Study Abroad in Angers, France

The Beaches of Normandy

2009-11-23T10:26:00.002+01:00

Sunday November 22

A Typical Dinner Buffenoir Style

2009-11-23T10:25:00.011+01:00

Wednesday November 18

Ok, so living with a host family has been hands down the best part of being in France. We don't get to spend a lot of time together but I adore my family nonetheless. One of the most memorable parts of living with the Buffenoirs has been their classically french dinner parties, so I thought I'd tell you how it's done Buffenoir style.

Company usually arrives about 7:30, always carrying some sort of gift for the host, this evening it was my program director and his wife and one of our neighbors, which made for a party of 8. The night begins in the living room (that night my dad had even built a fire in the fireplace) We sit in the living room, drinking either a sparkling white wine/champagne or sometimes an aperitif alcohol- always served in the appropriate glasses depending on what we're drinking :) Snacks are passed around and the only critera is that they be some sort of bread based snack. In the past I've had bread pieces with melted cheese, covered with foie gras, salty crackers, pretzel sticks etc. The drinking/eating/breaking of the ice in the living room usually lasts about an hour and half, so by the time we sit down to dinner it's nearly 9 pm.

My host parents always consider the seating arrangement very careful, intermixing men and women and students and adults- not like the American's exiling the kids to a kids table :) The first course can vary a lot, that night it was greens covered in vinaigrette, a mini egg souffle and strips of smoked salmon. Bread is always passed around and must be kept on the table to the left side of your plate- don't worry about crumbs. The woman of the household is in charge of serving/refilling the water glasses while the man does the same for the wine. That night my dad brought out a double sized bottle- I think it's called a magnum- of wine that he had bought in 1985....props to drinking something older than I am. The second course was a spiced chicken vegetable stew that was served over rice. I don't know how they manage it but the conversation seems to cover nearly every topic, from something rather serious to a story that will have everyone in tears laughing. Next comes the dessert- apple compote filled puff pastries (a secret recipe of my host mom) served with vanilla ice cream. After all the dessert plates have been cleared come a round of coffee or tea for anyone interested. Next is some sort of an alcoholic digestif, depending on what my host dad decides to immerge from the alcohol cabinet. By this time we have spent nearly 2/2.5 hours at the dinner table and the party is moved back into the living room. A bit more conversation later and the goodbyes begin- it usually takes a good 30 minutes or so to make if from standing up and putting on coats to actually seeing the guests walk out the door. Overall it makes for some of the greatest 4 and even 5 hour evenings that I've ever had- full of warm conversation, great food and wonderful people who have so graciously welcomed me into their home.

Chapter Next: The one in which Ireland steals my heart.

2009-11-23T10:25:00.010+01:00

Saturday November 14

Ok. Ready to wrap up this Irish vacation and tell you about the most recent one :)

Our last day in Ireland we decided to go to the lovely village of Glendalough. We got up early and ran through the pouring rain for like 30 minutes to make it to the bus station. The bus ride out there was about 2 hours long and the scenery might possibly have been the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Honestly, Ireland combines the two places I love most in the world- the mountains of colorado, with the rolling fields of Missouri. I got chills just driving through the countryside and felt like a part of my heart already belonged there. The fields are placed in each mountain valley and everything is the most alive shade of green- even in the middle of November. Driving out we probably saw several thousand sheep- which the boys still couldn't get enough of- and enough beauty to last a lifetime. Trigg tried to take some pictures through the bus windows so when I find them I'll make sure they get posted.

We arrived at Glendalough, a sort of village/state park, and had several hours to explore. The main attraction are the ruins of a old monastic city. Several buildings including a tower are still standing along with an extensive graveyard full of mossy tombstones tucked into every corner. We explored for a little bit, but not really feeling like a history lesson when the rain had (finally!) stopped, we set out to explore the rest of the valley. About half way through our time, the boys decided it would be pretty much the coolest thing ever to try and climb one of the mountains along side the valley. I, being clearly smarter and more rational, did not want to spend my last 2 hours sloshing up a muddy, tree-covered, mountainside just to have one good view at the end, so we decided to split up. Predictably the boys said they spend about 1.5 hours in the forest hoppy fences and getting royally muddy but they did enjoy making it to the top.

I on the other hand decided to explore some of the extensive trails surrounding the park. I even hit up the visitors center to ask for a nice loop that would take a bit more than an hour to hike. I eventually headed up the mountainside on, get this, a dry and well -graveled path, to find one of the park's many waterfalls. I spent two perfect hours just hiking in some of the most beautiful countryside I'd ever seen with only the sounds of nature to keep me company. Needless to say I was blissfully happy, took entirely too many pictures, and vowed to come back some day for a much longer hiking/camping trip.

So after meeting up with the muddy boys- we caught our bus back to Dublin - and set out for the evening. It happened to be the night of the soccer final between Ireland and France so the city was absolutely packed! It felt like we hadn't even left France so many people had flown up for the game. We met up with about 8 other ND kids in my program who were also visiting Dublin/London and we settled into a cute pub to watch the game. France won but the Irish were very good sports and we all had a great time sitting around and watching. I had some Irish cider, which turns out to taste more like beer than cider- but it was a great end to our last day in Ireland.

Chapter Second: Fish and Chips

2009-11-17T19:24:00.017+01:00

Friday November 13

Okay- so day two did not start out so hot when I had to put on my still wet shoes, but I was cheered quite a bit by Kyle's promise of delicious fish and chips for lunch because we were headed to a seaside town. After about a 40 minute train ride with beautiful views of the ocean we arrived in the very small town of Bray. It was- (get pumped!) only misting so we spent some time wandering along the beautiful pebble beaches enjoying the scenery. Ireland is a country of both mountains and beaches so we set our sights on the small mountain/really big hill that was in the distance. Clearly the boys wanted to hike it, ok I did too - minus the fact that it was ridiculously muddy- so we started up hoping to beat the rain.

It took us about an hour and a half to get to the top, stopping each little bit to enjoy the ever improving views of the city below. I was able to appreciate the rain only for the fact that it keeps the country gorgeously green even mid-way through November. We hiked through some almost fairytale-like clearings covered with green ivy and trees in full autumn glory.
A little bit of whining (obviously on my part) and some very muddy shoes later we made it to the top. I took entirely too many pictures- pretty much all of the same panorama- but I am going to try to splice some of them together. I did force the boys to take a picture of me so Mom wouldn't complain that there were no people in my pictures (I'm so good to you). Eventually we decided to head back down- via a farmer's field where I could not pry the boys away from looking at the sheep- seriously, the city boys wanted to jump the fence and catch one they were so fascinated.

By that time I had worked up quite a nice hiking appetite so we asked a local where the best fish and chips were sold. A few short minutes later I was holding a shiny silver bag generously filled with fresh from the sea cod and perfectly cooked potato wedges, coated in more salt and vinegar than one person should eat in a week, needless to say I was perfectly happy. We actually ate our delicious lunch at the home of a friend we knew in Bray- she had been a monitrice (kind of like teaching assistant) during our September session- and she told us if we were ever in Ireland to come visit. It was pretty funny to have a conversation with her were we the teachers and she the language student and we had a great time catching up. At that point it was (clearly) raining, more like pouring, so we braved the 30 minute walk back to the train station and headed back to Dublin. After not nearly enough time to dry off at the college we set out in search of a pub with live music, shockingly not a hard feat in Ireland. The place where we ended up had a lot of tourists but a great group with Guitar, violin and accordion. The singer had the thickest Irish accent ever and was full of delightfully so-stupid-they're-funny jokes. I put a video up on my picasa page if your interested :) .....So, at the end of 2 days we'd already covered: meat and potatoes, guinness, fish and chips, and a traditional Dublin pub- not bad for the Irish vacation checklist...on to day 3.

Chapter First: Dublin

2009-11-17T19:24:00.013+01:00

Thursday November 12

Ok- So all I have to say is it rains in Ireland, a LOT. The first day we just spent walking around Dublin and got completely soaked in the process. We were staying with Trigg's friend Kyle who is also a Notre Dame student studying abroad in Dublin. He played tour guide for us, showing us the main sights of the city and explaining quite a bit of the history. I especially enjoyed visiting the beautiful Trinity college- if it had had more grass it might even have been as pretty as Notre Dame :-o And it's definitely true that there is a pub everywhere you look in Ireland- nearly every other buliding even- and each one seemed to have it's own unique charm.

Afters several hours of sightseeing- which included many rides on the famous double decker buses which comprise the main system of public transportation- we ended up at Phoenix park. It had stopped raining for a few precious moments and we were able to get life-threateningly close to some swans- I kid you not, and we goofed around on a really huge monument in part of the park. We had no luck finding 4-leaf clovers and when the rain inevitable returned we decided to call it a day and head home.

On the way we stopped at a pub for dinner where we were served- no joke- 7 different types of potatoes on one plate to go along with a healty portion of meat. I had my first sip of Guinness, and predictably, it tasted almost as gross as all other beer...I don't think I'll ever be converted. So there you go- first day in Ireland was pretty low key. We did enjoy once again being in an English speaking country and discovered several delightful Irish colloquialisms including saying "cheers" as sort of a thanks/goodbye - but more than anything we just got wet.

An Irish Vacation: An exercise in public transportation.

2009-11-17T19:24:00.011+01:00

Wednesday November 11

Ok. So Wednesday was always supposed to be a travel day. Trigg and I were headed to Ireland and we had bought plane tickets from Beauvais airport and train tickets from Angers to Beauvais. Silly us, we had thought that this meant only two legs of travel that day. Boy were we wrong.

While waiting in the Angers station for our train I realized that our tickets listed a layover in Paris of an hour- ok, not something we planned on but whatever. Our train left at about 2:00 pm and thanks to its wonderfully speed we were in paris by 4:00. At that point we realized our tickets listed Gare du Nord as the departure station for our second train, where is the Gare du Nord you ask? Why all you have to do is take the 4 metro line 8 stops north...easy enough right? Well after our first experience- thank goodness successful- with the Paris metro we made it to Gare du Nord and boarded our second train and 3rd leg of the journey.

When they train dropped us off at around 6:30 we were expecting to emerge into the large crowded airport of Beauvais.....clearly this was not our day, and we discovered that we were indeed at Beauvais but at the train station only- how do you get to the airport you ask? Well all you have to do is take the 4 euro shuttle.....too bad we missed it by one minute and had to wait an hour and twenty minutes for the next.

