Ramblings

I thought I'd just take a minute to talk about some random things about France and living here and everything, since it's been about two weeks since I've done that. First of all, classes are great, blah blah blah. The only thing that isn't so great is that I'm constantly having to carry my schedule around with me because the rooms change from class to class. For example, my grammar class is in room 305 on Mondays, 319 on Thursdays, and 309 on Fridays. My Langue class is in the Philosophy building on Mondays, room 517 on Tuesdays, and 309 on Fridays. So, I can't really keep them all straight all the time.

I'm suffering from girl-crushes on basically all of my teachers (except for my grammar teacher). My langue teacher is also the theatrical expression teacher, so she's very animated and uses a lot of body language and sound effects to explain concepts to us. She also encourages us to read the newspapers, not get hung up on what we don't know, and to read children's books because of their simple words and grammar structure. My expression orale teacher is Marion, and she's 25 years old and tall and has short wavy brown hair and I kind of want to be her when I grow up. She's extremely nice and perky but sometimes she starts talking way too fast and we all give her lank stares until she starts over. I've already talked about my history teacher, and I just feel my inner history nerd light up like a lightbulb whenever she starts listing dates and governing bodies. My socio-cultural studies teacher is so sassy that I just want to admire her from afar without getting close enough to be snapped at. She went off on a tangent the other day about the "neo-bourgeoisie" and how they all dress alike and take "Sunday promenades" after Mass. She's also talked about how the French youth have no desire to work hard anymore and that they get bored after working at a desk for four hours.

I can't believe it's taken me about three weeks to do this, but I've finally done a better job of scoping out the area where I'm living. There are bread shops, seafood shops, flower shops, a butcher shop, a small supermarket, pharmacies, and some restaurants within just a minute or two of my foyer. I'm glad that I don't really have to go all the way down to centre ville to do my grocery shopping.

I've started reading Eva Ibbotson's A Song for Summer and I'm really, really liking it. It's pretty hefty, and her prose took some getting used to, but she's a really gifted writer. Her descriptions of the Austrian country side are making me want to visit Vienna very badly! It's a young adult historical romance, but it's SO much more than a romance. It takes place while Hitler is building power, before he annexed Austria, and there is a lot of mystery about what exactly he is doing, where people are going, what countries are still "safe," etc. The political and historical tension is balanced by the setting of a small drama school in desperate need of a "woman's touch," which arrives in the form of Ellen, the daughter of an English suffragette who really just wants to perfect the art of making Apple Strudel and to make the old castle more comfortable for the children and teachers that live there. I'm maybe 1/3 of the way through it now and I already know I'm going to reread it almost immediately when I'm done.

Annnnnd Sara and I have commenced Mad Men, season one! I've only seen two episodes, but I can already see why this show wins all sorts of awards.

I'm ready to do some traveling outside of Angers. Sara and I are talking about maybe going to Paris this weekend...if not I may take a day trip to Poitiers. Chateaux the weekend after next (the 13th of March) and hopefully Amsterdam soon after. The weather has been absolutely dreadful for the past week...two weeks? And before that it was just cold, cold, cold! I'm ready for sun and clear skies so I can escape the buildings!

un verre du rouge, s'il vous plait.

Sunday (Feb 21) I went on a smaller excursion to some caves around the area. Unlike Saturday, though, I was more on my own for this one. There was a huge group from Kyoto and a group from another US university that stayed pretty cliqued up the whole time, so I just kept to myself.

All in all, this was not the most fanastic trip I've ever taken, but it was kind of cool to see a different kind of achitecture. We first stopped at an old farming village, which was abandoned around the 1930s and has been refurbished to look like it used to. The caves served as stables, bedrooms, kitchens, etc. There were also storage areas, and instead of hen houses, the chickens roosted in niches carved into the rock. Above the caves were the fields that they tended to.

It's not letting me upload any photos right now...the Mont St. Michel post might have overloaded it. But the album is here if you want to see the photos.

