A busy few days.

Sorry for not posting the last few days. Its been very busy and hectic last 4 days. There’s no way I can cover all the events of the last few days in detail like the first two days, but I do want to give the long overdue update.

So where to begin? Well we’ve seen a lot so Ill only provide the highlights, random thoughts, things of potential interest, and let the photos or videos do most the talking hopefully.

Sunday:

So on Sunday, I got up early, went to get some sandwiches so we could have lunches in my backpack, and was invited into this nice guys cheese shop. Let me try a few samples and I got some goat cheese for later today along with a sandwich which I was able to tell had no ham or beef on it. I will be returning to that place this weekend since I liked the cheese so much. Then we had orientation (nothing remarkable), and then walked to our boat tour, passing Notre-Dame Cathedral. Got our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower, and learned about the construction and development of Paris’s bridges. We also learned how nothing is without meaning in french architecture, and idea that would be expanded upon by Monday. After the boat tour we had a cheese and wine tasting. It was my first time having wine and I tried a little of all of it and have come to the conclusion that I just don’t like wine & the taste of anything alcohol forward. Sunday wasn’t a particularly early morning or demanding day on paper. I went to bed around 5pm because all the sitting (and helping to carry the wine cooler) had exhausted my back and the pain made it so I didn’t want to bare standing or sitting for another minute. Regardless, I woke up around 3am and again at 5am and then went out.

Monday:

Walked to the cafe where the group had been on the first day when waiting to be able to sign in at Cite U around 6am. We were told to try and find a local cafe to go to every morning when you can, so I selected that one, in part out of embarrassment of our ability to communicate the previous days. They seem to open at 7am. I followed in behind some other guy who asked for coffee…I don’t drink coffee, but I decided if I could avoid speaking in English, well worth just copying his order. So I ended up with coffee and decided to stay for two hours to just relax and observe. Eventually, the server/owner brought out fresh Croissants on a tray. I had at least tried to brush up on the french I had wrote in my notebook, so I asked in french “how much is it?” and pointed at the Croissants, and as you can see, I got one. I’m pretty sure that is going to act as the Cafe I go to whenever I have a free morning. Didn’t say a thing in English, was able to be far more polite this time, and It cost much less than the University food did (granted it was a coffee and bread for $3 compared to a actual meal for $5). I don’t want to pretend that my french was any good, I was mostly silent for a reason, but I’m still proud of that, made me feel like I can function in the city than I could a day prior. Might make that a goal, to learn one more formal french phrase or word each day.

Around 11am we met up with Dr.Smith, Dr.Haffey, and her kids near Notre-Dame for our first actual class. She explained the history of the structure and statue, then we went to the oldest public clock in Paris, a very beautiful piece. We learned about the water fountains and the symbols seemingly everywhere in France. Dr. Smith also ran into an old friend  of hers from her Grad School, which was a crazy coincidence but also something that would kinda happen again later. Regardless here’s a pictures of the talking architecture to show what that is:

For example this fire department building has little waves on it to symbolize water. There are lots of statues of Saints and religious iconography and literal or metaphorical meaning in french architectural design, and buildings that are “just buildings” seem to be exceptions. Most seem to have complex and larger histories to tell or meanings integrated into their designs.

Then we began to get away from the more tourist heavy areas, into the more narrow streets of the city. We ended up getting ice cream and the first class was done. I got a mago and strawberry. Then it came time to decide what to do or where to go next…and me and my roommate came to an impasse…because…wait for it…neither of us wanted to actually be the one responsible for making decisions. That was an unexpected issue but we eventually came to a formal agreement to resolve that issue by alternating days with someone taking on leadership responsibilities when out and about, except for Sunday which we decided to just return to the dorm if we had nothing else to do.

With that solved, and having wandered aimlessly around the Latin Quarter, we decided to walk back to the University. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but it was a 10-15min train ride on the RER to get to where we were…It took over an hour to get back to the University. It was a lot of walking ontop of the already decent amount of walking we had done during class. Eric (my roommate) lead the way (since it became his day) and we completely got to see Paris without the tourist with suitcases everywhere and vendors at every turn selling cheap stuff. It was nice…but I certainly should have given him a heads up that we would be walking back before we left the dorm. Still it was a very nice walk, seeing the  Regardless here are some of the things that interested me during our walk:

Anyways that’s the highlights of Monday.

Tuesday:

On Tuesday we had an early morning cause reservations for getting into the museums and churches. The Conciergerie prison museum was cool and reminded me of my “History of pain for entertainment: Entertainment through executions.” study for sociology in High School. That said the more impressive part of the day was the visit to the church’s. The first (non consecrated) church was the church of the French King during the medieval era. The bottom area was confined and heavily ornate, only for the upper floor where the king himself would pray to open up in stunning fashion. Its 100% worth a visit to La Sainte Chapelle, Paris. Here are some of the pictures:

This is the Bottom Floor area:

I have a video of emerging into the upper floor that I will upload soon, but still here are a few pictures:

As you can see, comparing the two rooms is night and day. The roof in one is so low you could jump and touch it, in the other it towers high above, and yet its still ornately painted with stars like the night sky. Each of those images in the stained glass showing a moment from the bible with all the stories. Its absolutely magnificent, and my pictures cannot do it justice.

Then we went to the Church of Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre which is the oldest (active) church in Paris. The experience there was one of a sacred place and I personally felt it would be wrong of me to take photographs or video in an active place of worship as normal people were praying in the pews. I personally took a moment to sit at the alter and say a prayer, though for what purpose spurred me to do that is beyond me. Perhaps it was simply the energy of the environment reminding me that I am a christian and that I should pray to give thanks for being able to be present in such a place to begin with. That said, for as beautiful and holy as the buiding felt, it was somewhat undercut by the little signs letting you buy candles and other little trinkets. I don’t know why I felt that way, it was done tastefully and in a non-obnoxious way, but it felt wrong to me to have an active place of worship trying to sell you material items. They also have a beautiful garden and overall I was very impressed.

The last thing we did was an art (sculpture) museum…looked pretty, but I don’t much care for that particular art. Looked cool and it was nice to be inside eventually along with walking the French Gardens, but not my particular forte. Still it was a long day so I was too exhausted to blog when I got back. The museum was also close to the French Military museum and Napoleons tomb which is housed within it. Me and Eric both wanna see it so we are planning to head there sometime this/next week, its the domed building you can see there.

Thats it for now. Ill talk about tomorow and todays stuff together in one post since I dont think i took too many good photos today, it was a more “nerdy” day rather than mindblowingly impressive. Till my next post…

Au revoir,
-Me