Apartments in London and Country-side Cottages in Ireland

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Well, I’ve returned! It has been quite a busy and travel-filled week, however it was well worth the trip. Let me explain, but please don’t feel obligated to read all of this. It’s going to be a novel!

We left Nantes on Saturday, Valentine’s Day. It was slightly depressing not having fun plans for Valentine’s Day but as I walked down the street to the bus stop, chocolate bar in hand, I thought – hey, this isn’t a bad Valentine’s Day gift! Chocolate and a trip to London! We flew out of the Nantes airport via Ryanair (which is a very inexpensive European airline that prides itself on being timely – each flight ended with a trumpet sound and an enthusiastic voice saying “We’re on time!”). Arriving in London, we then proceeded to take a bus into the city, found our hostel, and indulged in some much needed food (Chinese, actually – it was the only thing open). The best part of the day happened when we were standing in line at the ATM machine. An old English man came up behind us and in a very cute British accent asked, “Are you folks queuing?” Apparently, the word “queue” is used for standing in line over there (it’s also used in French, but who knew?)! This could quite possibly become a new catchphrase of mine; it just sounds so much better than “standing in line.”

Sunday led us to Westminster Abbey. Unfortunately, we were unable to actually go inside (they don’t give tours on Sundays and you have to pay admission on other days). However, the outside was beautiful and reminded me of my senior year Art History class. After pictures of the Abbey, Parliament, and Big Ben, three of us girls headed to the double-decker bus tour station. I had heard from a few people that this was the thing to do in London. And sure enough, it was! Although a little chilly, we sat on the top of the bus and took the two hour tour of London which was beautiful and incredibly informative – definitely worth the money. It was a fantastic way to see all of London. I also drank my first Starbucks in two months – I loved having coffee places to go on this trip. As silly as it is, I miss that immensely here! After a quick trip to the National Art Gallery, we ended up eating dinner at a little old-fashioned English pub and I ordered fish and chips. Yum! After dinner, we spent three hours walking along the Thames. We took night pictures of the Tower Bridge, of the city skyline, of St. Paul’s Cathedral, and of Parliament/Big Ben. It was absolutely gorgeous. We discovered lots of cute little restaurants along the way and saw some great street performers. It was a neat way to see London at night and even though our feet were aching by the time we returned to the hostel, it was well worth the walk!

Monday took us to the British Library, which I now adore! If I lived in London, I would study there every day. It’s so pretty and has the cutest little café. Anyhow, we saw a few exhibitions there – one in which there were works from famous authors (i.e. a journal from Lewis Carroll) and famous singers (envelopes and scraps of papers on which the Beatles jotted down their lyrics). We also went to King’s Cross Station which was not as cool as it is in the Harry Potter movie. We found Platform 9 ¾ (for all of you Harry Potter fans) and I think I had my expectations a bit too high. I was expecting some sort of shrine to Harry Potter and it was instead just a wall with half a buggy attached to it – nothing spectacular, but sort of cool all the same. I then took the tube, which I LOVED taking (not sure why, but taking the tube is relatively easy and I felt like such a Londoner), to meet two other girls in my group to spend the afternoon doing some more sight-seeing. Our double-decker pass lasted 48 hours which was great. We could get off and on at any spot and not spend money on transportation. After getting slightly lost (which was NOT fun) and eating an expensive lunch (which was NOT good), we made it on the bus over to the Globe Theatre. We took a tour of the Globe Theatre which was one of the better tours I’ve ever experienced. The woman made it very interesting and it was cool to see how they managed to rebuild an almost-exact replica of the original theatre. Secretly and dorkily, I enjoyed brushing up on my Shakespeare and could picture myself recounting all of this information to my future English classes! After our Globe Theatre tour, we headed back to the Picadilly Circus/Soho area to see a show. We saw “Three Days of Rain,” a drama starring James McAvoy. I know him as Mr. Tumnus from Chronicles of Narnia but apparently, he was in “Atonement” and “Becoming Jane” as well. The play was very well done and we didn’t have to pay much for it, so overall it was just fun to see a show in London. After the show, the friend I went with insisted on going behind the theatre to see if he would come out. And sure enough he did! So I now have James McAvoy’s autograph, which I suppose is kind of cool. :)

