July 2017 – Page 3 – SLA Profiles (2017)

Chapter 1: Overcome Myself

Started two weeks ago, the Japanese language classes in International Christian University have been teaching me a lot. At the beginning of the class, I was placed at C4 level through the placement exam, a level that was higher than I expected. While I have only studied Japanese for one year, I was shocked to see myself in the same class with my friends who studied for two years. Although with the benefit of being a Chinese I felt okay with understanding kanji, the grammar part imposed lots of challenges on me.

Initially when I thought about taking this summer school, I wanted to study at ease and experience lots of interesting places around Tokyo. However, to keep up with this class, I had to pay extra time studying many grammar points that I missed on my own. It was not easy at all. Seeing my friends posting photos of beautiful places and foods, I almost decided to drop to a lower level. However, there was a voice in my mind which kept telling me to try the harder one. I knew I was the type of person who struggles a lot when making decisions and I always liked to make myself too busy. So while my mind was telling me to stop, my heart urged me to keep going.

Since these options were all over my mind I asked many friends and teachers’ opinions and they held different opinions. Finally I made up my mind to at least have a try. I used the first weekend to do selfstudy instead of going out with friends and I made an agreement with my professors that I would stay in C4 if I felt comfortable with the progress. As a result, I persisted in C4 and this week I think I have almost caught up with the class progress. With more confidence, I enjoyed learning new materials which also helped my reviewing the parts that I missed.

Reflecting back to this whole struggle, I feel glad that I pushed myself by taking the challenge. Actually it might also not be a bad idea to change into C3, but at least I learned that no one can make the decision for me. I need to take responsibility of myself and face the result without regret. I am still not sure how my grade will look like, but I think it is less important than being able to learn more knowledge.

Now I am feeling more comfortable with the class, I began to enjoy aspects of Japanese life. For the second weekend I went shopping, ate at restaurants and even watched a Japanese movie with no subtitles. (And surprisingly I understood most plots!) In addition, I went up Roppongi-hills and saw the Tokyo city view at night. Looking at this beautiful city lit up everywhere, I identified many areas I wanted to explore. And I know someday I will have all the interesting experiences with good Japanese skill. がんばってください！

Literary Echoes

Remember the doomed man thrown by his horse and crying: ‘Beautiful is the hillside, I will not go.’; The old woman confessing: ‘He that I loved the Best, to him I was worst.’

Islands are places apart where Europe is absent. Are they? The world still is, the present, the lie, And the arrow bridge over a torrent Or the small farm under a crag.

– W.H. Auden (1937)

These verses by W.H. Auden reflect the reverberation of Iceland’s medieval literature into modern literary consciousness. The “doomed man” is Gunnar, a character in Njáls Saga, who is sentenced to outlawry and told to leave Iceland or else risk being killed. He is on his way fro his homestead when his horse trips and he looks back on his land, deciding that he cannot leave after all. This decision to stay inevitably results in his death. The “old woman” from the verses is Gudrun, heroine of Laxdæla Saga, who marries four times over the course of her life. Near the end of her life her son asks her which man she loved most, and she gives no name but answers with the cryptic lines quoted above. Students of Old Norse literature have been debating whom she loved most ever since! In fact, at a Old Norse dinner series at Notre Dame last semester, colleagues and I debated this very question!

In the years 1871-1873, the 19th century artist and writer Willam Morris visited Iceland and kept a journal of his travels. He had read Njáls Saga, and described some of the places he saw with references to the saga. He remarks on the entry for July 13, 1871: “we cannot see now for the mist, but the rain leaves off now and the clouds life, and there is a wonderful fiery and green sunset, so stormy-looking! over Eyjafell, the great ice-topped mountain which is at the eastern end of the Njala country.” This “Eyjafell” is none other than the infamous Eyjafjallajökull which erupted in 2010.

