Eye of Ra: Celui qui s'enfuit le premier

As expected, the past couple months have passed in the blink of an eye. Which means certain things, such as this blog, have faded into the background. Even though I was well aware of the nature of time in these kinds of situations, it still comes as a bit of a shock to discover that it is almost the end of June and that it's been two whole months since my last post. In the interest of this precious time I speak of, as well as the weary eyes of my readers, I'll forgo the effort to recap all my experiences since my last post, and instead focus on a few "important points."

-Yesterday I finished school. I'd like to add "with flying colors" on the end of that sentence, but alas I don't think that'd be realistic. Finishing is satisfaction enough. Grades work quite a bit differently here and it's difficult to tell how "well" I fared. My final for "Réalités Internationales," four hours, in French, did not go so well in my opinion; in fact I somehow managed to nearly run out of time and my French was not in the best shape that day. And studying helped zero, I actually laughed when I saw one of the two essay questions -- "Is there an international community?" This is probably the most french/Sciences Po-esque questions there could be. My grade for my conférence was also not great going in, my teacher was fair in that he didn't really seem to cut me slack for being foreign, and also not very fair in that he didn't cut me slack for being foreign. The lecture, taught by a famous french politician, was incredibly dull and failed to bring any profound points to my attention (the French kids agree on this-they thought the class was useless). Despite all these negative points, or perhaps partly because of them, I still have to say what an experience this class was! And Sciences Po in general. Sure, it would have been nice to have less work throughout the semester, so Paris itself could have received more of my attention. But I would not have traded it. What Sci Po lacked in actual academic education it more than made up for in well, "life" education. And now that my time here is coming to an end, I'm actually realizing that Paris-wise, I did A LOT. The fact that finding a balance between school and the city was incredibly challenging I think made it all the more worthwhile in the end. Beth and I had this conversation while attempting to study at le Basile, the wonderful student-freindly corner café near Sciences Po. We realized that we really have adopted a "carpe diem" attitude while here, and the best part about it is it will most likely continue when we're back at Berkeley. Being in a new city where you try to take advantage of everything it has to offer makes you realize how much you may have missed at home.

-I went on a semi-impromptu trip to Berlin last weekend, with my friend Ara. It was great. I met up with Ara on Friday, we did everything imaginable and were on our feet literally all day Saturday, and on Sunday Ara went off to Prague and I stayed in Berlin on my own until Monday afternoon. I was really happy to have an extra day to explore, because I don't think I would have gotten as good of a feel for the city otherwise. It's really big! And the longer I stayed the more I realized there was to do, but I guess that's the kicker. My first impression was that it's a really weird city, one you can't quite put your finger on. It's not pretty in the way that Paris is, by any stretch. But that does not mean the eyes are bored. In the domain of history it is very interesting, like Paris, but in a completely different way. Berlin's most striking history is so recent you're almost a part of it, which is unlike any European city I've been to. And Ara was a great travel companion, and if things go like I think they will she'll soon be a great friend as well. Ara grew up partly in Seoul and partly in California, and is a recent graduate of UCSD. Our dispositions are incredibly well matched and she's a definite kindred spirit. In fact we planned to go to Berlin together without knowing each other all that well, based on the inclination that we thought we'd travel well together. Our instints were correct. Luckily we will be traveling together one more time in the near future: on another slightly impromptu trip I will be going to Barcelona for four days next weekend, with Ara and a few other cool cats! Now that school is out of the way, I can be very, very excited.

-Getting back to Paris (in the summer no less). It is certainly worth mentioning that I somewhat miraculously have French friends. Well, I suppose there are a number of people who might now fall into this category, but there are two I'm thinking of in particular. I cheated a little in acquiring them, because they are friends of my friend Vivien (who went to O'Dowd and lived in Paris for a year, and in my current state of feeling a lot of love for people it's probably best I don't start in on a description of her for fear of going on forever) who insisted I meet up with them while I was here, feeling sure we'd get along well. Being in no position to refuse potential friends, we finally all met up, and Vivien was quite right. These guys are two of the absolute sweetest, most hilarious, to use one of Vivien's favorite terms, "chillers" I have ever met. And not only do I have people to speak french with, but I have people I genuinely enjoy the company of to speak French with! (And by "French" I of course mean lots of slang and "Verlan" and lots of words I'm told not to use in respectful conversations). I think much of my improvement in the language can be attributed to them, especially because I felt very comfortable with them from the beginning (as opposed to when I clam up while speaking with a Sciences Po kid and appear to be a deaf mute). As expected with someone Vivien would be friends with, hanging out with them often means you don't know quite where the night will take you, whether it's interacting with eccentric people on the banks of the Seine (something they are chronically unafraid of), or freestyle rapping in the Place de la Contrescarpe (right near my house and definitely a place that will remain a fixture in my mind). Not to mention the best compliment (in my opinion) I've received while here, when they've insisted, "t'es parisienne, quoi."

-Summer in Paris is making me really appreciate how much easier it is to enjoy a city when it's warm (as long as it's not Cairo status). Some of my favorite memories of Paris have been from the many picnics/gatherings we've had either on the quais or on bits of grass near the Seine. Both Stacy and Nejla visited when it was beautiful and warm and we were able to take advantage of this kind of thing. Last Sunday was "Fête de la musique" which takes place every year on summer solstice. It is essentially a mass music festival that goes from the day into the night all across Paris, across France, and in many other cities (apparently New York just had its third annual one, and I saw posters for it in Berlin). The idea is that any musician who wants to perform on this day can, and all the music is free, and all you really have to do is walk outside and music will find you. There were a few bigger concerts on the outskirts of Paris that had major artists like Jason Mraz, Sean Paul, Kanye West, etc., but unfortunately we didn't make it out there. However, I think the smaller concerts were just as fun. There were a number of drum groups in front of Pompidou, a group of Native Americans in front of Notre Dame playing beautiful music, and random techno dance parties in the Marais. Once you were out of earshot of one performance you entered the earshot of another. Pretty incredible. We ended up right near Mel's and my apartment, and that was probably the best, with a band in Contrescarpe playing lots of American rock songs that we were all able to sing along to. If I have to have "last weeks" in Paris, at the very least they consist of nights like this.

And to conclude, some pictures!