I've been living in France for two months now and I have two months left to go until I go back to the States. On one hand, I think "wow, two more months!!" because the first two seemed to drag on for a while. But then I realize that when I come back from spring break, I'll only have a month left! The time is really going to fly by. Four months really does seem like the best amount of time for me to be here--I kind of wonder: If I didn't have all this stuff laid out for me to do when I get back (camp, My First Place(tm), and senior year), would I want to stay longer?
The weeks tend to fly by faster than I realize. Like, it's wednesday already! Given, I had a test yesterday and one today, but still. All of a sudden I look around and it's wednesday or thursday. I have a paper (short and handwritten, and on history, thank goodness) due on tuesday and a short oral presentation on wednesday, and I hope to get those knocked out on sunday or monday, which we have off.
MI MADRE IS COMING. I would just like to repeat this for anybody who didn't know about it yet. She's coming, I'm going to snuggle up to her the first night like a chick to a mother hen, and we're going to eat all of the bread and cheese in Paris. And then we're going to Aix, where I will continually freak out about being in the same city that Cezanne lived in, and where we will eat so much bruschetta and other Fritalian dishes. She'll be here just past half-way through the semester, so I'll get a little bit of a fresh breeze from home. Then I'll just have, what, five weeks of classes? Interspersed with two more breaks (thank God for catholic countries) and then before I know it I'll be packing up my little room and heading for Paris.
There's a new nun at the foyer and I don't think I like her. I want to know where my little white haired nun went! This one accosted me and Sara on our way out of the kitchen on a sunday after I had gone in to grab my knife, fork, and spoons from where I had forgotten them while washing dishes. I was wearing flannel pajama pants(because it was Sunday and I like to relax on the weekends) and she made some crazy face and was like "did you just come from cooking?" But, like the other nuns, she's from Spain and her accent was kind of thick, so from there on out I basically didn't understand what she was saying. And so I was like "oh, no, I had just left these in there earlier..." and she said something else that I think was somthing along the lines of "oh, I thought that you had been cooking in that," referring to my pants. It was kind of weird. Yes, I cook in comfy clothes. And what are you even doing here on a Sunday? You nuns are never here on the weekends--hence me cooking in flannel pants. I'm pretty sure she's the one that moved all of the dishes back into the locked cabinet, which annoys me because the other nuns were like "oooh the weekends you can use these dishes under here!" Hm. This is sketchy to me. She was also kind of harassing this girl at dinner last night too: handing her an envelope and then circling back around TWICE to be like "you need to take care of this" in a really serious ominous voice. I'm surprised the girl wasn't like "look. I will. But right now I'm enjoying my mashed potatoes." She clearly wasn't as fed up as I was.
I want my cute nun back: the one that laughs and is like "ahhhh the americans!" and then doesn't say anything else, or if she does I can just laugh and smile and say "oui, oui!"
On the upside, we're having potage (a smooth, creamy vegetable soup) as our appetizer tonight. Nothing can get me down on a potage night.
Some lists for you all:
Things I will miss
-Walking everywhere. 1) Because I strongly believe that it keeps me in shape here and 2) because it's nice to not have to pay for gas, or take the bus, or ride a bike.
-French specific cuisine. I'm talking about galettes, croque madames and monsieurs, and moule-frites. Yes, I can make these things at home, but I'll miss ordering it at a restaurant, or being able to buy them pre-made at the store.
-Trains. They're easy, cheap(er than a flight), and kind of fun. I don't have to check baggage, and the scenery is pretty nice.
-French notebook paper, which is basically graph paper. I like being neat, so I think I'll miss being able to perfectly indent my notes.
-The architecture. I've come to the conclution that I love French history, but not daily life (for other things that will make up a very sarcastic--not whiny!--blog post later this week), and for this reason I LOVE the architecture. I love looking out my classroom window and seeing the cathedrals, walking by the chateau, and just walking down the street and realizing that we don't have this kind of architecture in Mississippi. The white stone and the iron railings of the 19th and 20th centuries all the way back to the earth-and-wood buildings of the Middle Ages. It's amazing.
-The church bells. While they annoy me at 10:00 on a sunday morning while I'm trying to sleep, the bells have been great. They let me know what time it is as they go off every 15 minutes during the day and they're nice background noise. And I've gotten USED to them, as in, I think it's going to be weird to NOT have church bells. I think every time that the bells ring at the chapel on campus, I'll feel a bit nostalgic. I know that there are some bells in Oxford (oh, they just went off right now! It's 1:30 PM right now. Ding, dong.) but just...not like here.
-The people I've met. I've met some pretty cool people at CIDEF and I hope we stay in contact. To be honest, I haven't had the kind of connection with them like I had with the girls from 2008 (who I still talk to regularly) but they're not bad. I kid, I kid. We're going to go eat at a restaurant tomorrow that only makes soufflés. YES!