Finally after our 4th leg of the journey we arrived at the airport- only to find it the busiest place in paris at 8:00 at night- it took us nearly 2 hours to get through tne lines for passports and security. We finally got on our 10:30 flight to Ireland haggard and swearing to never fly out of Beauvais again- with the added bonus of having to take a bus to where we would be staying upon our arrival. Thank goodness for once again being in an English speaking country because I made friends with the nice grandpa sitting next me and he offered to give us a ride because his wife was picking him up and would be driving right past the college where we were staying. Turns out they were both wonderful people and kept us entertained throughout the 30 minute drive to the college. I was overjoyed to finally stop moving, my stomach absolutely could not take anymore because I get motion sickness nearly every time I enter a moving vehichle.

Lesson learned- if you ever want to take 6 legs of transportation in one day- train, metro, train, shuttle, plane, car, feel free to fly out of the Beauvais airport....no thanks, maybe that's why the tickets were only 20 euros?

A Weekend in the Vendée Region

2009-11-17T19:22:00.010+01:00

So let me tell you how this mini-vacation started. All we knew was: 1. We were going to the Vendée region of France for the weekend. 2. ....yup, actually that was pretty much it before showing up to meet the bus Friday evening when we learned 2. Our director did not know the plan for the weekend 3. Due to unforeseen circumstances he would not be accompanying us. So there you go- The 20 of us got on a bus, with an unknown hired bus driver prepared to depart for an unknown location with no adult supervision...what did we do? Well, I curled up and went to sleep- at least I would be well rested when we got off the bus and were sold into servitude.
Alright, so, exaggerations beside, we arrived at a rather abandoned looking parking lot 3 hours later- by which point night had fallen and it was pouring down rain. DE-lightful. But lo ho ho - a very nice looking french man popped his head into our bus, much too excited for that time of the night, and explained to us why we were there. Actually all he told us was that his daughter had studied abroad at Notre Dame the previous year and had absolutely loved it. He then proceeded to call the names of my classmates one by one- who, upon exiting the bus, were swept up by trench-coated, umbrella toting, French and quickly chauffered away from sight. Not creepy at all right?....well I'm happy to say that I, upon being called last, was met by a very sweet looking woman who promptly took me out of the rain and to her wonderfully cozy home. I learned on the ride over that we would each be spending the weekend with a family in the region who had volunteered to host an American - and each family would be planning their own itinerary of festivities.

Her family the Jolly's consisted of 16 year old Barbara, 13 year old Lise and 9 year old Robin - her husband, and....wait for it....a dog AND a kitty! Needlessly to say I made myself instantly at home in front of the fire with a kitten curled up in my lap while the rain poured outside. The remainder of the evening was very relaxed the family didn't deviate at all from it's normal routine and I felt like I belonged perfectly. Barbara had given her room to me for the weekend and I was in heaven with a big soft bed, personal bathroom and computer with internet - not to mention a late night visit from the doggy.

After a light breakfast in the morning Mme Jolly had to do grocery shopping in town so she dropped me and Barbara and Lise off at the beach. We walked along the shore front of the little town with a big name, Saint Gilles Croix-de-Vie, and spent a delightful few hours chasing seagulls and (me) taking entirely too many pictures of really pretty sail boats. The girls talked really fast so I couldn't understand everything- but we got along great even with my minimal talking (can you believe it!)

When Mme Jolly picked us back up it was just like spending a normal day in a french family. We dropped Barbara off at dance practice and Robin at soccer, and she took Lise and I to the the neighboring town of Les Sables. We took another beautiful beach stroll and watched the kite surfers for a bit. On the way home we caught the tail end of Barbara's dance practice before Mme Jolly brought us home for lunch- uber duber super fresh salmon and sole fish. It was still whole- but she scraped off the skin and flayed off all the yummy meat for us- delicious!
Afterward we had very low key afternoon- I sat by the fire and got a bit of reading done for class with Robin intermittently explaining french pokemon cards to me. That evening we went out to an authentic Vendée restaurant and had a fabulous family meal. Afterward I went with Barbara to a soiree with her dancer friends. They were crazy hyper and talked SO INCREDIBLY FAST that I probably only understood like 20% of the words but it was fun to laugh with them at their own silliness. The night was well spent but it was great to go home, snuggle with the kitty and go to bed a bit early.

We woke a bit earlier on Sunday because I had to leave around 2:00. Since I had told them how much I loved the beach and the ocean Mr. Jolly offered to take all of the kids on another beach walk. We drove a bit farther away to some higher beach-side cliffs where the wind blew like I've never seen in my life. It was absolutely incredible to be walking along the cliffs, barely able to hear anything but the wind and the waves crashing against the rocks. There were a few spots were you could descend and get as close to the waves as you dared and I took some really great pictures.

When we got home Mme Jolly had prepared a classic fruits-de-mer sampling for us. (seafood) I was surprisingly quite exciting to try everything she offered to me-even though some of it looked quite dangerous. I was even more surprised at how much I enjoyed everything- it's a good thing they didn't tell me before at that it was almost all raw and some were even still ALIVE. Just to give you an idea they taught me how to eat raw oysters and how to remove these scary looking creatures called bigorneau from their spiral shells. There were also shrimp and langostines- served cold- to eat along with some mayo and other sauces. The oysters were probably my favorite, but the most interesting experience was trying to eat these difficult little suckers called palourdes. Apparently you were just supposed to slide your knife along the crack between the two shell halves and pry it open. Try as I might I could not do- until Mr. Jolly told me the secret- you have to use you knife very quickly and actually take the little creature by surprise or it will tense up and clamp it's shell tightly together-talk about having to be smarter than your lunch. The seafood was all so fresh that we had to even pour off some extra seawater and sand that had snuck its way into the shells- just overall an incredible experience that I will never forget.
When the family drove me back to the bus that afternoon it was like a mini reunion with all the ND kids. It was amazing to see how quickly everyone had bonded with their families- I don't think we could have found a more gracious or good humored bunch of people. I could have honestly stayed with them for the rest of my time in France (do I say that about everywhere I visit here?) I regretfully said goodbye to the girls- never fear we are already great friends on facebook- and hugged Mr and Mrs Jolly. They sent me off with lots of presents from the Vendée- caramels, a brioche, chocolates shaped like anchovies, and a half-oyster shell freshly washed from my deluxe seafood lunch. The ride home was pretty much everyone talking a mile a minute about how incredible their families were and lots of really cute stories.....so I didn't get sold into servitude, but instead spent of the best weekends so far in France. :) missing the Jolly family already. R.

L'Abbaye de Solesmes

2009-11-17T19:21:00.004+01:00

November 1st

This abbey has to be one of my favorite excursions that been on so far. One of our priests from Notre Dame, who is fluent in French, was in Angers for the Simone Weil conference and organized this trip for the ND students. We piled into the bus rather early because it was a longish drive and we had to make it in time for Sunday mass. I don't know if any of you have been to high mass in Latin before, this was only my third or so time, but it is one of the most beautiful things in the world. The mass was really for the monks in the heart of the church but they open up the very long, very thin aisle for the community to be in attendance. The specialty of these monks, and has been since the 1800's, is their absolute dedication to the Gregorian chant and its preservation. The entire mass was done in their beautiful plain chant and I've never heard anything so beautiful. It made mass feel like one continual perfectly sung prayer with no gaps or transitions between the parts. They also combined the noon hour of prayer, Sext, with mass which was even more beautiful. Anyway, if you're interested I loved it so much that I bought two CD's of their chant -I'm actually giving them as a present- but Kurt will let me burn you a copy if you want.
After mass we met up with the monk in charge of most of the welcoming of tours. He lead us around the cloisters to a small building where we could eat our picnic lunch. It was pouring rain outside so he built us a fire and pulled out not a small number of their bottles of homemade wine. While he had to return to his duties for a while, we ate and enjoyed the fire and the company of Father Driscoll and his wonderful stories.

When he returned he brought us supplies to make coffee- which we accepted gladly- while he spoke and answered our questions for nearly 2 hours on the monastic life and their specific way of life at the abbey. The rain outside combined with the warm fire and his beautiful welcoming spirit made me feel right at home and like I'd known him for years. I did venture out a bit in the rain to take some pictures of the abbey. It's situated right along a river and the colorful fall foilage made the whole place beautifully picturesque.

The last little highlight of the day was inside another welcoming room at the abbey. They have a certain number of beds allotted to travelers each night and it just so happened that a youth a cappella choir from France was staying there. Their instructor gave us a very detailed explanation of the school and their mission- it is apparently one of the most prestigious choirs in France- and he let us listen to one of their rehearsals. It was without a doubt one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. These young kids, who looked like every other french teenager, had the strongest most pure voices I've ever heard. The acoustics of the building were perfect and just their small group of about 10 students filled the room with perfect harmonies- it honestly gave me chills. We were all reluctant to leave- everyone seemed as transfixed by their music as I was- but we finally tore ourselves away.

On one last note, I've decided I'm moving right next door to that monastery. I even found the perfect house right across the street from the church so I can skip over for mass any time I want. I promise you won't blame me when you see this house that is for sale- you can even come visit if you want. So if I don't show in December, you will find me with the monks, spending my life listening to their incredible music.

Isn't Time Funny?

2009-11-17T19:19:00.002+01:00

16 October 2009

So just a random story that made me laugh...Kurt is leaving Notre Dame today to fly to Arizona and hike the Grand Canyon for a week with his family. He is going to call me around 1:00pm before he leaves - 6:00pm my time. He will then fly to Phoenix, going from Eastern time to Mountain time and making the time difference 8 hours instead of 6. However, Phoenix does not observe daylight savings time so it will actually be 9 hours. So, when he arrives in Arizona- around midnight- he will call me and it will be 9:00am my time. In case you didn't follow all of that he will call me twice in one of his days and reach me in the early evening of one day and then the bright morning of another...isn't time funny?

Ps. I discovered that France does actually observe DST but it falls back a different weekend than the US (how confusing!) So for one week the time difference will only be 5 hours but will then return to 6. Just in case you were wondering :)

October 4th- 24th I promise it was boring....

2009-11-17T19:18:00.000+01:00

Ok, So honestly I did pretty much nothing noteworthy during these three weeks except school. The first week consisted of picking out our classes- we had to take another placement test and despite my actual trying to do mediocre they placed me in the higest level of French. Basically this means that I have to write a 3000 word memoir on a topic in daily French life- two thumbs down. I can tell you now that I've chosen French retirement/nursing homes so I've been visiting really old people and collecting stories for my paper- it's due in 2.5 weeks and I have about 400 words, great.

