Busy Week In Paris!

Bonjour bonjour!  So basically we have class every single day from 8:30 am until 5pm so I really am just EXHAUSTED!  Don't get me wrong, I am so incredibly happy and lucky to be here, but each day takes so much out of me that all I want to do is come home and sleep.  But I am in Paris so I have to drink some coffee and fight through it!  I have been studying for my first Sorbonne test too, and I had to write my first required blog for my history of art class (see blog below).  Therefore, I am a little behind so this blog post will cover this whole past week!

 

Our first site visit this week was to the Musee D'Orsay.  And I must say, this is by far my favorite museum!  My favorite works of art are housed here, including the 3 pictured in the pic collage below.  My favorite painting is "The Floor Scrapers" by Caillebotte, then I basically love any of Degas' ballerina paintings, and the third painting I love is the classic very Parisian "Bal du Moulin de la Galette", by Renoir.  We get to visit the Musee D'Orsay again next week to see more!  Also, we were able to see Courbet's "The Origin of the World"... if you know what that is then you know my general reaction. 

Also, for lunch this week I was able to cross yet another thing off of my "Paris Bucket List"... eating escargot, which if you somehow can't tell is snails.  And it was actually not that bad!  They soak them in pesto, garlic, and butter.  I will probably never order them again... but hey when in Paris! 

Our next site visit was to L'Arc de Triomphe!  We went all the way to the top in this Paris summer heat.  There were approx. one million stairs but the view was worth it!  This part of the site visit was purely touristic. 

Then as part of that site visit, we took the metro as a class over to Les Invalides which is where Napoleon is buried.  ...But buried might be the wrong word because the whole place is basically centered around his casket!  It was originally built as a place to house and also hide injured war veterans, hoping to boost morale about the war.  War vets still live there today, and one of the most bizarre things that I saw was a group of what I'm assuming to be injured veterans laying on their stomachs on hospital gurneys, outside of Les Invalides smoking cigarettes.  Also, there is a military museum attached to Les Invalides.  The famous painting of Napoleon by Inges resides here, as well as various military artifacts (such as a diamond encrusted sword) and Napoleon's actual horse that has been taxidermied... which was really creepy. 

 The next day's site visit was to L'Opera Garnier!  Which is the building in which the Paris Ballet performs.  We were able to walk around and have a tour by our professor and gsi.  Of course the whole time I spent with my friends singing various songs from "The Phantom of The Opera". 

 

Then on Friday we didn't have a site visit so I decided to spend the day exploring my favorite area of Paris, Montmartre!  I went to a bunch of little vintage shops, and I found one that used to be a perfume shop.  The man who owned the shop was selling vintage designer perfume bottles, and told me about this one bottle from Yves Saint Laurent that was so old, it still just said "Paris" on the front.  He told me this was because after this bottle was made, YSL was required to put their name or logo with the word Paris.  I thought it was a great find!

Also, Montmartre is at the top of a very large hill, right by the Sacre Coeur.  After ascending many flights of stairs, you are in the center of Montmartre, full of cute little shops and places to eat.  I went around and explored each one, and also found the "Lapin Agile", which is another famous cabaret!  Then, my friend and I ate at an outdoor restaurant and sat on the steps of Sacre Coeur to watch the sunset. 

And finally, today was spent at Fontainebleau!  We took a couch bus the hour and a half it took to get to the chateau, and spent the morning exploring the inside.  There was a little string orchestra concert going on which really added to the overall ambiance.  We then ate a very peaceful lunch in the gardens!  I think I may have fallen asleep for a little bit in the hot sun... (It was soooo hot today!)  Then we took a mini tour of the Barbizon forest which ended up being more like a hike through the woods.  Apparently many famous painters used the Barbizon forest for inspiration for their paintings.  After our hike we went to the center of the little village and bought baguettes and cold water bottles for the coach ride home. 

Now I am off to get ready for whatever tonight brings!  I promise to update more frequently because once you skip a day things just really start to add up.  Bon soir!

 



Blog For My Class #1: The Boulevard Barbès

Tell people that you live on the "Boulevard Barbès" and there is a collective intake of breathe, usually accompanied with "faites attention!!" "Regardes ton sacs, baggages et objets de valeur!"  Yes, I am very aware of this fact, thank you.  In fact, my housemate's iPhone was stolen right out of her pocket at our front door!  The only way she knew it was gone was because the music she was listening to suddenly stopped playing. 

While my host family lives in a very large and nice apartment 5 floors above the actual street, Barbès, I have come to learn, is not a particularily good or safe street in Paris. 

