Reflective Entry

I'm so happy to be home! Don't get me wrong, it was an awesome trip, I learned so much, and it was an amazing experience but I think everyone was getting tired of each other.  The tension was growing between people and I think 19 days was a good time period for the trip.  If it was any longer, I think some people would be really really perturbed with some others. 

Question of the Day:
 How is England or France different from America?
Well to start off, France is different from America because of the spoken language.  But it is also different culturally.  As previously mentioned, we saw a wedding in a little market area where the vendors and people shopping around or at cafe's were just pretty much ignoring it.  In America, I would imagine that people would at least stop and stare because that's how our society is today.  It seems like in France, that if something is none of someones business, they just ignore it! It's rather cool to see that happening. 

Describe the best meal you have had on this trip.
I don't necessarily have a favorite meal that I had on the trip because I liked a lot of things.   I loved the crepe with nutella.  I have never had either of those things so it was fun to try something new.  I also like the friend at hand pub that we went to as a class.  That food was really good.  I think I liked the pub food of London better than the cafe food in France.  But it was all good and it was fun to taste things in different countries.  We also had Pizza hut from London and France to compare to Americas.  America won hands down with Paris in second. 

Describe a shop that interested you.
The shopping center in the Louvre had a lot of expensive shops but my favorite was called Pylones. It's a really trendy shop that's full of color and nifty things.  They had everything from beverage coasters to dog leashes to wallets and cigarette holders.     
 
Describe something you bought that you couldn't get in the USA.
Truthfully everything I bought excluding the food, I could have gotten in America.  Which is pretty sad considering we were there for 19 days.  The only things I did buy was French wine for my parents and French chocolates.  The chocolates were very good. But my parents are saving the wine for a special event so I didn't try that yet.

What was the absolutely best thing about the trip?
There were so many things that I loved about this trip! I was definitely getting museum overload by the end of the trip.  Especially with the Louvre being the last museum we visited.  But it was really cool to see the paintings and sculptures we learned about in class and connecting the knowledge I gained from there to them.  I also loved the Moulin Rouge and seeing the Wimbledon tennis courts.  

What will be the most significant thing that you tell your friends or parents about the trip? 
The whole trip was an amazing experience!  I'm so lucky I was able to get the chance to go abroad my freshman year! I would tell my friends and family that this was so much fun and I would recommend going there to anyone! It was truly an experience I will never forget.

Sunday 30/1/11

9:35pm: Home Sweet Home!

Saturday 29/1/11

Today is our last day on our trip, and also my birthday! It's the first time I'm celebrating my birthday outside of New York! But I'm very excited to be going home tomorrow!

Today I met up with my friend Benjamin.  My friend that I met up with in London, Gaylen (and her family), was Benjamin's host family which is how I know him.  So around noon, I met up with him and he tried to take me to the Jewish quarter of Paris where we had lunch.  We got on the wrong train about 3 times.  We went back and fourth and back and fourth and finally, we got to where we wanted to be.  I tried Falafel, which is an interesting dish to say the least.  It's a Middle Eastern food in the form of balls made from chickpeas and/or fava beans. It also came with purple and green cabbage, a pickle, hummus,  pita bread, cooked peppers, mushy things (top right of the plate in the picture) and a cucumber salad. It looked something like the picture below minus the orange stuff on the bottom left.  We also had french fries and Ben put mayonnaise on them! (apparently that's popular in France) 

After the delicious lunch, we walked around looking at all the expensive French shops in that area.  Even though neither of us could afford anything at that time, it was fun to look.  Soon after, we went to the church Sacre Coeur.  I could not believe this church.  It was absolutely beautiful inside and out! It had a wonderful view of all of Paris! You could see for miles and miles! We had to pass so many "crap shops" (what Ben calls survivor shops) and go up about 150/200 stairs to get to the church but once we got up there, it was so worth it.

Again, we couldn't take pictures inside but the memories are still very much going to stay in my mind for a long time to come.  After we toured Sacre Coeur for a little bit, we walked around the side streets and found little french shops and cafes.  Where we warmed up with a glass of 'vin chaud' (hot wine) for me (which i have never tried before-Ben recommended it)  and a cafe (coffee) for Ben.  The hot wine was really good. It tasted just like grape juice! After we warmed up, we walked around a little more than went back to our hotel.  There I introduced Ben to Lisa and Danielle. (who surprised me with beautiful flowers for my birthday!) Once they got acquainted, we all went out to this baby bottle wine place.  I was expecting it to be small bottles of wine, but in fact it was literally baby bottles filled with wine.  The door handles were even baby bottles! It was a very cool but very small place.  People had to climb over the table to get to their seat.  We had the baby bottles of wine and cheese fondue! It was my first time trying fondue and it was pretty good for being French cheese (which I was not used to yet)  We had a great time there.  After that, we started going back to our hotel.  While doing this Ben got off at the stop before Lisa, Danielle and mine to go to his party that he had tonight.  He was being very crazy and said he didn't want to leave us because he was having so much fun.  So he got out of the subway at his stop and just stood there outside the doors, then the train started moving, he started running with it trying to keep up with us.  After he fell behind (when we were out of that station) I heard laughter from behind us.  Everyone on the train was laughing at how he tried to run with the train! He's too funny.  After he left, we all got back to the hotel and finished packing. Tomorrow morning we leave for America! I cannot wait to get home! It will be a long day of traveling but it will be worth it in the end to see my family and friends again!
Until tomorrow!
Au Revoir!

Question of the Day: Have you eaten something that you have never tasted before? What was it like? 

I tried the falafel today.  I was feeling very adventurous in my food choices today.  If Ben wasn't there, I would never ever have tried this dish.  Not only did I try the Falafel but I tried all the things that came with it.  The red and green cabbage, the pickle, the hummus, the peppers and the mushy things whose name escapes me at the moment.  I'm not a fan of vegetables to begin with so when I tried all of these things, it was so far out of my comfort zone.  But I'm glad I tried them.  It is a very popular dish in France so I could say I ate what the locals ate. 

Describe an incident that you saw on the street that amused you.

