I am so sorry for peacing-out this last three weeks, but I was busy being a cave-dweller as dead to the world as the corpses of the Catacombs I visited in Rome at the beginning of December. Dramatics aside, I had those three 20-30-page art history research papers to accomplish in French. Doing each one consisted of three stages: running around like a chicken with its head cut off to various libraries in Paris (gone are the days of Wellesley where everything comes to you via Interlibrary Loan), sitting in one spot for hours or days reading the hundreds of pages of photocopies of research, and finally synthesizing/translating those sources into research papers with title page, images etc.

My last day in Paris was wonderful, and I spent it drinking champagne and eating in Montmartre with my best friend in Paris, from Wellesley (who, ironically, I did not know before). I put aside the bitterness of my workload that I had unfairly projected on Parisian society, and I began to look at the beautiful architecture of Paris, again, relish in the collections of art, and even stop judging everyone on the metro (everyone silently judges everyone on the metro). Life was like a dreamy reminiscence of good times past, until this morning when my shuttle arrived an hour and a half late to pick me up to go to Charles de Gaulle airport. I spent my last hours in Paris bawling and freaking out.

My last hoorah was an amazing but brief two-day trip to Rome. I booked it last minute and took a sleeper train down there. I couldn’t really sleep in those cramped couchettes and all I wanted to do was look out the window anyway when we reached Tuscany. Italy is sooooo beautiful! I had to hit the ground running when I got there so as not to waste time, so I memorized my Let’s Go Europe travel book, hit up an English-speaking tourist office, checked in to Hotel des Artists, and left for my first adventure. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain—a storm I never saw the likes of, and I have spent loads of time in Seattle and Boston.

I took a tour of the Coliseum, totally in awe and impressed with the martyrdom of early Christians, checked out the Roman Forum, the Trevvi (?) fountain, the Pantheon, and other historic pavilions of Rome. For the first part of this adventure I was totally shocked at how horribly everything was preserved until I realized that these things were thousands of years old. Then I realized that these were some of the oldest pieces of history I had ever seen in my life.

Well, this semester was like taking the drama and the experiences of the two first years of my life at college and sticking them in a trash compacter.  I was so excited to be there at first, and now I am so relieved and thankful to be headed home.  At the risk of sounding like Joni Mitchell in her song “California,” I am nostalgic and thrilled to be comin’ home.

Eventually, we ended up at Les 3 Brasseurs, which is the bar that my friends and I claimed as our own during my exchange in 2003-2004, so it was cool to be back there. It was funny for me when Mackenzie and I went to this awesome cafe the day before, because I was shocked I never really explored the cafe culture of Lille. Then I remembered that at 16 years old, I was so stoked to be able to drink alcohol that I only went out for beer. Haha.

She left, and I went to say goodbye to my host parents Michelle and Piere and the proceded to miss my train back to Paris twice in a row (a classic move for me), and finally got on with my Eurail pass so I didn’t have to buy a ticket :). Now I’m back in Paris, and the magic is starting to wear off a little in the city for me. At worst, Joni Mitchell sings it best “it’s too old and cold and settled in its ways,” but at best, Paris has been a utopia for me. Now I’m back to reality, researching for my hellish dossiers, fighting a sinus infection, and battling some homesickness!

Good news is this Friday I’ll be in Rome. That is pretty good news indeed.

I walked around the city, which is known for it’s fabulous architecture for having historically been a rich, textile-producing town. I visited the Parc Matisse where my best friend, Cait, from Canada and I would always have picnics and get harassed by questionable men. I walked to the center of the town where the magnificent Opera is located, the Vielle Bourse (or old trading point), and then the centre, where there is the huge Christmas ferris wheel right now! Five or so years ago, Cait and I rode that Ferris wheel after a harsh period of adjustment to France and it was the first time both of us really started to feel like we belonged in France. It was an inexplicably sentimental moment, so it was cool to see this Ferris Wheel again.

Right next to the Ferris Wheel is the Marché de Noël, which is a tradition in many towns in Europe. Vendors set up little shacks where they sell Christmas-y items and food. I walked around the Christmas market then headed into Vieux Lille, or old Lille, which is the most quaint section of Lille. There are tons of different boutiques and Christmas decorations everywhere, and I made my way to my host Mom’s jewelry boutique. It was cool to see what she’s done with her life since retiring from teaching. My host parents imported a bunch of silver, Mexican jewelry and created and awesome boutique called Au Fol Argent (check it out if you’re ever here!).

I’ve been doing some Christmas shopping around town, and my two favorite hobbies as of now are nostalgia and wanderlust. Last night, I went to the opera to see “Pinocchio” but I wasn’t too thrilled with the interpretation of it. It was pretty bland.

Unfortunately, I don’t have my camera-adapter-thingy, so photos must wait until the end of the weekend. Tomorrow I’m gonna check out my old high school and eat some foods indigenous to the Flanders region.