Getting off the metro at my stop, "Barbès-Rochechouart", and getting on the escalator to the surface, the first thing you encounter from Barbès are the calls of "Marlboro! Marlboro! Marlboro Black! Marlboro Red!"  Then once you reach the surface, you find your way out to the street through a turnstile that somehow someone has rigged to rotate backwards to allow constant metro access for non-paying riders. 

Then get ready to be bombarded by the contraband cigarette sellers.  They are lierally hanging through the bars to the metro.  I do not know why they chose this stop out of all the stops in Paris to sell their illegal/discounted cigarettes, but they have.  Honestly, no where else in Paris have I encountered such activity.  Next, if you are a girl, you are guaranteed to face constant jeering and cat calls from said vendors that literally seem to do nothing else in their lives except make women feel uncomfortable and sell illegal cigarettes. 

I have learned that putting two headphones in drowns outr the daily (insert thick French accent) "Baby!  I love you!  You are so beautiful!  Come home with me!"  I usually tend to keep my head down and ignore every single human being on Barbès until I get to my door.  But sometimes, I life my head up and take a real look at these people that call Barbès their home.

 

First, of course, there are the cigarette vendors.  They are out there, every day, starting as early as 8am and going on until darkness, leaving trailes of cigarette packaging in their wake.  Do they believe they are doing honest work?

 

There is the man with no arms that sits in the same spot every day.  He never says anything, just sits there with his money cup.  He always makes me wonder what his story is... how did he loose his arms and wind up where he is now?

 

There are the women wearing Hijabs selling what I believe to be some sort of alcoholic beverage.  Either that or they put orange and cranberry juice in plain water bottles.  Either way, I wonder what it really is that they are selling, and why they chose such an item.

 

There are the Latino men selling actual stalks of corn-on-the-cob, that are being grilled on some type of contraption on top of a shopping cart.  They are always fanning the flames in their make-shift grills to get them to cook the corn.

 

And then there are people that seem to be selling things that I cannot find a word to describe them with other than "trinkets".  Little things such as dolls and baseball cards that someone, somewhere, might buy.

 

 

Now, what part of Paris to I like the best? The easiest answer would be to say anything far far away from the Boulevard Barbès.  But, the truth is, experiencing my part of Paris has made me really appreciate what I have and also appreciate that not everyone is as lucky as I am.  Not ever seeing this part of Paris would have given me an unrealistic view of the city.  The “nicer” parts of Paris really are only a short metro stop away.  And besides, walk one block over from the Boulevard Barbès, and you are in the center of Montmartre, full of tourists and home of the famous Moulin Rouge and Sacre Coeur! 

 

 

  

Bastille Day!

Happy July 14th!!  Which to the French is called "La Fete Nationale"!  It is basically their independence day, and they really know how to celebrate!  But before I describe that, I want to quickly talk about my day of shopping on Saturday.  Because of my lack of familiarity with the city, I made a plan of all of the stores that I wanted to visit before I left my apartment.  I was able to buy every thing on my list, and then some!  As far as gifts for friends and family, if you are reading this PLEASE let me know what you want from Paris because they literally have a Parisian souvenir of everything.  I shopped at a bunch of little boutiques, as well as the largest department stores in Pars, Printemps and Galleries Lafayette.  Each one literally takes up three blocks with three huge buildings split into men's women's, and beauty and housewares. 

But as for how the French celebrate Bastille Day, they begin their day with a military parade which lasts... 3 hours.  The first hour consists of the troops walking through the Champs Elysees.  Literally every single Parisian conjugates on this street to give thanks and cheer on their troops.  But, for someone like me who only went to the parade 1 hour before it started, I did not have the best view.  But being there and feeling the electricity and spirit from the crowd made me so happy! Everyone was decked out in red, white, and blue, including myself.  I really got into the "quatorze juillet" spirit!

There were military plane fly-overs that left a trail of red, white, and blue stripes in the sky and after the parade of the troops, there was a parade of the military tanks, police motorcycles, and fire trucks.  Then after the parade, there were many different things to do in Paris, all for free!  Some of thine things you can do are taking a tour of the Opera Garnier, or seeing the Paris Ballet at the Bastille Opera House.  Make sure to take note of that, because I, along with my friends and many other tourists were confused about the location of the free ballet.  The Bastille Opera House is much bigger, so they hold the Bastille Day ballet there.  We waited in line for over an hour and still were on the second balcony.  But it did not matter because it was a fabulous performance, and even better it was completely free. 

