Monday morning, we had Sewing 2, with Muriel, who was back from Mexico. (Muriel requests that we speak in French to her as much as possible, so it'll be challenging and definitely help me get better.) Muriel had us introduce ourselves to her and then had us do an exercise where we sewed straight lines at equal distances apart on a square of muslin (or toile, as it's called here). After we were all done in the afternoon, someone asked our grades on the assignment, and Muriel lined up our samples from best to worst...and mine happened to be the best! (I think I got something like a 15 out of 20.)
In the afternoon, I attempted to work on my corset. The last time Anne had fitted me, she had told me just to revise the side panels, and it would be fine. I told Muriel that I needed to be re-fitted, and she fit the corset around me. Last week, when Anne had fit me, she had me getting fitted in my bra so that it was skin-tight. Muriel, on the other hand, seemed to be fitting me loosely (with my shirt on). I asked her a couple of times if it would be better if I removed my shirt so that we could get a more accurate measurement, and she kept telling me that it was unnecessary. After seeing that the new corset didn't fit, Muriel took my measurements again and ended up taking away an inch off my bust and adding 6 to my waist. First she made a crack, insinuating I was eating too much fast food (eww) and then asked who took my measurements. (I told her it was Ana, who-conveniently-wasn't there.) Now, I'm worried that if Anne refits this 2nd new corset on me, the measurements will be screwed up again. The rest of the class, I kept sewing up the side panels and ripping out the uneven seams. (For some reason, I seem to have a real problem with "match lines together, pin together, sew on said lines". I hope this gets better.)
(Random question of the day: Nisa, knowing I was from the Southern part of the U.S., asked me if I called my mom "Mama". I had to tell her that my parents weren't from the South, and so we aren't really cultural Southern. I can see where she would think so, since the rest of the world's education on the South comes from "Gone with the Wind"-which I believe has this element-and "Deliverance".
We can add that to Nisa telling Liz that she facially resembles Britney Spears and later asking her if she's "ever punched a guy".)
After the afternoon period, we had art history, which was all the regular students' presentations. I met a girl in interior design named Eva, who had previously studied at SCAD, so that was cool.
After class, I started doodling out some embroidery motifs (we needed 5 for the next day), and made some dinner. (I made some sausage with rice. It was not impressive. I think I can safely say that I will not be using 4-course home-cooked meals as a future seduction technique-as we women are generally encouraged to do.) I also embroidered a bit, since we also needed to show Susan a sample. I crumpled a piece of fabric and sewed bits and pieces of it down. (My idea was to use the embroidery to show shadows with the scroll stitch and highlights with the running stitch.) To take my mind off the tedium, I watched a few episodes of The Venture Brothers online (because whenever I do something as blatantly feminine as embroidery, I have to do some relatively dude-like for balance).
On getting into class this morning (Tuesday), I decided to embroider a line of shadow, rather than the spots I had. I was embroidering as Susan came in (I thought that was good timing on my part). Susan then went around the room, and looked at our samples. I was second, and surprisingly, it didn't go too bad. She told me to get some lighter fabric and that I should focus on the simpler stitches (thank God). She also showed me how to do a French knot, possibly to use in embroidering the bra. I then spent most of the period practicing the French knots. Susan was getting progressively frustrated with our whole class while she was looking at our work; she even asked us if we were all going out clubbing instead of getting our work done. (Later, Sharon and I agreed that Susan doesn't seem to have an accurate grasp on how much time her embroidery works takes, on top of everything else we have to do). A little while into it, I was having trouble with the French knots and got up to ask her. While showing me a second time, she asked me if I frequently forgot things that were taught to me 5 minutes before (my thought: "no, just embroidery stitches that I will never use again, outside of this class"), and when I persisted in doing it wrong, she dramatically turned her back to me and wailed (at least it made for a valuable addition to my burgeoning impression of her). Later, when checking on our supplies/ideas for our pants or skirt, she really liked the gloves and wool samples that I had gotten, but then verbally reamed me (albeit very minorly this time) for not going to the big department stores and getting ideas for details ("sorry, I was doing the rest of your work during the daylight working hours, and I'm not important enough to ask them to hold the store open for me after-hours").
Something cool happened too. One of Peter's assistants came in, talked with Susan for a bit, and then Susan turned to us and said, "Well folks, it looks like you're going to a fashion show." AWESOME!!! She then said that it started at 12:30 pm, and we could just miss an hour of the afternoon and come back. Most of our class went, all except Nisa and Rikard. I rode the bus over with Sharon, Ashley, Liz and Andrea.
It was in the Carousel du Louvre, in one of the rooms (Liz and Andrea had gone to a fashion show Sunday morning in about the same place), and it was for Marithe and Francois Girbaud. We had to wait outside for awhile (fashion shows never start on time), so Sharon and I talked for most of that time. Liz, Ashley and Andrea ended up on one side (by ducking under a velvet rope) and Sharon and I ended up across from them. We presented our invitations to one of the (very well-dressed guys) who were evidentally doing security. (I would've been content to just stand and look at them for awhile! One big perk of fashion: Gorgeous men!) We stood in the back, but fortunately the stage/catwalk was big enough so that I could get a full view of the entire outfit as the models were walking towards backstage. Oh, also beforehand, some (old) guy near us asked Sharon if she was a model!
Before the show started, there was a backdrop/lights across the back depicting a scientifically-accurate rendering of the starts and universe, along with a mechanical draft of a spacecraft (I don't know what it actually was-like anyone else had any clue either-but it sure looked cool!) So the lights went down (anticipation!) and came up (here we go!). The theme was definitely space/sci-fi, similar of Star Wars and Firefly (for me, at least). (Random question: Why does it seem, in every space-western story set in the future, the characters are all in rags? Seriously, they're all in, like, burlap sacks. So we're supposed to believe that technology has progressed at roughly the same rate fashion has regressed-back into the Stone Age? I ask Joss Whedon this.) Oh, and speaking of Star Wars, the theme song was definitely played! It was awesome, and reminded me why I love this profession (well, that's not the whole reason, but part of it). But seriously, the music was really cool. Overall, I totally got what the designers were going for. Sharon recognized a model that she identified as Omahyra Mota, who apparently is huge here and in New York. (Interesting fact: According to Wikipedia, her sister was in a movie called G.I. Jesus. I wonder, if they made sequels, they'd be called G.I. Jesii? That was just for you, Mark, I hope that you thoroughly enjoyed that.)
After the show (which lasted about half an hour), we 5 went back to class, joining Nisa and Rikard. During the afternoon, we had to show Susan our 30 sketches for the disco, cocktail and Cannes dress. I was a little worried, given Susan's reaction to my embroidery, but she really liked me! (Quote: "You've got some really nice stuff here".) The first thing she said was, "It's so nice to see some clean sketches".She told me to draw about 4 more in each cateogry for the next class, and told me to expand and "go further" on some of the ones. So, phew! (I'm rationalizing on this by thinking that my designs are one of my strong points, and embroidery not. So I hold Susan's praise of my (admittedly awesome) flats in higher regard than her frustration with the fact that I am hopeless at embroidery. I just think/know that my flats will benefit me more in the future than a few fancy stitches. I'm more interested in getting better at my designs/craftsmanship than my embroidery.)
Also, at the end of class, Nisa invited me to go to Chinatown with her and her boyfriend, but I had French and I couldn't go, so I was bummed about missing that.
In French, we read a newspaper feature where 5 young people were interviewed about their jobs. We analyzed the vocabulary and learned about the intricities (as much as we could understand in regular simple vocabulary) of the French job system.
After class, I decided to go to Galleries Lafayette and Printemps to go do some research on mens' trousers (since Susan had told us that we'd be drafting our patterns on Thursday). I took the metro there and happened to exit the station right in front of Printemps. Once inside, I asked someone where the mens' section was, and she directed me. I found it on the fourth floor, and wandered around for a bit, looking at the pants. I was there about 45 minutes before they closed, and was pretty much the only person on that floor. I attempted to sketch a bit of a pant detail, only to be told by a lady who worked there that photos and drawings weren't allowed. (So much for that idea, back to the trusty internet-the one that Susan hates!)
I cam back, ate some dinner, wrote this whole thing and will call my Grandma and Grandpa Ewald later tonight...
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Questions of Economics
A few questions have been rattling around in my head for a little while:
1) Peter had told us during our van tour that Sarkozy (the French president) had enacted an monetary incentive for the French to reproduce. (Apparently, the birth rate has been steadily declining.) For every child, the French government will give the parents money to help with expenses. My question: What is the level-off point here? (My guess is 5 children.)
(Peter said that someone's already abused the system, claiming to fathered something like 60 children.)
Also, is there a differentiation between children born of a marriage and children born out of wedlock? I'm pretty sure in the US, if there wasn't a differentiation between the two, there'd be a big outcry amongst the conservatives, Christian and otherwise. It's just that since I'd heard about this, the emphasis was always on progeny, not marriage. I think I'll look into this...
2) That same day, on our van ride, we stopped at Trocadero, by the Eiffel Tower (La Tour Eiffel). There were a few people there selling souvenirs. If someone was to buy a souvenir, how would one decide who to buy it from? They're selling the same things at the same location, at the same price; how do they stay competitive? (I wanted to ask one while I was there, but couldn't remember what the verb "to stay" was.)
3) In microeconomics last year, we learned about the difference between "inferior" and "normal" goods. An "inferior" good is in demand when one's income is low; examples we discussed in class included cigarettes and public transportation. As income increases, customer demand shifts into "normal" goods, i.e. higher income begats better quality things, such as better school, cars, etc. A person can now afford to things they couldn't before, and so can leave the "inferior" goods behind.
Here, it seems everyone smokes and takes public transportation, 2 examples of what micro says are inferior goods. Yet it seems that this is the norm, rather than "inferior". So does the majority of the population over here have incomes that relegate them to partaking of "inferior" goods, or is it a matter of convenience (in the case of public transportation) and/or culture (for cigarettes and/or the buses and metros)?
Also, what is the tipping point (to borrow Malcolm Gladwell's phrase) in this kind of thing? What differentiates an "inferior" good from a cultural norm, and how is it defined? When is it defined? Is it by strict numerical estimation, or a rough estimate?
So did I learn micro last year from the point of view solely from the US point of view? If I took an economics class here, would I learn the opposite thing?
1) Peter had told us during our van tour that Sarkozy (the French president) had enacted an monetary incentive for the French to reproduce. (Apparently, the birth rate has been steadily declining.) For every child, the French government will give the parents money to help with expenses. My question: What is the level-off point here? (My guess is 5 children.)
(Peter said that someone's already abused the system, claiming to fathered something like 60 children.)
Also, is there a differentiation between children born of a marriage and children born out of wedlock? I'm pretty sure in the US, if there wasn't a differentiation between the two, there'd be a big outcry amongst the conservatives, Christian and otherwise. It's just that since I'd heard about this, the emphasis was always on progeny, not marriage. I think I'll look into this...
2) That same day, on our van ride, we stopped at Trocadero, by the Eiffel Tower (La Tour Eiffel). There were a few people there selling souvenirs. If someone was to buy a souvenir, how would one decide who to buy it from? They're selling the same things at the same location, at the same price; how do they stay competitive? (I wanted to ask one while I was there, but couldn't remember what the verb "to stay" was.)
3) In microeconomics last year, we learned about the difference between "inferior" and "normal" goods. An "inferior" good is in demand when one's income is low; examples we discussed in class included cigarettes and public transportation. As income increases, customer demand shifts into "normal" goods, i.e. higher income begats better quality things, such as better school, cars, etc. A person can now afford to things they couldn't before, and so can leave the "inferior" goods behind.
Here, it seems everyone smokes and takes public transportation, 2 examples of what micro says are inferior goods. Yet it seems that this is the norm, rather than "inferior". So does the majority of the population over here have incomes that relegate them to partaking of "inferior" goods, or is it a matter of convenience (in the case of public transportation) and/or culture (for cigarettes and/or the buses and metros)?
Also, what is the tipping point (to borrow Malcolm Gladwell's phrase) in this kind of thing? What differentiates an "inferior" good from a cultural norm, and how is it defined? When is it defined? Is it by strict numerical estimation, or a rough estimate?
So did I learn micro last year from the point of view solely from the US point of view? If I took an economics class here, would I learn the opposite thing?
Actual Beginning of School: Part Deux!
(Yeah, I meant to update this earlier-as in Friday/Saturday, but that clearly didn't happen. Well, you guys should be used to reading long passages from me, right?)
OK, starting with Wednesday morning: We had Haute Couture sewing techniques. Our regular teacher (which will be Muriel) wasn't there (apparently she was doing something in Mexico), so Anne subbed in for us today. We four just worked on our jackets that we had started the week previously. I again had some trouble with the sewing machine but I got it fixed quicker than the last time (proof that I'm learning). Anne also showed us how to drape pleats on a mannequin, which I did not get to do since I was working on my jacket. (The thing that was taking up so much time was that I was matching up lines unevenly, so I had to keep ripping out my seams and redoing them, after I rematched up the lines. I hope I get better at this...) At the end of the class, Peter came in with another lady and asked us if we would be interested in going to Premiere Vision sometime Friday (since we didn't have hat-making in the afternoon, it starts February 29th). Premiere Vision is France's big textile convention and is supposed to be pretty exclusive, so naturally we were all interested and intrigued. Peter then asked the lady who accompanied him to explain to the camera (PAA was gathering student interviews, and we had all been interviewed about our work earlier in the morning), and she explained about the upcoming trends for Spring/Summer 2009, first in French (I understood most of what she said) and then in English. After she was done, Peter said that he would talk to Jen about taking us Friday.