Next we went to the winery of Langlois-Chateau, which actually does a very tasty rosé that Sara and I had a week or two ago. This one was cooler...the guide gave us a lesson on how exactly wine is made. He says that all you need are the grapes; there is no need to add anything (i.e., sugar) if you're doing it right. Both white grapes and black grapes have "white" juice, but it is the skins of the black grapes that add color to the varieties of red wine. The longer the skins are allowed to break down into the juice, the more tannin is released from the skins. The tannin is what is "good" for the heart. So, 3-4 hours gives us rosé, about a day gives us a medium red color, and 2-3 days gives us the deep, dark reds that have the most tannin. (I think these are the correct numbers...but basically longer stewing time = darker color = more heart-healthy compounds)

Then the wine is drained from the vats and put into bottles with bottle caps, not corks, then they are stored in the caves for at least TWO YEARS. The guide showed us the storage area...walls and walls of dust-covered bottles. Before he even mentioned it, I noticed a whitish sediment sitting at the bottom of the bottles. (It shows up in some of the photos) Over the course of storage, that sediment builds up and of course has to be removed before they are sold. After the two years (or more) of storage, the bottles are turned on their ends so that the sediment can slide down to the mouth of the bottle. They are put on these huge machines that look like cubes and are rotated a quarter turn every day for two weeks. At the end, the tops are taken off, the sediment scraped out, corks put in, and labels slapped on. Hopefully some wine person isn't reading this and going "NO, THERE'S MORE TO IT THAN THAT!" and I'm sure there is; he probably gave us an abridged version.

Then we had a wine tasting of four different wines: a white, a rosé, a red, and a red that had the consistency and fizziness of champagne. Our guide said that, in short, it is champagne, but because it's not made in the region of Champagne, France, they can't call it champage. But aren't there American champagnes? I didn't ask...wikipedia will tell me all I need to know.

In the end, I bought a bottle of the fizzy red, which is sweeter than reds I've had. I haven't opened it yet because once I pop the cork out, I can't put it back in. Plus, I don't really know how to even open it (it's got the champagne knobby thing), so Sara is going to have to do it for me, haha. I smell a movie night in our future...perhaps Mad Men? I would think that True Blood and french champagne wouldn't mix too well.

So this makes two posts in one day...I think I'm going to take a nap now. I wish my bed and pillow were more comfortable. And that three blankets and two sheets would keep me warm. I think I just miss my big american comforter. Oh well: Spring approacheth anyways.

St. Malo and Mont St. Michel

This past Saturday I went on an excursion to St. Malo and Mont St. Michel. Other than having to be at the University at 7:15 AM and not getting back until 8:00 PM and being hungry and kind of nauseous from the rocking tour bus, it was really cool. Freezing, of course, because both places are right by the sea but Becca, Inga, and I got some galettes in St. Malo in the cutest creperie that kind of reminded me of sea-side restaurants: white beadboard, lavender walls, and lots of windows.

St. Malo is the birthplace of Jacques Cartier, who "discovered" Quebec/Canada, and he is buried in the Cathedral. Being in Europe is kind of surreal to me, because I'm such a history nerd. I always forget that these people actually existed, and seeing their burial places, or walking down the same streets that they once walked down, is a slightly exhilerating reminder that these people lived and breathed and they STILL exist--their bones are right there in front of me. It's kind of like looking at a map and being like "Oh, there's Bethlehem/Gallilee...I could go stand on the same shore that Jesus stood on if I wanted to." The same for Mecca and Mohammad, and the Mahabodhi Temple and Buddha. Anyway, pictures:






Click here if you want to see all of the pictures from St. Malo.

Next, we went to Mont St. Michel, which is an abbey that was built on tiny, rocky "tidal island" in the middle of a marsh in Normandy. It is named for, of course, the Archangel Michael. The story goes that the Archangel appeared to an bishop and told him to build a church on the small island--the bishop ignored him until Michael burned a hole in his skull with his finger. Since then, the monastery has enjoyed important political roles throughout history, like supporting William the Conquerer's claim to the English throne. More recently, Peter Jackson apparently modeled the city of Minas Tirith after Mont St. Michel in the final LOTR movie.

Other than the abbey itself, the entire town is basically a tourist trap. To use the bathroom, I had to pay 40 centimes and the bathroom was wet and disgusting. There were LOTS of places selling postcards, overpriced food, stuff like that. The abbey itself is very beautiful, but without any furniture or any sort of decoration, all of the big, empty stone rooms start to blend together. Photos:






You can see the complete album here if you want.

All in all, it was a good day. It was nice to get out of Angers for a little while. I'll be here this weekend, doing shopping and washing laundry. Hopefully I'll go somewhere next weekend...we'll see. Already planning for Paris with Mom in April, and still looking for someone to go to Scotland with me for the second week of break.