Then for nighttime festivities, all of the fire stations in the city of Paris open up for the public, and host what are affectionately known as the Firemen's Balls.  These are basically big block parties inside the fire stations that include things such as a large container that gets filled with wine corks, and the more full it gets, the more clothing items the firemen take off.  I am actually not kidding at all, this is a real thing!  Also, I truly believe that it is a requirement of the country of France that as a government or public official, one must be extremely good looking.

And for the end of the whole day of celebrations was the biggest celebration of all... The fireworks at the Eiffel Tower!  And I got to watch them with an AMAZING view.  My host family invited me to their friends' roof because they had a great view of the Eiffel Tower.  But apparently it was not high enough.  My host family's friend, who apparently holds a very important medical position, led us down the street to the closed hospital where he let us in.  We then took the elevator to the top floor, and climbed up onto the roof.  Suddenly I was faced with an absolutely breathtaking view of Paris and the Eiffel Tower!  All I could do was sit back and watch the fireworks show in amazement.   Sometimes the sky would sparkle so much that the sparkling Eiffel Tower just blended right in.  What a great way to end the holiday!

 

 

The Louvre and Versailles!

Look at this beautiful postcard I bought at Versailles!

Oh wait.... just kidding!! This is a picture I actually took and edited of Versailles.  There were no tourists around because the actual chateau had closed.  We were left because we had been wandering the grounds.  More on that later!

 

But first I want to talk a bit about my site visit to the Louvre!  First of all, I want to visit again at night because the glare on the paintings from the sun made them a little difficult to fully see and appreciate.  Also, the day we were there it was SO HOT!  Literally, just standing still was all you needed to do to be dripping in sweat.  Because I am a history of art major, I have studied a lot of the works of art in the Louvre.  So it was really cool and kind of a surreal experience to actually see these paintings and sculptures in real life.  One of the main differences from seeing them on a PowerPoint slide and seeing them in real life is their scale!  Some of the paintings actually take up entire walls.  Also, I would have to disagree with the general consensus of the experience of seeing the Mona Lisa being anticlimactic.  There is just something so intriguing about a painting that is really not that impressive in its subject matter and technique, but has the ability to literally creates mobs of people crowding around it just to take a glimpse.  I personally think that the mystery that comes with it, and the hype created by the Mona Lisa are HUGE factors in its success.  Also, being at a museum such as the Louvre with my favorite professor was such a wonderful experience!  Just being able to hear what he knows and thinks about each work of art was such a treat.  There were even people that kind of attached themselves to our class just to hear him speak!

 

Before I retell my experiences at Versailles... let me shed some light on another little "learning experience" that happened to me.  So I was sitting in my room in my host family's house and all of a sudden I heard a huge "CRASH"!  Now, noises like this are normal for my area of Paris because they are usually people in the courtyard below throwing bottles in the recycling.  So not thinking anything of it, I got ready for class.  On my way out the door, my foot crunched on something.  Once I looked down at the ground, there was a plate literally completely shattered on the kitchen floor.  Like beyond shattered... it was powdered!

There was no way it could have been my fault because the place where the plate was hanging was high above a door frame, too high for me even to reach.  But OF COURSE I was the one to find said plate and OF COURSE I had to be the one to inform the family.  UGH.  Also, it turns out it was my host mom's great-grandmother's plate... Really though that would happen to me.  The family was of course not mad, but my host mom did say she was sad about it.  Again, there was NO way it could have been my fault... but still I felt bad.

 

 Anyways... on to the next site visit... Versailles!

The chateau is about a 30 minute RER (train) ride outside of Paris, and then you can literally see its gold lined roofs gleaming in the sun.  So, as in my picture above, Versailles was BEAUTIFUL!  Also, the weather was beautiful to match.  It was hot in the sun, but there was a cool breeze blowing.  First we got a special tour from one of my professor's friends on the King's and Queen's quarters as well as the famed Hall of Mirrors. I cannot believe how breathtaking the whole chateau was!  Everything was the very epitome of royal opulence, and nearly dripping in gold.  The breeze through the open windows over looking the gardens added to the overall very enjoyable tour. 

Then of course we had to visit the gardens!  TIP: If you ever find yourself visiting Versailles... make sure to stop at the little food stands in the gardens because they sell the best ice cream you will ever have in your life.  Seriously that chocolate vanilla twist changed my life!  And the gardens were absolutely beautiful.  We walked about 4 miles of garden in total and I actually enjoyed every minute of it (not being one to usually enjoy taking walks haha).  We walked to the little (well, little compared to Versailles they were still enormous) chateaus on the outskirts of the gardens, and by the time we got to Marie Antoinette's peasant village, of course it was closed.  But I was glad to have spent more time with my professor and my gsi (who is also wonderful!) and learn more about Versailles.  Here they are walking ahead of the group!  Discussing some scholarly work of art, no doubt.