When Ben and I were walking up to Sacre Coeur, we saw this man playing a game with a crowd of people around him.  We watched a little bit but we didn't stay long because we didn't want to get dragged into it.  The game was pretty much like the game we have in America, where there's three cups and you put a ball or something in one of them, turn them upside down and then mix them up and try to figure out which cup the ball is in.  The french version is played with discs and a little white piece of paper which is attached under one of them.  You have to have a quick eye for the dealers quick hand.  It's pretty easy money the first couple rounds.  The first person that points to the correct disc with the white thing under it bets 50 euros they are right. If they are, they get that 50 euros and 50 more! So it's easy to get money but on the other hand it's easy to get rid of your money too.  Every time you guess you have to put down 50 euros.  If your wrong, you don't get your money back. The dealer makes it seem like your lucky that you keep picking the right one (when you start off) but when you get through a couple rounds, the dealer gets faster and makes you lose the money you just won.  Oh, and there's another catch.  It's completely illegal!  The dealers play it on cardboard box so if the police come, they can just take the discs and run- they can leave the box there as if it was garbage on the street.  It's really a cool game.  

What was a complete surprise? 

Something that really surprised me was all the PDA (public display of affection) that I have seen in London and especially Paris! I know Paris is the city of Love and everything but there's so much! I asked Ben about it and he says he doesn't even notice it! It's like a 'way of life' here. It amazes me that people will just make-out on the subway with everyone around them looking but not thinking anything of it! I have seen more people kissing than holding hands!  In America I know some people that get so disgusted with PDA.  I feel bad for them if they went to Paris! They would see so much more of it!

Describe a park or market that you have visited.
After Sacre Coeur, Ben and I strolled the side streets to get back down to the metro.  We saw so many cute little markets with vendors selling all sorts of things.  They had paintings and prints of Paris and France itself.  As we were walking we also saw the ending of a wedding when the bride and groom came out of the church and people were throwing rice at them in celebration.  The market people around them didn't care about the music and song going on around them.  It's as if it happens regularly and they are just used to it.  It's really cool to see how other cultures do things differently than what we have grown up seeing. 

Friday 28/1/11

France is almost done! I can't believe how fast it is going! 

So today was full of excitement as well as the last couple days.  The first thing we did today was go the La Defense.  It is the modern day version of the Arc de Triomphe (which can be seen from this monument and vise versa)  This arc holds offices and is located in the modern part of Paris compared to where the Arc de Triomphe is located.  The canopy at the bottom of the arc is supposed to symbolize clouds.  (I don't necessarily see it, but hey, its not my design) When we were here, we also saw an art piece that shows how one can take something from the garbage and make it beautiful.  ('One man's trash is another mans treasure' is a good quote for this) They made flowers out of colored garbage bags! And put them together to make this 'tent'.

 

 After the modern arc and the flower tent we went to the Arc de Triomphe! The arc honors those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, with the names of all French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I.  

The design is beautiful with four different reliefs on each pillar holding up the arc.  The most famous of them is La Marseillaise.  Which is the one that you can see in the picture above.  Unlike Notre Dame, we got to go to the top of this famous monument.  This was an astounding view of Paris! In my opinion, a little better than the Eiffel Tower view. Both were spectacular, but this was over the top! After we scoped out the fantastic view of Paris, we went to lunch and then went shopping at the Champs Elysses.  We went shopping and I bought a jacket at the most American store there- H&M.  They had so many good sales! The French stores had sales or 'soldes' as they are called, but not as good as the American stores did.  

After we shopped till we dropped, we headed back to our hotel where Lisa and I got dressed up for the Moulin Rouge which is where we went after our group dinner at Pataques Restaurant in De Bercy.  It was a good restaurant but I liked the one in London better.  At this place we had quiche and a small salad as a starter, and chicken in mushroom sauce as the main meal and then a rum soaked cake like thing for dessert.  The dessert was definitely not my favorite I have had this trip.  So I took a bite and left the rest of it.  On the other hand, the chicken and the quiche were really good.  After dinner, Lisa and I went off to find the Moulin Rouge.  We got there a little early and got in the line we thought was the line for the show- we were wrong.  Somehow we got into the club next door to the Moulin rouge. We got in there and looked at each other and wondered where the show would take place (because there was only a dance floor) and where we would get our champagne. (because there was only a bar)  After we looked around a little bit, we figured we were in the wrong place and wanted to get out of there.  But of course, no one spoke English to help us out.  We finally found a woman and told her our predicament. She laughed and helped us out.  Once we got out of the club Lisa and I were both relieved. We went to the real place where we were supposed to be, and they said come back in about a half hour because it is too early. So we left and went to the Starbucks across the street.  We hung out there for a little bit and then went back over to the Moulin Rouge. We got in line (the right one this time) and finally got into where we were supposed to be. We both looked at each other and said this is more what we were picturing. The people were dressed up more, and there was actually a stage! (not just a dance floor) After we got settled, we got our champagne and waited for the show to start.  Soon enough, it did. Photography was forbidden so unfortunately I couldn't take pictures.  But I don't think I need pictures to remember this.  It was a very memorable show! The dancers were amazing and the costumes were very extravagant.  We spent 92 euros on this but it was worth every one of them.  We got seats right next to the stage, champagne, and had a great night all together! Completely worth $132 US dollars. 

Tomorrow is our free day and last day in Paris! But until then, i'm outta here! 

Salut!

Question of the Day: What did you learn today?

I learned so much today! First off, I learned that La Defence was a project to build the 'Grande Arche' and it was initiated by the French president Mitterrand.  He wanted a 20th century version of the Arc de Triomphe. The design of Danish architect Otto von Spreckelsen took the medal in the competition for the best design.  But in my opinion,  it looks more like a cube-shaped building than a triumphal arch. It is a 348 feet white building with the middle part left open. The sides of the cube contain offices. You can take a glass elevator to the top of the of it too! And secondly, I learned to check our tickets before standing in just any line...just because there is a line near where you want to be, it may not be the line you really want to be in. 

