Bonjour!

Sunday was a very long time ago, so let me think. Oh yeah! On Sunday I slept in a bit and then I went to Musée Rodin (the most famous sculptor since Michelangelo, so they say) which was pretty cool. There was a mansion where he used to live/rent a room that had been converted to a museum and then a garden outside with more statues. I liked them because they weren't statues of Greek gods and Roman emperors, but they also weren't crazy modern art, so they were actually interesting to look at. You may have heard of The Thinker or The Gates of Hell, both of which were there.

After that I walked around the Rue Cler area, which is Rick Steve's favorite. And then I went to a park for a bit, and then back up to Sacre Coeur for more pretty views of Paris. There was a man playing guitar and singing American songs who got a huge crowd, and that was kind of nice and kind of ridiculous. But the views were great and I talked down all of the braided bracelet vendors, so that was good news.

Monday I went to Musée de l'Orangerie, which is an Impressionist museum near the Louvre. I liked it a lot, but I liked Musée Marmottan better. But it was the first museum specifically designed to showcase art that was specifically made for that building. And Monet lived to finish all 8 massive (I believe they were 55 feet long) canvases, but not long enough to see them installed in the finished building. But they were beautiful and very peaceful.

Monday afternoon I went to see the French movie Stella, which had just come out. It was about a teenager and growing up and adolescence and things like that. I understood the movie, but there definitely were times when I didn't understand a line and then other people laughed at a joke I didn't understand. But overall it was a decent movie...2.75 out of 4 stars. But it might have been a 3 if I had caught all the jokes.

Tuesday we had class and philosophy went on for a hundred years. We also got our midterms back, and that went pretty well. But he basically said he's giving everyone a good grade, so it doesn't matter how well I do really...

Yesterday I went running in the morning which was fun. Except I need to go running more... And then i took a shower and tried to go to the Victor Hugo's house, but by the time I found it I only had a half hour before I would have had to leave for our group meeting at the Picasso museum. But I thought the museum was free, so I decided to go for half an hour. But it turns out there was an exhibition, so it cost 3 euro 50, so then I was awkwardly like "Oh, I don't have enough time for this museum. I'll come back later..." and the people were all confused as to why I had come in the first place. And that was awkward. I thought about explaining myself, but I figured that might just make things worse, so I left. Awkwardly.

We met at 2 at the Picasso Museum (which is only a few blocks away, which is why I wanted to see both). It is Picasso season in Paris, which means a lot of his work has been loaned out to other museums and things, and overall I just don't really like Picasso. As someone else in the program said, "I know he's supposed to be brilliant and everything, but if someone told me a 5th grader had made that guitar, I would be like 'Right on! Good job!'" And it is true.

After the Picasso experience I went back to the Hugo house, where the guy remembered me but he was nice and I said I was ready this time. And the exposition was on Les Miserables, but it was just a collection of random stuff...I don't even know what category of stuff...old letters, old dental tools, book pages, paintings of the Battle of Waterloo... and I wasn't overly impressed. Then I went to the regular apartment and it as mildly interesting. So I am glad that I went because that is cool, but I wish that it had been free with no exposition, instead of costing money. But I did get to read some Les Miserables excerpts, and I could definitely read those books, but I am going to hold off and take the class in a year or so instead.

Then I bought some dinner food at the grocery store and met up with 6 other people from our program and we went to a bar for drinks. And then our french professor met us there, because we were going to a France soccer match! We took the RER and ate on the way and then went to the stadium (which holds almost 80,000 people) for France v. Uruguay. And it was a very fun experience with lots of yelling and a mildly intoxicated french teacher and friends and a whole lot of french people. And nobody scored a single goal, and that is a dud.

The match started at 9 and we got home a little after midnight, and I went to bed. And then today we had french class at 9:15 and that is all that has happened so far. I am leaving for Berlin tonight, so that should be exciting (and I'm taking your guidebook Bob, so it will be helpful indeed!)! I get back Tuesday morning right before class.

As for Seattle's landmarks, I agree to change my requirement to height restrictions instead of a new clock tower. Because then you get a prettier view from the clock tower, and the city is prettier overall. As a result of the height restrictions, the cities are all pretty big but a) the apartments are tiny, so you can cram lots of them into one building and b) all the touristy-y or business-related things are centrally located, which means that you don't need to navigate a whole, huge, sprawling city. That being said, Paris is huge.

Et Maggie, je peux écrire en français, mais c'est plus difficile et ma famille ne peut pas me comprendre. Et ça, c'est un petit problème. Je dois te démander ton numério d'étudiant pour finir mon application et pour que je puisse habiter avec toi. Parce que j'aimerais bien ça!

A bientôt!