Ma Vie à Paris

2009-02-07T08:50:00.000-08:00

Commentary soon to come I promise!

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Mosuleum

2009-01-09T02:28:00.001-08:00

Mosuleum
Originally uploaded by chellbell1123

Which author was this again..?

2009-01-09T02:27:00.001-08:00

Which author was this again..?
Originally uploaded by chellbell1123

Ferris Wheel

2009-01-09T02:25:00.001-08:00

Ferris Wheel
Originally uploaded by chellbell1123

2009-01-09T02:10:00.000-08:00

Okay so for now on all photos will be on flickr instead because this website chooses to be ridic difficult.... the link is http://www.flickr.com/photos/mavieaparis33/. I may be able to streamline them from there to here somehow but as for now...

2009-01-07T14:05:00.000-08:00

For some reason I can't seem to add photos : ( Hopefully I'll figure out this bug soon.

2009-01-07T13:58:00.001-08:00

Hey
Not sure what has been going on but this blog has been giving a ton of trouble... So now that I have finally, successfully logged on, what to say? Well its been ages. The semester finished up faster than I could fathom, but not as easily as I would have liked! Finals were a breeze at IES however the papers for my exterior classes were a killer! They required a ton of outside reading and research. The most frustrating part of the process though was trying to interpret the rather abstract instructions of the "elusive french professor". Just try and get a hold of one of them outside of class, its impossible. And don't be surprised when you do approach them after class, to find their eyes darting right and left as they plan to make thier escape. Now to be fair I had one rather good instructor. The other well was clueless on all counts. This is more of an approxmation of the my experiences and those relayed to me by friends and classmates. But enough of that! It was truly hard to see all of my first semester friends leave. I miss you! Break has been good so far. My family came to visit, for a week and we spent Christmas here with some friends. I can't describe how happy it made me to see them. We did a lot of sight seeing, cafe lounging, and pastry buying. I think everyone had a great time, however the jet lag really dealt them a hard card! I wish they could have stayed longer but alas they have real lives. ; ) I wouldn't say I'm homesick exactly but there are certainly things that I'm missing here. However when I rationalize I know that I wouldn't be any better off having gone home for break. My friends would be back in school and my family would be working. Possibly even more dead than here. It's strange the things I miss are more elements of childhood. Probably more so a by-product of growing up than anything else. I don't think I've ever had such vivid dreams so often as right now either. They are almost always of being home in the summer time, but at about ten years old...
As for New Years, I flew up to Amsterdam and spent the holiday with four good friends from home. We had a great time. It was rather cold, but incredibly beautiful clean and organized. Completely blew my image of the dirty hippy out of the water. I would go back in a heart beat. Especially in the summer, I would love to rent a bike and dwindle the day away from canal to canal... The contrast was striking, in a city known for its legalization of everything (well practically) I've never seen such organization, efficiency, and as for police presence, a total lack there of. I'll add some pictures as soon as I edit them a bit. Expect to hear from me more in the future. It's so freaking cold here there isn't much else to do but sit inside online. Okay well there is tons to do but I'm completely sightsee'd out after the past two weeks. Not to mention the pocket book needs heavy watching...
À bientôt!

2008-11-23T04:05:00.001-08:00

Alright so these photos are a little jumbled but I'm sure you can figure out whats what. The ones containing chocolate date back to the beginning of the month when I went to the Salon du Chocolat with Misa, Rachel and Theresa. There were chocolate sculptures everywhere and tons of free samples. It was set up like any other expo and swarmed with greedy chocolate lovers. Definitely got elbowed once or twice trying to get to the best free little tidbits. There was everything from your classic dark to green tea ganache, to hot chili pepper flecked to jasmine. Did I mention that I love chocolate. Did I also mention that I bought a bunch to give out as gifts and Genna's host brother and friend ate it all like animals in the middle of the night!! Ooo I was furious. He has offered to replace it though so all is well. But it reminds me that 22 year old boys are often no more mature than 4 year old boys...
Prague - that would be the rest of these pictures. It often felt like walking in a fairy tale. I was in beauty and the beast, the little mermaid when she becomes human, sleeping beauty - you get the idea. Dreamy dreamy place. The ones that give you a view of the whole city were taken from the top of the clock tower during our last night.

