College night at the Louvre!

Last Friday was college night at the Louvre. They stay open late on Wednesdays and Fridays, and Sciences Po organized an outing of international students there. It was fun but I'll need to go back at least 5 more times to see everything worth seeing there before I leave. It's a little strange that I went to all these touristy places about 5 years ago and now I'm visiting them all over again, but it feels completely different to go to touristy places in a city you live in instead of a city you're just visiting. After the Louvre, everyone went to an interesting bar where I saw a lot of international students I hadn't seen in a while. We had brought a bottle of wine but no corkscrew, so we sat outside by the river for a while trying to figure out how to open it, then we eventually had success with my keys and a pen.

I went to a movie theater on the Champs Elysées last Saturday to see Valentine's Day, and the movie wasn't great but the theater was gorgeous! Only 8 euros to get in, and it was really fancy. It looked like a real theater with dark purple carpet and artistic black-and-white pictures of famous actors and actresses on the walls, then the inside of the theater was really ornately decorated and the seats were ridiculously comfortable. The previews were probably for half French, half American movies and the movie we saw had French subtitles. If you've ever seen a movie in a language you understand with subtitles in a language you understand, then you know it's really interesting to see how they translate weird expressions or jokes. It was a fun way to spend a lazy Saturday afternoon. That evening, I went to a dinner party at my friend's apartment and met/caught up with a bunch of people while eating lots and lots of food. My friends and I are discovering that dinner parties are much, much more economical (and usually more fun) than going to restaurants and bars, so we've all been alternating hosting get-togethers every few days lately.

On Sunday, I went ice skating! It was well above freezing, so the ice was a little melty but it was fun anyway, especially since a couple of our friends from Egypt had never ice skated before and we got to teach them. Afterwards, we went to a cafe (of course) and on the way we saw a secondhand store that looked interesting. A friend and I went back the next day when it was open and had a lot of fun there. Huge piles of scarves for 1 euro, lots of dresses for 5-10 euros, and racks and racks of fur coats for 30 euros, but only one tiny dressing room so we just went to a deserted corner and tried everything on over our clothes and ended up finding some buried treasures.

I had a debate in my comparative legal systems class on Monday, and it went really well! I got to know the girl I was partnered with while working on it, and she was great to talk to and fun to work with--not at all impatient that my French wasn't perfect. It's always fun to make more French friends, and I'm starting to pick up things that French young people say, slang, abbreviations, pronouncing things certain ways, etc. and I feel a lot more comfortable now making French friends than I did when I first got here.

Sciences Po has an international student buddy system and a French-American student buddy program, and my buddies have been so great to get to know and to get advice from. My French is getting much better already and it's nice to have lots of people to practice with. Sciences Po has so many great resources for international students that I'm starting to think Northwestern could learn a thing or two from them about welcoming and integrating exchange students.

My class and orchestra rehearsal were cancelled on Tuesday, so my friend and I decided to wander over to the Musée d'Orsay. We didn't spend much time there, but who cares? It's free! It's a small museum, but I could easily spend all day there. I'll probably start hanging out there in between classes soon because I'm running out of neighborhoods to explore. After the museum, I had a bunch of friends over and we cooked a delicious dinner of braised leeks, mashed potatoes, and rice and beans. And of course lots of wine and cheese and baguettes. My "host sister" is living here for the moment, and she hung out with us and shared her Paris knowledge and advice, which was really entertaining. She's wonderful and we have a ton of common interests (like fashion law!?) and we already started planning her trip to Chicago to visit me.

We've had four weeks of classes, so next week is winter break for Sciences Po, and I'm going to Brussels! I'll be there for 3 1/2 days, and we'll probably go to Bruges too. Five of my friends and I got really cheap bus tickets and we're leaving next Wednesday for a little vacation. I'm really excited to do some traveling, and especially to get a little break from classes.

Tonight, I went to the Opéra Comique to see Béatrice et Bénédict (based on Much Ado About Nothing) with a bunch of my friends. We had a yummy dinner at my apartment beforehand, then we all headed over and watched the opera from our 6 euro, obscured-view seats. I could only see about half the stage, but at least the music was nice! The opera was very cute and funny but it's hard for me to understand operatic singing in French. Afterwards, the obligatory pit stop at a cafe, then home to update my blog.

It's a lot warmer here now (mid 50s most days) and I can't wait for spring! Everything will be so beautiful and green, and wandering around outside will be much more pleasant, so I'll finally be able to appreciate the beauty of this city. When I get home, i think I'll blow up a picture of the view out my window at night and frame it. I think that will be a much more subtle and personal souvenir than a ton of obnoxious Eiffel tower postcards all over my walls. When I look out my window at night, the lights that are the farthest away look like they're wiggling or twinkling. It's kind of bizarre and probably the effects of pollution or something, but it's really beautiful. The lights here and the way they reflect off the limestone really does look different from anywhere else. If you've ever been here you know what I mean.