After all of the research and reading of the past week, I decided that I needed a mental health day today. With that in mind, I triumphantly turned off my alarm clock last night before going to bed and allowed myself the luxury of sleeping in until nearly ten o'clock. Glorious. After a leisurely breakfast, I stepped out in the the sunshine and walked across Ile-St-Louis to the Bastille, where I bought tickets to the National Ballet for Thursday evening with K and M. (Side-note: I have been wanting to go to the ballet -- any ballet -- since I got here in February. In fact, I have dreamed about seeing the ballet in Paris since I was little. And now every time I think about it, I'm 10 years old again!)
I meandered back across the river to my neck of the woods, picked up cookie-baking supplies at the grocery store (this was slightly complicated by the fact that in addition to peanut butter and chocolate chips, apparently the French are not wild about brown sugar), and treated myself to a pita with falafel from the shop on the corner.
I came back to the apartment and did a little bit of reading. Then, to reward myself for this unexpected burst of virtue, I watched a movie on my computer while reading up on Giverny and Strasbourg, my two day trip destinations with K and M next week. Blissful relaxation.
Sadly, the better angels of my academic nature are now pulling me back down to earth. And so to an analysis of the leadership crisis in the French Socialist Party I return...
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
End of the year rush, à la française
I should be using this time to work on my corpus documentaire, but my brain will no longer function in French -- something about reading 250+ newspaper articles about the French Socialist Party in the past 24 hours does that to you. So instead, I decided to update my much neglected blog. Hopefully I can be more coherent in English than in French, though at this point I'm not making any promises!
Let's see, has anything exciting happened in the past week or so?
Sunday 5/17: I was invited to dinner at a friend's house, so I made a peach cobbler...sort of. I have yet to master the art of converting American measurements (cups, teaspoons, etc) to French (grams, "coffee" spoons). I think I ended up with too much butter, and my baking dish was too big. But the peaches were fresh from the Sunday morning market, so it still tasted good!
Wednesday 5/20: I had to do math for the first time since high school in my urban planning class. Yuck. Not only that, but the French write their numbers differently: they use decimal points where we use commas, and vice versa. So 20.000 m^2 is really 20,000 m^2. That tends to make quite a difference. Still, I felt a strange sort of satisfaction once I finally managed to conquer the story problem!
Thursday 5/21: I took a day trip to Amboise with a few friends. We toured the local chateau, poked our heads inside Leonardo da Vinci's retirement home, and stopped by the local winery and glass blowing studio. It rained pretty much all day, but in some ways that added to the charm (or at least that's what I tell myself). Plus, it was definitely a nice break to see green space and trees and very few cars and traffic.
Friday 5/22: Hmm, anything interesting about this day? Oh, yeah, it was my 21st birthday! This was my first birthday away from home, and as much as I wish I could have celebrated it with my friends and family back in the States, I must say that Paris is a pretty decent substitute. One of my friends here hosted a little party at her apartment, and then we all went out dancing. Slightly different from the standard U.S. college student 21st festivities, but I liked my version better!
Sunday 5/24: number 37 on the list of "random things I never thought I'd experience in Paris": I went to a steeplechase. When I think of horse races, I think of the Kentucky derby, but apparently the steeplechase is big in France. My favorite moment was when one of the horses fell going over a jump, looked down at his jockey on the ground, said "see you later, buddy", and took off to finish the race. I was so worried that one of them had been hurt, so it was pretty funny to watch the horse run off while the jockey basically shrugged and walked off the course.
Tuesday 5/26: Last night, I had my first final exam -- yikes. It was for my Arabic class, and of course, as with most things with this class, the entire process makes me sigh and shake my head a little. First of all, the other students in the class negotiated both the date and the content of the exam. I'm certainly not complaining, but I have never before sat a final exam that only covered 3 of the 8 units of the semester!
