Modern Art

Today I visited the Centre Pompidou. It is maybe the most out of place building I’ve ever seen. It’s this big square building in the middle of Paris with all the plumbing etc on the outside. The fact that it is painted in really bright colors and is right across the street from an old church doesn’t really help it fit in either. There is a big paved section in front of it, where people lay down and sun tan like they’re at the beach (I guess it’s the closest thing in Paris), street performers perform, and strangely enough, WIFI is set up, so everyone sits with their computers…kind of funny. Anyways, I walked around for a really long time inside. There are lots of really cool (but very artsy) exhibit things, like videos, paintings, art set up in rooms, all with ridiculous explanations that try to connect them to Film…like “this painting juxtaposes the light and darkness, therefore portraying an important part of Film, the light coming through the black/white on the film, creating…” I think you get the picture. I really enjoy modern art (I like it a lot more than I like looking at sculptures for 2 hours), so it was fun to meander around to the different rooms filled with craziness (and crazier descriptions of the craziness)

I soon got tired from walking and looking, so I left and walked around Les Halles. It is the area around the Centre Pompidou, where there are a lot of clothing stores, cafés, and other random stores. It is pretty touristy, but it was kind of similar to the 16th street mall in Denver…a little bit. Anyways, I’m not going to keep rambling and pretend like I did a lot today. Most days I go to bed around 12 and wake up around 12…I don’t know what it is but I sleep here better than I do anywhere else. Maybe it’s the fact my bed is really comfortable and the room gets very dark at night, or maybe it’s just because I walk so freaking far everyday on my sight seeing journeys. Well, sorry this wasn’t the most exciting post ever. But tomorrow I don’t really know what I’m doing, but I’m leaving at about 4:30 to go my Rotary districts welcome weekend with 12 inbound exchange students and 5 ex-exchange students from France. I’m excited, except for the fact that they said I need to bring a sleeping bag because we're sleeping in tents and I don’t have one/didn’t want to buy it…so I’m just going to rough it Tom McChesney style…hey, maybe I’ll just make a sauna out of my tent. Anyways, I might post tomorrow, but not over the weekend, love you all

Actually, I did remember something interesting. Today my host mom brought me up with my suitcase to their storage room in the top/back of the apartment complex. I guess it's where the maids used to live back when the people here used maids. But you walk up this ridiculously small, poorly lit staircase that starts in the back of the kitchen for like 10 floors and then there are a bunch of little rooms...for storage etc. But my family owns like three rooms (you buy them i think) and two are theirs for storage, and then another one is like a little extra room for when their third son comes home to visit. Anyways, it was weird to see this extra, historical part of my apartment complex. that is really all. love you. ill update you on how my weekend went monday (school starts monday as well !!)

Brent

P.S. Love your comments, keep ‘em coming
P.P.S. If what you read is boring…tell me and I’ll invent fun stories to make you laugh