To catch up, briefly: Nuit Blanche was lots of fun. The streets were filled with people even after 2 AM, when the museums closed. I met up with 6 of the 11 AYA people, and we strolled down the Champs-Elysees to the Louvre. The monuments and sculptures were illuminated in blue in honor of the Yves Klein (who patented the color International Klein Blue) exhibit at the Centre Pompidou. It was a beautiful sight: the blue fountain at the Place de la Concorde, the glowing blue obelisk, and the Tour Eiffel sparkling under a luminescent full moon. We saw some light shows at the Grand and Petit Palais, and an intriguing and yummy art installation consisting of thousands of silver wrapped candies strewn all over the marble entrance to the Grand Palais. People were stepping on them and searching for unopened candies. I think it was supposed to be a commentary on human greed or waste, but it was pretty and I still have some candies left in my bag. It was great to hang out with the AYA people, and I witnessed some drama while one of the girls tried to decide whether or not to go out with the Harvard guy. I walked back by myself at 3 AM, but the streets were well lit and still fairly busy, so it was surprisingly safe.
Sunday morning I understandably slept in, and then walked by the Seine and had a lovely lunch on the riverbank. Afterwards I visited the small but appropriately claustrophobic memorial to the deportation of French Jews, Resistants, Gypsies, gay people, and political dissidents. It was designed with small staircases, bars, and small, dark rooms with quotes from contemporary French intellectuals about the horror of the Holocaust (in opaque poetic words that often seemed not to have anything to do with the purpose of the monument).
Yesterday and today, I've started some of my classes at the Sorbonne. Either fortunately or unfortunately, there is at least one other AYA student in each of my classes, so I'm going to have to try harder to get to meet the other French students. Today I managed to make friends with two girls, but most of the time I was just talking to Kelly in franglais. I'm really excited about the courses, though- I've heard a lot about the big ideas of literature, and I think it will be refreshing to get a French view of these subjects. The lecture parts of the classes are HUGE, with 150-200 students in one room and not one question asked to the audience. But there are also sections, which I haven't had yet, which are supposed to be discussion-based and smaller. I have some homework tonight, and reading in French has proven to be a bit of a challenge because it takes so long and I have to look up all these words. But I already think it's getting better. I just hope I don't have to do too much reading for my other classes. I also opened a bank account here today: getting really settled in. And I managed to work all the technical stuff out in French, somehow.
I've learned some interesting tidbits about the family tonight. While Sophie and Adele were at a movie together, Sophie's ex-husband came over for dinner with Jean-Marie (Sophie's husband) and me. However, I didn't understand the situation until after he had left. The ex-husband came out of the closet after he and Sophie had had a child, Camille, who is now living in Berlin, and they divorced. He and Jean-Marie are friends. Jean-Marie is the father of the other two children, Paul and Adele. It's interesting to see how that kind of family dynamic works out. I also learned that Jean-Marie is working on a book, and we had a good conversation on what literature is. This is a great place to be intellectual; this upcoming weekend is a literature festival, with free readings all over the city and chances to get to meet authors and such. I even saw an anti-drug ad on the Metro that was a metaphorical autobiography of "la drogue", stating its hatred of light, health and life and its desire to ruin lives in revenge. This is a crazy place.
Sunday morning I understandably slept in, and then walked by the Seine and had a lovely lunch on the riverbank. Afterwards I visited the small but appropriately claustrophobic memorial to the deportation of French Jews, Resistants, Gypsies, gay people, and political dissidents. It was designed with small staircases, bars, and small, dark rooms with quotes from contemporary French intellectuals about the horror of the Holocaust (in opaque poetic words that often seemed not to have anything to do with the purpose of the monument).
Yesterday and today, I've started some of my classes at the Sorbonne. Either fortunately or unfortunately, there is at least one other AYA student in each of my classes, so I'm going to have to try harder to get to meet the other French students. Today I managed to make friends with two girls, but most of the time I was just talking to Kelly in franglais. I'm really excited about the courses, though- I've heard a lot about the big ideas of literature, and I think it will be refreshing to get a French view of these subjects. The lecture parts of the classes are HUGE, with 150-200 students in one room and not one question asked to the audience. But there are also sections, which I haven't had yet, which are supposed to be discussion-based and smaller. I have some homework tonight, and reading in French has proven to be a bit of a challenge because it takes so long and I have to look up all these words. But I already think it's getting better. I just hope I don't have to do too much reading for my other classes. I also opened a bank account here today: getting really settled in. And I managed to work all the technical stuff out in French, somehow.
I've learned some interesting tidbits about the family tonight. While Sophie and Adele were at a movie together, Sophie's ex-husband came over for dinner with Jean-Marie (Sophie's husband) and me. However, I didn't understand the situation until after he had left. The ex-husband came out of the closet after he and Sophie had had a child, Camille, who is now living in Berlin, and they divorced. He and Jean-Marie are friends. Jean-Marie is the father of the other two children, Paul and Adele. It's interesting to see how that kind of family dynamic works out. I also learned that Jean-Marie is working on a book, and we had a good conversation on what literature is. This is a great place to be intellectual; this upcoming weekend is a literature festival, with free readings all over the city and chances to get to meet authors and such. I even saw an anti-drug ad on the Metro that was a metaphorical autobiography of "la drogue", stating its hatred of light, health and life and its desire to ruin lives in revenge. This is a crazy place.
posted by Abby | 1:11 PM
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