Cezanne Field Trip, behind the scenes motifs & veal bone marrow - Just another weekend in Aix!

This past Friday the Marchutz kids went on a field trip around our lovely city of Aix. We were fearful of bad weather but everything cleared up and turned into a sunny, albeit blustery and chilly, day. We exploded many sides of the city staying mainly in the countryside and standing in Cezanne’s motifs (the places from which he painted), most of which faced Mt. Saint Victoire.

Probably one of the best parts of the day was visiting the area of The Château Noir. This is a property owned privately by a family that has been there a very long time. The family who lived there when Cezanne was painting continues to live there.

My professors are very connected to this land…and here’s how - Leo Marchutz, the man who founded my school, was a Cezanne scholar and befriended Cezanne’s coachman after he died. The coachman took him to Cezanne’s motifs and it was at Château Noir that he befriended the family who owns this property. Since then the land has passed through the family and their connection with my school has continued. Both of my professors are among the few who are allowed on the land and who also have their own personal studios there. The curator for the US’s National Gallery in DC asked to go on the land of le Château Noir to take pictures for an exhibition that was being set up and the man who owns the property said no to him. The man who owns the land now is a very strange bird, but we love him. He never leaves the large property and maintains all the land himself. He loves the south of France but doesn’t like the bureaucracy of the city of Aix. He, however, likes John and Alan and lets them take us students around the property once a year. We’re the only students in the entire world who get to see these motifs. Because of our professor’s connections we get to visit the motifs that the head curator of the National Gallery didn’t see. Yea, that’s right, we’re pretty much awesome (and very lucky!).

 It was a great (long) field trip and afterwards I was chilly and tired! I had every intention of walking back into town after dinner to hang out at a friend’s house and play cards, but after dinner I sat on my bed and was hit by the biggest wave of fatigue ever. So after a great day full of learning I figured it was okay to stay in and relax!

Here’s a Cezanne painting from the motif only we’re allowed to see.

And here’s what the local’s think about this land.

“The château in those paintings derives its name from rumors about its owner, rather than from its appearance. It was built in the 18th century by an industrialist from Marseilles, who manufactured lampblack paint (derived from soot). He also used it to decorate the interior walls and furniture of the château. As a result, he was associated with black magic among the local people, who believed that the château was also home to the devil.”

Also, here are some of my paintings from this semester! Enjoy! If you’d like to see more check out my facebook page if you’re on there.

In other news:

Aix is bustling with Christmas activity. I love it!

In more traumatizing news – today Mamie fed me veal bone marrow…well it’s a delicacy to her.  When in France!

It was salty and not very appetizing smelling, but I ate it regardless because, hey, I’m in France! Time to get down and dirty with this culture. So today I did. And, well, it was interesting but I’m glad I did it!

Franco-American Meals

This weekend I spent a lot of time with my host grande mère Mamie. Friday night we had a delicious salade complet with avocados, petite potatoes, tuna, balsamic vinaigrette dressing mixed with olive oil & black olives. It’s delicious! That night I saw the new Twilight movie with two of my friends. There’s a theater, Le Renoir, which shows movies in their original format and will put French subtitles if necessary. Which is awesome! So I saw the movie in English with French subtitles and it was so fun! Sometimes the translations on the bottom of the screen weren’t exactly the same as what I was hearing, which made fun an even more entertaining night.

Saturday Mamie and I spent the afternoon walking around town and doing some Christmas shopping. We bought cookies at the Algerian bakery and meandered through Aix. That night it we made chicken noodle soup and ate it with some fresh baguette and cheese. A perfect meal if you ask me. That morning I spent some time in the park getting my reading done for this week, and the weather was perfect. It’s the end of November and I was sitting out there in jeans and a waffle shirt and loved the sunshine!

This is what Aix looks like at night now that the holiday lights are all lit!

Today we were going to visit le jardinerie (the gardens), but the weather was rainy so we decided to stay in. I needed to finish 120+ pages of a book for tomorrow night’s special seminar for my Art Criticism course so I spent the better part of the afternoon reading.  Reading on a rainy day is one of my favorite things, even if I am reading Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway.  Then Mamie and I made an apple pie to celebrate Thanksgiving!

