Paris Revisited: Day 2- Strolling the Seine

After sleeping in for quite a while, and lazing around for several more hours, I decided it was finally time to get out and see more of Paris. I grabbed the local Metro (the 8 ligne) and took it to one of its Seine stops- Place de la Concorde. Up to this point, I had seen only parts of Paris that were new to me (with the exception of the Gare de Nord, which I am quite familiar with, but doesn't really count for our purposes). So it was exciting and new, but it wasn't Paris. That all changed when I emerged from the Concorde Metro stop at sunset:

Now that looks familiar!

 It looked like Paris again! My Paris. I spent many happy hours strolling along this area of the Seine at twilight, and here I was again. My goal was to be at the Eiffel Tower by 7pm, in case it was dark enough that they would start the sparkling. But I had a little over an hour, so I took the opportunity to meander....

Through the Tuileries...

View of the Place de la Concorde from the Tuileries, all the way down the Champs-Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe

Down to the Louvre....

Then over to the Seine!

Discovered a new bridge...

And walked into the sunset to get to the Eiffel Tower

Got my crepe at the base of Trocadero

No sparkling until 8 (which I couldn't stay for), but all lit up and pretty nonetheless!

Fountains at Trocadero

The day rounded out with a dinner at Laura's in-laws. We spoke French most of the time, and it was comforting to know that most of my hard-earned semi-fluency from last year has remained intact. I've lost some random phrases, but I could fearlessly trundle ahead with less-than-perfect, yet still understandable, French. They also served a really excellent Speculoos cheesecake for dessert!

I spent the rest of my evening babysitting Nootka and Skypeing avec ma mere, then lying in bed until 4am because I forgot to take my sleeping pills. So I slept in past noon today. But I am determined to be up and about earlier tomorrow! You will see.

Quick Bits, May 2011

I'm still working on my Edinburgh post for you all to continue with my Spring Break chronicles, but I thought I'd pause in your regularly scheduled programming for a quick update on life in my last few weeks in Paris.

I leave three weeks from today, but make a 3-day stop in Iceland on the way home. Need to get on booking a hotel/hostel....

It was so hard going back to school after Spring Break. So hard. Especially when my professor who cancelled class decided to schedule a make-up class- for Friday morning. Bleck. But I made an exciting discovery over the course of the week as well: I can read French! As in, actually sit there and fully comprehend an article, with all of it's tenses and nuance, from start to finish. Granted, it takes me a lot longer than it would to read the same article in English (something I could scan in 15 seconds in English takes me maybe 2 minutes in French), and I do of course still have to look up the odd vocabulary word. But I'm properly reading French! I am also finally getting to the point where I can listen to and speak French without having to consciously translate everything. I wouldn't dare claim to be fluent, but I think I may very well be approaching proficiency. Wheeee!

I was also able to help a girl learn about adverbs and adjectives at my volunteer position- the same day that we worked on them in my own grammar class.....

Today was absolutely excellent. The Central Folk took an organized trip to Giverny, about 45 minutes outside of Paris. Giverny is where Claude Monet lived and worked for most of his career. His house has mainly Japanese art inside, which has a historical explanation but was still odd, but the gardens. Oh my goodness the gardens. I will have a full post on the visit at some point, but just know that today, I walked along the famous water lily pond. No blooms on the lilies at this point in the year, sadly, but it was GORGEOUS.

I've scrapped my plan to take a day trip to Geneva next weekend. When I first conceived of the idea a month or so ago, I was worrying about only going to a few countries while over here. Now that the time is upon me, however, I am far more worried about not being able to fully enjoy the rest of my time in Paris! It is so lovely out now, and there are so many picnics I still want to have! I've located an available rooftop for the evening picnic my foyer-mate Vanessa and I want to have, and I have several girls who are amenable to at least one more picnic along the Seine, and under the Eiffel Tower. Probably also a return visit to the Bois de Bourlogne. I need to watch the sunset at Sacre Coeur, and get another crepe! I haven't had one in probably two months- it's an absolute travesty. I need to see Elise at least once more before I go. And I need to pass all of my finals. Psh, details.

