winding down

Mes chers amis,

It's hard to believe that in a little over a week I will be back in San Francisco! On one hand, I am so excited to be heading back to you, my friends and family, to Stanford, and to California. It's funny, I guess, because while I think about returning to my "normal" life - something I haven't experienced in the last nine months - I can't really imagine it in the same way anymore. It seems as though my baseline for normal has shifted in some way, but I don't know how yet. On the other hand, I did not expect to have such a connection to Paris, and that has made it really hard to start winding down and getting ready to leave.

The past weeks have been busy, which is why this post is uncharacteristically late. In between finals, presentations, exams, tutorials, and dance classes, I've managed to have some fun as well :) There have been quite a few birthday celebrations, random escapades to different parts of the city, museum-hunting, coffee and pastry excursions, and, of course, a lot of wine and cheese.

On Friday, my Art History class went on an all-day field trip to Rouen, a town in Haute-Normandie (Upper Normandy), which is famous for a few things: the Cathedral, where Monet painted a series of 30 paintings of the facade; it is the location where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in 1431; and, its dairy products - HELLA butter, yo. I had a lovely day, despite the fact that we had to be at the train station at 7:45 and I live about 40 minutes from the station. We had a guided visit of the town, which was very picturesque and quaint, wandered through the streets, and saw houses from the 15th century on the way to lunch. No big deal. Afterwards, we had a painting workshop, located in a studio just in front of the Cathedral, and we got a lesson in impressionist painting! Enjoyable, even though it was rather structured for an impressionist workshop. My masterpiece was accidentially forgotten in a cafe in Rouen, and it's probably better off that way. Let's just say painting is not my forte. Other than Rouen, the weekend was full of studying, friends, and walking. But mostly studying.

More after finals! Bisous!

Part of the Cathedral

Getting my Monet on!

Jeanne d'Arc statue in the St. Jeanne d'Arc church