![\"P1030083\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/toulouse\/files\/2013\/03\/P1030083.jpg\")
<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\nThe students discover Paris from the Seine \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 The students at the Paris Mosque \u2013 couscous, tajines, honey and almond pastries<\/span><\/p>\n The next morning, the group went to the Pompidou Center, where a guide led them through a selection of the museum\u2019s permanent collection. Both art-lovers and the non-initiated were able to gain a better knowledge of modern and contemporary art. The artwork sparked deep reflections on the represented subjects.<\/p>\n The Pompidou Center from Boulevard S\u00e9bastopol\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In front of Le Bal <\/i>by Sonia Delaunay<\/span><\/p>\n Sam and Sarah were attracted by two works in particular:<\/p>\n \u201cAt the Pompidou Center, there was an installation that I particularly liked,\u201d explained Sam about a work by Pascal Convert. \u201cIt was a rectangular basin made of wood and filled with glass that made me think of water. But in the glass you could see the faint image of a mother holding her child, and to see the image, you had to examine the basin thoroughly because the glass was broken.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOf the artwork we saw, I really loved the one with the hands. It depicts a political story told just by the movement of the photographed hands. The image is in black and white, but it tells a much larger story than a lot of the other artwork,\u201d affirmed Sarah about a photo by Johannes Kahrs.<\/p>\n Pascal Convert,\u00a0Le temps scell\u00e9 (Sealed Time),\u00a0<\/em>2009 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Johannes Kahrs\u00a0, \u00a0Finally Accept Fate, <\/i>2002<\/span><\/p>\n Molly explained her emotions when faced with the \u00ab\u00a0bizarre\u00a0\u00bb:<\/p>\n \u201cI really liked the Pompidou Center. Not only was the building bizarre, but all of the artwork inside it were strange \u2013 and that\u2019s what I loved about it. Modern and contemporary art are often ignored by people because they don\u2019t think they constitute \u2018art\u2019. But art is everywhere. It depends on how you see the world and how you look at what is around you. I saw this clearly by walking through the hallways of the Pompidou Center. I will never forget this feeling of seeing the bizarre and accepting it as it is.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0 \n Todd and Sarah in front of Ernesto Neto\u2019s\u00a0We stopped just here at the time<\/em>\u00a0(2002)<\/span><\/p>\n The next day, at the Cit\u00e9 de l\u2019Immigration, the students were able to make a connection between the French colonial period and immigration today. Ryan was particularly interested by\u2026<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026the role that imperialism has played in the creation of a French identity. I have the impression that, until recently, France has maintained a mentality that considers French as the center of the world, surrounded by colonies and savage lands that can be exploited for their riches. Although\u00a0 France has lost its empire, I think this paternalist view still exists. If you listen to how people talk about immigrants, Islam or post-colonialism in general, you\u2019ll notice little xenophobic beliefs, found everywhere in the world, that soaked into the French mentality during the imperialist period and during their civilizing mission.\u201d<\/p>\n The students at the Cit\u00e9 de l\u2019Immigration<\/span><\/p>\n In the evening at the Com\u00e9die Fran\u00e7aise, the students dove into Marcel Aym\u00e9\u2019s satirical world by attending his play, La T\u00eate des Autres <\/i>(The Heads of Others). The play allowed many of them to reflect on society. Lindsey commented that \u201cit was interesting because the death penalty is unauthorized in France, but it was the subject of the play.\u201d Sam became aware of society\u2019s hypocrisy, which Aym\u00e9 was criticizing: \u201cThe play criticized that fact that human beings often ignore injustice except when they are the victims of it and also the fact that even the most idealist people \u2013 represented by the escaped prisoner \u2013 are in the end only impure people who only care about themselves. It\u2019s dark and harsh criticism; I think it\u2019s fairly legitimate, but I don\u2019t believe it\u2019s completely correct. I\u2019d like to have more faith in humanity than that\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n During their free time, the students discovered Paris in their own way.<\/p>\n Todd confided that he had \u201cunique experiences in Paris.\u201d He said: \u201cAfter the Pompidou Center, I felt very inspired and wrote a lot of poetry in the metro, followed by a Bikram yoga session. After this experience, I walked to the hotel, stopping in the small galleries along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n Mana drew our attention to the mass of people that crowds the streets of Paris: \u201cThere are a lot of people in Paris, especially tourists\u2026I think that\u2019s why Parisian\u2019s are less open than people in Toulouse.\u201d<\/p>\n Ryan realized, while walking through the streets, that the architecture in Paris is a contrast of the old and the new.<\/p>\n History and Modernism<\/span><\/p>\n In the first photo, Ryan explained that \u201cyou can see how history and modernism coexist in France. When you look at the architecture on the Champs Elys\u00e9es, you can see buildings with a traditional style right next to a really modern Citro\u00ebn building. This contrast shows how France, and Paris in particular, have tried to preserve their history while also modernizing the city.\u201d The second photo shows \u201ca snapshot of Place de l\u2019Etoile from the top of the Arc du Triomphe, he historical center of Paris. On the horizon, you can see skyscrapers sprouting out of old Paris.\u201d<\/p>\n Finally, Sarah described a portrait of Parisian women: \u201cParisian women wear chic clothes, with neutral colors and a big leather bag. She wears high heals, which is very easy for her. She\u2019s confident and walks with her boyfriend or friends, who are just as chic as she is.\u201d<\/p>\n The students came back to Toulouse tired, but with lots of unforgettable experiences of the French capital.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" During Winter break, the Spring students and the Dickinson in France team wen to Paris for four days. Most of the students had not been to Paris before the trip. Before leaving, Ryan perceived Paris through cinema : \u201cI imagine Paris idealistically \u2013 as a mix of the movies Am\u00e9lie and Paris, je t\u2019aime \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4846,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[30101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2-la-une-in-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/toulouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/toulouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/toulouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/toulouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4846"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/toulouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/toulouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2554\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/toulouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/toulouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/toulouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/span><\/a> <\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n