Alors, je suis à mon nouveau stage. I'm at my new internship right now. Got back from Barcelona late Sunday night, and jumped right into busy, busy, busy Monday morning. It's exciting to finally have something to occupy my time. Well, I guess before I get into the stage-ing, I'll tell you un petit peu sur Barcelone:
Lemme tell ya - I am absolutely in love with that city. It was my first time ever being in Spain and I absolutely cannnnot wait to get back. It was so great to be away from the harshness of Paris, and to just walk au bord de the Mediterranean in the 20 degrees Celcius weather. In fact, I watched the sunset at the beach each evening.
*note: no longer at my internship.... it's the next day now*
Absolutely loved Barcelona - but was most especially excited to see some of my dear friends from USC there (Jordan, Andrew, Rochelle and Daniella). Can't believe how lucky we are to be able to meet up in Europe like this. It just meant the world to me to see them after being "alone" here for so long.
Daniella on the metro with one of the many Irish we met at the hostel. I'm now completely hooked on hostels - it was so much fun!
This Shakira video of her song "Loca" was filmed in Barcelona - fairly representative of my time there - and it shows some of the places we went.
Anyways, now I am safely returned back to Paris and have begun interning for 12 hours a week at Galerie Alberta Pane which is a very hip, modern art gallery in the Marais (the Jewish/gay district of Paris). I've absolutely loved my past week there. Alberta, my boss, is Italian and one of the nicest people I've met. She's absolutely obsessed with America and is always asking me "what is the best thing about the US?". She also spends a lot of time singing "God Bless America" and "Singing in the Rain", and repeating "Washington, D.C." over and over again in what I believe is an attempt to approve her accent. Or maybe she just likes the name. Pauline is her assistant. She's a few years older than me and incredibly Parisian - but also very understanding and interested in getting to know me.
Right now I've been working on our preparations for the next installation which opens February 26th. This week I translated the press release into English and addressed over 200 invitations (my hand is tired!). The installation will be a series of photos by Eleanora Aguiari an Italian artist. The majority of her art is inspired by The Last Supper, but more of the emotional side of that night rather than the actual iconography (this internship is already expanding my art vocabulary - in both French and English!) I really love the art that Galerie Alberta Pane chooses - it's all very modern but there is a lot of feeling behind it, very meaningful.
It's particularly exciting to be able to successfully work in a professional environment in an entirely other language. Alberta and Pauline both agree that I parle le tres bon francais. I'm not entirely convinced, but it gets better every day. They also find my hand writing to be very "American" and can't believe how fast I type.
It's particularly exciting to be able to successfully work in a professional environment in an entirely other language. Alberta and Pauline both agree that I parle le tres bon francais. I'm not entirely convinced, but it gets better every day. They also find my hand writing to be very "American" and can't believe how fast I type.
As for lately - I spent yesterday morning tutoring English with the class of 7th graders I work with, then Katherine and I ran a mile to the Eiffel Tower (no big deal), then enjoyed one of the last days of the soldes before spending the evening with Alice (the sister I never had.... absolutely obsessed with that girl and don't even want to think about leaving her). I'm particularly looking forward to upcoming Sweet Briar trips to Rouen and Normandie in the coming month, and a weekend trip with some friends to Amsterdam in March. Also - expect a blog update about the grand adventure I have planned for Spring Break.
Love,
Clara