When he was finished talking about Premiere Vision, he asked if anyone would be available to stay and work that afternoon. The afternoon was the French 1 class, and since I'm in Level 3, I volunteered. (I still felt bad that I hadn't gotten that jacket done.) It turned out that only Rikard, one of the other students, and I would be able to stay, so I came back at 1 pm. For awhile, it was just Anne and I (since Rikard was downstairs printing out stuff), and I practiced my French with her when I asked questions. (She had asked me before lunch why I was able to stay, and she was impressed when she heard that I was in French 3. Also, the lady who was with Peter overheard and asked me a little about how long I had studied it, etc. She then professed her English to be very bad, but I reassured her that it was good, and everyone understood her. I don't understand why, over here, the French people that I've spoken with so far claim that their English is bad, but it's really not. They're much better at English than I am at French, but I'm sure that's because they use it on a daily basis, unlike myself. Also, earlier after lunch, when I was waiting for Anne to arrive, I talked with another student Tu who was going up one level to the French 1 class. He was also quite impressed that I was in level 3.)
After Liz, Ashley and Andrea were done with class, we decided to go out and get some of our supplies. We had been told by Anne to go to one specific shop called Fil 2000 (pronounced fill-de-mille, like Cecil or Agnes DeMille). (Apparently, this had been a store for textile-industry-types back in the day.) We took the 38 bus and eventually found it. It's pretty tiny, and is bigger heighth-wise than width-wise. There were a lot of people in there, so I used the Ewald elbows to my advantage (but I didn't knock anything over). I finally got what I needed there, and promptly went next door to get more supplies of the traditional-school kind. Eventually, we all finished up and went back to our respective apartments.
Ashley and I decided to do our laundry that night, and met at the laundromat, which is next to my apartment. Some other people were there as well, and turned out to be American students living nearby who were studying at the Sorbonne. We chatted with them for awhile, talking about our respective programs, where we planned to travel, upcoming concert tours, etc. They each seemed agast that our workload thus far didn't allow any time for sightseeing. We assured them that we were just as shocked.
Something really creepy happened too. The guys had left, so it was just Ashley and I there. A homeless guy came in, and asked us for money for cigarettes. We said we didn't have any (I smoothly leaned down and grabbed my purse at this point), the guy mumbled something, and leaned over and spat on the floor. There were no atheists in the laundromat at that point, and there must have been something higher, because he left at that point. Beforehand, Ashley had told me that I could go since I was done with my laundry, and I had refused. So now, with that incident behind us, I was adamant about staying. (We've certainly been getting a lesson in recognizing/limiting interaction with the neighborhood homeless/crazies.)
Thursday morning, we had flat pattern and draping with Anne. We worked on a pattern for a corset! (Interestingly, the words for an 18th-century corset and a 19th-century one are different. I can't remember either of them, but I thought that that was a cool fact.) We made the prototype corset to fit ourselves, so we measured our chests, waists, and "little hips". (Incidentally, that's the last day we've seen Ana, the "5th" girl, who's from Mexico. She's only attended intermittently starting on the Monday of orientation week. Nobody has any idea why she hasn't been showing up. All we know is that she has an apartment near the Louvre-not by school-and lives alone. The first few days she didn't show up are accounted for since she had a plumbing problem, but one day, she was "too tired" to come, and nobody knows about the subsequent days. I'm suspecting that she's a superhero who's too busy out saving the world to attend class, although it'd be a lot more plausible if she had an alliterative alias, i.e. Peter Parker for Spiderman, Warren Worthington III for Angel of X-Men, etc. This is the kind of thing I think about. (Has anyone else noticed that alliterative names seem to be disproportionately prevalent amongst superheroes/graphic-novel characters and musical theatre characters? Look at the evidence: Betty Boop, Archie Andrews, Tracy Turnblad, Hope Harcourt, etc. Someone should look into this.)
I drew out my pattern pieces and sewed them up, calculating the measurements by hand, which basically ensures that I'll screw at least one of them up. Sure enough, my side panel wasn't big enough, which we discovered when I tried it on (Anne had to get Liz to help hold it together). It was pretty skintight: I had to try it on over only my bra, and really suck it in to get an accurate idea. I kept having images of me exhaling, all the stitches bursting Violet-Beauregard-blueberry-style and taking out people with their force. What a way to go that would be. (I decided not to ask any of the other girls if they had been thinking similarly of themselves when they were being fitted.) As it turns out, I subtracted the amount where I should have added it (those signs look way too similar). I drafted the correct piece, ripped out the existing pieces and sewed in the revised ones, and waited for Anne to fit me again.
That morning, I was sitting next to one girl named Sharon, who had sat next to me in French two days before. She and I started talking and talked through pretty much the class about our lives. She's from Zimbabwe, and had gone to an all-girls Anglican boarding school for high school, so we compared notes on our respective schooling/educational experiences. (I'm not sure how many people I've discussed this with, but I refer to schooling and education as 2 different things. I see schooling as learning something that is probably not necessary to an individual person's future/career/future career, i.e. for me, learning Calculuses (calculii?) 1 and 2; and education as things we learn that we will actually use in the future, i.e. the principle of outsourcing, which guarantees that if by some future cosmic joke, I need calculus, I'm paying someone else to do it for me.) She's really cool and funny, and I think it'll be fun to have class and hang out with her. (I also felt quite funny, since she was laughing at what I was saying.)
After lunch, we reconvened for Costume Research. Of the 3 hour class, I spent about 2 hours sitting doing nothing (well, not nothing, since I was having a great time talking with Sharon and another girl Nisa, from Malaysia, the whole time) since I was waiting for Anne to fit my redone corset. At the break, Anne told me that she didn't have time to fit my 2nd corset, so I asked her what I should be doing (since I hate just sitting and doing nothing, wasting time, while waiting for a teacher's help) and she said I could start copying a pattern for the next next project. (The other students had chosen their patterns before their semester break, and Anne had chosen ours for us.) She had picked out a visite (not quite sure what that translates to in English), which is a kind of coat from the 1870s, which is loose-fitting and has large sleeves. The pattern I had chosen had pleats on the sleeve. So I took it to my table and began tracing. However, I encountered a problem (the same one) with each of the 2 pattern pieces. Neither of the pieces had been closed. As in, the each had one line that went off the paper some indeterminate amount, and I had no idea what kind of angle was created. So I drew what I could, and then flagged down Anne to ask her about them. She looked at them, concluded she had made a mistake somehow, and told me that she'd help me Monday.
We four still needed to get supplies for Susan's class (none of us wanted to get called tourists again, especially in that accent) and Nisa had volunteered to show us the best place to go, so after class, we took the bus to Bazar de l'Hotel de Ville (BHV). It's this upscale megastore where you can find anything. We went to find embroidery thread and needles (they had a great selection), and later paid for our purchases. Something I've noticed is that receipts give you your total in both Euros and francs. The thing is that there are a lot more francs to an American dollar than to a Euro. For example, I spent 7.95 in Euros at BHV. That works out to 52.15 in French francs. The thing is that both of these numbers appear on the display at the cash register, and it never fails to give me a mini-heart attack (it only takes minutes off my life, but those add up) when I think I've spent a whole lot more than I have. Now Wikipedia tells me that France adopted the Euro in 1999 ("de-facto in 2002"). So that's around 6-9 years. Who is using francs these days that we need to know how many francs we've spent? Why weren't the cash registers just converted to solely Euros? I'd like to know.
(Oh, right in front of the Hotel de Ville, there's a skating rink set up with igloos, and a lot of families go out there, and it's fun to see. One of these days when I have (gasp) spare time, I want to take my camera and take pictures up there.)
After BHV, we walked to the nearest Monoprix, since I was a little lacking in the food department. We all got food and then took the bus back. I dropped off my stuff in the apartment, and then went to Ashley and Liz's apartment to hang out and watch some Arrested Development episodes before heading back to do some of my 30 sketches.
Friday was Stylism with Jen. We were supposed to bring in inspiration photos of Yohji Yamamoto's work (since that's what our project is based around), so I went to the computer lab before class to print out some photos (I met Ashley doing the same thing). At the beginning of class, Jen told us that we would be sketching ideas for a future Yohji-inspired line until 11 am, and then leaving to go to Premiere Vision. She then took us 4 and Nisa down to register. It turned out that we should have been registered for it about a week beforehand, but we could still go to Mod Amont, a similar convention specializing in trims. The rest of the class-time, I sketched, liking 2 ideas and disliking 2. She had also asked to see our pants/skirt idea sketches, since she and Susan work together. She suggested that I try to find riding-gloves at the flea market.
At 11 am, we got something to eat at the nearest boulangerie (bread shop), since Jen had told us that the food at the convention is expensive. I got a croque monsieur (ham and cheese sandwich) and talked with Ashley, Nisa and Tu. (It turns out Tu's parents live in Washington, D.C., and he has a lot of friends who go to UNC. I had to tell him that my school is not a huge fan of UNC, and was glad that Wake Forest recently beat them.) After eating, we all walked down to the RER station for the 45-minute train ride (it's on the outskirts of Paris, almost as far as Charles de Gaulle). I sat with Sharon and Ashley and had some good conversations.
At Mod Amont, we split up and decided to meet back in half an hour. Sharon and I walked around, talking and looking for interesting things (we had an assignment to write about the 3 most interesting/inspiring things we saw). After meeting back up with everyone, we took the train back and went back to relax.
That night, the 4 of us, along with Nisa and her boyfriend, went out to a Mexican restaurant on St. Severin. It was a street where cars weren't allowed, and I had the feeling that I had been there before. (I'm pretty sure that it was the same place where the theatre that shows Ionesco's Bald Soprano is. I plan to go back and find it eventually.) It was fun, I had chicken tacos and some tapioca for dessert. After dinner, Andrea and Liz got crepes (Liz breaking her no-Nutella stance, after 4 days). Then I went back to Liz and Ashley's apartment, and hung out there for awhile.
Saturday, the 4 of us went fabric shopping, since we all needed samples for the evening dress and the pants or skirt. After getting a little lost, we took the bus to the 18th arrondissement where all the fabric places are. (The first one we went to was one that my mom and I had been to about a year and a half earlier.) We just got samples, so we had to grab an employee and walk them over to what we needed (instead of bringing it to the counter). I got my 2 wool samples and bra sample at Dreyfus, and my 2 evening wear samples at Reine. After getting back, I drew the majority of my evening wear flats, leaving only 2 to do the next day.
(Oh yeah, when I went to Ed that evening, the one employee who had talked to me earlier recognized me and talked to me again...for awhile. He did ask me what I was doing later, and if I had a cell, but I said I had to do some work. I'm just not interested in him, and now I'm afraid it's going to be awkward whenever I go, since that's the nearest grocery store.
Another thing is that an older French lady spoke to me as well. She asked me if I could write down stuff accurately when hearing it, and I told her that I was better at seeing it. No idea what that was about...)
Today (Sunday), I wanted to go to the flea market to get a pair of gloves, as Jen had suggested I do. I planned my route, got to the correct metro station...and promptly realized that I had left my trusty map in my room. Fortunately, I wasn't that far away, and so went back and got it (feeling like an idiot the whole way). I took the metro to the last stop on the line, and followed the crowd to the multiple marches aux puces (flea markets). I decided to walk up and down the street where most of them were. It felt great to be conversing in French and be understood, and to understand what was being said. I kept finding the same gloves: black or white, of a thin material, not riding gloves at all. I kept looking and went into one place where we had gone with Nolwenn a couple of weeks ago. There I found these black elbow-length (opera-length?) gloves with eyelet-cutout detailing waving up the length of it. They were the most original things I had seen all day, but I looked around a little more just to be sure. I eventually went back to get them (they were 30 Euro, since one glove had a rip along the palm), and went back to the metro station.
On my way back walking along Boulevard Montparnasse, I was stopped by an elderly lady and asked for directions to the Val de Grace hospital. I told her that I only knew the church and not the hospital. (I knew it would happen sometime. For anyone who doesn't know, everyone in our family gets asked for directions, especially if we're in a place we've never been before. My dad got asked for directions around Italy after he had been there a mere 2 hours. My theory on this is that our family line has survived for so long because we look like we know what we're doing/what's going on to the point where others believe it and follow our lead.)
I thought that was cool.
I got an eclair when I got back (we have the rare boulangerie that's open on Sundays), and have since written this blog entry.
OK, starting with Wednesday morning: We had Haute Couture sewing techniques. Our regular teacher (which will be Muriel) wasn't there (apparently she was doing something in Mexico), so Anne subbed in for us today. We four just worked on our jackets that we had started the week previously. I again had some trouble with the sewing machine but I got it fixed quicker than the last time (proof that I'm learning). Anne also showed us how to drape pleats on a mannequin, which I did not get to do since I was working on my jacket. (The thing that was taking up so much time was that I was matching up lines unevenly, so I had to keep ripping out my seams and redoing them, after I rematched up the lines. I hope I get better at this...) At the end of the class, Peter came in with another lady and asked us if we would be interested in going to Premiere Vision sometime Friday (since we didn't have hat-making in the afternoon, it starts February 29th). Premiere Vision is France's big textile convention and is supposed to be pretty exclusive, so naturally we were all interested and intrigued. Peter then asked the lady who accompanied him to explain to the camera (PAA was gathering student interviews, and we had all been interviewed about our work earlier in the morning), and she explained about the upcoming trends for Spring/Summer 2009, first in French (I understood most of what she said) and then in English. After she was done, Peter said that he would talk to Jen about taking us Friday.
When he was finished talking about Premiere Vision, he asked if anyone would be available to stay and work that afternoon. The afternoon was the French 1 class, and since I'm in Level 3, I volunteered. (I still felt bad that I hadn't gotten that jacket done.) It turned out that only Rikard, one of the other students, and I would be able to stay, so I came back at 1 pm. For awhile, it was just Anne and I (since Rikard was downstairs printing out stuff), and I practiced my French with her when I asked questions. (She had asked me before lunch why I was able to stay, and she was impressed when she heard that I was in French 3. Also, the lady who was with Peter overheard and asked me a little about how long I had studied it, etc. She then professed her English to be very bad, but I reassured her that it was good, and everyone understood her. I don't understand why, over here, the French people that I've spoken with so far claim that their English is bad, but it's really not. They're much better at English than I am at French, but I'm sure that's because they use it on a daily basis, unlike myself. Also, earlier after lunch, when I was waiting for Anne to arrive, I talked with another student Tu who was going up one level to the French 1 class. He was also quite impressed that I was in level 3.)
