Midterm

Pictures from Dijon are now up...but I have a oral midterm to study for!

Beginning of Second Quarter

Alright - so my only excuse is my horrible internet...but that's a pretty good excuse if you knew how horrible the internet was here! I'm currently in the process of uploading my pictures to my last post, so you should check that out!

*Mentally rewinds to last Sunday*

Sunday was full of studying for my two quizzes/tests, so that's not so interesting.

Monday I think I did rather well on the history test with just a few blanks, and I did pretty well on my French quiz with just two or three questions wrong. After class I walked around the shops trying to find a coat but having no luck.

Monday was the first day with my new professor, an old Romanian man who finds unlimited passion in life and who speaks in class as if he is telling a story, speaking softly at times, loudly at others, and laughing at his own comments. A really funny, interesting, and lovely man, but a little hard to listen to for more than two hours straight. I like him a lot though because he is not a typical UC professor, who makes the class talk the whole time.

What I hate about UC is that all I listen to are what other students think. I didn't come here for that. I came here to learn from UC professors, to learn facts and scholarly thought, not what Mr. or Ms. Know-it-all thinks. This is why Pavel, my current teacher, is high on my 'professor list.'

I've also started writing down his really insane comments...

Pavel: "All of us should eat cereal in the morning...with milk...AND EAT A VITAMIN!"

Pavel: "Kant is nicer than I am. All I see when I look inside me is a desire to eat an eclair."

Tuesday was a full day of classes. After classes I stayed at school, working to set up for an event at the nearby library and later take it all down, all to earn 30 euros. Success!!

Wednesday was more classes again. Afterwards I stayed for a visit from Peter Brooks (really famous, including directing Lord of the Flies!) and his troop of actors performing scenes from a new play entitle "11 and 12." It was pretty good and had a really interesting incorporation of movement, music, and a dramatic story. It was a little annoying because I could tell a lot of my classmates know nothing about theater, but that's a whole other story. It was really cool to be able to see Brooks though and finally get in some theater in Paris.

Pavel in class: "Poison is like vegetable...you have to eat them fresh."

Thursday was great because I only had one class - yay!

Pavel: "Don't laugh, don't laugh. I KNOW you are corrupt with those pastries!"

Pavel: (Speaking on pastries) "Virtue. On this one I would clearly be executed." "When I was your age I was ready to be shot right away."

Pavel: (Speaking on Burke's ideas) "I would like to unscrew my head and put it under my arm like in a Picasso painting. But for right now my head is here."

Pavel: "We are not perfect human beings and we will not be perfect for...the next two weeks. So be good."
After class Melanie and I went to the Rodin Museum, which I've been wanting to go to ever since I got here. The weather was absolutely beautiful and the museum had some outdoor exhibitions as well as two buildings full of sculptures.
Melanie took some really funny pictures of the two of us posing with the statues, so once she uploads them I will include some of them here. (I took minimal pictures due to battery conservation.)
What was really cool about the museum is that it was amazing to wonder how one single guy could sculpt so many things! It was also cool because he sculpted in a process and they had pieces of the same concept at the museum and then the final outcomes, which was really cool.

My favorite piece was one with a man and a woman together. I don't know why I liked it that much, but it evoked a feeling from me and I actually felt like there was a story behind it. Really quite amazing.
We also saw the famous "The Thinker" (which started my weekend of Touristic Obligation...as you will see alter).
After the museum Melanie and I separated and I walked through the Garden of the Tuileries. It was interesting in the fact that they had older sculptures but also had a lot of modern art exhibitions throughout the gardens, a mixture of the old and new.
When I was walking next to the pond there were these umbrella-shaped constructions in the water and I didn't know what they were until a heard the sound of a percussion instrument. From what I guessed (although I don't know for sure), I think someone threw a rock and I think the shapes in the pond were actually cymbals.
The garden also had these silver foam monster/dinosaur-ish heads...which were a little creepy. Some were scary looking, others just really funny.
After the Tuileries I had planned to go to Pere Lachaise, a really famous cemetery in Paris, but I decided I didn't have too much time, so instead I walked around the Louvre, which I hadn't been around during the daytime and then walked below the bridges and onto Pont des Arts, supposedly the best bridge-view of the city (I think others are better), and one of the scenes for that French song I posted a few days ago. The weather was so nice and the walk was a really peaceful experience.
I came back home and cooked myself some lunch/dinner before heading off with one of my group members Sara to our conversation session. We would have gotten there on time if we hadn't taken the wrong branch of the same Metro train...twice. After we finally got to our group our conversation assistant took us to a bar...but conversation was not productive at all and I didn't learn too much French, so it was kind of a waste of my time. Oh well.

After conversation I decided to head to bed because the next day was to be a huge excursion to Chateaux de Chantilly!

