Loooong Catch-up Post of Doom

It’s been a few days since I wrote, so I hope I remember everything. The days go by so quickly, and we do so much every day. As the old Rickards saying goes, I’ll just do the best I can.

On Friday, we had had tentative plans to visit a middle school to start looking at the language of the youth, but unfortunately the tentativeness did not go in our favor, and for whatever reason, the trip was canceled. Luckily, we still have another school visit planned for next week, so we will not completely miss out. Instead of going out to the school, we met at the PRC to watch a film. It was called Bienvenue Chez Les Ch’tis, and it actually on TV as we speak. The movie is about a French man from the south of France who goes to live in the North for a new job, and we see his trials and tribulations as he adjusts to small town life. Much of the movie also focuses on the particularities of the way the French speak in that area; there are numerous misunderstandings and language-related incidents. Their style of speaking includes lots of ‘ch’ (pronounced sh) sounds where normal French would just have ‘s’. So, les Ch’tis would say “chest cha” for the regular expression “c’est ça”. There were plenty of other differences as well, especially in pronunciation, but there were also differences in vocabulary and a little bit in morphology/syntax. So, it was interesting to look at from a linguistic perspective, and we had a good discussion following the film. We watched the movie with French subtitles, which I think is the best way to go. If you have them in English, you end up just reading, but without any subtitles, you can get completely lost. Unfortunately, I’m not yet at that level where I can watch French movies and understand everything. And having non-standard speech as in this movie would just add to the confusion. It was an enjoyable film, though, and quite funny.

After the film, I worked in the PRC library on some homework and wrote the previous blog entry. By the time I was done, I had just enough time to grab a quick quiche-like lunch at the nearby sandwicherie which I have visited at least a couple times on the trip. From there, I headed out with my classmates to the next group activity, a group discussion at a café.

The PRC had suggested the particular location because they seemed to feel it was like a youth hangout of some kind. That might be true, but it was also a very unique experience. It was not a normal café with tables inside and out, nor did it even have a menu or waiters. It was actually a manga café, where people can go and read and buy manga (Japanese comic books/graphic novels, essentially), hang out on couches, use the wifi, and play video games. They had shelves of manga lining the store, numerous modern-looking couches and bean bag chairs, and Japanese art on the walls. You could read as much manga as you could want and also drink as much soda or hot beverages as you wanted, and you paid by the hour. We didn’t have to pay, as it was on the PRC, and it was an interesting setting for our discussion, even though I’m not huge into manga. And sure enough, there were numerous young people patronizing the establishment, from about 12 years old up to others in their 20s. We had a group discussion about the activities from the day before and talked about our various observations, especially concerning the language of younger people. Before the trip, we had been required to see two films, so we discussed those as well.

After the café, we were free for the day. I had plans to meet up with my friend Erica at my hotel, but I still had some time to kill, so I accompanied my friends to a nearby church, the Église Saint Étienne. Usually, these type of churches all look the same to me, and this was not really an exception. Of course, it was big and majestic and ornamental and beautiful, but to me, there was nothing particularly striking about it. I think I’m just all cathedraled out. There are so many in Europe- although I remember very particularly Kaiser Wilhelms Gedächtnis Kirche in Germany (although even right now I’m struggling to remember what city it was in- have to check my blog!). After the cathedral, we wandered around a little bit, but by then I needed to catch the metro back to the hotel to meet Erica.

We found each other successfully, and she and her friend Alex, who was traveling with her, came up to my room for a few minutes to chat and decided what to do. They had already been in Paris for a night and had spent the day wandering the city, so we decided to head out to St-Michel to get dinner. We found a reasonable place which ended up turning out nicely. It was quiet and we were able to talk and catch up. She told me all about her current program in Munich, and we reminisced about all of our old European travels and told Alex some of the best (and most horrific) stories. Our food was good too- I even had the classic escargot. My main course was salmon and pasta and I had some cheese for dessert. It was quite obviously not an haute cuisine, white tablecloth French restaurant experience, but it was good nonetheless.

