Busy week!

Back again, after a very full week. Some reflections...

Classes have started, well IES classes at least. Other than possibly midterms and finals week they seem to be far less demanding than Oxy classes. There's certainly some work entailed, but just overall the material seems to be a lot easier... Of course it's all in French, but thus far that actually hasn't been a problem. I was worried that having 5 classes all in French would just be absolutely exhausting and overwhelming, but it hasn't been. Really the only difficulty has been that on Tuesday/Thursdays I have class starting at 10:45 and eventually ending at 3:30, with only 15 min breaks separating my 3 classes so lunch has been a challenge. But that's probably not so academics related. Of course IES professors know that we're American so they slow down their speech for us, we'll see about French university professors... Quick overview of my classes thus far:
-19th Century Lit- I really hope this class gets better. Right now it's just way too basic for me, and although the readings are fine the class itself has been deathly boring.
-French language and culture- the extension of my weeklong grammar session, with the same students and professor. We've got a good chemistry going, and along with the grammar we're starting to learn about Paris and the intricacies of the city. I like it a lot.
-Islamic art- interesting, surely, and probably the most challenging of my IES courses. Not really my preferred area of art history, so this class may or may not be dropped depending on the timing of my outside courses. There's good incentive to stay in though- since we have required museum visits we get a special ID card that lets us go to any museum in Paris for free. Professor's awesome, I actually have her twice in a row, for this class and then for...
-Paris museums- amazing. We spend each class in a different museum. And it's awesome. Loving it so far.

Tomorrow outside classes start, so we'll see how that goes. A lot is up in the air right now for me- I really want to take two outside classes, but the timing is nearly impossible because you have to factor in commuting time between campuses. But I will definitively be taking 1 or 2 of 3 possible classes, and I'm pretty excited about them in general. Slightly terrified, but excited.

Things, I think, are looking up with my host family. I think I'm gradually acclimating and vice-versa, as it is very much a mutual effort. Tuesday Aline (15) brought me a crepe for mardi gras, which was very sweet. She and I are getting along very well, which is really nice. Louise (10) has been teaching me some different French board games very good-naturedly, so that's been very fun as well. I haven't seen Charlotte (13) much this week, but hopefully I will next. I'm getting more comfortable with when and to what extent I can use the kitchen, laundry machine, etc., and so things seem to be falling into place nicely.

This week the weather was just perfect, beautiful days for the most part that were quite a bit warmer than the last two weeks (50 degrees!). So of course there were various adventures to be had, and I'll try to highlight some...

-Had dinner with Tali's grandma, who has a French companion in Paris (Heskel). Tali's uncle Tim ate with us as well, as he's enjoying a month-long sojourn here. I had so much fun, and they were so incredibly kind to me. We went to a little, hole-in-the-wall neighborhood restaurant that is Heskel's favorite, and the owner knows him and his favorite wine. It was very very French, complete with little dogs running around underfoot. It was also very very delicious. I thoroughly enjoyed the meal and the company, and hope to see them again while I'm here.

-Wound up at the Louvre 3 times. Once was on my own, to see the works I studied with Prof. Frank last semester, once was with my paris museums class to see a painting that, unfortunately, turned out to be on exhibition in Spain for the week, and once was because Chelsea, Colin, and I had been walking for a long time and needed to find a clean bathroom. The Louvre is... A paradox. Kind of a fundamental paradox just upon looking at it, with its palace square and old passageways punctuated by the famed I.M. Pei pyramid(s). The museum itself is at once incredible and frustrating. The works inside are, of course, amazing. My favorite piece of art is there, as are so many of the works and artists that I studied last semester, so I set out intent on seeing two specific sections. That proved to be more difficult than anticipated, partly due to the layout, as the museum is simply immense, and partly due to the complete ridiculousness of the tourists. I was in the Denon wing, which, in addition to housing the Michelangelo sculptures and Titian paintings that I wanted to see, houses the Mona Lisa. So the crowds were absurd, and so many of the people just had no museum etiquette. I actually saw a woman touch the Winged Victory of Samothrace- then the guards grabbed her. But for me there are so many phenomenal pieces in the Louvre that it's worth the trouble. I anticipate being back there a lot- it's free for me, and there's so much there that even given all semester I may not see it all, but I'm going to try.

-Discovered Shakespeare & Co, decided that it rocks. Shakespeare & Co is this famed English language bookstore in the Latin Quarter that has been there since the 50s. It was originally located in Odeon in the 10s and 20s, and was the gathering point for all the famous literary expats (Fitzgerald and the like). The current location used to be one of Allen Ginsberg's famous haunts, and it's just generally a gathering place for the lit-minded community. The bottom is an English-language bookstore, with an incredible selection and some amazing antique books as well. It's crowded and cluttered, with ladders and shelves everywhere. The upstairs is hard to describe- it's a lending library of sorts, where anyone is welcome to come in, sit down, and read any of the books. It's funky and cramped, with more books than you can imagine in no discernible order crammed everywhere. There's a little typewriter where people pound out their thoughts or messages to post on the wall, as well as beds and couches for travelers who stay there and earn their keep by working in the shop. I found a spot on the bench right next to a window looking out across the Seine at Notre Dame, and curled up with a Harold Bloom book on Shakespeare that I happened across. Whenever I have some time to kill (sometimes you'll have the odd hour or two where you have no homework, your friends are in class, and it's not worth going home just to leave for IES again 5 min later) I intend to pop in and curl up with my discovery- I'm on page 97 of 800 or so.

-The Marais- is a trendy Jewish/gay quartier where my friend Chelsea lives. Spent quite a bit of time there this weekend with different combinations of people. For lunch one day we went to Breakfast in America, which is an American diner, and got hamburgers, french fries, and such things. It's a fun little place, and we certainly amused our waiter. We were back in the Marais later in the weekend for Lauren's birthday, which was at this trendy little place called the Lizard Lounge. Very fun neighborhood, with a lot to do and see.

-Other adventures- Paris is really not that big. It's crowded, but very very compact. So you'll start wandering and wind up all sorts of cool places, and we did quite a bit of that this weekend. Wandered around by the Eiffel tower, at Pere Lachaise again, around the Seine, in St Michel, and all over.

I've met some wonderful people here, and I'm really enjoying getting to know them. I think going to a school like Oxy, which is so small that most students know one another, makes it really fun for me to meet so many new people from all different schools. So that's been awesome, and I'm excited about spending a semester with my newfound friends.

I'm sure I'll be updating soon, with news about my foray into the French university system. I wish you all well, and send my love!