Paris Shenanigans

Songtrack:

Paris—The 1975

Paris—Magic Man

As a kid, I grew up dreaming about going to Paris. Now, after having visited the city twice, I still dream about going to Paris. The city is an endless adventure, whether in the form of places, people, food, or culture. Here are some snapshots from my weekend:

An abandoned railroad track near the south of Paris.

Some new friends and one old friend, messing around on the tracks.

Musée d’Orsay, which used to be a train station. Sidenote: I really like the museum's logo.

Paris Pride ingredients: pink hair, semi-nudity, and rainbow flags.

The first time I went to Paris, I had just graduated high school and wanted to see the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre. My interests have shifted a bit since becoming an architecture student. So on Sunday morning, which I had to myself, I wanted to visit some of the architecture spots in the city:

Fondation Louis Vuitton, designed by Frank Gehry.

Musée du quai Branly: a combination of some of my favorite things—green, blue, and plants.

We’ve talked about the Centre Pompidou in all of my architecture classes thus far, but it was a different experience to finally see it in person. The guy with the blue hair was a nice touch to the photo. 

A couple reasons why I like exploring on my own:

(1) I'm more introverted than extroverted, so it helps me recharge. There's less stimulus than from being in a group, so I have more time to listen, observe, and think.

(2) I can plan—or not plan—to go and do whatever.

(3) I get to visit these amazing places!

Overall, the weekend was a good balance of meeting new people, going on adventures, and having some time to myself. As the summer continues, I'm hoping for more weekends like it.

If you want to see what else I'm up to, you can find me here:

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C'est moi encore!

Salut, mes amies! Please note: My blog posts are lagging about three weeks behind current events. I need to do this faster! Well, ready to find out about more adventures in the City of Light? Ok.

Let's start with work; it takes up most of my week, after all. It is progressing well, I think, although I feel like it could be going better. I am basically trying to run simulations with this code, and find how it can be improved to decrease CPU time. I am simulating damage on concrete. There are two ways to do this, in general. One is to try to take the continuous model and derive an analytical model with an energy minimization method (let's face it, it is always about energy, because it makes things easier!). This model is very theoretical and very complicated when the sample is more than just 1D. That is why we are using Method #2, that is, finite elements analysis (FEM). This means we just break apart the continuous pieces, triangles or tetrahedrons (a mesh) which are connected by nodes. One can apply a load on these nodes and get values of stress, strain, damage, etc, using the program my company designed. In the old days one had to do draw out each finite element and carry out these calculations manually, but now the program just does it for you. But we want to go even further than just simple stress calculations and actually analyze how the damage is occurring, to perhaps even be able to predict where the damage will occur and under what load. So, we want to refine the region where the damage is; break the elements into smaller and smaller pieces. This can be done by hand after damage is observed, or this can also be done automatically. This is what I am doing. I was given a piece of code which I have to work with to apply to different models of concrete, and eventually graphite. This code does automatic remeshing on these models, which is very efficient and useful in industrial applications, such as testing the resulting damage profile of concrete block used for a nuclear power plant container. It is not very easy to run, however, because it is super finicky! It uses a numerical method similar to Newton, cutting up the elements and displacements based on the projected damage field in the previous iterations. There are two main problems:

1) Convergence

2) Run time 

Convergence is usually the main problem. If somehow the criteria for refinement is made too large and the steps are too small, the program will keep cutting away. Or if the steps are too big and you overstep the maximum cut, there is another error. Run time is also a problem. It takes about 3 minutes or less to apply a loading to a sample without remeshing, and like half an hour or more to do three refinements using the automatic mesh. 

So right now I tried to fix the lack of convergence when the damage region is large, by applying more damage after several refinements have already happened. This trick still did not work. I have a few ideas though, so I'll try tomorrow and see if it works. Wish me luck!

