We Be Conquerors

Well friends, Paris has really done it again!
(If you're wondering what "it" actually means, don't. Just go with it.)


 Despite the busy schedules we had in the program this week, we were still able to have experiences that helped us build our character and become better people. Here's a documentary of the fears we've conquered in the past few days:


1. One rainy day, a group of us were headed back home from the Schola when we saw a body laying on the street. The ground was cold and very wet, and it was not moving at all. Well people, I'm not gonna lie. I panicked a little inside because I thought "Oh no, this poor man is dead and now I have to call the police and report his departure of the living world." 

As you can see in the picture, it wasn't until Ken decided to poke him that he actually woke up and started mumbling stuff. Then I realized something. There's no need to fear death. And if you run into it, don't panic. It's most likely a false alarm!


*Fear of death: Conquered.

2. Poor little Rachel got smashed with these doors once, which naturally scarred her and turned into a fear of hers. Every day while walking through the metro she would get this look on her face. A look of pure terror. It was actually really funny to me, but I was really proud of her when she finally was able to stand tall, with a straight face, and walk through those doors showing nothing but confidence. She hasn't gotten smashed in half ever since.

*Fear of being smashed by metro doors: Conquered.

3. I have had a fear of birds since 2008 when I was peacefully walking from the parking lot to class, and some crazy bird started attacking me out of no where. It was a very traumatizing experience for me, mostly because I felt bullied by a creature 20 times smaller than me and I could do nothing about it. I guess that's why flying is such an advantage... but anyway. The birds at Notre Dame helped me gain a new view on their species. Thank goodness for that!

And Rachel became Snow White!

Don't mind my skepticism. At least I did it.

*Fear of birds: Conquered

4. Every teacher in this program told us to not go to the Eiffel Tower during Bastille Day because it was the most dangerous spot in the city for this holiday. They said there was gonna be crazy, out of control people everywhere, that we were going to get mugged, get firecrackers thrown at us, etc. Well, they did manage to strike a bit of fear on us from their remarks, but somehow we ended up going there anyway. And what happened to us? Nothing. The crowds weren't even crazy! Although, Rachel claims that some woman tried to pick pocket my purse, and then went after her purse after she was unsuccessful with mine. If that's true, then that's the most exciting news about the dangers of Bastille Day. On the other hand, the fire works were amazing. Best I've seen all my life, and that's without exaggeration.  

*Fear of getting mugged by Parisians: Conquered.

5. As you all know from our earlier posts, Rachel and I have been cheating the system and have been smuggling me into her apartment for two weeks now. Of course there's been a huge fear of getting caught. Welp, it finally happened after we came back from our Bastille Day celebrations. We did our normal routine of going through the basement, but this time we had to deal with a new security guard that we had never seen before. This man actually took his job seriously, so when he heard weird noises in the basement he came down to explore... and he found his prize. He walked into the bathroom while I was taking my shoes off and gave me a very skeptical look, which to I replied by saying "Hello." To make this story short, basically he escorted Rachel and I to the main floor and kept asking us questions to try to get information and figure out who we were and what we were doing. Luckily he didn't speak English, and we don't speak French, so we were able to pull the "I don't understand what you're saying card." Unfortunately though, we had to leave the apartment complex and sleep in some bushes. Yes, that's right. Bushes. Like wild women. See the red circle in the picture? That's where we slept. This picture was taken from the window of our room. We were so close, yet so far away that night.

Anyway, the man did end up getting Rachel's room number, but nothing has happened since. I'm guessing we're okay, because I've been smuggled in THREE times since then. Suckers. 




*Conquering fear of getting caught cheating the system: 
Ehh... half conquered. At least we've experienced the worst that could happen. I think.

Fun fact:

Our program has provided us with the Roadrunner and Sloth from the Ice Age in human form!

 Meet Ken

And Steven

Good resemblance eh? Hope you enjoyed.

Americans in Paris

Heeey all you beautiful people,

(that was for you Morgan. Just sing it to yourself for a small moment.) 

Where We Live.

I hope you're all having a splendid summer! We would love to hear all about your adventures as of now (plus look hugely popular opening mail in front of everyone at breakfast,) so anyone who's itching for a pen pal, go ahead, surprise us. Send your letters with no warning to this address:

Rachel Ostler

7E bd Jourdan

Colegio de Espana, Ch. 426

75014 Paris France

Note: even if you're sending the letter to Mariel, keep it addressed to Rachel. 

Week I

The People

At first it seems like this program is half Gay Club, half Nerdy Composer Club. And I guess it would be okay even if it was just that. But it is really so much more than that. Everybody's nice, some of the composers are quite interesting and anyway we're not really sure all of the Gay Club members are gay.

The Classes

Probably the most memorable class we take here is Chorale. Everyone here has to take it. (For a reason: I think there would be about five people total if it wasn't a required class.) Mariel detests it. We have to sing in French and Italian, neither of which we really know how to speak, and every time the choir director gets us to do/chant something that we would never do/chant in real life, Mariel gets this look. You know, the I-think-I-need-to-leave, I-can't-believe-I'm-here, deer-in-headlights look.