I got a chance to catch up with my friend who was an exchange student from Norway at my high school in the United States.  It was the first time I saw her, and we just hung out a lot in her crazy dorm in Utrecht, where she’s studying international law, and I went in to Amsterdam a few times by myself.  I ended up mainly just wandering around the canals and the streets, trying to eat as much as I could, justifying it to myself because “I’m on vacation.”  I am completely in support of gaining weight in foreign countries.

I walked through the Red Light District, and the infamous prostitutes were hanging out in the windows. Almost as shocking as the fact that prostitution is legal in the Netherlands, prostitutes pay taxes and have unions etc. is the fact that a lot of them were actually quite pretty.

There were a lot of giggling, English college boys trotting around in packs and looking at me awkwardly as if to say, wait, a normal female in the Red Light District? Hey, a tourist is a tourist.

Another thing infamously legal in Amsterdam is Cannabis, so I went to the Cannabis College to check out their Cannabis nursary, because I was so, so curious as to what actual marijuana plants look like.  I’ve only ever seen plots of marijuana in documentaries, so it was kind of cool to see them out of the context of a “don’t do drugs” video, and more of an organic product…you know, that actually came from the earth.  I asked a woman working there questions about the differences in marijuana and hemp plants and she explained to me in incredible detail the medicinal purposes of marijuana.  Very, very interesting.  She referred to the Cannabis flowers as female, since they are pollinated, and asked us to “please refrain from touching the ladies.”

I had already been to the Anne Frank House and Van Gogh Museum before, but I did go back to the Van Gogh museum again, and it is always a pleasure to get to see some of his greatest works.  I wanted to go to the contemporary art museum but the weather was getting so bad that I had to go back to Utrecht.  My friend and I spent my last night walking through the snowy woods to get to this Dutch pancake house where I had a half and half cheese and apple-y pancake/crepe thing.  It was SO good.  Long live the Dutch!

I did see Lee Miller at the Jeu de Pomme and I was really into her photography–she’s pretty remarkable.  She went from fashion shoots in Vogue to shooting WWII bombings and Holocaust victims.

This weekend I’m headed off to see my Norweigan friend Sarah in Amsterdam, and it will hopefully be a much more exciting weekend !

Actually, when I came to France, I immediately tried to buy tickets to this show but they were already sold out. Luckily, one of the girls I met at the Jenny Lewis show from Seattle, Washington knew members of Fleet Foxes and got two free tickets right as Ebay was selling them for 60 Euros or so. I totally lucked out!! I would have posted some pictures, but they confiscated my overly-professional-looking-camera :(. We tried to leave before the encore of MGMT but these totally hilarious French girls our age literally grabbed me and told me with the most ferociously sincere expression that I had to stay because there was no place better to be that night, so we were obliged to wait out the last two songs, but she was right, it was totally worth it. We danced, and danced, and danced.

I want to have something more interesting to say in my blog, but it’s starting to feel like my days are becoming one in the same, and time is running out so quickly…I need to start waking up earlier to go see the photo exhibitions (it’s the Month of Photography in Paris), or the art museums I’d otherwise not have time to see…Ah! It’s going to get harder to have free time now that I have those three 20-page research papers to write in French plus a final exam at the end of the semester. Mon dieu…

We started off by visiting the cavernous wine cellars of the Pommery champagne house. The caverns are old roman buildings that winded around, holding the sparking white wine while it ferments. We had a tour guide that was explaining the fermentation process of champagne, but I was too distracted by the modern art installations all around the caverns (oh, the French), one of which included a room full of the cutest little birds who were supposed to be landing on guitars connected to amps thus by creating music and completing the art. They were so cute though, and many of them had already built nests around the room, and some of them were cuddling with each other all bird-like. Sometimes small animals can really make the difference between a bad day and a good day for me. Anyway, the fermentation process had something to do with putting yeast in the wine and rotating the bottle so that bubbles were properly formed, and then they do it again, and then they spiff up the bottles and sell it to us to consume and feel classy. At the end of the tour, we all got our own glass of champagne which was nice and tasty.

The last interesting visit of the day was to the Cathedral of Reims, a gothic cathedral whose stained-glass windows and exterior reliefs puts Notre-Dame de Paris to shame. Everything inside and outside of the building is so intricate and beautiful. For some reason, I was having serious problems concentrating that day, so I ditched our tour (I also take three classes on medieval architecture right now anyway) to go sit in the middle of the nave and listen to this choir sing. Gothic architecture is made to be so high you feel as if you are ascending towards God, and in the Reims Cathedral, those architects did a pretty good job of making me feel a little spiritual.

“PLACES IN PARIS:

Musee Jacquemart-Andre
Musee Maillol
OPA, a bar on on Bastille - 9 rue Biscornet Grizzli Cafe, rue St. Denis Dans le Noir, a restaurant where you eat in pitch black darkness and are served by blind staff. Rue Quincampoix, off Beaubourg. AMAZING EXPERIENCE.
Les Pietons, an awesome tapas bar for a gathering of people. 8 rue des Lombards in the Marais Maison Cartier Bresson Maison Europeenne de la Photographie The Pop-In, rue Amelot La Fleche d’Or, 102 bis rue Bagnolet. I played my first open mic in Paris here! They get great shows.
Galerie W, and rue Lepic in general. Vive rue Lepic!

