A Visitor

So. Billy Higgs, ( an old friend from school) has just dropped into Paris for the week. Great to catch up, plenty of translating, but heaps of laughs:)
Tourist-wise we've ticked boxes for The Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, Luxembourg Gardens - all by night, and even found an Australian shop that sells Tim Tams and Coopers fine pale ale. .. Two nights ago we made the trip accross town to the North of Montmartre where another Erasmus student from Canada was hosting a get together. As it turned out, this part of Paris is best known as Little Africa. So at 9'30 at night with a frigid wind being sucked through the underground, Bill and I ascended the steps of "Chateaux Rouge" ready to join the group at Toby's. Signaling the apparent difference between this part of town and any other, piles of trampled corn cob husks littered the upper part of the stairwell and ground around the metro sortie. The odd blackened and roasted corn cob also lay about the mess. But despite the cold and time of night, the streets were still full of activity. Dozens of North-African immigrants were ensconced in hearty, laugh-riddled conversations by a greengrocers, some wended their way through the slicks of corn cob husks on the pavement- clearly looking for somewhere to pass the night - possibly involving mischief. Others still, making their way home with the groceries would eye Bill and myself, the two white youths with as much curiosity as surprise, being the only two Caucasians in sight! But the area had a a great feeling of openness unlike many other metro stops in Paris, and was definately an eye-opener. -- have to head now but more news as it's made - cheers, Tim.

Pantin

Right. Today I spoke to mum and she assures me it's time to update this blog. .. But I've actually just spent the day pawing over plans and photos of of a small commune -just North of Paris - called Pantin, so I'm not sure I'm going to get a lot written. -- Pantin could easily be considered as a part of "Les Banlieus," or dangerous outer Parisian suburbs. It's composed of a confusing mis-match of crumbling, early to mid century industrial warehouses, government funded housing and high-rises, small, litter-strewn parks and the odd shiny glass and steel French administration building. - The entire mix seemingly swept aside from the romantic Paris known to the bourgoises, tourists and artists - somewhere out of sight to the North.

On first arriving in Pantin, I have to admit I wasn't immediately excited about spending the next 6 months focussed soully on such a grey little patch of suburbia, but with every visit, I've actually come to find the place is growing on me. - Pantin is character rich. When you stop and just watch how things work, and what happens in the bronx, you don't tend to focus so much on the cold concrete landscape.

Small groups of hooded teenagers wagging school search for a quieter place to smoke and swear. Fishermen by the canal with tattered old shopping trolleys full of bread, vinegar-smelling red wine and leathery cheeses happily chat away amongst themselves - largely ignoring their dinky rods with slack lines. Joggers on the water's edge dodge their way along the canal, jumping from cobbled stone surfaces to broken concrete slabs, constantly searching for the flattest surface to run on. And then of course there's the architecture students. At a glance, some joke and jostle amongst each other, other break-aways bend or stoop low. Pause. Then with a fuzzy digital click, capture a rusty boat mooring at a curious angle. Or a feathery shadow being spread on the concrete by a factory's broken window pane.
Other's sit and sketch, and others still (like me) make the mistake of asking the fisherman if they've had any luck, getting nothing but lies and laughs in reply.

So basically, (aside from the pretty heavy social calendar organised for most nights of the week ) I'm starting to switch over from tourist mode to student mode. But am still finding a bit of time to be the archi student taking the odd-angled photo, or sitting down for a sketch - so ! - still very good times :) Cheers, Tim.

At School and at Home.

So! – Update . . . At this point, Uni is 3 weeks underway. I’m taking four subjects, a design subject, an environment and building subject, “urbain sociology” and “geometry of surfaces.” – All four of the subjects at this point seem to be doing the right things – (at least I understand them to be doing the right things)

I’ve got professors that can slowly tease out their sentences, bringing their ideas to the classroom over a matter of hours. Others that have so much to say all at once, that they seem to be in a perpetual state of verbal outpour, and others still, who passionately uphold their right to smoke in class, casually emphasizing their phrases with an angled cigarette in hand - the room gradually filling with smoke.