And all of this I will make a separate post later. I have some work to do first. =)

Dijon

Large absence again - sorry!

First and foremost, I remember now what I did last Sunday. I went to the Opera! I was a little disappointed in the Opera Bastille building itself, but I suppose it was unique among the Opera Houses I have seen (that doesn't include many, unfortunately). It was very modern, to be sure.
I went with a few classmates on an assigned trip to see 'The Barber of Seville,' a very Sweeney-Toddish story. The problem with the opera was that it was Italian with French subtitles. I really wish it was in French, I mean hey, come on. Yet the entire experience was a test for me, and I went back and forth trying to listen to the lyrics themselves and see if I could understand some of them with my Spanish background while also reading the subtitles and see how much I knew. While most people complained they didn't understand anything, I don't think they really tried all that hard, because I was able to understand a good number of things!

As for a theater piece, I was not a big fan at all. The director decided to go the overplayed/overtheaterical route, and although it times this was very funny and very pretty to look at, it also stopped me from divulging myself in the story and music. The group movements were choreographed, at the end one of the guys took off his costume to display his soccer uniform and then kicked around a soccer ball while the rest of the cast waved French flags (something to do with the French being in the soccer finals or something - completely unnecessary, to hell with national pride in an opera, and it's an Italian opera for goodness sakes!), and general silliness. It's an opera for goodness sake, not a Disney musical!

However, this opera had either the best set construction I have yet to see in an opera, or the second best (with the Lyric's performance of 'Carmen' - my first opera). They had really cool sand dunes, a beautiful palace, a rug/pillow lined gigantic room, and a balcony and gazebo. At the end the lovers ran away into the sand dunes and a bunch of trees sprung up from nowhere. I guess that was kind of cool, the crowd loved it, but I found it completely unnecessary, once again. The costumes were pretty good though.

Singing wise I was not as impressed as I have been in the past. In fact, I have been even more impressed with the professional singers at my school than those at this opera. The girl and her love were pretty good...and yeah. Overall it was quite good, and I'm glad I went, but I do wish I could have understood it better!

Okay, so now I left off my last post all the way back on Tuesday! Time to catch up.

On Wednesday I basically just had class and then came home to study for my final, and I even hosted a small study group in my room. Study, study, study!

On Thursday the final didn't go too bad. We had to define some things and then write two in-class essays, and it all went okay except the last essay didn't go that well...but I'm not going to think about it right now. It didn't go bad, so that's acceptable.

I came back home on Thursday, made some pasta, and then went to the cheaper grocery store here (yay, I found one!) and bought some couscous, olive oil, curry powder, pasta, and frozen green beans. I'm excited to be able to cook with olive oil now...except I need to get some actual vegetables, like some yummy garlic and eggplant.

Thursday night I stayed up late getting caught up with my tv shows, and then packed for Dijon, and finally went to bed.

On Friday morning we all met up in the lobby and headed toward the Bercy train station to catch our train to Dijon. Since we got a cheaper train the ride was pretty long, almost three hours. I did a little work and tried to sleep, but it was very cold so I wasn't too productive.
As we exited the train at the Dijon train station we were met with mass chaos, smoke filled tunnels, and people frantically trying to see where to go. We did not know what was going on. A fire? Bulldozer? Smoke bomb? It was scary. We try to walk quickly towards the exit, smoke and depris everywhere, and see that a number of people are in one of the tunnels burning hay.
We finally exit amidst a huge crowd of protesters, all beeping the horns on the tractors, waving flags, carrying hay, and firing flare guns or some other really loud things amidst other pyrotechnic things. Not really sure.

I'm still trying to figure out why everything was happening, but apparently a similar thing was happening in Paris at the time and they had to close down the Champs-Elsyees. Anyways, we walked through the boisterous crowd and tried to find where we wanted to go.

Meanwhile, I was amazed and furious all at the same time. I was furious because these protesters were protesting some type of government action (duh, the Sarkozy flags), but they were endangering not only us and other tourists, but their own people. What if someone had a breathing problem or something, and what about children and elderly people, all who were stuck in that underground train station with smoke and debris and a sense of panic? What the hell? Fine, burn hay outside. I don't care. But to cut off access and exits and...I have a serious problem with those people. I don't care what their cause is. They are ignorant and dangerous and I will not support people who do those kind of things. Infuriating!
As we attempt to walk towards the tourism office, we pass by groups upon groups of policemen. First we walk by a group of riot police with shields, waiting if anything goes too wrong. We then passed by other, smaller groups, and these guys had massive armor on. I had to admit that at this point in time I was not mad or anything. Instead I was awed and I really wanted to stay because they were starting a parade. It really wasn't a dangerous party of people, it's just they made a really bad decision at the train station. Outside of the train station was really just a boisterous crowd of farmers.
Anyways, we all wanted to stay and watch what happened, but Emily was freaked out so we all followed her to the tourism office, where we gathered some maps and tried to find a hotel.
Leaving the chaos behind we went into a cafe where I got a sandwich with tomatoes and goat's cheese. I've realized some of the cheese doesn't make my chest feel that good, so I think I have to stop eating some of it, especially their goat's cheese. Oh well.
After lunch we started looking for the hotels on our list and ended up at Le Jacquemart, where Emily, Melanie and I split a room while Lloyd and Benny shared another. After dropping our stuff off at our rooms we began our exploration of Dijon.

