La vie de la journée... ou de la semaine.

Well then, my little chickpeas. My mom gave me an ultimatum, that if I don't update by the time I call her, she wouldn't answer. I dunno if she would really do that, but oh well. I needed to do this anyways. Besides, this is my sister's (belated) birthday present! She turned a whopping 19 years (my baby sister!!) on October 16th. Happy birthday!

So, then. I tried to post a video of my bus ride, but it doesn't seem to be working. It's 30 minutes recording, and it's not even the whole bus ride. My camera ran out of memory - there's still another 15 minutes of it, but this shows all of the main attractions. Too bad it won't work. I wanted you to see how huge the Louvre was. And the Eiffel Tower. It's massive. Anyways, on a normal day, I get to take this bus, but I hadn't been able to all week. Strikes and all. The streets are crowded, and it takes forever to get home.

So how do I start? Well, last Thursday, I meant to go to the Opera Garnier (inside, this time) but by the time I got the chance, it was after 4, and they don't allow people to tour the building after 4. So I walked through the Jardin Tulleries and looked at all of the beauty, crossed a bridge and went to Musee d'Orsay. I almost had a spot of trouble there, concerning getting in for free, but then I flashed them my student card (the one that says I'm studying history and art) and they waved me ahead. I love my life :)

I saw my first Van Gogh! It's beautiful. I have to say, art wasn't that interesting until the Impressionists came along, and then after Picasso, things got a little weird (i.e. look at any piece of "modern" art. I mean, a urinal? Psht! Come on!) Where was I? Oh, yeah! Saw Monet. And Manet. And all of the other Impressionists. Holy caboose, they were amazing! Oh, and (obsession alert) they had a model of the inner workings of the Opera Garnier! Oh, boy! I wish I could have taken some pictures, but it was forbidden. So I can't show you my favorite art pieces. I shoulda written them down and referenced some internet pics, but so much for common sense. It seems to come to me after I had already needed it. Ah, well.

Saturday, I went to Versailles! It was huge and grand. We started out with the chateau, which really wasn't as wonderful as I had been hoping. I mean, the interior was gorgeous and gaudy, and definitely not in my taste. Add to that, there were these super weird Japanese art sculptures that clashed with the room so badly that it made my eyes hurt. For the cherry on top, it was awfully crowded and hardly any room to enjoy anything.

It wasn't until I walked out into the gardens that I felt the fireworks start. Now THAT was very much worth the trip! It's huge, and it took us a good part of the day to look at only a fraction of the gardens. When we got to the eastern edge of it, we went to take a look at Marie Antionette's farm. It felt as though we had stepped into a fairy land, and it was adorable. Gosh, I wish I was that spoiled.

Sunday I finally met the whole freaking family that I'm staying with. They had a huge lunch and invited the kids with their kids, and one child in particular made a friend out of me. He sat next to me and played with me with his little toy horses. He couldn't comprehend that I couldn't speak French that well, so I listened to him jabber away in French at 90 miles per hour, and I pretended I could understand. It's a bit awe-inspiring when a little child can speak a language you are learning better than you can.

We also got on the topic of religion with the parents. I'm gonna try not to open that can of beans again. We were trying to explain the history of our church with them nicely (i.e. This is what WE believe. It doesn't necessarily mean that it's what you have to believe, too), but I think we still offended our host mother. These French Catholics can sure get passionate, though. I hope it doesn't happen again.

Yesterday I took a test in religion. Today I went up the Arc de Triomphe. 272 stairs. Less than the Eiffel Tower, but it's still a lot. I'm glad I'm young and fit and spry - it didn't take me too long to recover. The view was absolutely amazing, and I wish I'd had my camera, but it was dead. Stupid camera.  Tomorrow I have a test in Civ class. Wish me luck!