Classes finalized, Chartres, and Chinese New Year

Ok I'm going to be honest. The main reason I haven't posted in forever is because it's too difficult to upload pictures because the internet is slow. So I've decided I'm going to write this post with fewer pictures even though I have more (because otherwise I'll never post this).

So first of all, MY SCHEDULE IS FINALLY FINALIZED which is a huge deal. Hopefully I'll be getting my student card soon so I can use it to get discounts, but I am officially registered and my schedule is finalized and it's great. I've got a class in English as a break that's really interesting about the (modern) history of Ireland. I'm a bit disappointed the history doesn't go further back but there's a ton of modern Irish history to study so I'm not too disappointed! The rest of my classes are in French. The next day I've got a class about the political crises of 19th century France. Then I've got European geography, which is interesting because I've never taken geography before. American schools don't really teach it. We don't even have it at my university. Then I've also got a FLE (Français pour les étrangers, or French for foreigners) class which is helpful. So yay! I'm now understanding somewhere between 40-70% of what's being said in class as opposed to 20% on the first week haha. It's still not enough to actually know what's happening or pass a test but it's tons less stressful.

I've met so many really helpful and friendly French students, and my professors have been helpful and nice. They're less outwardly warm than American professors but I am already used to the French reservedness and am can feel the genuine good-naturedness underneath. I'm actually not sure how I'm going to be able to handle Americans again after this. One of my professors is really smiley and happy and I find myself slightly off-put by it. It seems unnatural to me now! I am really enjoying being more reserved because it feels less fake and put-on. You can still be friendly without smiling at every person you pass on the street. If someone stops and asks for directions (which happens to me constantly for some reason) you can smile and use flowery effusive language and be helpful and friendly. It just seems more genuine and less effort!

Now, for what I've done. I've actually been pretty busy. Of course I've had my classes but I also visited Chartres cathedral last weekend with ACCENT. It was beautiful. It's one of the oldest churches in Europe and has a huge number of original medieval stained glass windows. It was fascinating because the cathedral was being cleaned for the first time in about 300 years, and you could see what had been cleaned and what hadn't. My pictures didn't turn out great because the windows were so high up and lots of things weren't cleaned yet; it was also a dark-ish day so the lighting wasn't great. But it was beautiful in person! My friends and I also stumbled upon another church in the town that was a Renaissance church called Église St-Aignan. It was really cool because it was more intimate and less crowded. The walls were painted all sorts of colors but was chipped from years of use. It was beautiful in that antique way, certainly in need of some upkeep but fascinating and genuine because of it. We wandered around the town as well and saw a quaint part-medieval town. Many of the buildings were very old.

The picture didn't turn out great but each little square in the long windows is 4 foot by 4 foot and original medieval stained-glass.

It was dark and this part hadn't been cleaned yet, but these statues were beautiful and stretched many many feet down showing the history of Christ.

The outside of Chartres cathedral

More beautiful stained glass in the Chartres cathedral. I repeat: each square is 4 foot by 4 foot!

The view from behind Chartres cathedral.

Stained glass window in Église St-Aignan. Notice the Renaissance style (and the fact it was closer to the ground and I could actually take a picture of it)

Église St-Aignan

The beautiful ceiling of Église St-Aignan. It looks like the inside of a Viking ship if it were intricately decorated.

Église St-Aignan

Chartres cathedral from the outside

On Sunday there was a Chinese New Year parade (yes I know the actual new year was the weekend before). I went but was too short to really see anything and in true French fashion the parade participants took lots of breaks and were not too high-energy haha. Eventually we got some food and another friend and I went to sit by the Seine and went back to Shakespeare and Company to read in their library upstairs. It's quickly becoming one of my favorite places. There are comfy chairs and books in English and there's always something interesting going on. Plus it's really close to the Seine and Notre Dame where there are tons of cheap restaurants and crêpe stands and interesting nightlife. So far it's on my list of top 5 favorite areas in Paris.

I forget at what point this happened, but I also witnessed an impromptu métro concert. If I haven't mentioned it, musicians from all over the world compete to get a license to play in the Paris métro (these are different from the people who actually perform on the cars who are performing illegally for cash). I've seen orchestras and African drummers and all sorts of groups. There was even a marionnette of Édith Piaf while someone sang La vie en rose. Anyway, this one was just a talented group of young men playing current pop hits, but tons of people had stopped and were dancing in the middle of the métro station. Everyone was laughing and clapping and dancing with strangers. It was really beautiful and a reminder that even though French people may smile less, they are actually warm, friendly, and happy people.

So that's all for now. I will really try to post more often if people can accept that I can't be posting so many pictures. Deal?

Bisous,
La vache espagnole

Classes, Notre Dame, Versailles, etc.

I know it's been a while and my last post was pretty whiny but it's hard to upload pictures here! My internet is constantly going out and it takes about a million years to upload photos.