Thursday 27/1/11

Today was such a cold day! But we battled the harsh weather to go see Saint Chapelle and Notre Dame.  Saint Chapelle was a beautiful little church that was originally just for the rich back in the olden days.  It has stained glass windows on every side with a rose window in the back. It was absolutely gorgeous with a different Bible story in every stained glass pane.  All of the stained glass was amazing, but if you turn around, you will find the Rose window.  This is a circular window also with stained glass all around it.  It's so intricate with the story of Jesus incorporated in it.  This was my third favorite church (after St.Paul's and Westminster Abbey) The detailing and architecture are beautifully made considering how long ago it was crafted. 

After we were done with St. Chapelle, we were off to Notre Dame Cathedral.  This cathedral is very well known in the Disney movie 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame.' This too, is also a beautifully crafted cathedral with so much stained glass and two rose windows on either side of the alter.  We didn't get to go the the top which is unfortunate because i'm sure it would have been a very nice view. 

 

 After Notre Dame, Lisa, Danielle and I went out to lunch at a cafe nearby the cathedral.  I had a french classic- Croque Monsieur.  It was basically a piece of wheat bread with ham on top and lots of cheese melted on top of that.  It was pretty good but I feel you need to acquire the French cheese taste.  Its quite different from American kinds of cheese.  After we warmed up with lunch, we went out shopping at the souvenir shops around that area.  We found a crepe stand and tried another French classic- The Crepe.  We all had ours with Nutella. (which is VERY popular in France) It was the first time I have had a crepe and the first time for Nutella as well.  Both were very good- something I would definitely order again. But after we looked around for a little while, we came back to our hotel and got ready for the circus we went to! It was called, Cirque Phenix, Festival Mondial Du Cirque de Demain.  We got awesome seats very close to the stage for only 17 euros! (we got a student discount- half off regular priced tickets!)  It was definitely worth going! We saw these crazy people that were able to balance another human being on their head, or hold them up with one arm.  One guy even held a girl up with his teeth!!! They were on ropes in the air and the guy held this rope type thing in his mouth and the girl swinging underneath him was holding on to it! It was crazy to think of how much trust you have to put in your partner to hold you in the air and not drop you to the ground that is 6-9 feet beneath you.  Besides the acrobats there were also jugglers and tightrope walkers.  The video below is of a juggler from or around Rochester NY.  (I think I heard the French announcer say that)

 

 After the show, it was a long walk back to our hotel because the metros stopped at 12:30 and we got out at 12:50 ish.  We walked about 3 miles I'd say back to our hotel- only getting lost a couple times.  But we found the way and now we are safe back at our hotel.  Today was a fun day but tomorrow is our last class day here then its our free day and then home!!  I'm very excited! But until tomorrow, I'm outta here! 

Salut!!

Question of the Day: Choose one of the churches or cathedrals that we have seen and discuss your feelings about it. 

Saint Chapelle was an absolutely beautiful chapel.  The stained glass was so detailed about books from the Bible, it had so many colors and I bet when the sun shined in it, the colors would shine so much brighter than they did today! I was first not at all excited to go to Saint Chapelle.  I figured it would just be another church but when we got there, even on the outside, I knew it was going to be good.  I walked in and I was right.  There was something different about this church than the others we have been to.  I think it has to do with the size.  Notre Dame and St.Paul's for instance, were huge! I liked the difference though.  It was a good change. 

Wednesday 26/1/11

Today we went to the biggest museum in the world- the Louvre! It was way too big to see everything in one visit even three or four visits! I can't believe the size of it!  In the picture below, it shows just a little of each side of the museum and the entrance (the glass pyramid by I.M. Pei) There is much more museum behind the camera plus there are 4 floors! It is literally a gigantic place.   Don't let the map fool you...it looks much smaller than the Louvre actually is!

We saw so many beautiful pieces made by very popular artists here.  Michelangelo, Canova, de Vinci, David, Ingres, and van Eyck are just about .01% of the artists that are displayed at the Louvre. We also saw Gericault’s painting of the Raft of Medusa.  This was an unbelievable paining- the size alone was astonishing! In my Art History class, we learned about it and our professor told us it was big, but I didn't think it would be this big! The picture below is the Raft of Medusa- look at the size of it in comparison to the man in front of it.

But I have to say this painting was one of my favorites.  The story behind this is it is an over-life-size painting that depicts a moment from the aftermath of the wreck of the French naval frigate Meduse, which ran aground off the coast of today's Mauritania on July 5, 1816. At least 147 people were set adrift on a hurriedly constructed raft; all but 15 died in the 13 days before their rescue, and those who survived endured starvation, dehydration, cannibalism and madness. The event became an international scandal, in part because its cause was widely attributed to the incompetence of the French captain acting under the authority of the recently restored French monarchy. The artist does a great job of showing the pain and agony that the survivors have endured while waiting to be rescued.  If you look very closely at the painting, their waiting pays off- they see a boat in the distance- Is this the boat that saves them?  Gericault never says for sure, but this was a real event that took place in history and the artist did talk to some survivors about the incident so it could quite possibly be.

My other favorite painting was called Liberty leading the People. This is by Delacroix.  This is a painting commemorating the July Revolution of 1830, which toppled Charles X of France. A woman personifying Liberty leads the people forward over the fallen bodies holding the French flag in one hand and a musket with the other.  In 1874, the painting entered the Louvre and it has been there ever since.

I probably should talk about Mona Lisa since we saw her here.  It was quite what I expected.  I knew she would be in glass and that you wouldn't be able to see her very close up. I was right on both circumstances.  She was indeed in bullet proof glass and there was a marker you couldn't pass which was about 5 feet back from the actual painting.

This picture shows the bullet proof glass...and it’s zoomed in quite a ways from where I was standing.  There was a mob around it too.  We went up to that room twice and both times, loads of people were crowding around it.  I understand that this is an important painting, but many other paintings by many other artists (besides daVinci) are just as important-if not more! I don't understand why it has to be guarded so much, with the glass, and the bar that holds people back, and even museum workers, and the other paintings are just hanging on the walls close to the hands of curious children or over the shoulder bags that could be bumped a little too hard and could scratch or even ruin the painting.  That's just my opinion though, what do I know?!

So after we saw the mob-filled room with the Mona Lisa in it, we walked around more and came across the apartments of Napoleon III.  I thought this exhibit was so much more beautiful than the Palace of Versailles! (Again, I think it has to do with the popularity of Versailles but still)  I could not believe these rooms! They were exquisite! The chandeliers were beautiful, the furniture was ridiculously amazing, and the ceilings were off the charts! This picture is of the Grand Salon.  It had a very...rich style to say the least.

