Paris! I've Missed You!

And yes blog, I've missed you too. I've been running around all week like a chicken with my head cut-off. It seems I was under the misconception that NOT traveling for a weekend would be relaxing and care-free. As my professor would say, " (long silent french glare)...Non."

Since my last blog I have taken 4 midterms and 3 papers. So far, my grades have been good but I have yet to receive my dreaded Art History midterm back so fingers crossed. If I may toot my own horn for a moment, I was quite impressed with the amount of art history knowledge I now have permanently stored in my brain. I have memorized 70 pieces of art, their artists, their dates, their genre and techniques, and their historical contexts. My friend from high school, Kjerstin, came to visit this weekend and I pretty much talked her ear off at every art museum we went to. The fact that this knowledge didn't leak out of my brain the second I handed in my test makes me very excited to go home and apply this knowledge to the Minnesota Institute of Art and the Met. Guess Nicolle's taking a little slice of Paris back with her.

Speaking of a little slice of Paris... I had the most lovely bonding moment with my host mom this Sunday over, what else, food. Kjerstin had just left (my other friend from high school, Emily, and I passed her between our two host families which worked out perfectly) and I was finishing up lunch when my host mom came in, grabbed a slab of meat from the refrigerator, and threw it in a pan and said "The Duck. Our Dinner." She then walked me through all the steps to make this beautiful dish made with shallots, pears, and (of course) duck. I had no idea that duck was red meat, nor did I realize that pears can cook down to the consistency of delicious apple sauce. We talked about school and Paris and the US and food and I must say that I struggled quite a bit writing my paper in English after having spoken so much Francais!

Kjerstin and I did everything Paris. We went to the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Mont-Martre, Sacre Coeur, Tuileries, Orangerie, Place de la Concorde, and Versailles. It was nice to reconnect with Paris, and treat it the way I've been treating these cities I've been visiting. I'm now much more motivated to get out and go places (which might also be due to the urgency of my realizing I only have 5 weeks left).

Tuesday was one of those incredible, "I'M IN PARIS" days for me and was so amazing to the point that I almost upset myself on the metro home thinking about leaving. I woke up to a beautiful, 65 degree-sunshine-blue-sky-fluffy-white-clouds day and decided to wear my most Parisian dress. My class had an excursion at the Louis Vuitton store (they house a modern art gallery sponsored by LVMH Corp.) on the Camps-Elysee, so I took the Metro to the Arc de Triomph. I found out that this was one stop too early and then ran, dress and scarf flying behind me, my half-eaten baguette hanging out of my bag, from the Arc down the Champs-Elysee to the enormous Louis-Vuitton Flagship Store. The art gallery was... interesting (it may be my art history class, but I just don't understand any art pieces made after 1960's) but most interesting was the fact that to get up to the gallery we had to ride, 5 persons at a time, in a black padded elevator box where they turned off all the lights and we had to ride in pitch black silence. Whatever, L-V.

That same night I went to the Opera Cendrillon, which in English is the beautiful timeless amazing classic CINDERELLA. I describe it as channeling the era of Louis XIV since everyone wore wigs and heels (men and women alike). Let me list the Amazing-ness: The Sets, The Costumes, The absolutely stunning use of lights on her dress and the scenery, the Fairy Godmother was incredible, The Stepmother was Amazing, Cinderella sounded like an angel, French Subtitles allowed me to know what they were all saying, Being Sung in French meant I didn't always have to look at the subtitles, and my 2nd Balcony Seats. Some discrepancies from the Disney classic we all know and love: (1) The Dad is still alive in this version and plays a key role, (2) After the Ball, Cinderella runs away to the woods and with the help of the fairy meets prince charming, (3) The stepmother is elated at the end that her step daughter is marrying a prince, (4) oh yeah... Prince Charming is played by a Girl. Not just a Girl, but a Soprano, meaning that Prince Charming and Cinderella singing together was the most incredible set of harmonies I could ever hope to hear.

I'm off to Berlin this next weekend and cannot wait. I also, of course, will upload pictures from Avignon and this weekend... (I unfortunately don't have any pictures of my amazing Tuesday).

ONE LAST NOTE: I find that it is just a habit that the D'Onofrio's keep some type of log of our foreign travels for all the public to see. I find it is, in many ways, obligatory. I see absolutely NO reason why my parents are exempt from this, as they have just come back from amazing MEXICO and are headed to Paris and Prague soon. Mom and Dad, follow the trend, start a blog (and no... hour-by-hour trip itineraries and Thousand-Picture-Large Picasa links so do not count).