End of the First Semester

Our first semester in Versailles finally came to a close in mid-December, and only now, finally having caught up on sleep, do I have the energy to write about it.  Our classes were tough, but the prospect of befriending the French students and traveling on the weekends made the semester a good one overall.

Design class dominated our lives for the last month of school, our assignment being to create a multifunctional theater on a site near the Bastille in Paris.  Before our fall travel break, it had been difficult to really focus whole-heartedly on the design of a building -- all of Europe lay before us, after all, and we were eager to explore it -- but once we returned, it was time to crack down.  Working in pairs, and divided amongst three different studio professors, 24 different theaters were finally designed.  We presented our final boards on the last day of class to all of the SAPV professors as well as some guests.  I hope to start a new page for student artwork on this blog soon, so that everyone back home will be able to see our progress.

Final reviews

Our other classes also ended well.  In history, we made a few more trips to Paris (for example, Henri IV's Place des Vosges and the magnificent Louvre museum) before the final exam.  Structures class featured a fun exercise in which we were grouped into teams and competed to build the tallest possible structure out of spaghetti, clay, and string.  Our "independent study" was graded based on our performance in French class and the quality of our sketching assignments (most of which were done during the week-long travel break).

Structures class

Outside of academics, life continued to get more and more interesting throughout the semester.  Despite various problems with housing and some unfortunate weather (French people don't know how to shovel snow!), we managed to have a lot of fun and hang out with the French students more often.  We threw them a party in one of the big ateliers (studios) in early December, which they absolutely loved.  And right before winter break began, some of us attended their huge Christmas party (along with a delicious dinner beforehand), which lasted all night long.  But we still tried to keep up with our American customs, so our directors organized a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at a local restaurant for us.  The food wasn't what we were used to, but it was delicious nevertheless.  Almost all of the students went to see Harry Potter that afternoon, so it was a long, fun day of traditions.

Thanksgiving dinner

French Christmas party

A few students went back home for winter break, some students' families came here to visit, and some continued to travel throughout Europe.  Soon, we'll be starting up a new page on this blog for everyone's travel adventures (there are a ton of good stories!).  Hopefully everyone has caught up on their sleep by now, because come Tuesday, it's time for us to get into school mode once again.