a week in the life..

in retrospect, i feel like last week was a pretty good illustration of life here in franceland. well, partly. minimal classes, lots of hang-out time. here’s a summary...

monday, 4 april 2011

art history – the last class before the exam.. professor didn’t quite finish the lecture, so he said he’d just lecture before the exam next week. great.. now i have to make sure i catch every little detail, because it’s all fair game for the exam during the same class period – no time to go back home and research/verify, etc. stressful. we covered a lot of stuff, too. yikes.

nap. computer time. lunch.

langue française class – i’d already given my final presentation, so now all that’s left is to sit and listen to other people’s exposés.. an hour and a half later, my brain was dripping out of my ears and i’d revised my summer plans 14 times.

grocery shopping at superU with my peoples.

conversation workshop – brutally boring. it’s not really much of a conversation class if we get in trouble for talking...

dinner with friends, as usual.

tuesday, 5 april 2011

no classes on tuesday.. wonderful day of relaxation. slept in, worked on some homework, chilled outside, studied for my culture exam. i’m going to miss my little weekend-in-the-middle-of-the-week next semester when i go back to the real world..

wednesday, 6 april 2011

translation in the morning.. it’s always painful when the professor calls on 10 exchange students in a row, and they’re all absent. thankfully i had my work done, so when he finally got to my name, i had something to contribute.

techniques of french expression – again, i’ve already given my final presentation, so i just had to listen to other ones. more interesting than langue française class, but still pretty brutal.

culture – final exam! which took me approximately 14 minutes. once we finished, my friend andrea invited me to join her and a friend for an evening out – they were planning on going to a restaurant in town that specializes in soufflés. a few weeks before, our culture professor had given us a list of 12 restaurants in angers, all of which i vowed to try. since the soufflérie was on the list, i happily accepted the invitation. ..best decision EVER. soufflé has to be on my list of most delicious creations on the planet. i had a goat cheese and broccoli soufflé that i can only imagine was sent from heaven, and then the three of us shared a chocolate soufflé for dessert. i must learn how to make soufflé. i must.

thursday, 7 april 2011

happy first birthday to my favourite little baby boy, baker wiley cooper! his mom, charlotte, was my french teacher (and subsequent role model) in high school (and life), so i have a special place in my heart for that kid. i even got my tattoo the day he was born! so happy first birthday to my tattoo as well.

i just have two classes on thursdays – a two hour block of translation from 10-12. since it’s french to english translation, it’s pretty easy for me. i love to hear the different english options that the students and professors suggest for various french phrases. sometimes, they’re better than my translation, because oftentimes you get so caught up in the translation aspect of the work that you forget how you actually speak. for example, at one point i said ‘furrowed her eyebrows’ instead of just ‘frowned’. or, better yet, i said ‘make her spirit rest at its sides’ (what?) instead of ‘keep her mind from wandering’. see, direct translation just gets messes everything up. anyway, those classes always entertain me.

after classes are over at noon, my weekend starts. i went back to my room to get a few things done before biking into town to run some errands. i went to the bank, a few little bookstores, the cutest knick-knack store ever, and then bought a baguette and layed out by the fountain to read in the sunshine. it was a glorious afternoon.

as i was walking around angers, i was very nearly overcome with a seriously strong urge to write. except i didn’t have a journal.. so here is what my heart was saying on thursday afternoon;

                dear friends and family back home.. i have been lying to you. i don’t just live in france. i live in paradise.. where the sun doesn’t fully set until 9pm at night. where women in their sixties wear mini-skirts and stand in front of store windows, checking out red strappy heels because they have the figure to pull them off. where every decent café has outdoor seating if the weather is even mildly pleasant, and plazas become huge, open seating areas on sunny days. where every flowerbed overflows with a tasteful array of colours and species – pink tulips mixed with purple and white pansies, deep orange poppies blending with bright yellow buttercups. where baguettes are 75 cents, and always fresh. where people are always chic, but never overstated – they just care about how they look, and it shows. where travel is cheap enough to go somewhere every weekend and still not break the bank. where classes end in mid-april, and grades are based on tests taken and presentations given throughout the semester – no finals. where people take pride in their language, because it’s beautiful. where dogs are allowed inside stores and restaurants, because they’re always well-behaved. where lunch breaks are an hour and a half long. where bakeries are more like art galleries, with little masterpieces on display, each unique and delicious. my friends – this is france, and it is wonderful.

