arrival

well, i’ve passed my first week here in the countryside of southern france, and let me tell you… it’s lovely here. i’m definitely living a charmed little life here!

let me back up a little bit, just to explain how it is that i got where i am. when i was applying for the TAPIF program, i chose “small town / rural area” as my preference, because i wanted a better shot at true immersion.. sometimes, in bigger towns and definitely in the major cities, assistants will just flock to each other and you pretty much end up speaking only english. not what i was going for this time! so, when i received my placement back in june, i found out that i’d been placed in a rural village called excideuil (ex-cee-duh-yuh, sort of). all in all, there are about 2,000 people who live here… which is only slightly larger than my high school. soooo… small town. but, even with all the reservations i had about my remote placement, i knew that it would be the absolute best thing for my french to be as immersed as possible. and i was excited about the prospect of my own beauty-and-the-beast-esque village.

in researching the town, i came across the facebook page for a café in town called ‘kitsch kafé,’ owned and operated by a lovely british ex-pat named vicki. since i was curious about the village, i looked through the photos on her page and noticed that they also rented the apartments over the café… an idea that appealed greatly to me. i reached out to vicki, just wanting to introduce myself and learn a little bit about the village. we continued our correspondence over the summer, and in late july, she told me that their studio apartment was going to be available at the end of september… exactly when i would be arriving in excideuil! too perfect. having my housing worries taken care of before i even left the states was a huge weight off of my shoulders, and made my transition into france life much easier.

so, i arrived here in excideuil on monday, september 30^th. vicki even sent one of the café regulars, a philedelphia native named richard, to meet me at the bus stop and help me get my bags to the café (a whopping 200m walk down the street). when we walked in the door, vicki immediately greeted me with a smile and the bisous (the french kiss-kiss greeting) and showed me right upstairs. my apartment is TOO cute. it came totally furnished, which is an immeasurable blessing… she went above and beyond and provided bedding, towels, dishes, even hangers. pretty much everything i needed except for food. i can’t express how rare this type of accommodation is in france, and especially for the rent i’m paying, which is half of what i paid in nashville. it’s a studio, so all one room, but i have a little sleeping nook with a double bed, a decent bathroom, a kitchen with hot places and a little countertop oven, and even a couch and small tv! everything i need for a sweet life in the countryside. (pictures to come this weekend!)

i’ve spent my first few days here just settling in. i went to the supermarket down the road my first evening here and then again the next night, just to get my pantry stocked with the basics (pasta, cereal, madeleines, nutella, etc). i also stopped by the hardware store next to the market for a little plug adapter the first night, and a tv cable the next night. it’s fun to learn the little idiosyncrasies of a new place. for example, the woman at the hardware store really likes exact change… the first night, she was really short with me when i only had a 5 euro note and she had to give me change back, but the second night, i gave her exactly 3.20 for the cord, and she chatted with me about my job for about 5 minutes and wished me ‘bon courage’ as i left. i also learned that it’s way better to bring my backpack to the supermarket, instead of lugging shopping bags back home. and that’s even more true now that i have a bike!! richard, the philedelphian, is in the middle of a decade-long saga of renovation in a 15^th century home just behind the café, and he had a bike up in the attic that he’s lent to me! i used the pressure washer behind the supermarket to wash it off, and it works like a charm. so, instead of walking with giant bags like i did the first night, i can now bike with my backpack to the supermarket! much easier.

i think i’ll cut myself off here and do a separate post about my school – don’t want these suckers to get too long, or even i won’t want to reread them! :) x

teenager no more!!

first off, i’d just like to thank the many, many people who made my 20^th birthday so very special. it was a birthday i’ll not soon forget!

