family which was really nice, played games with the kids, took a quick trip to the park, and decorated the Christmas tree. Cara and Marco are so grown up and mature it's amazing! All in all, I had such a great time there and it was nice to get away, even for the weekend. So pretty much now I have to do my Giacometti paper and then I can begin to pack for Saturday (!) so I must shut myself in my room for the next few days and get it done which I am not looking forward to. But thus is my life as a student.

xx C

in a nutshell

Bonjour all! Time is passing by so quickly here and somehow I have less than three weeks left. I'm going to try to explain what I've been up to without making it painstakingly detailed. I took my trip to Copenhagen to visit Greg and stayed with his host family who are so incredibly warm and welcoming. Lisbeth made so much food for us all the time and that even includes a bunch of traditional Danish dishes that I normally would not have chosen to eat, such as ollebrod, the beer bread soup. We went around Copenhagen, took a day trip to Malmo in Sweden, went to the Louisiana Modern Art Museum, ate a lot, hated on some Swedes, loved on some Danes and participated in some general Danish activities. Needless to say, it was an absolutely lovely weekend, even looking past the Scandinavian cold (yes, we saw snow). Came home to Paris, celebrated Misha's birthday (!), went to some markets, babysat for the girls, mooched off of Caroline's food, went to school, and avoided my homework. That's pretty much last week in a nutshell. All of the sudden it was Thanksgiving, and Mom was here! It was so much fun and so exciting to see her especially because she could see for herself that I wasn't withering away and am in fact spending 99 percent of my money on food. We went to a restaurant in Butte aux Cailles, a little cobblestone-street neighborhood right by me, had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with Caroline and Misha at their apartment that included some kind of small birds, sweet potatoes, and green beans, went to the Musee d'Orsay, Pere Lachaise cemetery (where we didn't see anyone famous), hung out in the Marais and had falafel, drank wine, and had dessert, went to the Raspail market where mom experienced her first Parisian street market and we found this incredible bread with figs in it, Cemetery Montparnasse where we saw lots of famous people but we couldn't find Man Ray, went back to the Marais for croque-monsieur dinners, and somehow avoided a weekend of bad weather. Yay! After so many wonderful weekends, it's time for me to buckle-down, write some of this paper, and study for my three hour exam on Saturday. Woot.

gros bisous!

another day, another strike

France knows how to do it. Strike, that is. And it will continue for something like the next 15 days. Yes, most of the metro unions are on strike, as are major universities, postal workers, teachers, and even the tobacco shop owners. How does the country continue, one may ask? I for one have no idea. I just take the automated metro line. I'm pretty sheltered from it all actually. Except I have to walk a little longer to get to class. And there's more traffic in general. At least now I can burn off all those crepes.

nine dollar notebooks

It appears that it's been a while, but worry no more, I haven't been sucked into the deep, dark western European black hole. I'm not sure what that means either. But I did see a Mead composition notebook the other day at a papeterie. It was 7 €, which is about 9 dollars. That's right. Luckily I can handle the French graph paper (lined paper doesnt't exist, only graph). Anyway, had a lovely weekend with Greg and showed him Centre Pompidou, the Marais, the best falafel place, the best crepes, and the biggest market. I didn't have to do all the touristy stuff since he had already done that with the group he was with. But we did go out to dinner with Caroline, Jon, Clement and Misha for Caroline's 20th birthday. It was lovely. Then Greg stayed for a few more days and pretty much wandered around the city while I was in class. Last night I signed up for the dinner at the foyer which was an Indian themed night. A bunch of the residents cooked a ton of food and it was the most incredible thing I've eaten in a while. Plus, I got to practice my French and eat Indian and meet the only other American in the foyer. I've mostly been going to movies at night and the last ones I saw were Control and This is England, both really good. And Superbad just came out in theaters or as it translates to, Supergrave, so I wouldn't mind seeing that again. I would see French movies but I fear that I won't understand a lot and that's another 8 € to spend. I've also chosen to write about the artist Alberto Giacometti for my 30 page dissertation I'm writing for school. This was a really big deal because I had changed my topic a bunch of times and couldn't find one worth that many pages. Plus there's an exhibition of his work and his studio at the Pompidou and it's incredible. I had never heard of him before. It was a spur of the moment decision, but one I am happy with. You can ask Greg about it; it was a bizarre moment. As far as I can tell, things in the states seem a bit out of place what with California and the Red Sox. It's difficult to keep up with American news here.

xoxox

cultured!

