Midterms week...it exists here too.

I have 15 minutes before I need to go read to the ladies at the retirement home.  Let’s get a blog post out by then so I am not bombarded by insults and requests any longer.

In light of the exam I just took, I am going to postpone stories of wandering the gardens of Clos Lucé and staring down gargoyles in Blois for another day.  Instead, I am going to answer my readers’ most pressing question: do I actually go to class here?

Indeed I do.  I am currently taking 18 credit hours but Notre Dame likes to pretend that three of those don’t exist so I am only getting credit for 15.  Thanks again ND.  To give you a run down:

-Langue (language and grammar)-so long, so many days.

-Socio Étude Culturelle (French culture studies)-Want to know all the presidents of the fifth republic?  I don’t know if I can even name the last five presidents in American (jokes..I think.)

-Histoire de France (French history)-for some reason I am loving history.  I’m pretty sure I’ve told every person I talk to this random fact but: once you’re guillotined you retain consciousness for 10 seconds. Weird stuff. 

-Molière-Molière was a French playwright and I am binging on his plays for a semester.  He is a rather funny fellow but this class is only once a week for three hours so it can be a little brutal for those of us who don’t have an attention span that long.

-Traduction (translation)-holy moly there goes my GPA.  This class is practical and I really like it but SO CHALLENGING.  To illustrate how challenging it is let me provide the grading scale for this class (out of 20 points)

20-reserved for God

19-reserved for Jesus Christ

18-reserved for the Virgin Mary

17-reserved for my professor

16-this is what you can get if you turn in an absolutely perfect paper (good thing I have no idea what that looks like).  For us mere mortals, we’re in the 8-13 zone.  Not good my friends.

You all probably think I am being sassy right now, but no.  This exact chart is in my notes which I copied verbatim from the lips of my professor.  So why isn’t the scale just out of 16 points?  I don’t know.  Why is my professor only one less point from the Virgin Mary?  I don’t know that either.  But welcome to France my dear readers!

The other thing that is much different than my quaint home under the Dome is the scheduling of classes.  For example, if you are registering for classes (DARTing if you will), classes tend to be MWF (psh who takes Friday classes??—So MW for Arts and Letters) or Tues/Thurs.  This makes life simple and you can get into a routine fairly easily.  Then you come to France, and there is no rhyme or reason for when any of your classes are scheduled.  Case and point:

Langue: Mon/Tues 9:00-11:00am, Thurs 10:00am-12:00pm

Socio-Etude: Mon 1:30-3:30pm, Fri 1:30-2:30

History : Thurs 1 :30-3 :30pm, Fri 2 :30-3 :30pm

Moliere : Thurs 3:45pm-7:45pm

Translation: Mon 6:00-7:00pm, Wed 8:00-9:00am

So things are a little haphazard here.  In addition, we don’t know when/where our finals are until the week of finals.  Our professors just decide…eventually.

Final notes on my education here:  in general, my classes aren’t that challenging, mostly because the professors are teaching to students who speak approximately 12 different languages.  I think we have it quite a bit easier because English words often resemble French ones, but the Asian students (who compose a large majority of our program) have very little to work with.  [Side note: please pray for all the Japanese students here who cannot get in contact with their families or who have received terrible news.]  However, I am learning a lot about different cultures which is a really great experience.  I also am adjusting to having class on Fridays AND before 10:00a.m….it’s like I’m no longer an Arts and Letters major.

I am also forced to use the language everyday in all my classes, with my host family, in shops and restaurants, etc. so I am improving greatly which is what I truly came here to do.  And if all else fails, I am learning a lot about French food through my own studies so all is not lost.  Bon appetite mes amis!

Une Melange: Chateaux, Cooking, Biking and God

Bon Dimanche!  What a beautiful day in Angers!  It’s sunny and warm and just a perfect day to appreciate all the blessings we have today.

