I've been home for about 3 days now. I've unpacked and organized my things. I've organized my photos, and updated this blog. I've also gone back to my school and showed my Upper-School art teachers my work. (They had great things to say about it.) I've talked with friends and made plans to work during the break. I'm visiting my grandma later today. I guess I'm fully settled in.
I'm so glad I got to have the experience of living and creating in Paris! I'm so grateful that my parents helped me and supported me. I'm really happy with the level of work that I produced and want to sustain it. I've decided that I'll set some parameters for myself and churn out a couple of project over the summer.
I know that this experience will stay with me forever, helping me in whatever I choose to pursue. One thing that this program did was let me consider other options for careers in fashion. Since my sewing skills don't match that of my drawing, I'm not sure how likely fashion design would be (although I'd still like to do it). I really enjoyed taking photographs of my work (even though I only photographed the bra), so I could see myself having fun as a fashion photographer. I also really liked seeing the shows at Paris Fashion Week, and blogging about them afterwards. So maybe fashion critic? We'll see. I realized through writing this blog that I enjoy writing and would like to keep up with it more. (I've been told before that I'm a good writer, and would like to continue with that.) During my jury, I was asked if I'd considered going into costume design for theater (or even ballet). My teacher Susan suggested, based on my bra photo, being a fashion stylist, seeing as I have a "very definite sense of fashion". It would be fun to do any of these careers, so we'll see how these things shake out. (I'll keep you guys posted.)
Even though I was happy to come home, I can't wait to go back! (Already, I've decided that next time, I want to see an opera at Opera Garnier, a Moliere play at the Comedie Francaise, and attend a cabaret at the Lapin Agile.) My parents are already telling me that I need to find a job over there, and that they'll visit me if/when I do.
I'm already planning on keeping up with my French. Yesterday, I bought a book with lists different conjugations for about 300 verbs. It should help me when I read my 2 volumes of plays by French female playwrights that I bought at Gibert Joseph. My parents have also suggested joining a French club or "dinner club" (where members get together and speak the language) when I get back to Raleigh. So I'll definitely be looking into these options.
I just hope that the next time I go, I'll get more time to explore more!
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Friday, June 6, 2008
Coming Home!
We got up early Tuesday morning, and packed. While Hilary was in the shower, I went to go find some breakfast. Our regular boulangerie on Port Royal was closed, so I had to traipse up to the one by school. I also stopped by school to return my apartment keys, and picked up my certificate (that had been revised to say that I didn't do the Centre Pompidou site visit).
When I got back, we finished unpacking, checked out of the hotel and left. Hilary was helping me with my luggage, and we occasionally stopped to take breaths and/or switch luggage to carry. We took the elevator down to buy tickets at the RER Port Royal station, and then took it down one more level to get to the platform. Once there, we waited for a train and when one appeared (that was also really crowded), we wedged ourselves and our luggage on.
Fortunately, a lot of people got off before the airport, so we had room to move near the doors to position ourselves. Hilary and I said goodbye before we got there, and I wished her a good trip to Nantes. When we got to my stop (Terminal 1 and 3), she helped me get my luggage off the train and I was off!
I had some trouble with my suitcases. They were both over-packed and so were prone to falling over. A nice older English lady helped me get them through the turnstile, and when I had to go down a level to catch the tram, another guy helped me get them on. He also helped me get them to the hall where I had to check-in. I arrived there before the check-in desk was open, so I sat on my bags and waited. When I got to the counter, I was told that I was allowed to check 2 bags, and had to pay a fee for the 3rd. So I went to pay my (exhorbitant) fee, and then went through security and showed my passport (and got chided for attempting to exit the wrong way).
Once through, I went on a re-con mission to see where my gate was. There was a security portal right before the entrance, and since it was about an hour and a half before my boarding time, I decided to walk around a bit. I bought a copy of French Vogue and drank some water.
Finally, I decided to go through security to my gate. I tried to get Internet access on my laptop, but that wasn't working, so I decided to begin organizing my photos from Paris. I did this until I got on the plane.
On the plane, we took and were served lunch. (Of the two choices, I picked the chicken over the pasta.) There were actually good movies available during this flight, so I watched "American Gangster". (I had been really wanting to see it, but hadn't when it was in theaters.) After that was over, I slept for a few hours and waited until the landing.
We landed in Philadelphia, and we had to get our checked bags to have them checked by security. After getting my bag, I first went into the wrong line and had to redirect into the correct line. That line was the one where the bags were getting searched. (I was behind a teenage guy who was getting grilled about whether he had any contraband alcohol, specifically absinthe. The guard did find something, and he gave the kid a pamphlet on contraband substances.) Amazingly, I didn't get searched. I just handed over my passport and heaved my suitcase onto the table, while the lady checked my passport against the computer. I guess everything turned out OK, because she gave me back my passport and waved me through. I then went through the point I had attempted to before, and rechecked my bags. Then I waited in a long line with a ton of other people, went through security and emerged to find my gate.
After eating a dinner of a hot dog and a Coke, I went to go wait in my area. I sat on the floor (it was a small area and there weren't any seats) and organized my pictures a bit more. The plane was a bit late, but we boarded quickly and were on our way!
We landed in Charlotte about 9:30 pm, and Dad met me at the baggage claim! After getting my bags, we drove home. Kirsten was so happy to see me she got up to greet me. (This is saying a lot since she's pretty old and arthritic now, and doesn't move from her pillow too much.) Mom got in a little later, and I was happy to see her. Then, I was really tired and went to bed.
I'm ready to relax (and later, draw/paint/sew/write/read)!
When I got back, we finished unpacking, checked out of the hotel and left. Hilary was helping me with my luggage, and we occasionally stopped to take breaths and/or switch luggage to carry. We took the elevator down to buy tickets at the RER Port Royal station, and then took it down one more level to get to the platform. Once there, we waited for a train and when one appeared (that was also really crowded), we wedged ourselves and our luggage on.
Fortunately, a lot of people got off before the airport, so we had room to move near the doors to position ourselves. Hilary and I said goodbye before we got there, and I wished her a good trip to Nantes. When we got to my stop (Terminal 1 and 3), she helped me get my luggage off the train and I was off!
I had some trouble with my suitcases. They were both over-packed and so were prone to falling over. A nice older English lady helped me get them through the turnstile, and when I had to go down a level to catch the tram, another guy helped me get them on. He also helped me get them to the hall where I had to check-in. I arrived there before the check-in desk was open, so I sat on my bags and waited. When I got to the counter, I was told that I was allowed to check 2 bags, and had to pay a fee for the 3rd. So I went to pay my (exhorbitant) fee, and then went through security and showed my passport (and got chided for attempting to exit the wrong way).
Once through, I went on a re-con mission to see where my gate was. There was a security portal right before the entrance, and since it was about an hour and a half before my boarding time, I decided to walk around a bit. I bought a copy of French Vogue and drank some water.
Finally, I decided to go through security to my gate. I tried to get Internet access on my laptop, but that wasn't working, so I decided to begin organizing my photos from Paris. I did this until I got on the plane.
On the plane, we took and were served lunch. (Of the two choices, I picked the chicken over the pasta.) There were actually good movies available during this flight, so I watched "American Gangster". (I had been really wanting to see it, but hadn't when it was in theaters.) After that was over, I slept for a few hours and waited until the landing.
We landed in Philadelphia, and we had to get our checked bags to have them checked by security. After getting my bag, I first went into the wrong line and had to redirect into the correct line. That line was the one where the bags were getting searched. (I was behind a teenage guy who was getting grilled about whether he had any contraband alcohol, specifically absinthe. The guard did find something, and he gave the kid a pamphlet on contraband substances.) Amazingly, I didn't get searched. I just handed over my passport and heaved my suitcase onto the table, while the lady checked my passport against the computer. I guess everything turned out OK, because she gave me back my passport and waved me through. I then went through the point I had attempted to before, and rechecked my bags. Then I waited in a long line with a ton of other people, went through security and emerged to find my gate.
After eating a dinner of a hot dog and a Coke, I went to go wait in my area. I sat on the floor (it was a small area and there weren't any seats) and organized my pictures a bit more. The plane was a bit late, but we boarded quickly and were on our way!
We landed in Charlotte about 9:30 pm, and Dad met me at the baggage claim! After getting my bags, we drove home. Kirsten was so happy to see me she got up to greet me. (This is saying a lot since she's pretty old and arthritic now, and doesn't move from her pillow too much.) Mom got in a little later, and I was happy to see her. Then, I was really tired and went to bed.
I'm ready to relax (and later, draw/paint/sew/write/read)!
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Hilary's Visit!
Thursday morning (the day after the jury), I got up early and finished packing. I had been told that the hotel where I had reservations started check-in at 12 noon. On my way out, I ran into Nisa and Redza on their way out, and we talked and promised to keep in touch.
I got 2 of my bags, and pulled them down Port Royal to the hotel (Hotel Sunny). They were so heavy that I kept having to stop to readjust or switch arms or just plain rest. When I got to the hotel, I was told that the room was still being cleaned. I still had to go back and get my other back (which held all of my work, fabric and books), so I retraced my steps back to the apartment and retrieved it. Then I walked back to the hotel (again having to stop and switch hands and/or catch my breath). When I got there, I was told that the room was still not ready, so I sat on the couch in the lobby and read some of the magazines. The room was finally ready, and I took my stuff up the 2nd floor room and after having some trouble with the key, got settled.
It was near 2 pm by that time, when Hilary was scheduled to arrive. I left the hotel and walked up to school. She was waiting in the semi-circle, and saw me as I was passing. She needed to write Aunt Debbie an email, so we went and used the school's computer lab. When she was finished, we took her luggage back to the hotel.
Here, a minor snafu occurred: When we got up to the room, I was unable to open the door. I tried the way I had done before, and couldn't get it after a few tries. I went down and asked the concierge about it, and he demonstrated the way to lock and unlock the door. I went back upstairs, and after both Hilary and I trying it multiple times, we still couldn't get it. I went down again to talk to the concierge about it, and he called the housekeeper, who came upstairs with me. She was also unable to open the door, and went downstairs to retrieve the concierge. He tried, and then left, saying that he needed to get some special keys and that he'd be back in about 10-15 minutes. Hilary and I waited in the hall for that time, alternately talking and spacing out. The concierge returned within about 15 minutes, and worked with the keyhole and finally got the door open. When we thanked him, he told us that he wasn't finished, and worked with the keyhole on both sides of the door. Eventually, he got it all fixed and left (with me apologizing profusely). Hilary and I then got changed, and left to explore!
We decided to go up Rue Moefftard (a street with a lot of open-air food shops and restaurants) first. We walked up it, taking some pictures. Eventually, we got near the Pantheon and circled around it. (I got some really good shots.) After that, we walked down Rue Soufflot to Jardin du Luxembourg, where we walked around and took shots of the foliage.
By this time, we were pretty hungry, so we decided to go to Cafe Soufflot for dinner. I got the confit de canard (as did Hilary), with caramel ice cream for dessert. After we were finished, we walked down nearby Boulevard Saint-Michel, far enough so that we passed Saint-Chapelle. Hilary didn't seem tired (or even jet-lagged), so I suggested that we walk over the Seine and go to Hotel de Ville. She agreed to it, so we went and took lots of pictures of certain architectural details and from various angles. We were right near the Centre Pompidou (it was just down one street nearby), and so we went there. We took pictures of the exterior of the building, as well as the fountain (with many modern moving sculptures) adjacent to the museum. Rue Quincampoix was a mere street away, so we strolled down it. (Walking along it, it was clear that we had found Paris's gay/lesbian district, seeing as there were rainbows abound.) From there, we walked to Saint-Eustache, which was an old church that was part of a park. (It was very pretty, but seemed to be in disrepair, which was sad.) We also inadvertently discovered Forum Les Halles, which I had heard about as a good shopping mall. (Of course I would discover that only on one of the last days we were there.) When we were done there, we headed back toward the Seine and walked to Notre Dame. We circled around it, getting pictures from every direction. At that point, it was near 10 pm (and still light out), so we walked back towards our hotel.
Friday morning, we got up around 10 am and left around 11:30 am. We stopped at a nearby boulangerie where I got a brioche suisse (which was like a pain au chocolat crossed with a cheese danish) and Hilary got a flan abricot. After stopping at the ATM on Saint-Michel, we walked down Port Royal to the Vavin station. Since we would be hiking in Montmartre, we decided to stop and get a chicken panini with raw vegetables to eat. We took the metro from Vavin up to Barbes-Rochecoart. We walked through the fabric district (which I now know well) up to Sacre-Coeur. Sacre Coeur is on the top of a hill (the butte de Montmartre), and along the way, there are a lot of guys trying to trap unsuspecting tourists. One of the tricks is to braid a "friendship bracelet" around your wrist, and then demand some huge amount for it (like 10 Euro). Well, one of the guys grabbed Hilary, and I thought she was going to extricate herself, so I waited some distance up the hill. (One of the guys tried a few times to get me to come down, and I was like, "Uh, no.") She was eventually released, and was none too happy about being taken in. (She said that he had asked for 10 Euro, saying that they usually charged 20, and she gave them all her change, which equaled something around 1-1.5 Euro.)
With that adventure behind us, we made our way up to Sacre Coeur, pausing occasionally to take pictures. We then went inside and toured the sanctuary. I stopped and bought a couple of postcards for Grandma, and Hilary and I both took (forbidden pictures) of the ceiling. We walked out into the sunlight, and made our way down the hill.
We walked back down to Barbes-Rochecoart, and strolled along to find the Moulin Rouge (passing the red-light district on our way). We took some pictures of the Moulin Rouge, and then walked up Rue Lepic. When we passed the Cafe des Deux Moulins (the cafe in "Amelie"), I was able to peer inside and they had a poster from the movie displayed. (So if I had any doubts that that was the actual place, they were dispelled.) We continued hiking up Rue Norvins (passing Moulin de la Galette), and got to the Lapin Agile down on the other side of the hill on Rue des Saules. After taking some pictures, we stopped to get some water and each bought some postcards before going to Place du Tertre. Once we were at the artists' square, we walked around taking pictures, and when we were finished, we began walking down the hill.
Hilary had wanted to see the only metro station still completely retained in the Art Nouveau style (with the roof intact). That one was Porte Dauphine, which was along the border of the 16th, so we took the metro to the end of the 2nd line. Completely by chance, we happened to get out at the one exit with the roof and all the Art Nouveau details. We took some pictures, and made our way to the nearest road. The nearest road happened to be Avenue Foch, a long road that ended up hitting the Arc de Triomphe at a corner point. (It was really funny, it didn't look real at all. It looked more like it was made of paper and could easily blow over.) We walked down Avenue Foch and took a right towards Trocadero. At Trocadero, we took pictures of the Tour Eiffel and attempted to take some pictures of the two of us (which didn't turn out too well).
After we were finished at Trocadero, we ate lunch at the Galleria Cafe nearby. (That cafe was also near the Musee Galleria, where I had seen the "Annees Folles" exhibit on the 1920s at the beginning of the semester.) After lunch, we walked along the Seine, leisurely making our way to the Louvre. We walked through the 16th, 8th and 1st. In the 8th, we passed by the Grand and Petit Palais. We also walked around the Concorde area and saw the Obelisque.
Near the entrance to the Tuileries, we each got a snow cone (the one touristy thing we did), and then walked toward the Louvre. I turned around at a few points to take photos of the Obelisque in the middle of L'Arc de Triomphe, with part of La Grande Arche seen behind it. After walking through the Tuileries, we still had time before the Louvre became free (for students) at 6 pm, so we walked to Palais Royal and relaxed there. We left for the Louvre a little after 6 pm, and stood in line to get tickets. I was fine, but when we tried to enter the one of exhibition hall, Hilary had to go back and purchase one. I waited for her in the gift shop. I bought a few postcards and saw a book on vintage playing cards that I considered buying. Hilary finally bought her ticket, an we decided what we wanted to see. Hilary wanted to see the Mona Lisa, so we went off in the direction first. We saw the Mona Lisa, along with the oversize French and Italian paintings. Then I wanted to see the 17th-19th French paintings, so we went off to that wing. We ended up getting done with that portion quickly, since a good deal of the hall was roped off. (That had happened the 2 previous times I was there as well.) We also took some photos looking out onto the courtyard.
We walked back, taking the Pont Neuf bridge and walking along Boulevard Saint Germain. We stopped at the Boul' Mich' Cafe for dinner, where I got a croque madame. Our waiter told me at the end of the meal that I spoke very good French and that many of the Americans that visited didn't speak it well or at all. So that was nice to hear. After dinner, we walked along the rest of Saint Germain and down Rue Moefftard (which is quite the nightlife spot) back to our hotel.
Saturday, the first thing we did was walk to the FNAC on Rue de Rennes near the Tour Montparnasse, where Hilary bought a memory stick with over 900 pictures on it. After that, we walked over to the 7th to find the Dome Church, stopping once so that I could buy allergy medication. We found it easily and walked around it, taking lots of pictures. After we were done there, we went to Avenue Rapp. There was an apartment building in the Art Nouveau style at number 29 that Hilary was eager to see, and it was really pretty. We both got some good shots of details. Also, that area was right near Tour Eiffel, so that also afforded some wonderful picture opportunities.
We then walked to the nearby Ecole Militaire metro stop and took it to Saint Paul, in the Marais area. Once there, we walked around a bit. We first went down Rue des Rosiers, which had a lot of little cafes. Then, we happened to pass the courtyard of the Musee Carnavalet. It was beautiful, so we stopped to take photos. The courtyard had shirt hedges sculpted into curlicues, and ivy covered most of the buildings' exterior. Then, we went to the Place des Vosges. I took some good shots there. (I really love the symmetry of the gardens and the surrounding buildings.) We had lunch at a cafe there, where I had pasta. After that, we both wanted to go back to the Louvre, me to purchase the book on playing cards, and Hilary to take pictures of the exterior and architectural details. So we walked to the Louvre, which took less that half an hour. After I bought the book, we wandered around the front and within the courtyard, taking lots of pictures. After that, we walked along the Seine towards Rue de la Harpe, where I wanted to take Hilary for her birthday dinner. I asked to rest a bit (I was wearing flats, and my joints were hurting from about 3 straight days of hardcore walking.) So we sat down near Saint-Michel, on some stone steps leading down to the Seine. Hilary took some pictures and I relaxed while we talked. At one point, another guy sitting near us (and was around our age) turned around and asked if we were visiting too. It turned out that his name was Allen, he was Canadian, and that he was here for a weekend on vacation from a computer science internship in Munich. We talked for awhile about being abroad and the different experiences we'd had living and getting around. When Hilary and I were about to leave for dinner, he asked to join us, so the 3 of us headed over to Bar de la Harpe. Once there, Allen got the onion soup and Hilary and I each got the 15 Euro fixed price menu. (Instead of the salmon as the main course, I switched it up and got the lamb. This was in addition to getting the frogs' legs in Provencale sauce for the appetizer and the profiteroles for dessert.) Later in our meal, a man and his son (who looked to be about 12) sat down at the table next to us, and the man started talking to us. (He was more talking to Hilary and Allen since they were sitting closer to him.) He was really nice, and was asking us about our impressions of French people. (Hilary said later that he was from Nantes, and when he heard that she would be going there, he offered to drive her there.) He also told us about a movie that had become the biggest box-office grosser in France, "Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis", about a guy from the city who goes to live in the rural part. Apparently, they're remaking it in the States. With Will Smith. So that should be interesting. Around then, we finished dinner, said goodbye to the man and Allen, and went back to the hotel.