Finally, I leave you with a picture I stole off of another girl's Facebook. It is probably the only photo that exists that proves that I indeed swam in the Mediterranean while on Spring Break. This one's for you, Daddy:

Panic Mode!!

EEP! EEP! EEP!

School starts tomorrow and I'm neeeeeeerrrrrrvous! I'm nervous that I'll oversleep (despite the fact that I've been waking up around 8am naturally, so even if I sleep over my 7am alarm, I should still be able to make it to my 9am class. I'm nervous that I'll get lost on my way there. I'm nervous that the French will be too far beyond my comprehension. I'm nervous that I'll get lost while I'm there. I'm nervous about spending 6 hours of intensive French study in one day- entirely in French.

At least I'm starting out with the worst of it. Each day thereafter has only one 3-hour class, and two of them are content based. But also entirely in French. EEP!

School's About to Start!

O.O I think I fixed my internet (KNOCK ON WOOD). Read: I think I finally got my cable connection to work, rather than relying on the really sad wireless that barely comes through that I've been paying for for a month, since the cable worked exactly once (conveniently, the time I paid for it). Wireless subscription doesn't run out until 3am, so I won't know for certain, but I'm testing out things that have worked very slowly for the past 5 weeks, and so far it is speedy as all get out. Final test: if I can successfully video-Skype with the parents without crashing my extremely powerful computer, as has happened the last few times we tried.

In other news, proper university classes start on Monday. !!!! When did that happen?? This week has flown by at an incredible pace. Somehow, tomorrow is Friday, and my classes start on Monday. I don't even.

I believe my schedule looks as follows:

Monday:       09:00a-12:00p   Langue francaise (French language class)
                      14:00p-17:00p   Oral French (another French language class)

Tuesday:       14:00p-17:00p   La mode et le stylisme (French fashion!)

Wednesday:  09:00a-12:00p   Langue francaise (part two of Monday morning class)

Thursday:     14:00p-17:00p   Les grandes periodes de l'histoire de France (French history!!)


I was originally scheduled to take a class on French literature in place of the Oral French, but it was double-booked with my history class, and there was no other time it was available. A little bummed to be taking more language than electives, but it's probably going to be good for me. And will help with my comprehension in my two remaining elective classes- they are taught in French!!

And no classes on Friday. This makes me a pretty happy girl. Three out of my four semesters at Trinity, I arranged to take all of my classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, thus leaving me with 4-day weekends every weekend. I have to tell you, this is a pretty fabulous set-up. Last semester, in Washington DC, I had classes Monday-Wednesday and my internship on Thursdays and Fridays. This left me with a measley two days for a weekend, which is also what I have had these first few weeks of French class. Let me tell you what I have discovered.

Two days makes for an inadequate weekend. Three days are at minimum required: one for going out and doing exciting things (going out with friends, exploring the city, going for a hike, going to the movies, going shopping, etc.), one for getting things done (cleaning, errands, laundry, long-term research projects, etc.), and one for never getting out of your pajamas. Granted, I liked having the 4th day, but I am just so psyched to get the extra day back. Now I can spend a day curled up in my room watching American movies in English and not feel like I am wasting a precious weekend day. Sometimes you just need to unwind and surround yourself with English, completely banishing all French from your presence. Or at least, I do.

I had my second dream in French last night, and it was infinitely more pleasant than the first. I don't remember the details, just that I was pleasantly going about things in French. The first time I dreamt in French was sometime during the first week, I believe, and it was incredibly stressful. I was aware at multiple points that I was dreaming, but couldn't wake up. The dream didn't happen in French, I was frantically translating everything into French. Ugh. Trop horrible.

Perhaps the difference is that I'm starting to get a little comfortable with French. I still have a looong way to go, but I feel the "deer-in-headlights" look coming with far less frequency when someone speaks to me in French, and I find myself able to articulate myself far more accurately. Having French classes while actually going out and speaking French is so different from having classes taught in English, where all you do is exercises, never really properly using the language. Several times over the past few weeks, when I have been out and about, I formulate a sentence and then realize giddily that I just used a concept that I had learned/relearned/clarified in my class over the past few weeks- Cause! Consequence! Future Simple!

I must remember to tell my professor that. Last class with her tomorrow at 13:00! (Slowly getting used to the time-telling over here)