Outta my way, protesters. "Cézanne"n't you see I'm trying to get to a museum?!

Today, I decided to play "tourist"and spend the day museum-hopping. My itinerary was ambitious- finish Musée Rodin, go to Musée de l'Orangerie, do the 3rd wing of the Louvre that I had missed and then if time allowed, go to Musée de l'Armée. Well, as my mother always says, we plan and God plans, but God is the best planner. I got up at around 10:30 but didn't end up making it out of the apartment until about 1:30. I try to go to Musée Rodin first but-surprise, surprise-I exit the métro to find that there is a major demonstration going on on the street perpendicular to the museum.

On the bright side, at least the riot police guy that told me the museum was closed was nice, and pretty cute to boot. We had a nice little conversation about whether or not women should be able to have a midwife or a "sage-femme"when they give birth, the subject of the protest-du-jour. To be honest, I was slightly surprised how long it took for me to see a protest in France in the first place.  From there, I decided to head over to Musée de l'Armée, since I could see the shiny gold dome of Invalides across the street from where I was standing. It was interesting to see the types of weapons that were used in various wars and how the "tools of the trade," if you will, have evolved over time. For me, the whole ordeal was a bit morbid. When looking at the swords, muskets and tanks, all I could do was wonder how many people had been stabbed, shot, and crushed by said items during various wars. At the same time, bands of boys-and grown men- hurried by me, pointing and "ooh"-ing and "aah"-ing at the various weapons. The costumes the soldiers wore, however, were super neat. The Europeans sure did love them some ornate battle clothing back in the day. 

Connected to the Musée de l'Armée is the tomb of the infamous Napoleon the I, former Emperor of France. It wasn't quite as over-the-top as what I was expecting, but it was nonetheless grandiose. 

Here lies Napoleon, "Nappy B" Bonapart. RIP, homie.

After finishing up at Musée de l'Armée, I finally made my way to Musée de l'Orangerie, a modern art museum tucked away in Jardin de Tuileries. The museum may be small, but it is jam-packed with artistic treasures, ranging from pieces by Cézanne to those of Picasso, Monet , Renoir and Matisse.The main attraction were Monet's Nympheas, huge paintings of water lilies inspired by a pond by his home in Giverny. The exhibit features two large oval-shaped rooms with white walls , each room containing 4 paintings featuring the water lily pond at different times of the day. The paintings wrap around the contours of the walls, giving the viewer a panoramic effect. 

Rodin's "Le Baiser" in front of l'Orangerie

Delicious-looking Renoir peaches

Pre-cubist Picasso work

Soutine work showing the processing of a chicken- #anotherreasoni'mvegetarian

another Soutine

After Musée de l'Orangerie it was too late (and frankly I was too tired) to go to the Louvre. Alas, another day. On the way home I decided to try out a Grand Marnier crepe...unless you like the taste of pancakes soaked in alcohol with a coating of granulated sugar, I'd skip it :) All in all, another great day in Paris!

A Beautiful Day to "Think"...

The countdown has begun...

I'm closing in on the last 3 weeks of my time here in Paris and while 3 weeks is still a substantial amount of time in my book, the timing has definitely made me pause and reflect on my experiences so far here. There are still a lot of sights here in Paris that I haven't seen, so I'm going to make it my goal over these next three weeks to get as much sightseeing done as possible before I head back to the states. Stay tuned for more frequent blogging now that I'm done with my homework..

In an effort to knock an item off my Paris bucket list, today before my EU Law in Context class I headed over to Musée Rodin. The line was super long and slow moving- anyone who knows me knows how much I hate long lines, which unfortunately seem to be ubiquitous here in France-but gaining entry to the museum was DEFINITELY worth the wait.

Musée Rodin is a museum in Paris dedicated to the work of August Rodin, whose better-known pieces include "le penseur" (the thinker) and "le baiser" (the kiss). The museum was converted from a hotel in which Rodin lived in during the later part of his life. The museum also features some of the most beautiful rose gardens that I personally have ever seen.

Beautiful..note the sun glinting off the dome of the Musée de l'Armée in the background...

Perhaps it was seeing "The Thinker" that put me in an especially reflective mood, but I started thinking about this semester and how it compared to my expectations and to semesters past. Of course I knew things in Paris would be different, but there was no way I could have prepared myself for just how different. Sometimes I feel like I've been falling behind the rest of my peers because I haven't been volunteering and going to interest meetings...also a lot of programs I wanted to participate in this semester at USC required me to be physically there to participate...but at the same time, I have to believe that there's no way that I've been wasting my time here in Paris. I'm hard worker and I'm used to pushing myself hard..but here its hard to push yourself in the same way. Maybe that's a good thing. If anything, I think that being here has forced me to finally confront myself about some of the choices I've been making in my education and what I want to do for a career, instead of blindly doing whatever I could to make myself  "more competitive". I'd been viewing my time here in Paris as a distraction, but if anything, I think that this experience has enriched me in more "real" ways that a traditional semester in an American university ever could have. If anything, I think that the overwhelming feeling I have-and should always keep in the forefront of my mind- is the feeling of gratitude. Sure I don't quite know what I'm going to do this summer...but I'll figure it out. In addition to many, many other things, my experience here in Paris has taught me the importance of having unwavering faith in myself.