Ok- after week one we had to choose definitively our schedule and start attending classes. I am taking 6 hours a week of required language class- we basically talk about our memoire, take written and oral exams, and are right now in the middle of reading a novel.

I am also taking history of France- with a rather adorable professor who smiles at the most nerdy things and knows more about French history than any one person should. I've been busy cramming my head full of about a thousand people named Clovis/Charles/Louis and lots of germanic tribes and kings.

History of Art is with an amazing firery read-headed woman who must weigh 80 pounds wet but is typically artsy and knows how to make a class interesting. We are covering pretty much every time period of art ever starting with Prehistory- with megaliths (which I saw and wrote a post about) and cave paintings- and continuing on through roman, romanesqe and gothic art/architecture. We talked about some beautiful illuminated manuscripts and the architecture involved with a typical roman city. Right now we are working on churches and I am wishing I had time to visit all these great sights.

English to French Translation is probably my hardest class- we take english texts and painstakingly translate them to french, considering multiple options for every single word and discussing which would be the best choice. Our teacher is incredible though, he is french and probably knows english better than I do.

My last class is Grammar where we cover random topics that most foreigners find difficult about french- we spent the first few weeks just talking about prepositions- probably one of the most frustrating aspects of the french language, and have now moved on to the three main past tenses- making prepositions seem easy.

So I had two weeks of just going to classes and not a lot of work at the beginning. We didn't have any orgainised excursions but there were a few rather disappointing ND football watches thrown in (don't laugh Jamie) I had some great dinners with my host family, including one where we invited the neighbors and it lasted 5 hours! I'm not kidding. I honestly can't remember anything else to write home about during that time and I'd rather tell you what's going on now so I'm going to leave it at that. Sorry for getting so far behind. Hoping to be all caught up by Thursday :) Love, R.

Last 2 Days in Africa

2009-11-17T18:53:00.002+01:00

October 2 & 3rd.

Ok, so the last 2 days weren't nearly as packed as the first, and we were starting to get a bit worn out from vacation so things went at a much slower pace. On Friday we went to Morocco's version of a botanical garden, which is basically more varieties of cacti than you can possibly imagine. I don't know how I have successfully killed two terrariums of cacti in a row (hopefully mom is working her magic on my 3rd try right now) while these people can grow 20 foot tall monstrosities. Anyway- we just walked around the gardens for a bit before heading to a Moroccan palace. The palace was nothing like the French or Spanish varieties- absolutely no furniture and the ceilings were the only highly decorated portions- the walls were completely white. Not terribly impressive but we appreciated it nonetheless. We hit the souks again for a bit more bargaining and headed home to rest up before dinner. Our tour guides from the day before had yet again proposed to us an evening spectacle. In hindsight they built it up to be a lot cooler than it was but I'll tell you anyway.

That evening they picked us up in their van and drove us to the outskirts of town to a strip of large resort-ish things. We were seated in a beautiful multi-colored tent, partial open to the outside, surrounded by many small fires and costumed Moroccans playing drums and other instruments. It was basically Africa's equivalent of a dinner theater and throughout the night they piled our table with amazing food while dancers, fire breathers, and musicians filed through the tents performing. The highlight for me was definitely the ENORMOUS haunch of goat that they pretty much plopped in the middle of our table. They didn't give us any silverware but instructed us to eat it Moroccan style- with our fingers. We were all ridiculously hungry and probably looked rather scary tearing into that giant hunk of meat. There were also some wonderfuly spiced cous-cous dishes which in all their glory comprised an entire dinner course. After tea and dessert there was one final horseback performance outdoors with lots of random gun shooting and whooping. There was another appearance by camels and the chance to ride them again but the line was too long. The part that we didn't really enjoy was that they specifically told us we had to tip the dancers and our driver even though we had paid an all-inclusive already too-expensive price. We decided to let it go though and called the evening a success.

We had an afternoon flight on Saturday so we decided to use our last morning, suprise, exploring the souks. There were a few last minute purchases and shady encounters with locals in back alleys. At one point I turned around to find a snake (I found out later it was wooden) being thrust in my face. Needless to say I screamed and ran about halfway through the souks before the rest of the group caught up with me. Just prior to that I had left the stall of a vendor who was unwilling to give me the price I asked for, mid-way through tears and being comforted the same vendor came back trying to finalize the purchase. He thought I was crying about our unsuccessful bargaining and gave me the price I wanted on the spot- so if you're really dedicated you can add crying on command to the list of how to bargain in Morocco. Finally with the day halfway spent we returned to our hotel to check out. There was a brief panic when all of the girls crap didn't fit in our backbacks but we resolved this by making the boys each carry an extra bag :) One still-rather-scary taxi ride to the airport later and we changed in the last of our Dirhams and said goodbye to Africa. Overall it was one of the most incredible and out of my comfort-zone experiences that I've ever had. (I've heard that's good for you, Jamie) Even though Africa and I didn't get along so well at first I'm positive it won't be my last trip there- I'm just going to bring lots of empty bags next time and all of you to help me. :)

Quest for Camel Kisses

2009-11-11T02:06:00.000+01:00

So bright and early the man from the travel agency showed up with a van to take us on our excursion to the Atlas mountains. It was about an hour and a half drive and the scenery was beautiful as the mountains came into focus. We stopped throughout the day at several co-ops where they sell different types of hand-made goods. I'm sure the guides must make deals with the vendors to ensure their shops are included on the trip. Our first stop was at a pottery store where the bargaining recommenced and several of you aquired more presents :)

Second stop was a Moroccan pharmacy. We were shown into a room lined with glass jars full of different herbs. The pharmacist gave us a fascinating presentation-nearly 45 minutes long- about the uses for each plant that is locally grown in Morocco. I swear they had something for everything- he even tried to give us a student discount on organic viagra! I got a small neck and temple massage from a woman demonstrating the use of essential oils and it was heavenly. After his presentation we had the chance to buy anything and everything, and we when we finally left the store we smelled like a wonderful mixture of spices and oils.

Thirdly, and clearly the most important part of the day, we stopped at a road side vendor who was offering camel rides! I'm pretty sure I was beaming the ENTIRE time - we took about a half hour ride through a small trail in the mountains. Sitting on top of a camel, being rocked from side to side (camels move both feet on the same side of their body so it's pretty bumpy) enjoying the glorious heat and magnificent mountain landscape, I don't think I could have been a happier camper. At the end the guides let us take pictures with the camels - a privilege I benefited from muchly as I'm sure you've seen from all my pictures :) How you see this adorable split lip with little wiry hairs and not see uber cuteness?

Ok, next came a place where they made beautiful organic rugs. This may have prompted a very early and expensive phone call to mom that went like this
Me: "Mommy!"
Mom: Hi! how's Africa?
Me: It's great, do you want a rug?
Mom: huh?

Anyway, after debating about shipping a very large and very beautiful rug to the US I decided I'll just have to come back another time.

Next stop was lunch, a happy event in and of itself but this was one of best memories I have of Africa. As you drive higher into the mountains there are lots of little hillside villages, just small communities of people literally living on the side of an African mountain. Anyway, almost every one of these villages had 2 or 3 roadside restaurants. Now I know what you're picturing but these were literally roadSIDE- if you leaned to far back in your plastic lawn chair you might catch the side-view mirror of a passing van. We chose one were we could walk down and eat right beside the river that runs through the mountains. It was one of the most picturesqe spots that I could have ever imagined, not to mention the food! :)

I had an spicy curry vegetable soup, followed by a tagine of chicken and dates. The dates were so sweet they almost tasted like candy but combined with the savory chicken- again curry based :) - it was one of the most incredible things I've ever tasted. Dessert was oranges and some sort of native melon sprinkled with brown sugar.

After lunch we went a bit farther into the mountains where we stopped at another village and paid a local guide to lead us on a short hike. He took us across lots of little rickety bridges and through a village of shanty houses built right against the cliff side. The entire village's water supply consisted of about a mile of hoses all connected together. Each time someone wanted water they had to unscrew a hose thereby stopping water for the rest of the village. There were random sheep and goats running up and down the rocks just living among the people. After about a 20 minute hike- rather difficult with the flip flops I was wearing we made it to a beautiful waterfall near the top of the mountain. It was just another incredible part of our day, being in the middle of the mountains with this majestic waterfall flowing right through the villages of people.

We eventually pried ourselves away and piled back into the bus to head home. It had been a long day so we went back to the hotel and went to bed early.

I make you good price!

2009-11-05T13:39:00.006+01:00

Since this was such an integral part of our trip I've decided it warrants its own post. So here you go, the 10 steps every good tourist must follow to purchase something in Morocco:

1. Having spotted something you're interested in buying- pretend to not like it.
Keeping a general aura of indifference will get you far in the Moroccan markets. If you even let on how much you like something the vendors will never make you a fair price.

2. Avoid speaking English to most vendors.
Let's face it- everyone pegs American tourists as being rich- bust out your french or arabic instead and make them wonder... Standard discourse:
Vendor: "Hello!, you are American, no?"
Us: "Bonjour"
Vendor: "Francais? Oui? Alors, pas trop cher!

note- occasionally speaking English helped us- when we would find a vendor who had a soft spot for Americans, and they usually always figured out that we spoke both languages so most conversations were a mix of the two.

3. Decide what you're going to buy, how much you're willing to pay, and ask the price.

While this is a good idea in essence it doesn't actually get you very far considering there are no set prices - here's how the conversation usually goes..
Us: Ça coûte combien? (How much does it cost?)
Vendor: How many you buy? I make you good price? Pas trop cher!

The number of things you're buying from one vendor really does make a difference. So plan ahead and have whispered conversations with your friends to decide how many relatives you have who might possibly appreciate a wooden camel.

4. The vendor offers initial price- which you are obliged to laugh at.
This is just the jumping off point of the process- the man, full well knowing no one will ever pay the price offers something exorbitant. (You have to basically divide by ten in your head considering 1 euro = 11ish Durhams, if you want you can then multiply by 1.5 to get to dollars but that's just depressing)

5. You offer a ridiculously low price.
The trick is to offer something really low- much lower than your willing to pay- but without completely offending the man. If he thinks you aren't serious he won't bargain with you

6. Discussion of quality
This is always a fun part of the process- he goes on and on about "Made by hand!" you tell him that you've seen the same thing for much cheaper and he goes off about "NO NO, not the same- feel this, feel this, the quality!" It is also in this step that the girls usually get dressed/draped/donned with whatever we are considering buying- nothing inappropriate but I hope you don't mind being touched by strangers.