Second of all, it took me a little while to figure out why the exam felt strange, but I realized this morning: I was not required to produce any original Arabic, anywhere in the test. I had to translate one sentence from French to Arabic and another from Arabic to French -- with the help of a dictionary! Funnily enough, the Arabic -> French section was the hardest part because I only have an Arabic-English dictionary, so I essentially had to do 2 translations for the words I didn't already know.
After the translation section, I had the conjugate 6 or 7 verbs into various tenses...and that was it. No essay section, no speaking, no dictation. My Georgetown classmates' heads would explode from the shock of it all. But, in the infinite wisdom I have gained over the past several months, I just smile and mentally shake my head. Is that condescending? I hope not. Like I said, I'm not complaining, it's just very different from what I'm used to.
And that brings us up-to-date. My current project is a giant group research paper on the "leadership crisis" in the French socialist party. My job, as the only exchange student in the group, is to comb through newspaper archives and compile articles on the party convention last November. It's pretty interesting to compare French vs. American party politics...maybe I'll include a more detailed post on the subject once I finish the assignment.
It's a little crazy to realize that the end of the semester is in sight. Other than this big project, I have one more exposé due on the last day of class (June 12). I have final exams in my urban planning and French classes next week, and my other two finals are during the exam period at the end of June. I sort of like having the work spread out like this -- it's very different from the Georgetown system of cramming everything into the last 2 weeks.
Aside from school work, I'm getting ready for my next round of visitors. K and M arrive from Salamanca, Spain on Sunday, and L will be joining them from Madrid sometime next week. I'm so excited to see them, in addition to looking forward to the excuse to gallivant around the city doing touristy things. I've been realizing that there is still so much I want to see and do here...I just hope I can fit it all in.
Let's see, has anything exciting happened in the past week or so?
Sunday 5/17: I was invited to dinner at a friend's house, so I made a peach cobbler...sort of. I have yet to master the art of converting American measurements (cups, teaspoons, etc) to French (grams, "coffee" spoons). I think I ended up with too much butter, and my baking dish was too big. But the peaches were fresh from the Sunday morning market, so it still tasted good!
Wednesday 5/20: I had to do math for the first time since high school in my urban planning class. Yuck. Not only that, but the French write their numbers differently: they use decimal points where we use commas, and vice versa. So 20.000 m^2 is really 20,000 m^2. That tends to make quite a difference. Still, I felt a strange sort of satisfaction once I finally managed to conquer the story problem!
Thursday 5/21: I took a day trip to Amboise with a few friends. We toured the local chateau, poked our heads inside Leonardo da Vinci's retirement home, and stopped by the local winery and glass blowing studio. It rained pretty much all day, but in some ways that added to the charm (or at least that's what I tell myself). Plus, it was definitely a nice break to see green space and trees and very few cars and traffic.
Friday 5/22: Hmm, anything interesting about this day? Oh, yeah, it was my 21st birthday! This was my first birthday away from home, and as much as I wish I could have celebrated it with my friends and family back in the States, I must say that Paris is a pretty decent substitute. One of my friends here hosted a little party at her apartment, and then we all went out dancing. Slightly different from the standard U.S. college student 21st festivities, but I liked my version better!
Sunday 5/24: number 37 on the list of "random things I never thought I'd experience in Paris": I went to a steeplechase. When I think of horse races, I think of the Kentucky derby, but apparently the steeplechase is big in France. My favorite moment was when one of the horses fell going over a jump, looked down at his jockey on the ground, said "see you later, buddy", and took off to finish the race. I was so worried that one of them had been hurt, so it was pretty funny to watch the horse run off while the jockey basically shrugged and walked off the course.
Tuesday 5/26: Last night, I had my first final exam -- yikes. It was for my Arabic class, and of course, as with most things with this class, the entire process makes me sigh and shake my head a little. First of all, the other students in the class negotiated both the date and the content of the exam. I'm certainly not complaining, but I have never before sat a final exam that only covered 3 of the 8 units of the semester!
