Friday, February 15, 2008
Update.
So. After finishing up exams a few weeks ago I had a couple of choices. First choice was to go on a skiing trip organised by the architecture school up to Orcieres in the Southern French Alps to ski for a week. This wasn"t really a difficult decision to make, and with the price of the trip more or less halved thanks to partial payment by the school, myself and 90 other Archi students headed off to the snow. After a 10 hour bus trip and a couple of stops at the French equivalent of roadhouses, we were in the alps. And they were amazing. Brilliant panoramic views of jagged white peaks and rocky ridges, blue skies and sunshine, escalators which took you directly from chalet to chair lifts, open air markets selling locally produced cheeses (beaufort is a winner) and saucisson (porc / poivre a standout), heated indoor, glass roofed, olympic size swimming pool and ice skating rink, even a nightclub that began in the early 1980"s, but rather than being altered with changing fashions, has remained the same since its inception, and now draws the crowds keen to see what a club was actually like all those years ago. --- And then there"s the skiing!!! - All in all a great trip with some very funny crew.
A few days after getting back to Pris from the ski trip came the second decision. The plan had been to head over to Spain and have a look around Barcellona or Madrid, but a good mate Alessandro was heading back to his home in Naples for the week and offered to be a guide there if I was interested. - So off to Naples I went. Naples is actually a great place. Right now its getting a lot of bad publicity in Europe for its problems with rubbish disposal and political upheavals; and its clear that a bit of an effort needs to be made to rectify these issues, but by staying with a great Italian family while in Naples I wasn"t just subjected to the media hype, but got to see Naples from another point of view. - and the view was fine. ha.
Alessandro"s dad picked us up from the airport, and dropped us off in the centre of Naples near A."s Archi school so that he could get some admin stuff organised with someone that wasn"t returning his emails. Here in the centro historico (ignore poor italian) narrow cobbled streets wound off in various directions, some cut short, twisting off in another direction after a few meters, others stretching on for kilometers. But at street level, they could all boast tiny stores selling everything from red wines and colorful pastas, to touristy efigies of Puccinella or strings of deep red glazed ceramic chllies; both bringing good luck to their owners. -- (I might add here that the red ceramic chilli I bought in Naples is now broken, because the little string used to hang it got caught on my passport in customs at Naples airport on the way home, causing the chilli to fall and break into 3 pieces on the floor/ not such a lucky chilli after all. )
Above these shops, and at every level, strung from one side of the street to the other or just lazily flicking in the afternoon breeze while hanging from narrow balconies; was the washing of hundreds of Italian citizens. Bed sheets and towels, bras and boxer shorts, shirts and socks, all forming a loose and haphazard canopy over the small streets below. - But despite their size, even these tiny alleyways and roads were deceptively busy. The sound of a high pitched, beeping scooter horn was never out of earshot, and with each seeming to follow their own list of unwritten road rules, - weaving and speeding, stopping abruptly and then zooming on -- being a pedestrian on that first day in Naples was definately an eye-opening experience.
But Naples wasn't restricted to this generally cliched image of Italian life. While I was staying with the Formissano family I was lucky enough to get accross to Pompei for the day. Pompei is another kind of eye opening experience. Here you're blown away by the silence and enormity of the place. Having only realy spent one year studying Latin in year 7 - and most of that time was actually spent drawing cerberus the dog or reading Asterix magazines; my idea of Pompei was maybe a dozen buildings, largely demolished by the volcanic eruption of Versuvius, and a couple of tortured looking, mumified corpses of some of the inhabitants that had decided to stay in town rather than flee after the innitail eruption. - The latter part was more or less correct, but as for the town -- it's immense, and realy - incredibly well preserved.