friday, 8 april 2011

three day weekend, every week. i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again.. it’s a hard life. slept in again (this is becoming a bad habit – but for me, sleeping in is like 10am..), answered some emails, had a spa afternoon, listened to some old music and succumbed to nostalgia for the afternoon. there had been plans to go to a barbeque at the lake for dinner, but people ended up not leaving until way too late, and i was feeling a little under the weather, so i stayed back and made curry to clear my sinuses. and then my friends came back, saying no one was there. we hung around and talked for a while, convincing the desk attendant man to leave the kitchen open late for us. he’s an angel, i swear – such a nice man. i stayed up entirely too late skyping my sweet boyfriend, but it was well-worth it. :)

saturday, 9 april 2011

epic lie-in.. woke up at 11 and got ready to go meet my friends downtown for a picnic! i packed my little lunch (peanut butter and honey sandwich, carrot / red pepper sticks, apple) and took the bus into town. we ate in a little pavilion in the middle of a big park – there were SO many people there! it was a beautiful day, so everyone was out doing their own picnic-y thing. we got some ice cream and then hopped on a bus to the edge of town for our guided tour at the cointreau museum! cointreau is a very famous orange liqueur, invented and still produced here in angers! for less than 9 euro each, the six of us got to watch a film that told about the history of cointreau (and showed REALLY cool film footage of angers from the late 1800’s/early 1900’s!), tour the factory, learn about the advertising campaigns, AND do a taste-test! the ‘degustation’ was totally the best part, even though i don’t really like the taste of cointreau. we walked into the “bar”, which was super snazzy and chic. we had our own little couch and chairs, set around a table already set with glasses and ice. we got to try THREE different cocktails (well worth the 9 euro at this point) – straight cointreau on ice, a bubbly mixed drink, and the classic ‘cointreaupolitan’. plus, we got a little plate of snacks. we seriously felt SO fancy and glamorous! once the tour was over, we headed back to town and i grabbed a pain au chocolat from my favourite bakery before catching the bus back to campus.

dinner was great – a guy who was here last semester came back for a visit, and since he was always cooking for people last term, he made fajitas for everyone saturday night. i had mine without the chicken (two more weeks of vegetarianism... two. more. weeks.) and they were still delicious! after fajitas, we all went out to a bonfire for a while, where emma and i had a wonderful girly chat before being interrupted and hit on by two seedy french dudes. “ze best way to learn fuhrench is to ‘ave uh fuhrench boyfran.” oh really? thanks. “vith ze fire, eet ez hot, but vith you two here, whoo! i am burning.” yeah, he went there. i was amused for a while, but ended up getting tired and leaving around 1:30am. i came back and went to bed – sooo tired.

sunday, 10 april 2011

happy birthday DAD!!! super sad i wasn’t home to celebrate (and eat cake.. sigh) – i hope it was a lovely day. i spent all day studying for my art history exam – typing up notes, reading handouts, researching vocabulary, inserting pictures. by the end of the night, i was feeling pretty confident. since the last test was so bad, i was determined to show my professor what’s what. this time around, i knew what kind of test to expect, so i felt much more prepared. i made a really good salad (lettuce, goat cheese, apples, avocado on the side) and had a wonderful time having girl talk with my favourite floormates – emma, jessie, danielle, and paola. we even got to try a brazilian dessert called brigadiero that paula made – little balls of chocolate covered in sprinkles – yes. i went to bed after a skype sesh with drew, feeling a little apprehensive but ready to go.

monday, 11 april 2011

and that brings us to today. i woke up a little early to read over my notes again, and headed to class. true to his word, the professor lectured for about 30 minutes before calling out the exam.. which wasn’t like the last one!! the jerk! he didn’t do a SINGLE vocabulary word, which i had so painstakingly studied. sigh. thankfully, i knew the answers to all the questions he asked, for the most part. i may have missed a detail here and there, but i got the majority for sure. and, he DID include things from today’s lecture on the exam – but i’d caught everything, so that ended up being pretty easy. all in all, i feel good about it.. i just hope he doesn’t diss my french level again. BUT- i never have to go back to that class or see him again, so i’m putting it out of my mind. what’s done is done, right? joy. :) i came back to a letter from my sister in the mailbox and a song from drew in my email. gotta love that.

this week is my last week of ‘cufco’ classes – the courses i take that are specifically for exchange students. today, i have my last ‘langue française’ class and my last conversation workshop. i seriously hope my professor doesn’t keep us for the full three hours in langue! there is no way she can.. surely. yeesh. and we’re all supposed to bring food to conversation class, so hopefully that just means a hang-out party! the rest of the night will probably be made up of chilling in the kitchen and maybe watching a movie. this is pretty much my last week of classes, so the semester is definitely winding down! yay!! :)



picnics and elephants.

i’m fairly certain the majority of humankind agrees with me when i say that weekends are one of God’s greatest gifts to His people. weekends in france are definitely no exception. actually, they’re a little better, because the french took it upon themselves to boost the weekend relaxation quotient by ensuring that NO ONE can do anything on sundays, and then many businesses are closed on monday as well. it’s a hard life.