Sunday, we wanted to go to the Musee d'Orsay (it's free the first Sunday of each month). While in the Montparnasse Bienvenue station, Hilary decided to get her train ticket then, so we went into Gare Montparnasse (which is connected). It took us some time to figure out where exactly we needed to go, but eventually we got there and Hilary got her ticket. Then, we went to d'Orsay. We only waited in line for about 25 minutes, and we were in! We walked around slowly, taking pictures and just absorbing it. On the way out, I bought a couple of postcards for Grandma. We then walked along the Seine and went down Pont Alexandre III to get to the Right Bank. We passed the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais (they face each other) to get to Champs-Elysees. Since it looked a bit rainy, we decided to stop for lunch at Pomme de Pain, where I got a tuna, egg and vegetable panini. It rained while we were eating there, and then began to clear up. So we made our way up to L'Arc de Triomphe! We went through an underground walkway that took us from Champs-Elysees right near the Arc. Each of us walked around, taking lots of pictures. We decided to go up, and found out that we needed tickets, so we went back to buy them. We walked up a tiny staircase, and after 284 steps, were at the top! We had a WONDERFUL view! You could see everything, including straight shots to Place de la Concorde and La Defense. I took a lot of photos, because I wanted to eventually put together a 360-degree shot. After about 45 minutes-1 hour, we were finished and took the steps down to the ground. We took some more shots there, including some of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and left.
I had wanted to try some macaroons at Laduree, the celebrated pastry shop, so we stepped in there for a bit. I took some pictures of the decor and we got in line. It was really cool seeing the whole counter filled with all kinds of sweets. (Hilary took a couple of shots of that. I wanted to too as well, but one of the people caught her doing so and wagged his finger at her. That seemed to be the big thing about the French expressing disapproval: finger wagging. I don't know why.) I purchased 2 macaroons, one vanilla and one raspberry. (I wanted to see how they compared to Paul.) They were FANTASTIC!!! The Paul ones are good as well, but there was another dimension of flavor with the Laduree ones. (I just wished that I had tried them sooner.)
Soon after we left, it started raining, so we stood under the Nike store overhang for some minutes. After that, we walked near the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais and took more pictures. We were able to peer into the foyer of the Grand Palais, and saw that there was a lot of gold Art Nouveau metal work. (So it's a place to go inside for the next trip.) We also walked near a small theater, Theatre du Rond-Point, which had some really interesting advertising. I then remembered seeing a program of the theatre's season available for free in a bookshop on Port Royal, and wanted to pick it up.
We then walked along the Seine, and sat right by the river for a bit. We walked along Saint-Germain again, and ate at L'Auberge Saint-Germain. I got a fish filet, with an caramel creme ile flottante (literally "floating island"), which was really good. After that, we went back to the hotel.
Monday morning, we walked down Port Royal to get to the Montparnasse Bienvenue metro station. I had remembered seeing the Theatre du Rond-Point season book available at one of the bookshops along that road, but couldn't precisely remember which one. (But I did have a general idea of where it was.) I finally found it and went inside. I had remembered the program cover because it was a black and white illustration of Alice (from "Alice in Wonderland") holding her skirt out at her sides, with a belt of lit dynamite strapped across her chest. It was really cool. So I picked that up, and we continued on our way.
We went to Opera Garnier! Hilary and I separated and we each did our own thing. I took a few pictures, but not as many as last time, because my battery was low. I was glad that I had visited previously, because the exhibition hall wasn't open. (Of course, they had said that the last time, but this time I could peek through the door and see that there were actors rehearsing on stage, doing a read-through.)
When we were finished there, we strolled over to Galleries Lafayette. We went up a few floors and took pictures of the stained-glass domed ceiling. I got a really good one of a close-up of the stained-glass cluster details in the center of the dome.
After that, we walked down Avenue de l'Opera in search of some lunch. We ended up getting crepes at a crepe stand by the Louvre. I got one with ham, egg and cheese, and Hilary got one with banana and dark chocolate. (I had a bite of that one; it was yummy. It was also the first one I'd seen sold with dark chocolate, since usually it's Nutella.)
I had suggested that we could sit by Hotel de Ville and eat them, but on the way over, it started to rain pretty hard. I suggested we go into BHV to wait it out. I showed Hilary the art supply and sewing floors where I'd spent a lot of time, and then we just wandered around. We spent some time in the kids' section, and Hilary really liked the stuff they had. (She resolved to come back with money to get presents for her friends' kids.)
When it had stopped raining, we went to Saint Chapelle. We took some photos of the upper sanctuary, and then went below. I had visited it with my mom about 2 years ago, and I'd forgotten how beautiful it was! I took so many pictures I needed my second memory stick. (That was the second day in a row that that had happened, since I had done the same thing when I was taking pictures from atop the Arc de Triomphe.)
After that, we walked around a bit. We passed Notre Dame and took pictures from many different angles. From there, we went over to Ile Saint-Louis to look for Berthillon. (Berthillon apparently has the best ice cream in France.) We passed the store front, but it was closed. Fortunately, a lot of stores and cafes sold Berthillon ice cream, so we went up to a stand that was selling it. I got a scoop of raspberry and scoop of caramel that was a bit salty (it was caramel au beurre sale). Both flavors were wonderful, but the combination of the 2 was even better.
My craving satisfied, we walked back to the hotel, again getting some good shots of Notre Dame. Once in the room, we rested for a bit, and then headed out for dinner. We decided to go somewhere close (since we both had to pack), and so opted for Harmony Cafe, which was on Port Royal across from Rue Saint Jacqes. I got the confit de canard with white wine, and had mint chocolate chip ice cream for dessert. After dinner, Hilary and I walked down Saint Michel so that I could take some pictures of the neighborhood, and then we headed back to the room.
I'm leaving tomorrow!
I got 2 of my bags, and pulled them down Port Royal to the hotel (Hotel Sunny). They were so heavy that I kept having to stop to readjust or switch arms or just plain rest. When I got to the hotel, I was told that the room was still being cleaned. I still had to go back and get my other back (which held all of my work, fabric and books), so I retraced my steps back to the apartment and retrieved it. Then I walked back to the hotel (again having to stop and switch hands and/or catch my breath). When I got there, I was told that the room was still not ready, so I sat on the couch in the lobby and read some of the magazines. The room was finally ready, and I took my stuff up the 2nd floor room and after having some trouble with the key, got settled.
It was near 2 pm by that time, when Hilary was scheduled to arrive. I left the hotel and walked up to school. She was waiting in the semi-circle, and saw me as I was passing. She needed to write Aunt Debbie an email, so we went and used the school's computer lab. When she was finished, we took her luggage back to the hotel.
Here, a minor snafu occurred: When we got up to the room, I was unable to open the door. I tried the way I had done before, and couldn't get it after a few tries. I went down and asked the concierge about it, and he demonstrated the way to lock and unlock the door. I went back upstairs, and after both Hilary and I trying it multiple times, we still couldn't get it. I went down again to talk to the concierge about it, and he called the housekeeper, who came upstairs with me. She was also unable to open the door, and went downstairs to retrieve the concierge. He tried, and then left, saying that he needed to get some special keys and that he'd be back in about 10-15 minutes. Hilary and I waited in the hall for that time, alternately talking and spacing out. The concierge returned within about 15 minutes, and worked with the keyhole and finally got the door open. When we thanked him, he told us that he wasn't finished, and worked with the keyhole on both sides of the door. Eventually, he got it all fixed and left (with me apologizing profusely). Hilary and I then got changed, and left to explore!
We decided to go up Rue Moefftard (a street with a lot of open-air food shops and restaurants) first. We walked up it, taking some pictures. Eventually, we got near the Pantheon and circled around it. (I got some really good shots.) After that, we walked down Rue Soufflot to Jardin du Luxembourg, where we walked around and took shots of the foliage.
By this time, we were pretty hungry, so we decided to go to Cafe Soufflot for dinner. I got the confit de canard (as did Hilary), with caramel ice cream for dessert. After we were finished, we walked down nearby Boulevard Saint-Michel, far enough so that we passed Saint-Chapelle. Hilary didn't seem tired (or even jet-lagged), so I suggested that we walk over the Seine and go to Hotel de Ville. She agreed to it, so we went and took lots of pictures of certain architectural details and from various angles. We were right near the Centre Pompidou (it was just down one street nearby), and so we went there. We took pictures of the exterior of the building, as well as the fountain (with many modern moving sculptures) adjacent to the museum. Rue Quincampoix was a mere street away, so we strolled down it. (Walking along it, it was clear that we had found Paris's gay/lesbian district, seeing as there were rainbows abound.) From there, we walked to Saint-Eustache, which was an old church that was part of a park. (It was very pretty, but seemed to be in disrepair, which was sad.) We also inadvertently discovered Forum Les Halles, which I had heard about as a good shopping mall. (Of course I would discover that only on one of the last days we were there.) When we were done there, we headed back toward the Seine and walked to Notre Dame. We circled around it, getting pictures from every direction. At that point, it was near 10 pm (and still light out), so we walked back towards our hotel.
Friday morning, we got up around 10 am and left around 11:30 am. We stopped at a nearby boulangerie where I got a brioche suisse (which was like a pain au chocolat crossed with a cheese danish) and Hilary got a flan abricot. After stopping at the ATM on Saint-Michel, we walked down Port Royal to the Vavin station. Since we would be hiking in Montmartre, we decided to stop and get a chicken panini with raw vegetables to eat. We took the metro from Vavin up to Barbes-Rochecoart. We walked through the fabric district (which I now know well) up to Sacre-Coeur. Sacre Coeur is on the top of a hill (the butte de Montmartre), and along the way, there are a lot of guys trying to trap unsuspecting tourists. One of the tricks is to braid a "friendship bracelet" around your wrist, and then demand some huge amount for it (like 10 Euro). Well, one of the guys grabbed Hilary, and I thought she was going to extricate herself, so I waited some distance up the hill. (One of the guys tried a few times to get me to come down, and I was like, "Uh, no.") She was eventually released, and was none too happy about being taken in. (She said that he had asked for 10 Euro, saying that they usually charged 20, and she gave them all her change, which equaled something around 1-1.5 Euro.)
With that adventure behind us, we made our way up to Sacre Coeur, pausing occasionally to take pictures. We then went inside and toured the sanctuary. I stopped and bought a couple of postcards for Grandma, and Hilary and I both took (forbidden pictures) of the ceiling. We walked out into the sunlight, and made our way down the hill.
We walked back down to Barbes-Rochecoart, and strolled along to find the Moulin Rouge (passing the red-light district on our way). We took some pictures of the Moulin Rouge, and then walked up Rue Lepic. When we passed the Cafe des Deux Moulins (the cafe in "Amelie"), I was able to peer inside and they had a poster from the movie displayed. (So if I had any doubts that that was the actual place, they were dispelled.) We continued hiking up Rue Norvins (passing Moulin de la Galette), and got to the Lapin Agile down on the other side of the hill on Rue des Saules. After taking some pictures, we stopped to get some water and each bought some postcards before going to Place du Tertre. Once we were at the artists' square, we walked around taking pictures, and when we were finished, we began walking down the hill.
Hilary had wanted to see the only metro station still completely retained in the Art Nouveau style (with the roof intact). That one was Porte Dauphine, which was along the border of the 16th, so we took the metro to the end of the 2nd line. Completely by chance, we happened to get out at the one exit with the roof and all the Art Nouveau details. We took some pictures, and made our way to the nearest road. The nearest road happened to be Avenue Foch, a long road that ended up hitting the Arc de Triomphe at a corner point. (It was really funny, it didn't look real at all. It looked more like it was made of paper and could easily blow over.) We walked down Avenue Foch and took a right towards Trocadero. At Trocadero, we took pictures of the Tour Eiffel and attempted to take some pictures of the two of us (which didn't turn out too well).
After we were finished at Trocadero, we ate lunch at the Galleria Cafe nearby. (That cafe was also near the Musee Galleria, where I had seen the "Annees Folles" exhibit on the 1920s at the beginning of the semester.) After lunch, we walked along the Seine, leisurely making our way to the Louvre. We walked through the 16th, 8th and 1st. In the 8th, we passed by the Grand and Petit Palais. We also walked around the Concorde area and saw the Obelisque.
Near the entrance to the Tuileries, we each got a snow cone (the one touristy thing we did), and then walked toward the Louvre. I turned around at a few points to take photos of the Obelisque in the middle of L'Arc de Triomphe, with part of La Grande Arche seen behind it. After walking through the Tuileries, we still had time before the Louvre became free (for students) at 6 pm, so we walked to Palais Royal and relaxed there. We left for the Louvre a little after 6 pm, and stood in line to get tickets. I was fine, but when we tried to enter the one of exhibition hall, Hilary had to go back and purchase one. I waited for her in the gift shop. I bought a few postcards and saw a book on vintage playing cards that I considered buying. Hilary finally bought her ticket, an we decided what we wanted to see. Hilary wanted to see the Mona Lisa, so we went off in the direction first. We saw the Mona Lisa, along with the oversize French and Italian paintings. Then I wanted to see the 17th-19th French paintings, so we went off to that wing. We ended up getting done with that portion quickly, since a good deal of the hall was roped off. (That had happened the 2 previous times I was there as well.) We also took some photos looking out onto the courtyard.
We walked back, taking the Pont Neuf bridge and walking along Boulevard Saint Germain. We stopped at the Boul' Mich' Cafe for dinner, where I got a croque madame. Our waiter told me at the end of the meal that I spoke very good French and that many of the Americans that visited didn't speak it well or at all. So that was nice to hear. After dinner, we walked along the rest of Saint Germain and down Rue Moefftard (which is quite the nightlife spot) back to our hotel.
Saturday, the first thing we did was walk to the FNAC on Rue de Rennes near the Tour Montparnasse, where Hilary bought a memory stick with over 900 pictures on it. After that, we walked over to the 7th to find the Dome Church, stopping once so that I could buy allergy medication. We found it easily and walked around it, taking lots of pictures. After we were done there, we went to Avenue Rapp. There was an apartment building in the Art Nouveau style at number 29 that Hilary was eager to see, and it was really pretty. We both got some good shots of details. Also, that area was right near Tour Eiffel, so that also afforded some wonderful picture opportunities.
We then walked to the nearby Ecole Militaire metro stop and took it to Saint Paul, in the Marais area. Once there, we walked around a bit. We first went down Rue des Rosiers, which had a lot of little cafes. Then, we happened to pass the courtyard of the Musee Carnavalet. It was beautiful, so we stopped to take photos. The courtyard had shirt hedges sculpted into curlicues, and ivy covered most of the buildings' exterior. Then, we went to the Place des Vosges. I took some good shots there. (I really love the symmetry of the gardens and the surrounding buildings.) We had lunch at a cafe there, where I had pasta. After that, we both wanted to go back to the Louvre, me to purchase the book on playing cards, and Hilary to take pictures of the exterior and architectural details. So we walked to the Louvre, which took less that half an hour. After I bought the book, we wandered around the front and within the courtyard, taking lots of pictures. After that, we walked along the Seine towards Rue de la Harpe, where I wanted to take Hilary for her birthday dinner. I asked to rest a bit (I was wearing flats, and my joints were hurting from about 3 straight days of hardcore walking.) So we sat down near Saint-Michel, on some stone steps leading down to the Seine. Hilary took some pictures and I relaxed while we talked. At one point, another guy sitting near us (and was around our age) turned around and asked if we were visiting too. It turned out that his name was Allen, he was Canadian, and that he was here for a weekend on vacation from a computer science internship in Munich. We talked for awhile about being abroad and the different experiences we'd had living and getting around. When Hilary and I were about to leave for dinner, he asked to join us, so the 3 of us headed over to Bar de la Harpe. Once there, Allen got the onion soup and Hilary and I each got the 15 Euro fixed price menu. (Instead of the salmon as the main course, I switched it up and got the lamb. This was in addition to getting the frogs' legs in Provencale sauce for the appetizer and the profiteroles for dessert.) Later in our meal, a man and his son (who looked to be about 12) sat down at the table next to us, and the man started talking to us. (He was more talking to Hilary and Allen since they were sitting closer to him.) He was really nice, and was asking us about our impressions of French people. (Hilary said later that he was from Nantes, and when he heard that she would be going there, he offered to drive her there.) He also told us about a movie that had become the biggest box-office grosser in France, "Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis", about a guy from the city who goes to live in the rural part. Apparently, they're remaking it in the States. With Will Smith. So that should be interesting. Around then, we finished dinner, said goodbye to the man and Allen, and went back to the hotel.
Sunday, we wanted to go to the Musee d'Orsay (it's free the first Sunday of each month). While in the Montparnasse Bienvenue station, Hilary decided to get her train ticket then, so we went into Gare Montparnasse (which is connected). It took us some time to figure out where exactly we needed to go, but eventually we got there and Hilary got her ticket. Then, we went to d'Orsay. We only waited in line for about 25 minutes, and we were in! We walked around slowly, taking pictures and just absorbing it. On the way out, I bought a couple of postcards for Grandma. We then walked along the Seine and went down Pont Alexandre III to get to the Right Bank. We passed the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais (they face each other) to get to Champs-Elysees. Since it looked a bit rainy, we decided to stop for lunch at Pomme de Pain, where I got a tuna, egg and vegetable panini. It rained while we were eating there, and then began to clear up. So we made our way up to L'Arc de Triomphe! We went through an underground walkway that took us from Champs-Elysees right near the Arc. Each of us walked around, taking lots of pictures. We decided to go up, and found out that we needed tickets, so we went back to buy them. We walked up a tiny staircase, and after 284 steps, were at the top! We had a WONDERFUL view! You could see everything, including straight shots to Place de la Concorde and La Defense. I took a lot of photos, because I wanted to eventually put together a 360-degree shot. After about 45 minutes-1 hour, we were finished and took the steps down to the ground. We took some more shots there, including some of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and left.
I had wanted to try some macaroons at Laduree, the celebrated pastry shop, so we stepped in there for a bit. I took some pictures of the decor and we got in line. It was really cool seeing the whole counter filled with all kinds of sweets. (Hilary took a couple of shots of that. I wanted to too as well, but one of the people caught her doing so and wagged his finger at her. That seemed to be the big thing about the French expressing disapproval: finger wagging. I don't know why.) I purchased 2 macaroons, one vanilla and one raspberry. (I wanted to see how they compared to Paul.) They were FANTASTIC!!! The Paul ones are good as well, but there was another dimension of flavor with the Laduree ones. (I just wished that I had tried them sooner.)
Soon after we left, it started raining, so we stood under the Nike store overhang for some minutes. After that, we walked near the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais and took more pictures. We were able to peer into the foyer of the Grand Palais, and saw that there was a lot of gold Art Nouveau metal work. (So it's a place to go inside for the next trip.) We also walked near a small theater, Theatre du Rond-Point, which had some really interesting advertising. I then remembered seeing a program of the theatre's season available for free in a bookshop on Port Royal, and wanted to pick it up.
