It's hard for me to sit here at my desk and put together a fluid, sensical blog post because Paris so far has been a blur of coffee shops, grocery stores, amazing sights, and hours spent in French class. The best I can do is to list a few highlights for the past week when I last posted:
- On Monday, my class and I took an excursion to Pere Lachaise - the famous cemetery where Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, and Oscar Wilde are buried. As a hyper-sensitive person who tends to be overwhelmed with emotions easily, I usually try and stay clear of graveyards of any sort but this one was truly spectacular. It was a museum of sorts, really. We saw the three gravestones listed above and then wandered around for the rest of the time. There are truly fabulous tombstones littering this place... mini-houses with stained glass, engravings, statues, doors. There are also so many famous people laid to rest there (history test!). It was a good time, I enjoyed seeing the creative tombstones and felt it was an honor to be there because this cemetery contains such beautiful tributes to the people. It really makes death a beautiful and respectful transition, in a way. The graveyard was also in Belleville, the "immigrant" neighborhood of Paris. It was cool to see a diverse, non-glamorous side to Paris, even though I did not appreciate the hike up the hill to reach it. There were many protest signs supporting "sans papiers" (immigrants without immigration papers) and many anti-Sarkozy posters.
- The next excursion my class took was to the old Opera House. We had a fantastic English-speaking tour guide (thank god) who gave a witty, thorough, entertaining tour. The building itself was magnificent... it was the most detailed, ornate building I have ever seen. The building was also constructed in a manner that reflects the history of the time -- there is a separate staircase that Louis XIV was supposed to use, the staircase was made so that the bourgeoisie would be the center of attention when they entered. It is also the Opera House that the Phantom of the Opera is based on, which I just saw for the first time. Anyways, I recommend checking it out if you ever get the chance! We really want to go see a show there, student rush tickets are only 5 euros, so that's music to my ears.
- Last night, my friend Justin decided to pay back Allie, Megan, and I for the many times we have hosted for dinner by making homemade potstickers for us at my place. As anyone who knows me knows, meat (and especially raw meat) creeps me out more than anything else. Now, picture me helping Justin make these dumplings and picture how it rattled my nerves to have raw pork flying all over my room. But nonetheless, the dumplings were made and proved to be quite delicious.
- Friday was wonderful because it was the end of the French practicum. Hoorah to no more 3 hour grueling French sessions! Once we finished our final, we were free for the day and a few of us mosied on over to the Photography Museum to see the Annie Leibowitz exhibit there. They were photos from the 1980s until the present, so the exhibit did not contain any of my favorite old-school Rolling Stone covers, but it did contain many wonderful portraits of her friends and family as well as some great portraits of musicians and actors. Leibowitz also showed a portrait of Richard Avedon and included a description of how the famed photographer had influenced her. It was so cool to see that after having just seen the Richard Avedon exhibit... god I love photogrpahy.
- Friday night we decided to indulge in our first true night on the town. Allie, her friend Kyle, and I made our way to Sharon and Maia's palatial apartment and gathered the troops for a rendezvous to Duplex, a club opened by Johnny Depp. We did not get there until 1 in the morning and danced non-stop until 430. It was an amazing, sweaty, exhausting night. I also fell in love with House music, much to my surprise, and now think it is quite the cat's meow, if you don't mind me utilizing so cheesy a phrase.
- Sunday was another great day. After dragggginngggg Allie and Megan out of the residence, we set off on a walk I had created that would show us two sights I had not seen yet: Champs Elysees and St. Germain du Pres. We got off the metro at the Arc de Triomphe and walked along the Champs Elysees (obviously purely window-shopping for us) and then crossed the river at the bridge Alexander III (and met up with Maia and Jen, a friend from UCLA) along the way. The bridge was just gorgeous.. the Parisians really know how to make utilitarian structures beautiful. There was a great view of the Seine and the Eiffel Tower in the background, perfect for many photo opporunities, which two newly-wed couples put to use. we then contined on (with many a griping from Megan) down St. Germain des Pres to Cafe Flore, a place fondly labeled in my memories as the home of the best hot chocolate in the world and I place I was first introduced to as during the first trip to Paris with my parents. It is very chic and houses a very in-crowd clientele, but I reassured the girls the hot chocolate was worth the 7.2 Euro splurge. To my delight, they all agreed with me after tasting the utterly rich, decadent chocolat chaud and we had a great time laughing away and being embarrasingly loud Americans on the sugar high that ensued.
It is now Monday (this post was written in two different times because my internet froze halfway through writing it) and today is our first real day of classes. French 9-1030 and then a big break until 215 so Allie and I have now sat ourselves down at the cafe across the street in order to procure real internet and a wonderful, hot espresso. I have class from 215 until 630 this afternoon and I am not looking forward to it.
I'll let you know how it goes though!
Also one more thing, you know the stereotype about snobby French people? Well I am starting to believe that it is mostly true about Parisians. I've met some wonderful people, but I am starting to get homesick for friendly people.
- Friday was wonderful because it was the end of the French practicum. Hoorah to no more 3 hour grueling French sessions! Once we finished our final, we were free for the day and a few of us mosied on over to the Photography Museum to see the Annie Leibowitz exhibit there. They were photos from the 1980s until the present, so the exhibit did not contain any of my favorite old-school Rolling Stone covers, but it did contain many wonderful portraits of her friends and family as well as some great portraits of musicians and actors. Leibowitz also showed a portrait of Richard Avedon and included a description of how the famed photographer had influenced her. It was so cool to see that after having just seen the Richard Avedon exhibit... god I love photogrpahy.
- Friday night we decided to indulge in our first true night on the town. Allie, her friend Kyle, and I made our way to Sharon and Maia's palatial apartment and gathered the troops for a rendezvous to Duplex, a club opened by Johnny Depp. We did not get there until 1 in the morning and danced non-stop until 430. It was an amazing, sweaty, exhausting night. I also fell in love with House music, much to my surprise, and now think it is quite the cat's meow, if you don't mind me utilizing so cheesy a phrase.
- Sunday was another great day. After dragggginngggg Allie and Megan out of the residence, we set off on a walk I had created that would show us two sights I had not seen yet: Champs Elysees and St. Germain du Pres. We got off the metro at the Arc de Triomphe and walked along the Champs Elysees (obviously purely window-shopping for us) and then crossed the river at the bridge Alexander III (and met up with Maia and Jen, a friend from UCLA) along the way. The bridge was just gorgeous.. the Parisians really know how to make utilitarian structures beautiful. There was a great view of the Seine and the Eiffel Tower in the background, perfect for many photo opporunities, which two newly-wed couples put to use. we then contined on (with many a griping from Megan) down St. Germain des Pres to Cafe Flore, a place fondly labeled in my memories as the home of the best hot chocolate in the world and I place I was first introduced to as during the first trip to Paris with my parents. It is very chic and houses a very in-crowd clientele, but I reassured the girls the hot chocolate was worth the 7.2 Euro splurge. To my delight, they all agreed with me after tasting the utterly rich, decadent chocolat chaud and we had a great time laughing away and being embarrasingly loud Americans on the sugar high that ensued.
It is now Monday (this post was written in two different times because my internet froze halfway through writing it) and today is our first real day of classes. French 9-1030 and then a big break until 215 so Allie and I have now sat ourselves down at the cafe across the street in order to procure real internet and a wonderful, hot espresso. I have class from 215 until 630 this afternoon and I am not looking forward to it.
I'll let you know how it goes though!
Also one more thing, you know the stereotype about snobby French people? Well I am starting to believe that it is mostly true about Parisians. I've met some wonderful people, but I am starting to get homesick for friendly people.
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