The Weekend, Monday and Tuesday

Saturday morning, Harlan and I went out! (She had a whole list of things that she wanted to do/see while she was here). Since it was going to rain later, we started out by taking the metro to Montmartre to see Sacre Coeur. We walked up one street that led directly towards it, and then took our time walking up the hill. (I noticed halfway up that Dreyfus and Reine fabric shops were about a block to our left. I knew that they were pretty close to Sacre Coeur, but I didn't realize how close.) We took a break at the top and took pictures, and tried to identify buildings, like Notre Dame and Tour Montparnasse. We then decided to go into Sacre Coeur itself. Wow! It was beautiful inside. There was a service going on as we walked through, so we had the added bonus of music as we toured. (I've noticed that when I go to church at home-or anywhere in the U.S-I don't feel very religious or reverent. It was completely different being in Sacre Coeur, but maybe it was because of all the candles, oversize stained-glass windows, and gold-leaf ceiling paintings that made me feel so. Maybe I only feel religious in a church with some years of history in it.)
After wandering through Sacre Coeur, we took the metro to the area around Saint-Sulpice church in the 6th arrondissement. We walked around the area for awhile (there were some really high-end clothing stores there, like Christian Lacroix and Armani), and went into this one shop called Gerard Luflot's for a snack. Apparently, he's famous for his pastries, so I decided to get an opera (like a tiramisu sandwiched between two bars of chocolate), even though it was hard to choose because everything looked so delicious (and so visually well-presented). Harlan got a macaroon (which he's famous for) and she wasn't disappointed. After our snack, we decided to have some coffee for stamina, so we walked to a cafe that was to the right of Saint Sulpice. We sat outside, so we had a great view as we sipped our drinks and planned where we would next go. On the way out, I bought a couple of magazines (I'm trying to improve my French).
We wandered toward the Saint-Germain-de-Pres area, which had some great shopping. We went into Sonia Rykiel just for fun, and tried to go into Etro, but it was closed. (Everywhere we went, Harlan insisted that I go in first so that I could answer questions for the both of us. Not that I minded). We walked along, and went into this tiny shop called Nanie. We both tried on the same shirt, and it looked good on both of us (pretty amazing)! (What I really liked about the lady helping us was that she didn't speak any English to us at all.) We also went into Sinequanone, where Harlan tried on a couple of sweaters and I made a mental note to come back. (Seriously, I haven't done any shopping since I've been here, except for supplies and fabric. I can't wait to have a day off! I also really need to make a list of stuff that I'd like to do/see while I'm here.)
Harlan also wanted us to go to this English bookstore that she had read about in her guidebook. It's called the Village Voice, and they carry a lot of interesting stuff, I could've browsed there for hours. (I saw this one book edited by Zadie Smith, with short stories by Dan Clowes, David Eggers, Z.Z. Packer and Zadie herself, so another mental note was made to come back and pick it up.)
We began to walk back to the apartment, and cut through the Jardin du Luxembourg on our way. A lot of families with small kids were out, and a lot of them were playing with the boats that float on the lake. (This meant that a lot of them were running haphazardly around the pond, carrying big bamboo sticks practically perpendicular to their bodies. The Southern phrase "you're going to poke your/someone's eye out" definitely came to mind a few times.) It was really cute watching the kids (almost made me reconsider my stance on the issue), and I got some good pictures of them (while trying not to seem creepy).
We got back to the apartment, and got ready for my birthday dinner that night! I had decided to wear a purple tiered top I had gotten at BelleVille with black pants, but Harlan convinced me to wear it as a dress and let me borrow her tights. So I wore it with heels and minimal jewelry. Sharon came to the apartment at 6:30 pm (our reservations were for 7 pm), the three of us and Andrea picked up Liz and Ashley and we went to the restaurant. It was called ChantAirelle, and was located behind the Pantheon on a really deserted street (so much so that Liz was joking about how we were going to get mugged). We eventually found it (it's REALLY hidden), and happened to be the only ones inside for about an hour. (It was kind of funny, the "atmospheric music" was rain forest noises, and there was one of those clocks that makes bird calls every hour on the hour. We got some amusement out of that.) We started with bread and sausage, and I got duck in a honey and thyme sauce, with sauteed vegtables (along with half the table), some white wine and some profiteroles (cream in a pastry covering in a ball, covered in chocolate ice cream) served with pear ice cream (which was delicious). The whole thing for me was 30 Euro, which, considering it wasn't a fixed price menu (where you get an entree, plat and dessert for one price), was pretty good. It was a fantastic celebration: good food, good friends, good times!
The next day (Sunday), I did laundry in the morning and Harlan joined me in the laundromat. Then, she decided to go out, but I stayed behind to do homework, namely, work on embroidering my bra. I had laid the fabric over it, and started to embroider on it. It was pretty tough, since my bra was heavily padded, getting the thread through all those layers of padding. I took to pulling the needle up with my teeth (I think I might've slightly chipped a tooth), so it took me around 7 hours, give or take, to finish up one cup (half of it). Added to which, my right thumb and forefinger were punctured, sore and numb. (I don't believe I will ever consider embroidery as a career move.)