The reason so many buildings still exist here is that Mount Versuvias covered Pompei in some 25 foot of ash in the eruption some 90 years before the birth of Christ. (B.C for those not keen on God-bothering) -This solidified over time, and everything underneath was more or less preserved; bar those bits and pieces taken by people through history wanting to build other things with the old materials. So now, with all that solidified ash having been cleared away by archeologists, you can walk through ancient public baths which could boast centrally heated bathing and changing rooms, marketplaces and restaurants, ancient market places and villas, even public funded and private brothels with intricately painted frescoes of positions on offer to pqtrons still cleqrly visible. While our guide in Pompei knew a lot and spoke 7 languages fluently, we suspected that his loitering in this part of town was a favourite part of the tour. He was a bit too reluctant to move on. Group decision : Bad Man.
Food would have to top the list of favourite things to do while in Naples. (Obviously you dont "do" food, you eat it. But the point is, it is awesome). While I'm busily giving history lessons I should also add, that it was in Naples, in 1781 that the Margherita Pizza was invented. A good date to know. .. And the pizza here is still amazing. On my last night in Naples, myself, Alessandro and a couple of his mates took a drive into one of the more seedy, notoriously Camora (mafia) influenced suburbs, on a mission. ( To get an idea of how seedy, as we entered the suburb we were hunting, the Italian mate of Alessandros who was driving - a solid, dark haired guy who spoke very good english - centrally locked all the doors and twisted around in his seat to tell me to undo my seatbelt -- apparently a clear and inviting sign to those interested that I was a tourist... ) After a short drive along yellow-lit streets and some very "shady looking characters" we made it to the destination. A pizza restaurant. But not just any - arguably the best Pizza place in all of Naples. This is not the place to go if you think the service is the most important part of a meal out. On arrival, our group name was taken by a clearly stressed and balding waiter, who then pointed at a couple standing in the crowd outside the restaurant, indicating it was their turn to come in and sit down to eat.
Outside the restaurant, hands in pockets shuffling from one foot to the other in the cold night air, the suburb's generally low status was emphasised by 3 scruffy stray dogs outside on the footpath. Sometimes gnawing on each others ears and muzzles, but mostly just waiting. At first it seemed they were waiting for food scraps, but even when these were thrown in their direction by generous customers on their way home with take away, the food was ignored, and they just went on waiting, their eyes following the headlights of the passing cars.
(well there's a depressing little interlude if ever you needed one) -- now. Back to the pizza :)
After a little while it was our turn to head inside to a waiting table, which, with one seat too many for our group, became the seat of a well dressed, over-weight stranger from the crowd, here to eat a quick pizza on his own.
Not knowing which pizza to choose, the Italian guys ordered me the "old faithful" equivalent of the chicken parmigiana with chips in an Australian pub - here in Naples; The Calzone.
And it was incredible; Essentially just an extra large pizza folded in half then wood-oven baked, the Calzone was full of melted mozarella, ricotta, ham, bacon, basil, pepper and a tomato base. While there was never a hope in hell of finishing it, this was undoubtedly the best pizza I have, or may well ever eat. -- But it did sort of highlight the difference in food culture between France, Italy and I guess even Australia. - Generally in Australia and France, when you have finished the meal you"ve pretty much eaten enough to sate the appetite, but in Italy, it was like eating was considered living. Here you were only finished when you had seriously pushed the limits of what you could physically fit into your stomach at one time. Not easy when you're not used to it, but damn impressive to see how much some people could eat in one sitting, most likely having practiced most of their lives. very impressive indeed...
Anyway, Thats enough from me. Hope it hasn't been too much of a ramble, but I could easily go on and on and on -- the Amalfi Coast, the island of Capri, The castles in Naples etc. etc.
Hope everyone is well. Cheers.
Tim.
A few days after getting back to Pris from the ski trip came the second decision. The plan had been to head over to Spain and have a look around Barcellona or Madrid, but a good mate Alessandro was heading back to his home in Naples for the week and offered to be a guide there if I was interested. - So off to Naples I went. Naples is actually a great place. Right now its getting a lot of bad publicity in Europe for its problems with rubbish disposal and political upheavals; and its clear that a bit of an effort needs to be made to rectify these issues, but by staying with a great Italian family while in Naples I wasn"t just subjected to the media hype, but got to see Naples from another point of view. - and the view was fine. ha.
