since school let out

sorry it has been a while since my last entry, i have been showing emily around paris and have been traveling to london. it has been nice to have a break and not to sketch while traveling. i saw london with emily and we met up with charlie, ryan and colleen while there. it was really fun, not as cold as paris which was nice, but pretty expensive. we saw the british parliament, the clocktower, westminster abbey, hyde park, tower bridge and lots more. attached are some pages from a book that im making from my trip over here.

Semester's Almost Over

We went to a discotheque for our friend Liz's birthday and that is the top picture, it was really interesting because the french dance without really moving their legs and just their hands, at least in this club. Our class also saw the Opera Garnier, and that image of the ceiling is of the inside of the Opera and was painted by Marc Chagall in the 60's, it was really really beautiful. Then I saw Shakespear's Book Store across from Notre Dame, and that is somewhere that everyone must go if they ever visit Paris. And the final image is of a construction site that our class visited, the drywall seen here is molded around a metal frame and is covering an ampitheater with colored skylights above, pretty crazy.

keepin on

i guess you could say im in the groove right now. the weeks are flying by because we are always working for a deadline and as soon as we meet that deadline there are three other things that need to be finished the day after. our bathhouse project is coming along, it has developed and changed quite a bit from our original design, but i like where its going but there is still a lot more to do and now the real tensions happen in our group when we have to decide the finishing details (colors, materials, sizes, etc.) all of which are very subjective opinions and its hard to make compromises with three people, but it will be done and then next semester i'll have an individual project, which will be fun too. there has been a strike here for about a week, the people who work for the transit authority are striking which means is a pain to get anywhere and its inconveniencing everyone. Also the students are on strike right now, no school, because they dont have to pay for ANY school (even college) and now the new president is suggesting that they pay SOME for school and they refuse, so they are striking until the government drops this bill, so who knows how long that will last. and today is national strike day, everyone who works for the government (i.e. librarians, teachers, government secretaries, and even doctors) are not working! its ridiculous , im all for people trying to improve their situations, but the french do it every year and they dont care who they affect by doing so.

Back From Trip Two

I'm glad to be "home" after being gone for 11 days sleeping in random beds in strange towns, i can't imagine how nice its going to be when i actually get home. But the time spent on my second sketching trip was amazing. I went with my roommate Charlie and friend Liz to Brussels in Belgium, a very historic city known for its beer and chocolate which lived up to its reputation. Then afterwards we went to Amsterdam in Holland, which was the most overwhelming city i have ever been to. A city of "vice", prostitution and many drugs are legal and both of which are displayed everywhere in the center of the city, the red light district, which was where our hostel was (it was the cheapest place we could find). The city was great though, one of my favorite on the trip because Amsterdam is divided by a system of canals and like Venice, Italy is built on somewhat of a swamp, so all the buildings have a slant to them, and outside of the city are lots of really cool contemporary apartment buildings. After Amsterdam we went to Cologne, Germany, which was ok, not the best but i really liked the food there (very traditional German) and the Dom (the largest church i have ever seen), then we took a day trip to Aachen, Germany and saw a really cool Church there (the Palatine Chapel at Aachen) and then went to the second largest port city in Europe, Hamburg, Germany (also the farthest north i have ever been), which was an interesting city. There wasn't much to do there in the way of touristy things, but Hamburg has a really cool music scene and most of the population is my age so i felt pretty comfortable there. Then we went to Berlin, Germany, by far my favorite city thus far in Europe. Berlin was at the center of WWII and the communist east/west Berlin conflict that ended not too long ago, so there is a lot of history there as well as rebuilding after the devastation of WWII. So it was great to come home and sleep in my bed, but i got to meet some interesting people (a girl from turkey, a guy from the states and another from canada, some aussies, two girls from manchester england, two others from spain, and some really loud snoring turkish guys) and we saw some really awesome places. looking forward to traveling again in febuary.

French Video Two

First French Party

We had our first french party last friday and it was a great time. since my costume consisted of all bags, the theme was "anything but clothes", i was delegated as a bartender for a party of 200 french, spanish, german and some american students. there were 25 cases of beer and dozens of bottles of alcohol, a live brass band and all crammed in a little room. It was a good party, no major accidents and no injuries so a good start to our french and american relationship as students.

whats going om

well, right now not a whole lot is going on. I am in school and trying to keep up with that. We have structures class twice a week and history twice as well, and the rest is for design and sketching. I like all my classes, structures is challenging in a good way, so that i think and am challenged with problems that i can solve. history is challenging in a bad way, we are given a lot of readings to complete which are boring at best, but which contain a shred of information that will be on a test. Design in tough too, but i do like it and our group is starting to make some headway in our bathhouse project. I will post images when we start to create them, but outside of school the rugby world cup has been going on and france made it to the semi-finals and lost to england last night, we saw the game in front of the eiffel tower along with 100,000 other parisians.