After dinner we wandered about the area, visiting some souvenir shops and going into (and quickly exiting) a couple nightclub-ish type places, which were very empty and/or weird. We did quite a bit of walking, ending up passing by the Panthéon and Luxembourg Gardens, among other things. Eventually, we grew tired and parted ways to our respective hotels (theirs was an apparently very sketchy hostel) for the night, agreeing to meet the following day at Notre Dame at 4.
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The next day was Saturday. Although some PRC programs had the whole weekend off, we did not. We met in the lobby at 10 to head out to another market, the Marché d’Aligre, which is fairly well known. My professor actually invited Erica and Alex to come along, but they politely declined as not to intrude. I realized later though that their hostel was pretty much right next to the market, so they could easily have seen it on their own. Alas. This market was much larger than the other and much more diverse. There was an inside portion with numerous stalls, mostly food related, and then other stalls lined the streets outside. There were tons of fruit and vegetable vendors selling all types of things, but then there was also an area where people were selling clothes, new and used, as well as more garage-sale type items. There were also tons of people, and the whole scene was very lively and busy. Merchants shouted out prices trying to get attention for their products, and others offered samples of the fruit to lure people in. It was a little hard to tell where most of the fruit came from; I’m guessing a good bit of it was local, but people also advertised New Zealand kiwis, Hawaiian pineapples, and even Florida grapefruit. There was tons of opportunity for observation, and I got some good notes. I bought 5 kiwis for 2 Euro as well as 1 kilo of strawberries for another 2 Euro, as we were supposed to get lunch for our picnic later. I did not realize just how many strawberries 1 kg is- it was a ton and I still had some left over later even after sharing them with everyone. My fingers turned bright red from the juice, but they were nice and sweet.

After meeting at the meeting point after about an hour of observation, we walked over to the picnic area, seeing the Bastille and the new national opera house on the way. We had our picnic in the Place des Vosges, which is a gorgeous square little park. It has a very symmetrical feel, as it is surrounded by identical beautiful architecture on all sides. The house of Victor Hugo is right next door (somewhere?), but we never found it, since everything looked the same! The park was decently populated, with families walking around and couples sprawled on the grass. The trees were in bloom and nicely shaded the large statue decorating the center of the park. It was a nice and relaxed setting, and we sat in a circle and ate and discussed our observations from the market.

I was scheduled to meet Erica and Alex at 4, since I knew for certain I would be done by then, but our discussion ended much earlier than expected, so I still had several hours to go. After an unsuccessful attempt to find Victor Hugo’s house, our group went to check out the Georges Pompidou Centre, home of the modern art museum. It was one museum that I didn’t see when I was in Paris previously, so I was happy to tag along. The outside was pretty weird looking. I believe they were going for an inside-out look, so they sort of had large tubes that encased the escalators and almost scaffolding-like architecture. That was just a preview of what was to come. We got in free with our passes and went to check out the art. They had sections of “modern” art, from 1900-1960, then another level of “contemporary” art, from 1960 and beyond. I must say that modern art isn’t really my taste. It is just too abstract and also questionable. Is a painting of a single color art? Is a blank canvas art? These are questions that need answers. I felt like it was the sort of thing where everyone goes and pretends to understand the art, but no one really does. Some of it was just bizarre, although I did get to see some Picasso and a few other works that I recognized. There was other artwork that incorporated moving parts, sculpture, and even sounds. Overall, it was alright, but just not my favorite type of art. Maybe all of the deep meaning and profoundness is just beyond my peasant mind.

It was a quick visit, since it was soon the time I needed to meet Erica and Alex. Richard accompanied me to our meeting spot in Notre Dame. It took a little longer than expected due to a couple wrong turns, but we got there eventually. There was a horde of people at Notre Dame, but I found Erica soon enough and all was well. Richard went on his way, and then the three of us headed out. We went to the Père Lachaise cemetery, which is a very large, famous cemetery that holds the graves of tons of notable figures, among others. Although there is a map at the opening of the cemetery, we bought a paper one for a couple Euro to be able to follow the winding paths more accurately. We located our desired people, but we didn’t even get to see all the ones we circled before it closed; we spent a good hour walking around. We saw the graves of Chopin, famed composer; Jim Morrison, guitar player; Joseph Gay-Lussac, chemist (for Erica); authors La Fontaine and Molière; famed singer Édith Piaf; and author Oscar Wilde. Oscar Wilde’s tombstone is covered in lipstick kisses, which is some sort of tradition that I did not partake in. There were others, like Balzac and Proust, whom we did not get to, as they were ringing the bells for people to leave. The variety of the tombstones was also interesting, as they were all so different. We were also wondering how plots were allotted, as we could see some graves of people that had only died in 2009 or 2010. In fact, there was one site that still had all the dead flowers from the funeral just in the past week or so. It was an interesting trip and another thing that we had not yet done in Paris.

From the cemetery, we tried to go the Luxembourg gardens, but when we stepped out of the metro at our destination, it was raining. We thought of possibly going to a movie, so we decided to go back to my metro stop where there is a movie theater. We looked at the times for seeing Iron Man 2 in its Version Originale, but eventually decided against it. We got a quick snack at the nearby shop and then took it back to my hotel for some discussion. We were meeting up with my roommates at 9:30 to go out, so we still had a bit of time. We walked down to the Tour Montparnasse which towers above the neighborhood, and I explained to Erica the controversy surrounding the construction of the tower. Even though we got there perfectly in about 15 minutes by foot, we somehow got lost on the way back, running into completely unknown streets. Rather than trying to figure out the way, we backtracked slightly and took the metro back, having to transfer once to get back on the 4 to my hotel.

