So another month has gone by. It's been getting very cold lately, and finally feels like winter. It snowed for the second time today. Thick, wet snowflakes that melt as soon as they touch the ground. It didn't snow for very long, but it was pretty while it lasted.
I should really write more often; it would make my blog posts a lot shorter and a lot easier to write. A lot has happened this month, but where do I start? I'll start with Thanksgiving, since that was the last big event.
Turkey day took place at an American restaurant in Paris, chosen by our program. Instead of starting the feast around 4pm, which would be traditional in the US, the program Europeanized the sacred meal and made the reservations for 7:30. The food, however, was very traditional: salad with corn, unripened tomatoes and a sweet vinaigrette, soggy green beans, dry turkey breast, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and pumpkin pie for dessert. It wasn't the meal I had hoped for, but the the party was fun anyway. There was live, cheesy American music performed by a French couple, and lots of wine to go around. Because it was an American holiday, the leaders of our program decided we should speak English instead of French, and so for the first time I got to hear the chief of the program, Monique Middleton, speak English in her thick French accent. There was an after party held by some of the students later, but I didn't think I could take any more wine...
Speaking of wine, mid-november was the festival of the Beaujolais Nouveau, the very first tasting of this year's wine. Light and fruity, this wine was the occaision for many a restaurant to put on large tastings. Our program took us to a tiny restaurant called the "Verre Volé" in the 10th district, that had been temporarily turned into a wine bar. It was jam-packed with people, but was well worth the trip because the wine and the hors-d'oeuvres served with it were amazing!
School's been going well. I really spend most of my time in art studios, and spend very little time doing homework for my academic classes. All academic classes in the Sarah Lawrence program have student-teacher conferences every other week where one can ask questions about the class and do an extra project on the side. In French class, my project has been to read Tintin books, and then write a two-page analysis on each. It's really just an excuse to reread Tintin's adventures and get credit for it, but the professor doesn't seem to care so long as I'm practicing my French.
Multicultural France class has been loads of fun lately. As part of the class each student has been giving a 20 oral presentation on the subject they are studying alongside the class's theme of immigration. My subject was food and globalization, and since I couldn't stand the idea of just standing and talking at the class in my bad French for 20 min., I went out and bought exotic salad ingredients and put together the salad during my presentation. The professor, a fantastic Congolese man and a well-known figure in France, listened patiently as I talked, and then excitedly tossed the salad for me as soon as it was ready. He wasn't shocked, as most Fench teachers would be that I brought food into the classroom, but on the contrary dug-into the salad as soon as he could and proceded to serve the rest of the class. I think he was glad to have something to keep him awake while we talked. At the end of class he suggested we bring wine to the next presentation! And we did...but that's another story.
Christmas break starts on December 20th an goes until January 4th. I can't wait. I'll be spending x-mas with my host family in Liege, Belgium, from when I spent my senior year there in high school. I am very excited to see them and the city after 2 1/2 years. Then, on December 30th I'm heading back to Paris to see the new-year's celebrations and finish my end-of-semester homework.
Sending warm wishes from Paris!
Love,
Rebecca
