École normale supérieure et Parlez-vous français?

Ah, Paris, France. What better way to start this blog than with a completely out of context awkward monkey man? And no, I’m not going to explain that one to you. You get to enjoy those obscure movements all to yourself.

My trip to Paris marks the second time I have visited the city. The first was when I was eighteen years old. I came as part of an organization called the Cambridge College program. Through this organization, I studied at Cambridge for about a month before hopping over to Paris. Then, it was 2005- what an experience! I was literally called The-Shit-of-Bush. And who could blame them really. I mean, to call an eighteen year old American visiting your city for the first time The-Shit-of-Bush is extremely rude; however, Bush was kinda shitty. Not that I could have voted in that election anyway- I was 17 during the election.

That time in Paris, France was too where I met an ex-girlfriend of mine. It was an interesting relationship to say the least. After all, I lived in Phoenix, Arizona, she lived in New Jersey somewhere, and we met in UK and Paris, France. Things didn’t work out, but I mean, of course they didn’t.

Given my spectacular history with the city, I plan my stay accordingly- granting myself five days to experience all of Paris, France. This time; however, there is hope. I am meeting up with some of my friends from Arizona to partake in what they are calling #dirtbagsummer2016. Let me break that one down for you: ‘#’ is so we’re social media relevant, ‘dirtbag’ is because the rest of the crew is in Europe to travel around being unproductive, ‘summer2016’- I’ll let you figure that one out.

Anyway, as part of #dirtbagsummer2016, I am meeting up with three other friends of mine from ASU (Brian, Liza, and Mike)- one of which graduated and the other two of which are graduate students. The plan is to chill around the city, cook good food, eat good food, visit some sights, and check out some museums. I also make a visit to a former colleague in the lab who is now conducting her graduate research at Ecole Normale Superieure.

Brain, Mike, and Me at Basilique du Sacré-cœur

Me at Le Pantheon

A typical street corner in Paris

Apartments above businesses with this architecture is routine in Paris, France

Alexandra Colin in the lab!

Ecole Normale Superieure

You can't handle the leopard!

​Alexandra Colin is a student that worked with me in the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University in 2013. Together, we worked on a project to convert cellulosic waste (think paper or corn stalk type stuff) directly into current using a thermophilic microbial electrochemical cell. Our project was a success and she used the data we gathered to acquire her master’s degree. Now, she is working in the department for Biophysical Chemistry on much more fundamental science. She is interested in looking at how actin filaments within cells migrate over the course of a cell’s life. You can think of these filaments as a kind of support structure, or skeleton for the cell. These filaments are important for cell motility (movement) and changes in the cellular structure or shape- this is important for taking in nutrients for the cell (endocytosis) or exporting things from the cell (exocytosis). Alexandra’s research focuses on using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) to take high resolution images of actin filaments in live cells. After talking science, Alexandra and I enjoyed some beers at a bar with leopard colored wall paper- she thought it was a quaint touch to add to my trip. I agree- the world needs more leopard colored wall paper. I mean, can you imagine having an argument with your significant other, or your boss, or waging a war in a room with leopard skin wall paper? All you’d want to do is drink with friends or take some illicit substance(s) and watch the Wizard of Oz synced up to Dark Side of the Moon.

​Paris, France is a very beautiful city. It is very hard to look in a single direction and not see a building of which you want to take a picture. It’s easy to get distracted and run off in this direction or that direction. According to my phone, I averaged between 14-15 miles walking per day. This includes things like trekking through the Louvre, ascending the Eiffel Tower, and strolling through the Luxembourg Gardens. Now, a quick list of events followed by pics and a story for each:

Senate House of the French Parliament and the Luxembourg Gardens

​The Senate House of the French Parliament and the Luxembourg Gardens houses the senate of the French government. The French government is currently made up of seven parties. Yes, that’s right, seven parties. You see, a two party system is not an inevitable consequence of representative democracies. However, it is important to note that political parties are encouraged to form coalitions (kind of like agreements with officials from the other parties) in order the maintain the majority needed to pass certain legislation. This encourages multi-partisan interaction and communication between the parties. Although this sounds great- it sometimes can lead to a political system which acts bipartisan despite being multi-partisan. The Upper House of Parliament is currently comprised of 348 delegates with the two leading parties Republican (majority) and Socialist (second largest). Brian and I took a leisurely stroll around the gardens where you can rent a small boat to race in the fountain and even ride a pony! 