Dijon's major street is covered with flags with crests while some of the smaller streets have business signs that remind me of the taverns in Lord of the Rings and otherwise a general medievaly feel. I loved that.
Actually, I found Dijon far more charming and quaint than Paris. What I had hoped to find in Paris, the typical cute French homes with balconies with red flowers and the small streets with pretty street lamps I found in Dijon.
We basically just walked around a lot in the beginnings, sometimes following the owl signs guiding us toward landmarks and such, always viewing beautiful buildings and beautiful streets with very cute stores selling onto the street.
We then went into Dijon's Art museum, which mostly had medieval paintings...which are quite brutal, but really interesting. Their tombs were especially remarkable. Mostly though, the museum was a wonderful escape from the bitter cold! What was also interesting was watching a group of students sketching some of the paintings there. I found that even more interesting than the paintings themselves!
We then went into this very cozy cafe self-run by one woman. I had my first French hot chocolate, which was very delicious and had a lot of whipped cream.
The cafe itself was absolutely perfect and we stayed there for probably two or so hours. It was very quaint!
More walking and discovering until we decided to sit down at a restaurant and splurge for dinner. We got exactly what Dijon is famous for (except for the mustard): escargot and boeuf bourgignon. I also got a glass of Kir, which is cassis syrup and white wine, the drink of Dijon, which was pretty delicious.
The escargot were very good, and a lot cheaper here than in Paris. Although I probably wouldn't get them again due to the cost/amount of food ratio, they were very good and not ridiculously odd at all.
The boeuf bourgignon was also fantastic, and I was very happy to finally get some veggies here. The sauce was a lot richer and saucy and the meat less fatty than at the other place I had this dish. This also had pearl onions - yummy! Perhaps not as tender, but still simply delicious.
Emily and I couldn't decide what dessert to get with our prefix menu, so we decided to share the apple tart (ish okay) and a chocolate plate (decadent and perfect, except so rich that it was good we shared). Yum!
By then we were done with being cold, so we headed back to the hotel and slept for the night.

We slept a very long time and finally headed out the next morning around 11. Again it was really cold (I have to go buy a thicker coat soon!). It took us awhile to find somewhere we wanted to eat, and ended up at a really interesting place where you eat all of your meals out of glass bowls...it is already made, they just heat it up. That doesn't sound fantastic, but the food was pretty good.
The first dish was pumpkin soup, which was absolutely fabulous. Their table bread here was also fantastic. The prefix also came with veal stew (again, yay for veggies!), which was pretty good, and some creme caramel. Pretty yummy.
After lunch we went into some museum of Burgundy history, which had a lot of wax figures of random people, a lot of really cool 'shops' from the past, and some not-so interesting everything else.
After this we headed to the Museum of Sacred Art, which was very tiny, but interesting in the fact that it was in a church...

We then hit the other famous tea house in Dijon, where I had a decadent hot orange chocolate along with my macaroon I bought at a well-known macaroon store. It was a cassis macaroon and...interesting. I really wish for my first macaroon I had gotten chocolate, but since Dijon is famous for cassis I got cassis, and although ish-interesting, it was pretty darn yummy! Meanwhile, the hot chocolate was simply divine!
We walked along some more, going into really quaint and interesting shops. I bought a little jar of regular Dijon mustard, and a little one of cassis mustard. Each for less than a euros. It's hard to wait to open them, but I will bring them home after Paris. Yum yum!
After walking around we finally headed back to the train station (hay-less, debris-less, and not so chaotic), and then finally headed home...and then I slept!

But now I have to study for two tests...so I will upload the rest of the pictures later!

sunset + wine + eiffel tower + good company = paris loveliness

Agh! I apologize for my absence, but things here are pretty crazy and always really busy!

Saturday...

On Saturday Emily, Lloyd, Melanie and I went to Philippe's wine store (the guy that taught during the wine tasting), and he recommended a very fruity wine that I splurged on (well, it was pretty cheap) and will hold on to until probably the final week of Paris.

I then went home and attempted to work, but then really needed to go outside and enjoy the weather so I went to the Les Halles shops again and finally bought a relatively cheap pair of nice/water resistant/comfortable boots. These have definitely come in handy so far!

