Chartres!
Monday I did successfully make it to the library, it was actually great. I read some books for History of Rock, and I'm actually going to go back tomorrow to read some more. I really enjoyed being there, I think tomorrow I'm going to look for some books for my Europe classes, too. Tuesday was another normal day at Victor Hugo, it was week B so I got some 6e and they all want me to bring them American names. I think I like the 6e classes best...though I really, really like some 4e at Louis Issaurat...the littlest ones are just so nice, they still don't hate school that much and they think I'm a lot older than them, so they are not mean.
Tuesday night I went to the Institut Finlandais again for another documentary, this one was about the Finnish military service requirement - apparently the civil service option (which is one year) is longer than any other country's requirement in Europe. Also, Finland is the only European country that puts people in jail for being conscientous observers. The film followed three guys who were all 18-20 who each chose a different option, it was really interesting. It was definitely the highlight of my Tuesday!
The rest of the week was fairly normal, I was supposed to go to another orientation on Friday but it was after Finnish, and I didn't even make it to the train station until 4, and the thing was supposed to end at 5, so I just didn't go because it would have taken me a half hour to get out there, and I just didn't think it would have been worth it. And it was fine, because then I got to hang out with Anne - we went to a bar place in the Marais and I had my first citron presse (it's really just fresh lemon juice) and we stayed there for hours and talked about all kinds of stuff (what a French lesson!). Since Greg's mom lives in Chartres, she told me some places to go. I didn't get in until 2, but we had so much fun! I think I forgot to mention that we're giving each other mutual French/English lessons, which I think will be really helpful for me - she's helping me with paper writing and stuff, like the actual words you're supposed to use and formats and stuff. I'm helping her talk about sustainable development, because that's the kind of program she wants to do, and apparently they all require English! It's funny to be in France and speak English with Anne...but it's fun to do, and then we get to see each other at least once a week anyway.
So Saturday I went to Chartres with Elly and Cory! We got the train from Montparnasse (which is kind of an insane station...) at 9:30 in the morning and got into Chartres at 10:30. It's really a small town, but it's famous for its cathedral...which is really incredible. It's huge (not as huge as Strasbourg or Cologne) and incredibly beautiful. Apparently its real beginnings were in the 4th century, but there's nothing left from that period. The earliest remains are from the 6th century, but of course we weren't allowed to see those. It was burned a few times...once by the Vikings...anyway most of the church is from the 12th century, it has 176 stained glass windows from the 12th and 13th centuries, and it's also the place where the color Chartres blue comes from, it's all over the windows. Anyway it's beautiful, the outside architecture is amazing as well, we spent so long there! Then we walked around the top of the town for a while, got some crepe lunches, and then walked down to the river (the Eure) where there are beautiful little houses next to the river. It's very picturesque and very typically French. We went to another church, where they happened to be having a fungus exposition (I'm not lying, though it may seem completely unbelievable)...we just wanted to see the church, but then there were hundreds of mushroom and other types of fungus specimen, and the craziest part was the number of people there who seemed a. interested and b. like they knew what was going on. It was one of the strangest things that's ever happened in my life! There was also a really pretty medieval garden outside complete with every herb ever and an absinthe plant (just in case you were wondering how they make absinthe...). We were really tired by the end of the day but we had a great time!! I'm so glad we went!
Like I said, tomorrow is the library again, and then Tuesday's the big Prefecture day! Hopefully this time I'll come out with a recipisse instead of nothing!!!!!
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