La Semaine des Arts (The Week of Arts)

Jackie deemed this week (starting yesterday) the week of arts because of all of the artsy things we seem to have been doing/will do.

Yesterday was full of sightseeing and attempting to check things off of my list of things to see in Paris. Jackie and I went to the Cité de la Musique (a museum on music) for a saxophone concert in the morning. The saxophone player, Dave Liebman, is a pretty famous jazz saxophone player. He has played with big names like John Coltrane. I was excited to go see him because my sister plays saxophone and I thought she would like it if I went. The concert was meant to be a little bit of a lesson on jazz as well as showing off his talent. He played with the in-house orchestra that was fantastic. The style of jazz wasn’t my favorite (very, very free form) but he was remarkable! It was also very much a cultural experience for us because he spoke very little French so the director of the orchestra translated for the French speakers in the audience. It was interesting to hear how she translated what he said into French. The concert hall itself was nice and I’m excited to see the actual museum exhibits at some point while I’m here.

After the concert we met some friends at the Musée de la Mode (Fashion Museum) and saw an exhibition on the famous Parisian designer Sonia Rykiel. Later on in the day we went to another concert. There is a small magazine here called Pariscope that is put out every Wednesday. Pariscope has all of the movie times of every movie at every theater as well as listings on concerts, performances and museum exhibits. I had read about this free brass band concert where they were going to be playing music by John Williams. We went to the auditorium not really knowing what we were getting into. We saw a bunch of kids outside and thought we might have ended up at a high school concert but decided to go in anyway. Luckily for us, it was an adult brass band that was pretty good.

After experiencing two concerts yesterday, I have a confession to make. My high school band was lucky enough to take a trip to Germany and Austria the summer after I graduated. Our director, Mr. Leach, proudly told all of us after one of our concerts that if Europeans applaud in unison it means they really really liked you and wanted an encore. We all thought he had no idea what he was talking about and still kind of joke about it today. Well everyone, I hate to admit it, but it is true. At both concerts I went to yesterday the crowd clapped in unison at the end wanting an encore. I literally laughed out loud when I heard this (as I’m sure all of my friends from band will laugh when they read this). Mr. Leach was right…

I’ve seen two American films at movie theaters in the past 24 hours. Last night my friends and I saw Slumdog Millionaire (which if it is still in theaters in the States and you haven’t seen it, go.) at a theater that was only 3,90 euro for young adult ticket! How incredible! That is less than a movie in the U.S.! Most theaters here are pretty expensive except for on weekend mornings. My host mom invited me to go see Gran Torino with her this morning. I had been planning on catching up on sleep but thought it would be good to spend some time with my host mom. It was so nice of her; she paid for my movie and everything! We had a good time and took a little walk around the huge park by my apartment afterwards.

While on our walk, my host mom pointed out one of the prostitute’s vans I have seen. This particular van is always decked out in something new (today it was rainbow colored umbrellas). It was a little awkward to talk about, considering the subject, but I learned something interesting. Apparently in France it is illegal to have prostitution in houses. Therefore these women have to work out of these vans. That answered some questions I had…

I realized I haven’t talked much about my home life. I normally only interact with my host parents during dinner; we are all busy at other times of the day. Dinner is so different than dinner in the U.S. though. It lasts an hour and always consists of 5 courses. First, we have soup (my host dad is in love with soup). Second, is a salad course. Sometimes this is actually salad, other times we have avocados with a creamy white sauce on top and one time we even had a grapefruit carved out with avocado, walnuts and salmon (weird, very weird, but good). Our main course can be pasta, fish, and these cheese croquets she makes for me and always consists of vegetables (usually carrots, peas, onions, green beans and potatoes). Next, we have cheese and finish up the remaining salad. My host mom explained to me that the French normally eat salad after their main course to help with digestion. However, I think the cheese afterwards counteracts that… Anyway, we don’t eat very much cheese, usually just a few slivers with half a piece of bread. Finally, dessert. Dessert can be the most interesting part of the meal for me… My host family loves baked apples in any form. Anyone who knows my picky eating habits knows that is one of the things I dislike most. Unfortunately, I can’t bring myself to tell them because there are already so many things they have discovered I don’t like and I know it is one of their favorite desserts. But sometimes, we literally have apples from her garden that have been zapped in the microwave with a little bit of sugar on them (peel and all). It’s healthy for me so I just suck it up and eat them but chocolate mousse night and cake night are always better!

