My vie en general (2 posts in one night! GOOOO ME!)

Its been going REALLY good. There have been a few minor hiccups in the past couple weeks...there have been some crazy drama moments with everyone (like serious asthma attacks and illnesses back home and my family telling me they wouldn't be offended if I moved out a semester??), but all in all, France is great. Almost two months have gone by (a fact that I just realized today) and only about two months are left in the semester. I can't believe it.


Last weekend, we had an other excursion with CIEE to Cornouaille. This time there wasn't as much museum-y sight seeing things, it was just BEAUTIFUL! We were right by the ocean, our hostel even had a view of the ocean from the window. The city we stayed in was called Carcaneau, and it had a really cool walled city area on the water. It basically was an excuse to party with everyone in the program, which was fun. We all hung out by the water, and later Leah and I explored the walled city. Found some old canons and took a lot of pictures. It was great. The Pointe-du-Raz, the most western part of France, was hyper cool. I was just in shock with how pretty it was.

This past Tuesday, there was an event at Rennes II called Le Parrainage (which is like a mentorship) for French and international students to meet. I met a group of 3 French girls and 2 French guys who were all really nice. I tried to teach them some Christmas songs (they asked?) and they taught me some random phrases (like how to say "I'm buzzed" - Je suis pompette - in case you were wondering). It was nice to be able to speak in French to real French speakers for once (and not just random international students in class). Though, at times the conversation was WAYYYYY to fast between the Frenchies to follow. I got a couple numbers, made some facebook friends. Hopefully I'll see them again.


At the moment in Rennes, there is an accordion festival, called "Le Grand Soufflet" and every night there are free concerts. Last night, Larissa, Leah, and I went to one and it changed my views on accordions entirely. It was so cool. They played Chick Corea, some samba, Cindi Lauper's "Time After Time." You name it. I didn't realize you could play an accordion like that, I always just imagine Leiderhosen and weinerschnitzel.


Today, for our class de Francophonies, Leah and I had to interview someone who lives in France but comes from somewhere different. Leah's host mom works with a guy who is Portuguese...so parfait! Our interview went ok, but we were both kind of nervous (its for a grade), and of course, after we turned the recorder off he said the most interesting thing. Georges lived the first 20 years of his life in Portugal, and has lived 20 years in France. To the French, he's not really French. He can speak the language, and he knows the culture, but he's not un vrai Français. But, he says now, when he goes back home, the Portuguese don't consider him Portuguese either. He's adapted his ways, he doesn't speak the same Portuguese. He's in a sort of cultural purgatory. Doesn't quite fit in one place, no longer fits in the other. He also said that being in France brought things about Portugal that he didn't know before to his attention. In Portugal, he didn't know much about the folklore or the traditional music, but the distance made him more interested in his own culture. I'm really glad that my prof gave us the assignment! It was a good experience. And he complimented us on our French skills, always a plus!

Leah and I found a great coffee shop/book store that reminded me a lot of coffee shops back home, with a couch and photography for sale on the walls. It even came complete with French hipsters! Oh and homemade quiche. Quiche is always a plus in my book.


This weekend, I'm gonna faire du méga shopping with Larissa, Leah, and (hopefully) Agathe, my host sister. I've been amazed at how fashionable French people are. And it always looks effortless. Today at the coffeeshop, Leah and I did a lot of people watching. The game: "Guess how old the French kids are." The 12 year olds look about 20, no joke. They wear boots and heels and leggings and dresses, and all black, and dress about 45788929395 times better than me. I feel entirely inadequate. So, goal for demain, buy Frenchie clothes! I'm coming back to the US à la mode!

The long awaited Lyon update (not so new info anymore...)

Just thought I would give a tourism plug for the AMAZING CITY of Lyon. Two weeks ago, Leah, Larissa, and I went on our first solo voyage of the semester. We'd bought our train tickets early, and got to the station with plenty of time to spare. We even got discount tickets with our 12-25 cards (for people ages 12-25...). But, as traveling never goes smoothly, what did I forget at home?