Tuesday was our last full day in London. Another girl from IES (Maryn) was staying with family friends in London and she invited Ana (another girl in my group) and me to hang out with her that day. It was honestly quite nice to get a break from the group. Ana and I began our day at Madame Tussaud’s, the famous wax museum. So we spent the morning taking pictures with wax figures of Barack Obama, Albert Einstein, Julia Roberts, the Queen of England, etc… The museum was actually really cool and definitely worth seeing. After that, we spent some time walking around and I discovered my new favorite store in the whole wide world. It’s called “Accessorize” and carries hats, purses, jewelry, and shoes that are to-die-for-cute. I could have spent the entire afternoon pining over some of the purses in that store! We then met Maryn at the London Eye for our 15-minute Ferris wheel ride that showed us all of beautiful London at great heights! We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Imperial War Museum, which was awesome. There were close to 5 or 6 floors and I only made it through two. One floor was solely dedicated to the two World Wars, which was incredibly interesting (I kept thinking how much my dad would have enjoyed reading all of the information and seeing all of the artifacts). The second floor was a new Holocaust exhibition. I could have spent hours walking through that exhibition – it was very powerful and moving. I am always astounded by the horror that is the Holocaust and the number of deaths. The figures are mind-blowing and the mental psychology behind all that occurred is frankly, quite scary. After a quite amusing “trench” experience that included standing in a faux cave and being offered tea, we were on our way (if you so desire to know the whole story, ask me when I get back)! Maryn picked out a great little restaurant for us to eat at. I had a really delicious shrimp Caesar salad. We then restaurant hopped to Bella Italia for dessert, where I indulged in banoffee (a banana, pastry-caramel mesh of goodness) – a typically British dessert. We spent our last night at a little restaurant we found on the Thames. You could sit on the deck curled up in a blanket, overlooking the Thames and drinking hot chocolate. It was a perfect way to end our time in London!

Wednesday was spent buying a few souvenirs, visiting Buckingham Palace, walking through a few gardens (great potential running spots), and leaving for Dublin. Arriving in Dublin, we found our hostel and ate Chinese food again! Go figure… it’s the only kind of restaurant open at 10 o’clock at night! Our hostel in Dublin was much nicer than our hostel in London. While the London hostel was decent, the Dublin hostel was really clean and comfortable. We enjoyed our stay there!

Thursday was a rainy day in Dublin. We visited the National Library of Ireland. There were two exhibitions – one on the history of Ireland and one on W.B. Yeats. The Yeats exhibition was fantastic. They had a screen that read some of his famous poems and showed pictures. I spent fifteen minutes just sitting in the dark listening to these poems. I’ve always enjoyed Yeats’ works and I was happy to learn a bit more about his life/be able to read more of his collection. We then spent a bit of time in St. Stephen’s Green, which was really beautiful despite the gloomy weather. Afterward, I left the group and headed to the National Archives of Ireland. Dad had given me the names of some of our ancestors in Ireland and I was determined to find them in the genealogy archives. However, I didn’t have enough information with me to find it quickly and the kind elderly woman at the counter informed me that it would take me hours poring over microfiches. I told her I’d send my dad back in a few years! I wandered around Dublin a bit and then met the girls for dinner. We ended up eating at an Irish pub playing live music, so that was fun.

Friday was my favorite day in Ireland. I have a friend at Hope whose boyfriend lives in Ireland. Emily (said friend) was kind enough to put the connection together for me and Phil (her boyfriend) met us in Belfast to show us the Northern coast of Ireland. We took a train to Belfast Friday morning, grabbed a quick lunch at Subway with Phil, and then headed to the coast. It was absolutely gorgeous to see the landscape and the countryside (and the sheep!). We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day weather-wise (Phil informed us that the weather in Ireland can be entirely unpredictable). He took us to a spot on the coast called Giant’s Causeway (an area where the rocks have formed into connected-cylinder like shapes). We spent some time hiking up the mountain there and taking pictures. It was right on the Atlantic Ocean – I can’t even begin to describe how beautiful it was! God’s beauty was clearly evident. Phil was a great tour guide and we were so thankful to have someone who knew the way with us. We spent some time in a little town on the coast getting ice cream, etc… and then we grabbed dinner and caught the train back to Dublin. It was a fantastic day and the reason behind my wish for a country-side cottage in Ireland. :)

Because Thursday was kind of a let-down in Dublin, I spent Saturday trying to make up for it. I spent the morning exploring the Dublin Writer’s Museum (which appealed to the English major in me) and Trinity College. Trinity was gorgeous (Emily, you are going to love it!) and I was also able to see the Book of Kells (the first four gospels translated into Latin). That was one of the most interesting things I learned about and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the actual book – so intricate! The tour then took us up to “The Long Room” which was more than fantastic. Picture a long banquet-hall type room two stories high with books stacked to the ceiling in shelves. I literally just walked around staring at all the beautiful old books. They also had an exhibition displaying the history of detective novels. And because I was so inspired by this, I bought Agatha Christie’s novel “The Body in the Library.” :) I then got coffee at a little café called “The Joy of Coffee” (cute, right?) and wandered around a book sale (they had a used book sale in London too and I had to tear myself away from both because I had absolutely no room in my backpack to bring home books!). To end the day, I met up with Kimille and we took a tour of the Guinness Factory. This was surprisingly interesting, despite the beer being unsurprisingly unpleasant! Did you know that Arthur Guinness (founder of Guinness beer) had so much confidence in the recipe for his beer that he signed a 9,000 year contract? After the tour, we grabbed dinner at another local pub and then got gelato in Temple Bar (the pub/bar area of Dublin).