Next: my much less satisfying visit to some cave villages.

FATE HAS SPOKEN

Real quick, y'all:

So some of y'all know that I've been thinking about my ~*future*~ recently--what to do after graduation, etc. BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER ANYMORE. I think I found the best option for me. Seriously, you guys. This is my dream. This has actually happened in my dreams, and then I wake up and I'm like "What? Is this real life? Is it going to be like this forever?!"

BEHOLD:

		I will marry taylor kitsch.
		After a wild honeymoon, We will settle down in canada in our fabulous Apartment.
		We will have 5 kid(s) together.
		Our family will zoom around in a red niisan.
		I will spend my days as a hostess, and live happily ever after.

You have no idea how happy this has made me.

And my package from my mom got here today! Yay!

I can't throw a rock without hitting a wheel of cheese

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!!

Today was one of the best days I've had so far, actually. It's been very relaxing. I was insanely tired yesterday evening, so I was asleep by 11:00 PM by the latest. I had my metal shutter cranked completely down, and so I didn't even budge until 7:15 this morning. I usually wake up at that time during the week, so I think my body just thought that it was time to get up. Instead, I rolled over, readjusted my weird french cylindrical pillow, and slept until 11:45. As I've said before, pretty much nothing is open on Sundays, so there was hardly any clatter or chatter on the street below to wake me up. The next problem was if I wanted any breakfast, or lunch, as it were. It took me all of 10 seconds to decide that a banana and a mandarin orange in my room would hold me over until dinner.

The main reason was this: Every meal in France is a process. One does not simply "eat" in France. So even if I was to go down to the kitchen to grab a sandwich, I would feel extremely awkward next to the girls who are always cooking pasta, soup, galettes, and cooked vegetables for lunch. And whenever possible, they sit down for meals, often in groups. I'm not talking about getting-lunch-at-the-union-between-classes kind of a meal--they take their time, talk to each other, and eat very slowly, with their courses carefully spaced out. A typical girl at the foyer may have soup, then some sort of main dish, yogurt or fruit, and finish with bread and cheese. Always the bread and cheese! Soft cheese, brie, camembert, goat cheese, mozerella, cottage cheese; you name it, they eat it.

To be honest, it is kind of nice once you get used to it. Even when I eat by myself in the kitchen at an off time, I find myself chewing slower, actually tasting the food that I am eating, and trying to add some variety to my meals. The idea of cooking meats on a hot plate doesn't really appeal to me--I'm terrified of under/overcooking it, and I don't have a lot of experience with that at home anyway--but there's plenty I can eat that doesn't require a lot of preparation. I've found pre-made galettes with ham and cheese that just need to be warmed up in the microwave that are quite tasty, actually. However, the pasta-in-a-can that I ate tonight was fairly disgusting. Ugh. Definitely not doing that again and I'm glad I didn't stock up on that because it seemed easy.

Breakfast and dinner is provided by the ladies at the foyer Monday through Friday, plus breakfast on Saturday. The breakfast has no variety at all, and it's very simple, but that's okay. I actually hate the idea of missing it, and that seems so silly because it is nothing special at all. It's just slices of french bread with butter and jelly, plus a few different drinks. In our french textbooks back home, it's been mentioned that Frenchies drink hot chocolate out of a bowl for their breakfast drink. It seemed so odd that I've never actually taken it to heart, and I've never seen it in a movie or whatever, but it's TRUE. There's even hot chocolate/powdered chocolate mix in the breakfast section of the supermarkets. So for the past two weeks, I've been drinking hot chocolate out of a big glass bowl with two or three tartines (the slices of bread + butter + jelly), And I LOVE IT. It's yummy and has just enough sweetness to get me off on the right foot. I think it's something that I'll definitely keep up when I get back home to the states. The other options are hot tea, cold milk, and coffee.

However, I think I need to cut back the amount of tartines and add some fruit into there because I feel like all I've been doing is eating bread since I've gotten here. Tartines for breakfast, generally sandwiches for lunch with what is called pains au lait (milk bread), which are essentially smaller, denser, sweeter versions of a hot dog bun, and the bread and cheese course with dinner. Maybe I should just invest in some whole wheat bread here. Oh, the supermarkets also sell sandwich bread with the crusts already cut off. It seems popular: a lot of the girls at the foyer eat it. I think it's kind of bizarre, personally.