Alessandro"s dad picked us up from the airport, and dropped us off in the centre of Naples near A."s Archi school so that he could get some admin stuff organised with someone that wasn"t returning his emails. Here in the centro historico (ignore poor italian) narrow cobbled streets wound off in various directions, some cut short, twisting off in another direction after a few meters, others stretching on for kilometers. But at street level, they could all boast tiny stores selling everything from red wines and colorful pastas, to touristy efigies of Puccinella or strings of deep red glazed ceramic chllies; both bringing good luck to their owners. -- (I might add here that the red ceramic chilli I bought in Naples is now broken, because the little string used to hang it got caught on my passport in customs at Naples airport on the way home, causing the chilli to fall and break into 3 pieces on the floor/ not such a lucky chilli after all. )
Above these shops, and at every level, strung from one side of the street to the other or just lazily flicking in the afternoon breeze while hanging from narrow balconies; was the washing of hundreds of Italian citizens. Bed sheets and towels, bras and boxer shorts, shirts and socks, all forming a loose and haphazard canopy over the small streets below. - But despite their size, even these tiny alleyways and roads were deceptively busy. The sound of a high pitched, beeping scooter horn was never out of earshot, and with each seeming to follow their own list of unwritten road rules, - weaving and speeding, stopping abruptly and then zooming on -- being a pedestrian on that first day in Naples was definately an eye-opening experience.
But Naples wasn't restricted to this generally cliched image of Italian life. While I was staying with the Formissano family I was lucky enough to get accross to Pompei for the day. Pompei is another kind of eye opening experience. Here you're blown away by the silence and enormity of the place. Having only realy spent one year studying Latin in year 7 - and most of that time was actually spent drawing cerberus the dog or reading Asterix magazines; my idea of Pompei was maybe a dozen buildings, largely demolished by the volcanic eruption of Versuvius, and a couple of tortured looking, mumified corpses of some of the inhabitants that had decided to stay in town rather than flee after the innitail eruption. - The latter part was more or less correct, but as for the town -- it's immense, and realy - incredibly well preserved.
The reason so many buildings still exist here is that Mount Versuvias covered Pompei in some 25 foot of ash in the eruption some 90 years before the birth of Christ. (B.C for those not keen on God-bothering) -This solidified over time, and everything underneath was more or less preserved; bar those bits and pieces taken by people through history wanting to build other things with the old materials. So now, with all that solidified ash having been cleared away by archeologists, you can walk through ancient public baths which could boast centrally heated bathing and changing rooms, marketplaces and restaurants, ancient market places and villas, even public funded and private brothels with intricately painted frescoes of positions on offer to pqtrons still cleqrly visible. While our guide in Pompei knew a lot and spoke 7 languages fluently, we suspected that his loitering in this part of town was a favourite part of the tour. He was a bit too reluctant to move on. Group decision : Bad Man.
Food would have to top the list of favourite things to do while in Naples. (Obviously you dont "do" food, you eat it. But the point is, it is awesome). While I'm busily giving history lessons I should also add, that it was in Naples, in 1781 that the Margherita Pizza was invented. A good date to know. .. And the pizza here is still amazing. On my last night in Naples, myself, Alessandro and a couple of his mates took a drive into one of the more seedy, notoriously Camora (mafia) influenced suburbs, on a mission. ( To get an idea of how seedy, as we entered the suburb we were hunting, the Italian mate of Alessandros who was driving - a solid, dark haired guy who spoke very good english - centrally locked all the doors and twisted around in his seat to tell me to undo my seatbelt -- apparently a clear and inviting sign to those interested that I was a tourist... ) After a short drive along yellow-lit streets and some very "shady looking characters" we made it to the destination. A pizza restaurant. But not just any - arguably the best Pizza place in all of Naples. This is not the place to go if you think the service is the most important part of a meal out. On arrival, our group name was taken by a clearly stressed and balding waiter, who then pointed at a couple standing in the crowd outside the restaurant, indicating it was their turn to come in and sit down to eat.