anyway, this weekend (just like the last one) was faaab-u-lous. friday was the most beautiful day of all time. ok, not really, but the weather was STUNNING (60F/16C – blue skies) and i was a little high on sunshine. since i don’t have class on fridays, i decided to make it an outdoors day. natalie and i stopped by superU to get some lunchy things, and then we packed picnics and biked into town. i still can’t get over how beautiful angers is – in the 20 minute, 4 km ride into town, i pass by some of the prettiest, most historic buildings i can imagine. and the rest of the town is all that great, classic french architecture, scattered with the random stone wall or timber-framed building. i love it. we biked a little further into town than usual, so natalie could run a couple errands before our picnic. i popped into monoprix to complete my picnic with a baguette and a tarte. we headed down a little park right near the river, at the base of the cathedral steps. there is this huge fountain and a little garden too. plus, there’s a cliff that some of the oldest buildings in town were build on top of. it was a picturesque setting, to say the least. we spread our little picnic out and soaked up the sun for a solid hour – it was awesome. i had my baguette with cheese, yogurt, an apple, raisins and some apple juice. for dessert, we split the tarte. can you say perrrfecttt? yum.

after the picnic, we headed back up the hill next to the chateau. we parked our bikes and walked down a little side street to the “galerie david d’angers”. rachel met us there, and the three of us toured (for free!) one of the coolest little statue galleries i’ve ever seen. it’s in a renovated church, with a glass ceiling! since it was so sunny, there was a bit of a greenhouse effect (it was sweltering in there) but the effect of all that light on the statues was breathtaking. it was so bright and vibrant, the work seemed to come to life a little. there are really only two main rooms, so all these statues are just gathered in the main hall. some are lifesize, some are wayyy larger than life, and there are lots of little ones too. david sculpted quite a few major figures in angevin and french history. it was cool to see the people whose names i’ve been seeing on bus stops, roads signs, even dorm residences. while we were there, a class of probably 1^st or 2^nd graders was visiting as well. SO CUTE. they had to draw a statue, pick one to imitate, and do some class exercises. i wanted to steal one to bring home, they were so stinkin’ precious. but i feel that way about all french children. rachel, natalie, and i did a few statue impressions of our own, and then headed out. natalie went back to school to nap, and rachel and i spent an hour or two walking around town, shopping a little bit (the semi-annual sales are ending this week :( ), and soaking up the sunshine. we stopped by the train station to buy our tickets for saturday’s daytrip (details later!) and then biked back home. there is a hill about three-fourths of the way back to the dorm that is BRUTAL. i still haven’t made it up all the way – i have to walk it. i’ve made it a personal goal to bike up that hill before i leave angers this summer. anywho, after we got back, i rested for a bit and then skyped with my family. around 7:45, shane and i ran down to superU to get things for dinner. we made the usual, and chilled out in the kitchen with jessie and emma. around 11, the four of us walked over to the other belle-beille residence, where the spanish students had organized a party of sorts. i suppose it was fun, but that is just so not my scene. i didn’t really enjoy it too much, and headed back to my dorm around midnight. being around that many people and being so out of my fun zone put me in a bit of a funk, so i was not in a very good mood when i went to bed. but, sleep is always good for the brain! i did a little research for saturday and then hit the hay.

i woke up pretty early on saturday, because rachel and i had planned a daytrip to nantes! and for only 16 euro return - yay! nantes is about 90km south of angers, towards the atlantic ocean. it is the capital of the pays-de-la-loire region. it’s much bigger than angers, but just as pretty! our train was at 10:36, so we met at 9:45 at the bus stop. we made it to the train station in plenty of time, got our tickets stamped, and hopped on the train. the ride was only about 30 minutes, through the beautiful loire valley countryside. at one point, we passed a little manor house that looked like it should have been in a jane austen novel – it was gorgeous! i only got a glimpse of it as we passed by, but i remember marveling at the thought of who lives there. probably an old couple, who tend their animals and gardens and live 45 km from the nearest anything. we arrived in nantes around 11am, got a map from the welcome desk, and headed towards the closest “office de tourisme”. through my research, i’d found that the city of nantes offers “day passes” that can get the cardbearer free entrance into museums, complementary treats at various restaurants, and unlimited access to the public transit system. for students, the 24 hour pass is only 9 euro!! it’s an absolute steal, and pays for itself in a few tram rides plus one museum entry. we bought our passes at the office located on the same plaza as the cathedral. once we had our nantes guide/passes, the game plan was to go grab some lunch, head to the “ile de nantes”, and then work our way back. we ate at this great restaurant called “le molière” – rachel had a croque monsieur and i had a ham/butter baguette. the sun was shining right onto our table, so we stayed warm and enjoyed the atmosphere of a bustling french cafe on saturday afternoon.

