01/10/12

This is just a little status update about my abroad life.

I am planning on going to London for the spring semester of 2013. I will start this blog up again then, hopefully doing a daily thing like I did when I was in Caen. Until then, I hope you visit Erik's site to the right. Well, until January then!

28/6/12

Sorry I am writing this late. We had class the entire day... but it was sooo hot. Like just completely terrible. Towards the end of class, everyone was just like "done" so we sang a french song which was pretty super. Then the last ten minutes our prof was telling us things and I couldn't focus and just was sweating. So when she finished talking, I let out an exasperated "ahhh Je suis chaud" and she just burst out in laughter. I thought that it meant I am hot (it is actually j'ai chaud), but really it meant I am hot *wink wink*... It was funny, so I just went along with it and proceeded to say other funny things in french (ohh non, Je suis excité parce que je suis chaud. Je pense que a cause du temps... mais peut etre Stephanie. Je ne sais pas) Such a great way to end the day. 

After class, Rebecca and I went down to centre-ville for shopping. There were so many sales. I don't know why but it was good. I bought a bottle of pommeau and got to practice my French with actual French people. We went into a wine shop and the guy was very nice and helped up with our parlering a lot. 

We then met up with everyone at the maison d'etudiants for a little farewell soirée. It was a lot of fun just sitting and talking with people. We had people from Cincinnati, New York (us), Texas, Wisconsin, and Australia all just talking like we have been friends forever. I guess when you spend every day together for 3 straight weeks where you can literally only talk to the people you are with, you get close. I have made a lot of friends here and it is going to be sad leaving them. I finished the night by watching the game with a few people. It was a decent game, but I was sad that Germany lost (would have been a sick experience going there right after they won the Euro... too bad that won't happen now. Oh well). One day left in Caen! et puis, Paris!

Rory and mom, I expect that you two will like the first version. Erik and Mez are sure to get a kick out of the second one. Enjoy!

This is the song we sang.

Redone in 1989. Can you tell?

27/6/12

After a short day, I realized that the french 'r' is still really hard to say. Phonetics was rough to say the least. After a quick lunch, we went to the beach. I didn't get to take any pictures, so my apologizes there. But it is another thing I can now cross off my list: I have swam in the English Channel. After a quick dip (the water is actually cold... just like they say it is), a group of us ventured off to play some mini-golf. It was a lot of fun playing mini golf with a bunch of random kids from across the country. After that, we bummed around town for a bit. Kelsey, Rebecca, and I got some crepes. Mine had chocolate and Nutella in it. It was so good. They make them so much better in France than other places I have decided. Most of my clothes have dried. I am off now to do some homework for tomorrow then a few of us are going down town to watch the football game. Should be exciting since I haven't watched one since coming to Europe. I send this post out to Mez, because I miss him and I haven't seen any organs lately. Sorry. Miss you! and everyone elses.

I hope you all get as much enjoyment out of this as I did. There are also more episodes (4 in total). Number 2 is my favorite. Enjoy!

26/6/12

Class was actually pretty fun today. We talked a lot just about random things. I don't really recall now, but I know I participated more than usual, so that is supah doopah! Of course lunch was great again. I had ham and gravy. Did I mention that the chocolate here is still so amazing. I had a piece of chocolate pie for dessert (because they literally do not mess around with any of the food here. Sorry Fisher). We then learned about the French government afterwards. It was confusing but I think I got the gist of it. The President of France has the power to get rid of the Assembly. Like think about it-- Obama tells everyone in the House of Representatives to go home and don't comeback Monday. Then they just have a new election. This has only happened once though-- J. Chirac did it. Just crazy though to think about.

I did laundry from 315 to 400. That involved washing my clothes in the sink and hanging them haphazardly around my room. I will put a picture. It  was a little frustrating and I cannot wait until I get the chance to use a washing machine again!! Maybe Paris... I am off to take a nice long walk tonight... maybe find some dinner or some bread. Who knows. But ok. Miss you!! 

Shirts on the table, socks on the windowsill, jeans on the balcony. I live in style.

