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

life lessons from angers.

“you’re going to have such an amazing experience!” “studying abroad was one of the best decisions i ever made, you’ll be so happy!” “i always regretted not being able to study abroad in college..”

i can’t describe how many times i heard statements like these in the months leading up to my departure. it seemed like everyone i told about my plans thought that i was going to have the time of my life. and they were right, in a sense.. i’m definitely having a once-in-a-lifetime experience. i would like to add, however, that this semester is in no way easy.

my classes may be less intense work-wise, but they’re all in french – an obvious fact, but you don’t realize how much brain power it takes to think in a foreign language until you do it all the time. i’m here to become fluent in french, and that process does not happen overnight. i’m slowly but surely becoming more confident in my speech, but there is so much i have left to accomplish. and then there’s the fact that, while it’s great to know the names of all the different kinds of trees in the world, i’m definitely not up to par in my daily-life vocabulary. on the opposite end of the spectrum, i’ve actually started to not be able to think of words in english. today, it took me half an hour to think of the word ‘exhibit’. so my languages are definitely swirling around up in my brain, mixing and melding together to form a perpetual franglish.

another difficulty i’ve been experiencing relates to distance from home. for this, i blame a) the close proximity of my university and hometown (25 minutes), b) my desire to know my surroundings (belmont, nashville, etc), and c) my seemingly unbearable separation from my friends and boyfriend. i miss being able to run down to franklin for an evening or for church on sundays. and i really have gotten to know angers pretty well, but nothing compares to the feeling of “home” i get when i’m in nashville or franklin. and i have to admit, if i weren’t in a relationship.. the first two problems wouldn’t be nearly bad enough to make me as homesick as i’ve been. but i find myself experiencing a constant ache in the pit of my chest, like such an important part of me is missing that i have a physical reminder of it.. various forms of internet communication have served to numb this pain to a certain extent, but i’ve probably replayed the image of our august reunion in my mind about a thousand times. that being said, i’ve made some excellent friends here. incredible, really. i’ll be heartbroken when we say goodbye in may and go back to our respective corners of the world. they’ve been a source of comfort, companionship, and camaraderie practically since day one. without them, i’d have probably boarded a plane back home already. well.. maybe not. but close. i’m beyond grateful for them.

the final difficulty is a personal battle – i’ve always joked about how i wanted to just come back “french.” totally adopt the culture and lifestyle, just transform myself into a new person. after all, study abroad is about self-discovery and transformation. but when it comes down to learning who you are, you realize that there is no way to change who you are at that moment. you can decide where to go, but nothing will alter where you’ve been. i still have lots of problems with the united states and the “american” attitude that some people have. the stereotypes of typical americans, i’m sorry to report, are mostly based on fact. i’ve met a few exchange students here who don’t speak french – they don’t even have a desire to learn french. apart from having no idea why they’re here at all, i’m a little depressed by the fact that they are as much a representation of america as i am. but i can’t change it, and they have to be them. i just hope that french people can meet as many open-minded, accepting, respectful americans as they do loud, inconsiderate, judgmental ones. but even with all my issues in regards to my country, it’s still home. and i love home, so i love the united states. it took moving 4,000 miles away to realize that living in the same country as glenn beck is worth it, because that’s where my loved ones are. it’s a more-than-worthy exchange. (that’s how much i love you guys).

ANYWAY- enough ranting. here’s a brief summary of the last few days! :)

monday, 14 february.

valentine’s day. for obvious reasons, it was a little rough. i made it through art history in the morning, but by noon, i was feeling pretty awful. there was no way i could have made it through a 3 hour grammar class.. so i cuddled with a hot water bottle and napped/played on the computer for the afternoon. that evening, after my hour and a half conversation class, we had a valentine’s day mexican fiesta, which was amazing. i made a MUCH larger batch of guacamole (we ate all of it anyway) and we cooked up some spicy chicken for quesadillas. for dessert, i splurged on some vanilla ice cream to go with the peanut butter / nutella grilled bananas that natalie loves to make. it was a great night.

tuesday, 15 february.

no classes on tuesday meant i got to have a bit of a lie-in. it was raining all morning, so i stayed in my pajamas and did homework until the weather cleared up. around 4pm, natalie, emma, and i went into town for a little shopping/errands excursion. we stopped by the bank and the post office before hitting up a few stores. it was the last day of the semi-annual sales, so everything was really cheap. i made some pretty excellent purchases, and then got my dinner goods at monoprix. we headed back around half 6, and i cooked/ate my pasta. after dinner, we had a little study party to compare our notes for the translation test on wednesday. it was fun to hear everyone’s versions of the texts! i tried to skype after everyone left, but the internet was being atrocious. it was very frustrating, and i wasn’t pleased.

wednesday, 16 february.

you know it’s going to be a rough day when you wake up with the previous night’s black mood cloud still hanging over your head. i woke up around half 8 and went to meet natalie and claire to do a bit of cramming for the exam at 10. i calmed down from my rampage enough to get through the exam, and then promptly went back to bed. i just needed to restart my day. so i woke up a couple hour later, feeling expontentially better. i went to my speech class, where i even spoke out loud in class, with no grave errors. culture class was fun too, and we were given an assignment to go to a local bar and do a little evaluation. sweet! i stopped by superU to indulge my craving for the day; a cheeseburger. i hadn’t eaten once since the night before i left for france, and i was seriously craving one. so i bought a little patty of ground beef, some buns, and an avocado (i already had the cheese) and went to town. i still had some potatoes from my lidl trip, so i even made wedge fries!! i’m not kidding when i say it was one of the best meals i’ve ever made. the burger was perfectly done, and the cheese/avocado combo was delicious. the fries were perfectly golden and crispy, and i had some crisp, raw green beans as a side.. amazing. i took pictures, check facebook. haha. i was feeling a little needy, so jessie indulged me by coming and talking for a while. she eventually went to bed, but then emma came and talked for another while! it was great to just get things off my chest. i chatted to drew for a bit and then went to bed around 1am.

thursday, 17 february.

today was a pretty stinkin’ great day. i only have class until noon on thursdays, which is lovely. plus, i found out my grade on the translation test from wednesday.. i freakin’ annihilated that thing. so hooray! i had made plans earlier this week to meet up with a girl i met on couchsurfing for lunch. she’s also a student here! rachel and i met up with her and three of her friends, and we had a great meal at the caf together. we even stood outside for a while afterwards and chatted! it was lovely. the weather today was gorgeous, nice and sunny and warm. tonight, there is a “student party” downtown.. it’s a black and white soirée – so i’ll finally have a reason to wear my black dress! yay!! my group from culture class is meeting up before the soirée to do our little bar evaluation, and then we’re moving onto a different location for the party. it should prove to be a fun and social night!

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! :)