here’s what my weekend looked like.. :)

thursday, 14 april 2011

i had two exams on thursday – my LAST two! they were both translation tests, french to english (aka the easier kind!), so there was no studying involved. how can you study for a translation exam? you can’t. once i finished those tests at noon, i was freeeeee! i came back and chilled out for a while, doing some planning and requesting couches for my upcoming trip. the evening was spent cooking with friends and hanging out. my friend shane had a visitor for a few days – his best friend from ireland, named rowan. they showed up around 8pm and we all stayed in the kitchen, talking and goofing off. around 10:30, we went over to say goodbye to lucy, one of the girls from the UK, who went home on saturday. when we got over there, though, everyone was going out! as it ended up, me, jessie, claire, shane, and rowan biked into town to hang out with everyone at this bar called ‘okapi’ – it was PACKED with students, because thursday night is student night. we had fun though! it was a slow bike ride back, and we finally got home around 2:30. i pretty much passed right out – so tired!!!

friday, 15 april 2011

friday was my first “birthday excursion”. joined by five of my friends (rachel, newton, claire, ariel, and laura), i took a bus to a chateau about 18km outside of angers, called the chateau brissac. it’s actually the tallest chateau in the loire valley – 7 floors! we arrived in brissac, which is seriously small, around noon and went straight to the tourism centre. the plan was to have a picnic and walk around until the chateau tours opened back up at 2pm. the women told us to try the bakery/butcher in the town plaza, unless we wanted to walk 2km to the supermarket. we bought baguettes, cheese, and salami and had some great little sandwiches! well, i just had bread and cheese.. only one week left of my vegetarian lifestyle!! but yeah, lunch was great. it was a little overcast, but we had fun regardless. after lunch, we walked all over the town, killing an hour. after stopping for some hot chocolate, we made our way over to the chateau. for 8 euro, we got a private guided tour of the chateau, a free wine tasting, and access to the huge gardens! not too bad. the building itself was beautiful – extremely detailed carvings, classic fairytale architecture.. after seeing several chateaux in my time here, i would definitely say it was the most “beauty and the beast” looking castle i’ve seen so far. :) the tour was cool, too. we got to see the main reception room, the sitting parlour, the “ballroom”, the dining room, the king’s bedchamber, the grand theatre.. it was AWESOME. the coolest part was that the noble family of brissac (the duke and his family) still live in the castle! they occupy 10 of the 204 rooms. how neat is THAT! we spent the whole day looking for laszlo, the 16 year old future duke of brissac. :) after the tour, we went and had our little wine tasting before going to play around in the gardens for the afternoon. we had a great time taking silly pictures and sitting in the grass. around 3:30, we left and went to finish our walk around the town before taking the 5:20 bus back to angers. the walk didn’t take that long, so we ended up sitting in the sun again for about 30 more minutes near the bus stop. it was so lovely though.

after a few different buses, we made it back to campus and headed right to superU to get stuff for dinner – we had decided to do a big fajita night! so i bought some things, and got cooking around 8:30. since shane’s a real vegetarian and i’m not eating meat for lent (and because meat is expensive), we just made veggie fajitas. but i made guacamole and we had some other toppings, and the whole result was super delicious! it’s such a great feeling when you cook for lots of people and then at the end of the meal, literally all the food is gone. i love it. we hung out in the kitchen some more and then once the night guard came to close it up, we moved to shane’s room. i stayed for about 20 minutes of ‘the shining’ and then headed to bed. not my kind of movie, and i was so tired!

