Its funny because we were always taught in French class that Mardi Gras was a major holiday in France, and to be honest, it didn't seem like it was. Most of our professors talked to us about what Mardi Gras was and the traditions behind it. Of course first and foremost its the eve of Lent (le carême). The tradition in France is to get Crepes. We decided this was a very good choice and decided to follow that advice.
So yesterday was Mardi Gras and we went out for crepes. They were amazing. It was a tad bit expensive, but then again it was the very first time that we had gone to an actual sit down restaurant. It was quite refreshing. I had a galette for my dinner which is buckwheat, filled with goat cheese, sauteed onions, and poitrine fumee. Although i'm not exactly sure what kind of meat that was it was quite delicious. I longed to have another, but at the same time one galette is quite filling and we still had dessert to wait for. For dessert i got a crepe with mint ice-cream on it and melted chocolate. Needless to say I was quite satisfied when I had finished. I'm pretty sure this is a place that I will take my folks to in a few weeks when they're here. We finished off the night be going to our usual tuesday event Mardi Cafe (organized by the school to meet other students). It was actually quite successful because i talked with a few Japanese girls from my classes and go to know them a little better.
Today, however, is Ash Wednesday (le mecredi des cendres). I found a church close to where I live that I'm gonna to go to mass at tonight at 8 pm. I'm a little nervous about it, even though it is a Catholic mass, it'll be in French and I honestly don't know the words. But I'm going to try and follow along to be best of my ability. I am at a loss though for what I should do for lent; usually I give up something I enjoy (t.v., sweets, etc) but here thats hard to do. First i don't watch t.v., I hardly ever eat meat, and if I were to give up sweets and wine I would really be missing out here. I'm only in France to study once.... So I don't know what I should do. Just by being here I'm trying to develop as a person and get out of my comfort zone so I'm already doing things that I'm not normally at home such as being more outgoing, willing to try new things, optimistic, not worry as much, etc. And once it warms up I'm going to run. I know lent is a time of sacrifice, but my lifestyle here is so different from back home, that I have no idea what I should do...
Love to all
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Dinner with the girls and First excursion
These past few days have been quite exciting!!! This past week my host family was gone, and in all honesty it was kinda nice to be able to act myself and not have to worry about their schedules or anything. But it also allowed me to work on my cooking skills such as making savory crepes or grilling up a sausage and making pasta with it etc.
Friday night, we took advantage of the fact that my host family wasn't there. We decided to take the time and cook ourselves a nice dinner. So after buying groceries from the store we made our dinner: we had salad with this interesting kind of greens that looked like cloves, but also had tomatoes, bell peppers and pears. For a dressing it was oil and vinegar like the French. After that we had potatoes with onions and garlic that we amazing, and we seared some pork we marinated in a pan. It was delicious!!! For dessert we shared 4 kinds of little tartes and cakes we picked up from the Patiserie. All were good, but my favorite was the lemon tartelette. But we just spent the night eating, drinking wine, and enjoying each other's company.
Today was quite an enjoyable day. We headed out early to St. Malo which is located in the Bretagne region of France and on the Atlantic Coast. It was beautiful. Although the town was destroyed during World War 2, it was rebuilt to look identical to how it was prior. And the beaches! They were so nice! The weather was beautiful to go today. A little grey, but thats it. We then decided to try the regional specialaties. We went to a creperie and had galettes, which are a buckwheat crepe. In all honesty I prefer normal crepes, but they were good. We also tried the cider that the region is known for. It pretty much tasted like an alcoholic apple juice, which is what we expected. But we also tasted the two regional cakes; one was a custard one, the other was kinda like a round filo-dough with tons of butter and sugar. I prefered the second.
After that we headed to Mont St. Michel. This place is pretty well know because of the fact that during high tide it is an island, but during low tide you walk or drive to it. Its also built up pretty high so you get a nice view of the area. After St. Malo I was a tad bit dissapointed. It was really touristy, where St. Malo wasn't. But thats to be expected. The Abbey at the top was really pretty and the sights were great. I'm quite amazed at how they built it.
Pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024533&id=1195471084&l=5a4d8
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024637&id=1195471084&l=344f7
love to you
Friday night, we took advantage of the fact that my host family wasn't there. We decided to take the time and cook ourselves a nice dinner. So after buying groceries from the store we made our dinner: we had salad with this interesting kind of greens that looked like cloves, but also had tomatoes, bell peppers and pears. For a dressing it was oil and vinegar like the French. After that we had potatoes with onions and garlic that we amazing, and we seared some pork we marinated in a pan. It was delicious!!! For dessert we shared 4 kinds of little tartes and cakes we picked up from the Patiserie. All were good, but my favorite was the lemon tartelette. But we just spent the night eating, drinking wine, and enjoying each other's company.