At first I was worried about our pie. We didn’t have any brown sugar, and I couldn’t find any in the Proxi (supermarket) near us, so I decided we’d use the granulated white sugar for the apple crumb pie topping (the crumbling part). Everything mixed together really well. I even figured out the conversions for switching American measurements to European…which if you know how little I do math you know that was a feat!  In the end I ended up eyeballing pretty much everything but the flour.  Mamie had a good time baking and mixing with me even though her eyes grew 10x bigger when she watched how much butter was in the topping (she never uses butter, it’s not kept in the house. It’s all about the olive oil here). 

We put the pie in the oven and a horrible thought occurred to me, “What if the brown sugar is used in the topping because the other kind will catch on fire and burn?!” The entire 50 minutes this thing cooked my heart was racing…what if I was forever remember as the American student that accidently set the apartment building on fire?! Well the good news is it turned out WONDERFULLY! It wasn’t exactly the same color brown on the top but that doesn’t matter when it tastes delicious. Mamie actually had 2 pieces because she loved it so much, this coming from the woman who doesn’t normally eat dessert. Hooray! She wants me to write down the recipe, yay!

 Voila!

So tonight we decided we had a fully Franco-American meal because she made a mashed potato, beef, onion casserole for dinner and then we ate apple pie for dessert. We make a good team. I really love my host mom; I’m so fortunate!  When I was buying some food Saturday for dinner at the Proxi I was talking to the man working there about how I’m the American student living with Madame Aubrey and then I thought he said, “Elle est très gentille.” And I completely agreed.  But then he repeated himself and said that’s what she tells him of me! I was so surprised and excited by that I think I smiled the rest of the night. 

Me and Mamie in the kitchen with our apple pie! 

Thanksgiving – Just another Thursday in France

There’s something very wrong with attending classes on Thanksgiving. I have 20 years of Thanksgiving breeding in me telling me to –

1.     1. Sleep in

2.     2. Watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in my pj’s

3.    3.  Help bake some pies

4.     4. Hang out with my family

5.    5. Eat WAY too much

6.   6.   Sit for hours after eating said food while hanging with all the family that’s over

7.   7. Watch some football…and I’m not talking soccer

8.   8.   And wake up the next morning and eat leftovers

While I’m not having the traditional Thanksgiving today, I did come as close as I was going to get in France last night. Hier soir (last night), my Marchutz professor Alan invited everyone over for Thanksgiving dinner. He and Cathleen opened their home up to us students and lots of other friends and family. It was a very festive atmosphere and I was so thankful to be spending my Thanksgiving meal in the home of a beloved professor with my friends here who’ve become family. Four of Alan’s children were in attendance & three of their friends, my professor John and his wife and daughter, Margaux (from the IAU campus) & her friend, a professor from UVA (shout out to Momma House!) and her adorable little four-year-old daughter Sophie, the ten Marchutz students and one of our mom’s from the States…I think that’s everyone - What a crew!

The students were responsible for providing bread, desserts (which we ate in studio for breakfast because we had so many!), veggies (les haricots verts – green beans, yummm), and four people to come to the house early to help prepare. I brought 4 baguettes which were still warm from the oven when I picked them up, some meringue cookies & a framboise (raspberry) tart. There was SO much food! We spend time socializing before dinner and enjoying John’s choice of wines. We played with the two little kids, Alan’s small son James is one of the most adorable kids I’ve ever seen. We played with his Thomas the Tank Engine trains for a little while and everyone we played with the one named James he’d say, “That’s me!” or “C’est moi!” because, yes, he speaks both French and English.

