04 February 2008

Me, the Compulsive Liar (and more Metz photos)

Steadily Growing Nose...
When you're happily waiting at the bus stop, listening to an audiobook on your iPod and ignoring the rest of the world, the last thing you want to hear is the moderately creepy guy also waiting at the bus stop ask, "Wouldn't you rather chat than listen to music?" An honest answer would be very rude, so you pause the book and take out the earbuds. Polite lie.
Yes, I study at the Catho (that's true) and I'm studying languages (true). Oh, you study at that university? No, I don't know it. Have I been in Angers long? No, actually I'm an Erasmus student (this is more widely understood than explaining that I'm part of an exchange program that is exactly like Erasmus but isn't funded by the European Union and therefore isn't Erasmus). I've only been here a few months. OH, you're a foreigner? Your French is very good. Thanks, that's nice of you to say. Where are you from?
Let the compulsive lies begin. Somehow the honest answer didn't make it to my lips. "I'm from London." And it took off from there. I tried to keep conversation away from me, but the guy now thinks that I'm an English girl who's lived in London for the past ten years, before that lived in the north, and studies French at university. I couldn't lie about where I live, because that's where I had to get off the bus. He was meeting a friend, but got off at my stop (one past the one he needed) to walk with me a while. So naturally, I said I lived in a completely different direction. Sorry, I'd prefer not to give you my phone number. (Quick, come up with a polite reason!) I don't think my boyfriend would appreciate that.
So I walked in the direction I'd pointed, and checked again what time masses are at the Abbey. It hasn't changed, in case you were wondering. And there you have it, fifteen minutes of my compulsive lying.

Yellow Metz Photos
This is the natural yellow color of all the buildings in Metz. It's very sunny feeling, especially if you're looking at a sundial, like in this picture.

Here's a picture of the inside of the cathedral. It's very tall, and somewhat yellow, and bright because of all the stained glass.

This is the side of the cathedral (traditional cathedrals are shaped like crosses, so this is one of the arms, if you will). Hopefully this will help you to visualize how this relatively normal cathedral has the largest stained glass collection of the entire world. All the walls are like this.

This is one of the Chagall windows. It's nearly impossible to take good pictures of stained glass (they always come out blurry) but this one turned out beautifully.

There are two rivers that run through Metz. In the middle of the Moselle is this island, which has mostly theatres and other cultural buildings. This church is on a corner, and it overlooks part of the river which is home to very well-fed swans.

Finally, here's a picture of the back of the cathedral. Big and yellow and very gothic.

4 comments:

Jakob said...

Creepy...

Lori said...

I support compulsive lying to creepers. Actually, it can be kinda fun to invent a new identity when you're talking to someone you know you'll never meet again. Today when we were walking around campus, my friend Sarah and I spoke French instead of English to see if people regarded us differently (they did).

Oh, also, I wanted to tell you that I joined choir, at least partly to meet people, but also for the singing. Anyway, I was like, I hope I'll meet someone as cool as Kel... but then I realized that was impossible.

Kel said...

WOOHOO!! I'm so glad! It's lucky for the other people thought, because they'll get to meet someone like Lori :)

Lori said...

Oh my God, my choir teacher is totally Quebecois! He's not actually, but he lived in Montreal for 7 years or something, so we're doing a few French pieces and when he's telling us pronunciation I'm like... Oh my God, TWANG! You are so Quebecois I can't even stand it!