I went to the Orsay Museum with Taylor and Caitlin on Sunday. It was great because CIEE gave us this fake student ID that says we're art history students and the ID can get us into almost every museum in Paris for free. The queue outside the museum was reasonable and we spent about two hours there. When I got super exhausted, we got to the fifth floor where there were just so many impressionist paintings—and such famous ones—I honestly couldn't believe my eyes: they have five of those Rouen Cathedral paintings hung together on the wall! Anyway, I have to go back some time for sure.
The first class of Philosophie et Littérature yesterday morning went well. I got the professor's signature without a problem. In the afternoon I met with Emilie's friend from home, Albane, who's studying about farm management near Paris. Apparently Emilie just knows everyone and connects people in the same city easily. Albane and I are meeting again soon.
I had an interesting conversation with Cécile last night about an American TV series. She said lots of what Americans do on TV makes her confused and she thinks Americans are really ridiculous sometimes—for example, in the series, a guy is with a girl he loves, but accidentally got another girl pregnant. He ends up marrying the pregnant girl out of duty. Cécile doesn't understand why marriage and duty are so important for the Americans... (It's not just like this in real life, though, as I told her.)
The second thing she mentioned is about some photo shots by a fashion magazine. She said the director of the magazine had the model wear royal dresses like old European queens would do, but made her pose in an ordinary cafeteria. How very strange is that, she exclaimed. As a Chinese, I seriously found nothing wrong with the whole setting. I'm under the impression that people dress up chic and pose in front of deserted plants all the time!
What Cécile later said made things more comprehensible to me, though. I was reminded of Rihanna's song Chinese Princess and suddenly understood why Cécile was so aesthetically disturbed by a royal looking woman in a cantine set-up: it's just not how queens show up in the French imagination/history. People simply don't see that happen, and there's a whole social perception of how specific types of clothing are worn and what they all mean. I can totally compare her feelings to mine when I saw Rihanna's video where everything looked displaced—with her exaggerative long finger nails and the way she moves her body. I wasn't in any way offended by that video. I just did find it laughable.
***
As classes are getting settled, I'm getting busier and might not have enough time to record everything. But I'll try nonetheless!
The first class of Philosophie et Littérature yesterday morning went well. I got the professor's signature without a problem. In the afternoon I met with Emilie's friend from home, Albane, who's studying about farm management near Paris. Apparently Emilie just knows everyone and connects people in the same city easily. Albane and I are meeting again soon.
I had an interesting conversation with Cécile last night about an American TV series. She said lots of what Americans do on TV makes her confused and she thinks Americans are really ridiculous sometimes—for example, in the series, a guy is with a girl he loves, but accidentally got another girl pregnant. He ends up marrying the pregnant girl out of duty. Cécile doesn't understand why marriage and duty are so important for the Americans... (It's not just like this in real life, though, as I told her.)
The second thing she mentioned is about some photo shots by a fashion magazine. She said the director of the magazine had the model wear royal dresses like old European queens would do, but made her pose in an ordinary cafeteria. How very strange is that, she exclaimed. As a Chinese, I seriously found nothing wrong with the whole setting. I'm under the impression that people dress up chic and pose in front of deserted plants all the time!
What Cécile later said made things more comprehensible to me, though. I was reminded of Rihanna's song Chinese Princess and suddenly understood why Cécile was so aesthetically disturbed by a royal looking woman in a cantine set-up: it's just not how queens show up in the French imagination/history. People simply don't see that happen, and there's a whole social perception of how specific types of clothing are worn and what they all mean. I can totally compare her feelings to mine when I saw Rihanna's video where everything looked displaced—with her exaggerative long finger nails and the way she moves her body. I wasn't in any way offended by that video. I just did find it laughable.
***
As classes are getting settled, I'm getting busier and might not have enough time to record everything. But I'll try nonetheless!
Nice :) (this is Max btw)
ReplyDeleteI like they username they displayed for you. :)
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