 After Napoleon’s apartments, we stayed a little longer at the Louvre.  (We got there at 11:00am and stayed until about 9:00pm)  Lisa, Danielle and I stopped for dessert on the way back to our hotel.  I got chocolate pudding but it was cooked so it was cake-like.  It was really thin and in a big bowl so to make it look filled, they put whipped cream all the way to the top.  It was like I was paying just for whipped cream! But the little pudding I had was good anyways.  Then we came back to our hotel and here we are.  It has been a very long day today! But today was our last museum of the trip! Tomorrow we get to see Notre Dame-where Quasimodo lived! Can’t wait to see that! 

But until then, I’m outta here! Salut! 

Question of the Day: How was the Mona Lisa?
The Mona Lisa was about the size I expected it to be because of the stories I have heard of it.  I think it was protected way too much though! I heard that it's not even the real one! The real one is in the Louvre but its not the one hanging behind the bullet proof glass on its own wall. Its hidden away. Is this true? If it is...would all the pictures of this importance have a copy in place of the real one? David's painting Death of Murat is a copy...but where is the real one? The idea that The Mona Lisa is such an iconic painting that is in the world today brings about a lot of questions as to why? What special things are incorporated in it that no other paintings have?

Describe your favorite painting in the 19th century French paintings room in the Louvre.
The Raft of Medusa was one of my favorite paintings in this room.  The other was Liberty Leading the People.  We talked about both works in my Art History class, but seeing them up close just was truly amazing.  I could not believe the size of Raft of Medusa! It is ginormous! Liberty Leading the People was more the size I thought it would be and also the size I thought the Raft of Medusa would be.  Both paintings were beautifully done.  You could feel the emotion in the peoples faces. You could see the determination (at least in Liberty Leading the People) of how the people wanted to fight for their country.  Both works were amazing!

What was the smallest thing you saw today?
The Mona Lisa.  It seemed so minuscule compared to all the giant paintings around it!

Tuesday 25/1/11

Only five days left of the J-Term trip! I'm very excited to go home but I will definitely miss the new cultural aspects of both countries.  But were not there yet, so today we went to the Palace of Versailles! It was very lavish! I felt as though it was a little over the top.  It had gold gates and doors, too many paintings to count, mirrors all over the place, grand bedrooms and gardens, extravagant chandeliers and very detailed ceiling paintings-too much for one man to have-that's for sure. My favorite part about the palace itself has to be the ceiling paintings.  Granted, they are over the top but they are exquisite.   The picture below was the ceiling in the Hercules Room. It's very pretty.

  After we toured Versailles, we 

 went out to the gardens.  They were bigger than the castle itself! We wanted to go to Marie Antoinette's private house, so we took the long way around (the WHOLE garden)-accidentally.  We got there about two to three hours later (that's how big the gardens are-if it took us 3 hours to walk all the way around them!)  So anyways, we found her house.  I personally thought her house was prettier than Versailles itself.  I think it might be because Versailles is talked about so much about how beautiful it is that when I saw it, it just wasn't pretty anymore.  But Marie Antoinette's house was not talked about so when I saw it,  it was more of a surprise of what it looked like. The gardens are the same way.  They were not over talked about so they were more of a surprise to see them.   

Gardens of Versailles

Marie Antoinette's House

After Marie Antoinette's house, we started walking back to the  Palace, we took more pictures and then headed back to our hotel for our afternoon meeting.  After our meeting, Lisa, Danielle and I went to a restaurant where the people didn't speak English. It was fun to point to what we wanted on the menu and give the waiter a blank stare when we didn't understand what he said.  But that's the experience.  So anyways, after our dinner, we went out to the Eiffel Tower and we went on a River Boat cruise.  It was really cool to see all the lights and stuff sparkling in the night light.  After the hour cruise though, we came back to our hotel and I got ready for bed. The cold from being in the gardens all day made me very tired. So, until tomorrow, im outta here! Au Revoir!

Question of the Day: Discuss your reaction to Versailles.  

Versailles was a very extravagant palace.  Too extravagant some might say.  It's way too over the top for me.  I think it was talked about too much that I got a specific picture in my mind of what I thought it looked like because everyone talked so highly of it, that when I got there, it didn't look like I thought.  Marie Antoinette's house on the other hand, I loved! It was absolutely gorgeous!  I think this is because people didn't talk about it that I couldn't gather a picture of it and when I saw it, it was nothing I have pictured before.  The gardens were amazing though.  I bet they would be prettier than they are in the spring! I would love to go back to Paris in the spring when the flowers are budding and the sun is actually shining.

Monday 24/1/11

After another hotel breakfast and another group meeting, we all walked down to the metro station to get to the Pompidou Center.  After we got lost in the mall (because of our Professor this time) where the metro station led us, we finally found our way out (by just going up another floor) then we went to the Pompidou. Its a huge building that was the first of its kind to be built with the inner supports and everything on the outside.  For example the escalator that runs up the side of it. (As shown in the picture)

The Pompidou Center is a museum filled with very very very interesting things.  It has a lot of the modern art work done by Kandinsky, Picasso, Klein, and others.  There is a lot of feminist artwork like the guerrilla girls which I found very strange.  There were movies of a woman holding a chicken upside down until it calmed down and apparently they killed it after, but I didn't watch that one for long. (someone told me the ending) I was too busy watching this lady maneuver around a room without touching the floor at all! She climbed on the shelves and then around the door, she put her toes on the hinges and moved that way, then she held put her feet on the base boards of the room and hung on to the door frame or something and then she walked around the room.  It was so weird in my opinion but apparently someone thinks that's art.  (Or else it wouldn't be in a museum!) So after that strange exhibit, we finished that floor and went upstairs.  These exhibits were a little better.  But probably still not what some people would consider 'art.' There is some Kandinsky, Picasso and Rothko. (all shown below) This was definitely not my favorite museum.  It was a little to modern for me.  It was good to see different kinds of art but this was a little too much in my opinion. 

