Où est la bibliothèque???

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine I would seriously utter the phrase "où est la bibliothèque" but today I DID! I went to the Sorbonne library to do my french homework and was it beautiful! Few colleges in the US can compare to the utter beauty of la Sorbonne's architecture. Their lecture halls alone are riddled with fresco's and Baroque sculptures of ancient intellectuals of the past, imparting their wisdom as they look down on you with encouragement. I felt embarrassed when I sat down amidst all other french étudiants and pulled out my level two french book, conjugating my -ir verbs, as they intensely studied the laws of physics and the writings of Rousseau. But I held my head up high, and convinced myself that they could not do that in English, so I was fine...

After finishing mes devoirs, I went to the Louvre to meet my art class for a tour of Rubens and van Dyke paintings. Professor Baltay is a fabulous 73 year old woman going on 50, with a salt and pepper coiffure, stream lined physic (honestly she is rail thin), and a fabulous wardrobe of luxurious fabrics in all muted tones... a true Parisian... from New York. But it is her mind that is truly amazing. A walking encyclopedia of all things to do with art and culture she led the class of 10 students through the maze of le ancien palace (the Louvre) at a pace faster than I would like to admit! She brought us to this large room filled with very large Baroque Ruben's paintings that appeared at first glance to be beautiful, gaudy, and somewhat the same. But through her detailed explanation we learned that each of these masterpieces (clockwise) told the story of Maria de Medici's life. From her godlike birth to her marriage to the King of France Henry IV, to her ascension up to heaven, all was elaborated with the extraordinary undulation of a paintbrush. A room which I would have given possibly 5 minutes of my time just browsing by each painting we dedicated an entire 45 minutes in observation, totally worth it!

I transferred into a higher level of french today, "Intermediare" which I will go to tomorrow. I am nervous that I will just clam up the way I always do in my previous French classes, not being able to push myself to the next level. But this is the only opportunity I get... I must try... wish me luck for tomorrow!