Musee Quai Branly is pretty new and has established a good reputation for getting interesting shows. The architecture is pretty amazing.

Speaking of architecture, you should take some time to learn about the career of Hector Guimard, the architect who designed the art nouveau metro entryways. Hunting down some of the buildings that he designed will be worth the effort.

When you go to the Louvre, be sure to seek out the Lacemaker by Vermeer and Le bouffon au luth by Franz Hals, the Fortune Teller by Caravaggio, and all of the many paintings by Georges de la Tour that are located there. I can’t rave enough about de la Tour. Effin’ genius, and along with Caravaggio my favorite painter (right now). I’m envious of you being in Paris! There are ZERO important classical paintings in Portland.

Keep your ear to the ground for soirees put on by the Louvre or by the Palais de Tokyo. The former are opportunities to rub elbows with the Prada-porting Parisian elite, and the latter with the city’s bohemian art world.

Catch some theater at the Comedie Francaise! Go to the ballet! Borrow money from your parents if you have to, for goodness sake, take advantage of your time in the greatest city on earth!”

Saturday, I spent all day at the Centre Pompidou. I can’t get enough of that place—no matter how many times I go there, it’s like there’s always more art to see, and there’s always such an amazing lively atmosphere in the foyer. Modern art museums are becoming increasingly void of color and intricacy in order to focus the visitor’s attention on the art, but I love that the Centre Pompidou is so colorful and kitschy and manages to be more of a cultural center than just a “museum.” One of the greatest things about the Centre is the free wi-fi, so even though I’m writing this blog entry in my apartment, I’ll probably be sending it off when I go to the Centre tomorrow to be posted online.

Saturday, when I went to the Centre, I checked out the exhibition on Futurisme, which is an amazing period in Modern Art that started with a manifesto on how art should be focused on the future, and includes really colorful and dynamic art. The point of this period was really to communicate energy, so basking in front of each painting is really a treat. I also tried to go to the permanent modern art collection, but it was so extensive, I only had time to see one eighth of it!

Saturday night, one of the workers in our program invited the Sweet Briar students to a French/American soirée, which turned out to be pretty fun.

I talked to a bunch of guys whose mothers were American and whose fathers were French, and I couldn’t help but ask the dads how in the world they met American women, why they married, and what the cultural differences were like once they were married. All of the stories were so romantic, and it all started with college exchanges. Crazy! I am such a sap. I can’t even imagine living in another country permanently.

Sunday (today), I took a day trip with a small college travel agency to the castle of Fountainebleu, which is a castle that has been constructed and reconstructed by various kings of France from the Middle Ages to Napoleon. It was meant to be a chateau of hunting and festivals, so it is still located in more rural town with a vast amount of garden and forest.

I had a great time taking pictures with such an inspiring location. I’m always torn, though, when I go to these places and they are so ridiculously ornate, because I feel disgusted that human beings would waste so much time, energy, and money on themselves and their pleasure, but at the same time, the art and architecture is beautiful.

After the chateau, the bus took us to the small town of Barbizon, otherwise known as the location of the premiere art school for the Impressionists. Now, the town is quiet, but gorgeous and decorated with autumn leaves. I spent my time walking around, checking out the small boutiques, and going into the atelier of a painter named Jacques Rouquier, whose gallery blew me away. His paintings weren’t necessarily incredibly intellectual, but he manages to paint compositions that really inspire the mind of the viewer. The posters I bought from him take me to a different, meditative world when I look at them.

After Barbizon, we went to the town of Milly-le-foret where we checked out a small Medieval chapel that used to be dedicated to the treatment of leprosy, and still hosts a small homeopathic garden, but now it houses the tomb of Jean Cocteau, a modern artist, and he decorated the interior with his colorful pictures and stained glass. That was really a small, almost secret treat of France. I walked around Milly, which turned out to be an extremely medieval and quaint village, and we then left for Paris.

Tonight I hung out with friends from my Sweet Briar program, and we climbed the Arc de Triomphe. Every first Sunday of the month, Paris’ art museums are generally free, and every first Sunday of the month starting with November, climbing the Arc de Triomphe and other otherwise super-touristy sights are free as well. At the top of the hour, we got to see the Eiffel Tower sparkling, and it was an amazing way to end my weekend. Tomorrow I am excited to meet with a Wellesley alumna who is currently working at the Louvre!

Last night, we went to the Louvre again for my Art History course with Sweet Briar. We’re learning about the French Renaissance and the chateau of Fountainebleu, so I decided that this Sunday I’m going to go on a trip to the chateau as well as Barbizon, the renowned school of some of the most famous artists of the 19th century. This weekend I should have some good stories!