Outside the restaurant, hands in pockets shuffling from one foot to the other in the cold night air, the suburb's generally low status was emphasised by 3 scruffy stray dogs outside on the footpath. Sometimes gnawing on each others ears and muzzles, but mostly just waiting. At first it seemed they were waiting for food scraps, but even when these were thrown in their direction by generous customers on their way home with take away, the food was ignored, and they just went on waiting, their eyes following the headlights of the passing cars.
(well there's a depressing little interlude if ever you needed one) -- now. Back to the pizza :)
After a little while it was our turn to head inside to a waiting table, which, with one seat too many for our group, became the seat of a well dressed, over-weight stranger from the crowd, here to eat a quick pizza on his own.
Not knowing which pizza to choose, the Italian guys ordered me the "old faithful" equivalent of the chicken parmigiana with chips in an Australian pub - here in Naples; The Calzone.
And it was incredible; Essentially just an extra large pizza folded in half then wood-oven baked, the Calzone was full of melted mozarella, ricotta, ham, bacon, basil, pepper and a tomato base. While there was never a hope in hell of finishing it, this was undoubtedly the best pizza I have, or may well ever eat. -- But it did sort of highlight the difference in food culture between France, Italy and I guess even Australia. - Generally in Australia and France, when you have finished the meal you"ve pretty much eaten enough to sate the appetite, but in Italy, it was like eating was considered living. Here you were only finished when you had seriously pushed the limits of what you could physically fit into your stomach at one time. Not easy when you're not used to it, but damn impressive to see how much some people could eat in one sitting, most likely having practiced most of their lives. very impressive indeed...
Anyway, Thats enough from me. Hope it hasn't been too much of a ramble, but I could easily go on and on and on -- the Amalfi Coast, the island of Capri, The castles in Naples etc. etc.
Hope everyone is well. Cheers.
Tim.
Better Late Than Never.
Columns from Pompei.
Mucking around. -
Quick sketch of a print by Antoine Van Dyck in the Louvre.
On the boat heading out of port in Naples on the way to the island of Capri.So! - Clearly I"ve missed a huge chunk of this trip blog-wise, and so really, I"ve more or less missed the point of the blog entirely... BUT. As I will probably have as an epitaph; better late than never. So here are a few bits and pieces from Paris, Naples and the Amalfi Coast.
Christmas by the way was also fantastic, ( with the Rougiers in Central France / in the Mountains ) but that report will come later rather than sooner. -Very poorly organised!
Thursday, December 6, 2007
amsterdam bike
As is pretty generally known, Holland is the home to lots and lots of bicycles. With such flat terrain throughout the country, bikes are literally everywhere. Stacked along side-walks, nestled en masse into huge purpose built racks, and even filling multi-storey bicycle parks, you would have to assume the population to be a relatively healthy one. Until you see how the Holandaise eat chips. That is, hot chips, with up to seven different dipping sauces available, and even a sweet / sugary version of mayonnaise- things probably balance themselves out nicely.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Winter is Here.
Winter is most definitely here. Today I went for a walk over near Bastille with Silvia's umbrella. The Bastille area was probably not the best choice of place to go for a walk today. Lots of rain. Plenty of blustery wind bursts, and a cold that kept reminding me to buy gloves and a thicker scarf.
The best way to describe the area where I was walking - with squelching shoes and periodically inside out umbrella - would be Brnswick in Melbourne. While the building's lining both sides of the roads are still defined with Haussmann's rules, down below at street level, the small cafes and shops are dotted with a very Brunswicky feel. Layed back, second hand furniture-furnished, good food and like Melbourne, the decent places here aren't easy to find.
So after a few hours wandering, just got back around 4pm and jotted down the view from my bedroom window. - Now, Where there was once a dense green wall of leaves when I moved in, then a thinning bright yellow and orange blur last week, is now just a lot of black trunks, with the last few determined leaves hanging on against the wind. While it starts getting dark at about 4:30, and is night time by 5:30, the weather is surprisingly not as depressing as I thought it would be, - even knowing that mid 20's and bright blue skies are happening back at home. The air is fresh, a well heated apartment is very much appreciated, and a steaming hot crepe oozing with liquid nutella on the way to school has never been so good!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
A Lesson.