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Slacker

2008-11-18T04:01:00.000-08:00

Wow, have I been slacking. I will attempt to catch up on the past few weeks...
The election in Paris was an experience not to be missed. Europeans generally seem to be more interested in international politics than Americans. Perhaps interested isn't the best word, but at least better informed. When I turn on my radio here, I hear about what is happening all over the world. It has been something unique to follow my first election in another country. The night of (which incidentally commenced at around 1am because of the time difference) the election some fellow expats headed to an American bar in the latin quarter to watch the polls come in. There were big screen t.v.s and the bar brewed its own assortment of beers ranging a light ginger to something much heavier than guinness. Besides the bundles of American students there were also a surprising number of Parisians crowded into the pub. With each states tolls coming in the crowd reacted with cheers or boos. The French and vast majority of students are Obama supporters, so the place was alive and jovial. Anticipation was just hanging in the air. When the last poll came in to confirm Obama's victory the bar went wild and everyone started dancing around. Right after that it seemed, we were all shooed out because the bar legally had to close by 4 am. We rounded up the troops and embarked on a journey across town to a dinner called "Breakfast in America" so that we could watch the acceptance speech. It took at least an hour for us to get our act together and find this place. When we got there, we weren't allowed inside because it was already too crowded. So we stayed outside and watched the rest through the front windows with a bunch of other Breakfast in America rejectees. It was raining by this time mind you, and cold and miserable but somehow everyone was peacefully content. I thought that McCain gave an earnest sincere congragulatory speech. One of the best I've heard from him. Saddly though I was drawn home before I got to see Obama's because of a looming class presentation to give the following morning. I would have to wait for youtube the next day. I got home at 6:30 am. My presentation, thankfully well prepared, was painful to give at 12:30 that next morning. But it was for a politics class so I'm assuming that everyone, including the teacher was half asleep. I've never felt so tired in class in my life. At one point, I could not physically read my notes so I just winged the rest of the current event. I think it went quite well considering. Don't be alarmed though, I'm doing quite well in my classes so far. As far as midterms I received nothing less than an A-. Now onto another topic....
Fall Break
During my unoffical IES fall break I made a trip to Prague with Genna, Nick, Rose and Sammy. We stayed in a hotel in the center of town, which wasn't all that big so we could walk everywhere. The city itself was charming and majestic. I've never been somewhere that felt so old and rich with history. The buildings were all painted warm pastels, the squares had looming towers, the streets were winding and cobble stoned. The first night as we walked back from dinner I really felt as if I had fallen into some time portal and been thrown out the other side into the 17th century. Prague is great place to simply wander. It was quite accessable as an American tourist as well because everyone spoke english as a second language. It seems that Prague has a booming touristic economy right now. The food was hearty, as was the culture. A breath of fresh air from Paris. There was less emphasis on what you were wearing, how well-mannered you were etc. It was an interesting contrast between the people and the archtecture. We visited two museums, which were definitely some sort of novelties; the museum of communism and museum of mideval tourture devices. The first was a historical account of the spread of communism through the Czech Republique, the Russian rule uptill the Velvet Revolution. Very informative. I'm finding politiques and history to be my new found passions here between classes, the media, and pleasure reading in my spare time. The other museum, was exactly as it sounds. O man they're were some twisted creative people back in the mideval area. Our favorite, which I have since used as a treat, is the Spanish tickle tourture. Most of the rest were not so light. More on the creepy/sick! side.. It was crazy to think that these wild devises were actually once used on people! We also saw the charles bridge, the castle and jewish quarters. I will put pictures up soon to better explain that. I would totally recommend Prague. The trip ended up being rather in expensive too. You can stay in a really nice hotel double for around 50-100 euros a night. We got our flight on sale for 54 euros round trip and the restaurants and bars there were a welcome treat from the high prices of Paris.
Expect pictures very soon and more frequent updates. Midterms, exterior classes and visa issues were really stressing me out at the end of October/early November which rendered me a little on the lazy side. Thats all resolved now, so you'll hear from me again soon! And to everyone who has been keeping in touch, thank you so much. It is such a pleasant surprise to get letters or emails from family and friends. It really makes my day. I'm thinking of all of you often and wishing you the best.
Love Chelle

Giverny

2008-10-26T13:39:00.001-07:00

Beautiful flowers, friends and landscapes. Brought to you by Monet and Company. Finally restored to their former beauty, Monet's gardens were in full bloom last weekend. Amazing because it was a chilly October morning, None the less, incredibly sunny and dewy. From what I was told, Monet would envision particular scenes, and then landscape his gardens as he desired to paint them. You can still see a strong resemblance. Take a look and keep in mind some of your favorite Monets. Now trying seeing the gardens through his eyes, and imagine translating and express them into a painting. Pretty cool right?

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Differences

2008-10-24T02:22:00.001-07:00

I was considering some of the contrasts here with my life back home and thought it would be interesting to give everyone a clearer picture.