Sunday we woke up at the crack of dawn to catch an early morning flight to Paris. We spent most of the afternoon sleeping, reading, and doing Sudoku puzzles in the train station before we took our train back to Nantes. I arrived “home” exhausted but content (and my host mom was kind enough to come running downstairs when I opened the door to give me two bisous (kisses) on the cheek to welcome me back).

Overall, it was a really great trip. It was somewhat difficult at times travelling with five-six girls and we were certainly not without our conflicts (unfortunately)! But I thoroughly enjoyed myself regardless of such and loved getting to see more of the world. I fell in love with London. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy the city as much as I did but I can definitely see myself going back for a visit. The city was beautiful and the people were smiley (very different from France)! I also enjoyed Ireland, but I think I would much prefer the small towns and countryside there. Dublin was a bit dirtier than London and there were definitely quite a few drunk, Irish men! However, the Irish were the friendliest and had the greatest accents. So that goes in their favor! In general, though, I was just thankful for the opportunity to visit two new countries! Sometimes it just hits me that I’m in a foreign country, a place I’ve wanted to visit my whole life. And I feel very thankful for being able to do so.

If you’re still reading this, thanks! You’ve made it through the saga of Madelyn’s travels.
Hope all is well in your part of the world!

Eating Hamburgers with a Fork

Yes. We ate hamburgers - with a fork. Oh, French culture!

It has been a beautiful day today – warmer than usual and sunny. Last night there was a huge storm; it was the kind of storm that rattles the windows and keeps you up late at night. What always amazes me is how beautiful the day AFTER a storm can be. Today was one of those days.

Anyhow, I have had a pretty good week thus far. Thursday night I went to AGAPE – a college youth group of sorts that I absolutely loved. AGAPE is the European form of Campus Crusades. Evidently, Campus Crusades sends teams from the United States to different countries and cities all over Europe. The leaders are generally just graduated from college and taking a year off. So the leaders of AGAPE are American and are learning French just like we are! Because they are unable to speak fluently like us, it makes for a fun atmosphere. AGAPE’s ultimate goal is to have the meetings be led solely by French students. But until then, the Americans lead the meetings and spend their days witnessing at the university. Everyone there was incredibly welcoming. We ate dinner and socialized (the diversity in this meeting was phenomenal – American, French, English, and German)! Then we sang worship songs which I absolutely loved. We sang some songs I didn’t know in French but then we sang “Grace like Rain” in English. They played it twice as slow as I’m used to singing it, but I didn’t care because it felt glorious to sing in English. We finished by singing some well-known worship songs like “Blessed Be Your Name” in French – it was more than incredible to worship God in another language. One of the native French students gave a lesson and then we closed with dessert and more milling around. I enjoyed myself immensely and am looking forward to going again this Thursday.

Friday night I spent the evening with my host family (well, actually only half of them). The three girls were out of town this past weekend on various trips. So for dinner Friday it was just the parents, Thibault, and me. After dinner that night, I realized that I can actually carry a conversation in French! When there are 7 of us sitting at the dinner table, I rarely get a word in. Madame Robert is always very considerate and asks me about my day so that I get a little practice talking. But as soon as a topic of conversation arrives, they’re off and my brain runs like crazy trying to keep up. They usually pause to explain things to me, for which I am forever grateful. However, on Friday, when it was just the four of us, I got much more floor time. And it gave me a small boost of confidence, so that was nice.

Saturday was a really fun day. We decided to head to the more suburbs-y part of Nantes. The area where we went (called Atlantis) was more commercialized with an IKEA, a mall, and two cinemas. But the area was gorgeous and it felt good to get away from the city. Sometimes walking in the dirty city gets tiresome. It felt more familiar to be in a commercialized area. Anyway, we had a nice time eating at this really cute restaurant in the mall (a new favorite) and doing some shopping. Afterward, three of us went over to another friend’s house to make dinner and watch Grey’s Anatomy. We had a fantastic time, the four of us and it felt good to just relax and hang out. My friend Alyssa and I rode the night bus home which was more than a terrifying experience. Drunken French men are really not my cup of tea. However, I made it home safely and that’s what is important!