My Carte 12-25.

Picture this: Me, at 7AM, still dark out, BOOOOOKING it through the streets of France, all the old people on their morning walks staring at me. I felt kinda like Forrest Gump. BUT, due to my super lightning fast running skills, I somehow made it back to my house, grabbed my card, and ran back to the train station in 15 minutes. Barely made the train. Phew. It was a sweaty start, but we were on our way!

I'll just give a quick rundown on why Lyon rocks:
1. Old stuff
2. Free stuff
3. Free old stuff
4. RIVERBOAT DANCE CLUBS

I'll start with #3. Lyon has a part of the Roman empire 2000 years ago, so coincidentally, there are some Roman ruins. Namely, two theaters situated on a hill overlooking the city. Whats even cooler than the fact that these theaters from 2000 years ago still exist, is that you can see them for free, run and leap around them, touch engraved marble tablets, pretend to be statues.....the possibilities are endless. We did all of the above. It also gave a great view of the entire city.

Leaping

Posing

Being awesome

The first night we went out on the town, spoke in British accents (even told people we were from Wisconsin, England), and danced the night away on a RIVERBOAT DANCE CLUB!!!! They exist. It even had portholes. And guess what? It was free to board the boat. No 10 euro Pyms dance club (like in Rennes). It was also called "Sirius" as in Sirius Black as in Harry Potter as in British accents. Perfect.

The next day we explored the town. For lunch we followed my host mom's advice and at a buchon lyonnais (which is just a restaurant that serves typical cuisine from the region). Thank god we did. It was probably the best meal I've eaten in France. We got a steak and gratin daupinois which is like potatoes au gratin, which cheese and I think crème fraîche (we said it was like a classy version of steak and potatoes). This meal made me so happy. So so happy.

After lunch we went to a (FREE) museum that had lots of old stuff. My favorites were the Monet paintings and the Egypt wing. The Egypt wing had a mummy head and hand and all sorts of sarcophagi and stones with hieroglyphics. It even had these GIANT doorways covered in writing. The paintings were really cool too. There were two Monet's that were very pretty (including one thats of a sunset and water and its all purple and blues and I looooooooooove it). There were no barriers, so I got real up close and personal with his brushstrokes. It was a really good way to spend the afternoon.

We then walked all the way to the other side of town, to le parc de la tête d'or. Its a gigantic park with a zoo and everything inside. And by zoo I mean there were deer roaming around. Only in France. We walk in and see deer chilling. You could feed them chestnuts, so a lot of little kids were just chucking them at these deer. It was pretty funny.

I also watched some French TV, which I rarely get to do, because my family doesn't have a TV. Les Simpson! Hearing the voice overs was really bizarre. Bart's voice was awful. I also watched some Charmed, and those voices didn't fit at all. I've talked to Frenchies my age and they all say its awful too. But they love American TV shows so the bad voices must not stop them from watching.

It was a great trip! I'm so glad Leah, Larissa, and I decided to go to Lyon. Such a cool city. And I couldn't have spent the weekend with better people too :)

GROS BISOUS DE FRANCE!

In case you were wondering....

I'm still alive.

And I'm still planning on posting about my weekend in Lyon (which was AWESOME!) and this past weekend in Cornouaille.

Time just FLIES by here. I don't even realize it and an entire week is gone.

To tide you over (who ever actually reads this...) here are some pics of Cornouaille, a region in western Brittany.

The view from our hostel

The girls on some rocks

Me and Cody at Pointe-du-Raz, the western most part of France

What a good looking group!

Traditional Breton clothing, don't know why it went out of style...

I'll write more soon. Promise.

LOVE YOU ALL!

Battle Royale

Update #1

A lot has happened in the past two weeks (ish). I'll start off by recounting last weekend...