This week should be interesting… there is a planned, large general strike on Thursday where transportation is practically going to be shut down. I don’t totally comprehend the purpose for the strike but it has to do with people’s reactions towards some of the recent radical changes Sarkosy has been making in France, as well as the changes to the University system that the students and professors have been protesting for over a month now. I’m not sure if I have to go to grammar class or not but it could potentially be a really far walk. Look for a blog post on the strike; it could be an interesting day! Thursday night is also the ballet we are going to. And Friday I leave for Amsterdam!

Un Voyage à St. Malo et Mont St. Michel

This past weekend me and three friends ventured to Bretagne (or Brittany as it is known in English) for the weekend. Bretagne is the North-West region of France that borders the Atlantic Ocean. I hadn’t planned to visit that part of France initially but one of my friends had heard incredible things from her host family about the region so I decided to tag along. And oh man am I glad I did…

The train to St. Malo only took about 3 hours. We took the TGV (!!!!) to Rennes, the capital of Bretagne, and then a smaller line to St. Malo. St. Malo is hoppin’ in the summer time. It is a very popular destination for the French when they are dying to go to the beach. Although I would have really enjoyed lying out on the beach, I’m actually glad we didn’t go during peak season because we got to experience the town in a much different way.

There is only one hostel in St. Malo. Unfortunately, it is about a 30 minute walk from both the train station and the city center. It is meant more for people who want to go to the beach, which happens to be directly across the street. So, Friday night we spent some time finding our hostel. The hostel itself kind of felt like summer camp. There were tennis courts and bunkbeds and breakfast was served in a cafeteria. When we arrived, the woman at the front desk was incredibly, incredibly nice. When her bosses weren’t around later she explained that she didn’t like them very much so to rebel she gave us free towels, one of the nice maps that was in color and all kinds of tips about where to go. We took one of her suggestions for dinner and went to a creperie in the city center. Bretagne is known for its crepes… let’s just say they were certainly the best I’ve ever had. My dinner crepe (or gallant) had goat cheese and salad. My dessert crepe had a bunch of honey and bananas. Yum!

Saturday, we rented bikes for the day! I have not ridden a bike in years, but luckily I wasn’t the only one. We were all laughing pretty hard at the beginning because of how wobbly we were and how little control we seemed to have over our bikes. But once we got the hang of it we rode down the beach pathway towards the city center and ended up exploring pretty much the entire town. The woman at our hostel had recommended a park to us that was on the other side of town. She said most people don’t go there because it is too far of a walk. On the way there we saw the historic downtown that has a World War II memorial and a very pretty view. We rode our bikes along the beach and found another great creperie for lunch. We finally arrived at the park (after getting a little bit lost) and were stunned at how pretty it was. The chateau that is at the park is abandoned but has a magnificent view. We wished we could have stayed longer and enjoyed the park more but we had to make it back to the bike place before he closed. On the way back we stopped in the city center and I had the BEST vanilla ice cream cone I’ve ever had.

We were getting a little tired of crepes… so Saturday night we had pizza :-) (crepes and pizza were really the only food options in the city center; I don’t know how people can live off of those two things). We also tried out this bar that had 300 different types of beer! I had one that was made in Bretagne called Duchesse Anne. We were pretty exhausted from our day of biking and I was still feeling a little sick from my strep throat so we didn’t stay out too long on Saturday.

Sunday, we took the bus from St. Malo to Mont St. Michel. Mont St. Michel is East of St. Malo, closer to Normandy. Mont St. Michel is the site of a famous and very old abbey. It sits on an island that is surrounded by water only when the tide comes in (when we arrived around 12 people were walking around the entire island because the tide was out, by the time we left at 5 the island was practically surrounded by water). I believe our guide told us the abbey is the oldest Christian establishment still left standing. It first started to be built in the 9^th century. In this abbey, like many abbeys, monks spent entire days in silence copying manuscripts. The abbey is built on a point and it is amazing how they were able to engineer this heavy stone establishment onto the tip. It is also incredible that there was no damage done to the abbey whatsoever during World War II, considering how close it is to Normandy. I was happy we made Mont St. Michel a day trip because there really isn’t anything to see other than the abbey. The town that is built up around the base of the island is just for tourists and is very, very touristy.