-The nuns (for the most part). They're cute--except for that new one--and I want to write a little card for them when I leave. They've been so accomodating and understanding that I have NO IDEA what they are saying most of the time, and they're always like "ahhh did you sleep well?" Adorbs. Plus I'll always be able to enjoy the look on people's face when I tell them I've lived with nuns.
-All of the cheese flavors. Notice that I did not say "types." Because let me tell you something: I thought all cheeses were made the same way here. Meaning for all of the normans who make camembert, the cheese ends up tasting the same. (Fun fact: Apparently it's not "real" camembert if it's not made in Normandy, which is weird to me. What is it called, then? It's kind of like that riddle: if a tree falls in a forest and nobody hears it, does it make a noise?) But no--we are not in the land of Kraft. Every single camembert I've tasted, which is about five brands now, tastes different, has a different consistency, and different rind texture. The one that the nuns serve is drier and blander, while the one that I've picked as my favorite is soft, creamy, with an almost crumply rind and a nice nutty flavor. And that's just for ONE type of cheese. There are also Tommes, Brie, Gruyère, etc. The same with the bread: no two boulangeries produce exactly the same baguette, and the differences aren't subtle at all. I've had some amazing baguettes and some crappy baguettes, which I didn't think was possible.
-The bikes that the postmen ride. I need to take a picture eventually because they really are cute/cool/funny. They have the Hulk of kickstands too.
-The mama's walking their babies around in strollers covered in clear plastic. I just feel like they're saran-wrapping their babies, but I love it. They clearly don't want them getting wet/cold. Frenchies really do take their babies everywhere, too, and there are a LOT of babies and strollers around.
Things I can't wait for
-The food from home. Omigod, the food. I'm talking, like, a serious BBQ sandwich with potato salad and baked beans. Cobbler. Ribs. Chicken breast marinated in Italian dressing and grilled. Mom's chocolate chip cookies. Banana bread with chopped pecans. French toast (which doesn't seem to exist in France). Sausage and really crispy bacon. Overeasy eggs. Buscuits and molassas. Chicken salad. Ham and pea pasta. REAL steak. Pot Roast, brisket, pork chops. Greasy american pizza. Junior whoppers with cheese but no onions. American-style chinese food. I'm literally drooling all over my keyboard right now. (The bells just went off again...1:45!)
-Drip coffee. Yes this gets it's own hyphen. 8 o'Clock Coffee Columbian blend with two sweet n'lows and a generous splash of Land o'Lakes Fat-Free half and half. If you have never tried this coffee + this half and half, do it. Next time you go out to the store, try it. It's amazing. You can thank me later.
-Being able to understand people when they talk to me. I am getting better at inadvertantly eavesdropping because I can understand French for the most part (when I first got here I had to translate sooo much in my head and it's more second nature for me now) but I'm ready to go to a restaurant and understand what a waiter is saying to me. Subpoint: I'm ready to be able to understand people the FIRST time they talk to me, without me saying "excuse me? I didn't get that."
-Cars. I might need driving lessons when I get back though. I might just need to take a few practice laps around the neighborhood to get my sealegs back.
What I'll find/am finding really bizarre
-Not hearing chinese all the time. It's kind of becoming background noise already. I thought the other day, "wow it's going to be weird not hearing this all the time." There are a LOT of chinese students here.
-Some french words are a lot easier to say than english words. "La couverte" comes off the tongue so much easier than "the silverware." I already talk english with some French thrown in because either a) I've forgotten the english word at that moment or b) it's easier to say. "Tu rentre chez-toi?" is faster than "are you going back to your house?" and here the french version actually makes more sense because "chez" means just like, where you are staying, where you rest, while the American version of "home/house" has more of a connotation of actual ownership. So for the students staying with a family, "chez-toi/moi/lui/elle/etc" is more correct, because they just sleep and eat there, instead of owning their place. So, voilà, a little french lesson. (you also go "chez le dentiste," not "au dentiste" because you're going to see the DENTIST, not his office, but you do go "à la patisserie" because you're going to the store, not the patissier. The more you know.)
I have to get ready to go to class now, but I'll be back later to write about Normandy and other stuff I forgot to talk about. Bye!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Okay, this is my whiny post. Read at your own caution.
