Sur le Pont d'Avignon, on y danse

After my Lyon visit, I decided that I have to be more knowledgeable about Aix.  I love being in France, but it is so busy that sometimes I forget that there is more than the little yellow schoolhouse where I spend my days.  As many times as I have walked past the marché, I have never really stopped to browse because I am always on my way to class.  So Thursday I had a little bit of time and decided to go in early and explore the city a bit.  The big marché, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, has a little bit of everything.  Clothes, shoes, bags, pottery, jewerly, soap, tableclothes, you name it. I found the old books particularly interesting.  There were a bunch of those old, beautifully bound books with the gold embellishment.  Now I just have to keep my eye open for one that I want!

Friday was another first: the theatre!  Laurence had gotten tickets for the tour of FAME for Friday night, so I had my first true cultural outing.  The Theatre de la Grande Provence is a huge beautiful complex that was built 3 years ago.  I climbed it on one of my first weeks here, because it is multilevel and you can take the stairs up to the top and get a great view of Provence and Mount St Victoire, but I didn't know it was a theatre then!  The show was interesting.  I had never seen it before, but apparently it is all the rage in France, and has been since the 80s.  The show is a cross between Chorus Line and Footloose and while not very profound, it was atleast entertaining.  It was especially interesting from a translation perspective.  The elements were so clearly American, yet suddenly in a French context.  I couldn't help but think how strange it would be to be one of these French actors... touring with a company, but never having any hope of making it to Broadway.  This one dream that is shared by every actor in America cannot be attained by the majority of the performers in France.  How does it feel to be representing something that isn't part of their culture?  The fact that the words were in French doesn't change the fact that it is so very American.  Do phrases that are huge in America (time is money) have the same impact for the French?  The only thing that wasn't translated was the chorus of FAME, and it was startling to all of a sudden hear (remember! remember!) from the ensemble when the lead was singing.  

It is totally foreign to me that the French are in a society where everything is influenced by a foreign language.  I rarely hear French music on the radio, and as a result, the public doesn't understand what it are listening to.  My host sister asks me every so often to translate what she is singing (this week was "You Can't Always Get What you Want").  I think of myself listening to French music, catching the words only if I really listen.  Imagine if it were like that all the time!  

Okay, enough pondering.  Saturday was the sortie to Avignon.  Before going to the Palais, we took a photo opportunity to view the 2 Palais et Pont d'Avignon from afar.  

We took the opportunity to sing the famous children's song that I don't recall ever actually learning as a child... Next, we went to the Vieux Palais de Papes.  During the middle ages, the Popes decided to leave Rome and set up headquarters in Avignon, which at the time was it's own territory associated with France.  Politics, politics.  In any case, the pope built a palace and stayed there for some time.  The Old Palace is today a museum with art from the middle ages.  Lots of religious scenes, especially Madonna and Child.  It was interesting but got rather repetitive.  

After lunch, we went to the Palais Neuf, the new palace.  It is much bigger than the old palace and was actually constructed at two different times, because it wasn't big enough at first.  It isn't a museum, but you can tour the rooms of the castle.  Unfortunately, all of the rooms today are bare because the paint is gone and the furniture and decorations were removed.  Heads of statues were cut off during the revolution because the church was affiliated with the monarchy.  So, unlike Versailles, it was hard to get a feel of what it would have been like to live there during the middle ages.  Except, it was quite evident that it would have been very cold and dark.  

After, we went on the Pont, despite the very rainy weather.  Indeed, sur le pont d'Avignon, j'y ai dansé, j'y ai dansé (on the bridge of Avignon, I did dance there, I did dance there) : 

Today was daylight savings here in France, so I am once again 6 hours from you eastcoasters!  Coline and I finally made cookies a l'americain with the chips that mom and dad sent me for my birthday.  Oatmeal chocolate chip!  Even better, I converted our recipe so it tasted like home.  This week I have fall registration and next week is housing lottery.  Where is the time going?

Weekend Lyonnais

I finally got to visit Jacquie in Lyon, and it was such a wonderful weekend!  She surprised me upon my arrival on Friday night with a belated birthday, complete with a delicious cake and stir fry (all the vegetables she knew I'd be craving!), and various wines from the region.  

Saturday, we met her friend Amanda at the train station bright and early and spent the day touring the city.  We started off at the Roman theatre, which according to the sign, could hold 4,500 people!  There were indeed many stairs, but once we got to the top, there was a beautiful view of the city.  

After seeing the ruins, we headed to the Basilica that is also at the top of the hill.  It was built to thank Mary for saving the city, and every inch of the interior was covered with mosaic and gold gilding.  

We went next to the Atelier de Soirie, the silk workshop, which with my love for printmaking was very exciting.  Apparently Lyon is famous for its silk.  The studio smelled like a printmaking studio, and all the screens and planks were in the workshop below and the hand-painted scarves and the final products were on the second floor.  

As Lyon is also known for their gastronomie, we went to a typical boucheron lyonnais for lunch.  While I didn't have the classic specialty (pied du cochon: pig feet! Even my host mom said she doesn't dare try it...), I did have a salad lyonnais, steak, carrots, scalloped potatoes, and for dessert, a praline pie that was bright pink!  

