Outside and around Angers

 

So over the last week or so I have finally been able to get ouside of Angers to see a bit of France. Just because you are living in a new city doesnt mean you don’t get tired of seeing the same things week after week. Last weekend was my first  excursion with CIDEF to Mont St. Michel and St. Malo. St. Malo is a port city surrounded by a wall on the Manche and used to be the home of a bunch of pirates. Mont St. Michel is a tidal island with a HUGE church at the top and town at the bottom. I started the day waking up at like 6 am, with no breakfast, and then had a 3 hour bus ride to St. Malo. Bus rides can be fun in the beginning but let me tell you at the end of the day EVERYONE was tired of the bus. Anyway, St. Malo was beautiful. The air smelled like saltwater and the seagulls were crazy. Sara, Kristy, and I were constantly trying to cover ourselves to avoid being pooped on. We spent most of our time on the beach just walking around and climbing on stuff. After that we went into town and ate at a  Breton restaurant. We ate crepes and galettes (basically just a dinner crepe) and drank cidre. Cidre is basically alcohol cider and in my opinion it tastes horrible but whatever it is special to that area. After that we went back to the bus for another hour long ride to Mont St. Michel. It is AMAZING and BIG. Sadly no one realized that after eatting and drinking a lot of stuff we were going to have to climb like 50,000 steps to the top of this thing but once we got up there is was amazing. The town surround it was a little less nice. I was basically like being in a tourist trap just a really nice historical one.

Harbor in St. Malo

Part of the way that surrounds the city

View of St. Malo in the distance

Kristy, Sara, and I ...all of our pictures together look like that by the way

Mont St. Michel

Inside the church

View from the top

Village around the church

 The day after that we went on a tour of this village that was built into these caves. It was pretty cool. For real it was freezing because it was like all underground. After that we went to these caves that are now used for distilling wine. I was awesome because you are walking underground and the air is cold and smells like wine and they have opera playing in the background. Very classy. After that we of course got a chance to taste the wine, which was very good. Sadly, no one drank so much that they got crazy. I figured that would have been hysterical. 

Living quarters in the caves

 

Cute little church

 

Wine!

 

This weekend in general was dedicated to chateaux in the Loire Valley. I went to 3 with the university yesterday and went to the Chateau d’Angers today with Will and Josh. Yesterday we went to Chateau d’Azay-le-Rideau (by far my favorite), Chambord, and Chenonceau. They pictures that I took in no way show just how amazingly large these places are or how beautiful they are. I made sure to buy postcard so people could see later on.  The Chateau d’Angers while amazingly historical, was not my cup of tea but that was just because it was more so for war/protection purposes instead of pampering.

Chateau d'Azay-le-Rideau

Chateau d'Azay-le-Rideau

Chateau d'Azay-le-Rideau...isn't it beautiful?

Chateau Chenonceau ignore the construction on the left...that always happens when I visit things.

Chateau Chenonceau

 

Chateau Chenonceau

 

Chateau Chambord

A better picture of Chateau Chambord I think....I told you we ALWAYS pose like that in the pictures.

Chateau Chambord Chateau Chambord

 

Angers

So I after my class that started litterally before the crack of dawn, I had the rest of the day free so I decided to do a walking tour of Angers. I love things like that because I can see all of the major stuff without being herded around like cattle. So I got my stuff together and headed to the Chateau where it beings. Now for some odd reason, I was not really able to understand the directions of where I was suppose to go. I started off pretty good, then I must have turned the wrong way, then I just gave up. I was like I will attempt that on saturday. SO instead I just walked around in what I guess is technically our “downtown”. It is more just one the historic areas. I got some really awesome pictures but even more awesome, I found a hair salon for black people! Am I going to use it …NO! It costs like 30 euros just to wash and curl my hair and considering I am going to be spending 40 euros each month to wash my cloths and I just bought a purse today for 15, I will not be paying for something I can do for free myself. I am excited though. Next weekend is my first excursion to Mont St. Michel and St Malo. Dont worry pictures will follow.

As I said I had school today… one class *WOOT*, langue *BOO*. Next week we do final schedules so things will be set. I am ready for that too. I like having school because it gives me something to fill out my day, otherwise I would nap all the time because it is so cold. I am going to change subjects for a bit to talk about the weather here.