I spent Sunday with my host family and it was very relaxing. I had a very productive day and my host family kindly took me on a little tour of an older part of Nantes. We drove to this old fisher’s village across the Loire River that directly faces the heart of the city. It was this tiny little village right on the water; apparently many artists live there now. In other words, it’s not a fisherman’s port anymore. But it was fun walking around even though it was drizzling. Afterwards, they drove me a little bit around Nantes pointing out various sights to see. We then picked up Thibault from his Scouts trip; the poor thing was soaked to the bone from biking in the rain. But he was much happier after a shower, dinner, and his PJs.

Classes have been cancelled at the university for the past week because the students are “on strike.” This whole strike business confuses me but it seems pointless sometimes. Apparently, these strikes can last weeks and it seemingly gets the students nowhere but further behind in their classes. I’m having a slightly difficult time enjoying some of my classes because the tendency here seems to be professors who lecture sans power point, outlines, activities, discussions, etc… And I’m a very visual learner, so when professors just talk at me, I don’t do well. I’m certainly missing some of my classes and professors at Hope!

Because classes were cancelled, I went over to a friend’s house yesterday with two other girls and we had the best time drinking tea and watching French movies. I’ve been really blessed thus far with good friends here. It’s been an easy transition and I’m thankful for that.

Well, I’ll go ahead and sign off here. Our winter break begins Friday afternoon and I’m getting excited. We leave for London on Saturday and then halfway through the week we leave for Dublin. It should be a fun experience. Pray for health and safe travel! If I don’t update before then, I’ll update at the end of next week when I get back.

Love to all,
Madelyn

P.S. – I’m attaching pictures from Mont St. Michel and St. Malo (our weekend trip a few weeks ago). Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Tours Photos

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Thanks to my lovely cousin Brandi's recommendation, I have attempted a Smilebox slideshow. These are pictures from Tours and the four castles we visited there (refer back to blog entry #1, if you are confused) at the beginning of our time here. I will hopefully keep you picture updated now if this works! Another entry to come (and hopefully more pictures)!

Rien plus rien egal quoi?

I've been dying to update, so I hope this isn't a novel. But be prepared. Also, you will hopefully soon understand the meaning behind the title of this particular post.

First a summary of classes:

1. Traduction I - this class is at the university; we spend an hour translating passages from English to French and then the second hour translating passages from French to English. Translating from English to French is possibly one of the more difficult tasks presented to me here. I have a feeling, though, that this class will be helpful for better understanding French expressions.
2. French Romanticism - so far, I really like this class. The professor is your stereotypical literature guru who gets really excited when talking about the sense of romanticism. Perhaps he's a romanticist himself? No, but I think this class will give me a bit of background in French literature and give me more practice reading French.
3. Religion, Society, and the State in Modern France - this is my least favorite class. I have an unusually difficult time understanding the professor. I don't know if it's his tone of voice or the manner in which he talks, but I often find myself very lost. On an optimistic note, the content is interesting (the French Revolution and the battle between church and state).
4. Advanced French Language and Composition - this is my actual French language class. My professor is very interesting and engaging; she's very blunt and witty which makes for an interesting hour. However, I made the mistake of yawning in her class on the first day and she asked me if I was bored. For some reason, I thought she asked me if I was tired to which I replied "Yes, a little." I had to backtrack majorly to cover that mistake (I was babbling in French that no I wasn't bored, but rather very, very tired). Anyway, this professor is quite a character and while she will probably pick on me for the rest of the semester, I fully anticipate learning a lot in her class.
5. French 19th and 20th century Art - this class reminds me quite a bit of my Humanities Art History class my senior year of high school. We spend most of the class looking at slides of paintings, sculptures, and architecture, analyzing and discussing why it was important in a particular time period. I really like this class so far and being here in Europe will give me the opportunity to see a lot of the art we're talking about!

I'm only taking 15 credits this semester, for which I'm very thankful. Taking classes in another language is challenging and homework takes twice as long. I'm glad for the extra time.

This past Tuesday we had Conversation Club again. There were more French students this week which was nice. For the first half, we introduced each other in French and then we "speed-dated" in English. We were given "fake" names and personalities and a list of questions to ask our potential dates. I was thankful we did the activity in English, but it was a lot of fun and gave me the chance to interact with a lot of the French students who came. Afterward, we ate at another creperie which was again delicious.

On Wednesday, I discovered my "place." I've been searching and searching for a little cafe (equivalent to a Starbucks or Grand Traverse Pie Company in the States) where I could grab coffee and do homework - a place I could go to get away from everything. Contrary to all stereotypes, the French don't spend their time sitting in cafes drinking coffee. Their cafes are rather combination bars. Anyway, I found a little cafe with a place to sit down where I can get coffee and a chocolat au pain for less than 3 euros. So I spent Wednesday afternoon there doing homework. It was absolutely lovely to be by myself for awhile.

