Day 40: "Dériving" for the Day

Today was the day my group was responsible for the 18ème arrondissement which meant that I had to start with purpose and early. Last night, as you may remember, I did not finish my work. So, when I succeeded in waking myself up, I got straight to work trying to decipher the readings for the day, pertaining to surrealism and "la dérive."

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André Breton and Guy Debord gave me a morning headache as I drank my coffee with speed. Grabbing the metro to be on time for the day's discoveries, I made my way to Cimetière de Montmartre, meeting up with my group members. Traversing through the graves, I passed that of Emile Zola and felt strange. These writers that I have read and discussed, these writers that are held in such high honor, have literally been below my feet. I find that a little unsettling.

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Next up, we made our way through Montmartre to arrive at the Musée de Montmartre which was contained in an adorable set of houses where Dorignac, the artist, once lived. The exposition included some delicate impressionist art and the atelier in which some artists worked. The high ceilings and long windows were mesmerizing as I wished suddenly that this could be my little studio apartment. Moving towards the gardens, my group members grabbed a little something at the Café Renoir as I sat enjoying the cool breeze blow through my clothes in the garden.

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Needing to move despite my comfort, I had to make it to the next museum to have enough materials for the presentation later in class.

Espace Dalí was the next location, just around the corner from this museum. While my wallet may have been hurting from the lack of wonderful student discounts today, my eyes were definitely not. If anything, they were absorbing the disconcerting surrealist art with fervor. It was beautifully fascinating and uncomfortably honest. Making my way through all the strange art, it made me want to be drawing, painting, and sculpting too.

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After this interesting endeavor was the Halle Saint-Pierre, another museum full of contemporary art, I did not end up having enough time to explore it but hope to return. The bookstore on the other hand and the warehouse location gave me a pretty good idea what I would have seen inside. Next time, I say...next time!

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Then we walked over to the African quarter after accidentally running across Anna's group. Exploring the area of Chateau Rouge, one that I am somewhat familiar with, we made our way to the market to buy some cherries. 3 euros a kilo and we were sold. Heading back to Reid Hall to prepare for our presentation, the cherries found refuge in our stomachs.

The presentation was a success as we lead the class in a discussion about surrealism and situationism, concepts that truly confound me to a degree. We even presented an app we found that gets you to do a "dérive" like Guy Debord presented in Théorie de la Dérive.

After class we had a movie to watch called Entre Les Murs, one that I watched a while ago with my parents. It packs a punch to say the least and I found it enlightening to watch again at an older age.

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Speeding back home for dinner, we made it just in time to enjoy some...TUNA in a quiche...

EUGH I just cannot do cooked tuna. Let me tell you it was several difficult swallows and when she served us a second helping I was ready to cry. Okay, not really, but it felt like a very VERY long entrée. The salad and potatoes were refreshing and filling and the fruit salad to top it off made me very happy. Who doesn't like pineapple and watermelon!?

Heading back into my room, I started to organize my things for my trip to Vis. Man, was I excited about that. Don't worry, I'll be divulging all the details of the trip soon!