You Know You Are in France When...

You go to Paris. Period.

So the school took a trip to Paris and, of course, it was beautiful and wonderful and exciting. Especially since we weren’t immediately judged as tourists—more like tourists who can speak French. The trip was designed wonderfully well because there was a list of certain monuments at which teachers would meet students who had previously signed up for seeing. It was the perfect way to have a no-whining mix of structure and freedom. We chose where we wanted to go, when we wanted to go and how we wanted to get there. The school gave us a day pass to the metro each morning after breakfast with a reminder about the scheduled visits that day and we were off!

I have to say that while the Louvre was très intéressant, the old palace was a bit large for a pleasant stroll—it was more like a forced march to try and see the top things on my list. I did however immensely enjoy seeing the many works of art that we have studied all throughout this year in art history. It was quite gratifying to know that all the time we spent memorizing the styles of Delacroix and Watteau were not in vain! Of course, the Mona Lisa was on my list, but much like many other people I know, I believe the painting is beautiful but there were many other paintings that had more of a pull on me than her smile.

Now, Le Musée d’Orsay—that’s a different story. I had idyllic visions of this museum before arriving that upon arrival completely lived up to my standards. The beautiful old train station was a wonderful piece of art in itself with its diffused light and gilded moldings, let alone the fact that it holds within the best impressionist paintings and sculptures. Having just studied the top seven most famous impressionist painters closely in art history, the whole school was quite excited to finally be able to examine Cézanne’s brushstroke technique up close and to see Monet’s “Water Lilies” in real life. The whole experience was just as cliché and magical as one could hope for.

The Eiffel Tour was, as expected, magnificent. I didn’t climb up, however, because I hadn’t properly dressed for the cold temperature at the top. I will just use that as an excuse to get to Paris on the weekend sometime this spring!

There is of course Versailles, Le Sacre-Coeur, La Comédie-Française, Le Centre Pompidou, La Madeleine, etc. There is so much more still to talk about, but nagging school work is taking precedence....

I would have to say that the greatest memory from Paris was the general feeling that I had while in the city—a feeling that I (sufficiently) know the language to go anywhere and speak with any Parisian who I came across. Well, that memory and also the inevitably weird metro happenings that one experiences in a large city like Paris.

You Know You Are in France When...

... You feel really bad about not keeping up your blog. I feel quite horrible about this since this was the way in which many people were planning to keep up with me. Sorry, everyone.

Since my last post at the end of October, there have not been very many protests considering that it was especially cold this winter for the citizens of Bretag

ne. In fact, I saw falling snow for the first time! (That's shocking, I know.) But

unfortunately none of it stuck so there were no snow fights or "snow days."

The second weekend of November the school took a trip to Le Mont St. Michel which is the famous "island" town and abbey in the northwest of France. We had been studying the abbey there in great detail in my Art History class--the rooms and their functions, how many times different parts were rebuilt, who paid for the re-constructions, and the literally hierarchy or the levels of the abbey. We took a "guided" tour while there (a.k.a worksheet that led us through the rooms and asked us to describe certain details and their purposes). Upon our return we had a test over the abbey, and because the majority of grades were quite high, I am happy to prove once again that going to a place and observing it in person really is a wonderful way of learning.

I celebrated Thanksgiving with friends which made the holiday more special since the French don't celebrate it, obviously having never had a joining of Pilgrims and Native Americans in their history. We made chicken with stuffing--since whole turkeys are only available for the Christmas season, American macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, cooked carrots, rolls, and a salad. The friend's house where we held it was filled with a mix of both Americans, French friends, and her host host family. We had an interesting time trying to explain the purpose of the holiday and then all went around the table and said what we were thankful for.

Before Winter break, all the students at SYA took a language proficiency test to see where we stand in our language progress. There were three parts: grammar, critical reading and an oral exam. The grammar and reading were written and the oral was taken with one of the French-speaking teachers who gave you a prompt and timed you while you talked for 5 minutes without interruption or aid from the teacher, then the teacher gave you a series of pictures from the most recent protests (which tested your current events knowledge) and again you had to speak for 5 minutes without interruption or aid.

I returned home during the Christmas and New Year's holidays for my sister's wedding after having to get through the massive amounts of cancellations and delayed flights because of snow in western Europe. Thankfully my trip back to Rennes was much less eventful and stressful than the one to Texas. I was glad to go home for a week, but eager to return to Rennes and continue working on my French.

Since returning from Winter break, the whole of SYA has been working hard to make major progress in grammar and vocabulary in language classes, to read books like the surrealist novel Nadja by André Breton and Le Dernier Jour d'un Condamné by Victor Hugo in French Literature, to read "Hamlet" and The Dubliners in English Literature, and to undertake a huge Art History project (over the span of two and a half months) where each student chooses a painter or photographer on which to do a VERY in-depth research project. These intense two months that we have before the end of our February trip to Paris and following spring break is our last chunk of time before a final quarter filled with trips and vacations (and APs... ahhh!).