Second of all, it took me a little while to figure out why the exam felt strange, but I realized this morning: I was not required to produce any original Arabic, anywhere in the test. I had to translate one sentence from French to Arabic and another from Arabic to French -- with the help of a dictionary! Funnily enough, the Arabic -> French section was the hardest part because I only have an Arabic-English dictionary, so I essentially had to do 2 translations for the words I didn't already know.
After the translation section, I had the conjugate 6 or 7 verbs into various tenses...and that was it. No essay section, no speaking, no dictation. My Georgetown classmates' heads would explode from the shock of it all. But, in the infinite wisdom I have gained over the past several months, I just smile and mentally shake my head. Is that condescending? I hope not. Like I said, I'm not complaining, it's just very different from what I'm used to.
And that brings us up-to-date. My current project is a giant group research paper on the "leadership crisis" in the French socialist party. My job, as the only exchange student in the group, is to comb through newspaper archives and compile articles on the party convention last November. It's pretty interesting to compare French vs. American party politics...maybe I'll include a more detailed post on the subject once I finish the assignment.
It's a little crazy to realize that the end of the semester is in sight. Other than this big project, I have one more exposé due on the last day of class (June 12). I have final exams in my urban planning and French classes next week, and my other two finals are during the exam period at the end of June. I sort of like having the work spread out like this -- it's very different from the Georgetown system of cramming everything into the last 2 weeks.
Aside from school work, I'm getting ready for my next round of visitors. K and M arrive from Salamanca, Spain on Sunday, and L will be joining them from Madrid sometime next week. I'm so excited to see them, in addition to looking forward to the excuse to gallivant around the city doing touristy things. I've been realizing that there is still so much I want to see and do here...I just hope I can fit it all in.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Retour a la vie quotidienne
This is going to be another one of those "catch up" entries -- you have been warned!
The past week and a half have been somewhat uneventful, but only in the sense that I have not left the country, nor have I had any visitors from faraway lands. I feel as though I am now firmly settled back into "normal" life in Paris...which, surprisingly enough, includes quite a bit of schoolwork. I think this is Sciences Po's version of the "end of the year rush". Not much compared to the Georgetown equivalent, but still pretty significant considering the amount of work I've had thus far. A quick summary:
On Tuesday, I had to prepare a skit with a partner for Arabic. My partner (a Dutch grad student) was really nervous for some reason, which made it kind of hard once we were in front of the class, but we made it through alright in the end.
I spent all day Wednesday and Thursday in bed with some kind of stomach bug. Yuck. And yes, I will admit that when I woke up at 3am on Wednesday, my feverish brain did panic that I had the swine flu...or H1N1, or whatever name is currently considered politically correct. (Sidenote: They call it Mexican flu here. Somehow I don't think that would go over so well back in the other hemisphere.) Thankfully, I manage to avoid procrastinating for once because on Friday...
...I had two major assignments due. The first was a 10 page analysis of the official portraits of the presidents of the 5th Republic for my political sociology class. The second, and more nerve-wracking, was an expose on whether or not the French model of public services is soluble in the European Union (answer: no, and in fact it's not technically legal...but the EU has developed it's own version of public services, so it's okay.) I think the presentation went well, so that was a pretty big relief.
Coming up next, I have an Arabic test on Tuesday. It's a little ridiculous -- this is the first test we've had all semester, and it's only covering the 2 most recent lessons. My prof realized that he needed to give us a test at some point in order to have enough grades in his gradebook, and he had forgotten until just now. Somehow this no longer surprise me; it just makes me shake my head and laugh a little.
Other random bits of news:
Last Saturday, I took a day trip to Amiens with a friend. We picnicked next to the river and saw the Gothic cathedral, which is even taller than Notre Dame.
This coming Thursday, we're going to Amboise in the Loire Valley. Chateaux, da Vinci (more on that later), and glass blowers -- a perfect birthday treat.
Oh, and last but not least, I found out yesterday that I passed at least one of my midterms! In fact, I actually did pretty well, so needless to say I am relieved and proud of myself. :-)
I'll try to provide a more interesting (or at least more coherent) update next time. Until then...