Before I get too deep into my French excursions, I must say that God has sent me special gifts twice this week (in addition to the million he sends me every other day).  Earlier this week I was upset and emotional (shocking right?) and was having a hard time concentrating and getting out of my own head.  I needed to kill some time so I decided to go to the library…not somewhere I normally venture here.  I sat down and spread out my homework and a little old man sat across the table from me.  I didn’t really pay attention but just looked down at my homework and suddenly felt this sense of calm (again…not something I normally feel when looking at my work).  I sped through the work and then took a moment just to realize it was the first moment I had felt at peace in over 24 hours.  I started packing my bag and finally took a good look at the man sitting across the table from me…he was a French priest.  Quietly filling out his crossword puzzle he had chosen to sit at my table even though there were plenty of seats elsewhere.  I know God sent him to my table to remind me that things always work out and that I need to relax and put everything in God’s hands.

Today I received a very different gift.  After taking a “shortcut” to mass, I sat down in a pew and soon after an older couple came in with a young son and sat in front of me.  This young boy had Down Syndrome but was just a beautiful child who was enjoying the adventure of being in church.  He had trouble sitting still, but his father was so patient and gentle with him that it was just a beautiful reminder of how many good people are on this Earth and how God sends us gifts in the most unexpected packages.

Okay, now that I have completely gone off my usual track, let’s get back to French adventures:

This weekend I chose not to partake in the trips leaving the country and instead chose to spend a weekend in beautiful Angers.  I started Friday with watching Up and Jersey Shore…I just needed some America time haha.  After class, Micahlyn and I made the trek to Super-Geant which is the French equivalent of a super WalMart.  This seemingly simple place is so rare in France where people shop at tiny marchés and we had fun wandering through the aisles (where we found peanut butter!!).  After gathering enough food to make two feasts, we realized we now had to bike all this back to my house where we could prepare dinner.  Other than the sheer amount of things we had to carry, the greatest problem was that we had to bike over a bridge…this was particularly difficult for Micahlyn who had three baguettes in her basket which were creating quite a blind spot.

But alas we made it home and made brushetta, garlic bread, an eggplant-tomato tarte, salad, and an apple pie for the ND kids who stuck around Angers.

The next morning we ventured to the market, which was massive!  We wandered through stands of jewelry, scarves, clothes, produce, live chickens, and furniture, but we settled on some pretty basic things for our purchases (I didn’t think Chantal would appreciate me keeping a live chicken in the house).

Shortly after, Micahlyn and I took off for a bike ride.  It was so nice to leave Angers and bike through small French towns, farms with sheep, and cross beautiful bridges over the many rivers in the region.  We could not have asked for a more beautiful day.  We finished the evening by preparing a Mexican meal and enjoying some time with the other ND students.

 

 

I owe you a post from last weekend too about my castle-tours.  So here it is…stop now if you’re already bored. 

CIDEF was so kind to let us sleep in on Saturday…we only had to be at the Catho at 7:45 to begin our tour.  As we had done the previous week, we all assumed we could sleep on the three hour trip to the first chateau..wrong.  We had a microphone-happy tour guide who had some strange fascination with rocks and useless facts who decided 8 a.m. was the perfect time to be peppy.  Not okay.

We arrived at Azay de Rideau while it was raining and sped through the castle before going on a hunt for coffee. 

After a successful feat, we got back on the bus and headed to chateau number two: Chenonceau. Chenonceau is where it got interesting.  Number one, Chenonceau is built over a river, so the most classic shot  of the castle is the arches and their reflections (see below).  

A few random facts:

-Chenonceau is one of the few privately owned large castles…meaning I aim to buy it from the current owner.  The people who currently own it invented having a chocolate bar that breaks into smaller pieces (like how Hershey bars have 16 pieces or whatever..)…so if anyone can do better than that I would love to marry you.  Thanks.

-When Louis XIV visited Chenonceau he brought a massive painting of himself and hung it in the castle…think he could have found a smaller frame?

-Chenonceau was used as a hospital in WWI.  In WWII, the front door of the castle was in the Nazi-occupied zone while the southern door was in the Free Zone.  The castle was used as a way to get people to freedom.

-Louise de Lorraine painted her bedroom purple and black and painted tears all over the ceiling after her husband, King Henry III was assasinated.  She retreated to the castle with a group of nuns so she could mourn.  Her room is called the room of tears and is one of the most depressing places I’ve ever been.

It is also known for its gardens…but alas it is February in France so the gardens were not abloom.  They were still very pretty and I hope to return once I marry a wealthy American (...this is Chantal’s life goal for me.  So glad we’re on the same page).