Being from Ohio, I thought I knew what cold was especially after this past winter. I don’t know what it is about this place, if we are getting like ocean or river effect winds/cold fronts but to me I am freezing all of the time. Well not all the time because there is typically about 2 hours around Noon where I am pretty warm but I am thinking that is because I hoofin’ somewhere in a wool coat to find food. Another issue is the fact that I don’t understand the Celcius temperatures. To be honest I dont think I ever will even after living here for 4 months. Too much math. But even I wanted to figure it out I dont ever have time in the morning considering I am up by 6/6.15ish (I think that is earlier than home too) to shower, brush teeth, and literally grab 2 glups of OJ or water then I walk to the bus to catch it for school which starts at 8 (have not had that since Iwas a freshman). So there is no time to actually look at weather and I can’t guess because it is still litterally dark outside. Hopefully this schdule will be readjusted once I figure out home much time it actually takes me to get to things… ie I buy a watch or cell phone with a clock. 

Bakc to class. It went well. I remembered as we were having a verb race today in class that it has been nearly 7 months since I had a formal French class. We were going over the imparfait et passe-compose today and I think it was the first time where I was like “why the crap did decide to do this after not having taken French for 7 months and then change levels?”. I am pretty sure that this is just nevers considering it was my first day in the class and the 3rd for everyone else. I sure things will get better and if not, I only need 5 classes to graduate and I am taking 6 here – 5 of which I am sure I will have no problem with. My goal is to come back with a high enough GPA to take my 3.217 GPA to a 3.25 so that should I apply at UT Austin, I can actually get in. I know that sounds easy but when you have a billion credits, 3.5s and 4.0s don’t make big dents in cum. GPAs. I am sure things will be fine and I have more important things to worry about, like how I am going to drag all of my laundry to the laundrymat or where is that market that sells croissants 10  for 3.50 euros.

Université Catholique de l'Ouest... My school! Not like WSU at all since it is more of like 6 buildings. A better shot of the Palais which has the library and maybe the school cafe but I forget. BTW all you WSU kids guess who manages the food here? That's right SODEXO! I can't escape them even in France! Amazing, right?

 

 

 

The Chateau which is right in the middle of the city.

 

Streets of the historic quarter.

 

Maison d'Adam the oldest house in town.

 

Saint Maurice Cathedral which overlooks the Maine and the city.

 

View fo the Maine

 

The Maine with the Doutre district in the background.

 

And lastly this one is for my best friend Ryan, there is even a little piece of Russia here. It even comes with iron curtains. Well the are more of shutters that are made out of aluminum I think but still pretty close!

Patience is a virtue…

So the last couple of days have been crazy. Placement test was as you know last week and rough. Well I got my placement and I was in 315. Not bad, but not good considering I have been studying French for like 4 years. It is complicated to explain because there are like 20 different levels. I belive within each level there are about 4-5 levels so in the 100 level you have 101, 102, 103, etc. They go as high I believe as 411 or 412 which is like crazy I have been speaking French for 10 years level. After another student meeting, I went to the office and was like, I need to speak to M. Melin (the director) I NEED to change levels or “J’ai besoin monter, j’ai besoin le prochain niveau”… the phrase that would define my first 2 days fo school. Well not a problem had there not be 70 billion other people who needed/wanted to change their levels. The people in the office were basically like “hmph sure ok” but they told me to talk to my Language/Langue prefessor first.

After that I went to her and was like ”j’ai besoin monter, j’ai besoin le prochain niveau”. She was basically “hmph we will see” and she told me to change levels I was going to have to have patience and wait until the end of the week to try out all of the classes, write an essay, and do an interview. Fine, whatever. So that Monday, I tried to do her way. It would have worked if I was willing to wait that long but we have to pick our classes by next Monday. How am I suppose to choose classes in the next level if I don’t sit in them this week…oh yeah the week before, you sit in classes to decide what you want to take and register at the end of the week. Sorry left that out. Anyway, after sitting classes that were really easy and writing a quick little essay I was like ok it is time to do this my way and deal with the bureaucracy of the French school system myself. Before going to bed, I came up with a mental game plan.

Tuesday, I went in early to try but not to speak to my teach but to talk to M. Melin who I caught outside his office getting coffee *smart*. I told him my situtation and he was like ok come back this afternoon and speak to M. Loiseau he can help you. That afternoon while the hoards of were eatting lunch I snuck back early to get a prime number 4 spot in line to speak to M. Loiseau after lunch. I was in his office within 30 mins. I told him that I needed to change because of school and everything. He was kinda like, well you tested into this level that means should be here. After telling about how I screwed up the oral part of test because I am dumb and I had not been in a French class for nearly for 7 months which I sited as the reason for the low score, it was like rapid fire question time. I am assuming it was because he wanted to actually test my level in speaking at least. So it was everything from “What do you study?’ to “What did you think of Puntarenas vs. San Jose, Costa Rica?” to “Grammatical and phonetically, which do you prefer Spanish of French?”. And as he was talking in my head I was like “OH GOD THIS IS AN INTERVIEW CRAP, CRAP, CRAP, CRAP!!! DONT *$%!ING SCREW THIS UP!!!!” After about 15 mins. he was like ok I am going to move you to 322. Suprise! I was like I just needed 321 but whatever.