We had incredible weather the entire weekend, as you will see in my pictures. However, half an hour before we were going to leave Mont St. Michel a huge storm hit. I swear it was like a hurricane. The winds were really strong and the rain was coming down in pellets. It must have dropped 20 degrees too. JUST before it started to rain we had decided to get ice cream. We found shelter in the main gate of the town and watched the people running through the rain with their umbrellas turned inside out from the wind. We thought they looked pretty funny but I’m sure we looked even funnier eating our ice cream in the middle of a “hurricane”.

Just a side note: I realized that this past Friday was my one year anniversary of being a vegetarian! (and no... please don't cook me meat as a present, it's already been asked)

**Bon Anniversaire Andrea!!!!**

La Grande Plage! This view is on our way from our hostel to the city center (which you can see in the background).

I went a little picture crazy on the beach...

The downtown of St. Malo is Intra-Murs (or surrounded by a wall). The wall dates back to Medieval times. Because St. Malo is located on the water, it was frequently being attacked by invaders. Alors (so), they built this beautiful wall that still stands today and that you can actually walk around.

Jackie, me, Lauren and Kavita on our bikes in front of the bike shop! Good thing this isn't a close-up... I look pretty ridiculous in a helmet.

The boardwalk/walkway that lines La Grande Plage and leads to the city center. Check out the really cute houses!

Ok, so it has been decided that a jumping picture will have to be taken during every trip ;-)

The view of the city center from the historic downtown. I loved the marina and all of the sailboats.

Lauren, Jackie and Kavita at the Memorial for World War II that sits in the historic downtown park.

The view from the creperie we ate lunch at on Saturday.

The chateau at le Parc de la Briantais.

The view of the ocean from this chateau... needless to say we all want to live here someday...

More of the park... I love the groupings of people walking together.

The busiest we saw the city center of St. Malo.

The view of Mont St. Michel from afar. The abbey sits on top and the houses on the bottom have a lot of shops and restaurants.

Apparently we climbed something like 350 steps to get to the top of the abbey.

Me and my roommate from AU, Jackie, at the entrance to the abbey.

The awesome view from the abbey. You can see what I was trying to describe where the island is surrounded by sand until high tide.

A courtyard in the abbey.

One of the rooms. You can see the heavy stone that was used and the Romanesque/Gothic architecture of the abbey.

An island not too far from Mont St. Michel. I love the lighting in the picture and how only the island seems to be lit.

Le Chocolat Chaud et Les Prostituées, c’est la vie des français?

Although traveling last weekend was fantastic, it was really nice to have a weekend in Paris this past weekend!

On Friday some of my friends met up at the Hotel de Ville (city hall) for ice skating! Paris has two outdoor rinks during the winter and we wanted to skate once before they closed for the spring. The rink was insanely busy! They definitely don’t zamboni their ice very much so it was really bumpy too. Some of the skaters were really talented and were weaving in and out of the huge crowd of people. There was this one little boy (he had to have been around 7 or 8) in a Puma sweatshirt that I was so impressed with. None of my friends fell so it was a success…

After ice skating we went to the Louvre! It was my first time actually seeing art in the Louvre. On Friday night, the Louvre stays open until 1opm and is free. There was way less people there which made it much more enjoyable. We saw a lot of sculpture and some really early French paintings. Some of my friends are attempting to visit each room of the Louvre before we leave. We are keeping track of which rooms we visit each time we go on a map. For anyone who has been to the Louvre, this plan sounds a little crazy. The Louvre is unimaginably big! However, we are determined and I think we can do it.

Saturday, three friends and I went to Montmartre and Sacre Coeur. Montmartre is actually its own little municipality within Paris. It has historically been the home of artists and other creative people. Sacre Coeur is a newish church that sits on a hill in Montmartre overlooking Paris. Saturday was an incredibly beautiful day so (as you can see from my pictures) there were hundreds of people out just sitting on the steps absorbing the sun. There were musicians out on the steps playing American Classic Rock as well as Beatles songs. We took a picnic and toured around the cathedral. I wasn’t able to take pictures inside the church, but above the altar is an incredible mosaic ceiling. It’s fascinating to me that this church is even a little bit newer than the National Cathedral in Washington. Montmartre is definitely a tourist location but totally worth it for anyone planning to visit Paris. We attempted to find the Moulin Rouge afterwards, but alas, ended up walking in the complete wrong direction…