This is going to be pretty stream-of-consciousness with no real rhyme or reason. Pleave forgive any whiplash-inducing topic changes.
and no caps from here on out, because additional finger movements are superfluous at 10:00 pm. plus for some reason i like the way the font looks with no caps. i feel like it all flows better without interuptions. somewhere, my english teachers of yesteryear are crying.
went to paris this past weekend with sara and margaux and stayed at margaux's house which is in Massy, a suburb of paris. her family was really nice, and there's an exchange student living there named walter. he's colombian and iranian and for some reason he ended up being named walter. this will never, ever get old or any less hilarious. we went out friday night, it was pretty cool. the two other times i've been there i didn't go out so it was interesting to see the city at night. The next day we got up to go shopping and spent all day wandering around. however i was rather unimpressed with parisian shopping, to be honest. i kind of wonder if it was just the area we were in -- le marais. it may just have a general style, but then again we stopped in other stores and it was basically just a massive repetition of the same style. i did come out with an old, olive military jacket that i have to definitely wash because it smells like a vintage shop but i think it'll be cute once i finish working on it. and that's about it for paris, actually. i looked for a purse--couldn't find one i liked; looked around for other stuff, too. i'm excited for my mom to come with me so we can do touristy things. ahhhh architecture and museums!
ugh i'm such a nerd i can't even handle it sometimes.
speaking of, i've been working on my schedule for this next semester and i think it's going to work out pretty well. it looks like i'll end up taking 18 hours + thesis. i have to choose between INST 203 and FR 331 at some point, which is kind of scary because they're both required by my respective majors. great planning there, y'all. and i think i'm going to take that intro to american law class? just because if i'm going to swear off law school definitively and say i never, ever want to be a lawyer, i'd better know exactly why. although knowing me i'll fall in love and go to law school and be a paper pusher for the rest of my life.
i've been in a weird mood lately. i think i'm at the bottom of that inverted bell curve we learned about in predeparture. (for those of you who don't know what i'm talking about, it's basically a way of analyzing culture shock/homesickness.) last night i told sara that if i could go home right now, i would, and it's only slightly less true today. it's really hard to like, put into words, and i know that is annoying because i just sound like a whiner. but really i just want to be in my own bed and watch 24 straight hours of tv, even if it's qvc or something, and to bake and take a bath and drink drip coffee and not have to constantly translate in my head. i miss the quiet. living in a city is loud and i live right off a busy street. i want to not have to ask people to repeat things 5 times, or worse, have someone re-explain something three times and STILL not understand the words that are coming out of their mouths. i miss the american way of doing things. i miss that publics works projects actually get done in a timely manner in america. and i feel like i wear the same thing all the time...because i DO. the totality of my clothing takes up two shelves and a couple of wire hangers, plus one drawer for underwear. and i have four pairs of shoes, one of which is too small and another which is too big. this is literally the longest i've ever been away from my house, too, which i'm sure is playing a role. The five weeks i spent here in angers in 2008 was the longest before this.
it got a lot better today, though. i skipped my afternoon classes and went for a long walk and that helped. i got some sunlight which i'm sure kickstarted my serotonin and the exercise probably gave me some endorphins. ("exercise gives you endorphins, and endorphins make you happy. happy people just don't kill their husbands.") and then today i worked at the USA table for international day and danced some to the cha cha slide and cupid shuffle. i attempted to do the soulja boy dance but just kind of embarrassed myself so i went back to sneaking peanut butter and jelly squares.
i need to go walking/running more. it felt really good.
i love my grammar professor. she actually explains things and they make sense to me. i feel like i learned more about how the french language actually WORKS in our one hour of class today than i've learned in two or three weeks. and it's NOT that complicated...it seriously made me so happy. because in the end, i want to be speaking correct french, not just throwing together whatever sounds right. my langue professor is kind of the same way, but is less clear in her explanations. i dunno. i understand that she's telling me something, but i guess i don't get the way she explains it. but i can tell now from her body language when she stands over my shoulder that she's about to correct something i've written. i've started just saying, "okay, qu'est-ce que j'ai fait cette fois? (what did i do this time?)" and she always snicker-laughs and points it out. but she's always nice about it and i feel like i can ask questions and stuff even though half the time i have to look up explanations in english.
i got a 16.5 out of 20 on my History test. yesssss. in France, that's a really good grade. at the bottom of one of my mini essays, she wrote that my essay was very satisfying. and i had a lot of "TB"s in the margins, which stand for "très bien = very good." i seriously love it when i get good grades and i feel like my teachers are kind of proud of me. again: i'm such a nerd. and a teacher's pet.
what else? i guess i'm going shopping this week/weekend. and i'm going to normandy on saturday, so i'll try to put up pictures next week. i have to be at the university at 6:00 in the morning. i'll be sleeping all day friday in preparation. we have three weeks until spring break, and i cannot wait. and after spring break there's only a month left of classes. i can't decide how i feel. i don't want to be weird and bitter and count down the days, but i'm kind of counting down the days.
please, france, i want to be in love with you again. i promise to come out of my funk soon.
