#tarnowski

I am currently lying in bed, facing the large window that opens up onto my small terrace. The curtain is drawn halfway open, and the delicate colors of the beginning of sun set filter in. Jungle, the big, fat cat, has curled up into the crook of my arm and purrs gently. He warms my chest and I am forcing myself to write this entry about the past few days, knowing full well that a cuddly nap with this kitty is just around the corner.

This week has been lovely. I have made a pact to do one thing after school, and this week I accomplished that and I feel smarter, more worldly already. It's easy, you know, to do just one thing after class. I'm still home between five or six, leaving plenty of time for homework. Tuesday, classes went well. Professor Blanc seemed to be in a better mood, but still spoke passionately about World War I in France. I am anxious for my exposé next week, and I hope I can cover enough of the background on the height of French colonialism to please him. Literature was also fine; we discussed the end of Un début a Paris, which I really quite enjoyed. After school, despite icky weather, Jayne, Caitlin, Lin and I rode the metro line 13 all the way up past the northern border of Paris to see the Basilique de St. Denis, which was enormous and eerily beautiful. After, I returned home, but got off on an early stop and wandered new streets home. The weather was miserable, though, so I stayed in for the rest of the day.

Yesterday, Wednesday, was nice. I woke up to have breakfast with Lucienne, Katherine, and Juliette, which is becoming a regular thing that I'm enjoying a lot. I then made my way to  the Marais, where we had our Wednesday morning excursion with Léglise Costa. We visited the St. Paul church, Hotel de Sully, Place de Vosges, and several other small sights while learning the history of the Marais which has long been a chic, popular quarter of Paris. I think one day this weekend I want to wander all the streets and go in and out of all the great, adorable shops. I want to spend a considerable amount of time in that area, because it is full of both fun and history (lots of museums!). During lunch, I just went back toward Reid Hall with Caitlin. I bought a delicious slice of vegetable quiche to munch on, which was chock full of lima beans, peas, carrots, tomatoes, and zucchini - delicieux! Class with Sitbon in the afternoon was fun, despite working on a lot of grammar. I always fell like i learn something terribly useful every two seconds with her!

After class, Caitlin, Jayne, and I went to the Invalides, which is the site of Napoleon's tom and the military museum. It was quite fascinating and beautiful. I adore World War II history, and they had a huge section on that. I also stumbled upon information on French colonialism at its peak, so maybe I won't fail my exposé for Professor Blanc next week after all! Afterward, I wandered Boulevard Voltaire and the surrounding streets until well after dark. I found some great vintage shops I can't wait to comb through, and I bought some grapes on which to munch gleefully. I love exploring my neighborhood and want to do it more often when I have time to kill. I returned home and Juliette threw together a delicious, cheesy squash risotto of sorts with the excess rice from John's Mexican meal the day before. After dinner, Jayne came over to work on homework and she brought a really bad bottle of rosé - it's benefit being that it got us tipsy after very little! Perhaps we will drink the rest tonight!

Today class met in the café La Coupole on Boulevard Montparnasse. I ordered a Viennese coffee on Dartmouth's dime and drank it with pleasure. La Coupole is an infinitely classy café, tres a la mode, where writers used to come to work and lots of other chic, famous people take their coffee. Yet, we couldn't configure ourselves in a way conducive to discussing literature (and our new book, No et moi, is interesting enough to deserve full attention!), so we moved over to our regular classroom in Reid Hall for the second half of the class. During lunch, I talked some with Professor Tarnowski and enjoyed further opportunity to speak French. Mme Sitbon's class was fun as well, with more tedious grammar drilling, but she always makes it more interesting with her amusing digressions and explanations of random things. 

After school, Jayne and I went to Sainte Chapelle, which is a gorgeous church. Beautiful beyond words. Walking into the haute chapelle, it took my breath away. I will post pictures because I don't even know what I could write to do it justice. The windows are beautiful and grand. We tagged along with the French guided tour and I was pleased to understand the majority of it, really only struggling when he was speaking too quietly or others around me spoke over him.

A lot of people are going away this weekend - to Barcelona, Lisbonne, London, Amsterdam - and only a handful of us are staying in Paris. I've decided, though, that I am content to stay in France and want to do lots of little day trips. I will take one weekend to visit either Barcelona or Amsterdam, but otherwise, I think I'm going to stick around France. I've been to Europe before, I've traveled a lot, and I know I will again - so why not see France now while I'm here and learning French? I want to really see Paris, too, and if I'm always taking off I can't do that to the extent to which I would want. Also, staying in France means speaking more French. I don't think people realize just quite how dedicated I am to becoming fluent in French. I want to speak it all the time if I can. I understand other students want to speak English but I may not have another opportunity like this for a long time...so I'm going to speak French. Listen to French. Immerse myself in French. I have to. Being a fluent speaker is one of my biggest dreams and desires in life and I have to, have to, have to do it.