As for the school itself, the architecture faculty is nestled in a very impressive network of carved stone buildings, just across the Seine from the Louvre.
Just about any stone surface that could have been intricately carved on the buildings has been. The walkways are covered in mid-nineteenth century mosaics, and to clean the marble-carved walls, upwards of 5 conservators are brought in to the school monthly to flit away the dust and cobwebs with short-haired paintbrushes.
-It really is another world!

Home life has turned out to be just as amusing as school. After all the hassles involved in finding a place to stay, I’m now living in a great share-apartment for the next 4 months with Silvia, Paola and Tillia. Silvia and Paola are two girls who have come from Rome, and Tillia from the south of France. –While we don’t really have a very big living room (more of a space in a hallway between the kitchen and bathroom) – the common welcome as you open the door after a day of uni is half a dozen heavy italian accented “Ciaos!” and another 3 or four voices echoing the first group in French with Saluts and Bonjours from the other rooms and kitchen.
In the 2 weeks that I've been here, I've only ever been alone in the apartment once, and even that was only for half an hour. The smell of fresh, strong coffee is always thick in the air, and is usually fighting with the stale cigarette smoke from the night before. The fridge is always full of fresh tomatoes and bottles of green and black olives. And every night there are fresh coffee stains on the bench from the communal kick start of the morning.

All in all, things are going well - but weeks are already starting to disappear quickly, and I've already been here 2 months - Must be having fun:)
Cheers,
Tim.

La Nuit Blanche

Dear All,

Last night, Paris and surrounds celebrated “La Nuit Blanche.” – Blanche, because for one night, pretty well everyone leaves the lights on! – Cafes, restaurants, shops and even museums keep the doors open until well into the morning, so that the partying, weary, thirsty or culture-hungry people of the city can pass a huge night with plenty of fun and laughs.

So! – My “Nuit Blanche.” – First of all I should point out that the World Cup Rugby was in full swing last night as well with France playing off against New Zealand in the qualifier . .. . So the unexpected result of France actually beating The All Blacks meant that on top of Le Nuit Blanche, Paris was absolutely crazy last night!!!!!

So after a quick apperatif at home with the flat mates, I headed out and met up with some other Erasmus students at the Centre Pompidou for a quick night view of the city from the roof. From there we bagan an 8 hour trek. Stopping only briefly every now and again for a loo stop or emergency crepe, we criss-crossed the city sometimes with a plan, but mostly just pin-balling our way through the various attractions and museums on offer for the night. – A highlight though was Les Jardins des Tuilleries. As part of the mass of art installations brought from all around Europe for the night, the Tuilleries had been transformed into a huge walkway between the Louvre and The Champs Elysees – featuring nothing but fire and water.

-While you had to spare a thought for the evident carbon emissions offsetting their “Velib” idea – The sight was incredible! – Flames literally exploded into view and danced around all the way down the length of the gardens- lighting the path and faces of the crowds wandering past. Huge chandeliers of kerosene lamps held up by cranes, and mechanical models bobbed along on the surface of the ponds, making twin reflections on the water’s inky surface. Fire breathing, eating and twirling performers also made their way through the procession, spot lighting themselves in the glow of their flames.


By this point, having passed café after café crammed with French supporters cheering for “Les Bleus” on the way to the Louvre, it became pretty evident that France had won when the roads suddenly flooded with dancing and cheering fans draped in red, white and blue. Car horns were being hooted in successive staccato bursts alongside scooters over-revving their engines and most of the fountains we saw for the rest of the night could boast at least one semi-naked Frenchman singing La Marseillaise with friends, or, just alone - without the friends he thought were going to join him for a swim. Ha.

The rest of the night continued pretty well in the same way, before the last few drinks at an Irish Pub ( as you do in Paris) then a stroll back along the Seine to the Metro we thought was going to be open all night - - - But which in fact closed at 4am.
This was O.k though, because the city was still alive with people – so one by one we walked around the city, dropping off members of the team as we went.

All in all, a great night. And today we’ve got a brilliant sunny day. So I’m off to a park with the housemates for a nap in the sun. Tough times.

Tim.