Now. So far I guess this blog has been pretty useless. That is to say, there haven’t really been many lessons thrown in. So this is the time for a quick lesson. A lesson for any Australian going over seas for a period of time with the intent of mingling with the locals. – Be they German, Croatian or “heaven forbid,” the Frogs.
Before coming over to France, the Education abroad Faculty over at Deakin, Geelong sat all the prospective exchangers down in a lecture room with, amongst many other colourful A4 sheets to fill out, a list of questions.
This list of questions had been put together by the University as a means of making sure each student was fully aware of the social, political and religious circumstances they were going to be putting themselves into overseas.
For example . . .
What is the name of the current Prime Minister / President of the country you will be living in? –Sarkozy.
What is the prominent religion of the country you are travelling to? - Partly catholic, also partly agnostic, with a sprinkling of Muslim and Judaism.
What is the Capital City of the Country? – Paris. Easy.
What currency is used in the country? – Euro. Next question . . ..
The point I’m setting out to make is this. These questions can very simply be answered in the first 5 minutes of getting into the country. Or the airport, or even just while the plane is taxying into the arrival area or, if you’re like me and appreciate a little in-flight entertainment, somewhere over Kabul while you’re chasing the night sky around the earth’s horizon.
So. Sure. Learn these things. But if you get to the foreign country, and you know the name of the currency, and the president, but you can’t answer how many unprovoked shark attacks occur at Australian beaches every year (about 10, with one or 2 fatalities) then you will definitely be in trouble.
The other day, ready to try and answer another ridiculously difficult question about the geometry of surfaces, one of my professors instead asked me how many poisonous snakes we have in Australia, and “how deadly they are” … ( as it turned out - an equally, or even more difficult question to answer than the possible geometry-based one ) - five main types, the Brown snake causing the most fatalities : But you should keep in mind that while our snakes may be incredibly venomous, they haven’t spent enough time next to humans in evolution to develop un-provoked human offensive behaviour. – The aboriginals largely hunted the tranquil or non-active species, leaving the “cheeky” types well alone – So they will probably only bite you if you step on them. … Drunk. – or if you are a mouse.
Another one worth working into conversation is the difference between a monotreme and a marsupial ( Monotreme: mammal that lays eggs, Marsupial: mammal that gives birth to live young, but rears them in a pouch or sack – also of note: it turns out that Marsupial females have two vaginae, the males having a “double pronged penis”. .. I don’t remember this having been taught at Pleasant Street Primary School…. Probably with good reason.. . Yikes factor.)
It might even be worth noting what “endemic” means.
“ Roughly 85% of Australia’s native plants, animals, and in-shore, temperate zone fish, along with about 45% of our native bird species are only found naturally IN AUSTRALIA. We have a lot of great stuff! !! – And that’s before they start asking about the origins of the Opera House, Uluru, and the amazing fact that our population is only about 21 million people, ( a third of that of France) but we live in a country some 40 times the size.
So. When you go to another country to stay with some foreigners, while they’ll probably find it novel that you know that “Sarkozy” is the name of a president and not a Greek swear word, it’s advisable to read up on your own country: because for the most part, that’s what they will probably want to talk about.
Here ends the reading.
Cheers again, Tim.
Before coming over to France, the Education abroad Faculty over at Deakin, Geelong sat all the prospective exchangers down in a lecture room with, amongst many other colourful A4 sheets to fill out, a list of questions.
This list of questions had been put together by the University as a means of making sure each student was fully aware of the social, political and religious circumstances they were going to be putting themselves into overseas.
For example . . .
What is the name of the current Prime Minister / President of the country you will be living in? –Sarkozy.
What is the prominent religion of the country you are travelling to? - Partly catholic, also partly agnostic, with a sprinkling of Muslim and Judaism.