After Liz, Ashley and Andrea were done with class, we decided to go out and get some of our supplies. We had been told by Anne to go to one specific shop called Fil 2000 (pronounced fill-de-mille, like Cecil or Agnes DeMille). (Apparently, this had been a store for textile-industry-types back in the day.) We took the 38 bus and eventually found it. It's pretty tiny, and is bigger heighth-wise than width-wise. There were a lot of people in there, so I used the Ewald elbows to my advantage (but I didn't knock anything over). I finally got what I needed there, and promptly went next door to get more supplies of the traditional-school kind. Eventually, we all finished up and went back to our respective apartments.
Ashley and I decided to do our laundry that night, and met at the laundromat, which is next to my apartment. Some other people were there as well, and turned out to be American students living nearby who were studying at the Sorbonne. We chatted with them for awhile, talking about our respective programs, where we planned to travel, upcoming concert tours, etc. They each seemed agast that our workload thus far didn't allow any time for sightseeing. We assured them that we were just as shocked.
Something really creepy happened too. The guys had left, so it was just Ashley and I there. A homeless guy came in, and asked us for money for cigarettes. We said we didn't have any (I smoothly leaned down and grabbed my purse at this point), the guy mumbled something, and leaned over and spat on the floor. There were no atheists in the laundromat at that point, and there must have been something higher, because he left at that point. Beforehand, Ashley had told me that I could go since I was done with my laundry, and I had refused. So now, with that incident behind us, I was adamant about staying. (We've certainly been getting a lesson in recognizing/limiting interaction with the neighborhood homeless/crazies.)
Thursday morning, we had flat pattern and draping with Anne. We worked on a pattern for a corset! (Interestingly, the words for an 18th-century corset and a 19th-century one are different. I can't remember either of them, but I thought that that was a cool fact.) We made the prototype corset to fit ourselves, so we measured our chests, waists, and "little hips". (Incidentally, that's the last day we've seen Ana, the "5th" girl, who's from Mexico. She's only attended intermittently starting on the Monday of orientation week. Nobody has any idea why she hasn't been showing up. All we know is that she has an apartment near the Louvre-not by school-and lives alone. The first few days she didn't show up are accounted for since she had a plumbing problem, but one day, she was "too tired" to come, and nobody knows about the subsequent days. I'm suspecting that she's a superhero who's too busy out saving the world to attend class, although it'd be a lot more plausible if she had an alliterative alias, i.e. Peter Parker for Spiderman, Warren Worthington III for Angel of X-Men, etc. This is the kind of thing I think about. (Has anyone else noticed that alliterative names seem to be disproportionately prevalent amongst superheroes/graphic-novel characters and musical theatre characters? Look at the evidence: Betty Boop, Archie Andrews, Tracy Turnblad, Hope Harcourt, etc. Someone should look into this.)
I drew out my pattern pieces and sewed them up, calculating the measurements by hand, which basically ensures that I'll screw at least one of them up. Sure enough, my side panel wasn't big enough, which we discovered when I tried it on (Anne had to get Liz to help hold it together). It was pretty skintight: I had to try it on over only my bra, and really suck it in to get an accurate idea. I kept having images of me exhaling, all the stitches bursting Violet-Beauregard-blueberry-style and taking out people with their force. What a way to go that would be. (I decided not to ask any of the other girls if they had been thinking similarly of themselves when they were being fitted.) As it turns out, I subtracted the amount where I should have added it (those signs look way too similar). I drafted the correct piece, ripped out the existing pieces and sewed in the revised ones, and waited for Anne to fit me again.
That morning, I was sitting next to one girl named Sharon, who had sat next to me in French two days before. She and I started talking and talked through pretty much the class about our lives. She's from Zimbabwe, and had gone to an all-girls Anglican boarding school for high school, so we compared notes on our respective schooling/educational experiences. (I'm not sure how many people I've discussed this with, but I refer to schooling and education as 2 different things. I see schooling as learning something that is probably not necessary to an individual person's future/career/future career, i.e. for me, learning Calculuses (calculii?) 1 and 2; and education as things we learn that we will actually use in the future, i.e. the principle of outsourcing, which guarantees that if by some future cosmic joke, I need calculus, I'm paying someone else to do it for me.) She's really cool and funny, and I think it'll be fun to have class and hang out with her. (I also felt quite funny, since she was laughing at what I was saying.)
After lunch, we reconvened for Costume Research. Of the 3 hour class, I spent about 2 hours sitting doing nothing (well, not nothing, since I was having a great time talking with Sharon and another girl Nisa, from Malaysia, the whole time) since I was waiting for Anne to fit my redone corset. At the break, Anne told me that she didn't have time to fit my 2nd corset, so I asked her what I should be doing (since I hate just sitting and doing nothing, wasting time, while waiting for a teacher's help) and she said I could start copying a pattern for the next next project. (The other students had chosen their patterns before their semester break, and Anne had chosen ours for us.) She had picked out a visite (not quite sure what that translates to in English), which is a kind of coat from the 1870s, which is loose-fitting and has large sleeves. The pattern I had chosen had pleats on the sleeve. So I took it to my table and began tracing. However, I encountered a problem (the same one) with each of the 2 pattern pieces. Neither of the pieces had been closed. As in, the each had one line that went off the paper some indeterminate amount, and I had no idea what kind of angle was created. So I drew what I could, and then flagged down Anne to ask her about them. She looked at them, concluded she had made a mistake somehow, and told me that she'd help me Monday.
We four still needed to get supplies for Susan's class (none of us wanted to get called tourists again, especially in that accent) and Nisa had volunteered to show us the best place to go, so after class, we took the bus to Bazar de l'Hotel de Ville (BHV). It's this upscale megastore where you can find anything. We went to find embroidery thread and needles (they had a great selection), and later paid for our purchases. Something I've noticed is that receipts give you your total in both Euros and francs. The thing is that there are a lot more francs to an American dollar than to a Euro. For example, I spent 7.95 in Euros at BHV. That works out to 52.15 in French francs. The thing is that both of these numbers appear on the display at the cash register, and it never fails to give me a mini-heart attack (it only takes minutes off my life, but those add up) when I think I've spent a whole lot more than I have. Now Wikipedia tells me that France adopted the Euro in 1999 ("de-facto in 2002"). So that's around 6-9 years. Who is using francs these days that we need to know how many francs we've spent? Why weren't the cash registers just converted to solely Euros? I'd like to know.
(Oh, right in front of the Hotel de Ville, there's a skating rink set up with igloos, and a lot of families go out there, and it's fun to see. One of these days when I have (gasp) spare time, I want to take my camera and take pictures up there.)
After BHV, we walked to the nearest Monoprix, since I was a little lacking in the food department. We all got food and then took the bus back. I dropped off my stuff in the apartment, and then went to Ashley and Liz's apartment to hang out and watch some Arrested Development episodes before heading back to do some of my 30 sketches.
Friday was Stylism with Jen. We were supposed to bring in inspiration photos of Yohji Yamamoto's work (since that's what our project is based around), so I went to the computer lab before class to print out some photos (I met Ashley doing the same thing). At the beginning of class, Jen told us that we would be sketching ideas for a future Yohji-inspired line until 11 am, and then leaving to go to Premiere Vision. She then took us 4 and Nisa down to register. It turned out that we should have been registered for it about a week beforehand, but we could still go to Mod Amont, a similar convention specializing in trims. The rest of the class-time, I sketched, liking 2 ideas and disliking 2. She had also asked to see our pants/skirt idea sketches, since she and Susan work together. She suggested that I try to find riding-gloves at the flea market.
At 11 am, we got something to eat at the nearest boulangerie (bread shop), since Jen had told us that the food at the convention is expensive. I got a croque monsieur (ham and cheese sandwich) and talked with Ashley, Nisa and Tu. (It turns out Tu's parents live in Washington, D.C., and he has a lot of friends who go to UNC. I had to tell him that my school is not a huge fan of UNC, and was glad that Wake Forest recently beat them.) After eating, we all walked down to the RER station for the 45-minute train ride (it's on the outskirts of Paris, almost as far as Charles de Gaulle). I sat with Sharon and Ashley and had some good conversations.
At Mod Amont, we split up and decided to meet back in half an hour. Sharon and I walked around, talking and looking for interesting things (we had an assignment to write about the 3 most interesting/inspiring things we saw). After meeting back up with everyone, we took the train back and went back to relax.
That night, the 4 of us, along with Nisa and her boyfriend, went out to a Mexican restaurant on St. Severin. It was a street where cars weren't allowed, and I had the feeling that I had been there before. (I'm pretty sure that it was the same place where the theatre that shows Ionesco's Bald Soprano is. I plan to go back and find it eventually.) It was fun, I had chicken tacos and some tapioca for dessert. After dinner, Andrea and Liz got crepes (Liz breaking her no-Nutella stance, after 4 days). Then I went back to Liz and Ashley's apartment, and hung out there for awhile.
Saturday, the 4 of us went fabric shopping, since we all needed samples for the evening dress and the pants or skirt. After getting a little lost, we took the bus to the 18th arrondissement where all the fabric places are. (The first one we went to was one that my mom and I had been to about a year and a half earlier.) We just got samples, so we had to grab an employee and walk them over to what we needed (instead of bringing it to the counter). I got my 2 wool samples and bra sample at Dreyfus, and my 2 evening wear samples at Reine. After getting back, I drew the majority of my evening wear flats, leaving only 2 to do the next day.
(Oh yeah, when I went to Ed that evening, the one employee who had talked to me earlier recognized me and talked to me again...for awhile. He did ask me what I was doing later, and if I had a cell, but I said I had to do some work. I'm just not interested in him, and now I'm afraid it's going to be awkward whenever I go, since that's the nearest grocery store.
Another thing is that an older French lady spoke to me as well. She asked me if I could write down stuff accurately when hearing it, and I told her that I was better at seeing it. No idea what that was about...)
Today (Sunday), I wanted to go to the flea market to get a pair of gloves, as Jen had suggested I do. I planned my route, got to the correct metro station...and promptly realized that I had left my trusty map in my room. Fortunately, I wasn't that far away, and so went back and got it (feeling like an idiot the whole way). I took the metro to the last stop on the line, and followed the crowd to the multiple marches aux puces (flea markets). I decided to walk up and down the street where most of them were. It felt great to be conversing in French and be understood, and to understand what was being said. I kept finding the same gloves: black or white, of a thin material, not riding gloves at all. I kept looking and went into one place where we had gone with Nolwenn a couple of weeks ago. There I found these black elbow-length (opera-length?) gloves with eyelet-cutout detailing waving up the length of it. They were the most original things I had seen all day, but I looked around a little more just to be sure. I eventually went back to get them (they were 30 Euro, since one glove had a rip along the palm), and went back to the metro station.
On my way back walking along Boulevard Montparnasse, I was stopped by an elderly lady and asked for directions to the Val de Grace hospital. I told her that I only knew the church and not the hospital. (I knew it would happen sometime. For anyone who doesn't know, everyone in our family gets asked for directions, especially if we're in a place we've never been before. My dad got asked for directions around Italy after he had been there a mere 2 hours. My theory on this is that our family line has survived for so long because we look like we know what we're doing/what's going on to the point where others believe it and follow our lead.)
I thought that was cool.
I got an eclair when I got back (we have the rare boulangerie that's open on Sundays), and have since written this blog entry.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Actual Beginning of School
So this week began our actual first week of classes with the regular students. But first, to backtrack...
Sunday was a pretty lazy day. I went over the Liz and Ashley's to do embroidery, but about as soon as I got over there, Ashley wanted to go for a walk. So we walked to Jardin du Lunxembourg, which is a couple of streets away. I hadn't been there before, so I was curious to check it out.
Since it wasn't too cold out, it seemed like everyone in France was out walking. We saw a lot of older folks and lots of young kids running around (I stopped to give one his ball back when it ran into my leg). We walked around this large (I assume man-made) pond, and a bunch of kids were sailing sailboats (and they were running around with those long sticks). Interesting thing, there were chairs grouped together in a lot of places, but no tables. But I definitely want to go back and take lots of pictures, especially on a nice day like that.
We then went back to the room, and did embroidery. I got a few stitches done, and left in the evening. After supper and a shower, I started drawing the 10 skirts and pants that we were required to have for Tuesday.
Monday was our first day of class with the regular students. There are about 8 of them, and they all seem pretty cool so far. We had Sewing II, with Anne taking over since our regular teacher wasn't there. We started making a 19th-century corset! It's based on our own measurements, so we had to first measure our chest, waist and small hips. We were then given a pattern that gave us calculations to do to find the correct width of various parts of each of the pieces (i.e. one of the side panels would say "take 1/5 waist measurement and add 2"-oh yeah, the directions were in French as well). We drafted the pieces and used French curves to curve some of the parts. (I got my curves right on the first try-and this was just looking at a thumbnail sketch-so I was proud of me.) I then spent the rest of the period marking my pieces (all 10 panels) and preparing to sew them together. However in attempting to sew them together, I kept screwing it up. First, I sewed up the back, which we were supposed to leave open. Then I sewed the wrong sides together. Fortunately, class was over before I could screw up my construction even more.
We then went to Art History. Apparently, the class had been doing 20th century art before the break, and so we started learning about the Bauhaus. I liked it, but it just seemed like a recap of what I'd learned, both on my own and in school. I don't think it'll be too hardcore (thank God) because we only have 2 powerpoint projects a semester, where we choose the topic, work in a group and present it in 10 minutes.
After that, the 4 of us needed to go to H&M because we needed to buy a bra for Susan's class (the bra we would embroider in the future). Andrea had been there before, so she led the way. We walked to the Rue de Rivoli location, which entailed walking over the Seine. (Seriously, there are so many good shots I could've gotten. Well, when I have a free moment and when I have a camera with me...)
We got there and I quickly picked out a bra and then browsed around. Ashley wanted to leave early, so I left with her. Once at the apartment, I finished the rest of my skirts/pants drawings and did another embroidery stitch.