Rothko

Kandinsky

Picasso

There was also some Brancusi which I wanted to see but he had his own exhibit off site-out of the museum.  Unfortunately, we were not able to go because it opened at 2:00pm and we had to leave to get to the Opera House! Which was absolutely gorgeous! It's where Phantom of the Opera took place!  I could not believe we were there!

This picture is of the hall that's in the front of the building.  The ceilings are beautiful and intricately painted and decorated.  There is so much gold in this room which is so overwhelming.  We could not go into the Opera hall itself because there were some people practicing for the upcoming ballet.  But we got to peek inside at them practicing.  Which was pretty cool because it felt like we were in the audience watching it! After the Opera house we were free for the rest of the day.  So Lisa, Danielle and I went back to the shopping center (were we came from on the subway) and went window shopping for a while.  There were a lot of good sales which are called "soldes" here- up to "-80%" off with a lot of cute clothes and shoes.  After shopping we came back to our hotel and ordered delivery pizza! Lisa and I navigated the complete French Pizza Hut web page and we were finally able to order.  Stuffed crust from Pizza Hut is different from NY's.  It was better than London's Pizza Hut but not as good as New York's Pizza Hut. After pizza we talked for a while and then I came back to my here.  I'm going to fall asleep soon though.  Tomorrow we are going to the Palace of Versailles! That should be fun! My camera is charged and ready to be used again!
But until then, I'm outta here!
Au Revoir!

Question of the Day: Approach a painting or sculpture and focus on one small area of it.  What is included in that area? Would it make a work of art in its own right?

 

I saw the sky cathedral by Louise Nevelson and focused on the bottom right area of it.  I think this piece separately is as interesting as the piece as a whole.  She uses objects and pieces of objects (from around the streets) and puts them in a square box, then puts many boxes full of objects together and paints the boxes all black or all white to show universality.  It's really quite interesting.  I think the corner I was focusing on would make a work of art by itself.  I mean it's just a smaller version of the whole thing. The title wouldn't work for just a small piece but I think people would get the point.

Sunday 23/1/11

After our morning meeting, we all traveled to Musee D'Orsay.  This was an absolutely beautiful museum! Unfortunately, we could not take pictures in there so I can't show you what it looked like from the inside.  I can tell you it was an old train station though, if you can imagine that, that's what it looked like.  As soon as you walked in, there were two lines of sculptures in front of you and then pictures in little alcoves all around the building.  Besides the paintings of Renoir, Courbet, and Seurat, my next favorite painting was titled 'Le Chevalier aux Fleurs' which translates to the Knight of the Flowers. (shown in the picture below) This picture caught my eye because of the color and the symbolism movement shown in this piece.  

 It said that the artist of this painting, George Rochegrosse, along with other symbolitsts of his time, were fond of universal themes.  The themes include, Life, Death, Love and Dreams.  I think this painting is either of death, because he could be in Heaven, or dream because he is thinking that this is happening. But I definitely liked this painting a lot.   I also liked how everything was reflected in his armor.  It's a really cool painting technique to show the reflection of the flowers in the mans armor.  Oh! The people at the museum are really strict too.  They would not let us meet as a group and present let a lone talk.  Our group got yelled at two times for being together! Very strict there but I suppose they have to be sometimes.  But after the museum, we went to the Eiffel Tower again, to see if we could go up, but it was a little rainy.  So we decided to go up at night instead if the weather was nice. in the meantime, we went on the Ferris wheel near the Champs-Elysee.  We went around 3 times for ten euros and got the picturesque view of beautiful Paris! After that, we walked around to try and find a metro station.  Once we found one, we went back to our hotel and rested until our group meeting at 5:30 where we talked about a particular piece that we liked in the museum.  (I talked about the knight in the flowers) After our meeting, we went to eat dinner at another restaurant near our hotel called the Frog Restaurant. It had a British pub feel to it with very good food.  After dinner, we hopped back on the metro and went to the Eiffel Tower.  When we got there, it was at the top of the hour, where the lights twinkle bright for five minutes every hour until one o'clock am.  It was absolutely beautiful to see that. 

 After we went up in it, we took lots of pictures, we went back down and went back to our hotel.  We were all tired from the day.  Tomorrow we are going to the Pompidou Center which should be fun. I have heard a lot of good things about it.  But until then, im outta here! Au Revoir!

Question of the Day:  Find the Courbet paintings in the Musee D'Orsay- what is your reaction to them? 

I was blown away by the Courbet paintings- especially A Burial at Oranas.  The paintings are outrageously huge!  On top of the size, the people look so real! At least the people in the front.  In the back, of the painting, all the people are the same size which gives the illusion that people are layered but not so much real.  It is a gorgeous painting none the less.   

Saturday 22/1/11

Our first full day in Paris was very touristy.  After our hotel breakfast, we grouped up and got a three day subway pass. Then we all traveled out to the Eiffel Tower area and went to the Musee Rodin museum.  I loved this museum so much! (Number 1 Favorite) I got to see Rodin's famous sculpture 'The Kiss' about Paolo and Francesca.  I presented on it too! Here's a little background knowledge of it.

This sculpture was first titled Paolo and Francesca before it was changed to The Kiss because Rodin was not interested in telling a story.  But the story behind it is as follows: Francesca falls in love with her husbands younger brother while reading the story of Lancelot and Guinevere.  (You can see the book in Paolo's hand in the back of them) The couple were discovered and killed by Francesca's husband.  The lovers' lips do not actually touch in this sculpture, which suggests that they were interrupted and met their demise without their lips ever having touched.
                                                                                     

Lancelot and Guinevere Book in the hand of Paolo. (back view)

After we saw The Kiss, we looked around some more at other Rodin pieces.  For example, the Walking Man, the Age of Bronze, The Thinker, The Bourgeois of Calais and The Gates of Hell.  In the Rodin museum there was also some Camille Claudel pieces.  Claudel was a student and mistress of Rodin.  It was said that Rodin copied some of her ideas as his own.  Which one can see is true by some of Rodin's works. 

After the Musee Rodin, we ventured off to the Tomb of Napoleon.  Where there was a huge sarcophagus for him (which is ironic because of his small stature.)

  There was also other tombs there but Napoleon of course is the most recognized.  Fun fact: Napoleon actually did not die here.  He was put here about twenty years after his death.   

