Birthday and more

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Greetings!

Well, it is February the 27th and I am now 21 and one day. Hooray! The day was wonderful. Here come the updates!

School: Classes began last week and are going very well. I worked it out so I have a great schedule time wise (Fridays off!) and four wonderful courses.

Sexuality and Difference: this is taught by a Portuguese man who is by far the most difficult for me to understand, but the readings and subject matter are very interesting so I imagine I’ll understand him more and more as I become familiar with the material.

Writing: I have the same professor as last semester, the one who reminds me of a fairy godmother in that all is well when I am in her presence.

French Painting of the 20th Century: a continuation of last semester’s Art History course. This will take me to a whole new set of museums and away from my beloved Louvre! The material is great though and the professor remains a favorite of mine.

Literature after the war: WONDERFUL! I adore this course. The professor is arrogant but has every right to be. I understood “complicated” theories for the first time with him! (Sartre’s la mouvais foi is a piece of cake!) He is able to simplify, draw on the board and clarify brilliantly.

A trip to Amboise ate up my birthday on Saturday. This is a little town a few hours outside of Paris where Leonardo da Vinci spent the last 3 years of his life. It was a charming place. The chateau there had running fireplaces, which added to their charm in addition to being entirely practical!

The birthday:

Saturday night was a joint birthday party for my friend Brigitte and me with a theme of camp, well sort of. I imagine that the movie isn’t known by most of my readers so we’ll just say camp in the late seventies/early eighties. It was a blast. The costumes were outrageous and the evening a perfect start to my birthday!

Sunday morning a tired bunch wandered to a place called "American Breakfast." It was just like being in a diner at home. I ordered in English from an American, had American coffee (bottomless even!), and enjoyed pancakes in maple syrup!!!!!!!!!! I am sure this sounds somewhat banal but it was miraculous.

Then I had a date with my dear Winnie for a surprise lunch at three. I met a beautiful Winnie carrying orange tulips and a CLUE! Winnie and my family created a wonderful surprise for me. Winnie created a scavenger hunt around the Louvre where I found a friend under the paintings or next to the sculptures. I walked around the Louvre with two bouquets of tulips and finally rounded up three more friends. The final clue was to take all these fine ladies out to hot chocolate and ‘cake’ at Angelina’s (a famous and wonderful tea house known for their hot chocolate and ‘Mont Blanc” desserts!)

It was a wonderful day. It did accentuate some longings for family, friends, and the familiar though. It is a great thing to find that I have friends such as Winnie who would go through such trouble and others who stood staring at Venus de Milo for an hour and to have a few more months of cultivating time together!

Off to prepare an oral presentation for my Sexuality class!

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Photos

View of Amboise
This is from the roof of the chateau at Amboise

Comments

[Adair]

Happy Happy Happy Birthday!
Bon Anniversaire, Katie! Thanks for the update on your life, including your birthday festivities. A scavenger hunt around the Louvre? How fabulous! Thinking of you... xo Adair

[Linda Schneider]

Happy B-day!
Ditto on the Bon Anniversaire, my sweet. Glad to hear you had a great one. Your blogs are awesome--I feel as though I'm there, too. Take care and carry on!

[Katie]

Welcome to the world of 21 my love! It's a great place to be, and although it doesn't really matter over there, it will matter once you come back here. I'll have to buy you a drink when you get back! Love you!

[alma Lantz]

Dear Katie sameen and were "doing lunch" and saying how much we loved your logs but would be glad to have you back in Boulder next fall