Jour six. So we are almost at a week in France, I can't believe it!! Today was pretty chill and I ate some more delicious food haha. So some highlights of the day:
1) Ate an amaaaazingly tasty sandwhich from the boulangerie down the street; it had mozerella, roasted red peppers, olive oil, some kind of pork or ham... i still don't really know, lettuce, tomato, and a tar-tar sauce. simply delicious!
2) Bought some nice post cards and bought some stamps.... I have to lick them in order for them to stick haha, old school!
3) Went to lunch at a little asian restaurant where I had a spring roll and some cantonese rice. Not too shabby!
4) Went into the boulangerie next door to the asian restaurant and bought the most delicious three layered chocolate mousse cake. Heaaaveeennnn!Oh mon Dieu!!
5) Went window shopping, or lécher les vitrines en français (literally to lick the windows... haha weird)Almost bought a really cute pair of red velvet flats with a silver buckle, buuuuut they didn't have any left... malheureusement. Must be a sign to not spend my money :P
6) Spent some time taking pictures of the most beautiful sunset while eating my chocolate mousse cake. Truly an amazzzziinngg boost to my day!
So some fun facts about the French here:
1) They love scarves. And I mean love them. They will wear two if they really want and they still look like they just happened to have stepped off the runway. I want a new puffy scarf.
2) They are very, genuinely nice people, but only if you make the first move to say hello and talk to them. So my thought is, how do the French make friends with each other if they don't like making the first move? It's quite confusing.
3) They can be extremely forward. And by forward I mean they do not mind being very upfront with you about something, not that it can be a bad thing. Sometimes they can go a little overboard like the intoxicated man who told us we eat too many crêpes. Hey drunky, casse-toi pov-con! And I will not translate that last one haha.
4) The French are also very helpful. They never turn you away when you ask for directions. Also always know gauche/left, droit/right, and toute droite/straight and you can make your way around France no problem.
5) Don't tip. If you do it's like your tipping them like 50% or more, and then they just think your crazy, or they were just really good, and they probabaly weren't haha. Not to mention they aren't like American waiters where they come over every 5 minutes and ask you how your meal is. Mealtime is their time to relax and talk with their family and friends so they probably don't want to be disturbed.
Well that's all for now! Get back to your microwave popcorn, and fluff (which the French do not have here) and a bientôt pour la jour prochaine!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
my schedule for classes!
So these are the classes I'm taking that I didn't include in the last post:
LUNDI( monday): Étude de la Langue 10H30- 12H30
MARDI (tuesday): Étude de la Langue 15H45- 17H45
MERCREDI (wednesday): Comprehension Orale 09H15- 10H15
JEUDI (thursday): Étude de la Langue 13H30- 15H30, Expression écrite 15H45- 17H45
and I think on Fridays is when I will have my optional class. In the case I end up having "Option Art Moderne", that will be at 13H30- 15H30
LUNDI( monday): Étude de la Langue 10H30- 12H30
MARDI (tuesday): Étude de la Langue 15H45- 17H45
MERCREDI (wednesday): Comprehension Orale 09H15- 10H15
JEUDI (thursday): Étude de la Langue 13H30- 15H30, Expression écrite 15H45- 17H45
and I think on Fridays is when I will have my optional class. In the case I end up having "Option Art Moderne", that will be at 13H30- 15H30
Day four and five
jour 4 et 5. It is unbelievable how long it takes jetlag to go away. The girls and I are still adjusting to the time change so we have been very out of it and slightly groggy since we have arrived. So day four was our day to find out what classes we will be taking through the cirefe program, as well as chosing the extra course that they include. We woke up at 7:30 am and we ended up all running very late to get to the University. I myself was in my towel and brushing my teeth when the girls knocked on my door to tell me they were all set and ready to go. Wonderful. With only about 2 minutes to grab some french-looking atire, toss my hair into a bun, and throw on some boots, we were able to make it to the University almost exactly on time. Grâce a dieu!While finding out which room our classes would be situated in we ended up being too early to even go into the classes so we sat in a little room with chairs and waited for a little bit.
