no me recordo
[the title of this post is brought to you by french class. it's some incorrect spanish, and i was rather disgruntled when i heard it. i mean, come ON people, if you're going to speak spanish during french class, at least do it properly!]
so we left off with my re-arrival in paris. mia wrote some about nuit blanche, but to review it happened october 1, the night we arrived. we had pizza and wine at the restaurant that we subsequently decided was "our" restaurant. the waiter called mia "my love" and he offered to be our dessert, and provided helpful directions on how to get to the center of paris for nuit blanche. go read what mia said about it, since review is allowed but repetition is lame.
a day-by-day recount of the week would also be lame, so let me just comment on a few things. i've already mentioned my room. what else, classes? i'm taking three classes right now: french 150-1 for beginners, french 150-2 for beginners who have had some french (i sit in on that one), and civ. french is taught by karen, who is cool. the 150-1 class is fortunately starting to pick up, because i freaking need a vocabulary! as for 150-2, some things are a bit over my head, but that is to be expected. civ is rather yawnish right now, mostly because--fascinating as they are--reading operational rules for monasteries isn't quite my idea of a good time (thanks, benedict). the professor, jean-luc or something like that, is a french dude whose english is fluent but not natural. as he said on the first day of class, "listening to my english will improve your french." it's a bit difficult for me to focus on what he's saying; his speaking rhythm doesn't seem to sit right in my ear. maybe his sentences are a little too cumbersome or prepositional, or maybe i'm not into the dark ages... but c'est la vie. not that i don't like him, but i'm definitely looking forward to our professor for the second quarter of civ, who introduced himself to us at a reception. and the course is getting better, since we're studying more contemporary (i.e. interesting) things with each new day.
so, that's class. as for life, i've been hanging out with mia a lot (surprise!). perhaps the most stereotypically tourist-in-paris thing was drinking wine at the foot (feet?) of the eiffel tower. there've been night clubs and hookah bars and restaurants galore. oh, and who can forget shopping: my formerly sparse wardrobe has gained two skirts (skirts, i know!), two shirts, a sweater, a pair of pants, a bra (that was rather hard to find--french women, apparently, are all a- and b-cups), and pointy black shoes (yes, the kind i swore i'd never want). and of course there's been lots of wandering, lots of wine, and lots of baguettes.
the program also includes weekly conversation sessions with a native speaker who is, as kett put it, paid to be our friend. but i like juliette, my conversation leader, and the rest of my group, so i don't object. we had japanese yesterday, and we're meeting outside moulin rouge next week. in other chilling-with-the-french news, karen (the french teacher) had her friend yacina take small groups of us to an open-air market, and we're apparently going to continue weekly or bi-monthly outings throughout the quarter. yacina doesn't really speak english, so it's a great chance to practice french!
there are program-wide outings, also. last thursday we went to the Thermes de Cluny in the Musee de Cluny, where we toured the ruins of a bathhouse. it was really interesting, but i would have enjoyed it more if the tour hadn't started so early! on friday, we all went to two chateaus, Blois and Chambord, and at the latter had a lunch fit for kings. we had a great tour guide, a former UofC student named Steve. he made a star wars reference about 3 minutes into his Chateau de Blois spiel; need i say more? also, this wednesday, we're going to the bastille opera to see la boheme. so yeah, good times.
sunday, mia and i went to versailles. we had lunch with juliette at a creperie named Saint Louis, then walked around the palace gardens. juliette peaced when mia and i went inside the part that was free for us (since we're, uh, art history students. riiight.). basically, the place has a lot of ridiculously ornate shit.
in transit news, today, mia, monica, and i missed our metro stop and ended up getting a citation(!), since we left the city of paris without the proper ticket. the fine is 25 euros per person, but the dude was nice and let us pay 25 total, not 75. mia called it our stupidity tax, but i remain in good spirits about it. hey, we got a good laugh, a relaxing train ride, and a chance to see paris's outskirts for just 8 euros!
in exciting news, i'm going back to berlin! mia and i will be there friday morning to sunday night. the visit won't be as carefree as my last one, though, since our first paper is due on monday... but hey, i can totally write 8 to 10 pages in between beers.