Also, I found this YouTube video that uses some of the scenes from Sofia Coppola's movie "Marie Antoinette" set to Katy Perry's "Waking Up In Vegas".  I thought it was pretty enjoyable and also captured the life of Marie Antoinette pretty well! :)  Watch!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1noOxauhH7I

 



Keep Calm, And Carry On

It is now the beginning of my second week here in France!

So my 8:30am classes are going... as predicted.  I hate every second of the morning, but once the class begins, it is actually nice to have the whole entire day to spend in Paris!  Oh... just kidding.  Our schedules were finally finalized and I have French from 8:30-10:30, Phonetics class from 12-1, and then I have to meet with the other students in my program for our History of Art class usually around 2.  Then by 4 or 5 when we are FINALLY done, I am too exhausted to do anything.  UGH.

 

SILVER LINING... I'M IN PARIS!

So I am going to make the most of my time here.  Between French and Phonetics today, my friends and I went to the famous Shakespeare & Co. bookstore.  And because I am a secret nerd, I loved every minute of it!  There is one section dedicated to rare and expensive books, and another side with less rare and less expensive books.  So from that side, I bought a novel called "The Paris Wife", which is a fiction book about Hemingway's wife in Paris in the 1920's.  I used to believe that my favorite period was NYC in the 20's, but after re-watching "Midnight In Paris", I think that Paris is tied!  From Shakespeare & Co., I also bought a nice copy of the French classic, "Le Petit Prince", as well as Hemingway's "A Moveable Feast", because I feel like if there were ever a time for me to read it, it would be in Paris.  We also went to a little used bookstore, where they had books for .20Euros.  I bought a bunch of French Disney books :)

Then for today's site visit, we went to my professor's favorite museum, the "Musee de Carnavalet".  It is basically a museum that commemorates all of the aspects of the "Old Paris".  Georges-Eugene Haussmann was the man in charge of rebuilding Paris in 1860.  Circa the movie's "Les Miserables", the streets there look much different than the streets of Paris now.  He made the streets much wider, and changed the architecture of many buildings, and this museum houses a lot of things such as street signs from the "Old Paris".  Besides having to carry around all of my newly purchased books during my tour of the museum, it was overall a pleasant day :)

Then we ended the afternoon with some gelato from Amorino's.  HINT: A delicious combination in Vanilla with Strawberry and Raspberry. 

And to top off what could have easily have been a bad day, there was a full on orchestra, complete with string bass, in the metro playing some classical French music <3

 

 



When Things Once Again Go Wrong

So as predicted, I knew I would encounter many failures on my trip, but maybe failures is the wrong word for it.  I would prefer to call them "learning experiences".  Because well, if you ever find yourself in Paris with damaged luggage and an iPhone that will not send iMessages, then I have definitely learned what NOT to do. 

 

First things first, if your luggage is damaged, do NOT lug the empty damaged luggage around the city of Paris in the summer heat to find the train that takes you to the airport, while trying to figure out how to purchase a ticket for said train.  Then, under NO circumstances are you to actually get on the train with said empty/broken luggage and actually ride it all the way to the airport.  Then, worst of all, you should definitely NOT find the terminal you arrived in, get special permission from the airport to access said terminal, then proceed to have a conversation with the woman at the terminal.  Because she will tell you that there is a store in Paris that will sell you a new luggage and that all you needed to do was email in a picture of the damages.  And then you will have to lug said luggage back to your house, and once again up 5 flights of stairs.

 

Next, if your iPhone has service, can send texts in France, can access wifi, and can access 3G, DO NOT let the people at the phone store tell you that you don't know what you are talking about.  It is YOUR phone, you know how it is supposed to work.  Then, do NOT let the guy at the first phone store tell you he can't help you and that you need to call a French helpline.  Then most definitely do NOT call that number.  You will not be able to understand what they are saying and will end up after a long time pressing buttons trying to speak with someone, having an extremely unsuccessful conversation in which a man that speaks no English will inevitably hang up on you.  Then, once you go to a different phone store, hoping for nicer customer service, do NOT let them tell you that the problem is with the device itself, and that you need to go to the Apple Store.  Because once you haul your frustrated self across town, Apple will tell you that the problem is with the phone service.  So make sure then to NOT go to a third phone store.  Because they will tell you that they are not a big enough phone store to help you and that you need to go to a phone store with technical support.  Because, WITHOUT A DOUBT you will find yourself back at the EXACT SAME phone store that you started at... Just to find out that the problem is that you have a faulty SIM card and they aren't getting another shipment in until the end of the week  -___-