Bordeaux

This past weekend was the final trip that I'll be taking with my IES friends Ryan and Alexis. We all went down to Bordeaux for the weekend and had quite an adventure, despite the fact that if rained basically the whole time...

To start with the trip was already going to take awhile because the train wasn't a TGV, but on top of that we waited, without moving for 2 hours at the Nantes train station. It was one of those terrible situations where they just kept telling us 20 more minutes, and then 30 more minutes. We did finally make it even if we got in at 9pm instead of 6pm.

Saturday was really a day of wonders. In the morning our couch surfing host took us flying. That's right. He owns one of these guys, a super light aircraft that can take two people up at a time. So each of us got a little birds-eye view tour of the Bordeaux country side.


If that wasn't enough of an "oh my God what is my life" moments we then proceeded to go on a wine tasting tour of the Médoc area just north of Bordeau. It is true that I wasn't able to stay fully awake for the VERY in-depth history of the area and the ranking systems for the wines but I was feeling pretty alert by the time we got to the chateaux. What can I say? Sometimes a girl just needs a little siesta after her morning flying adventure.

Sunday was much more chill day of checking out an open air market (in the rain), walking along the river bank (in the rain), and just plain wondering around Bordeaux (in the rain). We did also go to a contemporary art museum. I'm happy to report that no matter what country I can still appreciate modern art in small, small doses.

Rouen and Thanksgiving

Two weekends ago I went with two other American students to a town north of Paris, called Rouen. We mostly went because my friend Ryan had gone on a school trip but wanted to go back and spend more time exploring. We got in Friday night around 6pm and met our coachsurfing host outside of the train station. He lived near by so we didn't have to carry our bags around all night. It was a pretty awesome night because we got to meet some of this friends at a cafe (where he was having a photo exposition!) We also had the most french dinner yet, 6 different kinds of cheese from the region, some cold cuts, bread from a local boulangerie, red wine, and white wine. It was fun to sit around some ones appartement and just hang out. I have been doing so many tourist things that is was refreshing to talk to people who actually live in the town and speak French.

Saturday was our sight-seeing day because our host was working. We went into, I swear, every church or cathedrale the town had to offer. There is also the super pretty and ornate clock tower. In fact, the town thought it was so beautiful that they "elevated" it from La Grosse Horlage to Le Gros Horlage. You gotta love it when sexism is built right into the language. The town is also where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake by the English so, I saw dungeon, the building where her trial was held and the place where she was burned.

In addition to the historic visits we also went to the fair that was on the other side of the river. I can now saw I've ridden a roller coaster in France and eaten churos dipped in nutella (because one form of sugar is never enough). We spent most of the day with a friend of Ryan's who is currently teaching English at a school in the area. She and her British friend hung out with us during the day and then watched A Fish Called Wanda with us that night. It was pretty fun to watch it with a mix of Americans and a British guy. At one point (as John Cleese and his wife are getting ready to sleep in different beds and are passive aggressively sniping at each other) he turned to us and ask "Is this how you really see British people?" I almost feel off the bed laughing.

Sunday morning we hung out with our French host and I bought two Tintin comic books!


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The French version of  Thanksgiving was quite interesting. It did include turkey but also chestnuts. I have discovered that they are quite yummy but nonetheless a bit of a surprise. They also made a half-hearted attempt at pumpkin pie. They only succeed in making some kind of tasteless orange thing but the chocolate dessert was fantastic!

I now have 3 weeks before I head home.

Traveling

I know, I know, I really should have put up pictures from Italy sooner but I'm doing it now!

The last weekend in October (October 28th-November 2nd) I travelled in Italy with a friend from Grinnell (Sivan Philo) who is studying in Milan for the semester. I took the train from Nantes to Paris and then Paris all the way to Milan. I thought it would be pretty cool to go by train and it was but in retrospect 8 hours in a train is a little too long! I got into Milan late on Friday and we left for Venice--the first phase of the trip--on Saturday morning. We wandered around Venice for a little while that morning and then went (by water bus!) to Murano island. It was really cool to see the glass blowing demonstration. We spent the rest of Saturday and the part of Sunday in Venice before heading to Florence

The view of the grand canal just outside of the train station.

water bus!

0,50euro gondola ride with Sivan!

In Florence we had quite a list of things we wanted to do. Sunday was the big day of tourist action in Florence. We saw the Uffizi gallery in the morning and then headed to a church on a hill on the edge of town. The view was amazing!

After our little walk we checked out the Duomo in Florence and then checked out the leather market. Sivan bought an excellent leather jacket and I bought a nice leather bracelet and a beautiful scarf. I know that haggling is what is expected but it still feels really weird and kind of disingenuous. They want to sell the jacket and the customer wants to buy the jacket but we still had to go through the motions. 

After the leather market we found a grocery store and cooked some gnnocchi and pesto. I have found a new favorite kind of pasta. So yummy, so filling and so easy on a student budget.

Monday was a little bit more chill. We went to the Accademia and saw the David. I didn't realize that it was so tall! We walked around the historic part of Florence and tried to go to the cemetery ( called "the island of the dea") but it was closed. We ended up hanging out at the train stations for a couple of hours because we were both just so tired. It was exhausting to be a tourist and be simultaneously annoyed with the number of tourists in Florence and Venice.  

The last stop for me was to go back to Milan so I could take the train back to Paris. Getting back to Milan at about 6pm gave Sivan some time to take me to his favorite panzerotti and gelato place. There was melted dark chocolate in the bottom of the cone! I also accidentally ordered whipped cream because I don't speak a word of Italian. No regrets.

Going through the Alps!

Whew!

This past weekend I went to Paris with three other girls from IES. We had quite a full plate of activites: the Musée d'Orsay, the Moulin Rouge, the Catacombes, walking along the Seine, Sacre Coeur, Eiffel Tower, Musée Carnavalet, and Sainte Chapelle. Don't worry it wasn't all in one day because we had most of Friday, all of Saturday and most of Sunday.

On Sunday afternoon I split off on my own to do a little visiting. I went and saw Denise! I also met with a former Grinnell biology major who is working at Institute Pasteur. I promise I won't get too many ideas Mom but it was still great to talk to her.

Castles

Last weekend (October 15-16) was the IES trip to see the chateaux de la Loire and it wasn't just like one or two. No, in two days we saw FIVE different castles! It was one of those trips where I was really glad that I went but it was still super exhausting to do that much touring in a weekend.

The first castle was Montgeoffroy. The weather was perfect and sunny and just a little bit cold so that I was perfectly comfortable in my jacket. The castle is actually still a private residence! The family also has property in Paris and Morocco but they still spend time living in the caste in the Loire Valley. The fact that the family still used to property made it seem so much more Pride and Prejudices; I kept expecting Mr. Darcy or Mr. Bingley to walk around the corner. The whole weekend of castles was a lot to process and put in perspective because, for instance, Montgeoffroy has been in their family for longer than the United States has been a country.

Stable!

The next stop was Azay-le-Rideau. It was gorgeous, just like a fairy tale. We were left to our own devices to explore the castle, whereas Montgeoffroy was a guided tour. I enjoyed Azay-le-Rideau but not as much as the first castle. One big factor was that Montgeoffroy was a guided visit so I felt like I had a better grip on the history and use of the castle than at Azay-le-Rideau, but that didn't stop me from throughly enjoying my little siesta on the lawn in front of Azay-le-Rideau. I just had this perfect moment of bliss sitting on the grounds of a castle in France and absorbing the sun.

The next stop on Saturday was Villandry. It is famous for its beautifully constructed gardens but it also has a pretty cute story. The couple who eventually bought it and redid the gardens were a Spanish man and an American woman who had been childhood sweethearts. When they bought it the previous owners had "modernized" the house and gardens. So, the husband set about doing a bunch of research on tradition French gardens and completely reconstructed the gardens based on both his research and traces of the original layout that they found on the grounds. 

We spent the night in Tours and then Sunday morning we visited Amboise, the first royal castle of the trip. It is also where Leonardo di Vinci lived his last several years and he was buried on the grounds in the old church. 

And finallllllly, Chenonceau! It is known as the castle of women because there have been several women that have constructed parts of the castle and the grounds. Chenonceau has a pretty cool history outside of just being gorgeous. During WWI it was used as a hospital and as a bridge or passage way for the Resistance during WWII. The main entrance was in the occupied zone whereas the exit on the other side of the river was in the zone libre.

Doin' Big Things

I am feeling very pleased with myself after this week. I was successfully able to negotiate all of my classes without any trouble and they seem to be getting better as they go. I was particularly pleased with my Art History course this week because she had us start analyzing images in class. Up until this point she had mostly been doing it for us so it was nice to see if I was able to learn from her examples and implement them. My Education course at the university is still going well. It is interesting to see how French sociologists/psychologists compare to American schools of thought. Plus, it is still endlessly amusing to see just how many English words have been appropriated (e.g. "teacher-center learning" or "student-centered learning").

I saw my second piece of French theatre on Wednesday (definitely not another Sophocles play). It was a short play performed by one man and titled "Looking for Henry Kissinger." He had to play several characters so it was interesting watching him change his facial expression and posture for each character.

On Friday I was able to swim a real workout with one of the French swimmers in the same swimming class as me. For the first two weeks the coach was just doing technique that was aimed at a level far below me (I can already swim butterfly thank you very much.) so it was super nice to be able to just do a work out. I do still feel like it's a game of frogger because I have to dodge around the other swimmers who are doing technique stuff. It just makes it so much more enjoyable to swim when there is someone else doing to same thing!

Friday night Ryan and I ate in this awesome, kind of fancy restaurant. She had bought a coupon online which enabled us to get an appetizer, main dish and a dessert all for 15E. If we had been ordering off the menu at normal prices I would have been at 15E after the appetizer and a glass of wine! I had an amazing lamb dish and the cheese plate for dessert. I love me some stinky cheeses! I also got to try Ryan's fantastic choice of a chocolate cake with a melty inside.

Then on Saturday I bought a bunch of train tickets with my friends Ryan and Alexis. We are going to Paris November 11-13, Rouen (which is where Joan of Arc was burned) November 18-20, and Bordeaux December 2-4. We were even able to book a half-day wine tasting tour!

Classes

I have finally finished the shopping period and settled on 5 classes.
I'm taking:

•  the required gramar class
• an art history class about how art and architecture are related (think gothic churches and stain glass)
• a turn of the century poetry class (so far my favorite. It's hard but the good kind of use-your-brain hard)
• Contemporary French Society (easy but a good way to practice my French)
• Psychology of Education (this one is at the University with French students in their 3rd year)

I also went swimming today and made a friend! He is going to bring me a better practice for next Friday because the prof for the Friday class just has us do drills and not yards.
      

First "real" week

For some reason unknown to me IES has a full week of what they call "on site orientation," which means that for a week we sit at the Institute and hear about how the buses work, about the one maybe slightly sketchy place in town, and other moderately inane details about how the administration of IES works. I could have read and understood the IES student handbook in under 2 hours. I definitely didn't need a week of putting some much information in my head that I could barely remember it at the end of the day!

But last week was the first official week of classes! Mom, if you think I get overly enthused for the start of classes at the end of August you should be glad that there was a whole ocean in between you and my pre-school anticipation! I'm still technically in the shopping period so I don't have a firm schedule yet but so far I'm taking a gramar course (mandatory), a course on French poetry and modernism, one on French society as a country that is part of the EU and an intro(ish) art history class. I now have to decide between a developmental psych course and two history courses at the Université de Nantes. I've tried two other courses at the university but neither really worked for me. Part of the problem was that one of the classes was essentially for freshmen and they hadn't yet figured out not to talk through a two-hour lecture because it's rude and disrespectful. I know that everybody says to be open to new experiences and try to embrace the European education system, but that doesn't mean I have to sit through that kind of behavior. I'm hoping that a smaller class or one earlier in the morning will be better.

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Now on to the social stuff!

I think yesterday was far and away the happiest I've been since I got here. There were several contributing factors:
1. The night before (friday night) I bought train tickets to go visit a friend in Milan. I was so happy I felt like I was going to be sick! (Thanks Aunt Pooh and Aunt Susan for financing the trip!)

2. Saturday morning I went with my good friend Ryan Campeau to an open air market. It was full of delicious looking food, clothes, shoes and jewelry. We ate lunch at the market and afterward had coffee/tea and un pain au chocolat in a cafe.

3. We went to a 6 hour French theatre production. It consisted of 3 plays by Sophocles: The Trachiniae, Antigone and Electra (I linked to the Wikipedia descriptions/summaries because I wasn't really familiar with the first and the last so I had to do a little reading). The director made this amazing decision to replace the Greek Chorus with a band (singer, bass guitar, guitar, drums). It added this amazing depth to the movements the actors made on the stage. So, even though I often didn't understand the words I could watch the movements and listen to the music.
***Doris and Grumps: I used some of the money you guys gave me to buy tickets to see this play and two others later in October, thank you!!!

4. After the play we found a crêperie, had a little dessert, drank a glass of wine and discussed the plays.

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I know this is a huge post but I just wanted to add some pictures at the end here. We went on a historic tour of Nantes during orientation and then that weekend is something called Les Journées de Patrimoine, which means that all the museums and historical sites are open for free!

Cathédrale de Saint Paul 

Château de Ducs de Bretagne

Decorations on an apartment building in one of the older districts. It's the area where the people involved in the slave trade lived.

Natural History Museum

Beautiful door at the Cathédrale. Aunt Mary: this is the scarf I bought with the birthday money you gave me two years ago!