End of the first week

THURSDAY - 9/12

Group photo in front of the Luxembourg Palace

Today we had our first visit to a French university, Paris IV: La Sorbonne. Paris Sorbonne University is the main inheritor of the old Sorbonne, one of the first universities dating back to the 13th century. The biggest complex in France dedicated to Literature, Languages, Civilizations, Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, La Sorbonne is located on the original medieval foundations, and now extends to the Latin Quarter and to other areas in Paris. At 9h30 in the morning, we met at CUPA in the morning and walked over the the Sorbonne together because it was located in the same arrondisment. La Sorbonne actually has 13 campus location all over Paris but we only visited the two closest, which were the archeology department and the main building.

Grades posted for the world to see

Each of the departments is located in a different wing and there are specialized staircases that correspond to similar departments. Each department has a bureau where you can talk to the heads of departments with any questions issues, and the all important information board where the lists for the classes (teachers, locations, times) as well as other last minute changes or important department information is posted. Unlike the email crazed world that most american university students live in, the french are much more traditional. When we visited the french literature department, we also saw an information board that had all of the students' grades posted. This is anothe huge different between the French an American education systems. The French usually grade out of 20 points. Anything 16+ is considered outstanding work; 12 -16 is very good; 8 - 12 is good; and so on. As I looked at all of the grades posted, the clear mode was in the 10-12 range, and this is quite normal. As opposed to American institutions where it is almost expected to get an A, the high grades are reserved only for phenomenal, ground breaking work. (As is should be. None of this grade inflation, must have a perfect GPA to get ahead in life nonsense. Most people do average work and should receive an average grade for it. Grade inflation has really taken things to the extreme and people are not working for the sake of learning, but to "get the grade". But I digress....)

In the square of Sorbonne

Cluny-La Sorbonne metro station

La Sorbonne really is a beautiful campus with plenty of classic architecture for the eyes to feast on. On the left is the picture of the square you transverse on your way to the grand amphitheatre lecture hall. The ceiling was painted just like that of a grand cathedral. Speaking of beautiful ceilings, whilst heading back to CUPA for my afternoon classes, I passed through the Cluny-La Sorbonne metro station. This special station had a mozaïc frieze from Jean Bazaine, called "Les Oiseaux" (The Birds). On each side, you can see the signatures of famous French personas (artists, scientists or politicians) also made of colorful mozaïc. Yet another one of this hidden surprises in Paris.

M. Bouhon's daughter Clare and her girlfriend came over for dinner tonight. It was her birthday and a home cooked meal was their way of celebrating. Before dinner, we flipped through two of Monsieur Bouhon's sketchbooks. They were filled with drawing of all different types ranging from figure drawings, to gestures, landscapes, and drawing studies. After the initial drawing, he often went back to work on pieces, adding and taking away what even he felt was "right" in the moment. Through the use of different kinds of drawing utensils, techniques, and colors, he explained how he could totally change the mood and feel of a piece in a matter of seconds with a few simple stokes. Pieces that were deemed "done" or "untouchable" (no more changes would be made, he sprayed over with fixative that kept the applied materials with rubbing/falling off. There were a particular few pieces with a brilliant orange color that looked to be pastel. When I asked him about it, M. Bouhon explained that it was actually African dirt with he made into a pastel like paste and used that as a coloring tool.  Many of the pieces instigated a funny story or a memory that Clare and M. Bouhon took turns telling. In the end, Clare chose a very modern geometric drawing to take home as her birthday present.

Beef stew in cream sauce

The menu for the evening was very rustic and included a famous French peasant dish of stewed beef in a white creme sauce with carrots and onions. This was eaten alongside boiled salt potatoes and rice (which isn't traditionally served with this dish, but both Missaratou and I like to eat it.) I also had a little bit of the wine with dinner because it was a special occasion. I forget the name of it, but it was a dry red wine that was gifted to Clare by one of her old cinematography teachers. It was supposed to be of a very high quality and aged just to the perfect time, however I found it to be very strong. Everyone else seemed to really enjoy it, so perhaps it is just my lack of experience showing through. I normally to not drink alcohol, but it is hard to get closer to the source of some of the best wine in the world so it couldn't hurt to try a little from time to time.

Slice of heaven, mmmm.

The birthday cake dessert was a chocolate tart with almonds sprinkled on top. I couldn't help but to try a piece and it was spectacular as expected. The tart was light and airy, but had an intense chocolate flavor. Although it was gluten free, it was not heavy or dense at all. I think this will be  good one to learn and perfect for the GF boyfriend. Hope he doesn't mind being the guinea pig!

