Word of the Day: Earplugs

This picture is for my mom! Love you!! It is a Van Gogh

So, the first half of this blog was written Wednesday, after a long day, and I had a headache, so it isn't as entertaining nor very much like self, so i apologize. And of course I am way to lazy to re-write it, so sorry!

So, I last left you eagerly (ok, not really) awaiting to hear about my first dinner with my host family. Well, Armand is visiting his dad this week, so it was just Murielle and I - which was nice, and less awkward. I definitely not used to three course meals at home, so it started off with the best tomato soup I have ever had, and I thought that was the entire meal because she gave me a huge bowl. nope, definitely not, next came a delicious veal (I ate baby cow :( ) mixed with carrots, potatoes, and broccoli. Murielle then made crepes for dessert - with sugar! Just the way I like it. It was such a good dinner, however the dinner conversation was lacking a little bit, mainly because of me. We talked about or families and what not, but I still sound like I am in French 101 when I speak to her! I cannot form sentences, I don't use the correct forms. Ugh, it is a nightmare. Yet when I talk to people my age I can speak. I do not know what is wrong with me, but I am sure she thinks I am stupid, ah such is life, c'est la vie.

The next morning, I started my Romanticism class, where we have an excursion every Thursday to various museums around Paris (how cool!) However, it is going to be a ton of work because stupid University of Illinois added an extra literature component, yet we do not get credit for it being a literature class. It makes no sense! Good ol' U of I. After Romantism (that is what it is called in French) a girl in my class, Kate, and I booked it to a little sandwich shop to get lunch, and then ran to the other campus because we had another class at 2:00 (our first class finished at 1:40 so it was a mad dash) This class is Modern French Cinema, which French movies are extremely, extremely bizarre, I will admit it, so I was quite apprehensive about this course. The professor, though, is hilarious! I am super excited to take this course because he makes it interesting and points out things I never would have noticed before. I have never taken a cinema course in general, so I am excited to learn a thing or 2 (hopefully more) about the cinema and movies in general, even if it means watching weird movies.

Wednesday was the day I was most excited for, Of course not for my theatre class, but for what was happening after! My theatre class is going to be awesome I think! My professor is a French actor, and you can totally tell he is an actor and loves what he does. He was so easy to understand, and acted things out - it was great. We will be reading plays throughout the semester, and he said perhaps acting out just a little of it (cool!) since it is mainly a reading plays course, and going to see 3 French plays! How exciting! I think it will be an awesome class, despite having it on Friday - but at least it finishes at 1:30. After class we went to..................

Well, had to leave you hanging there since I built up so much anticipation, and most of you might not find it that exciting, but a bunch of us went to the Musee D'Orsay!! It houses tons of Impressionist art like Matisse, Renoir, Monet and VAN GOGH! I have been waiting forever to go to this museum because when I came in last time, we never got to go because someone hates Impressionism (how can you hate Impressonism!?!) So needless to say I was like a kid in a candy store! It was absolutely amazing. To be standing a foot away from the famous "Water Lilies" by Monet, and Vincent Van Gogh's self portrait - oh.my.goodness. I got chills. (I did at the Louvre too, don't worry!) It was just so surreal. To have this opportunity...man. "Oh hey, it is Wednesday. I have class until noon and then...I think I will go to the d'Orsay." What?! I cannot get over it. It was wonderful.

Today, Thursday, I had my first excursion with my Romanticism class - at the Louvre! Again, who can say they have class at the Louvre?? I actually really enjoyed it - I was worried that I would never be able to hear my professor, or be able to pay attention, because I tend to have a wandering eye while in museums, but he made it really interestintg! Our first stop was to visit 2 sculptures - the slaves (I don't know if that is the name) by Michelangelo. I had no idea they were by him (woah!) Then we visited 2 sculptures of Psyche and her lover by Antonio Canova. I absolutely loved them - they are the same characters, by the same sculptor, but they are depicted in 2 entirely different ways. It was so interesting. We saw a few more scupltures, and then moved on to the Hall of David (Jean Louis) I was amazed - some of the paintings he made are GIGANTIC! I seriously wonder how someone makes a painting this big...and where do they ever store it?? The one of Napoleon's coronation I couldn't even fit in a whole picture! Anywho, my Professor definitely knows his stuff, and he showed us things I never would have noticed before in these paintings, i.e. throughout Le serment des horaces there are triangles of how he painted and positioned things in his painting, and how the swords are the focal point of the painting, or in another paint, Les licteurs rapportent a brutes de ses filles - the empty chair symbolizes death. This class will teach me how to find symbolism in art, because usually I am clueless when it comes to these things (my mother's artistic capabilities totally skipped over me!) This class will be a lot of work, but I am excited for it.

After, I had Contemporary French Literature, and I am scared to death of this class. My professor seems very nice, but she speaks so rapidly that I lose half of what she is saying, and I tend to zone out (oops - sorry Mom and Dad!) I couldn't tell you half of what went on in this class - but I don't think I was alone... hopefully! Luckily I have Beth with me to suffer through it a.k.a I will rely on her, or we will rely on another kid from our program in the class, Brian. It is going to be a lot of reading! Hopefully I can handle it, and maybe the next class will be better! I think I was just super tired, which leads me into my

title. Word of the Day: Earplugs, or "boule Quiès" as my host mom taught me today. Why ear plugs you ask? Well, it seems I am living at Weston again, my lovely dorm from U of I. The dorm where they were building a new dorm right outside my window the entire year. Apparently, they are building an apartment building outside my window this time, at 7am. It never fails. Now, I luckily am on the 3 floor this time, but this morning was AWFUL! I personally think someone on the floor above me is having work done in their apartment because it was LOUD! I have earplugs in and it sounded like it was next to me! This loud buzzing BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ every 2 minutes. I thought it was a drill, or a saw, but maybe a jackhammer. Oh my gosh it was horrible! And of course as soon as I had to get up it stopped for the day #$RF#(@#$*#$*OU#$O*U. Yeah that is what I think. I was not a happy camper! Ah c'est MA vie. (ma = my)

Tonight is my 2nd dinner with Murielle (eek I am nervous! All my French knowledge is oozing out of my brain as I write) so that will come in the next installment. As well as my exciting weekend of visiting Sacre-Coeur, Montmartre, the Champs-Elysees, MAYBE the Eiffel Tower, and... a discotheque! I know you cannot wait ;-)

Until then, AU REVOIR!