Paris Week 4 (9/30 - 10/6)

Monday - 9/30 

Cutie pie <3 (4 years ago)

So tall now

First off, happy birthday to my little brother Oliver who turned 15 today! They grow up so fast :)

In other news, we had our first visit for the Lieux de Mémoire class. We had originally intended to go see a church next to the Panthéon, however, it was closed on Mondays. Instead, we ended up seeing part of the Philippe Auguste wall, the Arènes de Lutèce, Eglise Saint-Nicolas du Chardonnet, and Eglise Saint Severin. 

Over 10 feet tall!

photo cred: Frédérik

After class, I went to see Frédéric's studio for the Portes Ouvertes de Ménilmontant. Today was the last day of a four-day artist studio open house event. Frédéric's studio is attached the the apartment and the first thing you pass when you enter the gate. For the past few day's I've seen a lot of people stop by so I was excited that it was finally my turn. In addition to drawings and paintings, he has sculptures of every size in there. Some of his biggest works are these huge tree trunks that are carved and erected like pillars. It was really cool to ask him questions about how he made different things and more importantly why. 

I also met the guy who stayed in my room over the summer. He was here doing a film internship for a few months and got to know Frédéric and Missaratou the same way I did. Or am doing right now. He seemed to be really interested in my background and had an endless stream of questions. I wish my french was better so that we could have genuine conversations and not have it feel so one sided (with me struggling to express myself). The three of us ended up talking well past midnight. I hope he comes back again for another meal so we can catch up and I can tell him about my film class. And to ask him what his name is again haha. 

Tuesday - 10/1

I went to my first film class at St. Denis. There were about 60 people squeezed a little tiny basement room with a projector screen. Only about half of the seats had table space and I was lucky enough to get one of them. The rest of the class was squished against the walls and in the aisles. Class started about 20 minutes late because the first two projectors they tried to set up were broken and only showed the blue screen of death. This was perfect time for us to bake in the inferno room and get to know our neighbors. The guy who was sitting next to me was Jean-Philipe. We hit it off pretty well. I found out that he is quite the movie buff. When he saw that I was an exchange student, he was very interested in my background and reason for studying in Paris. After finding out that I am not a film major and that this was my first film class, he was even more curious. French students begin specializing back in high school and begin to take classes specific to their career track from then on. Rarely would they find someone from another department taking their class. He promised to help me out with film analysis if I would help him practice english. I said it was a done deal. 

Foie gras - wasn't all that

Fried calamari with stuffing

Today was Missaratou's birthday so we had an extra special dinner: foie gras, squid, and molten chocolate cake. I can't say that I found the foie gras particularly exceptional in any way. Ratatouille will always be one of my favorites and the squid was delicious, as was the cake that had a gooey chocolatey center.

Ratatouille

and delectable molten center

Beautiful chocolate tart...

Wednesday - 10/2

The pyramid lighted up at night

My horrible double class Wednesdays was made better this week by my first CUPA spectacle - a concert at the Louvre. As part of our CUPA tuition we are able to choose 4 free tickets to performances for the semester. (I think I talked about my difficulties in choosing which 4 of the 16 options I wanted to see). However, after the tickets were distributed, there were some leftovers that were given on a first come first serve basis. In the end, I got an additional 6 tickets. Some are on back to back nights, but I am really excited for all of them none the less. 

Our CUPA row

Süssman was amazing on piano

Tonight's concert featured Christian Tetzlaff on the violin and Gunilla Süssman on the piano playing Schubert, Brahms, and Shostakovich. The first two were nice, but the real show stopping piece was Shosty. If any of you know about his orchestration The Firebird, this was in a similar eccentric style and very difficult. When the concert ended, the two were given well-deserved thunderous applause. At one point, people began to clap in unison, which I found super strange. I now know that this is the sign that the audience wants an encore. Ask and you shall receive. The night as a whole made  me wish I brought my violin to France because my fingers itched to play :(

Thursday - 10/3

This morning I experienced my first atelier (art class). The location of the studio was on an awkward line so taking the subway and walking there would take about the same amount of time ~ 30 mins. I chose to walk, partly because it my earliest class (at 9:30 am) and I needed a way to wake up, partly because it was a beautiful day and I wanted to explore more of Paris. When I got there, I was clearly the youngest in the class a a handful of decades. I was just grateful that Lucy, another CUPA student, was there with me.