Thursday there was a nationwide strike (un greve). My host family had been talking about it for a few days, so I knew it was coming. It's amusing how when the topic of strikes come up, the French excuse it by saying "C'est la France!" And I suppose in many ways, that's a good excuse. I'm not sure exactly what they protest when they're striking, but everyone gets involved - students included. Classes were even cancelled at the university. IES, however, did not cancel classes. I was slightly worried because often the buses and trams don't run when there is a strike. I was able to catch the bus to the IES center in the morning, so that was good. Unfortunately I wasn't as lucky later on in the day. A friend and I went to wait for the bus but soon realized our bus was not coming. So we began the one hour walk home. On our way, we passed through the center of town where much of the protesting was taking place. People had signs and were mobbed together in the middle of the street so that the buses and trams could not get through. Some were literally sitting on buckets in front of the bus, refusing to budge. It was certainly a cultural experience. I'm sure there will be more "greve" stories as the semester progresses. They apparently happen frequently here.

On a similar note, there was a demonstration in the city on Saturday afternoon. Nantes is located right on a geographic line between Brittany and the Loire Valley. Evidently, many Nantais feel that their city should be considered part of Brittany rather than the Loire Valley. So they were protesting. This seems to be a regular topic of conversation among the people of Nantes.

Yesterday (Saturday), I attended Les Folles Journees, which is a musical extravaganza in Nantes. It is basically a huge celebration of classical music. IES bought each of us students a ticket to one concert. I chose a piano concert - a young man of 22 years played 6 beautiful pieces by Bach. I was thoroughly impressed (Mrs. Wagner, if you're reading this... watching him play made me wish I had practiced more)! The concert was a good way to feel part of the community here - I'm pretty sure that every elderly person living in Nantes made an appearance at Les Folles Journees!
After the concert, we grabbed some lunch. While we were eating, a woman approached us and asked us if we were American. We told her yes and she began speaking to us in English! As a young girl her family moved to the States for a few years and then she studied for a year in Wisconsin. She apparently loves to speak English (her 10 year-old daughter was with her and bashfully admitted that her mom teaches her English). Anyway, she talked with us for quite some time and gave us her number; she also insisted that we come over for dinner some night to make American food. I love to meet such welcoming people; it helps to feel more at home here.

This morning is a story in and of itself. We went to the same church that we attended two weeks ago. The service was actually really great. I felt like I understood much more than I did last time. I even followed the sermon pretty closely (something I sometimes have trouble doing in English)! I've always had the vague sense that God likes to weave themes in and out of my life. Whenever I learn something new, it's usually reinforced in many ways throughout a given amount of time. I've recently discovered that God can theme-teach even in French (well, obviously... He's God)! I've been convicted this week by what it really means to believe in God. The pastor at church today spoke about what it really means to believe God. It's easy to believe IN God, but do we really believe Him? Sometimes I forget that God wants in on all of my life, not just the parts that I need Him for. Regardless, this morning was a good reminder. However, there's more to the story. :)

We were invited to a "free" lunch after church and we accepted, figuring it would be a great way to get to know some of the people at the church. And it was... in a comical sense. A large man approached us and rearranged us so that he could sit with us. We introduced ourselves and he took notes so that he could introduce us to the large group later. After that, however, we were done talking. The floor was all his. He droned on and on about French history and French wine and who knows what else. We all took turns feigning interest, but it was slightly difficult to understand him at times. And he kept making comments about us being American ("...the French say they don't like Americans, but it's really American politics they don't like...") and ("...your country was founded because you stole land from the Indians..."). I've found that as an American I receive comments like this often. And honestly, it's hard to know how to respond. It would be rude to start an argument with someone I've just met and frankly, I don't have the vocabulary to do so! I'm not sure if the French think that talking American history is welcoming, but I have a hard time knowing what to do. Thus, I do the smile and nod.
This lunch would not be complete, however, without another character - a small little French girl who found our American accents "amusing." She soon found her way to our end of the table and far from being shy, began to entertain us with incomprehensible math problems. She would draw a scribble (rien) plus a scribble (rien) and ask us what it equaled. When we would respond with 'rien' (nothing) she would call us stupid and point to her head, spinning her fingers in circles as if to call us crazy. I'm not sure, however, that we were the crazy ones... She literally spent a good hour chatting away to us in French about drawing scribbles on the table while climbing in our laps and and sticking her finger in our cheeks. The most amusing part was her bossiness. She didn't "allow" laughing, so whenever one of us laughed she would put her hands on her hips and claim that none of us were getting dessert! But, alas, dessert finally came and we politely excused ourselves. Thank goodness!

