My first museum experience.

Today I had another 9-12 grueling session of French immersion made easier that all I did was sleep yesterday. Pierre, my TA, is this amazing Parisian man with a head of floppy curls and a penchant for wearing see-through white t-shirts with matching white pants. He does not know too much English so he rarely speaks it in class, making comprehension difficult, but I do believe it is working towards accelerating my French learning. Anyways, so today we had French and then in the afternoon we had an excursion (we've had them Mon, Wed, Fri) and Pierre took my cozy little class of 18 to the Lourve area to the Musee Jeu de Paume to see a photography exhibit by the American photographer Richard Avedon. We got off the Metro near the Louvre and had to walk through its grounds, through the Tuilerie gardens, and finally to the Place de Concorde where the museum is located. The Louvre is massive and intimidating and in no way tempts me to enter... the grounds are pretty enough for me! The Tuileries were also impressive (but my heart was already won over by Luxembourg Gardens). So when we finally reached the museum, we were given a guided tour in French. Pierre, what were you thinking?!? This is French 2!! We understood nothing, but the tour guide and Pierre amused themselves laughing at our lack of comprehension. Nonetheless, even with the jibber-jabber from the tour guide distracting me, I loved the exhibit. It reminded me how much I absolutely love photography, especially portraits. Avedon represented a change in the medium of photography (especially in the fashion world) from stiff, motionless photos of haute couture in studios, to lively photos done in a natural exterior with natural lighting. He also took great photos of celebrities and famous figures with facial expressions that do not reflect their public personas. He then went on a 5 year tour of Western America taking portraits of everyday, non-glamorous people. One of the highlights of the exhibit for me was a collection of portraits he did for Rolling Stone in 1976 before the presidential election of prominent political figures.

Here are some photos I found online from the exhibit. I recommend checking him out!

** okay nevermind, I cannot upload pics right now, but I suggest googling him and then I'll upload pics when I can