Many meetings
Over the past week, I've spoken a lot of French, and met lots of French and non-American people. The language is getting more comfortable, and I can actually say I've had the experience (twice in the last two days) of running into someone I know on the streets of Paris. I also had an interesting expat Thanksgiving dinner. And my social life is getting more interesting as I find things to do besides class, homework, wandering around and going to museums. Although that kind of life is really not too bad, unless you factor in the solitude.
Alors. First the vestiges of the solitary life. I stumbled upon a place I'd been looking for ever since I read Adam Gopnick's collection of essays, Paris to the Moon, about being an American in Paris: Deyrolle. It turns out that it was three blocks away from me the entire time. Deyrolle is a strange place- it's a taxidermy store. The window displays include preserved deer in hunter's outfits, stuffed cats, and birds. When you climb the stairs to the larger second floor, you see an odd menagerie- water buffalo, a giraffe, and an elephant greet you, and a bird is perched on a polar bear. In one room there is a gigantic preserved insect collection, with drawers and drawers of beetles and butterflies and scorpions and anything you can think of, that would make Kinsey proud. And the strangest thing is that everything has a price on it- apparently there's still a sizable market for dead animal trophies.
This week, I also visited the Musee Picasso, by myself, which is a very cool museum. I can't believe the genius and breath of artistic creativity of Picasso- it's as if he had 10 different master artists inside of him. I also learned that the Louvre opens free for students on Friday nights, and has special art classes and talks until 10 PM, so for the past two Friday nights I've gone there. Unfortunately I missed the art classes both times, but I'll keep trying- instead I sketched some pieces on my own. My museum class also visited the Musee Rodin, who apparently hardly ever did the actual sculpting in marble himself, but only made the clay models and passed them on to his girlfriend, Camille Claudel; you wouldn't know from all the photos and videos he convinced his friends to take of him chipping away at a block of marble. She should get more credit. I've also been to the Louvre twice, and even done a little sketching. They have events that are free for students on Friday nights.
Today, in another solitary endeavour, I decided to take advantage of a free lecture series and go to Sciences Po (the political Grande Ecole) to learn about "The Silent Revolution: Changes in French politics from 1980-2005", so I could be more up to date on the political situation.
More to come.
Alors. First the vestiges of the solitary life. I stumbled upon a place I'd been looking for ever since I read Adam Gopnick's collection of essays, Paris to the Moon, about being an American in Paris: Deyrolle. It turns out that it was three blocks away from me the entire time. Deyrolle is a strange place- it's a taxidermy store. The window displays include preserved deer in hunter's outfits, stuffed cats, and birds. When you climb the stairs to the larger second floor, you see an odd menagerie- water buffalo, a giraffe, and an elephant greet you, and a bird is perched on a polar bear. In one room there is a gigantic preserved insect collection, with drawers and drawers of beetles and butterflies and scorpions and anything you can think of, that would make Kinsey proud. And the strangest thing is that everything has a price on it- apparently there's still a sizable market for dead animal trophies.
This week, I also visited the Musee Picasso, by myself, which is a very cool museum. I can't believe the genius and breath of artistic creativity of Picasso- it's as if he had 10 different master artists inside of him. I also learned that the Louvre opens free for students on Friday nights, and has special art classes and talks until 10 PM, so for the past two Friday nights I've gone there. Unfortunately I missed the art classes both times, but I'll keep trying- instead I sketched some pieces on my own. My museum class also visited the Musee Rodin, who apparently hardly ever did the actual sculpting in marble himself, but only made the clay models and passed them on to his girlfriend, Camille Claudel; you wouldn't know from all the photos and videos he convinced his friends to take of him chipping away at a block of marble. She should get more credit. I've also been to the Louvre twice, and even done a little sketching. They have events that are free for students on Friday nights.
Today, in another solitary endeavour, I decided to take advantage of a free lecture series and go to Sciences Po (the political Grande Ecole) to learn about "The Silent Revolution: Changes in French politics from 1980-2005", so I could be more up to date on the political situation.
More to come.
posted by Abby | 10:55 AM
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