i think i'm just thinking about stuff too much. i'm second guessing a lot of my life choices i've already made and trying to think about what's in the future, and i wish i could be in a familiar enviornment while i think about everything. but alas, i'm abroad in a country whose language continues to baffle and confuse me.
i need to buy some more chocolate tomorrow.
and no caps from here on out, because additional finger movements are superfluous at 10:00 pm. plus for some reason i like the way the font looks with no caps. i feel like it all flows better without interuptions. somewhere, my english teachers of yesteryear are crying.
went to paris this past weekend with sara and margaux and stayed at margaux's house which is in Massy, a suburb of paris. her family was really nice, and there's an exchange student living there named walter. he's colombian and iranian and for some reason he ended up being named walter. this will never, ever get old or any less hilarious. we went out friday night, it was pretty cool. the two other times i've been there i didn't go out so it was interesting to see the city at night. The next day we got up to go shopping and spent all day wandering around. however i was rather unimpressed with parisian shopping, to be honest. i kind of wonder if it was just the area we were in -- le marais. it may just have a general style, but then again we stopped in other stores and it was basically just a massive repetition of the same style. i did come out with an old, olive military jacket that i have to definitely wash because it smells like a vintage shop but i think it'll be cute once i finish working on it. and that's about it for paris, actually. i looked for a purse--couldn't find one i liked; looked around for other stuff, too. i'm excited for my mom to come with me so we can do touristy things. ahhhh architecture and museums!
ugh i'm such a nerd i can't even handle it sometimes.
speaking of, i've been working on my schedule for this next semester and i think it's going to work out pretty well. it looks like i'll end up taking 18 hours + thesis. i have to choose between INST 203 and FR 331 at some point, which is kind of scary because they're both required by my respective majors. great planning there, y'all. and i think i'm going to take that intro to american law class? just because if i'm going to swear off law school definitively and say i never, ever want to be a lawyer, i'd better know exactly why. although knowing me i'll fall in love and go to law school and be a paper pusher for the rest of my life.
i've been in a weird mood lately. i think i'm at the bottom of that inverted bell curve we learned about in predeparture. (for those of you who don't know what i'm talking about, it's basically a way of analyzing culture shock/homesickness.) last night i told sara that if i could go home right now, i would, and it's only slightly less true today. it's really hard to like, put into words, and i know that is annoying because i just sound like a whiner. but really i just want to be in my own bed and watch 24 straight hours of tv, even if it's qvc or something, and to bake and take a bath and drink drip coffee and not have to constantly translate in my head. i miss the quiet. living in a city is loud and i live right off a busy street. i want to not have to ask people to repeat things 5 times, or worse, have someone re-explain something three times and STILL not understand the words that are coming out of their mouths. i miss the american way of doing things. i miss that publics works projects actually get done in a timely manner in america. and i feel like i wear the same thing all the time...because i DO. the totality of my clothing takes up two shelves and a couple of wire hangers, plus one drawer for underwear. and i have four pairs of shoes, one of which is too small and another which is too big. this is literally the longest i've ever been away from my house, too, which i'm sure is playing a role. The five weeks i spent here in angers in 2008 was the longest before this.
it got a lot better today, though. i skipped my afternoon classes and went for a long walk and that helped. i got some sunlight which i'm sure kickstarted my serotonin and the exercise probably gave me some endorphins. ("exercise gives you endorphins, and endorphins make you happy. happy people just don't kill their husbands.") and then today i worked at the USA table for international day and danced some to the cha cha slide and cupid shuffle. i attempted to do the soulja boy dance but just kind of embarrassed myself so i went back to sneaking peanut butter and jelly squares.
i need to go walking/running more. it felt really good.
i love my grammar professor. she actually explains things and they make sense to me. i feel like i learned more about how the french language actually WORKS in our one hour of class today than i've learned in two or three weeks. and it's NOT that complicated...it seriously made me so happy. because in the end, i want to be speaking correct french, not just throwing together whatever sounds right. my langue professor is kind of the same way, but is less clear in her explanations. i dunno. i understand that she's telling me something, but i guess i don't get the way she explains it. but i can tell now from her body language when she stands over my shoulder that she's about to correct something i've written. i've started just saying, "okay, qu'est-ce que j'ai fait cette fois? (what did i do this time?)" and she always snicker-laughs and points it out. but she's always nice about it and i feel like i can ask questions and stuff even though half the time i have to look up explanations in english.
i got a 16.5 out of 20 on my History test. yesssss. in France, that's a really good grade. at the bottom of one of my mini essays, she wrote that my essay was very satisfying. and i had a lot of "TB"s in the margins, which stand for "très bien = very good." i seriously love it when i get good grades and i feel like my teachers are kind of proud of me. again: i'm such a nerd. and a teacher's pet.
