The weather was nice here for the first few days, but since the weekend, it has been pretty darn cold! Just like in Ithaca, it's all about the layers, so I've been wearing shirts and sweaters and jackets and the like to keep myself warm.
As usual, we've been doing a lot of walking. Yesterday, I went with some people to see a few sites that we hadn't gotten to yet. The Madeleine was interesting; from the outside it looks like an ancient Greek temple, but on the inside, it's a church. Definitely a contrast there. It was pretty inside, but I've seen a lot of churches, and I hate to say it, but after a while they all kind of start to look the same. After that, we went over to the Opéra Garnier, the home of the Phantom of the Opera. Now that is a beautiful building. Unfortunately we arrived too late to go on a tour (I'm definitely going to go back!) so we could only explore the lobby and the gift shop, but that's enough to get at least the gist of how gorgeous the whole thing is. I picked up a schedule of the ballets, operas, and concerts that they have both there and at the Opéra Bastille, and I think some of us might try to go and catch something. Quite exciting!
The other day, I went with Chloé to her dance practice up at La Défense in the northwest. She's in a hip-hop group with five or six of her friends, and every Sunday they go to a mall to practice in the hallways, using the shop windows as mirrors. I was amazed when we got there and there were people all over the place just practicing their moves and learning choreography. I felt like it was in a movie: some abandoned space that young people use as a refuge to practice their art. That's really what it was. All the people in Chloé's group were really amazing dancers, too. They also talked really, really fast, and a lot of the time I just had to smile and nod and pretend that I knew what they were saying, even if I had no idea. But it was really cool to go and see what some French youth do in their spare time and also discover more about how they act with each other.
Grammar classes are going well... the review is definitely helpful. We're going over things that are quite advanced, so that's good, and it's also really great to get French grammar lessons from une vraie Française! She's really sweet and wants all of us to learn to our greatest potential; I can tell only from just the first couple of classes. I'm looking for the translation part of it because translation can go in so many directions depending on the interpretation, and it'll be cool to see where different people take things.
My class is at 9:00 though, and the majority of my friends have their grammar class at 11:30, so I find myself waiting around the IES center or exploring the neighborhood until they're out. Yesterday, I actually took the métro to the Saint-Paul stop and took a walk through the Marais. I saw one of the small Jewish parts of Paris, and I thought it was cool to see Hebrew and Yiddish next to the French. It's comforting to me to know that there are at least some Jewish people in this city. I walked past several kosher butchers and bakeries with challah in the window. Pretty cool, I have to admit. Next time I go through there, I'll have to get one.
Well I'm off. I think we're going to head to a museum, though I'm not sure which one. I've been here this long and haven't gone to see one yet, so I think it's about time!
A toute à l'heure!
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