25/6/12

Today's morning class was easily the best I have had here. I didn't learn a lot but it sure was a lot of fun. What we were to do was to pick a well known person and write a little narrative about them and the class had to guess who it is based upon the story. We chose Will Ferrell. Paraphrased (for length and because I am a little lazy and why would you want to read this whole story anyways?) (and in French) our story went like this:

"He was walking through the woods searching for his dog Baxter since the bad man kicked him. He heard a noise in the woods and ran to it. It was a bear, which proceeded to punch him in the face and tear his suit. Baxter came running and told the bear to go away."

We then got to color this on a picture and that took up the entire morning! The afternoon, we learned more about WWII, especially the landing at Normandy. Then, at 16h30, we took our midterm. I hope that I did well on it. I am expecting at least an 85, so that should be a good start. Then, after a failed trip to the bakers, I had dinner at the dining hall with Ross, Kelsey, and Rebecca. It was a lot of fun. Rebecca and I watched YouTube videos for a while then we joined up with everyone for just some talking and hanging out. Kind of a very calm but fun night. Nothing else exciting on this end. Hope fun stuff is going on at home!!!

24/6/12

There is not much to tell about today's amazing day. I woke at up 11. So I started off mad at myself for sleeping so late. I did go to the Chateau last night at some point to watch an opera. I don't know what was going on but figured whatever. We had class from 12-2 to review for the midterm tomorrow. Then walked down to Monoprix for some schnackums. 

1. It was raining
2. Monoprix is closed on Sunday
3. I was pissed.

So we went back and I muddled around here a little bit. Reading things and drying off. Then went over to Ashlee's room where we stayed for the next like 3 hours. I don't know what we did... but like there was 7 of us in there talking and whatever. Then we walked downtown for dinner. Just a little pizzeria, so not even anything amazing either. Came here around 23h and wrote two journal entries and two blog posts because I wasn't able to last night. Now I am going to try and wash some clothes quick and go to bed before 130. ok love you and miss you all a lot still. Really!

23/6/12

Today we went to Honfleur and Etretat. Both were cities I have never heard of and had semi-low expectations for what this excursion was going to bring. I was mistaken. Honfleur was another example of why stereotypes of European towns are made. It was stunningly beautiful and sunny (not the town... but it helped. Would have been less fun had it rained). We got there and walked around in a tour for a little bit, then tailed off because we were super hungry. This was an experience because we stopped at a café and me and my friend Jim decided to split a meal called Fruits de Mer. It essentially means fruits of the sea. What we got was nothing like we expected. There were 3 oysters (raw-still salt water on them), 4 clams (the same), 3 shrimp (heads and all), 2 prawns (bigger shrimp with claws where I literally broke him in half and was using the knife to mush up his innards to a goo which I then slurped out. Oh and this was in the upper half, the lower half was a delicious tail. But yea... scrambled prawn brains woo) about 20 Whelks, which are sea snails and look literally like a gross goober, and about 50 little black things which, when taken from its shell, looked like snot. All of this was raw and frankly, a little hard to put down. Decent nonetheless.

Then in Etretat we went to a beach. This beach was nice except for the sand--- it was rocks that varied in size from a half dollar to a tennis ball. Comfortable to sit on but terrible to walk on. The English Channel was also pretty nice to walk on. After a while on the beach, we got some ice cream. It was super amazing except there was a little language barrier and mistakes were made in ordering the ice cream. We wanted one single scoop of chocolate and 2 single scoops of cookies and cream. So in all, three cones with one scoop each. We ended up with one cone with a scoop of cookies and cream and chocolate (2 scoops), one cone (mine) with 2 scoops of cookies and cream, and the third with 2 scoops of chocolate. Whoops. And it was a beautiful day, so that made it all the better too.

This is Honfleur. I guess i forgot to mention it is right on the Channel and we got to eat under the red awning. That is why we got seafood. Figured it would be fresh (we were right)

Oh yea... the beach was surrounded by this on the left side and an almost matching one on the right. Simply stunning.