After all of that I began to wonder if I should actually be in the lower level, particially because I had some issues understanding how to open up a bank account and also just because I am always like that. I sat in some classes in my new level and that were all things I could do but I was still worried. So Tuesday night a came up with a new game plan.

Wednesday, today, I woke up super early so that I could go in for grammer and talk to my teacher in my old level. Just to talk to her and get her opinion on my changing. After waiting like an hour and enjoying a really good croissant during that time I finally got to meet with her. I sat down and I was like really, what is the difference between these levels and me changing? So I be doing this? Was I wrong because I feel like I will be ok in the other level. She was like yeah after reading your essay Monday night, I was going to recommend that you move up to 322 anyway on Tuesday. You need to work on your grammar but yeah you need to be in the other level. So after talking about which classes she thought would be better for me to practice my writing and other stuff I left with 2 feelings.

1. Happiness because I really did belong in the higher level.

and

2. Pissed because I went through all of that stress/anger/bitterness for the past 2 days

Lessson learned. Patience really is a virtue.

Finally here

So I am FINALLY in Angers and I have a TON to write about. I would have done it earlier had my converter not melted Monday.

First let me start in the begining. Friday was sad. Tracy cried which almost made me cry. I went to El Rancho with my friends which made me sad too. I was like “Why do my friends have to be so awesome? If I had crap friends I wouldn’t be sad!”

Saturday after getting my relaxer (of course) I went home and got everything ready. Me, mom, and dad went to the airport and said our teary goodbyes.  After that I waited for my flight to DC. This is were some issues arrived. We were suppose to land in DC at 4.30 and any one who has flown to DC from day knows it takes about 1 hour. Our plane is delayed until 3.30. I asked the “wonderful” people at United Airlines if they could call ahead to Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and let the know I might be late. They said no and that we would be there in plenty of time for my 5.20 departure. SO we leave and arrive at DC at 4:30, good right? WRONG! Since we were late leaving DAY and early getting to DC there was no where for us to park the plane so we sat in our seatbelts on the tarmack for 30 mins. What really pissed my off was as we were sitting there not moving at all, I tried to get the stewardess attention so she could walk back to me so I could ask her to call SAS. To which she pointed to her seatbelt as if to say “So I know that we are sitting, on the ground, not moving AND I know that I have a job where I am up moving around on a moving plane in storms and turbulance serving juice and peanuts, but sorry I can’t get up”. SO I sat there from 4.30-5.00. After finally getting of the plane and 5 I had to wait  5 mins for gatechecked carry-ons. At 5:10 on the dot, I started booking it from gate A5 to gate B37, in a winter coats, boots, and with 2 carry-ons as they are calling my name over the intercom saying that they wre about to take off. I did however make it and the go people at SAS were even so kind as to move me so did not have to sit next to anyone. When I asked them about my luggage, they were like sorry we have to go they can tell you in Copenhagen. The flight was good although not the best TV/Movie choices. Good food though… thanks to Helena for recommending them.

I arrive in Copenhagen at 7 am to catch a 9ish flight to Paris. I had to show them my passport so that I could get through to the EU flights. I was really mad that I didn’t get a stamp but oh well I will get it in France, or so I thought.

The flight from Copenhagen to Paris was good too. I think it is funny because on the flight to Denmark everyone and I do mean EVERYONE (except me) was white and I was would say 40%-50% had blond hair but on the flight to Paris there were white, black, Indian, Asian, and Muslims. SO I land in Paris and go to get my bag which surprise (!) is still in DC! So after filing the lost luggage form went to go threw customs and surprise again (!) there wasn’t one. When I asked them why they told me that the documents and stamp I got verified me being in the EU. When I told them that never happened it was just some do with a hat that glanced at my passport the guy was like ….ummm ok. So hopefully I am in the EU legal but other than myself being here there is nothing written saying that I am here. Lucky the passport grants me permission.

After that I went to the dreaded, or at least I thought so, TGV station. Not bad. I bought my ticket and had some of the people that worked there show me how to read it from which train I need to the different secetions and all that jazz. The ride was amazing. I have never seen this aregion of France so it was interesting to see how different it was from of course Paris and the Paye Basque.