Dinner at the foyer starts at 7:15 with an appetizer course. This has ranged from salad to sliced tomatoes and hard boiled eggs, to pureed vegetable soups, to puff pastries filled with some sort of cream cheese (it wasn't very good but whatever). There haven't been any repeats so far. There is a meat and a side for the main course, though pasta has repaced the meat at least once. The side is usually a vegetable of some kind, and once they made these amazing mashed potatoes that had to have cream or something added. YUM they were delish. On Thursday, it was couscous topped with cooked chicken and vegetables. I don't think there were any leftovers from that meal! However, Friday was a bit odd: pizza as an appetizer, chicken nuggets and a zuchinni/ham/cheese casserole, and a mish mosh of leftover desserts. Every dinner is followed by a bread and cheese course where the ladies carry around platters with individually wrapped cheeses of all different varieties, and we pile them on slices of french bread. I usually dive for the camembert, but I've been trying to expand my horizons a little bit with the goat cheeses and a few cream-cheese based types. Dessert changes from day to day: sometimes it's fruit, sometimes it's yogurt, and sometimes it's a pudding or a custard-type dish. I really, really, REALLY need to stop eating dessert every night. But every time I make this decision, they come out with something that looks absolutely divine. There really isn't much sugar added to the desserts, or to anything in general, so there are a few days where my "fat American" tooth is really craving something and ends up being unsatisfied with unsweetened pudding or fruit. Plus, if I turn down the dessert, the ladies ask me what's wrong and what they can get for me. It's nice of them, of course, but I also just want to say that I'm fine, I just feel like a fatty. The whole dinner usually runs 30 to 45 minutes, depending on how good the food/company is.

Oh, wow. My across-the-street neighbor just put out his trash. And by put out his trash, I mean he leaned out over his second-floor balcony and dropped the bag down to the street. Hm.

Anyway, a few comments about French table manners: The reach for everything. One night a girl just reached across another girl's plate without looking to grab a peice of bread. No "excuse me," nothing. Just snatched it, and the other girl didn't even blink. They also place their bread directly on the table, not on their plates. I've seen a couple girls balance their slices on the crusts so that the white centers don't touch the table surface. In America, I think we prodominately pass food dishes around the table, but here, one girl will serve the other five at the table before they place any food on their own plates. It's the same for the water pitcher and the appetizers, too. And if one girl goes for seconds, she also asks if anybody else would like some. At restaurants, you typically don't get waiters that are constantly stopping by your table. They bring you your food, will stop by maybe once to ask how it is and if you'd like any dessert, but for the most part leave you alone to enjoy your meal. I like that a lot--I can't stand it when waiters are constantly flitting around.

This is insanely long, now, so I think I'll stop here. Have a great week! I can't wait for classes next week, really. I'm such a nerd. I'm going to round out Valentine's Day by watching Pride and Prejudice and finishing off the chocolate that Sara gave to me yesterday. Bon appetit, y'all!

Are my clothes really worth this much?

The weather was BEAUTIFUL this past Friday! There wasn't a cloud in the sky for the first time since I even got to France. It's been either really overcast, or raining, or partly sunny/partly cloudy. And cold. Oh, so cold. I wish I could explain how biting cold it is! I've taken to wearing some cheesy valentine's day socks with my flats just so I can feel my feet and therefore NOT trip and fall on my face on the way to class. And of course, I have to walk around to run errands, so there's really no avoiding the cold. I think I'm finally getting used to it though...Like, it's not something so bizarre to me that I don't know how to deal with it. I've more just started thinking "okay, it's cold outside, so I'd better put on a coat and gloves."

But yeah, so it was beautiful on Friday, so I took some time to walk around the city and go across the river to take some pictures. The city looks cleaner with a blue sky--the white buildings look much sharper against the blue than against gray. But this morning it was snowing when I went to breakfast! Not as much of course as back home and none of it stuck, but it was still pretty cool. It was all melted by the time breakfast was over though, otherwise I would have taken a picture. There is a single small yellow rose blooming in the courtyard, and the snow had settled on the leaves and the petals; it was very beautiful. But like I said--melted by the time I could have grabbed my camera.