The past week and a half have been somewhat uneventful, but only in the sense that I have not left the country, nor have I had any visitors from faraway lands. I feel as though I am now firmly settled back into "normal" life in Paris...which, surprisingly enough, includes quite a bit of schoolwork. I think this is Sciences Po's version of the "end of the year rush". Not much compared to the Georgetown equivalent, but still pretty significant considering the amount of work I've had thus far. A quick summary:
On Tuesday, I had to prepare a skit with a partner for Arabic. My partner (a Dutch grad student) was really nervous for some reason, which made it kind of hard once we were in front of the class, but we made it through alright in the end.
I spent all day Wednesday and Thursday in bed with some kind of stomach bug. Yuck. And yes, I will admit that when I woke up at 3am on Wednesday, my feverish brain did panic that I had the swine flu...or H1N1, or whatever name is currently considered politically correct. (Sidenote: They call it Mexican flu here. Somehow I don't think that would go over so well back in the other hemisphere.) Thankfully, I manage to avoid procrastinating for once because on Friday...
...I had two major assignments due. The first was a 10 page analysis of the official portraits of the presidents of the 5th Republic for my political sociology class. The second, and more nerve-wracking, was an expose on whether or not the French model of public services is soluble in the European Union (answer: no, and in fact it's not technically legal...but the EU has developed it's own version of public services, so it's okay.) I think the presentation went well, so that was a pretty big relief.
Coming up next, I have an Arabic test on Tuesday. It's a little ridiculous -- this is the first test we've had all semester, and it's only covering the 2 most recent lessons. My prof realized that he needed to give us a test at some point in order to have enough grades in his gradebook, and he had forgotten until just now. Somehow this no longer surprise me; it just makes me shake my head and laugh a little.
Other random bits of news:
Last Saturday, I took a day trip to Amiens with a friend. We picnicked next to the river and saw the Gothic cathedral, which is even taller than Notre Dame.
This coming Thursday, we're going to Amboise in the Loire Valley. Chateaux, da Vinci (more on that later), and glass blowers -- a perfect birthday treat.
Oh, and last but not least, I found out yesterday that I passed at least one of my midterms! In fact, I actually did pretty well, so needless to say I am relieved and proud of myself. :-)
I'll try to provide a more interesting (or at least more coherent) update next time. Until then...
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Barcelona
Let's just say it was an interesting weekend. Barcelona is lovely -- I hope I'll have the chance to go back someday -- and I can't even describe how wonderful it was to meet up with three of my closest friends from Georgetown. But as I sat down to write this post a few minutes ago, I realized 2 things: 1) Spain is most definitely not France. 2) I spent a total of 30 hours on a bus this weekend.
The first of those observations probably elicited a well-deserved "duh" from some of you, so let me elaborate. I noticed this first in Italy a few weeks ago. Even though France is geographically considered part of "southern" Europe (as opposed to Germany/the Netherlands/the Scandinavian countries), it can't really be classified that way culturally. I kept noticing little ways -- restaurant/cafe etiquette, body language and volume in public places, the organization of museums, etc. -- in which Spain and Italy seem to have much more in common with each other than either country does with France. I probably wouldn't have picked up on any of this a few months ago...although I believe OIP's online orientation did try to warn me. Or maybe it's just that I'm more familiar with France and the French, so I'm more likely to lump everyone else together. Who knows? In any case, it was an interesting realization.
And as for the 30 hours worth of bus travel...yeah. That's what happens when you drive with 120 French college students who need to stop every 2 hours for a cigarette break. C'est la vie.
But as for Barcelona itself, I had an amazing time. I met up with the Georgetown girls as soon as I arrived early Friday afternoon, and we had a wonderful time wandering through the old city center, gelato in hand, giggling and catching up on everyone's lives. The other three girls are all studying in Spain this semester (L in Madrid, M and K in Salamanca) so they introduced me to all sorts of typical Spanish treats for dinner -- tapas (including "tortilla", which is actually a potato omelette), seafood paella, and sangria. Side-note: I had a bit of a quiet chuckle to myself imagining the expression on a snobby Parisian waiter's face if a customer tried to order sangria, which is essentially a red wine-based fruit punch.