what else? i guess i'm going shopping this week/weekend. and i'm going to normandy on saturday, so i'll try to put up pictures next week. i have to be at the university at 6:00 in the morning. i'll be sleeping all day friday in preparation. we have three weeks until spring break, and i cannot wait. and after spring break there's only a month left of classes. i can't decide how i feel. i don't want to be weird and bitter and count down the days, but i'm kind of counting down the days.
please, france, i want to be in love with you again. i promise to come out of my funk soon.
i think i'm just thinking about stuff too much. i'm second guessing a lot of my life choices i've already made and trying to think about what's in the future, and i wish i could be in a familiar enviornment while i think about everything. but alas, i'm abroad in a country whose language continues to baffle and confuse me.
i need to buy some more chocolate tomorrow.
Dear Mom:
You'd better start getting ready for this:
And just to prepare you a little bit, because things are generally, shall we say, "looser" in France:
I can't wait to see you! It's less than three weeks away!
And just to prepare you a little bit, because things are generally, shall we say, "looser" in France:
I can't wait to see you! It's less than three weeks away!
Monday, March 15, 2010
I can't believe people used to live here.
On Saturday, I went on an excursion with CIDEF. We didn't even have an entire bus of people, so it was pretty nice and low key. We still lost someone though. I'll talk about that later though. I had to be at the university at 7:15 AM, and when my alarm went off at 6:00 AM, I just stared at it trying to figure out why I was getting up so early. I had legitimately forgotten. But luckily I remembered and I dragged myself out of bed and got there. There were some other Americans and some Asians, but I predominately stuck with Inga and Becca for the trip. The three of us made a good group. The bus ride was about 3 hours out, and we slept for most of it. The rocking was actually quite soothing. The first chateaux was Amboise, in the city of Tours:
This is also the burial place of Leonardo da Vinci, who designed the chateau, so it was really, really cool to see that. But he just has a marble slab, as you can see in the photos, so it was kind of a let down I guess. I mean, he's one of the greatest minds in all of Western history and there's not much to his final resting place at all. There's not even a legit barrier keeping people from walking all over him. Oh well; it was about the same with Jacques Cartier's burial place in St. Malo.
Amboise itself was pretty generic as chateaux go. I mean, that sounds kind of harsh, but it's basically a big stone house. There wasn't much there (other than da Vinci's bones) to distinguish it from the other chateaux I've seen. There was a real fire going in one of the fireplaces, which was nice because it was actually quite cold. I will admit that the garden was amazing. The bushes are all trimmed into spheres and there is a bust of da Vinci. There are also some arabic-themed motifs there, I haven't figured out why yet. But other than that, there wasn't much ambiance. Kind of like with Mont St. Michel: after a while, all the big, empty stone rooms start to look the same.
Next, we walked a little bit aways to da Vinci's house, Clos Lucé. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, which was a shame because there were some really nice looking reproductions of his work. A bunch of his quotations were etched in glass and framed on the walls, so we spent some time just looking at those and discussing them. They were all in french though. It's interesting, because it's pretty easy to translate them, and I've read the english versions enough, but it's almost like there is a difference sense with the french versions. It's like when I read The Stranger for the first time in french, and I realized that the english and french versions are basically two completely different books. (Not really, of course, but there is so much that is lost in translation.) Next, we did a brief tour of his garden, but there really wasn't much to see since nothing has budded out yet. From the Terrace we could see Amboise, and apparently da Vinci liked to sit outside and "gaze upon" his masterpeice. Not exactly my idea of the best way to pass time, but then again I haven't constructed a huge chateau that's lasted a couple of centuries.
The three of us then got some lunch--I had the most amazing pizza with goat cheese, oregano, semi-cooked bacon, creme fraice, and HONEY. I'm going to have to find a recipe or something because it was pretty spectacular. We didn't realize it until later, but somewhere in Tours we lost a member of the excursion. I saw her today at UCO, so I know she got back, but, yeah. I can't believe that happened. I think the head count got screwed up or something.
Next, we went to the Chateau of Blois, which was significantly more interesting than Amboise. It's been constructed over four different time periods, and I couldn't get all of them into one photo. The courtyard is mostly white stone, and there is a single white tree, and Becca and I were going crazy over the Lord of the Rings implications. There is a photo of me staring up into said tree, pondering my fate in Middle Earth. The interior was much more intricately detailed than Amboise--the majority of the rooms had hardwood floors and handpainted wall paper. I thought it was wallpaper at first, but then I was like "silly Porter, they didn't have wallpaper then. Someone did this all by hand!" There were also radiators throughout, which was very nice as it was pretty chilly outside. The former royal apartments have been trasformed into a small museum with some statues and paintings, mostly portraits. All in all it was a very good visit.
