Des Amies Françaises, de la Nourriture Américaine, et Quelques Sociopathes au Cinéma

I know it's been a while. Je suis désolée.

Tuesday (Feb. 19) I went to the cinéma for the first time. I saw the movie Sleuth with Michael Caine and Jude Law; I thought it was well done, though I haven't seen the original movie or the play.

Rocky Votolato

On Wednesday night I went to see Rocky Votolato in concert at a place called Mains d'Oeuvres in northern Paris. Rocky is a folk singer à la guitare and harmonica from Seattle- originally from Texas I might add. All week I was listening to his music to get ready. With both Makers and The Brag and Cuss I had the same experience: I listened to them once and thought to myself, "That's not bad. Kind of weird." Then, I would listen again and again, and slowly the poetic beauty of his songs would creep into my soul. The concert was fantastic. A French cover band called Exsonvaldez opened, then Jenny Hoyston (she was talented, but strange). Then Rocky. I was front and center. After the concert I met him and had him sign a cd for Hannah, my sister. He was so nice. There were some French guys trying to explain how much they liked his music. They kept saying "Your music is like poésie." After I saw the confused look on Rocky's face I told him that poésie means poetry. "Oh good," he said. "I thought they were saying my songs were like poison, and I was like, poison kills people!" I helped translate a bit more before I left. Such a great night!

Me and Rocky

Friday I finally broke down and went shopping with some friends. I bought a shirt, a cute dress, and some pattern stockings, which are seemingly la mode now in Paris.

Saturday my host cousin Timothée (or Titi, as his friends call him) had several friends over for a dinner party. They were all very nice and it was such a pleasure to meet some real Parisiens. Titi made delicious pizzas and dark chocolate pear tarts. Mmmmm! The only uncomfortable moment of the night was when I was asked to explain America's electoral system, which I find somewhat complicated in English, let along French! I eventually got some things straightened out for them.



The next day (Sunday) I went with one of Titi's friends from Montpellier to visit some museums. Juliette was in Paris on vacation to reunite with some of her other friends from school, and she was nice enough to let me come along. We visited a photography museum, a Monet museum, and le Musée de l'Homme (museum of man). There, quite justly, we visited an exposition called Femmes du Monde, by Titouan Lamazou. He apparently captured the many facets of femininity by photographing, painting, and interviewing women from all over the world. It was fascinating. My French was really no good this day (I think most of my attention was taken up by how much pain my feet were in), but they were all so patient. Juliette, as I said, lives in Montpellier, Aude lives in Dublin, Delphine in Brussels, and Eva in Paris.

Delphine, Juliette, Aude

Monday I went out with the French girls again, and we just walked around near Notre Dame. My French was a little better this day. I was so lucky to meet these girls- they were so nice!

Tuesday I went to the cinéma again, this time to see No Country for Old Men. As disturbing as the violence was, I really liked the film. Thursday I saw There Will Be Blood, which I also liked. However, I'd had enough with all the sociopaths!

Friday I went to a delightful little restaurant called Breakfast in America. It's basically an American diner! I had apple pancakes and American coffee... mmmm. They serve Dr. Pepper, too! Next time.

Saturday, my friend Emily (also an opera singer) and I got together at my place to make chocolate chip cookies. We bought all the ingredients we needed, but could not find any baking soda. We went to 3 grocery stores with no luck. Finally a cashier told us to try a pharmacy. A pharmacy?! So we did. The first one was sold out, but the second one, sure enough, had baking soda. Who knew? We made the cookies, but for some reason the oven was only heating from above, which resulted in very crispy tops, and undercooked bottoms. We did not care. We piled them all together and made a cookie/cookie dough conglomeration, which we ate with a fork with our friend Lauren and Titi. We watched O, Brother Where Art Thou before heading to a friend's birthday celebration.

Sunday I went to the Taizé service at the American Cathedral again. I think I might join the choir there because the Chorale at Cité Universitaire is just not what I had in mind.

3 friends and I are trying to book our trip to Croatia for Spring Break. We are having a difficult time finding the best choice for flights, etc. But hopefully that can be resolved soon.

Other than that, I am fighting a cold/allergies which is no fun. I'm still so glad to be here!

Le mot m'échappe

[Picture: Alleyway to my host family's house, at the very end on the right]

The end of this week marks the end of my first month in Paris. It feels like I've been here forever, and yet not at all.