After the tomb, we went to get lunch.  We ate at this little place on the corner in close proximity to the Eiffel Tower.  The food was really good and I even tried Creme Brulee. It was very different-but good too. After lunch, we went to the Eiffel Tower! It wasn't a very clear day so we didn't go up, but we will before we leave.  Its an amazing piece of architecture.  Absolutely huge!

After the fun time around the Eiffel Tower (which we will go in sometime before we leave for sure!) we started heading back to our hotel.  Once we got there, we went to get dinner at a shop down the road from it.  After that, we came back to get ready for tomorrow.  We are going to the Musee D'Orsay Tomorrow! Should be fun! But until then im outta here.  Au Revoir!

Question of the Day:  What was the biggest thing you saw today? 

The biggest thing we saw today was the Eiffel Tower. A huge structure that came to be the symbol of Paris! At 1,063 feet tall, or 81 story building, the Tour Eiffel, was named after the designer Gustav Eiffel.  It was built marking the centennial celebration of the French Revolution. The Eiffel Tower was a grand icon I'm glad I got to see!

Which Rodin sculpture did you like the most? Which the least? Why?

Let's start with my least favorite. I don't have one. Ok moving on to my favorite! Besides The Kiss, my favorite sculpture by Rodin has to be the Burgers of Calais.  This piece is full of emotion! All the faces of the men show the grief that they are going through during this time.  

I love Rodin's emphasis of the hands and feet on all of  his pieces.  They exaggerate the emotional aspect of his works.  

Friday 21/1/11

Cheerio London, Bonjour Paris!

 Today we got up extra early to eat our last full English breakfast at the Presidents Hotel in London England.  After breakfast the class met up in the lobby of the hotel with all our luggage and bags and we waited for our private motorcoach (which was a bus) to come and pick us up.  Once the bus got there, we got on and were off to Kings Cross, St. Pancras Station where we waited to board the Eurostar.  The Eurostar is a really fast train that gets you from London to Paris or vise versa in about 2 hours (3 because of the time difference) It did not seem like two hours though.  It seemed much less I think because I was writing in my journal the whole time and listening to music which always makes time go by faster.  After we arrived in Paris around 1:50 pm we walked down the platform and across a couple streets to get to another motorcoach which took us to our hotel.  Let me tell you- the suitcase I used is not acceptable for long walks.  The wheels on the bottom of the luggage are more of a hinder than helpful.  (especially on cobblestone) Oh well, it was an experience to say the least.  After about a 20 minute ride from where we got picked we got to our hotel.  Its called the All Seasons Hotel.  Its very modern compared to the Presidents Hotel we stayed at in London. 

 It is right near a subway which is convenient. This place has WiFi and is also very convenient!  Amanda and I don't have to share a 1-foot internet cable anymore! So once we got to our hotel, we went up to our rooms and settled in. 

Yes, your seeing it right, our room has three beds! Its weird but pretty cool.  Its our junk bed now.  We put stuff on it because its not used.  My bed is right by the window so I have a great view of...the parking lot.  After we settled in a little bit Lisa, Danielle and I went to lunch at a little boulangerie on the corner about a block or two from our hotel.  This is the first place I could show off my four years of French class.  It was my first test.  I said Bonjour! And somehow the owner knew we were American! It was weird he said "Bonjour" back and then said "what would you like?"  I ordered in French. (tried my best at least) I said, Je voudrais quiche lorainne s'il vous plait." He told me okay, and got it for me. Quiche is just egg in a really good crust kind of thing, mixed with ham and cheese.  It was a breakfast food for lunch! I like it a lot.  Danielle got the same thing as me and Lisa got a hot dog which came with two hot dogs in one bun.  It looked good.  Then it came time to pay with our euros and then we said "Au Revoir" and left. After our late lunch, we went to the nearest clothes store and looked around.  Then we went to another store- this time sporting goods and looked around there.  We went to waste time so we could see a french film at the cinema at 6:00 pm.  We saw the movie, le fils a Jo.

Of what I got out of it  (because it was all in French) it was about a father who wanted his son to play rugby but the kid didn't want to.  Then the kid changed his mind because he knew it meant a lot to his dad if he played. So that was the gist of that movie.  It was very cool to see a movie in a different language because even if you don't know all the words, you can still understand the story by the actors portraying the words of it.  So after the movie, we came back to our hotel and got ready to sleep.  The movie was about 3 hours long so between that and the day, we will get to sleep very easily. 

Until tomorrow, Au Revoir! 

Question of the Day:  How does it feel to be in a foreign country when you can't understand the language? I have to say, this is one thing I regret about going on this trip.  I took 3 years of French in high school and was very eager to use it in France.  But when I got there, I realized I didn't know as much as I thought I did.  I feel if I took a French class at Hartwick before going, I would have been able to experience the language better than just asking "Parlez-vous anglais?" all the time.  I did get to use some of the things I remembered "Je voudrais..." or "Ou est les toilettes?" But if I go back to France for some reason, I'm definitely going to take a French class first.   

What were your impressions of the Eurostar? 
The Eurostar was a very impressive train.  It's really cool to think that you could go under the water in it.  And it goes so fast! It's crazy! We got to Paris from London in 2 hours! (3 with the one hour time difference) The seats were quite comfortable and I would definitely go on it again next time I need to get to Paris from London or vise versa. 

Thursday 20/1/11

We went to Wimbledon today!!! 

My friend Gaylen goes to school in Cambridge England and when I told her I was going to London for J-Term she said we should meet up! So that's exactly what we did! This morning she came to London by train right to Russell Square.  I met her there and we started our day.  We got on the tube and attempted to travel to Wimbledon. But there was only one problem…I had the map and I got us on the wrong train.  But we got off at the next stop and continued the right way this time because Gaylen led the way.  Once we got there, we took the long way around the whole park accidentally (this time because of Gaylen’s directions) but it was so worth going the long way.  I got to see the English countryside which I wasn’t able to see before because we were always in the city!  It crazy to see all the grass here- which is so green even in January! I saw some people playing golf on the course when we walked by and also people playing tennis! It’s crazy to think they can do that now because in America, we have snow at this time of the year! But after about a mile and a half scenic walk, we finally arrived at Wimbledon where the big wigs play-Roger Federer, Raphael Nadal, Maria Sharapova, etc.  It was surreal to think that I was actually there in the stands! It was a great experience! After we toured centre court, we went to the museum that was right across the way.   

