Friday was one of those perfect spring days that wakes you up from winter and makes you think “how did I ever survive this long without the sun!?” Unfortunately, I spent a decent part of the day inside and underground, but it was wonderful nonetheless. I started the day out with my Art History class in the Musée d’Orsay and then headed on an afternoon excursion to the catacombs with one of the directors of the Tufts program. The catacombs were humbling, but very interesting. Apparently, in the mid-1800’s many of the smaller graveyards in Paris were becoming infested with disease, and so they were all dug up and the bodies were removed. Many of the bones are now housed in the catacombs – sort of an underground network of paths under Paris. It sounds rather creepy, but they are all arranged in artistic patterns and line the walls of the passageways accompanied by plaques dating their placement there. The catacombs were also a place of refuge for many during World War II – I can’t ever imagine spending more than a couple of hours down there so it’s incredible to think people hid out there for long periods of time.
We’re not supposed to see the sun again before Thursday so it was a shame to waste such a nice day underground – but it just gives me hope that spring is on the way! To add to the charm of Friday’s weather, I had a couple little moments that made me love living in Paris. Going through the metal detectors to get into the Musée d’Orsay, I set them off, but instead of taking me aside the attendant just told me – “you must have a heart of gold” and let me walk on through! And they say Parisians aren’t friendly! Both this guy and the baker that I bought my lunch from are going on my nice list in Paris – I found a nice little free pastry tucked in with my sandwich when I sat down to eat – nothing like a little charity thrown your way to put you in the right mood! Free pastry is my kind of charity!
On Saturday I visited an exposition on Louis Vuitton in a museum near the Marais. Not quite my style, but fun nonetheless to see the progression of all his different lines of luggage. My favorite was a trunk that contained a foldout bed – talk about being prepared!
My host sister, Isaure, and my host mom just came by my room to show me the present that they bought for Anna (the Spanish exchange student who left Sunday) – it is a T-Shirt that says, in English, “Pardon my French.” They thought it was great because it meant excuse me for not speaking French well – unfortunately, I had to explain that it can also mean excuse the curse words I just said. Luckily, they thought this was hilarious, and proceeded to recount the story separately to each member of the family. Hey – it’s better that they know what they are wearing on their shirts!
On Thursday I have to give a presentation in my French class on the French education system. I told my family about this and they each had a different thing for me to say about it:
Bruno (my host father) says: “Tu fais rien et tu dis simplement, “je fais la grève” – parce que ça c’est le système français.” – Basically, my host Dad said I should go to the front of the class, sit there, and say, “I am on strike” because that is what defines the French education system.
Claire (my host sister) says: “C’est comme le metro – il y en a beaucoup mais c’est toujours en retard” – It is like the metro – there are a lot of them, but they are always late.
Florence (my host mother) sums up each of their feelings by saying: “On travail beaucoup mais il n’y a pas de resultats” – We work a lot but there aren’t results to show for it.
Clearly, they do not have a very high opinion of the French education system, though I know they were each joking slightly. Up until the high school level the system is very similar to that of the US – kindergarten, elementary school, middle school and high school. However, at the end of high school students must take an exam – the baccalauréat (or just le bac) – that allows them admission into any French university if they pass. All French universities are public, with the exception of a very few Grands Écoles, that are very difficult to get into and require an enormous amount of work. My host sister is in a preparatory class to hopefully get into one of the Grands Écoles and I have never seen someone do more work! Seven Hills and Tufts would be easy for her I think!
This post seems to become more informational than anything else – maybe it’s because I finally have to do some work myself! My first trip to the French library was not exactly as productive as hoped. I wanted to find some books for a paper I have to do for my History of Science Class, but unfortunately their books were not very well organized and the selection was small. As amazing as it is, it had me wishing for the excellent library system in Cincinnati, and the library at Tufts as well!
While we’re on the subject of schoolwork let’s take a look at my notes from my art history class taken at one of the Paris Universities:
First of all, how anyone is ever supposed to read their notes on French paper, I have no idea – there are way too many lines everywhere for me!
Legible or not, these are my notes on the painting La Madone au Chanoine van der Paele by Jan van Eyck. Unfortunately, I did not catch the title of that painting when my professor said it in class (really, with a name like that can you blame me?) – but was luckily able to find it later searching online. I was pretty darn proud of myself when I looked at my notes and saw that I had written down, “Vaendurpi ???” In case you are wondering, that is what I heard when my professor said “van der Paele” – well at least I was trying!
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