In orientation, the staff warned us that after a "honey-moon" period, there was likely to be a steep drop in our condition. I think I experienced a bit of that this week. One has to be very humble to learn a language. I consider myself a fairly intelligent individual, capable and independant. But I run into challenges in all kinds of mundane tasks because of my language barrier. At the grocery store, on the metro, in class. It's hard not to wonder if everyone I encounter thinks I'm an idiot, because I certainly feel like an idiot the majority of the time! Even when I just want to tell me family here something about my day, I have to think so hard. It takes humility, but I am growing weary of humiliations. BUT, I do consider that, after all, I am in PARIS! I want to soak up every minute here! There will be challenges up to the very day I leave, because the process of learning a language is so immense and 4 months is such a short time. I am making progress, and if I get a little embarassed along the way, so be it.

On Sunday I tried to get into Bach's B Minor Mass at La Salle Pleyel as I had done the week before for Beethoven, but no such luck this week. Tant pis.

Monday it was back to class. I dropped my Modern Art class, now that I'm taking music classes at ENM. It was interesting, but unecessary. Just because I overload my plate at Southwestern doesn't mean I should do so in Paris. In my Theater class we are looking at a play called 'Art' by Yasmina Reza. It's a very well known play, not just in France but worldwide. It takes a comedic look at various reactions to modern art as one of the characters has purchased a white monochromatic painting. My phonetics class I think will help me not only with my pronunciation, but comprehension as well. We've been focusing a lot on the rhythm of speech and intonation. 2-3 times this semester we'll meet with the professor with a cassette for an individual lab. Apparently she lets you take for a few minutes, then tells you everything you're doing wrong. Intimidating, but very helpful I'd imagine (I haven't had mine yet).

Tuesday after my language class (which is a struggle for me!), I took a leisurely walk along the Seine, toute seule. It was nice. That night I had chorale rehearsal. I think we'll be doing some minor staging next week.

I don't think anthing worth noting happened on Wednesday...

Thursday I had my language class and then solfege: double whammy! As I said before, my language class is a challenge for me. And remember how I said the language barrier had me feeling incompetant? Well my solfege class has me feeling incompetant linguistically and musically. No, I'm beginning to catch on to the French terminology. I'm working on the whole 'fixed do' thing. Mostly I am just out of practice and the class is slightly above my current level. But this is a good thing, because it will help me grow. Thursday night I had some wine at a cafe with some friends. We talked for a few hours. How Parisienne.

Friday was sighreading which, again, makes me wonder if I'll ever be able to think in fixed do. But Like solfege, I know that this class will make me a better teacher. And on a side note, there is a French musical called 'Emilie Jolie' (Pretty Emily) and everyone sings me the song, especially ENM. "Je m'appelle Emily Jolie..." (My name is Pretty Emily - actually I don't know if Jolie is her surname, or if she's called pretty Emily). Friday night was spent at a cafe/bar where we met some French people and talked to them about politics. A lot of people here like Obama- yea!

Saturday I had my voice lesson again. I am working on some Reynaldo Hahn, and Mozart's Exsultate, jubilate. Mme. Dumas says that withing a month she thinks I'll be singing higher in the coloratura range... I hope she's right! I bought the book "Mille Soleils Splendides" (A Thousand Splendid Suns) by Khaled Hosseini. Hopefully reading it in French will help me increase vocab and fluency. I've wanted to read either of his books for a while, and now I'll have something to do during long metro rides.

Today I went to a Taize service at the American Cathedral. It was very nice and I think I'll go weekly. I met the priest afterward, althought I can't remember his name right now. We sat in the choir area for the service, and it was part in French, part in English. Afterwards, I met my friend Stephanie for dinner at a cafe just off Champs Elysees. We struck up a conversation with some Paisiens who complimented us on our French. It was exactly the affirmation we needed after this week!

Alors, I should update more often so these posts don't become novels. I think of my friends often, and I send you all my love!

Les Cours et La Chance

Last Saturday I spent the day with some friends from Occidental College at Monmartre. This is one of my favorite places in Paris. Its elevation gives you a fantastic view of the city, and the steep streets and narrow alleys are so picturesque. Plus, Sacre Coeur is one of my favorite sites. The basilica is on the top of the hill, and on this sunny Saturday it was glowing white. We made our way up the steps to take a look inside. Then we climbed all the way up to the dome for a breath-taking view of Paris. Needless to say, my knees were in a lot of pain the next morning, but it was worth it. We walked around the city for the next several hours until dinner. A day well-spent, in my mind.

