Monday - 9/23
Today is the day when most of the Paris universities start classes. In the afternoon, I had my literature class called Lieux de mémoire dans Paris et dans la littérature française. It is held at St. Denis, a lovely 40 mins of metro away. Because the room locations were not published on line, I had to arrive early and run to the bulletin board of information to find out where class was held. There was some hold up on the subway and all of the extra time I had prepared for myself to find the classroom disappeared, but thankfully the room was located one floor below the bureau for literature and I wasn't late to class.
Overall, I really liked the class and I will definitely be sticking with it. Professor Mégevand is really nice and his French is fairly easy to understand. Also, this is much more than your average literature course. With a focus on place and memory, it crosses over into interdisciplinary studies of culture and literature. As part of the class, there will be 5 field trips to different areas in Paris, which hold a lot of "memory." Two other CUPA students chose this class as well.
There two assignments, one of which was a devoir sur la table, which basically means in class test and in this case - a three hour long essay. He has had both CUPA and other foreign exchange students before, quite a few are ERASMUS (*see below) students as well, so we have the option of handing in a different assignment instead. In his words "If you are an anglophone, don't choose to do the sur la table. Trust me, you won't do well." The other assignment is an end of term paper about a place in Paris full of memory. I'm really looking forward to this one because he said it can be a creative piece with a historical portion, and it is suggested that we visit the place a few times and really get to know it inside and out.
*ERASMUS = European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students
It is basically a way for European students to study or have an internship in another EU country for 3 months to a year without added tuition and guaranteed credit transfer. It is available in 33 countries and over 5 million students have taken part since its establishment in 1987.
Tuesday - 9/24
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| Trunk of supplies |
I didn't have class today so I helped out Frédéric with his art installation instead. This weekend, from Friday to Monday, the artists of the Ménilmontant region will be participating in an annual open studio art festival called Les Portes Ouvertes. During these four days, visitors will be able to dive into the world of art and enter the workshops of the participating artists to see their studios, ask questions, and maybe purchase some pieces to take home.
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| Halfway through painting |
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| Frédéric in action |
My job of the day was to touch up on some of the background stripes for the piece. He miscalculated the size of the poster so there was this huge blank rectangle underneath the painting. All I had to do was continue the stripes up to the drawing. A menial, but nevertheless fun task.
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Antipasti: so much yumminess
hiding under those greens |
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| Frédéric's sample platter and beer |
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| Giant rock crab |
After all our hard work, we had lunch at a cafe in the square called Le Midi à la Laverie. I had the anti pasta plate with grilled eggplant, roasted red peppers, artichokes, tomatoes, slices of Parmesan draped over the top and drizzled with a bright garlic basil olive oil.
For dinner we had stone crab, which paired beautifully the wine I brought back from Obernai.
Wednesday - 9/25
Wednesday afternoon, I had my first class with Michel about Islam in France. I'm not usually one to take a history class because I rarely enjoy learning about history, so I even surprised myself by choosing this class. I just got a really good vibe from Michel during orientation classes; he was understandable and engaging. Plus, it was nice to have a class with other CUPA kids and check in at HQ once a week. Even though it was the first day, there were a ton of notes to be taken: dates, people, places, the whole sha-bang. Let's see how long to takes for me to regret this decision, haha.
Dinner was pot au feu which is a bunch of veggies and meat all stewing in one big pot. Quite a homey and delicious meal :)
To the bf: happy 8 months! <3
Thursday - 9/26
Went to Le Ptit Fripe for a little thrift shopping action with Aly and Amanda. Amanda found this super cute vintage polka dot skirt for only 7 euro.
Friday - 9/27
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| First thing I saw |
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| Beautiful day at Chartres |
Right after my TD for thermo this morning, I hopped on a train to go Chartres with Aly, Cerise, and Gracie. I looked like a crazy person running to make my connections in the subway and it did not help that I broke one of the straps on my sandals. However, all of it was worth it because I made it on the 1:06 pm train right when the doors were closing, and 20 seconds before the train started pulling out of the station. I got just over an hour's worth of rest before I arrived at Chartres to meet up with the other three who had arrived earlier for a bite to eat.