Maybe if we had more ponies around our senate, we'd have more peaceful presidential candidates

Racing boats at the senate.

​This was my second visit to the Eiffel Tower. Brian and Mike were off looking at catacombs and Liza was with some of the students she was chauffeuring around France, so I scaled to the top without them. The line for the elevator all the way to the top was very crowded, so I decided to climb the stairs to the near top. Now,

Oh the Louvre.The Louvre is a very special place to me. I mean sure, the world’s second most visited museum is a very special place to a lot of people- it houses theMona Lisa for Christ’s sake! But the Louvre is a very special place for me for another reason. Interestingly, I had forgotten why this place held special significance to me until I saw the painting. Which painting you may ask? Well, I guarantee you not only have no idea which painting, but will not recollect it even when I show it to you. The painting to which I am referring is none other than Hendrick II Van Steenwyk’s ‘Interieur d’eglise. Effet de nuit’- or as I remember it: ‘Poorly Painted Arches- One Man’s Underwhelming Masterpiece.’ 

Me, American Badass, shirtless in the fountain at the Louvre :P

Remember the ex I was talking about during the introduction to my trip to France? Well, back in 2005, when we visited the Louvre together, we, as most people do in the Louvre, spent the whole day walking staring at canvases beautified by paintbrushes hundreds of years ago. Anyone who has been to an art museum knows that staring at paintings is exhausting work- especially if you’re doing it right. This being the case, we both decided to sit at a bench in the Louvre that happened to be directly in front of this painting. I won’t get into details, but let’s just say we ‘bonded’ in front this painting.
​
Anyway, so I walk into the room and the walls are green- that’s the first thing that starts to trigger my memory. I’m still pretty oblivious to what’s crawling its way from the back of my mind. I stare at a few paintings and gradually make my way around the room. Many of the rooms in the Louvre are made up of corridors so it is difficult to see paintings on the next well, even if they are five feet from your face. The painting is still out of sight. ‘Wow, this stuff seems really underwhelming,’ I think to myself, ‘also, I’m hungry’. I round the corner. There it is. The bench right in front- just like before.

Brian is excited for the Louvre. The woman behind him; not so much.

The view from underneath the triangle, looking up.

Me, attempting to eat the Mona Lisa

The main hall leading to the Mona Lisa is packed.

The Mona Lisa- constantly in the lime light

People herd for selfies with the Mona Lisa

Brian and Mike at the Louvre

​At first, there is no response- latency associated with memory retrieval I presume. Then recognition sets in. I sit down at the bench. In that moment, I don’t really feel anything. I sit there, staring at the painting, cross my legs, rest my elbow on my knee and my chin on my first, and just stare at the painting. I’m thinking now. Thinking about eleven years- over a decade of my life. Where was I then? Where am I now? All the little things, all the big things, all the things I didn’t know, all the things I know now, all the things still left unknown- all the things I’ll never know. How significant to one man- eleven years- from high school graduate to PhD. And yet, what’s eleven years? Eleven years? Here I sat, next to a painting two hundred years of age, in a building constructed seven hundred years ago, in a room that hadn’t changed in the time between my arrival in 2005 and my departure in 2016. ‘Timeless’ they say- ‘these paintings are timeless.’ I sat; I became a painting- ‘timeless’- sitting as I sat eleven years ago. As the minutes slipped away, I suddenly found myself again, sitting in a green room next to ‘Poorly Painted Arches- One Man’s Underwhelming Masterpiece.’ I stood up and started walking- the painting and the memories remaining, everlasting and entombed, in that green corridor in the Louvre.

