A Semester in Rennes

Germany. Saying goodbyes.. Packing and cleaning my little room.

2010-05-30T05:26:00.001-07:00

I honestly can't believe I leave to go back to the USA tomorrow.
These past four months although they went by incredibly quickly also seemed to last a very long time. I've been so lucky to have all the experiences that I've had.. I have so many stories to tell now.

My trip to Germany was wonderful!! (Photos above!) I did fahrrad tours with my opa all around Enniger and saw the Bodies Exhibit in Bremen with my cousin (second cousin? step-second cousin?) and attended a neighbor's (nachbarin) 70th birthday party where everyone sang accompanied by accordion and saxophone. I learned some new recipes and wrote them down and read two books (Lolita and The Virgin Suicides) and went to the Mohnesee and to Soest and I made the local paper, too. It was lovely to say the least.

My suitcases are somewhat packed.
Things aren't fitting perfectly, so I've had to sit on them to shut them. (Albeit carefully on the one containing the wine and champagne, tee hee) .. Still, I hope I can fit my pillow in too.. sigh.
I can honestly say that I've learned an insane amount about life during these four months away. I did believe my friends and everyone that I talked to before I left who told me these months away would change me completely, make me more independent and more individualized, but I really didn't think I could grow up quite as much as I have.
I think that coming home tomorrow (getting up at 4:30 AM woot woot) is going to show me just how much I've changed, too.

Tomorrow's schedule is this:
4:30 AM - wake up/eat/make sure all is in order
5:00 AM - return sheets and pillowcases and key to the front office
5:15 AM - catch the metro
6:10 AM - train to Charles de Gaulle from Rennes
9:30 AM - arrive at CDG
9:30 AM - 2:15 PM- hang out in airport/go through security/etc..
3:45 - arrive in Reykjavik and change planes
6:30 PM - arrive in USA's Boston airport

It's going to be quite a long day... but it's so worth it. I'm sure I can get through as long as I have plenty of good playlists. . . And tissues, too. I think the crying will commence today and end after I see everyone from home... It could take a while to get it all out. :)

I can't even put into words how deeply I've missed everyone from home. And there are so many things I've missed.
I've missed inside jokes and Sunny and just being with everyone that I love. I've missed the convenience of walking to Cumby's in Keene at 2 AM just because I want a snack and I've missed how places are OPEN ON SUNDAYS. I've missed living with roommate(s), eating at the Dining Commons, and sitting outside Brewbaker's with iced coffee on warm spring days. All these things are of course a huge part of missing my insanely amazing friends. Because all these things I miss would not make a difference if I did them by myself.

However, in being far away from home I have also come to appreciate greatly the place and people that I left. I have realized how important and dear my friends and family are to me. I didn't take anyone for granted before this journey, but after this journey I can honestly say that I never will.

So to all my friends and family, I love you all and I absolutely not wait to come home and give each and every one of you a huge, huge hug!

The semester wraps up : rainy days, finals, the park, saying goodbyes, etc.. etc...

2010-05-10T16:27:00.000-07:00

The weather actually stopped being weird for one whole day on Sunday so that Meagan, Sarah and I were able to spend the whole afternoon out at the Parc du Thabor and have a picnic!!!

Also we were able to walk around the rose gardens which, sadly, haven't bloomed yet, but we did get to read all the names of each individual rose bush, which was so cool. A few of the names included Toulouse Lautrec, Marilyn Monroe, Princesse Grace de Monaco, Exciting, and Quebec. Hilarious, I know.

However, my personal favorite was "Joie" :)

Finals have started and everything is starting to wind down...

I'm hoping to have a few more adventures before I leave... A trip to Germany is in order at the end of the month and I'm hoping to see Gogol Bordello with Pretty Bright Lights the night before I leave in Parissssss :D

Only time (and funds) will tell if this will be possible, but I really hope it happens!

This weekend should be especially good- I'm planning on going to a football (soccer) game on Friday night and there are also some traditional Bréton celebrations this week and weekend, which I hope to get to!

Back in Rennes..

2010-04-28T06:22:00.000-07:00

Finally, Sarah and I managed to make it back to Rennes safely.
After many adventures in Limerick after we left Shannon, we hopped on a bus Saturday morning to Rosslare Harbour, where we waited for a few hours with our respective reading books until we could board the ferry.

We boarded the ferry around 5 PM Saturday and set sail around 6:30. We arrived in Cherbourg, France around 12:00 PM the next day after sleeping in the chairs that were our reserved seats.
Uncomfortable? Yes. Unbearable? Not really.
We made a French friend, Thomas, on the boat who hung out with us while we passed our time on the ferry eating, reading, and later on in the evening, watching a man play guitar and sing amid a large group of truckers. Sarah and I were two of the five ladies in the bar area while watching the musician and it was pretty hilarious to watch all the older men progressively getting more and more drunk and singing Irish tunes.
The icing on the cake was that for the last song played, one man grabbed Sarah and made her dance with him in front of everyone, making up the steps as he went along. I just about died laughing.

Once we were off the boat and went through "customs" which consisted of the three of us simply walking through an empty building with no one to even show our passport to, we took a shuttle to the city center (AKA the train station) and got on the very next train that would take us to Rennes.
After parting ways with our friend when we had to switch trains at Lison, we fell asleep for the last leg of the journey.

Once we arrived in Rennes, we hopped on the metro and practically collapsed.

The most brilliant thing, however, was climbing the escalator out of the metro into the 70 degree and sunny weather. The trees were green, everything was blooming, and it actually felt a little bit like home to walk into my little single room that I never imagined would feel like home.
This is the view of spring outside my window!

It really did though and it does even more now that I got a wonderful package from my dear mum with some arty things that I hung up.

This wall has certainly been spruced up :) The string of felted hearts is my favorite :)

Now that I'm back, however, I'm completely not in work mode, which isn't good, but it's to be expected after two weeks of vacation. I'm already thinking about my next vacation, which will be at the end of May and I'm hoping to get to Germany to visit the grandparents and maybe Angie too :)

And now, I have to get to class on this exceptionally gorgeous day. Schade.

