Hello all!
I’m sorry it’s taken me a while to write, but I have good reason I assure you! After returning from Paris, us Marchutz kids started our week off with all of our regular classes – throw in a country-required doctors visit to Marseilles (with no transportation given to get home…thanks IAU), a presentation, a case of the sniffles & a few papers and you have my week. It’s Friday, and I’ve been actively in class for 12 days straight. We worked every day in the museums in Paris, usually from 9am-6pm, including the weekend we were there. Needless to say, the last 12 days have been taxing and as a result I’ve neglected my blogging! So sad, I know. But I’m going to make up for it now because
1. It’s the weekend – HOORAY!
2. I’m writing to ya’ll on my new, spiffy laptop (Thanks Mom & Dad for saving me from social and technological isolation in the south of France!) (Also, Mamie is great too because I initially couldn't get the internet to connect so she called Michel, my hero, who works with computers and he got it working - pas de probleme!) and –
3. It’s almost dinnertime, I’m super hungry, it smells delicious (Ratatouille avec du riz!) and I need something to keep me from pacing the apartment because my tummy’s growling! Side note: Mamie’s dinners keep getting better and better. And today when I came home from class she gave me an ice cream pop…oh how much I love her!
Paris avec Marchutz – 11-15 Novembre 2009
Between the time that Mom visited and I set off for Paris with Marchutz I had a week and a half of classes. They were fairly uneventful. My computer did, however, revert to a 1980s version, which let me tell you, is not fun. Thankfully I have the best parents ever and my Dad spent an entire morning with me on the phone via skype while conference calling with Dell support at the same time…all at about 7am in the morning his time. We fixed the computer that time, but the second time it happened it was best to just to let it go because the old fixing standbys weren’t working.
We departed for Paris on 11 Novembre 2009. We started off meeing at the bus station, to get to the TGV station, where the three boys showed up with mustaches and wearing berets, a classic moment to start the trip. The train we were originally supposed to take broke down (resulting in a free train ticket to Paris for later use!) and resulted in us reaching Paris a couple of hours late – pas mal. That wasn’t bad though – we love train rides together. We checked into the hostel, le MIJE, (yes hostel, not hotel) and dropped off our luggage. The room I shared with two friends wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t what one would expect when, say, staying at a Marriot or Red Roof Inn. It was the kind of place where every meal looks vaguely like the one before, you always wear at least socks on your feet if not shoes, and when you shower you don’t touch the walls. But it worked. I think we were surprised because our setup in Giverny was SWEET! That’s okay though, we were hardly in the hostel anyways because we spent all day walking and in the museums.
The first night there we attended an opening of a new special exhibit at le Grand Palais. A celebration of the late works of Renoir. We broke up into small groups; Nick, Katja, Joy and I attended together and dubbed ourselves affectionately as “Team Sexy.” After watching some rugby players roughing each other up, rolling in the soft grass and eating some sandwiches we entered the exhibit. It was a huge exhibit and beautifully done (it’ll be at the Philly Art Museum this summer…awesome! I’m SO there!!). We walked together and discussed and analyzed the pieces we liked most. We ended the evening with discovering Renoir’s ability to create unity within his paintings when viewing the final painting with our professors and the entire group of students. Here’s an excerpt from the exposition’s website which shows you just how humble this master was.
“I’m starting to know how to paint. It has taken me over fifty years’ work to get this far and it’s not finished yet,” declared the artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) in 1913, at a time when a major exhibition of his work, including the large nudes painted at the turn of the twentieth century, was on show at the Bernheim Jeune gallery in Paris. It was a revelation.
Guillaume Apollinaire was lavish in his praise for the man he considered “the greatest living painter”: “Renoir grows greater all the time. His latest paintings are always the most beautiful. And the most youthful.”
Our first full day, and Nick’s 20th birthday, was spent in the Louvre. We examined a painting as a large group in the morning, broke for lunch & then met back up in the Rembrandt room in the afternoon. This was a taxing day because we didn’t break for lunch until very late in the day and by that point my body had shut down because I was so hungry…after that we made sure to remind John and Alan that we have to be fed regularly…we might be really excited about a painting, but our bodies still have to be fed despite the great conversation that’s going on! That night a bunch of kids went out to celebrate Nick’s birthday, but I was fighting a headache and majorly tired so I made it an early night and woke up well rested for day 2!
The 13th was spent in two museums. We started the morning at the Louvre and broke up into smaller groups. I was in a group of 5 students plus our professor Alan, which I enjoyed much more than having the larger group together. All of us enjoy participating in the conversation and it an be difficult to get your point heard when there are 12 people all discussing. I’m more comfortable in the smaller groups and feel I make much greater academic and artistic strides that way. That morning we talked about content, form and subject matter and how they reinforce one another. We discovered different ways artists use their colors, shapes, and diagonals (an infinite number of ways) to elucidate their point of view. On the way down we viewed a portrait of a woman by Goya. It (one of) the women he loved during his lifetime. About six months after the portrait was painted she passed away because of sickness at an early age. It’s incredible, in the painting you see a strong yet sickly woman who exerts a definite presence in the room. Coincidently Mom and I had spent some time looking at her only a few weeks earlier. She was so wonderfully painted that one student actually cried when viewing her.
