Activités Culturelles

Bonjour tout le Monde!

For the class that I am currently enrolled in, I also need to do three cultural activities in Paris excluding all of the different walks that I can do. Personally, I feel that living in Paris is a cultural activity, but this forced me to go out and find different opportunities to experience more of the culture.

Activité Culturelle 1:May 24: Le Spectacle de la college de Rueil-Malmaison

            In Rueil-Malmaison there is another girl living with our family, and she is thirteen years old. She lives there because the arts program in Rueil-Malmaison is incredible, and I was able to see this for myself as I watched the performance. It was fun because my host mom got us in for free in the reserved section, and she was able to introduce the performance. Perks of being in charge of culture on the city councel. The performance started with a choir of children. They had all of these intricate rhythms they were making up with their hands by doing claps and stuff. I was amazing that everyone was able to participate. I was amazed by how well everyone knew everything, and that even the unruly boys were doing it and paying attention. There was another choir, and then we got to see the girl dance. It is amazing to me that they actually teach ballet at the middle schools here, and that some of the girls were on pointe. I wish people had that kind of opportunity where I lived. We were able to watch the girls do a character dance and some ballet exercises. After, another group did a whole Mozart performance, and performing many different songs by them. Lastly, people did a portion of a baroque opera, and some of it was in English so I could actually understand. Obviously, it was just a middle school performance so it was not amazing, but I was amazed that it was all put on by the school and not a private organization.

My Host mom (second from the right) introducing the performance

The Mozart performance

Activité Culturelle 2: April 25: The Catacombs

            Although I did this cultural activity just because I was interested in it, I found out recently that it counts as a cultural activity too which is great! I found the catacombs very interesting. The catacombs were created in 1787, mainly because one of the largest cemeteries in Paris was causing infections to the people. The remains of bodies were moved from that cemetery to the catacombs and until 1814 the catacombs received remains from all of the cemeteries from Paris. It was very interesting to go down into the catacombs. Not just because all of the bones that were there but also because there were many interesting quotes and proverb that lined the walls. Overall, it felt like a place full of history, and of course it was quite creepy going down many flights of stairs to a place full of the remains of people.

Just hanging with some bones

"The eyes of God are fixed on the just and his ears are open to their prayers"
(Also I was really excited to be able to translate that myself)

Activité Culturelle 3: June 2: Giselle

            This was by far my favorite cultural activity. I had been looking for tickets to Giselle for the longest time, and I was so excited when I was randomly searching for about the 5^th time and found that there was ONE ticket left. To be able to see Giselle in the Palais Garnier was a dream come true. Giselle is a shorter ballet, telling the story of a peasant girl who fell in love with someone who was betrothed to another. She dies from a broken heart and then the Wilis, a group of supernatural women who dance men to death, summon Giselle from her grave and she saves her love from dying. The story sounds a little strange, but the dancing was amazing, especially with the male dancers. There was one male dancer who was not a lead, but had the most amazing solo, and they all danced so well. The principle dancer was so graceful and beautiful, and it was amazing to see the whole corps dance together. Overall, it was such a great experience, and I loved being able to see it in the Palais Garnier, one of my favorite places ever. I do wish I could have had the opportunity to see it with someone else too, but I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to watch it. It was such a beautiful ballet.

The stage for the Palais Garnier

Some of the seats for the Palais Garnier

The Wilis

À Bientôt,

Claire Hunsaker