Ice Skating in Palaces and Marching on the Bastille

Hello, folks! So I think I said I wasn't going to post again until after winter break, but I lied. Sorry! These pictures are from last weekend, where instead of studying for finals I just went out and enjoyed Paris. My program director actually encouraged this not studying option, so that's two votes for and none against! Yay democracy. My exams went well anyway, it's amazing how everything gets done somehow or other. I had my last final (until January, as our semester hasn't ended yet) this Thursday at "La Maison des Examens", literal translation being "the House of Exams". Fun times. It's basically a 5-story T-shaped building housing nothing but rooms to take tests in and a minuscule cafeteria, and it operates the whole year. I sat in one giant room with about 5 other History classes, and had 3 hours to answer one question. Luckily, the prompt was something I had already written a research paper on, so I got off easy. But still, the whole experience was very telling of the French educational experience, and also made me feel like I was living in the 60s or something. Plus, they made me take the train out to the suburbs. Not cool. 

But anyway, let's get back to this awesome weekend. These first pictures are from when I went ice skating with my American friends Paul and George at the Grand Palais (Great Palace). It was built for the Universal Exposition in 1900, and it's known for (as you can see) its vaulted glass roof and iron and steel framing. They turned one who wing of it into a giant ice skating rink, complete with a little cafe, and on weekends it's open until 2 in the morning! Though of course it costs more to go at night. It's most definitely something only tourists do, according to real Parisians, but I actually enjoy touristy things a lot, and who wouldn't want to ice skate in a palace? 

Here's the rink upon entering the palace. Note the awesome disco ball. Oh, and those white flecks aren't snow. Yet. Just wait. 

Me and Paul, super excited to tear up the ice! Proud to say I didn't fall even once!

Here's a picture of the "snow", which actually looked more like soap falling from the sky. But I'll accept it. 

Another disco ball picture. 

Me marveling in this magical snow as if it's manna falling from heaven. 

Me and George, just bein' cute. 

Side note: After leaving the palace we realized it was 8pm (dinner time!) and we were starving, so we went to the grocery store and long story short 4 of us ate 6 steaks, 500 grams of spaghetti, and a Christmas ice cream cake that said it was meant for 8-10 people. But that meant 8-10 French people, who can't even finish a cupcake by themselves, so I don't feel bad. 

So here is what I did on Sunday instead of studying! As you may have heard/I may have already mentioned, the issue of gay marriage and gay adoption (allowing gay people to adopt) has been hotly debated in France for the past 10 years or so, and may now be coming to a decision. It's in the papers everyday, and there have been at least 4 protests (both for and against) since I got here in September. People have told me that the majority of French people are against, but I don't really think so. I think they're too afraid of religion in government to let their Catholic tendencies affect a policy decision, plus they're usually pretty chill with what people do with their private lives. But then again, the conservative, bourgeois families have all the money and a lot of political influence, so we'll see. But judging by the 150,000 people that showed up from all over France for this protest, the LGBTQetc. family is not going down without a fight. 

So about this protest. We all showed up at Place de la Bastille, obviously the site of the former Bastille, and a really strong symbol of France's revolutionary history. I got there about half an hour before it was supposed to start, and already people had taken over the square and were drifting down the side streets. And it wasn't just individuals and news teams, but the Socialist Party (the party of the current President), Front de Gauche (another political party), some unions, an interfaith group, an AIDS prevention organization, student groups, and various LGBT  and Allies groups from across the country (and Belgium!). It was also very multi-generational and representative of people of different backgrounds. I saw elderly couples, people my age, families with children, high schoolers, and other foreigners. Plus, everyone was really friendly and offered to explain political stuff to me and my friend George. Lots were decked out in various rainbow-paraphernalia, I personally was wearing a rainbow flag as a cape, and had really awesome, witty signs. I'll translate those you see in the picture above. "God loves our families," "God thinks well of us," "God is a black lesbian," and "Jesus also had 2 mothers". Some other favorites, not pictured here, include "If you hate gays, stop having gay children," "Who do you think designed your wedding dress?," and "I asked for your rights, not your opinion."