The Love Life

It is, after all, the city of luuuurve, right?

Well.This story shall begin with a phone number:

+33 068-807-624. 

Feel free to prank call him. His name is Eric. Perhaps you feel this is uncalled for (no pun intended.) But consider this: maybe a sixty-something-year-old businessman can start looking in his own age range? eh? Maybe he doesn't have to stop a random female pedestrian (who happens to be forty years his junior) and make her feel pressured to go on a date at a cafe near his apartment. With such insinuating facial expressions as I will not elaborate upon.

"How long will you be in Paris? a month? oh. Will you be around here tomorrow? Maybe we can have coffee tomorrow since you don't have time right now." Ehhh

The Sightseeing

Not terribly much, however, we've managed to go to the Eiffel Tower, participate in mass at the Notre Dame cathedral, attend a concert by Henri Gronnier (violinist of the Rosetti String Quartet, teaches at USC, coached us both this week, really nice guy) and visit Chopin's grave. My favorite by far was participating in mass. (Picture us trying to fit in with a crowd of really great Catholic people, singing Gregorian chant-like phrases in Latin back to the archbishop. We of course didn't know the words, so it was just like the old game Let's See If We Can Pretend to Know This Song By Matching Pitches and Vowels and Hoping We Blend In.)

Pictures 

The Tourist

Scores upon scores of scores

Notre Dame Cathedral

Wasn't me, I promise.

That Glimmering Thing
growing on my head
is the Eiffel Tower

The practice rooms: serene.

The Seine River

The Arrival in Paris- Or, Cheating the [French] System

Bonjour ladies and gents! 
 We have arrived in the city of love and the adventures have begun. 

To give you the full background of our first two days, I'm going to start from our arrival at the airport. First off, our planning to find each other there was quite terrible. Rachel arrived at 11 a.m. and I arrived at 5:30 in the evening. We sort of talked about her waiting for me at the baggage claim and then take a shuttle to the infamous Agil Hotel (which we will discuss later.) Well, I was never quite sure if she was going to wait for me or not, so the whole time in the plane I was praying  that somehow I would find her. Not only that but there were various Agil Hotels and I wasn't sure which one she had made the reservation for! 

So I arrive, and I see no trace of those precious golden locks of hers. Not to mention there are multiple baggage claims, so all hopes of finding her there were lost. I had no phone or internet, and of course I start getting worried...so naturally I start singing. I figured if I sang "Rachel" over and over she would come to me--sort of like a bird call. It didn't work. Luckily I found a tourist information desk and they called a shuttle for me. As it was pulling in to pick me up guess who I saw inside?? RACHEL! Such a lucky coincidence that we called the shuttle almost at the same time AND that I called the right Agil, which was Agil Hotel #7. 

This is the great hotel. First class trash, but great for the adventures.

There was not much to do, but it was fortunate that we had a grocery store right across the street. 

Here is our first meal in Paris.

Olives-N-Chocolate. Good for the taste-buds... separately.

Alright so after our outing, we were jet-lagged so we went and explored the kitchen of the hotel at 2 am while everyone was asleep. The lady at the front desk told us that they served breakfast for 9 euros and we were curious about it. All we saw was jam and old baguettes, so we weren't very impressed. Unfortunately it was a Sunday and everything was closed in the morning, so we ended up having to take their breakfast. We nourished ourselves with some Nutella, plain yogurt, cheese, apricots, and chocolate cereal. Their milk was warm and gross, so we decided to use the yogurt as a thick milk supplement. Yuuummmm....

 

After our luxurious breakfast,  it was time for the ride to the Cité Universitaire. 

There was this nice man from Chile that I bonded with at the hotel, so he offered to drop us off at the metro instead of having to take the bus. Well it was quite nice, but once we got to the metro the carrying of our luggage and violins was quite troublesome. Rachel was carrying like 70 lbs and as you can see, she was struggling much more than I was since I had to time to take this picture. 

Kills me every time.

Finally we arrive at our destination and our housing plan of going the cheaper route and cheating the system kind of backfired a little bit. It turns out the security in this place is quite intense, and they don't let people in the building if they don't have keys. Since Rachel and I decided to just get one room and split the cost, only she has a key. Which means only she can get in through the front desk. Which means we have to figure out how to sneak me into the building, but we have not yet figured out an efficient way to do so. We'll keep experimenting, but I might have to sleep in a bush for the rest of the month. Or hostels... exciting! We'll keep you updated. In the meanwhile, here's the view from our window!

So far the program has been fun. The people are very friendly and it seems like it might be quite the party. Today we had our placement tests and we begin classes tomorrow. Our first master class is on Saturday and our trios have to perform a movement of our pieces, so it's time to quit the playin' around and get to hustlin'. 

See ya later and have a nice life.