This morning, we had textiles with Susan. She first walked around and looked at everyone's stitches. I got verbally reamed for a few things: My stitches were too big, I didn't happen to have one page of the three pages of stitches, and I didn't have time to get supplies (Ashley backed me up here, basically saying that we were doing other stuff for her over the weekend when the shops were open). Here, Susan made a comment about just coming to Paris to be a tourist (ouch)! (Seriously, I just have bad luck with teachers named Susan. I'm glad it doesn't extend to family members.) The whole rest of the class, she was teaching me how to redo some of my stitches. (It was interesting to hear her talk to the others about their stitches. High praise from her seems to be, "You follow directions really well". And here I was, thinking that art was all about experimentation! I'm so glad to be set straight. I defend my too-large stitches on the basis of spirit of the law vs. letter of the law: I used it as a guideline, not something I absolutely had to adhere to.)
When we came back from lunch, Susan looked at our historical research files that we'll use for the bra and dress. I was really worried that she wouldn't like mine (seeing as she hadn't liked anything of mine before), but she really liked it! I wanted to do a more abstract motif for my bra, and she suggested I do some more research (possibly of rococo motifs). As she continued walking around, I realized that she had wanted us to do our 10 pants/skirts sketches in the vein of our research. Well, I certainly hadn't done that, so I quick doodled some stuff. (Basically, I just pulled it out of thin air, and they all looked really similar.) I was getting pretty cheeky: some of my last sketches featured pants and skirts that had wrap-around arms/hands (fashion designer/Surrealist collaborator Schiaparelli did this too, it was an homage to her) that was pulling down the front of the pants and unzipping the back of skirt. (I seriously get way too amused with what I do.) The thing was, Susan liked what I was going for. I wanted to do a pair of pants (since I hadn't done one before), and so we decided that I should do a pair of mens' tailored trousers that are classic in the front, and then have 2 female hands grabbing the butt in the back. I'm amused.
(I'm just a bit concerned about the work load for that class. For next week, we have 30 rough sketches due, 10 each of the Cannes dress, disco dress and embassy cocktail dress, as well as 5 embroidery samples. I think I'm going to try to get more credit for this.)
After that, I went to French class, since I'm the only 1 of us 4 who's not in Level 1. (Mystery solved: I'm in Level 3, the highest one. I saw that when I signed in on the sheet at the beginning of class. Also, I have Nolwenn-I really like her, she's a great teacher-and she teaches Level 3. But I have no idea why I have the Level 2 workbook, even though Ana got that one too...) In class, we watched a clip from Francois Truffaut's Jules et Jim (which was great, since I've been interested in checking out some classic French cinema), where Jeanne Moreau sings "La troubillon de ma vie", apparently a very famous song. We had to do an exercise that involved filling in blanks of the lyrics on paper while listening to it (which I kind of sucked at, since I've never been good at remembering/translating stuff I hear), and then discussed its' meaning. Then we did some excercises dealing the imparfait and the passe compose tenses, which was a good review. (I'm a little intimidated by my 4 other classmates in that class, since they all seem to speak easily, quickly and with a convincing accent. It does motivate me to step up my game, however.) Nolwenn spoke only in French the entire time, and I understood just about everything. I'm at the point where I can understand what's being said (or at least tell within context), but it takes me a few to come up with/formulate an answer.
After that, Ashley and I planned to do laundry, but it got pushed back to tomorrow night, probably after we 4 go get supplies after French 1 is over. Tomorrow, my school day ends at noon, but I figure I'll go to Monoprix, since I am desperately in need of some food.
Sunday was a pretty lazy day. I went over the Liz and Ashley's to do embroidery, but about as soon as I got over there, Ashley wanted to go for a walk. So we walked to Jardin du Lunxembourg, which is a couple of streets away. I hadn't been there before, so I was curious to check it out.
Since it wasn't too cold out, it seemed like everyone in France was out walking. We saw a lot of older folks and lots of young kids running around (I stopped to give one his ball back when it ran into my leg). We walked around this large (I assume man-made) pond, and a bunch of kids were sailing sailboats (and they were running around with those long sticks). Interesting thing, there were chairs grouped together in a lot of places, but no tables. But I definitely want to go back and take lots of pictures, especially on a nice day like that.
We then went back to the room, and did embroidery. I got a few stitches done, and left in the evening. After supper and a shower, I started drawing the 10 skirts and pants that we were required to have for Tuesday.
Monday was our first day of class with the regular students. There are about 8 of them, and they all seem pretty cool so far. We had Sewing II, with Anne taking over since our regular teacher wasn't there. We started making a 19th-century corset! It's based on our own measurements, so we had to first measure our chest, waist and small hips. We were then given a pattern that gave us calculations to do to find the correct width of various parts of each of the pieces (i.e. one of the side panels would say "take 1/5 waist measurement and add 2"-oh yeah, the directions were in French as well). We drafted the pieces and used French curves to curve some of the parts. (I got my curves right on the first try-and this was just looking at a thumbnail sketch-so I was proud of me.) I then spent the rest of the period marking my pieces (all 10 panels) and preparing to sew them together. However in attempting to sew them together, I kept screwing it up. First, I sewed up the back, which we were supposed to leave open. Then I sewed the wrong sides together. Fortunately, class was over before I could screw up my construction even more.
We then went to Art History. Apparently, the class had been doing 20th century art before the break, and so we started learning about the Bauhaus. I liked it, but it just seemed like a recap of what I'd learned, both on my own and in school. I don't think it'll be too hardcore (thank God) because we only have 2 powerpoint projects a semester, where we choose the topic, work in a group and present it in 10 minutes.
After that, the 4 of us needed to go to H&M because we needed to buy a bra for Susan's class (the bra we would embroider in the future). Andrea had been there before, so she led the way. We walked to the Rue de Rivoli location, which entailed walking over the Seine. (Seriously, there are so many good shots I could've gotten. Well, when I have a free moment and when I have a camera with me...)
We got there and I quickly picked out a bra and then browsed around. Ashley wanted to leave early, so I left with her. Once at the apartment, I finished the rest of my skirts/pants drawings and did another embroidery stitch.
This morning, we had textiles with Susan. She first walked around and looked at everyone's stitches. I got verbally reamed for a few things: My stitches were too big, I didn't happen to have one page of the three pages of stitches, and I didn't have time to get supplies (Ashley backed me up here, basically saying that we were doing other stuff for her over the weekend when the shops were open). Here, Susan made a comment about just coming to Paris to be a tourist (ouch)! (Seriously, I just have bad luck with teachers named Susan. I'm glad it doesn't extend to family members.) The whole rest of the class, she was teaching me how to redo some of my stitches. (It was interesting to hear her talk to the others about their stitches. High praise from her seems to be, "You follow directions really well". And here I was, thinking that art was all about experimentation! I'm so glad to be set straight. I defend my too-large stitches on the basis of spirit of the law vs. letter of the law: I used it as a guideline, not something I absolutely had to adhere to.)
When we came back from lunch, Susan looked at our historical research files that we'll use for the bra and dress. I was really worried that she wouldn't like mine (seeing as she hadn't liked anything of mine before), but she really liked it! I wanted to do a more abstract motif for my bra, and she suggested I do some more research (possibly of rococo motifs). As she continued walking around, I realized that she had wanted us to do our 10 pants/skirts sketches in the vein of our research. Well, I certainly hadn't done that, so I quick doodled some stuff. (Basically, I just pulled it out of thin air, and they all looked really similar.) I was getting pretty cheeky: some of my last sketches featured pants and skirts that had wrap-around arms/hands (fashion designer/Surrealist collaborator Schiaparelli did this too, it was an homage to her) that was pulling down the front of the pants and unzipping the back of skirt. (I seriously get way too amused with what I do.) The thing was, Susan liked what I was going for. I wanted to do a pair of pants (since I hadn't done one before), and so we decided that I should do a pair of mens' tailored trousers that are classic in the front, and then have 2 female hands grabbing the butt in the back. I'm amused.
(I'm just a bit concerned about the work load for that class. For next week, we have 30 rough sketches due, 10 each of the Cannes dress, disco dress and embassy cocktail dress, as well as 5 embroidery samples. I think I'm going to try to get more credit for this.)
After that, I went to French class, since I'm the only 1 of us 4 who's not in Level 1. (Mystery solved: I'm in Level 3, the highest one. I saw that when I signed in on the sheet at the beginning of class. Also, I have Nolwenn-I really like her, she's a great teacher-and she teaches Level 3. But I have no idea why I have the Level 2 workbook, even though Ana got that one too...) In class, we watched a clip from Francois Truffaut's Jules et Jim (which was great, since I've been interested in checking out some classic French cinema), where Jeanne Moreau sings "La troubillon de ma vie", apparently a very famous song. We had to do an exercise that involved filling in blanks of the lyrics on paper while listening to it (which I kind of sucked at, since I've never been good at remembering/translating stuff I hear), and then discussed its' meaning. Then we did some excercises dealing the imparfait and the passe compose tenses, which was a good review. (I'm a little intimidated by my 4 other classmates in that class, since they all seem to speak easily, quickly and with a convincing accent. It does motivate me to step up my game, however.) Nolwenn spoke only in French the entire time, and I understood just about everything. I'm at the point where I can understand what's being said (or at least tell within context), but it takes me a few to come up with/formulate an answer.
After that, Ashley and I planned to do laundry, but it got pushed back to tomorrow night, probably after we 4 go get supplies after French 1 is over. Tomorrow, my school day ends at noon, but I figure I'll go to Monoprix, since I am desperately in need of some food.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Forgot to Add
I forgot to write that I had another conversation (in French). This happened Friday night, when the 4 of us went to the neighborhood grocery, Ed (not Ed's, just Ed). I was in line with Ashley, and Liz and Andrea were elsewhere. When I was about to pay for my lone bar of Milka milk chocolate, the cashier (a young guy) asked how I was doing. I replied, "Et vous?" ("and you" in the formal sense). I definitely had a 13-year-old-boy-voice-crack while saying "vous", for which he promptly made fun of me. Wanting to make conversation, I said something like, "Oh, you only have 15 minutes of work left before you close." He said something about how he had a lot more than that to go. Then he asked if I wanted to close up with him! I didn't really know what to say, so I said something like, "I'm hanging out with my friends tonight, sorry".
I went to wait with Ashley for the others, and she asked me what he had said. I told her later.
I thought that that was so amusing it had to be shared.
I went to wait with Ashley for the others, and she asked me what he had said. I told her later.
I thought that that was so amusing it had to be shared.
4 Days Later...
...I FINALLY let everyone know what I've been doing.
(Note: Our textiles teacher's name is Susan, not Anne. I know that that's what I wrote in the last email.)
Wednesday started our 3-day draping extravaganza (OK, more like beginner's crash course). Our teacher's name is Anne (and I KNOW I have it right this time). She brought in a bunch of patterns for 18th-century patterns, and asked us to choose one jacket from the materials that she had brought to make our jacket. Ashley and I chose the same one, and Liz and Andrea chose the same one. (I was glad to have the same one as Ashley, since she's had about 2 years of draping already.) We got assigned patterns to our jackets, and took a trip over to the copier down the street to copy the pictures of the jackets for reference.
When we got back, Anne taught Ashley, Ana and I how to drape. It took me a little while to get the hang of it, but it was definitely helpful to learn (I just felt that I was so behind since I had never done it before). We worked on our jackets until lunch, and then came back and worked for another 2 hours.
At 3 pm, we had our French lesson with Nolwenn. (Next week, I'll be in level 2 with Ana, taught by Nolwenn, and Andrea, Ashley and Liz will be in level 1. I'll have a free Wednesday afternoon!...that will most likely be used to do work.) We worked within our respective levels, so Ana and I did some exercises dealing with future verb tenses, as well as speaking roles using the imperfect tense. It made me feel like I was back in high school French class. (It was interesting to see that: I had initially thought that I had lost a lot of it, having not taken French since senior year of high school. But it's definitely starting to come back a bit. It sometimes takes a little bit while speaking with someone, but it's still there!)
After dinner, the four of us hung out in Liz and Ashley's room.
Thursday, it was back to draping. I took awhile to get it right, with Anne correcting me every step of the way (but at least I'm learning). I got to sketching the lines on the pieces after the jacket (still intact) was off the mannequin. I still felt that I was behind everyone since everyone else had already progressed to cutting the perfected pattern pieces. (I kept feeling like I've learned more here in less than a week than a semester at school. I like it, it's just getting over the adjustment of thinking differently. Andrea was saying that a friend of hers attended the semester here a year or 2 ago, and now she's incredibly efficient at getting stuff made and can just hold up pieces to her body and judge if it will work. I hope I can get that good here.)
In the afternoon, we met up with Agnes, our art history teacher, to go to the Christian Lacroix exhibit at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs, by metro. The displays were divided primarily divided by color palettes and historical reference, and I took about 5 pages of sketches. At one point, I was sketching something, and two older ladies were standing beside me and looking at the same exhibit, and they asked me about my drawing (in French). I said that it might be for a future project, they asked me where I went to school, I told them the Paris American Academy in the 5th, and they wished me good luck. So that was really cool. I also got my Grandma a couple of postcards from the exhibit, as she had requested that I get her postcards from the museums and write what we did on the back of them.
After getting back from the museum, the four of us went to a brasserie to eat dinner, since it was Valentine's Day. I got the pesto pasta, with tiramisu for dessert. Afterwards was the usual: hanging in Liz and Ashley's room.
Friday was race-the-clock-to-get-the-jacket-done day. (We were told that we'd start making a 19th century jacket or corset the following week, when school actually begun.) I got the pattern pieces cut out just, but sewing them together was the problem. The ones in the lab are the same ones in the apparel lab at State, also the ones I avoid using in favor of using my own machine. Since I obviously don't have my own machine with me, I have to use the lab ones. I also dislike how the machines go so quickly, and it's harder to control. The first time I tried to sew with it, the seam veered off. Anne observed, "Your pattern pieces are perfect, and your fabrication..." Well, she didn't explicitly say it was crap, but it was understood.
Another thing was that Anne had showed us earlier how to thread the machine and wind the bobbin, and I thought that I had gotten it. I was sitting there for a good 30 minutes attempting to figure it out, and getting continually more frustrated. Anne eventually came over to help me, and it turned out that I had threaded the machine wrong. (I think part of this was because I had moved to another machine that was differently structured...wow, that sounds like "differently-abled" there, doesn't it?)