saturday, 16 april 2011

about 2 weeks ago, i signed up for a ‘daytrip to the sea’ excursion that the international office had organized.. the trip had places for 50 people - for 10 euro, we got to visit 4 cities/sites, get dinner, AND it included transportation! seriously, it was a ridiculously cheap trip. the spots filled up in like 3 hours, but luckily natalie, claire, rachel and i got spots. we met the tour bus at 8:45 outside the school and hopped on for an hour and a half ride toward the atlantic. our first stop was in a preserved village called ‘kehrinet’ – a tiny, tiny place in the middle of nowhere, with about 18 thatch-roofed cottages and some animals. it was really cool to see what those little villages looked like centuries ago! it felt even MORE like beauty and the beast. (i realize that i make this comparison all the time.. but seriously, you can’t understand how often i feel like i’m living in the movie over here!) we walked around looking at the restored cottages, marveling at the fact that thatch roofs actually work, and checking out the artisan shops. after an hour and a half, we all piled back into the bus and headed to the next stop, about 30 minutes away. it was a fortified city called ‘guerande’ – all contained within fortress walls. we got there right in the middle of the saturday market, which automatically means AWESOME LUNCH. we got baguettes, some brie, and roasted potatoes. the girls got some meat for the sandwiches, and i got spinach. and we sat in the sunshine in a courtyard in front of the church and ate one of the most delicious meals i have consumed here in france. there is literally nothing like a market lunch. i am going to miss it so much. i bought raspberries for dessert, which i ended up putting on the waffle that i bought later (see the picture). DELISH. after lunch, we explored the city some more before lying down in the grass for a little nap. at 3pm, we hopped back on the bus – this time on our way to do a drive-through tour of a city called ‘le croisic’ – with gorgeous rocky beaches. our last touristy stop was ‘la baule’. according to our guide sheet, it is the “most beautiful beach in europe”.. i beg to differ. they also said it was the longest beach in europe, which i’ll believe – it was like 12km long. the little town seemed pretty ritzy – i got the feeling it was a pretty standard “rich people come here in the summer” kind of beach town. it was cloudy, sadly, so we layed on the beach for just a little while and then walked around until ti was time to get back on the bus at 6:30. on the way home, we stopped for dinner at what was essentially a mall food court, except they only had one thing to eat. i didn’t get the fish – just veggies and rice. the dessert was this weird marshmallow cube thing in some cream sauce. the bus ride home was long, but i just listened to music. we finally got home around 10pm, and i was EXHAUSTED. i talked to my friends on my floor for a while and then went to bed bed bed.

sunday, 17 april 2011

i didn’t even set an alarm on sunday. i just wanted to sleep. i woke up around 11, feeling wonderful. i worked on some couchsurfing stuff for a while and then showered, etc. i worked on third year writing stuff and layed out during the afternoon, and then went over to my friend rachel’s room around 6pm.

rachel is a youtube guru – she has two channels (one in french, one in english), where she posts videos giving people fashion, makeup, and just all around style tips. she has nearly 6,000 subscribers! a few weeks ago, rachel had a great idea.. she wants us to do a “european adventure” channel, where we document our summer travels. so.. we’re doing it! on sunday, she gave me a little makeover and we took pictures for our channel. it was a lot of fun. :) after the photo shoot, we made dinner and hung out for a while, planning some video ideas and talking to people. i came back to skype around 11pm. i got to talk to my best friend, also named rachel, who lives in california. and then, i skyped drew at midnight – officially my birthday! :) we talked for a while, and then shane came to invite me to a movie night in his room. when i walked in the door, about 6 of my friends started singing ‘happy birthday’ to me! so sweet. :) shane has a blow-up mattress, so his tiny room can actually fit like 10 people for a movie night – stadium seating! we watched the movie ‘snatch’ – always great. afterwards, shane put on his ‘virtual fireplace’ recording and played guitar quietly. it was so lovely – natalie said later it was the most ‘at home’ she’d felt since she left winnipeg. and i know what she meant.. it was just so comfy and nice and awesome. around 3am, i finally roused myself from my semi-sleep state and went to bed.