So Chenonceau was my favorite.  But we still had one more to see.  After running through the town to try to find lunch..we settled on a croquet monsieur—definitely the worst thing I’ve eaten since being in France.  Then we got back on the bus and headed to Chambord.

 

I’m relatively sure Chambord is a joke.  It is so insanely massive that it is not at all practical.  You cannot heat a building that large.  It has 400 rooms, and 365 fireplaces (which explains the 300+ chimneys you can see from outside), and is just all around ridiculous.  It was meant to be a hunting lodge (I’m pretty sure you could hunt IN the lodge), but the owners ran out of money so it’s not really complete.

 

What they did manage to pay for was a staircase designed by DaVinci.  This staircase is a double helix (like DNA), but when you’re on one staircase, you can’t see the other one.  It is super strange and I had to walk up and down the staircases so many times to understand what was going on.   It was absolutely fascinating though.

 

 

After we concluded our LONG day of Chateaux, we got back on board the bus where we looked forward to resting for three hours.  Wrong again.  The Asian students and our bus driver decided we should have a sing-along.  Really?  We initially refused to participate, being the sassy Americans we are, but once they started whining in Asian tongues we could not understand, we sang the Notre Dame Victory March so they would leave us alone.  After one song, they stopped asking us to participate so it was a great success and a very ND moment for all of us.

So that’s the last two weeks of my life in less than 1500 words.  Congrats for following along folks and I will try to post less lengthy insight from here on out.  Ciao for now.



Proud to be Amurrican.

Allo allo.  Yesterday marked the one month anniversary of my time in Angers.  It seems so strange that just a month ago Stephanie and I loaded our oversized luggage in Chantal’s undersized car (this was a struggle…we almost had to walk) and then awkwardly proceeded to have dinner with our new host parents.  Since then I have become très French…although people still can tell I’m American.  I do not know how or why.  This is currently one of the big mysteries in my life…in addition to why don’t the French have water fountains?

On that note, I thought we should celebrate my first month away with a list of things we ND kids miss from the good ole’ USA.  Enjoy!

-Large cups (especially filled with coffee).  As much as I enjoy the sentiment of “quality means more than quantity,” I do not appreciate doing a shot of Coca-Cola when I want a cup.  It is not fulfilling nor worth the 3 Euros I just paid. 

-Wearing sweatpants.  The French are never underdressed and they ALWAYS have heels on.  How they make heels and cobblestone streets work together, I have no idea.

-Understanding the rules of the road.  Are bicyclists cars?  Do pedestrians have the right of way?  If one of us goes Regina George meets bus, then I suppose we’ll know.

-Third floor classes in DeBart.  After sixth floor classes in Bazin at 8:00a.m. I will never complain again.  On the upside, I am going to have killer glutes when I come home.

-American men.  They are significantly less creepy than the French.

-Diversity…oh wait…

-Having the toilet and the sink in the same room.  Do you want to know how many germs are on the doorknobs in between??

-Any type of sandwich other than ham.  Why do the French refuse to put other meat on a sandwich?  I do not know.

-Texting with a full keyboard.

-South Dining Hall.  One day, our cafeteria served bacon wrapped hot dogs…as the only option.  Ew.

-The Oscars.

-Snow…hahahaha.  Jokes!

-Flushing the toilet at night.

-Wearing colors…any colors.

-Peanut butter, hot vegetables, and Portillos/Cheesecake Factory (okay that one was more Amanda’s).

-Dryers that actually dry your clothes…although Stephanie and Maya really enjoy when I hang my damp clothes all over our bathroom. 

-Efficiency.  Any action can be made less efficient by the French. 

-And last but not least, I certainly miss my friends and family.  I don’t necessarily wish I was tromping through inches of snow with you, but I do wish you could be here to share this experience with me.  Thank you for your emails, gchats, letters, and support.  I love you all.

All jokes aside, I am loving France (so much so that I may never return!).   Everyday teaches me something new; I am learning about a new culture, learning a new language, and most importantly, I’m learning what makes me happy when I strip away my comfort zone.  This is such a beautiful experience and I wouldn’t change it for anything (unless someone wants to send me peanut butter of course…) CIAO FOR NOW! Les bisous!

Saint Malo, Saint Michel et Saint Joseph: Bro-ing Out

Salut!  I’m going to preface this post with a warning: my camera died this weekend so I don’t have many pictures…check facebook for photos.