I didn't finish sewing up the jacket, and I felt bad about that, like school hasn't even technically started and I'm already behind. Anne also showed me a more effective way to iron seams flat that are on curves (I've never been able to get those before). I was really happy that I got it right after she showed me, but at the same time, there was a sense of, "Wow, I have so much more to learn".
At 3 pm, we again met Agnes, this time to go to the Annees Folles exhibition at the Palais Galleria. The exhibit was from 1919-1929, so it was really cool to see all the flapper dresses with intricate beading and drop waists. (Incidentally, it seemed that all of the ones I liked were by Lanvin. Hmm...) I took maybe 3 pages of sketches. What was really interesting was that a lot of the museum attendees were elderly ladies, usually in groups of 2 or 3, and they would talk about the designs. (If I was standing nearby, I could usually pick up a good bit of what they were saying.) I saw one grandma there with her two little grand-daughters, and she was telling them all about the clothes on display and how pretty they were. (I could imagine her saying something like, "I wore a dress exactly like that to a dance where I met your grandfather, and I was the belle of the ball".) It was really cute, and reminded me of what Erin and I must have been like when we were little (since I hardly have an objective viewpoint here). I also purchased a couple of postcards for Grandma when I was finished.
Today, Liz, Ashley and I set off for the library specified by our teacher to get images to form our research file for the majority of our projects. (Andrea would have come, but she was visiting her uncle, who was in town for the weekend.) I took charge of planning where to get on and off the metro stops. Unfortunately, Port Marie, the one right near the Bibliotheque Forney, was closed for construction, so we went to the next one down. It turned out to be really far down, so we had to walk awhile in the cold, cold wind. We decided to get something to eat before settling down to research, so we stopped in for a light lunch down the road from the library. We got to the library, and I found a few books through the library search engine dealing with 1930s screen fashion and surrealism. Unfortunately, I was told that they didn't have the ones on the screen fashion, and that if I wanted to order them, they would be here on Tuesday. So it looks like my dress will be more surrealist than goddess. (That's OK, it'll still be cool.) Andrea came in later, and she, Ashley, and Liz got their stuff done early, and left. (It took me awhile because I kept getting bad copies.) I was there for about 2 more hours, making a few more bad copies, but also because I happened to get stuck behind people who seemed intent on copying every friggin' page of a 458-page book, one page at a time.
I finally got out of there at 6 pm, and took the metro to Maubert-Mutalitie. I had checked the map before I left the station, and thought I was going the right direction. About 10 minutes of walking later, I highly doubted that idea. Sure enough, I was going the wrong way (shocker). I walked for what seemed like a long time without hitting Rue Saint-Jacques, and so ducked into a bookstore to check my trusty map-book (seriously, this thing is uber-handy). It turned out that I was only one street away. So what did I do? Of course, I turn and go the opposite direction, getting further away from it. Fortunately, I realized this only another street over, and was able to correct my mistake.
I got back to my apartment about 7 pm (after first stopping to get a croissant), and met Andrea's uncle, who was really nice. She left, and I'm just relaxing right now. I might attempt to call Grandma later with the AT&T card I got before I left. I think tomorrow we're going to H&M to get bras to embroider (we were told specifically to get them there), and I'd like (actually, need) to do some laundry. I'll try squeezing that in when I have about 20 sketches to do and embroidery to finish (for Tuesday, but still).
(Note: Our textiles teacher's name is Susan, not Anne. I know that that's what I wrote in the last email.)
Wednesday started our 3-day draping extravaganza (OK, more like beginner's crash course). Our teacher's name is Anne (and I KNOW I have it right this time). She brought in a bunch of patterns for 18th-century patterns, and asked us to choose one jacket from the materials that she had brought to make our jacket. Ashley and I chose the same one, and Liz and Andrea chose the same one. (I was glad to have the same one as Ashley, since she's had about 2 years of draping already.) We got assigned patterns to our jackets, and took a trip over to the copier down the street to copy the pictures of the jackets for reference.
When we got back, Anne taught Ashley, Ana and I how to drape. It took me a little while to get the hang of it, but it was definitely helpful to learn (I just felt that I was so behind since I had never done it before). We worked on our jackets until lunch, and then came back and worked for another 2 hours.
At 3 pm, we had our French lesson with Nolwenn. (Next week, I'll be in level 2 with Ana, taught by Nolwenn, and Andrea, Ashley and Liz will be in level 1. I'll have a free Wednesday afternoon!...that will most likely be used to do work.) We worked within our respective levels, so Ana and I did some exercises dealing with future verb tenses, as well as speaking roles using the imperfect tense. It made me feel like I was back in high school French class. (It was interesting to see that: I had initially thought that I had lost a lot of it, having not taken French since senior year of high school. But it's definitely starting to come back a bit. It sometimes takes a little bit while speaking with someone, but it's still there!)
After dinner, the four of us hung out in Liz and Ashley's room.
Thursday, it was back to draping. I took awhile to get it right, with Anne correcting me every step of the way (but at least I'm learning). I got to sketching the lines on the pieces after the jacket (still intact) was off the mannequin. I still felt that I was behind everyone since everyone else had already progressed to cutting the perfected pattern pieces. (I kept feeling like I've learned more here in less than a week than a semester at school. I like it, it's just getting over the adjustment of thinking differently. Andrea was saying that a friend of hers attended the semester here a year or 2 ago, and now she's incredibly efficient at getting stuff made and can just hold up pieces to her body and judge if it will work. I hope I can get that good here.)
In the afternoon, we met up with Agnes, our art history teacher, to go to the Christian Lacroix exhibit at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs, by metro. The displays were divided primarily divided by color palettes and historical reference, and I took about 5 pages of sketches. At one point, I was sketching something, and two older ladies were standing beside me and looking at the same exhibit, and they asked me about my drawing (in French). I said that it might be for a future project, they asked me where I went to school, I told them the Paris American Academy in the 5th, and they wished me good luck. So that was really cool. I also got my Grandma a couple of postcards from the exhibit, as she had requested that I get her postcards from the museums and write what we did on the back of them.
After getting back from the museum, the four of us went to a brasserie to eat dinner, since it was Valentine's Day. I got the pesto pasta, with tiramisu for dessert. Afterwards was the usual: hanging in Liz and Ashley's room.
Friday was race-the-clock-to-get-the-jacket-done day. (We were told that we'd start making a 19th century jacket or corset the following week, when school actually begun.) I got the pattern pieces cut out just, but sewing them together was the problem. The ones in the lab are the same ones in the apparel lab at State, also the ones I avoid using in favor of using my own machine. Since I obviously don't have my own machine with me, I have to use the lab ones. I also dislike how the machines go so quickly, and it's harder to control. The first time I tried to sew with it, the seam veered off. Anne observed, "Your pattern pieces are perfect, and your fabrication..." Well, she didn't explicitly say it was crap, but it was understood.
Another thing was that Anne had showed us earlier how to thread the machine and wind the bobbin, and I thought that I had gotten it. I was sitting there for a good 30 minutes attempting to figure it out, and getting continually more frustrated. Anne eventually came over to help me, and it turned out that I had threaded the machine wrong. (I think part of this was because I had moved to another machine that was differently structured...wow, that sounds like "differently-abled" there, doesn't it?)
I didn't finish sewing up the jacket, and I felt bad about that, like school hasn't even technically started and I'm already behind. Anne also showed me a more effective way to iron seams flat that are on curves (I've never been able to get those before). I was really happy that I got it right after she showed me, but at the same time, there was a sense of, "Wow, I have so much more to learn".
At 3 pm, we again met Agnes, this time to go to the Annees Folles exhibition at the Palais Galleria. The exhibit was from 1919-1929, so it was really cool to see all the flapper dresses with intricate beading and drop waists. (Incidentally, it seemed that all of the ones I liked were by Lanvin. Hmm...) I took maybe 3 pages of sketches. What was really interesting was that a lot of the museum attendees were elderly ladies, usually in groups of 2 or 3, and they would talk about the designs. (If I was standing nearby, I could usually pick up a good bit of what they were saying.) I saw one grandma there with her two little grand-daughters, and she was telling them all about the clothes on display and how pretty they were. (I could imagine her saying something like, "I wore a dress exactly like that to a dance where I met your grandfather, and I was the belle of the ball".) It was really cute, and reminded me of what Erin and I must have been like when we were little (since I hardly have an objective viewpoint here). I also purchased a couple of postcards for Grandma when I was finished.
Today, Liz, Ashley and I set off for the library specified by our teacher to get images to form our research file for the majority of our projects. (Andrea would have come, but she was visiting her uncle, who was in town for the weekend.) I took charge of planning where to get on and off the metro stops. Unfortunately, Port Marie, the one right near the Bibliotheque Forney, was closed for construction, so we went to the next one down. It turned out to be really far down, so we had to walk awhile in the cold, cold wind. We decided to get something to eat before settling down to research, so we stopped in for a light lunch down the road from the library. We got to the library, and I found a few books through the library search engine dealing with 1930s screen fashion and surrealism. Unfortunately, I was told that they didn't have the ones on the screen fashion, and that if I wanted to order them, they would be here on Tuesday. So it looks like my dress will be more surrealist than goddess. (That's OK, it'll still be cool.) Andrea came in later, and she, Ashley, and Liz got their stuff done early, and left. (It took me awhile because I kept getting bad copies.) I was there for about 2 more hours, making a few more bad copies, but also because I happened to get stuck behind people who seemed intent on copying every friggin' page of a 458-page book, one page at a time.
I finally got out of there at 6 pm, and took the metro to Maubert-Mutalitie. I had checked the map before I left the station, and thought I was going the right direction. About 10 minutes of walking later, I highly doubted that idea. Sure enough, I was going the wrong way (shocker). I walked for what seemed like a long time without hitting Rue Saint-Jacques, and so ducked into a bookstore to check my trusty map-book (seriously, this thing is uber-handy). It turned out that I was only one street away. So what did I do? Of course, I turn and go the opposite direction, getting further away from it. Fortunately, I realized this only another street over, and was able to correct my mistake.
I got back to my apartment about 7 pm (after first stopping to get a croissant), and met Andrea's uncle, who was really nice. She left, and I'm just relaxing right now. I might attempt to call Grandma later with the AT&T card I got before I left. I think tomorrow we're going to H&M to get bras to embroider (we were told specifically to get them there), and I'd like (actually, need) to do some laundry. I'll try squeezing that in when I have about 20 sketches to do and embroidery to finish (for Tuesday, but still).
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Updates!
A few things have happened since I last wrote...
Yesterday (Monday), we had art/fashion/costume history in the morning with Agnes (pronounced ayn-YESS), which was the first time we had met her. Also there was Ana, the fashion student who we had been told was coming and was in Paris. This was the first any of us had seen of her. I talked with her a bit, and she seems cool, and has lived a few different places.
Agnes first talked to us about the 3 big (in terms of reputation/size) museums in Paris: Le Louvre (ancient times to mid-1800s), Musee d'Orsay (for Impressionism/Post-Impressionism), and Le Centre Georges Pompidou (for modern art, Harlan's favorite). After talking about them and pointing specific works in the Louvre that we'd be seeing, we left for our trip there by bus. (I love that corner of Paris: there's the Louvre, the Palais Royale, and the Comedie Francaise all right there!) We walked around for about 2 hours, where we saw various Greek and Roman statues, Winged Athena, The Wedding Feast at Cana, a few paintings by Delacroix, and, of course, the Mona Lisa (La Jaconde). Then we all took the bus back to PAA together.
After lunch, we had French class avec (with) Nolwenn. It was determined that Ana would be in the level with me. (She had previously lived in Paris for about 4-6 months so she has a pretty good handle on the language. She also has a great accent, I'm jealous.) We discussed likes and dislikes, so it was a lot of j'adore/j'aime and je n'aime pas/je deteste.
After class, Liz, Andrea, Ashley and I went in search of FNAC, which is basically the French Best Buy (but it looks a lot cooler), since we each had to get something electronic. (For me, it was an ethernet cord, since apparently my computer can't get the internet in our apartment without it. Why? Je ne sais pas. The one I had been using has been a little too short, so that it stretched at about a 60-degree angle from the dresser to the desk where my computer sits. I just wanted a longer one.) We took the Metro to the Chatelet Les Halles stop, realized we would've been closer 2 stops ago, got back on the Metro and got off at the Odeon station at Rue St. Michel. From that station, we walked to the right awhile and paused to look at a map. We then saw that it was to left (and a lot closer) to the metro stop from which we had just emerged. Sure enough, it was a block or 2 away.
We got to FNAC and each split up to find her own thing. I find the ethernet cables easily, but didn't buy one because Liz had said she had one she wasn't using and I could borrow it if it fit. I then walked around the store while waiting for everyone else. (Interesting thing: the logo is supposed to be a magnifying glass, but the majority of the way I saw it represented showed it without the stem. That lead to it looking much more like a Muppet eye/googly eye from elementary school art class.) Ashley and I were walking around and we noticed a guy with a dog looking at a table of iMacs. This wouldn't be so unusual (aside from the fact that the dog, while not a guide dog, was inside the store), but the little dog was standing on the display table with all the computers. Dogs here seem to be so well behaved. (We've actually discussed this before.)
We decided to walk back to our apartments (stopping at this Target-esque superstore Monoprix, where they had everything) and hung out at Ashley and Liz's for awhile. We then made our way to my and Andrea's apartment, where I tried Liz's ethernet cable. It worked! Then the 3 of them decided to go back to the other apartment, but I decided to stay back (to FINALLY fully unpack as well as take care of some NCSU paperwork). I finally caught up with them later (after typing the wrong code into their apartment, Skpying Ashley, and getting the correct one), and hung out for about 2 hours. Andrea and Liz were going crazy over the ol'Nutella (at one point, they were dipping Frosted Flakes into it; I had some and it was definitely more Nutella than Flake), which led to the great phrase of the night, "Don't flake in my Nutella!"
