La vie quotidienne, partie deux

Salut!
I thought I'd add another quick post about some more of the everyday, non-sightseeing stuff.
ALSO, I realized some people were having trouble posting comments, so I've fixed that now, and everyone should be able to leave comments, so please do!  Let me know what you like and I'll try to add more of it!

First, classes: they've started.  It's good to have some structure to my days again... but now I have homework, too, so it's not all fun and games (and sightseeing) anymore.  But I think my classes will be good, and I feel that I'm able to follow them pretty well, and it's definitely improving my French!  (Along with all the other reading and conversing that I do in French here too, of course.)  I'm taking two art history courses, one on European landscape paintings of the 17th-19th centuries, and one on allegories in 17th-century European art.  Art history isn't really my passion, but I figured I should learn something about art while I'm here, since Paris is one of the art capitals of the world!  And both classes do seem like they'll be interesting and not too too much work.  I'm also taking two history classes, one on 19th-century French history, although it seems more like European history so far, but I don't think you can study one without the other, because, at least in that century, French history is all about its relationships with the other European powers (as well as some internal revolutions and some colonialism, of course).  The other history class is on the first part of the 20th century, and it also focuses on Europe, as the major event of that time was World War One, and the major players in that were European.  I've studied these parts of history a bit before, but I still don't feel entirely familiar with them, and as so much of the French literature I read at Bard is from these time periods, I'm hoping that a more thorough understanding of what was going on then will help give some context to this literature.  I'm also taking two translation courses: one focuses on translating from English into French (very difficult, but probably very helpful in improving my knowledge of French), and the other on translating from French into English.  (I like this one more, probably because it's easier--it feels more like a fun but challenging puzzle, and less like a difficult but necessary task.)

Second: food.  Most of you who have emailed me about the blog seem to be enjoying the food photos, so I thought I'd put some more in!  The food here continues to be delicious, of course.  It's probably a good thing my athletic classes have started, too!  I'm taking ju-jitsu self-defense and qi gong (a Chinese art, sort of like yoga or tai chi, with a focus on breathing and pressure points).  I had both of these for the first time on Friday, and they both seem like really good classes.  But back to the food.  I'd heard good things about the falafel here, so I finally had some!  Two of my friends and I were hoping to catch a concert at Notre Dame, but the line was huge and we didn't get tickets in advance (next time!) so we went for falafel nearby instead.  It was delicious!  I also indulged in an éclair this week, but instead of a chocolate or a coffee one, I decided to try a pretty pink one called violette.  I wasn't sure if that was referring to the color or to the flavor as well--now I know, it was referring to the flavor (yes, as in violets, as in flowers).  It was a very interesting flavor, kind of hard to describe, not too strong, definitely sweet... a very interesting flavor, although I'm not sure I'll have it again.  And later this week, I decided to try a lemon crèpe, partly just to see how they would make it.  I mean, with most fruit crèpes, you actually put cut-up and maybe sugared pieces of fruit inside, but I doubted they'd do that with lemon.  In fact, what they did was make the crèpe, sprinkle it generously with sugar, then take half a lemon, remove the seeds, and squeeze it right onto the hot, sugary crèpe, while it's still cooking.  Then this all gets folded up, crèpe-style, and there you go!  It was also very interesting, and I'm also not sure I'll be having another one, but I'm glad I tried it, because I'd been really curious about that.  It wasn't really photo-worthy, though: once you've seen one crèpe, you've seen them all, pretty much.  So to sum up: good classes, good food.

Okay, it's not food, but Notre Dame is so pretty in the evening!

me, in front of Notre Dame, with falafel

MMM, falafel!

violet-flavored éclair

YUM.