More pictures from Ireland.....

2010-04-18T05:09:00.000-07:00

There is not much to do in Shannon, that's for sure.
Last night we went to a medieval dinner at Bunratty Castle because it was half off due to no one being able to go because of all the delays from the volcanic ash mess... Which I have to admit, I'm a little more than frustrated with. Also, my stomach is having severe pains and I'm not too happy about that either.
*sigh*
Really I'm just super frustrated in general...
So here are some more pictures in any case.

Horse and buggy ride on one of the Aran Islands!

dandelions in doolin

dinner!

A week in Ireland... that is being extended.

2010-04-17T07:44:00.000-07:00

This past week in Ireland has been amazing- beautiful weather, great food, spending all day outside, the Cliffs of Moher, the Aran Islands, Doolin, and traditional Irish dancing!!!!

Due to the volcanic ash issue, Sarah and I are staying close by the airport in Shannon now, waiting for Tuesday when our flight has been rescheduled.
Who even knows if THAT will even happen though- with all the glass and ash in the air, there's no telling when we're actually getting back home to France.

For now, I'm just enjoying it. Tonight we're going to a medieval banquet at Bunratty Castle! It should be a blast...

And here are some of my photos from this past week! :) More to come when my computer is recharged!! :)

2010-04-07T09:30:00.000-07:00

This blog is WAY overdue for an update. Last week, my camera finally bit the dust and so I was unable to upload new photos.
Luckily, I now am in possession of a new one that is very pretty and works beautifully.

Last week was lovely because our Etude de la Langue professor was in Morocco for the week and thus there was no class! Of course we had to make up the hours the week before AS WELL AS do the regular hours for the course for the week. It was a looooong week, but it was very nice to have last week off.

This week is already flying because the Easter weekend was a long one and we had Monday off. Friday morning, Sarah and I will be leaving for Ireland for the week and then we will be on our separate ways for the second week of vacation.

I am most likely going to be visiting a good family friend, Angela in Baden Baden, Germany which is very close to Strasbourg. And I CAN'T wait! Lots of pictures to come from this vacation, I assure you.

This was dinner last week- fajitas!!! As messy as they were, they were deliciousssssss. Now it's back to good old pasta and sauce to save on cash for vacation.....
À plus!

Giant parties and sunglasses and kebabs

2010-03-27T04:10:00.000-07:00

So on Thursday night the ENTIRE town of Rennes decided to try to one-up Nantes and have an even BIGGER party. Which means there were about 4,000 people in the area in front of Gaumont, a big movie theater. (YouTube has videos! Look for them because my pictures can only show so much)
We went with some friends from our class, too, which was great!

Okay- now on the subject of kebabs. They are little pieces of heaven that are so delicious (and super fattening I'm sure) but so SO good. I usually get this one (shown below) that is called Kebab Salade Frites. Basically it means that I get this scrumptious sandwich made from the meat that turns and is sliced off with a knife and then is drizzled with sauce blanche (AKA tzatziki sauce!) And also it comes with fries which go wonderfully with mayo and ketchup.
Yes, it's true- I have converted. Mayonnaise with fries = excellent!!!!

In other news, I have decided to start a photo album of everyone and anyone that wears my sunglasses. I hope it gets to be extensive. I've started it on facebook, but I'm going to put it up on my Picasa web albums and also on Flickr, too. I'm going to try to get as many people as possible before I come home to the states... And even then, maybe I will continue it. :-)
Probably I should start a website about it.. hmmm....

Bon weekend a vous!

Dunkin' Donuts, please step aside. Your croissants are terrible.

2010-03-20T06:45:00.000-07:00

When it's gray outside, but strangely warm, and there is absolutely nothing to do because it is Saturday and you can't sleep anymore, this is what happens. You make food.
But not just any food because the food here is, of course, exceptional. Especially the croissants.

So after a quick trip to Carrefour and the Boulangerie, I made my own croissant egg sandwich that Dunkin' Donuts lovers would drool over. It was lightly toasted and super buttery and the eggs were all fresh and "Bio" which is organic

It's also pretty nice that it's so easy to make.
Perfect, Relaxing Afternoon Recipe

1) Crack eggs into pan, greased with some beurre
2) Listen to "Please Be With Me" by Eric Clapton
3) Flip les oeufs
4) Sprinkle some Emmental fromage on top of that, comme ça.

5) Listen to "Germ-Free Adolescents" by X-Ray Spex.
6) Toast the sliced croissant face-down in the pan for a few minutes
7) While this is going on you may listen to "Come a Little Bit Closer" by Jay and the Americans because it's hilarious and it goes well whilst cooking afternoon breakfast.
8) Place les oeufs into the lightly toasted croissant and squish (if you want the egg guts to spill out, which is kind of enjoyable if you ask me)
9) Et voila! Enjoy with some OJ whilst watching Gilmore Girls. (If you like witty banter courtesy of Amy Sherman-Palladino)

And from here your Saturday should be pretty enjoyable. :-)

When it rains...

2010-03-19T08:14:00.000-07:00

The sad thing about Rennes is that the weather gets to be absolutely beautiful and then all of a sudden it will just get gray and rainy. Like today. It really brings down the mood, I have to admit- especially after a gorgeous St. Patrick's Day. It was one of the most relaxing days in a long time- I even got a sunburn.
Sarah and I relaxed on the fire escape and drank Heineken and did absolutely nothing, but sun ourselves until we finally decided we should go out somewhere.
After some tasty kebabs, we made it over to O'Connell's (same place where the Irish dancing took place) and had a Bulmer's just to make the day official.

Other than that, this week has been full of mid-terms, which haven't been too bad at all.
The worst part about these two weeks is that my Etude de la Langue professor will be missing some classes because she has to travel. Thus, WE have to make up the hours. At ungodly hours in the morning. AKA Monday's schedule: 8:30 - 12:30. Break for one hour. 1:30 -3:30.
I mean, really. Is that healthy? *sigh* Je ne pense pas.

