Hey everyone!

Whew...there is a lot to tell you ;)

Last week I went to the Chateau gardens, so now I can say that I officially know what and where my blog picture is! It was absolutely amazing...very beautiful. I will have to go back when the weather is warmer and the flowers are in bloom. When I walked down to the large area with swirling hedge designs, however, there were fruit trees and bushes in bloom, so that was nice. That was where King Louis had all of his exotic plants and animals imported from all over the world!

I don't know if I've mentioned this before...but I am currently working in a team with four french students for our first studio project of the school year. It is a four-week intensive project, so we are actually close to finishing it. There is only one american per team, so the most of the communication is in french, and it has been a challenge for us all! I have learned a lot more french from my teammates, but overall it is still difficult for me to understand what they're saying(they speak english very well, but they almost always speak in french while working). I have had to push myself to speak french more.

We have studio from Monday-Wednesday all day during the week. The other two days we have our regularly classes(in english ;)) Turns out that the french students are taking very similar classes to us, but of course, their lectures are in french. The school I'm going to is an all architecture school, so we are with the same people all the time(all of the american students have the same classes together, and everyone comes together for studio during the week). We can eat lunch in the cafeteria in the courtyard of the school, and see everyone we know. Upstairs there is a student cafe where people serve drinks, listen to music, play games, and just hang out. Overall the school is a really neat place.

Our project coordinator was just telling us about all the student associations at the school and the activities we can join. They all sounded really interested and I'm thinking of joining a few. One of the U of I students suggested(in the spirit of Halloween) that we take the french students to an orchard to pick pumpkins and then carve them. I am super excited for that! Our coordinator also told us that there is a band at the school(a jazz brass band) that would come and play and it would be a lot of fun.

Another special thing we're doing is our Thanksgiving dinner, right before our second travel break. We eat a fancy thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant in Versailles. I also think that we might have a dinner with the french students. I hope so! :D

I was really happy to hear about all the activities going on at the school and getting involved with life at the school. I love the french students and I want to get to know them better. I am really excited for the rest of this year and all of the wonderful things it is going to bring!! :)

So...our first studio project is due this Wednesday. We were given an architectural word(carving out, assemblage, suspension, bridging, etc.) with the purpose of creating a piece of architecture that represented that word. We had to choose two sites(one in nature and one in the city) and design one building/structure/space for each that portrayed our word. Our group got "bridging"(franchissment). Most of the orientation lecture and directions were explained in french! I found that as I worked with my group, we had a lot of the same ideas and lines of thinking. It was nice, because that kind of made up for the barrier in communication. This Wednesday our studio reviews last the whole day, and we have to present our project in front of everyone in the auditorium. Ahhh!! I am hoping it will go well.

On the Thursday afterwards a group of friends and I are leaving for Copenhagen for our first study/travel break. We are staying in Copenhagen and the surrounding area for the first four days, and then we are flying to Milan for the rest of it. For our travel breaks we are required to do intensive sketching everyday, and turn in a record of our trip through these sketches when we return. I am super excited for the sketching! I love to draw and I look forward to seeing how much my drawing is going to improve.

Last week our statics(architectural structures) class went to Paris to see La Defense(a modern square with lots of skyscrapers and modern buildings). I think it's interesting how Paris is full of historic architecture, yet also becoming more modernized for the future. Yesterday, our history class went to Paris and visited the Sainte-Chapelle cathedral(the building I'm doing my paper on, so I had already been there before), and Notre Dame. I went inside Notre Dame for the first time and saw a service going on. It was incredible! It is amazing just to be in these buildings and to be there in Paris!

I also took a walk around my neighborhood last Saturday(it was a beautiful day) and saw so many wonderful buildings just in the area...all of the houses are tall with stone/rubble walls, painted wood doors, and lacy metal trim details. Even the churches in the area must be very old because they look Romanesque-built with the same stone vaulting and stained glass windows. I am amazed by everything I see. It is so beautiful here in France.

So things are moving pretty fast now...I am really excited about everything that is going on and everything that is coming up...I finally feel like I really love it here and I'm beginning to dread coming back home! I know it will be a long time from now, but I feel like the time will go fast and I just want to enjoy every minute of every day.

Until next time!
~Diana :)

The French

Here are something interesting things I've learned about french culture that I'd like to share with you, in case you didn't know:

1) They do not like to show people around their house. The family I'm staying with has a HUGE house-and I didn't get to see any of it! They only showed me the room in which I'm staying. They didn't even show me the garden in the back, or say anything about it. It really is a beautiful house though and I'm so happy to be living here and in this nice neighborhood. My family did have me for lunch though, so then they took me into the dining room and I saw more of the house, but it is not in their nature to give you a "tour" of their home, so to speak.

2) In public they do not smile or even make eye contact with other people very often...they tend to look very serious and caught up in their own thoughts, and smiling can mean that you are interested in somebody, so people have told us not to do it!

3) They have different ideas about stores...most stores are closed on Sundays, and also a lot on Mondays, and there is no such thing as a store that is open 24/7. You won't find a place like Walgreens where you can get medication anytime you need it, you just have to wait until the next day.

4) I've also noticed that when I go to the grocery store people don't bag my groceries...haha. I noticed this because I used to work at a Pick n Save. You are expected to bring your own bags and bag your own groceries.

The culture is different over here, but not difficult to get used to. The only difficult thing, in my opinion, is speaking French(I'm still learning), especially since native speakers are going to talk really fast and with the accent it's hard to pick up on what they're saying.

I'll keep you guys updated with other interesting things I observe!

Travels in France

Hey everyone,

I am back from my three-day trip to Orleans, Tours, and Saumur. We took a bus to various different buildings, and stayed there a while while our professors spoke about them and gave us time to sketch. It was the Fall semester sketching trip-a field trip specifically to document our experience through sketches and notes. Just from that trip, I learned what I am doing wrong in sketching and how I can improve my work, and have already noticed an improvement just from all the practicing we've been doing.

The various buildings/monuments/bridges we saw were: In Orleans: Orleans Cathedral, and Pont de l'Europe(by Calatrava). In Tours: Vinci Convention Center, and Cathedral St. Gatien. And in Saumur: Chateau de Saumur, Place de St. Pierre, Hotel de Ville, Notre Dame d'Ardilliers, Abbaye de Fontevraud(an abbey for monks, one of my favorites), and Chateau de Chambord(a beautiful castle-home, another favorite).

I am contemplating posting some of my sketches on facebook(only the good ones, though, hahaha).

During the field trip we stayed at a really nice youth hostel where they served us dinner and breakfast(we ate lunch while we were out). At night we went out and explored the town and sat under the Pont de L'Europe. Very pretty!

On another note...due to all of the hours we spent on the bus, we watched all three Lord of the Rings movies(I had never seen them, so I really enjoyed that :) )

People are already making travel plans for this semester, so my friends and I have decided that we are going to Copenhagen and Denmark for the week-long thanksgiving break, Barcelona for a four-day break, and Germany during a three-day weekend. That should take care of first semester travel breaks. For the Spring semester I plan on going to Greece for the sketching trip, otherwise Italy(that is the other option). So I have a lot to look forward to!! :)

Keep reading, and have a nice day!
~Diana