Another picture of the crowd forming. 

Getting ready to march

The crowd.

We have taken the Bastille! 

150,000 strong!

Waiting to move forward. It took my friend and I about an hour to cross the street to where those two buildings are, but then once we got about halfway down that street it cleared out a bit. And then we marched all the way to the Jardins du Luxembourg (Luxembourg Gardens), where the Senate is. It took about 5 hours. 

A lovely family cheering us on from the side of the street, wearing "Gay O.K.) sweatshirts

Marching through the Marais! (A district known for being home to "outcast" peoples, such as the Jews and more recently the gays)

Someone dressed up as the Pope. As we caught up to him, two little boys marching with their mom ran up behind him and we're yelling "It's Santa, it's Santa!" then when they got closer one of them says to the other "No it's not, it's the Pope!". Everyone around me (and me included) just about died laughing. 

This was taken at the beginning of the protest but whatever, I'm putting at the end of this blog. This is what it must have felt like to be in the French Revolution! Except for more headless people. 

But in all seriousness, it felt amazing to get involved in political activism over here, as LGBT rights affect us all, wherever we live. And as long as one person lives in repression, we all do. I hope to continue participating in these protests, even though it makes for semi-awkward times at home as my host dad goes to the anti-gay marriage/adoption protests. But I know there's nothing I can say to change his mind, so I just shut up and eat my foie gras when he starts talking about it. But what really matters for me is finding and joining a fellow community of human rights activists all the way over here, making Paris feel that much more like home and the differences that divide us all in some way feel even more insignificant. 

"I don't want to go back to Paris"....said no one ever

Hello all ! Happy belated Thanksgiving! Sorry I have not been so good lately in keeping up with my posts. It's been a busy last few weeks of assignments (where did those come from?), some mild sad grey Paris winter-induced depression accompanied by the discovery of the 7th season of How I Met Your Mother on Putlocker, and the madness of planning a multi-country 12-day Christmas voyage. If you're wondering, I will be traveling to Strasbourg, Berlin, Prague, Munich and Hamburg with a good friend I met at Concordia Language Villages this summer. Now that will be an interesting blog post. Coming soon to a computer near you (if I ever come back/if the world doesn't end) mid-January 2013. 

Anyway, I guess I'll get you all caught up on the Christmas markets and Thanksgiving in Paris, and my trip to Rennes this weekend to visit Sophie, another great friend from Concordia. 

So, this was taken at the Christmas market on the Champs-Elysées. The Christmas markets started popping up at the end of November and will go until early January I think. There are tons of them in Paris, and in pretty much every city all across France as well.  They feature a lot of food stands with soft pretzels, Belgian waffles, crepes, etc, arts and craftsy/touristy cheesy products, sometimes a mini-roller coaster, and in the case of this picture an "exhibit" of animatronic animals (is that redundant?) representing all the biomes of the world. As you can see, I'm far too excited by this moose here whose head moves up and down. I took pictures of every single animal there, but I won't bore you with the rest. What the markets do not have, however, is actual French people. Most Parisians find them (or at least the one on the Champs-Elysées) to be "cheap". So I'm pretty sure I saw more Americans when I went than Europeans. Whatever, they can thank us later for jumpstarting their economy. But, at this market they do have a ceremony each year to turn on all the lights along the whole avenue. I was there this year, but I didn't see Diane Krueger, who was apparently the master of ceremonies this year. The lighting was also kind of anti-climactic, not even a countdown, but the street is gorgeous when it's all lit up. 

And this is the giant Ferris wheel at the Place de la Concorde (the end of the Champs-Elysées), which only appears at Christmas. And yeah, I definitely rode on it. 

As proof, this is me with two friends from Tufts who are also here for the full year, Paul (left) and George (right). 