On a happier note, I made an onion lady which can be seen to the left here. More vegetable people to come with photos, I promise.

Irish dancing !!

2010-03-15T02:54:00.001-07:00

So last night after a lovely dinner of stir fried broccoli, carrots, garlic and mushrooms over bowtie pasta, Sarah and I headed out to O'Connell's by Republique for Irish dancing.
I only got to dance once because the floor space was pretty small and it was full of people wanting to give it a try.
So I sipped a Bulmer's (excellent) and watched for most of the time. And I took a lot of pictures with Sarah's camera because somehow I forgot mine on my desk!
It's basically the same as contra dancing.

I wouldn't have even been up to write this except la construction which is taking place all around our résidence universitaire (dorm building) is exceptionally loud. Chainsaws at 10:00 AM WILL wake me up. *sigh* Ah well.

A weekend FULL of plans!

2010-03-13T08:48:00.000-08:00

Today we woke up early and went to the Saturday market again! It was absolutely wonderful. :)
We met our friend, Nicole, there who used to live in our dorm, but had the good fortune to move out and into a room in a house with a family. Her friend is visiting, so we were able to meet another Anglaise!

After Sarah and I shopped our hearts out on countless amounts of veggies, we went to Nicole's new place for a cup of tea and homemade scones! Which were delicious, of course. No clotted cream sadly, but I am on a semi-sort of diet thing, so I guess it was for the best.
(The diet/exercise routine is going all right, by the way)

Yesterday was particularly interesting because one of our floormates, Thomas, who is Polish had been asking the four of us for some help with his English and so we offered to talk with him. He might study in Chicago next year!
Two hours later after discussing the differences between Europe and the United States, religion, conspiracy theories, and college we called it a night.

An interesting thing about France is that when people tease you about being American, they're not trying to be mean. I think they're trying to joke around. Or are they? I can never tell.
I've felt a lot lately that I've been getting made fun of for being American. No matter where I go or whatever I do it's "Oh, you're so American!" .
.. yeah? And? I was born there- I didn't get to choose. Sheesh. It's starting to get on my nerves. Especially since in class some teachers always say, "Oh, you Americans always sit together!" and it's a big joke and everyone laughs.
But no one mentions that the Asian population always sits together, too.
Maybe I'm being crazy, but its really starting to bother me. Not just the teachers, but others, too.

But anyways, tonight is our friend Krista's birthday (she's from Canada) and we are all going to meet up at Funky Monky, which is a quiet(ish) bar, and then from there who knows!

I have to admit though, I am most excited for tomorrow because after I'm done with laundry and homework and the like, I want to go to the Parc du Thabor, which is supposed to be very pretty and things are starting to bloom already :)
And tomorrow night at O'Connell's there will be Irish dancing. Meagan and Kayla said it's much like contra dancing, so of COURSE I'm going!!

And I will take lots of pictures between today and tomorrow and post them!
A bientot!

New motivation...

2010-03-09T09:05:00.000-08:00

So as I went to upload more photos this afternoon, my video of me making a crepe at Margot's house somehow popped up and uploaded. And here I thought it was lost and gone forever... So here it is!!! My first crepe carefully overseen by Margot's mom, Françoise. Merci, merci encore!

In other news, Sarah and I have officially decided to work out (via our stairwell, as our elevator is broken- yay for living on the 7th floor) and eat much better.
This is my fully-stocked cabinet with HEALTHY FOODS. Note that there is no longer any chocolate pain. (I call pain au chocolat that p.s.) All that is left is corn and spinach and a ton of kiwi and onionsssss and potatoes. And rice and dried apricots.

So the menu for tonight is chicken breast with sauteéd veggies and I can't wait to eattttttttt!
But, what else is new?

A Weekend in St-Brieuc...

2010-03-07T15:16:00.000-08:00

This weekend I visited my dear friend, Margot and her family in St-Brieuc! It's about an hour away by train from Rennes. So I departed early Friday evening and had a wonderful dinner of raclette with her whole family!

The next day, Margot's mother, Francoise made galettes and crepes and we all helped to make some! Here's Margot making a crepe! :) She is un professionelle, non?

After crepes and galettes galore, Margot took me to Binic to see the ocean, which was just a mess of turquoise beauty and white caps. We walked around and even got some ice cream because it was so warm out... in the soleil, mostly. :)

We went to her friend's house for dinner, which was lovely not only because the dinner and appetizers were fantastically mouth-wateringly delicious, but also because it was really nice to meet les francaises who are my age!! Finally! Also, I got to experience full-on informal and slang without being it being taught to me. Which was interesting and difficult, but mostly just enjoyable :)

And today, Margot's parents took Margot, her sister Romane, and moi to les felaises- the cliffs! Very close to Saint-Brieuc are these beautiful, massive cliffs that are simply breathtaking and thus I have a picture or two of them up here... Unfortunately, my battery on my camera was dying, so I don't have as many as I would like.
After the cliffs, we went to Dinan and walked around. This is a small city from medieval times and has fabulous architecture and ramparts around the city, too. It was such an interesting day that I am exhausted- haha.

The best part about the weekend though was that I had NON STOP french in my brain for two days. This doesn't usually happen when I'm with the other American girls because although we do make a point to speak in French, it doesn't always happen and we get used to our own vocabulary. I learned so many different french words this weekend just from speaking with Margot and her family!!!!! Un phare = a lighthouse. Not une maison de lumiere as I had originally guessed.
Just before I left, too, I got to check out their backyard with their chickens from which they collect about 6 eggs from every day- her little sister, Romane, adores the chickens and showed me them. :)

Really though- it was a lot of fun and it was incredible to meet such kindhearted people who let me stay with them for a whole weekend!!! :)

And now I'm going to pass out before I have to get up for my one class tomorrow (bahaha) at 1:30PM. Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss. Bonne nuit!

To Saint-Brieuc!

2010-03-05T08:04:00.000-08:00

This is only a quick update because I'm nearly off to the Gares station to take the TGV to St-Brieuc where I will spend the weekend with Margot and her family!