7. Repeat steps 4, 5, 6.
Each time you go through the cycle he will offer a price slightly lower and you one slightly higher. The vendors absolutely thrive on this and honestly get enjoyment out of it. They appreciate this even more than if you were to just walk in and pay their price up front- it is clearly a thing of pride to them.

8. Throw in an occasional "I'm a just a student" or "I think I'll go look somewhere else"
This always elicits the response, "Oh, you are student? I make you good price!" "Ok, since you are student, I give you special price" Come up with any reason you can and they'll lower the price "just for you" The "because you pretty girl" discount never hurt my feelings either :)

9. Play hard ball
When you've finally arrived somewhere in the middle of the price range, no matter how much they say they won't go lower, don't budge. Stick to the price you originally picked out. Even if it means just standing there for 10 mintues saying no to every offer.

10. Walk away
This is always the best part- it made me feel so bold like my daddy- after you've haggled- about 10-20 minutes at this point and if the vendor still isn't giving you your price, you have to walk away. This will let them know you're serious. Even if you put a good 50 feet between you and the stall I promise you that 9 times out of 10 he will come running through the crowd to drag you back to his stall and offer a different price. This walking away usually needs to be repeated 2 or 3 times before he finally gives in, you shake, and after he squirrels away your money and offers you wrinkled bills in return the purchase is complete.

#11. Bonus advice
Don't get so caught up in the adrenaline of the process that you forget why you are even buying something..... who am I kidding?- go crazy! You can worry later about how you are going to drag all the stuff you bought home and whether or not that sweet Moroccan tribal mask will look good with your mom's horse decorations. (:

TIA: This is Africa

2009-11-05T13:33:00.002+01:00

30 September 2009
Where to even start? This is the sight that greeted us after we stepped out of the plane into the 90 something degree sun in Marrakesh, Morocco. We had left Madrid - a bit later than expected thanks to yet another delay by EasyJet- ridiculously excited but also about apprehensive about our trip to Morocco. The mantra of the few previous days had been "Guys, can you believe we're going to be in Africa tomorrow?" and after a 2 hour flight with extremely impressive flight attendants - how did they know exactly which of their 4 languages(Arabic, Fench, English & Spanish) to speak to each passenger? - we had finally arrived. I don't really know what I was expecting, but in all honesty Africa didn't really great us with open arms. The glee of getting our passports stamped and entering a third continent, or even a forth for some, quickly dissolved upon the arrival of armed guards to herd us through full-body thermal scanners- checking for slight elevations of body temperatures possibly indicating the swine flu. Our hopes to stay calm and remain together throughout the security checkpoints quickly disappeared when the guards pulled aside Rachel after the scanner indicated she was running a fever.
They took her into a back room - the rest of us completely lost as to what to do- but she thankfully emerged several minutes later amidst some guards talking sternly in Arabic. Apparently they had decided that her fever wasn't high enough to prevent her from entering the country- I can only imagine what we would have done if this decision had gone the other way. Reunited but already feeling rather shaken, the exchange of our beloved euros for large strange bills didn't make matters any better. Knowing that we were being royally ripped off by the taxis, but having no other options, we piled into two very small Mercedes and headed out into the strange country.

We quickly learned that Morocco has absolutely no traffic laws. The streets are rarely labeled, the lines on the road are clearly option as the taxis literally drove directly in the center to make for quicker passing on the left and right, and nearly every citizen rides about on these ancient, rickety and some must have been homemade motorcycles. In the first few minutes alone I saw 5 or 6 motorcyles- not meant for more than one person- being riskily shared by two adults- the second teetering on the back and holding his legs off the ground while zooming through traffic at breakneck speed. The further sighting of a man- driving one handed and holding a baby to his chest with the other- coupled with the not-so-picturesque drive through the poor shanty suburbs of Marrakesh did nothing to soothe my anxieties. By the time we arrived at our hotel I could have almost cried. After a final incident with our taxi cab driver -him getting out of the vehicle and screaming in Arabic at people he had no business approaching - I was left just hoping to survive Africa let alone have any sort of a vacation. We pulled ourselves together enough to check in to our hotel and thankfully their wonderful hospitality stood in stark contrast to our first hour in Africa.
Heartened a bit by the comfortable lodgings and brief respite our growling stomachs finally convinced us to leave the oasis of our hotel. After a delicious first lunch- with even better prices- we were feeling bold enough to search out the famous Moroccan souks (markets). The walk - nearly 40 minutes was a mixture of admiration and unease. Crossing the busy streets required complete concentration and very good timing- we still hadn't seen any stoplights and apparently the motorcycles have the option to stop at crosswalks- and the open gawking and comments of locals made me wish I was safe behind the full body dresses and head scarves of the local women.

We kept on however and finally arrived at Place Jamal el Fna-home to one of the biggest markets in the world. Warned that getting lost for several hours in the maze of stalls was a real possibility we stuck together fiercely. At the end of the day- and after the purchasing of several items- we had learned how to navigate the crowded aisles, and to look for some sort of sunlight to indicate an exit- groundbreaking right? Lugging our purchases the 30 minutes plus back to our hotel I wasn't feeling well at all- feverish, achy headache - so I called it a successful- if you consider not dying successful- first day in Africa..

Meanwhile: The rest of the group was feeling brave enough to venture out for dinner. The brief version of their night is this: While walking around looking for a restaurant they were shadily approached by a man on the street. He told them that he worked for a tourist agency and wanted to to know if they'd be interested in an excursion for the next day. Apparently he wasn't too creepy because they went with him to check out the agency. Long story short they agreed to go on an excursion to the Atlas Mountains the next day. After completing the transaction the man suggested a place that they should eat for dinner and even drove them there. They were led up the back staircase of some building- putting more faith in this man than I would have at this point- and emerged on the roof of a building overlooking a square. Everything turned out for the best though- because it was a private, invitation-only restaurant where they were served an exquisite Moroccan meal seated in their own colorful, silk tent. They had a great evening and came home to tell me all about it- I was sorry to have missed it but was very much looking forward to the next day- having been promised that camels would play a large role :) Oh morocco, all you had to do to redeem yourself was to promise me a ride on a somewhat smelly but uber cute pack animal- am I an easy sell or what?

Madrid: Palaces and Flamenco

2009-11-04T13:18:00.008+01:00

29 September 2009

Ok, I really need to finish writing about this vacation because I have lots of other posts written just waiting to be posted, so here goes!

For our last day in Spain we decided to check out the Royal Palace of Madrid. The palace is still used by the king and government for daily business and ceremonies, so it is only open to the public in the mornings. The tour was pretty impressive- yay for student discounts and audio guides! - unlike the chateaux's I've seen in France the palace didn't seem to have ever needed restoring, everything was still in perfect condition.

We weren't allowed to take pictures in the palace- (which I learned the hard way and had several scary guards threatening me in Spanish) so I you'll just have to go see it for yourself. The ceilings, walls and entrances were all spectacular, not to mention the most elaborate collection of furnishings I have ever seen. (They had a whole room displaying the silver collection) I did manage to get one picture before almost being kicked out so you'd better like it :) We also visited the palace's armory where we saw their incredible collection of arms- some of the stuff they wore back in the day was insane. They even had entire suits of armor for the horses more elaborate than anything I've ever seen. Basically the whole place was dripping in wealth and the morning was well spent gawking at beautiful things.

After the palace we walked around a bit to find some lunch. We ended up settling on an outdoor cafe in Plaza Mayor- a rather famous spot in Madrid that had an incredible painted building with murals squeezed in between every window.

So for lunch I had..(you guessed it!) seafood paella and sangria. It was just as delicious as the first time and was complete with whole scallops and prawns. Of course I had to show everyone how cute my prawn was, I just didn't know there would be photographic evidence, aren't you lucky?

After lunch we split up for the afternoon. Kathryn, Matt, Trigg and I decided to head for Gran Via- one of the biggest streets in Madrid. It was a lot like Michigan avenue and what I imagine 5th Avenue looks like- expensive shops and ginormous Starbucks as far as the eye can see. We didn't do much shopping (pretty sure they wouldn't have accepted IOU's as payment) but just wandered down the street taking in the sights. There were several small stops along the way to figure out why our ND credit union debit cards wouldn't work and then a rather expensive and tense long distance phone call in which Kathryn reminded me so much of my father ("I'm in Madrid, my card does not work, you are my bank I want to know how you're going to fix this for me." haha) After all that drama we headed back to the hotel where, I'll admit it, I took a nap...We'd been walking at least 6 hours a day at this point in our vacation!

That evening we met up in front of our hostel next to a statue of a bear eating from an orange tree (I'm told it's something something something spanish symbol) but we affectionately called it the Bear and the Broccoli for obvious reasons.

We walked from our hotel to Corral de la Moreria, a little hole in the wall place but widely recognized as having the best flamenco show in Madrid. We hadn't bought tickets that included dinner but we did get a free drink during the performance. More sangria? yes please! It was literally a one room show with a small stage surrounded by about 25 tables. I didn't know what to expect but the performance was one of the most breathtaking things I've ever seen. The dancers come out in beautiful and vibrant dresses and then proceed to tap, click, stomp and move their feet about a thousand miles an hour. All keeping time to a small group of musicians (guitar) and singers belting out what honestly sounded like islamic prayer calls and clapping their hands louder than I thought possible. They were all keeping different rhythms not to mention the song and the dance that accompanied it. For someone who can't tap her hands in two different tempos at once it was ridiculously impressive. (Here's a video of the same corral but not the same performance that I found on youtube.)

After the performance we were all on a bit of a Madrid high. It was a beautiful night and we took the long way home walking past the palace that we had been to earlier that day. We wandered down some streets, reluctant to let the night end, and stopped for a bit of gelato.

The city was beautiful by night and it had been raining so all the streets were clean and shiny. I didn't want to stop taking pictures but we finally conceded to the night and our early flight the next morning and went to bed.

...Toledo

2009-10-24T15:18:00.007+02:00

28 September 2009

For our second day in Spain we decided to make a day trip to Toledo. We got up early and hiked to the train station. The train that we wanted was all sold out so we had about 2 hours to kill before the next one. We just walked around the streets and randomly stumbled onto the grounds of a beautiful building- from what I could decipher in Spanish it was called something about distinguished persons...anyway, we had fun exploring it and saw the tombs of several assassinated Spanish leaders.