This brings us now to "Thanksgiving" in Paris. These photos are from the one hosted by Tufts, with our professors and host families. It was great, it just wasn't Thanksgiving. But the next day we (the students) had our own Thanksgiving potluck using super-expensive-imported-from-America ingredients for authenticity. So totally worth it. I'll give the French credit for trying though. But their main defaults are that they don't understand the concept of overeating on purpose, the proper use of pumpkins, and the python method of digestion (where you immediately go lie down on a couch, floor, or bed upon the consumption of Thanksgiving dinner to ease the pain of digestion and let the Tryptophan work its magic). Oh, and also the reality that serving dinner in courses is unnecessary and also impedes the goal of overeating. Despite this, however, the dinner was pretty tasty and we all had a good time. Above is a picture of the pumpkin soup.

Here's the turkey which was also accompanied by some sort of sausage, a cranberry sauce, and assorted vegetables. The corn was sadly inedible, as out of politeness I couldn't use my hands, and I have not yet reached the level of knife mastery necessary to carry out such a delicate procedure. It is one of my many goals for this year. 

And lastly, dessert. An apple tart sprinkled with walnuts and some vanilla ice cream. Enough said. 

And now, here are the photos from my weekend trip to Rennes to visit Sophie! It was crazy awesome. I really like Rennes and didn't want to leave (hence the title of this blog post). It is smaller than Paris, but still has a lot going on, crepes and galettes are cheaper (1 euro at the food trucks!) and people are a little bit friendlier. Plus Sophie's host family has a cat, and I really miss having one/any domesticated animal for that manner. Above is an example of the medieval architecture of Rennes, a lot of which is original.  

Here's another example of a street I liked. Not sure why. But there is also a street in Rennes, as in many French towns, called "Rue du Soif" (Street of Thirst), which is lined with bars/clubs, etc. and often stinks like various bodily fluids and fish, for whatever reason. But Rennes has a great student night life, and student life in general, as it is a "college town". It's way better than in Paris, considering Paris has basically zero student life. 

Here's a picture from the morning market we went to on Saturday. They sell flowers, fresh produce, and stuff from food trucks there. And some artsy things. Above is a picture of someone playing a traditional medieval violin-like instrument and some sort of percussion instrument that she pumped with her foot and it made a clicking sound. Plus, she's dressed in traditional medieval garb. Doesn't get any more awesome than that. 

Here's another photo of the market. 

Here's me at an old medieval castle, of which of I've already forgotten the history. But there's a lot of this stuff around Brittany, as well as pagan stone ruins, and Roman stuff. 

Here's me with a cutout of a woman in traditional Breton clothing. The white hat for women was a huge thing there, and its height and the length of the ribbons had very specific meanings and rules about mourning, marital status, and age. Some women in the country still wear them apparently. 

Since it was freezing cold (for France) we took shelter in a cafe called Le Haricot Rouge (highly recommended) for some hot chocolate and a brownie. It was the best hot chocolate I've ever had, I think. Apparently there was some cinnamon and caramel in it, and some other mysterious ingredient. I'll have to go back and find out. 

This is just a medieval house I thought was cool because a) it's old and b) people still live in there. 

Saturday night we went to a North African restaurant for some couscous. I had the chicken curry. Yummy. The dinner lasted 3 hours though, as the waiter was not super attentive. But of course, when we left the restaurant at 11 people were still coming in to start their dinner. I will never get used to this madness. 

I chose the surprise dessert on the menu, which was honey flavored ice cream rolled in some nuts and other crunchy goodness. 

So, that was my weekend. Went bed at 4 am 2 out of 3 nights, did zero homework, then got back to Paris Monday morning and went straight to class. What a transition. Now I just have to brace myself for my first oral presentation at a French university on Monday and then whatever else France decides to throw my way this December. But I'm going to see a ballet performance tomorrow called "Octopus", and the Hobbit will be coming out soon, so life is not all school work and stress. Plus, I'm in Paris, which always makes life look a little rosier.