Before I sign off (I've been writing for almost an hour now), I wanted to also give a brief description of my host family. Someone asked me what their personalities are like and I realized I haven't written much regarding them.

My host dad (Didier) is very serious, but when he does joke or laugh it's always funny. He loves to watch the news and listen to classical music. He also treats his wife like a princess which I find quite cute.
My host mom (Rachelle) is incredibly motherly. She notices EVERYTHING! My hands are slightly chapped from the cold this week and the other night at dinner she asked me if my hands were OK and if I needed anything. Too cute. Anyway, she makes me feel at home and treats ME like the princess - always asking if I want this or that. She's a great hostess.
The oldest daughter (Marie-Emmanuelle) is 19 years old. She takes after her mother and whenever the mom is not around, does all the right things in terms of "taking care" of me. She studies history at the university and is very smart. Often the dinner conversation revolves around what she's learning (I'm usually a bit lost).
The second oldest daughter (Tiphaine) is 17 years old. She's my favorite at the moment. She studies English so we can talk pretty easily back in forth. She is the most patient and most understanding of my French language mishaps.
The third oldest daughter (Adelaide) is 15 years old. She's my own sister's age and in some ways, she reminds me of Olivia. In a few years, I have a feeling Adelaide will be a force to be reckoned with! But she has a strong head on her shoulders and she's very sweet.
The youngest (Thibault) is 12 years old. He could seriously be a cartoon character. He loves to tell stories. In fact, he has this one story that is apparently incredibly complicated. At least once a week he attempts to tell it at dinner and his parents always yell at him to stop. They tell him he has to wait two months when I will be able to understand better. I'm learning a lot of French riddles and such thanks to Thibault.

That's all for now (it's enough, I'm sure)!
Happy February!

Oh, to live on the beaches of St. Malo...

Bonjour!

It is Tuesday morning here (well, actually noon) and I already want to go to bed. Mom told me that you can be jet-lagged up to a month after switching time zones. I wonder if this is possibly the case with me because I am always, always tired here!

This weekend was a lot of fun. Friday afternoon we went on a tour of Nantes and it was interesting to see a different side of the city. The IES center is in the heart of downtown Nantes but on Friday we explored a different part, a part that so far I like better! We discovered more creperies, cute restuarants and cafes and such... so I'm excited to go there (maybe this next weekend). We were also given a tour of the famous cathedral here and saw a bit of the castle. It was cool to understand more behind the history of the city that I'm actually living in! Afterward, some girls and I went to see Revolutionary Road at the local theater. The movie theater here is ginormous and we were in a theater that seats 500 people! It resembled a theater from a movie with the red plush seats and long, long rows... I went home for dinner after the movie to find my host family having "un aperatif-dinatoire" (basically a dinner of appetizers). In the Catholic tradition, when children are baptized, their parents designate a "second father" for them. It is traditional to have these families over for dinner to celebrate Christmas or birthdays, etc... Therefore, we had two families over this past weekend. It's always interesting to interact with another French family... it intimidates me quite a bit, actually! Tiphaine (the 17-year old in my family) and I ended up just hanging out and talking. It was really fun to talk with her and to get to know her better. She's studying English and she's hopefully going to start coming to the Conversation Club we have at IES. She also asked me if I would mind practicing with her sometime to which I gave a resounding "Oui!"

Saturday, we took a trip to Mont St. Michel and St. Malo (they're a few hours north of here). Mont St. Michel looks like a castle on top of a mountain but it's actually a monastery in a little village in the middle of nowhere. I'll post pictures soon so that you can see. It was absolutely beautiful... it's surrounded by water and when the tide comes in, it comes right up to the castle. We ate lunch in a little boulangerie in the village. The woman there was completely folle (crazy)... she was screaming instructions at everybody that walked in. But then she told us that we speak French very well, so that won her some points in our book! After walking around Mont St. Michel (or should I say, climbing - we climbed about a million stairs to get to the top!), we headed to St. Malo. I'm not sure if St. Malo has any historic significance, but it's a really cool city that sits right on the water. We were able to walk along the beaches because it was about 50 degrees and sunny. It was beautiful. There were some apartments overlooking the beautiful aquatic view and I just kept wishing I could live in one of them! We also spent some time exploring the city and the streets were just really cute. There was a boulangerie making crepes in the street so we indulged in a nutella crepe - it was fantastic. :)

Sunday, we had another family over for lunch. The father in this family is the "second father" of the 15 year old, Adelaide. They came over to celebrate her birthday. The lunch/dinner was VERY long as we had every course known to man (appetizers, large appetizer, main dish, cheese, salad, dessert, coffee/chocolate). It was delicious but it was enough to last me two days! After the meal, all the kids (the 4 Roberts, me, and three from the visiting family) gathered in Tiphaine's room to play games. We listened to the Titanic soundtrack which they LOVE here. And I discovered that they like the same random games I play/or have played with my friends! We played the French version of Maffia, the French version of "Ha," and the French version of "Do you know how to play the game?" Some of you may not recognize these names but these are camp games I've played or games we've played at school occasionally when we're bored. It was nice to feel connected in that way, though.

