Real World: Paris

"The Italian Woman" Vincent van Gogh 

The days are going by so quickly. I can't believe it's mid-February already. My family went to their country home three hours south of Paris leaving me home alone with Prosper and Victor for five days. I missed family dinners, but it was kind of nice at the same time. I had permission to have friends over and definitely took advantage this weekend. The house is great for entertaining because the kitchen and dining area is so big. I had a little dinner party on Saturday night and had a few girls from my program over for wine last night. My old friend from Camp Mystic that happens to be studying in Paris as well came too. It was nice to see a familiar face and reconnect. Classes are just alright. I take a class on architecture and impressionism back to back on Mondays and Wednesdays with the same professor. Sometimes she does not organize our museum visits well and we bounce around from place to place too much. She also has difficulty articulating her lectures in English. It's definitely frustrating. I have high standards since have taken four Art History classes at W&L with some great professors. Today we went to the Musee d'Orsay and chose paintings to base a presentation on later in the semester. I really like this museum because there is a lot of work from the 19th and 20th centuries. The building itself is neat too. The d'Orsay was originally a train station and was converted into a museum in 1986. My group chose the Church at Auvers by van Gogh. I've never studied this work, so I'm interested in learning more. I especially liked The Italian Woman. Its bold colors and the woman's patterned skirt immediately grabbed my attention. The original oil painting is truly stunning unlike the above picture I got from impressionism-art.org. See: Musee d'Orsay

"The Church at Auvers"

Tonight I am going out to a restaurant in the 9th called Le Petrelle to celebrate Emily's 21st birthday.  Apparently it's a favorite of Christian Lacroix. Plus, Madonna dined here when she performed in Paris. Friday, I'm off to Barcelona for a whole week. I have lots to look forward to. Adios!