Day 5

I set my alarm for 10:00 am thinking that was the latest I could possibly get up, but that I would actually wake up much earlier. As it turn out, I didn't wake up until 10 but luckily my friend emailed me asking if I would be ok pushing the meeting back until noon. I took my time getting ready and making my usual breakfast (two slices of bread with strawberry jam and slices of banana – it’s like a strawberry banana smoothie sandwich) and grabbing the metro. I had chartered a voyage to the Carrefour before we got there so when we met at the pre appointed metro stop, I told her what street we were supposed to take and whatnot. We agreed on a direction and set out. Good thing I was paying attention to the cross streets because I soon realized we were going the wrong way. My friend took the news pretty well and we entered a boulangerie to get some pastry for lunch. We decided to stay near the metro stop because we figured the school to be nearly an hour away and we wanted to give ourselves ample time to find it. Fortunately there was an open market nearby and we browsed for a bit. I bought black flats that are a little too small and I just don't want to admit it and my friend bought a scarf because EVERYONE here wears scarves and she was feeling a little left out because she only brought practical ones for the winter.

We left by 1:00 and made it to the Saint-Denis University stop in plenty of time. The university was really empty but that’s because school for university hasn’t started yet. Our program director kept telling us how modern and experimental that school is but it looks kind of run down and ghetto. It’s in a pretty bad area of the city and they’re currently doing a lot of construction on EVERY building of the university because I think they found asbestos in the walls or something. Its definitely going to be an adventure taking classes there but at least I won’t be alone. My friend Lara and I (she’s also doing the linguistics track) decided to take most of the same classes together so that if there’s something we don’t understand at least we have each other. We were supposed to get our student ID cards today but there was some paperwork that only a few people did and the rest of us had no idea what paper the woman we were speaking to was talking about so our program director, Lionel, said that for whoever could come to the BU center on Monday at 3:00, he would be in the computer lab and we could all do it together. Maybe I’ll get some new photos before then…Before we met with the liaison at Paris8, Lionel gave us a tour of the university campus. It’s going to be kind of cool to be at a school with a cafeteria and a quad and an actual campus. The library looks fairly big too so I anxiously await that library card. We got a few brochures and I’m definitely going to pursue some dance classes (danse de la societe = ballroom). Upon departure, Shannon (the assistant program director) reminded the linguistic students that we would be meeting with the head of the linguistic department at Paris8 at 10:00 am so to meet here where we were standing at 9:45 the next day.

Lara and I left to start our project for our French class, which was to discover a Parisian quartier with the aide of a sort of scavenger hunt given to us by the professor. We decided to do Montmartre first and foremost because we share a common love of the movie Amélie and also because we hadn’t yet explored that area. We were lead to certain places on a tour that took us all around Montmartre and we had to take pictures to use in the presentation on Monday regarding our impressions of the quartier. Instead of getting off at the metro station listed in the instructions, we got off at a different station nearby (to avoid changing lines) and walked there. We walked over the bridge that allows cars to travel over the famous Père Lachaise cemetery, the most exclusive and famous cemetery in the world where renowned artists, authors, and celebrated historical figures are buried, such as: Balzac, Bizet, Breguet (I’m sure Spence will want to see that one), and Moliere to name a few.

Our walking tour began at the metro station Abesses, the deepest metro station in Paris. The first stop was a church dedicated to the Parisians who died (in battle?) in 1918. It was the source of much controversy because it was the first church (I’m not sure if it’s in Paris or in France) to be built with reinforced cement. I’m not really sure why that was met with so much controversy though…if I were building a church, I’m pretty sure I would WANT it to survive major disasters, but I guess that’s just me. The directions lead us to the second stop a short ways away; something called a martyrium. All I know is what I read on the signpost outside the door: that Joan of Arc came here to pray during the siege of Paris. Oh and that the crypts are available to visit on Thursdays. The third destination was the reward for climbing 252 steps: Sacré-Coeur. Even after seeing a million and one churches this summer in Italy and France, it was still impressive. Huge and white, it’s one of the highest points in France and offers an incredible view of the city all the way to the distant mountains. We sat on the steps and drank water and caught our breath. Even from the steps you could clearly see the city unfolding from around Montmartre. It’s one of seven hills in Paris and gets it’s name from ‘mons martyr’ because the martyrs came there and it was the place St. Denis eventually chose to build his church. He was the first bishop of Paris.

After that, our path brought us to the Museum of Montmartre; we didn’t go in but it looked like it provided information on the different artists that lived and worked there throughout the years. The building that houses the museum is also called Rose de Rosimond after Claude de la Rose who lived there for some time and replaced Moliere as an actor and, I believe, as a writer when the latter died. The next stop was the bust of Yolanda Gigliotti (stage name, Dalide) just kind of chilling in a little courtyard. She was apparently a comedy singer although I have no idea what that even means; is that like the Adam Sandburg and the other lovely fellows of the Lonely Island are comedy singers?

We explored, and got lost on, the winding and quiet back streets of Montmartre, ending eventually at the most famous cabaret in the world and the birthplace of the can-can, the Moulin Rouge. As we wrote down the final answers in our scavenger hunt, we watched tourists take suggestive photos in front of the scandalous dance hall. My partner and I, on the other hand, were far more interested in the windmill that sits atop the red building. There were once 30 windmills in Montmartre whereas today, only two remain, one is now a restaurant and the other is simply there, closed to visitors on the same street. The one on top of the Moulin Rouge is not one of the two that remain but still, it made us think: what happened to the other twenty-eight? Did they simply fall into disrepair and were torn down to make way for the bigger and better buildings of today? They were used to make flour so perhaps Montmartre has started importing its flour from elsewhere instead of making it. Maybe they were burned to the ground in a horrible fire we’ll never know about. Do you ever wonder about the history of the buildings around you? Albeit in Europe, this line of thinking is more interesting and profitable because most of the buildings are rather old, whereas in the US the oldest they could possibly be is 1600s and even that’s pushing it. Paris may have its neat little snack machines and self cleaning public toilets but mostly, it’s old and set in its ways.