March

This month is going by pretty quickly! Here is a recap of the first 2 weeks.

Monday, March 2 - SARAH'S (my sister) BIRTHDAY! We had our weekly Monday night dinner at our apartment. Although this week finally we realized that Monday is probably the worst day to have our dinners because all of the markets are closed and we always end up running to the supermarket. So that may change to a different night.

Tuesday night we had dinner with the girls upstairs, who are all from Colgate. There are 7 Colgate kids here (4 boys, 3 girls) that I've become pretty friendly with. We had fajitas that were great. My first time having guacamole in France! I brought beer so I went to the Franprix grocery store nearby and bought three 10 packs of beer (there were 11 of us at dinner). We opened it at their apartment and it was disgusting. It turns out I had bought a nasty lemonade with a little bit of alcohol. I need to read the labels before I make such large purchases! It was only $10 for 30 beers, so I guess that tells you about the quality.

Classes have been going well. We learned all about the history of Charles deGaulle in my "current" events class. No, not the airport, the French general and former President. French politics is very interesting...pretty crazy...but interesting. It's amazing that Sarkozy won the election because he seems so different from the general, traditional French politician. Our teacher talks a lot about the struggles he has in modernizing France so that it can actually be a part of the global economy...I think the country will change a lot in the next 5 years, if Sarkozy is successful in pushing through his reforms.

Art History was all about Delacroix. The class is OK but our teacher doesn't really talk a lot about the actual paintings and their characteristics. Still, it's good to get this background.

On Wednesday, I went out to lunch with my friend Emily and we went to the Museum of Art and History of Judaism. It's in the Marais (the Jewish quarter). It was great! I found it soo interesting. It talked about the history of Jews in Paris, Jews in France, North African Jews and their migration to France, the Shoah, etc. There were so many artifacts of ancient arks, torah dressings, megillahs (Happy Purim!) and a lot of art depicting Jewish life in Europe. I found the whole exhibit really thought provoking. I feel very seperated from actual European Jewry. As an American Jew, I haven't thought about the fact that Jews were in Europe for hundreds of years before the Holocaust. So much of our Jewish education seems to start with the Holocaust and it was great to see Jews and models of synagogues from the 1200's. There was a Jewish cemetary on the island where Notre Dame stands from 700 years ago! Pictures and stories of modern French Jews were spattered throughout the exhibit. That was also very thought provoking. There are a lot of Sephardic Jews in France, from North Africa, places like Morocco and Egypt. Their stories are great because some of them are first generation immigrants to France!

There was a temporary exhibit about the Avant Garde movement of Yiddish speaking Jews from the 1914 - 1939. It was amazing! Chagall and many other yiddish artists formed these colonies in Kiev and other places around Eastern Europe and Germany. They drew the illustrations for yiddish childrens' stories and magazines. They were facing an enormous rise in anti-semetism leading up to the Holocaust but their art and stories weren't shaped by the Holocaust, but by political movements like socialism and a modernizing Jewish community that held an affinity for Yiddish and tradition but was also becoming more integrated.

I loved the museum. We spent a lot more time in there than I thought we would, and it was a lot more comprehensive than I thought it would be. Security was pretty intense, as I guess they need to be nowadays. Knowing French definitely came in handy. There were audioguides in English but all the displays were in French and gave a lot more information.

After the museum, I went to CEA for a discussion about culture shock in France. It was ok...some of the people asked the stupidest questions. Every single girl just wanted to talk about how creepy the French guys were and why they were creepy. There are creepy people all over the world! It was funnier to hear all the stupid questions the Americans asked then to hear about French stereotypes. I had dinner at my friend from Colgate's apartment that night.

Friday I had a wine and cheese tasting at CEA. It was delicious. We had Bordeaux and Burgundy and they didn't really tell us anything about the wines. But we had 8 different types of cheeses from different areas of France that were great. I have some new favorites now: Roblochon, Ossau-Iraty, and Cantal...they're great. I met up with Allie White, a friend from Michigan who was visiting Paris from Rome. We walked around the Marais a little and back to Emily's apartment in the Bastille.

That night, we went out to dinner, the three of us and 2 other Michigan people visiting from Rome. I ordered something random off the menu, that I translated but didn't know what it meant in English. A cassolette. It was great...white bean stew with lamb and sausage. Somehow, we figured out that my dad and one of the other girls' mom (Leah Hoffheimer) went to camp together in Zionsville, IN. Such a small world! The 5 of us went out to a bar that night and met up with some other Michigan people. Very fun.

The Weekend:
CEA led an excursion/day-trip to Reims in the Champagne region. This was my second time there, and we actually ended up at the one of the same champagne houses I'd already been to! Mumm was good, for the second time. You can't ever get sick of good champagne. We went to lunch and wandered around the town on our own. Reims is a really nice town, with a lot of shops and restaurants. It was great to be there with the sun shining instead of rain like last time. We spent the afternoon in the Cathedral of Reims. It was unbelievable. All the Kings of France were crowned at this cathedral. They have been renovating it since the 1920s after it was damaged in World War I and it's almost complete. The cathedral is home to a Chagall stained-glass window showing the Old Testament and the New Testament. The stained-glass windows in the Cathedral were gorgeous. I think most people on our trip agreed that this cathedral was more impressive than Notre Dame! I guess you also feel more connected when you have a great little old French lady touring you around, giving you the history of the Cathedral, the architecture, and the town. The cathedral is supposed to be read like a book. All of the architecture, the gargoyles, the statues, etc. tell stories from the Bible. Most people couldn't read when it was built so they came to see the stories of their religion on the walls of the Cathedral and in the stained-glass windows. Here are some beautiful pictures:






Saturday night was a kid on our programs birthday so we went out to a club called Café Oz. Of course, we had a great time. Sunday I slept until 2...because I never get sleep here in Paris! Finished some homework during the day and had some friends over for dinner. It was another one of my friends' 21st birthdays Sunday night so I met up with him at this really cool bar called (in translation) "Zero to 60". It's a really small bar, very calm, and you play board games and card games there. The other draw is that all the drinks come in baby bottles. So there were about 15 of us, 21-22 year old Americans, drinking out of baby bottles while playing French children's card games. Quite a sight! But it was really fun.

Monday, March 9. On the way home, I stopped into Notre Dame, just to see how it compared to the Cathedral of Reims. I wasn't really in the mood for touristy stuff so I only stayed for 15 minutes. Both are pretty amazing though. It was Purim so I walked over to the Marais and bought some great Hamentashen from a Jewish bakery! They have more traditional flavors in France: poppy seed, chocolate, date, almond. No apricot or jelly. Since it was Monday, we were having a group dinner, again, even though the markets weren't open. I did my shopping at Champion, a really good supermarket near my apartment. I found a recipe on Epicurious.com and made it for a few people. It was really good. Broccoli Rabe, peppers and onions mixed in with Italian Sausage. We also put together a nice salad. I decided that I like cooking and it's not as hard as it seems. I just have to really follow the directions and it's fine if I mess something up.

Tuesday. I woke up and it was pouring. Weather.com also told me this would continue all day...but when I left my French class at noon, it was gorgeous. I came home and went for a run in Parc Montsouris. There were a lot of people in the park and it was a good run. It's about 3.5 miles. I haven't found anywhere else to run just yet but I'm keeping my eyes open. I did some homework, I usually have about 30 minutes to an hour each day, and caught up with some people. For dinner, I made a big salad with cut up sausage...really good. Justin, 3 guys from Colgate, and I met up at a bar called Hideout around 8. It's 2.50 euro pints for happy hour, which lasts until 9 - by far the cheapest deal I've found in Paris. We played some drinking game where you spin a quarter (in this case, a 50 centieme), take a sip, and then you have to stop the coin while it's spinning with your finger...not so easy for me. But then we watched the Real Madrid - Liverpool soccer game at the bar and a bunch of our girl friends came and met us. I really like the soccer here...everyone gets so into it. Liverpool won 4 - 0, which was a big upset, but really fun to watch.

My French class was pretty good today. We all have to do presentations throughout the semester and this girl from the US did her's about French Jazz and American Jazz. We got to listen to a bunch of jazz music, talk about where to go hear live jazz, and talk about different types of jazz. The whole class was really into it. I've been learning a lot of grammar lately so it's good when we just get to have discussion. We've also been learning about the French political system which I find really interesting. I had to try and explain the electoral college in French to my class...that was not an easy task. It also sounds so stupid and complicated when you are describing it to people who just have simple direct election. Class has definitely been good though and I think I am starting to see improvement in my language skills.

Wednesday. My lecture was canceled, which was amazing! It was such a nice, sunny day out and I was not in the mood for class. I read walked through the market and bought some great chicken filets and sweet potatoes for dinner. I made myself lunch (I've been making lunch at my apartment lately, it's a lot cheaper), and looked into some things to do in Brussels for my upcoming trip. For lunch, I always just buy a baguette and I have meats and cheese in my fridge that I buy from the grocery. That afternoon, I went to CEA for a weekly lecture series they have. The person giving the lecture was the teacher at CEA that a couple of my friends have. They all told me he was hilarious. Well, he was pretty funny, but the room was so hot and the topic of "French Gardens" really wasn't captivating my attention. It was a struggle to stay awake. I went home after and started cooking dinner. Mashed sweet potatoes, grilled veggies, and pan-fried chicken filets. I have to say I'm pretty impressed I haven't ruined any meals yet! The food was good! I had dinner with Justin and 2 of our girl friends, Caitiln and Mary. After we cleaned up, the girls left, Justin and I watched "24" on his computer and then I fell asleep right away.

Thursday: Class and lecture in the morning. I had my first quiz today, on the subjonctif and l'indicatif. Pretty easy considering we've been studying it for 2 weeks. On Thursdays, I have to run from Grammar class to my Lecture. There's another girl in my class who does the same thing so we always walk together. Her name is Marianna and she's a 27 year old from Venezuala. Her husband is studying oil engineering in France and she's here just learning French. After class, I got a chicken, cheese and mushroom crepe that was amazing. I walked around the 5th arrondisement, getting lost, and I found the "Jardin des Plantes". It's where the zoo in Paris is and it's a huge park that has tons of different plants, labeled so that you know where they are. It is gorgeous and I just walked around in there for a while. Then I walked home. On the way, I stopped at the Jewish school on my street and asked if I could speak with someone about volunteering there. They didn't really get the concept and were kind of weirded out that I just randomly came to their door asking to volunteer. But they gave me a phone number and told me to call the director of the elementary school tomorrow. Now I'm just updating the blog, finishing up some homework, and CHEERING ON MICHIGAN IN THE BIG TEN TOURNEY THAT STARTS IN A FEW HOURS! GO BLUE!