Once people started filing into their classes a little later I made my way, toute seul, to the other room not accompanied by Grace, Sarah and Kayla. I was getting kind of antsy because it was the first time I had been alone and without the aid of the other girls in the case that I got insanely confused and needed some company. Well the class started and oddly enough my French professor was easy enough to understand and we went through our schedule. So far this is what my schedule looks like every week for my classes:
Each class is divided up based on French speaking, writing and culture. We also had to chose another class based on our own interest and I chose Modern French Art as my first choice, and French writing as my second. I'm really hoping to learn some more about French Art and also bring a lot of fun stuff back for my Charlotte :) So far it hasn't been very hard finding new people to talk to and the funny part about meeting new people is you always seem to find either the same qualities in people you meet as the ones from back home, or they look exactly like someone elses twin. For instance, one of our new friends is the spitting image of our own miss LaNeve, and even has the same bubbly personality to go along with it. Also we were very lucky to have met possibly the funnest Australian girls when we got out of our classes later on. As you all know I am also here to experience the cultures of many other countries not just France, and it is an amazing opportunity when you find other people who share the same interests as you, but also have a completely different background and culture.
So after the registration of our classes we had to do a bit of running around campus to get some very unneccesary paperwork done, and also get our student ID cards. Once we were able to finish the unimportant yet important paperwork we all decided that we were in serious need of food. So our new friend and us wandered over to the student center area and got some very strong café crème and un pain au chocolat. Might I say that even if it was cafeteria food to the French, it's like 5 star dining for us! The pain au chocolat was just as amazing as if I had bought it fresh from the boulangerie. Now that I think about it, nothing in Rennes seems to ever be not fresh or wonderful tasting? Hmm. So feeling a little bit peeved about the massive amounts of paperwork we had to fill out we ended up going to the grocery store they call Carrefour and baught two bottles of wine, red and blush, a fresh baguette, and some more brie cheese. Well this certainly would make anyone feel better in my opinion.
Once back in our jailcells,I mean dorm rooms, we decided to have a bit of a rest and take a nap because our jetlag was still alive and kicking. Naptime is definitely a gift from the gods when you have no energy left in you! Once we woke up feeling nice and refreshed and a lot more bubbly and happy we had our dinner of brie, saint laurent fromage, and our fresh baguette. And a bottle or two of French wine didn't hurt either.
So do you remember me telling you all about the little Irish pub we went to the other night? Well we went back for English -speaking night and had a blast talking with all these foriegners who wanted to practice their english. We got to practice our French too at some points because in exchange for them talking in english we usually tried to speak in French. In the end we ended up teaching a German how to say "wicked cool" and teaching him what Ugg shoes were. Had to represent New England at some point, right? Also I was generously made a balloon flower by a magicien who also did cardtricks, and given his phone number (which Kayla casually tossed behind her chair, whoops!) I also left my lovely flower balloon on the metro for some sad and depressed person to find and help to cheer them up. What could make someone smile more than a balloon flower on the metro?
Day Five
No. I. Don't. Want. To. Were the first words muttered out of my mouth when I was awoken suddenly by my alarm clock and the tapping of Sarah knocking on my door at 10 in the morning. "We have a meeting with Francois in half an hour. We need to leave in 15 minutes!" were the next words that I heard as I opened my eyes, only to find myself standing at my own door with my wild woman hair meshed to one side of my head, and my throat almost closed up from the lack of humidity in the room. Ugh. Again I found myself attempting to get ready in a matter of minutes and I still was not fully awake by the time we had marched ourselves out of the dorm and into the freezing, windy day that lay ahead of us. We ended up perched outside of Francois's office for about 1/2 an hour, slowly realizing we could have had an extra twenty minutes asleep. Once we arrived he then told us about the tedious,most annoying process of getting a French bank account through this bank called GNP, which also collaborates with Bank of America. Not understanding half of what he was saying we all dreaded the process that lay ahead of us and we obediently went to go finish some more paperwork and get our student ID cards.