I fell in love with Old Icelandic literature because of the sagas; I am drawn to literature that is both beautiful and melancholy (perhaps all truly good literature is both), and I found in the Íslendingasögur much beauty, but of a distinctly dark character. Our discussions in the Icelandic summer course about the works of Halldór Laxness (a Nobel Prize in Literature recipient) so intrigued me that I purchased Sjálfstætt Folk (Independent People) first in Icelandic, and when that proved too ambitious, in English. I have just finished reading it, and I am excited to read more of the works of Laxness and other modern Icelandic writers in the future. I found in Sjálfstætt Folk an echo of the cold resolve and submission to fate which so resounds in the medieval sagas. If there is an essential spirit of Icelandic literature, it has perhaps persisted from the medieval period to the present. It is clear why many have viewed the saga tradition as an influence on Laxness’s work.

As I am beginning to wrap up my time in Iceland, I’m thinking about how I will continue to study Modern Icelandic when I return to the States. I’m really happy with the progress I’ve made whilst here, and I don’t want to lose momentum. I hope to come back in the not-too-distant future to continue my language study. In the meantime, I’m developing a strategy to keep me from forgetting what I have learned. While it would be quite challenging to find speakers of Icelandic nearby, I am planning on continue my language study by:

Corresponding in Icelandic with friends I made in the program
Slowly but surely reading Sjálfstætt Folk in Modern Icelandic
Watching a Modern Icelandic film (in Icelandic) every other week.
Reading Modern Icelandic aloud to practice making some of the more difficult sounds

Iceland’s Medieval Heritage

Iceland is a country more aware of its medieval past than many- if not most- modern nations. One cannot walk down any of the main thoroughfares in downtown Reykjavík without spotting Viking paraphernalia for sale: keychains, T-shirts, drinking horns, helmets- you name it. But this sense of the past extends far more deeply than a desire to part willing tourists from their cash; rather, many modern Icelanders still know the stories of the settlement of Iceland starting in the 9th century, to the conversion to Christianity in 1000, to the end of the Icelandic Commonwealth in 1262. When I told one bookseller that I was studying the Icelandic sagas as part of my PhD, he was so pleased he gave me an edition for free! Many Icelanders are very proud of these early settlers who came to cultivate what was often an unwelcoming terrain. One of my summer course instructors told me that in the early 2000s when Iceland was enjoying what appeared to be vast economic success, the bankers and businessmen involved with Iceland’s finances were proudly hailed as the “new Vikings.” Enthusiasm for these vikings soon waned with the economic crash.

Me with an awesome gigantic print of a medieval Icelandic manuscript page at the Háskoli Íslands (University of Iceland) in Reykjavík

Almost the entire first floor (of two exhibit floors) of the Pjóðminjasafn Íslands (National Museum of Iceland) contains medieval artifacts from the Viking Age and post-conversion period. Below on the left is pictured a very famous statue of (most likely) Thor, believed to be carrying his famous hammer Mjolnir before him. While Odin was the chief of the Norse gods (known as the All Father), Thor was immensely popular and has given his name to numerous places and people. Many Icelanders contain names with “Thor” in them today (Thorstein, Thorvald, Thord, to name a few examples). In more recent decades, this statue of Thor has been reused in modern advertisements. Below (on the right) it is included in an illustration with the seated figure eating licorice instead of holding the hammer.

Then and Now:

Medieval Icelanders also produced exquisitely carved decorations which often adorned churches. These interlace patterns usually included flora and fauna, sometimes depicting human beings as well.

This door from a medieval Icelandic church contains a scene from the French romance, *Le Chevalier au Lion*. This is a very exciting artifact for me because I work on the transmission of romances in medieval England and Scandinavia. This door is dated to around 1200 and was likely made in Iceland, making it an early example of romance in the Norse world.

With the exception of Leif Erikson, the most famous medieval Icelander is probably Snorri Sturluson, known for writing down the Norse mythological works in a collection of texts which has come to be known as the Prose Edda or Snorra Edda (The Edda of Snorri). Below is a statue of Snorri at one of the places he lived (and was murdered in 1241): Reykholt. You can also see me pictured with a pool of water on Snorri’s property. As it has been dated to the medieval period, Snorri may have used the pool himself.