Speaking of languages – my Thanksgiving dinner evening was spent speaking both languages because many in attendance were French. It was very exciting to be having such a culturally rich night. Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday to share with new people because it gives you the opportunity to explain what Thanksgiving is all about – coming together and being grateful for the people who are in your life. At one point in the night all 10 Marchutz kids were sitting together and we tried to give a toast that would sum up our experience so far, and that ended up turning into a long conversation about how appreciative we are that every single one of us is here this semester because we truly function as a whole and need all ten of us around in order to be well-balanced and functioning at our best. We’ve grown so close and our toast wound up being a tribute to us, our professors and art. While talking more than a few of us started tearing up because we’re so happy and thankful to be together. What a purely beautiful moment. That and Phil Collin’s “You’ll Be in my Heart” came over the stereo system during this conversation and it was so appropriate that we were touched!

Dinner was a gigantic turkey, stuffing (YES!), mashed potatoes (but nobody’s mashed potatoes could ever compare to my Mom’s!), green beans, Cesar salad, cranberry sauce (which we decided the French don’t have a word for cranberry…weird right?), bread and lots of desserts (chocolate cake, tarts, pies and chocolate!). True art students that we are we jokingly arranged our plates, aka palettes, according to color…hahah.  I sat across from Alan’s one daughter who attends Drexel in Philadelphia and we exchanged numbers and are planning on getting together when I’m back in the good ol’ US of A.  Hopefully I can practice my French with her, sweet!

After dinner we helped with the cleanup and then were entertained for a long time by Alan’s youngest, James, and his bubble blowing. He would blow the bubbles, look at us, pop the bubbles, look at us, giggle, and then look at us for our responses…which of course involved us giggling too! It was one of the cutest things I’ve seen here. Thanksgiving dinner at Alan and Cathleen’s beautiful home surrounded by the people I love most in France (minus Mamie of course) was perfect. The entire evening was one tender moment after another and I don’t think I ever stopped smiling.

 

Mamie and I are celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend together by making a homemade apple pie. I have high hopes, but we’ll see what happens when the ingredients meet Mamie’s cookware…and hopefully I did all my conversions from American measurements to French correctly. If not I’m sure we’ll end up with a delicious applely, sugary mess which will still taste delicious with vanilla ice cream!

Today, Thanksgiving, I had classes and it was brutal. I was kind of tired from the night before since walking home from Alan’s took over 30 minutes because we live on separate sides of town (luckily my good friend Nick walked me all the way home! Funny story, after he was out of earshot my upstairs neighbor greeted me with “Bon soir!” and then preceded to ask me is this “garcon” was bothering me and that he’d take care of him if we were, hahaha. I had to respond with, “Non! Il est mon ami!” No he’s my friend! Oh I love my neighbors here.). We didn’t leave their house until late, but it was worth being a little tired this morning. Especially when Alan rolled up with all the extra desserts for us to eat for breakfast – perfect! So it kind of was similar to a Thanksgiving at home…I still had leftovers, sweet.

I was very tempted to skip my very first class here today. I’m a little sick and wasn’t feeling like walking into town. But Mom (my wonderful, sweet loving Mom!) sent me a package recently and I had an inkling it would arrive the one day I didn’t walk to town to check. And it was here! Thanks Mom, you made my Thanksgiving very special from a country away!!! I don’t think I stopped grinning the rest of the day, “Yea that’s right IAU kids, my Mom loves me the most!” Okay, it’s not really like that, but when you get a package here it’s a big deal…and I love being that kid! So once I was in town there’s no point in not attending class (duhhh) so I went and our professor let us out 10 minutes early – Happy Thanksgiving students! So that was awesome. All in all it has been a very good past 24+ hours of celebrating Thanksgiving.

Only two more weeks of class and one week of finals after tomorrow, can you believe it? I can’t. But I’ll be very glad to be back in the States. Even by the end of the semester in Gettysburg I’m ready to come home, and now especially because I miss spending holidays with my family. Good thing Christmas is only 5 days after I get home!! I hope everyone’s gifts fit in my suitcase…

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And remember to be thankful for all those you love and who love you. I know I’m thankful that you read my blog! It makes me feel appreciated and loved and I cannot wait to get home to hug each and every one of you.

Gobble, gobble!

"That leaf hit me in the mustache!" - Paris avec Marchutz

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 20^th 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 13^th 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 19^th 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 22^nd 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!!

Mom Comes to France!