At this point I don't believe any of us had the energy to even bother walking anywhere so we took the metro to Republique, one of the stops on the metro that takes you to the shopping and restuarant part, and we searched out a place to eat. We found a little sandwhich shop not too far off and happily munched on our baguette sandwhiches while I downed an entire can of apple juice in about a minute. I don't know if any of you have ever had one of those 'I'm so thirsty, but my thirst can't be quenched' kind of days, but this was definitely one of them. So in order to solve my thirst problem we decided to hop back on the street and go find this little shop we were told about called, Le Haricot Rouge. Little did we know that when our informant told us that the hot chocolate here was very chocolatey, she meant extremely chocolatey. The hot chocolates were literally melted down chocolate a little cream and a little milk. And on the side came a little wedge of a chocolate brownie, and a little shotglass filled with plain tap water. First sip we must have all just kind of died and gone to heaven, second sip it was still delicious, but by the 5th sip it was just too much chocolate. I don't think there has ever been anyone to say a phrase like that, but in all fairness it was just drinking melted chocolate. And lots of it for that matter.
So once we made the decision that there was no possible way of finishing such a strong drink we decided to go back to the University and try to finish some of our paperwork. Skipping over the boring and very annoying process we ended up going back to the dorm after our University excersion and passing out in our beds. And now it is time for me to go have a delectable dinner of, whats that? Brie and more wine! Imagine that. Bonsoiree tout le monde, et a bientot pour le jour prochaine!
Once people started filing into their classes a little later I made my way, toute seul, to the other room not accompanied by Grace, Sarah and Kayla. I was getting kind of antsy because it was the first time I had been alone and without the aid of the other girls in the case that I got insanely confused and needed some company. Well the class started and oddly enough my French professor was easy enough to understand and we went through our schedule. So far this is what my schedule looks like every week for my classes:
Each class is divided up based on French speaking, writing and culture. We also had to chose another class based on our own interest and I chose Modern French Art as my first choice, and French writing as my second. I'm really hoping to learn some more about French Art and also bring a lot of fun stuff back for my Charlotte :) So far it hasn't been very hard finding new people to talk to and the funny part about meeting new people is you always seem to find either the same qualities in people you meet as the ones from back home, or they look exactly like someone elses twin. For instance, one of our new friends is the spitting image of our own miss LaNeve, and even has the same bubbly personality to go along with it. Also we were very lucky to have met possibly the funnest Australian girls when we got out of our classes later on. As you all know I am also here to experience the cultures of many other countries not just France, and it is an amazing opportunity when you find other people who share the same interests as you, but also have a completely different background and culture.
So after the registration of our classes we had to do a bit of running around campus to get some very unneccesary paperwork done, and also get our student ID cards. Once we were able to finish the unimportant yet important paperwork we all decided that we were in serious need of food. So our new friend and us wandered over to the student center area and got some very strong café crème and un pain au chocolat. Might I say that even if it was cafeteria food to the French, it's like 5 star dining for us! The pain au chocolat was just as amazing as if I had bought it fresh from the boulangerie. Now that I think about it, nothing in Rennes seems to ever be not fresh or wonderful tasting? Hmm. So feeling a little bit peeved about the massive amounts of paperwork we had to fill out we ended up going to the grocery store they call Carrefour and baught two bottles of wine, red and blush, a fresh baguette, and some more brie cheese. Well this certainly would make anyone feel better in my opinion.
Once back in our jailcells,I mean dorm rooms, we decided to have a bit of a rest and take a nap because our jetlag was still alive and kicking. Naptime is definitely a gift from the gods when you have no energy left in you! Once we woke up feeling nice and refreshed and a lot more bubbly and happy we had our dinner of brie, saint laurent fromage, and our fresh baguette. And a bottle or two of French wine didn't hurt either.
