So it's nice to be back in Paris...it feels a lot homier here after a weekend away. Propédeutique is back in session. Yesterday it was kind of annoying because everyone was obviously in the grip of Monday blues and kind of just stared at my professor when she asked questions, so I ended up talking a lot. We talked about immigrants to France after World War II and learned a lot of slang words. "Rital" is a perjorative term for Italians.
I also registered for classes yesterday. It looks like I'll be taking an art history class (which talks more about the social context in which the art was created), two political science classes (one comparing French and US governments and one talking about France's role in the EU), and my French class with IES. At L'Institut Catholique, I will be taking a history class about the Second Empire in France (1850-1870) and the politics in Europe at that time. I have class from 10:45-2:00 Mon-Thurs, and on Tuesday the discussion part of the history course from 4-5 and Wednesday the lecture part from 3-5. Pretty good schedule.
Today we had class, did a lot with the different types of past tenses, and then I went on a guided tour of Montmartre. It was long but really cool--we got to see Sacré-Coeur, the places where a lot of artists lived (Renoir, Piccaso, etc), and a lot of nice views of Paris. Our guide (a little old lady with electric blue mascara on) told us a lot about the history of Paris, particularly St. Denis (now I really want to go visit the Basilique St. Denis, where all the French royalty is buried), and the times of the world wars and in between.
Something that really makes me angry about Sacré-Coeur (and the Catholic church in general): you are not allowed to take pictures or speak inside the basilica, because prayer is going on all the time, but you are cordially invited to visit the gift shop (which is INSIDE the church) or to make souvenir euro coins at the no less than seven machines inside the church. So basically you can only disturb the holiness if it makes the church money...
Something funny I've noticed on the metro: the advertisements for KFC say at the bottom (translated) "for your health, make sure to eat at least 5 fruits and vegetables a day". I find this really amusing for some reason.
Here's the link to my Montmartre album:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2052621&l=faf89&id=15805278
1 comment:
Hey Amanda!
I love looking at all of your pictures! we can't upload our pictures because it takes up too much bandwith :( Looks like you're having a great time! And yeah, KFC is like, taking over the world. It's all people associate me with...
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