The Church at Bessastaðir, a place very near Reykjavík, contains a series of stained glass windows depicting the history of Christianity in Iceland. Though built in modern times, a few of these artworks depict medieval subjects. According to Landnámabók (“The Book of Settlements,” dated to around 1200) and Íslendingabók (“The Book of the Icelanders,” dated to the early 12th century), Irish Christians (likely monks) were in Iceland before the Norsemen arrived, leaving some of their property behind.

Depicted in the stained glass window below is Thorgeir Thorkelsson, the Law-Speaker of the Althing (Iceland’s governing body) at the time of the conversion around the year 1000. Though a pagan himself, he decided that the country should become nominally Christian in order to avid conflict; however, he said that pagans could continue their practices in private.

In addition to depictions of medieval people in modern art, there are numerous saga museums in Iceland where visitors can see the sites of saga narratives and learn more about Iceland’s history. Many places in Iceland bear the same names they did in the medieval period, and so the events of the sagas can be carefully traced. You can even go on a saga tour!

四週間、Another Post

Wowie, it has been a bit of time since my last post. Really, the cause of it has been that, since I’ve really only been improving my knowledge of the Japanese language since I’ve been here, there haven’t been too many hiccups in trying to communicate that are extraordinarily different from the ones I’ve already talked about. That, and because since we’re winding down in the second half of the program, there’s been a bunch more work regarding studying for the final tests and presentations. Regardless, I do still have some stories to share in terms of communication difficulties.

Last week, my host family threw a party for another teacher’s birthday. As in usual scenes, I sat at a table crowded with food, with about six adults talking about who-knows-what around me. As they were handing around dishes, one filled with yakitori, or grilled meat on sticks, passed by, and I took a few of the sticks. The older sister I’m staying with asked me if I knew what one of the mysterious meats was, a kind of meat I hadn’t seen before then. I shook my head, and she and another teacher proceeded to tell me it was “riba”, which I couldn’t really understand. It was late in the day after a tiring day of school, and my brain was barely functioning. One of the main differences in pronunciation between Japanese and English is with various letters, such as “l” and “v”. Our “l”s sound like “r”s and our “v” sound like “b”s. So if I was to say “larva” for instance, a Japanese person will most likely pronounce it “raruba”. This did not click in my head, however, and I just went ahead and took a bite of the meat. As soon as it hit my tongue, I had a sudden realization that they were trying to tell me the meat was liver, something I had never tried before and, frankly, never wanted to. That was the one and only piece of liver I ate that night.

Another instance of language misusage wasn’t even from me. It just goes to show you that even those with Japanese as their native language can mess up, which is common sense considering how often we English speakers make mistakes in trying to talk our native tongue. Anyways, after lunch today, the sisters and I went to a cake shop to buy some sweets to eat later in the evening. As the clerk packed up the cakes we had decided on, I inclined my head and said, “Thank you,” in Japanese. The younger sister, who had just paid, said, “ごちそうさま” at the same moment, only to realize what she had said and laugh at herself. The phrase, “gochisousama”, is typically said after you eat and is basically used to show gratitude for the food. She and her older sister laughed it off, even pointing out how I had responded correctly, yet the younger sister didn’t. It goes to show that even if we’re worried to practice a language because we don’t want to look stupid in front of people who can speak it fluently, they make the same mistakes as we do.