Last night, went to a huge party and had a fabulous time meeting a zillion new and wonderful people from all over! :D

Anyways, I'll be back for a long update on Sunday afternoon or so.

Hope the weather wherever you are is as beautiful as it is in Rennes right now!!!!

Ireland. Enough said.

2010-03-02T05:33:00.000-08:00

Five days in Ireland and I am speechless.
Ballyvaughan is a BEAUTIFUL place and I cannot WAIT to return. Sarah said it best on our somber journey home yesterday, "I fell in love with place- and that's never happened before!!"
I completely agree. We cried a lot on our way home to Rennes.

This was our adventure:

We found a woman through a carpooling website that was going to Paris on the day of our flight. We each paid her 25 euros and we were off to Paris- a 3 hour drive. It went by pretty quickly however and we arrived at Porte Maillot where we needed to take a bus to the Paris-Beauvais airport, which is a tiny little airport about an hour away by the bus.

Once at the airport, we checked in, ate some food and took our very short, hour long flight to Shannon. Once we arrived Shannon, it was late- around 8:00 and there were no more buses to our hostel that was only a few miles away. So, we hailed a taxi and went to the little town of Sixmilebridge, where we stayed for the night. After making tea and some dinner at the cute hostel (called the Jamaica Inn) we passed out.
We woke up at 7:00 AM to catch our bus, as we had to walk into town- a short walk. We got on the first bus and the bus driver was AWESOME. He told us all about the history of Ireland, which was interesting. We had to switch buses at Clarenbridge, but we had an hour and a half to kill before we could get on it.

Thus, the delicious IRISH BREAKFAST. I really wish I did not like black pudding, but I ADORE IT. It is heavenly and homey and a complete comfort food. I looked for it at the very small grocery store in Ballyvaughan, but they didn't seem to have it. :(
So sad. I would have left ALL my clothes and hairdryer just to fill up my backpack with pudding. But I think it's the kind of thing that you make.
However, there is a lot of blood involved, so I don't know if I'm up for that. I just want to eat it- not make it.

So after the breakfast, we got on the bus to Ballyvaughan and met yet another talkative and friendly bus driver. Upon arriving in Ballyvaughan, we had instructions from Sarah's friend Seth (who we stayed with for the week) on how to get to the house. We had to wait until he was out of class, so we decided to walk slowly and take TONS of pictures.
We passed the house and were planning on walking up towards their school (a ten minute walk from their house) but we got distracted by some big rocks that looked comfortable and decided to sit and wait for Seth to meet us when he got out of class.
He met us soon after and we went to his house. After showing us around, he had to go back to class. Since they were all letting us stay there for days, we decided to clean their kitchen and living room and such.
After doing this and showering, we started playing cards whilst speaking french, eating croissants that we brought with us and drinking until Seth came back with his roommate Brad. As soon as they walked in, we all started talking at once and they were a bit overwhelmed.

After some more card playing and getting to know one another, we headed off for a pub crawl downtown. The town is about a fifteen to twenty minute walk down a very gravelly and muddy road. We went to one bar that was really cool where we tried hot irish whiskey. It was almost like a tea and was not bad at all.

The next day we took a long walk up to these faerie forts (picture below on the left) and also went to Aillwee Cave and took a tour. It was amazing! The best part about being in the cave was that they turned off all the lights and let us "see" what complete darkness is like. It was a little frightening, but incredible.

On Friday, we went to Galway and stayed in a hostel. We had REAL fish and chips. It was the best fish I have ever eaten in my LIFE. After this, we stopped at a little shop to get some drinks for the night before we went out. Brad and I both bought this drink called "Buckfast" which is a wine that is made by monks. It had the consistency of cough syrup and had caffeine in it. Which is probably why I danced like a fiend all night until 2:30 AM when we had to head back to the hostel because the club closed.

The next day we went back to Ballyvaughan and relaxed. We went out again that night to meet more of the art students! On the way to the bar I made Brad carry me and he tripped and we fell on the gravelly road and I got quite the bruise. Hilarious. Never going to let him live it down.

Once at the bar, there was live music!! I requested my song, "Galway Girl" and the guitarist played it! It was wonderful to be in an Irish bar, relaxing, drinking a Guinness and listening to my song LIVE!
Also we met a whole bunch of the other art students, who were all incredibly nice and cool. Some of them even live near us!

Sunday we got to see the school and the studios where they all work. Incredible artwork, I have to say. I was very impressed. (Photo above of Brad's portraits). We also did a polar dip at a beach a few miles away! It was freezing, but I insisted on going in twice!!!! With my bathing suit ON I might add- though most everyone else went in naked. (Photo below of us after the dip!)

Monday, we had an early morning and had to start our journey back home. This was exhausting as we had to take a bus from Ballyvaughan to Clarenbridge, then a bus from Clarenbridge to the airport, then the plane to Paris-Beauvais, then a bus from Paris-Beauvais to Montparnasse, then a train from there to Rennes, then the subway back to Kennedy, then a short walk to our dorm.
We got back around 11:30 last night.

And we cried a lot on the way back just because of the love of Ballyvaughan and the fact that we had to leave all its beauty behind.

All in all, I had an absolutely amazing time, though and I could not have had any more fun if I had tried. Everything was beautiful and perfect and so, so real.
The whole experience changed and widened my perspective, which is what traveling and meeting new people is all about. Thus, I would not change anything about our trip at all!

There is nothing like that place in the world and I would give ANYTHING to go back.
Another trip will have to happen. Plus, we didn't visit the Cliffs of Moher and I'm DYING to do that. So of course we have to return!!!!!!

In other news, I will be visiting Margot's family in Saint-Brieuc this weekend and I cannot wait!
It's a town about an hour by train from Rennes. Since it's so close, the tickets are cheap, too!