My classes have worked out; I'm finally in the level that I think I belong in. So, first of all, I will be taking six hours a week of Langue, which is basically like any typical language class at a university: some grammar, vocabulary, reading and writing, etc. In addition, I'll be taking a class just for grammar, and a conversation class ("expression orale") which helped me SO much the past summer that I was here. Some people were complaining, "oh, but you have to give an oral report" to which I wanted to say, "of course. It's a class about speaking." As for my electives: History of France, and Socio-Cultural studies of France. In the socio-cultural class, we'll talk about the population, women and work, the banlieues, discrimination, and political institutions.

So now...my experiences at my first laundromat! It actually wasn't too bad at all, and I got clean clothes out of the bargain. The downside is that I am now out about 6 euros (about 8 dollars) for a single load of laundry that didn't even get dried all of the way. The laundromat is literally right next door to the foyer--we're talking ten paces from door to door, at maximum. So I had my Monoprix bag filled up with my detergent for wool clothing and the bare minimum of the clothes I needed to wash: my towels, pajamas, my jeans, and a few shirts that have been stretched out. Everything was in French, duh, so that just made it all the more difficult for me to understand how these contraptions worked. Plus, figuring out how to open and close the washing machine door was a mission in and of itself. Luckily, there was just a hooded dude chilling over by his washing machine, looking like he was sleeping standing up, and two German? Romanian? Hungarian? backpackers who were basically washing their entire stock of clothes in one go, and none of them paid much attention to me while I struggled silently with the machines.

I was kind of pissed to know that 1) the single load of clothes that I brought pretty much filled up the entire barrel of the machine and 2) that it cost 3.80 euros to wash them. But that sucker ran for a good 30 minutes and was washing and rinsing pretty vigorously, so I guess I'm satisfied. I was worried that I would feel like my clothes wouldn't seem clean, but they do. And they smell like detergent (aka: CLEAN). However, the dryer really is a rip off. 13 minutes of drying costs 1 euro, so I just put in two euros and decided whatever wasn't dry after 26 minutes could just be draped over my radiator afterwards. Buuut everything came out slightly damp...oh well. They weren't getting any more of my money!! While all this was going on, I was reading and studying for my History class.

Oh, and this old man with no teeth came in with no clothes and tried to ask me how much it cost to wash clothes. I say tried because he sounded like he spoke French, the way he was pronouncing things, but then he was like "parlez-vous anglais?" but then couldn't speak any English. I finally figured out what he wanted...and pointed to the MASSIVE sign on the wall with all of the prices. And then he tried to say "merci" and made the sign language sign for thank you, so maybe he was deaf? But he had a cell phone! I can already tell that all sorts of shenanigans are going to go down at this establishment over the semester.

Other than that, I've just been chilling out for the day, cleaning my room and doing some handwashing of other clothes. I had to fend for myself for lunch and dinner, and tomorrow I'll have to take care of all three meals. I think tomorrow I'll FINALLY write about food. I also found a flier for a place on our that makes cheeseburgers AND is open seven days a week!!

I love weekends! Miss y'all!

BIRTHDAY!!!! + classes (much less fun...)

AHHH Y'ALL I'M TWENTY-ONE WOOOOO!! C'est super cool! I have my first legitimate purchase of an alcoholic beverage sitting on my shelf right now: A bottle of Rosé de la Loire. I also have a glass, but am lacking a bottle opener. I didn't quite think this through.... I'll have to wait for Sara to get back and borrow hers. But at least I can look at it until then. Quick geography lesson: the Loire is the longest/largest river in France, and Angers is in the Loire Valley. The Maine River branches off of the Loire (or flows into it, maps don't really have directional flows, but anyway) and runs right by the Chateau d'Angers, which is pictured above--The big stone building with turrets and a missing moat. So for this reason, the region I am living in is called le departement Maine-et-Loire.

Unfortunately, everything closes down on Sundays in Angers (and perhaps in all French cities/towns). And when I mean everything, I mean everything. The supermarkets were closed, all of the stores, there were maybe a dozen people wandering around centreville with me and Sara. The only stores that were open were over by the train station--which makes sense because then they can trap all of the travelers. So Sara and I found a little creperie and had some dinner and an absolutely delicious dessert. I two scoops of ice cream--vanille de Madagascar and caramel du beurre sel--and they were so flavorful and creamy and yummy. If they had brought out the tub of the caramel, I would have picked up my spoon and dug in like a starving child. We also had this bubbly, alcoholic (but only 2.5% vol, haha) apple cider with our dinner to. And at the end, Miss Sara picked up my tab as a birthday gift! Of course, I promised to return the favor for her in August when she turns 21.