We then walked along the Seine, and sat right by the river for a bit. We walked along Saint-Germain again, and ate at L'Auberge Saint-Germain. I got a fish filet, with an caramel creme ile flottante (literally "floating island"), which was really good. After that, we went back to the hotel.
Monday morning, we walked down Port Royal to get to the Montparnasse Bienvenue metro station. I had remembered seeing the Theatre du Rond-Point season book available at one of the bookshops along that road, but couldn't precisely remember which one. (But I did have a general idea of where it was.) I finally found it and went inside. I had remembered the program cover because it was a black and white illustration of Alice (from "Alice in Wonderland") holding her skirt out at her sides, with a belt of lit dynamite strapped across her chest. It was really cool. So I picked that up, and we continued on our way.
We went to Opera Garnier! Hilary and I separated and we each did our own thing. I took a few pictures, but not as many as last time, because my battery was low. I was glad that I had visited previously, because the exhibition hall wasn't open. (Of course, they had said that the last time, but this time I could peek through the door and see that there were actors rehearsing on stage, doing a read-through.)
When we were finished there, we strolled over to Galleries Lafayette. We went up a few floors and took pictures of the stained-glass domed ceiling. I got a really good one of a close-up of the stained-glass cluster details in the center of the dome.
After that, we walked down Avenue de l'Opera in search of some lunch. We ended up getting crepes at a crepe stand by the Louvre. I got one with ham, egg and cheese, and Hilary got one with banana and dark chocolate. (I had a bite of that one; it was yummy. It was also the first one I'd seen sold with dark chocolate, since usually it's Nutella.)
I had suggested that we could sit by Hotel de Ville and eat them, but on the way over, it started to rain pretty hard. I suggested we go into BHV to wait it out. I showed Hilary the art supply and sewing floors where I'd spent a lot of time, and then we just wandered around. We spent some time in the kids' section, and Hilary really liked the stuff they had. (She resolved to come back with money to get presents for her friends' kids.)
When it had stopped raining, we went to Saint Chapelle. We took some photos of the upper sanctuary, and then went below. I had visited it with my mom about 2 years ago, and I'd forgotten how beautiful it was! I took so many pictures I needed my second memory stick. (That was the second day in a row that that had happened, since I had done the same thing when I was taking pictures from atop the Arc de Triomphe.)
After that, we walked around a bit. We passed Notre Dame and took pictures from many different angles. From there, we went over to Ile Saint-Louis to look for Berthillon. (Berthillon apparently has the best ice cream in France.) We passed the store front, but it was closed. Fortunately, a lot of stores and cafes sold Berthillon ice cream, so we went up to a stand that was selling it. I got a scoop of raspberry and scoop of caramel that was a bit salty (it was caramel au beurre sale). Both flavors were wonderful, but the combination of the 2 was even better.
My craving satisfied, we walked back to the hotel, again getting some good shots of Notre Dame. Once in the room, we rested for a bit, and then headed out for dinner. We decided to go somewhere close (since we both had to pack), and so opted for Harmony Cafe, which was on Port Royal across from Rue Saint Jacqes. I got the confit de canard with white wine, and had mint chocolate chip ice cream for dessert. After dinner, Hilary and I walked down Saint Michel so that I could take some pictures of the neighborhood, and then we headed back to the room.
I'm leaving tomorrow!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Judgement Day
(Lest it be confused with the religious term, perhaps I should've left the "j" lowercase...)
So, as you've probably deduced, today was the day of our jury (and also the last day of school)! I woke up, got ready and headed to school. Almost everyone else was there, working on last-minute changes or just milling around, killing time. We were asked to bring our mannequin wearing our dress up to the top floor, so we all did that. Then Peter came in, and told the 4 of us semester students that we would be going first. I was to be 3rd, after Ashley and Liz. While waiting, I spent some time cleaning out my drawer (which, surprisingly, didn't take too long).
When it was my turn, Jen came down to call me up, and I went upstairs with my work in a couple of binders (along with the notebooks for Jen's projects). The tables were in a semicircle (well, more like a three-sided square). I was instructed to go into the open space and spread out my work. Peter was standing across from me in the open space, and asked me some questions. Among them were asking about the most challenging aspects (I said that each teachers had their own, sometimes conflicting styles, and dealing with my lack of sewing skills), and any suggestions for enhancing future classes (I said to make sure that every teacher knows about each students' skill level). Then, I showed my projects, paging through each notebook. There were some good comments made. Susan was the most vocal (of course), saying that I had a lot of curiosity "which, unfortunately, not a lot have that quality these days". She also mentioned that I wasn't afraid to do "unpopular" subjects (in response to seeing my accessories project for Jen dealing with the Space Race and retro-futurism). She also said that I worked very hard, and on seeing (for the second time) my bra photo, noted that I had "a very definite sense of fashion" and could maybe work as a fashion stylist. (I forgot to mention that in our class critique, she had said that I "had a lot of things going for me" in terms of designing.) Peter also asked at one point if I'd considered designing for theatre (specifically, costume design).
At the end, I was given my grades, first when Peter read them aloud, and then written on the official transcript. Here they are, both on the European 20-point scale and the American A-F scale:
French Language: 14.5/B+
Art History: 15/A-
Fashion Design: 17/A+
Draping: 17/A+
Sewing: 13.5/B
Flat Pattern: 17/A+
Textiles: 17/A+ (This was Susan's class, and she's a pretty tough grader. When Peter read out this one, he added a "bravo" at the end.)
Costume Research: 16/A
At the end of this, he handed me my transcript, and I was dismissed with a reminder that lunch was at 12 pm. I went back downstairs, got the rest of my things and went back to the apartment for a few hours and went back for lunch.
At first, we all sat around, drinking champagne, Peter toasting us to a good year and critiques. Then we ate some pasta and relaxed. I ate with Po-Lan, Nisa and Sharon. Susan joined us, and we talked about each of our respective summer plans. After that, we took some group pictures and I got individual pictures with each of my teachers.
After that, I went back and continued packing for about an hour or so. Then I took the metro to Galleries Lafayette to buy a few souvenirs, and came back. On my way back, two different people talked to me. One was to ask if she could follow me through the turnstile as I swiped my metro card, and then when I got on the RER B, a woman sat next to me and asked if the train stopped at Luxembourg, a fact I confirmed.
I wanted to do something that night, and decided to see a movie. I had wanted to see Iron Man, and looked up where it was playing. There was theater showing it near the Tour Montparnasse at 7 pm, so I went there after eating dinner. This theater was the biggest one I'd been to, with about 12 rooms, and 3 stories. Iron Man was on the topmost level, and I pushed open what I thought was the door to the theater. Well, it turned to be the door that led down and out into the main lobby, so I had to go back up and around to get in again. The movie was awesome, I'm so glad I saw it. It was definitely what I needed after so much work.
I got out around 9:25 pm, and since it was still light out, and decided to walk home in a different, roundabout way. I went down Boulevard Raspail to the Denfert-Rochereau RER stop, and then walked back up Avenue Denfert-Rochereau towards Port-Royal. When I came up near Jardin du Luxembourg, I saw something really cool. At a certain point, nearly the entire Sacre Coeur (which is all the way in the 18th, in the north) was visible. It's on a hill, and I've seen parts of it from elsewhere in the city, but I didn't realize how much of a straight-shot of a sight-line it was from that one spot. So that was really neat to see. After that, I came back and lounged around.
Hilary comes tomorrow!!!
So, as you've probably deduced, today was the day of our jury (and also the last day of school)! I woke up, got ready and headed to school. Almost everyone else was there, working on last-minute changes or just milling around, killing time. We were asked to bring our mannequin wearing our dress up to the top floor, so we all did that. Then Peter came in, and told the 4 of us semester students that we would be going first. I was to be 3rd, after Ashley and Liz. While waiting, I spent some time cleaning out my drawer (which, surprisingly, didn't take too long).
When it was my turn, Jen came down to call me up, and I went upstairs with my work in a couple of binders (along with the notebooks for Jen's projects). The tables were in a semicircle (well, more like a three-sided square). I was instructed to go into the open space and spread out my work. Peter was standing across from me in the open space, and asked me some questions. Among them were asking about the most challenging aspects (I said that each teachers had their own, sometimes conflicting styles, and dealing with my lack of sewing skills), and any suggestions for enhancing future classes (I said to make sure that every teacher knows about each students' skill level). Then, I showed my projects, paging through each notebook. There were some good comments made. Susan was the most vocal (of course), saying that I had a lot of curiosity "which, unfortunately, not a lot have that quality these days". She also mentioned that I wasn't afraid to do "unpopular" subjects (in response to seeing my accessories project for Jen dealing with the Space Race and retro-futurism). She also said that I worked very hard, and on seeing (for the second time) my bra photo, noted that I had "a very definite sense of fashion" and could maybe work as a fashion stylist. (I forgot to mention that in our class critique, she had said that I "had a lot of things going for me" in terms of designing.) Peter also asked at one point if I'd considered designing for theatre (specifically, costume design).
At the end, I was given my grades, first when Peter read them aloud, and then written on the official transcript. Here they are, both on the European 20-point scale and the American A-F scale:
French Language: 14.5/B+
Art History: 15/A-
Fashion Design: 17/A+
Draping: 17/A+
Sewing: 13.5/B
Flat Pattern: 17/A+
Textiles: 17/A+ (This was Susan's class, and she's a pretty tough grader. When Peter read out this one, he added a "bravo" at the end.)
Costume Research: 16/A
At the end of this, he handed me my transcript, and I was dismissed with a reminder that lunch was at 12 pm. I went back downstairs, got the rest of my things and went back to the apartment for a few hours and went back for lunch.
At first, we all sat around, drinking champagne, Peter toasting us to a good year and critiques. Then we ate some pasta and relaxed. I ate with Po-Lan, Nisa and Sharon. Susan joined us, and we talked about each of our respective summer plans. After that, we took some group pictures and I got individual pictures with each of my teachers.
After that, I went back and continued packing for about an hour or so. Then I took the metro to Galleries Lafayette to buy a few souvenirs, and came back. On my way back, two different people talked to me. One was to ask if she could follow me through the turnstile as I swiped my metro card, and then when I got on the RER B, a woman sat next to me and asked if the train stopped at Luxembourg, a fact I confirmed.
I wanted to do something that night, and decided to see a movie. I had wanted to see Iron Man, and looked up where it was playing. There was theater showing it near the Tour Montparnasse at 7 pm, so I went there after eating dinner. This theater was the biggest one I'd been to, with about 12 rooms, and 3 stories. Iron Man was on the topmost level, and I pushed open what I thought was the door to the theater. Well, it turned to be the door that led down and out into the main lobby, so I had to go back up and around to get in again. The movie was awesome, I'm so glad I saw it. It was definitely what I needed after so much work.
I got out around 9:25 pm, and since it was still light out, and decided to walk home in a different, roundabout way. I went down Boulevard Raspail to the Denfert-Rochereau RER stop, and then walked back up Avenue Denfert-Rochereau towards Port-Royal. When I came up near Jardin du Luxembourg, I saw something really cool. At a certain point, nearly the entire Sacre Coeur (which is all the way in the 18th, in the north) was visible. It's on a hill, and I've seen parts of it from elsewhere in the city, but I didn't realize how much of a straight-shot of a sight-line it was from that one spot. So that was really neat to see. After that, I came back and lounged around.
Hilary comes tomorrow!!!
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Monday and Tuesday Leading Up to the Jury
Monday was Sewing with Muriel, as usual. I worked on my dress and wanted to get it done by the end of class. First, I finished hand-finishing the hem, and then Muriel showed me how to attach it to the front of the dress so that it wouldn't be seen. (It was the same technique that I had used on the hem of my pants.) I worked slowly, and halfway through, Muriel came to check on how I was doing. It turned out that I was doing it incorrectly (surprise, surprise). She showed that I needed to make each stitch a bit smaller than I had been doing. So that's what I completed during the morning.
Earlier in the day, Tenzin had gone around the class, saying that a bunch of people were going to take Muriel out for lunch that day and inviting people to join. I said yes, and Tenzin said that we would be going to a Tibetan restaurant that her uncle runs. So I couldn't wait to try it.
Lunchtime rolled around, and I quickly got my purse from my apartment and headed back to school. The group was Tenzin, Tu, Beliz, Po-Lan and I, along with Muriel. The restaurant was right off Rue Saint-Jacques, about a 10-15 minute walk. We sat down, and I was between Beliz and Po-Lan. We decided to try a variety of dishes. (Tenzin, being Tibetan, was of course the authority of what was good.) We got water, and Muriel and Tenzin got what looked like milk. I tried a sip of Muriel's, and was not a fan of whatever it was. (Tenzin told me that it was fermented milk, and I remarked that it must be an acquired taste.)
The food came, and it was really yummy! We had gotten a variety of dishes, and all shared. There were some breaded balls with melted cheese inside (which Tu really likes), some doughy soft shells with spicy beef inside, chicken curry (I had voted for that one), and something resembling vegetable tempura. There were different kinds of dipping sauces as well, like a yellow one that had mint in it (says Tenzin) and a red spicy one that I really liked. There was also rice, and some really good bread (I had about 3 pieces of that). It was all so good! Unfortunately, I didn't get the names of any of these dishes (save for the chicken curry), but I'm sure I could pick them out on a menu, given a description.
We walked back, and Muriel pointed out a Tibetan store that sold clothing and jewelry. It turns out that it's run by Tenzin's other uncle! We stopped in and looked around for a few minutes, and then continued walking back to school. On the way, we ran into Ashley and Liz, passing us in the opposite direction on their way to BHV. We got back to school around 1:45 pm (class usually starts at 1 pm), and looked at the interior design students' work, displayed for their jury. Then, we went upstairs and started working. I finished the hem, and Muriel showed me a way to hide the shoulder seams. So I worked on that, and after Muriel approved it, I was finished with my dress!
I had to go to Montmartre (near the fabric stores) to get a cheap suitcase. (I had packed my 2 bags so tightly coming over here, there was no way I'd be able to fit all the things I've accumulated/created into them both.) On my way out, Tenzin asked me to look in a specific mercerie for bag handles for her. I said I would, left and caught the metro up to Marche Saint-Pierre. I first looked for the handles, seeing some similar ones but not what she had specified. Then I went looking for a cheap suitcase. I looked at a couple and saw a promising one, and then left to comparison shop. I passed a place that sold postcards, so I got 12 for 2 Euro for Grandma of places in Montmartre. I also got Grandma and Grandpa Ewald a miniature Eiffel Tower in (pseudo) bronze. I also stopped in a small clothing boutique and bought a pair of long black pants, in a material similar to my gauchos (which I love). I didn't see any more suitcases that were as good as that first one, so I walked back and bought it. It's as bit as my biggest bag and only cost 25 Euro (as compared to the others being around 50-55 Euro). So I then went back, finished sewing Jen's bag (as in sewed up the hole in the lining and put in the snap by hand), and cleaned and packed a bit (a very little bit).
Today (Tuesday) was our last class before our Jury. Susan mostly looked at what everyone had done. I showed her my revised flats, and she had a whole host of suggestions, mostly centering on fixing the hands. She also talked about erasing some of the color (she has no idea how much time I spent on that part of it), as well as adding in hair and maybe an ear. There was also talk of adding shadows to the skin and facial features (so that my heads don't look like they just have red lips stuck onto them). After we talked, I worked on my pants from the first half of the semester. I wanted to add snaps to connect the overlong lengths of the gloves to the pants. I had sewed in 2 of the complete snaps (which includes 2 parts for each, which comes to 4 parts), and then tried to snap them together. After all that, I found out that I had put them in incorrectly (parts that should've been facing out were facing in, etc). (I was just glad that I hadn't put in all 4 snaps before I realized this fact.) So I ripped them out and began again, this time being more careful in my placement of the snaps when I basted them to the pants. I finished putting them all in by the end of class, and then pressed the pants, and I was done!
After class, I went back to the room, took a nap, and had lunch. I was going to start putting together my stuff for the jury, but realized I needed more plastic sleeves and another binder. So off I went to BHV, picked up those things, as well as a couple of postcards for Grandma. (I FINALLY found a postcard of the Lapin Agile for Grandma! That was the only one I'd seen, and it was the only place I'd been to in Montmartre that I hadn't found a postcard for. It was also the last one on the rack, and it was mine!) Then I went back and began organizing my work, putting stuff in plastic sleeves, rearranging the order, mounting fabric etc. I took a break around 8 pm to eat dinner, lounged around for a (well-deserved, I must say) break and then worked on my illustrations for Susan. I really didn't have the energy to redo arms and/or whole illustrations, so I concentrated on putting in shadows on the body and face. Then I worked on the hair. I was very pleased with the way the hair of my illustrations turned out. I hope Susan gets so hypnotized by the hair that she neglects to see that the arms weren't fixed. (I'm so glad this is over, in that I'm so tired at looking at these drawings. I really need a break from them.)
So tomorrow morning is the jury, and then we're done with school!
Earlier in the day, Tenzin had gone around the class, saying that a bunch of people were going to take Muriel out for lunch that day and inviting people to join. I said yes, and Tenzin said that we would be going to a Tibetan restaurant that her uncle runs. So I couldn't wait to try it.
Lunchtime rolled around, and I quickly got my purse from my apartment and headed back to school. The group was Tenzin, Tu, Beliz, Po-Lan and I, along with Muriel. The restaurant was right off Rue Saint-Jacques, about a 10-15 minute walk. We sat down, and I was between Beliz and Po-Lan. We decided to try a variety of dishes. (Tenzin, being Tibetan, was of course the authority of what was good.) We got water, and Muriel and Tenzin got what looked like milk. I tried a sip of Muriel's, and was not a fan of whatever it was. (Tenzin told me that it was fermented milk, and I remarked that it must be an acquired taste.)
The food came, and it was really yummy! We had gotten a variety of dishes, and all shared. There were some breaded balls with melted cheese inside (which Tu really likes), some doughy soft shells with spicy beef inside, chicken curry (I had voted for that one), and something resembling vegetable tempura. There were different kinds of dipping sauces as well, like a yellow one that had mint in it (says Tenzin) and a red spicy one that I really liked. There was also rice, and some really good bread (I had about 3 pieces of that). It was all so good! Unfortunately, I didn't get the names of any of these dishes (save for the chicken curry), but I'm sure I could pick them out on a menu, given a description.
We walked back, and Muriel pointed out a Tibetan store that sold clothing and jewelry. It turns out that it's run by Tenzin's other uncle! We stopped in and looked around for a few minutes, and then continued walking back to school. On the way, we ran into Ashley and Liz, passing us in the opposite direction on their way to BHV. We got back to school around 1:45 pm (class usually starts at 1 pm), and looked at the interior design students' work, displayed for their jury. Then, we went upstairs and started working. I finished the hem, and Muriel showed me a way to hide the shoulder seams. So I worked on that, and after Muriel approved it, I was finished with my dress!