That afternoon we bought lunch and ate it on the steps of le Musee d’Orsay. It’s an old train station which they renovated into the GREATEST and most WONDERFUL museum I’ve ever been in, ever…and I’m a fine arts major…I go to a lot of museums! The building itself has such a presence and you’re keenly aware that you’re in a grand space when in that building. And then the ART! My favorite artists are housed there. There’s a huge collection of Impressionist art (which was even cooler to see in person because I’m taking a course on 19th Century French Impressionism with one of my studio professors, John). I saw Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Cezanne, Pissarro (my new art love), Millet, Degas, Courbet and so many more! The only problem with this museum is that while it’s smallness (in comparison to le Louvre) creates intimacy, it does make it hard to have 6 people looking at a piece of work all at once without the guards getting a little testy. My group that afternoon, led by John with all the Impressionism students, first studied a painting by Daumier of Don Quixote.
One of my personal favorite pictures of us is when we were viewing the picture upside. This is done by bending over, balancing your hands on the ground, and looking at the painting from between your legs. I’m so not pulling your leg right now, we did this in the middle of the museum. After that we studied a Van Gogh. When we were leaning forward (with our hands behind our backs because that’s the universal language of guards that says, “I’m looking and not intending to touch!”) and we still were disciplined by the guard. The woman came over and told us that “Art is to be viewed from a distance, not up close.” Has she never seen the beauty of a single brushstroke?! Clearly she only views art from a distance. We love getting to see the real paintings and seeing the way the artist yielded the brush. It’s so exciting to stand in front of a masterpiece. You’re standing in the proximity of the painting in the same way the artist did. What you’re seeing is a direct repercussion of that artist’s decisions, and when looking at art that way there’s a bridge created between the artist and the viewer. It’s an incredible feeling. I could spend every day in a museum, armed with a sketch book and enough protein bars to last the day, and lead a very content life.
The next day we started with le d’Orsay again. We broke up into small groups again. My group first studied a Cezanne still life (cool fact: Cezanne was studied by Leo Marchutz, the man who founded the art school I’m attending, who is the man who taught my professors…my artistic heritage can be traced back to Cezanne!!!). The still life was all about life and had brilliant colors and in the end we decided it was a “monumental” painting. After that we walked over to Monet’s Camille on her Deathbed and I immediately stated crying. Yes, I cried in front of a painting, me the girl who can watch The Notebook, A Walk to Remember and any number of chick flicks without shedding a single tear (unless there’s a dog involved like Bolt or Marley & Me in which case I’m a goner) and when in the face of a masterwork I cried. And we’re not talking a trickling tear. I needed to wipe my eyes with my sleeve. The forms of the painting spoke to me even before I realized what the content and subject matter of the piece is. Monet painted his dying wife Camille when she was tucked into bed and it’s the most heart wrenching this I’ve ever seen. Viewing that painting made my heart hurt. I felt the love, the pain and the loss of the artist. Imagining what that must of felt like was too much to think about without crying. Sometimes people wonder why bother with art, it’s just a pastime or a hobby…not a career. But then I see a painting like that and I realize that what we’re doing isn’t inconsequential; it’s apart of something bigger. Art is a lot of different things, but one thing I am certain of is that it can be a universal language and it connects past people and cultures with today. It can bring tears to the eyes of a complete stranger living decades after its creation. A painting breathes and exists in a space that is different from a photograph. If I viewed a photograph of the scene I can assure you I wouldn’t have cried. Art lives. Paintings live. That’s not to say photographs can’t capture something, just that a painting is the result of an artists own physical labor, and in that labor a piece of the artist is translated into the painting and can be observed decades later and can touch a stranger with great force.
That afternoon we visited l’Orangerie. A space created by the French government to house a commissioned work by Monet. It holds eight giant paintings of his lily pond in Giverny. The building is creatively executed and Monet aided in its design. When sitting it that room one feels calm and serene. When sitting and viewing the art I felt the same way I did as when I sat in those exact gardens in Giverny. I felt close to nature and surrounded by something infinite. The rooms are two long ovals that intersect in the middle. You can walk around those two rooms for hours and still want to stay there longer. It’s the kind of space you never want to leave. It has the calm of a library but the spirit of a church. It’s a special place. The photo is of our two professors, John & Alan.
Our last night in Paris we celebrated another birthday, Katja’s 22nd birthday! We decided it was a Saturday night in Paris, a birthday and that we should go celebrate. We walked into le Marais area and spent some time in The Bar Pop In. It was a very international bar and I heard more English in there than I’ve probably heard all trip (excluding the classroom). We shared some drinks and then did some dancing. It was a great time of hanging out and relaxing after some very tiring days at the museums. I love museums, but after a while you need to be allowed to be loud and to sing and dance with enthusiasm. That night we didn’t care about the kind of sub-par hostel we were staying in, we were just glad to be together in Paris taking advantage of all it has to offer and loving every minute spent together.