Oh, and on the topic of work, on Friday I went to LMT Cachan, a research site of EDF, with my boss and coworkers (grad students) to see the hexapod. This is what the haxapod looks like: 

Me, the group director, and my supervisor with hexapod

No, that is not Wall-E! That is a hexapod that applies a very* precise load on a sample. Here they are doing the study with a specific sample of concrete, which is very well known to me by now, as I had done a few preliminary simulations on it out of curiosity. Theoretically it should have a very unique crack path. However, when they did the experiment the concrete mostly followed one of the crack paths and then suddenly broke in two. Oops. So my boss actually thought that was really cool and brought back one of the broken samples to his office. It is a good idea, I think; a nice reminder that the computer simulations we are doing actually do relate to real life! But the asterisk next to "very" is there for a reason; even though the hexapod is super cool and moves its eight arms to apply the correct displacement, there is still lots of error. (Well, on a micron scale, but still error that matters when your displacement is also a few microns). Basically it is hard for them to move the sample after it has been already placed, and also difficult to calibrate the sensors that actually measure the displacement -- for this reason. Oh, these sensors are actually pretty cool. They are super good at measuring lateral movement, they are basically little transformers where the tiny displacement induces a magnetic field, and this sends an electric signal to the receiver. Quite cool. All these sensors and also cameras mounted to the aluminum are connected to three computers, on which you can observe its variation with time in real time. The displacement itself is also programmed with code. 

Andreea, the grad student working here,
 is explaining how data is collected

So yeah, that's work! Enough about the nerdy stuff, let's talk about the delicious stuff! That also happens often, when someone has a "pot". A "pot" is what the French in my group call a small gathering with food. Basically MIT has a lot of those. Whenever someone in our group has something to celebrate (like a birth of a child, a marriage, etc), one sends out an email to everyone and gathers them together over a small (or large) feast. This is also so for when someone enters the group or leaves it. The first "pot" I attended was actually like a small party, with wine, fruits, cheese, delicious chocolate, and other yummy things. The boss of the entire group read a toast for the worker who was leaving EDF, people smiled, laughed, had a good time. 

The "pot"

Other pots can be less global, involving some desserts. A grad student who just finished his internship brought in some delicious cheese eclairs that he made himself and other pastries, and we just had them in our small coffee lounge. Since it was the Fourth of July recently, some of my coworkers are saying that I owe them gâteau, especially if it's carrot cake ("American specialty"). Apparently there are not a lot of carrot cakes in France! However, I am pretty satisfied with the cake options in my cafeteria. :) 

As part of my adaptation to the work space, I had a few impromptu ping pong matches. Sometimes I even faced my coworkers from China (you know what this means in ping pong?) and yet stood my ground pretty well. Both sides were surprised. Next to the cafeteria at EDF there is also a music room where you can hear the trumpet or piano while you play ping pong, as well as a video room where one can rent DVD's. 

Weekends, once again, are relaxing and full of discovery. That weekend I tried to go to an open-air market, but instead found a four-day International Arts Festival, which exhibited things like funky stained glass, highly adorned carpets, Mexican paintings, antique clocks, goldwork and antique harpsichords. These harpsichords were really cool; the seller even played several baroque pieces by Couperin for me, and showed me the mechanism behind the keys, because I seemed to be very interested in how it works. Despite my limited French in this area, I learned that the harpsichord works almost exactly like a guitar, except it is horizontal and there are keys. 

1700's harpsichord. Photo (c) Danica Chang

Trying on a real
Russian headdress!

An actress from the Moscow
Medieval Theater... in 30 degrees C!
Photo (c) Danica Chang

After this interesting little street fair, I walked all the way to the river, crossed to the Trocadero, and saw the Eiffel Tower from there for the first time. It took me about 5 weeks to do what a regular tourist does in like, a heartbeat. Oops, I did it again. And at this point, I didn't even yet see the Arc de Triomphe up close! (Spoiler!) 

Content with seeing the tower from the Trocadero, I thought I was going to head to see this freaking Arc de Triomphe which I kept not getting to. I thought. Somehow I ended up strolling into a Greek-looking building that promised some theater plays, or something. Guess where I found myself? Of course, another museum. Me and museums, it's almost like magnetism! 

Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine!