I had to go to Montmartre (near the fabric stores) to get a cheap suitcase. (I had packed my 2 bags so tightly coming over here, there was no way I'd be able to fit all the things I've accumulated/created into them both.) On my way out, Tenzin asked me to look in a specific mercerie for bag handles for her. I said I would, left and caught the metro up to Marche Saint-Pierre. I first looked for the handles, seeing some similar ones but not what she had specified. Then I went looking for a cheap suitcase. I looked at a couple and saw a promising one, and then left to comparison shop. I passed a place that sold postcards, so I got 12 for 2 Euro for Grandma of places in Montmartre. I also got Grandma and Grandpa Ewald a miniature Eiffel Tower in (pseudo) bronze. I also stopped in a small clothing boutique and bought a pair of long black pants, in a material similar to my gauchos (which I love). I didn't see any more suitcases that were as good as that first one, so I walked back and bought it. It's as bit as my biggest bag and only cost 25 Euro (as compared to the others being around 50-55 Euro). So I then went back, finished sewing Jen's bag (as in sewed up the hole in the lining and put in the snap by hand), and cleaned and packed a bit (a very little bit).
Today (Tuesday) was our last class before our Jury. Susan mostly looked at what everyone had done. I showed her my revised flats, and she had a whole host of suggestions, mostly centering on fixing the hands. She also talked about erasing some of the color (she has no idea how much time I spent on that part of it), as well as adding in hair and maybe an ear. There was also talk of adding shadows to the skin and facial features (so that my heads don't look like they just have red lips stuck onto them). After we talked, I worked on my pants from the first half of the semester. I wanted to add snaps to connect the overlong lengths of the gloves to the pants. I had sewed in 2 of the complete snaps (which includes 2 parts for each, which comes to 4 parts), and then tried to snap them together. After all that, I found out that I had put them in incorrectly (parts that should've been facing out were facing in, etc). (I was just glad that I hadn't put in all 4 snaps before I realized this fact.) So I ripped them out and began again, this time being more careful in my placement of the snaps when I basted them to the pants. I finished putting them all in by the end of class, and then pressed the pants, and I was done!
After class, I went back to the room, took a nap, and had lunch. I was going to start putting together my stuff for the jury, but realized I needed more plastic sleeves and another binder. So off I went to BHV, picked up those things, as well as a couple of postcards for Grandma. (I FINALLY found a postcard of the Lapin Agile for Grandma! That was the only one I'd seen, and it was the only place I'd been to in Montmartre that I hadn't found a postcard for. It was also the last one on the rack, and it was mine!) Then I went back and began organizing my work, putting stuff in plastic sleeves, rearranging the order, mounting fabric etc. I took a break around 8 pm to eat dinner, lounged around for a (well-deserved, I must say) break and then worked on my illustrations for Susan. I really didn't have the energy to redo arms and/or whole illustrations, so I concentrated on putting in shadows on the body and face. Then I worked on the hair. I was very pleased with the way the hair of my illustrations turned out. I hope Susan gets so hypnotized by the hair that she neglects to see that the arms weren't fixed. (I'm so glad this is over, in that I'm so tired at looking at these drawings. I really need a break from them.)
So tomorrow morning is the jury, and then we're done with school!
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Dimanche de Cette Week-End!
(You learned what the "de cette week-end" part was yesterday. What do you think "dimanche" means? If you guessed "Sunday", 10 points for you!
So that should mean all of you get 10 extra points.)
Sunday, I got up early (around 9 am). I wanted to get some work done before meeting up with Lauren, since I didn't know how late we'd be out. I wanted to get the rest of my croquis colored in, so I spent some time layering colored pencils to figure out the best combinations to get certain colors, such as gold and bronze. I finished them around 12 pm, and I'm really pleased with them. (Susan was right about that flat color. Inside of my black lines, they looked like stained glass. I drew some of my inspiration from Frank Lloyd Wright-style stained glass, so it was very fitting.)
I ate lunch, and then got ready to meet Lauren at 2:30 pm in front of the school. I left the apartment, and approached the school. I recognized her immediately, we hugged and began talking. We decided to walk down towards Boulevard Port-Royal (the road which bisects Rue Saint-Jacques), but first we zipped into my apartment so that I could change. (I had underestimated how warm it was outside, and had been dressed in a long-sleeved tee, sweater and jeans. I changed into a short-sleeved tee, gauchos and sandals.) After that was accomplished, we walked down Port-Royal in the direction of the Tour Montparnasse (towards the 15th arrondissement). We stopped at a Starbucks close to the Tour Montparnasse to get coffee, and tried to decide what to do. Lauren wanted to see the Jardin du Luxembourg, so we headed off in the opposite direction. Once there, we walked around and talked and took pictures. It was such a beautiful day, and lots of people were out doing the same thing. We exited the garden, and walked toward St. Sulpice church. We circled the church, and then walked up Boulevard Saint-Germain. We walked along Saint-Germain until it curved north toward the river, and we found ourselves across from the Hotel des Invalides. We sat for a few, and decided to walk across the river to get crepes or find some other kind of pastry for a snack. There was a bridge nearby, so we walked over it and strolled by the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais. (That was the first time I had seen the front of the Grand Palais, and anything at all of the Petit Palais. Of the Grand Palais, I'd only seen the curved glass ceiling rising from among the trees.) We walked towards Champs-Elysees, and I remembered there being a crepes place along the way. It was still there, and despite it being Sunday (the day everything is closed), it was open! We both got banana-and-nutella crepes. (For me, that was the best banana-and-nutella crepe I've had here. I think it's because of the combination of the bananas being in larger slices and the fact that the nutella was lightly drizzled onto it, instead of smothering the crepe.) We then walked up Champs-Elysees. (As we passed Laduree, I made a mental note to get a macaroon there when I come back next week with Hilary. Those window displays are just beautiful.) After that, Lauren had to leave, so we took the metro, she getting off at a station ahead of mine. I was really glad with how the day turned out. I had initially been worried we wouldn't have anything to talk about, but that wasn't the case at all. I'm so glad I got to see her!
I went back to the room, and really did nothing else the rest of the day. (To be fair, it was 6:30 pm when I got back.) I ate dinner, talked with the parentals, and did absolutely nothing else (except for write this entry).
So we have classes Monday and Tuesday, jury Wednesday and Hilary comes Thursday. Looks to be a busy one.
So that should mean all of you get 10 extra points.)
Sunday, I got up early (around 9 am). I wanted to get some work done before meeting up with Lauren, since I didn't know how late we'd be out. I wanted to get the rest of my croquis colored in, so I spent some time layering colored pencils to figure out the best combinations to get certain colors, such as gold and bronze. I finished them around 12 pm, and I'm really pleased with them. (Susan was right about that flat color. Inside of my black lines, they looked like stained glass. I drew some of my inspiration from Frank Lloyd Wright-style stained glass, so it was very fitting.)
I ate lunch, and then got ready to meet Lauren at 2:30 pm in front of the school. I left the apartment, and approached the school. I recognized her immediately, we hugged and began talking. We decided to walk down towards Boulevard Port-Royal (the road which bisects Rue Saint-Jacques), but first we zipped into my apartment so that I could change. (I had underestimated how warm it was outside, and had been dressed in a long-sleeved tee, sweater and jeans. I changed into a short-sleeved tee, gauchos and sandals.) After that was accomplished, we walked down Port-Royal in the direction of the Tour Montparnasse (towards the 15th arrondissement). We stopped at a Starbucks close to the Tour Montparnasse to get coffee, and tried to decide what to do. Lauren wanted to see the Jardin du Luxembourg, so we headed off in the opposite direction. Once there, we walked around and talked and took pictures. It was such a beautiful day, and lots of people were out doing the same thing. We exited the garden, and walked toward St. Sulpice church. We circled the church, and then walked up Boulevard Saint-Germain. We walked along Saint-Germain until it curved north toward the river, and we found ourselves across from the Hotel des Invalides. We sat for a few, and decided to walk across the river to get crepes or find some other kind of pastry for a snack. There was a bridge nearby, so we walked over it and strolled by the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais. (That was the first time I had seen the front of the Grand Palais, and anything at all of the Petit Palais. Of the Grand Palais, I'd only seen the curved glass ceiling rising from among the trees.) We walked towards Champs-Elysees, and I remembered there being a crepes place along the way. It was still there, and despite it being Sunday (the day everything is closed), it was open! We both got banana-and-nutella crepes. (For me, that was the best banana-and-nutella crepe I've had here. I think it's because of the combination of the bananas being in larger slices and the fact that the nutella was lightly drizzled onto it, instead of smothering the crepe.) We then walked up Champs-Elysees. (As we passed Laduree, I made a mental note to get a macaroon there when I come back next week with Hilary. Those window displays are just beautiful.) After that, Lauren had to leave, so we took the metro, she getting off at a station ahead of mine. I was really glad with how the day turned out. I had initially been worried we wouldn't have anything to talk about, but that wasn't the case at all. I'm so glad I got to see her!
I went back to the room, and really did nothing else the rest of the day. (To be fair, it was 6:30 pm when I got back.) I ate dinner, talked with the parentals, and did absolutely nothing else (except for write this entry).
So we have classes Monday and Tuesday, jury Wednesday and Hilary comes Thursday. Looks to be a busy one.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Samedi de Cette Weekend!
(That would be "Saturday of this Weekend!" See, you've learned something today!)
Saturday morning, I woke up around 9:30 pm. Realizing that I had nothing breakfast-wise in the apartment, I walked down to Monoprix, getting a carnet of metro tickets at the Sorbonne tabac along the way. I got pains au chocolat, milk and some pasta. At the cash register, the cashier handed me a little rose on my way out. (I think they were giving them out, because she had a big bucket of them behind her. I don't know what the occasion was.) I'm pretty sure this was my last trip (or near enough) to Monoprix (sniff, sniff).
After that, it was still early. I wanted to go out exploring later, so I did some work. I finished drawing up my croquis, and began coloring them in. Susan had specified that she wanted to see "flat color", so I decided to forgo my usual paints and work in colored pencils, layering to achieve different hues. I went by color, and colored in all areas that were black, red and green. I set a goal for myself to finish all that by 1:30 pm (so that I could have lunch and leave by 2 pm), but I worked a bit overtime, and didn't leave until about 2:20 pm.
I had wanted to see the interior of the Opera Garnier (that would be the old one), and decided to go see that and the Folies Bergere. I took the metro over to Opera Garnier, and it was raining as I got out of the station. I went inside, paid my reduced student rate and immediately went to the grand staircase. Seriously, it's amazing. I remember first seeing an illustration of it in a book we had at home when I was younger. (The book is "Amazing Buildings", and published by Dorling Kindersley-wow, I didn't even have to look that up, I remember it because I've looked at it so many times. It features a lot of different buildings, and has great illustrations of them. Along with the grand staircase of the Opera Garnier, it also has the Alhambra, Taj Mahal, the Colosseum and Krak des Chevaliers. Great book though, especially if you're interested in architecture.) I took a lot of pictures, but because it was a bit dark and a lot of candles were lit, some of them appeared blurry (but maybe that added to the effect). I could easily picture what it must've been like back in the 1800s, with men in suits (were there tuxes back then?) and the women in those sweeping gowns that would put our modern evening wear to shame. I also walked into a couple of the private boxes and took pictures of the performance hall. There was something going on involving a black tarp onstage, so they were probably getting ready for a performance. It wasn't lit too well, but I got some good shots. All of the seats were upholstered in red velvet, and it looked very cool, seeing the entire floor level a sea of that color and fabric. The structure was bronzeish-gold (it was a little hard to tell in the dim lighting) and very detailed. (At the time, I thought that the pictures wouldn't turn out well, but when I downloaded them back at the apartment, they look quite nice, if I do say so myself.) I think my favorite part was the chandelier the center of the ceiling. Not exactly the chandelier, but what was around it. It was in the middle of a round painting. This painting was more like many combined vignettes in different colors. Just by a cursory look at the style, I guessed it to be by Marc Chagall. I checked this fact later, and sure enough, I was correct. (I love guessing artists' work, and being correct about it. I do it pretty often, but I guess I'm constantly surprised by what and how much I actually know.)
I walked around the rest of the floor, but it wasn't nearly as exciting as the performance hall and grand staircase. So I decided to go see the Folies Bergere. The Folies Bergere is a famous dance hall in Paris, especially during the time of the Belle Epoque (1890s-1920s). It was the place where Josephine Baker frequently performed (she was an ex-pat from the 1920s onward, since there weren't many opportunities for her, and that American audiences weren't ready for her style). She also debuted her famous "banana dance" there in 1926, where she only wore a short skirt made from (you guessed it) bananas. (In "The Triplettes of Belleville", one of my favorite movies, if not THE favorite, the opening scene is a cabaret performance, with historical characters making appearances. Josephine Baker appears and performs the banana dance, which is intercut with shots of the men in the audience going wild. I'm not doing this scene justice at all, but it's great. Watch it.) I looked at the map, and found the road I needed to get there. I was confused, since it appeared to be going in the opposite direction but followed it anyway. I ended up going back towards the Grands Magasins (those being Printemps and Galleries Lafayette). I didn't think that was correct, and so checked the map. I was right, and turned around. I then got on the right path, and stayed on it, finding it pretty quickly after that. (It was interesting, but at a few points when I was walking down Rue de Provence/Rue de Richer, I could see the domes of Sacre Coeur rising about the other buildings. I checked my map when I got back, and was able to predict which areas I would've been around for this to occur.) Once there, I took some pictures of the exterior (which was pretty low-key, made of gray stone with an Art-Deco relief sculpture and a few signs proclaiming it to be the "most celebrated dance theater in the world"). I got a millefeuille (literally "a thousand leaves") pastry to eat, and walked to the nearest metro station to go back. It happened to be Bonne Nouvelle, which was right by the Grand Rex (where I had seen the Robert Plant and Alison Krauss concert).
Back at the apartment, I took a nap, ate some dinner and went out to see "No Country for Old Men". I had originally wanted to see it the previous night, but had rescheduled since I had felt way too tired. Wow, was it good. I'm really glad I saw it in theaters.
After that, it was still light out, and I decided to go see the Pantheon's hours of operation (since I was interested in seeing Voltaire's tomb there). Once there, I decided to sit there for a bit and watch the Tour Eiffel light up. (The street that the Pantheon overlooks gives a direct view to the Tour Eiffel.) So I sat and enjoyed the night, while watching the Tour Eiffel steadily light up. (I decided to stay to see it sparkle, and then retire.) Other people were there, doing the same thing or waiting to meet people. There was a group of teens there, and a couple of girls going around talking to everyone. They came up to me, asking if I was waiting for someone, but I said that I just came out to enjoy the night. (That was the second time someone had come up and talked to me that day. The first time was after I was leaving the Opera Garnier, and an older lady came up to me and asked where Galleries Lafayette was.) The Tour Eiffel started sparkling around 10 pm, and sparkled for about 10 minutes, and when it was over, I left for the room.
Tomorrow should be interesting. I'm meeting up with my friend Lauren (whom I haven't seen since 8th grade), who's traveling through Europe for her graduation present. Should be fun...
Saturday morning, I woke up around 9:30 pm. Realizing that I had nothing breakfast-wise in the apartment, I walked down to Monoprix, getting a carnet of metro tickets at the Sorbonne tabac along the way. I got pains au chocolat, milk and some pasta. At the cash register, the cashier handed me a little rose on my way out. (I think they were giving them out, because she had a big bucket of them behind her. I don't know what the occasion was.) I'm pretty sure this was my last trip (or near enough) to Monoprix (sniff, sniff).
After that, it was still early. I wanted to go out exploring later, so I did some work. I finished drawing up my croquis, and began coloring them in. Susan had specified that she wanted to see "flat color", so I decided to forgo my usual paints and work in colored pencils, layering to achieve different hues. I went by color, and colored in all areas that were black, red and green. I set a goal for myself to finish all that by 1:30 pm (so that I could have lunch and leave by 2 pm), but I worked a bit overtime, and didn't leave until about 2:20 pm.
I had wanted to see the interior of the Opera Garnier (that would be the old one), and decided to go see that and the Folies Bergere. I took the metro over to Opera Garnier, and it was raining as I got out of the station. I went inside, paid my reduced student rate and immediately went to the grand staircase. Seriously, it's amazing. I remember first seeing an illustration of it in a book we had at home when I was younger. (The book is "Amazing Buildings", and published by Dorling Kindersley-wow, I didn't even have to look that up, I remember it because I've looked at it so many times. It features a lot of different buildings, and has great illustrations of them. Along with the grand staircase of the Opera Garnier, it also has the Alhambra, Taj Mahal, the Colosseum and Krak des Chevaliers. Great book though, especially if you're interested in architecture.) I took a lot of pictures, but because it was a bit dark and a lot of candles were lit, some of them appeared blurry (but maybe that added to the effect). I could easily picture what it must've been like back in the 1800s, with men in suits (were there tuxes back then?) and the women in those sweeping gowns that would put our modern evening wear to shame. I also walked into a couple of the private boxes and took pictures of the performance hall. There was something going on involving a black tarp onstage, so they were probably getting ready for a performance. It wasn't lit too well, but I got some good shots. All of the seats were upholstered in red velvet, and it looked very cool, seeing the entire floor level a sea of that color and fabric. The structure was bronzeish-gold (it was a little hard to tell in the dim lighting) and very detailed. (At the time, I thought that the pictures wouldn't turn out well, but when I downloaded them back at the apartment, they look quite nice, if I do say so myself.) I think my favorite part was the chandelier the center of the ceiling. Not exactly the chandelier, but what was around it. It was in the middle of a round painting. This painting was more like many combined vignettes in different colors. Just by a cursory look at the style, I guessed it to be by Marc Chagall. I checked this fact later, and sure enough, I was correct. (I love guessing artists' work, and being correct about it. I do it pretty often, but I guess I'm constantly surprised by what and how much I actually know.)
I walked around the rest of the floor, but it wasn't nearly as exciting as the performance hall and grand staircase. So I decided to go see the Folies Bergere. The Folies Bergere is a famous dance hall in Paris, especially during the time of the Belle Epoque (1890s-1920s). It was the place where Josephine Baker frequently performed (she was an ex-pat from the 1920s onward, since there weren't many opportunities for her, and that American audiences weren't ready for her style). She also debuted her famous "banana dance" there in 1926, where she only wore a short skirt made from (you guessed it) bananas. (In "The Triplettes of Belleville", one of my favorite movies, if not THE favorite, the opening scene is a cabaret performance, with historical characters making appearances. Josephine Baker appears and performs the banana dance, which is intercut with shots of the men in the audience going wild. I'm not doing this scene justice at all, but it's great. Watch it.) I looked at the map, and found the road I needed to get there. I was confused, since it appeared to be going in the opposite direction but followed it anyway. I ended up going back towards the Grands Magasins (those being Printemps and Galleries Lafayette). I didn't think that was correct, and so checked the map. I was right, and turned around. I then got on the right path, and stayed on it, finding it pretty quickly after that. (It was interesting, but at a few points when I was walking down Rue de Provence/Rue de Richer, I could see the domes of Sacre Coeur rising about the other buildings. I checked my map when I got back, and was able to predict which areas I would've been around for this to occur.) Once there, I took some pictures of the exterior (which was pretty low-key, made of gray stone with an Art-Deco relief sculpture and a few signs proclaiming it to be the "most celebrated dance theater in the world"). I got a millefeuille (literally "a thousand leaves") pastry to eat, and walked to the nearest metro station to go back. It happened to be Bonne Nouvelle, which was right by the Grand Rex (where I had seen the Robert Plant and Alison Krauss concert).
Back at the apartment, I took a nap, ate some dinner and went out to see "No Country for Old Men". I had originally wanted to see it the previous night, but had rescheduled since I had felt way too tired. Wow, was it good. I'm really glad I saw it in theaters.