Our final morning was spent looking at Monet’s work in le Musee Marmottan Monet. It’s a private residence turned museum and the decorations in the old house are very luxurious. We spent our final hours looking at some early and late Monets, while in disbelief that the trip was over. Our train ride home was enjoyable and some of us swapped iPods to mix up our music selections. John and his wife gave Joy and I rides home because we live far from the station, and that night I slept very well. I was tired from the trip, but the things I learned there are going to be lessons that I will carry with me for a lifetime. I thought I could “see” art before, but my eyes are seeing more and more every day I spend with Marchutz. The school’s name used to be, “Marchutz – School of Vision,” which was changed later when it was acquired by IAU (and for other reasons), but I believe it to be the most accurate way to describe the school. We’re learning to see, and our newly acquired vision will take us far.
Aside: When walking from museum to museum we crossed a bridge with hundreds of locks attached to it. Most are locks which require a key. I didn't understand it until a friend explained that couples, who are recently married, will buy a lock and attach it to the bridge and together they throw the key into the Seine. How romantic is that? Many of the locks have names and dates written on them, some even are engraved. I love it! Except that some of the locks are combination locks...which I feel like kind of defeats the purpose because the key can't be thrown away...you're not really stuck with each other...I kind of see it as a really good prenup! We spent our last afternoon meandering around the Jewish neighborhood (which is open on Sunday, woo!) and we ate some of the falafel I've ever tasted.
In other news…
Life in Aix:
Laundry Day(s) – It’s not uncommon on laundry day (which often times is a two day affair because the washer is very small and we do laundry once every 9 days or so…yes I have that much clothing here….don’t judge!) to have clothing hanging all around the house. Now that it’s “cold,” and I say cold in quotes because it’s in the 60s and I’m very comfortable outside – meanwhile the French are bundled up like I am in Gettysburg in February – the clean clothes are hung up in the bathroom, on any available hook and on top of any and all radiators. Our radiators have a nice ledge on them and are perfect for drying small clothes, in particular underwear and socks. And here’s one big difference between life in America and life here, in America we usually have driers and very large washers. Here it’s completely normal (because of the small washers which delay the laundry process and the lack of driers) to eat dinner with you undies drying on the radiator right next to you…yes this is a true story. It happened tonight when I ate dinner (which I took a break from writing to do), which was delicious. We had ratatouille and a second dish of rice and mussels. Can you say wow?! I’m so spoiled by my host mom. Also, I can pronounce ratatouille with a good accent in French and Mamie was surprised because she said it’s typically a difficult word for American students to say…which of course led to me explaining that it’s the name of an American Disney movie which features a rat as a chef. Of course she asked why the rat was cooking and with my limited French I had to explain that it’s a children’s movie and that he’s a really cute rat! Now I’m fairly certain she thinks I have crazy taste in movies and only watch Disney in my 20s…I swear I watch other things! Hahaha.
Le Cours Mirabeau (the main road in town) is all decked out and ready for Christmas right now! The lights are hung and they look great during the day. I still don’t know what they look like at night because they’re waiting to light them. I don’t know what they’re waiting for, maybe for December to commence, but I know they’re going to look stunning all lit up. They started decorating our housing complex here and I can’t wait to see those glowing too! There’s a long celebration of Christmas here and there’s now a long line of wooden structures lining le Cours Mirabeau. They look like the buildings you’d put a nativity set in, think a small wooden building. This weekend I think it opens for the first time and each stand sells something holiday related – warm drinks, toasted nuts, presents, homemade goods, etc. I can’t wait to check it out!
Life here is great. I’m really loving it, but I’ve been here a while and I’m really looking forward to spending winter break with my family and friends. I miss my family when I’m away at school in Gettysburg, but I can easily call or visit for a weekend. It’s hard knowing that the option of going home isn’t there…at least not for another month. But I’m resolved to take advantage of the rest of my time here and that way when I’m home I can look back at my French adventures and know that I didn’t waste a moment of my time. I’ve never been so torn in my emotions before. I love it here so much and I never want to leave the caring tutelage of John and Alan at Marchutz (and my fellow students, we’re a family now) but at the same time I cannot wait to be home with my family, smelling the Christmas tree, hanging out with my sisters while watching Gilmore Girls, petting my dog, and sleeping in my glorious big sleigh bed. And I cannot wait to see all my friends at home (especially you Dennis!) but I also can’t think about leaving my friends here. Lets relocate Marchutz to the east coast (in America of course). But that’s the beauty of study abroad – it doesn’t last forever, so it teaches you to take advantage of what you have when you have it. Because, I feel, all you really ever have is the present. Better do something good with it because you can’t repeat the moment you’re living right now!
Congratulations if you made it to the end of this epically long post. And thanks for reading!!
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