Yea right. That’s where I take all my best naps! The drone of the teacher’s voice sounding so much like that guy from the Visine commercial with the diagram that’s been on the blackboard for the past 30 years. Who uses blackboards anymore anyways? I mean come on now, this is the 21st century. Okay, I kid, it’s not all that bad. But there always has to be a good reason for sleeping in class. It’s the sleeping gas they pump into the classroom… they always choose to pump it out from right under my desk. Alright, that’s not quite true either. A bit outlandish even. Actually I just fall asleep because I’m tired. That’s what happens when you get into a car with complete strangers and go clubbing until half past two and have school the next day. But we went clubbing on Friday night. Yes, we did get into cars with people who were nearly complete strangers, but it was no biggie. Sure we were afraid we were going to get kidnapped, especially me, having seen “Taken” less than a week before leaving for France. But the place to be adventurous and do things you’ve never tried before is in a foreign country where you barely know anyone and the people are much more friendly than in your own country. That way, if anything happens, no one will be know where to find you.
August, 2010:
Nearing the End
It’s the last Friday that we’ll spend in this classroom at UTC. Four weeks isn’t very long in and of itself, yet time has a way of escaping so that you’re left wondering where it went and what you did with it. At least I can say I’ve taken advantage of the many opportunities I’ve been given to learn about French culture and Compiègne and the various castles and other renowned places to which we traveled. I also had the chance to meet people from various places from all over the world. I only wish this all could have lasted a bit longer. It’s not even time to say goodbye yet, we’ve still got a week left (and did I mention I’m returning to Paris this weekend?) yet it’s still a bitter sweet feeling because next Friday will be our farewell barbecue.
Made In China
Three simple words. Yet such a huge concept. These three words have followed me from America to France, peering at me from the tags on the clothes and on the shoe boxes I see in the stores. It would be nice if I could say about the things I’ve bought here that not only have I bought them in France, but they’re also French-made. Alas, it’s a bit like a treasure hunt trying to find things that are authentically French. It seems that China’s dominance in the market of products that are sold worldwide is not to be disputed. Nonetheless, shopping here has been interesting. The first two weeks we were here, all the stores were having huge sales. SOLDES was written on red tags in windows everywhere the eye could see. It was only a day before Soldes ended that we learned that it was only for a short time and that it was mandatory for stores to have these sales once a year so that merchandise could be more affordable. Though Soldes is now over, I’ve found two wonderful stores (and this I say despite a bad experience with exchange policies) at which to shop and I shall be returning to les Etats-Unis with merchandise I can proudly say I brought in France (though I shan’t mention Compiègne… no one knows where that is).
Le Château du Pierrefonds (et aprèsquoi, L’Armistice)
UTC Wednesdays are expressly reserved for excursions. Our first Wednesday led us to explore places close to home. Our second trip took us to a Medieval castle, (somewhere way outside of Compiègne…I think). Pierrefonds is a downright fascinating castle, one, because it actually looks like a castle, and two, because there still remain vestiges of the original structure, which Ben, one of our more adventurous classmates, ventured to climb. We picnicked outside of the grand castle, enjoying the fabulous views of the forest around us and looking down the hill into the town below and the towns farther out surrounding the castle. We were lucky enough to have been joined in our picnic by a hedgehog, and although it was a bit shy, its company was much appreciated. Entering the castle made us feel adventurous as we had to walk over a drawbridge and the gate above us was quite full of spikes. To the left of the gate, there was a small staircase that said “Defense de Monter” or something daring to that extent. The castle itself was sparsely furnished, having been ransacked by museums and other such well-meaning people who meant to preserve history (while making themselves a fortune). The vestiges of grandeur that remained were quite fascinating. Just the idea of being in an actual castle replete with towers (named for famous people) and little cross shaped slit windows through which to shoot thine enemies with holy fire arrows was a grand experience. We noticed that the doorways were much smaller than our standard ones because the people were much shorter back then. I wondered if hundreds of years from now people would visit our structures and marvel at our tiny selves. The best part about Pierrefonds was definitely being in the courtyard. That was magical, being surrounded by gutters shaped like lizards climbing down the walls from which mouths poured forth (dripped rather) streams of water… perfect weather for visiting a castle, a regular mix of sun and rain – typical weather for the north of France.
Unfortunately after we visited the lovely castle that I shall one day occupy as a resident, we went on to visit L’Armistice in the middle, (maybe not the middle but some part) of the forest of Compiègne. The best part about our visit was playing with the tiny frogs we found hopping along the floor of the forest. Kissing them did not turn them into princes or princesses, but their cuteness was reward enough. After we finished our photo shoot with Sebastian and Isabelle we released our captives into the forest, wishing them both long happy lives and many offspring. Then we were off to visit the actual armistice, a monument to the two most destructive wars the world had ever seen. That quite brought our moods down. It was haunting to see the rotted boots and wedding rings of the men who had been convinced that fighting such a destructive war would bring glory to them, their families, and their countries. After our depressing visit we returned home and studied French. Good times all around.
