A Week of Culture

(Nicest day yet so I took some pictures)

So I was a little bit lazy over the past week, but I left off on Thursday…I went out with my friends and went to some of our favorite bars. Friday I went to EDUCO in the afternoon to watch a movie called “Paris je t’aime.” It was a really cool movie about Paris and the people. It was fiction and it was comprised of about 20 short stories. It was very interesting and it showed the entire city. It was a mixture of really happy, sad, and bizarre stuff and it had a lot of famous actors in it. Then I had to go home quickly and get dressed for the Opera. EDUCO gave us the choice of three different Operas to see and I chose to see Don Giovanni (Don Juan) at the Opera Bastille. The building is modern and right of the square where the Bastille was before it was destroyed in the revolution. It was my first Opera and I really enjoyed it. It was in Italian but there were French subtitles so I was able to understand it. It was also set in the 20^th century so it was a different take on the famous story. After that, my friends and I bought some wine and sat outside the Pompidou Center where they have a really cool light show. Saturday I met my friends in the afternoon at a café by the Pompidou Center. We grabbed a quick meal before going to see the Yves Klein exhibition which ended right after we saw it. It was amazing. Here is some information about Yves Klein http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Klein. His work was incredible and he even has his own color that is stunning to see up close. My favorite piece was a blue canvas that he painted and then took out in the rain. The drops did really cool things to the paint and although it doesn’t sound that amazing it was stunning to see. I was in awe. He also did amazing things with fire. The Pompidou Center itself is a sight to see. It is taller than any of the buildings around it and it is mostly glass so the view is incredible. It was (Pompidou Center)
difficult to get pictures because of the glass. However we were especially lucky since we were there for a while, we saw the day and nighttime view. Next we went out in the gay district of Paris to a restaurant that was all pink with funny pictures on the wall; although the atmosphere was a little bizarre, the food was really good. Then we went to my friend’s house to hang out and had a fun night. Sunday I was exhausted from the busy weekend (Pompidou Center)
and didn’t do much but some schoolwork and laundry. I didn’t watch the Super Bowl and I don’t think my friends here will ever let me live it down, but it didn’t start until 12:30 and I had class the next morning.

I woke up on Monday morning and went to my class at the Sorbonne. I got there and a lot of the students were standing outside, and once again, the class was postponed for two weeks. I was checking out another class later in the day and I did some errands until that time. I didn’t like the other class, so during the break I left and went home. I was supposed to have dinner with my family, but there was a question and answer session on television by Nicolas Sarkozy and my family wanted to watch so we postponed dinner until Tuesday night. I watched the event on TV and it was very interesting. He is the moderate right candidate from the UMP and some of the people questioned him at length about gay marriage and adoption, minority rights, and unemployment. It was very interesting to see their views on the issues that we also face. Tuesday I had my grammar and communication class and my theater class. The grammar class is my favorite because we are learning how to speak French and sound like a French speaker. We are learning the current vocabulary and slang. It is a really good class and the professor is excellent. I have already learned a lot about the way I speak and how to talk to people. In the theater class we discussed King Lear which we were going to see on Wednesday night at the Odeon Theater. On Tuesday night I had dinner with my family. I told them about my weekend and my host dad told me that he was a friend of Yves Klein. He had some funny stories and an interesting perspective about his art. Then we discussed the Sarkozy television special and how the issues are not that different here and in the U.S. While talking about politics they told me that they are friends of the Kennedy family and had just been invited to the premier of the new movie about Bobby. The dinner (Steak), stories, and conversation were great as always. I hung out with my friends later that night. Wednesday I had a sociology class and the grammar class. Then I went home and got ready for King Lear. Two of my friends came to my area and we grabbed some dinner, then headed to the northern part of the city to go to the theater. King Lear was interesting. It was set in the early 20^th century and King Lear was a mob boss. I thought it was interesting but I liked the original storyline more. The theater was really cool because it was small and there were not any bad seats. After the show we went to my friend Drew’s apartment for a housewarming party. He cooked some great food and we had a fun night. Thursday, I had my Economy of Europe class. I made some friends with some of the kids in my class and was actually able to understand them because I have learned a lot of the slang that they use. I also had no trouble understanding the professor which is refreshing because I think my French is really improving. Thursday night, I made myself a delicious dinner. I cooked chicken and made a delicious and spicy pan sauce with chili pepper paste. I was in withdrawal from spicy food so it made me very happy. I met my friends at Fountain at the place Saint Michel and we went to a really cool bar. The downstairs was like a cave it was stone walls with a low ceiling and there were dance floors. It was a cool place. Friday I didn’t do too much except buy books and hang out at EDUCO. Then Friday night, I went to a really cool club with a lot of my friends. It was a really fun night and an excellent club. We stayed out until the metro opened. Now it’s Saturday and I had a nice breakfast, I am going to go for a run in Bois de Boulogne (my first run in Paris), and after that I am going to buzz my hair with my friend because there is no place to get a reasonably priced haircut here. Au revoir! GO HOYAS!

Pictures of my House and Garden: