Friday/Saturday/Sunday/Monday- whoops

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.