And of course I need to put this up for mez. Sorry its not the best quality and I can never find information on any of the organs. 

22/6/12

Week number 2 is now over, and it is flying by! We got out of class at 1215 today. In phonetics, we all got destroyed trying to make an "oo" sound (like in tu vs nous for those who know French). For me, I tried to differentiate the words by changing my inflection, not changing anything else. It didn't work. It is surprisingly hard to make noises in French. Other than that, classes went ok.

After, we went to (( Sorry, Rory, if you are reading this, could I use Afterwards and/or Afterwords interchangeably? If not, could you define the difference.)) the Memorial de Caen. I guess it is the second most visited museum in France after The Louvre. It was amazing. It walked you through everything from 1914 to about 1950. It was so detailed and amazing. There was this one room that was basically a bubble that had ceramic walls and a video of Hitler yelling chants that are echoing perpetually around you. It was really heavy though, the whole experience. Seeing the atrocities from a European point of view is much different than in America. Also, it took Germany like 15 days to take over France. The president/prime minister basically said... well its yours how about. That is it. It was absurd. We finished the museum with a video of D-Day because they can't get enough of it here. It was unique though because the left side of the screen was the allies preparing, launching, and attacking while on the right it was the Germans preparing and defending at the same time.

I then had dinner at a crepe place. I had a crepe. It was decent. Then I bought breakfast at Monoprix for tomorrow and Sunday and now I am here to work on some journal entries and see what else the night brings. I hope you all have a nice weekend!!

21/6/12

Sooo the French have this thing. It is called la Fete de la Musique. It is a festival that starts around noon and last pretty much all night. Oh yea, and it takes place around the ENTIRE COUNTRY! Everywhere from Paris to Strasbourg, Arles to Caen is celebrating music by having a block party that will blow any in the United States out of the water (mind you, the entire country is celebrating this, by partying to music). 

Earlier in the day, we went into a McDonalds to use the bathroom (We won't eat the food because come on...we are in France) and guess what we saw? There were two security guards working the door and one on the second floor making sure everything was Kosher. WHAT?! Be careful, people in France must get really rowdy for their BigMac, enough to where they need Bouncers, a VIP list, and three floors. Unbelievable. 

As promised, here are some photos of my trip to Normandy. I am sorry I don't have any from the fete de la musique, but I had low expectations for it (I dropped the ball on that, sorry).

The view from Omaha Beach

At Pointe du Hoc. It those gullies are holes left from bombs. The amazing thing is that during the invasion, some climbed up those cliffs. WHAT?!

Actual Pointe du Hoc. There is a monument there to commemorate D-Day. I don't think many Americans realize how big of a deal it really was to the war (I know I didn't) and how much it is celebrated here, especially in the Normandy region. 

This was actually out of my window today, around 5. The clouds rolled in so fast and were so dark. So beautiful though. 

Ok well I must be to bed, being I have to get up in 6 hours for class. But I hope all is well and enjoy the first full day of summer!!

20/6/12

Sorry I am writing this so late. I got caught up talking to some friends until the wee hours of the morning. Luckily, my homework is finished so woo. Today was another beautiful day. We went to the beaches of Debarquement which every one was so super in their own way. We say the American Cemetery and Museum. I didn't get a chance to see any of the grave sites, but I did get a chance to walk on Omaha Beach. I never realized how big D-Day is here. We also got a chance to see Point Du Hoc. So if anyone gets the chance to come to Normandy, please go there, because it is so beautiful. I will put up some pictures tomorrow because today, I am going to bed. So goodnight and I miss everyone at home still!!