It's a real gem. It is crazy, it is one of the most beautiful museums/centers, I've ever seen, yet not too many visitors (at least on the first floor) and mostly locals. One can spot architecture students occasionally throwing down quick sketches. It is amazing being lost in this museum. The first floor is all about prototypes of Gothic architecture, churches, etc, and the upper levels contain modern exhibits and models, but also really interesting medieval chambers which rival the carpet exhibits at the Musée du Moyen Age! Seriously, this is really a not very well known place but extremely, extremely rewarding. 

This museum is un bijoux!

Finally, after seeing ALL of this AMAZING, AMAZING museum, I headed north to the Arc de Triomphe, and finally saw it up close! Yay! 

Then I actually headed to meet a friend to go to the MIT Paris Club cocktail party at an alumnae's really beautiful apartment by the Seine. On my way there, I stumbled a really cute summer market by the Seine. 

The cocktail party was very fun, and the view from the apartment was so beautiful! It was really interesting to share experiences with other MIT people, and also talk with some local students about their expectations and thoughts on entering MIT master's programs in the fall. 

The next day, on Sunday, we headed to explore a new market on Rue Raspail, but it was organic and waay above our budget, so we went to see the one on Boulevard de Grenelle, where I was the day before, and got some more of those yummy strawberries. Seriously, if there was one thing worth going to the market for, it's these amazing French strawberries! Anyway, from this market we took the metro to Bastille, from which we easily found the most amazing "street" in the world -- Promenade plantée, a blossoming street above street level, from which you can almost see the roofs of buildings, and is completely covered with flowers and plants, even with bamboo! A good perspective of this Promenade (the first elevated park in the world!) can be found online:
 

It was seriously amazing to walk through this street of flowers, and then find yourself at a huge "sunbathing station" under a bridge. 

Sunbathing is popular!
Photo (c) Danica Chang

After, the Promenade continues until the huge forest/park, Bois de Vincennes, which I was sure became my "new favorite place in Paris". Why? This will come in a new blog entry about the amazing "green places" in Paris! :) Because it is one of the things I so love about this city. Sneak peak? Here's a photo of me in one of the little grotto's of the lake at the Bois, where we also sailed a boat! 

Photo (c) Danica Chang

Okay, c'est tout! Je vais dormir! Puis-je écrire le prochain post en Français? Il serait amusant! :P Bonne nuit à tous. 

My first 3 weeks in Paris, or how to lead a double life

I have never been to France, or lived in Europe. The closest I've gotten to real France was watching the English Midnight in Paris and perhaps studying the French Revolution in great depth. Physically, the closest was on my many Germany layovers to Russia. However, no type of preparation could have really shown me what these crazy three weeks would be like. The most culturally enlightening and yes, perpetually embarrassing, three weeks of my life! Let me start of by telling you the basics, things that surprised me the most, and landed me in curious situations. But then I also have to tell you that I lead a bit of a double life. ;)

Part 1: The life of an INTERN!

The life of an intern is a busy, and sometimes tiring one. An intern wakes up in her dorm at around 7:40 A.M. on the weekday. She lives in a dorm not too far from the center of Paris, with a nice little Patisserie across the street and a super convenient gigantic supermarket not too far away. The neighbourhood is also a little bit sketchy (especially after dark), but that is okay, because she is too busy thinking about meshes to get too scared! This is how her dorm room looks like:

Okay, she doesn't spend too much time in the dorm room anyway, before you get too worried about the lack of luxuries (who needs those anyway?! Ghandi would not complain.). And this is what her homecooked breakfast and dinner sometimes look like:

Zucchini with mushrooms and fried fish..mmm? 

This intern and dorm room dweller and French-food-cooker is me, just a regular MIT student who will switch to first person at this point. :)

When I take the tram in the morning to get to work at 9:30 AM, it is packed*. I am still totally surprised at the huge amount of people reading really thick books in any form of transport I take. It is really great. I also get really excited when I hear English being spoken; and that is rather rare. I was told that French people were not as open and "chatty" as Americans, but it turns out that even this can vary. Just recently I was talking with my coworker on the bus about my internship (in French) and a random woman enthusiastically picked up on the conversation and started telling me that her son was actually also an intern in England, but he did not learn more English than he already knew. It was sweet and whenever she started to speak super fast, I smiled and nodded.