After that adventure, it was time to go out. The three other girls who I have been hanging out with had heard about a club with Spanish music (two of the three girls are Colombian) in St-Michel, so having no other ideas, we went there. Even though I’m not much of a club person, it was still fun. Also having not been in so many clubs in my life, I can’t say definitively how different it was from American clubs. There were some smaller side rooms with seats and a small room with the dance floor. It was pretty crowded, too, and I tried to figure out who most of the patrons were, but it was really hard to tell. I don’t know if they were from Paris, or mostly tourists, or what. I was ready to go pretty soon, since my feet were horribly tired, but I stuck it out, and the group headed home in plenty of time to catch the metro. I made a morning meeting point for Erica and Alex the next day, also. It had been a long day, and I was ready for sleep, but I couldn’t sleep in too much, as we still had a day’s worth of activities ahead.

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I wrote all those posts last night, and now it is Monday morning, and I am sitting on the train about to leave to Rennes. So now I can get us caught up to the present by finishing my entry for Sunday. One of my classmates, Melanie, has some extended family in France, and one family member had been nice enough to reserve some tickets to go up the Eiffel Tower. She had 3 for the top and 3 for the 2nd level, so my three classmates took the top, and Erica, Alex, and I bought her tickets for the 2nd level. This family member (I’m not sure of the relation, something like cousin’s husband’s grandfather’s girlfriend?) was also going to drive us to the tower in the morning, so we wouldn’t have to take the metro. So, she picked the four of us up at around 9:30, and off we went. It was interesting to get the car experience, and I made several observations. One, the driving system here is completely unintelligible. The traffic lights are on short poles on street corners, and there are larger and smaller lights, and I have no idea of the difference. I also could never figure out where we were supposed to be looking, and with all those crazy circular intersections, we often had to stop in middle, but I’m not sure why. There are of course pedestrians everywhere, and the lanes are hardly if at all defined. And even her relative, who is American but has lived in France for 25 years, had trouble navigating with all the crazy streets. She drove us by the Hôtel des Invalides just to get a quick peek, and it was of course magnificent. So much architecture here predates everything in America by hundreds of years, but I feel that the French hardly give it a second glance since it’s hardly novel to them, whereas we Americans are impressed by anything over 300 years old. I also wondered to myself how many cars in Europe are automatic. I get the impression that nearly all of them are manual. I also saw my first gas station yesterday, a BP actually, and it threw me off, since I realized that for all the cars I do see, I had never run across a gas station until that moment.

In any case, she dropped us off by the Eiffel Tower, and we were immediately accosted by the gypsy population asking if we spoke English. Their standard scheme is to go around, ask people if they speak English, and if so, hold up a piece of paper with some sob story written on it. Meanwhile, they will either pickpocket you as you’re distracted reading or just try to plead money off you. I just try to give a blank stare and move on. There were also tons of souvenir hawkers again, rattling chains of Eiffel Tower keychains and other wares. We waited for Erica and Alex under the tower in the direct center, and we must have been approached a dozen times by various souvenir people. They can be very aggressive and very annoying. But Erica and Alex soon found us, and off we went to get in the line for people with reservations. We went through a metal detector and then found ourselves in the large elevator in one of the pillars. They let everyone out at the 2nd level, and then those with tickets to the top could continue in a different elevator. We couldn’t see anything from the elevator, but once we got out, it was a great view. There were tons of people, but we went down a couple stairs to a lower level and got to walk all the way around. I must say that I’m a little orientationally challenged, and Erica had to correct me several times when I thought I saw an important landmark and was indeed off by practically 180 degrees. The view was great, and we could see for miles and miles. I could see tons of the sites I had previously visited, like Notre Dame, the Tour Montparnasse, the Arc de Triomphe, le Louvre, etc. We took pictures and stayed up for about half an hour before taking the elevator back down to ground, having arranged a meeting spot with my friends for later.

Once back down on Earth, we took some pictures from a little woodsy area and then from the Champ de Mars, the large park/grassy area that sits directly in front of the tower. From there, Erica wanted to go see the chapel Ste Chappelle, so off we went to do that. We stood in line for a bit and had to go through another metal detector, but then we were in. The chapel consists of a lower and upper level, and each is basically one room. It is notable for its stained glass, which was quite ornate. It was a good choice and another thing I had not yet seen.

