Culture- Comme les Français

This American is culture-starved. I came to this realization after noticing that the primary topic I blogged about this past summer was makeup. Don’t get me wrong. I love make up and love blogging about the certain femme fatale qualities that one can bring out with the right shade of red, but dear God, please let this not be the only thing I bring to the table!

When I lived in Paris with Famille Chic I was immersed in culture… so much so that I probably only watched about 6 hours of television the entire six months I was there (if that). Famille Chic did have a television- but it was very small and it was not the center of the living room- contrary to many American homes where the television is the center of the living room (and the kitchen, and the bedroom and the guest bedroom… you get the idea). I will not go into detail about the living room of Famille Chic here, however, I will leave that for a future post on interiors.

What was I doing instead of watching television you ask? I was looking at art, going to the cinema, reading books in the Jardin des Tuileries, discussing philosophy with my fellow ex-pats over an espresso in any and every café in the city, going to the theatre, the ballet, the opera. Oh la la! I immersed myself and took advantage of all of the culture Paris had to offer. No wonder I didn’t have time to watch American Idol (not that they have that there).

Admittedly in Los Angeles, it is a little hard to find culturally rich activities- you have to dig a little, but there is no excuse! Going to the Andy Warhol exhibit last week reawakened my hunger for art. I plan to expand my cultural horizons from now on past reading books and watching French Films on TV5MONDE (the best channel on cable, btw!). I am going to a play this Friday, plan on visiting the Getty with friends in the next two weeks, and will research what sort of quirky bites of culture Los Angeles has to offer in an ongoing effort to expand my mind and my cultural horizons and shall keep you posted all along the way…

I would love to know… how do you keep from being culture starved?