Exercise #176 : Sprinkle in ze French!

An American who was resident in Paris for many years gives a tour of the local art museum to some friends who are mighty impressed. Write the scene with dialogue.

Impression: soleil levant by Claude Monet

Ah, le français...Je l'aime. Vraiment... :) I'm actually taking French right now, and it's been nice to get back into it. I haven't taken it in several years and have, as a result, forgotten some of the grammatical rules, etc.

But anyways... Let's get on with it, shall we?


"Salut, mes amis! Ça va?" Claire said. It was her first day on the job at the Nadesico Museum of the Cultural Arts*, and a group of her friends had bought tickets for her tour in support of this new venture of her life.

Her friends grinned happily as she continued. "I'm so glad you all could come. Welcome to the Nadesico Museum of the Cultural Arts. Our main exhibit today is a French Impressionism collection straight from the basement of the Louvre itself and starts off with a bang. If you would follow me..." Claire turned and walked toward the first painting. "This is Impression: soleil levant by Claude Monet himself and is said to have started the entire Impressionist movement. The title, directly translated as "Impression, sunrise" is where they even got the idea to name the movement."

Claire surveyed her friends. With all of them looking intently at the picture, now was the time to wow them with her knowledge.

"Dated 1872, this piece's subject is the harbor of a city called La Havre (or The Haven) in France which holds one of the most populous communes in the Haute-Normandie region of France. In this particular picture, one might get a feeling of gloominess despite the sunrise in the background because of the dark teals and greys Monet used, but if you were to visit La Havre today, you would see that it is actually quite beautiful. Back in the late 1800s, the city was known for its dusky, dark appearance. That all changed in 1944, however, when Allied air attacks essentially leveled the city during the Batte of Normandy. After that, it was rebuilt in the modernist style and is now referred to as the Brasilia of France." Claire paused briefly. "Any questions?"

One of her friends raised her hand, "Yeah, so what about this painting makes it a part of the Impressionist movement?"

"I'm glad you asked. See these brush strokes here?" She pointed tot he fine, green lines detailing the water. "This is definite Impressionism. Small yet visible brushstrokes are a big check in most Impressionist paintings. Also, they focus on the accurate depiction of light and how it moves and changes as seen here in the orange sun. If you take this piece and convert it to greyscale, the sun nearly disappears, which means that it is almost the same luminosity as the sky that surrounds it. It doesn't look like that in the painting, but Monet took great pains to make sure that the color was just right, making it incredibly realistic."

5 MINUTES UP

Man, I love Monet. Can't you tell? hah There is something so calming about his paintings. It almost makes me want to try my hand at painting... But I've got enough on my plate as it is with this whole writing / singing / performing / school thing.

Sad face.
I make this when I have an ear infection.

In other news, I have an ear infection. I ended up missing some classes on Thursday because I came home to take a nap, and when I woke up I got out of bed and immediately fell over - WHACK! - onto the floor. The entire world was spinning around me, and I didn't know what to do. I had a voice lesson in 30-40 minutes, so I called my voice teacher. Thankfully, I had my phone in my hand when I fell.

"Uh, Dr. Coleman," I said, disoriented, "I can't stand up."

"What?" she said.

"I can't stand up straight. I just woke up from a nap, and when I got up, I hit the floor. And now I can't get up. I don't know if I'll be able to come to my lesson today."

"Ok. Get back in bed and wait until it passes. Then go to the health center once you feel well enough to be up and walking around. You might have an ear infection."

"Great," I said, rolling my eyes. "I feel fine, really. You know, other than this whole standing up problem I'm having."

"Well, you need to get it checked out. Just keep me updated, ok?"

I said I would and hung up the phone. And then I dragged myself back to bed. What adult gets ear infections? And why in the hell do they throw off my equilibrium so badly that I can't stand up?!?! It's absolutely ridiculous. Only me, guys. Only me.

Anyways, I went to the health center at Belmont, and it turns out that I do, in fact, have a mild ear infection. The nurse put me on a round of antibiotics, and I should be right as rain soon. I can stand now, thank God, but I have to make sure that I stand up slowly and don't whip my head around too fast. I feel mildly retarded, but it's ok.

Peace.
Stef.