Bonjour tout le monde!
je suis ici dans ma chambre a CIEP.
OK, what happened today? breakfast was nice - just a self-serve thing, FAR too early in the morning, although it doesn't really become light here until about 8.30am. I had cornflakes with "fromage frais" which technically means cheese but was actually more like the unprocessed greek yohurt. There was no muesli, but they had toast etc and fruit.
No water served though! only coffee, a weird type of juice and then tea, hot milk etc.
Puis, we went on the metro, which i'm starting to dread. There is no centre of paris - there is no city loop. Paris is so huge - technically we're in paris after one stop, but depending where we go it can take up to 45 minutes to get there - changing metro lines etc. But one thing i love about the French public transport system is its speed and frequency. Because guess what? they don't HAVE train timetables! the trains come every FOUR minutes on non-peak times; during peak hour they come every 2 minutes! With waiting times like that, who needs a damn timetable????
Also, an idea previously suggested to me by another frustrated commuter has been implemented in the metro. The doors are hard. A sound beeps, and then they slam shut with force. Putting your hand in to stop it squashes your hand - BANG! the train shakes when the doors shut. The only way for you to stop the doors is if your entire body is in the doorway. Ana got nearly squashed today - scary!
We went to Musee Carnavalet today. On the way we went to la Place de Voges of the queen of France Catherine de Medici and her husband (forgot his name). Bess this will interest you - they built a huge, almost 100% the same square of huge maisons - on the left was the Queen's house, opposite her the King's, and then the courtiers occupied the houses joining the king and the queen. She purposely insisted on her house being opposite the king's and not adjoining it because he had a serious mistress. you go girl! reminds me of thayet... but i will tell you all that story later.
The Musee Carnavalet was, in itself, interesting; the tour guide was, quite frankly, boring. We saw lots of paintings and artefacts of the 19th century french history that we are studying. We had a guide, but she knew shit all - whenever Sylvia asked a question she ACTUALLY said "je prefere vous laisser a l'apprendre vous memes" which is code for "i have no idea what these paintings are about; figure it out yourself; i'm going to pretend i'm furthering your learning skills by not answering".
But i must profess to getting VERY excited about some things. For example, you know those paintings of Josephine et Napoleon Bonaparte? The ones that whenever you are told about them, the photo of those paintings is shown? I saw them - in real life! actually took a pic of myself... it absolutely amazes me that you can walk into this place and these wonderful famous artefacts are there, unprotected, raw and not really guarded with the kind of security that you would imagine! There was a gallery worker in every second or third room - basically their job is to tell you to turn the flash off your camera - they weren't security or anything, there were girls in their 20s working there! Not only was there the paintings of Napoleon and Josephine, but there was also the chest of drawers of Louis-Philippe, a king of france, and the actual room (they moved EVERYTING in the musee) of Marcel Proust! It was quite fascinating - the musee was in one of the HUGE number of big old houses in paris - they're endless! - and the walls were not white, but bright bold colours. Some rooms themselves were the artwork - they actually moved the walls into the room!!! Absolutely amazing how where in Melbourne if we had anything that ancient it would be locked away, and yet there it's all "yeah, whatever".
FABULOUS.
The musee was in Le Marais - the jewish quarter. I went with Ana and Amanda to get new batteries in my watch - 8 euro. Then we got some lunch at one of the boulangerie/patisseries in the rue de rosiers (famous for its jewish food delicacies). we then met up with sylvia and went to L'ARC DE TRIUMPHE!!!
Before i get onto the arc i must say one thing: i'm getting frustrated with Sylvia not explaining what each old building in the city was built for and what it was once used. We were in La PLace de Concorde - this huge, magnificent, expensive, grand space in the middle of paris surrounded by HUGE old palaces and buildings - and she doesn't explain any of the buildings! I guess i expect that any old building is special - and in paris they have so many of them they really aren't all on the same level of specialness - but i still want to know! Also, she takes us to this magnificent place, here it is, history, leave via metro.. like we live on the metro and rock up at special places and don't get the chance to really wander around the space and get a sense of it... an and i are going to have to do that in our last week.
Ok. L'arc de triomphe. OH MY GOD. WOW. FANTASTIC. AMAZING! SO BLOODY HUGE! After seeing so many photos, they never ever ever convey the sheer size and mangitude of this magnificent building! It's just like a ROman arch (well, that's what inspired it - Titus'arch, which was inspired by Augustus' ara pacis). It's HUGE. I tried to take photos to show it's size.. didn't really work.
