Hello prospective students,
I’m still in Paris and I’m still enjoying it. It’s my last weekend here before I return to Boston and Wellesley College. I’m a little sad but I’m also anxious to start next semester. I intend to take a class at MIT for the first time so I’ve been checking their registrar office’s webpage a lot during my free time. Of course, I’ve also been doing the work and activities that I’m supposed to do here.
Last night, we all had dinner in the neighborhood of La Goutte d’Or, near the metro stops of Chateau Rouge and Barbes. [Recall that the people living near Chateau Rouge are mostly from the Maghreb and subsaharan Africa.] We ate a meal popular in the Maghreb: couscous [semolina], vegetable stew, chicken and merguez [large spicy sausages] with Professor Prabhu and Ms. Melissa Thackway, an author and filmmaker. Ms. Thackway is English but she’s been living in La Goutte d’Or for over 15 years. She talked to us about her experience as a White immigrant from a first-world country in a neighborhood where many inhabitants have a dark skin and are immigrants from third-world countries. She said that some children of immigrants who were born in France and who are thus French think that she is more French than them because of the French society’s views and thoughts about immigrants and their children. She showed us a film to support what she said and Professor Prabhu asked us to go visit the museum at the Cite de l’Immigration [Immigration City] where we learnt about the history of immigration in France. We also saw an exposition called “J’ai deux amours” [I have two loves] on the theme of immigration and the experience of being an immigrant.
…it’s neither easy, nor free, to get up there.
Mona Lisa gets more security than the president of the USA…
I’m serious about the security. She even has two body guards! (but I couldn’t take pictures of them)
There are sales everywhere so I HAD to go to Printemps and Galeries Lafayette! Hehe such a beautiful boulevard at night.
I love Paris, it’s such a beautiful city! From the Pantheon where lie the remains of legends like Louis Braille, Pierre & Marie Curie, Victor Hugo and Emile Zola to Notre Dame and the Champs Elysees, passing by the museums of Quai Branly, quai d’Orsay and of course Le Louvre – Paris is so rich in history, History, beauty and art. I will miss being here…. I will especially miss being able to drink a glass of red wine with my meals [international students: unlike pretty much every other country in the world the drinking age in the USA is 21… so you understand why I enjoy all trips to Europe and Africa! haha I’m joking]
Anyway, it’s really no wonder I keep coming back here. I hope to move to Paris for a bit in the future. Until then, I need to get back to the essays I’m writing for the applications I’m sending to various organizations because operation “let’s make a difference in the summer of 2012!” is really going to happen! 🙂
Hehe take care prospies!
Lori xx