The Capital of Madeleines and French Family Fun

After spending the last ten hours at my host family’s family reunion, I have come to the conclusion that families are crazy and quirky all over the world. If any of you were wondering whether or not your family is especially strange or bizarre, the answer is no. They are not. I am now fully convinced that there are more similarities than differences among families across the world. Take for example this family reunion I attended. There was the grandmother who passes around pictures, the grandfather who tells jokes and anecdotes, the aunts who all look alike and laugh alike, the uncles who talk movies and politics amongst each other, the cousins who sit together awkwardly until somebody breaks the ice and everyone begins to laugh, and the newborn grandkids who add the worldwide noise of a baby to the hustle and bustle of it all. It was a French-style Lewis family reunion – with one exception. Usually after a family reunion chez moi, my head feels perfectly fine. However, right now… my head literally hurts. Halfway through the afternoon I excused myself to use the bathroom where I rummaged in my purse for two Advil. I don’t think my brain has ever worked itself that hard. I had yet to be in a situation of that sort – where conversations cross in all directions and my brain has to work twice as hard not only to keep up with who is talking, but to also keep up with what each person is saying! But I survived and feel much more competent in French than I did this morning. Ten hours of a language will do that to you.

Overall, I had a lovely day being part of a French family. The “reunion” was held at my host mom’s parent’s house and we had a most delicious lunch with naturally sugared wine and the most delectable cake for dessert. I did a lot of sitting and observing and often felt quite awkward. However, I managed to hold my own and to carry a handful of conversations in French throughout the day. Everyone was incredibly kind and supportive. The best part of the afternoon was when my host mom (who rarely gives compliments) began bragging to everyone about how much I’ve improved with my French and how my written French is practically flawless. Needless to say, I felt quite good about that!

Upon being introduced as the “American,” I am usually asked questions about American culture or Barak Obama. Today proved to be no different. At one point, we were discussing the French lifestyle versus that of America. One of the uncles began comparing the ritualistic nature of the French family dinner (eating together EVERY night) against the very inconsistent nature of the American family dinner. One of the “cousin-in-laws” chuckled to himself and said, “Yeah, the only time American families eat together is at Thanksgiving.” Now usually when these stereotypical comments are made, I just smile and nod. However, when the Thanksgiving comment made its way to the table, I snapped. In an icy sort of tone I said, “I think we eat as a family a little bit more than that.” It was amusing, at least to me, because the look on his face was one of surprise and shame. I really wasn’t upset and I think my tone only came from being tired. But I decided to let him think it had offended me. Because even though we do have inconsistent family time, we still value its importance and Thanksgiving is only one of MANY meals we share together!

One last noteworthy story to share… I was sitting at the dinner table (doing some more observing) and all of a sudden one of the great-grandkids ran up to me. This little boy couldn’t have been more than three or four years old. He looked me straight in the eye and says (in French), “It’s time for you to give me a kiss now because I’m about to leave.” Even the littlest know the importance of the bisous!

I’m sorry it’s been so long since I’ve updated here. The past couple weeks have been rather stressful planning for vacation and writing 6 page papers in French! Sometimes I forget that I’m here to do school because the workload is much lighter than it is at home. But this past week especially I have been reminded that school is school and I must buckle down and finish my work!

Last weekend we visited Normandy. We woke up really early Saturday morning and made our way to Caen. Caen is this cute little city where the huge memorial is located. It is also the capital of Madeleines! Madeleines are these petit little muffin type cakes. They’re baked in a particular shape and are made with a very specific recipe. When I first saw them at the local grocery store, I just had to try them because my name was on the bag! Since then they’ve become a favorite part of French food and I will be quite sad to say good-bye to the Madeleines when I leave. Caen is evidently the creator of this deliciousness and so I now have one too many a picture of me in front of the Madeleine store. We spent the rest of our time in Caen picnicking and enjoying the beautiful sun. If any of you make a trip to Normandy one day, I highly recommend staying in Caen – it was the cutest little town AND you may just get to try a Madeleine!

After our lunch, we spent the afternoon at the memorial. The first part of the memorial is a “spiral into Hell” – basically all the steps each country took after World War I to get us to World War II. The second part of the memorial showed how Germany slowly but surely took over. It was an incredibly interesting and powerful memorial. We certainly didn’t have enough time to see it all! We then watched a film that was literally just footage of what happened in Normandy. They showed flashes of the American soldiers charging up Omaha Beach followed by a shot of the calm, peaceful beach today. What a moving contrast. The first film was followed by a second film with the word “hope” in its title. As the film began, I sat there wondering to myself how in the world this film could be about hope. It was basically a summary of all the major disastrous events that have occurred in the world over the past 100 years. However, while it showed the turmoil, it also showed the positive outcome of so many of these situations. And to see, even though we are still in conflict today, the great progress we have made was incredibly hopeful.