I then quickly went home, bought a bottle of very cheap wine, and met up with Benny, Lloyd, Emily, and Paul at the Eiffel Tower (unfortunately we lost Melanie...). We sat near the Eiffel for an hour or two talking and drinking the bottle of wine, watching the sun set and the lights go on at the Eiffel. It was a really pretty and a very fun experience!
We then walked a bit and sat down to wait for the Eiffel to sparkle, which it does on the hour. We took a few pictures and once it had sparkled we finally headed out to grab some dinner.
Dinner was okay, not great. We all got steak (very tough) with fries (very yummy) and some tiramisu (not great). Although the food was just sub-par, it was still nice to have dinner with everyone and to enjoy the nice night (albeit it was a little bit cold).
After dinner we went back home and sleep was lovely!

Sunday...I don't have the best memory, but I don't think I did much on Sunday, although to be honest I don't really remember. All my days blur into one around here, especially while still talking to people back in Chicago. If I remember if I did anything interesting I will let you know, but I don't think I did...

On Monday was class...the first day so far in which I have not participated in class, partly from being tired, mostly from not being very interested in the readings. After French class I took a trip to the grocery store, where I picked up some tomato sauce for my pasta, some chicken bouillon cubes for soup, some yogurt, some salt and pepper, and some plums.

I dropped everything back at home, read a little bit, and then went back to school with my friends to the "Meet and Greet," where we met French students from various schools and where I made sure to eat a lot of the little appetizers so that I would be full enough to not have to make dinner. I met Julian and Victor, Victor who had lots to say and who was fun to talk to and Julian who was quiet and didn't have too much to say. Mostly I just ate though =).

Today in Civilization class my professor decided to start class and conversation off with one of my discussion topics, and then continued onto yet another, and then finally went on to some other questions from other people. Although it was a bit embarrassing because I was in the limelight, it was also exciting because my questions/discussions never get presented as interesting enough to talk about in class or anything. I participated again other than that too, so for those reasons class was interesting today.

After a very long day of classes (10-4:30), I did some civ homework and then brought tabbouleh to a potluck, where I had lots of potatoes, some more couscous, fried bananas, chicken, a piece of decadent calamari, and a few glasses of wine, staying a little later than I anticipated because of eating/talking so much.

And now I just finished my homework and have to start studying for my final on Thursday (and then on top of that I have a huge French quiz and another civ test on Monday - egh!) Yet Melanie, Emily, Lloyd, Benny and I are going to Dijon this weekend (I finally made up my mind to suck up the time/money situation and just decide to go and have a good experience), so that should be fun.

I'll hopefully put pictures up and continue another post on Thursday after my final (but before I leave for Dijon on Friday), so...yup!

A tout de suite!

Versailles, Falafel, and Boeuf Bourgignon

Okay, let's see....

Thursday I only had class till 12:15, so afterward I went home, had some food, talked to some people, and then headed to a wine and cheese tasting back at school. It was all pretty good and a really fun time.
Afterwards I had my conversation, where we went to an Indian restaurant/bar and tried to learn a few new things in French. It was a pretty cool place and a nice change from the usual Parisian cafe.

I woke up early the next day to try to see a public Fashion Show in the huge department store in Paris, but unfortunately I had no luck in finding it. However, with a suggestion from my friend Jackie I next went on a search for falafels. Little did I know, but I had actually listed the place I went to in my list of Paris restaurants I wanted to try.

L'As du Falaffel had the BEST falafel I've ever had, with mouth watering falafels, decadent eggplant, an amazing hummus/tahini sauce, cabbage instead of cucumbers (yummy!), and tomatoes. Simply delicious.
After this I went back home, took a quick nap, sent a postcard, and then headed to school again for our trip to Versailles. Although the weather said the day was supposed to be sunny, it was far from being so.
Versailles was huge, but unfortunately only a small part is open to the public. It was pretty intense, with a lot of decor, paintings, the pretty cool hall of mirrors, and such, but I still felt drawn back to the intensity of Chambord. Our tour guide was nice, but unfortunately spent time on insignificant trivia rather than history, so that was a little disappointing.
We then took a walk through the gardens for a bit (which were my favorite part!), but decided we would all come back another day so we could enjoy the beauty with the help of the sun...


Although I wasn't very hungry I joined everyone for dinner, yet as we arrived at the Saint Michel stop it was pouring, so we had to run around in the rain trying to find a place to eat.

The restaurant we chose was spectacular. There are four things I really want to eat here: French Onion soup, Boeuf Bourgignon, the fish in Julie and Julia, and Creme Brulee. Well, except for the fish, all three were available for a relatively cheap prefix price, so almost all of us ordered that.

The French Onion soup wasn't as good as the other place's, but the Boeuf Bourgignon was exceedingly fabulous and the creme brulee was quite good. Success!
After dinner we decided to go home, and although we considered going back out we ended up just staying at the dorms and chilling a bit.

And thus my weekend continues!