Today (Tuesday), we had our first textile design class. I was waiting with the other girls before our teacher arrived, and Peter came up and gave us our schedules for the rest of the semester. So I have Sewing II Monday afternoon, Sewing II and Art History III Monday afternoon; Textiles II Tuesday morning, Stylism II and French (2 or 3? More on that later) in the afternoon; Haute Couture Wednesday morning and nothing that afternoon! (since that's when French I is), Flat Pattern and Draping II Thursday morning, and Costume Research II that afternoon, and then Stylism II Friday morning and Hats in the afternoon. It looks to be good!
Another thing Peter talked about was using us as dressers for some of the upcoming Paris fashion shows. He specifically mentioned Elie Saab, and guess what? That one's on my birthday!!! Seriously, how cool would that be helping out with a couture fashion show on my 22nd birthday?!?!
Our teacher is Anne, an older British lady who worked as a designer for Kenzo for 15-20 years. She told that we needed to start doing research for her class that is due next Tuesday. Our assignment will be to design an evening dress for either a premiere at Cannes film festival (I'm a fan of that one), a night at the disco (regular dance club), or a party at the French embassy in your home country. She told us to pick a time period up until about the 60s (I've already chosen the 1930s for all the film-goddess elegance), and to make 3 sketches of each style so that we can pick the best one to make. The design part is due in March, with the final garment due in May. (The way things work here is that each class connects with the others, so that you essentially work on one whole project within all your classes. So I'll be designing the dress in one class and making the pattern in another, etc.) She told us to go to a good library near here, so I think there might be a class trip there Saturday!
She then told us about embroidery. Our first project in the textile design class is embroidering a bra. Today we were introduced to a lot of embroidery stitches and told to practice them. I'm not sure how I'll feel about this, since I was getting impatient just doing the samples. (Oh, and this relates as well because the design motif for the future embroidered bra will be the same/very similar to the motif/design period we choose for our evening wear dress.) She's pretty cool, she was talking with us the whole time while we worked. (Learned: Anne told us that the reason the French seem to be rude to Americans when they speak English is just because they get so flustered and fearful when speaking in English to one. No idea if it's true, but I thought it was worth noting. It sounded like a similar premise to the whole theory on men intimidated by/outright fearing women for their sexuality.)
We broke an hour for lunch, and then reconvened. I was told my running stitch was good, backstitch...not so much. Currently, I am not such a fan of the embroidery.
3 p.m. rolled around and it was time for French class with Nolwenn. We went over verbs in the present tense, as well as how and when to use them. She also passed out our workbooks for when we break up into our respective levels next week. Now, I had previously been told that I would be put in the 3rd level. Today, I was given a book for the 2nd level. I don't know whether to bring this up or not. (I knew I had been making a lot of elementary grammar mistakes, and I have been frustrated with myself for doing so. On the other hand, if I'm in the 2nd level, I'll be with Liz and that would be fun. Either way, I won't have class Wednesday afternoon!)
Oh, she also said something funny today. Apparently, the only way to learn French well is to learn it "on the pillow" (her words, not mine), as in get a French boyfriend. (Funny thing, before I came over here, everyone was predicting I'd date a French guy.) Well, I certainly wouldn't be opposed to it...
After class, the 4 of us left to go back to Monoprix. Ashley and I were confused since we thought it didn't sell much food, but evidently Andrea and Liz had discovered that the bottommost floor was a huge supermarket! (That was a relief, since I didn't want to live a whole 4 months on bread and cheese alone.) I got a lot of food I had needed (I think I got some better milk), and then we walked back.
And that's been it so far!
Yesterday (Monday), we had art/fashion/costume history in the morning with Agnes (pronounced ayn-YESS), which was the first time we had met her. Also there was Ana, the fashion student who we had been told was coming and was in Paris. This was the first any of us had seen of her. I talked with her a bit, and she seems cool, and has lived a few different places.
Agnes first talked to us about the 3 big (in terms of reputation/size) museums in Paris: Le Louvre (ancient times to mid-1800s), Musee d'Orsay (for Impressionism/Post-Impressionism), and Le Centre Georges Pompidou (for modern art, Harlan's favorite). After talking about them and pointing specific works in the Louvre that we'd be seeing, we left for our trip there by bus. (I love that corner of Paris: there's the Louvre, the Palais Royale, and the Comedie Francaise all right there!) We walked around for about 2 hours, where we saw various Greek and Roman statues, Winged Athena, The Wedding Feast at Cana, a few paintings by Delacroix, and, of course, the Mona Lisa (La Jaconde). Then we all took the bus back to PAA together.
After lunch, we had French class avec (with) Nolwenn. It was determined that Ana would be in the level with me. (She had previously lived in Paris for about 4-6 months so she has a pretty good handle on the language. She also has a great accent, I'm jealous.) We discussed likes and dislikes, so it was a lot of j'adore/j'aime and je n'aime pas/je deteste.
After class, Liz, Andrea, Ashley and I went in search of FNAC, which is basically the French Best Buy (but it looks a lot cooler), since we each had to get something electronic. (For me, it was an ethernet cord, since apparently my computer can't get the internet in our apartment without it. Why? Je ne sais pas. The one I had been using has been a little too short, so that it stretched at about a 60-degree angle from the dresser to the desk where my computer sits. I just wanted a longer one.) We took the Metro to the Chatelet Les Halles stop, realized we would've been closer 2 stops ago, got back on the Metro and got off at the Odeon station at Rue St. Michel. From that station, we walked to the right awhile and paused to look at a map. We then saw that it was to left (and a lot closer) to the metro stop from which we had just emerged. Sure enough, it was a block or 2 away.
We got to FNAC and each split up to find her own thing. I find the ethernet cables easily, but didn't buy one because Liz had said she had one she wasn't using and I could borrow it if it fit. I then walked around the store while waiting for everyone else. (Interesting thing: the logo is supposed to be a magnifying glass, but the majority of the way I saw it represented showed it without the stem. That lead to it looking much more like a Muppet eye/googly eye from elementary school art class.) Ashley and I were walking around and we noticed a guy with a dog looking at a table of iMacs. This wouldn't be so unusual (aside from the fact that the dog, while not a guide dog, was inside the store), but the little dog was standing on the display table with all the computers. Dogs here seem to be so well behaved. (We've actually discussed this before.)
We decided to walk back to our apartments (stopping at this Target-esque superstore Monoprix, where they had everything) and hung out at Ashley and Liz's for awhile. We then made our way to my and Andrea's apartment, where I tried Liz's ethernet cable. It worked! Then the 3 of them decided to go back to the other apartment, but I decided to stay back (to FINALLY fully unpack as well as take care of some NCSU paperwork). I finally caught up with them later (after typing the wrong code into their apartment, Skpying Ashley, and getting the correct one), and hung out for about 2 hours. Andrea and Liz were going crazy over the ol'Nutella (at one point, they were dipping Frosted Flakes into it; I had some and it was definitely more Nutella than Flake), which led to the great phrase of the night, "Don't flake in my Nutella!"
Today (Tuesday), we had our first textile design class. I was waiting with the other girls before our teacher arrived, and Peter came up and gave us our schedules for the rest of the semester. So I have Sewing II Monday afternoon, Sewing II and Art History III Monday afternoon; Textiles II Tuesday morning, Stylism II and French (2 or 3? More on that later) in the afternoon; Haute Couture Wednesday morning and nothing that afternoon! (since that's when French I is), Flat Pattern and Draping II Thursday morning, and Costume Research II that afternoon, and then Stylism II Friday morning and Hats in the afternoon. It looks to be good!
Another thing Peter talked about was using us as dressers for some of the upcoming Paris fashion shows. He specifically mentioned Elie Saab, and guess what? That one's on my birthday!!! Seriously, how cool would that be helping out with a couture fashion show on my 22nd birthday?!?!
Our teacher is Anne, an older British lady who worked as a designer for Kenzo for 15-20 years. She told that we needed to start doing research for her class that is due next Tuesday. Our assignment will be to design an evening dress for either a premiere at Cannes film festival (I'm a fan of that one), a night at the disco (regular dance club), or a party at the French embassy in your home country. She told us to pick a time period up until about the 60s (I've already chosen the 1930s for all the film-goddess elegance), and to make 3 sketches of each style so that we can pick the best one to make. The design part is due in March, with the final garment due in May. (The way things work here is that each class connects with the others, so that you essentially work on one whole project within all your classes. So I'll be designing the dress in one class and making the pattern in another, etc.) She told us to go to a good library near here, so I think there might be a class trip there Saturday!
She then told us about embroidery. Our first project in the textile design class is embroidering a bra. Today we were introduced to a lot of embroidery stitches and told to practice them. I'm not sure how I'll feel about this, since I was getting impatient just doing the samples. (Oh, and this relates as well because the design motif for the future embroidered bra will be the same/very similar to the motif/design period we choose for our evening wear dress.) She's pretty cool, she was talking with us the whole time while we worked. (Learned: Anne told us that the reason the French seem to be rude to Americans when they speak English is just because they get so flustered and fearful when speaking in English to one. No idea if it's true, but I thought it was worth noting. It sounded like a similar premise to the whole theory on men intimidated by/outright fearing women for their sexuality.)
We broke an hour for lunch, and then reconvened. I was told my running stitch was good, backstitch...not so much. Currently, I am not such a fan of the embroidery.
3 p.m. rolled around and it was time for French class with Nolwenn. We went over verbs in the present tense, as well as how and when to use them. She also passed out our workbooks for when we break up into our respective levels next week. Now, I had previously been told that I would be put in the 3rd level. Today, I was given a book for the 2nd level. I don't know whether to bring this up or not. (I knew I had been making a lot of elementary grammar mistakes, and I have been frustrated with myself for doing so. On the other hand, if I'm in the 2nd level, I'll be with Liz and that would be fun. Either way, I won't have class Wednesday afternoon!)
Oh, she also said something funny today. Apparently, the only way to learn French well is to learn it "on the pillow" (her words, not mine), as in get a French boyfriend. (Funny thing, before I came over here, everyone was predicting I'd date a French guy.) Well, I certainly wouldn't be opposed to it...
After class, the 4 of us left to go back to Monoprix. Ashley and I were confused since we thought it didn't sell much food, but evidently Andrea and Liz had discovered that the bottommost floor was a huge supermarket! (That was a relief, since I didn't want to live a whole 4 months on bread and cheese alone.) I got a lot of food I had needed (I think I got some better milk), and then we walked back.
And that's been it so far!
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Le Premier Week-end
(Note: The girl who I met yesterday is named Ashley, and our French teacher is named Nolwenn.)
Saturday (yesterday) morning, Andrea and I were getting ready for our 10 a.m. French class when the phone rang. It was Peter, telling us that our (permanent) room was ready and asking us if we would be ready to move in over the next two days. I went down to visit the room with Vivjitah, Peter's assistant, and was very pleasantly surprised! The new apartment has a big bedroom with 2 beds, 2 nightstands with lamps, 2 chairs, 2 big windows, a large desk, a large set of drawers, a bathroom with bathtub with shower-coil (which was promptly hung on the wall), a big walk-in closet, and a kitchen with a table and 2 chairs. I was really excited!
Andrea and I met up with Liz and Ashley to wait for Nolwenn. Then we all set off for our lesson. We walked down Rue Saint-Jacques, and turned left onto Boulevard Port-Royal. Apparently, there is a big marche en pleine-air (open-air market) every Saturday morning. (That explained why we were food-shopping at 10:30 a.m.) The plan was to make a couple different salads, so we walked around for awhile, checking out deals and whatnot, sidestepping/pushing through everyone. (One thing I really like here is that the elderly seem to be very active and healthy. Most of the customers at the marche were seniors, and nearly all of them were carting around wicker baskets on wheels, in which to heal their food home. It's really good to see.) I got to order the vegetables, and we also got cheese and fruit.
We then went back to PAA and began cooking. We made 2 different types of salads, one an "autumn salad" and the other one with cucumbers (I preferred that one). We prepared it all, and then ate the 2, along with various cheeses and strawberries for dessert. (It reminded me a lot of Ms. Aitken's class at Latin...brings me back.)
Afterward, we cleaned up and took the 85 bus to Porte de Clignancourt to find some flea markets that Jen had recommended. We walked around for awhile, looking at various things, and stopped for a rest and drink (mine was hot chocolate) at the Au Roi Du Cafe. After getting rested up again, we took the bus back to Luxembourg stop (Nolwenn had gotten off a few stops before). We all went to get various things at Ed, the local grocery a street away from our apartment. Before splitting to our respective apartments, we decided to hang out in Liz and Ashley's room about an hour later.
After returning, Andrea and I began moving our things into the new apartment. I had just finished with that when it was time to leave. We all just goofed off, played around on Facebook, ate popcorn and drank wine. I had to leave early to call Mom at 9 p.m. (3 p.m. in Charlotte), so I left about 10 minutes early since I still had to set up my computer.
Andrea had set up her computer and told me that it had taken her a little while to connect to the wireless, and so I was anticipating a half-hour at most. Well, I tried for about an hour and a half, getting told that it was "automatic" and yet failing to connect. I was really frustrated and knew it would be best to cool down, and tried to call Liz and Ashley's room to tell them that I wouldn't be coming over. Well, the number would not let me through, which made me more frustrated, so I just got ready for bed. Andrea came in a little while late, and she tried to help me with my computer for about 45 minutes, but it didn't work. I decided to ask Peter the next day.
The next day (Sunday, today), we met Peter before our 10 a.m. bus tour of Paris. I told him about my computer-connection problem, and he lent me an ethernet cable to try to connect it. Andrea and I tried to connect it for about 15 minutes, but nothing worked, and it made me even more frustrated, so we decided to try it after we got back.
We then got into the van with Liz and Ashley for our tour around Paris! Vivjitah drove, Peter did commentary, and the four of us looked out the windows and took pictures. We saw a lot of cool stuff: the Jardin du Luxembourg, Rue de Rivoli, La Tour Eiffel, L'Arc de Triomphe, Le Place des Vosges, etch. Early in our tour, we drove by a cute shop where Peter told us that Sofia Coppola got the inspiration for the cakes in "Marie Antionette", if not the cakes themselves. (I definitely thought of Lisa's Pi Phi Dessert Mixer shirt, and knew I'd have to tell her about that.) We also happened to see the house (that took up an entire block) of La Paiva, a famous courtesan who, as Peter told us, kept 3 taps in her bathtub: hot water, cold water, and champagne. (My guess had been chocolate.)