Home - a small apartment, bigger than my freshman dorm but otherwise the smallest space I've ever lived in (which now feels perfectly adequate, wow Americans like a lot of space). There is no: dryer, dishwasher, microwave, toaster, TV, DVD player, wireless, or bathtub. Instead, I, listen to the radio a lot, go out to see movies, wash dishes by hand, cook everything on the stove, take french showers, hang my clothes to dry, and use the Ethernet every couple days.

School - the smallest school I've ever attended, about 150 students. Even my exterior course, I'm in a group of about 80 students that I take both my classes with. It's easier to meet people and form closer friendships. At IES I know all the staff on a first name basis. There is much much less homework. Reading for my classes, a lot of busy work for my language class and nothing for my exteriors. You read and study, that's it. Next week is mid-terms so I will be doing a lot of reviewing this weekend but thank the lord no huge assignments as of yet. I study politics, sociology, language and psychology. So weird my psych school is based in psychoanalytic, and to some extent - Freudian - thought!! They still believe that crap here ( sorry if I'm offending anyone but gahhh FREUD??? How about something remotely current and applicable?? reality is my anti-Freud) But to be fair I've never studied psychology from this perspective so its an experience. Teachers do not use a whole lot of outside media or supplementary material. No power points, videos, online homework etc. We have lectures, and we ask questions. This may sound boring to some but actually I've never studied half these subjects, let alone from a French perspective. So they are very interesting. You have to try and get your head into this other culture and understand it from their world view but I find myself constantly comparing things to my own culture. Which yes, is a whole new ball game.

Exercise - Haven't found anything yet. Any ideas?? At home I'm really active but here there is no opportunity. The gyms are expensive and private. There's nothing offered with the universities here. That just doesn't exist. For velib ( the city wide bike rental thing) you need an American Express Card or a European one with the microchip. I don't have either. What I've come up with is the occasional run outside (I hate running outdoors ; ) and workout videos that I hoard from the internet.

Work - Not sure if I can even get a work visa, but it feels really weird to have so much time to myself.

So what have I been doing with my excessive amounts of free time you ask? Well I study french a lot on my own. Constantly craving improvements in the language. And its amazing to have those extra couple hours a week to commit to it. Always looking up words and reviewing grammatical rules. I visit the plethora of art exhibits, museums, monuments and cinemas here. I spend a lot of time with my friends, or on my own reading books (especially in the beautiful parks). I cook or have lengthy dinners with my host mom. I commute on public transportation (how many hours have I already spent on the metro?? I'd rather not know..) I write letters and go to hear live music. And of course I take a lot of photos (my new passion) and write my blog.

So there you have it. Life abroad, deconstructed.

Musée National d'Art Moderne

2008-10-18T02:36:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday night I took myself on a date to the George Pompidou Center. I had been seeing these adds all over Paris for a special exhibit passing through. The exhibit was that of Jacque Villeglé. His mediums were unusual - most of the pieces were created with those huge posters/advertisements - torn and rearranged on a canvas with other words and images drawn in. The exhibition was incredibly colorful. Definitely made some strong social critiques. There was also a video that he had made with the Pompidou Center. It was a series of images/drawings like slides - that changed almost instantly. It was like watching a dream in fast forward - or snippets of someone's memory. I also explored what I could of the permanent collection in my limited time. I will definitely be going back. Apparently its free Tuesday nights for students. I've had an insatiable craving for art lately. Saturday was spent at the Louvre. Yesterday (Friday) I went to Giverny with IES. Wow I have some beautiful pictures. It's going to take me a bit to get them all up but MOM you are going to flip. The gardens were still in full bloom. Which was incredible since it was so cold yesterday morning you could see your breath.

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The view from the top of the Pompidou center.

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Some of my favorite pieces from the exposition. However these loaded out of order... The bottom, 42 rue de turbigo, I believe refers to the yellow and blue piece - one of the last few pictures.

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I thought this room was so cool. It was all based on the idea of living in an inflatable world. Various pieces of furniture and little shelters like the one below made of inflated plastic. There was this crazy documentary in this room too. It was a film from the sixties showing people playing in this huge plastic bubble/oval that was floating on a body of water. Sort of hard to explain... Reminds me of a kid's dream - to have a huge bubble fort. Maybe that was the point? Adressing that childhood fantasy... The adults in the doc, playing in the bubble - they seemed pretty gleeful.

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The view from outside as I was leaving. Why aren't museums open all night long?

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Other pieces I found interesting for one reason or anther. Now this one below is just ridiculous! I was standing there laughing to myself while the curators peaked around the corner at me... Can they not see the humor in this? The little blue dude was against a huge background of foliage.