After that, it was still light out, and I decided to go see the Pantheon's hours of operation (since I was interested in seeing Voltaire's tomb there). Once there, I decided to sit there for a bit and watch the Tour Eiffel light up. (The street that the Pantheon overlooks gives a direct view to the Tour Eiffel.) So I sat and enjoyed the night, while watching the Tour Eiffel steadily light up. (I decided to stay to see it sparkle, and then retire.) Other people were there, doing the same thing or waiting to meet people. There was a group of teens there, and a couple of girls going around talking to everyone. They came up to me, asking if I was waiting for someone, but I said that I just came out to enjoy the night. (That was the second time someone had come up and talked to me that day. The first time was after I was leaving the Opera Garnier, and an older lady came up to me and asked where Galleries Lafayette was.) The Tour Eiffel started sparkling around 10 pm, and sparkled for about 10 minutes, and when it was over, I left for the room.
Tomorrow should be interesting. I'm meeting up with my friend Lauren (whom I haven't seen since 8th grade), who's traveling through Europe for her graduation present. Should be fun...
The Last Critique of the Week!
Friday morning dawned, and so did our critique with Jen. I got there early, as had some others, to set up. (All I really had to do was to pin the strips of paper that constituted my "volume study" onto my mannequin. So I improvised, and draped each so that it curved along the body, one on the front and one on the back.) Then, we all looked at each others' work (people seemed to like mine).
Then, Jen arrived and we were set to begin, but we decided to wait for others who hadn't shown yet. Incidentally, Andrea happened to be on of them. Liz asked if she was up, and I said that she had been in bed when I left. Liz went to go knock on our apartment door, and returned to say that there had been no response. Then Ashley got the idea to borrow my key, so she went over. She came back saying that Andrea was "up" (although she didn't specify as in "awake" or "out of bed".) We assumed she and some others would be coming in later, so we began the critique. We looked at both our redone Yohji projects and our accessories projects. For both of mine, people were very complimentary. Tu told me that my completely-redone Yohji designs were a lot better and looked "less Star Wars". Beliz and a couple others liked my "volume study" (which was awesome, since I just did something random and it only took me an hour). I also got praise for putting my accessories drawings on graph paper, getting told that it was "clever". After all of that, Jen said that she could see that I had really improved and had put a lot of effort into my work. With regards to my bag (that I hadn't finished), she liked that I used red thread to outline my motifs, saying that it looked more "computer-y" and more in line with my theme. (I did end up liking it more than my original idea.)
When everyone had been critiqued, Jen said we could do whatever we needed to do. Since I needed some help with my bag, I went to talk to her. She told me that I first needed to insert a wrist loop to attach, and I would attach the lining afterwards. So I made a pattern and cut out the length of fabric, looped it and sewed it in. Then Jen showed me how to attach the lining to the bag, so I did that, pressed it and was told to hand-sew in the remaining seam.
At this point, class was over, and Andrea still had not shown up. Jen told me that she needed to give her a grade on her work, and asked me to tell her so. I left, and first went to see Peter. He began looking for a hotel room for the 3 of us(Andrea, my cousin Hilary who would be visiting, and I) for the 5 nights after jury that we'd be here. He told me to come back later, and so I went back to the apartment. The blinds were drawn, and she was still under the covers. Not really knowing how to approach it, I just whispered, "Hey, Jen says that she needs to see some work from you" and she simply nodded. I was about to leave, so I said, "Should I tell her you're on your way?" Again, another nod. I went back and told Jen that I had told her, but didn't know what else to do. Having finished that piece of business, I went to go talk to Peter and iron out logistical details. I gave him what information I had, and he said he'd call around and asked me to come back around 3 pm, and hopefully they'd have something by then.
I then went back to the room and ate lunch. Andrea still being in bed with the blinds closed, I had to get out into the light, and walked down to Gibert Joseph to browse around. I stayed until I had to meet Peter, and went back up to the office. He had found a place (after calling 6 other places) that would work, and wanted me to bring Andrea so that we could all talk about it together. I trooped back to the apartment, and told Andrea what I knew. She told me her plans, I talked with Hilary, and then I went back to Peter. He reiterated that he wanted to talk to both of us, so back I went with that message. In the end, Andrea decided to change her train date, and I booked a hotel room on Port-Royal for 5 nights. Nagalinga, one of Peter's assistants, went with me to help me book it and so that I could see the location.
After all of that back-and-forth, I was really tired and took a nap. I woke up around 8:30 pm, and bummed around not doing anything particular until going to bed.
So our critiques are all done, yay! (We get our grades during the jury on Wednesday, so hopefully that will go well.)
Then, Jen arrived and we were set to begin, but we decided to wait for others who hadn't shown yet. Incidentally, Andrea happened to be on of them. Liz asked if she was up, and I said that she had been in bed when I left. Liz went to go knock on our apartment door, and returned to say that there had been no response. Then Ashley got the idea to borrow my key, so she went over. She came back saying that Andrea was "up" (although she didn't specify as in "awake" or "out of bed".) We assumed she and some others would be coming in later, so we began the critique. We looked at both our redone Yohji projects and our accessories projects. For both of mine, people were very complimentary. Tu told me that my completely-redone Yohji designs were a lot better and looked "less Star Wars". Beliz and a couple others liked my "volume study" (which was awesome, since I just did something random and it only took me an hour). I also got praise for putting my accessories drawings on graph paper, getting told that it was "clever". After all of that, Jen said that she could see that I had really improved and had put a lot of effort into my work. With regards to my bag (that I hadn't finished), she liked that I used red thread to outline my motifs, saying that it looked more "computer-y" and more in line with my theme. (I did end up liking it more than my original idea.)
When everyone had been critiqued, Jen said we could do whatever we needed to do. Since I needed some help with my bag, I went to talk to her. She told me that I first needed to insert a wrist loop to attach, and I would attach the lining afterwards. So I made a pattern and cut out the length of fabric, looped it and sewed it in. Then Jen showed me how to attach the lining to the bag, so I did that, pressed it and was told to hand-sew in the remaining seam.
At this point, class was over, and Andrea still had not shown up. Jen told me that she needed to give her a grade on her work, and asked me to tell her so. I left, and first went to see Peter. He began looking for a hotel room for the 3 of us(Andrea, my cousin Hilary who would be visiting, and I) for the 5 nights after jury that we'd be here. He told me to come back later, and so I went back to the apartment. The blinds were drawn, and she was still under the covers. Not really knowing how to approach it, I just whispered, "Hey, Jen says that she needs to see some work from you" and she simply nodded. I was about to leave, so I said, "Should I tell her you're on your way?" Again, another nod. I went back and told Jen that I had told her, but didn't know what else to do. Having finished that piece of business, I went to go talk to Peter and iron out logistical details. I gave him what information I had, and he said he'd call around and asked me to come back around 3 pm, and hopefully they'd have something by then.
I then went back to the room and ate lunch. Andrea still being in bed with the blinds closed, I had to get out into the light, and walked down to Gibert Joseph to browse around. I stayed until I had to meet Peter, and went back up to the office. He had found a place (after calling 6 other places) that would work, and wanted me to bring Andrea so that we could all talk about it together. I trooped back to the apartment, and told Andrea what I knew. She told me her plans, I talked with Hilary, and then I went back to Peter. He reiterated that he wanted to talk to both of us, so back I went with that message. In the end, Andrea decided to change her train date, and I booked a hotel room on Port-Royal for 5 nights. Nagalinga, one of Peter's assistants, went with me to help me book it and so that I could see the location.
After all of that back-and-forth, I was really tired and took a nap. I woke up around 8:30 pm, and bummed around not doing anything particular until going to bed.
So our critiques are all done, yay! (We get our grades during the jury on Wednesday, so hopefully that will go well.)
Thursday, May 22, 2008
The Wednesday and Thursday Critiques
Wednesday was Sewing, and the day of our critique with Muriel, where we would be graded on the sewing of our evening gown. I spent the morning finishing putting my zipper in, and then presumed that I would move onto the hem. Well, Muriel spotted the technique that I had used on my neckline and armholes, and taught me how to better do them. I redid one neckline twice, before getting it to her satisfaction. In the afternoon, I spent some time using a couture technique to do my hem, before I was told that I was doing it too big. I just can't get it right sometimes, can I?
Something funny happened, too. I had to try on my dress so that Muriel could help me assess where to place pins to mark where the hem would eventually go. So I took my dress into the closet to change into it. Muriel shut the door behind me, and guess what she did? She locked me in the closet! (I wasn't mad at all, I just thought it was really funny!) When I finished changing into the dress, I tried opening the door just to make sure, and yes, it was locked. So I knocked and she let me out. Then I stood there while Muriel pinned the dress around my ankles. When she was finished, I went back into the closet to change into my regular clothes. And yes, she locked me in the closet once more (.and it was still funny). Again, I knocked to get out, and she let me out.
Later, I tried on Tenzin's dress and it turned out to be too big in the bust (shocker). (This was also the problem with my dress, so I jokingly remedied it by stuffing my socks in. Then Tenzin brought me some bra cups, so I put those in instead, but there was still room to spare.) Muriel told her that she needed a model with a larger poitrine (as in, much bigger boobs), which is what she had told me for my dress, as well.
At the end of the afternoon class, it was time for the critique, where we had to show our dresses on mannequins. I got my mannequin and tried to put my dress on it. The operative word here being "tried", since it must've shrunk between the initial drapage and the finalized product. (More likely is that I have crappy craftsmanship and sewed too into the body, and/or draped it too tightly to begin with.) When I pulled the dress down over the mannequin's hips, one of the side seams started splitting. (Right after this, Sharon asked me if I was going to iron it-which I actually had earlier in the class. I groaned and was like, "I just got it on the mannequin, don't make me take it off!")
Since I was then the only one ready, Muriel came over to look at mine. She said that she was giving 2 marks, 1 for the idea and concept and 1 for the execution. She said that while my idea was "tres jolie", my execution was "tres mal". I said that since I knew that it was pretty bad, I didn't mind getting marked down for it. She ended up giving me a 16 (out of 20) on creation of the idea, and an 11 (the lowest passing score) for execution. She then averaged them together, and that gave me a 14.5.
After class, I did a few errands on Saint-Michel and went into Gibert Joseph (where I got my Moliere book and the macaroon cookbook) to browse around. I was in the theater section, and saw an interesting book. It was called "Theatre des Femmes a l'Ancien Regime", specifically the 17th century. I read the back, and it talked about the fact that in that time period, many women wrote plays that were published and performed in reputable, even fashionable venues. I didn't know about this, since all I'd heard about theater around this time centered around Moliere, Voltaire, Racine and Corneuille. I paged through it, and there were 9 women represented, each having a play. I'm thinking about going back and getting it. (At this rate, Mom and Dad shouldn't be surprised if I come back with an extra suitcase of books.)
Thursday was Flat Pattern with Anne, and the day of another critique. That morning, we were allowed to work on whatever we needed to finish, and I worked on my visite, the costume sample made up in muslin. I pressed it, and then added a flounce for the collar (since we had to use something that was included in our sample notebook). After I was finished assembling and attaching that piece, I sewed up the hem, put it on a mannequin and turned it in, along with my sample notebook. Since that took up the morning, I worked on my bag for Jen's class that afternoon. Since I had sewn the details on the front and back panels the previous afternoon, I began attaching the panels for the outside together. After that was done, I began work on the lining. I pinned, traced and cut out the pieces and sewed the front, back and side panels together. (I had remembered that Jen had told me to leave a hole in the bottom to "pull it through" later), so I decided not to attach the bottom. I couldn't figure out the best way to attach the lining to the facing, so I called it a day and left.
(At one point, she asked me what a good grade was considered to be in the U.S., so I explained the 100-point scale to her. I just said that if you multiplied any numerical grade on the European 20-point scale by 5, that would be the equivalent of an American grade.)
I needed to go get some bristol paper and thread, so I took the metro to BHV. Since it wasn't too hot (actually, it's been downright cool these past few days), I decided to walk back. I did go to Gibert Joseph and get that book on 17th-century female playwrights, so I'm excited to read it (and build my vocabulary). I got back here, ate dinner and bummed around, and began drawing up new illustrations for Susan for Tuesday.
Last critique tomorrow!!!
Something funny happened, too. I had to try on my dress so that Muriel could help me assess where to place pins to mark where the hem would eventually go. So I took my dress into the closet to change into it. Muriel shut the door behind me, and guess what she did? She locked me in the closet! (I wasn't mad at all, I just thought it was really funny!) When I finished changing into the dress, I tried opening the door just to make sure, and yes, it was locked. So I knocked and she let me out. Then I stood there while Muriel pinned the dress around my ankles. When she was finished, I went back into the closet to change into my regular clothes. And yes, she locked me in the closet once more (.and it was still funny). Again, I knocked to get out, and she let me out.
Later, I tried on Tenzin's dress and it turned out to be too big in the bust (shocker). (This was also the problem with my dress, so I jokingly remedied it by stuffing my socks in. Then Tenzin brought me some bra cups, so I put those in instead, but there was still room to spare.) Muriel told her that she needed a model with a larger poitrine (as in, much bigger boobs), which is what she had told me for my dress, as well.
At the end of the afternoon class, it was time for the critique, where we had to show our dresses on mannequins. I got my mannequin and tried to put my dress on it. The operative word here being "tried", since it must've shrunk between the initial drapage and the finalized product. (More likely is that I have crappy craftsmanship and sewed too into the body, and/or draped it too tightly to begin with.) When I pulled the dress down over the mannequin's hips, one of the side seams started splitting. (Right after this, Sharon asked me if I was going to iron it-which I actually had earlier in the class. I groaned and was like, "I just got it on the mannequin, don't make me take it off!")
Since I was then the only one ready, Muriel came over to look at mine. She said that she was giving 2 marks, 1 for the idea and concept and 1 for the execution. She said that while my idea was "tres jolie", my execution was "tres mal". I said that since I knew that it was pretty bad, I didn't mind getting marked down for it. She ended up giving me a 16 (out of 20) on creation of the idea, and an 11 (the lowest passing score) for execution. She then averaged them together, and that gave me a 14.5.
After class, I did a few errands on Saint-Michel and went into Gibert Joseph (where I got my Moliere book and the macaroon cookbook) to browse around. I was in the theater section, and saw an interesting book. It was called "Theatre des Femmes a l'Ancien Regime", specifically the 17th century. I read the back, and it talked about the fact that in that time period, many women wrote plays that were published and performed in reputable, even fashionable venues. I didn't know about this, since all I'd heard about theater around this time centered around Moliere, Voltaire, Racine and Corneuille. I paged through it, and there were 9 women represented, each having a play. I'm thinking about going back and getting it. (At this rate, Mom and Dad shouldn't be surprised if I come back with an extra suitcase of books.)
Thursday was Flat Pattern with Anne, and the day of another critique. That morning, we were allowed to work on whatever we needed to finish, and I worked on my visite, the costume sample made up in muslin. I pressed it, and then added a flounce for the collar (since we had to use something that was included in our sample notebook). After I was finished assembling and attaching that piece, I sewed up the hem, put it on a mannequin and turned it in, along with my sample notebook. Since that took up the morning, I worked on my bag for Jen's class that afternoon. Since I had sewn the details on the front and back panels the previous afternoon, I began attaching the panels for the outside together. After that was done, I began work on the lining. I pinned, traced and cut out the pieces and sewed the front, back and side panels together. (I had remembered that Jen had told me to leave a hole in the bottom to "pull it through" later), so I decided not to attach the bottom. I couldn't figure out the best way to attach the lining to the facing, so I called it a day and left.
(At one point, she asked me what a good grade was considered to be in the U.S., so I explained the 100-point scale to her. I just said that if you multiplied any numerical grade on the European 20-point scale by 5, that would be the equivalent of an American grade.)
I needed to go get some bristol paper and thread, so I took the metro to BHV. Since it wasn't too hot (actually, it's been downright cool these past few days), I decided to walk back. I did go to Gibert Joseph and get that book on 17th-century female playwrights, so I'm excited to read it (and build my vocabulary). I got back here, ate dinner and bummed around, and began drawing up new illustrations for Susan for Tuesday.
Last critique tomorrow!!!
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
The Weekend and 2/5ths of Critique Week
Saturday morning, I got up early and went in to the studio. I worked on my bag, and wanted to finish it that day. (The original plan was the finish it and then do the neckline and arm-holes of my dress.) It took longer than I had anticipated, because I was using silk for the lining and it was slipping around when I was sewing it up. I eventually got that done and then worked on attaching it to the inside of my bag. The trouble came when I attempted to put the top-side pieces at a certain angle, and it wasn't working. I ended up having to do some sewing on the outside so that no raw edges would appear on the outside. I then spent a few attaching the zipper (my awesome brass zipper).
I finished the bag completely around 5 pm. I decided not to work on my dress that day, since I had been in the lab since around 10 that morning and needed a break that was longer than lunch. So I went back to my room and lounged around, not doing anything too special.
Sunday was another workday. That day, I spent my time painting my beachwear and handbag illustrations for Susan for Tuesday. Seriously. That's all I did. Well, I also put together my Art History presentation on Roy Lictenstein (he's the guy who did the comic-panel paintings, I'm sure you've seen them) coinciding with the Golden Age of comics. But I only spent about an hour on that.
I was boring this past weekend.
Monday started off our lovely Critique Week (I believe I'm the only one who's calling it that, since I'm just that creative). In Sewing, we worked on our dresses the entire time. I started off basting a side seam in preparation for putting in a zipper. Before I finished with this, however, Muriel caught sight of what I was doing and told me that I needed to sew up the side first and then put the zipper in (while I clearly thought it was the other way around). So I sewed it up until the point where the bottom of the zipper would hit, and then began basting the zipper in. In the afternoon section, I finished that and began sewing in the zipper (with my thread that matches the dress). I didn't get too far before it was time for Art History.
In Art History, we all did our presentations. It took longer than usual, because something was wrong with Agnes's computer. (She kept having to restart it whenever we switched using computers.) I eventually presented, and I was just about the only person who didn't read directly off of my slides. (That's partly because I had short-and-sweet bullet points instead of sentences, and I knew my subject matter pretty well, I guess.) After I was finished presenting, Agnes (who was sitting in front of me, while I was using her computer) turned around and told me that I had done a good job and asked me if I had enjoyed researching the topic (to which I replied that, yes, I had).
(Oh, I forgot to add something: That afternoon in Muriel's class, Anne came in. She had told us the previous week that she was going to be teaching draping to a group of students from Missouri, but she would be teaching upstairs. So we were a bit confused as to why she needed to come down to our room. To my surprise, she made a beeline for me at my spot and asked to borrow me for a minute, explaining that a student had asked her a question that she wasn't sure of, and she wanted me to translate. So I followed her upstairs and met the girl, who had a very burning question to ask: no, not one of fashion, but inquiring where to buy hairdryers and straighteners with the proper voltage amount. And here I had worried for a minute that I would be out of my league, not knowing how to translate technical draping terms! So I translated, and Anne answered the question to their satisfaction. Then, one of the girls asked where I was from-maybe thinking that I was European or something, since when I told them that I was American, they seemed a bit surprised. Then, when I went back downstairs, Liz asked what Anne wanted, and when I told her the question, she was like, "They're only here for 10 days, why bother?")
