"Hey, are you guys French?" "No! We-a are-a Italianooooo!"

A LOT has happened. Which explains why I haven't written....First off, fall break.

I went on a road trip with Yoann, Leah, Larissa, and Cody to the south of France. After some mishaps with the GPS (fondly named Marie-Claire), which included her sending us down dead end roads and her suddenly deciding she needed a nap, we made it through mountain roads to Marseille.

Dead End Directions from M-C

But, alas, Marseille was definitely a sketch town. I'd heard from a lot of people that it wasn't that great. The old port was really pretty and nice, but once you went a block off of it, the safety level severely dropped. At least our hostel was nice, and the next day we went on a really nice boat ride to Château d'If, the location of the prison in Count of Monte Cristo. It was a beautiful day and the Mediterranean was gorgeously blue as always. The castle was also pretty neat. We saw prison cells and there were all these etchings in the walls that tourists had made, some dating back to the 1800s.

After that we said "Au revoir Marseille!" and headed to Nice. Which is A LOT nicer. Our hostel was called Villa Saint Exupéry, after the author of Le Petit Prince, and it was really nice. The place was over run by Australians, who love backpacking, and it was definitely weird after being surrounded by French for over two months to be in a giant English bubble. One of the workers asked us if we were from Québec because we were speaking in French to Yoann. We said no, he asked us why we were speaking French then. "Ummmmm, we're in France?" was our reply. I think Yoann felt a little out of place, but it was really cute to see him order stuff in English, "Sank you!" (ie thank you, those darn "th" sounds...). The hostel was a little ways away from downtown and the beach, but Nice recently installed a tram that was SUPER nice and efficient, and the hostel had a shuttle running to the tram and back, so no biggie. We spent the first night down on the beach. Leah and I attempted salsa dancing at a salsa bar, but just ended up running into everyone.

The next day, we met Alex (an Aussie, of course), and the 6 of us walked around Nice for the day. We wandered through the flower market, ate some yummy lunch and then went to the beach. Cody, Yoann, and I braved the cold and jumped in the water! It was nothing compared to the polar plunge, but still a weeeee bit chilly! But how could you go the Mediterranean and not swim at least once! After that, we climbed up this big cliff which a sign described it as having the most beautiful panoramas in the world. I'd agree. The sun was setting and Nice is really just a beautiful city. Sea on one side, mountains on the other. It was perfect. After a stop for some ice cream, we headed back to the hostel for dinner. This hostel was awesome, really. I recommend it to anyone traveling to Nice. The dinner was super yummy (and cheap) and they have one euro beers at the bar! We played a really fun game of shoulders, and then went into downtown and wandered for a bit. And so ended our time in Nice.

Us with our Aussie friend

Des plus beaux panoramas du monde!

The next day, we headed back out on the road, putting our trust in Marie-Claire once again to get us to our next destination safely. We took a route that followed the coast pretty much, so it was a beautiful drive! I don't know how some of the houses don't fall of cliffs into the sea. We made a pit stop in Eze, home of a famous French perfumery. It also has a really cute old city on a hill, with more beautiful views of the Mediterranean. And a lot of nice cars. After that, we made another stop in Monaco. We wandered into a carnival, which was surprisingly a lot like a 4th of July carnival in the states. Complete with carnies. But, they were giving out Wiis as prizes......We also stopped in at the Monte Carlo Casino. At first, we didn't know if they would let us in, since we weren't high rollers, but we got to go into the slot machine room. We collectively put in 5 euros and took turns pulling the handle. My first gambling experience! And we lost. Yoann played on his own and won 6 euro though! Big money!!!!!!!