Interesting things this weekend? We saw Adrien Brody walking with, as Caroline put it, "a young, American student." I saw the movie "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" which was actually really good. There was a movie premiere that night for Paranoid Park and the director, Gus van Sant, was there. Also went to a premiere of a film that was part of the German film festival here. It's called Shoppen and it's about speed-dating. Very cute. There was a discussion with the director and one of the actors afterward. Lots of German and French. Needless to say, I was very tired by the end of the night. Caroline's cousin Beth was here for the weekend and we went to a fondue restuarant last night that is so small the owner helps you climb over the tables so you can sit down. We ate meat and cheese fondue on a long communal table and drank wine from baby bottles. That's not a joke. England beat France in rugby which didn't go over so well. Mostly because the city was crawling with Brits. I have to admit that it would have been cool to be here when they won, despite the mad drunkenness that would have ensued. Greg is coming this week and I'll be able to take him to all the cool things I never got to see. It's also Caroline's birthday next week so we're planning on having a true Parisian celebration. Just wanted to check in.

xoxo

nuit blanche

...is a once-a-year event that is basically a night of contemporary art projects and cultural activities that are open to the public starting at 7pm and ending at 5am. I believe it is done in places all over the world, but the one in Paris is the most well-known. Bars, clubs, and restaurants stay open all night as do many museums and galleries. Needless to say, I had to experience this. While Paris is a small city compared to most capitals, there were Nuit Blanche activities set up all around and I learned that it is virtually impossible to visit the ones I wanted to see in one night. There were a lot of projections on churches and buildings of all different images, depending on the artist. I saw a percussion concert in Saint Eustache, one of my favorite churches, went to the Centre Pompidou for free, and went to a theater to watch music videos by one of my favorite directors, Michel Gondry. Plus, all around the city there were small installations like sculptures and video projections, and large ones, like the illumination of Jardin de Tuileries with 2000 lights. The metro line close to my home was open all night and was free, and all of the major installations were centered around it so people could access them easily: I was most amazed at the encouragement of art and culture by Delanoe, the Paris mayor, and at the fact that the whole night, you barely saw any advertisements of plugs; it was almost completely funded by the city. A very different experience in the states. Plus the fact that he encouraged people to stay out all night and participate in an artistic event was incredible. Not to mention the rugby game was the same night. France won. Needless to say, there were more people and in general more loud and drunk people than there would have been on any other night. But it added to the atmosphere. Another successful cultural event brought to you by Paris.

xoxo

rabbit rabbit

I can't believe it's October already. Mostly because that means I have to buy a new monthly pass for the Metro. Anyway, last week was a week of "firsts." I saw my first taxi strike which was incredible because they have them here all the time and no one thinks anything of them. Protests are so normal and accepted that it makes the States look lazy. Waiting outside for school to start there was this line of hundreds of taxis crawling up the boulevard and honking their horns endlessly. Eventually they stopped, parked their cars; got out and stood around on the street waiting for non-protesting taxis to drive by (scabs I suppose) who they would then yell at, spit at, and throw eggs and garbage at. Then they got back in their cars and continued their honking parade. The best part was that they had a police escort this whole time. Oh, Paris. I also experienced my first real day of rain. It didn't stop all day and was absolutely freezing and gross and wet and I forgot what rainy days in a city were like. To celebrate my first rain day in Paris, I bought a double espresso and experienced my first French coffee to go (a emporter). Not as acceptable in Paris as it is elsewhere. In fact, I think most people find it to be very strange. Why wouldn't you sit in a cafe and have that? Because I don't have time, as the Americans would say. Unfortunately, I have not acquired Dad's green thumb and have yet again murdered another plant. I kill plants. It's awful to admit it because I love having them around, but apparently it doesn't just take water and sunlight for them to survive. Poor Monique. Yesterday I went to the Musee Rodin which was incredible because it was absolutely beautiful out, probably one of the last days, and it was free thanks to IFE for our Sorbonne cards saying that we're art history students. The gardens around the museum were gorgeous and it was so incredible to see so many of his pieces at once. I took a lot of pictures, so will post them soon. Caroline went to Barcelona and bought me a gorgeous pair of earrings. I love her for that. I've also eaten an entire jar of Nutella since I've been here. Which is not something to be proud of. And not just any sized jar, but a big one. This is probably the number one reason for my weight gain. But as I've said before and what has become my mantra thus far, I'd rather be fat in Paris than fat in Baltimore.

a bientot!