Dinner at our hotel followed the memorial. That night, ten of us girls just hung out in our room playing cards and talking. It was a wonderfully relaxing, laughter-filled night.

Sunday morning began with a trip to the American cemetery. I could have spent hours walking through the grave markers and looking at all the different names. It is an absolutely beautiful cemetery. And the soil used to make the memorial is actual American soil. So for just a few minutes I was standing on American soil again. Walking around that cemetery listening to the American anthem, I found my heart swelling with American pride. I know that as a powerful country whose borders needed protecting, it was the right step to debark upon the beaches of Normandy and to begin the fight against all that was evil and wrong. But it was such a sacrifice for so many of those men and their families. They weren’t technically fighting for their own loved ones. They were fighting for justice and for all those being persecuted. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’ve never been more proud of America than I was that Sunday morning. We also walked down to Omaha Beach and again, the contrast between what I know once took place there and what it looks like today was very powerful.

We then made our way to Pont du Hoc. This part of the coast was a German station. Part of the American’s initial attack involved bombing this station. Their goal was to rid of the weapons supposedly hidden there. However, the weapons were moved before the bombing and it ended up being a lost mission. What is left of the station today, though, is a sight to see. There are actual holes in the ground where the bombs exploded – holes the size of my bedroom! We were able to explore some of the remains of the German bunkers. Interesting fact about Pont du Hoc: apparently about twelve years ago, a group of tourists was exploring Pont du Hoc (as thousands do every year) and a man stepped on the grass only to have is foot blown off! Evidently, when they opened up the Pont to the public, they made sure that all the German mines had been cleared out. It seems, though, that they perhaps didn’t see one! Our trip concluded with a visit to Haras du Pin, a famous horse farm. Normandy is famous for its horses and these horses have won million dollar prizes!

I’ll go ahead and sign off now… this has been more of a novel than I expected!
If possible, I’ll try to update one more time before I leave Friday morning. If not, though, I’ll update with a legitimate novel when I return. I covet your prayers for safe and smooth travel. I leave for Rome this Friday and Athens the following Saturday. I’ll be back on Saturday, April 18.

Best wishes to all of you as you jump into April… you’re all in my thoughts and prayers!

Gros bisous,
Madelyn

Dancing "le Rock"

Pictures from the birthday party (left: the whole family minus my host brother, right: Adelaide, Tiphaine, Marie-Emmanuelle, and moi)

I never in my wildest dreams imagined that I would actually come to love the French language. However, there are just some expressions in French that are just better said than they are in English. And I'm feeling rather sentimental about the fact that my French-speaking time is more than halfway over. I am still often very frustrated by the language barrier, however I have a feeling I'm going to miss speaking my "second language" when I get home (I put this in quotations because I am still nowhere near fluent!).

Friday was an unusually great day (not that my days here are usually bad, but this day was just particulary wonderful). On Tuesdays and Thursdays during lunch, a Hope graduate, who studied in Nantes two years ago and who now lives in Nantes, eats lunch with us so that we can practice our French in a more relaxed setting but with someone who knows the language better than we do. A group of us (specifically us three Hope girls) have gotten to know Brianne through these lunches and so she invited us over to her apartment Friday afternoon for dessert and conversation. It was a beautiful day Friday and we spent the afternoon eating delicious homemade apple pie and chocolate raspberry cake, drinking tea, and talking. The apartment that Brianne shares with one of her best friends was so cute - they have a mish-mash of furniture and things that people have loaned them. But for some reason, all put together, it makes for a very chic French apartment. It was lovely just sitting and talking while the sun streamed through the windows. Brianne has inspired me to first of all, learn how to make apple pie (it was so delicious) and second of all, live in a foreign country with an apartment like hers. In all seriousness though, I'm starting to give some thought to a year off inbetween graduating from Hope and either going to grad school or getting a job. I had always planned on just leaping right into my first teaching job. But sometimes I wonder if I should give myself the chance to see more of the world before I become a "real" adult. :)
After our afternoon chez Brianne, we went to my friend Michelle's house to celebrate her birthday. We made dinner for us and her host hom and then we watched a French movie called "Comme t'y es belle." Michelle's host mom was so hospitable and welcoming and spent the entire dinner asking each of us about ourselves. It was very kind of her to have us and watching a movie while eating hazelnut ice cream was a sweet finish to a great day.

