Last Saturday was Nuit Blanche, an art festival that starts at around 6pm and doesn’t end until 7 am the next day. The artwork was scattered throughout the city of Paris in “sections” with each section having its own theme.
They even created a handy dandy app that would help you get from area to area for the directionally challenged (ME!) but of course my phone had to die as soon as we got to our first exhibit.
So with the impeding doom of a dead phone quickly approaching, I decided to check out the biggest exhibit on the map (see number 4 above) which was titled “Open Musée Street-Art Contemporain” (translates to Open Museum Contemporary Street Art, but you lose the Museum Street in translation)
The lines were enormous, but since the night was young we decided to wait in them. Thankfully they always moved very quickly as it usually was only a matter of counting the people going in or making sure the next group always went in at the start of the next performance.
Honestly, I didn’t get half of the artwork.
Some of it was, well, strange:
The wall was in between the two
And other pieces of art were just befuddling:
They left me looking a lot like Dean:
But regardless of whether I understood it or not, it was all pretty cool:
This guy fixes the walls with legos
It was even difficult to tell the difference between the street art that had been there before and the actual artwork for Nuit Blanche specifically. I think there were even some artists out there who weren’t technically part of Nuit Blanche who set up displays in the street like this guy:
He’s spray painting plastic wrap!
Despite all of these pictures, I didn’t even make it through the whole Street Art section before my friends started feeling sick and we decided to call it a night. Honestly, it was a good idea. The temperature dropped at least 10 degrees and I woke up sick the next morning!
Here’s a video I found if you’re interested in seeing more of Nuit Blanche!
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When Sweet Briar, the program that I’m studying abroad with, told us that the Sorbonne offered free sports classes for students, I thought, cool, and decided to casually glance over the list later. But then when I saw that list contained a whole section dedicated to Yoga, I almost did a feathered peacock pose right there! (Just kidding guys I can’t do arm-stands I’m not that good)
I went to my required medical visit twice, (the first time they had apparently “lost” my appointment time or something) so that the doctor could sign a sheet of paper saying I was physically fit enough to do yoga. Then I waited in a long line at school and snagged the last spot in the last beginner class of yoga left!
It also happened to be the exact same day so I ran home and changed into my yoga pants before heading back for the class.
We started the class off with savasana…
Which is extremely important for concentrating on breathing and releasing tension. I’m used to finishing my yoga class with savasana, but I figured yoga would be a little different here anyways. But then we didn’t move.
We didn’t move for a very long time.
Definitely still focusing on breathing
30 minutes into my yoga class and I was already falling asleep! Which I guess is good if you’re practicing yoga mainly to relax, but I’m used to a more active, intense form of yoga called vinyasa so after we did 2 sun salutations and the class ended I decided to change to the more advanced class.
Yoga and Drill Sergeant are two words that should never ever go together and yet they did. No relaxing smiling personality, only a permanent scowl and a penchant for yelling at the class.
“No looking at other people” she would say. “I describe everything you need to do so you don’t even need to have your eyes open!”
Yeah uh huh and how does that work if you don’t know yoga vocabulary in French?
But thankfully even though the languages changes, the positions do not, so I was able to follow along pretty well since I had already done them before!
It wasn’t very relaxing, but it was great in terms of what I wanted for a yoga class. Lots of deep stretches and flowing through poses like I’m used to. I might even be sore tomorrow!
The only bad thing was that she let the class out half an hour late…
And I missed my lecture class because it would have taken me 45 minutes to get to the classroom on the other side of Paris and you do not walk into a class in France 15 minutes late.
Yeah thanks, Namaste to you too professor.
So tomorrow I’ll go back to the sports office at the Sorbonne and see if I can change back to the easy yoga class, because I can’t keep missing my lectures. Also Drill Sergeant Yoga lady would probably tell me to stop taking her class if I asked to get out on time. She was that mean. But I doubt that there will be any remaining spots in the class 😦
I guess I’ll just have to do my vinyasa on Youtube!