Having Mom here in France was absolutely one of the greatest parts of the trip so far. It’s especially fun being with someone whose impressions of the country are new and not 2 months old. I really love looking at all the differences between here and the US with other people. For example: The French here have a complete disregard for their cars – well at least in terms of parking them. Mostly cars are parked bumper to bumper and more often than not at least one wheel is up on the curb or sidewalk. Basically – parking is fair game, and if you can manage to squeeze your très petite voiture into the space then it’s okay…even if you have to tap another person’s car, because hey, bumpers were made to be used right? At least that’s my interpretation of their driving. That and they drive like maniacs – but that’s for another blog.

Mom & I met up in Paris on my way back to Aix from Giverny. Her flights here worked out very smoothly and we met up in our hotel. I don’t think I ever wanted to stop hugging her! The first night we walked around our hotel’s area and ate dinner at an outdoor café with a view of L’Arc de Triomphe. Then we walked under the arc and under the traffic circle and arrived at Les Champs Elysées. Very cool shopping! It was really crowded but it was fun bustling around the big city together. We went into a perfume store with more perfumes than I’ve ever seen in my entire life. So of course we had to do some testing of the scents in order to choose some future Christmas presents! We found some very fun stores and tried on lots of clothes even though in general the stores were a million degrees. I ended up with two new dresses and a very trendy sweater. And mom has a super cute new dress too! We’re good shoppers – even when we’re not sure what our European dress size is!

The next day was a long, fun filled day!

We went to a Perfume Museum (I swear we didn’t plan the trip around perfume!)

Had a delicious meal (actually one of the best salads I’ve ever had…or maybe that was because I was so hungry – either way delicious!) which was actually attached to a giant department store. Mom disappeared for almost 15 minutes when she went to the bathroom and the whole time I’m thinking, “How do I tell dad I lost mom in Paris?!” And when we finally were back together she told me how the bathroom was 4 floors up and down a very hidden path…we had no idea our outdoor café was part of a giant store! Crazyyy!

Perused some more stores (one of them, UNIQLO, was soooo hot that we didn’t make it very long and decided on a waffle shirt and hoofed it out of there really quick)

Walked through les Palais Jardins, which were very grand. There are a lot of trees planted in very neat rows with a center area for sitting and taking in the view. The entire garden is surrounded by a rectangular walkway filled with fun little boutiques including children’s stores, clock makers and ornate jewelry, clothing and furniture. Well you could find almost anything there.

Next we went to The Louvre!!! Amazing, I know. We had to wait in line for a while but we made it into a special exhibit going on – Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese…Rivals in Renaissance Venice. The work there was absolutely amazing in execution and seeing the similarities in style and work was very interesting. Most of these artists were competing for commissions and their work can reflect that. Afterwards we bought some postcards of the work we saw and a book on the exhibit. I bought it in French because, well I’m in France, and only later realized that they probably offered English copies…sometimes I think I forget to think! Whoopsie! The views from the 3rd floor where the 19th Century French Paintings are housed and we were able to shoot some very cool photos with a new perspective on the courtyards outside of the museum. We saw the Mona Lisa too, and Mom had the same impression as I did when I first saw her…”She’s so small!”. Exactly. We walked through many rooms of sculpture and enjoyed hearing people speak English around us – so crazy for me to hear English being spoken outside of the classroom.
That night we took it easy after a leisurely walk down the Seine and dinner at yet another marvelous café where we had mini-pizzas, wine and fresh salads! Afterwards we took the metro back and watched some quality Gilmore Girls together on my computer. Have Gilmore Girls will travel.

Unfortunately, the next morning I woke up with a little bit of a headache so we took it easier that day. We started with the Eiffel Tower and made it up to the second floor. Mom wasn’t feeling the heights so much so we decided to skip the third floor with the realization that it was a slightly foggy day and, “Hey, what can you see up there and you can’t from here?” we ask you. The views were pretty and I pointed out where Katie, Emily & I sat for Bastille Day 2007 just two years ago. It was pretty breezy up there so we went inside and did a little souvenir shopping for friends and family. On the way to the first floor we admired the architecture and also noticed that the French are totally okay with standing very close to you. But that’s Europe! Personal space is definitely dependant on the culture!