I started my new Grammar class this week. I decided to make the switch to the Intermediate level class because my professor highly recommended it and I was looking for more of a challenge. On Tuesday, my first day, I got to the classroom that I was told to go to early so I could talk to the professor and settle everything. However, the professor was the last person to enter the classroom. So, in front of everyone I had to tell her that I was a new student and had moved up from the elementaire level. She sort of snapped at me and asked why I was moving into her class after four weeks. I told her my professor said I should and that I had a card from the Sorbonne office that made it official. She looked at my card and said that she wasn’t even the professor listed on the card and that that professor was in a different room. It was embarrassing but at the same time I was SO relieved that she is not my professor. My real new professor is much nicer and welcoming. She is not as enthusiastic as my last professor, but I think I am going to end up learning a lot more. I have a little bit of catching up to do but not too much. I re-taught myself the subjunctive last night (one of the hardest tenses that they have already gone over) and was surprised at how much came back to me from previous classes. One minus about the new class, it is still at 8AM every day :-P

My host mom and I have started this tradition where we stay after dinner for about half an hour and just talk about different things. Yesterday we talked about the University system in France and tonight it was about the difference between different languages. It’s really improved my French and gotten me closer to my host mom!

So Jackie and I made an interesting discovery this week… This past weekend I went for a run on Avenue Foch (the most expensive street in Paris…) and on my way back to my apartment noticed an interesting white van. The woman inside it was dressed in bright colors and her van had all kinds of weird things in it like a soccer ball, a feather boa and scarves. I just considered it to be a crazy lady and kept running. However, on Monday as I was walking back to my apartment from the Metro, I noticed several other white vans with women sitting inside. Something clicked when I saw a woman wearing red leather boots that went up to her thigh displaying her legs in the window. These were prostitutes. On Tuesday, Jackie came over to go running and as we were walking to my house I was telling her about my discovery. Just as I told her about the lady with the red boots we saw her again! And this time there were more vans with more women. Definitely prostitutes. We were incredibly intrigued because I live in one of the ritziest areas of Paris. I had also just started noticing these vans all of a sudden. I asked my Paris Civ professor today and he was really interested as well. He hadn’t heard of prostitutes using vans in Paris before. He told me prostitution is legal in Paris; however it is illegal to advertise yourself on the street. He said advertising could be verbal or non-verbal, it is kind of up to the police officer. I guess this was sort of the way these women were getting around this, by using subtle advertisements… It’s interesting but at the same time makes me feel kind of uncomfortable on my walk home.

Today was busy. I have been slowly getting over this cold I have had for over a week but all of a sudden my throat had been really really hurting. So after class today I went to an English speaking doctor Accent told me about and found out that yes, I do have strep throat. I was able to get antibiotics right away and it should clear up within the next few days! It was interesting experiencing the French healthcare system. Since I am not French I had to pay for my antibiotics but my zythromax was only 11 euro.

After a visit to the Louvre with my Paris Civ class this afternoon, five friends and I went to Café Angelina. Oh man… Oh man. I had the BEST chocolat chaud (or hot chocolate) ever. In fact, that is what they are known for. The best chocolat chaud in Paris. It is a little bit classier of a place, but is definitely somewhere I will be taking my family and friends when they come to visit. Anyone want to come visit me now? ;-)

The heads of Kings that were originally on statues on the facade of Notre Dame. These original heads were most likely cut off during the Revolution and are at the Musee de Cluny.

One of the six Lady and the Unicorn tapestries at Musee de Cluny. These tapestries are really famous because they were found in a house in France after they had gone missing for hundreds of years. The tapestry work is incredible. We read the novel "The Lady in the Unicorn" in my Paris Civ class which is a fictional account of how and why these tapestries were made, nobody really knows.

Going ice skating at the Hotel de Ville!

Ice skating rink... although that is not the Hotel de Ville in the background.

Friday night at the Louvre! These are some of my good friends in my program.

A view from the hill that Sacre Coeur sits on... I love Paris.

Sacre Coeur itself and all of the people enjoying the sun.

This guy was SO talented. He did acrobatics with a soccer ball. In this particular picture he is climbing a lamp post with a soccer ball (that is SPINNING) on a pen that is balancing on his mouth... crazy.

The one and only Eiffel Tower from Montmartre.