monday, 18 april 2011

birthday!!!! all my monday classes finished last week, but i still woke up early (painfully) to go to the store and get some things for BIRTHDAY BRUNCH! several of my friends came over around 10:30 and all contributed to a freaking fantastic birthday breakfast. we had crepes (and nutella, strawberries, kiwi, bananas, and whipped cream), french toast, cinnamon apples, eggs, potatoes, juice.. it was amazing. and the best part was that we ate it ALL! yummyyy. after brunch, i hung out with friends and said goodbye to shane’s friend rowan. i took a post-brunch coma nap for a bit before heading over to rachel’s for our girly get ready party at 5:30. i had made a reservation for a big group dinner that night, so a bunch of us got makeovers from the makeup queen herself, rachel martino. and we all dressed up and it was so funnnn! we took the bus into town, stopping by the fountain at the cathedral steps to have a little photo shoot. it was kind of like prom, actually! haha! we hopped back on the bus and got to the restaurant right on time. they had the back room set up for us, because the reservation was for 18 people. i think it ended up being 15 people total! shane had ANOTHER friend named danjoe come visit on monday – he arrived just in time for dinner! and, one of the girls from last semester came back to visit, so she joined us too. :) we had a great time – the food was delicious (and not too expensive), everyone looked beautiful, and it was just a fantastic night. we took one of the last buses out of town, and i scurried upstairs to skype my parents before my birthday was officially over. GREAT DAY!

tuesday, 19 april 2011

no class, still. spent the morning catching up on sleep and then the afternoon working on travel plans. dinner was salad and soup and time with friends! after such a weekend, i needed a quiet night. :)

wednesday, 20 april 2011

yesterday was awesome. i got up and went to class (haha) at 10am, but he only kept us for like 10 minutes. long enough to say that it was the final class, and to ask if the exchange students would be interested in attending a dinner next month. wahoo! that meant that summer officially started yesterday. HOLLAAA! i came back and worked on more travel stuff before going over to superU with emma, shane, and danjoe. we came back to eat lunch, and then shane, danjoe and i biked over to the lake nearby to chill out with some people for a while. we even had a soccer ball, so i FINALLY got to play some soccer. it was marvelous. around 7:30, we made our way back, stopping by the store to pick up some wine for danjoe. we came back and i skyped drew for a while.. around 9pm, i made a quick dinner and then got ready for our GREASE SING-A-LONG party!! about 10 of us dressed up in 50’s clothes and watched grease together. it was shane’s idea, and it ended up being SO fun! i haven’t laughed so hard in a while.. we were positively belting out those songs.. high notes and all. some people left after grease, but a few of us stayed and talked/half-watched ‘rocky horror’ for a while. i finally went to bed around 3. this whole staying up late thing is starting to become a habit! luckily, i start traveling soon, so i’ll get back on track. :)

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the rest of the week is going to be travel-preparation! i’m happy to spend a few more days with people in angers, as several of my friends will be gone when i get back from this next trip! rachel and i leave for barcelona on the 27^th, and will be gone for just under 2 weeks – staying in barcelona for a week and then the french riviera for about a week as well! we’re so excited! :) 

ps - see pictures of this weekend here. and my pictures from bordeaux are finally up as well! :)

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!! :)



wake-up call!

hello friends!

it would seem that i’ve been slacking.. a whole weekend gone with nary a word from yours truly! my apologies.

in my defense, the weekend was not all that blog-worthy. there was a lot of sleeping, lounging around my room, napping, and being on the computer.  i did have some fun times, though, so i’ll pick up where i left off..

thursday night.

i ended up having a better time BEFORE the soirée than at it. my group from culture class went to check out the bar, which was super awesome. very charming, with loads of cool decorations – photos, books, old scotch bottles, maps, chalkboard menus, etc. rebecca had to leave pretty early, but andrea and i stayed and talked for a long time – all in french. it was a good exercise, talking to another anglophone in french! we left the bar around 9:00 and walked to the nightclub. since literally no one was there yet, we decided to get our tickets and then go somewhere else for a little while. searching for a snack, we ended up at a little pizzeria, where we split a margherita pizza for 6 euro. not bad!! the date was made more amusing by the fact that the entire kitchen staff was staring at us nearly the whole time. oh, being a moderately attractive young woman in france. hoorah! after that part of the date was over, we moved onto another little café, right near the nightclub, for a quick coffee. that’s right, i had a coffee! i’m slowly starting to like it... the place we found was REALLY cool – laid back, good music, great menu.. we’ll definitely be returning. i pulled a Total Hipster Move and asked the owner/bartender if he was going to the Black Keys show in nantes next month (he was wearing one of their t-shirts). we proceeded to have a conversation about music, concerts, etc. he told us that they had a monthly in-house show, and that we should come to the next one! win.