We stopped in the 3rd arrondissement for some lunch. It has a large Jewish population, with lots of kosher boulangeries. (It explained why they were open on a Sunday, since others usually aren't.) We stopped at a little Israeli place for lunch, where Peter and the 4 of us ordered different dishes and we all shared. After lunch, we got back in the van and drove around, stopping at the Galerie Vivienne, where Jean-Paul Gaultier has his shop. (It wasn't open, so we peeked through the windows.) It was right near the Palais Royal, and we walked around there for a few minutes. Lots of people were out, mostly families with young kids, and lots of under-10 boys kicking a soccer ball around.
We got back to PAA around 5:30 pm, and all of us were tired (Liz had been falling asleep the last bit of the ride). We headed off to our respective apartments, and I tried to reconnect my computer. (Earlier in the day, we had met up with a PAA tech person, and he had told me to plug into a specific outlet.) I plugged in, and waited on pins and needles for my computer to connect to the wireless. Lo and behold, it worked! I was so happy. I shot my mom an email to say that I'd be able to talk to her on Skype later. I played around on my computer until then, and then called home! I was really excited to talk to my mom and dad, and apparently they were too (Mom told me that Dad was pacing the floor as she was talking to me). It was really fun to hear from them again! (And while I was talking with them, I got Sype information requests from Lisa and Harlan!)
Tomorrow, we go to Le Louvre!
Saturday (yesterday) morning, Andrea and I were getting ready for our 10 a.m. French class when the phone rang. It was Peter, telling us that our (permanent) room was ready and asking us if we would be ready to move in over the next two days. I went down to visit the room with Vivjitah, Peter's assistant, and was very pleasantly surprised! The new apartment has a big bedroom with 2 beds, 2 nightstands with lamps, 2 chairs, 2 big windows, a large desk, a large set of drawers, a bathroom with bathtub with shower-coil (which was promptly hung on the wall), a big walk-in closet, and a kitchen with a table and 2 chairs. I was really excited!
Andrea and I met up with Liz and Ashley to wait for Nolwenn. Then we all set off for our lesson. We walked down Rue Saint-Jacques, and turned left onto Boulevard Port-Royal. Apparently, there is a big marche en pleine-air (open-air market) every Saturday morning. (That explained why we were food-shopping at 10:30 a.m.) The plan was to make a couple different salads, so we walked around for awhile, checking out deals and whatnot, sidestepping/pushing through everyone. (One thing I really like here is that the elderly seem to be very active and healthy. Most of the customers at the marche were seniors, and nearly all of them were carting around wicker baskets on wheels, in which to heal their food home. It's really good to see.) I got to order the vegetables, and we also got cheese and fruit.
We then went back to PAA and began cooking. We made 2 different types of salads, one an "autumn salad" and the other one with cucumbers (I preferred that one). We prepared it all, and then ate the 2, along with various cheeses and strawberries for dessert. (It reminded me a lot of Ms. Aitken's class at Latin...brings me back.)
Afterward, we cleaned up and took the 85 bus to Porte de Clignancourt to find some flea markets that Jen had recommended. We walked around for awhile, looking at various things, and stopped for a rest and drink (mine was hot chocolate) at the Au Roi Du Cafe. After getting rested up again, we took the bus back to Luxembourg stop (Nolwenn had gotten off a few stops before). We all went to get various things at Ed, the local grocery a street away from our apartment. Before splitting to our respective apartments, we decided to hang out in Liz and Ashley's room about an hour later.
After returning, Andrea and I began moving our things into the new apartment. I had just finished with that when it was time to leave. We all just goofed off, played around on Facebook, ate popcorn and drank wine. I had to leave early to call Mom at 9 p.m. (3 p.m. in Charlotte), so I left about 10 minutes early since I still had to set up my computer.
Andrea had set up her computer and told me that it had taken her a little while to connect to the wireless, and so I was anticipating a half-hour at most. Well, I tried for about an hour and a half, getting told that it was "automatic" and yet failing to connect. I was really frustrated and knew it would be best to cool down, and tried to call Liz and Ashley's room to tell them that I wouldn't be coming over. Well, the number would not let me through, which made me more frustrated, so I just got ready for bed. Andrea came in a little while late, and she tried to help me with my computer for about 45 minutes, but it didn't work. I decided to ask Peter the next day.
The next day (Sunday, today), we met Peter before our 10 a.m. bus tour of Paris. I told him about my computer-connection problem, and he lent me an ethernet cable to try to connect it. Andrea and I tried to connect it for about 15 minutes, but nothing worked, and it made me even more frustrated, so we decided to try it after we got back.
We then got into the van with Liz and Ashley for our tour around Paris! Vivjitah drove, Peter did commentary, and the four of us looked out the windows and took pictures. We saw a lot of cool stuff: the Jardin du Luxembourg, Rue de Rivoli, La Tour Eiffel, L'Arc de Triomphe, Le Place des Vosges, etch. Early in our tour, we drove by a cute shop where Peter told us that Sofia Coppola got the inspiration for the cakes in "Marie Antionette", if not the cakes themselves. (I definitely thought of Lisa's Pi Phi Dessert Mixer shirt, and knew I'd have to tell her about that.) We also happened to see the house (that took up an entire block) of La Paiva, a famous courtesan who, as Peter told us, kept 3 taps in her bathtub: hot water, cold water, and champagne. (My guess had been chocolate.)
We stopped in the 3rd arrondissement for some lunch. It has a large Jewish population, with lots of kosher boulangeries. (It explained why they were open on a Sunday, since others usually aren't.) We stopped at a little Israeli place for lunch, where Peter and the 4 of us ordered different dishes and we all shared. After lunch, we got back in the van and drove around, stopping at the Galerie Vivienne, where Jean-Paul Gaultier has his shop. (It wasn't open, so we peeked through the windows.) It was right near the Palais Royal, and we walked around there for a few minutes. Lots of people were out, mostly families with young kids, and lots of under-10 boys kicking a soccer ball around.
We got back to PAA around 5:30 pm, and all of us were tired (Liz had been falling asleep the last bit of the ride). We headed off to our respective apartments, and I tried to reconnect my computer. (Earlier in the day, we had met up with a PAA tech person, and he had told me to plug into a specific outlet.) I plugged in, and waited on pins and needles for my computer to connect to the wireless. Lo and behold, it worked! I was so happy. I shot my mom an email to say that I'd be able to talk to her on Skype later. I played around on my computer until then, and then called home! I was really excited to talk to my mom and dad, and apparently they were too (Mom told me that Dad was pacing the floor as she was talking to me). It was really fun to hear from them again! (And while I was talking with them, I got Sype information requests from Lisa and Harlan!)
Tomorrow, we go to Le Louvre!
Friday, February 8, 2008
First Day O' Class
(The title alone should tell you what this is going to be about.)
Our first class began at 9 pm, and Andrea and I left our (still temporary) room about 20 minutes before. I got a croissant on the way to class, and made our way there. Our first class was held on the top floor of the building, affording us a wonderfully sweeping view of the Val de Grace (I can't quite figure out if it's a school or a church). While waiting for our teacher to arrive, we talked with another guy there who attends PAA year-round (the rest of the students are currently on their break between semesters, so we meet the rest of them February 18th).
Jen, our teacher for the first class, informed us that we'd be doing a garment and accessories based on the work of Yohji Yamamoto, a designer known for his conceptualized forms. Hmm, this will be challenging...
We went down to the computers to do some research and Jen showed us the website for where she works, Anne Valerie Hash. (It was really cool to find out that Jen had gone to school in Oklahoma, interned at AVH the summer before her senior year, and was offered a job there when she graduated. She's the handbags and accessories-which she's done for at least 2 years-, and despite only learning French right before her job started, she sounds like a native. I am uber-jealous and I can only hope to one day be that cool.)
We then went back up to the classroom and drew accessories so that Jen could get an idea of where each of us (Andrea, Liz, and I) were in our skills. I had drawn a bag and a belt, and I told her that I hand-drew everything and scanned it in.
Then, we left the PAA and, along with some students from Korea, took the RER (that would be the railroad, I'm not completely sure what it stands for). (Learned: always carry my wallet, since I never know what adventures I'll be taking. But at least I had enough money to ride both ways.) We got off the RER, and walked a couple of blocks, with Jen leading us to the MVH studio! She took us through all the rooms (their building used to be a bordello, and it had very intricate woodwork and wall mosaics). (Learned: always bring a camera, for the same reasons as bringing a wallet.) We went down to the production room, where we saw prototypes made from toiles and (gasp!) stuff from the upcoming collection. It was really cool.
After the tour, Jen took Liz, Andrea, Bella and I out for lunch at the De La Ville cafe, right next-door to the AVH atelier. I had the suggestion du jour, lamb with potatoes, absolutely delicious. After lunch, Jen directed us back and we rode the RER back to PAA.
We 4 girls reconvened before 2 pm, and another one Amanda had joined us. (She had just arrived on account of plane problems.) Being girls (especially all together in a strange place), we started talking, mostly about the future PAA coursework, while waiting for our French teacher to show for our afternoon lesson.
Norwenn, our teacher soon arrived, and we moved outside for introductions. We each introduced ourselves, and Norwenn spent time with each of us asking individual questions, such as where we were from, what we wanted to do this year, etc. She told us that she wanted to assess each of us for our skill level, with both an oral and a written (casual) exam. After introductions, we moved inside, upstairs in a room above the room where we had been in the morning. We were then administered the written test, and told we'd be placed in 1 of the 3 levels when the semester began (1 being beginner, 3 being advanced). On the test, we were asked if we had taken French before, if so, how long, and where. On the inside, it was a lot of exactly what I love and am good at: grammar and verb tenses. But still, I felt decently confident and ended up filling in all the blanks (although I kept forgetting stuff like first-person verb tenses, and just taking a stab at it, which I thought would be right anyway). Seriously, this test was no joke: it covered future tenses, when to use stuff like "leur" and "les" as well as "y" and "en". (Some of you guys know what I'm talking about here.) I was expecting/hoping for a Level 2 (intermediate), but after Norwenn scored all off our tests, I had gotten a Level 3 (I was also the only one to do so)! (I guess that looking over my high-school French texts/rereading the adventures of Armelle, her boyfriend Pierre, and her best-friend/perpetual third-wheel Corinne helped out.) We were broken up according to levels we scored, and I'll be studying with Norwenn starting February 18th.
For the rest of the class, we learned (well, "reviewed" is more accurate for me) vegatables (legumes) and fruits (fruits) in preparation for tomorrow's morning activity of food-shopping. After class, we all decided to go to the nearest art-supply store (which was on Rue Claude Bernard, one street away from Rue St. Jacques), and I got some much-needed drawing pencils and eraser. After that, Andrea and I invited Liz and Amanda to go to the grocery store with us after we dropped our stuff off at our apartment.
After we got into the elevator in our building, someone called something and I stepped half-out to investigate. Two young guys were there, talking to us, and then they randomly asked us out for drinks. We had seen these guys earlier, and it hit us that they might have followed us in. So that really sketched us out, and we sat in our room, and waited until we couldn't hear them anymore.
We then met up with Liz and Amanda and proceeded over to Ed (not Ed's, just Ed), and all bought foodstuffs. We also stopped at the boulangerie and bought something (I bought a petit champagne). On arriving back here, I ate some bread with Brie cheese and butter (but not together).
Now I have to go do my French homework, a worksheet all about buying food at the marche. I can't wait to do the real thing tomorrow!
Our first class began at 9 pm, and Andrea and I left our (still temporary) room about 20 minutes before. I got a croissant on the way to class, and made our way there. Our first class was held on the top floor of the building, affording us a wonderfully sweeping view of the Val de Grace (I can't quite figure out if it's a school or a church). While waiting for our teacher to arrive, we talked with another guy there who attends PAA year-round (the rest of the students are currently on their break between semesters, so we meet the rest of them February 18th).
Jen, our teacher for the first class, informed us that we'd be doing a garment and accessories based on the work of Yohji Yamamoto, a designer known for his conceptualized forms. Hmm, this will be challenging...
We went down to the computers to do some research and Jen showed us the website for where she works, Anne Valerie Hash. (It was really cool to find out that Jen had gone to school in Oklahoma, interned at AVH the summer before her senior year, and was offered a job there when she graduated. She's the handbags and accessories-which she's done for at least 2 years-, and despite only learning French right before her job started, she sounds like a native. I am uber-jealous and I can only hope to one day be that cool.)
We then went back up to the classroom and drew accessories so that Jen could get an idea of where each of us (Andrea, Liz, and I) were in our skills. I had drawn a bag and a belt, and I told her that I hand-drew everything and scanned it in.
Then, we left the PAA and, along with some students from Korea, took the RER (that would be the railroad, I'm not completely sure what it stands for). (Learned: always carry my wallet, since I never know what adventures I'll be taking. But at least I had enough money to ride both ways.) We got off the RER, and walked a couple of blocks, with Jen leading us to the MVH studio! She took us through all the rooms (their building used to be a bordello, and it had very intricate woodwork and wall mosaics). (Learned: always bring a camera, for the same reasons as bringing a wallet.) We went down to the production room, where we saw prototypes made from toiles and (gasp!) stuff from the upcoming collection. It was really cool.
After the tour, Jen took Liz, Andrea, Bella and I out for lunch at the De La Ville cafe, right next-door to the AVH atelier. I had the suggestion du jour, lamb with potatoes, absolutely delicious. After lunch, Jen directed us back and we rode the RER back to PAA.
We 4 girls reconvened before 2 pm, and another one Amanda had joined us. (She had just arrived on account of plane problems.) Being girls (especially all together in a strange place), we started talking, mostly about the future PAA coursework, while waiting for our French teacher to show for our afternoon lesson.