Maintenant Il Est Temps Pour Le Déjeuner!
It’s lunchtime at UTC and it’s raining out. Luckily for me, I haven’t got to leave the building because I brought my lunch along with me. I can’t find any Hunter kids who are going to eat in the small makeshift lunchroom. I head over there in hopes of seeing someone I know. There’s Pilar, one of the Brazilian students who is in my class. I start talking to her about where we’re going to eat lunch and I spy Karl, the tall German student with the red hair who happens to have a good sense of humor. At least it seems as if he does – he laughs at my jokes 🙂 Lunch is a bit of an interesting experience. I’m sitting at a table about which mostly Brazilian students are seated. I’m attempting to communicate mostly in French, yet occasionally, as I turn to speak to Karl, I slip back into the familiar comfort of English, which he speaks quite well, though there are some phrases he doesn’t understand. Such as when I tease him about how his reluctant to be opened hazelnut has gotten the better of him. Across the table, the Spanish speaking students are telling a joke and I sort of get the gist of it and laugh along to Lorenzo’s antics. I randomly turn to Karl and say Gutentag, which elicits a smile, and then I ask him to remind me how to say how are you? which is Viegetz. Vinny, a Brazilian who also speaks English, is my next conversational target and he receives a hearty Gutentag, Viegetz? which is followed by a conversation about how many different languages are being spoken in the same room: Spanish, English, French, German, Chinese, Portuguese. An interesting mix of languages which results in a sort of beautiful background musical combination to which we all ate our lunch.
Paris Mon Amis!
The great thing about living in Compiègne is that even though no one’s ever heard of it, it’s only 40 minutes away from Paris, which everyone has heard of 🙂 I spent last weekend exploring Paris with my fellow classmates. We arrived on Friday night wondering what to do with ourselves. Of course, being in Paris, we decided that it was absolutely essential that we visit La Tour Eiffel. What other structure could draw our attention to it and be the cause of our visit around 11pm? La Tour Eiffel was every bit as fascinating as we hoped it would be, more so really, it defied our expectations. We were especially lucky to have arrived in time to see the light show, which lasted for about 7 minutes. The next day, Saturday, we walked from Rue du Commerce to the Louvre, a trek that greatly enhanced my leg muscles and was quite rewarding. It’s fascinating to come upon a structure you’ve only ever seen online and in textbooks. The Louvre was huge and of course we had to go see the Mona Lisa. I took two pictures of that awful painting from afar, because I couldn’t get close to it at all, there were so many people crowded around that one simple painting. After our visit we dined in style in the Tuillerie Gardens after having paid a fortune for our lunches… there are always horrible vendors who charge loads of money for small meals no matter where you go. Then it was on to Notre Dame to visit the famous hunchback and the gypsy woman he loved! Unfortunately we arrived too late to visit the inside of the grand structure, but I was able to take some pictures of it and I was fascinated by it nonetheless. The same cathedral I’d learned about in senior year of high school was there before my very eyes and it’s glass windows were every bit as beautiful as they were in the descriptions and pictures. Our next and last day in Paris brought us to the Catacombs, which I wasn’t sure I should venture into because I thought I might not be able to sleep that night… or any other night after that. But the catacombs proved not to be scary so much as they proved to be boney. Thousands of bones, tunnels full of them, and skulls arranged in crosses and arches. It was a bit of a morbid experience, but worth it nonetheless.
Visiting Compiègne
On Wednesday, August 4th, the students of the FLE program were sent on a treasure hunt throughout the city of Compiègne. We were all equipped with a packet of questions we were to answer, and a map of the city so that we wouldn’t get lost. Some of the questions that we had to answer required that we speak to the natives of our fair city so that they could impart their knowledge upon us. On our trip, which culminated in a picnic in the forest of Compiègne and then a museum visit to le Château du Compiègne, we discovered many interesting facts about this seemingly uninteresting town. The top four are listed below:
1. Compiègne is the town where Joan of Arc or Jeanne d’Arc was captured and turned over the English to be executed.
2. Gargoyles or Gargouilles are a type of gutter and aren’t just for aesthetic purposes as I had originally thought.
3. Napoleon I and Napoleon III lived in Le Château du Compiègne during their rules.
4. The oldest house in the city is La Vielle Cassine which is where the Master of the Bridge lived when Compiègne was a merchant town.