19/6/12

Today was a pretty plain day. Nothing too exciting really happened, which is always ok. I got new bedding and towels so that is really exciting! Except after this I must make my bed. In class, we learned three news verb tenses... before pause. So from 845 to 1000. Quite a load. After class, we went to Monoprix and got some food and junk. Then too the bakery for bread. Oh yea, I also washed my clothes today. What I mean is I washed 2 white tee shirts and four pairs of underwear in my sink and have them strewn across my room in a hopeless attempt to dry. I hope they do by Thursday! Saw a french film in a french movie theatre. It was an experience. The movie was so so but overall, it was a fun trip. After, a few friends and I went to a closed mall for dinner. Ya, strange I know, but the food was definitely all right. After a tram trip home, I wrote this and will now do some homework for tomorrow. Which, at 13h, we leave for the beaches, so that will be something more than amazing! Until tomorrow night!

18/6/12

Well I now have the answer to the most important question of all of history. Literally. I now know why Mona Lisa is smiling. That is the big thing I took away from class today. We even got to get out 15 minutes early, which, after 4 hours and 45 minutes of class, is not that much. We then went to the Abbaye aux Dames. It had some beautiful art and when we went, some "priests in training" (I can't think of the word... guys in the seminary) started chanting. It was really neat to hear. Then we went to watch the football match between Ireland and Italy... but it started at 8:30 and we went at 6:00... so we ended up walking back to school for dinner (which was the first disappointing meal of the trip). Then, everyone parted ways, and I realized that I didn't have any bread for the morning. So I walked to Monoprix (a department store about 20 minutes or so away) and got something.. It is like a bread but I am not sure what else. So some sort of pastry. Tomorrow I will be sure to go to my usual bakery. The walk was really nice but brisk. It seems that this city is in a circle too because getting lost is really complicated to do. Maybe Sunday on my free day I will get lost. Also, another beautiful day without rain (We are overdue). I hope you all are having a great Monday and I will have great pictures of the beaches of Normandy probably Wednesday night or Thursday... so be on the lookout for those.

Here is a picture of the Abbeye. I made sure to get a shot of the organ for Mez. I wasn't too impressed... but I also don't really know organs like he does. 

17/6/12

First and foremost: Happy Father's Day!!! I hope your day was fantastic Dad and Pa and Poppy! Sorry I couldn't be there to spend it with you but I will try and make it up later.

Today was a long day. After getting up at 7, we rode a bus to Mont-Saint-Michel. It was so nice. Bright sun and a slight breeze-amazing. Oh yea, Mont-Saint-Michel was UNBELIEVABLE! This is where I spend the morning and beginning part of the afternoon:

So I mean I couldn't really complain from the start. After taking the trip from the bottom to the top (a ton of stairs), we could see miles into Brittany and Normandy: As seen here--

A fact I assume you are unaware of is: you see the sandy part? Well that gets inundated during high tide. So basically this Mountain village/castle/abbey turns into a private island every other day or so. In one of the rooms on the top, since it is always cold in there, the monks used to use it as a morgue. I am sure you are wondering why monks need a morgue, as XVII century medicine was not really up to the standards of now. Well, they used to chuck their dead buddies in there to keep them chilled (I mean no one likes stinky dead) for two days. After two days, the deceased monk's best monk buddy would go in and BITE THEIR BIG TOE just to "make sure."

This makes me think of two things that are shocking:

1. They screwed up pronouncing their dead, obviously more than once because they made a routine to combat it and more importantly
2. Biting the big toe of a person is the most efficient and best way to check if a cold, listless body that has been lying on the ground of a cold room is actually "just playing."

After a quick piece of bread (a common thread for my entire trip), we boarded the bus for St. Malo. It was a beautiful, walled-in community complete with church, beaches, and a Lacoste. We didn't spend as much time there as I would have liked, but basically it was the stereotypical French city. It had gorgeous houses across set in the hills overlooking the sea and sailboats everywhere. The streets were cobblestone and all of the city was destroyed during the war... so they have done work in the past 70 years. 

Well I tried uploading a picture but it was being a meany. Mez, I was going to upload a picture of an organ (I have tried taking a picture and getting information about all the ones I have seen. So far it's not working as well as I anticipated so I am sorry. I did hear someone play today. I didn't like his crescendo and I thought the song was too dark for the opening song for mass. But the organ sounded sooo pretty.) and more importantly, a cat. so I apologize for that. Take my word that St. Malo was beautiful though.