Then it was on to Italy. The drive there was through mountains and really twisty turny. Then when we got to Florence, it was even worse. ITALIANS! They are crazy drivers. There was so much traffic and no one cared about lanes. It took us maybe 45 minutes to drive one km. Yoann nearly had a heart attack (I did too). Of course, Marie-Claire decided to nap right as we got into the city, so we had no idea where we were going. It was a tense moment. Luckily, we found the hostel, got the car parked, and everyone was happy (ish, Yoann was still kinda stressed). We ate some pasta, and then walked around the city at night. Florence is such a beautiful city. The bridges, the churches, the statues! There's this statue/fountain of a boar that your supposed rub for good luck and put money in its mouth, which we all did. I think it worked, because I feel pretty lucky to be here :)

We did more wandering the next day, included going up to the top of this hill which gave a great view of the city. Leah, Larissa, and I went on a search for Leah's perfect boots, but it was unsuccessful. Instead, we just went into Chanel and pretended to be fancy. The one weird thing about Italy is that they have a cover charge in restaurants. So, not only are you paying for food, but you're paying to just be there. It was annoying. But the food is good, especially the tiramisu, so no worries. We did get ripped off (those italiens, ils profitent de la situation...) because we're tourists and don't know the language. We bought gelato, thought we were getting the 3 euro cups, only to be charged SIX EURO afterward. Yeah. Boooo. Thats-a lame-a itaaaalia. We were all exhausted so we went back to the hostel (which had free wi-fi and breakfast btw) and watched How I Met Your Mother on Cody's laptop.

Florence from above

Yummmmmmmy tiramisu

Final stop: Lyon. We drove the next day through the Alps and I saw my first REAL MOUNTAIN! I was super excited. We stopped at a gas station and took pics. My host family says I need to try skiing, which I've never done. If it means I get to touch a mountain with snow on top, I'm in! The mountains were just so beautiful. We got to Lyon pretty late, just in time to watch some Simpsons Halloween (in French) because it was Halloween after all, get some dinner, and then the Americans (Yoann slept) headed out to our dear friend, Sirius, the riverboat dance club. It was a ridiculous evening, to say the least. Leah and I sandwiched a random man, we all spoke in awful Italian accents the entire evening, and we danced home through the streets of Lyon. A fitting way to end the trip I'd say.

We got back to Rennes on Sunday and ate a really good dinner chez Yoann. His mom made chili con carne, which just makes me want some Mexican food! It was sad to end the trip, and after being with everyone for an entire week, it was really weird to get home and be by myself! Leah and I had a test the next day at school at 8:15AM (Merci, Guillaume Marbot....), which I probably did awfully on. Who knows a cheese that comes from the Alsace? Not me...

Since the road trip.....

I got back my first test. 15/20, not too bad! Leah said it transfers back as an A, so I'm pumped! Its actually been a lot of tests lately, I had one in history Thursday that was pretty much my only legit test since its about facts and dates, not just "what sort of roof do houses in the south of France have?" I think I did pretty well on it too, knock on wood. Its also been a week of birthdays! Thursday was Lucile and Leah's birthdays (Lucile = 6, Leah = 21). It was pretty hilarious because Leah was more excited for her birthday than Lucile. I had to remind Lucile that it was her birthday! So, on Thursday, Agathe and I dressed up in coats and hats and scarves and brought the cake upstairs to surprise Lucile. Agathe pretended she was a delivery person, and Lucile thought it was pretty funny. I got her some jewelery and her parents got her a chalk/marker board on an easel. She immediately opened the easel and started drawing! After dinner chez moi, I met up with Leah and Co. They were out for dinner at this nice pizza place. I showed up just in time to see them bring out this ice cream dessert with a giant sparkler! The birthday girl decided it was obligatoire to wear party hats, so we all were birthday-ed out. After dinner, we hung out at Mad Ave on Rue de la Soif, played some shoulders, had random Frenchies come up and wish Leah happy birthday (we were seated next to the bathroom, so it was a high traffic area). Some guy in a silver sequence cowboy hat tried to convince Leah that it was a rule to get naked, and he took off his shirt to prove his point. Leah still said no. We went dancing after, and they played JUMP AROUND! Of course, Leah, Larissa, Steph, Cody, and I were the only ones in the whole club who know what it was. We freaked!!!!!!! Made me miss Madison so much.