The last event I’m going to detail is a conversation that happened tonight. As we ate the cakes we had bought previously and were watching TV, I asked the older sister about how Japanese use keigo, the honorific way of talking. That led to a discussion about addressing teachers and whatnot, and the differences between how Japanese and American teachers are seen in society. Mind you, I couldn’t really offer any sound points because of my lack of Japanese-speaking capabilities, but I could sort of get what she was saying and asking overall. It got to a point though, that after I told her that, in America, teachers in college are addressed differently than those in lower education, she tried asking me something about high school and elementary school teachers. I didn’t know what she was saying, so she brought up google translate, something she often does when I don’t understand her. However, when she said her phrase into her phone and showed it to me, the translation on the screen was “helluva”. I chuckled, knowing google translate had messed up somewhere along the line, and when the sisters asked why I was laughing, I told them simply that it was weird English. The older sister tried looking up synonyms to her previous word and eventually found a correct definition, but I still thought back to google’s mistake and kept cracking a smile. They couldn’t understand why I was still finding it funny, but I didn’t know how to express the reason other than it was funny. This happens some of the time though, so I really only laugh it off and then try to find a more effective way to translate what I’m saying.

Anyways, those are some of the language mishaps that have occurred in the past four weeks. I apologize for the lack of pictures, but I think having an update that’s entirely text and story-based isn’t a bad idea once in a while. Regardless, thank you for reading!

2 – Esame? Come?

TeverEstate, a summer festival on the banks of the Tiber River and the language exchange location

Week 2 was full of fun.

One of my classmates, Tegan, was traveling around Europe with her friend, and it happened that they passed by Rome for a few days. Tuesday afternoon following class, a few of my classmates and I met her and her friend, Audrey, for lunch at a mom and pop restaurant near Piazza Navona. We ate a typical Roman pasta, carbonara, and then went to Tazza D’Oro, a famous caffe’, after lunch. There we each ordered granita caffe’. Granite are very famous all over Italy (specifically in Sicily), and are essentially fresh slushies. They can be ordered in flavors like limone, mandorle, and caffe’. Ours were made with a layer of fresh whipped cream, or panna, the coffee flavored ice chips, and then another topping of whipped cream.

Wednesday I had my first midterm exam. It was over parts of grammar that I hadn’t studied before, so I was quite nervous when I was going in. However, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be. Following the exam, I had lunch with one of the other ItaliaIdea students at restaurant near Sant’Andrea della Valle, very close to the hotel we used to stay in when I studied with the School of Architecture.

Thursday I got to eat at a pizzeria I had heard many good things about but had never gotten around to trying out. Pizzeria Baffetto, near Piazza Navona, had always had a line outside of it whenever I passed by. When we were seated, we ordered a half litre of white wine and our pizze. It didn’t live up to all the hype I’d heard about it, but it was certainly a nice lunch treat. Following lunch, we hit Via del Corso to check out i saldi, or sales. In Italy, there are approximately two times a year when major sales happen. There’s one that occurs through July/August, and one that occurs in February/March. Ironically, we all just bought underwear.

Friday, one of my classmates took us to her shawarma place. Huda, born in Syria but living in Qatar, had not eaten meat since she arrived to respect her faith. However, she found a little shop that served halal meat, and so she took us to the restaurant to get shawarma for lunch. I’d never had it before, but it was a flavorful treat for us all. Since the restaurant owner noticed that she kept coming back and bringing more friends with her, he gave us complimentary dessert: Syrian baklava! After lunch, I decided to treat myself with a pedicure. At this spa, Wellness Aquarium, there a tanks filled with garra rufa fish, who feast on the dead skin cells of feet. When I put my feet in, they flocked to my legs and began munching. It tickled, and I struggled not to laugh out loud. However, when I pulled my feet out at the end of the half hour, they were baby smooth!

Syrian baklava with Huda and Mary Claire

Xi Jinping and Trump

Back in April, the President of the United States, Donald Trump and the President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, met each other in real life in Florida.

Trump describes that they both have ‘great chemistry’ and mostly discussed issues regarding North Korea. The meeting included offering China better business deals with the United States in return for weakening China-North Korean deals.

China is North Korea’s biggest oil importer and major trade partner. China has, in recent months, turned down coal shipments from North Korea. The United States makes North Korea its top security concern and for many years have pressed for tougher sanctions to be placed on Pyongyang.

Many Chinese locals feel that their country should not be punished and constantly criticized for North Korea’s missiles and nuclear program, instead they would not want any conflict to happen in the Korean Peninsula. Beijing has stated that the missile and nuclear program should be settled through negotiation.