This weekend our program was so kind as to plan a little trip for us (one of four for the semester).  At 7 a.m. we were herded onto a bus (Japanese on one bus, Chinese another, and everyone else in the other…such is my “French” life) where we began our adventure to Bretagne.

The word, meaning Brittany, is a region in northwest France which was once a fief and under British rule, thus there is a strong Celtic influence in the region.   In modern day, the area is known for several things:

1) The striped shirts they wear (which are also seen in J.Crew and Banana Republic when nautical themed clothing is in fashion).

2) The crepes/galette

3) Gateau Breton (Brittany butter cakes)

4) The strong cultural pride of its people—they insist they are separate from France and would probably secede if France would let them.  They try every few years to leave, but they’re kind of attached to France so it hasn’t worked out so far.

 Anyway, our first destination in Bretagne was Saint Malo.  More history: Saint Malo was a fortified city  during the Middle Ages.  Today, they are far more open to visitors, but the ramparts that surround the small island still remain.  You can walk around the entire city on top of these walls which shows you a beautiful view of what lies within and outside the city. 

Interesting about Saint Malo: in 1493 it seceded from Bretagne (so yes…Bretagne wants to leave France and Saint Malo wants to leave Bretagne.  And they say it’s just the Americans who don’t like the French..) and declared itself independent.  Though they returned, they still essentially ignore the French and Bretagne authorities.

Well we covered the galettes and a bottle of cider at a small café tucked away from the main streets.  It was run by an adorable little French couple who joked around with us and were so kind.  Then we bought one of the cakes—I’m so afraid to look how many calories was in one of those, but it was very good. 

And Nora bought a striped shirt—so we checked off our whole list!

Much to my dismay, we did not have time to visit the aquarium, so we walked along the beach and climbed some rocks until it was time to depart for Mont Saint Michel.

GEOGRAPHY: Mont Saint Michel is an island off the coast of Bretagne but you can access it by foot when the tide is low!  How cool is that?  We didn’t walk there…the bus drove us…so disappointing.  Then again, it is February and wading in the ocean for a mile would not be ideal right now.

So the draw to the island is that the Saint-Michel monastery is located at the top of this mountain/island.  Legend has it that at the top, the Archangel Michel appeared to a bishop in 708 and instructed him to build a church on that spot.  It is very literally located AT THE TOP…as in it was built with crypts under the large chapel so it could balance properly.  Anyway, you ascend half the mountain on stairs outside as you weave through the town which is build on these little stairways.  Then you enter the abbey and ascend through 29853 different rooms until you reach the top.  It’s beautiful and I can see how it used to be such a popular spot for religious pilgrimages. 

During the French Revolution, views on religion drastically shifted and as monks left the monastery, Mont Saint Michel became a prison (Victor Hugo was one of its VIPs (very important prisoners!).  Anyway, the island is really unique and really interesting but definitely has a tourist feel to it so it has lost some of its religious appeal in my mind.  Three hours later, we were back in Angers where we picked up some Asia Wok and returned home.

Sunday was very low-key.  I attended church in Saint Joseph with Micahlyn and Nora.  Mass is very interesting in France.  For the most part, I can understand what they’re saying, what part of mass we’re in, etc.  But some things are just very different.  They don’t respond to all the readings but they have an epicly-long homily.  In the past two weeks, I know the priest has discussed both facebook and politics so I think politics and religion are far more intertwined than in the US.  I like how simple the mass is though.  There isn’t a lot of pomp and circumstance.  It just is what it is meant to be: a quiet gathering with God. 

I apologize for the excessive amounts of history and religion…but such is France!  I will try to live a more exciting life and get back to you by the end of the week.  Bonne semaine mes chères!

La Vie Parisienne

I lied; I didn’t post about classes.  Instead, I had a picnic by the river as the sun set.  Sorry I’m not sorry.  I will write that post another day, because I’m going to post about my weekend excursion to Paris instead!