I gave Adelaide a scarf from H&M that I bought for her birthday. I've never seen anyone appreciate a present so much! She kept telling me thank you and the whole family was examining the scarf and exclaiming how pretty it was. It was sweet of them. :)

Two more interesting things I've learned:
1. Christmas doesn't really end for the French until February. They're not actually celebrating, but Christmas decorations are still up - everywhere! It's rather amusing.
2. When you have a formal dinner here (as we did on Sunday) it is proper and polite to wait until the mother who made the meal eats the first bite. Then you may commence eating.

I think that's all for now. I'm starving (not sure why, but I am), so I'm going to go eat lunch.
I will update later this week with class observations and other little things I have on a list to tell you. :)

Love to all!

Sundays, Politics, and the Night Bus

This past Sunday was possibly one of the more relaxing days of my life (minus the having to speak in French part). In France on Sundays, everything closes down. EVERYTHING. A couple girls and I tried out one of two Protestant churches that morning and afterward, we went to find something to eat and there was nothing open! I thus returned home and ate lunch with my host family. We had a long, relaxing lunch and then the parents suggested we all go for a walk in the park. So we drove to a nearby park and walked around for close to an hour. It's been about fifty degrees here on average, so it was a bit chilly but everything here is so green! It's like spring in January and I'm loving it. Anyway, we took our walk and then we headed home. When we got home, we had tea and croissants in the living room. Then everybody brought what they wanted to do into the living room... for example, I knitted, the mom crocheted, the dad read, one sister drew, another sister played with her iPod touch, etc... After spending some time there, we ate dinner and then watched the news. Can you imagine if you spent every Sunday afternoon doing nothing but spending quality time with your family? This was keeping the Sabbath in every way possible! Perhaps, I will incorporate this into my family someday...

On Saturday night, we did a little shopping and went to see a movie. We actually ended up watching a French movie. It was called L'autre Cote du Lit with Sophie Marceau and Danny Boon. It was actually quite amusing and we were all very proud of ourselves for understanding the plot and for laughing at the right moments.

Monday, a few of us went to Monoprix to buy notebooks, groceries, etc... Monoprix is kind of the Meijer or Target of Nantes (except a bit smaller). However, we probably go to Monoprix three or four times a week. :) Anyway, we were standing in the cookie aisle minding our own business when an old, petit man approached us and asked us if we were American. We answered yes and he asked us what we thought of Barak Obama. So we smiled and said "Oh, well..." And before the words could even come out of our mouths, this man launched into a 15 minute lecture regarding American history and America as a nation. It was all I could do to keep nodding my head and saying "oui." He would ask us questions and then give us no time to respond. But he somehow dropped in names like Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln along with Barak Obama and George Bush. It was hard to tell whether he was disgruntled by America and her actions or if he respected us for the long way that we've come. I'm thinking more disgruntled because he was talking of the national debt at one point and kept using a French phrase meaning "It's aggravating." This man also had no concept of a personal bubble because he kept waving his finger in our faces to make his point. Anyway, I recall during our study abroad orientation someone telling us that when we went abroad, people would be interested in hearing our opinions on American politics. But I was certainly not expecting an American history lesson in the middle of the supermarket! It was a little amusing because other French people would walk by and hear what he was saying and they would shoot us sympathetic looks. :)

Last night (Tuesday), we had a Conversation Club here at the IES center. It was absolutely wonderful because for 45 minutes, we talked French and then for 45 minutes we talked English. Local students who are studying English join us for the evening and it's a really great opportunity to practice talking on both ends! Before that, we watched the Inaugration (called l'investiture here in France). Unfortunately, we were unable to get any American channels, so we watched the ceremony with French "voice-overs." I think I'm going to get on CNN later and watch it in English. After all this, we went to a local creperie for dinner. It was one of the most delicious meals I've had here thus far. A friend and I split a Brestoise crepe (ham and baked apples) and a Paysanne crepe (some sort of French cheese/ham combination). They were both delcious. We then enjoyed a chocolate crepe with ice cream. Sigh. Sometimes I love French food! There were so many of us at the creperie that we ended up getting done very late. Thus, I had my first experience taking the night bus. It was quite the experience to say the least. Fortunately, one of the girls from my program was with me. We had to wait for quite awhile to catch the bus we needed. While we were waiting, a very nice guy approached us and asked us if we were waiting for the night bus and he explained that we were waiting in the wrong place. He pointed us in the right direction, which was very nice of him (our guardian angel). Anyway, we then had a not-as-nice man approach us and ask us if we would like to join him and his friends for some “fun.” I immediately said “Non, merci” and he asked us if we were American (we must look and sound very American). The girl with me lied and told him we actually spoke Spanish and we didn’t know English (she actually speaks Spanish, so this was not a problem)! So he put a little puppy dog look on his face, took his cigarette in his hand, and blew us a kiss. How very kind of him. I never want to take the night bus again! I know I will have to, but I certainly hope I never have to take it by myself. There are some semi-sketchy people around late at night (as there would be in any big city).