The next day (Saturday) was THE day that I have had marked on my calendar for weeks. It was the birthday party day. My two oldest host sisters, Marie-Emmanuelle (19) and Tiphaine (17), decided a few weeks ago to have a shared birthday party to celebrate their 20th and 18th birthdays. I was naturally invited and RSVPed yes. I woke up Saturday morning kind of nervous for what was to come. But I spent the day buying and making birthday presents and catching up on some work. When 6:30 rolled around, I started to get ready and by 7:30, I was dressed, presents in hand, ready to tackle a real French party. I headed upstairs to find my three host sisters and one other guest (the rest had yet to arrive). Marie-Emmanuelle introduced me to her friend Mathilde, who was incredibly sweet to me the entire night. We spent a lot of time talking and having a "you-have-to-make-small-talk" kind of conversation in French was a great experience for me. By the time everybody had arrived and had done the bisous with everybody else (and when I say EVERYBODY, I mean EVERYBODY), it was already 8:30. My host parents served everyone a small glass of kir and appetizers. The food was quite yummy. I got to meet quite a few of the girls' friends, all of whom were very nice and fun to be around. I was always introduced as "our American student" and some people took that and ran with it. Everyone wanted to practice their English! I met a French girl who has spent the past two summers working at a sports camp in North Carolina. She spoke English very well and it was fun to talk with her (even though we had to make sure my host parents were out of earshot)! She and I taught the "Cha Cha Slide" to thirty French people that night (for those of you unfamiliar with popular dance songs, the Cha Cha Slide is almost always played at a school dance and the dance itself is a bit like a line dance). The group there had never done it before and it was quite surreal teaching this very famous American song to all these random French people!

On the other hand, they taught me quite a lot that night too. I learned how to danse "le rock," a very traditional French dance that involves lots of twirling. These "soirees" or birthday parties that French students have are rather modest and traditional (or at least they are with conservative French families). And therefore the dancing is as well. "Le Rock" is a little bit like swing dancing but rather something straight out of a movie made in the 80's. The girls typically wear dresses, the guys must ask the girl to dance, and the dance itself follows this very bouncy, old-fashioned pattern. I was asked to dance three times and each time I was terrible. The first guy I danced with gave me a basic lesson but I don't think I improved very much, even though everybody was kind enough to lie to me and tell me that i was quite good for never having danced "le Rock" before. Anyway, the dancing was an absolute blast and it's nice because the boys try to ask all the girls to dance multiple times so no one feels left out. For those of you who want a demonstration of "le Rock," remind me when I see you this summer!

After everybody had left (around 2:30 A.M.), Marie-Emmanuelle and Tiphanie opened their gifts from me (scarves, jewelry, and a homemade CD). And then we went to bed. It was a long night but one I will always remember. It was one of the more French nights I've had and I loved it.
The best part about the whole evening was when Marie-Emmanuelle told me how happy she was that I was there. I finally felt more a part of the family!

I slept in for quite some time Sunday morning and then spent the late afternoon taking a walk in a gorgeous park nearby with my host family. This week has been rather stressful with schoolwork and vacation plans. But this weekend we are going to Normandy with our program and it will be a welcome break from life.

Love to all,
Madelyn

Bisous and Flowers

Bonjour, tout le monde!

A few days ago, my host family invited me to watch the news with them (as they do most nights) but this night in particular, the recording machine wasn't working and so we ended up watching a very different news channel. It was quite interesting but a good 15 minutes of the program was titled the "100 jours de (100 days of) Barack Obama," which amused me. I realize that the United States plays a very large role in globalization these days, but I feel like sometimes I hear more about Barack Obama than I do about Nicolas Sarkozy (the French President)!

On Tuesday, we had Conversation Club again. Beforehand, I met a new friend named Aude (I'm having trouble remembering if I've mentioned her before) for coffee. Aude is a French student studying at the University of Nantes. However, next year, she will be at Hope... with me! She's going to be the TA (student assistant) to the French department next year. We met last week at Conversation Club and so we planned to get coffee this week. We had a lovely time discussing life, TV shows, Hope, and next year. I'm really excited to have a friend here who will return with me in the fall. We're already planning nights with crepes, Grey's Anatomy, and French-speaking!

When Conversation Club begins, there are always lots of bisous (kisses). I knew that the "kiss on the cheek" thing was a French custom but I did not realize (until coming here) how much it is truly a part of their everyday life. I see it everywhere! And I ALWAYS forget. For example, two guys who I've talked with before at Conversation Club approached me on Tuesday and before I could squeak out a hello, one of them stuck his face next to mine, waiting to be kissed on the cheek! I looked at him with a confused expression and asked him why he was sticking his face near mine and his response (bisous), of course, restored any confusion I had! My friend from Hope here always jokes that when she sees me next year she's going to do bisous. However, I have a feeling this custom would come across as quite strange in the United States (even though it's evidently EXPECTED here in France)!

I ate at my first French McDonald's the other day. Let me just say that the McDonald's here are WAY better than the McDonald's in the States (it's ironic, to say the least). They have WAY more dessert options (i.e. chocolate mousse). When I ordered my "McFlurry," the guy behind the counter smiled at me when I tried to spin a French accent on the word "McFlurry." This is a pretty common theme here. I attempt to sound French and then get smiled at because I apparently sound so very American. Maybe by the end of the semester, I can say something and have someone believe I'm French. I've been asked for directions a few times so at least I LOOK like a local!