Ok, well again, Happy Father's Day Dad, Pa and Poppy!! I love and miss you guys!! 

16/6/12

Today was so beautiful! It was like 20 degrees Celsius, and the sun was out for the majority of the day. I woke up and laid in bed for a while, then we all met up with Dr. Papé for lunch. We went to this place in the historic section and the food/service was wonderful. Mom would have been proud with the piece of beef I had. Then we just walked around the city more, so that was nice. Then after a little rest, Ashley and I walked down to the bakers and got some Pain au Chocolat and I got a baguette for dinner. Surprisingly, when we got back, everyone was looking for us. So we all walked downtown for dinner. When they were in getting their food, I walked around some more. Then we regrouped and they ate their dinner in front of the castle. It was nice sitting out there people watching!

When I got back to my room, I had dinner. It was really surreal eating tonight. This is what my dinner looked like

Apart from my room being messy (I will clean it tomorrow after Mont Saint Michel), dinner was spectacular. I have the door to my balcony open and my window wide open. On my table is bread, Paté, and wine. You have not had bread until you have had fresh french bread. It was so amazing. Surprisingly, paté was very  good. Who would have thought?! If you are unsure of what it is, look it up. Then be surprised. It was a solid day and I hope the weather stays like this. Ok,

15/6/12

Ok. Something they don't tell you about Caen until you get here... then it is like a running joke around the city--It rains all the time. Every day we have been here, it has rained at least a little bit. By that, I mean like at least a couple hours. Another thing they don't tell you is that the sun doesn't set until like 23h00. It is really confusing when you are walking around at like 21h30 and it feels like 17h. Just crazy. 

Class today was only until 12h15. And the excursion this afternoon got canceled. So, after lunch I took a nice nap after checking Facebook. You know that feeling you get when it is like cold and damp and rainy and all you want to do is curl up and sleep-- I did that. I am writing this early because I am not sure what tonight will bring. AND tomorrow is suppose to be nice, so that means it will only rain for a few hours instead of all day. 

Why America ruled the 1900's   This link made me really like America and appreciate a simpler and more fun time.

14/6/12

Oh Jeudi. After a late night last night, this morning was a little rough. But once classes started, I got into it well. I struggled a bit with the grammar but things are really looking promising for me to be confident enough to travel France alone once I have to.

After class, we went to the abbey aux hommes. It is a place where monks lived. it was really neat and I will have to tell you more about it when I get home. It was closed when we went, so we got a special tour. Maybe on one of my days off, I will get an extended tour. Or not.. its kind of whatever. 

Dinner was good! I had a crepe with something in it... and a raw egg placed in the middle! It is just so surreal to walk around Caen. Like, I am in France in a French city doing... French people stuff.. Like eating bread. I eat so much bread. Tomorrow, I will finish the loaf I bought  Wednesday and the other Pain au Chocolat. Look it up. It is great! 

Here is a picture of the organ in the Abbey that I believe Mez will want to see.... and a link that is very useful.

Link


Au revoir!

13/6/12

Today was an extremely long day. I had class for six hours, which went all right. I got picked on for being bad at french-- no surprise there haha. I think one of the best things I do is lunch. And eat bread. But lunch is free every day and I have had seafood the past two days. It is so fresh and super. It makes me so happy. Speaking of that, my shoes are still wet from yesterday. After class, I laid down for a little snooze, then decided naps are for wimps. Probably as I am writing this, Rory is taking a nap. 

I went exploring after alone, found some really nice places to shop and took a lot of pictures. As I returned home, everyone else in my group was meeting for dinner, so I went with them. Somehow, I was chosen for map reader extraordinaire. Which, I can read a map... but I don't really care where we go or how we get there... so I don't put too much effort into it. Also, with the bread I eat, I am rarely hungry. During dinner, we met a man from Sweden. We ended up talking to him for the duration of dinner. We talked everything from politics to schooling and social structure to football. 

We took a tour of the city at night at 21:30. It was nice and We saw the abbey aux hommes.