And that is all I have for today :)

Paris and Packing

2010-02-22T10:31:00.000-08:00

So I have neglected my blog a little bit, but it's going to be that way again for about a week!
Tomorrow, the girls and I will be setting off for Ireland. Specifically, Ballyvaughan, which is very close to Galway. We're staying with Sarah's friend from high school who is studying abroad there and can put us up for free! (Hence the change from Italy to Ireland)
Luckily enough, there's a bus that goes from Ballyvaughan to nearly anywhere else in Ireland!
I'm definitely ready to visit the Cliffs of Moher, even if I have to sit on a bus for hours.
It's supposed to rain for most of the days we are there, but I plan on going out no matter what!
To prepare myself, I'm listening to Flogging Molly. ("If I Ever Leave This World Alive") Also, I subjected Matt this past week to P.S. I Love You, which he gave a 5. And rightly so. It's not THAT good, but I have to admit, it makes me a little teary-eyed. And I do love Gerard Butler. Sigh.

When we looked up trains to take him back to Paris for Sunday morning, we realized there weren't any that would be early enough for him to catch his flight. So, we went to Paris Saturday evening and stayed in a pretty nice hostel. We arrived so late however, that, ironically, the only place open for dinner was an American burger joint, which was absolutely disgusting to say the least. The best part about the meal was definitely the margarita.

I dropped him off the next morning at Charles de Gaulle and had a really long journey back to Rennes, arriving at 8:30 PM. I have to admit, I was not dry-eyed, but there's only three months left! And I intend on making those three months count.

Saturday before we went to the hostel, however, we walked around a lot and I found REAL WINE IN A CAN! Which, as all of you know who watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, is AMAZING. I should have bought some, I know, but I can always go back now that I know exactly where the wine shop is.
All those times we poured wine into a can, gang! We could have just BOUGHT some! ...In France.
I also like that in the picture there's a romantic couple together right next to canned wine.

Also, wanted to let you all know if you have a Flickr account, I'm uploading all of my photos from France to my account! My ID is galenchanted and if you can't find me- let me know!

Talk to you all in a week-

Bisous!

The Louvre, my love, and Le Haricot Rouge

2010-02-19T00:24:00.000-08:00

I know that I've been MIA for almost an entire week.. Well, I suppose it is a week today, but I've been super busy showing Matt around Rennes! Also, Matt has been showing me around Rennes... While I was in class a few times, he explored Rennes by himself and even made a few friends, who we ran into already!

Last week before I even picked him up, I spent the weekend with Margot, which I enjoyed immensely! She made delicious dinners and we watched the Olympics and had a super fabulous time. She got me into the Louvre for free, too! I took tons of pictures, got lost in the Egyptian section and had a great time all in all.
The next day was Valentine's Day and she gave me a tour of the city, pretty much. We walked by Notre Dame, the Sorbonne (which she attends) and then to Montmartre. The picture of the delicious pastry and coffee was from Montmartre.

She also helped me a lot with getting to Charles de Gaulle to pick up Matt, which was not the easiest thing, I have to admit. It's absolutely huge.

After picking him up, we were delayed for hours at Montparnasse (the train station) because of a suicide on the tracks. Horrible, I know.

The rest of the week has been quite nice, though. Yesterday we went to Le Haricot Rouge and got the hot chocolate extravaganza and moelleux chocolat- molten chocolate cake.
Somehow we ate it all, too.

And that has been my week in a nutshell.
Next Tuesday I'll be off to Ireland for five days as Sarah has a friend in a little town near Galway called Ballyvaughn. So, no hostel fees! And we can bring our own food! I think we'll have a great time. I plan on finding a nice field and relaxing and reading. If it rains, I'll probably do the same.

Bonne journée to you all!!!!!

Labo!

2010-02-11T10:36:00.001-08:00

Today we had our class called "Labo". It's called this because we are in a sort of lab/classroom where we have huge headphones with microphones and we record ourselves and then listen to them. The teacher can stop our separate tapes at any time and correct our work. Sarah is demonstrating with the headset for me, down below, haha.
Basically, you work by yourself in this class. It's my favorite class. I wish that it wasn't only an hour a week. I would easily get rid of the Comprehension Orale and instead have another hour of Labo. Plus, our teacher is really nice and pretty understanding.
Also, I leveled up in my Oral class- from level 5 to 8!
And now, I need to make some pasta for dinner before heading out!
A bientot!

Snowstorms and Haircuts..

2010-02-10T13:12:00.000-08:00

Today was full of surprises. After rolling out of bed early for Civilisation at 8:15 AM, we went for lunch at a nearby café and had delicious thin crust pizza.
Immediately after leaving, we headed to the Coiffure & Co. for some cheap haircuts. They turned out lovely (or so I think!) for Sarah and I. Meagan got hers there last week as well.

I also bought my 12-25 Train Card which allows me to get cheaper tickets for the TGV. This will be helpful when it comes to vacation! :)

On my way back from the Gare, I ran straight into this ridiculous ten-minute blizzard. It was short and, remarkably, not so sweet. The wind was blowing so hard I walked backwards for a while to my dorm. Ridiculous! And so I took a picture of it just to prove it.
And to think, fifteen minutes later, the sky was blue again. Unbelievable.

Bonne nuit! Another 10 AM tomorrow .......

Yogurt for dinner

2010-02-09T11:43:00.000-08:00

Today was another gray day- I'm really hoping for warmer weather soon!!!
Maybe I'm asking for too much since it's February, but the last time I was in France, it was beautiful and summery and flowers were everywhere. It was, in short, absolutely gorgeous.
So needless to say, the gray skies and the intense wind is getting me down a bit. Which meant I didn't want to go back to the store after being outside and walking back from the campus. Which means yogurt is for dinner.

But things are looking up- I get to get up tomorrow morning early, early for an 8:15 class about Civilization. Which isn't too bad since our professor is pretty great.
Also, I found out I actually have some money, so I'll be buying my 12-25 pass which will allow me to get much cheaper tickets for the TGV train. This will make it much cheaper to pick up my wonderful boyfriend, Matt, who is coming to visit me in less than a week! Can't wait!!

And I may just cut off all my hair tomorrow, too!! Pictures to come...

A cold day...

