So, what I can remember for the week four recap? Monday we spent French class scavenging Montmartre, the neighborhood of Paris famous for its artists, cafes, and hills. Since the scavenger hunt didn’t count for much, we found the bits that interested us then grabbed lunch in order to have time for review before our midterm later that day. (A note: this was my first midterm and it fell on the same day that began the quarter back at Northwestern. I feel it was my glimpse into life at normal schools.) The midterm was in France and the EU and focused on the point that Professor Loriaux seems to have made it his mission to drive home to us: that the French state is the backbone of France. This was the repeated topic of every class leading to that point. The upside, of course, was that this made it fairly easy to prepare for the midterm. So, because I had basically assumed the question ahead of time, I also had an essay planned out, threw in a bit of extended metaphor that managed to include Athena and Pygmalion, and had it over without much pain. And it sounds like I ended up with a much more organized paper than many other people to whom I talked. I don’t remember doing anything the following Tuesday (aside from class), but that’s probably because I didn’t, because it rained. This week marked the beginning of a solid ten-day period of non-stop rain. Which led to listening to lots of Tom Waits, The Smiths, The Ballad of Baby Doe, Billy Budd and covers of Randy Newman (I like his songs, just not when he sings them).
On Wednesday Lindsay arrived from Toulouse with her program for their stay in Paris. I met up with them briefly in between events at a café. Thursday was more class, and the discovery that when my professor says debate, it really only means student-led discussion. That evening I met up with Lindsay & Co. at the Eiffel Tower, where I finally went up. I had been waiting for someone to come to town to do so, since everyone wants to anyway and it’s always more fun with friends. It’s actually a lot of fun, even if it is the most touristy thing you can do in Paris. And that heights thing that used to bug me seems to have gone away. Paris is very interesting to observe from up high. The city’s layout is a mess, streets packed in every which way, not at all the clean grid of other cities, so from above it’s a fascinating sprawl of lights and buildings. We managed to pick out the notable buildings without using the maps and then decided to call our families from the top. I left a message, which it turns out cut off, leaving only the bit where I announced where I was. (Click to enlarge images).
Friday was another day trip, this time to Giverny, home of Claude Monet (not Jean Monnet, see below). It was raining, so the gardens were probably a lot less picturesque that they normally are, but the lake and stream where he painted the famous bridge and water lilies were beautiful. (Fun fact, my roommate Matt has this painting on a fleece blanket we keep on our wall.) Went back to the Louvre for the second week in a row that night, this time with John, and saw the Venus de Milo, which I had managed to miss last time. We also found the Starbucks in the Louvre. I should probably track down that picture of me in front of it, seeing as it’s become my American comfort food of choice while I’m here.
Spent Saturday wandering Paris with Lindsay. We began at the Sacre Coeur in Montmartre, which has great stained glass, on the steps watched a show that made me scared of clowns again, and walked down to see the Moulin Rouge. Sad to report, there are no giant elephant apartments. Colorful neighborhood – a bit like a pre-Guiliani 42nd Street. Took the metro from there down to the Île de la Cité, and then wandered the Fifth and Sixth. The Indian restaurants here have all been good so far, even if they do tend to bland down the spices. Actually the French don’t seem to do spices so much. Priyanka called just as we were finishing up, so we met her for a bit before we all had to take off.
Week five began with the Brussels trip. We left Monday morning and came back Tuesday evening. The train was easy enough, even if I just barely made it there in time to leave. (Note: The lines at ticket machines on the first of the month are much longer than should be expected.) Read some Bret Easton Ellis for a bit, then when I switched over to my Jasper Fforde audiobook I fell asleep pretty quickly (no fault of the book). We arrived at the Central Station, dropped our things off at the hotel (somewhat reminiscent of Swansea’s Dolphin, but without skeleton keys) and wandered for a bit. Found the Central Square and sampled waffles. Then it was back to the hotel to meet the rest of the group (half of us had gone to Amsterdam for the weekend and arrived from there). I hadn’t even thought to bring an umbrella with me, so everything in Brussels has taken place trying to stay under other people’s. The bulk of the day’s time was spent at NATO (or OTAN for our friends who put the adjectives last). We had three two-hour lectures from various staff, focusing on NATO organization, missions, and post-Cold War transformation. Really very interesting, informative, and may play into paper topic ideas for one of my classes. The really fun part, though, was the swag (Note: The promotional merchandise they gave out). It was one of those lucky days when my irresponsibility was rewarded and, lacking my own, I was given a NATO umbrella, in addition to the standard hat, notepads, pens, and booklets.
Tuesday we visited the European Commission, also housed in Brussels. Something I realized visiting these places, looking at the city beyond the historic square: Brussels isn’t a terribly attractive or interesting city. I wonder how public opinion would react towards the EU had it been headquartered in Nice, for instance. The Commission was a good visit. We again had a series of presentations: EU/Commission Structure, US-EU Relations, and Eurozone Development. These corresponded well with the material we have been covering in Professors Grossman and Saraceno’s classes. Here, we received only folders and tote bags, useful though not quite as fun as that NATO umbrella. The Commission gave us a nice lunch, too. After the visit we had time to grab dinner and then met the train back to Paris.
It’s finally stopped raining since we got back, and while this is generally a good thing, I am a little disappointed I don’t have the chance to use the umbrella. I’m a little obsessed with it; it’s a really nice umbrella. Classes finished up the week well, including the very interesting Fed-ECB comparison (inflation and growth objectives) we looked at today with Saraceno.
And it’s somehow the weekend again. I suppose this week feels like it never happened since we spent half of it in Belgium. Looking forward to getting together with Priyanka as well as the Tony, Gracie, Garret group, since I haven’t seen them since they got back from Normandy, and getting them to all meet each other.. I think there are also some special citywide events this weekend in addition to first-Sunday-of-the-month free museums. And the down time will let me watch American TV (sorry Mom, I know this causes you pain). Yet another reason the internet is great. There are all these sites that stream every show you can think of, so it lets me feel a little less cut off from that half of the world. And, c’mon, it’s premier season – how else am I supposed to know what to get TiVo-ed? And you can’t say I’m not keeping busy or reading (back down to being the middle of three books).
So until next time. And the whole album as linked below: http://northwestern.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2095542&l=569c8&id=2411663
Une parapluie, mais pas de Cherbourg.
