Three weeks in

As if Dali wasn't enough for the week, Cara and I decided to visit the Louvre and Centre Pompidou on wednesday.  As art history students in France, we are able to apply for and receive a student card to the Louvre that allows for free unlimited access for a year.  Cara and I went to the Louvre to pick these up for ourselves and then decided that while we were there, we would go say hi to Mona Lisa.  I was thoroughly unimpressed as the original was not very different from the millions of reproductions I have seen and the painting was behind glass and a barricade.  Its like seeing a celebrities on the street, you hear so much about them and everyone talks up out fantastic they are but up close, they aren't any more interesting than any other person one might run into.  But that aside, I can now say I have seen her in person.  The more interesting part of the trip for me was the discovery of the ancient greek pottery and sculpture.  I studied this in one of my classes last year and it blew me away to see many of the pieces that I saw on slides.  I hated the class at the time but being in the museum and seeing the pieces up close, I was so happy I had taken it.  I had a whole new appreciation for the works and I was thoroughly blown away by how large the works were (everything looks small on a slide screen).  I loved the Louvre and cant wait to go back.  In addition to the artwork, the building's architecture is breathtaking.  It deserves to house the pitvital art work of the past in my opinion.  

Post Louvre adventure, Cara and I met up with Anna at the Centre Pompidou, the contemporary art museum in Paris.  On wednesday nights the museum is free for students so we decided to take advantage of this opportunity.  We went to the floor of all the most recent art works (1945-present).  Some of the pieces were exceedingly creepy (I wont even try to describe anything here, because I could never do the art justice), others were very emotionally powerful and others were thought provoking.  We only stayed an hour and a half though because there is only so much strange contemporary art one can take before one needs a break to absorb what was just seen.

We were starving at this point (whats new?) so we went to a bumpin japanese restaurant near the museum.  It was nice to take a break from bread and cheese and eat something a little lighter.  The food didn't compare to sushi in the US but they tried.  

On thursday, we did some shopping and went to an International party in the evening.  Every week a venue called club Mix hosts a party called Erasmus where international students from all over Paris are invited to come and dance to a variety of music (Americans get in free before 12!).  The assistant director of our program met her now husband here two years ago, although I am amazed that they were able to communicate in such an environment.  It was fun to club with my girlfriends and we managed to fend off all unsavory characters. 

Saturday we booked our hostel for Rome so the trip is becoming more real with every step, I just can't wait!  We went out to dinner with Anna's friend from a class and her roommate and friend.  The restaurant was a cute rustic place tucked away in a tiny street in the Latin Quarter.  The food was excellent but we were heckled by the other french people in the restaurant because we were being loud americans.  It was the first experience I have had so far that I was negatively received by virtue of the fact that I was not French.  The waiter tried to smooth things over but we left with an unsavory taste in our mouths.  After that we went to a crowded bar called the Pearle which is THE place to be to network as an artist.  Everyone was very friendly, seemed to all know each other but several people made an effort to talk to us and "welcome the newcomers" to their bar.  It was a great opportunity to practice our french but it is so challenging to speak french when the other person is speaking english, the language gets all jumbled up in my head.  Random coincidence, Cara met someone who had gone to her school (U of A) and studies for a semester and they enjoyed laughing about shared experiences.  After this bar we went to a club called Showcase which is located under one of the bridges over the Seine.  It was a large club but open and airy and had cool architecture and lighting.  Several DJs spun all night and it was a blast to dance.  We stayed there until 5 so we could take the metro home (it closes between 2 and 5 30 on fri and sat), oh the things we will do as students to save money.  Definitely a taste of the parisian nightlife.