On Sunday, the London Symphony Orchestra was playing at La Salle Pleyel. The concert featured Sir John Eliot Gardiner, conductor, and Maria João Pires, pianist, presenting works by Beethoven: The Creatures of Prometheus- overture, Concerto No. 4 for piano, and The Third Symphony. I didn't have a ticket, but I wanted to see where La Salle Pleyel was and hope that a ticket might become available.
The stand-by line had already formed when I got there (an hour early) so I was about 25 people back. I was next to an older woman who was shorter than I am and who also really wanted a ticket. She kept harassing the employees. A man came out and told us that at most 10 spots would become available. The determined woman next to me said, "Tant pis, on reste ici. On ne sait jamais." (Too bad, we're staying here. You never know). I almost left, but then I thought, if this crazy lady is going to wait it out, then I will, too. Then, about ten minutes before the concert, a guy in his 20's approached me and explained that he had an extra youth ticket for 8 euros. The youth tickets are for those 28 years old and younger. I couldn't believe it. He went on to tell me that it was in the first category seating, normally 85 euros! So, in the end I saw the London Symphony Orchestra with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Maria João Pires in the middle of the first balcony of La Salle Pleyel for 8 euros. Quelle chance!

Monday I started classes at IES. I think that they will be interesting, keep me busy, and, of course, help my French.

On Tuesday I had my audition at L'Ecole Normale de Musique. I sang for M. Mansard, the director of the school Adele's laughing song and La Diva de l'Empire. After that some tedious paper work, and boom. Now I'm enrolled in l'Ecole Normale de Musique. The only unfortunate thing is my classes run into my weekend.
Here's the schedule:
Monday/lundi
9:00-10:30 Theater
10:45-12:15 Modern Art
12:30-2:00 Phonetics (sometimes followed by an individual lab)

Tuesday/mardi
9:00-10:30 Language and Culture

8:00-10:30 Chorale de la Cité International Universitaire

Wednesday/mercredi
9:00-10:30 Theater
10:45-12:15 Modern Art
12:30-2:00 Phonetics (sometimes followed by an individual lab)

Thursday/jeudi
9:00-10:30 Language and Culture

2:00-3:00 Solfege at ENM (audit)

Friday/vendredi
12:00-1:00 Sight Reading for Singers

Saturday/samedi
12:30-1:30 Voice lesson

The solfege class was pretty hard. It'll take a lot of practice because I'm a little rusty and the class is already at a pretty advanced level. Plus I have to learn all the music terminology in French. But I think it will be a very useful class. The sight reading class is interesting. There are anywhere from 3-5 people of all instruments in the room at once. The professor gives you a piece of music and you look at it for a few minutes while other students go with their pieces, and then when it's your turn, you sight read it on you instrument: piano, guitar, voice, whatever. It was intimidating but all the professors and students are very nice. Again, the French language makes everything more difficult, but little by little it's coming. Tomorrow I have my voice lesson with my professor, Caroline Dumas. I go for an hour and then I stay and watch other students for about 2 more hours.

You can see in my schedule that I joined a community Chorale at la Cité International Universitaire. We have a concert in about a month. We're working on some lively music, including several waltzes, and opera choruses from La Traviata and Die Fledermaus. The director is very good, and I'm understanding him more and more. There are people of all ages 20's and 30's mostly) and all nationalities in the chorale. It's been a nice experience so far.

A lot's happened this week! I'm still enjoying myself so much!

Propedeutique

Last Sunday I went to a concert at la cite international universitaire in the German House. A baritone was presenting Schubert's Winterreise and... it was terrible. First of all he had a voice that wasn't all that good, with lots of intonation issues that were not helped by his attempts to hold back for dramatic effect. Speaking of dramatic- he was. He was crouching on the floor letting out his shoulder length hair, then he was on the piano- yes, ON the PIANO, then sitting on the edge of the stage. He had these weird pictures projected behind him, including one of a headless dead pigeon. Weird. Perhaps I'll have better luck in the future.

This week we had 2 hours of our Propedeutique, or French language class, every day. I like my teacher, and even though it was tedious at times I think it helped me. I'm getting used to the walk to IES. I'm not sure how long it is but I'd estimate between .5 and 1 mile. It takes me about 15 minutes at a good pace. It was very cold this week, and it rained a few times- not pleasant. The walk has allowed me to get to know the neighborhood a bit better. There is a Franprix right across the street for groceries, and a Tabac store for stamps and transportation passes. At the end of the street is a quick sandwich shop that has delicious Greek sandwiches. The other day I got a crepe there- my first crepe off the street in Paris. It was so good! I'm getting proficient with the metro and the other modes of transportation.

The classes I will be taking at IES are: Theater, Modern Art, Phonetics, and my Language and Culture class. Not too stressful, but should keep me interested. Modern Art will be a new experience for me.