Norwenn, our teacher soon arrived, and we moved outside for introductions. We each introduced ourselves, and Norwenn spent time with each of us asking individual questions, such as where we were from, what we wanted to do this year, etc. She told us that she wanted to assess each of us for our skill level, with both an oral and a written (casual) exam. After introductions, we moved inside, upstairs in a room above the room where we had been in the morning. We were then administered the written test, and told we'd be placed in 1 of the 3 levels when the semester began (1 being beginner, 3 being advanced). On the test, we were asked if we had taken French before, if so, how long, and where. On the inside, it was a lot of exactly what I love and am good at: grammar and verb tenses. But still, I felt decently confident and ended up filling in all the blanks (although I kept forgetting stuff like first-person verb tenses, and just taking a stab at it, which I thought would be right anyway). Seriously, this test was no joke: it covered future tenses, when to use stuff like "leur" and "les" as well as "y" and "en". (Some of you guys know what I'm talking about here.) I was expecting/hoping for a Level 2 (intermediate), but after Norwenn scored all off our tests, I had gotten a Level 3 (I was also the only one to do so)! (I guess that looking over my high-school French texts/rereading the adventures of Armelle, her boyfriend Pierre, and her best-friend/perpetual third-wheel Corinne helped out.) We were broken up according to levels we scored, and I'll be studying with Norwenn starting February 18th.
For the rest of the class, we learned (well, "reviewed" is more accurate for me) vegatables (legumes) and fruits (fruits) in preparation for tomorrow's morning activity of food-shopping. After class, we all decided to go to the nearest art-supply store (which was on Rue Claude Bernard, one street away from Rue St. Jacques), and I got some much-needed drawing pencils and eraser. After that, Andrea and I invited Liz and Amanda to go to the grocery store with us after we dropped our stuff off at our apartment.
After we got into the elevator in our building, someone called something and I stepped half-out to investigate. Two young guys were there, talking to us, and then they randomly asked us out for drinks. We had seen these guys earlier, and it hit us that they might have followed us in. So that really sketched us out, and we sat in our room, and waited until we couldn't hear them anymore.
We then met up with Liz and Amanda and proceeded over to Ed (not Ed's, just Ed), and all bought foodstuffs. We also stopped at the boulangerie and bought something (I bought a petit champagne). On arriving back here, I ate some bread with Brie cheese and butter (but not together).
Now I have to go do my French homework, a worksheet all about buying food at the marche. I can't wait to do the real thing tomorrow!
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Addendum
I forgot to add that I was originally worried that the milk here would be served room-temperature. (The previous time I had been to Paris-over 2 years ago-, all the milk I drank was not cold, more luke-warm.) I had the thought that if it was all lukewarm, then I wouldn't be drinking milk for 4 months. (Seriously, if you know me well, you know what a big deal that is for me.) I did manage to find cold milk(!), and so I'm really excited. Ionly got it today, and it's already 1/3 of the way gone. (It's looking like I might be spending the most on milk. But let's hope it doesn't work out that way.)
I'm Here!
(Actually, I've been here for a little over 24 hours.) Now for a long-awaited update:
I spent a couple of days just packing and talking with people, like my grandparents and friends. (I'm still sad that I didn't get to talk to Mark.) I had dinner with my dad and grandma Monday night (she made my favorite, chicken paprikash). I'll really miss her.
I left Charlotte Tuesday morning, my flight being at 1:30 pm. The flight was pushed back to 2:30 pm, and we boarded at 1:45 pm. We then sat on the runway until 3:20 pm until we took off (we were told that we couldn't leave until then, for some reason).
I got into Philadelphia about 5:30 pm, and talked with the 'rents and ate some dinner. I got a magazine (W, with James McAvoy-hence the reason for buying it-and Keira Knightley). I also talked with Harlan and Emily before I boarded, I was so happy I got to talk to them.
The plane left at about 9 pm, and I tried to sleep. Nothing really happened on the plane, just your typical overseas international flight. When I woke up about a hour before we landed, I felt like I was on Paris time. (I guess that week of getting up insanely early helped.)
After getting off the plane, I got my luggage and had my communication in French: I asked an airport employee if there was a phone around that accepted change. He told me that there was one outside of customs.
I went through customs and tried to call for the Paris American Academy shuttle. However, I couldn't figure out the phones. A couple of other people were there with the same problem, so we all bonded. Eventually, the two of them got their calls made, but I was still frustrated. Fortunately, a nice man came up and helped me with mine, so I got the shuttle arranged.
(Oh, apparently there was a taxi strike as well. This coexisted with the fact that several taxi drivers were walking around near the airport entrances , saying, "Taxi , madame?" to nearly everyone that crossed their path.)
I went down to the designated gate to wait for the shuttle. An hour passed...still no shuttle. I called the PAA shuttle again, and was told that the shuttle would come in about 3-5 minutes. The shuttle did eventually arrive 20-25 minutes later. It took awhile to drive into Paris from Charles de Gaulle, so I rested my eyes.
After what seemed like an hour (I have no idea how long it actually took), I got dropped off at PAA. I and my luggage went into the archway and tried to open the door. I was locked. I tried to ring the doorbell. Nobody answered. I was frustrated, and banged on the door. Eventually, a guy come out and told me that these were the PAA classrooms, and I needed to go to the
office. He walked me there, and I met Peter, the director of the program. The first thing Peter said was, "So, do you speak French?" I answered that I had taken French for 6 years, but I hadn't taken a class of it for about 4 years. He replied that I might be near the head of the survival French class that will start up along with classes.
Peter's assistant walked me up to my apartment (it has a great view). I was told that this room would be temporary, and that I'd actually be 1 floor below, but the hallway paint was currently being touched-up around the door.
After unpacking a little (but not too much), I went out to get some necessities. I didn't go too far out, but I hit a pharmacie and a grocery for toiletries. (Learned: A person's personal space is not valued when they are waiting in line to purchase food at the marche.) I also got a ready-made paninni and ate half of it.
Today, I woke up to the sound of a knock at the apartment door. (I had went to bed late the night before, and so was more-or-less still sleeping.) It was Peter's assistant, with Andrea, the Meredith student, who was to be my new roommate! (I'm so glad I'm living with someone I've met before.) We talked for awhile as I got dressed, and I left to explore!
I went down Rue St. Jacques, which met up with Boulevard Port Royal, and turned right. I soon guessed that I was in Montparnasse, a neighboring arrondisement, seeing as half the small businesses were Montparnasse-something-or-other. (A later check at my trusty map-book of the Parisian arrondisements confirmed this.) I wasn't going anywhere in particular, I just wanted to see what was around. (Answer: a lot of bookshops, boulangerie/patisseries, charcuteries, cafes, etc.) I bought a croissant from a boulangerie, and walked around eating it. I crossed to the other side of the street and walked in the other direction, passing Rue St. Jacques and walking back though some of the Boulevard Port Royal. I turned around and walked down Rue St. Jacques, passing the school. At one point, a young guy came up to me and started talking. I eventually deduced that they were asking me where some fast food places were. I talked with them for awhile, and they invited me to come along (I said I had some things to do, and was just to stay in that particular part today.) After we parted, I saw (what looked like) a whole class of elementary-school-aged kids with their teacher at the same crosswalk as me. I let them pass in front of me, and was curious to see where they were going. Sure enough, they headed into a school, the Ecole Elementaire Mixte.
A little while later, I was walking down another street and passed the Lycee Lavoisier. Passing it a second time, kids were in groups all outside, hanging out. As I walked on, I kept running into groups of them, waiting at crosswalks, going into shops, getting snacks, etc. I think school had just gotten out (this was about 4-4:30 pm). (Learned: The skinny jeans and flats combination-especially dark wash denim/black and black flats- is still strong here. It made me glad I packed both.)
I stopped at a marche for milk and cotton pads a street over from the school. (Learned: Start bringing my own bags for shopping-aesthetically pleasing ones-, since none are provided.) After dropping those back at the apartment, I went back out and purchased some clementines. (I also saw some Maggi Indian products, which made me miss Sabina.)
I then came back to the apartment and talked with Andrea when she got back and wrote this whole thing. So that's it for now. I'm really hungry, so I think I'll have the rest of that pannini and some milk.
I spent a couple of days just packing and talking with people, like my grandparents and friends. (I'm still sad that I didn't get to talk to Mark.) I had dinner with my dad and grandma Monday night (she made my favorite, chicken paprikash). I'll really miss her.
I left Charlotte Tuesday morning, my flight being at 1:30 pm. The flight was pushed back to 2:30 pm, and we boarded at 1:45 pm. We then sat on the runway until 3:20 pm until we took off (we were told that we couldn't leave until then, for some reason).
I got into Philadelphia about 5:30 pm, and talked with the 'rents and ate some dinner. I got a magazine (W, with James McAvoy-hence the reason for buying it-and Keira Knightley). I also talked with Harlan and Emily before I boarded, I was so happy I got to talk to them.
The plane left at about 9 pm, and I tried to sleep. Nothing really happened on the plane, just your typical overseas international flight. When I woke up about a hour before we landed, I felt like I was on Paris time. (I guess that week of getting up insanely early helped.)
After getting off the plane, I got my luggage and had my communication in French: I asked an airport employee if there was a phone around that accepted change. He told me that there was one outside of customs.
I went through customs and tried to call for the Paris American Academy shuttle. However, I couldn't figure out the phones. A couple of other people were there with the same problem, so we all bonded. Eventually, the two of them got their calls made, but I was still frustrated. Fortunately, a nice man came up and helped me with mine, so I got the shuttle arranged.
(Oh, apparently there was a taxi strike as well. This coexisted with the fact that several taxi drivers were walking around near the airport entrances , saying, "Taxi , madame?" to nearly everyone that crossed their path.)
I went down to the designated gate to wait for the shuttle. An hour passed...still no shuttle. I called the PAA shuttle again, and was told that the shuttle would come in about 3-5 minutes. The shuttle did eventually arrive 20-25 minutes later. It took awhile to drive into Paris from Charles de Gaulle, so I rested my eyes.
After what seemed like an hour (I have no idea how long it actually took), I got dropped off at PAA. I and my luggage went into the archway and tried to open the door. I was locked. I tried to ring the doorbell. Nobody answered. I was frustrated, and banged on the door. Eventually, a guy come out and told me that these were the PAA classrooms, and I needed to go to the
office. He walked me there, and I met Peter, the director of the program. The first thing Peter said was, "So, do you speak French?" I answered that I had taken French for 6 years, but I hadn't taken a class of it for about 4 years. He replied that I might be near the head of the survival French class that will start up along with classes.
Peter's assistant walked me up to my apartment (it has a great view). I was told that this room would be temporary, and that I'd actually be 1 floor below, but the hallway paint was currently being touched-up around the door.
After unpacking a little (but not too much), I went out to get some necessities. I didn't go too far out, but I hit a pharmacie and a grocery for toiletries. (Learned: A person's personal space is not valued when they are waiting in line to purchase food at the marche.) I also got a ready-made paninni and ate half of it.
Today, I woke up to the sound of a knock at the apartment door. (I had went to bed late the night before, and so was more-or-less still sleeping.) It was Peter's assistant, with Andrea, the Meredith student, who was to be my new roommate! (I'm so glad I'm living with someone I've met before.) We talked for awhile as I got dressed, and I left to explore!
I went down Rue St. Jacques, which met up with Boulevard Port Royal, and turned right. I soon guessed that I was in Montparnasse, a neighboring arrondisement, seeing as half the small businesses were Montparnasse-something-or-other. (A later check at my trusty map-book of the Parisian arrondisements confirmed this.) I wasn't going anywhere in particular, I just wanted to see what was around. (Answer: a lot of bookshops, boulangerie/patisseries, charcuteries, cafes, etc.) I bought a croissant from a boulangerie, and walked around eating it. I crossed to the other side of the street and walked in the other direction, passing Rue St. Jacques and walking back though some of the Boulevard Port Royal. I turned around and walked down Rue St. Jacques, passing the school. At one point, a young guy came up to me and started talking. I eventually deduced that they were asking me where some fast food places were. I talked with them for awhile, and they invited me to come along (I said I had some things to do, and was just to stay in that particular part today.) After we parted, I saw (what looked like) a whole class of elementary-school-aged kids with their teacher at the same crosswalk as me. I let them pass in front of me, and was curious to see where they were going. Sure enough, they headed into a school, the Ecole Elementaire Mixte.
A little while later, I was walking down another street and passed the Lycee Lavoisier. Passing it a second time, kids were in groups all outside, hanging out. As I walked on, I kept running into groups of them, waiting at crosswalks, going into shops, getting snacks, etc. I think school had just gotten out (this was about 4-4:30 pm). (Learned: The skinny jeans and flats combination-especially dark wash denim/black and black flats- is still strong here. It made me glad I packed both.)
I stopped at a marche for milk and cotton pads a street over from the school. (Learned: Start bringing my own bags for shopping-aesthetically pleasing ones-, since none are provided.) After dropping those back at the apartment, I went back out and purchased some clementines. (I also saw some Maggi Indian products, which made me miss Sabina.)
I then came back to the apartment and talked with Andrea when she got back and wrote this whole thing. So that's it for now. I'm really hungry, so I think I'll have the rest of that pannini and some milk.
Friday, February 1, 2008
4 Days!...
...until I leave for Paris! I've just been trying to get stuff ready after having my last day of work Tuesday. I've got my clothes laid out, now I just have to see if they fit. I've got Skype and now this blog set up, with a Flickr account soon to come. The only thing I'm worried about is my VisaBuxx card, which we ordered (expedited) a week ago. My mom and I stopped by Wachovia earlier today to find out what was going on, and my mom pretty much brought the smack down over the phone to the representative (it was awesome). It's looking like it won't come in time, so we'll have to ship it over when I'll already be in Paris.
I had lunch with my Grandma today, and over lunch it hit me for the first time that I'll be leaving soon. But I know I'll come back with great stories and a better portfolio to show her!
I had lunch with my Grandma today, and over lunch it hit me for the first time that I'll be leaving soon. But I know I'll come back with great stories and a better portfolio to show her!
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