Next we headed to La Musee des Miniatures.  After some confusion in the beginning with random movie sets, we finally found the actual miniatures.  There were rooms at 1/12 size, miniature paintings, origami the size of my fingernail, and intricate cutouts that were done with scissors!  

After walking and seeing more of the city, we went to the Parc de la tete d'Or, which is a huge beautiful park with greenhouses and even a zoo!  After seeing giraffes, elephants, a leopard, and deer, we decided we were hungry, so we bought mi-gateaux for our gouter from a Lyon chocolaterie.  Before Amanda left, we went to FNAC, the French version of Borders.  I seized the opportunity. getting a bunch of recommendations from Jacquie and happily leaving with 4 new books!  Now, if only I had the free time to read them, but atleast I'm building up my library for the summer!

Unlike Aix, Lyon has a lot of diverse dining options, so for dinner, Jacquie and I went to an Indian restaurant.  Thankfully, I got to have the curry and ginger I've been craving since coming to France.  

On Sunday we went to the Musee des Beaux Arts, which is considered to be the mini-Louvre.  It was nice because it featured a lot of regional artists and art of Lyon.  After, we walked along the river and saw more of the city before I had to catch my train.  

Overall, it was a great weekend, and I wasn't expecting how nice it would be to have a vacation from Aix.  First off, it was so nice to see Jacquie and to be in an environment where I was totally relaxed and carefree with someone who knows me so well.  Secondly, even though Lyon is the second biggest city in France, it is so much more laid back than Paris, or even Aix.  Although I was slightly homesick in returning to Provence, I know that I have my parents' visit to look forward to in just under 4 weeks!

Partiels et Cassis

So I'm still settling in to the French education system.  This past week was midterms (where have the past two months gone?!) and I would have to say that it was onemore stressful than I anticipated, for several reasons.  Even when I have taken 5 classes in the US, I have rarely had midterms scheduled for the same week.  Even in finals week I've never had to take 5 exams. When I have big tests, I usually am not assigned research projects and given homework at the same time.  I generally have very little free time.  Last weekend was the sortie to Marseille, which left only Sunday to work.  When we combine all of this, it translates to very little time to study, a lot to study for, and therefore a week that I am very glad to be done with.  

I'm not sure how I feel about the French exam method.  It generally requires you to know all the information from every course, book, and article you have read.  Really, you have to know it all.  This is frustrating, because the test only has three questions.  Therefore, even though you presumably studied everything, you have to regurgitate all the information in great detail.  There is little room for error, and no room for creativity or your own thought on the concept.  This also makes studying a more difficult and longer process because being merely familiar with a topic does not help you when it is 1/3 of your exam.  

But!  I made it, and to celebrate the end of les partiels, Hannah, Ashlee, Emma, et moi planned our own sortie to Cassis.  It was the perfect day for a day sur la plage.  It is as if someone turned an on-switch for springtime this week.  All of a sudden, it's starting to get warmer, and the trees have started blossoming!  Yesterday was the first day where it actually smelled like spring.  French spring doesn't smell the same as in the states, but there is no mistaking the freshness in the air.  We arrived in Cassis around noon and had to walk 4km from the bus station to arrive en centre ville.  

We had planned to have a picnic on the beach, but after exploring for a while and discovering that the supermarche is closed from 12-3.30 so we went instead to a restaurant for pizza.  After, we went down to the beach to enjoy the sunshine, and finished off the afternoon with some gelatti!  It was a very good way to wind down from this week.  

Les Vacances

Alors!  I am back from a vacances tres bien passees.  Voici the (semi)abridged version:

The journey started on Saturday with my first TVG experience!  I must say, the train is indeed grande vitesse, because in a short three hours, we arrived in Paris.  After two mishaps with the metro, we found the correct subway stop for our hostel, dropped off our bags, and set off again.  We decided that we wanted to explore the city and see the Champs Elysees, and after asking a marchand for directions, he told us it's "just straight ahead."  Thinking we were relatively close, we started the first leg of what was to be our 6 hour walk.  

The hostel was in a great location.  We walked along the Seine, passing the Hotel de Ville, and not too long after, the Musee Picasso and the Louvre.  The whole time, it was just so hard to believe we were in Paris!  After a short photo stop at the Louvre, we continued following our path to the Arc de Triomphe, which seemed to be a short distance away.  After a bit of shopping on the Champs Elysees and some new sneakers for Ashlee's hurting feet, we finally arrived at our destination of the Arc, more than 3 hours after when we set off.  The new problem: how does one cross the 6 lanes of traffic of the rotonde to get to the Arc?  After walking around the circumference for a while, we discovered a set of stairs and the underground passage!  We ignored the "do not enter" sign on the stairs and emerged safely in the center of the Arc to watch some sort of military procession.  

We then decided that we wanted to see the Tour Eiffel at night.  That, too, didn't seem too far away until we arrived there an hour later.  Never the less, when we turned the last corner, it was wonderful to see the tower, which was twinkling at the start of the new hour!  After more mishaps to find a subway, we finally got back to the hostel neighborhood and ate a very Parisian timed dinner at 10.00.

