Ceci n'est pas un postcard...

...it really does look like this.

So, we're finally settling in to the rhythm of Paris. I am now (almost) fully back into the student mentality. Matt has been working hard since we got here, but it took me a little while to adjust. So far, I have three classes at Columbia in Paris and will be starting a class within the French university system most likely in November. I'm considering several classes at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes and others at Université de Paris IV and VII. Reid Hall, Columbia's campus here, is a lovely 18th century French house, too charming for words, therefore:

Classes seem like they will be intense and stimulating. All of them are in French, including the history of France through artistic representation, stylistics of French writing (which is turning out to be a reread of all my favorite existentialist writers, but finally in the original language), and theory of cultural studies, i.e. more contemporary French philosophy, yay! Everyone in the program is intelligent and kind.

Fall has already begun to fall here. It's beautiful, but nothing compared to the northeast. My good friend Katy from Brown, who is beginning her teaching program next week in Nevers (southeast of Paris), has just arrived in France so she is staying with us for a few days. It has gotten me to do more sightseeing and we're having a great time exploring together.

I tried my hand at our tiny toaster-sized oven the other day with my first foray into pâte à choux, which is just puff-pastry, but Frencher. Mind you, we also do not have a measuring cup, a scale (all ingredients are measured by weight, not volume), nor a good handle on the metric system. After all the calculations and translations, our gougères came out as merely biscuits, they were still delicious, but hardly what I had intended.

All in all, we lead a pretty simple life, full of bread, wine, and heart-shaped cheese. More on this soon...