We spent a while there looking at how tennis came to be and the old clothing and rackets that were used back then.  After the museum, we took a couple more pictures and then headed back to the tube.  We got off at Temple station and walked a little bit to the Temple church which was where the DaVinci code took place in the end.  It was a very cool thing to see. The church was beautiful from the outside… (It was closed so we couldn’t go in) but you could see the detail in the architecture.  I loved it.  Then we went on to Fleet Street (where Sweeney Todd was based) and had dinner at a pub.  Like all the others, the pub food was very great! After dinner we came back to Russell Square and then Gaylen had to go back to Cambridge.  I had a great day with her and I’m very glad we could meet up today! So that was my action-filled day! Tomorrow we are getting up early to catch the train to Paris! Until then, I’m outta here for the last time in London! Cheerio!

Brittni and Gaylen with Center Court in the Background

Question of the Day: What museum did you visit today that was not on the itinerary? 

We visited the Tennis Museum! I love tennis a lot so it was really interesting to see how they played back in the olden days.  The rackets, the balls, the outfits! They were all so different then the high tech things we have now- the rackets that cost upwards of $600.00 or the clothing that is now made of comfort stretch and sweat absorbing material.  Did you know guys back then wore pants, and sweater vests while playing tennis? Can you believe how hot and uncomfortable that would be?! But now fortunately people don't have to worry about that they have all the comfort they need while playing outside on a hot day.  

Wednesday 19/1/11

Today was so tiring! After our English breakfast and group meeting, we went off to the Victoria and Albert museum (a.k.a the V&A) It was a huge place!  The layout did not seem very organized but despite that, this was one of my favorite museums (second to the Tate Modern)

  Emily presented her presentation of a guy that makes hand blown chandeliers! They are gorgeous! Here is an example of the one we saw! Each one of the spirals is a separate piece of glass that is transported and then put together at the site where it will stay (in this case, the V&A). This was a beautiful piece but I think they should take care of it a little better.  There is a thick layer of dust on the top of it which a viewer can see from the balcony (where this picture was taken)   

 

 After the V&A, Lisa, Danielle and I went to see the Science museum.  It was actually pretty exciting for me considering science is not my cup of tea.  There was a lot of interactive, hands-on kind of activities and games.  They were really fun...the picture below shows a camera that froze the picture when it passed over your face and Danielle and I made weird faces and got pictures of it. As you can see. 

 

 After the Science museum, we stopped in to the Natural History museum and looked around a little bit. This museum was huge! We didn't spend too much time there because we took a long time in the Science museum but we looked around anyways. After the museum we went to another little outdoor mall (not like the malls we have back home though.)  They  had a lot of stores like H&M and Gap that had a lot of sales! So after our shopping trip, we went back to our hotel for our group meeting in which we talked about how we enjoyed the day and what our favorite things of it were and such.  Mine was the fun interactive games and activities at the Science Museum and of course seeing the awesome work that Rodin did- especially the Age of Bronze sculpture! It's really cool to see it in person compared to the screen in the classroom.  After we talked about our day, the whole class went to the Friend at Hand Pub for a group dinner.  It was small but very popular and a great place to go to hang with the locals.  We all had soup as a starter, a juicy hamburger with chips as a main course and a really good dessert. (whose name escapes me at the moment) After the delicious dinner, I took Lisa and Danielle to the Marquis Cornwallis to show them the strawberry beer.  (Amanda and I went there the first day we were here and tried the strawberry beer. After, we told everyone about it and from then on, the Marquis Cornwallis has been the favorite pub to go to at night...with the famous strawberry beer as the most popular drink among the people.)  After the fun time with Lisa and Danielle, we all came back to the hotel and I started to pack for the day after tomorrow when we leave early for Paris! Tomorrow is our free day though.  I'm going to meet up with my good friend from high school- Gaylen- who I haven't seen since June of last year! I'm so excited! But until then, im outta here! Cheerio!

Question of the Day:  Which room was your favorite in the Victoria and Albert? 

My favorite room in this museum was of course, the sculpture room with all Rodin's artwork in it.  I just love how he makes his people look so real! It amazes me how someone could sculpt something so delicate, such as a person, out of something so rugged, such as marble! I loved seeing The Age of Bronze and The Muse and Cupid and Psyche.

Tuesday 18/1/11

 Today we went to Dulwich! We saw the English county side and it was beautiful! I wish we stayed out of the center of London and where there was more country.  Its so pretty!! But anyways, we went to Dulwich Picture Gallery by taking a train out of London.  Professor Dejardin's cousin works at the museum and he gave us a tour of the gallery and told us the history behind different paintings.  It was really interesting! He was a very good tour guide! After the tour, we looked at the special exhibit; Norman Rockwell.  It was very interesting considering I never I liked his work, but it grew on me.  After the Gallery, Lisa, Danielle and I went to the London Zoo!

 

We got there just in time because the last admittance of the zoo was at 3:00 and it closed at 4:00.  We got there at 2:50 just before they could deny us entry.  The zoo was awesome though.  My favorite was the otters and the meerkats.  (As shown in the pictures above) We also saw the lions, tigers, zebras giraffes and lots of other animals! It was fun! After we toured the Zoo for about an hour, we boarded the tube and went off to Camden market.  This market is very similar to the Straw Market in the Caribbean, it has many vendors that try to sell clothing and jewelery mostly, and the customers try to bargain with them to get the price lower.  The vendors would say, "hello pretty lady, what are you looking for today?" or "that dress would look very nice on you." There was very little space between vendors and so much stuff to pick from! I succeeded at lowering the price of things three times but also got suckered in to buying those things too.  It was memorable to say the least.

After shopping for a couple hours, we hopped back on the tube and went back to Russel Square.  From there, we went to The Brunswick (which is an outside mall pretty much) and ate at a burger place called, Gourmet Burger Kitchen. I also had an Oreo milkshake with my burger which tasted more like cake batter, but it was good none the less.  Then we came back to the hotel and relaxed for the rest of the night. It was a fun day and to think we only have two days left here! I cant wait for Paris though. Well, im outta here! Until tomorrow, Cheerio!