I arrived at the gare sans luggage and met Pierjac and his son Paul who took me to the house. First they showed me a bit of the city and I was surprised because it did not look like what I thought it would. I dont know what I thought it would look like but still. It is BEAUTIFUL… pictures to come this weekend.  They took me to the house and showed me my room. I had ve a room by myself and a bathroom and kitchen that is just for the students. They own a laundry mat that we can use. They are really nice people and it is great here. My only thing is that after talking to students who live 10 mins from the school, have breakfast and dinner with their families, and have their laundry done by their families and they are paying 280/290 euros each month. I am a 30 minute walk away, buy my own food, bus pass, and laundry but I pay 300 euros a month. I think I am going to see if I can pay less because an additonal 80 euros in my budget would be great for paying for food and laundry.

 The first day here I was sick. I thought I had strep but it was just a sore throat. On Monday I didn’t do very much either except go to the supermarket, fry my adapter, and wait for my luggage. I did get to meet one of my new roommates Rami (pronouced Lami) who is amazing for letting me use her computer and just in general.

Tuesday after calling SAS several times about my luggage bc I thought I gave them the wrong address, when really I didnt, Lami came with me to find a new converter. So we walked from our house to the school to ask them where I could find a converter. After that we walked to Plante Saturn only to find out there was not one there but I needed a adapter anyway. So we walked a back home. Just doing that we walked for about 4 hours. After sitting for 10 mins or so we got up and walked to the market… about 30 mins of walking. LOTS OF WALKING.

Wednesday was the placement test. We took the bus, which takes like 10 mins. I think I am still going to walk because Lord knows it would do me some good. Once I figure out how to bike here I will do that. SO the placement test… The first part I got lost on where we were and did not answer like 6 questions. That sucked because the next section out of 8 questions I answered 1. Now granted I messed up all of that stuff on the 1st part but they were speaking soooo fast I am not sure if I could have answered them anyway. The other parts not bad. So long as I dont get beginners French, I am fine. After that Madeline, who I met at the bus stop this morning, some of her friends, and myself went to find something to eat and a adapter for my computer. We ate at this cute little resaurant I think called Breton and found my adapter for 3 euros! Woot!

In general things are great and I think once I understand how to get around and know what level I am in all will be good. The next 3 days I am going to just wander and wander of course taking pictures so that I can get at least one touristy moment out of the way. Expect to see photos. In the mean time here is my living quarters!

                

                              

                  

 

 

 

And so it begins…at least with the posting

SO not gonna, I’m pretty excited about leaving for Angers in less than 3 weeks now. At the same time I get VERY stressed about everything from “do I have enough shampoo?” to “will I do well on my placement test?’. On top of that I am constantly having to hear about graduation, jobs, bills, graduate school, etc. It is gonna suck to come back from not having worked for 4.5 months and then be like, ummmm so how do I pay for that awesome car I decided to buy? Hopefully, I will have a job when I get back… fingers crossed!

On a happier note, Angers seems pretty awesome. People ask me where it is constantly and I am just kinda like, south-west of Paris by train for about 90 mins. I am pretty sure that doesnt help anyone unless they have actually been to France, specifically Paris, and been on the train in the country for 90 mins or more. Thanks to wikipedia.com, I can now tell you that it is 190 miles south-west of Paris, 300 km for you all in the metric world.

A little bit about Angers. I really don’t know much about it but here is some stuff. It is the capital of the province of Anjou which I love because in the movie Elizabeth there was a Duke on Anjou who was kind of mess. There are lots of flowers in the Spring time, I think that they actually call themselves the “most flowered city in Europe”. Good to know because now I am bringing a ton of allergy meds.  The province or department, Maine-et Loire,  is famous for their pears and tapestries. There is also lots of festivals both of the film and food variety. I have also learned from other WSU students that it is basically the Seattle of France, weather-wise, and there are no dance clubs, which I can live with. All in all funtimes all around.

Some people have asked me if I am going to travel around while I am there. I would love to! Ideally, I will be able to go to Ireland and Scotland on spring break and spend some time in Italy on one of our many pont weekends. But seeing as how when I return I will be broke , I have decided that might not be the best. Not only that, I have been to France once before so before I run off to enjoy that which is the rest of Europe, I feel like I need to learn more about my host country. I think it would be great to see all of the other parts of France that I have never seen so I might just do that. It would be a whole lot cheaper and I could learn about my temporary home for the next 19 weeks. Besides I can go to Ireland and Italy anytime; I am sure I will end up going sometime for work anyway. They will always be there…if global warming doesn’t get them first. And on that debbie downer note I am out. Btw I dont believe in proofreading unless it is for school/work so if I messed up somewhere (or in the future) use your brain to fix it. It will almost be like a puzzle!