Actually, regarding French, I have yet to understand sentences and not just individual words when they are spoken fast. I also need to work on some pronunciation. At the end of my first week here, I was invited to a garden party by our new GRT (yes, Rebecca!), and it was really nice. Lots of fresh air and cheese and yummy French food (also featuring a cute talking chicken, a grumpy boring cat, and an overly hyperactive jumping dog). There were some curious moments. One of them was when Rebecca's cousin, this really cute girl about the age of my brother (that is, ten), asked me in French if I like Justin Bieber. I answered: "No, mais mon frère l'aime!" She looked at me, confused. So I repeated: "Mon frère, il aime Justin Bieber!" (My brother doesn't actually like Justin Bieber, but I was too concentrated on answering correctly to remember how much Misha hates him!). The girl kept looking at me blankly. Then her uncle asked me what I was trying to say. I told him the same thing, and he said to her "Elle dit que son frère aime Justin Beiber!". The girl suddenly realized, "Ohhh." Me: "..." Okay, maybe I do need to work on those French r's, but it is hard when you have always been taught to roll them!

My coworkers actually play a big role in my French language education. I annoy them with questions about syntax and grammar and pronunciation like there's no tomorrow. Before I get ahead of myself, let me explain where I work. I work on crack propagation simulations in a R&D group of EDF, a major (if not the) electricity and energy company in France, with lots of plants around Europe. I'll get more into what exactly I do later. What I want to explain right now is the environment. The building I work in is quite small. It is not a huge lab, or a "conventional" lab at all. Rather, it is more of a "simulation house" where every office contains a computer equipped with the newest (or, actually, most stable) version of Linux & Ubuntu, as well as the modelling software the company itself designed. When I came for first day of work, they had just finished setting up my computer, and telephone, in my office. At first I had some trouble getting used to the French keyboard and memorizing the 4552532 passwords I was given, but I have become so good at it now that I am still trying to use the left number pad on my own keyboard when I come home from work.

I share the office (and big table) with two PhD students, one from Romania and one from China. It is really interesting that my corner of the building quite international. Just across the wall there is a guy from Bahrain and one from Quebec. But a good portion are still French or have been assimilated as French, so I try to speak as much French as possible to everyone, no matter what the nationality. The only person with whom I consistently speak in English is actually my supervisor, and I think this is for the sake of clarity about my project. (I should probably understand the mechanics of crack propagation in English before doing so in French; that is not to say that the program I am working with does not only have French key words...). But in my conversation with colleagues, I came across things I've never heard before in French class. I pester them with questions about the words they are saying, asking them to repeat words, or teaching me to pronounce things the right way. I now say "au fait" and "donc" as easily as "actually", although I have never heard of the former before. I have rather interesting conversations with the guy from Quebec, since English is as natural to him as to me, so I can easily talk to him about how puns and other weird things would sound in French (or the translation of something like "I had to have had"). In general, when the French speak, they merge together most of the words in one continuous string. My supervisor said that even though I may not have gotten used to it yet, there will be a point where I will be able to tell the words apart as easily as in English. I hope so. For now my most used phrases are probably "ça marche" and "ça ne marche pas!" (in the light of my research successes...or failures :P).

MISTI France was also right about the amount of coffee breaks French people take. First they have coffee in the morning, of course. Then right after lunch, they all gather together near the coffee machine on the couches and talk about politics (or, rather, current events). Their conversations are pretty mild too; I have never heard anyone ardently arguing about some political controversy or something like this. I guess that is because I am in the R&D group and everyone is too busy with science to invest in any sort of outspoken opinion on the topic. They actually don't talk about politics at lunch; lunch is quite brief but extremely delicious so everyone is busy eating and maybe discussing something not too involved in the process. Then, I noticed, right at around 4 P.M., they all gather again by the coffee machine and chat about things. Everyone does go to eat together. There are two eating times, and it is such a warm feeling to be invited to go to lunch with everyone ("Tu vas manger?" "Oui!"). One time I got really hungry and went to see if some of my colleagues wanted to go have lunch. One time we even had a strike in the cafeteria. One of the theories regarding this was that EDF is moving to another place in two years, so the workers want some sort of compensation right now for having to lose their job then. Another theory was that workers generally like to go on strike. "It's just what they do," one guy told me. Just yesterday, most of the train workers went on strike; not sure the reason for this, but the tram was packed when I took it in the morning. I also have interesting conversations about education in the U.S. vs. that in France. I was frequently asked about "what it takes" to get into MIT -- good test scores, an entrance exam? Many schools in France have specialized entrance exams, so the holistic admissions process of most U.S. colleges (and the relative joke of the SAT) was a bit tricky to explain.