2010-02-08T11:57:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I feel like I can sum up my day with a few words and a photo.
Because I'm a fan of succinctness.

Birds.
Cold.
Baguette sandwich.
Class.
Subjonctif.
Conditionnel.
Walk. Cold.
Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Window watching.
Cheese. Baguette.
Bed. Soon.

To Market, To Market

2010-02-06T06:56:00.000-08:00

This morning we made it to the market around 10:30 and we waded through the crowds through hundreds of people all clamoring for fish, cheeses, jams, breads, chickens, rabbits, fruits, and veggies!

There were a TON of booths full of anything you could ever want. Everything looked delicious and it was even not too bad out weatherwise- it only rained for about ten minutes. We bought some organic and fresh eggs, fresh brussel sprouts, and delicious bread!!

After we went through the market and had a quick cup of cafe au lait, we went to a few shops because the national sales are ending soon! They are set twice a year and all shops MUST have sales at the same time. Interesting, right? Well, it was perfect because I found a beautiful pair of boots for only 10 euros that are COMFORTABLE and fit me perfectly, are brown and even have a little heel... I love them.

After some shopping, we returned chez nous and made some lunch!

I took a few pictures of the market here and there so you can get an idea of how big it is and also how rainy it was... for about ten minutes.
Then it was beautiful all afternoon! Even now it's sunny out!

Also I realize that I titled yesterday's blog "Fajitas and Laundry" and then said nothing about the laundry situation.
Well, the laundry situation is this. I brought Woolite with me to France so that I could wash my socks and delicates in my sink and hang them up on a line in my room. Which I have done.
THEY WON'T DRY. They have been on the line for more than 24 hours now and they REFUSE to dry. This would happen to me. The only way I could hang up the line in my room (because of the lack of hooks and the like) is by putting one end of the bungee cord on my closet door handle with the door shut and the other end is around my desk chair, which is secured in place by another chair.
If I put the hook around my chair without securing the chair, it would have just moved because of the tension on the line and dropped all my stuff on the floor.
I know this because it happened twice before I figured out how to secure it.
Also, it is cutting my room in half and I have had to either crawl underneath or leap over it and either way I end up with socks on my head or on the floor. *sigh*

Anyways, now it is time for a nap. It's a lazy Saturday.

Fajitas and Laundry

2010-02-05T12:55:00.000-08:00

One day, four girls decided that pasta just wasn't cutting it for dinner anymore.
And so they consulted the blog of a wise woman and thus made fajitas (an idea that formed from said blog's quesadillas).

We even made nachos beforehand in the microwave and shared them with an unknown co-resident and made friends!
We often monopolize the kitchen and so when we make a LOT of nachos, it's good to share with whoever happens to be around.
I will always stand by the saying that you learn everything you ever need to know in kindergarten. Don't hit, be nice, and SHARE.

Two classes today and they were GREAT. The second one was, at least. The second was Modern Art and it is incredibly interesting. It also helps that the teacher is completely hilarious and batty. In a good way.

Today I noticed for the first time that I can listen to any of my teachers and I understand .. nearly everything. It's very exciting to me that this is happening so early into my semester!!! Two weeks in and everything is becoming clear.

Until tomorrow folks- the Saturday morning market at Sainte Anne begins early and I plan on taking copious amounts of photos and hoping for NO RAIN!!!

Bonne nuit! Et comme toujours, bon appetit!

Un coca light..

2010-02-03T11:51:00.001-08:00

Mercredi (Wednesday) is the one day I have an early class, AKA 8:15 A.M. A little too early for a college student who has groomed her schedule to start around 12:00 P.M. (Which means waking up at 11:00ish).
This was far too early. Yet somehow without any breakfast, or coffee or shower I made it to class with the girls and even learned a little bit about "Civilisation" with Professor Chuberre.
This is the last new class to me, which was somewhat exciting. What I mean is that since classes started last Thursday, this is the last class that is new to me.
I like this because it establishes routine. I like routine.

I also like Diet Coke once in a while. Here it's called Coca-Cola Light. (If you're ordering it, you can just order un coca light, however). A delicious pick-me-up and when I saw it at Carrefour this evening, I decided it had been too long since aspartame and I had a tasty exchange.
Considering it's Coca Light I decided to photograph it in the light. Ha ha.

In other food news, I have eaten nearly an entire package of delicious macaroons that were only 1,50 euro at the cheap Super Asya. (So much for losing weight in the land of butter and cream_.
Super Asya is a convenience store that is comparable to Campus Convenience in Keene minus the tobacco products, plus liquor and fresh veggies all the time. Also there's a lot of Asian food that I will never, ever buy.
Also, dinner tonight was pasta, yet again I know, with fried potatoes, onions, tomatoes, garlic, and pesto. Delicious again and again. I'm hoping it will not get old. If it does, however, the salmon that Meagan made last week was a slice of heaven.

It's interesting to me that hard liquor is sold at the grocery store and at the convenience store. It's a fascinating cultural difference between the U.S. and France.
Is the idea in the U.S. that if the liquor is harder to reach people are less likely to go out of their way to acquire it? Because clearly this is something that just doesn't work when thousands upon thousands are involved in drunk driving every year.
In this way, I'd consider the French to be quite blunt. As if they think, might as well put it out there.

This will be followed up on after tomorrow night, when we all brave La Rue de la Soif. I insist upon going because it's going to be fabulous to see our age group in a casual, drunken setting. (AKA the street..)
What is going to be not so fabulous is me (and the other girls I'm sure) in at my 10:15 A.M. class I have on Friday.
Ah, the things you have to give up to experience culture...like the quality of my appearance at 10:00 in the morning after what I hope will be a very late (or early) night.

Before I left, a very intelligent woman told me that if anybody asks you to do something, or go anywhere, you HAVE to do it. Take advantage of every opportunity to go out, meet new people, or go anywhere. Go broke if you must.
I have to admit this was one of the best pieces of advice I have received and really taken to heart for this voyage of sorts. Thanks, Kristy!