SketchTripOne

Oktoberfest

well i can say that i survived it. the bus there took 16 very long hours, with about 30 min sleep, and we were 2 1/2 hours late, but we got to our hotel which was a 350$, 8'x8' square with 7 people in it, so we dropped our stuff off in the "closet" and preceded to downtown Munich. It is estimated that around 6 million people attend Oktoberfest every year, and I think all 6 million decided to go on that saturday, it was insane. Literally people shoulder to shoulder as far as the eye could see, and each one with about two liters of beer in them. We tried getting in the beer tents, there were about 12 of them and each seats about 1thousand, i guess. And each was full, so we left and got beers outside the main area and walked around Munich to return tomorrow morning. Munich is a beautiful city and every single person i met was nice and not only minded talking to you and helping you, but would offer to start a random conversation and since i speak no german and they all speak english it was great. But sunday morning at 10 am we go to the beer tents, which were already almost full and even though it was so early it was crazy, hundreds of tables and each packed with people, everyone singing and yelling and dancing on the tables. We all got our steins, 1 liter each, downed those, snuck them out (because its a 50euro fine to be caught stealing them, but its oktoberfest you have to) and we explored more of Munich and got on the bus back to Paris. The ride back was just as exhausting but we met this Canadian Nanny, who is 18 and has lived in Paris for a year and is going to Australia for college, she was really nice and extremely interesting, so we will all probably go out with her sometime in Paris. So all in all, great trip. Little sleep in either a bus or a cramped room, but I got to hang out with charlie on his 21st at Oktoberfest, meet some interesting people and spend time with my friends.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE OF MY ROOM, ITS A VIDEO!

Sunday Visit To Paris

France Part One

Whats goin on

Well we got our design project for this semester and it is to create a bathhouse (like the old roman or turkish places where people were messaged and sat is cold and hot rooms) its like the equivalent to today's spas, but huge. And its interesting because its on a triangular site, on a slope, next to a canal, and surrounded by 2-3 hundred old neoclassical buildings. but it is down the street from a new public park that is immense, its called Park Villette and is full of contemporary modern architecture, so it will be fun to design this. I am in a group with my roommate charlie and another girl named angie, who is pretty smart. So it will be a fun design project, that will last until christmas. besides that, not a whole not last happened, going to markets buying more exotic foods and am starting to cook chicken, sausage and all kinds of pasta, so life is good. going to oktoberfest next weekend in Munich, Germany, and about 20 of is are taking a 13 hour bus to get there, should have some stories to tell after that.

since then

well since the last time i was on here, more classes have started and more money has been spent, but good times have been had. im starting to make new friends and am definitely starting to see new things, today our french class went to montmartre (spelling sorry) and it was beautiful, then on the way back down the mountain, we passed the bar where Amelie was shot in and saw the Moulin Rouge, all very nice. This weekend some of us are thinking of spending a ton of time in Paris and just soaking in as much as we can until our design studios start, which will eat up all of our free time. In conclusion, things are getting better over here, its a weird transition process going from catholic dorm in the states, to living in some french guys office building in a suburb of paris for a year. but im liking it more with time.

Pictures

getting settled in

now that the jetlag is wearing off and daily life is settling in, versailles is at least becoming to look a little familiar in spots and im starting to understand which way is north. although expensive i really do like going down the street to get a fresh baguette every morning and fresh everything else, even though its a little pricey. but hey theres no tax and no tips so no worse than any major us city. paris was awsome when we went, and im really looking forward to going without a big group and actually blending in and spending some actual time looking at all the interesting buildings. we start sketching and structures tomorrow and then history. i will get pictures on here as soon as i can too. my address is Max Bemberg
c/o University of Illinois
UIUC-SAPV
2, Avenue de Paris
78000 Versailles, France

startin it up

well im here and its awsomely expensive but there is nothing that i can do about it so ill just have to deal with it. school is awsome and words dont do it justice, so ill try and post some pictures on here as soon as i can. the town of versailles is huge and everyone here is pretty nice. we went to paris yesterday and saw notre dame and the pompidou center and a lot of non touristy things which was nice. and today charlie and i went to the local market and accidentally bought 11 dollars worth of cheese and have already gotten lost and have broken some wine bottles in a store but we doing alright. and by the way wine is cheaper here than mike and some water, and a 4 year old could buy it. so i will keep up on what im doing, and tell if anything interesting happens

Leaving soon

well its almost the eve of my leaving for france and its a very interesting feeling. excited to be in a new place and meet new people and see europe, but hesitant about leaving friends and family and other loved ones in the states. i dont really think it will sink in where i am until about a week from now, because i think the first week or so will be like vacation, seeing new sights, unpacking in a hole in the wall apartment and just expecting to leave when my stay has passed. so that transition into my daily life will be the time that i think it will start to settle that i'll be here for a while. oktoberfest is coming soon and being our first scheduled trip is great too, kinda touristy, but you have to start somewhere.

Still here

So I thought this would be a good idea to show people still in the states what im doing in france next year.