busted

It's Wednesday so I was afforded an leisurely morning, though I still woke up at 7:57. I spent the morning planning my week and studying for my French quiz on Tuesday. I made a grilled cheese for lunch and left an hour early to meet my class at the Pantheon for today's excursion.

Supposedly the easiest way to get to the Pantheon is taking the RER. I've never taken the RER before, and I was a little intimidated. I had to go upstairs into the international trains building and then follow a bunch of signs (oh French signs. Why can't you point in the right direction?) into a different underground station. I'm never taking the RER again. It's so dark and scary down there and everyone looks like zombies. It's even dirtier than the metro and the signs are harder to read. I finally found the right train going in the right direction and got on.

I took the train one stop to Chatelet-Les Halles and looked for line b. I found the line fairly easily, but the map didn't show the stop that I wanted to get off at. I was in trouble. I was already panicked considering that the RER is so creepy, and now I was going to be late for class. I knew that this couldn't possibly be the right line so I went upstairs to see if I could find a different line B. It turns out that there's a line B nord and line B sud. I found the right train and got on for two stops until Luxembourg.

I remembered Christina's instructions saying to be at the back of the train. My directions said St. Michel exit, but there was no St. Michel exit on the board. I went to the exit I thought was right and started walking in the direction I thought was going towards the Pantheon. I finally came across a familiar corner and figured that I'd find my way there by follwing the way my class had come when we visited a few weeks ago. Good thing I saw a sign that said Pantheon and pointed straight up the hill at which the Pantheon is at the top.

I got there with about fifteen minutes to spare, but none of my class was there. I scanned the plaza until I finally saw Nico and a girl classmate walk by 5 minutes before our meeting time at 1:45. We ended up waiting until 1:55 for the rest of the class to get there, but some were still even later than that. Oh, did I mention that Christina knows Caroline? I told Christina that I had met Caroline and we chatted for a bit about her.

While waiting for the rest of our class to show up, I watched Tamara hand Nico a metro ticket because she owed him one. I wanted to hit her. She can repay his metro ticket but not mine? I know I'm overreacting, but it still annoys me.

I won't bore you with every detail of the Pantheon. Basically, pantheon means a monument to all the gods. It's usually in the form of a church. The Pantheon in Paris was originally supposed to be dedicated to Saint Genevieve but after the Revolution the concept changed into a monument to all great men of France. The revolution was anti monarchy and anti religion so a monument to a saint just wouldn't do. The whole building is basically a clash between values of the Republic and religious virtues. Fascinating stuff.

I would also like to mention that there's a crypt at the bottom of the Pantheon. Anyone who knows me well knows that I have zero desire to go anywhere near a crypt. She made us go in. The crypt really wasn't as creepy as you would think. There's no decoration on the simply constructed limestone bricks. It looks like an unfinished vault. Despite its creepy factor, I can now boast that I've been near the bodies of Madame Curie, Victor Hugo, Sufflot, Rosseau, and Voltaire. Beat that.

Since we started ten minutes late we were ten minutes late getting out. Christina gave us the option of leaving early if we had class but Nico and the other girl from my pop class decided we should stay. We rushed for the metro the second Christina let us out. I could swear that I remember taking the metro from Luxembourg before, but it ended up being the RER. We took line B to Chatelet and then got onto the one after a four minute walk that included one of those things that are like flat escalators that move really quickly (they're in airports also). I decided to take the eight to Ledru-Rollin from Bastille while the girl and Nico got off at Bastille to grab a quick lunch before class.

I got to class literally one minute after five o'clock. Class was okay. I was hot and felt like the metro had run me over. I was ready for my nap. I did have a funny moment during class. Mindy said "here in France", and I thought. Whoa. I totally forgot that I was in France while sitting in the classroom, and the gravity of the situation dawned on me. I'm not in the states. I'm here. In France. It's not some far off place, but I'm actually here. Whoa.

After class I met with Mindy to talk about my paper.We went to the Accent center to chat. Before Mindy came up I chatted with Nic. He seems like a nice guy. Mindy and I talked about my paper and she was really helpful. I know exactly what to do to focus my paper and hopefully do well. After we talked about my paper she said "well….I've been meaning to ask you something. Why don't you talk in class?". Busted. We then talked for a really long time about learning to speak in public and allowing yourself to make mistakes and not worrying about what other people think. I promised her that I'd try to talk in class more.

I came home and edited my paper and practiced my French presentation a few times. Now it's finally time for relaxation. I think ice cream is in order.