after lunch, we walked down to the island for what proved to be an amazing experience. in 2007, the city of nantes started on a project they call “les machines de l’ile” – the machines of the island. the designs are inspired by the drawings of jules verne (native of nantes) and da vinci. the first phase of the project was the construct a 40 foot tall, 50 ton robot elephant. i’m not exaggerating, this thing is enormous. and it’s completely hand-crafted, with beautiful artisanship. luckily for us, saturday was the opening day for 2011, so we got to ride the elephant on its maiden voyage for the year! we got to the hangar where the elephant lives around 1pm. since the box office didn’t open until 2, we sat in the little cafe/gift shop to chill out for a bit. at 1:45, we got in line to ensure our places on the elephant. sure enough, by 2pm, the line was pretty long! we bought our ticket (the only thing i purchased all day besides the pass!) and went upstairs to watch the video about the machines project. it was fascinating! the amount of talent that goes into these animals is incredible. the next phase of the project is a giant tree called “the heron tree”. they’ve only built on branch so far – the prototype branch. it is attached to the hangar, right above the cafe. it’s probably about 60 feet high at the highest point, and has three off-shoot branches. seriously impressive. the artisans are also working on a marine-themed (thanks, jules) carousel. amazing. at 2:45, we boarded the elephant, making our way to the top deck. it was so cool! the whole ride lasted 45 minutes, but we only went like 200 yards. it’s not a very quick robot elephant. but it was neat to see the head move around, the ears flap, the trunk raise up and spray water, etc. there is an engine that propels the elephant, but the legs still move like the elephant is walking. the experience was worth the 5 euros – now i can say i’ve ridden a robot elephant! yes!

after the elephant, we decided to pass on the gallery of other animals, because the line was much too long. we walked back into town and caught the tram to the chateau. it’s a beautiful building, with outer fortressing and pretty and ornate interior buildings. our passes got us free entry to the chateau museum, so we decided to check it out. it was SO NICE. seriously, nantes has to have some money, because this was the nicest, most technological museum i think i’ve ever seen. plus, it was enormous – like 35 rooms! we followed the flow of the tour and came out about an hour later. sidenote – france has some very attractive public servants. all of the employees were quite easy on the eyes. this is not an uncommon trend. anyway, after we finished touring through the chateau, we took a lap on the top of the outer wall and then took some pictures by the moat. there is a street in nantes called “rue crébillon” that is famous for its window displays – they’ve even invented a verb (crébillonner – to window shop on the rue crébillon). the shops are verrry luxerious and fancy, so that was a pretty street. :) we ended our tour with a little treat at “la cigale” – one of the most famous restaurants in nantes. it opened in 1895, and still maintains its old-time charm. the interior of la cigale is AMAZINGLY ornate and fancy, with lots of gold trimming, mosaics, and mirrors. our pass got us a complementary hot chocolate and two little slices of cake. WIN. the hot chocolate was VERY rich – almost like pure melted chocolate. and the cakes were chocolate too – i hate to say it, but i experienced a bit of a chocolate overload that day. we meandered back down to the tram way and headed back to the train station to go home. there is so much to do in nantes that we hardly scratched the surface, but i had a great time visiting a new place!

after hurrying to catch the last bus back to campus, we made it home around 9:15. i was EXHAUSTED but hungry for real food (not chocolate). shane hadn’t eaten yet either, so we made pasta. somehow, i’m not sick of it yet! it was delicious. we sat in the kitchen and talked to djamel and danielle, who had gotten a pizza. around 11pm, i came back to my room and got ready for bed. it was a very long but fun-filled day.

today (sunday) has been pretty lazy, after my active busy friday/saturday. i woke up early to skype for a while, since TWOG got to record their electric ep/album in Oceanway last night and i wanted to hear about it. drew and i talked from about 9am-10am (france time – he was up late!) and then i went back to sleep until noonish. yeah yeah, shameful i know. but i needed the rest. i got up and took a lonnnnng shower, which felt amazing. and i dedicated the rest of my day to getting chores/homework/blogging finished! so i’m in the middle of that. my first test is coming up on wednesday – it’s a translation test, which shouldn’t be too difficult. i’m just going to revise my homework and go from there! i'm going to try to watch my church service at 6pm - i really hope the internet is good enough!! :P

and last but not least, tomorrow is valentine’s day. i’d be lying if i said it didn’t absolutely SUCK to be away from my valentine this year, but physical separation can’t diminish how i feel. so, happy valentine’s day, froffie. i love you, and i’ll see you in 170 days. :P <3

and to all my other loved ones, happy valentine’s day to you too!

love from france,

jill

PS- i've linked a few pictures of things i'm talking about in this post, but my facebook album 'february in france' is much more thorough if you want to see what i've been talking about! :)