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!