And so to take advantage of everything people have asked me to do here, I will now do my homework as my Professor Chevalier has asked.
Bonne nuit tout le monde!

Classessssssssss

2010-02-02T09:53:00.000-08:00

Today was a full day of classes! Well, not a full day.. I started at 1:30 and then had a fifteen minute break at 3:30 - 3:45 and then I went straight into another 2 hour-long class that was our basic class that we have three times a week.

After picking up some bread and yet MORE cheese from Carrefour, we headed back to home sweet home. AKA the building pictured on the left. Yep. That is the infamous dorm, Normandie. Gorgeous, right?

At least we can make delicious dinners, as we are right now!
The lower picture is cooking right now! We have carefully mixed together chopped baby potatoes, spinach, red pepper, onions, and garlic. Mmmmmmm. To be enjoyed with baguette and brie, per usual here. :) Bon appétit!

Rain, Hail, Snow< Blood Drive Jam Band

2010-01-30T16:38:00.001-08:00

So today was nice- besides the weather. We went to the bank right away in the morning and set up our accounts so we can get our food stipend wired to a bank account every month. C'était simple!

Then we headed off towards the farmer's market that is on Saturday mornings, but unfortunately it started to hail and so all the vendors either went home or covered up their products. Then it snowed for about three minutes and stopped. Weird. Next Saturday it is!

After that we had a DELICIOUS lunch at a little place called Queen Mum, I believe. Delicious. French. Classic. Food. We all got roasted sesame chicken and white wine and lots of little veggies. Next time we go I'm going to branch out and get l'agneau- the lamb! Mmmm.

We walked around quite a bit after this, stopped at a patisserie, where I got a delicious coffee éclair. Also mmmm.

We also stumbled onto GREAT live music (shown above!) whilst a blood drive went on. Of course we couldn't donate, but we still enjoyed the jam band. Didn't catch their name, but they were fabulous.

After this, it was too cold (and sunny, strangely enough) so we went back home where we ate baguette and brie and pasta later on in the evening.
Sarah and I did a lot of homework in the late afternoon, which was good to get out of the way. Tomorrow will be a lot of sleeping in and cooking! Bonne nuit!!!

Converters. Get some.

2010-01-29T11:15:00.000-08:00

One more quick update.
As I prepared to go out for the evening, I decided to use a friend's curling iron. With no converter, as I simply don't have one.
Do not ever, ever do this. Especially with a curling iron.
As I brought the curler back in front of my face after curling the back of my hair, which I could not see, I realized that the giant black lump left on the curler was MY HAIR.
I burned off a good inch-long chunk of my hair on the back of my head (At least it's underneath, so you can't see it). Go me. A few more seconds on my hair and I would have LITERALLY been ON FIRE.
So lesson of the day: Buy a freaking converter.
*sigh*

I would have included a picture, but yet again, it is just too embarrassing. And it was pretty disgusting to look at.

Grocery Shopping. Finally.

2010-01-29T09:19:00.000-08:00

So today we were finally able to get our stipend for food!!!!!! So immediately, we went food shopping at Carrefour. I got raspberry juice, spinach, corn, garlic, apples, potatoes, a cucumber, hand soap, red wine, spaghetti noodles, a candle, tissues and milk. You know, just the essentials. Haha. The awesome part about living right next to the other three girls is that we share all our food by making meals together! Mad savings!
Tonight we are having salmon! And Meagan is making it! Finally. Real. Cooked. Food.
Well, besides the deliciousness of the restaurants here of course!

Unfortunately, people on our floor have been stealing from the PADLOCKED fridges. Really mature. So I am keeping the majority of my food on my shelf above my desk as shown in the photo above. (I got spinach and a cucumber mom, you should be happy :))

Today we had more classes! The first one was kind of too easy for me, but the second one was modern art and was AWESOME. The teacher is SO hilarious. Very funny and super nice. We look at slides and talk about different French artists and we are starting with the Impressionists. So, it is not bad at all!

Last night, instead of going out to the crazy Rue du Soif, we stayed in, got some VERY CHEAP bottles of champagne and had a girls night in in our pajamas. That was definitely the way to go with the 10:30 AM class this morning. Gah. Anyways, it was pretty fun.

With Carrefour closed (the very close grocery store) we didn't know where to get wine or anything. We texted a friend who lives a door away from me to ask where we could still get a bottle of anything.
He told us that there is a place across from Carrefour and it closes at 10 PM.
We had ten minutes to get there. We ran. We made it. We had cheap, shitty champagne.
It was great.

Tonight we may venture out (since we have our STIPEND!!!) but the night is still too early to tell.

And the salmon dinner is calling me. A bientøt!

A quick update: Dinner was fabulous!!!!! Meagan's salmon cooking skills are off the charts. Really. Along with some pasta and pesto, baguette and camembert, it was completely delish!
And now I am going out! I promise to get many pictures of the Friday nightlife. :) Bonne nuit!

Classes begin!

2010-01-28T08:20:00.000-08:00

Today was the first day of classes! Yay! I had three and they were all pretty easy.

The first one was at 10:30 and it is our main course that we have three times a week, two hours each day we have it. This one is called Etude de la Langue. It's our main course of study and our teacher is very, very nice.

We were a little late however because we couldn't find the classroom! We ended up going through an entrance that is apparently only used by faculty and we were allowed to go through a shortcut from the faculty area to where the classrooms are by some lady from the faculty.

She said only this time would she let us go through though! AHH! Well. We have only been here six days. We are just barely figuring out the campus and there are FIVE MILLION BUILDINGS! (Okay there are about ten or something and they are all huge).

My second class was Comprehension Orale, which basically was an hour of just listening to a French conversation and answering questions about it. That one is only an hour once a week, which is nice. That one was much harder for me than the first one, which involved writing opposed to listening.

Thirdly, we had our class called Labo. All we did in this class (this one is also only an hour and once a week) was set up our email account with the teacher.

An easy day of classes done!

Also, on Monday we were able to choose a few different "option" classes. I ended up getting "Art Moderne", which will be fun, I'm sure. I have that one tomorrow and Expression Ecrite. Both are two hours long and after that, let le weekend commence!