Trump had also admitted that he listened to Xi for 10 minutes and realized that it was not all that easy and that China does not have ‘tremendous power’ over North Korea. It seems like Trump did not realize the complexity of the situation until being enlightened.

After the meeting Trump tweeted, “While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea,it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!”.

Locals feel The United States continues to use China to affect North Korea. U.S. action in East Asia would have to be consulted with the South Korean government because of the U.S.-South Korean treaty after the Korean War.

Anna Fett Blog 4: A Religious Minority Impression of the Holy Land

On Friday, I jumped at the chance to travel to Haifa, a port city in northern Israel, to learn more about the Baha’i, a religious minority group often overlooked in discussions concerning the religious landscape of this region. With all of the hype about the Holy Land as a place for Jews, Christians, and Muslims, it can be easy to miss the larger more complicated mosaic of religious and ethnic diversity at work here.

I was allowed to enter and tour the Baha’i gardens which cut straight down through the middle of the downtown of Haifa from the top of the Mount Carmel to the Mediterranean Sea. The Baha’i religion originated in the mid-19th century in Iran with the message and thinking of the Bab. Persecuted and killed for his views, his body was eventually brought to Haifa and interred in a mausoleum in the gardens. One of his followers, Baha’u’llah, became the prophet and founder of the tradition, escaping persecution in Iran only to be imprisoned in Acre (Acco), a port city facing Haifa. From his prison cell, Baha’u’llah could look through his window across the sea towards a beautiful hillside in Haifa. This hill–having no religious significance to any other monotheistic tradition with a presence in the region- was easily purchased at a cheap price. This hill became the site of the Baha’i gardens where Bab was buried–the second holiest site for the Baha’i after the tomb of Baha’u’llah in Acre.

The Baha’i gardens from the top of Mount Carmel descending towards the Mediterranean Sea

The Baha’i are monotheistic and believe that Christians, Muslims, and Jews all worship the same God. However, Baha’u’llah believed that the reason for infighting amongst all these monotheists stemmed from each of their holy books, whether the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, or the Qur’an. Monotheists needed to leave behind these texts and focus on worshiping one common God instead.

This religion was truly progressive for its time. Baha’u’llah called for an end to all forms of religious discrimination and full equality between the sexes along with the elimination of extreme poverty and wealth. While the religion has not incorporated equality measures for gays, lesbians, and transgender persons, this tradition was already more inclusive at the turn of the century (and still is) than many Christian traditions that I am familiar with, such as Catholicism and many Protestant sects. After the death of the two founders, there have been no religious leaders comparable to priests or imams, etc. for fear that such leaders might try to “limit the word of God.” You cannot be born into the Baha’i tradition; at the age of 15, you decide which religious tradition to join and there is support even if you decide not to become Baha’i or do not marry a fellow Baha’i.

The Shrine of Bab, the second holiest Baha’i site

Currently there are between 700-1,000 Baha’i volunteering in Israel (on limited duration visas since they cannot apply for citizenship). They come to volunteer in the garden or at the other holy sites. The cost for the upkeep of these impressive gardens is fully funded by Baha’i members. They take no outside donations. When one decides to become a Baha’i, the member must start paying a percentage of their salary as well as committing to volunteer work–at these holy sites and in philanthropy efforts worldwide.

The Baha’i volunteer I spoke with who was working at the entrance of the shrine said she enjoys prayer and meditation both within the shrine and throughout the gardens. She explained that Baha’i hold group gatherings of worship every 19 days but not within the shrine itself, again so no one leading worship would risk “limiting the word of God” through their interpretation. There are also no holy objects within the shrine itself since it is just a place for personal prayer and meditation. There are beautiful statues of peacocks and hawks as well as star patterns throughout the gardens but these have no religious significance. The Baha’i emphasize beauty through symmetry as a means of preparing oneself for prayer. They do pray in the direction of Acre, where the prophet Baha’u’llah is buried.