Today was quite an enjoyable day. We headed out early to St. Malo which is located in the Bretagne region of France and on the Atlantic Coast. It was beautiful. Although the town was destroyed during World War 2, it was rebuilt to look identical to how it was prior. And the beaches! They were so nice! The weather was beautiful to go today. A little grey, but thats it. We then decided to try the regional specialaties. We went to a creperie and had galettes, which are a buckwheat crepe. In all honesty I prefer normal crepes, but they were good. We also tried the cider that the region is known for. It pretty much tasted like an alcoholic apple juice, which is what we expected. But we also tasted the two regional cakes; one was a custard one, the other was kinda like a round filo-dough with tons of butter and sugar. I prefered the second.
After that we headed to Mont St. Michel. This place is pretty well know because of the fact that during high tide it is an island, but during low tide you walk or drive to it. Its also built up pretty high so you get a nice view of the area. After St. Malo I was a tad bit dissapointed. It was really touristy, where St. Malo wasn't. But thats to be expected. The Abbey at the top was really pretty and the sights were great. I'm quite amazed at how they built it.
Pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024533&id=1195471084&l=5a4d8
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024637&id=1195471084&l=344f7
love to you
Monday, February 16, 2009
Past several days
The past several days have actually been quite busy.
Saturday was Valentine's Day and it was actually enjoyable. I met up with Cate, Piper and Emma downtown and we made a day of it. We shopped and I bought a new dress, a purse and a new wallet to hold euros which didn't fit properly in my last wallet. We then realized that it is impossible to have a late lunch in France; places are closed. So we decided to get bread, wine, cheese, salami and go to a chocolate shop for a special v-day treat. We headed back to Emma's and had a wonderful meal. The chocolates and company were amazing! I've found that the french don't really celebrate Valentine's Day. But I was also able to open my present from Chris. It was perfect!
Sunday was also enjoyable. We decided to go to the Musee des Beaux Arts d'Angers. Their permanant collection was actually really vast and enjoyable. But I like museums. I also met more of the "family" Its vacation in France right now so two of the sons were home. Both were nice, but then again I am a border in their house. Currently everyone is gone. Literally. I have the house to myself, and I'm really enjoying it. I can act normal and not have to worry as much. I made myself a delishious dinner. I bought crepes at the store and made them with salami, goat cheese, and aioli. But I accidently bought dessert crepes so there was a nice mix of sweet and salty, which I really enjoyed. For dessert I continued the feast of crepes and made a few with Nutella, which I"m liking more and more. Today the package came from my parents and it was such a nice little surprise. I loved it!
Thats all for now. Pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024533&id=1195471084&l=5a4d8
and
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024368&id=1195471084&l=a64fe
in both albums
love you all!
Saturday was Valentine's Day and it was actually enjoyable. I met up with Cate, Piper and Emma downtown and we made a day of it. We shopped and I bought a new dress, a purse and a new wallet to hold euros which didn't fit properly in my last wallet. We then realized that it is impossible to have a late lunch in France; places are closed. So we decided to get bread, wine, cheese, salami and go to a chocolate shop for a special v-day treat. We headed back to Emma's and had a wonderful meal. The chocolates and company were amazing! I've found that the french don't really celebrate Valentine's Day. But I was also able to open my present from Chris. It was perfect!
Sunday was also enjoyable. We decided to go to the Musee des Beaux Arts d'Angers. Their permanant collection was actually really vast and enjoyable. But I like museums. I also met more of the "family" Its vacation in France right now so two of the sons were home. Both were nice, but then again I am a border in their house. Currently everyone is gone. Literally. I have the house to myself, and I'm really enjoying it. I can act normal and not have to worry as much. I made myself a delishious dinner. I bought crepes at the store and made them with salami, goat cheese, and aioli. But I accidently bought dessert crepes so there was a nice mix of sweet and salty, which I really enjoyed. For dessert I continued the feast of crepes and made a few with Nutella, which I"m liking more and more. Today the package came from my parents and it was such a nice little surprise. I loved it!
Thats all for now. Pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024533&id=1195471084&l=5a4d8
and
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024368&id=1195471084&l=a64fe
in both albums
love you all!
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Irish Pub: Inishmore
Thanks to Piper's list of places to try, we found the Irish pub in town. Yes, thats right. Its a real Irish pub in Angers. Its ran by and Irishman who speaks very little French and has no desire to learn it. When we walked in Irish "rock" music was placing and most of us decided to order Guiness on tap. It was good! Most of the other beers, on tap were also Irish, 90% of which I have never heard of. Friday nights at Inishmore consisted of Frenchmen and women coming in to speak English with the bartender/owner and listen to live music in the form of 2 acoustic guitars and some sort of flute whistle instrument. Overall it was an enjoyable night and will be repeated!