The train ride to Toledo was short, only about half an hour and the views of the countryside were wonderful. The biggest difference that I saw was the Spanish countryside is much less green than France. Everything comes in varying shades of reds and browns- very desertish but beautiful nonetheless. We arrived in the cutest little train station ever- decorated from top to bottom in beautiful mosaics, and after admiring them for a bit we set out towards the city. The first picture posted is the view of the city from across the river. The old part of Toledo is perched high on a hill with the ancient ramparts still surrounding it. You have to cross the stone bridge and being the spiraling ascent to finally reach the city. At the top you can look out and see a much more modern landscape that is the suburbs of Toledo with large apartment and office buildings everywhere.

We finally made it to the center of the city where we met up with a few of the ND students who are studying abroad in Toledo this year, and they gave us a tour of their school- complete with the view from their highest tower. If the houses look ridiculously close together and the streets rather maze-like it's because they were. We attempted to follow our map at first but eventually abandoned after making a turn about every 20 feet. It's pretty much impossible to get lost in the city-yes even for me Mom- if you want to go back to the center just walk up hill and if you start to descend you know you've gone to far.

After leaving the ND kids we split up into groups to explore the city. My group ending up doing a lot of walking- I'm pretty sure we saw nearly the whole city, and even though it's not very big my feet were definitely ready for a break. During our little excursion we learned that Toledo has exactly 3 different types of stores: large trinket/general souvenir crap stores, smaller stores selling fans/jewelry/decorated plates, and fascinating sword stores. We all really wanted to buy swords as presents or souvenirs but since we only had carry-on luggage, and considering they took away Phil's scissors from his first aid kit, we didn't a sword would fly at the airport (pun definitely intended.)

On the rest of our adventure we hiked down the other side of Toledo and took some pictures of the great old walls. We also saw an abbey completely decorated with statues and random chains and just generally pretty sights of the city. We stopped at one point and had lunch- yes I'm going to mention lunch despite the number of comments I have received about my mentioning food too much :) - ...lunch is worthy of mention because it was my first time eating paella. It is this glorious spicy rice concoction (Yes I am bowing to the wonder that is a rice-based dish Jamie) that usually has seafood in it but can also be ordered with sausage or beef. Anyway it instantly became my new favorite dish and I'm pretty sure I had it about 4 more times in Spain.

The highlight of our day was definitely the Cathedral of Saint Mary of Toledo. It was by far the biggest building in the city and took up like 4 blocks. We paid to tour the inside, but pictures weren't allowed...boo. The cathedral seemed much more museum than church to me but it was beautiful regardless. There were side altars everywhere each dedicated to a different saint. There was a mini-museum chock-full of El Greco paintings which made Brigid drool (she's an art history major). There was also a room full of beautifully preserved ancient church books and a treasury with all kinds of the cathedrals chalices/monstrances etc. displayed- everything in that room was litterally dripping with gold. One of the most beautiful parts of the cathedral was the wall behind the main altar. It's impossible to describe so here's a picture..how-impressive-is-this? I was rather disappointed because about a third of the cathedral was closed for renovation which included the tomb of Saint Blaise...tant pis.

Eventually we all met up for dinner at a cute outdoor restaraunt. It was a beautiful night with great conversation and lots of laughing.(I'm pretty sure the locals thought we were crazy) The waiter brought us wonderfully sweet Sangria and we sat there until it was time to head back to the train station. The trip back was uneventful. The 30 minute walk back to our hostel was killer- probably because we'd already walked nearly 6 hours that day, so when we finally arrived everyone went straight to bed.

Spain...In Three Days

2009-10-22T17:14:00.008+02:00

27 September 2009

Ok, here goes... we took the train to Paris on Saturday (the 26th) to catch our flight to Spain. The plane was late by an hour and a half so we didn't get into Madrid until nearly midnight. After a lengthy cab ride, through what I could already tell was a beautiful city, we arrived at our hostel and got some much needed sleep. Sunday morning we got up early (thanks solely to the motivation of Brigid) and treked through the streets in search of the Prado Museum. After wandering through some street vendors and aquiring a few spanish gifts for some certain someones, (yes, clearly I am talking about you) we arrived at the museum.

From what I had been told the Prado is basically Spain's equivalent to the Louvre, and it did not disappoint. We only bought tickets to see the permanent collection, but even that was more than I could see in four hours. I focused mainly on the religious paintings (probably about 60% of the whole collection) and enjoyed myself immensely. For those of you who don't know, I took a class last semester called "Saints in Art and Iconography" (which I loved!) and something our teacher said really stuck with me. He said, "Learning to recognize saints based on their iconography is a lot like trying to pick out family members from old photos, they may look slightly different but you can always tell who's who." Anyway, I played this little game with myself while wandering through the hallways of the Prado where I would try to guess which saint or biblical story was being depicted before checking myself with the audio guide or by deciphering the spanish name plates. Here are a few that I got: St. Anthony of Padua- lily, franciscan habit, small child; St. Bernard of Siena- franciscan habit, staff with initials IHS; St. Andrew - X shaped cross; St. Francis of Aussi - stigmata; St. Paul the Hermit & St. Anthony of Egypt - being fed in the desert by a crow; St. Dominic - dog holding a torch; St. Bernard of Clairvaux- white Cisturcian habit; St. Barbara - tower; St. Rock - dog and wounded leg; St. George - fighting a dragon, armor; St. Margaret - being swallowed by a dragon; St. Jerome - lion, cardinals vestments, book. (All of the wonderful paintings inspired me to take up my studying of the saints again when I get home so I'll be able to pick out even more)

Besides all the great religious paintings they had an incredible collection of Ruebens (from when he spent time in Spain) which I was not expecting at all. Grandma G. would have loved it, I especially liked his Adoration of the Magi - commissioned by the Antwerp city council. Ok, anyway...I liked the museum so much that I bought the guide book- which I never do, which weighs like a thousand pounds and I will now have to worry about getting it home, whoops.

After the Prado we walked through the city in search of the place to pick up our bullfight tickets. We stopped along the way and had incredible pizza - Trigg and I split one with chorizo which might have been the best pizza I've ever eaten (that statement could definitely cause some drama). After successfully navigating our way through the city and picking up our tickets, we began the hike to the arena and enjoyed the sights along the way. All the buildings were beautiful and the vibrant yellows and reds were a nice change from France's large collection of grays. I have to say that for someone who was viewing Madrid as just a means to get to Morocco, I now have a rather large crush on the city.

Ok, that night we had tickets to a bullfight, which I was a bit apprehensive about, especially after some of the responses that I got from my family. But, I went and I kept an open mind. Here's what went on. The fight, which was in a beautiful amphitheater (which is actually completely round- we just use the word incorrectly in enlish) began with an opening parade. The toreadors, horses, assistants, and teams of mules (I discovered what those were for later) parade through the stadium to huge applause. The atmosphere alone was incredible. People, including many elderly couples, were all dressed up, sitting on cushions that they had brought from home, looking like they were about to take in an afternoon of polo. I had assumed the tourists kept the bullfighting business alive but it is truly a much loved Spanish pasttime for all ages (there were little kids there!) Ok, logistics wise it goes like this- they let in the bull, he runs around and gets lots of cheers before they bring in several extremely well padded horses and riders to initally injure the bull. Several assistant toreadors also get a chance to injure/generally piss of the bull. After that a specific grand toreador puts on a show of about 10 minutes of the most incredibily daring stunts you've ever seen. I swear these guys had been trained in ballet they were so graceful. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, sometimes hiding my eyes because I was sure he was about to be impaled. Finally, when the bull is weak the toreador takes a final blow with a long sword. At that point, which I was surprised to see, the bull nearly always lays down quite gracefully and dies. If he is still breathing they very quickly-and actually in a humane manner- but him out of his misery. Then come in the teams of mules to drag him out of the stadium. This was repeated 6 times for 6 different bulls, and each performance and toreador was surprisingly quite different. The native Spainiards clearly knew when something spectacular and out of the ordinary was happening because they would cheer and stand up, I wish someone had let me in on the secret subtleties. Well, after watching it and making up my own mind, here is my opinion: I definitely enjoyed myself, despite the overall goriness. The finesse and daring that it took those men to approach the bulls was incredible. Being an animal lover I clearly didn't enjoy thinking about the bull's suffering but it was done in a rather classy manner. I am glad I did it, I don't think I'd ever do it again but it was a Spain must-see!

That evening on the long walk back to our hostel we stumbled onto a live concert in one of the main squares. I think they were celebraiting Madrid's (now unsuccessful) bid for the Olympics, but the performer was incredible and there must have been 10,000 people in that square. It was just such an exhilarating atmosphere to be walking down the colorfully lit streets of Madrid at night, surrounded by thousands of cheering people- we were finally able to push through the crowd and finally settled on a tapas restaurant for dinner. About half way through the meal Trigg pointed out to us an interesting development. There were 8-10 young girls all dressed up in high heels and itty bitty stretchy dresses walking up and down the street. Considering prostitution is illegal and highly enforced in Spain, you'd think they would have been more subtle about walking up to each and every guy on the street and touching his arm or chest even just in passing. Well, being the mature 20/21 year olds that we are, we clearly made a game out of the sitution. Each one of us took dibs on a girl trying to guess who would rustle up a client first. I can't even remember who won there were so many funny/awkward exchanges, but it made for quite the divertment during dinner. I believe the most memorable quote by Rachel was, "This street has everthing: McDonald's children, dogs, hookers..." After that last bit of excitement for the day we found our way back to the hostel and settled in for the night.

So...

2009-10-21T15:35:00.000+02:00

Ok, I swear it's on the way... soon! Why don't you become a follower of my blog so I feel all warm and fuzzy and motivated to write more, huh? huh?

Loose Ends

2009-09-25T22:55:00.000+02:00

So this last week seemed to drag on forever around here. It was the last week of my intensive French class which meant more work than ever- I had 3 papers 3 test and 2 presentations in one week. Some were good, some not that great but they are finally over! Today (Friday) we only had a half day of classes but each class had a little party. In my level we ate croissants and pain au chocolat and played a really cute french game called loups-garous. I liked it so much that I am going to find one to buy and bring home! For the only big news of the evening, tonight was the soiree internationale- a party to celebrate the end of the Prestage and to represent our respective countries. Each student was highly encouraged to make a performance and most did. While I am usually the girl who sits in the audience and watches, I decided to embrace being in France and step outside my comfort zone. My friend Trigg convinced me to sing A Whole New World from Aladdin with him. I've been told there is a video and I pray you'll never see it, but it was definitely a lot of fun. Tomorrow we leave on vacation! It doesn't seem real right now just sitting in my room, but I'm sure it will hit me tomorrow night when I'm sleeping in a Spanish hotel. So, my quest for camel kisses commences ( I love alliterations) and I won't be able to write for a week, although I'm sure there will a gross amount of pictures and things to say upon my return. Hope everyone is well (I'm finally over my cold!) <3 R.