I am so excited for Reims with Jaynie tomorrow; we told Léglise Costa that we're going and he was very pleased, telling us what all we should see and do. I think he was happy to see that we took him up on his suggestion to see Reims and wanted to ask him what he thought we should do. I hope to talk to him about it when we get back - he's endlessly fascinating, that man, and I would love to form a strong bond with him. With all the professors, really. I truly enjoy talking with them all. I'm determined, as well, to melt Professor Blanc's seemingly cold heart.

On Friday, we took a group excursion to Rouen, the capital of Normandie! We met at Gare St. Lazare at 8:30am and took an hour and fifteen minute train ride to the old city. I dozed on the train, still wiped out from a busy week. It was chilly and damp, but not quite as cold as it had been all week in Paris, so I appreciated the slightly warmer weather! We wandered through a few streets looking at the medieval style buildings and a giant tower with special, thin windows that were designed for battle. They're shaped like a "V" - thinner toward the outside of the tower, opening up inside the room - so that you could shoot an arrow out easily but with only a tiny space in which anyone outside could hope to shoot. I had the chance, also, to talk with Sitbon and Tarnowski a bit, which I enjoyed because I really want to practice my French.

We arrived at the massive cathedral, which is Rouen's greatest jewel. It's immense and magnificent, certainly. We went inside and toured, all while Léglise Costa spoke to us about its history and the architecture. It truly is fascinating and I love listening to that adorable, old French man speak. I feel like he is really teaching me so much and I'm consuming it all! Afterward, we walked all around the cathedral, stopping to look into old courtyards and down small alleyways. The medieval architecture is fairy tale-esque and reminded me quite a bit of York, England.

We ate a fantastic lunch at a wonderful restaurant. I ordered oysters for an appetizer, and I thought they were wonderful (and it's always nice to order fancy things when Dartmouth is fronting the cost!). For my main dish I had a salmonette, which isn't salmon but some kind of white fish, with red mashed potatoes and a delicious sauce. Dessert was cherry and pear sorbet served in a cookie "tulip," with a red berry sauce. I was stuffed by the end of the meal - perhaps because I also helped others with their desserts - but it was SO worth it. Free and delicious? Yes please! I'm looking forward to more meals purchased by Dartmouth, because it appears they take us to some really yummy places!

After lunch, we went to a museum and had the opportunity to look at some beautiful paintings. Léglise Costa stood in front of a beautiful religious painting and lectured for a while, and truly, listening to that man speak about art is like listening to poetry. He sure as hell knows what he's talking about. I want to ask him more about what he's interested in in particular, because he seems to know everything...I just have to wonder what he's especially passionate about within the realm of art history. I wish we could have spent more time in the museum. I could have sat and stared at those Monets for much longer than the few minutes I was allotted!

Wednesday night was lovely. Jayne and I were planning to spend an easy, fun night out in our neighborhood. She came over and we hung around for a while, because I had to wait to let in John and McKenzie, who had been planning to have a little "pre-game" in the apartment with a few other girls from the FSP before going out. We got to talking, and eventually the others arrived. In time, we realized we were getting drunk off the wine everyone brought and decided to just stay there and hang out. We talked and drank and drank and laughed and frankly, it was the perfect kind of evening. I was so happy to have the opportunity to bond more with some different girls from the program. I got drunk, certainly, but it was fun and safe and my favorite way to "party." The girls left and I crashed into bed, reeling still with a smile.

Thursday was a fatiguing day, and I'm not quite sure why. Even though I didn't feel hung over, maybe my body was just responding poorly to the night drinking? I'm not quite sure. Either way, I made it through. I got up and went to Tarnowski's lit class, and enjoyed discussing the book. It's really quite good. Lunch was nothing out of the ordinary, and then Mme Sitbon's class was amusing per usual with her happy bouncing and adorable little way of speaking. We got to end class a little early to go see a movie! It's called Intouchables and it's currently the most popular film in France. I didn't understand everything and of course many of the jokes were lost in translation, but there was certainly no missing the gist, which made me cry. It was so touching and truly a feel-good kind of flick.