around 11, we made our way back to the soirée. since i have literally zero “clubbing” experience, i don’t really know how to describe or compare this place. but it seemed pretty low-quality. and the music was awful. we had fun dancing around and being goofy, but around midnight, the place got SUPER crowded. and then it was just annoying, trying to find people in the crowd while avoiding being accosted by overly-forward french boys. bleh. i left around 12:20 to go to the bus stop, even though the bus wasn’t until 1. i waited there with natalie and some other friends, and more people kept showing up as the final bus’s time neared. by 1am, there were probably 30 people there. combine that with an already-over-full bus, and it made for quite an uncomfortable ride home. oh well. once we got back, i went to jessie’s room with claire, cristina, and shane (and eventually emma), to drink tea and eat cookies and tell stories. i MUCH preferred that part of the night, but the clubbing was a good life experience i suppose! we stayed up entirely too late, so i didn’t go to bed until around 5am. whoops!

friday, 18 february.

pretty much nothing to report for friday. i don’t have class, so i slept late. i did a little homework, played around on the computer, and generally was just lazy. i spent a lot of time on couchsurfing, looking for hosts in london. at 5pm, i had a skype interview with the orientation staff at belmont, because i reapplied to be a tt leader this fall! being a tt leader is probably the best thing i’ve done at belmont so far. i loved my experience last year so much, and i can’t imagine not doing it again! i talked to james and ben for about 30 minutes. they asked me a bunch of questions, and then we just chatted about how belmont-life is right now and what i’ve been up to here in europe. it was great to hear from them! after the interview, natalie came up to make dinner. she prepared this indian dish, which i really liked! i have no idea what it was called, but it had turkey, spinach, and onion in this spicy tomato-ish sauce, served over brown rice. with a little fromage blanche and some mango on the side, the dish definitely made me a fan on indian-style food! :) sidenote; the new radiohead album dropped early, so drew emailed it to me, which was awesome.

saturday, 19 february.

saturday was lovely, in some regards. i woke up around 10, did some stuff online (more couchsearching), and got dressed. i spent the morning listening to the new radiohead album, the king of limbs, many times in a row. love it. when i checked my email, i got the message that my borders store at home is closing.. and i was devastated. plus, i’m missing all the store-closing sales. further devastation. >:| i had a bit of a headache in the afternoon, so i took a nap. i got up to skype my parents for a little while. after i talked to them, i got dressed to make dinner with shane, jessie, and emma. we hung out in the kitchen for a good bit, where we were joined by claire and her cousin/cousin’s friends. they were visiting for the weekend from tours, which is about 2 hours away.  john had organized another bonfire, so we headed out there around 11. it was kinda fun, but really it was just people drinking and singing a random collection of songs. (during the time i was there, i heard: come together, hey jude, barbie girl, the macarena, wonderwall, sweet caroline, and many others). around 12, shane, natalie and i headed back. it was way too smoky/dark to see anyone, my eyes were hurting, and it was too loud to talk comfortably. once we got back, natalie went to bed and shane and i stayed up watching this AWESOME british home show called ‘grand designs.’ it’s super addictive. i went to bed around 3am.

sunday, 20 feburary.