I have never taken a figure drawing class before. My only exposure to it was "figure drawing fridays" in studio at in high school where the models were other students in the class, posing in a set up scene, and they were definitely fully clothed. In a "real" figure drawing class, the models are nude and have very few props. Our model today was Miriam who I'm going to put around 60 years of age. I actually felt quite comfortable drawing her, because the aim of the class is to study the body as if you had no idea what it was. I think the most important point of the day was: By forgetting everything you already know, or think you know, about the body, only then can you really draw what is in front of you.

My afternoon class was my back up class in case I didn't like the Intro to film on Tuesday. However, I had the worst time trying to find the classroom, and even when I eventually did, the professor was late and that just made it all the more confusing. The class was filled with facts and dates, and the film excerpts we watched were very very experimental  One of them was a 5 minute film titled Lights, where the cinematographer held the camera up to lights and shook it around to make patters and give us all motion sickness. I don't think I'm going to go back, but hey, that's what back up are for!

Friday  - 10/4

I finally bought my book for Islam class Le Coran et la Chair. I also got a cute black skirt at Tati, an inexpensive department store in the 18e. When you are abroad and have such a limited wardrobe, it is important to have staples to mix and match with a lot of different things. Dinner was and elegant spread of mussels cooked in a white wine sauce finished with creme fraiche.

Saturday - 10/6

Tonight was Nuit Blanche, a night of never ending arts where artists put up installations all over the city and studios and museums are open all night until the next morning. Most of the subway lines stay open until at least 2 am and lines 1 and 5 are open all night with free admission in the center of the city. I got together with what now seems like my normal CUPA group to explore the city and hopefully not return home too late. 

Crêpe with eggs

Smoked salmon and egg

Onion and cheese

Our impressive payment

We started the night off with dinner at the crêpe cafe where we had lunch on the first day of CUPA. It was cheap and delicious, the perfect mix for a student on a budget. Because everyone takes different classes at different universities, we don't often get to see each other during the week. As we were waiting for a certain someone who was running late, we exchanged stories about our host families, troubles with classes and talking to the professor, and other little anecdotes from our parisian lifes. In addition to our savory crêpes, we also got a bottle of hard cider, which I did not partake in. According to the resident hard cider expert, it was decent, but not very sweet. While paying the bill, we tried to get rid of all our coins when we paid so we left quite an impressive stack of them for the bill. 


Looking for a little bit of dessert, we went to the nearby Amarino gelato shop to get the girls some flower shaped yumminess. 

Our first destination of the night was the Republique area around the Seine River. I had downloaded a Nuit Blanche app with a google map of all the events for the night, but little did I know that the app would be rendered useless without internet connection. We ended up just following the crowds of people and ended up at the Notre Dame. There was food, lights, and lots of live entertainment. We also took a peek in the cathedral to find a movie playing. While around the Notre Dame region, we noticed that there were a lot of people where these kind of glow in the dark samsung buttons and some where holding flashing balloons. We decided that our next task was to find the source of these goodies and get some of our own. 

Hotel de Ville

Our wandering eventually brought us to the Hôtel de Ville, which was the headquarters for this region of Nuit Blanche. We saw right away where they were handing out the buttons so we rushed forth into the mob. At each station, there was a girl handing out buttons was individually cracking each one and sticking on the person. No wonder it was taking so long. I suppose this was a way for them to make sure people didn't make off with a whole handful of them, but this alternative was not much better. There was another much scarier mob of people for the balloons. Funnily enough, most (if not all) of the people who were fighting for balloons were teenagers or adults. I managed to get one, but the other girls weren't so lucky. 

