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Published: January 24th 2007
Hello everyone,
I had a great time being home for Christmas break. The movie selection on the plane home was excellent : out of the seven films to choose from I watched The Illusionist, Talladega Nights : the Ballad of Ricky Bobby, and the Night Listener. I was lucky that I was able to see so many people while I was back, but I still missed a few. At home, I bought some provisions for the upcoming semester, caught up with old friends, and basically just relaxed. My thanks and congratulations to the Moore family for presenting a spectacular Murder Mystery evening (taking place in WWII France) that was definately a highlight of my winter break.
I got out of Kansas City just before the awful, icey weather hit. I flew into Chicago, where I had a long layover. That is where I discovered that I had left one of my brother’s DVDs in my laptop (Sorry about that, Mike). The plane got underway on time, but that seems to be the case for a lot of overseas flights because the planes aren’t coming in from a different flight. The movie selection was marginal, but I did get some
Chistmas at Galleries Lafayette
I took this back before I left France for winter breakrest, though not any sleep. I sat next to a French woman who has spent most of her life in the US, and we talked for the last 45 of the flight. She even waited until I had found my luggage before she went her own way. We got into Paris on Jan 12 in the morning. I wandered around Charles de Gaulle airport a little before I found signs for the RER train. Since, the airport isn’t really in Paris, you have to find a way to get into town, and the RER is very practical because it stops at most of the train stations in Paris (there are several) and a lot of the metro stops. So I took it in and got off at Gare du Nord (a train station) where I walked to my hostel. For some reason, a lot of the Paris hostels are in the Montmartre région of Paris (central-northern), but it is also a sometimes dicey part of town, so you don’t know what the hostel will look like. I found a hostel at the base of the Montmartre hill, and it was actually a two-star hotel that was a great value. The
Christmas at Home
Mike, Me, and Mae at home receptionists were very nice and let me check-in early, there was TV in the room, the sheets were changed every day, it included a spectacular breakfast with fresh-squeezed orange juice, but best of all, my room looked right out on Sacre Cœur, and old beautiful cathedral. I did some grocery shopping at a nearby supermarket (very handy) and stayed in for the night and slept in.
On the 13th, I went down to the Tourist office to buy a 4 day museum pass (free access to particular museums). On the way, I passed 2 Starbucks, but I resisted. I walked down towards the Louvre, and looked for the Museum of Decorative Arts. I had the address, but it took a while to find it ; it turned out to be in one of the wings of the Louvre building. First, I looked at their collection of jewelry ; it was organized by time period, so it was really neat to see how jewelry has evolved through time. Though I must say, I didn’t think very much of some of the modern jewelry. On two floors of the museum, they had a collection of fashion. They had actual clothes from
different time periods and different designers, plus videos of fashion shows. But, I ended up getting a lot more out of it because I slipped into a tour group of high school American girls who were getting a professional tour in English. Nobody seemed to notice me, and she was a realy interesting guide. Some of the clothes were very interesting and really beautiful, some were wierd, and some were downright ugly. On the 3rd floor was a museum of printing, where they had a history of French printing, starting with posters for bars and burlesque shows and ending with modern posters and advertisements : very cool. I left that museum and went to the Tuileries garden in front of the Louvre and ate a picnic lunch in front of a fountain where the city puts metal chairs for everyone to sit and relax in the park. Next, I went to the Louvre where there is an insane amount of spectacular art. For the day, I decided to see French painting of the 17th-19th centuries. Last semester, I took an art history class at IES, and now I saw many of the painters and paintings that we had studied, and
Marianne
At Place de la Republique its so much more interesting when you have a bit of background in the art you see. That night, I found a little restaurant close to the hotel and had a very cozy little dinner. In the US, we eat with fork principally in the right hand, only transfering to the left when we use our knife. But I’ve been working on the continental style, where you generally hold your fork in your left hand all the time and use the knife to help you manipulate the food. At the restaurant, they served my mortal enemy : iceberg lettuce. You’re not supposed to cut lettuce, so you fold it over until you have a managable piece to put in you mouth. But alas, iceberg lettuce is very hard to fold, so we had a little battle that night.
Jan 14th was a big walking day for me. I started out from the hotel and walked down to Place de la République, where there is a huge statue of Marianne (the symbol of France, and the Republic). From there, I walked down to Place de la Bastille, near the prison Bastille where the French Révolution started. They have a huge
column in the middle of a giant roundabout. On the way, I passed a big open-air market, and there was a band of about 20 people playing on the sidewalk. There were a very good jazz band and the crowd was having a blast. I had lunch at a nearby cafe, where everyone sat facing the street so you can watch the people walking by. I had an excellent Salade Nicoise (lettuce, tuna, rice, green beans, tomatoes, olives, and oil and vinegar) and a tonic water. It was a very French experience, eating my salad and watching the traffic of Place de la Bastille. I walked back towards the Place de la République and went to the Musée des Arts et Métiers, which is mostly a science museum. It was very interesting because it started with the first examples of scientific discovery and daily use (weights, measures, and experiments) and went all the way up to robotics. Then it went through the history of different subjects like weaving, construction, tvs, and telephones. The best part was that at the end of each room, there was a kids’ section with little hands-on experiments, that were really fun and kept you from
getting bored. They were made for kids, but the adults seemed to have much more fun with them.
