Day 41

      The delinquent blogger is back after a whole week of radio silence.  This past week was even busier than the week before, but my confidence in my French abilities has been restored as I turned in my first seven page essay yesterday.  I somehow managed to finish it five minutes before I had to leave to go to class; it's a miracle how things always happen like that.  It took roughly fifteen hours of library time and five days of getting up at 6am to finish, but if there is anything that you would like to know about Jean-Francois Millet's L'Angelus just shoot me a line and I can tell you all about it.
      One of the great boons of the program that I am in is the focus on experiencing as many different cultural aspects of the city as possible, and in just the past few days we've had three which has been fun and a good distraction from homework.  On Thursday we went to see Antigone at the Theatre du Vieux-Colombier.  It was a modern take on the old classic, and from the clothing I think was set in the 40's, possibly around WWII to fit in with the wartime theme.  It was, as usual, quite difficult to understand the actors, but just from the visible physicality it was quite good.  The stage was very bare and thus the focal point was a chair.  I guess when I think "theater" I think more along the lines of a production and less of the straight dialog like these past two plays have been.  However, it was a good experience nonetheless and I'm glad I didn't miss it.

      The second of our trips was to Versailles on Sunday.  I discovered that I don't really get that excited about 18th century interior decorating, but some of the paintings were quite nice and I even recognized a few from art history class.  There were just so many people that it was hard to appreciate what you were seeing, but our lunch break was quite nice.  About half of us brought sack lunches, so we sat out in the sun in the palace courtyard and feasted.  The great part about having great friends who enjoy good food is that our "sack lunches" always turn into a random potluck of some really eclectic and phenomenal stuff.  I had made a rustic baguette sandwich with St. Moret cheese, turkey, and spinach and brought some apple slices, two cookies, and carrot sticks.  Thankfully I had the foresight to cut my sandwich into four pieces to make sharing easier, and everyone else had done the same, so by the time our meal was over I only ended up eating about a fourth of my lunch and the rest was gleaned other people's.  Good times.  Someone had brought miniature macaroons, so those obviously were the group favorite.  

       After lunch we headed to the gardens and basically walked from 1:30-6:30 with only one or two short breaks.  The guide failed to mention just how incredibly large the gardens are, and by the end we all thought we were going to die of hunger and exhaustion.  However, the gardens were very nice, and I would definitely recommend visiting; just give yourself lots of time and caffeine.    

     I of course love bucolic things so I loved these little cottages that circled a small fish pond, and I was impressed to learn that they are in fact original and not reproductions for the tourists.  Granted a few patches have been needed, but they are still in remarkable condition for their age.

Pity on the man who had to cut those trees!

      Yesterday was yet another spectacle which was a piano concert in the Theatre des Bouffes du Nord.  I would highly suggest googling photos as it was a magical place to have a concert but photography was not allowed.  I was lucky enough to be on the ground floor just three rows back, so basically I sat no more than 6 yards from the musicians and was in such a seat that I could not only see their face as they played but could watch their hands.  It started with Henri Barda playing Ravel's Valses Nobles et Sentimentales followed by Chopin's Preludes op.28.  He was an amazing musician and so fun to watch.  The theater itself is so small already and coupled with sitting so close, I almost felt like I had interrupted him during one of his practice sessions.  You could hear him inhale with each big entrance and see the beads of sweat pop up as he moved faster across the keyboard than I thought possible.
      Followed was several works for two pianos by Mozart, Scriabine, and Ravel with Alexandre Rabinovitch-Barakovsky and HJ Lim playing.  They were likewise very entertaining to watch and really make one realize that playing an instrument like the piano is not just a matter of finger dexterity or pressing the peddles at the right time; it is a full body act.  All of their muscles seemed to be dedicated to making music, and at times I thought they were going to fall off their benches.  It was exhausting just watching but also exhilarating and a drastic change from the doldrums of translation homework and verb conjugations.  

      Rabinovitch also played one of his original pieces which, at the time, was difficult to fully appreciate.  He played it on this little electric piano with the synthesizer turned all the way up and the volume loud enough to make the speakers crackle.  The loudness was a bit distracting, and many people covered their ears which made me feel a bit sorry for the old man.  He seems so eccentric and a bit like a mad savant who keeps company with dusty houseplants, broken typewriters, and piles of yellowing papers covered with random ingenious scribbles.
      His piece was quite different, and it had a hard time gaining much applause.  However, I kept getting the feeling that he was some genius who was ahead of his time and was just waiting for the public ear to catch up.  Later I googled him, and he is actually quite famous and considered by most to be the first minimalist composer.  Learn something new everyday!

And now, it is time for bed.  I am too tired to even proof read this so...

Bonne nuit to all!

-Kate Alice