The Beaujolais Nouveau is here!

Indeed, is it ever.

Those signs are up all over Paris now; these people really seem to have a fetish for Beaujolais Nouveau. Which is understandable. I just cracked open a bottle myself, and holy hell does it go down smooth. My hat is off. Anyway, with any luck, it will act as my muse and allow me to quickly and entertainingly run through recent events, yet again.

The week progressed agonizingly. Class is at least engaging with Sawyer, but still of little interest to me, and I honestly don't have it in me to continue on with these readings. I'm muddling through, but I'm really glad I only have a week left. I just have no more energy.

I went to two Pasolini movies in the span of two days this week, which was like a veritable cinegasm for me. The theater in which they play, the Accattone, is located right by the Sorbonne (did I mention this already), so I'm starting to become quite acquainted with it and its various surrounding cafes and tabacs in the square before it, along the Boulevard St. Michel.

In other news, the Boulevard St. Michel is definitely now one of my favorite streets, along with Boulevard de Clichy (though nowhere near as skeezy). It is lined with fucking amazing cinemas, great cafes, and even a giant used book and DVD store, in addition to running right past the Sorbonne and the Jardin de Luxembourg. I think I could honestly just live in the Latin Quarter and never leave, and pretty much be satisfied with my life. On that note, it's unfortunate that this program is so steadfast in its desire to make me want to end it.

Anyway, I've been trying to cram in shit outside of class. (It should also be noted that I just outright skipped class last Tuesday, because I'm just fucking tired.)

Wednesday I went to the Louvre, since it's open till 9 (instead of the usual 6) on Wednesdays and Fridays. I got there at like 4, and was naively thinking I could spend a good 5 hours wandering its halls. Um, no. I got tired after like 2. Honestly, I'm sure being underslept and overworked had a great deal to do with that, too, and if I came on a weekend or something well-rested, I could surely get through a lot more. Nevertheless, the sheer volume of the place is utterly mind-boggling, and I very quickly gave up my standard procedure of looking at ever piece and reading its plaque. Soon after, I also very quickly gave up my foolish notion of seeing the whole museum. After the aforesaid 2 hours, I stumbled out in an exhausted daze, resolving to regroup, determine what I want to see specifically, and then come back next week.

Today was even more exciting. Though perhaps I should go back in time to preface.

Anyway, Wednesday's office hours proved a fiasco. My plan was rejected outright because I basically just reworded the essay prompt as my problematique (a French thesis, which comes in the middle of the introduction and is uselessly posed in the form of a question via pompous, over-inflated language structures that continually repeat themselves), my plan was pretty much rejected outright. This isn't necessarily the worst thing, because most teachers are, by that point, so carried away with their critique that they basically write a new outline for you that they're sure to love because they wrote it. Which is basically what happened. Nevertheless, it was still a little tough for me to figure out, and I spent that night sitting in my room agonizing over trying to write a new plan. I finished it the next day (today, Thursday), and was vaguely satisfied. I emailed it to him. I've yet to get a response. Either he's a real slacker of the email is wrong. Either way, irritation. I guess I'll just have to bring it in blind to the corrector session tomorrow. Perhaps that's better...

Anyway, after that I headed out with the intention of going to La Defense, the built-up part of the city, which is supposed to be pretty cool, from what the other people in the group have said. But first, I stopped in the Jewish quarter to try l'As du Falafel, which everyone seems to recommend. And justly so, like the Beaujolais Nouveau (I will be a poet yet!). It was fucking delicious. Nevertheless, I also missed Pita Inn falafels. Good memories. But this was brilliant. Delicious sauces and humuses as toppings, and not a rancid scrap of iceberg lettuce in sight. Cabbage all the way! Now here are people that understand! It's about flavor!

Anyway, as I was waking around the Marais looking at how pretty it was (it's basically postcard old-style Paris, which narrow streets lined with shops selling clothes and delicious foods, full of amazing sights and smells), I ran into Nick, one of my favorite people from the program, who was looking for some friends of his that were supposed to call him. He was also looking for tabacs, because he wanted to buy all of these collector's Gallouis cigarette packs (even though he doesn't smoke; he just likes the packages), but very few seemed to have them. Anyway, I ended up wandering around with him instead of going to La Defense, but we had quite the day.

Anyway, we wandered until we basically got to St. Michel. We then headed down the boulevard, and eventually got to Cluny, where, unbeknownst to me, there is apparently a museum. We subsequently entered.

It was pretty cool, this mysterious Cluny Museum. It's dedicated to medieval shit, and it's built over ruins of Roman baths. Anyway, basically all the art is various pictures of Christ dying and Mary holding a baby that usually has had its head accidentally broken off by now, but there's also a famous tapestry of a woman and a unicorn that was quite a marvel to behold (though it would have surely been moreso had there not been a tour group of little children sitting in front of it hearing a lecture). Anyway, we went through the museum a little quicker than I might have liked (Nick thinks he might have ADD), but it's usually better I go with someone, otherwise I spend way too long in places.

Following that, we walked a little further down the boulevard, past the Sorbonne and the Accattone (!), and looked around in the Jardin de Luxembourg. We then decided to head back, and searched about for a metro stop, though eventually ended up sneaking onto the RER, which is basically like the Chicago Metra, except also run my the metro (if those slight letter and capitalization distinctions make things clear).

Anyway, I ended up getting off at St. Michel again, after all that, because I wanted to go to the aforementioned book and DVD store. It was pretty awesome. They had a lot of 20 centime books out front, though none of them really caught my fancy. I did get some real steals for 80 centimes, though--some book of short stories by a famous Chinese writer (I always try to get writings by modern Asian authors because there seem to be so few of them in translation and I think it quite interesting to get a different--i.e. eastern--perspective on what literature is); Joy and Joy and Joan, two (as far as I can tell), trashy sex novels that were subsequently adapted into movies with Brigitte Lahaie (albeit not hardcore, unfortunately); and a compendium of the 4th through 6th volumes of Clive Barker's Books of Blood (which, rereading the first three, from my youth and which I thought comprised the entire series, I am actually not all that impressed by, though I still bought the collection because I never new it existed and nostalgia compelled me to finish the series). I also looked at some DVDs, but decided to go home and do some research on American availability before making any commitments (the knowledge that my dad has finally bought me a multi region DVD player for Christmas has finally opened up my viewing world!).

Anyway, it was an utterly satisfying day, but utterly exhausting. Thankfully, there was still more to be done, and, after a quick pit stop at the dorm to drop off my things and, um, relieve myself, I headed out to Belleville for conversation section, where we were going to a Chinese restaurant.

Anyway, it was less Chinese than vaguely southeast Asian (kind of like Noodles, though of course better), but it was still good. I got a little spring-roll thing for an appetizer (the thing with the gelatinous, opaque shell), which was all right, though had a hint of mint that didn't agree with me (I hate hints of mint). My dinner was vermicelli noodles with beef and various vegetables, which was good, though for some reason lettuce, my enemy of all enemies, was included in the dish. Quelle horreur. Nevertheless, I soldiered through with hot sauce, which makes anything endurable, and it was a fairly pleasant meal overall. (And relatively cheap, and fresh cooked, which I had been sorely missing. Nevertheless, the first thing I'm doing when I get back is getting a big plate of General Tso's Chicken, or something greasy and Sino-American like that.)

Following that, I returned to the dorm and wrote postcards and this blog and drank my beaujolais nouveau, and talked to people online. Now it's getting quite late, though I do get to get up a half hour later tomorrow. Yay! Still, I'd better be getting to bed, so I'll sign off, but those are my current happenings.

Little more than a week until I get home. I cannot wait to see you all again!