Last I posted was my first day of classes. The fact of the matter is that I still can't understand 50% (or more) of what's being said, but I'm less nervous. I keep reminding myself that many people have done this before, including people who speak less French than I do. So somehow it has to work out! I think what must happen is the professors cut foreign kids a lot of slack. Apparently we write Erasmus on the top of our exams at the end of the semester to indicate we're foreign because the professors grade the tests without looking at the names. For those of you who don't know, Erasmus is the name of the study abroad program in Europe. It's a bit confusing, because all abroad kids are often lumped in with Erasmus and it isn't clear when we are actually included and when we are not.

I also took more courses last week than I will be this week because I need to narrow them down now. Without getting into too much convoluted detail, I am having issues with my home university. No one can really answer my questions so I am blindly making choices myself. Essentially the short version is that I am attempting to get credit for International Studies (which just have to be about Europe) and also for French from my classes. This SHOULD be easy because I am taking European history classes in French. But of course, American University manages to make it difficult! There is a list of classes that have already been assigned equivalences for my program (MICEFA) in a database, but I am not taking any of those. This is because in MICEFA you can take any class you want at pretty much any university in Paris. So it would be impossible for an AU student to have taken every single class before. Furthermore, from what I gather the system is that you submit a request asking for the class you took abroad to be counted as the most similar AU class. So take, for instance, the medieval history class I wanted to take. I want to get French and International Studies credit for it. But AU only has one class about medieval Europe and I already took it at AU, plus it isn't in French. So I can't take the class because I'm pretty sure I wouldn't get any credit for it. But who knows, because no one can answer this simple question! So I'm still working on figuring all of that out.

Interesting note about French university that I forgot to mention in my last post. They have classes that are TD (travaux dirigés) and CM (cours magistral). The CM is a lecture class and the TD is the actual work for the class, like presentations and essays. For French students, you have to take both. But for foreign students, you don't (at least at Catho). I don't know which I find harder, because in one I sit through a lecture I don't understand and have to take a huge written test at the end, and in the other there is a lot of work and 30 minute long presentations in a foreign language.

The upside is that in every class the professor gave advice and acknowledged we were foreign, and the students were very helpful and offered to send us their notes. So I'm hoping it won't be too terrible!

Anyway, after the nightmare that was classes, during the week there were some after-class events for international students. One was at a bar. It was relaxing and nice to hang out with other students who were in the same boat!

On Friday I didn't have any classes at all! I went with my friend who also didn't have any classes to a famous English-language bookstore near Notre Dame called Shakespeare & Co. It was founded by an American expat who didn't want to go home after WWII. It was overpriced but very cool, and staffed by (mostly British) expats, with one French employee. I got a book of Yeats poetry because it was beautiful and because I think I should read more poetry.

After that we wanted to pop over into Notre Dame (how cool is that??) so we took the famous bridge just down the street that is covered in locks. Then we went into Notre Dame while what appeared to be a mass was occurring. This was fine, visitors just stayed out of the pews (they had a system for this). We were not expecting a mass because it was Friday night but this is probably a normal thing that Catholics do that I just didn't know about. It was beautiful, of course, and I took some pictures.

The next day we FINALLY WENT TO VERSAILLES. Be proud. It was an ordeal. The short version is that the RER C which we were going to take to Versailles was not working so we had to take a different train. It was a very large group. It was like herding cats. We ended up finally getting on the train about an hour and a half after we meant to. But when we got there it was beautiful, of course. Versailles is a long day so we decided to come back in the spring to see the gardens and just focus on the building itself. Oh, did I mention it was totally free? Yeah, because I have a monthly Navigo pass (the metro, RER, and bus pass) it is dezoned on the weekends, which meant I took the train for free. Well, not free, but included in the price I already paid for the Navigo. And then because I have a visa that states I am living in Paris, I am considered a resident of the European Union. Residents between 18 and 26 get into most museums for free or reduced rates. In this case, it was free. So it's easy to go back again, as long as it's a weekend! So, anyway, the group was too large and so, inevitable, the center could not hold (did you like my Yeats allusion?) and we all ended up wandering somewhat on our own through the palace. I took lots of pictures so I'll post a few and let those do the talking.

The front gate was gold. Of course.

Look at that ceiling!

Hall of Mirrors

Me in the Hall of Mirrors

One of the Mesdames' apartments (sisters of the king)

This was kind of cool. They were restoring the painting!

After the palace most of us went home but my friend and I strolled through a tiny part of the garden briefly. It was still pretty despite the winter.

Famous Fountain of Apollo

After that we met up with other friends and got cheap, but very good, Indian food. So that's essentially what I've been up to! I'll be taking more classes this week, figuring things out, etc. So I'll update when I can!

Last fun fact: another food that French people seem to love that I keep forgetting to talk about? Almonds. I don't know why, but they love them and put them in tons of stuff. I'm not complaining!

Bisous,
La vache espagnole