sorry guys. another lazy day.. except i did go outside for a while! natalie and i went on a bike ride down to a park next to the river, which was awesome! we rode around the park for a while before locking our bikes to a bench and walking. the weather was nice – overcast, chilly, but warm enough for me to not wear gloves. we took pictures and saw lots of cute puppies and children and talked. once we meandered back to our bikes, we took the long way back to campus. i came back up and got in the shower (partly because i needed to, but also partly because i wanted to warm up!). after my shower, i snuggled into bed for a nap. i love post-shower naps.. they’re the best kind. once i got up and dressed again, i did a bit of homework.. just typing up my art history notes. dinner was a massive carb fest, to feed my hunger from the bike ride/walk. oops. afterwards, i kept typing up notes/skyped with drew. miss that boy. i tried to convince shane to watch some more ‘grand designs’ but he found some self-control and decided to get some work done before bed. i went to sleep around midnight, as i have a class at 9am on monday!

monday, 21 february.

my long day of actual school. i woke up earlyish to check my emails before class. art history actually went really well, considering it takes me like 10 minutes to get up to speed with the professor. but i answered two questions right, and got some brownie points. yay for being a teacher’s pet! we have a test in that class the day we get back from break.. awesome. hopefully i’ll get all my studying done! i came back to my room after class to find that MY VALENTINE’S PACKAGE FINALLY ARRIVED! two weeks to the day, just like the post office predicted. i was so, so, so excited! i ran upstairs and cut open the tape to find the most awesome of all care packages. two valentines (one from mom, one from colleen), some candy, a bathing suit that i’d forgotten, an awesome impressionish themed card game, some art supplies, brownies (!!!), a packet of alfredo sauce mix and a can of real tuna. i literally cried opening it, i was so happy and homesick at the same time. my mom is the BEST!

i rested for a while, and then headed to my 3 hour ‘langue française’ class around 1pm. it wasn’t too bad – the time passes quickly in that class. afterwards, i came back to skype with my mom (/thank her for the box!) and then ran to superU to get stuff for dinner. i got to conversation class a little late, thanks to the ridiculous lines at superU. but that class goes quickly, we just sit and talk about stuff. that class’s theme was “radio” – so we just listened to radio broadcasts and talked about them. after that was over, rachel and i cooked an awesome burger/fries dinner.. it was pretty much devoured. deeeelicious! we hung out until around 11pm, because we had to get some plans together for our trip this weekend!

starting on thursday at noon, i am officially on “winter break.” which means, no school until march 7^th!! rachel and i have decided to go to london for this week, from saturday to saturday. neither of us have been before, so we’re both REALLY excited! i’ve made lots of lists; things i want to do, how we should get around, places we can stay, etc. we’re flying from nantes to nottingham, and then taking the train down to london. we’ll be there for 5 full days, and then we’re heading back to spend friday in nottingham before flying home on saturday! i’m going to try to blog at least once from london, so as to avoid a 14-page blog post upon my return. :)

tuesday, 22 february.

first off, today was my sister colleen’s birthday. she is 17, which is crazy. last i checked, she was like 12. hmm. but, HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLLEEN. i miss you so so much! sorry i couldn’t be there, but we’ll have an awesome celebration when i get home. love youuuu!

i woke up early today to do chores (laundry, room cleaning, etc) and to prepare for my group meeting at 2. i’m working with a french girl on our speech class project, so i needed to be prepared! we met up at 2 in the library, and the project went very smoothly. i think she was surprised that i had stuff ready to go! so that’s awesome. i got back to the dorm around 4 and did some more couchsearching before taking a shower and getting ready for dinner. it was a typical night of hanging out in the kitchen.. talking, laughing, being merry. loved it. i came back to my room to discover that one of the hosts had replied to my couch request.. so rachel and i officially have a place to sleep in london!!! this was my final worry, so now.. i’m all excitement. :) i can’t waaaaait!

my health has been pretty up and down since i’ve been here. today, i decided that i’m starting a little yoga routine, something i can do each morning and night that is simple and refreshing.. my body is missing exercise. even though i bike and walk everywhere, i’m still feeling pretty sedentary! so hopefully, that will help. plus, i’m drinking 1.5 litres of water a day, at least! i’m praying that these two changes in my habits will get my health and well-being back on track.