That night, we decided to go out for Indian food. I had heard that there were good places in the 10th, so Harlan found what looked like a good place, we got all dolled up and left. It turns out that the 10th is a pretty sketchy area at night. Everything was closed, the streets were poorly lit, and there weren't many people out (the only ones were guys). We promptly decided to go back, and thought we'd try the Tibetan place near the apartment. What do you think happened there? You're right, it was closed! Frustrated, we decided to just get paninis (and single-serving Ben and Jerry's!) at the panini place RIGHT NEXT DOOR to my apartment. Yeah...we got all dressed up and rode all that way for paninis...
The next morning, I went to Sewing with Muriel. We worked on our pants patterns all class. I spent about 45 minutes attempting to line up the entire grain-line with one pinstripe, pinned it down...and then realized that I was working on the effect face (i.e. the part that would show outside, to the public), not the technical face (the inside). So I had to take everything off and start again. About this time, Muriel came over and corrected my method of pinning. (I'm a bit frustrated that it seems to feel like I'm doing everything wrong. But then, I've never made pants before, so how would I know the right way? But I feel this way about most procedures here, and hope I'm learning along the way.) After I got everything pinned down in the Muriel-approved way, I cut everything out and traced the pieces with my handy-dandy tailor's chalk. The next time we meet, I can sew them up!
In Art History that afternoon, we talked about Abstraction in the U.S. after 1945, mostly about Expressionism. Ashley, Liz and I embroidered our bras the whole time (I also occasionally took notes). Another girl Eva, who's in interior design, and another guy were really impressed with the 3 of our bras and thought they were so beautiful (it remained to be seen whether the all-powerful Susan would think the same). That class was actually pretty fun, because people had certain opinions on what types of the abstract art that they did and didn't like. (Eva had the most hilarious/insightful opinions. I like her, she's got definite opinions and isn't afraid to share them. For example, we were talking about elephantitis near the end of class and she then mentioned a guy who reported had it in his testicles and had to cart them around in a wheelbarrow.)
After class, I went back to the room and met Melissa, Andrea's friend who's staying with us for about a week. She seemed pretty cool, and she and Harlan hit it off pretty well, both of them being pre-med and all. Later, Harlan and I had dinner, and then I embroidered and drew up my 12 evening wear illustrations for Susan.
Tuesday morning was Stylism with good ol' Susan. She first checked everyone's progress on their bras one by one, and happened to forget me. Partway through class, a Malaysian family came in for a tour, and in talking to them, Susan suddenly remembered that she hadn't seen mine. (That was fine by me. If she didn't see it, then she couldn't dislike it.)
(Funny thing: After the Malaysian family left, Nisa said, "Now you know what Malaysians look like". I was like, "What, are you and Redza (her boyfriend) really abnormally good-looking ones or something?" It was kind of funny.)
Susan then decided to see my bra and sketches. She pronounced my bra to be "absolutely beautiful" and then went on this thing about how some students struggle with embroidery and don't really like it (was I being that obvious?), and they do something completely different, and it turns out looking beautiful. She told me to leave the edges at the top unfinished (I finished it later, and I must say, I'm really pleased.)
(Another thing with the bra: We have to take a fashion photo of it. As in, "Vogue quality", as said by Susan. Tu asked if the person wearing it could be photographed from the waist up, and Susan looked perplexed as to why anyone would want to do that, because we all know that "fashion" does not equal "modesty".)
So: the sketches. She liked most of mine (although some of the cocktail ones looked a bit similar and "ordinary" a very damning term from her), but had a problem with the proportions of my croquis. I was told that I needed to slim down her hips, elongate her legs and that "her tits look a bit saggy, don't they?" So I worked on my sketches and talked with Sharon the rest of the afternoon. (I'm pretty sure that whenever Susan busts out the typical, "Are we embroidering or designing, or are we chatting?", she's really leveling it at Sharon and I, mostly because we make the mistake of having Susan overhear our laughter.)
For French class, we each did oral presentations about articles we had read. (I had misunderstood and read an article in English, oops.) I talked about Obama in the primaries, which segued nicely into us talking about France's political parties. (They have a Green Party over here, but it's all about the environment. I tried to ask if it was the same party as in the U.S., and was met with a blank stare. I'm still finding it hard to believe that a centrist party only emerged in 2007. So much for my hope of finding a fair viewpoint on things, since a lot of the media is right-wing, as is Sarkozy's party.)
After French, I went with Nisa and Sharon to Berty's to get bristol board and double-sided tape. (I love hanging out with both of them, they are so funny and just awesome.) I then came back to the room, where Harlan had found a place to go out to eat called L'Ardoise, near the Tuileries. We got dressed up (I wore a gray wrap sweater dress, black flats and borrowed Harlan's tights again), and took the metro there. Once there, we each got the prix fixe menu, and split a glass of white wine. For the entree, I got lobster bisque and Harlan got escargot (I tried some, and it was a slippery texture that took the taste of whatever it was served in). For the plat, we both got the lamb, served as 2 pieces wrapped in mint. For dessert, I got the Feuilletine citron et orange (basically an opera with those flavors in the middle in cream), and Harlan got the creme brulee. It was delicieuse (but then, every meal I've had in a restaurant here has been)!
We got back here at around 10 pm, and relaxed until going to bed. Tomorrow, I get out at 12 pm, and we're going to go to the Pere Lachaise cemetery in the 20th (lots of famous people are buried there, including Oscar Wilde, Moliere and Edith Piaf), as well as getting fabric samples! Should be fun!