 Then we proceeded around other spots and talked. I am writing this at 12:15, so tomorrow may be rough. I hope that everyone home is doing well. Also, know that I am tearing up Europe like you all asked. Feel free to send me an email or facebook message if you want. 

And ps. I don't think Rory is taking a nap because soccer starts in 5 minutes. So I apologize. 

12/6/12

My first day of classes was a success. I woke and made it there by 8:45, the time I must wake Monday through Friday. Its not too bad though because I get a chance to take a nap after break. Class was interesting. I say this because throughout the entire class and even after, I understood about 70% of what the people were saying. I guess that's a good thing, but they were also talking a little slower than normal. My class has 8 people in it-- all Americans. Most of them are from Texas, but there is a nice girl I sit next to who is from Ohio. It was kind of funny; we all felt like we were understanding what was going on, then she would give us directions for an exercise, and literally all of us were like "Oh... repetez" (which means repeat).
After class was lunch, which was actually very good. The portions were a little big, but that is something I can get used to. In the afternoon we took a tour of the city. It was ok, but since it was raining, everyone got pretty miserable pretty quick. We ended up breaking off from the group and going to a supermarket. There I bought bread. As I sit here sipping my water and munching my baguette, I wonder-- Would being a prisoner really be that bad? I mean if you were given stale tasting water and like bread with the crust cut off, then yea... but a possibility. As I leave here, I am off to write in my journal and to do some homework, hopefully being finished around 11:15. I do miss people at home, so that sucks. But the bread is really good.

Since I don't have the time to find a really cool link, here is a picture of  some losers from high school. 

11/6/12

So once my computer died, I ended up boarding the plane sometime later. On the plane, I watched half of 21 Jump street (Rory and Mez, I would recommend it to you; it was funny) and Act of Valor. Both were quality movies. It was so surreal to watch the sun set over Nova Scotia, then get mad because you cannot sleep on an airplane, then fall asleep, and finally, wake up to watch the sunrise over Ireland and Great Britain. 

Here is a picture of the sun setting over Canada.

Canada was pouring by the time we arrived. And by Canada, I mean France. After squirming our way through the throngs of Japanese people who arrived from Tokyo, we got in a van and rode to Caen. I slept most of the way, which lead to my feet falling asleep (which sucks because of the tingly feeling you get when you wake up) and some of the stiffest necks I have had in a while. 

My room is pretty nice. I have a bathroom and a bed, so that's good enough. 

After walking around the city for a bit, we went out to dinner.  I figured, might as well go all in on the first night, so I ordered Tripe a la carte de Caen. This consisted of Tripe, Potatoes, Carrots, Onions in a broth. The bowl was big enough for 3 people, so I felt guilty when I didn't finish it all. Also, did you know that tripe is INTESTINE?! Ya, well I didn't until I all ready made up my mind so I had to eat it, but my goodness. Who says, I am so hungry, I am going to cut open an animal, fish out the grossest part of the animal, then boil it to eat. Someone was just being an jerk one day, ate it, and an idiot misconstrued it as tradition-- voila, French Cuisine. I may go for a walk soon, but for now, I am just going to watch the sun lazily float down to below the horizon out my balcony listing to tune.

Oh yea--Mind Blown

10/6/12

The day is here. I have been planning on this trip to Europe since I got back three years ago. One, it seems that three years flies by. Two, watching the news on mute is complete garbage. After going to bed at Midnight and waking up at 4:00, I realized that everything sucks when you are tired. After going to the house twice because we forgot things (Internet Cable, Gas), I realized that I left my pens at home. No G2's for me. The first plane we took was small, but it scooted right along- getting to Washington before I anticipated. It only took about an hour. I am not sure what to expect for the next few hours. I do know that I will get to sit a lot, and nap in uncomfortable positions. I apologize for the lack of originality in this post, but I have been just sitting all day, rarely talking and waiting to ride and sit some more. I will try to be more exciting on my next post. For now, I leave you with an interesting article that I hope you all will like.     Plans not carried out 

Tally Ho!