Next we had lunch in a very authentic, small French pub. The owner was like, “Two Cocas Light (aka Diet Coke), I love Americans!” Hahahaha. What a character. The meal was good but we were happy to get out of there because it was kind of like living in a fish bowl. “Look – Americans!” Oh my.

Next we went to the Rodin Museum which was INCREDIBLE! His works are amazing to see in person. It’s so much better than a photograph since they’re three-dimensional. The really appreciate them you have to be able to walk around them and appreciate all of the angles. We walked through the gardens around the old house and even got to take pictures with The Thinker (“I’m thinkin, I’m thinkin’!). There was a special exhibit we also went to which compared Rodin’s drawings and sculptures to Matisse. We even saw a rough sketch of what was to become his famous piece, La Danse. His cut paper pieces are also intriguing and a lot of fun to look at and appreciate.


Next we went back to the room because I was fairly certain a freight train was barreling its way through my brain. We rested for a while and did some reading and movie watching (which was fun for mom since she doesn’t have a lot of down time at home to read Ms. Evanovich!). Then we went out for dinner and walked down Les Champs Elysees one more time.
Friday morning we woke up early and took the train (which goes very fast!) down to Aix. It was so much warmer in Aix it actually surprised me. But after days of being up north I realized I’m a southern French person at heart (and American, obviously). I showed mom Mt. Saint Victoire and we strolled the main road Cours Mirabeau and ate crepes! We visited the English bookstore, Book and Bar, and bought some new reading materials. We hiked up to the studio and I showed mom all my new art (which I promise to photograph and put up on here very soon!). We visited the art store and mom was super kind and bought me an early Christmas present – an AMAZING 22 color watercolor set. OH MAN! Needless to say we then had to sit in my tiny park and do some painting. Awesome!

Mom and Mamie really hit it off and I tried to play interpreter between the two. I didn’t get everything perfect, but by the end I was tired because I couldn’t figure out what language I was supposed to be using! Hahaha. I actually dreamt in French the other night – crazy. It was about food though so that’s not completely surprising. Mamie and I drove mom to the airport on Monday and took it easy driving home because the drive there was rain filled and I’m pretty certain Mamie got lost…but I wasn’t asking questions! Mom’s flights home, sadly, got very messed up. She ended up flying to Paris, then from Paris to London because their plane was having problems, where she then stayed the night and took an early morning flight home. Her driver on the way home was late too so she just rented a car and drove from Newark home. In the end it all worked out and I’m SO glad mom visited. I couldn’t have made it almost 4 whole months without seeing my mom! We had a great time together and now I’m even more excited to be home for winter break, baking cookies in my warm house.

Thanks for coming mom! I love you! See you in 40 sleeps. Okay, okay. I know I shouldn’t be counting down the days – I’m having a great time, I really am! – but it will be nice to be back in the States again. I love France, but I’m an American at heart (bring on the large coffees to go please!)

Wednesday I’m headed back up to Paris for 5 days with Marchutz to study in the museums…tough life, I know! Tee hee.

Giverny – A Painter’s Paradise

Giverny was an absolutely magical place. After one bus, one train, one subway, another train and a taxi ride (in a bmw taxi!) later we arrived in Giverny. We started the time with some lively discussions about life, truth and reality while we cracked open the champagne and spent time with our professors and host from the Terra Foundation. Here’s what my days in Giverny consisted of: wake up around 8, take a bike ride through the beautiful one lane town, coffee on the house’s terrace, bath in the gigantic bathroom with a heated towel rack, start painting around 10, paint til lunch – lunch with all of Marchutz at the Museum of Impressionisms (yes, Impressionisms – as in plural), another painting – home. Wash up, check the computer, start playing card games, dinner arrives from the catering service (sounds great, but the food was pretty crappy and they actually forgot to feed us one night…oupla!), wine with friends, hang out on the terrace, night painting on the terrace with everyone – sleep, wakeup, repeat. Yes. This is my life. Two months into my time in France and I still can’t believe I’m here!