You may think we, MIT interns and research students, work a lot -- and we do. But we have awesome ways of relaxing afterwards:

Picnic time!! :) Photo (c) F.Vargas

Of course...sorority squat
by the Eiffel Tower! (c) F.V.

But when we do work, it is serious. I guess one thing MIT taught me is how to pester people. I pester my post doc/PhD students with French, but also with the research I am doing. They are super nice when I ask for help regarding some nuance of the program which is not very obvious. In the end we have quite interesting conversation (sometimes even entirely in French) on why some algorithm was constructed the way it was and to what physical systems it can be applied. In these few weeks, I have learned a ton about the nuances of material analysis. I love it when I have this kind of intellectual stimulation in the summer. I think the critical thinking I develop when trying to debug a script I wrote or understand how my results relate to a realistic model is good not only for science, but for simple daily life. :) After all, living alone without parents or any close relatives in a foreign country for the first time is not your regular morceau de gâteau. There are lots of factors like finances, transport, living, etc, that need to be carefully analyzed, and doing this before one graduates and heads into the real world, in my humble opinion, super useful! :)

Still, there were lots of embarrassing times in my assimilation process. Just as I thought it was becoming less obvious I was foreign in my trips home-work-back, I thought I just missed a stop on the bus and yelled at the driver, "Can you open the door, please??" really loudly in clear English, totally forgetting where I was. Realizing I was no longer in the US and that I actually did not miss the stop, I broke out in cold sweat, then coughed "excusez-moi!" as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Nobody seemed to notice, including the bus driver. It was just great. Maybe it is good that French people are always busy reading their thick books on the buses.

Part 2: The life of a TOURIST!

I don't even know what is harder, the life of an assimilated person or the life of a tourist. Assimilating makes you feel really cool and suave (does anyone actually use that word?) while being a tourist makes you go ZOMG I AM IN FRANCE, FREAKING VOLTAIRE AND MONET AND OH GOD, NAPOLEON HIMSELF WALKED ON THIS ROAD!!! THIS FREAKING ROAD!! (a.k.a. my thoughts on the weekends). Suddenly, when the weekend arrives, I am transformed from a serious and studious apprentice of the French language and program compilers to a sparkly eyed tourist, waiting to experience one world wonder after the other. My inner tourist was finally unleashed for the first time as I strolled along the Seine,

Finally here: the romantic Seine at sunset! 

played Joe Dessin's "Aux Champs-Elysees" in my head as I walked though the Jardin des Tuileries, 

A fountain in front of Palais du Louvre

and marveled at the glittering Tour d'Eiffel at the real Midnight (12:00) in Paris...

Actually, I have yet to take a full walk through the Champs Elysees, but hey, I have two more months! My first actual entrance was into the Musee D'Orsay, which was an absolute wonder. Itself an old train station, it is fantastically designed, and contains some of my favorite works and artists (Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, and many others). 

Me in the most artistic train station in the world! 

The same Friday, I visited Sacre Coeur, which is basically a giant church akin to the Saint Joseph's Oratory in Montreal plus a huge tourist bazaar and lots of people looking to scam you.

The majestic Sacre Coeur! :) 

We had dinner at a nice restaurant in Montmarte, not far from the basilica. 

Me and the MIT kids at dinner. (c) F. Vargas

On Saturday, I visited Versailles:

Me, Julia, Anthony in Versailles. Photo (c) F. Vargas

Versailles itself was very breathtaking, and just full of so many interesting historical antiquities. It was also real easy to get to, we just got on the RER C and took it straight to the town. On the way we saw a really cute antique bookstore (and planned to come back there later)!

