Montpellier and Reconnecting with My Roots

Last week I started feeling kind of down. Fall is officially here, and since I'm not one for the cold, this is not my favorite time of year. The weather was getting dreary, and I was feeling tired - tired of spending money, of being a tourist, of the metro, of getting "Englished" (when French people respond to you in English even though you speak to them in French. They can do this to be nice, because they're enthusiastic about speaking English, to show their scorn for your language skills, or some combination of all of the above.)

After our weekday ritual of watching Plus belle la vie at 20h10 (8:10 PM) My Mère d'accueil, who is wonderful and wise, asked me how things were going. I told her how I was frustrated with my speaking skills - I was really starting to feel like I was regressing instead of improving - and she told me about her time studying Chinese in Peking, and how it's normal to improve, then plateau, then improve more, which was very encouraging. She also used a phrase, "Coupé des racines," which means "cut from the roots" to describe the kind of unsteady feeling that comes from leaving home in such a big way. It was comforting, but I was still spending too much time on Facebook, and I was scared my funk would turn into a depression.

Le Jumeau was in a similar funk. He hadn't been feeling well, and was getting homesick. So I took the 150 euros that were meant to get me through the next three weeks (yes, it hurt) and hopped the next high speed train to Montpellier. It was so worth it.

Not only was Le Jumeau a sight for sore eyes (and life in France is agreeing with him, he looks better than he has in years!) but Montpellier also turned out to bear some striking resemblances to New Orleans! There was a streetcar (le Tram) and an old-school carousel, lots of street musicians and young hippy/artist types, and there was even a brass band in one of the squares!

Besides feeling a little like home, the city offered beautiful views of the mountains, an ancient aquaduct, statues and an Arc de Triomphe commissioned by Louis XIV:





Last but not least, the TGV (train de grande vitesse, literally "high-speed train" back to Paris offered some beautiful views of the french countryside. Things are good again.

Faire du Tourisme!

So, being a bit too fixated on the Impressionists and patisseries, I didn't know you could get on top of the Arc de Triomphe! But you can! And we did! What a view!


Look at that crazy traffic! Luckily, the article I read that mentioned going to the top of the arch also explained that there is a tunnel - DO NOT attempt to cross the traffic circle. Parisian drivers take traffic laws as suggestions. Anecdotally, I've observed more female metro riders than male, and male drivers than female drivers. I hope it isn't too politically incorrect to say this, but to me, this sums up the French perspective on driving -- "What? Moi, ask directions?!? Ridicule! This street is one-way you say? Je m'en fous!" But I digress.

There is a small museum inside l'Arc. It has some cool sculptures and the whole thing is free for students! Just be sure to bring your student card or your passport with your student visa in it. Otherwise, that'll be 8 euros, s'il vous plait.


The only way up is a spiral staircase. C'est decidé, demain, j'arrete de fumer.

In Normandy with Nymphéas!

I fall in love too quickly. It is a great weakness in my character, but at least I think I have good taste. That said, I have been vaguely attracted to Claude as long as I can remember, adoring the smoke-stained print of his Nymphéas that hung in our living room on Baronne Street. Our affair began in earnest when I was about 12 and picked up a book on Impressionism. When I was 15 and saw his waterlilies with Mlle. Em in Chicago, I could have died happy right then and there. When I went to see her again last year, I dragged her back to that painting three times. (She is, as I have said before, a saint.)

So when Educo put us all on a bus to Giverny, I was giddy with excitement - Other tourists? What other tourists? - For once, I did not notice the hoard of fanny packs and water bottles and even the jet lagged toddlers seemed to scream more quietly - What's that? You mean we GET TO GO INTO HIS HOUSE?!? Yes, please!

Again, my camera was relatively uncooperative (and I am the definition of an amateur photographer) but it was too beautiful to mess up. Here is a sample of the 403849234 pictures I took.






It is strictly forbidden to take pictures inside of his house, so all I can say is that it was a riot of color - copper pots accenting electric blue walls in the kitchen, yellow EVERYTHING in the dining room - and there is Japanese art everywhere. He liked the Edo-era prints, too! See, we are soulmates!




Also, according to our tour guide, his favorite dessert was banana ice cream. The man had taste.

Au Cinéma: Crime d'Amour

So we all had homework during our intensive language booster class last week (seems so long ago!) but while I was writing résumés and explications du texte, Le Chef was sent to see a movie! He invited me and his mère d'accueil along and we all watched Kristin Scott Thomas and Ludivine Sagnier tear it up in Crime d'Amour (Love Crime).



The plot follows the young, ambitious, and brilliant Isabelle (Sagnier) as she first falls in love with her boss, Christine (Thomas), then comes to hate her after Christine betrays her repeatedly. The film's pacing is perfect for creating suspense, and luckily for those of us in the audience who were just off the boat, very visual. (Not one of those French movies that is all talking.) The ending is fantastic, and Le Chef and I were both pleased to discover we understood more than half of what was said! :)

Le Palais Garnier: Home of l'Opèra National

(Photo stolen from the Internet)

So Educo took us on a field trip last week! The tour guide was very interesting and told us a lot about how Garnier (the architect) created a new style- Napoleon III- and hid references to himself everywhere, but since they say a picture is worth a thousand words, here are some:


The grand staircase
This was the place to see and be seen before the show, during intermission, and after. If you weren't sneaking off for some romancing with one of the ballerinas, that is.
(Sorry about the low quality, my camera had a nervous breakdown over the romantic lighting.)

There are stills from old productions on the walls:



The theater itself is gorgeous, and huge! Notice all the curtains- it seems no one ever actually watched the shows until a Russian director came in and banned closing them, talking, and sexy time with the dancers during performances.


A mural on the ceiling of the theater by Marc Chagall. He made it a gift to France, charging only the cost of production. Thematically, it deals with classic subjects similar to the mural on the grand staircase- the glory of Paris, Swan Lake, etc - but in a more modern style. Of course, it was widely disliked when it was first unveiled. It certainly is happy to look at though, and less oppressive than the gold-leaf-red-velvet-and-six-kinds-of-marble look everywhere else.

à Paris

I made it! Even after all that wishing and daydreaming and fretting and paperwork it still seems surreal that I'm actually here.

My first day was lovely. I met le Jumeau and a Parisian friend of his for lunch at a café on the Place d'Italie near my hotel and ate chicken for the first time in months! The friend had me try real French mustard, and let me tell you, Grey Poupon is barely related to this stuff, we're talking second cousins by marriage.

After that the exchange program had a tour of many of the monuments around town, and I got to see l'avenue des Champs Elysées for the first time (meh.) and the Arc de Triomphe, as well as Arche de la Défense. Then I fell asleep.

A big group of us had dinner at a pizza joint on avenue des Gobelins (love that name) and le Chef and I split a bottle of Sancerre and a pizza aux quatre fromages. Delicieux!

The real highlight of the day was meeting la Libellule's friend (I'll call him D.). He suggested we get a drink together, but upon discovering that Montparnasse is not the most exciting, we set off for the Eiffel Tower - on scooter! It was fantastic. We rode along the Seine passing monument after monument and the weather was perfect. Right when we pulled up next to la Tour Eiffel, the lights came, so it sparkled for a few minutes before we decided it was a bit too touristy and set off again (yay more scooter!) We settled on a cafe and talked for an hour or so and D. proved to be quite charming.

Now, I'm off to write an explication du texte :( But first thing tomorrow we have a field trip to le Palais Garnier home of the Opéra national!

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