​Walking in the streets of France, there are a lot of signs advertising concerts in ‘this’ or ‘that’ church. Of course, all of the ones in the touristy areas where Brian and I are walking are charged events- ten euro here, five euro there. I let Brian know that I think attending a concert is a cool idea and he agrees. However, he disagrees that we should pay ten euro for a concert so he finds a free one at a small church deep in France and away from the touristy areas at Eglise Luthérienne de l'Ascension. Here, we hear an amazing performance by Dmitri Ouvaroff on saxophone and Lucia Bistritskaya on cello. The program consisted of six pieces- all of which I captured and share here for your listening pleasure:

Dmitri Ouvaroff on saxophone and Lucia Bistritskaya on cello at Eglise Luthérienne de l'Ascension

Erland von Koch – Monologue pour saxophone solo
Max Reger – Suite No. 3 Op 13IC pour violoncelle solo (I. Praludium; II. Scherzo)
Johann Sebastian Bach – Suite No. 2 en Re mineur pour violoncelle solo
Zoltan Kodaly – Sonate Op. 8 pour violoncelle solo (I. Allegro maestoso ma appassionato)
Isaac Albeniz – Asturias
Astor Piazzolla – Tango-Etudes (No. 4 Lento-Meditativo; No. 3 Molto marcato e energico)
​
You can listen here:
Saxophone Solo 1
Cello Solo 1
Duet 1
Saxophone Solo 2
Cello Solo 2
Duet 2
Closing Remarks

Liza, Mike (too cool to smile for pics), and me eating our home cookin' with some French wine (my research paper was accepted to Bioelectrochemistry during this dinner!)

​I finish the blog on France with a visit to the local farmer’s market. Once Brian informed me that we would be visiting a farmer’s market, I was instantly in ‘let’s cook some amazing ass food mode’(LCSAAFM). When I’m in LCSAAFM, it’s on! First, I walked through all of the isles to see what kind of selection I had. The selection was outstanding- pretty much any fruit or vegetable you can think of, tons of meats and cheese, a fish selection rivaling Seattle, wine, oysters on the half shell, pigeons, you name it! After looking through everything the market had to offer, I ultimately decided on jambalaya. I bought all of the vegetables and left the meat and cheese up to Brian. Purchasing food was a bit interesting. I’d say about half the merchants spoke English and with the rest- I was kinda lost. I thought maybe perhaps I could determine the price based on the number they told me in French. Not even close. I don’t know shit about French numbers! The merchants were really understanding though and all of them were able to give me receipts that clearly stated the amount with numbers to make things easier.

Mike, Me, and Brian cookin' somethin' Hawt!!!

Look at that spread!

I was attacked by an old French woman! Interesting cultural difference between France and Tex-Mex Arizona: In Arizona, at farmer’s markets or swap meets, I’m used to going up and picking out the fruit or vegetable I want. Once I pick out the one I want, I walk up to the merchant to make my payment. Not so in France. In France, people form a line and wait to order their vegetables from the merchant who apparently picks out the vegetables for them. I found this out, well, when I accidentally cut an old lady. In the corner of my eye, I saw that she was creeping up next to me. I presumed that she would try to explain to me that I had made a miscalculation and that she was, in fact, ahead of me in line. She rammed me with her walker. This little old lady came out of left field and attacked like some kind of wild lioness. When the merchant went to accept my payment, the old lady roared something in French- I have no idea. (Someone needs some leopard colored drapes or something, damn!) However, understanding that I had made a bit of a faux pas, I let the old lady pay for her things and then went about buying my tomatoes or whatever it was I was buying there.
​
Anyway, I took my time to pick out some potent peppers, fresh shrooms, and cilantro, returned to Liza’s apartment the next day, and we ate some bomb jambalaya!

PS: Check out my publication titled "The Effect of pH and Buffer Concentration on Anode Biofilms of Thermincola ferriacetica", accepted into Bioelectrochemistry during my trip to Paris, France