Two more little cultural differences for you before I go:
First, the notebooks here are not lined like ours… they are graph paper. ALL of them! They don’t have your typical Five-Stars here (I’m not too fond of this difference… it messes with my handwriting).
Also, the keyboards here are different. For some reason I had no notion of different countries having different layouts of keyboards. I realize now that this makes a lot of sense. However, the “m” and the “a” and most of the symbols are out of place here and it’s quite difficult to type on the computers at the center. I look like a 7 year old just learning to type!

Love to all,
Madelyn

Living the French Way

So I've been noticing all these differences between the U.S. and France (obviously there would be some). And there are some I would like to share with you!

1. In the city, dogs are allowed to "go potty" wherever they want; therefore, it is not uncommon to see little piles of you-know-what in the streets. Not the most hygenic idea.
2. Cars can be parked facing each other; from what I've noticed, you can only park on one side of the street, but the cars can be facing any which way on that side of the street.
3. The French eat A LOT of cheese; my host family informed me that there are enough different kind of cheeses for every day of the year!
4. Nobody here smiles; apparently smiling at people as you walk is a very American thing to do. So I find great satisfaction in smiling at people on the bus and seeing if they'll smile back. Some hestitate and then they do and for some reason that makes my day. :)
5. The French are very conscious of their heat, water, and electric bills. I'm learning to take quick showers, turn off lights whenever I leave a room, and I'm pretty sure my body temperature has somehow adapted to living in cold all the time.
6. People here wear the same clothes for days in a row. Some don't, but many do. I think it's normal to wear jeans or a sweater a given number of days before you wash it. But to wear the same thing 4 or 5 days in a row... I feel like I would get sick of that outfit very quickly!
7. Everybody drives a stick shift here; apparently, France is scared of automatic cars. I explained to my host sister that I can't drive a stick shift to save my life (as many of you know) and she laughed and said she thought it would be hard to drive an automatic!
8. The weather here is very different (and this is really only a difference between Nantes and Michigan). It's typically around 45 or 50 degrees and either sunny or rainy. It never snows here (the people here think that one inch of snow is the end of the world). Sometimes it's colder but I feel blessed to be here especially considering the fact that it's below zero at home right now!
9. The French have a very different work ethic here; the parents are very quick to yell or be strict when it comes to homework, school, etc... but from what I've heard, Americans work much harder at school than the French do. I'm sure I will see this play out once classes start.
10. The French do not like to obey and this is why I am deathly afraid of crossing the street. People cross whenever they feel like it and wherever. And cars drive fast in the city here! I realize I should be used to jay-walking since I live in Ann Arbor. But it's a very scary experience to walk around here.

I'm sure I will come across more differences as I go, but there's ten for you to ponder. :)
Other news...
I've chosen classes and they will commence Monday. I am taking the following:
Traduction (this is a translation class for students taking French or English; so it will be with other French students who are studying English and we will practice translating passages from English to French and vice versa).
French 19th and 20th century Art
Religion, Society, and the State in Modern France
French Romanticism
Advanced French Language (my actual French class).

The first class is at the university and the other 4 are through my program at the IES center. However, all the classes will be in French and I'm feeling a bit nervous about starting Monday!

Last night, I ate dinner with three of the four kids and then we watched the first half of The Chronicles of Narnia in French. It was nice to hang out with them and get to know them a bit better. The oldest, Marie-Emmanuelle, took me with her to pick up the second oldest, Tiphaine, from her friend's house. It was just fun to talk about things we had in common - movies we like, books we've read, leaving home, driving, boys, etc... And even though the conversation was very broken because of my horrendous French, it felt good to be a teenage girl with somebody here. :) When Tiphaine and her friend got in the car, they started discussing life and laughing and even though I wasn't really participating, it just felt nice to be amongst people my age and realize that these girls are just like my friends in the States (now if only I could understand them)!

I'm headed out right now to do a bit of shopping. The government controls the sales here (isn't that bizarre?) and there are only certain months that stores can put their items on sale. January is one of them. :) I hope everything is well with all of you - you're greatly missed!