Finally found the maps!

At the Notre Dame

After retrieving some maps and programs from the double-decker party bus, we tried to go to the event at Centre Pompidou, but the line was incredibly long. Perhaps it was because we were in the center of the city, but the whole atmosphere was really crazy. The amount of people and the drinking and smoking became rather overwhelming. We were disscussing the possibilities that the entire point of tonight was so that high schoolers could find an excuse to stay out all night and for it to be acceptable for people to drink in public and get wasted.

My little bow

We moved onto the Belleville-Ménilmontant area and saw a couple of art films. We also passed by a school that was hosting an interactive art show. The first interactive piece was a newspaper loom. Each person was to take a strip of newspaper and add it to the loom any way they wanted. Both Gracie and I chose to put ours up as little bows. The other interactive piece in the room was a giant sculpture of sewn pockets draped from the ceiling. Each person was supposed to write a little blurb on one of the cards and stick it into a pocket. I think the theme was "collective secrets" or shared thoughts." Something along those lines. I drew a picture of us on our first Nuit Blanche in Paris.

What a night!

In it goes!

It was around one o'clock in the morning when we decided to call it a night and we were proud of ourselves for staying up so late. After showing the girls where to get on the metro, it was a short walk back home and into my comfy bed for a good night's sleep.

Sunday - 10/6

Théâtre de Ville

Fezeka Youth Choir

Today I went to a South African concert at the Théâtre de Ville. There were a few other CUPA students there also. 
Our tickets were reserved by CUPA, but because they assigned seats as they handed you the ticket, I ended up in the way way back. But just as the show was starting and the ushers were trying to fill in the seats in front, so I ended up in the 8th or 9th row instead of all the way back in row W. 

Band of Cape Traditional Singers

Cape Traditional Singers

We were all clapping and dancing

The two groups that were performing were the Cape Traditional Singers and the Fezeka Youth Choir. The Cape Singers were more of an entertainment band with lots of dancing and laughter. It the kind of music you want to clap and tap your foot to. The youth choir sand would soul and their songs gave me goose bumps. For the final act, the two groups sang together and everyone was up and out of their seats, dancing and clapping. I left the theater with a smile on my face and renewed energy to tackle the week ahead!

First official week of classes and Chartres (9/23 -9/29)

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

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. 

Halfway through painting

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. 

Antipasti: so much yumminess
 hiding under those greens

Frédéric's sample platter and beer

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

First thing I saw

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. 

South entrance

Immaculate detail

Choir screen

Setting up for the concert

Statue within mass hall

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.

South facing rose window

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. 

Walking the labyrinth

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.  

The modest entryway to the
stain glass museum

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. 

Emblem

"Praying Hands"
- Markus Lüperz

Stain glass of the cathedral

Stain glass as a beautiful watercolor

"Swimming"
- Hella Santarossa

Hella Santarossa

Wish I could take them home!

Bernhard Huber

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.  

"I know I can't touch you because
you are a stray, but you are so cute!"

Marzipan fruits

Taking a little break on the bridge

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.

One of the many bridges we
 crossed. Was it the wrong one?

Mosaic tiles on the ground

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. 

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.  

Chocolate ice cream

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.

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.

Jardin behind the galle

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!

The Eiffel Tower is so close!

The table spread

Fried plantains

Cucumber and pepper salad

Sunday night, Frédéric and Missaratou hosted a small party at their house tonight, seven people in total. We had a real african meal of tilapia with fried plantains, cucumber and red bell pepper salad,and an unidentified grain. The real african part was eating with our hands. You are supposed you use only your right hand to grab things and put it in you mouth. It was quite fun to get down an dirty. Anything you don't want to eat can be thrown in the table covered with butcher paper for easy clean up.

Cutting of the fish

My fish head

Couscous-like grain

Green plums

Dessert I'm going to call grain pudding

Dessert was something along the lines of a rice pudding but thicker and with a grain that was like tiny balls of tapioca. I also had some super sweet green plums, a variety I have not found in the US.