Finally, my favorite!! They were clearly saving the best for last. Cheverny is most definitely the most "modern." It's still used as a private residence by the family that's owned it for at least a century. I'm pretty sure it falls into the "hunting lodge" category since they still raise hunting dogs and do the traditional hunt during the season with the horses and the red coats. The inside has been updated, and I really, really liked it. I could see myself living there, to be honest. The decor and the general layout of the house reminds me a lot of legitimate American colonial style homes. I loved all of the tulips and crystal and china and I ended up taking some kind of artsy perspective photos.
There is a dog run out back with about 40 large hunting dogs. There's a huge sign that says "do not excite the animals" and when you realize that these dogs hunt down foxes and other woodland creatures, you really don't want to! There was kind of an awkward/bad moment when a small child, maybe 5 years old, started running up and down the side of the dog run and the dogs got all riled up and started chasing him! I was just glad that there was a fence between them...they're definitely not domesticated dogs. I actually felt kind of bad for them, because I just wanted to give them all baths and take them for a little walk around the garden because it seems like they just spend all of their time in that concrete floored dog run.
It was on our way home from this chateau that we realized that we hadn't seen Liz since Amboise. But I guess everything worked out alright? I don't want to talk to her and be like "sooo, did we accidently leave you?" Other than that hiccup, it was a pretty successful day and I'm really glad I went.
In a couple of days I'll be in Paris with Margaux and Sara, and then Normandy beaches the next week! I hope to post another blog just rambling about whats great/horrible about France so far and so on. I took some photos of the neighborhood where I live so I can talk about that some. I hope you're all doing well and I can't wait to see you soon!!
Oh, and all of the pictures of the Chateaux are in this album. I need to do a massive upload for facebook too; I haven't uploaded any pictures the whole time I've been here!
This is also the burial place of Leonardo da Vinci, who designed the chateau, so it was really, really cool to see that. But he just has a marble slab, as you can see in the photos, so it was kind of a let down I guess. I mean, he's one of the greatest minds in all of Western history and there's not much to his final resting place at all. There's not even a legit barrier keeping people from walking all over him. Oh well; it was about the same with Jacques Cartier's burial place in St. Malo.
Amboise itself was pretty generic as chateaux go. I mean, that sounds kind of harsh, but it's basically a big stone house. There wasn't much there (other than da Vinci's bones) to distinguish it from the other chateaux I've seen. There was a real fire going in one of the fireplaces, which was nice because it was actually quite cold. I will admit that the garden was amazing. The bushes are all trimmed into spheres and there is a bust of da Vinci. There are also some arabic-themed motifs there, I haven't figured out why yet. But other than that, there wasn't much ambiance. Kind of like with Mont St. Michel: after a while, all the big, empty stone rooms start to look the same.
Next, we walked a little bit aways to da Vinci's house, Clos Lucé. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, which was a shame because there were some really nice looking reproductions of his work. A bunch of his quotations were etched in glass and framed on the walls, so we spent some time just looking at those and discussing them. They were all in french though. It's interesting, because it's pretty easy to translate them, and I've read the english versions enough, but it's almost like there is a difference sense with the french versions. It's like when I read The Stranger for the first time in french, and I realized that the english and french versions are basically two completely different books. (Not really, of course, but there is so much that is lost in translation.) Next, we did a brief tour of his garden, but there really wasn't much to see since nothing has budded out yet. From the Terrace we could see Amboise, and apparently da Vinci liked to sit outside and "gaze upon" his masterpeice. Not exactly my idea of the best way to pass time, but then again I haven't constructed a huge chateau that's lasted a couple of centuries.
The three of us then got some lunch--I had the most amazing pizza with goat cheese, oregano, semi-cooked bacon, creme fraice, and HONEY. I'm going to have to find a recipe or something because it was pretty spectacular. We didn't realize it until later, but somewhere in Tours we lost a member of the excursion. I saw her today at UCO, so I know she got back, but, yeah. I can't believe that happened. I think the head count got screwed up or something.
Next, we went to the Chateau of Blois, which was significantly more interesting than Amboise. It's been constructed over four different time periods, and I couldn't get all of them into one photo. The courtyard is mostly white stone, and there is a single white tree, and Becca and I were going crazy over the Lord of the Rings implications. There is a photo of me staring up into said tree, pondering my fate in Middle Earth. The interior was much more intricately detailed than Amboise--the majority of the rooms had hardwood floors and handpainted wall paper. I thought it was wallpaper at first, but then I was like "silly Porter, they didn't have wallpaper then. Someone did this all by hand!" There were also radiators throughout, which was very nice as it was pretty chilly outside. The former royal apartments have been trasformed into a small museum with some statues and paintings, mostly portraits. All in all it was a very good visit.
