Toussaint, Le Diner des Cons, Gainsbourg

This past week at IES was a shortened week due to the French holiday of Toussaint (All Saints Day) and on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we had our midterm exams. Like any exam, they were daunting and stressful to study for, but in comparison to other midterm exams they weren't really that difficult. For example, my midterm exam for Plant Propagation at the University of Minnesota last year had over 50 multiple choice questions and 5 to 10 short answers... my Intro to Literature class this semester had 14 short answer questions. The amount of work required for the IES courses is hardly comparable to that of at the U of M, but students here are also expected to deal with other things at the same time as studying and getting to class.

My hardest exam was grammar, but I'm not particularly surprised that it was difficult because all of the other mini-tests we've had thus far have been equally as difficult, only shorter. I still have one more midterm next Monday for Architecture in Paris that I think will probably give me some trouble, as we have to study all of our notes, choose one of four topics presented at the midterm, and write for an hour and half on one of the topics. I think the topics will be something like "absolute monarchies of 17th century France represented architecturally" or "Paris in the middle ages and its expansion" which are really open ended, making it easy to write generally for an hour and a half, but really hard to study for because there's so much to study. I hope all goes well.

A lot of my classmates left Paris for the weekend, as we have a four-day weekend for Toussaint. I decided to stay in Paris because I couldn't really decide where I wanted to go and I also thought it might be cool to see the alleycat race this Saturday, plus Critical Mass on Saturday too. (critical mass: manifestation of several hundred / thousand cyclists demonstrating their rights to the road, stopping traffic and making a scene)

Yesterday I went to the theater with Charlotte and her friend Celine and we saw a play called "Diner des Cons." It was made into a film in the '90's and is translated as "The Dinner Game." Brief synopsis- a group of friends organize weekly dinners where one friend brings the stupidest, most ignorant person- the "con" they can find so the friends can compare who has brought the best guest. Instead of making it to the dinner, one friend's "con" ends up at his house and the events of the main character's life unfold as to question who is the real "con." I remember seeing the movie in high school but couldn't remember any specific details about it. It was difficult at times to understand all of the jokes and dialogue (is this word in english or french?) but Charlotte and Celine and I were able to put it all together between the three of us. Charlotte lived in France for a year when she was in high school and Celine's mother is French and they both helped me out with expressions and word-games that I didn't catch.

Last weekend I began discover the music of Serge Gainsbourg, a French singer/songwriter/poet who made music from the 50's to the 80's. I have been getting mixed feelings from people on the topic of Serge Gainsbourg, such as the following:
-When asked about the "singer and poet" Serge Gainsbourg, Phillipe told me that he was no poet. That he drank and smoked and made horrible music. Phillipe's preferred musician: Barry White.
-Mme C agrees that Serge Gainsbourg can be considered a poet and seems to quite enjoy his music, although I've never seen any evidence of this.
-Some French friends of Charlotte offered to play for her a prime example of horrible French music, a Serge Gainsbourg album.

But don't tell me that this song isn't great:
(Do pardon the smoking; he's French)



I am excited to do Critical Mass à la Parisienne tomorrow. I wonder how many people will show up. I heard that last month's Minneapolis critical mass was close to 1000 people. And if there were close to 200 at the Rando Velo the other night, perhaps there will be quite a crowd. A few weeks ago I asked a few cyclists I met if "les flics" (slang for police, similar to cops) in Paris hassle the Critical Massers like they do in Minneapolis but they assured me that since Critical Mass has a permit to manifest, the police actually help direct traffic for the riders. I guess I will find out tomorrow what the actual ride turns out to be. Perhaps Celine and the girl I met at Rando Velo will join me.

C'est tout for now!