Ok, i'm going to try to explain this properly. Through the middle of Paris runs the Champs Elysees. Besides being a place for ridiculously expensive clothes shops (bess), it was the first bridge in paris joining the ile to the banks, and it cuts straight through the middle of the city - going directly east to west. The east side, once out of paris, dips down to the south near Spain and the west side goes north to italy. Anyway, it is the main road in paris and is translated as "Elysian fields" (ringing any bells, amelia, bess?). It ideally goes east to west because west is where the sun sets and the setting of the sun signifies the end of a life and the beginning of paradise - aka the Elysian fields.
It's in the middle of a huge roundabout and it feels like it is right in the centre of paris (even though it's not) because Napoleon 2 (yes, there were two emperor Napoleon Bonapartes)created other boulevards to run straight through the arch so there are about 6 BIG boulevards that branch off from the centre of the arch... he also made sure that all the buildings surrounding the arch are exactly the same... all perfectly symmetical!
We climbed to the top (exhausting!) and i took heaps of photos of the view etc. Absolutely amazing. Wow.
Then we took the metro to La Place de la Concorde. ORiginally, it was where the royals and aristocracy stayed in PAris; then it was the square where the revolutionaries used the guillotine - it has been transformed many many times from a place to worship the revolution into Napoleon-worship to now a "place neutre" where the entire area for a good km or so it completely paved - no "terrain sanguiné" (bloodies earth). It's flat, the various palaces are at the edges, and a guilded fountain has been placed on the exact spot where the guillotine was - because water purifies it.
The Champs Elysees runs into it.
After Sylvia took us there we were free to make our own way home. An, Amanda and i went down the Champs Elysees - some nice things, but too expensive as always. Philippa i went to a disney store on the CE but then the only things in there were customes for kids and stuffed animals. I'll have another look later but looks like not much good.
Then i made my way home, we went to the supermarket - i had to buy new batteries for the camera - went home on the bus before the other girls, i was too tired to bother waiting for them to finish all of their shopping.
Now i'm about to go to diner, then we have a sit-down lecture at 8. grr.
I'd like to make some general comments about Paris:
i can already feel my french improving. My spoken french has improved marginally (not as much as i hope it will by the end of this) but mainly when i'm not thinking clearly, i'll read a sign with french at the top and an english translation down the bottom and wonder why they repeated themselves before going "oh yeah! they're in two different languages." Also, when someone i'm with slips from english to french and english again i really don't notice either. I'm struggling a bit with the native's accent, and also forgetting words that i KNOW but i don't use frequently so aren't in my immediate vocab use. I really hope i'll get better. Want to make a huge effort to talk to french people - without sounding creepy.
Themes i'm noticing: French 19th Century history's similarities with Roman histtory (mimicking your sucessors etc). Also similarity in the physical transformation of the city as a reflection of social change. Also, their uncomfortableness with the Republique. After the first french revolution in 1700s, they had 2 emperors and 3 kings! Also blatant acceptnace of prostitutes.
Themes i'm noticing irrelevant to my course: An reckons the french people are more beautiful naturally - not wearing much makeup. There are a few really beautiful people, but some of them are so plain and ordinary... they dress very well though. Sylvia reckons the Italians are "gaudy" and wear too much colour. Conclusion: sylvia is a prude.
Also, mum, if you'll care to notice on the top of the Arc de Triomphe i was wearing a singlet top and thin long sleeved top and was fine for a bit. I've found it's not necessary to rug up too much - a top and jumper plus long coat is fine. I think it's because it's the beginning of winter - less extreme temperatures. Also, without much of a wind at all you don't feel it as much. I still take my gloves and scarf with me always - it does get so cold that you need them both, but being preventative and wearing them at the start means i haven't been cold when i've got them all on. FUN!
Some people are annoying me as well, but i shall save them from my acidic thoughts until i've calmed down - then they can be RATIONAL acidic thoughts.
Have a really strong desire to surround myself in french and only french - to go and stay with a family, or befriend a french.
My love to you all. Spoke to some of you this morning at 4am my time - it was lovely, and made me a little homesick - but i'm enjoying Paris so much - i love this city - i'm already not wanting to ever leave! Each day i spend here i just want more and more out of this place.
