Strikes, art, football, and Disney

Well, I've been pretty much the world's most terrible blogger the last few weeks, but thanks to Jake and Ricky and their harassment, I shall resolve to do better. I think it will be more interesting to blog in the following weeks as I'll have so many exciting things coming up. Starting Thursday, I will be traveling every weekend for 6 weeks plus have Ela, Ricky, and Uncle Tony and Susanne visiting in November. It's going to be nuts, but I'm so excited for it all to begin.

The past few weeks here have had their ups and downs. As those who follow the news must have seen, France has been the home of some extreme unrest between workers and the government who is pushing through a retirement-pension reform bill. They want to change the age of retiring from 60 to 62 to receive partial benefits and from 65 to 67 for one's full pension. To us who can understand even the basics to economics, this seems a logical solution for a country with baby-boomers retiring, people living longer, and a debt poised to send the country into bankruptcy. Well, that's not how most French see it, especially the young high schoolers and university students. Protests like I've never seen before have been taking place the last few weeks with marches in the streets, severely limited public transportation, fuel blockages, schools shutting down, and trucks hindering traffic through the "snail method" of driving next to each other and at unbelievably slow speeds. You could say the country's going to pieces over this silly legislation.

The incredibly frustrating part is to watch so many people join the movement for the stupidest reasons. The young join mostly to jump on the bandwagon and also to be able to have gone through life having participated in one protest. Apparently, this is France's national sport and to not be involved in a manifastation throughout one's life is a life wasted. Hmph.

I was incredibly frustrated last Tuesday (my busiest day with 7 hours of class) when I commuted 30 minutes on the Metro each way to a class only to find the building locked up and closed in anticipation of "crazy students". Upon arriving at the gate, I see chains yet no other confused Sorbonne students. Apparently they all got the memo but didn't bother to alert us internationals. I am getting so sick of this university system. My host sister in her last year of high school was also blocked out of classes for the majority of this week, one measly week before the whole country goes on a week's vacation anyway. About here is where some might insert the 'lazy' French stereotype, but I'll do my best to only imply.

In other news, the classes have really been picking up and I've had a lot due. It's so sad when writing papers takes literally 4 times longer cuz of my language skills. I'm so jealous of those study-abroaders who have been practicing much longer than I have. I wanna enjoy Paris--not be stuck in my room typing and Word-Referencing.

Sorry for the negativity of this post so far. There were some very fun things that have happened since I last wrote as well. Firstly, Penn hosted a reception for all European alumni (and us) likely for fund-raising purposes at the George C. Marshall Center in the Hôtel de Talleyrand. This place was sooooo legit! It faced the Place de la Concorde with a wonderful view of the Eiffel Tower in the distance, and it was the building where the Marshall Plan was signed. There we were wined and dined and had the chance to speak with tons of alumni from the area. Afterwards, the Young Penn Alumni Club of Paris took out all the people under 25 to a bar and we drank on Penn's tab. Siiickk. The best part of the night was just being around so many people who know Penn and Philadelphia. It made me feel almost back home, and it was so wonderful! Gutmann also made the hike out here!

My friends and I have done a few really fun things the past few weeks as well. A few of us went to Fountainbleau for a day of hiking through the forests. We got super lucky with a gorgeous day, and it felt so nice to get out of the city.

We also went to a French national team soccer game vs Romania where France pulled through at the end with a 2-0 victory. That game was so much fun and hilarious because we saw how the French support their team. We were pretty much the most decked out there supporting les bleues having all went out and bought t-shirts or jerseys the morning of the game.

And I believe the last really awesome thing we did was get ourselves to Disneyland Paris for a day of magical fun! It was so great, and we all felt like we were in America again if only for a day. All the good rides were there and in true Disney-fashion the place was decked out for Halloween! It felt so good to see someone caring about this holiday because in Paris it is hardly mentioned. :( I went on a quest to find a pumpkin yesterday but because of the rain all the fruit vendors called it quits and didn't show. I wanna carve and eat pumpkin seeds while watching Halloweentown!! At least Disney understood me.