As my alarm rang at 5:15 a.m., my usual drowsiness was replaced by pure excitement.  I scurried to get ready and throw all my last minute necessities in my backpack.  For anyone who has ever seen me pack, this weekend was impressive: one sweatshirt, pajamas, one shirt, pair of pants, underwear, makeup, umbrella, map, wallet.  That is it!  Very pleased with my minimal packing, I strapped my backpack to my back and headed to the train station.  Little did I know that I would carry that bag for the next 15 hours.  Here is Maya approximately 10 hours in:

Once we left the train station, we began our trek through the streets of Paris!  We stopped at a café for a quick cup of coffee and plotted our day.  The first stop was le Jardin du Luxembourg, per my father’s request.  I tried to get him a picture to match the painting in our dining room but with the fountain turned off and without the flowers planted, it was kind of a fail.  The Jardin was still beautiful and we got great pictures of le Palais du Luxembourg, the seat of the French Senate.

Then we headed to l’Ile de Paris where Notre Dame is located.  The outside was remarkable….

….but the inside was emotionally stirring it was so beautiful.  You can just feel God filling your body as you walk around the cathedral.  It was so special and one of my favorite experiences of the trip.  Then we went to the crypt in the basement.  To our dismay, there were no dead people.  Only the old walls of Paris…wah wah.  So we left rather quickly and headed to the Concergierie.  Our group is rather divided on this excursion.  This was the prison where people (including Marie Antoinette) were held during the Revolution.  I thought it was less than impressive because they didn’t have that many actual remnants.  There were recreations of some cells, but I just didn’t find it as memorable.

We then left the island and went to the Louvre.  On the way, we found a bridge with locks tied all along it with the hope of everlasting love.  Couples come to this bridge and secure them as a proclamation of their love.  I thought this was really cute and added to the lovey-dovey feel of Paris this Valentine’s Day weekend (…it was not that romantic for our group of 10 females). 

After our moment of sentimentality we recommenced our photo shoot at the Louvre which is RIDICULOUSLY LARGE.  We only saw the outside on Saturday but I returned on Sunday (more later).

 

I also took a picture of children sailing boats in the fountain by the Louvre because my host father used to sail them there when he was small. 

We continued our never-ending walk down the Champs-Elysees.  I didn’t purchase anything but I did go into Louis Vuitton!  Wooooooow.  For one, it was intensely crowded and people were spending thousands of dollars in this frenzied flurry.  I felt so out of place with my backpack but I got to watch wealthy woman try on thousand dollar shoes and dresses and purses so it was a “cultural experience” I suppose.

At the end of the Champs Elysees we found l’Arc de Triomphe, which is extraordinary.  However, Napoleon built it for himself.  Who builds themselves a monument?  But we caught l’Arc just as the sun was setting and it was beautiful.

As the light in Paris began to fade, our enthusiasm did not!  Okay, it did a little because we had been walking for 10 hours…but we were really excited to get to the Eiffel Tower because we had been spotting it in the distance all day.  Alas, we pushed our way past 20897235 street vendors who all sell the same thing for the same price (the French need some new business models because they do not understand supply and demand or efficiency here), and finally were at the base of la Tour Eiffel!  Just as we walked up, the lights turned on and it began to sparkle.  Ah Paris! It was breathtaking.

Happy with our adventure, we went to dinner where I was adventurous and ordered a “coq au vin,” a French specialty.  It was delicious.  Then we began our metro adventure.  Not gonna lie, this is where our trip went downhill a bit.  We had a brief run in with a pick-pocketer (he failed and we had some choice American words for him).  Then we were oogled and catcalled at as we walked/ran to our hostel in Montmartre.  But we finally arrived and I could not have been happier to crawl into bed.

The next morning, Maya and I climbed 2897350287 stairs to Sacre Coeur which is the highest point in Paris.  Once my quads stopped throbbing we went inside the church which is really interesting, but they won’t let you take pictures inside it!  Maya was informed of this when they made her delete all the photos she sneakily took.  So rude.

We then headed to the Eiffel Tower again but decided upon arrival it was too foggy to ascend.  Instead, we headed to Les Invalides, which houses Napoleon’s tomb, wounded veterans, a WWII/Free France Museum, and an armory.  The WWII museum was remarkable.  There were so many drawings, clothes, maps, letters from concentration camps, soldiers, and General de Gaulle.  Definitely worth seeing.  Then we went to see Napoleon’s tomb…which is actually six tombs because he asked to be buried within six coffins.  I know this man did remarkable things for France, but after l’Arc de Triomphe and his tomb I think he needed his ego deflated a bit.  It was a beautiful tomb nonetheless.

