La fin du debut

I realize that this title is an anglicism, but it is appropriate: this weekend marks the end of the beginning. My semester officially begins on Monday at 12h30 with my Arabic class (Arabic taught in French? Oy. At some point I must have thought this was a good idea.)

A recap of this whirlwind of a week:

On Tuesday, I met up with Agnes, a friend from high school, for lunch in the Marais district near the Bastille. We munched on delicious falafel and wandered around the trendy neighborhoods -- think Dupont Circle in D.C., only artsier.

My French class went back to the Marais on Wednesday after class, and our professor gave us a tour of some of the art galleries there. I have to admit that most of it was over my head; I guess I just don't get most modern art. I had a much easier time appreciating the creperie where we went for dinner afterward. I had a galette "les vosges" which was made with goat cheese, pesto, and tomato sauce. Yum.

On Thursday, my French class ventured out on another cultural excursion with our professor, this time to la Comedie-Francaise. We saw a play called L'Ordinaire, which is a dark comedy/satire based loosely on the story of a plane that crashed in the Andes in the 1970s. The few passengers that survived were forced to resort to cannibalism. Unfortunately, my French was not sharp enough to keep up with the pace of the dialogue. I understood the basic plot, but not most of the humor, so instead of being funny it was mostly just disturbing. However, the theater was absolutely beautiful, and at least I can say that I saw la Comedie-Francaise perform live!

Yesterday was my last day of orientation classes, and I went back to the Louvre afterward for a tour led by a Sciences Po professor. Yes, for the two weeks that I have been in Paris, I have spent both of my Friday nights wandering a museum. But it's the Louvre!

This morning, I finally braved the Monoprix (a Target-esque enterprise which by my American standards turned out not to be so overwhelming, after all) to run my errands. For some reason, which I don't understand, the American brands were actually less expensive than the French ones, so I am now equipped with Dove shampoo and Colgate toothpaste, in addition to French notebooks (which come with graph paper instead of horizontally lined paper) and folders (which look like fancy portfolios and have elastic bands). In the afternoon, I went to the Marche aux Puces at St. Ouen, a giant flea market that is actually composed of about a dozen separate markets and sells everything from knock-off designer purses to art deco jewelry to museum-caliber furniture and artwork. It was quite an experience, but so absorbing that I forgot to take any pictures.

Tomorrow, I plan to go to church at the American Cathedral, followed by lunch with some friends. Then I will need to get myself organized and well-rested for class on Monday!