Le Golfe de Morbihan, Carnac & Vannes

2009-09-20T10:50:00.003+02:00

The last two days of the week were pretty boring around here- I never really have much to write about schooldays but here are the two highlights.

Firstly, on Thursday I ordered my tickets for our 10 day fall break! We will be flying from Paris into Madrid on Saturday the 26th - from there it is only a short train ride to Toledo so we will bounce between those two cities for 3 days. We ordered tickets for a bullfight (about which I am rather apprehensive) I'm hoping it's more of the stand in the ring and avoid the bull kind of fight and not a chase the bull through the streets with spears variety. On Wednesday we fly to Marrakesh, Morocco! For those of you that didn't know, going to Morocco or Egypt was the number one priority on my travel list. I am desperate to take a bunch of very cute pictures with some very cute camels so stay posted... We stay in Morocco until Saturday October 3rd and then returning home for classes on Monday.

Secondly, on Friday we went to our first Angers professional soccer game and the first soccer game I've ever watched. (close your stunned mouth Jamie) The tickets were very cheap and the atmosphere of crazy fans and obnoxious cheers was exhilarating. We were ahead for most of the game but it ended up being a tie (Seriously? a sport where no one wins? This must be why soccer was never watched in the Sandbothe household) The sport still isn't my favorite, but I definitely had a good time- more so when Trigg and Matt tried to explain some of the rules to me. Right as the game was over it started sheeting rain, after a while we gave up attempting to be dry and just enjoyed the soaking wet walk home.

Saturday was the last excursion during the Prestage and it was hands down the best. I had originally planned on skipping this one to go to Paris with some friends but decided against it at the last minute (thanks for the good advice Mom and Kurt). It was another early morning but I am such a pro at sleeping on buses that I didn't even mind. We arrived at the Gulf of Morbihan in the beautiful region of Bretagne (Brittany). The weather was absolutely perfect- still with just a hint of cold in the air, and I was looking forward to a great day. We boarded a large boat and set out across the gulf. I sat outside on the roof deck of the boat and the wind was chilly enough to make me glad for my jacket. The water was almost deserted and passing empty sailboats and silent houses made me feel like we were the only ones awake. I was the only person from ND on the trip, and it was nice to just be quiet and think instead of talking to everyone else. I don't know what it is about being out on the water that is so relaxing but I could have stayed on that boat all day. Our captain pointed out several private islands as we passed which are home to quite a few celebrities. We stopped on a small island where we were free to roam around and eat our picnic lunch. I walked to the other side of the island and found a beautiful beach and view of the gulf. I just wanted to sit there all day and it took the imminent departure of our boat to pry me from that spot.

The boat dropped us off on another island where we met up with the bus that had taken the auto-route around the gulf. From there we headed to see the megalithes at Carnac. These large stones, which are more than 4000 years old, have been placed upright in long rows throughout the region. There are lots of guesses as why but it's still a pretty big mystery. Normally you can only view the rocks from outside the fence, but this weekend happened to be Les Journées du Patrimoine - where every public museum and monument is open free to the public, even ones that normally never open - therefore, we were incredible lucky to be able to walk around among the rocks. Okay, so we did a little more than just walk around them.

(Papa, you would have been drooling, these rocks were so pretty- I really wanted to bring one home to you :) Can't you see one in our backyard?)

From Carnac we drove to the port city of Vannes. As much as I liked Saint Malo a few weeks ago, Vannes was even better. It still takes me by surprise to be walking through such modern commerce- ridiculously pricey boutiques and large supermarkets- to just stumble accross a thousand year old cathedral- is there one in every city?

It is so unlike the US to have the old mixed with the new like this and I love it more every day. The streets were absolutely packed with people- surprisingly most were locals. We had nearly 2 hours to walk around and I must have poked my head into every little store. I finally wandered back down to the wharf to wait for the bus. I sat on the edge of the bridge with my feet hanging over the water and the sun on my face just listening to the noises of the day. I swear I didn't think I'd ever get sick of being in that beautiful place.

I have offically decided that Bretagne, with its old cities and strong ties to the sea, is my favorite region in France, and I cannot wait to go back.

I could tell you how glorious that place was all day, but I have more homework than I can possibly do so it's back to the grindstone. I love you guys so much. R

So France Has a Lot of Castles

2009-09-16T23:24:00.000+02:00

So Sunday was our excursion to see the Chateaux de la Loire. It was not a happy morning considering I woke up at 7:20 and we were supposed to meet at school at 7:15. I literally got out of bed, put on clothes and ran to school. It's normally a 13 minute walk and I was at school by 7:27 just in time to make it on the bus- which left 3 minutes thereafter. I believe the drive was about 10 minutes long with a 3 hour nap sandwiched somewhere in between.

I have to preface all the castle talk by saying something you might find completely deplorable. When it comes to castles, all that truly interests me is the outside. Believe me, I trekked through almost every room in Versailles a few years ago and took pictures of every ceiling and every bed and every fireplace- but the only ones I ever ended up enjoying were of the exterior and gardens. I don't mind a quick peak on the inside to see some awesome clawfoot tub, but I honestly don't need to see another royal bedchamber. My friends thought I was ridiculous for saying this and grumbled that we didn't have more time to visit each castle.

The first castle that we visited was Azay-le-Rideau built in 1515. It was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, exactly where I'd put my castle if I had one, surrounded by a beautiful lake and stream. The inside was decorated with quite a bit a furniture and was restored nicely. There was also some beautiful stained glass in the library which I took some pictures of. Here's one of the best pictures of the castle.

We stayed for about an hour and got back on the bus for another nap. Next on the list was Chenonceau- probably my favorite of the day. The castle is actually built across a river with arched pilings to allow boat access underneath- it's essentially the world's most high class bridge. It was surrounded by stunningly sculpted gardens which took up an entire hillside next to the castle. There will be more pictures in the slide show but here are a couple that I liked a lot. The picture at the beginning of this post is also Chenonceau.

Okay, last but could never possibly be called least thanks to King Francois the 1st was Chambord. This castle is one of the most incredible things I've ever seen. It has 365 fireplaces and 365 chimneys to match. It was actually never completed, there was supposed to be even more lavishness added to the outside walls- apparently this guy never heard that less is more. Anyway, It was absolutely overwhelming so I just headed straight to the top floor to walk around amidst the chimneys. I did stop to admire the signature double spiral staircase (designed by DaVinci) that runs directly through the middle of the castle. For all those beautiful science people out there- it is in the shape of a double helix. Basically two people can climb the staircase at the same time and never see one another- helpful if you're the king and don't want to cross paths with your servants. Here's a picture if I'm not explaining it well. Click me Anyway- the castle was beautiful and nearly every ceiling and wall was carved with ornate salamandars (the king's symbol) and the letter F for our boy Frankie. The best part is- during his nearly 35 year reign, he only spend 72 days at Chambord- he still had 293 fireplaces to go. Here is another picture for your viewing pleasure...
So Sunday, even though I almost missed it and we spent more time on the bus that in the castles, was quite an enjoyable day. I'm not planning another castle excursion any time soon, but it was pretty incredible to think about the people who had walked those halls once upon a time.

Monday was a long day of classes, 9-5 again. Lunch was predictably bad and I was happy for school to be over. My throat had started hurting so I had a quiet evening at home and went to bed early.

Tuesday was just as boring school-wise, the work is starting to pile up for next week though. My night had been miserable because my nose was all stuffed up and I couldn't sleep. I felt even worse on Tuesday but was cheered greatly by the fact that it was host family dinner night. We once again had great food and lively conversation. The dinner was record-breakingly short (only 1.5 hours) so I was able to get some work done before bed. We don't usually begin dinner until around 20:00 anyway.

Today was Wednesday and I felt absolutely miserable at school- dizzy, weak, cold and I've sneezed like 100 times today! There are 5 other ND kids sick as well- here's hoping it will be gone soon. I have a test tomorrow, two on Friday, a presentation and a test on Monday and a paper due on Wednesday so it's going to be a long haul. This weekend there is another excursion on Saturday to the gulf of Morbihan, and I'm looking forward to escaping all the school work. I have class at 8 tomorrow so I'm headed to bed. Love you all. R

L'Anjou Troglodytique & Les Accroches Coeurs

2009-09-14T21:57:00.000+02:00

Wednesday: All of the international students at my school were invited to a wine reception with the mayor of Angers, and believe me I really did want to go. What did I miss it for? - food. Wednesday I had already arranged to have dinner with my host family- we have dinner once a week and believe it is not something you want to miss, so I skipped home after school to begin the festivities. Before dinner I talked with my Cecilia for an hour in English! I am doing this in exchange for Carol doing my laundry- who's really getting the better end of the deal here? It was so much more enjoyable to be the teacher than the flustered student, and I even gained some helpful insights. Despite her slow speech and utter frustration with conjugating verbs, I really enjoyed talking to her- for the sole purpose of listening to what she had to say. I realized then that my host family must feel the same way -willing to help me learn, quick to forgive any grammar mistakes, and genuinely intersted in this strange girl who is living in their house. After that little pick-me-up English conversation I proceded to resume butchering French verbs over dinner. Dinner chez Buffenoir is quite an ordeal- I could devote a whole blog entry to this but here goes. First we chat over a bit of crackers and some sort of sparkling wine or champagne. The conversation starts off slowly and I get to hear about the kids day at school. After a while we eat the first course- that night consisted of homemade quiche lorraine (be still my heart) and a tossed green salad. This absolutely must be accompanied by a dinner wine- usually red- of which I learn the origin and palate details from Marc. (Are the Fench required to know about wine?) That course is followed by a round of conversation, approximately 30 minutes, before we begin dessert- usually there is a cheese course between these too. That evening we had homemade pear turnovers with vanilla ice cream- how much puff pastry can my happy heart take? This was indeed followed by more lively conversation, complete with me failing at French, and then some after dinner liqueurs - lemon and apple. After I was completely stuffed they broke out some chocolate toffee candies and we stayed around the table until well after dark. I have come to absolutely adore these scrumptious, warm-hearted, 2 hour affairs.