Riding the bus is like a social "people-watching" experiment. I love to watch people's behaviors on the bus. Recently, though, everybody on the bus reminds me of someone back home. I saw a guy this morning who closely ressembled a 15-year old version of my cousin Cameron. I've definitely done many a double-take here. Perhaps everyone I know has a French twin (but perhaps not)!

I walked out of my house this morning and it was as if all the plants decided "Hey, we're going to bloom today." It was beautiful! There are lilac trees and magnolia bushes and little flowers popping up. I'm actually slightly sad that I won't be here for spring break in April because it's sure to be beautiful. Anyway, I fully intend on enjoying this beautiful day. I'm going to go eat lunch and then take a walk! It's sunny and supposed to be 60 degrees today. I love Spring.

That's all my news for now. I'm attempting to make plans for Spring Break (Italy for sure and possibly Greece). If anyone has friends in Rome, let me know! It's Holy Week and most of the hostels are booked and rather expensive.

Bon weekend! Bisous :)

Everyday Life

A friend of mine asked me the other day to update my blog and for a second I wondered, "But what will I write about? I haven't been galavanting around any new countries recently!" Needless to say, this entry might be slightly less exciting than the last.

After returning to Nantes, I was immediately thrown into SCHOOL. I've had three midterms over the course of the past two weeks and two out of three have been successful (I haven't gotten the third one back yet). The grading system here is a bit different than at home. Everything is "out of 20." A 16 or more is an A, a 15 is an A-, a 14 is a B+, and so on... Strangely enough a 10 out of 20 (which would be failing by our grading system) is a C here. Imagine that. The next few weeks will be busy writing papers and studying. However, it will be nice to get it all done before vacation in April.

Last weekend, we went to see "He's just Not that Into You" in French (Ce que pensent les hommes). I was pleasantly suprised to find that I could understand most of it - although it was slightly weird hearing French voices in place of the actors' normal voices. I think slowly but surely my comprehension of the language is getting better. I'm finally starting to pick up on certain French catchphrases and mannerisms that will hopefully allow me to improve in my own speaking.
Last Sunday, my "host" grandparents came over for the day. At first I was really nervous that I would sound stupid speaking in front of them, but they were more than forgiving! The grandpa kept reminding the grandma to speak slower for me and the grandma told me that she thought I had a "belle accent" (beautiful accent). We had a really interesting discussion about culture in the United States and the whole family regaled me with stories. The grandpa shared a bit of his family history (his mother comes from Greece) which was interesting to hear. All in all, it was a nice day with my host family and what I thought would be scary ended up being a good experience!

The strike at the university continues. Fortunately, the one university class I have is a class with many IES students. So our professor came to IES on Monday so we wouldn't get behind. I feel bad for other students in my program who are taking a lot of classes at the university because they're stressed about getting enough credits for the semester, etc... It's just a sad situation for students (like my host sister) who WANT to learn and who would do anything to have classes again. I think it's been almost 4 or 5 weeks now.

While I was in London, I received an email from a French student who is studying in Nantes right now and who is going to be the new assistant to the French department at Hope next year! Her name is Aude and she came to Conversation Club with us on Tuesday. She seems like a sweetheart and we're getting together for coffee this week so that we can each practice our "second" language. I'm happy that we put the connection together because she'll be a French friend I can take with me to the U.S.!

This weekend I spent a lot of time with my host siblings because my host parents were gone for the weekend. It was nice to bond with them. We watched a huge French charity concert. If you take every famous French entertainer, every popular French or American song, add wacky crazy costumes, and a ginormous audience you will have a French charity concert. It was certainly entertaining to watch. The style of French performers is very different from that of American performers. There was one particular song in which a man was dressed up as Snow White and his background singers wore fake dwarfs on their backs. Strange, no? Anyway, I feel slightly more enlightened to the world of French entertainment now.
I did a little bit of shopping yesterday. I've been pretty good about not spending money on clothes whenever I feel like it. But I think that's because IF I did that, I would be buying whole stores. The clothes here are so cute, but of course rather expensive. So we did more window shopping than anything. I wish I could have a one thousand-dollar shopping spree in France! Of course, if I were given one thousand dollars, I don't think I'd spend it on clothes but rather on a plane ticket for my parents to come visit me!

I think that's all for now. Frankly, today's been a bit of a lonely day. Sometimes the language barrier really gets to me and I find myself wishing more than anything that I could be back in the States in the presence of people who really know me. But then again I don't want to wish away my time here because I'm never going to get it back! Always a rollercoaster ride, this adventure of mine. :)