I have my placement audition at L'Ecole Normale de Musique (ENM) on Tuesday afternoon. I have Tuesday and Thursday afternoons free so hopefully that is when I can take my music class(es).

Tonight I went to a play that was directed by the professor of the theater class (a very young woman, seemed to be still in her 20's). It was about a man who had had 5 wives, all of whom had died. A new woman comes into his life as a secretary (or something) and he marries her. He had a crazy daughter, too. I'm not sure of all the details of the plot and I understood little of the dialogue (missed a few jokes, I think) but I got the gist.

So all in all, a good week. My French is improving. I still have so far to go, obviously. Sometimes I feel like if I have to say one more word in French I might burst into tears. But it passes. My family continues to me nice. They are fun to talk to and I enjoy the nights that we have dinner all together.

That's all for now.
ep

Il commence...

I am writing this blog in the study of my French home. Chez Rochefort is very lovely, and I will try to post some pictures sometime. On the street, surrounded by shops and little restaurants in a set of doors, with an entry code. Then there is a gate with another code. Then you are outside again walking down a stone alleyway with houses on either side, all squished together like townhouses. Mine is the very last one on the right. Entering there is a living area with couches, a tv, a table or two, and a piano. Straight ahead is the back door to the garden. Up half a floor is a hall leading to the bathroom, the study, and another entrance. Up a twisting staircase is the boys' rooms, Timothee and Vincent, and up a half a floor on the other side is my room and Mme. Rochefort's room and her bathroom.

When I arrived on Monday morning, I got a taxi at the airport and gave him the address, arriving without a problem. When I got there I called Mme. Rochefort and she called her son to come retrieve me from outside the doors (I'd never received the e-mail she sent me with the codes). I slept for 4 hours (2 accidently). By that night I had met everybody.

The next day I went to IES for a brief orientation session (mostly just a tour of the site and the rules and regulations). That night Olivier, Mme. Rochefort's brother visited for dinner.

On Wednesday IES met at the Cite Internationale Universitaire, which is where many international students who study at Paris schools live. There are houses for each nationality. They also host all kinds of events, including concerts and musical performances. We continued with more information on this day of orientation. Mme. Rochefort had to go out of town for her work until Friday evening. Tu debrouilles, you'll manage, she assured me with a smile.

Thursday was the language testing for placement. I was really nervous, and I realized how much I've forgotten since high school. Both Wednesday and Thursday we had lunch courtesy of IES at the Cite Internationale Universitaire... Mmmm. We learned about some of the fun excursions that will be offered. Thursday night I cooked chicken and rice for Tim and me. He thought it was good. I'm eager to show my competence because they say the last student when left to her own devices put a packet of dry spaghetti in the microwave. I hope they were exaggerating.

By some miracle I am in the advanced group language and culture. Today we started the Propedeutique, which is a week of intensive French grammar. My professor, Mme. Teyssandier is very nice, though it was kind of intimidating. After class we could go on a tour of the neighborhood around the IES center. When that was over I went with two girls (that I met on my plane, incidently) to get un sandwich and we took the metro to the Eiffel Tower and just walked around for a bit (it was a beautiful day today, a little cold). I've met many nice people at IES, including several from Occidental College in California.

Tomorrow is an open bus tour of the city (better to get these tourist things over with as quickly as possible). I am having a fantastic time so far. I understand about 30-40% of conversation, I am getting around on public transportation, I'm almost over my jetlag, I have internet, an incredible host family: tout va bien! I've heard some people living in upper class neighborhoods have very formal families that have no desire to interact with them; I have such the opposite case. My audtion for L'Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris is sometime soon (I don't know when yet). Vincent's girlfriend studied the clarinette there. Now she's studying at Ithaca College in New York.

Well, I should stop writing now. If you've read all the way to the end, sorry it was long. I miss everyone and I think of you all.

Love,
ep

En Route

I'm leaving for the airport now. After only a minor computer crises, I am finally on my way. Next time I write will be in Paris!

Ma Nouvelle Famille Française

I've received word form my host family in Paris. I will be living with Mme. Agnès Rochefort, a sociologist and journalist. She has two sons, Thomas, 28 and Vincent, 24. I know what you're thinking- no, no. Thomas is getting married this summer and Vincent has a girlfriend who is currently studying in the US. Thomas has moved out but Vincent and Mme. Rochefort's nephew, Timothée still live in the house. She sounds very nice from her e-mail.

Other good news: I have been preliminarily accepted into L'Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris/Alfred Cortot. Once I arrive in Paris I will give a live audition for placement. I am so excited about this, as I was beginning to think it wasn't going to happen.

Only a few more days til I go: January 20, Sunday afternoon!