I do stuff! Really!

So, it's been a while since my last post. I apologize to what few people check this on a regular basis. But you haven't missed anything terribly exciting.

We read Huis Clos by Jean-Paul Sarte in my French class, and then we went to go see the play. In French, of course. It was definitely interesting, and it was interpreted much differently than I did while reading it. Of course, I totally didn't get that they were in hell until they had to explicitly state it to the dense Estelle, and as I read, "L'enfer! Nous sommes dans l'enfer!" I was totally like, "Hell? Really? Huh..." They had the wings of the stage open, and lots of cluttered furniture here and there. Each of the characters had a color - Garçin was green, Estelle was blue, Inès was red - and their clothes and personalities went with their respective couches and chandeliers. Throughout the play, they totally trashed the stage, and all I could think about was who the hell was going to have to strike the stage and reset it for the next night? The stage manager, of course. I've clearly spent far too much time in that position. I can no longer go to the theater without thinking more about what is going on behind the scenes than what is going on on stage. We're going to the opera to see La Traviata next Monday, and I am completely fascinated by set designs in opera (they're so elaborate!), so I can't wait.

The day after the play, we went to the Musée Carnavalet and were whisked through with hilarious commentary by the amazing Steve Sawyer, who teaches the history of Paris class to everyone but us. He's so funny, I totally envy everyone who has his class. They kept the museum open a bit late for us, so we had to leave as soon as the lecture was over, but I think out visit was sufficient to see the important parts of the museum.

And then the NEXT day (ok, I suppose it was an eventful week) we went to Versailles. Totally overrated. I mean, yay hall of mirrors and all, very nice. But I guess I am just not such a fan of the Baroque. Plus you see like four rooms. The gardens were better, even if we didn't spend much time in them because it was cold. I really wanted to rent a canoe and take it out into the canal, but the booth was closed, and I guess it wouldn't have been much fun once I started to get cold. But if I ever went back, I'll bring a thermos and picnic and row out and chase the swans with my boat. It's going to be awesome.

This past week we had a French midterm, and then because of All Saints day, we had no school on Thursday (though we did have to make up for the lost day on Friday), so we were able to party it up for Halloween. Unfortunately, Halloween is almost never celebrated during Halloween. Unfortunately, I had a somewhat out-there costume, and unfortunately, people literally broke into derisive laughter when they saw me. It was sad that their cold hearts couldn't appreciate the glory and pageantry that is Halloween, but also funny. I couldn't keep a straight face myself, seeing people's reactions to my gold faux eyelashes and massive red hair. (By the way, I was Ana Matronic from the Scissor Sisters, and Kamilla was Jake Shears, the other lead singer). We found a bar called Pomme d'Eve, and pretty much had taken over by the end of the night. It was great fun, and we had all of Thursday to recover.

Today I went to the Musée d'Orsay again, and while we had to wait in line due to the tourists (I wasn't so lucky this time), we were able to skip the ticket line with our glorious Carte d'étudiant de l'histoire de l'art. Hot damn. I figure it will take me one more trip to see everything I want to see. I don't think I'll be going to the Louvre again. I just can't take it.