However, nothing, not even the Orsay/Versailles, could have prepared me for the cultural shock of the Louvre!

The Apollo Gallery, created by

the Sun King, seems miraculously 

untouched by the revolution!

Somebody asked me, after I came back from the Louvre: "How was the Mona Lisa?"

"She was smiling," I said. "Plus, it was really difficult to take selfies with her, since she is surrounded by a mob of tourist and (potentially) pickpocketers." 

However, it was much easier to take selfies with my other old friends, like Voltaire. I know it is not a very candide photo, but what can I say?! You are a tourist in Paris only once. (Interpret that as you'd like! ;))

Voltaire is excited to be in my photo. 

I also loved how the Louvre had a ton of stuff from Ancient Egyptians, Mesopotamia, and Ancient Greece. I had never seen so many sarcophaguses and so many nude marble men in one room before (of course, in their separate respective rooms by era; otherwise it would be kind of weird). And sometimes you could spot people drawing famous paintings: 

My most historical recent endeavor was in the Museum of Medieval History. It was great. Oh, did I mention all these museums are practically free for students? It is a truly great time to be a young person in Paris. :) 

This museum is a real castle!

And there's also an opportunity to play giant chess right outside! 

Anyway, this was not the last of the cultural enlightenment for the past three weeks! Just today, I made some time to go to l'Odéon-théâtre de l'Europe, one of the six national theaters. I saw the play Le Misanthrope by Moliere. The production was very modern, and at times a little strange, but my friend and I really liked it. I may not have understood everything they were saying (in fact I mostly use the "key word" method now, in which I listen as hard as I can to the fast speech and recognizing the keywords, am able to guess the context of the others, correctly or not :P), but their gestures were hilarious and the acting was superb.

A scene from today's play. (c) L'Odeon

Also, I think the play is where the double life of a tourist and intern finally merged into one; after all, while taking touristy pictures of the interior of the theater, I realized I had not heard any English spoken here at all. 

Before the play, we also had some very delicious crepes with chicken and salad for just 4 euros. Seriously, SO DELICIOUS. There is no doubt that they were the most delicious crepes ever made. If you ever go to Paris St. Germain area and get hungry, go to this crêperie; it is soo worth it! 

Right now I am trying to wrap up this entry, because it is pretty darn long, but I know I just owed it to you guys -- LMF blog really needed a healthy new dose of everything French! :) Ooh, I still need to blog more about my actual research project; next entry! Thanks for reading and hope all of you amazing people are having fantastic summers. 

*A note on traveling around Paris & public transport, since I kind of love it!

Public transport in France is a thing of global envy, probably (except when they go on strike; that is not fun, but hey, that's what the French do best!). I had never before used public transport much in the US. But here, it is simply a godsend. There are many options for travel; the metro, RER (a type of train within Ile-de-France region mostly), tram, bus, or train itself. To get to my work, I take the cute tram, and then the bus. The best part is that many of the metro/RER/tram/bus, etc, stations are conveniently located right at the step of the most interesting museums, attractions, etc. 

i.e., just like in "Paris, je t'aime!"

After the hassle of buying individual tickets for each transport for a few days, I bought a "Navigo pass" which allows one to travel within a certain region an unlimited amount of times. It was a good idea; I once managed to get totally lost when I got off at this huge metro station that had like 20 exits, and took many different metro lines to get home. Also, EVERYTHING is automatic. When you get onto any type of transport (except the actual trains) there will be no one there to check your ticket. It is your job to swipe your pass or validate your ticket, which gets stamped with the number of the line you took and the time you boarded. Pretty cool. (Once you have used one of the tickets, it can be reused within 90 minutes) . This would so not work in some countries, I am pretty sure. But it mostly works here (sometimes there are people who will check your ticket/pass at the entry). WARNING: Paris is not too nice to pedestrians, and my French friend told me that there is no way she'd ever drive in Paris. This is because French drivers are CRAZY. They won't ever stop. Ever. Just saying.