Fontainebleau

Yesterday we took a trip to Fontainebleau, about 40 minutes by train from Paris, to the southeast. The forest there is the largest in Ile de France. It used to be the hunting grounds for the kings of France and later was central to the creation of the Barbizon school of painting, including artists such as Rousseau, Corot, and Millet. 
This is the view out over the city of Fontainebleau. It was lovely to be out in the woods for a little while.
This is the château. It was amazing. 
Inside. Personally I found outside and the gardens to be more striking, but this is rather cool looking. 
The gardens are indescribable. I could have stayed there all day. 

Molière in the Park

Orientation today: Went around the Bastille neighborhood (11th, 12th, 4th, and 3rd arrondissements), and then toured around the very north of Paris by St. Ouen. It was really fascinating but I will post about that sometime later.

Instead, I will share this rather unexpected story. After we got back to Les Amandiers from today's touring, Natalia and I parted ways since we were completely exhausted after hours and hours of walking. I ate a little dinner and then decided to go explore the Parc de Belleville before it got dark. It's about a five minute walk from where I am and has these wonderful winding paths through trees and scrubs and bamboo, up to the top of a hill from which you can see nearly all of the city sprawled out below. Also at the top of the hill is a small arena, and tonight there happened to be a free public show of two Molière plays. I arrived at the end of La Jalousie de barbouillé and after that was Le Médecin volant (which means 'the flying doctor'). I think I was more enthralled by the crowd itself than the actually plays (although the plays were quite good). All sorts of people were there to watch: black kids, white kids, mixed race kids, young couples, middle aged people, and a little old lady with perfectly coiffed hair who was laughing at Molière's slapstick along with everyone else. It was really beautiful to watch the crowd as well as the play. Afterwards I chatted for a bit with someone else who had been watching. People here are incredibly friendly thus far.

Sometimes too friendly. A Malian guy from the foyer is trying to get me to marry him. I'm afraid there will be nothing for him but disappointment in that persuit.

Tomorrow: Fontainebleau! aaaand, more walking.

Bienvenue!

I arrived here nearly a week ago: Saturday the 22 of August, with a few minor glitches along the way. After I boarded my flight at JFK, I sat on the plane for another three hours before taking off, thus missing my connection at Heathrow, but I got on an Air France flight later that day. 

That is all boring and behind me, and I am now settled in at my foyer, which is basically an independent dormitory. Mine is called "Les Amandiers" (meaning "the almond trees" - there are none, unfortunately) and it is in the 20th arrondissement, in a neighborhood called Ménilmonant. I absolutely love it so far, but I won't go too much into detail and will do another post dedicated to my neighborhood, because it absolutely merits its own. 

The first few days were spent touring around with Natalia who is another Goucher student living in Les Amandiers. We saw a little bit of everything and did A LOT of walking. Some highlights:

Jardin Luxembourg

Tuileries

Rue de Rivoli

Quartier Latin

Marais

St. Sulpice

Panthéon

The market on Rue Mouffetard

...and everything in between that. Yesterday we began orientation for this semester's program, which includes a part-time internship--I will be doing mine with a feminist organization called Ni Putes Ni Soumises--, French language classes at the Sorbonne, and a Goucher class Friday mornings called Paris-France-Paris. It is a little ambiguous, but I will have more details eventually.

During orientation so far, we have met the IFE staff (they organize our interships and a lot of our program), saw the Ecole des Sciences Politique and, today, toured around on the Bateaubus. I don't love being led around a city in a group, quite honestly; I prefer to discover things on my own an on my own time, but none of it has been terrible, or terribly boring. Tomorrow we will be going to Place de la Bastille and St. Ouen.

Right now somebody below my window is playing Michael Jackson (good choice!)

I was going to leave you with a picture, but unfortunately the internet is being sketchy, as per usual. Next time!

Bisous!