It's also been quite the artsy scene for me in Paris lately what with my art/museum class taking field trips every week as well as knowing a girl who's mom works at the Met and has all these great connections. I got to go to a gallery opening for an artist from NYC who makes everything out of beads (portraits, flags, tables, chains, you name it) as well as a huge modern art fair where buyers come from all over to view and make some big purchases. I'm starting to develop more of an appreciation for the world of modern art (the Basquiat exhibit really helped this past week), though every once in a while I'm just totally stumped by the genre. Take for example a group of Obama-masked girls holding a boulder over a girl lying down on a pile of dirt for 70 minutes straight. Every 15 minutes, they would rotate jobs, but that was pretty much as exciting as it got.

Yeah, I don't get it either.

Chantilly and Nuit Blanche

So, since Germany classes have been in full swing. Dropping most of my French university classes, I'm now really happy with the 3 I have at Reid Hall and the 1 I have at Paris IV (La Sorbonne). Trying to deal with this university system gives me so much more appreciation for the American school system. I shall do my best to never complain again at Penn. Here in France, nothing is done via computer, so when classes change unexpectedly to a different day, room, etc, you must check these enormous bulletin boards with all the other students crowding around. I miss Penn-In-Touch. I've already missed classes due to this method.

I'm ending up taking a History course at Reid Hall with the most charming professor ever. He's going to be taking us around Paris and teaching us about the development of the individual neighborhoods. I'm really loving his enthusiasm! I'm taking another which teaches us how art influences politics in France (we go to a museum every week!), and then the mandatory Academic Writing course which will give me the tools to navigate my French papers. Eww.

The University class is called Moyen-Orient which means Middle East. Though it's a lecture and a tad difficult to understand at times, I'm going to do my best to make French friends and learn more about the Middle East from a country so infused with immigrants from the region. I like it so far!

Besides our classes, last week a group of us ventured outside Paris for a day trip to Chantilly. Chantilly in French means whipped cream, and this is the birthplace of that wonderful substance. One would imagine that every storefront would be bragging about their claim to fame, however we pretty much had to ask where we could get the dreamy fluff. Apparently today the village is more known for its chateau and horse events. To the side is a picture of the Grand Stables. Yeah, they take them seriously here...

The chateau was lovely and we had a fun time walking around and looking at the art of the connected Musee Conde. They have a really large collection of pieces. My favorite room was a small room of all portraits. It felt like we were in Dumbledore's office. :)

After a long day exploring Chantilly, we stayed up extra late here in Paris because it was Nuit Blanche. This loosely translates to all-nighter in English, so needless to say people stay out late. It's a night full of modern art exhibits and music all over the city celebrating new artists trying to get recognized. We found some pretty cool exhibits around, though some were just downright odd. I just don't understand modern art most of the time. For example, there was a giant exclamation point hanging inside of a church made out of tinsle, fans, and glowing bright blue. It was times to music so that the blue lights would make odd patterns. It was pretty cool, just totally confusing. I was truthfully surprised that they could use a church as the space. Seemed slightly sacrilegious to me.

I spent Sunday in Pere Lachaise with my friend Susan. Pere Lachaise is a really famous cemetery here in Paris with tons of famous dead people including Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, and so many others. It's absolutely humongous, and we already have plans to go back and finish exploring it. Perhaps the most amazing thing about the place is that all the graves are above ground tombs. Some are incredibly elaborate with private sanctuaries to go into. Interestingly, people are still being buried in their family's plots; I saw a few 2010 dates. Creepy, yet beautiful area...

And lastly I visited Les Printemps, a luxury department store, to go to the roof-deck for some lovely views of Paris. Definitely think this is the best spot I've found for such amazing views. Check out the pics below!

Off to a Penn-Paris alumni event in a bit. Super excited to have some yummy food and meet some alums. President Gutmann is also going to be there oddly enough, so it promises to be an entertaining evening. I wonder if things will be in English or French...