Versailles

So the main thing that I want to talk about in this post is my trip to Versailles.

When we first got to Versailles, we were greeted with a regal statue of Louis the 14th. Then we saw the brilliant golden fences. I was amazed at how much gold there was everywhere. This palace is really a testament to the wealth of the French monarchs (and perhaps a warning about their extreme arrogance...).

So the line to get in was very long. We decided that it would be a good idea to pretend that we were students from the EU. That way we would get free admission. I didn't like this idea too much but they didn't give us that hard a time even though we didn't actually have identification from another country- we used our international students cards. Luckily they didn't know that University of Michigan wasn't in the EU...

My overall reaction to the palace was that it was unbelievable that such a palace exists. The extravagance is almost impossible to describe. One of the more impressive aspects is that there were fabulous statues everywhere. Also the rooms of the king and queen were really outrageous  (the queen won out on the most opulent room... good for her?!)

I think a general theme in many of the trips that we've been taking is that there is just so much to appreciate and we don't have the time to really appreciate the sites. I would love to learn all about the history of Versailles and the psychology behind the man who made it so extravagant. I felt like we rushed through all of the exhibits. Another theme that I've noticed is that my general historical knowledge is lacking. Many sculptures are related to Greek mythology and many paintings depict stories from the bible. It would be nice to have enough knowledge of these things to be able to recognize that a sculpture is showing, for instance, the abduction of Persephone.

But even though I am recognizing a lack of knowledge, I doubt that I will take steps to learn more about these areas. I just feel that I am too busy.  I think that I would like to go back to some of these places on my own in the future. I would like to do the audio tours. I would enjoy learning more about the history of the paintings.

Another general conclusion about these trips is that I value relaxing. In accordance with the French style pace of life, I love to just sit down and enjoy looking around. I was pleased that I was able to convince our group to sit on the grass for about a half hour. I hope that I will get to do more relaxing in the future.

Socially, I feel that I am striking a good balance. I appreciate that people seem to respect the fact that I want to carefully balance my time and that I need to factor in GRE studying. From my perspective, it seems like I am able to do things with other people every few days.  For instance, I have been making pasta for myself for the past few nights, but I took one night off to go to dinner with the group at the on campus cafeteria in order to hang out. Overall, it seems like I am over thinking these things and that I am getting along with the group.   I really did have a good time at Versailles and a big part of it was doing touristy things with the other people here.

Anyways, I have two more days this weekend to do fun things. Half of the students in the program are going to southern France. So hopefully the rest of us will do some fun things as well. But most of all, I am looking forward to sleeping in tonight.

Another aside is that I do feel like my GRE preparation is going well.  I took a computer adaptive test through princeton review and I hit my goal on the verbal. The essays didn't seem to go so well. I had trouble thinking about ideas for the essay and I didn't start out with a solid outline. Furthermore, I got nervous throughout the essay since the ideas were not coming together well. Also in general, I have to work on the essay that is to evaluate an argument. I do this so rarely now in a formal sense that I am not sure how to structure the essay. I have been doing a lot of vocab and I think that helps me get handful of questions correct on the verbal. The most helpful thing in studying is just getting familiar with the question types and how to go about them.

Another thing that has been on my mind related to the GRE is that I feel that the test prep sites negatively impact poorer people. $450 effectively gets you an increase of 100 to 200 points (out of 800). Granted you have to put in the time, but if that is prohibitively expensive for you, then you are at a huge disadvantage. It is too bad that they don't offer better free test materials. Luckily I have been able to find enough practice materials to last me until I take the test in about two weeks.