That night, I put together my quilting samples and then went to bed. Again, very boring for the folks at home.
Tuesday was the Susan critique, the most stressful one of the week. Amazingly, we all got to class before it started. (We also beat Susan there, but that was hardly a shock, since that happens every week.) I put my stuff out, and a couple of people told me that they liked my beachwear illustrations. Then Susan came in, and soon realized that she didn't have her glasses with her. She began asking if anyone had their (near-sighted) glasses on them, and if so, could she borrow them for class? As it turned out, she was out of luck, since everyone who had their contacts in that day also happened to be far-sighted. (In the end, she just had to hold everything close to her face and squint.) Then we did the usual thing, of going around to each person's table, looking at their work and listening to Susan's comments. After it transpired that the first couple of people didn't finish their dresses (and she nearly had mini heart-attacks for each), she calmed down since that was the case for everyone save for Ashley and Liz. For me, she wanted to me to attempt to attach the lining of my bag at the one place I was unable to. She loved my flats (as has happened before), and was not too impressed with my illustrations, saying they were too fluid and should be graphic like my flats. (She basically told me just to trace my flats and insert body parts into it, and I'd be fine. So I'll be redoing those before the jury next Wednesday.) She also looked at my dress, and amazingly, did not comment on the crappy craftsmanship. Instead, she focused on my drawing (that I had recycled from the last project, wondering why my dress didn't flow out from the knees like the drawing. I told her that Anne and I had tried to work on it, but apparently it was unsuccessful. (Ashley told me later that it could have appeared to be straight simply because I had it on a hanger and not on the mannequin, which is entirely possible.) After she was done with mine, Tu came up and to me and told me not to worry about my illustrations, since Susan's tough like that, so that was sweet.
When we were done looking at everyone's things, she sent us out so that she could figure out our grades. We ended up staying out there for close to an hour (probably because Susan had to take so many breaks from squinting her eyes). I first talked with Sophia about our French test later that day, and then sat with Liz, Andrea and Rikard for awhile. At one point, I went into the foyer and talked with Tu and Tenzin. (Tenzin had come in late and presented her stuff one-on-one to Susan, so she had seen everyone's work. She told me that my illustrations were really good, that she had seen that I had gotten a 16 or 17-out of 20.)
About 12:10 pm, Susan called us back up to class, and told us that she had taken our grades and that we'd get them at the jury (oh, the suspense...). She told us that we'd all really improved over the semester and that she was very proud of all of us. Then, after saying that we couldn't get anything accomplished in 45 minutes, she released us!
I got back to the apartment and promptly took a nap. After eating lunch, I studied some French and went to take the test. I saw some of our class studying outside, and so I joined them until Nolwenn arrived and we went down to the basement to take the written part of the test. It was pretty straightforward, since we were told exactly what would be on it ahead of time (and, lo and behold, it was all there). It was your basic definitions, writing, grammar and vocabulary. Nolwenn was walking around and looking at whichever part we were working on, and giving us hints if we had gotten something incorrect. About halfway through the test, she told us that a section she had previously told us not to do would be extra credit. This section was a written section where we used the vocabulary for love and imagined a love-at-first-sight scenario. Nolwenn had written "like Nicholas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni", so I decided to take a stab at that particular one. I wrote that Nick met Carla at a state ceremonie, and he fell in love with her while dancing with his wife Cecilia. Later, he asked his good friend Dominique Villepin (also the mayor of Paris) to introduce them, and he knew from then on that his life was changed. They got married in February 2008, but only after he divorced Cecilia. (I kind of amused myself writing this. Incidentally, while I was writing part of this, Nolwenn was reading my page over my shoulder. I wasn't sure if she was reading that section or the one before it, but I was still amused.) After we were all finished, we went outside for the oral part. We discussed the new gay marriage law in California, and some good points were brought up. Nolwenn also asked Doha the story of how she came to remove her hijab, and she told us that she had been thinking about it for awhile and then just decided to go through with it after talking it through with her husband and some other people. So that was cool.
After class, I went to Gibert Joseph, and picked up that macaroon cookbook I'd been wanting for awhile. (I was just in time, since it was the last one!) I also got a tart citron to eat for dessert. It was another boring night of work for me. I finished drawing up my sketches for Jen's accessories project. (I still have to paint in my Yohji sketches, as well as make my clutch bag.)
For those interested in keeping score at home (and winning fabulous prizes!), here's the rest of the schedule for Critique Week: Wednesday is Sewing (Muriel looks at how well-made to haute-couture techniques our dresses are), Thursday is Pattern and Draping (Anne looks at our dress, our costume sample with an added decoration, and our notebook of technical samples) and Friday is Stylism (Jen looks at our accessories project, which consists of drawings of bags and shoes, as well as our made bag. This is in addition to whatever Yohji corrections we had. For me, this includes the 15 sketches and "volume study", which is everything for that project.).
Should be fun.
I finished the bag completely around 5 pm. I decided not to work on my dress that day, since I had been in the lab since around 10 that morning and needed a break that was longer than lunch. So I went back to my room and lounged around, not doing anything too special.
Sunday was another workday. That day, I spent my time painting my beachwear and handbag illustrations for Susan for Tuesday. Seriously. That's all I did. Well, I also put together my Art History presentation on Roy Lictenstein (he's the guy who did the comic-panel paintings, I'm sure you've seen them) coinciding with the Golden Age of comics. But I only spent about an hour on that.
I was boring this past weekend.
Monday started off our lovely Critique Week (I believe I'm the only one who's calling it that, since I'm just that creative). In Sewing, we worked on our dresses the entire time. I started off basting a side seam in preparation for putting in a zipper. Before I finished with this, however, Muriel caught sight of what I was doing and told me that I needed to sew up the side first and then put the zipper in (while I clearly thought it was the other way around). So I sewed it up until the point where the bottom of the zipper would hit, and then began basting the zipper in. In the afternoon section, I finished that and began sewing in the zipper (with my thread that matches the dress). I didn't get too far before it was time for Art History.
In Art History, we all did our presentations. It took longer than usual, because something was wrong with Agnes's computer. (She kept having to restart it whenever we switched using computers.) I eventually presented, and I was just about the only person who didn't read directly off of my slides. (That's partly because I had short-and-sweet bullet points instead of sentences, and I knew my subject matter pretty well, I guess.) After I was finished presenting, Agnes (who was sitting in front of me, while I was using her computer) turned around and told me that I had done a good job and asked me if I had enjoyed researching the topic (to which I replied that, yes, I had).
(Oh, I forgot to add something: That afternoon in Muriel's class, Anne came in. She had told us the previous week that she was going to be teaching draping to a group of students from Missouri, but she would be teaching upstairs. So we were a bit confused as to why she needed to come down to our room. To my surprise, she made a beeline for me at my spot and asked to borrow me for a minute, explaining that a student had asked her a question that she wasn't sure of, and she wanted me to translate. So I followed her upstairs and met the girl, who had a very burning question to ask: no, not one of fashion, but inquiring where to buy hairdryers and straighteners with the proper voltage amount. And here I had worried for a minute that I would be out of my league, not knowing how to translate technical draping terms! So I translated, and Anne answered the question to their satisfaction. Then, one of the girls asked where I was from-maybe thinking that I was European or something, since when I told them that I was American, they seemed a bit surprised. Then, when I went back downstairs, Liz asked what Anne wanted, and when I told her the question, she was like, "They're only here for 10 days, why bother?")
That night, I put together my quilting samples and then went to bed. Again, very boring for the folks at home.
Tuesday was the Susan critique, the most stressful one of the week. Amazingly, we all got to class before it started. (We also beat Susan there, but that was hardly a shock, since that happens every week.) I put my stuff out, and a couple of people told me that they liked my beachwear illustrations. Then Susan came in, and soon realized that she didn't have her glasses with her. She began asking if anyone had their (near-sighted) glasses on them, and if so, could she borrow them for class? As it turned out, she was out of luck, since everyone who had their contacts in that day also happened to be far-sighted. (In the end, she just had to hold everything close to her face and squint.) Then we did the usual thing, of going around to each person's table, looking at their work and listening to Susan's comments. After it transpired that the first couple of people didn't finish their dresses (and she nearly had mini heart-attacks for each), she calmed down since that was the case for everyone save for Ashley and Liz. For me, she wanted to me to attempt to attach the lining of my bag at the one place I was unable to. She loved my flats (as has happened before), and was not too impressed with my illustrations, saying they were too fluid and should be graphic like my flats. (She basically told me just to trace my flats and insert body parts into it, and I'd be fine. So I'll be redoing those before the jury next Wednesday.) She also looked at my dress, and amazingly, did not comment on the crappy craftsmanship. Instead, she focused on my drawing (that I had recycled from the last project, wondering why my dress didn't flow out from the knees like the drawing. I told her that Anne and I had tried to work on it, but apparently it was unsuccessful. (Ashley told me later that it could have appeared to be straight simply because I had it on a hanger and not on the mannequin, which is entirely possible.) After she was done with mine, Tu came up and to me and told me not to worry about my illustrations, since Susan's tough like that, so that was sweet.
When we were done looking at everyone's things, she sent us out so that she could figure out our grades. We ended up staying out there for close to an hour (probably because Susan had to take so many breaks from squinting her eyes). I first talked with Sophia about our French test later that day, and then sat with Liz, Andrea and Rikard for awhile. At one point, I went into the foyer and talked with Tu and Tenzin. (Tenzin had come in late and presented her stuff one-on-one to Susan, so she had seen everyone's work. She told me that my illustrations were really good, that she had seen that I had gotten a 16 or 17-out of 20.)
About 12:10 pm, Susan called us back up to class, and told us that she had taken our grades and that we'd get them at the jury (oh, the suspense...). She told us that we'd all really improved over the semester and that she was very proud of all of us. Then, after saying that we couldn't get anything accomplished in 45 minutes, she released us!
I got back to the apartment and promptly took a nap. After eating lunch, I studied some French and went to take the test. I saw some of our class studying outside, and so I joined them until Nolwenn arrived and we went down to the basement to take the written part of the test. It was pretty straightforward, since we were told exactly what would be on it ahead of time (and, lo and behold, it was all there). It was your basic definitions, writing, grammar and vocabulary. Nolwenn was walking around and looking at whichever part we were working on, and giving us hints if we had gotten something incorrect. About halfway through the test, she told us that a section she had previously told us not to do would be extra credit. This section was a written section where we used the vocabulary for love and imagined a love-at-first-sight scenario. Nolwenn had written "like Nicholas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni", so I decided to take a stab at that particular one. I wrote that Nick met Carla at a state ceremonie, and he fell in love with her while dancing with his wife Cecilia. Later, he asked his good friend Dominique Villepin (also the mayor of Paris) to introduce them, and he knew from then on that his life was changed. They got married in February 2008, but only after he divorced Cecilia. (I kind of amused myself writing this. Incidentally, while I was writing part of this, Nolwenn was reading my page over my shoulder. I wasn't sure if she was reading that section or the one before it, but I was still amused.) After we were all finished, we went outside for the oral part. We discussed the new gay marriage law in California, and some good points were brought up. Nolwenn also asked Doha the story of how she came to remove her hijab, and she told us that she had been thinking about it for awhile and then just decided to go through with it after talking it through with her husband and some other people. So that was cool.
After class, I went to Gibert Joseph, and picked up that macaroon cookbook I'd been wanting for awhile. (I was just in time, since it was the last one!) I also got a tart citron to eat for dessert. It was another boring night of work for me. I finished drawing up my sketches for Jen's accessories project. (I still have to paint in my Yohji sketches, as well as make my clutch bag.)
For those interested in keeping score at home (and winning fabulous prizes!), here's the rest of the schedule for Critique Week: Wednesday is Sewing (Muriel looks at how well-made to haute-couture techniques our dresses are), Thursday is Pattern and Draping (Anne looks at our dress, our costume sample with an added decoration, and our notebook of technical samples) and Friday is Stylism (Jen looks at our accessories project, which consists of drawings of bags and shoes, as well as our made bag. This is in addition to whatever Yohji corrections we had. For me, this includes the 15 sketches and "volume study", which is everything for that project.).
Should be fun.
Friday, May 16, 2008
The Remaining 4/5ths of the Week
Tuesday morning brought Susan, as usual. First, she talked with everyone individually about their quilting. I showed her my 4 pieces and she OK'd them. Then, in talking about constructing my bag, she suggested that I quilt the sides, as well as add a diamante charm to the zipper. I was thinking that I couldn't possibly have time to quilt more, as well as finish the bag. I said that if I did one of the two, it would be a diamante charm. (She didn't really respond, but that might've been because she didn't hear me.) In the next round of visits, I showed her my 3o sketches for the beachwear. She told me that I was the first person she had seen who had done 'really cute" separates. She signed off on the required 8 outifts, and helped me develop some concepts further. At the end of our meeting, she asked me how long I had been doing fashion design. I wasn't sure exactly what she was getting at, so I said that I had been drawing since I was 4, informally designing fashion since I was 12, and formally studying it for nearly 3 years. She simply nodded and said nothing more (so I don't know if that was a good thing or bad or what).
In betwee, I zipped out to Gibert Joseph. Since I had seen only 2 copies left of Moliere's complete works, I wanted to be sure to get a copy before waiting any longer. Fortunately, both copies were still there, so I looked around before buying it. (The guy who was checking it out did ask me if it was for me. Maybe a lot of old-professor types had been buying the other copies.)
After that was French class. We talked about the vocabulary of friendship, an went over what would be on next week's test (vocabulary and lots of grammar). Something interesting also happened: One of the girls in our class, Doha is Egyptian and wears the hijab daily. Well, that day she came up to our table outside and I didn't recognize her. This was because she wasn't wearing her scarf, and wasn't covered up anymore. So she was wearing a bright blue top, and denim capris (showin' some leg). Her long, black hair was held back with a white headband with a bow. We all exclaimed over her different appearance, and asked why she had decided to change, and she said, "for a lot of reasons". But it was really interesting to see.
That night was the Robert Plant and Alison Krauss concert, so I got ready and went over a little after 7 pm. It was held at the Grand Rex theater in the 2nd arrondissement. (I got a little confused when I got out of the suggested metro station at Grands Boulevards, and I was in the 9th. But I followed the signs and soon enough, I was in the 2nd.) I went inside and bought some water (what was weird was that the seller kept the cap), and went to go find a seat. It was free seating, and fortunately, not too many people had arrived yet, so I was able to get a good seat in the middle, pretty far up. I just relaxed until 8 pm, when the opening act started. His name was Scott Williams, and he was from Ireland or Scotland (I can't remember which, obviously). He played some bluegrass, and some were good. He ended at 8:30 pm, and then there was an intermission.
The show really started at 9 pm! The lights went down, and the band began playing "Rich Woman", the first song off their album "Raising Sand". During the instrumental beginning, Krauss and Plant entered from opposite sides of the stage (she from stage left, he from stage right). As they crossed each other about center stage, they briefly touched hands, as in for good luck. They then took places downstage center, each at a microphone beside each other. After that song was over, Plant welcomed everyone to the show in French. (Krauss didn't talk during the entire show, and Plant explained it by saying that it was her first time in Paris.) They played most of the songs off "Raising Sand". (The only one I noticed missing was "Stick with Me, Baby".) With some songs, depending on who had a lead vocal, either Plant or Krauss would either go offstage or upstage near the band. For "Fortune Teller", it was just Plant onstage, until the chorus about 2/3rds of the way through, when Krauss came out to sing her part.
In about the middle of the show, they introduced a guest as by saying that he produced the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" album (which, I believe, still is the best-selling soundtrack). I guessed who it was, and got excited! Sure enough, it was T-Bone Burnett! (That guy is TALL in person. Admittedly, I've never seen a photo or any other depiction of him, so I didn't have nay preconceived notions about his physical self. But seeing him next to Plant, he has some height on him.) He played some songs with them, and hung around in the upstage area near the band for the rest of the time. At one point, Burnett said that although he didn't know French, he did know Creole, before launching into "Laissez les Bons Temps Roulez". Krauss sang "Down to the River to Pray", from the "O Brother" soundtrack, and she sang into one microphone, and Plant, Burnett and the bassist (I think) sang into the one next to it. They ended the show with "Gone, Gone, Gone", and exited the stage. There was an immediate standing ovation, and they came back on and performed 3 more songs for an encore.
I managed to get some pictures (even though I was pretty far away). In the majority of them, Kruass is turned toward her band (usually the guitarist) or playing her fiddle, and Plant is in mid-pose while singing. I got some good ones of T-Bone Burnett as he was singing, as well as some with all 3 of them. For those fashion-conscious curious to know, Krauss wore a black, short-sleeved v-neck dress with either thigh-high black boots or black tights with black heels (I was too far away to definitively tell), and Plant had a gray shirt with raspberry-colored pants. T Bone Burnett wore a suit with a white shirt. A few times, Plant almost got into some Led-Zeppelin-esque wails, but didn't give in to the urge (you can hear those on some of the songs on the album). Bottom line: FANTASTIC show, and I'm so glad I went! (In case I'm in North Carolina this summer, I know they're playing the Raleigh RBC Center on July 11th. Any takers?)
The next day (Wednesday) was Sewing with Muriel. She had me resew certain portions of my panels on my dress, as well as press it properly. I ended up spending a great deal of time ironing that thing. (Near the end of class, I had walked over to the window for a minute to get a break from the iron, and Sharon said, "Sarah, haven't you been ironing for, like, half an hour?" I said, "I've been over there most of the day, where've you been?") That took up the entire day, and that night I started drawing up some sketches and flats for Susan that were due on Tuesday.
I also talked with my cousin Hilary, who's coming to visit me
Thursday was Patterns with Anne. She gave us the period to do what we needed, so I decided to get done my technical samples (since the last class with samples was held at the same time as my French class, and I wasn't there). I got all of my samples done, and began organizing them together (attaching them to paper squares, putting them in plastic sleeves), which took most of the class.
After class, I had a lot of errands to do. I went first to Marche Saint-Pierre, for all my fabric needs. I needed a brass zipper about 32 cm long, so I was on the lookout for a mercerie, which sells more interior decorating things. I found one pretty quickly, choosing a zipper that was 35 cm long (since I like to be prepared and have more than needed). Then, I went to Reine and bought red and black canvas in preparation for making Jen's bag. After that, I headed across to Dreyfus where I got some lining for Susan's bag. Then, I took the metro to BHV, where I purchased more bristol paper, as well as black and red thread. I got a vanilla macaroon at Paul nearby, and decided to walk back since it was still early. I also stopped at Monoprix to get the requisite milk, as well as breakfast stuff. That night, I made it my goal to draw up half my illustrations and/or flats for Susan. (We have a collection of 8 beachwear things, so one thing per page for illustrations, and the same for flats is 16 pages.) I accomplished that, and then went to bed.
Friday morning, Jen had me redo my pattern for my clutch, making it larger. She explained to me how to construct it, including something about leaving a hole in the lining. It was a bit confusing to me, but she told me to get as far as I could and let her know before next Friday (when it's due) if/when I had any problems. I spent the rest of class tracing and cutting my pattern pieces out.
I returned that afternoon after lunch to work on my bag for Susan's class, Beliz and I sharing a sewing machine. Around 2 pm, Liz and Ashley came in and they asked me if Andrea had come back to the room that night. I said that I thought she had been in their room, but that turned out not to be the case. They talked for a bit about calling her, and departed sooner after, presumably to do so. (She turned up in the studio later, so she was fine.) I got most of the outer bottom of the bag finished, and layed out pieces for the top, where I'd attach the zipper. I also cut out pieces for the lining, and began sewing some of those together. My productivity was halted around 5 pm, when I ran out of thread while winding a bobbin. So I left and made another trip to BHV to get more thread, as well as plastic sleeves for my technical notebook.
(Something interesting: As in any large store, there's always announcements begin made over the speakers about deals and such. Well, yesterday, I was taking the elevator down, and saw a man in front of me, holding a microphone and speaking into it. It turned out that he was the one making the announcements while walking all around the store, as opposed to sitting in some isolated room! So that was pretty cool. I actually passed him on the kitchenwares floor while taking the escalator, and I was still amused.)
Tonight, I ate dinner and drew up the remaining 8 flats and illustrations. I'm planning to get up early tomorrow to work in the studio. Hopefully, I can get everything done (or near enough) for next week.
In betwee, I zipped out to Gibert Joseph. Since I had seen only 2 copies left of Moliere's complete works, I wanted to be sure to get a copy before waiting any longer. Fortunately, both copies were still there, so I looked around before buying it. (The guy who was checking it out did ask me if it was for me. Maybe a lot of old-professor types had been buying the other copies.)
After that was French class. We talked about the vocabulary of friendship, an went over what would be on next week's test (vocabulary and lots of grammar). Something interesting also happened: One of the girls in our class, Doha is Egyptian and wears the hijab daily. Well, that day she came up to our table outside and I didn't recognize her. This was because she wasn't wearing her scarf, and wasn't covered up anymore. So she was wearing a bright blue top, and denim capris (showin' some leg). Her long, black hair was held back with a white headband with a bow. We all exclaimed over her different appearance, and asked why she had decided to change, and she said, "for a lot of reasons". But it was really interesting to see.
That night was the Robert Plant and Alison Krauss concert, so I got ready and went over a little after 7 pm. It was held at the Grand Rex theater in the 2nd arrondissement. (I got a little confused when I got out of the suggested metro station at Grands Boulevards, and I was in the 9th. But I followed the signs and soon enough, I was in the 2nd.) I went inside and bought some water (what was weird was that the seller kept the cap), and went to go find a seat. It was free seating, and fortunately, not too many people had arrived yet, so I was able to get a good seat in the middle, pretty far up. I just relaxed until 8 pm, when the opening act started. His name was Scott Williams, and he was from Ireland or Scotland (I can't remember which, obviously). He played some bluegrass, and some were good. He ended at 8:30 pm, and then there was an intermission.
The show really started at 9 pm! The lights went down, and the band began playing "Rich Woman", the first song off their album "Raising Sand". During the instrumental beginning, Krauss and Plant entered from opposite sides of the stage (she from stage left, he from stage right). As they crossed each other about center stage, they briefly touched hands, as in for good luck. They then took places downstage center, each at a microphone beside each other. After that song was over, Plant welcomed everyone to the show in French. (Krauss didn't talk during the entire show, and Plant explained it by saying that it was her first time in Paris.) They played most of the songs off "Raising Sand". (The only one I noticed missing was "Stick with Me, Baby".) With some songs, depending on who had a lead vocal, either Plant or Krauss would either go offstage or upstage near the band. For "Fortune Teller", it was just Plant onstage, until the chorus about 2/3rds of the way through, when Krauss came out to sing her part.
In about the middle of the show, they introduced a guest as by saying that he produced the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" album (which, I believe, still is the best-selling soundtrack). I guessed who it was, and got excited! Sure enough, it was T-Bone Burnett! (That guy is TALL in person. Admittedly, I've never seen a photo or any other depiction of him, so I didn't have nay preconceived notions about his physical self. But seeing him next to Plant, he has some height on him.) He played some songs with them, and hung around in the upstage area near the band for the rest of the time. At one point, Burnett said that although he didn't know French, he did know Creole, before launching into "Laissez les Bons Temps Roulez". Krauss sang "Down to the River to Pray", from the "O Brother" soundtrack, and she sang into one microphone, and Plant, Burnett and the bassist (I think) sang into the one next to it. They ended the show with "Gone, Gone, Gone", and exited the stage. There was an immediate standing ovation, and they came back on and performed 3 more songs for an encore.
I managed to get some pictures (even though I was pretty far away). In the majority of them, Kruass is turned toward her band (usually the guitarist) or playing her fiddle, and Plant is in mid-pose while singing. I got some good ones of T-Bone Burnett as he was singing, as well as some with all 3 of them. For those fashion-conscious curious to know, Krauss wore a black, short-sleeved v-neck dress with either thigh-high black boots or black tights with black heels (I was too far away to definitively tell), and Plant had a gray shirt with raspberry-colored pants. T Bone Burnett wore a suit with a white shirt. A few times, Plant almost got into some Led-Zeppelin-esque wails, but didn't give in to the urge (you can hear those on some of the songs on the album). Bottom line: FANTASTIC show, and I'm so glad I went! (In case I'm in North Carolina this summer, I know they're playing the Raleigh RBC Center on July 11th. Any takers?)
The next day (Wednesday) was Sewing with Muriel. She had me resew certain portions of my panels on my dress, as well as press it properly. I ended up spending a great deal of time ironing that thing. (Near the end of class, I had walked over to the window for a minute to get a break from the iron, and Sharon said, "Sarah, haven't you been ironing for, like, half an hour?" I said, "I've been over there most of the day, where've you been?") That took up the entire day, and that night I started drawing up some sketches and flats for Susan that were due on Tuesday.
I also talked with my cousin Hilary, who's coming to visit me
Thursday was Patterns with Anne. She gave us the period to do what we needed, so I decided to get done my technical samples (since the last class with samples was held at the same time as my French class, and I wasn't there). I got all of my samples done, and began organizing them together (attaching them to paper squares, putting them in plastic sleeves), which took most of the class.
After class, I had a lot of errands to do. I went first to Marche Saint-Pierre, for all my fabric needs. I needed a brass zipper about 32 cm long, so I was on the lookout for a mercerie, which sells more interior decorating things. I found one pretty quickly, choosing a zipper that was 35 cm long (since I like to be prepared and have more than needed). Then, I went to Reine and bought red and black canvas in preparation for making Jen's bag. After that, I headed across to Dreyfus where I got some lining for Susan's bag. Then, I took the metro to BHV, where I purchased more bristol paper, as well as black and red thread. I got a vanilla macaroon at Paul nearby, and decided to walk back since it was still early. I also stopped at Monoprix to get the requisite milk, as well as breakfast stuff. That night, I made it my goal to draw up half my illustrations and/or flats for Susan. (We have a collection of 8 beachwear things, so one thing per page for illustrations, and the same for flats is 16 pages.) I accomplished that, and then went to bed.
Friday morning, Jen had me redo my pattern for my clutch, making it larger. She explained to me how to construct it, including something about leaving a hole in the lining. It was a bit confusing to me, but she told me to get as far as I could and let her know before next Friday (when it's due) if/when I had any problems. I spent the rest of class tracing and cutting my pattern pieces out.
I returned that afternoon after lunch to work on my bag for Susan's class, Beliz and I sharing a sewing machine. Around 2 pm, Liz and Ashley came in and they asked me if Andrea had come back to the room that night. I said that I thought she had been in their room, but that turned out not to be the case. They talked for a bit about calling her, and departed sooner after, presumably to do so. (She turned up in the studio later, so she was fine.) I got most of the outer bottom of the bag finished, and layed out pieces for the top, where I'd attach the zipper. I also cut out pieces for the lining, and began sewing some of those together. My productivity was halted around 5 pm, when I ran out of thread while winding a bobbin. So I left and made another trip to BHV to get more thread, as well as plastic sleeves for my technical notebook.
(Something interesting: As in any large store, there's always announcements begin made over the speakers about deals and such. Well, yesterday, I was taking the elevator down, and saw a man in front of me, holding a microphone and speaking into it. It turned out that he was the one making the announcements while walking all around the store, as opposed to sitting in some isolated room! So that was pretty cool. I actually passed him on the kitchenwares floor while taking the escalator, and I was still amused.)
Tonight, I ate dinner and drew up the remaining 8 flats and illustrations. I'm planning to get up early tomorrow to work in the studio. Hopefully, I can get everything done (or near enough) for next week.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Sunday (and the Malaysian Gala!) and Monday
Sunday was another day in the fashion lab. For the first hour, I worked on the volume study that I was supposed to redo for Jen's class (it had been due with the Yohji project). I ended up cutting out two assymmetrical strips of paper, and then pinning them to the mannequin in a way that resembled stair-steps. (Incidentally, it was close to what Jen had been trying to suggest to me to do. Let's hope she likes these better than than my pinned-down attempts at paper cubes I turned in for the Yohji Project:Part 1.) After that, I spent about 4 hours pinning together and sewing up the many curved pieces my dress has. I got the entire front and back sewn up. Sharon happened to come in and was pretty impressed (since she had predicted earlier in the week that I wouldn't finish).
I finished up around 3 pm, so that I could get ready for the Malaysian Embassy Gala that night! I took a nap, showered and got gorgeous. I wore a bronze halter-neck dress, with pleating down the bust and a flounce running down the center front. I went to Nisa's room about 6:30 pm. Not only was she getting ready, but Redza and two other friends of his from LeMans, Fairuz and Changhan, were there as well. So I just sat at the table and talked with Nisa as she curled her hair, and the guys did various things. The cab came to get us at 7 pm, and it was about a 20 minute ride down to the eastern portion of the Seine, where our boat was. We walked a little way out, and finally the guys recognized some other people from the Embassy, so we all stood around and talked and took pictures while waiting to board the boat. (We were easily the best dressed people there, since everyone else was sporting the basic jeans/shorts and tee shirts. We were definitely meriting glances as people walked by.)
We boarded the boat a little after 8 pm, and were called down to the lower level (where the dining room was) soon after that. As we waited for dinner to officially start, we talked and took pictures and generally relaxed. There was a short welcome speech, and then we began with an appetizer while the boat pushed off. Our appetizer was a triangular crispy shell, with beef, spices and cut carrots inside. (It was really good, I finished the whole thing.) While waiting for the main course, we chatted with the other people at the table, with Nisa, Redza and Fairuz occasionally switching into Malay. (This is where I smiled, nodded and laughed when everyone else did.) I also talked with the guy sitting next to me, who was French and of Vietnamese origin. It was pretty interesting. Around this time, dinner came out! It was chicken in some really spicy sauce, served with coconut rice. It was all really good, but I wasn't used to the spiciness, especially since there was only orange juice and not much water to down it with. (I knew I probably wasn't going to eat the entire thing, but I was still pacing myself with a bite of chicken and then a forkful of rice. I did manage most of the chicken, though. Fairuz seemed to be especially impressed with me, since he had warned me that the food was going to be spicy. But I think I gained some respect with eating all of that appetizer. The whole time eating that main dish, I was thinking, "OK, I haven't grown up with this, so obviously I can't play at the same level in one night than they can, having done so throughout their lives".)
After dinner, there were presentations of diplomas for the graduates, who were from all over France. There was also a drawing for prizes. Fairuz and I talked, and he joked about how it was all fixed. Incidentally, he happened to win the next drawing! He came back to his seat with a gold rectangular box, and Changhan took it from him and shook it. Then he just started opening it, and it turned out to be a lamp from IKEA.
Afterwards, we were invited to the top deck for cocktail and enjoyed the view. We all hung out, joked around and took pictures. I talked with Fairuz for a bit and also Chunghan, and it was really interesting. After a while, I went to find Nisa and hung out with her while she and some friends ate some leftovers.
When the boat docked, we got off and took a taxi back to the apartment building. I hung out in the room for a bit, and then went to bed.
Monday was a public holiday, but not for me. It was all about the embroidery. I had 4 panels to do, and I had left those for last because the method they required was a lot less time-consuming than the one used for the first 2 panels. I ended up finishing around 3:30 pm, so I decided to go see the Tour Eiffel! (This was to balance out the fact that I had seen it at night, but not by day.) I took the metro there and walked around the side that faced the river, as well as Trocadero in the 16th arrondissement. (Now I've seen it from both sides!) I walked under it, and up and down the promenade, getting pictures of it as well as the Ecole Militaire, which it faces. I then strolled back along the Seine, stopping in Monoprix for some groceries. That night, I drew up some sketches for Susan. I drew swimsuits (since we're doing beachwear), dresses/cover-ups, shorts, pants, skirts and tops. I had 30 sketches, when we only needed 10, of which we'd (or rather, Susan would) choose 8.
More updates to come, as usual...
I finished up around 3 pm, so that I could get ready for the Malaysian Embassy Gala that night! I took a nap, showered and got gorgeous. I wore a bronze halter-neck dress, with pleating down the bust and a flounce running down the center front. I went to Nisa's room about 6:30 pm. Not only was she getting ready, but Redza and two other friends of his from LeMans, Fairuz and Changhan, were there as well. So I just sat at the table and talked with Nisa as she curled her hair, and the guys did various things. The cab came to get us at 7 pm, and it was about a 20 minute ride down to the eastern portion of the Seine, where our boat was. We walked a little way out, and finally the guys recognized some other people from the Embassy, so we all stood around and talked and took pictures while waiting to board the boat. (We were easily the best dressed people there, since everyone else was sporting the basic jeans/shorts and tee shirts. We were definitely meriting glances as people walked by.)
We boarded the boat a little after 8 pm, and were called down to the lower level (where the dining room was) soon after that. As we waited for dinner to officially start, we talked and took pictures and generally relaxed. There was a short welcome speech, and then we began with an appetizer while the boat pushed off. Our appetizer was a triangular crispy shell, with beef, spices and cut carrots inside. (It was really good, I finished the whole thing.) While waiting for the main course, we chatted with the other people at the table, with Nisa, Redza and Fairuz occasionally switching into Malay. (This is where I smiled, nodded and laughed when everyone else did.) I also talked with the guy sitting next to me, who was French and of Vietnamese origin. It was pretty interesting. Around this time, dinner came out! It was chicken in some really spicy sauce, served with coconut rice. It was all really good, but I wasn't used to the spiciness, especially since there was only orange juice and not much water to down it with. (I knew I probably wasn't going to eat the entire thing, but I was still pacing myself with a bite of chicken and then a forkful of rice. I did manage most of the chicken, though. Fairuz seemed to be especially impressed with me, since he had warned me that the food was going to be spicy. But I think I gained some respect with eating all of that appetizer. The whole time eating that main dish, I was thinking, "OK, I haven't grown up with this, so obviously I can't play at the same level in one night than they can, having done so throughout their lives".)
After dinner, there were presentations of diplomas for the graduates, who were from all over France. There was also a drawing for prizes. Fairuz and I talked, and he joked about how it was all fixed. Incidentally, he happened to win the next drawing! He came back to his seat with a gold rectangular box, and Changhan took it from him and shook it. Then he just started opening it, and it turned out to be a lamp from IKEA.
Afterwards, we were invited to the top deck for cocktail and enjoyed the view. We all hung out, joked around and took pictures. I talked with Fairuz for a bit and also Chunghan, and it was really interesting. After a while, I went to find Nisa and hung out with her while she and some friends ate some leftovers.
When the boat docked, we got off and took a taxi back to the apartment building. I hung out in the room for a bit, and then went to bed.
Monday was a public holiday, but not for me. It was all about the embroidery. I had 4 panels to do, and I had left those for last because the method they required was a lot less time-consuming than the one used for the first 2 panels. I ended up finishing around 3:30 pm, so I decided to go see the Tour Eiffel! (This was to balance out the fact that I had seen it at night, but not by day.) I took the metro there and walked around the side that faced the river, as well as Trocadero in the 16th arrondissement. (Now I've seen it from both sides!) I walked under it, and up and down the promenade, getting pictures of it as well as the Ecole Militaire, which it faces. I then strolled back along the Seine, stopping in Monoprix for some groceries. That night, I drew up some sketches for Susan. I drew swimsuits (since we're doing beachwear), dresses/cover-ups, shorts, pants, skirts and tops. I had 30 sketches, when we only needed 10, of which we'd (or rather, Susan would) choose 8.
More updates to come, as usual...
Monday, May 12, 2008
End of the Week and 1/3 of the Weekend
I've been stalling updating because I've been pretty boring lately. A lot of work and not too much play.
Thursday was another public holiday. (The previous one had been the Fete du Travail, where everyone got off work and school. I think this one was supposed to celebrate the end of WWII in Europe, so to mark it...everyone got off work and school. It's hard to keep track of these when they're marked in the same manner, as well as not having a clear idea of what we're celebrating in the first place.) All I did was work in the fashion lab. Seriously, that was it. (I wasn't alone in this, since Beliz and Ashley were there too.) Tuesday in class, after I told her that Muriel wanted me to outline each and every seam line, Sharon had let me in on another way to get that done: just trace each line so that it appears on the outside (or right side, rather) of each piece. So that was the majority of what I did then, just traced each and every seam line of each and every piece. I got the little ones done first and then the big ones, which took a lot of time, and required me to move them around quite a bit. After that was all done, I started sewing pieces together. By the time I ready to leave (about 5 hours after I had began), I had sewed the top parts of both the front and the back.
Friday was class with Jen. Since I had emailed her earlier in the week with internship interview questions, she asked me how that had went. When class started, she walked around and talked with everyone about how their pattern was coming along and their designs. With my drawings, she approved all of the newer ones, except for the weekend bag. She finally said, "Think of a suitcase". (If she had just said that at the beginning of the project, I would've gotten it that much sooner. Geez, why wait until now, 2 weeks before the project's due date, to bust out that helpful term of identification?) She also had me go down the street to make copies so that I could more effectively (and accurately) make my pattern. I worked on my pattern for the rest of class, cutting out pieces to make the mock-up Jen requested for the next week.
On my way out, I stopped to talk with Peter in the office, asking whether the studio would be open during the weekend (affirmative). Jen was there, and I was asked to tell the others that we'd have class starting at 8 am the next week.
I also got an email from the lady who had interviewed me, saying that they wouldn't be hiring me since they needed someone for May (impossible for me, with a dozen school projects to get done). I was a little upset about it, but oh well.
I spent the rest of the afternoon getting some work done but more relaxing, since I had something big to do that night...go to the ballet!
I had bought a ticket online , and the program was 3 short works, one each by Balanchine, Nuryev and William Forsythe. (I didn't recognize the last name, but I was sold when I was saw Balanchine and more so with Nuryev.) I got dressed up (which I equate with showing respect to the performers), and took the metro to the Opera Bastille, the Opera Garnier's sleeker, more modern younger-generation sister. Since I had reserved a ticket online, an usher directed me to where I needed to pick it up. I found it easily, got my ticket and program and went to take my seat. (My seat was great; it was the last row on the bottom level, against the wall, facing center stage. When I was looking at the plan for buying tickets, I thought I'd be way up in the back, not being able to see anything, but I was in a fantastic area.) While waiting for it to start, I read through the program. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that I could read about all of it (save for a couple of unfamiliar words here and there)! I did notice something interesting here (and have previously): The way that the names are written are tweaked a bit, presumably to aid the French population in the pronunciation. For example, Rudolf Nuryev was the choreographer for the middle pieces. In the program (and every piece of publicity I've seen), his last name is spelled "Noureev". His section of the program also mentions Alexander Pushkin (Russian writer with a notoriously beautiful wife), and his name is Alexandre Pouchkine. No surprises on the first name, but I was little thrown off on the last name. I did figure out who they were talking about, but with the Nuryev biography, I had to read through it to make sure it was the same guy. (It kind of reminded me of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer buys a car that he thinks was previously owned by Jon Voight-the actor, but was instead owned by John Voight-the nobody.) Balanchine and Forsythe didn't get changed, though. Maybe it's just the really Eastern-European/Russian names. (Then I guess that Anna Pavlova would become Anne Pavlove, or something like that.)
The lights went down, and the usual announcements were made about flash cameras, cell phones, etc. (Again, I was happy to discover that I knew what they were saying. This was big since hearing is not my best way of absorbing and comprehension.) The curtain went up to show 2 dancers, one male and one female, center stage against a blue backdrop. They looked at each other and gracefully ran offstage, and then the curtain went down. I thought it was all part of the act, but then the same announcer came back and said that there were some technical difficulties and that they'd be resuming shortly. After about 5-10 minutes, I guess that everything had turned out OK, since they resumed performing. The piece was Balanchine's "The Four Temperaments" (though I'm pretty sure that all of the temperaments were performed). The dancers performed primarily in formations of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10. It was pretty interesting, but not my favorite. (Clearly, it hasn't stuck that well in my head, since I'm writing this 3 days later). The second piece was a series of extracts from the ballet "Raymonda", choreographed by Nuryev. Apparently the ballet is Eastern-European, or at least set there, given the clues of the music (which sounded a bit like the Mother Russia dance from "The Nutcracker", or the Casse-Noisette, as it's called here) and costumes (lots of red and gold, with the company wearing pleated skirts and boots). The set had a platform running across upstage, with chandelier lights hanging above. This middle section of the 3 favorites was my favorite. The dancing was great, the music was very lively and I really liked the costumes. Another thing was that the program said specifically that it (well, the dances) was/were of Hungarian origin. Being Hungarian and very interested in my heritage, I thought that was pretty cool (since I feel like it's kind of under-represented). I'd love to go to Hungary (and the Ukraine) sometime for a visit and learn more, that'd be so cool. I don't know if I'd be able to find out much about my family, but still, I'd love to go. (I think we were pretty much peasants/farmers/poor folk before coming over here around 1900 or so. I know we have the equivalent of Smith in Hungarian-which would be "Novak", Grandma Homzak's maiden name-running on our side, so I'm not sure how likely it would be to find ancestors. I found that out because when I was about 12, I asked my mom if we were related to Kim Novak, and that entertaining thought was shot down pretty quickly. One thing I do know, if I have kids, and I have a daughter-or more than one-, the one or one of them is getting named something really Slavic. I think Nadia's a good one.)
(My program tells me that "Raymonda" was created specifically for the Opera National Ballet of Paris back in 1983. A homecoming, very cool.)
Then, after the intermission, was the "Artifact Suite", by William Forsythe. This one was easily the most avant-garde. It opened with the entire company standing outlining 3 sides of the stage (except the one that faced the audience), following arm motions made by a woman standing downstage with her back to the audience. In the space between them, 2 couples danced, but not synchornically, which made it a bit hard to follow since I wanted to look at both of them at once. Oh, the dancers were all wearing nude leotards too (although some of them switched to light blue later in the act). There were 2 large lights on stage, shining into the center. There were a bunch of little vignettes, with the dancers changing positions and the lighting changing, sometimes shining through like light through blinds' slats. The dancing here was very kinetic and angular. The whole mood seemed very dystopian and bleak, especially with everyone following a leader.
So, in order of favorite to least of the pieces, my thoughts were the "Raymonda" extracts, "Artifact Suite" and the "Four Temperaments".
I love going to the ballet, and I wish I could more often. (Until now, I hadn't gone for almost 4 years, the last time being when I saw "Coppelia" in Raleigh.) I still wish I'd continued with dancing when we moved to Charlotte, but the 'rents decided to place me in softball (thanks a lot). From what I'm told, I was really shy as a kid (well, I remember that), but when I got on stage for ballet, I wasn't shy at all and did pretty well (which was not exactly the case with softball, the doing-well part) . I wonder sometimes how good I would've gotten had I been allowed to continue. I doubt it would've been principal dancer or anything, but still.
Saturday, I went in to work more on my dress. I actually got the entire front and back finished (which was a feat, considering it was a bunch of sewing curved lines together) after a good 5 hours of working. Afterwards, I went to ask Peter something, and he asked about my interview. I told him that it turned out that someone was needed for May. He then asked me if I thought I'd be able to work AND get all of my work done, and I replied that that was not too likely. He also told me that Muriel was talking with people at Lanvin and Givenchy, so not to totally give up hope here (but it's very cautious hope). So, as always, we'll see what happens...
After that, I went to Monoprix to get food and stopped in Gilbert Joseph to look around. I saw that they one had 2 copies left of the book of Moliere's complete works that I wanted, so I decided to go Tuesday on my lunch break (since it's a public holiday Monday and won't be open). Sunday night was the Malaysian Embassy Gala, but it's getting late, so I'll update that later. (I'm sure you guys are hungrily anticipating reading about it!)
Thursday was another public holiday. (The previous one had been the Fete du Travail, where everyone got off work and school. I think this one was supposed to celebrate the end of WWII in Europe, so to mark it...everyone got off work and school. It's hard to keep track of these when they're marked in the same manner, as well as not having a clear idea of what we're celebrating in the first place.) All I did was work in the fashion lab. Seriously, that was it. (I wasn't alone in this, since Beliz and Ashley were there too.) Tuesday in class, after I told her that Muriel wanted me to outline each and every seam line, Sharon had let me in on another way to get that done: just trace each line so that it appears on the outside (or right side, rather) of each piece. So that was the majority of what I did then, just traced each and every seam line of each and every piece. I got the little ones done first and then the big ones, which took a lot of time, and required me to move them around quite a bit. After that was all done, I started sewing pieces together. By the time I ready to leave (about 5 hours after I had began), I had sewed the top parts of both the front and the back.
Friday was class with Jen. Since I had emailed her earlier in the week with internship interview questions, she asked me how that had went. When class started, she walked around and talked with everyone about how their pattern was coming along and their designs. With my drawings, she approved all of the newer ones, except for the weekend bag. She finally said, "Think of a suitcase". (If she had just said that at the beginning of the project, I would've gotten it that much sooner. Geez, why wait until now, 2 weeks before the project's due date, to bust out that helpful term of identification?) She also had me go down the street to make copies so that I could more effectively (and accurately) make my pattern. I worked on my pattern for the rest of class, cutting out pieces to make the mock-up Jen requested for the next week.
On my way out, I stopped to talk with Peter in the office, asking whether the studio would be open during the weekend (affirmative). Jen was there, and I was asked to tell the others that we'd have class starting at 8 am the next week.
I also got an email from the lady who had interviewed me, saying that they wouldn't be hiring me since they needed someone for May (impossible for me, with a dozen school projects to get done). I was a little upset about it, but oh well.
I spent the rest of the afternoon getting some work done but more relaxing, since I had something big to do that night...go to the ballet!
I had bought a ticket online , and the program was 3 short works, one each by Balanchine, Nuryev and William Forsythe. (I didn't recognize the last name, but I was sold when I was saw Balanchine and more so with Nuryev.) I got dressed up (which I equate with showing respect to the performers), and took the metro to the Opera Bastille, the Opera Garnier's sleeker, more modern younger-generation sister. Since I had reserved a ticket online, an usher directed me to where I needed to pick it up. I found it easily, got my ticket and program and went to take my seat. (My seat was great; it was the last row on the bottom level, against the wall, facing center stage. When I was looking at the plan for buying tickets, I thought I'd be way up in the back, not being able to see anything, but I was in a fantastic area.) While waiting for it to start, I read through the program. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that I could read about all of it (save for a couple of unfamiliar words here and there)! I did notice something interesting here (and have previously): The way that the names are written are tweaked a bit, presumably to aid the French population in the pronunciation. For example, Rudolf Nuryev was the choreographer for the middle pieces. In the program (and every piece of publicity I've seen), his last name is spelled "Noureev". His section of the program also mentions Alexander Pushkin (Russian writer with a notoriously beautiful wife), and his name is Alexandre Pouchkine. No surprises on the first name, but I was little thrown off on the last name. I did figure out who they were talking about, but with the Nuryev biography, I had to read through it to make sure it was the same guy. (It kind of reminded me of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer buys a car that he thinks was previously owned by Jon Voight-the actor, but was instead owned by John Voight-the nobody.) Balanchine and Forsythe didn't get changed, though. Maybe it's just the really Eastern-European/Russian names. (Then I guess that Anna Pavlova would become Anne Pavlove, or something like that.)
The lights went down, and the usual announcements were made about flash cameras, cell phones, etc. (Again, I was happy to discover that I knew what they were saying. This was big since hearing is not my best way of absorbing and comprehension.) The curtain went up to show 2 dancers, one male and one female, center stage against a blue backdrop. They looked at each other and gracefully ran offstage, and then the curtain went down. I thought it was all part of the act, but then the same announcer came back and said that there were some technical difficulties and that they'd be resuming shortly. After about 5-10 minutes, I guess that everything had turned out OK, since they resumed performing. The piece was Balanchine's "The Four Temperaments" (though I'm pretty sure that all of the temperaments were performed). The dancers performed primarily in formations of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10. It was pretty interesting, but not my favorite. (Clearly, it hasn't stuck that well in my head, since I'm writing this 3 days later). The second piece was a series of extracts from the ballet "Raymonda", choreographed by Nuryev. Apparently the ballet is Eastern-European, or at least set there, given the clues of the music (which sounded a bit like the Mother Russia dance from "The Nutcracker", or the Casse-Noisette, as it's called here) and costumes (lots of red and gold, with the company wearing pleated skirts and boots). The set had a platform running across upstage, with chandelier lights hanging above. This middle section of the 3 favorites was my favorite. The dancing was great, the music was very lively and I really liked the costumes. Another thing was that the program said specifically that it (well, the dances) was/were of Hungarian origin. Being Hungarian and very interested in my heritage, I thought that was pretty cool (since I feel like it's kind of under-represented). I'd love to go to Hungary (and the Ukraine) sometime for a visit and learn more, that'd be so cool. I don't know if I'd be able to find out much about my family, but still, I'd love to go. (I think we were pretty much peasants/farmers/poor folk before coming over here around 1900 or so. I know we have the equivalent of Smith in Hungarian-which would be "Novak", Grandma Homzak's maiden name-running on our side, so I'm not sure how likely it would be to find ancestors. I found that out because when I was about 12, I asked my mom if we were related to Kim Novak, and that entertaining thought was shot down pretty quickly. One thing I do know, if I have kids, and I have a daughter-or more than one-, the one or one of them is getting named something really Slavic. I think Nadia's a good one.)
(My program tells me that "Raymonda" was created specifically for the Opera National Ballet of Paris back in 1983. A homecoming, very cool.)
Then, after the intermission, was the "Artifact Suite", by William Forsythe. This one was easily the most avant-garde. It opened with the entire company standing outlining 3 sides of the stage (except the one that faced the audience), following arm motions made by a woman standing downstage with her back to the audience. In the space between them, 2 couples danced, but not synchornically, which made it a bit hard to follow since I wanted to look at both of them at once. Oh, the dancers were all wearing nude leotards too (although some of them switched to light blue later in the act). There were 2 large lights on stage, shining into the center. There were a bunch of little vignettes, with the dancers changing positions and the lighting changing, sometimes shining through like light through blinds' slats. The dancing here was very kinetic and angular. The whole mood seemed very dystopian and bleak, especially with everyone following a leader.
So, in order of favorite to least of the pieces, my thoughts were the "Raymonda" extracts, "Artifact Suite" and the "Four Temperaments".
I love going to the ballet, and I wish I could more often. (Until now, I hadn't gone for almost 4 years, the last time being when I saw "Coppelia" in Raleigh.) I still wish I'd continued with dancing when we moved to Charlotte, but the 'rents decided to place me in softball (thanks a lot). From what I'm told, I was really shy as a kid (well, I remember that), but when I got on stage for ballet, I wasn't shy at all and did pretty well (which was not exactly the case with softball, the doing-well part) . I wonder sometimes how good I would've gotten had I been allowed to continue. I doubt it would've been principal dancer or anything, but still.
Saturday, I went in to work more on my dress. I actually got the entire front and back finished (which was a feat, considering it was a bunch of sewing curved lines together) after a good 5 hours of working. Afterwards, I went to ask Peter something, and he asked about my interview. I told him that it turned out that someone was needed for May. He then asked me if I thought I'd be able to work AND get all of my work done, and I replied that that was not too likely. He also told me that Muriel was talking with people at Lanvin and Givenchy, so not to totally give up hope here (but it's very cautious hope). So, as always, we'll see what happens...
After that, I went to Monoprix to get food and stopped in Gilbert Joseph to look around. I saw that they one had 2 copies left of the book of Moliere's complete works that I wanted, so I decided to go Tuesday on my lunch break (since it's a public holiday Monday and won't be open). Sunday night was the Malaysian Embassy Gala, but it's getting late, so I'll update that later. (I'm sure you guys are hungrily anticipating reading about it!)
Friday, May 9, 2008
Wednesday's Interview
Here's what happened:
I had discovered the previous day that getting to the place alone took 40-50 minutes, and when I factored in getting ready and allowing for unforeseen circumstances, I decided to skip class Wednesday morning in favor of my 12 pm interview. So I got up an hour later than usual (which would be 9 pm), asked Andrea to tell Muriel I had an interview, and took a shower and got gorgeous. (Actually, I just got pretty. Gorgeous is for attracting the guys.) I then got my stuff together and took the RER and metros to the 19th and the apartment complex. I got there and there were a few different buildings (that all looked the same), and I didn't know which one to go into. I asked a man working in one of them, and he, thankfully, pointed me in the correct direction. I got there and went up to the 2nd floor, as specified by the address which I had jotted down before leaving. None of the doors had numbers, so I resorted to ringing doorbells and inquiring within. Nobody with the interviewer's name lived there. Feeling a bit confused (and panicked), I went back down to the ground floor. I walked through it until I saw another elevator at the opposite end. I took that up to the second floor and did the same thing. Again, no luck. At that point, I passed some mailboxes. I backtracked and began studying the nameplates, hoping one of them matched up. Fortunately, one did, so I pressed the button, and introduced myself, saying that I had an appointment. I got buzzed in, and the apartment was on the ground floor. (It turned out that what I was reading as the level was actually the building number.) I went inside, and there was a table set up with lots of little trinkets of jewelry, with bags hanging underneath. She was helping a couple of girls as I came in, so I hung back and looked at the jewelry. I really liked the fact that at a first glance, it seems really sweet and dainty, but a second glance reveals that it's pretty naughty and subversive. (One example is a bronze chain with a cameo-esque oval. Within the oval, delicate script spelled out, "fuck you".) I also really liked the macaroon jewelry (macaroons as pendants, earrings, bracelets and keychains). Once the girls finished shopping and left, we sat down and she asked me questions. First, I was asked about my French experience and then about my design background. I showed her some of my jewelry and shoe designs from Jen's class, and she seemed to like them, calling the space-inspired ones "cute". Then, she explained that I'd be mostly responsible for making the jewelry and helping with sales. She asked if that sounded interesting, and I told her that it sounded great. I was then told that I'd hear an answer by then end of the week. Since it went pretty well, I felt confident.
Oh, did I mention that this interview was conducted ENTIRELY in French? Yeah, it was. Well, except for one part, where I didn't recognize what a word was and she told me in English. Later, though, I thought about it, and realized that I knew the terms she was using, so I felt like an idiot.)
The interview lasted about 45 minutes, and by the time I got back to my apartment, it was already after 1:30 pm. I ate lunch, and then went out to do errands. While leaving the building, I ran into Redza, Nisa's boyfriend, and we chatted for a few minutes. Then, I ran into Peter and Agnes on the street, and I talked with them about how my interview had gone. Finally getting back to my mission, I went to Reine to get some canvas samples for the future clutch, as well as Berty's to get a couple of display books so that I could start drawing up my (revised) Yohji and (new) accessories sketches.
So yeah, that's how that went.
I had discovered the previous day that getting to the place alone took 40-50 minutes, and when I factored in getting ready and allowing for unforeseen circumstances, I decided to skip class Wednesday morning in favor of my 12 pm interview. So I got up an hour later than usual (which would be 9 pm), asked Andrea to tell Muriel I had an interview, and took a shower and got gorgeous. (Actually, I just got pretty. Gorgeous is for attracting the guys.) I then got my stuff together and took the RER and metros to the 19th and the apartment complex. I got there and there were a few different buildings (that all looked the same), and I didn't know which one to go into. I asked a man working in one of them, and he, thankfully, pointed me in the correct direction. I got there and went up to the 2nd floor, as specified by the address which I had jotted down before leaving. None of the doors had numbers, so I resorted to ringing doorbells and inquiring within. Nobody with the interviewer's name lived there. Feeling a bit confused (and panicked), I went back down to the ground floor. I walked through it until I saw another elevator at the opposite end. I took that up to the second floor and did the same thing. Again, no luck. At that point, I passed some mailboxes. I backtracked and began studying the nameplates, hoping one of them matched up. Fortunately, one did, so I pressed the button, and introduced myself, saying that I had an appointment. I got buzzed in, and the apartment was on the ground floor. (It turned out that what I was reading as the level was actually the building number.) I went inside, and there was a table set up with lots of little trinkets of jewelry, with bags hanging underneath. She was helping a couple of girls as I came in, so I hung back and looked at the jewelry. I really liked the fact that at a first glance, it seems really sweet and dainty, but a second glance reveals that it's pretty naughty and subversive. (One example is a bronze chain with a cameo-esque oval. Within the oval, delicate script spelled out, "fuck you".) I also really liked the macaroon jewelry (macaroons as pendants, earrings, bracelets and keychains). Once the girls finished shopping and left, we sat down and she asked me questions. First, I was asked about my French experience and then about my design background. I showed her some of my jewelry and shoe designs from Jen's class, and she seemed to like them, calling the space-inspired ones "cute". Then, she explained that I'd be mostly responsible for making the jewelry and helping with sales. She asked if that sounded interesting, and I told her that it sounded great. I was then told that I'd hear an answer by then end of the week. Since it went pretty well, I felt confident.
Oh, did I mention that this interview was conducted ENTIRELY in French? Yeah, it was. Well, except for one part, where I didn't recognize what a word was and she told me in English. Later, though, I thought about it, and realized that I knew the terms she was using, so I felt like an idiot.)
The interview lasted about 45 minutes, and by the time I got back to my apartment, it was already after 1:30 pm. I ate lunch, and then went out to do errands. While leaving the building, I ran into Redza, Nisa's boyfriend, and we chatted for a few minutes. Then, I ran into Peter and Agnes on the street, and I talked with them about how my interview had gone. Finally getting back to my mission, I went to Reine to get some canvas samples for the future clutch, as well as Berty's to get a couple of display books so that I could start drawing up my (revised) Yohji and (new) accessories sketches.
So yeah, that's how that went.
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