This was my favorite part of the permanent collection. It looked like a huge barrel from the outside, but when you looked in through the opening, it was actually a room. It gives me that feeling of a calm summer night out in the country, when you're laying in bed listening to the sound of summer. And that heavy humidity before a downpour. So cool!!

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One of my favorite pieces from the exhibition. I believe the info for this is one of those top few plaques. Everything is a little jumbled...

Be sure to click on this one. From far away it didn't look like anything all that interesting. But the little white waves are actually made up of numbers written out. I wish there was more information on this one - Whats the signficance of these particular numbers?

La Nuit Blanche

2008-10-13T01:13:00.001-07:00

What an awesome weekend. The night of La Nuit Blanche was beautiful. It was crisp, fresh and chilly outside. After making a delicious dinner chez moi, we ventured out into the cool cloak of night and began our exploration. During La Nuit Blanche there are crazy installation pieces setup neighborhood wide, carnivals, late hours at the museums, theatre, music etc. I personally had the ambition to want to see everything, but it didn't really pan out. We started at carnival in the Marais. It had a ton of old school games and rides. We followed that by the lit up Gare Montparnasse. It reminded me of the bat signal, in only the best of ways. This powerful blue light blocked the building so that you couldn't see it head on. It disappeared into the water below. Beautiful!! After that it was on to the installation pieces on the Champs Élysées. They were really cool and futuristic. I felt like I was walking through some sort of moon colony. The
stars and leaves made really unusual shadows on the pavement. We followed that by a crazy electro concert. The club, Showcase, is located under Pont Neuf, a huge bridge that crosses the seine. It's essentially built into the side, the support, of the bridge. You walk down to the lower level of the river and low and behold there is the entrance. The music was awesome and the admission was cheap. There were some models dancing on the stage - probably hanging out still from fashion week. At one point one of them popped a bottle of champagne and dowsed everyone at the front of the stage. Myself included of course. We danced until the sun came up. It was the white night after all!

Pictures and updates from this past week and weekend still to come. The pictures take forever to upload, my apologies for the delay!
This week I start my two psychology courses at the Psycho-prate (L'ecole de Psychologues Praticiens). I'm really excited and simultaneously terrified! Have since visited the Louvre, the George Pompidou, had an incredibly coincidental run-in with a grade school friend and a beautiful lunch in at a friend's home on the outskirts of Paris.
À bientôt!

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Forgottens take two

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The forgotten ones

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Shots that were supposed to go up last week but just didn't survive the journey.

Week 4??

2008-10-02T12:34:00.001-07:00

Hey everybody!
Sorry for being lame and not writing for a while. I came down with a nasty sinus infection last weekend. Normally I'm not the type of person to get sick very often but they warned us about this... all the germs of traveling. But whatever I'm on some strong antibiotics and there are way too many cool things to be doing to waste time being sick.
So last weekend was a little of a bust. Friday, afternoon Genna and I went to a BEAUTIFUL park in the ritzy/traditional wing of my arrondissement. It's called Le Parc Monceau. We wandered around for a good part of the afternoon, then returned to my apartment to dine with Brigitte. I really lucked out with the host family situation. Brigitte is charming and just mothering enough to make me feel looked after in the good way. Well anyways we had a long dinner together - it's so much easier to have an engaging conversation with another student there. Because if there's something I don't understand, or that I'm not sure how to form a response to, the other person usually can and vic versa. It has more flow.
After dinner we met up with a group of friends in the Oberkampf (lin 9). There are awesome bars/restaurants/clubs on that street if you walk down far enough - around the 60-200s. We found a great little spot and celebrated our friend Cody's 21st. But the night was very very young. We had long since planned to go to an Irish Pub to watch the debate that night - which unfortunately didn't air in France until THREE AM!! Of course we missed the last metro (which conveniently stop between 2 and 5:30 in the morning) which led to another adventure altogether involving the noctilien (french bus system that runs all night but rather haphazardly) and A LOT of walking. It was absolutely beautiful though. Who can say they strolled along the Seine, the entire length of the Louvre and through the Tuleries at three in the morning? It was eerily beautiful - so calm and deserted and yet you couldn't help but think of how those same streets filled up with people
from all over the world - just to see them - in the day time. The debate itself was a disappointing. But I'll leave politics aside. I've got to add a little note though - It is really interesting to be experiencing my first election from another country. It's like your a spectator who cares to much - or something? The French are very up on world politics/news which is sooo refreshing from Bloomington.
Saturday I attempted to go a cocktail party a French friend was throwing. There really is no better practice than to engage in conversations with locals. New vocabulary is thrown into the retort and its inevitable not to pick something up - along with the well-intentioned corrections to grammatical errors and pronunciation. And yes it's coming along but my god it is work. I wish I was one of those people that just absorbed languages. For me its a challenge - but a welcome ( invited more like ) one. That's why I'm here - well one reason but it really encompasses all the others. One thing I'm discovering - that I had never really considered beforehand - is the extent to which language and culture are intertwined. Context is soo important and you could never learn context with submerging into the culture in question. I ended up leaving the party pretty early though and have since spent the last five days cooped up recooping.
This week was the second of classes - which yes thank you are going well. Currently taking politics, sociology, grammar and 18th century literature -in french and from the french or european perspective. Today though, I had a rendez-vous with my advisor (who conveniently is also my grammar and culture teacher) and my advisor to be at the psycho-prat ( psychologie en practice WOHO!). I will soon be taking two classes there - and dropping my lit class - for which I have a strong aversion to the teaching *cough*teacher*cough* method. After my rendez-vous I met up with Genna and we went to see our very first film entirely in French without subtitles. I got the gist of it haha - I think that will be the final sign of fluency. Now the radio I can understand perfectly - why couldn't they just speak a little more clearly?? Stop that mumbling! But yeah its great practice because you really reallllly have to strain to understand a lot of it. The movie was
pretty strange - La Belle Personne - that is until Genna informed me (after the movie of course) that it was based on an old piece of literature - hence the dramatisism and strange song outbursts. Kind of like Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet.
Well that brings us up to date I do believe. Will be adding more photos again soon - and keep in touch!
Bisous!
Michelle