anywho, my 10am is cancelled tomorrow, so i don’t have class until 3pm! what’s up. i’m anticipating a lie-in, a nice morning yoga session, and some london planning before class.

cheers!

jill

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! :)

houston, we have mobility!

hey everybody!

first off, sorry for the pause in posts! this week of classes was actually a little bit busy, and i found myself saying “oh i’ll blog tomorrow” a couple times. :/

but here i am, on thursday afternoon, with four days to recount! so, here it goes.

monday, 7 february.

the first thing i learned on monday was that the packers won the superbowl. huzzah! i don’t like ben roethlisberger. unfortunately, i wasn’t able to watch the game, considering it was on from 1am-4am here and i don’t have tv. sooo.. yeah. but that was alright, i caught the highlights on espn.com. somehow, i can sacrifice one football game for living in france. monday is my long day of classes, mostly because they are very spread out. i have art history from 9 to half 10 each morning, which is a bit of a struggle. it always takes a few minutes to get back into french mode, and that professor definitely doesn’t dumb down the lecture for the handful of foreigners in my class. he set the date of our first test for the monday after winter break – which i’ll be spending in london. thankfully, i’ll have all of sunday to study! natalie kept nodding off throughout class, which i found entertaining. she’s a skillful in-class sleeper, her head never once hit the desk! after class, i went to the library to do a little research / watch last sunday’s church service. the wireless connection in the library is killer fast, so i was able to watch the whole thing without one single pause! yay! i REALLY enjoyed the message – this month’s series is called “Love>” (love greater than) and each week has a different topic; lust, feelings, sex, and self. it’s going to be an awesome series!! anyway, i watched that and then headed to superU to buy a sandwich for lunch. i ended up getting a tuna sandwich and some green beans to snack on – the total was 1.40 euro, which translates to roughly 2$. yes, my meal was 2$. word. my loooong class on mondays is from 1:15 to 4:15 – “langue française”. that’s the one where the teacher is super nice and wonderful, though, so the time passes quickly! i had just enough time after class to come relax for a bit before my conversation workshop from 6 to half 7. lots of my friends are in that class, so it’s a good time. we had a discussion about anti-tobacco laws, which brought me right back to last semester at belmont! afterwards, i headed back to the dorm and started thinking about dinner. as i had just made my budget for the semester, i was feeling like i needed to eat pretty cheaply this week. so shane and i decided that it is the week of pasta/red sauce (not that i haven’t eaten that for 80% of my meals here) and that we would suffer through it together. we added some onions/carrots/spinach to the sauce to make it a little less boring though. i skyped for a while after dinner, and then went to bed.

                tuesday, 8 february.

tuesday was a glorious day. it’s so wonderful to have a break from classes in the middle of the week! i woke up around 9am, got dressed, and went to meet natalie in the lobby. we headed in to town... to get our bikes!! the city of angers has a company called “velocité” (‘velo’ being the french word for ‘bike’ – win) that rents bikes to students for FREE. so, for the next 4 months, i am the proud possessor of an adorable blue with red accents bike, with a basket!! joy. we rode around town for a while, slowly making our way back to campus. upon our return, i took a short nap and then made a new rule for myself:

i am only going to buy a baguette if i bike to get it.

that way, i’m at least working off SOME of the calories that i intake by eating a whole baguette!! haha! so, i tested out my new rule by biking back into town to go to monoprix. it’s 4km each way, which is less than 3 miles. since the path is through the city, it takes about 20 minutes. i loved getting to explore the streets though, because it’s so much easier to learn your way around a city that way! riding the bus everywhere doesn’t give you a very good sense of directional awareness, and i feel much more knowledgeable now. :) i did my shopping and then headed back to school. all in all, i think i biked nearly 10 miles on tuesday!! not too shabby! shane had run out of spinach, but the baguette did make the second consecutive pasta/red sauce dinner much more bearable. and, i’ll admit it, i bought a little tarte at monoprix too. so i had dessert. :) after dinner, i skyped a bit more and did homework. i was up much too late on the computer, but no harm.