Finally, my favorite!! They were clearly saving the best for last. Cheverny is most definitely the most "modern." It's still used as a private residence by the family that's owned it for at least a century. I'm pretty sure it falls into the "hunting lodge" category since they still raise hunting dogs and do the traditional hunt during the season with the horses and the red coats. The inside has been updated, and I really, really liked it. I could see myself living there, to be honest. The decor and the general layout of the house reminds me a lot of legitimate American colonial style homes. I loved all of the tulips and crystal and china and I ended up taking some kind of artsy perspective photos.
There is a dog run out back with about 40 large hunting dogs. There's a huge sign that says "do not excite the animals" and when you realize that these dogs hunt down foxes and other woodland creatures, you really don't want to! There was kind of an awkward/bad moment when a small child, maybe 5 years old, started running up and down the side of the dog run and the dogs got all riled up and started chasing him! I was just glad that there was a fence between them...they're definitely not domesticated dogs. I actually felt kind of bad for them, because I just wanted to give them all baths and take them for a little walk around the garden because it seems like they just spend all of their time in that concrete floored dog run.
It was on our way home from this chateau that we realized that we hadn't seen Liz since Amboise. But I guess everything worked out alright? I don't want to talk to her and be like "sooo, did we accidently leave you?" Other than that hiccup, it was a pretty successful day and I'm really glad I went.
In a couple of days I'll be in Paris with Margaux and Sara, and then Normandy beaches the next week! I hope to post another blog just rambling about whats great/horrible about France so far and so on. I took some photos of the neighborhood where I live so I can talk about that some. I hope you're all doing well and I can't wait to see you soon!!
Oh, and all of the pictures of the Chateaux are in this album. I need to do a massive upload for facebook too; I haven't uploaded any pictures the whole time I've been here!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
More rambling, because I have a spare hour
I have an hour before I have to head back to class so I think I'll try to finish up this blog post kind of quickly. Sorry in advance for any errors, weird syntax, etc. Tuesdays are kind of horrible for me, because I have five classes from 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM, and even then I have to rush back to my foyer for dinner 15 minutes later. However, classes today haven't been too terrible, although it looks like all of my classes are going to give me a test either this week or next week. Joy. I had hoped to go to Poitiers this weekend, but it doesn't look like that's going to work out. I probably need to stay in and study anyway. I have a test in History and a test in Soci-Cultural Studies, and both of those will most likely require some wikipedia-ing in addition to the notes.
On the upside, I got one of my writing assignments back today and it was topped with a sun with a smiley face:
I'm pretty stoked actually. I think my teacher likes me. We had to talk about what career we want and the steps that we want to take, what keeps us motivated, etc. I talked about wanting to come back to France and teach english to younger students, and I think that's what made her the happiest. I found out after I turned it in that she spent a year in England teaching french. And, I also ended it with this kind of philosophical sentence about how I want to keep my options open and not tie myself down. Either way: sunny smiley face.
My room has gotten a bit homier over the past couple of weeks:
Please note the written-but-not-yet-sent post cards, the cards from parents on the walls, my mini-pantry, all my books, etc. My make up bag also hasn't really been touched in a while. I've kind of given up on makeup...none of the girls in my foyer wear it, and it always wears off by the end of the day, so I don't even bother anymore, except for mascara. When I go out, of course I do my makeup, but there's nobody really worth "impressing" in class or in town. And yes, I read PerezHilton. Don't judge.
I've also started a collage on my closet door. The images have come from either Elle or National Geographic and I need to get another magazine soon to add to it. This is just one of the doors; I'll put another photo up if I get a lot more done on it. It's a nice way to pass the time, and I do make sure to read the articles en français:
I do think my favorite part is Alexa Chung sitting on the galaxy.
I've figured out that no matter what anyone tells you, it's completely true: French people do eat a lot, all the time. I haven't seen too much "moderation" since I've been here. They all eat a LOT of white bread, they pile it up with cheese, have dessert most of the time, and when they go out to eat most of them clean their plates. AND the servings in the restaurants are just as big as in the States. Even for lunch, they have three course meals! So, I've come to the conclusion that they just have superior metabolisms and it's impossible for me to keep up, so I need to STOP eating like a French person and restart eating like an American!! In ironic contrast, they have tiny, tiny glasses. It's impossible to find glasses larger than this:
And yes, my nails are purple. I love them.