Finally, I returned to the Louvre where I only had the time/energy to wander the Italian and Spanish paintings wing with Amanda.  We saw the Mona Lisa, which is small in person.  I thought some other paintings were incredibly impressive so I need a lesson or two in why the Mona Lisa is so much more famous.

After a beautiful weekend in Paris, we returned to Gare Montparnasse for our train.  Stephanie and I had tea and people watched for a few hours to heal our aching feet after 20+ miles of walking and then returned home to our beloved Angers to start another week in France.

I’m so fortunate for this experience and each day I am more and more astonished that this is my real life.  How blessed I am to have this opportunity and how humbled I am to share it with you.  My thoughts, my love, and my hugs with all of you this week!!

La premiere semaine et Nantes: The first week and Nantes

Bonjour tout le monde!  I have officially been in France for one week.  At this time last week we were beginning our first French meal with Alain and Chantal (mes parents ici).  Now, I am fully French-ified and am adjusting to la culture francaise.  Proof:

1) I am remembering not to smile at strangers on the streets.

2) I am speaking quieter and become offended when people are loud.

3) I wear a lot of black.

4) I have stopped shaving (jokes...maybe).

5) My diet is now 85% carbs, 10% ham and 5% other (2% is probably Nutella).

Anyway, with our lack of class, life has been rather glorious.  Some of the days have blurred together so let me summarize: 

Thursday: I went to see "the King's Speech."  Not my most French experience but it was an incredible film.  We all laughed really hard, but the French ladies around us did not...we don't know if they didn't understand the jokes or if we're just obnoxious.  But anyway, afterwards, we went to a Tapas Bar. 

This was fun because we didn't know what anything was so we ordered rather random things.  It turned out to be a pretty American meal with chicken fingers and tater-tot like items and salad and a casserole of sorts, and zucchini parmesean.  So we basically had a purely non-French day. 

On Friday, we had lunch at school with PMcD (the director from ND in Angers).  This experience was not fabulous but it manageable.  Today it was much worse in the cafeterial; our only options were plain noodles and a bacon wrapped hotdog.  Oh why did we ever complain about South Dining Hall??  Then we went to the train station to purchase our 12/25 cards which are student discount tickets.  After that extravaganza we went grocery shopping.  In the later half of this week, my three meals a week plan ran out...wahwah.  Alors, I bought 2 apples, 4 clementines, a baguette, yogurt, nutella, almonds and cookies.  I have since added a cucumber (which turned out to be a zucchini) and some jam to my groceries.  I'm pretty sure this will last me until Saturday when we leave for Paris (!!)...but I'm getting ahead of myself.  So train ticket: check.  Groceries: check. Then we had a girls' night at a pizza parlor...basically Jeff just didn't come.  Voila, instant girls' night.  But we had pretty decent pizza for being in France so that was a fun discovery.

Saturday, we went on our first trip!  We took a 9:20 train to Nantes (don't worry Nin, we adequately validated our tickets before boarding) and arrived expecting great things from the capital of "les Pays de la Loire."  After a quick walk down Rue President Kennedy (this is pretty common...we don't know why), we arrived at the Chateau des ducs de Bretagne (see below).

All I can say is WOW.  But I will say more.  The Chateau is even more stunning in person.  En plus, you can walk around the perimeter on top of the walls of the palace.  Even MORE, there is a 34 room museum within the castle explaining the history of Nantes.  We spent hours wandering through the rooms.  For a brief history lesson:

-Nantes is an important port city and has been since the Romans.  During the Roman empire it was invaded by everyone and their mother. 

-Because of its location on the river, Nantes was one of the biggest cities in the slave trade in France so they have a long and complicated history with slavery.

-Nantes had pirates. 

-Nantes was invaded by the Nazis and all of the Jews from Nantes were sent to Angers before they were sent to Auschwitz.

-Nantes now has a mechanical elephant (see below) that you can ride to get a tour of l'ile de Nantes.

 

After the chateau, we moved onto the Cathedrale des Saints Peter et Paul. 

Again, stunning.  But churches here are not heated so we could not stay too long.  We spent the rest of the day eating sandwiches (which ALWAYS have ham on them), drinking espresso, and being generally fabulous.  We made it home on the train and have now successfully completed our first trip. Hooray!