I ended up going to bed super late tonight because the course selection worksheet was due the next day and I really wanted to look carefully at all of the classes and class reviews to find ones that both interested me and suite my french level. Not to mention I wanted to avoid the classes where the teacher was not accommodating to foreign students. In the end I had a list of about 25 classes that I was interested in. Must cut some out! For all of you students who have ever experienced "shopping period" for your classes, this was that amount of stress times three. (Foreign language, must not be late/leave early form any class you shop, none of the locations or times are posted yet!!!)

FRIDAY - 9/13

Unlucky Friday the 13th! (If you believe in that stuff anyway.)

Today I had had originally planned to go on the CUPA visit to Paris 3 la Sorbonne Nouvelle, but I couldn't because I had my first classe de thermodynamique at the UPMC (Université de Pierre Marie Currie).  It is renown as one of the top science universities in the world, which means several things:

1. It is more likely than not that I will learn the things that I am supposed it and that this class will count towards Yale credit and my major.
2. I get to take the metro even more because UPMC is separate from all the other universities where I will be taking my other classes.
3. If science/engineering classes weren't already hard enough, I get to take my thermo class en français, in an unfamiliar methodology system, competing with the top science students in France/ probably all of Europe. Joy.
4. DId I mention that I missed the first class because UPMC starts two weeks earlier than all of the other French universities? Yup. Already behind before I've even started. And now I have to seek out a French student in the class to copy their notes and get the programme that I have to send to my advise to OK the class. Ahhh!!!

First day of school outfit

Anyways, today's class was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Well, to be accurate, it was more of a recitation section where we worked on problems together with a professor leading us through the solutions. Although it was 10h47 when I poke my head into the classroom (class was supposed to start at 10h45), I was still the first one there. I was almost about to leave because I thought I had the wrong room, but the professor stopped me and asked me what room I was looking for, and told me that I was in the right place. The other students trickled in soon after and the seats began to fill up.

When I assumed that class had started, at first I had no idea what was happening. The professor handed out a packet that looked more or less like a problem set, and then stood off to the side for 10 minutes. After I had quickly flipped through the packet to see the contents, I felt overwhelmed by the sheer amount of material that we needed to get through in one 2 hour class. I sat there, concerned that so much time was being wasted, waiting for the professor to start the lecture like they normally would in the US. Nope. Not how it's done in France. Apparently the professor was giving everyone time to read through today's section (which was only the first page of a 5 page packet) and we were all supposed to starting working through the first problem. I only realized this after seeing many of the other students diligently working and had just enough time to write down the first few equations before he started to write the answer up on the board.

This was only the first mini heart attack I had over the course of the class. The second occurred when he said he started randomly picking on people in class to answer questions on the chalk board. Since I was floating delicately between trying not to panic and having half an understanding what was going on, I wanted no part of the front of the class exhibition. Thankfully, only one person ever went up to the board, and he seemed very patient and helpful when the student made a crucial error in solving method and was stuck.

At the end of class, I stayed after for a few minutes to ask the professor a couple of questions about the problem set and the class in general. The teachers at CUPA had instructed us to use perfect grammar and formal french (the vous form) when addressing the professor, and even then, they might not be so welcoming to foreign students. Worrying about what I was going to say made me more nervous than I had to be, which in turn probably made my french sound like gibberish. However, he was a lot nicer than I expected and even switched to english for a little bit when it was clear when I wasn't understanding what he was trying to explain to me.

Fresh Mirabelles

Dinner was mostly left-overs from the night before along with oven roasted tomatoes smothered in garlic olive oil. After dinner, he brought out a bowl of a fruit I had never seen before. They are called mirabelle plums, which is a specialty of the Lorraine region in France. (p.s. plum = undried prune) They were super juicy just like a regular plum, but much more sweet and with a softer flesh. I should get an award for single handedly eating the majority of that bowl. 

Here, I've include a couple of photos showing where I live. My house is located right on the northern end of the 20ième arrondissement. I live on a street called Cité du labyrinthe,located a less wealthy part of Paris where there are many minorities living in the area. I pass by this alleyway to the basketball courts every morning where the walls are full of graffiti. Although it can be considered the ghettos, I have never felt unsafe while walking around, and there are always plenty of children playing in the streets.