My mom and I are in the process of planning our spring break in Paris/Aix-en-Provence. It's going to be here in only 5 weeks!! I can't believe that at all! I sat down and looked through my calendar while I was talking to Inga about where we want to go for weekends, and the semester is going to be over in the blink of an eye. Now I really do understand why people always want to stay abroad afterwards. However, I really kind of am ready to go home. Homesickness, I've found, isn't necessarily something that slams into you and makes you cry like a baby. It's more like a lingering pessimism in the back of your mind that constantly compares everything you see or hear to what it's like "back home." It's having a dream about moving into your new apartment and waking up and being disappointed. It's being frustrated that you can't even communicate half of what you want to because it's all in turns of phrases that can't even be translated into the other language. I think that homesickness leads to culture shock--I don't think you can have one without the other, because both require a comparison of the host culture to the home culture. I am having some acculturative stress, but, again, it's not this huge breakdown with tears. It's just...frustration, mostly. And hesitation. And putting off what I want/need to do because I don't even want to deal with getting this or going there or buying that in another language, another city, etc. I've been dealing with this by thinking "I'm going to do A, B, C, and D" when I get home, but maybe that's making it worse.
Hm. Who knows. Anyway, seeing my mom is going to be great, and we're going to tear Paris up and eat all of their cheese and be obnoxious Americans. And then we're headed to Aix for two days after that to just hang out.
I think this week a bunch of us are going to sit down and plan out our travels just until the end of the semester. It all starts with Easter!! I'm headed on a Chateaux excursion the 13th, and then Normandy the following weekend. I'll probably cry on that one. Count on pictures!
On the upside, I got one of my writing assignments back today and it was topped with a sun with a smiley face:
I'm pretty stoked actually. I think my teacher likes me. We had to talk about what career we want and the steps that we want to take, what keeps us motivated, etc. I talked about wanting to come back to France and teach english to younger students, and I think that's what made her the happiest. I found out after I turned it in that she spent a year in England teaching french. And, I also ended it with this kind of philosophical sentence about how I want to keep my options open and not tie myself down. Either way: sunny smiley face.
My room has gotten a bit homier over the past couple of weeks:
Please note the written-but-not-yet-sent post cards, the cards from parents on the walls, my mini-pantry, all my books, etc. My make up bag also hasn't really been touched in a while. I've kind of given up on makeup...none of the girls in my foyer wear it, and it always wears off by the end of the day, so I don't even bother anymore, except for mascara. When I go out, of course I do my makeup, but there's nobody really worth "impressing" in class or in town. And yes, I read PerezHilton. Don't judge.
I've also started a collage on my closet door. The images have come from either Elle or National Geographic and I need to get another magazine soon to add to it. This is just one of the doors; I'll put another photo up if I get a lot more done on it. It's a nice way to pass the time, and I do make sure to read the articles en français:
I do think my favorite part is Alexa Chung sitting on the galaxy.
I've figured out that no matter what anyone tells you, it's completely true: French people do eat a lot, all the time. I haven't seen too much "moderation" since I've been here. They all eat a LOT of white bread, they pile it up with cheese, have dessert most of the time, and when they go out to eat most of them clean their plates. AND the servings in the restaurants are just as big as in the States. Even for lunch, they have three course meals! So, I've come to the conclusion that they just have superior metabolisms and it's impossible for me to keep up, so I need to STOP eating like a French person and restart eating like an American!! In ironic contrast, they have tiny, tiny glasses. It's impossible to find glasses larger than this:
And yes, my nails are purple. I love them.
My mom and I are in the process of planning our spring break in Paris/Aix-en-Provence. It's going to be here in only 5 weeks!! I can't believe that at all! I sat down and looked through my calendar while I was talking to Inga about where we want to go for weekends, and the semester is going to be over in the blink of an eye. Now I really do understand why people always want to stay abroad afterwards. However, I really kind of am ready to go home. Homesickness, I've found, isn't necessarily something that slams into you and makes you cry like a baby. It's more like a lingering pessimism in the back of your mind that constantly compares everything you see or hear to what it's like "back home." It's having a dream about moving into your new apartment and waking up and being disappointed. It's being frustrated that you can't even communicate half of what you want to because it's all in turns of phrases that can't even be translated into the other language. I think that homesickness leads to culture shock--I don't think you can have one without the other, because both require a comparison of the host culture to the home culture. I am having some acculturative stress, but, again, it's not this huge breakdown with tears. It's just...frustration, mostly. And hesitation. And putting off what I want/need to do because I don't even want to deal with getting this or going there or buying that in another language, another city, etc. I've been dealing with this by thinking "I'm going to do A, B, C, and D" when I get home, but maybe that's making it worse.
Hm. Who knows. Anyway, seeing my mom is going to be great, and we're going to tear Paris up and eat all of their cheese and be obnoxious Americans. And then we're headed to Aix for two days after that to just hang out.
I think this week a bunch of us are going to sit down and plan out our travels just until the end of the semester. It all starts with Easter!! I'm headed on a Chateaux excursion the 13th, and then Normandy the following weekend. I'll probably cry on that one. Count on pictures!
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