Loves <3>
Loves <3>
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Getting into the swing of things
I have successfully gone to all of my classes at least once. Yesterday (tuesday) was my busy day of the week. I had Langue in the morning and it wasn't too bad. We did various activities with an excerpt from the story of Cinderella (Cendrillon), with activities such as listening to it to see what we understand, to talking about it, to finishing the story in pairs etc. Within all of this we worked on our speaking skills and grammar skills. I think I'll like this class. My professor is really nice and helpful if I have a problem. AFter that I went to my French culture class. Its mostly going to be a discussion class on why French do things certain ways, whether in work, daily life, politics etc. I think its going to be one of my favorite classes. We get to choose the themes for the class. It'll be a lot of information, but I think i'll learn a heck of a lot from it. AFter that I had my favorite class thus far: History of France. This teacher is really awesome. She lectures then does a pretty elaborate outline on the board, and whatever is written on the board is on our exams. But also she speaks well and is easy to understand. We're starting with the revolution which is always interesting. Later last night I had my writing class. I think it'll be ok. The main purpose of the class is actually to be able to read the newspapers and understand what is being said. It'll be a useful class but I honestly don't like things like that. Today I only had one class; 20th century French lit. We'll see how this one goes.... we're starting with poetry for the next month, and i really do not like poetry. And we're also starting with Apollinaire, who I really don't like. We read a few of his poems in the intro to lit class and they just went over my head. He likes to make poems in shapes. Literally. For example one poem was in the shape of an apple. Not fun. Overall my classes should be good and I'll have hardly any homework except in lit probably. Not bad at all.
Last night was also the first "mardi cafe". This is put on by the school...kinda. What it is, is every tuesday night, a bunch of the foreign students meet up at a bar and just mingle. Its supported and advertised by the school. Its actually kinda nice because its a way to get out and see more of Angers, but also to meet people that aren't in my classes. I went last night with some friends and had fun. I had two drinks; both of which i really enjoyed. The first was called "une twist" what is consisted of was a lemon syrup i believe and Kronenbourge (sp?). It was actually really good. The other drink was a mojito. It was actually the first time, I had ever had one and I really enjoyed it. They were on special, and I'm glad I tried it.
This morning I walked and finished getting my school supplied (except text books), and some food for the rest of the week. To be honest, I get kinda tired of having to walk everywhere. I would love to just be able to drive there, anywhere but thats really not going to happen for another 4 months. I must be lazy, or just want instant gratification.
now some randomness:
I find it amusing that French people park their cars on the sidewalks. I can see how its convienent but its not quite that convient when you're walking and have to walk in the street.
I miss diet coke. Coca lite is nooooooooooooooooooooot the same! Its like coke zero and is not satifying.
I picked up my ticket this morning for the first excursion! Its to Mont St Michel. If you have no idea what it is, google it. Mont St. Michel is probably one of the coolest places in France. Its a day trip, and totally worth it. I'm planning on taking a ton of pictures.
I miss being able to watch The Office. I can't get it online here, because apparently nbc can tell that I'm in France and can't broadcast there... lame.
I'm pretty sure that people here can tell I"m foreign. Most likly from the fact that I don't wear grey and black all the time. No joke. French people love those colors I think. I'm used to wearing bright colors and my pink coat is probably what makes me stand out. And maybe the fact that I wore a yellow shirt today.
Thats about all.
Loves to all :)
Last night was also the first "mardi cafe". This is put on by the school...kinda. What it is, is every tuesday night, a bunch of the foreign students meet up at a bar and just mingle. Its supported and advertised by the school. Its actually kinda nice because its a way to get out and see more of Angers, but also to meet people that aren't in my classes. I went last night with some friends and had fun. I had two drinks; both of which i really enjoyed. The first was called "une twist" what is consisted of was a lemon syrup i believe and Kronenbourge (sp?). It was actually really good. The other drink was a mojito. It was actually the first time, I had ever had one and I really enjoyed it. They were on special, and I'm glad I tried it.
This morning I walked and finished getting my school supplied (except text books), and some food for the rest of the week. To be honest, I get kinda tired of having to walk everywhere. I would love to just be able to drive there, anywhere but thats really not going to happen for another 4 months. I must be lazy, or just want instant gratification.
now some randomness:
I find it amusing that French people park their cars on the sidewalks. I can see how its convienent but its not quite that convient when you're walking and have to walk in the street.
I miss diet coke. Coca lite is nooooooooooooooooooooot the same! Its like coke zero and is not satifying.
I picked up my ticket this morning for the first excursion! Its to Mont St Michel. If you have no idea what it is, google it. Mont St. Michel is probably one of the coolest places in France. Its a day trip, and totally worth it. I'm planning on taking a ton of pictures.
I miss being able to watch The Office. I can't get it online here, because apparently nbc can tell that I'm in France and can't broadcast there... lame.