peace.
so we left off with my re-arrival in paris. mia wrote some about nuit blanche, but to review it happened october 1, the night we arrived. we had pizza and wine at the restaurant that we subsequently decided was "our" restaurant. the waiter called mia "my love" and he offered to be our dessert, and provided helpful directions on how to get to the center of paris for nuit blanche. go read what mia said about it, since review is allowed but repetition is lame.
a day-by-day recount of the week would also be lame, so let me just comment on a few things. i've already mentioned my room. what else, classes? i'm taking three classes right now: french 150-1 for beginners, french 150-2 for beginners who have had some french (i sit in on that one), and civ. french is taught by karen, who is cool. the 150-1 class is fortunately starting to pick up, because i freaking need a vocabulary! as for 150-2, some things are a bit over my head, but that is to be expected. civ is rather yawnish right now, mostly because--fascinating as they are--reading operational rules for monasteries isn't quite my idea of a good time (thanks, benedict). the professor, jean-luc or something like that, is a french dude whose english is fluent but not natural. as he said on the first day of class, "listening to my english will improve your french." it's a bit difficult for me to focus on what he's saying; his speaking rhythm doesn't seem to sit right in my ear. maybe his sentences are a little too cumbersome or prepositional, or maybe i'm not into the dark ages... but c'est la vie. not that i don't like him, but i'm definitely looking forward to our professor for the second quarter of civ, who introduced himself to us at a reception. and the course is getting better, since we're studying more contemporary (i.e. interesting) things with each new day.
so, that's class. as for life, i've been hanging out with mia a lot (surprise!). perhaps the most stereotypically tourist-in-paris thing was drinking wine at the foot (feet?) of the eiffel tower. there've been night clubs and hookah bars and restaurants galore. oh, and who can forget shopping: my formerly sparse wardrobe has gained two skirts (skirts, i know!), two shirts, a sweater, a pair of pants, a bra (that was rather hard to find--french women, apparently, are all a- and b-cups), and pointy black shoes (yes, the kind i swore i'd never want). and of course there's been lots of wandering, lots of wine, and lots of baguettes.
the program also includes weekly conversation sessions with a native speaker who is, as kett put it, paid to be our friend. but i like juliette, my conversation leader, and the rest of my group, so i don't object. we had japanese yesterday, and we're meeting outside moulin rouge next week. in other chilling-with-the-french news, karen (the french teacher) had her friend yacina take small groups of us to an open-air market, and we're apparently going to continue weekly or bi-monthly outings throughout the quarter. yacina doesn't really speak english, so it's a great chance to practice french!
there are program-wide outings, also. last thursday we went to the Thermes de Cluny in the Musee de Cluny, where we toured the ruins of a bathhouse. it was really interesting, but i would have enjoyed it more if the tour hadn't started so early! on friday, we all went to two chateaus, Blois and Chambord, and at the latter had a lunch fit for kings. we had a great tour guide, a former UofC student named Steve. he made a star wars reference about 3 minutes into his Chateau de Blois spiel; need i say more? also, this wednesday, we're going to the bastille opera to see la boheme. so yeah, good times.
sunday, mia and i went to versailles. we had lunch with juliette at a creperie named Saint Louis, then walked around the palace gardens. juliette peaced when mia and i went inside the part that was free for us (since we're, uh, art history students. riiight.). basically, the place has a lot of ridiculously ornate shit.
in transit news, today, mia, monica, and i missed our metro stop and ended up getting a citation(!), since we left the city of paris without the proper ticket. the fine is 25 euros per person, but the dude was nice and let us pay 25 total, not 75. mia called it our stupidity tax, but i remain in good spirits about it. hey, we got a good laugh, a relaxing train ride, and a chance to see paris's outskirts for just 8 euros!
in exciting news, i'm going back to berlin! mia and i will be there friday morning to sunday night. the visit won't be as carefree as my last one, though, since our first paper is due on monday... but hey, i can totally write 8 to 10 pages in between beers.
peace.
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