Where in the world is Val?

So the main thing that is really the advantage of my program is that in living here, and working, I really get the chance to be a Parisienne (to the extent that a flip-flop wearing, native English speaking American can be a Parisienne for 2 months...) But anyway, you get to experience to some extent la vie quotidienne - the daily life. We are not just here as tourists (and let me tell you, it has become quite easy to pick out who are the tourists on the metro). Now granted, I am doing several touristy things, visiting museums and so on, but I really get to see what the daily grind is like. If there is one word it is good to know about daily life in Paris, it just might be grève - that is to say, strike. There is toujours un grève - people are serious here about maintaining a high quality of life. Here is the first grève I saw up close and personal, I believe on Thursday: I should have taken a picture looking down the length of the street - there were hundreds and hundreds of people. E

26/5/08 Last Monday I decided to visit the Orangerie. I wanted to go due to the recommendation of an art history professor that I had last year who said there was a room of Cézannes that eminated a grey light because it was so well lit. Having now seen it, I think this may also be related to the fact that the walls and floor are grey... But anyway, there is a very nice collection from late 19 th and early 20 th century, including some wonderful Cézannes, Renoirs, Picassos, Matisses... And then the museum is probably most famous for these two enormous curving rooms with frescoes painted in situ by Monet, called the Nymphéas, which were really quite beautiful. It was really quite serene, with the soft lighting and the beautiful paintings surrounding, nearly engulfing you. The Orangerie was considerably smaller than I had anticipated, so when I was done there I decided to walk to the Ile de la Cité, the bigger of the two islands in the Seine in the middle of Paris. It was here that

In continuing to play catch-up.... Sunday, May 25 Joyeux fête de mere! And CONGRATULATIONS VAL!!! Sunday I made crepes for breakfast ( evidemment, pas comme dans la crèperie ) and then went over to Killian’s. We went on a run together along the Seine and then around the Tour Eiffel, you know, no big deal or anything. Then we had an assignment to discover la Butte aux Cailles . All the students had an assignment to visit a certain quartier in groups of two or three, and we happened to be paired together. I’m glad we were, because we really enjoyed it together. We were given several places to visit and photograph, that we have to turn into a project as though it were to promote the BU program and show why our quartier was great, or something like that. La butte aux Cailles means the “Hill of quails” but Cailles is also the name of the man who bought the land a long time ago so presumably it is named after him and not to an abundance of foul that formerly inhabited th

On the 24th (HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEN!!) we visited Versailles. C'est tellement incroyable. We toured the palace, and then toured the grounds (which luckily was partly on the petit train, so we didn't have to walk everywhere! it is BIG.) The palace by itself is enormous. More rooms than could ever be used, and the decor for all was unbelievably sumptuous and opulent. Here is one wing of the Palace: The tour winds its way around the palace. Here is the King's private Chapel. You can't see it from this image, but the entire vaulted ceiling was painted as well. On the ground floor, there were a ton of rooms filled just with paintings. The premier etage (second floor) was filled with the most interesting rooms, I thought - the king's and queen's chambers (they are separate, of course - don't want the queen to know when the king chooses to stay out late with his mistress at the Petit Trianon, across the gardens). Also probably the most famous room in the palace

Salut! Sorry for the lack of posts lately, it’s not that I’m a bad correspondent, it’s that I’m too busy!! I’ll try to go briefly through each day so far. Wednesday, May 21 ORIENTATION – big orientation session in the morning. This is the metro, these are your fellow program members, use a condom, etc... Pretty standard stuff (clearly, some more useful to me than the rest... haha). Lunch (sandwiches on baguettes) on the Champs du Mars, the park with the Eiffel Tower , which is about 2 blocks from the Boston University center. So in case you didn't believe me that I am here... In the afternoon we went on a boat tour of the Seine. It started at the Tour Eiffel, went east down the Seine, around the Ile de la Cite and back. I took a tonnn of pictures, but I think it will be easier to try to post them all together soon rather than on here. Dinner was a quick baguette, du fromage et de la confiture. I could get used to this. Thursday, May 22

After leaving this: last night, and about 9-10 hours of flying (and considerably more travel time), I am HERE. I am living in the 11eme arrondisement with a nice couple who are about retirement age. Catherine runs a day-care from her apartment, and Jacques is un professeur de biologie. They have 4 grown children, who I am told come by frequently - we will see. There is also another girl from the program staying here; her name is Kendall and she goes to UNC. I got lucky - all my baggage made it. Hers did not - but hopefully it will be here soon. Certainly not to say all of the travel was bad - the atlantic flight had individual tv's and - Kate, you'll appreciate this, I watched a 2 hour rendition of Persuasion. They also served a "3-course" dinner (course 1: 2 pieces of lettuce and a cherry tomato to be a "salad;" course 2: choice of lasagna or chicken; course 3: a 3 square inch piece of lemony-cheesecake) AND they served us breakfast, AND I got free socks

This evening I am leaving for Paris. I have a late flight that gets into London tomorrow morning, then a short lay-over, and then just a quick jump across the channel to get to France. I don't really have a lot to tell you about what is going on en ce moment . Right now, I'm only finishing packing, but hopefully in the next few days there will actually be something worth reading here. What I can tell you is a little about what I will be doing. I am participating in a program through Boston University called the Paris Summer Internship Program. If you would like to know more about the program, here is the website . I will be taking one class, called "La France à Paris : Paris in literature." Here is a description taken from the syllabus: This multidisciplinary course will cover a broad sampling of literary cameos. Using the city of Paris as the unique text, students will read its monuments and buildings and interpret works of fiction and non-fiction.Walking through th