I'm pretty sure that people here can tell I"m foreign. Most likly from the fact that I don't wear grey and black all the time. No joke. French people love those colors I think. I'm used to wearing bright colors and my pink coat is probably what makes me stand out. And maybe the fact that I wore a yellow shirt today.
Thats about all.
Loves to all :)
Monday, February 9, 2009
First Day of Classes
Today we received the results of our exams from last week. I scored 325, and I'm really pleased about it. Its in the middle near the top and its a nice place to be. However, I have to take 18 hours while i'm here. Its not going to be sooo bad but it'll be ok. The classes I'm taking are Langue, a basic French language class, History of France which is from the revolution to WW2, a composition class, 20th century literature, and a modern French culture class
Right now here is my schedule:
Monday: Langue 10h15-12h15, Histoire de France 14h30-1530 (2:30-3:30)
Tuesday: Langue 9h -11h10, Culture class 11h15-12h15, Histoire de France 13h30-15h30 (1:30-3:30), Composition 18h-19h (6:00-7:00)
Wednesday: Literature 14h30-15h30 (2:30-3:30)
Thursday: Langue 8h-10h, literature 13h30-15h30 (1:30-3:30), compostion 17h-18h (5:00-6:00)
Friday: Culture Class 8h-10h, composition 14h30-15h30 (2:30-3:30)
So thats it. Not too horrible, except that class until 7 pm...
For some reason, I had a fit of homesickness. I really hate when that happens. Its probably one of the worst feelings in the world to miss someone. Because you feel helpless, and I'm trying really hard to not have that. All I want right now are hugs from my parents, my brother, my best friends, and my boyfriend.
well thats about it.
loves to all
Right now here is my schedule:
Monday: Langue 10h15-12h15, Histoire de France 14h30-1530 (2:30-3:30)
Tuesday: Langue 9h -11h10, Culture class 11h15-12h15, Histoire de France 13h30-15h30 (1:30-3:30), Composition 18h-19h (6:00-7:00)
Wednesday: Literature 14h30-15h30 (2:30-3:30)
Thursday: Langue 8h-10h, literature 13h30-15h30 (1:30-3:30), compostion 17h-18h (5:00-6:00)
Friday: Culture Class 8h-10h, composition 14h30-15h30 (2:30-3:30)
So thats it. Not too horrible, except that class until 7 pm...
For some reason, I had a fit of homesickness. I really hate when that happens. Its probably one of the worst feelings in the world to miss someone. Because you feel helpless, and I'm trying really hard to not have that. All I want right now are hugs from my parents, my brother, my best friends, and my boyfriend.
well thats about it.
loves to all
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Du Vin
Last night was quite an enjoyable evening. Piper, Kate, Aric, Emma and I got together; we went to the monoprix and bought some things to eat and two bottles on wine. One white, one red. We went to the Place du Ralliement, which is almost the center of downtown; sat and ate our food. Shared the bottles of wine and just enjoyed ourselves. It was fun to just relax (in the cold) and get to know each other a bit more.
We decided to try a few places that Piper had learned about by recommendation. We first went to Le Cercle Rouge, which is a wine bar. It was small and quaint, and quite fun. We shared a bottle of wine, with the agreement that we would only speak French while in the there. That agreement was only met about half the time. After that we went to another place not to far off that was filled with French men and woman as well. Overall, it was nice to get away from the american populated bars, and try something French. Thats the whole point of the trip, right?
I'm slowly learning to enjoy wine. At the moment I like whites, the Riesling we had last night was pretty good. Its a tad bit sweeter and not as dry. But the red we had at le Cercle Rouge was really good too! By the time I leave France, I should have (fingers crossed) have a good idea of which wines I like and don't like. I am most definetly keeping the cork from the very first bottle I bought (also the first legal drink I bought). It'll be weird to return to the U.S. and not be able to buy alcohol or drink freely and not have people question my age.
loves to all
We decided to try a few places that Piper had learned about by recommendation. We first went to Le Cercle Rouge, which is a wine bar. It was small and quaint, and quite fun. We shared a bottle of wine, with the agreement that we would only speak French while in the there. That agreement was only met about half the time. After that we went to another place not to far off that was filled with French men and woman as well. Overall, it was nice to get away from the american populated bars, and try something French. Thats the whole point of the trip, right?
I'm slowly learning to enjoy wine. At the moment I like whites, the Riesling we had last night was pretty good. Its a tad bit sweeter and not as dry. But the red we had at le Cercle Rouge was really good too! By the time I leave France, I should have (fingers crossed) have a good idea of which wines I like and don't like. I am most definetly keeping the cork from the very first bottle I bought (also the first legal drink I bought). It'll be weird to return to the U.S. and not be able to buy alcohol or drink freely and not have people question my age.
loves to all
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