What is the Capital City of the Country? – Paris. Easy.
What currency is used in the country? – Euro. Next question . . ..
The point I’m setting out to make is this. These questions can very simply be answered in the first 5 minutes of getting into the country. Or the airport, or even just while the plane is taxying into the arrival area or, if you’re like me and appreciate a little in-flight entertainment, somewhere over Kabul while you’re chasing the night sky around the earth’s horizon.
So. Sure. Learn these things. But if you get to the foreign country, and you know the name of the currency, and the president, but you can’t answer how many unprovoked shark attacks occur at Australian beaches every year (about 10, with one or 2 fatalities) then you will definitely be in trouble.
The other day, ready to try and answer another ridiculously difficult question about the geometry of surfaces, one of my professors instead asked me how many poisonous snakes we have in Australia, and “how deadly they are” … ( as it turned out - an equally, or even more difficult question to answer than the possible geometry-based one ) - five main types, the Brown snake causing the most fatalities : But you should keep in mind that while our snakes may be incredibly venomous, they haven’t spent enough time next to humans in evolution to develop un-provoked human offensive behaviour. – The aboriginals largely hunted the tranquil or non-active species, leaving the “cheeky” types well alone – So they will probably only bite you if you step on them. … Drunk. – or if you are a mouse.
Another one worth working into conversation is the difference between a monotreme and a marsupial ( Monotreme: mammal that lays eggs, Marsupial: mammal that gives birth to live young, but rears them in a pouch or sack – also of note: it turns out that Marsupial females have two vaginae, the males having a “double pronged penis”. .. I don’t remember this having been taught at Pleasant Street Primary School…. Probably with good reason.. . Yikes factor.)
It might even be worth noting what “endemic” means.
“ Roughly 85% of Australia’s native plants, animals, and in-shore, temperate zone fish, along with about 45% of our native bird species are only found naturally IN AUSTRALIA. We have a lot of great stuff! !! – And that’s before they start asking about the origins of the Opera House, Uluru, and the amazing fact that our population is only about 21 million people, ( a third of that of France) but we live in a country some 40 times the size.
So. When you go to another country to stay with some foreigners, while they’ll probably find it novel that you know that “Sarkozy” is the name of a president and not a Greek swear word, it’s advisable to read up on your own country: because for the most part, that’s what they will probably want to talk about.
Here ends the reading.
Cheers again, Tim.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Some more Japanese Ceramics ...
There's not really any doing justice to these ceramics with a sketch. But the artists had a way of making clay seem like fabric. Even the grey and pink vase seemed more like felt than ceramic. very clever stuff!
Some Sketches
Hey there,
just a few quick sketches of bits and pieces from along the way . . . a dog that was sitting on the lap of it's owner in a small bar over by Oberkampf. My feet in the Luxembourg gardens. An amazing bit of pottery from a collective Japanese exhibition near the Australian embassy in Paris. A sketch of a painting in the same Japanese exhibition. The exhibition was a pretty good one actually, -- showed the work of the first Japanese artists to arrive and study art in France. Very strong impressionist influences in allumettes rouges. Unfortunately couldn't take photo's -- but the artist had a really nice use of color...
Some Photos
O.K, so blogwise I'm a bit out of practice. Since my last post, I've lived in Rome for five days with a really nice and welcoming Italian family ( and had a great time) , and then squeezed in a bit of uni work before a school field trip to Amsterdam for 3 days! (very eye-opening, lol) - So, with all this happening, most of my spare time since getting back to Paris has been put towards uni work again - and not so much blog entries. So, while I still dont have a lot of time to knock out decent, or at least worthy entries of these two trips, I'm just going to throw up a few pictures / photos for a rough idea of how things have been happening over the past 2- 3 weeks! cheers again, Tim.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Monday, October 29, 2007
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.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
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.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
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.
Monday, October 8, 2007
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.
