Day 46: Just a chat at La Coupole ;)

My body clock impresses me. I woke up before my alarm despite my setting it for 9am. Sleep is for the weak. Or for the dead. Or for when I get back home...

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Not an entirely eventful morning, I just wrote and wrote and wrote until I read my emails in which I saw that I could have a meeting with my professor just after lunch time, a meeting that I mentioned wanting to have towards the very beginning of class. For this reason, I was quite excited about having a little time to know more about Julia Kristeva specifically. That was why I had approached my professor, Alice Jardine, in the first place. Back in the States, my dad had researched the professors of my program a bit, curiosity driving him along with his love for the francophone world. Wanting to know more about my study abroad was only natural. Then we had gone on a run together and he explained to me that one of my professors (aforementioned) had close ties with Julia Kristeva, Bulgarian by birth but lived in Paris for most of her life. She had a chance to escape the communist regime and she took it. Cherishing the conversation I had with my dad about news articles, her writing, and his parallel experience, I knew I wanted to further explore the subject with the woman who wrote Julia Kristeva's biography.

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At 14h, I was at La Coupole, sitting down with my professor with a refreshing Perrier in hand, listening closely to Kristeva's story through Jardine's eyes and her own personal understanding.

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To Dad: When I return, we will sit, sipping on delicious coffee, chatting and discussing all that I learned. I am excited to tell you all about it.

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After our little chat inside in an attempt to escape the heat, I made my way over to Reid Hall to do a little work before our last class EVER for this course...My, how time flies...

While the last class's theme was "Le Grand Paris," we spent much of the time reflecting on what the program did for us, how we see Paris, how we see theories and literature, how we see the world even, and more. It is hard not to explore the meaning of such things when given the opportunity to spend 8 weeks in Paris studying the actual city. Urban life is a curious thing, and I find it even more impressive that I have found myself to have changed in just these past two months. One way or another this program has done something for me, opened my eyes, made me more curious about the world, more aware of the human state, more ready to explore my passions at school, more in touch with my daily impact on Earth; in short, more worldly. This has been an opportunity I will forever be grateful for.

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After the reflection of class, I walked home with friends at which point we stopped in a Carrefour to grab provisions for later. We wanted to celebrate the last official class with a wonderful Seine night. Cheese, hummus, tzatziki, pesto, two baguettes, white, and rosé...what more could we possibly need?

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First we had dinner with our host family where we were served gazpacho, the freshness emanating throughout me. Then for dessert, we were treated to popsicles. I chose the cassis and frambroise flavor...YUM.

Then we made our 30 minute walk over to Pont Neuf where we installed ourselves for the evening, drinking and laughing until 1:30am. Like I said at the beginning. Sleep is for the weak ;)