On Saturday, we all got up bright and early and headed to Sagrada Familia, the famous still-under-construction cathedral designed by the architect Antonio Gaudí. The outside (below) is pretty amazing -- and definitely very different compared to, say, Notre Dame -- but it was hard to see much inside due to all the scaffolding. The four of us decided that we'll just have to meet back in Barcelona when we're 50, after it's finished.
Continuing on with our Gaudí theme, we cut across town (and up a very large hill) to Parc Guell, which for some reason reminded me of the Candyland board game. Anyone else see the resemblance?
After soaking in the sunshine and getting a little twisted around in the maze of paths, we headed back to the central part of town where we stopped by La Boqueria, an amazing outdoor market, before going to the Picasso museum. To my slight surprise, not being a huge modern art fan, I actually enjoyed the museum. It focused on Picasso's early work -- i.e. no cubism -- and it was pretty cool to see the evolution and diversity of his style.
After getting our fill of Picasso, we decided to go up to Montjuic to watch the "Magic Fountains" show (in keeping with the Candyland theme, perhaps?) However, when we were in the metro, L discovered that her wallet was missing. We're still not sure if she was pick-pocketed or if it somehow fell out of her purse. We went straight to the police station to report it, and thankfully her passport and credit cards were safely stored somewhere else. Still, the experience was a little disarming, and needless to say, we didn't make it to Montjuic.
However, once we had done all we could about L's missing wallet, we had a nice dinner to celebrate our last night together (until the Spain crew comes to Paris next month, that is), complete with churros y chocolate. This was perhaps the most decisively "Spain is not France" experience of the weekend. I have never met a French pastry I didn't like. Churros, however, present an interesting dilemma. On the one hand, they're basically fried dough dipped in chocolate sauce -- what's not to like? But on the other hand, they're so greasy that it's actually a little disgusting. Still, M assured me that churros y chocolate are very authentically Spanish, so I'm glad I tried it!
The other girls left for the airport early Sunday morning, but I still had most of the day for more sight-seeing. I started at the Cathedral of Barcelona (this one was built in the 14th century, as compared to Gaudi's modern creation), where I serendipitously arrived just in time for Mass. After the service, I walked out to the square to watch the Sardana dancers -- every Sunday at noon, locals meet in the plaza to perform a traditional Catalan circle dance.
On something of a whim (read: the sun was really hot and my feet were tired) I decided to take a boat tour of the harbor, which turned out to be a nice way to see the city. Afterward, I met up with some of the Sciences Po group at the beach before we had to board the buses for our (very long) ride home.
We got in at about 8am yesterday, giving me just enough to time do a load of laundry and shower before heading to class. Whew! It was quite a whirlwind.
The next 3 weeks or so should be fairly low-key. I have a bit of school work (i.e. a paper, an Arabic test, and an expose with a partner) that I need to get working on, but other than that I think I should be able to enjoy a little lull before June hits. I'm thinking about going to Chartres this weekend to visit the cathedral, and I have a list of museums and other things that I still want to see. It's so strange to think that I only have 8 weeks left...
The first of those observations probably elicited a well-deserved "duh" from some of you, so let me elaborate. I noticed this first in Italy a few weeks ago. Even though France is geographically considered part of "southern" Europe (as opposed to Germany/the Netherlands/the Scandinavian countries), it can't really be classified that way culturally. I kept noticing little ways -- restaurant/cafe etiquette, body language and volume in public places, the organization of museums, etc. -- in which Spain and Italy seem to have much more in common with each other than either country does with France. I probably wouldn't have picked up on any of this a few months ago...although I believe OIP's online orientation did try to warn me. Or maybe it's just that I'm more familiar with France and the French, so I'm more likely to lump everyone else together. Who knows? In any case, it was an interesting realization.