Because a picture of me like this in front of the Eiffel Tower is now on the bucket list.
I won’t be completely giving up on yoga in Paris though. I’ve heard of some free classes around the city so I’ll have to check them out and blog about them in the future!
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Of course there are other buildings next to it, but here’s my “campus”
I made sure to get to my first class, “Introduction to the Cultural History of the Middle Ages” early. French students? A French professor who will probably hate me immediately? A class all in French? Saying I was nervous would be an understatement.
Terrified would be a better word.
The first class was a CM, Cours Magistral, or a lecture style class. It went surprisingly well. The professor, thankfully, had a powerpoint to go along with his lecture so I understood most everything he said when he was talking about the Franks and Visigoths. I even talked to a girl after class! Making French friends? I sure hope so.
Unfortunately, a CM is only about 1/2 of the actual course. The rest of the course is a TD or Travaux dirigés, also known as a seminar of sorts with a teaching assistant and only about 50 students instead of the 200 in the CM. Of course, the only grades you get are in the TD from your teaching assistant so when you end up looking like this during your first TD:
Was that French?
You might have a slight problem.
Thankfully my other classes went much, much better.
Which is frustrating because I signed up for a backup class just in case the Middle Ages course was horrible (and it was) and it turns out my backup class is amazing! The TD professor has the perfect accent, talks at a normal pace, and seemed really happy to have me there! Unfortunately, as it’s an analysis of very recent history, it also has a real life application to my major and career path… Why do I say unfortunately?
My inner Diana Bishop just really, really wants to learn what the heck went on all that time ago… and maybe a little alchemy.
Who wouldn’t want to learn the symbolism behind this picture??
So I’ll probably go to all of my classes again next week and then decide which one to drop. Maybe the Middle Ages class was just horrible because it was the first day and she didn’t know what else to do besides name drop all of these philosophers? When she wrote Huizinga on the board I was terrified. It didn’t look like a French word at all so no wonder I didn’t understand!
The only bad thing about my other classes is that there really isn’t an assigned textbook. They each hand out bibliographies with dozens of books listed. One professor actually told us that there was no required reading, but if we wanted to do well we should read a few.
Optional, but highly encouraged, giant reading list?
I don’t even know.
As far as meeting French students… I’ve had mixed results. I feel like it’s your average university setting: unless you reach out to someone either by smiling, offering up a pen, or flat out introducing yourself, most everyone will just mind their own business and leave you be.
They obviously didn’t hear or see my inner plea for French friends.
I’m taking lessons from Stitch.
But it turns out I have another class with the girl I talked to after my Middle Ages class! I talked to both her and her friend for a few minutes about classes and then sat next to them in the lecture. So I’m even more reluctant to drop the Middle Ages class because I’m very slowly making friends!
That sums up all of the information I have on my classes at the Sorbonne since I’ll only be taking 2 classes at the Sorbonne and 2 with Sweet Briar. I’ve already mentioned in a previous post how fantastic my grammar class is- yes, yes you can use that adjective with grammar- but I haven’t talked about my other Sweet Briar class. It’s an art history class where we spend an hour and a half each week sitting around analyzing paintings and sculptures in the Louvre.
I might have actually twirled like that too…
I don’t think much more description is necessary here. Our professor is funny and has a massive knowledge of art and the Louvre in general. Apparently, he noticed that a painting was gone from its usual spot so he went and asked a worker where it was. They then told him said painting had never actually been in the Louvre’s possession. So he told the worker that if they didn’t email him the location of the painting in three days, he would write an article saying that the Louvre had lost a painting (or was robbed).
Where is she?
Needless to say, they emailed him the information detailing the painting’s new location. So kind of an Art Historian bad-ass. Is that an oxymoron?
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Is it actually possible for someone to be excited to start classes again?
The answer is: yes. I’ve had an enormous amount of free time this past week. What? Free time in Paris is everyone’s dream? Unless you’re a broke American college student…
Then you visit museums and mournfully window shop.