Thursday consisted of another 8 hours at school pretending I know more French than I feel like I do. The sheer amount of vocabulary that I learn in one day is ridiculous- but will I actually remember the French word for helmet? I'm pretty sure I went home early that night and got some much needed sleep, but you never know. Trying to remember something from last Thursday is proving to be rather difficult- you could come back later and this section might be totally different. :)

Friday we had our first exams in class. We listened to a French person talk at nearly a hundred miles an hour ( well 100 kilometers per hour at least) and had to answer comprehension questions on what we had understood. The second test was also comprehension questions- but over a page excerpt that she had us read. The conclusion of these led to general panicking by myself and Carolyn about how in the world we ever tested into the highest level. I am happy to report though that I got a 14/20 on the written and a 17/20 on the oral. It might be wise to bring up here the wacky French grading scale as explained to me by my teacher. 20 is reserved for God- and they mean it. French students shoot for 10 or better- that is a solid passing grade. 12 is average and anything around 16-18 is extraordinary - her words :) School was thankfully over early that day because most people were going on that afternoon's excursion L'Anjou Troglodytique. I'll gloss over the ridiculously long bus ride which played havoc with my stomach and skip to the good stuff. We visited the troglodyte village of Louresse-Rochemenier (the houses were carved completely out of the soft rock prominent in the region, picture above). The area that we visited had been a working farm until the 1930's and there were still many inhabited troglodyte houses in the area. We saw old farm machinery, wine cellars, oil presses, cisterns, chapels, and everything you would need to live in a sweet underground city. The tour was brief, but very enjoyable- especially the picture gallery of some of the farm's former residents.

We got back on the bus, stopping quickly along the way to see the outstide of a beautiful castle- the first of many this weekend. Our next stop was the caves of the Vueve Amiot a large manufactuerer of sparkling wine- not to be confused with Champagne. We were given a tour in very quick french- but I was able to follow well enough to enjoy the description of the double fermentation process. After a trek through the caves to see the wine in all its stages we were served samples of three wines: brut, demi-sec, et rouge- all very tasty.

We finally made it to the main component (in my opinion) of our excursion- dinner in an authentic troglodytiqe restaurant. The room smelled slightly like cave and was dimly lit, but nonetheless added to the charm of the experience. Our meal was absolutely unbelievable, especially after yet another mystery fish in the dining hall that day. We were served wine, mushrooms cooked in a rich broth, green salad, and a large mushroom covered in an herb ground beef mixture. Thinking this was the main course of our meal we ate almost everything- only to be besieged by the endless parade of delicious mushroom based courses that followed. The star of each were homemade fouées - hearty bread pockets similar to pitas. The fouées were served steaming hot, first to be buttered and filled with a pork pâté, next with mushrooms and a creamy hamburger sauce, and finally with a salty melted cheese on top. No french meal being complete without dessert we forced down healthy portions of apple tart and topped it all off with delicious coffee. This was by far the best meal I've had in France both in quality and quantity, and if we're ever in France together this is something I must share with you.

Saturday morning, after getting in around 11 the night before, I forced myself to get out of bed and head the the marche aux puces- open air market. The atmosphere was quite exhilarating, with what must have been all of Angers bustling around purchasing produce and fares from the ever shouting vendors. I happily bought 12 peaches ( of which I only have 3 left) and and bunch of grapes to serve as breakfast/dinner food. There were booths of olives, spices, produce of every kind, flowers, leather shoes, clothes, handmade jewelry and so much more. This will definitely be a much loved Saturday tradition in Angers.

The rest of my Saturday consisted of making plans for our 10 day break at the end of September. After much agonizing I decided accompany the group touring Italy instead of the one going to Spain- we're working on finalizing the details. Since we had an excursion on Sunday a large group of us went to Saturday night mass where I finally recognized the readings even though they were in French and managed to absorb some of the homily.

Afterwards I met up with Trigg, Phil, and Matt to explore downtown. This weekend in Angers was the Accroche-Coeurs. Basically the whole town celebrates throughout the weekend with large performances and street shows both during the day and at night. The theme this year was angels and demons, and the street was littered with trails of feathers, each leading to the remnants of an exciting performance. The boys and I treked all the way out past the castle of Angers to see a fire-music show. The crew had built a large jungle gym of sorts surrounded by a wide berth of gates to keep crowds at a safe distance. They began the show by passing around buckets of a sawdust looking material- and piling it onto every surface of the structure. Amidst some rather intruiging music and random clips of a United Nations speech, they proceeded to light the whole thing on fire and work admist it continuously adding more flamable magic sawdust and causing large explosions. The men, most with waist length dredlocks and bodies painted like demons from head to toe, had clearly devised a show where they could produce the most fire possible without being arrested, but it was enjoyable in a rather noisy heathanistic way.

After the show we walked back through town and met up with the rest of the ND students who were watching the ND Michigan game at an Irish friendly bar called Falstaff's. They were in the midst of a rowdy, earspliting, crazy-dancing, football watching frenzy with many enthusiastic french boys joining in. I stayed only to see a sad third quater but thankfully left before the rest of the football tragedy ensued. I made it to bed at a decent hour- ready for the excursion the next day.

Friday/Saturday/Sunday/Monday- whoops

2009-09-08T21:51:00.000+02:00

Yes Mom, I know this has turned into an every-third-day blog but I'm doing my best. Ok, so on Friday night we went to Puy du Fou. Thousands of people in the region get together each year to put on this enormous festival. They create a performance that depicts the history of their region and all the battles fought there. It is absolutely worthy of being a Disneyland show it is so good. My favorite part was probably seeing all the farm animals. (what does that say about me?) They had cows, goats, giant oxen, pigs, piggies, sheep, and lots of horses. Some of the best scenes included a synchronized jousting tournament, a giant village festival with fire breathers and jugglers, several epic battle scenes with amazing original music. It was almost impossible to take pictures so you'll have to do your best with my meager explanations. It was about an hour and a half away so we didn't get home until around 2 in the morning- I sleepily walked home and went sleep right away.

Saturday was the laziest day I've had here by far. I slept until (cough) ish and puttered around my room in my pajamas for most of the day. I did dress and emerge only when my stomach started composing hunger songs. I found a great little boulangerie on Rue Bressigny and proceeded to acquire a little quiche and my favorite tarte aux prunes (plum tart). Here I have to mention that I did indeed miss the marche aux puces- open air market- and a visit to the castle of Angers. However, it was my first Saturday here and there will be plenty more. We ended up having a small picnic in the Jardin du Mail right before Saturday night mass at Saint Joseph. It was rather interesting having mass in French but quite enjoyable nonetheless. The priest was wonderful and offered to give us booklets with the mass parts and responses in French. We will probably go to mass here quite a bit but might move around every now and then- there are a lot of churches in Angers! Saturday was also the first ND football game of the year (get pumped Jamie!) and I managed to find a live feed on the internet. They weren't showing the game in any bars we could find so I'll have to make due. I didn't do much after the game was over. I just goofed around on the internet to break up the monotony of laziness that had been my day.

Sunday we had to be at school by 6:45 to catch the bus for our excursion. After a 3 hour bus ride/nap we arrived at Mont Saint Michel- picture above. I don't know the entire history of the church because it was all explained in French and I was still a bit sleepy but here is the gist. St. Michael the Archangel appeared to the bishop of Avranches in the 700's and told him to build a church on the island. The bishop ignored several requests until Michael touched him on the head leaving a small depression there. Note to self: do not ignore archangels. Anyway, the church was constructed and was at some point in history used as a church, prison, and fortress. Only about 60 people live on the island- I can see why with so many tourists tramping about- it is one of the most visited places in the world. Anyway, there were lots of great views and impressive architecture. We had a picnic lunch and I couldn't get enough of the view from a distance- I'm thinking very intimidating to oncoming armies.

Afterward it was back on the bus to visit the nearby town of Saint Malo. The town was surrounded on one side by an ominous wall and on the other by the beautiful Atlantic. The old part of town was absolutely beautiful and there were people everywhere in the streets. All the vendors, artists, musicians and street performers reminded me a lot of Rome. We explored a little bit and then walked to the beach. The highlight of my day was definitely walking through the sand and water looking at the beautiful coastal town and enjoying the glorious sunshine.

Because it was so far away the excursion took up most of the day, and we didn't return until about 20:00. A large group of us intent on something besides a chicken sandwich went searching for a restaurant. We found one and had a great meal- I had moules frites (mussels and fries) a Belgian and French traditional dish which was absolutely fantastic. Quite happy with ourselves and our distended stomachs we returned to our homes.

Monday meant back to classes (resounding boo) and being in school for gross amounts of time. I am in class from about 9-5 every day- it feels like high school all over again. My brain is rebelling against being inundated with French but I'm hoping I will eventually gain control. We aren't taking our actual classes right now, just an intensive French course for one month called the Prestage. 8 hours of French a day has me loving and hating it all at the same time. That evening, and usually two evenings a week, the monitrices (French students who assist with our Prestage) organized a soiree for all the students. The theme was to dress either all in white or all in black (can you guess what I wore?) and meet up at a bar called L'Abbaye. It was abbey themed, as you might have guessed, complete with stained glass windows and an ornate wooden confessional. We talked and mingled for a while, but we walked home rather early to get a bit of sleep.

Today began again unfortunately with school- France would be so much better without that. I have lots of homework for tonight, so I'd better hurry and wrap this up. I guess if I wrote more often I wouldn't have to write as much, funny how that works. After class I went to La Petit Casino - sorry Popsicle it's actually a grocery store- and stocked up on some breakfast items. I've been back at home ever since, eating a bit of leftover sandwich for dinner, Skyping with mom, and basically doing all things to avoid the stack of homework. However, I have class at 8 tomorrow instead of the usual 9 so I'd best get on with it. Tomorrow evening will be a wine tasting with the mayor of Angers and dinner with my host family so myself and my stomach are quite excited. Till then, much love. Rebecca.

First Impressions

2009-09-03T23:37:00.000+02:00

Ok, so I definitely owe a blog post for 2 days so here goes. Our walking tour was wonderful, this is a beautiful city with lots of activity throughout the streets. They are building a tramway so there is a bit of construction but it's not very bad. We passed street vendors, cafes, shops, (I'm trying to resist the chic french clothes) some American names even: H&M, Sephora, FootLocker etc. There are also quite a few churches scattered throughout. We went briefly inside Le Cathedral de Saint Maurice which is the picture you see. Everyone was pretty exhuasted so we didn't walk very long. That evening we had dinner at PMcD's apartment with his wife Rosie and children Paul Jr. and Maggie. They were amazingly gracious and let us speak English and eat tacos which was a much needed comfort. Afterwards PMcD drove us back to our houses so we could rest before the placement exam.