In Giverny I painted two oil pieces and started experimenting with watercolors. You’re not allowed to paint with an easel in Monet’s gardens (because we’d take up too much room) but you are allowed to paint sitting down or draw sitting down. At one point there were 6 of us sitting next to each other on two benches and we had an entourage of people watching us. I was sitting on the end of the bench and lots of little kids would come over and watch me draw and paint. It was probably the cutest thing ever. One charming little French kid asked, “How do you know what to paint?” And I was just like, “Good question! Ummm…I like colors so I choose the ones I like!” Another cute little boy was maybe a year and a half old and he was adorable! He was a little too rambunctious for his family by the time they got to the bench I was sitting on and the mom passed me a smile full of gratitude when he settled down and watched me watercolor for almost an hour. So charming!

We visited Monet’s house along with his gardens one day. His house is a long, thin building with hundreds of Japanese prints decorating the walls. They’re stunning. His studio is also grand and has racks he used to display all of his works for visitors. The colors of the house are definitely the colors of an artist. The kitchen with its unique tiling is bright blue. The dining room – bright yellow! It’s a lot of color, but glorious. And his gardens are absolutely breathtaking. If someone created gardens like that in their lifetime it would be a great accomplishment…not to mention being a world famous artist (at least in the latter part of his life). The gardens take up a lot of space and have a rumbling brook running through them which then feeds into his famous lily pond. The Japanese bridge is still there. The entire place feels otherworldly. It’s just so striking that you feel that it couldn’t possibly be anywhere mortal. The gardens have a life of their own – and they’re certainly timeless in their beauty.

The house we stayed in was four stories and absolutely stunning. It was very tastefully decorated in French country. My room was very blue with lots of prints and I loved it. There was internet there too which was great! My bed was tres petit but that’s okay – I didn’t roll out once but I think I came close!

Giverny is very interesting in the fact that Monet lived there and has since made it a tourist and artist destination. If it weren’t for Monet, Giverny would be a small French town an hour outside of Paris…and not many people would know it exists. It truly has one main road, and you can ride a bike from one side of town to the next in under 10 minutes. Monet’s house and gardens combined with Le Musée des Impressionismes keep this town alive. It’s very quaint and a great place for painting for a lifetime or visiting for a day. The museum doesn’t have a permanent collection but instead has expositions of specific artists. While we were there Joan Mitchell’s paintings were on display. She’s a modern artist and while I didn’t care for her works a great deal – I still appreciate them for their artistic values, their sheer size (they’re HUGE!), and the emotion with which you can feel she feels.

Giverny was an experience I could never repeat. I had infinite fun with my Marchutz family and the learning attained during those few days of intense painting and studying could never be replaced. It was truly an amazing experience.

Now I’m in Paris with Mom - AWESOME! But you’ll have to tune in later to read all about our adventures!

Pictures to come when I'm not on limited internet access in the Paris hotel :)! Promise.

End of October Blues

I think there’s something about the end of October. The professors warned us about this. At this point all those fun, new things in the beginning aren’t so exciting. The rude Frenchman isn’t “Oh! That’s so French!” Instead, it’s “Hey. Jerk!” And everyone standing close to you doesn’t evoke that excited I’m-in-France-moment but instead, “Lady, if you breathe on the back of my neck one more time while I’m trying to buy stamps (which I still can’t pronounce correctly!)…” But that’s exactly what FALL BREAK is for! Giverny begins tomorrow and will last until Tuesday. Then that late afternoon I’ll be meeting mom in Paris for some gallivanting together. We’ll return to Aix on Friday and will spend the weekend here with Mamie. There are some festivities planned in town for Halloween and I can’t wait to show mom the new decorations that were just hung over the main road. It’s going to be a wonderful next 10 days – just in time to get geared up for the final month and a half here. Also, Mom is going to meet my best friend - Rick Steves. The greatest travel guide ever, we're practically on a first name basis (shout out to the travel divas!).

Hooray family <3 Hooray Break <3 Hooray loved ones at home whom I can’t wait to see soon!