Sunday morning we awoke to have the hostel breakfast of a baguette, pain au chocolat, tea, and orange juice.  We then headed to the Musee d'Orsay, which I was particularly excited about because it has all of my favorite impressionist art!  After lunch, we headed to the Ile de la Cite to see St. Chapelle et Notre Dame.  Hannah warned me that St Chapelle looks like "a moroccan restaurant" on the first level, and I would have to see I tend to agree.  The paint was all in primary colors with the repeating patterns typical of the middle ages.  However, the stained glass on the second level was truly amazing.  Each window featured the book of a different saint.  If only it had been sunny so I could really see the contrast!  Overall, the feeling of St Chapelle was much more touristy than a church.  We next went to Notre Dame, which I much preferred.  There was an organ recital going on when we were there, and it was evident that people were taking their time to appreciate it as a place of worship as well as for its historical and architectural value.  Interesting, despite the even darker skies, the Rose window of Notre Dame was far more contrasted and impressive than those at St. Chapelle.  

Monday we set off for our second museum experience: le Louvre!  We attacked the sections in chronological order.  First off, the Egyptians.  The Louvre has one of the largest Egypt exhibits, and what was especially captivating was the range of artifacts.  There was the hieroglyphics, but also preserved food (the bread from 3000BC looked like sea sponge!), a menu, pottery, games (dice!), sewing bobbins, musical instruments, jewelry, mirrors, and even tweezers!  

We then went to the Antiquity section.  It was so strange to see all of my art history pieces in person!  By far the most impressive was Nike, the Winged Victory.  I could have stared at it all day.  As is, we circled around it for a good 25 minutes.  

We then went to the Painting section to see the Mona Lisa and other French Romantic Paintings, then we also saw the Appartements of Napoleon III.

After the Louvre, we headed for a gouter chez Angelina's, which is renowned for their desserts and hot chocolate.  Or rather, melted chocolate.  It was so thick it required another drink in order to drink it!  

That evening, we headed back to the Eiffel tower to try to go to the top.  We started to realize a theme of the vacation: we seemed to have perfect timing for everything!  We waited for a short period of time, and ascended to the second level just around the time when the sun was setting.  Even though it was cloudy, the rain had stopped, and we were able to see the transformation of the City of Lights from day to nighttime.  After some time on the second level, we took the elevator to the very top!  Very narrow, slightly frightening, but absolutely worth it!  

Tuesday, we went to Versailles.  All we could keep saying was "Oh, Louis."  He was indeed the Sun King, and it was strange because despite the excess of gold and decoration everywhere, after a while it started to become repetitive.  He knew what he liked, and used it a lot.  The Hall of Mirrors was indeed beautiful with the light reflected in the windows, mirrors, and chandeliers.  I was disappointed in the gardens, because while I expected there not to be much in the way of plants, the fountains weren't working either.  

Wednesday followed Hannah's wish to see the Opera before leaving Paris for Normandie.  This was also a project of Louis XIV in his attempts to promote the arts during his reign.  I would have to say that this was my favorite site in all of Paris.  It was breathtakingly amazing, more so than Versailles in my opinion.  All the architectural elements were incredibly exquisite, but there was variation so that everywhere you looked, you were seeing something new.  The ballroom was similar to the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, but in my opinion, was more impressive.  

In the afternoon, we took the train through more beautiful French countryside to Caen.  In seeing so much green, I realized that there isn't a lot of grass in Aix.  I spend most all of my time in the very developed parts of the city, so it's all stone, sidewalks, and buildings.  Any sign of nature is carefully manicured and maintained by the city.  Strangely, they cut their trees off right at the branches!  In any case, it was nice to see real nature for a change.  

We met Ashlee's former host sister, Julie, for dinner.  She and her friends took us to Uncle Scotty's, clearly the typical representation of classic America.  If this is what the French think of us and our food, I'm afraid.  Everyone was wearing cowboy hats, there were slightly offensive (okay, and yet slightly entertaining) posters everywhere, and the food came in huge, tremendously greasy portions.  

 

Caen was much more laid back than Paris- a good break from our busy schedule in the big city! We explored the castles, churches, and Abbaye aux Hommes (where William the Conqueror's tomb is).  We also branched out in our cultural experiences and profited from the rainy weather by watching two movies- LOL and Le Code a Change.  We couldn't pass it up because the Caen cinema is only 3.60E if you are under 26!  Hannah and I also went to Mont St Michel on Friday.  It is an Abbaye and a very small town built on a tiny island on the ocean.  It was absolutely beautiful, and we caught it in late afternoon and saw the sunset!  Saturday, Julie's family took us out to lunch at one of their favorite spots.  It was evident that they go there a lot because when we entered, they gave bisous to practically everyone in the restaurant.  Definitely a small town feel a la francais!  After, we went with Julie to the Plages de Debarquement and finished off the afternoon with another fabulous crepe gouter.  

Finally, Sunday was the day of travel.  It was a wonderful week, but I was very happy to come back to Aix!  It is strange to say my vacation is over, because really, I have to keep reminding myself that I am still in France!