And laugh at the English shirts…
Just kidding. While I have already visited several museums, I’ve mainly just been wandering around Paris finding the shopping malls, avoiding the tourist areas, and noting down cool restaurants like “Bagels and Brownies” to check out later.
Nothing particularly Parisian about a bagel sandwich named “Brooklyn” but it was delicious!
But a girl can only do so much walking a day before she starts to get cranky. So Sunday I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and read my French Sci-Fi novel in my neighborhood park.
The only thing that would have made that day even more perfect would have been a tall cup of sugary iced coffee… Uhh I mean Perrier.
Definitely.
Sorry guys. I swear I haven’t set foot in a Starbucks yet, but the instant coffee that the French love to drink is anything but satisfying. Either I’m going to figure out how to work a French press, that I can buy at Monoprix for pretty cheap, or I’m going to be a regular customer at a French café. Be prepared for a blog post all about coffee in the coming months.
But thankfully, I started classes today! Well, my classes with Sweet Briar at least. Sweet Briar is the college that runs this particular study abroad program in Paris. They hold excursions throughout the year and serve basically as a bunch of adults willing to hold our hands (if necessary) through life in Paris and classes at the Sorbonne. We take half of our classes with Sweet Briar (all French professors though) and half of our classes at the Sorbonne.
The class I had today was the “Atelier d’écriture” or a nitpicky French grammar and writing class that Sweet Briar highly recommends. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed a class about grammar. The professor basically gave us a few complicated English sentences to translate into French and then taught us the “French” way to write them correctly. She then made us practice over and over again using hilarious sentences such as “No matter where you go I will find you.”
Is Taken a little too close to home? Moving on…
All in all a good first day of classes. Stay tuned for updates on the rest of my classes including an Art History class that supposedly meets in the Louvre? I can’t wait!
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If you haven’t been reading my earlier posts I’ve been staying in Tours, France these past 2 weeks for an orientation of sorts, full of “intensive” French classes *cough*threehoursaday*cough* and well, lots of free time.
I know I mentioned my host family in an earlier post, but since that post, the family size has more than doubled! All five of their kids came back from vacation ranging from age 12 to age 20. I was sitting in my room when all of a sudden I heard them…
Mother was right! They’re going to laugh at my French and ignore me and make fun of me.
The parents actually left for a date that evening, leaving us alone with the kids. It started off pretty awkward because they all spoke super fast and only with each other. But then the littlest boy told a joke and I laughed…
Their reaction to my laughter: The American understands us!
I think that was the moment when I won the respect of the eldest boy and he has since made the biggest effort to talk to me. I’m actually surprised at how much I’ve enjoyed talking to the kids. I think it’s because I’m very formal with the parents and choose my words carefully, but with the kids I can talk about everything from French YouTube stars to Mexican food!
So I’m actually kind of sad to be leaving this host family tomorrow because watching them all interact was both amusing and very enlightening and well, I’m going to miss having someone to talk to about “young” French culture.
Tomorrow, the group heads out for Paris, where I will be staying for the rest of the year! But before I go, I wanted to make a list of my favorite things about living in Tours.
1. Having a class in a room with a chandelier and sculpted walls.
No big deal.
2. Walking by buildings that are hundreds of years old every day and realizing that it’s completely normal for this city.
I think Rapunzel lives up there.
3. Switching in between French and English so easily you don’t even notice when you change.
5. And well, the tranquility. I’m probably going to miss the relatively laid-back atmosphere of Tours in comparison to Paris. Sometimes it’s just nice to relax 🙂
The next time I post I will finally be in Paris! Oh, and living next to the Arc de Triomphe! ❤
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A blog about a girl with a serious case of wanderlust and her quest to travel
Last Saturday was Nuit Blanche, an art festival that starts at around 6pm and doesn’t end until 7 am the next day. The artwork was scattered throughout the city of Paris in “sections” with each section having its own theme.
Flooding the World 