There are 8 million Baha’i world wide, most living in India, as well as in over 200 other countries–except for Israel! Despite the fact that the two holiest religious sites for the Baha’i are in Haifa and the nearby port city of Acre, Baha’u’llah did not want Baha’i followers to settle in the Holy Land, a dictate which has continued to this day. When I asked the Baha’i young women the reason behind this decision, she explained that the while the Baha’i see this as the common Holy Land for all monotheistic religions, the Baha’i do not want to “occupy the land or get in the way”–a refreshing perspective on how to view this land which remains special and sacred to so many religious persons around the world. The Baha’i hope is for “all to live in peace and harmony”.

Cologne Part 3: Frühstück and Übersetzen!

Last Sunday, Klaus invited me to his house for Frühstück —– breakfast. We had a great, typical German breakfast with toast, jam, slices of meat, salmon, cheese, hard-boiled eggs, and coffee, and of course a wonderful conversation over the meal!

After a nice, long meal and conversation, we sat down together in his living room. Our task: Übersetzten! We needed to work together to translate a text Klaus had written from Deutsch to English, and I couldn’t have been more excited for the challenge that awaited!

Klaus explained that his long-lost cousin (quite literally), whose grandparents had moved to America before World War II, came into contact with him over a year ago after digging through some of his grandma’s old documents and finding his contact information. The newfound correspondence eventually led to a visit a few months ago in May, and Klaus and his cousin were re-united.

Klaus enjoys writing portraits in his freetime – short, descriptive biographies with more of a personal touch, about any- and everyone he finds the least bit interesting. In memory of the visit, he composed a portrait of his cousin, in German, of course. The problem was that he wanted to share it with his cousin, who only speaks English. The solution: eine Übersetzung!

For the next three hours, that’s exactly what Klaus and I worked on together. Sentence by sentence, I came up with a rough translation, and then we worked and re-worked it until we were both satisfied with how it sounded. Klaus writes beautiful German. Some sentences were particularly challenging to translate — there are some things that sound better in German, and many German sentence constructions don’t have an English equivalent that matches up perfectly. Each time we finally settled on a good translation for a sentence, we experienced a feeling of relief and accomplishment — we understood each other and created something that would allow others to understand as well!

Eventually we made it through the document and quit for the day, but there was still room for the translation to be improved. We’re meeting tomorrow for another Frühstück followed by some Übersetzen!

The whole experience was great, and I am really looking forward to tomorrow as well. I got a better appreciation for the difficulties in translating – it wasn’t easy. In many ways, translating is its own art form, like composing a whole new portrait, and it requires both a firm understanding of the language and the intentions of the original composer; luckily for me, I had the author in front of me the whole time and working with me, which helped greatly. Beyond the intense language practice, it was also an exercise in cultural understanding and a neat glimpse into the life of Klaus’s family – a portrait of German-American relations. I see myself as another piece in the mosaic of German-American cultural exchange, both representing American culture myself and stepping back to appreciate the big picture.

Chinese Attitudes Towards the US

After being in Beijing for 5 weeks now, I have definitely seen America’s influence in China. When it comes to cultural influence, I feel that I have seen a lot of incorporation of American customs. For instance, among young adults, American movies, shows, and clothing is especially popular. At every shopping center there is a substantial presence of American brands, and I’ve seen plenty of American movies being offered in theaters. However, when it comes to politics, young adults have definitely pointed out the increased tension between China and the US since a new president has been in office. From what I’ve collected, there hasn’t been any positive feedback when recent US political topics have been brought up.

Younger individuals I’ve conversed with here in China don’t have much input when it comes to China and America’s political relationship, but they did have an interesting point of view of American students. We visited a Chinese middle school recently so we could interact and learn about differences in our education systems, however the young students didn’t seem to have a good impression of American students. We asked them what they thought college in America was like, and they said all they thought we did was play. After conversing some more, I could definitely tell how the differences in our education systems led to Chinese student believing schooling in America was extremely loose and much less cut throat. However after introducing our lifestyle at Notre Dame, they seemed to be much more receptive of the American education system.

