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.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
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!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
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!
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!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
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.
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
