At métro stop Passy, 16e arrondissement

"look at the sky..."

Strange Endorsements

Apparently, Hugh Laurie (aka, Dr. House) is the spokesmodel for the L'Oréal Men's Skincare Line in France.

He advises you to "Be yourself, but don't let yourself go!"

Go figure?

Parisian Anomaly

First time ever seeing a Parisian pick up after their dog.

Madame, I wish you good karma for all eternity, because I'm pretty sure you are the only person in this entire city who has ever done that.

The Land I Love: Ode to an Adoptive Homeland

For those of you keeping track at home...yes, I have made FOUR trips to Basse Normandie since arriving in France this year.

Not only is it where I spent my 2009 Princeton in France Summer Internship (working for L'Association Culture et Patrimoine du Pays d'Auge - the Culture and Heritage Association of the Pays d'Auge - for their summer music festival, Les Promenades Musicales), it is also where I fell in love: with the land, with the history, with agriculture, with strong cheese, with cidre and pommeau and Calvados, with spontaneity, with eliminating "non" from my vocabulary, and with bringing my camera everywhere I go (just in case!).

I may be living it up in Paris, but I feel très normande in my heart. Normandie is the only place in the world where I forget to carry my phone, don't feel the need to check my e-mail, and most of the time don't even know what time it is.

Every time I go back, I feel like I'm returning home.

Why?

The greenest of greens:

(Cambremer, 2009)

(Montviette, 2009)

(somewhere near St.-Loup-de-Fribois, 2009)

(Holly, or le houx, which we collected this year to make Christmas decorations!)

. . . AGRICULTURE,

(Mézidon-Canon, 2009)

(near St.-Loup-de-Fribois, 2009)

(near St.-Loup-de-Fribois, 2009)

... and especially,

COWS

(2009)

(2009)

*** It should be noted that the cows pictured are not vaches normandes (the iconic black and white, milk and meat producing cows native to the region), but rather blondes d'Aquitaine, which is the breed my friends raise.

(and chasing them down

in the rain when they try to escape!)

...and, consequently, lots of milk, cream, and CHEESE

...but also, bountiful, beautiful APPLES...

...long, winding roads...

...with history at every turn...

(the American cemetery)

(a bullet hole in a bunker at Point du Hoc)

(helmets and gear from WWII found on my friends' farm)

...and churches,

(Église de Ste-Marie-aux-Anglais)

...cathedrals...

...and basilicas to take

both believing and non-believing

breath away...

...and, finally,

always somewhere to warm up again

and dream of the next's day's adventures...

Post-grad fellowship application writing fuel

Chocolat fondant and petit canelle. A sinfully rich pudding-like cake and a cheerfully sweet, sticky, sponge-y morsel.

Only set me back 2,50€ and 0,60€, respectively. And the app was finished!

After all, as the pastry wrappers in France advise...

"Eat cake more often."

Studio Photography : Eric T., cellist

At the beginning of the month I asked cellist and fellow CUPA student Eric to come into the studio and model for me. Although we had only spoken a few times, I was hoping he wouldn't be too creeped out by my proposed exchange of his time, face, and instrument for free headshots. Lucky for both of us, he accepted my offer, and came to the studio dressed in black and ready to have some fun!

I really enjoy photographing musicians and their instruments, separately and together. Some of you may remember some of the shots from my final project in VIS 212 Introductory Photography (black and white film), which I took last semester. Many of those photos can be viewed online here.

Eric and I ended up doing mostly color digital that day, although I did take a few stunning film shots (which I'm still in the process of printing - stay tuned!). We tried to explore time and motion with long shutter speeds, unusual vantage points and strange poses with the instrument, and we weren't afraid to get a little kitschy!

Haven't had time to mess with any of these yet, so what you're looking at is straight from the camera - completely unedited! (Isn't studio lighting the best?!) *Although it seems uploading to Blogger does mess with photo quality...

First shot of the day, a candid snapped haphazardly as Eric was tuning; ended up being one of our favorites.

We even got a visit from Patouche, the studio cat, who wanted his share of the spotlight!

Yoga cello!

Unconventional.

Classic.

Dark and mysterious.

Want to hear Eric play? Check him out on YouTube! (And don't miss the awesome four-handed cello duet video!)

When the weather outside gets frightful...

...the natural response is to seek hot chocolate. Amiright? And if you have any lingering caloric fears, just go with J.K. Rowling's logic: "chocolate serves as a powerful and excellent antidote for the chilling, cold effect produced by Dementors, and other particularly nasty forms of dark magic."

There are several fine establishments that seek the title of meilleur chocolat chaud de Paris (best hot chocolate in Paris). But on one bone-chillingly cold and drizzly day, E. and I opted for Christian Constant, which was just a short walk from the CUPA office.

Stepping into Christian Constant, you can tell just that you're surrounded by some high-quality chocolate, even after the first whiff. Trying not to get distracted by the exquisite truffles tempting us from behind glass cases, we took a seat by the window and opened the menu.

Instead of sharing (which would have been the rational thing to do), E. and I decided to turn a blind eye to the 6€50 price tag for a single serving of chocolat chaud and to each opt for the "full experience." (Did I mention that it was really, really cold outside?)

If you can't tell from the picture, this hot chocolate was toeing the line between liquid and pudding. It was as filling as a slice of cake, but dark, bitter, and complex in addition to just being simply sweet. It certainly didn't quench any thirst (we were extremely grateful for the carafe d'eau our waiter brought us), but it satisfied the soul in a way that I think Harry, Ron, and Hermione would understand.