Happy May Day!

Sorry for the long absence! The city, traveling, and the occasional schoolwork kept me very busy in April.

We're currently in the midst of election-frenzy in Paris. The first round of voting took place last Sunday (with a solid Sarkozy victory) and the second and last round will occur this coming Sunday. There are posters and stickers and flyers everywhere, and the metro is full of scribbled slogans or messages of support. It seems fairly certain that Sarko will win, which is a little strange because almost every French person I've talked to said that he or she was scared of his politics and his vision for the country. My host mother in particular thinks there will be massive youth demonstrations and rioting throughout France if and when Sarko wins, so I may see some excitement next week! The Left seems too divided to carry the day, and most of the French aren't inspired by Segolène due to her lack of defined platform. It's fantastic to witness the energy leading up to the elections - unlike in the US, most of the French really engage themselves in politics and become very passionate about the issues.

Before the first elections, I spent a week with the Glénans school of sailing in the south of France. It was absolutely incredible! I got to hone my skills on a 30 foot cruising sail boat, and I also got to experiment with catamarans, which are much faster and sportier. Best of all, I really got to live la vie française for the week, surrounded by and speaking French every minute, tallking with French people of all ages and backgrounds, learning slang and everyday expressions and the general French way of doing things. And I finally, finally, finally (after 6 years of taking French) learned the French "r"! Somehow the magical switch occured, and French no longer feels awkward in my mouth - I can't describe what a wonderful feeling it is. It was also my first time out of Paris, and I loved exploring the south and experiencing the soft, warm Mediterranean vibe. The week was certainly a highlight of my semester abroad, and I hope to participate in another Glénans program soon!






Back in Paris, I've been gradually working on my list of must-dos. And last night, I finally went dansing! My friend's host brother plays in a salsa band, so we all went to his show in a charming concert hall in the Bois des Vincennes and got a taste of the Paris latino subculture. Wonderful food, welcoming atmosphere, great salsa, and dancing all around. Hopefully I'll be able to listen to the band again before I leave the city.

And some more pictures to wrap things up from my time in Montpellier and Normandie. Just a warning, I've fallen in love with France and I might just move to Montpellier. Who knows!

Joyeuses Paques

All I can say is that I love Paris more every day. It's mostly the little things, the normal moments of walking off the metro and seeing the Seine, taking lunch in the Palais royal, walking on the Champs Elysée, enjoying a Latin Quarter crèpe at midnight, listening to smooth French music on my iPod while sitting by the Seine, eating simple yet delicious café food, standing in front of a Monet and taking the time to really understand it, going to photography exhibitions, seeing art everywhere, walking under cherry blossoms by Notre Dame, hearing beautiful French all the time... parfait. The gorgeous, gorgeous spring weather that we've had for the past week has certainly contributed to my ecstatic mood, but it's clear that Paris in general has worked its magic.

This weekend, I stuck around the city. I visited Versailles and the Musée d'Orsay, went out to the Latin Quarter, attended Easter mass in Notre Dame (with the rest of Paris, it seemed like), finally got up to Montmartre, and spent some quality time along the Seine and in several new gardens. The Seine and the beautiful Parisian gardens are principal contributors to my springtime happiness; I could (and frequently do) spend hours staring at the river or basking in the sunny gardens. I was originally going to visit a lot of museums this weekend - there are so many I want to see! - but instead I took it easy and tried the laidback vie française, including a wine and cheese party on the banks of Ile St. Louise! Finally, the stereotypical French afternoon activity, complete with a nice bottle of Bordeaux (even the cheap wine is good in France!) and very flavorful Camembert. On such a lovely Easter monday, the quai was full of Parisians enjoying the sun and some good food, and it was very interesting to watch the locals. One party placed their wine, wrapped in a plastic bag, directly in the Seine to cool! Others brought tarot cards and chess sets to accompany the food, while some men tanned alone in the sun. And over all the hussle and activity of the island, we could hear a jazz musician on the Left Bank playing Dave Brubeck. Can't get any better than that!