Question of the Day:  What did you do toady that was not on the itinerary? 

We went to the London Zoo and the Camden Market! Both were very cool and I'm very glad I went.  You might think all zoos are the same, but you are wrong.  They all have animals, yes, but the atmosphere is different in all of them. Even though we couldn't stay long at this zoo, we got to experience something new. (which is more than some other people on our trip, who just go back to our hotel after we are on our own, can say)   We also went to the Camden Market.  The vendors are very compelling.  If you just look at a dress that's hanging, they come up and tell you how much it is and take it off the hanger so you can see it better.  They ask you your size and show you it.  They ask how much you want to spend on it and pretty much won't let you leave until you bought it from them.  It's fun to bargain with them sometimes but they can pester you until you buy what they want to sell which gets really bad for your wallet.  

Monday 17/1/11

Okay, to start off I just want you to know, I walked around in heels today. What an experience! (So just keep that in mind as you read about my day.)

We got to see St.Paul's Cathedral today!!! I loved this cathedral! It is the second biggest cathedral in the world! (second to St.Peter's Cathedral in Italy!) But it was gorgeous! Unfortunately, we were not able to take pictures in there, so I took pictures elsewhere.  Like in the upper galleries of the Cathedral in which we had to climb about 523 steps to get to the top.  Besides the view and all the intricate work on the ceilings and walls, my favorite part of the cathedral was the whispering gallery.  One person would stand on one side of the dome and another person on the other.  One had to whisper into the walls and the person on the other side would be able to hear it because of the shape of the dome itself. It was very cool. Amanda and I tried it out a couple times before heading up the other 400 steps to get to the highest point in the tower to take aerial views of London. The whole experience of the cathedral was amazing and I loved every minute of it! After we left St. Paul's, we went to the National Gallery. (Picture below)

This was a beautifully designed building with many brilliant works of art done by many brilliant artists.  For example, Constable with his painting of The Hay Wain, and Van Eyck with his painting of the Arnolfini Portrait.  There was also many works by DaVinci, Cezanne and Degas. A Degas work of art that really struck me was 'After the bath, woman drying herself'.  Its an extraordinary picture done in pastels. Its amazing to me how artists can use pastels. They seem like a very hard medium to use!  My computer wont let me upload a picture of it but you can Google it if you just type in the artist and the title.  The pastel work is described as follows:


"This densely worked pastel is executed on several pieces of paper mounted on cardboard. Degas seems to have extended the composition while working on it, hence the need for additional pieces of paper.This work is one of a series of similar subjects dating from this period, when bathers and dancers were the artist's principal themes. Here Degas has exploited the flexibility of the pastel medium, creating sumptuous textures and blurred contours which emphasise the movement of the figure."

After we finished the National Gallery, we came back to our hotel and rested for a little bit.  Then we went out to dinner at the Imperial Hotel (which is connected to the Presidents Hotel) where I had a nice salad.  It was a fun day! Tomorrow we are going to Dulwich to see the Picture Gallery there.  Can't wait for that! but as for now, im outta here!

Cheerio!

View of Tate Modern and Millennium Bridge from St. Paul's Cathedral

Question of the Day: How do you feel now that you have seen the monument that you were assigned? Is it better or worse than you expected?
I presented on St. Paul's Cathedral and I'm so glad I did! It is an amazing cathedral with beautifully designed architecture and hand painted ceilings that are so full of detail! St. Paul's is so much better than I ever expected!

Sunday 16/1/11

These days are going by so fast! First we had our normal breakfast and then our normal meeting.  Then we traveled to the Tate Modern museum.  To get there though, we had to cross the Millennium Bridge! It was very cool.  I have seen pictures and movies with the bridge in them but It looked shorter in person!
 

Anyways, after we crossed the bridge, we got to Tate Modern.  I liked this museum so much more than the Tate Britain.  It had more in it and had a lot of works of art and artists that we learned about in Art History class.  It was fun to remember the facts that I was taught in class and relate them to real artwork by an artist. In the Tate Modern, there was an exhibit entitled, Sunflower Seeds by Ai Weiwei.  He had people make 100 million sunflowers out of porcelain and hand painted them!! There are so many of them!

 Here are the sunflower seeds close up...and the next picture is of the room they are in. A huge room!

After this exhibition, we all went our ways and explored until the fire alarm went off.  We still don't know why though.  So everyone had to go outside until the building was cleared and safe.  Once we were able to go back, we had lunch and then we got to go off on our own to see things that were in this area. Some people stayed (including me) around the museum to explore the rest that we missed before the fire alarm went off.  I found Rodin's sculpture 'The Kiss' which I am going to present on in Paris! (another copy of the same piece) I was so happy when I saw this. I love the emotion in this piece and how it captures a moment in time.  But ill go further into the description of it when we are in Paris and I present it! 

After we finished with the museum, we went to Shakespeare's Globe Theater.

 Obviously, its not the real one, but it was all hand made with the ideas of how the real Globe Theater looked back then. We took a tour of it and when it was over, we talked about what we wanted to do after.  We agreed on going to the Tower Bridge in London so we started to walk there.  We made it about half way when we checked the time and had to find the nearest tube to get back to our hotel for our group meeting.  When we got back, we were a little late because the tube was delayed. At our meeting we talked about what has surprised us since we have been here and what we found 'brilliant' thus far. Everyone seems to be having a very good time including myself! My camera is coming in very useful! I have taken over 2000 pictures and its only day 4! (not including the first day we had to get settled in) And there will be many more pictures for sure! Tomorrow I get to present on St. Paul's Cathedral! I have seen it twice so far and am still excited to go inside and talk about it! But until then, im outta here!

Cheerio!

Question of the Day: What was your favorite thing at Tate Modern?
My favorite thing I saw at this museum was The Kiss by Rodin.  I love Rodin's sculptures and how he makes the people in them look so delicate and real.  Even though I am presenting this piece in Paris, I got to see a sneak peek of it and I'm very glad I did! It is an amazing sensual beautifully made sculpture.