We got our class results the next day, and I am currently in level 313 but there are all sorts of like...issues with that right now. Basically, I'm way below where I should be and even my professor recognized that. I purposely left a lot of my placement test blank because one of my biggest fears for this semester is that I would be put into a class level that would be too difficult for me, and my whole abroad experience would be affected by that. Now I'm in a class that is going over descriptives of people--generous, modest, dishonest--and so on, and grammar that is already second nature. After class today my professor motioned me over and gave me a "demande de changer": a request to change. She was very nice about it, saying that I "comprehend well, write well, and speak well" on the demande and now I just have to meet with Monseiur Loiseau tomorrow morning to decide what would be the correct level. Hopefully the 320 level!! Then I could actually take some electives!

Other than that though, the classes are pretty good. I already love my History of France class because I think the teacher is just as passionate about history as I am, and she is also very much interested in the "causes" of historical events. Soulmates!!

I have rediscovered that French boys are definitely from a very deep, wide, and possibly chemically-treated gene pool. I have to be careful to not look them in the eye, otherwise I'll be entranced like a moth to a flame, haha! Plus, they all know they're attractive; no need to stroke their egos. But seriously, it's the hair, I swear. You can pick out any Frenchie because his hair will be swooping and flipping all over the place, like they blew it dry upside down or something. I've never seen it anywhere else--it's so bizarre. I seriously am considering asking someone about it when I can speak coherently in the French language. Like, do they use a product? Or are they born like that? Is there a gene for fluffy hair? See, even in the era of black and white they had fluffy hair!! :


Hmmmm full of secrets....

I found out of the first day of classes that I have two weeks off for vacation in April! The 9th to the 26th! I definitely want to use that time to travel out of the country. The UK, Greece, and Italy, maybe? I also got the dates of the excursions out of Angers by CIDEF so I'll be headed to St. Malo/Mont St. Michel this month, as well as a village that is built into a mountain the next day, Chateaux in March, and Normandy in April! Food and transportation is included in the price, and it'll be a great chance for me to be able to see things that I can't get to by train. I'd like to eventually go to Paris and take a sidetrip from there to Giverny, Monet's home, but maybe April or May would be a better time for that, when all of the flowers are blooming. I'll keep you all updated!

There's a book in the tourism office called "In the Steps of Eleanor of Aquitaine," and I seriously almost caved and paid the 25 euros for it. I am obsessed with that woman--it's seriously a problem. I'm going to Poitiers at some point just so I can be in the same city that she once lived in...over a thousand years ago.

I'll keep you all updated, but it's almost time for dinner!! There are a few more pictures of Angers on my photobucket account, here, in the album "Angers Winter 2010" : http://s1016.photobucket.com/albums/af285/portertravels/Angers%20Winter%202010/

A bientot!

So this is ma chambre: number 25 at foyer Ormieres. It's very close to the train station (as in, we can see the train station when we walk out of the front doors) which was great when I arrived and will also be wonderful for when I'm leaving! I'm trying to avoid another 80 euro cab fee this time around. The shower has been pretty nice, actually--great water pressure and a high temperature and a detachable showerhead. That "rug" is actually one of the blankets that they gave me, folded in half. It works pretty well and keeps the chill of the tile away. And I've bought a little purple lamp for my side table since these pictures were taken. Just a little personality...and it matches the wallpaper, haha! That little radiator seems to decide daily how much much heat it is actually going to radiate and usually by late afternoon I have to roll down this metal shutter contraption on the outside of my window to help insulate my room a bit more. We had this same kind of shutter at foyer Merici in July 2008, and it's basically amazing. I slept until 10:30 today and my room was still pitch black when I woke up.

The reason that I had to sleep until 10:30 anyway was because apparently, in France, the garbage trucks run AT NIGHT. Like, at MIDNIGHT. And as you can see from the picture above, my room actually overlooks a fairly crowded residential street. So, I lay in bed last night listening to a garbage truck running on about five deisel engines stopping every five feet to pick up all the garbage. And this was after a group of rowdy people must have been gathering at the bar across the street...So when my alarm went off at 7:15 this morning for breakfast I turned that OFF and went back to sleep. The great thing about the location of the foyer is that it's very close to all of the main drags and centreville, but the bad thing about it is also that it's close to all the main drags and centreville. I guess this is what it's like, living in a city. (I don't know if I like it that much, haha. So much noise!)