I'm trying to write some letters and postcards now, but it's too cold to go outside and post them!!! So I'll do that tomorrow- look out for some postcards in a week or so people! :)

After getting lost a few times in the city of Rennes, things are starting to look up. I can locate myself now ... finally. Shortcuts are getting easier to find. Also, we all got our Carte d'Etudiante. This was a pain in the fesses because we had to get our own pictures taken at the nearby grocery store where they had a passport photo booth thing. I made mine look very strange.. Sarah said I look like I'm in the matrix in mine because I tucked my hair into my jacket and look super serious. And my collar of my coat is up. I would the picture, but it's slightly embarrassing.

Tonight is the big night for drinking at La Rue de la Soif, but I think I will be staying in and going to sleep early (ish) because I have class at 10:30 AM. So tonight will be soup and bread and jam and pajamas. With leggings underneath because there is NO HEAT in the building.

Did I already say that this building that we are living in is so crappy that they are TEARING IT DOWN as soon as we move out?

Oh yeah. We got the classy dorm. We met some Australian girls and they went in, decided they hated it and got an apartment immediately. They call the rooms of the dorm that I'm in "suicide boxes" I don't think it's quite THAT bad, haha.

Tomorrow is more classes and the bank. We have to open a bank account so they can wire us our food stipend every month. "Food stipend." I plan to eat a lot of bread and save this money for travel and whatever else I need. Not that it's THAT much money, but it helps!

A toute a l'heure! More things tomorrow! And a photo tomorrow, I promise! :)

Hot Chocolate!

2010-01-26T11:17:00.000-08:00

Le Haricot Rouge! A delicious hot chocolate place that was perfect for warming up at this COLD afternoon in Brétagne. Also good at giving one the sugary jitters!

They even give you a tiny glass cup of water because the sheer amount of sugar becomes too much after a few bites.

So much for hoping the weather would get warmer... today it was FRIGID. And windy. Aghhhhhh.

Last night however, the girls and I ventured out to Republiqué and went to the Irish bar (O'Connell's) that gave us the tip about the Italian restaurant the other day. Monday night is English Speaking Night there, although I honestly didn't speak much English. There were so many interesting people who spoke French, I ended up practicing my French more than anything, while sipping Guinness. Which I have decided that I really love.

Today was a mess of cold and ridiculousness. After paying a "social security" deposit of 198 euros, we found out finally what no one would tell us. Apparently, we were paying for insurance. Insurance that we had already bought in the states. No one bothered to tell us that there was no need for us to pay twice. Now we have to try and get our money back. Which is really just a pain- thanks a lot CIREFE program and Global Education Office. The communication is just fabulous. Not.

The jet lag still hasn't lifted and I am still so tired that I had a two hour long nap when we came home and were able to relax after the fiascoes of the day. (And the SUGAR from the hot chocolate! :D )

A bientot for now!

2nd Day: An Italian Feast

2010-01-24T12:22:00.000-08:00

So this was dinner tonight and it was HEAVENLY. I tell you- heavenly. It was at an Italian restaurant called Papamia in the historical district. It was small and brightly colored and filled with jazz music and although it was a small portion of pasta, it was the most delicious pesto I've ever had. The bread was to die for, too.

But how we came by this wonderful place is the interesting part. As we were on our search for food, we thought we would stop at an irish pub to have some beer and some pub food. We asked the bartenders for food and they replied that they only served food with lunch, however they recommended a nearby Italian restaurant and even had a copy of the menu for us to look at. We were very impressed and after talking more with the bartender we learned that they host an "English Speaking Night" that we are going to go to tomorrow evening! It should be fun to meet all the other Americans, Irish and English in Rennes! Also, the bartenders were so nice, they gave us maps of Rennes and told us we could go to them with any questions about Rennes at all!

Thus, our day was not bad at all. Now, tomorrow morning we have to get up at the CRACK OF 7:00 AM !!! But at least it's for good reason- we have class orientation. Classes don't start until Thursday, but this will be good for us. Hence, I must get sleep. Bon soir!

2010-01-23T10:58:00.000-08:00

This is my first full day in Rennes! And this is the first thing I saw when I walked into my room. A bidet. I think it's hilarious that not only does our room get a sink, it comes with a bidet. And lots of shelf space, an itsy bitsy bed and a really bad fluorescent light.

Yay, right?

Well, yesterday it looked pretty bleak and I was quite considering buying a return ticket.

After a LOT of sleep and some excellent duck for lunch today (finished off with delicious cafe au lait) I was feeling much better. Even about the room.

My window has a beautiful view of the skyline and we've already figured out how to use the metro, which is great.

The only problem is that it rained yesterday and today. Perhaps tomorrow will be better weatherwise!!!

I have to admit- the trip was long. After taking two planes, we realized we had to take a bus to Montparnasse to get onto the TGV train that would take us to Rennes directly. I already felt crappy because of being so congested and the dry plane didn't help that at all.

Once we got onto the train with MASSIVE amounts of luggage that took a lot help from random strangers (which was GREAT) we relaxed a bit and then were able to freak out yet again at the train station when we didn't know where Morgan was to pick us up. Luckily, we were called the GEO in Keene from the train station before we left and Katie helped us by calling Morgan or emailing him and let him know approximately what time we would be arriving. And he did arrive!! And we practically fell asleep on the metro. At least I did.

After dropping off our bags at the dormitory called Normandie on the SEVENTH FLOOR, we met our director, who gave us much information (though I don't know how much I retained whilst so freaking exhausted). And then he took us to dinner for crepes which was HEAVENLY. I had some goat cheese, tomato and herbed crepe. It was delicious and after that, we retired back to our dorm for a much needed shower and some sleep.

Today, we had a wonderful day shopping, getting our mobile phones, and eating duck. Also, we went grocery shopping. Interesting, fun, and freaking expensive.

And now, I'm looking forward to a dinner of baguette, artichoke and spinach soup and some red wine. Bon appetit!!