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| South entrance |
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| Immaculate detail |
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| Choir screen |
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| Setting up for the concert |
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| Statue within mass hall |
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| Prayer area |
Chartres is famous for having one of the most beautiful cathedrals in France and it certainly did not disappoint. I am always amazed at how intricately detailed the cathedrals are, especially considering the time period they were built in. People in that time value aesthetics above feasibility. Without modern day technologies, these grand architectural feats took time, labour, and above all money. It also just so happened that on the day of our visit, there was going to be an orchestra concert that night. They were in the middle of setting up for the concert while we were visiting and there was a bassist who was warming up. The sounds of the bass echoed and filled the expanse of the cathedral, it was a glorious sound. We wanted to stay and watch it but the concert didn't start until 8:45 pm and we wanted to head back to Paris before then.
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| South facing rose window |
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| Celestial windows up top |
Other note worthy details of the cathedral include the the stained glass windows and floor labyrinth. Most of the 176 installed stained glass windows date back to the beginning of the 13th century. Three of the panels are 12th century Romanesque glass that survived the fire of 1195. Most of the windows depict scenes from the bible. The ones closer to the viewer have more details while the higher celestial windows have bolder designs.
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| Walking the labyrinth |
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| North facing rose window |
The floor labyrinth in the cathedral's west wing. This type of labyrinth is not unique to the Chartres cathedral but it the most well known of its kind. The labyrinth can be walked as a form of searching for enlightenment and finding oneself. It is also commonly assumed to represent the long tortuous route it takes for pilgrims to visit this and other cathedrals during the medieval period. The labyrinth is also used for Easter rituals.
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The modest entryway to the
stain glass museum |
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| Decoratve glass |
Besides the cathedral, Chartres is also well known for its stain glass and perfume. The obvious choice was to go to the stain glass museum because who really wants their noses to be attacked by aromas? (like walking into a Bath & Body Works) The museum was split into to levels, the upper level had descriptions and examples of historical stained glass from the medieval period while the lower level had a modern exhibit of stained glass from German artists.
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| Emblem |
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"Praying Hands"
- Markus Lüperz |
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| Stain glass of the cathedral |
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| Stain glass as a beautiful watercolor |
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"Swimming"
- Hella Santarossa |
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| Hella Santarossa |
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| Wish I could take them home! |
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| Bernhard Huber |
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| Wilhelm Buschulte |
As you can see, there is a big difference between old vs. modern styles of stained glass. What is important to note is the purpose of each type. Most, if not all, stained glass created before the 20th century destined to be put up in a church or shrine somewhere. Therefore, there were restraints on both the content and aesthetics of the glass. While some of the modern day stained glass pieces were also destined for a religious institution, many artists have chosen this medium purely as a form of artistic expression. I find results of the different kinds of techniques used to be quite incredible. It is almost like painting with glass.
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"I know I can't touch you because
you are a stray, but you are so cute!" |
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| Marzipan fruits |
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| Taking a little break on the bridge |
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| Gorgeous day |
After the stained glass museum, we took advantage of one of the few days where it wasn't raining and started for the walking tour. The entire pedestrian route meanders though the heart of the city, around the cathedral, and circles across the river and around the perimeter to most of the points on interest in the city. The other girls weren't really up for walking the whole thing, so we improvised and made up our own route that followed the path a little bit across the river and towards the north side of the city to see some "panoramic views" according to the map. We chose a weekday specifically so that we wouldn't have to compete with a lot of other tourists. We chose right, because we seemed to have all the little roads to ourselves. Along the way we passed by a candy shop and a cat. Cerise really likes cats.
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One of the many bridges we
crossed. Was it the wrong one? |
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| Mosaic tiles on the ground |
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| View from the "panoramic view" |
We were really enjoying ourselves and all of happy and dandy until halfway through, when we got lost. Also, the signs that supposedly pointed to the walking tour pointed in every possible direction and were really not that helpful. At one point were were looking for the place with the panoramic view, but when we thought we found it, it turned out the be the driveway of someone's house. I'm not sure if it was exactly what we were looking for, but it had an amazing view, and in the semi-frustrated state that we were in, we weren't about to go looking around for another one.