And since I could spit into my neighbors-across-the-street's living room, I watched them eat dinner last night. Until they noticed me and I had to quickly close my shutter. Whoops. I need to learn to write "I promise I'm not a creeper, I just look out my window a lot" in French, and then make a poster and tape it to my window.

I've been walking around for about an hour everyday so far, but it's kind of getting to the point that there's not much else I can do. I don't want to already start going to the museums and everything because I've got four months here, so I want to ration those treats out slowly. I whittled away two hours today by going to the post office and getting stamps for passports, doing price comparisons on the 23947236 sandwich shops in Angers, for future purposes, and just like, wandering while still looking like I had a purpose. I also checked out the kitchen situation--how many hotplates, the microwave and toaster oven, etc. Sara and I are going to go to the market tomorrow to try to find some fruits, veggies, bread, and cheese for the weekend, during which we have to fend for ourselves, foodwise, since dinner and breakfast are not provided my the ladies of the foyer. By the way, here's a picture of my mini-frigo, to which I have a key. (And some guy is singing on the street below me. I really need to learn how to yell at people in French.)


For more pictures you can go to www.foyerormieres.fr. "Situation" brings up a yahoomap of where the foyer is located, which you can then turn into a satellite image. "Hebergement" has photos of the buildings: I'm in the one that looks more modern and has the tile staircase. Sara is in the one that looks like it was built by Marie Antoinette. It is not that flowery right now...since it's January pretty much everything is dead. BUT it will be that colorful in a couple of months, hopefully. "Services" shows the different communal rooms: the dining room where we have breakfast and dinner, the main kitchen we're not allowed in, the mini kitchen with hotplates that we are allowed to use, and other rooms. And you should all be happy to know that the "building is under video surveillance." And for those who have been wondering, my address is:

Porter WELLS
4, rue Talot
49100 ANGERS
FRANCE

I think this weekend I'll do a post about my preliminary observations about French people and their food, as well as talk about what the nuns have been feeding us. Preview: It's been delicious about 85% of the time. Dinner is in two hours and then Sara and I are going to watch either True Blood or Mad Men. She brought a few of the seasons with her. I can't wait!

Adventures in Shopping

First of all, things have gotten better. I'm still just chilling in my room for the most part, but I feel better about the whole studying-abroad-for-four-months situation. I saw Sara's room today--totally jealous. I want a skeleton key for my room!! This is what I get for asking for a shower in my room haha. I could have had a room overlooking the garden too! Oh well. I guess I got what I asked for, at least!

I've been going to monoprix for the past few days and trying to do my shopping as a series of trips so I can carry it all and such. Plus I get overwhelmed with the intrinsic frenchiness of everything and I have to step back for a minute. Anyway, the other day was pretty whatev--just buying toiletries. Today was a little bit more frustrating/hilarious as I tried to find dish soaps and such. First of all, I had to hold off on buying towels because a normal towel, or "bath sheet," was 16 euros!! So, like 20 bucks. So I did all my shopping and surreptitiously checked my wallet and had to take the two towels back and this French schoolkid openly watched me as I put the towels back on the shelf. I kind of wonder if putting things back from your cart is something that is "Just Not Done" in France.

Finding the laundry detergent was fun. I came across an entire shelving unit of bottles and tablets and sheets that had labels that said either "adoucisseur" or "assouplissant," so I'm looking all over this shelf because I know that "douce" means soft or sweet, and "souple" means supple, so I wondered if I was just overlooking it. Finally I just wandered over to another shelf that had bottles that said "shampooing," and basically laughed, but in my head. I never thought that I would "shampoo" my clothes. So I grabbed the cheapest brand and took off. Of course, as I was checking out I was staring at the full label: Shampooing Laine. And there was this niggling feeling that I should know what "laine" means. But it was too late. So when I got back I looked it up and of course: laine = wool. So I would feel indignant except the rest of the label is taken up with SKEINS OF YARN. Excuse me as I go put on my "Captain Obvious" tee shirt. Whatever--I bought it and it'll work for handwashing things. And it was only like 3 euros! Cha-ching!

You would also think that buying hand soap would be easy...not really. All these different concentrations and formulas are mixed together with hand AND body soap AND hand lotion. I settled for this oxymoron of a description: creme lavant, or "cream washing." And it's made with the oil of the olive leaf, and it looks like oil. But I tested it out when I got home and yes, it does foam a bit and rinse clean.