“Tell me, I’ll forget Show me, I’ll remember Involve me, I’ll understand” Chinese Proverb

This proverb explains precisely why an immersion program like the one I'm currently in is so beneficial and important. Not only can I feel my ease and comfort with French increasing, the more I feel I am learning about the culture. I am involved and so I am learning and understanding more and more every day.

Phrase of the day: boire un coup, a casual way to say go get a drink.

Today was a little rough at first. Classes began at 10am this morning, so I had to wake up a teeny bit before 8am to take my shower and get myself out of the house just before 9am to meet up with Jenny before school to walk around. Now, normally 8am is completely pas de probleme for me, but it's the earliest I have had to wake up in a while so it was a morning of adjustment! Juliette and I, bleary-eyed, made a pot of coffee and talked while sharing some toast with butter and jam. I hope to get myself up around 8 on all school days now though, even if it's earlier than really necessary, to get work done before class.

History with Prof. Blanc today was...intimidating. He's rather young and super sexy in the weird professor kind of way, and damn does he know his stuff. We'll only meet with him once a week so the history is super condensed - nine lessons of the important spotlights on French history from the end of the 19th century up until 1981. We're each getting a small presentation (I've ended up with French colonialism) and have two papers to write. Damn, this program is turning out to be quite a bit of work.

Tarnowski's literature class also met today for the first time. The theme for our class will be d'etre jeune a Paris, to be young in Paris, and we're reading three modern novels (COOL) with a brief break in the middle to read Moliere's Les femmes savantes since we're going to see the play on February 16. We have several papers to write for the class, but other than that it's just reading and discussion. Now that I've been in bed reading more of our first novel, Un debut a Paris by Philippe Labro, I'm getting excited.

After classes, Jenny and I went to Gibert Joseph, the same book store we went to during our free five days in Paris, to buy the rest of our books and the book Blanc wants us to read for history. They all look interesting, and not very long or difficult. I'm looking forward to reading them. Parting ways with her on the metro, I went home and did my grammar homework for Mme Sitbon's class. It was easy! I hope the assignments stay that way. I also met another neighbor, Natalie, who I spoke and joked with in French, which made me feel proud and like I'm making progress! Around six, I hopped on the metro and met with John and Jenny in front of the Hotel de Ville. John took us to Les Philosophes, one of his favorite bars in the area of Paris called le marais. Very classy. We talked for so long - admittedly in English - and had a jolly time getting a little pre-dinner tipsy. My little glass of red wine certainly got me chatty!

Although I feel a little guilty about taking a break from French, it was reassuring to talk to John about my professors. School feels more overwhelming than it should, I think, because i have so many feelings about my classes and professors that I simply don't know how to express in French. With John, since he essentially lives with me (and will be moving back into the building in February), it's nice to have someone who understands that I can babble to and ask questions of before returning to French. He's so wonderful about speaking French with me whenever I want, which I'm really trying to do 95% of the time.

John and I then went home for dinner, and I think I can say that it's been my favorite evening at home so far. It was just the two of us with Lucienne and Juliette, and the tone of the evening was kind, talkative, and slightly buzzed. We ate homemade galettes with eggs, cheese, and ham, drank cider, and shared a galette des rois for dessert (I found la feve, so I was queen for the evening!). Conversation flowed and I really feel for the first time like I genuinely participated and had things to say, even though it wasn't always perfect and I needed help sometimes. I'm truly getting to know this odd little family of mine. Juliette calls me ma belle, "my pretty," and it is so sweet and endearing and makes me feel like I'm her little friend, especially after our "early" breakfast together this morning. Lucienne is becoming more understandable to me and she is always teasing me, too. John is both like a brother and a friend. Together we compose an odd, jumbled group, but one that seems to truly care about each other.

Side note: from now on I'm just going to refer to my home and John's home as one and the same, even though he currently doesn't sleep here. He's here all the time anyway!

Every Wednesday at 10am we are to meet with Prof. Léglise Costa for an art history field trip in Paris. Tomorrow we're meeting at a metro station and then going to walk around looking at old roman-style arenas and around the Latin Quarter. I'm excited for that, but he made it very clear we are to begin exactly at 10am. I think I will make sure to arrive with plenty of time, since I don't know how long it will take on the metro to get there (though I only imagine fifteen minutes). I'll bring my book for Tarnowski's class with me, and can find a place to sit and read while waiting for everyone else to show up. The book is good, but I simply can't read any more tonight!