 

The only thing of note I did on Sunday was attend my first French mass which was interesting.  The first part of the mass moved very quickly, but then I heard the longest homily of all times.  I got lost somewhere after 10 minutes or so and had a hard time coming back in.  Remember when I mentioned churches aren’t heated??? I am un peu surprised that I still have functioning toes after that mass.  Most of the songs are in Latin in French mass and I don’t think the responses and such are the same as they are in America, but I need to do further research.  I will return because I like mass and will hopefully understand soon enough, but I do have somewhere around six cathedrals to choose from.

Alors, that was my weekend.  I will update you on the less exciting part of my life (aka class) before I depart for Paris this weekend!  Until then, a bientot mes cheres! Je vous aime.

Pas de douceur angevine et la musique americaine: no calm weather angers and American music

Let me paint you a picture of life in France:  As I emerged from the boulangerie (bakery) with my baguette this morning, I was greeted by a small French women leaning out her window to open the giant blue, wooden shutters that sealed her home for the evening--it was straight up Beauty and the Beast (see 0:38 here)
So I was going to begin this post with an explanation of how it is cold in France--not by my standards but the Angevins (people from Angers) are convinced that 30 degrees is absolutely absurd--but all my loved ones are currently burried under several feet of snow.  You all now have plenty of time to read my blog.

Since my post in the lovely JFK, I survived a seven hour plane ride, a four hour bus trip on the Angers soccer team's private bus (see below--Fern does this match up with the Gene Simmons van??), and a five minute drive in a mini car through the windy streets of Angers where I finally landed in my house! 

So upon arrival, we were escorted to our rooms.  Mine has a massive closet and Stephanie's has a couch so it's a decent trade.  Our bathroom is almost as large as my room..and it doesn't have a toilet because in France you have a salle de bains (bathroom--shower, sink, etc) and a toilette (toilet).  We have one of each of those for the two of us to share.  We cannot use the shower or flush the toilet after 10 which is the only relatively strange rule but it's pretty easy to follow so I have no complaints.



Our host mother, Chantal, is a wonderful cook and we've now eaten two unbelievable meals with her and Alain, our host father.  We've had soup, salad, an entree (quiche lorraine and a potato/onion casserole/loaf thing), wine, and dessert for each meal.  We also watched the French version of extreme makover home edition with them (D&Co).  They don't speak any English so all communications are done in French but they are pretty impressed by our comprehension so we must be doing pretty well.

Alas, there is life outside my wonderful house.  We had a rendez-vous with our class yesterday at noon so after two hours of wandering around the city with Stephanie, we joined them for lunch at a creperie.  There, we had des galettes (crepe-like things made with buckwheat flour and filled with things like cheese, vegetables, meats, etc.) and des crepes (filled with fruit, sugar, chocolate, etc).  Then we walked around the city, saw a beautiful cathedral (below, left), toured the old part of town, saw the chateau (below, right--yes we live near a castle--this is not real life) bought cell phones (in french), and bought adapters for our electronics (also in French).  Great success.  Today, I also bought koala yummies, instant coffee, a tea cup, and a bottle of wine--basically everything I need to survive in France.
 

We also took our exams today. wah wah.  We get our scores Monday and then we get a week to "try-out" classes.  Or at least I think that is what they told us.  Bottom line: I'm still not in class and probably won't be for at least another week.

So for the sake of space and the attention spans of my readers, here are some other experiences I should share:
1) They always play American music in stores/shops/tv shows.  I have no proof the French actually make their own music.  My most recent experience: my host mother was playing "Alejandro" by Lady Gaga while sewing.  Where am I?
2) Tap water is safe to drink--let's dispell that myth.  If I come down with some rare disease, then erase the previous sentence.
3) When dogs poop on the sidewalk here, their owners just leave it there.  So much poop on the way to school.
4) The French take a two-hour lunch break during the day which mean they work later than Americans.  This also translates into why they eat between 7:30-9:00 pm.  Also, full-time work is 35 hours/week.

Hopefully I have not bored you too much and will try to shorten the posts as the town becomes more familiar and I make less discoveries.  For now, a bientot.  Skype/email/comment when you can!  Les bisous!!