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Not sure if this was the garden
we were looking for... |
Only semi-confident that we knew where we were, we aimed for a garden marked on the map that was along route back to the cathedral. Alas, we never found it. But we did find this little monument at the base of the hill. If you look carefully and the photo (to the left), most of the "u"s are replaced with "v"s except one. Are there rules to latin spellings like this? Anyways, we eventually made our way back to out starting point at the tourist's information building and that marked the end of the Chartres walking tour adventures.
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| Chocolate ice cream |
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| Chartres's train station |
A wee bit tired from our trekking up and down the sloped hills of Chartres, we hunted for a cafe where we could sit down with milkshakes/ice cream. There happened to be the perfect spot right next to the cathedral with a gorgeous view of the sunset, so we plopped ourselves down and ordered a couple of bowls of ice cream. We laughed and joked and conversed right up to the minute when I had to dash and catch the train home. Overall, it was a splendid day at Chartres with some wonderful girls!
Saturday - 9/28
I was a bum today and didn't really go out. Sometime you just need a day to relax and recuperate. Frédéric was busing welcoming people in his studio for the Portes Ouvertes all day and I think Missaratou thought it was weird that I didn't go out all day.
The dinner situation was awkward. I can usually communicate with Frédéric just fine, although he sometimes laughs at my broken french, but with Missaratou, it is always a bit more difficult. She has an African french accent, if such a thing exists, so I had trouble understanding her. Then, after asking her to repeat a few times, and feeling too embarrassed to ask her to repeat again, I just nod and smile and say something else. Anyways, she asked me about dinner and if I was going out. I told her no, I think I am going to eat at the house. And then she said something about needing to prepare something, or that she had nothing prepared for dinner. (not really sure which) Feeling uncomfortable, I told her not to worry about it and that I would figure out the dinner situation on my own.
I wasn't really considering eating at a restaurant because of all the people smoking and not wanting to spend so much money, so in the end I just went to Casino a couple blocks away and bought a baguette, some lettuce, smoked salmon, and a box of granola. I brought it back to my room and I had a nice little meal by myself while catching up on some Top Chef Masters.
Sunday - 9/29
I went to Le Palais Galleria to see the exhibition of fashion designer Azzedine Alaïa. On the way over, I passed by the Menil'fest with a free concert going on. There were also stands of vendors selling food and trinkets (probably taking advantage of all the people in the area for the portes ouverts) I stopped to listen for a few minutes before continuing on my way.
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| 40 mins of waiting |
The Alaïa exhibit is open until January, but the first weekend has free admission. Being in a city like Paris, I should have known what free admission to a new exhibit would entail, but I was not mentally prepared for the number of people who would have the same idea as me. The line to get into the exhibition, and the sheer amount of people in the exhibit itself was mind blowing. Even though the line stretched an entire block (you can't even see the other end in the picture) the wait wasn't too bad.
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| Jardin behind the galle |
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| Le Palais Galleria |
Alaïa's work is well known for showing off the woman's body, especially her back. He also liked to work with different textiles because of their texture and the way they draped and created form around the woman's body.We were technically not supposed to take any pictures, but I snuck a couple to show you guys. Oh what I do for my blog!
I went to Le Palais Galleria to see the exhibition of fashion designer Azzedine Alaïa. On the way over, I passed by the Menil'fest with a free concert going on. There were also stands of vendors selling food and trinkets (probably taking advantage of all the people in the area for the portes ouverts) I stopped to listen for a few minutes before continuing on my way.
The Alaïa exhibit is open until January, but the first weekend has free admission. Being in a city like Paris, I should have known what free admission to a new exhibit would entail, but I was not mentally prepared for the number of people who would have the same idea as me. The line to get into the exhibition, and the sheer amount of people in the exhibit itself was mind blowing. Even though the line stretched an entire block (you can't even see the other end in the picture) the wait wasn't too bad.
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