days 24 & 25: mmw midterm & musée de carnavalet

Dates: Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 and Thursday, July 24th, 2008

Most of Wednesday afternoon was dedicated to studying for the MMW Mid Term on Thursday. I don't really feel confident about the exam because I was pretty brain dead. I didn't even stay up late the night before, I just felt so exhausted and somewhat discouraged from the previous exam. It was just a matter of a slight discrepancy between my own expectations based on how much I thought I knew and how much I was able to show my knowledge on a test. In any case, after that we still had a full lecture, a visit to the Musee de Carnavalet (Museum of Paris) and dinner at night. We were lucky enough to have a few hours in between the Museum and the dinner to recuperate so I made it through the day, easily.

The Museum is in the Marais district, an area that I've stumbled upon a few times before, mostly to visit the Place de Vosges. After learning about the area in Sawyer's lecture, it makes sense that the modest, unassuming (yet still classically Parisien and classically beautiful) exterior of the Museum would house a panoply of 16th century (and on) paintings. It's not just the paintings that it has, it's the way that the Museum is organized. It takes you through the chambers of old aristocrats / royalty and dots the walls with chronologically relevant (OK the chronology is an assumption on my part) paintings. Unfortunately the sections that were the most relevant to the period that we were studying, Roman Period and Medieval, were closed for renovation... But we got a good glimpse of some artifacts, paintings, and busts all from the 12th century and on. More pictures when I have the chance to update...

After that I elected to head back and got some rest. I took a two hour nap that felt deceptively short. I did wake up refreshed though, so that's what counts. We gathered for dinner and hopped on the tram to take the 13 one stop. Dinner was pretty good, but not one of the best. The appetizer seemed like pickled vegetables and I ate some of the tomatoes with the bread but couldn't get it all down. The main dish seemed like a hamburger patty / steak-esque meat with cheese and bacon on top paired with frites. The dessert was the best though! Mountainberry tart... Everyone had charming little blackish blue smiles by the end. We headed back. A few of us wanted to go out as our days in Paris are quickly dwindling... Instead we watched Toy Story. After it ended though, some boy were hungry and we decided to head to St. Michel for some shwarma, crepes, and ice cream. We sat in front of Notre Dame just chatting and eating our food, enjoying the beauty of Notre Dame by evening. I'd say it was a great day.

day 3

Mood: Less Sinus-y

Woke up dreadfully sinus-y at 6:30 A.M. but the sinuses have cleared up gradually since then thanks to two of Rucha's allergy pills and (later, around 4pm) an Allegra. Hopefully I'll make it through the night without too much congestion but we'll see...Breakfast was good, predictable.

Our schedule for today was just class and a French lesson from Christine (Our coordinator). We managed to make it through the class today (in which we covered the Song Dynasty & the Mongols; the feature presentation of tomorrow's excursion) but after class I trekked, with a group of people, to the larger supermarket (Champion) to stock up on some food. I got some salami, some fruits (deux peches et deux poires) as well as a little snack. (Cheese covered crackers?) I was so tempted to buy Nutella but I knew I should restrain myself... Anyway we got back and I prepared lunch (a classic! brie + baguette + salami = yum.) After that, I decided it'd be a good idea to take a 30 minute siesta...it turned into a 2 hour nap. (That means I missed Christine's lesson. Also I didn't pick up my €2.) I was woken up by Zak who said he was about to explore the right bank and I decided to tag along (If I hadn't I'm sure I would have kept sleeping!)


It was great. :) We stopped at the stop Chatelet-Les Halles and walked through the H&M. (Which by the way was super hot, despite today's showers / cooler weather.) Everything is "Soldes!" 50% to 70% off! It was pretty exciting. We exited the H&M and walked along the streets and found our way to the Georges Pompidou Center (definitely my favorite modern building in Paris--I LOVE IT!)



We spotted lots of small shops along the way and lots of small eateries. As we continued to wander, we came upon the Notre Dame--with no scaffolding! Looking quite clean. Notre Dame is near the part of the Latin Quarter with the good Pita Grec so we stopped by to grab some dinner, but not before walking by the Palace of Justice and some other neat buildings. Sat on a bench to devour our lovely, tasty, sinfully delectable Pita Grec. (Avec the frites inside too! Yum...)

After that we walked back to Les Halles to do some shopping at H&M before hopping on the RER-B back to CiUP. Some pretty successful exploration. I haven't got a proper cognitive map of the Right Bank in my head yet, but I'm slowly filling in the holes. I'm confident I could navigate it, I just don't know how long it'd take, as I don't know all the smaller alley ways / routes. (They all look similar thus far, no matter how I try to spot the landmarks.) Anyway demain we are going to the Asian Museum so look forward to a post and possibly some pictures from there. I'm off to finish some reading. À bientôt!

P.S. I have several bug bites. They all are quite swollen. I'm not particularly alarmed because I've had much worse cases of being mosquito bait in Taiwan. All the same, they're still slightly painful.

P.P.S. Please note that I have a link to my complete photo album on the column to the right of the blog entries. Access does require a password so make sure you read that. (I won't hold you in suspense--it's bonjour.) Very creative, I know. :)

P.P.P.S. If you read or skim this at all, leave a comment or some feedback so I know I'm not just talking to myself! Thanks.