                wednesday, 9 february.

wednesday is another heavy class day. and by that, i mean i have three classes, for a total of 4 hours. struggle. my morning class (from 10 to 11) is translation from english to french, so that’s slightly more challenging. as is my habit, i came back and napped through lunch, and then headed to my speech class at 3. here’s the thing about university in france – public universities are essentially free for french students. and they act that way. they don’t really respect the whole “you’re here to learn” mentality.. for them, going to college means they don’t have to get a job for a few more years. so it kiiiinda feels like i’m back in middle school or high school, with the way french girls are CONSTANTLY talking through classes, not paying attention, disrespecting the professors, etc. it’s frustrating. but i just sit at the front and try to ignore it. anyway, speech class was fine. that professor is great about trying to integrate foreign students, so i have a french partner for my group project! this is HIGHLY preferrable, so i am pleased. :) immediately after speech, i have my culture class. that professor is SO CUTE and bubbly and spunky, i love her. based on the survey we did last week, the topics for our class are geography, gastronomy, and social events. we spent the course filling in maps of france with mountains, rivers, etc, and talking about different climates. it was interesting, because i definitely didn’t know everything we covered! at 6pm, that class ended, and we all headed back to the dorm. it was night #3 of pasta week, so shane and i got cooking around half 7. i think we’re officially approaching the wall on pasta. i stayed up talking to emma and jessie for a while, and then i got some homework done. drew and the rest of TWOG had a show at belmont wednesday night, and i was sad that i had to miss it. but oh well.

                thursday, 10 february.

today has been absolutely grand. i had two classes this morning, both translation. one was from 10-11 and the other was from 11-12, so my weekend started at noon (like it does every week!). those classes are always funny, because they’re translation from french to english. i’m always so tickled to hear the translations that the french students offer. sometimes they’re great, exactly what i myself put down. other times, not so much. and the fact that they learn british english just makes it funnier. the best weird translation of the day was in the second class. last week, that professor had translated the french adjective “combatif” (which essentially means combative, competitive) to “fightful”. yep. so this week, the phrase at hand was “avec le chant du coq” – literally translated to “with the song of the rooster”. i had put down “with the crow of the rooster”. fairly logical, i thought. her answer? “at cock-crow.” rachel and i were HIGHLY amused. but it turns out, emma had put “cock-crow” too!! it must be a british/irish/european thing. i thought it was hysterical. the rest of the passage was pretty poorly done, mostly because it had a REALLY difficult syntax. think 25 lines of text, with 5 line run-on sentences. it was an excerpt from ionesco’s ‘the colonel’s photograph’, so i guess i can’t be too surprised – he was a playwright/author in the theatre of the absurd.

anywho, after class, i WAS going to come take a nap. but then, i thought to myself, ‘jill, you’ve had a nap every day this week. stay awake for once! see what the afternoon is like.’ so i did! i made a little lunch (of leftover pasta.. yeesh) and opened my window to feel the nice breeze. i was on couchsurfing.org for a while, looking for places in london for rachel and myself. and then i headed down to the sécretariat to pay my rent for the month. it was such a beautiful day, about 57 degrees and partly cloudy. so i invited my friend jessie to go on a walk. we headed down to the lake and did a big lap, probably about 4km. we had a good talk. :) and i even got too hot with a cardigan and sweatshirt! it was awesome to have to take OFF clothing while being outside. i do NOT miss the cold. on the way back, we decided to do spinach burgers for dinner, which i was overjoyed by (no pasta!). when we got back, she headed to class, and i came to write this post. i’ve just been sitting with my feet propped up on the window sill, computer on my lap, listening to the sounds of the world outside and feeling the breeze roll softly through my room. in a few minutes, i’ll probably bike down the street to the local bakery to snag some baguettes for the dinner group.

france is beautiful this week! hope everything is going well where you are. :)

cheers,

jill