I went to my first official European soccer match at Stade Rennais. It wasn't a huge match, so there wasn't a lot of people there. But, it only cost 2.50 euro, so can't complain! Also, in typical French fashion, the fans were on strike. Yes, the fans. On strike. Usually a group of people lead cheers and songs, sort of like a pep group. But, because it was a little game, with little importance, they went on strike. Not really sure what the aim was, but I cheered anyways.

Rennes won! So all was good in the world.

Side note: Before the game, Leah, Larissa, Kayla and I went to a random resto to eat. Leah, Larissa, and I tried some random food that, according to Kayla's dictionary, was a type of sausage. Nope. Intestines. Live and learn.

Last Friday, Yoann invited all of us Madtowners over to his house to have a fête de crêpes. Basically, you make a ton of crêpe batter and can make yourself one whenever you feel like all night. I went over early and helped make some batter, which involved me stirring and Yoann doing everything else. Here is a montage of our successful attempts at sauter des crêpes:

Moi

Cody

Larissa #1

Larissa #2

And, as normal, beer drinking Wisconsinites, we taught Yoann the finest of drinking games: beer pong, flip cup, and circle of death. No worries, we represent the Dairy State extremely well over here.

Look familiar?

It was a really fun night, full of crêpes and games (Yoann told us he usually eats 10 crêpes at parties like that, which is an incroyable amount!). I got approximately 15 minutes of sleep before it was off to meet with CIEE for our trip to Normandy....

Normandy was a really interesting experience. I didn't expect it to be so moving/emotional, but it really was. We visited the WWII museum in Caen, which had a lot of items and pictures. There were letters on display from soldiers to their families, one which almost made me cry. It was the last letter the family ever received from him, and it was right before D-Day. We also saw a movie that used a lot of real footage from D-Day, and one clip in particular was really unsettling. It was a sweeping view of the beach with all the soldiers rushing up, only to fall a few feet later...its different when its Saving Private Ryan than when its actual people.

After Caen, we went to Bayeux and saw this famous tapestry. Its about 1000 years old and 250 feet long. Its also extremely detailed, and tells the story of William the Conqueror, how bamf he was, and how he took over England. The museum gave us some pretty sweet audio commentary, with music and sound effects, and after the tapestry we got to see some great wax figures of William. It was a nice change of mood from the WWII museum...

The next day we went to the American Cemetery. Its a very moving place, and, although its sad, I recommend seeing it. If I remember correctly, its the burial ground for about 8000 American soldiers. There are even a few female nurses buried there from the Red Cross. Its on a cliff above Omaha Beach, one of the spots of the invasion. My grandpa was part of D-day, and he was at Omaha. I tried to picture him at the beach, and couldn't help thinking of how glad I am he wasn't one of those crosses (if he was, I wouldn't be here!). It was so hard to imagine it how it was that day, how it must've looked and sounded like, how the soldiers ran up the beach, like in the film we saw at the museum, and about how so many of them never made it back home...It was a really beautiful beach, and its sad how it will forever be known for something so ugly and terrible.

We spent a long time down at the beach, because it was a really nice day and the water was so perfect. I found a bunch of hermit crabs, and waded in the sea.

After Omaha, we went over to Pointe du Hoc, another D-day location. Here, 250 soldiers attempted a surprise attack on an area of German arms, but due to navigational errors, lost the surprise, and had to scale 100 ft cliffs while being barraged with Nazi bullets. Somehow, 90 soldiers survived and took the fortifications. Most of the area has been left in tact, and is open to the public. The ground is pocketed with bomb craters, and you can go inside the concrete buildings. You can tell what was used to hold up GIGANTIC guns too. It was really unbelievable.


The weekend was a really good experience, although a little emotionally draining. The coast of Normandy was super beautiful and peaceful. But, it was good to get back to Rennes after a LONG exciting weekend. I watched the Rennes v Bordeaux soccer match on TV and called it a night. I didn't do too much exciting things during the week EXCEPT plan my weekend in Lyon! More on Lyon in the next post......

XOXO