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.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
The Hunt
Well! - It's obviously been a long time since the first post on this site. At this point in time I've been here in Paris a month!!! -- Actually that's pretty hard to get my head around. But the time is, as usual - flying. So! - a quick recap .. . .. . . .. . .. Firstly I should point out that the goal before I arrived was to get into Paris 3 weeks early, find accommodation for the 6 months, dump the bags, and head out for some tourist time around Europe . Unfortunately, it turned out that finding any accommodation here as a student is VERY difficult!!! :)
Options for a student looking for accommodation here include shareflats with other French students ( what I was looking for ) shareflats with French families ( often in exchange for babysitting) , shareflats with the elderly (usually as a means of giving them some sense of security at night), student housing buildings ( mostly further out of town) , studio ( 1 room ) apartments, residential student colleges ( really nice places to live, beautiful old buildings and lots of international students, well catered for etc. ) but harder than anywhere else to get a spot!! - and if all else fails, the French government give the homeless a blue and orange tent to sleep in for the Winter --- So I guess I always had somewhere if nothing else worked out.
As far as the hunting process goes, the average day is spent on the computer for up to 6 hours, scrolling through offers, ads or announcements. Then if ( as Larry says ) the price is right, the location is good, the room is being offered for the same short period of time that you are staying for, the room on offer isn't being shared by a crazy looking French plasterer, and doesn't require you to make a jaffle iron and a kettle the extent of your kitchen for 6 months; you've had a definite win, and it's time to call the phone number.
This is when the second difficult part begins. For whatever reason, speaking in another language on the telephone is really hard. - sometimes up to four or five words spoken by the native person on the other end become a really smooth string of understandable communication. Unfortunately, those few words are usually the useless ones at the very beginning, involving where the person is at the time (usually on the metro, in a supermarket, or other noisy place ) and how difficult it is going to be to talk (what you knew before you picked up the phone) . The rest is a bit hit and miss, but if you manage to get through the conversation and organise a time and place to meet up for a drink or to look at the room, then you're moving on to difficult step 2.5.
--This step has strong links with "difficult part 2." Basically, if you have the meeting time, place or date wrong, it involves another difficult phone call to figure out which part you got wrong, while desperately trying to give the impression that you won't be a burden to your possible flat mates and / or France in general. -If this part goes wrong it can be easier just to go back to difficult step no.1 and start again. ha.
Difficult step no. 3: This involves the face-to face part of the hunt. Usually this would be the most straightforward part, but unfortunately, and as usual, “straightforward” doesn’t seem to get a look-in. (“straightforward” as a general rule in France actually only appears in the giving of street directions).
Luckily for me, I only met really nice people searching for a flatmate; but by and large I was still up against 30 to 40 other nice people wanting the same room- sometimes waiting in the corridor, sometimes in the flat with you looking at the room!! –Hectic.
So this is all very long winded, but I just wanted to point out the reason behind my lack of updates. ---uncharacteristically stressed!
But after 2 weeks of 6 phone calls a day, multiple interviews and even the odd offer from a 54 year old male nudist ( these were recurring ) I fell into a share flat with Marie for a month. A 26 year old fashion designer and Theatre seat directrice, who goes shopping for food but only buys things that look “interesting and different.” - As a result we spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to cook things like the vegemite equivalent of pasta sauce, and orange lentils. Good fun. Just like living in SBS. – So far minus the extreme nudity. Ha ha.
So I’ve been staying with Marie for about 2 weeks, but on the 1st of October I’m off to the next apartment. After placing an add in a local paper I got a call from 2 Italian girls ( Paola and Silvia ) and a French girl ( unknown as yet ) to share an awesome flat near Uni for the next 5 months!! – awesome☺ So the stress is off. Uni starts next week, I’m enrolled in subjects, and now I’ve got a few days to kill – so I think I’m going to head over to London for a look around (2 hours away on the Euro Star- awesome).
Cheers, Tim.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
10 Days to Go.
10 days to go! - Then off to Paris - I guess by this stage I should probably have some idea of what I should be expecting, but to be totally honest, I wouldn't have a clue:) { laughs }
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