Wednesday was my birthday (and my grandma's- Happy Birthday!) and my host mom assured me it was good luck to take a test on one's birthday. The test seemed pretty hard to me, but I ended up being placed au niveau huit (level 8) out of 8. I contemplated asking to drop down a level but I suppose a challenge is what I came here for. The rest of the day was free time so we walked in a large-we're-obviously-americans-look-at-us-group around town. We all bought French cell phones with a rather cheap plan for texting. I can receive free texts and calls even from the US but it would probably cost you an arm and a leg. In case of an emergency though (or if you just love me that much) my number is 0648587312. I don't know how the country code works so you would have to figure that out- France is 33 I think. I also purchased some groceries for breakfast from the store so I won't have to live on Clif bars.

When I got back home my family had made a wonderful birthday meal for me. Dinners at my house are at least 2 hour affairs, but I'm not complaining. We always begin with some sort of sparkling wine- that day it was something very similar to champagne. Mr. Buffenoir explained to me that it is made in Angers the same way as champagne but only in the region la Champagne can you use the name. Anyway, for a while we sipped champagne- 2 different kinds- and ate crackers, talking the whole time. The second course was a wonderful chicken and carrot dish with an almost Indian tasting sauce served over rice. It was incredible and everyone cleaned their plates with wonderfuly crusty french bread. Of course we drank red wine with the main course- that night it was from Spain. I finally discovered that you have to actually refuse more wine before they will stop refilling your class. wow. After the main course we had a salad course with a bit of 3 cheeses: french camembert, gorgonzola and chevre. Finally for dessert we had a tarte aux pommes with candles for me to blow out. :) Mr. Buffenoir took lots of pictures so I will upload some as soon as I can. They also gave me un petit cadeau, a scarf that Cecilia had bought for me. She assured me that everyone was wearing them and I would be tres a la mode. To put it simply, it was a wonderful evening. We laughed and talked and I felt like I was with family, a pretty great thing so far from home. That evening a few of us went to local bar just to hang out and talk for a bit. It wasn't a very late night but truly an enjoyable birthday.

Today was our first day of actual classes. I am with two other ND students who also place in level 8. We have 3 classes: langue, expression orale, et laboratoire mulitmedia. Langue class is a lot of talking, writing, and listening as expected. It was challenging but I think I will be fine. Laboratoire is a lot of the same, just while taking advantage of technology- broadcasts on the internet, websites etc. The most challenging part is trying to navigate the French keyboard. Rawr. Expression orale is just talking talking talking so I'm obviously right at home. Classes are on a different schedule each day and for each level. I seem to generally have classes from 9:00 until 16:00 each day with about an hour and a half for lunch. After classes today I was able to sneak in a much needed nap before dinner. We ate on Rue Bressigny- close to my house- at a little cafe with paninis and sandwiches. Afterwards we met a large group of students- all of the kids were invited- at the same bar ( it seems to be quite the hangout) I was able to talk for a bit, even with several non ND students. Shocking, I know, but they do allow that. I came home early to pay my dues to the blog and work on some homework. Tomorrow we have class and then our first excursion. It is going to be one of the best and I am ridiculously excited! I won't spoil the details but it's called Puy du Fou if you want a headstart. Sorry for the delay- probably won't be able to write until Saturday morning, tomorrow will be a late night. I love you all. R

The World's Smallest Shower.

2009-09-01T10:52:00.000+02:00

Well, I am finally in France! My plane took off from St. Louis on the appropriate day and landed in JFK around 11. I found my way to the correct terminal but was told the AirFrance counter would not be open until 13:00 (yes I am trying my best to embrace using military time- I still have to subtract though) I was walking around the terminal and bumped into Ellen and Jason who came from the west coast and had been there since 6:30 am. Needless to say they were a bit slaphappy and we goofed around until more people showed up. Finally we got our boarding passes and made it through security. The five hour wait before our flight consisted of 15 of us being the loudest and happiest people at the AirFrance gate. We spent too much on airport food and commiserated on not being ready for our placement exam on Wednesday.

At 18:00 our enormous plane finally took off. This thing had the nicest first class I've ever seen in my whole life! Everyone's plan was to sleep but when confronted with the fact that each chair had it's own TV screen full of movies, games and tv episodes that plan was soon scrapped. Dinner was a choice between boef bourgignon and polluck, both of which I heard were quite good. Not surprisingly we were also served wine, bread, cheese, butter and a chocolate brownie - also tapioca and cous cous. After dinner was coffee which we all drank before realizing it was not the best idea at 2 in the morning local time. I was still able to get about 2 hours of sleep before landing in Paris at 6:30am- an hour early due to a strong tailwind across the Atlantic said the pilot.

The only excitement at the airport when all our luggage emerged except Doug's - they will send it to him when it is found. We met our on-site director Paul McDowell, affectionately to be called PMcD. We took a large coach bus to Angers stopping for lunch along the way, which offered up the first chance of ordering food in French- rather hilarious to watch us I'm sure. I was able to sleep most of the way (about 3 hours) so that was much needed.

We arrived in Angers and took a small tour of our college, L'Universite Catholique de L'Ouest (UCO). Our subset of this college is called CIDEF- it is for international students studying abroad. On an even smaller subcircle on the Venn diagram there is SUNDEF - the office just for ND students, it's not much but I'm sure we'll spend a lot of time there stealing PMcD's printer.

Ok, meeting our host families might have been one of the most hilarious things I've ever seen/experienced. We were all standing in an awkward circle with bags and bags of luggage (I did not bring the most, mom). One or two itty bitty cars or very nice SUV's would pull up and our host families would emerge. Usually it was just the mom, but in some cases there was a married couple, small children, grown children, an older couple, and even a grandma. We all basically sneaked peaks at them while trying to be invisible. PMcD would greet them and basically pry one of us out of the herd to receive our French kisses. He also had to explain the concept behind and give smoke detectors to each family to be placed outside our rooms- ND decided it was a huge insurance liability. It was quite enjoyable to laugh at everyone in turn and speculate about the awkwardness to follow, at least until it was my turn :) My host mom pulled up in a tiny peugeot and picked me out immediately- they had been given pictures. I got my French kisses and she got the smoke detector and we were off. I could understand about 90% of what she said to me, but I could tell she was speaking slowly. We went to her house ( I am only about an 8 minute walk from campus) where she showed me my room and let me unpack. I have a small but very nice room with a desk and large wardrobe, sink and the -you guessed it- world's smallest shower. I am just grateful for the very nice accommodations.

At dinner I was able to meet the whole family, Mr. Buffenoir is very nice and has a good sense of humor. There are two kids Nicolas (18) and Cecilia (14) who are also quite nice. Dinner was long with good food and lots of questions for me. I did my best to answer and we understood each other most of the time except for a few things- I definitely need a picture to explain mom's draft horse wagon setup. Every now and then the kids would go off rambling about something, Nico is a tennis fanatic, and my 90% comprehension which I was quite proud of would drop to about 5%. The parents could tell and would try to get the kids to talk slower. I am looking forward to seeing how much better I will be able to understand them after 4 months. I was given a house key and the code for wireless internet (I'm trying to not let this be the highlight of my evening :) ) After a little bit of Skype I was exhausted and went to bed. I slept till about 9 this morning and will have to leave soon to meet everyone else. We are going on a walking tour with PMcD and then to have dinner at his house. Tomorrow is my birthday and our placement exam which Mrs. Buffenoir assured me is good luck. I will post some pictures of Angers later. Headed out to meet Claire a bit early and explore. Much love. R

Confessions and Life Lessons

2009-08-29T00:33:00.001+02:00

Okay, so if it were at all possible I would avoid telling you guys this considering it’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever done. But as there are quite a few people expecting me to post tomorrow morning with happy “I made it to France photos,” I don’t see any way around it.

Here’s what happened. Back in April-Mayish when I was still in school and attending a bunch of study-abroad orientation meetings, we were told the details for our group flight from JFK to Paris. I wrote down in several places that it was August 28th, and I could have sworn I had this date confirmed somewhere, but I can’t seem to produce any evidence to this fact. I have probably told a hundred people this summer, “I fly out on August 28th.” In fact, I was so sure of the date that Mom and I booked my flight from St. Louis to JFK months ago for, you guessed it, August 28th. (Can you see where this is going?)

After 2 days of frenzied packing we left this morning at 4:39am for the airport. (Note: I would really love to write 4:30 but my father would not approve. He would most assuredly point out that we had to turn around because I forgot my cell phone, putting us staggeringly behind schedule. :) )
Anyway, about a half hour from home I just happened to be looking at my ticket information for the AirFrance flight and you’ll never guess what I discovered. Highlighted for your viewing pleasure...

Yes, indeed, my flight doesn’t leave until Sunday August 30th. It’s Friday, August 28th. Fail.
At this point began my frantic journey through the world that is automated phone menu systems. Turns out not much is open at 5 in the morning, including: Delta Airlines, AirFrance, and Anthony Travel at Notre Dame. About an hour into the trip we settled on two possible options: 1. Take my original flight and beg for shelter from acquaintances in New York (Thanks to the Weil family for being a promising candidate.) or 2. See how much money it would cost to change my flight. I still hadn’t had any luck reaching anyone without a computerized voice so panic was rampant. Many thanks to ChaCha, the free question-answering service which allowed me to procure all these phone numbers via text message.

Fast forward about 2 hours, we had finally made it to the front of the Delta airlines counter and I had learned several things. After being transferred through 3 people who spoke no discernable English, Travelocity had finally offered to rebook my flight for a mere $759 dollars, thanks guys! Needless to say we turned to our next option, a very wonderful Delta employee Barbara. She would be able to book me on the correct flight as long as I could produce an AirFrance confirmation number, easy right? Well after another hour of calling, receiving no help at AirFrance, and being told Anthony Travel had been evacuated due to an electrical fire on campus, (I kid you not) I finally reached the woman who had booked our Paris flight in the first place. She was able to provide me with my new confirmation number- Barbara hadn’t been able to find it because AirFrance had reissued our tickets the previous night for some ridiculous reason. Finally, finally, finally I was able to change and confirm all my flights for the correct days.

Technically, I was able to make a complete dry run to the airport, learn that my bags were 2 pounds overweight, and feel like a complete idiot for the bargain price of $157 dollars. (woo hoo!)

Here comes the life lesson part. I, Rebecca Sandbothe, am turning over a new leaf. I am going to make every attempt to be more organized and well-prepared for all my endeavors. Yes this does include actually reading a plane ticket itinerary that you’ve had for 2 months before booking a connecting flight. I will refuse to be late when I go places, and I will keep better track of my things, especially my cell phone.

Here’s hoping Sunday goes better. Off to repack my overweight bags.