Jan 15th, I went to the Museum of French Cinema, which was a little hard to find. It was cool, though. Most of it was just old cameras and filming equipment, which wasn’t as intersting, but they also had clips from old or important movies, plus costumes, props, and old posters. In the area, there is the Palais Omnisports, a really big stadium that has grass growing on its sloped sides. Its in an industrial area, so when I walked back, everyone was on their lunch break hanging out around the stadium. There wasn’t much I could do in the way of museums since a lot of them are closed on Tuesdays, so I walked up to my favorite park : Luxembourg. I wandered around the grounds for a bit, looking for a place to eat my lunch. And I came upon several groups of old French men playing pétanque (a traditional game in Southern France). I’ve read about 3 books by Marcel Pagnol, plus some of his movies ; he is a celebrated author of France, and they play pétanque
in a lot of his stories, so it was great to see it really being played (by cute old Frenchmen, nonetheless). So pulled up a chair and watched them play for about an hour. I walked down to the Cathedral Saint-Sulpice (its in the Da Vinci Code, I believe) and toured the inside. Then I went to look at the Pantheon, but it was closed for renovations, so I didn’t go in. I finished up the afternoon, by going to a cafe for a while and reading a book.
Jan 16th, I went to Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie. It is kind of like Science City, for those of you that know KC. It had tons of interactive exhibits on a lot of subjects like light, genetics, artificial reality, space, cars, green-living, plus a great exhibit on Extra-Terrestrials (with history of UFO sightings, cinema and culture with ETs, info about the galaxy, and hypotheses on possible life forms). They also had a 3D théâtre that was fun. When I went back to the Hotel, I got the traditional meal of poor college students : Kebab (sort of like a Gyro sandwich) and went back to my hotel room
to watch the Royal Tanenbaums on my computer.
Jan 17, I went back to the Louvre in the morning. I saw the Mona Lisa, which is covered by bullet-proof glass, a cordoning rope, and two guards. I got there between tour groups, so I saw her up close, and it really is a remarkable painting. Next, I looked at Romand and Greek sculpture, plus Egyptian relics. And of course, before leaving Paris, I had to stop at the Starbucks in the shopping center below the Louvre. I went back to my hotel, got my bags and walked to Gard du Nord, where I took the metro to Gare d’Austerlitz, where I caught a train to Tours. My friend Alli met me at the station in Tours and we took a taxi out to my Hotel and talked for a while before she went back home.
Jan 18, I went into centre-ville Tours by bus and walked around the historic district and bought my lunch in the covered market where there are tons of different vendors. I met Alli in the afternoon, and she showed me around a little bit. It was cloudy all day and drizzled a lot, but I still got to see a lot of the historic buildings of Tours even though I didn’t get very good pictures. That night, I was invited to eat with Alli’s host mother. She was a very nice older woman that takes care of children during the day. She made a wonderful meal with several courses, a rosé wine, and Tiramisu for dessert. She was very easy to talk to, and we stayed at the table a long time just talking. Later, Alli and I went out to meet one of her friends and we just stayed in the historic district for the rest of the evening.
Jan 19, I went to a cafe that had WiFi so I could sign up for IES classes for the following week. I stayed there for a while, and Allie came to meet me, and from there we went to a movie théâtre. We saw the film Mauvaise Foi (Bad Faith) which was about a Jewish woman and a Arab Muslim man that are having a baby together, but whose families are less than pleased. It was a very interesting movie, and very pertinent for the French society who is dealing with a large number of Muslim immigrants. I went out a found a small restaurant in the historic district and had an excellent meal. I had Foi Gras for an appetizer, and it was great. Then I had some sort of beef dish with French fries (which are always a legitimate side dish, even in nicer restaurants), and then I had a delicious chocolate cake for dinner. Afterwards, I went back to Alli’s house and we watched The Devil Wears Prada which was a fun movie.
Jan 20, I slept-in and check-out of the hotel. I took the bus into town, bought lunch on the way, and went to the train station to catch a train into Nantes. My host father, Elie, met me at the train station and took me back to the house. I got settled in easily enough and had a relaxing weekend.
I started classes on Monday. I have 3 classes at the institute and 2 at the local university. I’m meeting new people at IES and at the University, and I have started an internship with the Nantes Town Hall. My host family’s neighbor works very closely with the mayor, and on Fridays, I’ll accompany him on his duties and get to see how the local government works. It looks very promising and interesting. Further details to follow.
Thanks again for the letters, notes, and emails. I love hearing what’s happening back in the States.
Melissa
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Beth!
non-member comment
Yeah
Hey! I'm pretty jealous of your kebab (mmm) and your visit to the Museum of Decorative arts. And I'm really happy that you included all the details about the meals you ate. Weirdly enough, I like to hear about that kind of stuff. At least when it concerns foreign food. How's your new host family? You did switch, right? Have you been making friends with the new students despite not being at the orientation. I'm sure you'll meet some cool people. I keep forgetting how much I miss Europe until I read these updates - I could even deal with the crummy weather. Well, maybe. Anyways, I'm glad you had such a great start to the year. Dis 'coucou' a Mme Rouchet, visite le quartier Bouffay fabuleux, et aie un semestre merveilleux, mon amie. Et va en Grece!!! C'est crucial!!! Bisous