Yesterday was another birthday, this time Agathe, my other host sister. She turned 13 (teenager wooo!!!!). During the day, Leah, Larissa, and I went to Mont Saint Michel. Its this crazy island Abbey that's well protected by the tides. We went with our school, and my architecture professor was our guide. Somehow, she has access to places that aren't necessarily open to the public. She told us that now we know Mont Saint Michel better than most français because we've seen more than the average person. We got to climb up to the VERY TOP of the abbey, which was awesome! You could see all around. It was a climb though, up a winding spiral staircase and then a narrow stone one up way way way high. We also saw a second church for the 11th century that people don't get to see either. Visible in this church is a section of wall from the first church on the island, built in the 8th century, that pilgrims used to have to touch before being allowed to enter the big cathedrale. And, of course, Leah and I couldn't resist. We touched the wall too. The only problem was the weather! It was bizzare. It was sunny out. Then all of a sudden, it would pour and pour. Then 10 minutes later, sun. Then HAIL! Yes, hail. Then rain. Then sun. Then wind. Then sun. Etc etc etc. My feet were freezing the whole time. But it was definitely a neat place, pretty incredible to see. There's something magical about it.

From high above Mont Saint Michel

Shadow of the mountain

MSM VIPs!

For Agathe's birthday dinner, we ate raclette. Its sooooooooo delicous, and somehow all French people have a raclette set at home. Its basically just potatoes and cheese and charcutrie, and you melt the cheese over everything. Sooooo good. We also had cake (my second gâteau of the week), so by the end of the meal, I was about ready to explode! Agathe got a radio from her parents to put in her room and I gave her a gift card to H&M. I think she had a good birthday.

Quick last thing: I'm going to Budapest to visit Allison, my roommate from freshman year in two weeks!!!!!!! I can't wait!!!!!!!!!

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

Le Ping Pong

French people love ping pong.

Preuve #1:


This is an entire gym devoted SOLEY to ping pong. Its a salle de tennis de table (Ping Pong room). No basketball hoops or anything. You come, you play ping pong.

Preuve #2:


This boy was like 9 and played with the intensity of a 25 year old. They don't mess around.

Preuve #3:

This was one of the refs. Like I said they don't mess around.

To explain, one of the moniteurs (French students who are there to help us foreigners out) named Yoann plays ping pong in his hometown. He's on a table tennis team, and they have tournaments on the weekends against other towns. I went with my friend Cody to cheer him on this past Sunday and it was QUITE the experience. I never knew ping pong could be so intense. Lots of "Allez Allez Allez!" and random French swearing. Afterward, Cody and I ate dinner at Yoann's with his parents, who were very interested in learning English words, and seeing what we thought about politics (I was asked what I though about health care...I wouldn't even know what to say in English...). We also played some Wii Sports, which I kicked butt at :)

No way to not look awkward playing Wii

Saturday I went to La Forêt Brocéliande, which is rumored to be the location of the King Arthur myths. Merlin chilled in this forest with Lancelot, and there's even a place called Merlin's tomb. It sounds awesome, right? Well, we didn't really know what we were getting in to. Got dropped off in a random city called Paimpoint only to find out that everything awesome was about 9 miles away. Cool. And instead of being able to wander through the woods like flower children, we had to trudge down busy Road 38, complete with speeding semis! Though, I'll admit, the forest was SUPER pretty and it was nice to get out of the city. The town was small and full of random Arthur references, like Road of the knights of the round table, and a big metal cut out of Merlin. I guess its more fun if you go there with a car because you can get to all the stuff easily. All in all, it was a good day, nice weather, lots of trees.

Classes are in full swing. Most classes are two hours long though, which makes for a LONGGGG day.

A bientot mes amis.