Un Bon Séjour en France

I have finished my French language studies at Tours for this summer. My last professor, M. Jean-Jacques Bolo, was one of the best language instructors I’ve ever had, and I profited greatly from his instruction. Upon leaving the institute, I received my exit evaluations and discovered that I had moved from the low-intermediate level to the upper-intermediate level in all facets of the language. M. Bolo encouraged me to continue my studies, telling me that I’ve come too far to not keep working.

This sort of encouragement is absolutely necessary when studying a language. If I’ve learned anything this summer, it is how difficult a task it is to attain fluency in a foreign language. The space between not speaking a foreign language at all and speaking fluently could not be more vast. In the great space between these two poles, there lies a frustrating realm where you can sometimes make yourself understood, can sometimes fully understand others, and yet more often than not are frustrated by your limitations. To receive encouragement from an experienced professor, and a native Frenchman at that, helps buoy the spirit when it dips.

Upon taking a step back from my studies, I can say that I’m very pleased with my time at Tours and the gains I’ve made. I certainly speak better French than when I had arrived, my reading comprehension has increased greatly, and I can now write more complicated phrases than this time two months ago. Above all, however, I am pleased to say that I “hear” French much more ably now than I ever have before. The bane of every French student is the dreaded listening comprehension exam, which consists of listening to native speakers partaking in a conversation at everyday speed and then responding to questions about what you’ve just heard. There is a large difference between taking part in a conversation, which progresses only as fast as you let it, and trying to keep up with a conversation between native speakers that you are overhearing.

Two months ago, I was hardly able to overhear a conversation between French children, let alone adults discussing complicated subjects with unexpected turns of phrase. Thanks to my time in Tours, after listening to French conversations daily, and being forced to follow these conversations and respond in turn, I can now distinguish sounds and make sense of phrases more ably now than I ever could have from traditional studies alone. There is just no way to reproduce the experience of hearing native speakers use the language for extended periods of time. I certainly have a very long route to take in order to be able to passively listen to full French conversations and make sense of them, but thanks to this SLA Grant and my time in Tours, I’m closer than I would have ever expected two months ago.

After my final day studying at the Institute of Touraine, I traveled to Paris for the weekend and became a tourist for a few days. This was my first time in Paris, in Europe in fact, and I was amazed to see the architectural and artistic achievements of French civilization. I visited Notre-Dame de Paris (the leading image of this post), the Eiffel Tower, Le Panthéon, Le Château de Versailles, Shakespeare and Company book store, and finished with a boat tour on the river Seine. Among these sights, Le Panthéon was by far my favorite place to visit. Originally a Catholic church dedicated to St. Genevieve, the building was repurposed during the French Revolution to become a momument to radical democracy. It is the final resting place of the heroes of the revolution. It is also the home to one especially famous literary intellectual and one philosopher.

Tomb of Voltaire in Le Panthéon. It reads: “Poet, Historian, Philosopher. He enlarged the human spirit and taught it to become free.”

When you descend the steps and enter the crypt of the Panthéon, you will find two monuments on either side of you. To your left, you will discover a statue and an engraved tomb dedicated to Voltaire, author of Candide, ou l’Optimisme and Traité Sur La Tolérance .

To your right, you will discover an engraved tomb dedicated to Jean-Jacques Rousseau, author of the French Revolution and other more textual works. Sixteen years after his death in Ermenonville, France, Rousseau’s remains were disinterred and brought to Paris for a ceremonial burial in the Pantheon, sponsored by the Jacobin Club, agents of the Revolution. Rousseau’s influence among the revolutionaries probably could not have been higher. Having died in disgrace, it may have amazed Rousseau to know that he would be buried less than twenty years later in the most prestigious funerary location in all of Europe. Then again, perhaps he would not have been surprised to discover his lofty position in the world he helped create.