I'm going to trust the old adage that pictures are better than words, so I'll leave you with a few shots from the last week and a half.

Paris! Comme la vie est belle.

Bonjour à tout! I have decided to keep a small blog on my trimester in Paris, where I am currently studying French language and literature. I will stay in France until June, and I hope to update on a weekly basis and share some of my adventures. Already, just one week in, I find it difficult to fully describe my experience here, but I will give small resumés and hope that you find them interesting!

First, I'm sure many of you heard about the confrontations between the police and several hundred metro-goers last Wednesday at the Gare du Nord station, and I want to assure you (ehem, Mom) that the situation has returned to normal. As any Parisian will tell you, demonstrations (les manifestations) are a fact of life in a city with a reputation of revolt to mantain, and they take them in stride. That being said, the riots Wednesday were more serious than most because they involved violence. More importantly, allegations of the excessive use of force by police worry many French people and, as the man "responsible" for the riots was not a French citizen, the incident is being tied to larger issues of immigration and government treatment of illegals. So, I find it very interesting that, the day after the incident, Le Monde printed an interview stating that, "When the police use force to restrain a population, they are in fact weak and suffer from a lack of legitimacy in the eyes of the population." The man interviewed went on to say that, in his opinion, the police are at risk of forgetting that they serve the people rather than the administration. In light of the upcoming elections, it will be interesting to see the political fallout of the riots - particulary for Nicholas Sarkozy, the candidate for Chirac's right-wing party and the former Minister of the Interior. Last night, I learned from a French student that Sarkozy wants to increase defense spending and expand the police presence within France. The student, named Gabrielle, told me that she is completely against Sarkozy's plan because increases in police armament frighten her - she finds them unnecessary ("Who attacked us?") and very troubling because they increase the number of weapons in a country completely lacking a gun culture; she'd rather her money to go to culture and education - "that which makes France a great and civilized nation" - rather than weaponery and internal defense. The first round of elections are in just three weeks, so we'll see what happens.

And now on to lighter topics! I've had a wonderful first week in Paris. My trip last year with Dad permits me to skip a lot of the prerequisite tourist visits and go straight to acquainting myself with the city in a more meaningful way. To that end, I've wandered the city for hours, just taking everything in and trying to make sense of la vie parisienne. I love the gardens in particular: les Jardins du Luxembourg, les Jardins des plantes, les Tuilleries, and all the little squares and hidden gardens that one finds throughout the city. As soon as I get myself organized, I'll go running in one of them as I've happily discovered that Parisians do in fact jog, just not on sidewalks or in residential areas. From wandering around, I already have some favorite streets and quartiers in Paris (5eme arronndissement near the gardens and the Pantheon, the Marais, Boulevard St. Michel and the Latin Quarter), and I hope to discover many others. This evening, I walked through the Marais, the Place des Vosgues, and then through l'Ile St. Louis to Notre Dame - truly magnifique. I'm experiencing the more residential, day-to-day side of the city as well through my time at my host home in Vavnes, which is a quieter residential district one metro stop outside the formal delination of Paris.





My grand accomplishment of the day is that I watched a true French film in a French cinema, no subtitles, just a part of the audience like any other Parisian. The film was Ensemble, C'est tout, which is a current film with Audrey Tautou. It was wonderful movie, and I understood almost everything! If it comes to the US, I definitely recommend it.

And pour finir, some little amusing tidbits.
- In the Vanves metro station, they have posters against "le stationnement sauvage" - literally, wild parking.
- In most Paris gardens, there are signs that say "pelouse au repos," aka the grass is resting so don't walk on it.
- I have seen TexMex restaurants in Paris. They exist. I almost did a double-take when I saw the first on on rue Montparnasse.
- My 10-year-old host brother could not understand me when I said Harry Potter in plain English - I had to use a nice thick French accent.
- You do not turn a cell phone on and off, you illuminate (alluminer) and extinguish (éteindre) it. And when it runs out of battery, it has given up its soul (la batterie rend l'âme).

Bon, c'est tout for the moment. Bis bis à tout!