Le Tour Eiffel

2008-09-27T04:50:00.001-07:00

Wow could we have asked for better weather? I got some great shots that day. These are from every level of the tower, the ground below, and the restuarant. Enjoy!

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Photos from the past few weeks

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A beautiful park a few blocks from my apartment - Le Square Batignolles. This is my Sunday afternoon hideout spot.

Beginnings

2008-09-21T03:40:00.001-07:00

It's been almost three weeks now that I've been living Paris. Rather than try to recount the last two weeks, I will start with the present. If I'm forgetting anything particularly important, I'm sure it will come up.

On Friday, we had our meet and greet lunch on the first level of the Eiffel Tower. It was a beautiful sunny day. The restaurant was lined with windows so all of the light was streaming in and warming the room in that way that only sunlight can. The meal was lovely but unfortunately I couldn't eat (or rather shouldn't have eaten) most of it. We had a full three course meal consisting of a lovely salad, a creamy pasta dish (chicken for non-veges), and some sort of chocolate pistachio mousse. Every luncheon we've had with the university has been delicious and classy.

After the meal two friends and myself decided we would take advantage of already being on the first floor, and pay to go the rest of the way up. It was such a perfect day to go to the top. The sky was clear so we had a great view and the sun kept it from getting too chilly. We took a lot of photos and sat for a long time just enjoying the view. The whole city was spread out before us. It made me awe at the grandeur of Paris, but also feel incredibly real and alive at the same time. I could kick myself this morning though because I only just now learned how to take panoramic photos on my camera!

After spending a good five hours at the Eiffel Tower we set off to find a little shopping. We went to the Marais, which is one of the trendy districts of Paris. Don't count on finding a beau there, unless of course you are a gay man. But if its gorgeous clothes your after, you're home. We got off around St. Paul and explored a little. We met up with some other friends and had diner at this middle eastern joint. The Marais is the best place in Paris for falafel. We were all stuffed, happy and exhausted.

Just at the point when I was ready to collapse from gastronomic satisfaction and fatigue I got a text from my friend Charlie to remind me to get ready for the electro concert we were going to that night. WHAT??? The concert had completely slipped my mind - I was completely exhausted but there was no way I wasn't going. After running home to change shoes and lay down for a bit I met Charlie at the Oberkampf station and we set off the for the show. The d.j.s were fantastic and we had a blast dancing till four in the morning.

Saturday was much less eventful. Genna and I tried to do a little vintage shopping but the Porte de Clignancourt flea market we went to was just selling new gaudy things like pleather jackets and faux D&G belts. Very disappointing. We wondered around and ended up in a lovely quiet part of Montmartre. We could see the Sacre Coeur up on a hill above us. Around the Abesses station we found boulevard after boulevard lined with cafes and boutiques. The only part of Montmartre I had seen up until then was the sleezy area around the Moulin Rouge. This was a welcome surprise. After all that activity I've spent the last twenty four hours in various states of rest. This Monday marks the beginning of real classes. Oy, wish me luck.