After the chapel, it was about time for Erica and Alex to head to the train station to catch their train back to Munich. We got Erica a crêpe from a nearby stand and then headed to the metro. Of course the metro station was seemingly hidden among numerous flower stalls and it was pretty much impossible to find, but we did find it after several attempts and when I finally asked someone for help. By then, we just headed to their train station, the Gare de l’Est, and Alex and I both got sandwiches for lunch. I was running late, so I sadly said goodbye. It had been so great to see Erica, and I’m really glad that she came for the weekend. In fact, I hadn’t seen her since we left for winter break several months ago, as she had taken the semester off from UF. We also spoke a ton of German over the weekend- I could easily tell hers had improved while mine had definitely deteriorated with disuse. We discussed possibly taking a German class together next semester or perhaps even taking up beginning Italian, as she told me all about her recent travels there. She said she wished I could visit Munich with her, and I agreed. She also put forward the idea of doing an extended backpacking trip throughout Europe next summer. It will be her last chance to do something of that magnitude for quite some time, as she is (with all hope) attending medical school the year after. We thought with two other travelers (at least one male) we could do a large-scale tour of Europe, purchasing the global Eurail pass with unlimited travel in a set time and traveling only with the packs on our backs. Naturally I think it would be a great idea and would love to do it also, since I too will hopefully be busy with graduate school in the coming years. We also travel well together, and our language skills combined will be passable to get around without too much difficulty. So, funds allowing, I think it’s a great idea and would surely be educational.

So, leaving Erica and Alex behind, I took the metro to the Opera stop. On that day only, it was free to go visit the national opera, which is housed in an absolutely magnificent palace. I was running late and got there at 3:15, having set the meet time as 3. Upon exiting the metro directly in front of the palace, I didn’t see my friends, but I lounged on the steps to soak it in. After some minutes had passed, I figured I missed them, and having no way to know where they were, I decided to just do what I wanted. So, I got in the line to visit the opera and went in on my own (don’t worry, I was fine). The line took about 20 minutes to half an hour, but it was well worth it, and as of now the opera is possibly the greatest thing I’ve seen so far. It was very ornate, with marble steps and balconies, and sculptures and paintings everywhere. I went out on the balcony and could see the steps below where I had sat- then a couple asked me to take a picture of them, and I had them to do the same for me. We could also look at the auditorium itself; the seats were red velvet, and looking up, there was a massive chandelier hanging from the decorated ceiling, which Marc Chagall had painted. It was just great, and I was in awe. I wandered around taking pictures and looking at a couple side exhibits showing models of past stage design and paintings from various ballets. Overall, it was fantastic and I’m so glad I went. At the exit, I bought a little Opera notebook that will now become my new observation journal.

By this time, I was a little weary from trekking all over the city, but I still had yet to see the Luxembourg Gardens after several attempts. So, I decided to return to the hotel to get my book and then head to the garden. I ran into Vanessa on my way out of the hotel and found out that we just missed each other at the Opera, but no harm done. Off to the gardens I went, and they were beautiful. There were ample people taking advantage of the nice weather, reclining in chairs or relaxing by the fountains. It also seemed to be a popular jogging location, as I saw many runners, and there were also families taking strolls with little children in tow. It was all green and clean, and the Palais de Luxembourg near the entrance was also a nice sight. I found a spot on a bench and read some of my Camus book. Very French, n’est-ce pas? It was very relaxing and wonderful, but it soon grew a little chilly and I decided to head back via the PRC to check my email and catch up with my online affairs, since my internet at the hotel leaves much to be desired.

Many establishments close on Sunday, but I got a little something to eat near my hotel and took it back to my room to take the night off. The hotel is nice, but there’s just one thing that drives me crazy, and that’s my key. It’s a standard card that you swipe in the slot, but it is completely unreliable. I can be outside my door trying for literally 10 minutes before it finally decides to work. Very rarely it will work after 4 or 5 tries, but often it takes upwards of 50. I could try to get a new key, but I know others have had the same problems without much support from the management, so I am just living with it. In any case, I finally managed to unlock my door, and I ate my dinner and worked on my blog. By that time, it was already midnight, so it was time to get ready for bed. We had to meet at 7:45 in the lobby this morning to head out to Rennes, so we didn’t have much time to sleep in.

Now it is about an hour into the train ride, and I have successfully caught you up on all my activities. We have two busy days in Rennes before a more relaxed Wednesday back in Paris, when Vanessa and I plan to visit a couple museums and go to a nice dinner. Thursday is our day of death with activities spanning all day and evening, and then Friday is already the goodbye dinner and our final night here. I have loved this whole trip, but I am also looking forward to the comfort of home and seeing more familiar things. But needless to say, I am going to take advantage of my final days here to round out a great little program.

Not sure when this entry will get posted, so it might feel off, but I wish everyone back home a good week!

Jenna