And as for the 30 hours worth of bus travel...yeah. That's what happens when you drive with 120 French college students who need to stop every 2 hours for a cigarette break. C'est la vie.
But as for Barcelona itself, I had an amazing time. I met up with the Georgetown girls as soon as I arrived early Friday afternoon, and we had a wonderful time wandering through the old city center, gelato in hand, giggling and catching up on everyone's lives. The other three girls are all studying in Spain this semester (L in Madrid, M and K in Salamanca) so they introduced me to all sorts of typical Spanish treats for dinner -- tapas (including "tortilla", which is actually a potato omelette), seafood paella, and sangria. Side-note: I had a bit of a quiet chuckle to myself imagining the expression on a snobby Parisian waiter's face if a customer tried to order sangria, which is essentially a red wine-based fruit punch.
On Saturday, we all got up bright and early and headed to Sagrada Familia, the famous still-under-construction cathedral designed by the architect Antonio Gaudí. The outside (below) is pretty amazing -- and definitely very different compared to, say, Notre Dame -- but it was hard to see much inside due to all the scaffolding. The four of us decided that we'll just have to meet back in Barcelona when we're 50, after it's finished.
Continuing on with our Gaudí theme, we cut across town (and up a very large hill) to Parc Guell, which for some reason reminded me of the Candyland board game. Anyone else see the resemblance?
After soaking in the sunshine and getting a little twisted around in the maze of paths, we headed back to the central part of town where we stopped by La Boqueria, an amazing outdoor market, before going to the Picasso museum. To my slight surprise, not being a huge modern art fan, I actually enjoyed the museum. It focused on Picasso's early work -- i.e. no cubism -- and it was pretty cool to see the evolution and diversity of his style.
After getting our fill of Picasso, we decided to go up to Montjuic to watch the "Magic Fountains" show (in keeping with the Candyland theme, perhaps?) However, when we were in the metro, L discovered that her wallet was missing. We're still not sure if she was pick-pocketed or if it somehow fell out of her purse. We went straight to the police station to report it, and thankfully her passport and credit cards were safely stored somewhere else. Still, the experience was a little disarming, and needless to say, we didn't make it to Montjuic.
However, once we had done all we could about L's missing wallet, we had a nice dinner to celebrate our last night together (until the Spain crew comes to Paris next month, that is), complete with churros y chocolate. This was perhaps the most decisively "Spain is not France" experience of the weekend. I have never met a French pastry I didn't like. Churros, however, present an interesting dilemma. On the one hand, they're basically fried dough dipped in chocolate sauce -- what's not to like? But on the other hand, they're so greasy that it's actually a little disgusting. Still, M assured me that churros y chocolate are very authentically Spanish, so I'm glad I tried it!
The other girls left for the airport early Sunday morning, but I still had most of the day for more sight-seeing. I started at the Cathedral of Barcelona (this one was built in the 14th century, as compared to Gaudi's modern creation), where I serendipitously arrived just in time for Mass. After the service, I walked out to the square to watch the Sardana dancers -- every Sunday at noon, locals meet in the plaza to perform a traditional Catalan circle dance.
On something of a whim (read: the sun was really hot and my feet were tired) I decided to take a boat tour of the harbor, which turned out to be a nice way to see the city. Afterward, I met up with some of the Sciences Po group at the beach before we had to board the buses for our (very long) ride home.
We got in at about 8am yesterday, giving me just enough to time do a load of laundry and shower before heading to class. Whew! It was quite a whirlwind.
The next 3 weeks or so should be fairly low-key. I have a bit of school work (i.e. a paper, an Arabic test, and an expose with a partner) that I need to get working on, but other than that I think I should be able to enjoy a little lull before June hits. I'm thinking about going to Chartres this weekend to visit the cathedral, and I have a list of museums and other things that I still want to see. It's so strange to think that I only have 8 weeks left...
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