Some surprises: A mini umbrella was my most expensive purchase, at 10 euros; these cotton pads for 99 cents that feel really firm and hard-core, like they're reusable; 3 BIC mechanical pencils for an expensive 1,95; and the two sponges for 2,50. (Remember to multiply all these prices by 1.4 to get dollar rates)

Headed off to dinner and then to bed early. I have breakfast at about 7 or 7:30 tomorrow, then my placement exam at 9:30. Til later!

Well, this is a little cramped

So, I'll be completely honest: this has not been the smoothest ride in the world. I'm still not completely comfortable here and it's taking me a while to get acclimated. Angers itself has changed a LOT since I was here in 2008 (i.e., they're laying train tracks down the center of the road) and some of the restaurants and stores have closed down or are remodeled in some way or another. But I keep telling myself that my blargh-ness will get better over the next couple of days as I start classes and basically get a life. Hopefully my french will too because it's sucking pretty hard right now. Thank goodness I'm planning on taking "expression orale" so I can stop stuttering, haha.

Okay, so, packing: My bag ended up being 45 pounds even and I took a backpack and a small duffel bag as my carry ons. Packing actually wasn't as hard as I expected it to be, although I procrastinated a LOT before finally biting the bullet and doing it. I only used one spacebag for some fluffy sweaters and my thermal pajamas and I rolled everything else. I really tried hard, too, to bring tops that I could wear with more than one "outfit." There are really only one or two tops that are clearly going-out shirts. I have some dressier/cuter ones too, in addition to the standard v-neck long sleeve cotton tops, that can be worn under cardigans to dress them down for daytime. I'm still going to have to hit up H&M in the near future to get some serious sweaters. No matter how many layering peices I have, it's still 32 degress on a sunny day. And my room is like, insanely cold because the floor is legit tile. I'm going to have to handwash a bunch of this stuff in my sink, too. Yes, there is a laundromat nextdoor, but I'm sure it's insanely expensive so I don't want to be there every other day.

I also brought, against vehement protests, about 8 books (Harry Potter and the Socerer's Stone, in french; my Bescherelle french verb conjugation guide; Hittleman's 28-day yoga guidebook; Other Voices, Other Vistas, a collection of short stories from around the world; Life of Pi; Books 1 and 2 of the Vampire Diaries; Ender's Game; a YA romance during Hitler's Reich; and a 2010 student travel guide to Europe). I like to read. A lot. And I know I'm going to read all of these, especially on any train rides. I also brought a bunch of DVDs (P&P, Star Trek, season 2 of the Office, 300, Finding Nemo, etc) but I put them in one of those car visor CD holders so they all lay flat in my suitcase and took up absolutely no space at all. I only brought 3 pairs of shoes and plan to buy a pair of boots while I'm here, which I believe will help me fit in better.

So, the dorm/foyer. When I got here, apparently the nun was out so I ended up banging on the door for a good 5 minutes until some girls needing to smoke a cigarette came out and found me. They asked where my key was and I just gestured to my luggage and said that I was new and didn't have a key. When the nun finally came, she took me to my room, gave me the most random selection of sheets, and left without telling me the time for dinner or breakfast or what the passcode to the internet was. I got the latter from some moroccan girls eating lunch who wanted me to say something in english. Everybody's french here is so insanely good. Like fluent. I guess the other CIDEF students haven't gotten here yet? Or they're all living with host families...either way, I'm ready for classes to start so I can catch up. My room has its own shower and sink, and i have a bed, a closet, and some shelves, but other than that it is TINY. The floor has 8-inch square tiles, my room (the part with the bed and desk, excluding the shower area and closet) is 11x15.5, so 7.33'x10.33'. Luckily, I'm short!

James and I went out around 7 to walk around and I had completely forgotten that like, EVERYTHING closes on sundays. It felt like we were walking through a ghost town, but it was good for me to get out and see Angers again because I just wasn't feeling good about this whole situation. Today I'm going to monoprix to get some groceries and toiletries and look for some stuff for the room. Like a lamp, and some more towels. I feel the need to do all this in stages so that I don't set off alarms like "HEY--I'M AN EXCHANGE STUDENT, I'M NAIVE AND EASY TO COERCE!"

Anywho, I haven't really felt the urge to take pictures yet, but I'm sure I will soon.