So do you remember me telling you all about the little Irish pub we went to the other night? Well we went back for English -speaking night and had a blast talking with all these foriegners who wanted to practice their english. We got to practice our French too at some points because in exchange for them talking in english we usually tried to speak in French. In the end we ended up teaching a German how to say "wicked cool" and teaching him what Ugg shoes were. Had to represent New England at some point, right? Also I was generously made a balloon flower by a magicien who also did cardtricks, and given his phone number (which Kayla casually tossed behind her chair, whoops!) I also left my lovely flower balloon on the metro for some sad and depressed person to find and help to cheer them up. What could make someone smile more than a balloon flower on the metro?
Day Five
No. I. Don't. Want. To. Were the first words muttered out of my mouth when I was awoken suddenly by my alarm clock and the tapping of Sarah knocking on my door at 10 in the morning. "We have a meeting with Francois in half an hour. We need to leave in 15 minutes!" were the next words that I heard as I opened my eyes, only to find myself standing at my own door with my wild woman hair meshed to one side of my head, and my throat almost closed up from the lack of humidity in the room. Ugh. Again I found myself attempting to get ready in a matter of minutes and I still was not fully awake by the time we had marched ourselves out of the dorm and into the freezing, windy day that lay ahead of us. We ended up perched outside of Francois's office for about 1/2 an hour, slowly realizing we could have had an extra twenty minutes asleep. Once we arrived he then told us about the tedious,most annoying process of getting a French bank account through this bank called GNP, which also collaborates with Bank of America. Not understanding half of what he was saying we all dreaded the process that lay ahead of us and we obediently went to go finish some more paperwork and get our student ID cards.
At this point I don't believe any of us had the energy to even bother walking anywhere so we took the metro to Republique, one of the stops on the metro that takes you to the shopping and restuarant part, and we searched out a place to eat. We found a little sandwhich shop not too far off and happily munched on our baguette sandwhiches while I downed an entire can of apple juice in about a minute. I don't know if any of you have ever had one of those 'I'm so thirsty, but my thirst can't be quenched' kind of days, but this was definitely one of them. So in order to solve my thirst problem we decided to hop back on the street and go find this little shop we were told about called, Le Haricot Rouge. Little did we know that when our informant told us that the hot chocolate here was very chocolatey, she meant extremely chocolatey. The hot chocolates were literally melted down chocolate a little cream and a little milk. And on the side came a little wedge of a chocolate brownie, and a little shotglass filled with plain tap water. First sip we must have all just kind of died and gone to heaven, second sip it was still delicious, but by the 5th sip it was just too much chocolate. I don't think there has ever been anyone to say a phrase like that, but in all fairness it was just drinking melted chocolate. And lots of it for that matter.
So once we made the decision that there was no possible way of finishing such a strong drink we decided to go back to the University and try to finish some of our paperwork. Skipping over the boring and very annoying process we ended up going back to the dorm after our University excersion and passing out in our beds. And now it is time for me to go have a delectable dinner of, whats that? Brie and more wine! Imagine that. Bonsoiree tout le monde, et a bientot pour le jour prochaine!
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Day three!
Bonjour tout le monde! So today was a very low key day because none of us woke up till past 2 in in the afternoon haha. All of us were up until around 5 in the morning. Jetlag still hasn't left us. So once we finally all got ourselves up and moving we decided to take a little walk downtown and take the métro to la place de Sainte-Anne (which is definately NOT a fun walk if you don't take the metro!!)
So from there we were all craving some café au lait and wanted to find a little cafe or restaurant to appease to our craving. We walked around for a good forty five minutes or so unfortunately because Sundays in France are very boring, and nothing tends to be open. So we finally found a little pub called O'Connells run by these two Irish blokes who were possibly the nicest Irishmen we had ever met. We had our cafe au lait and the irish bloke we ordered our drinks from ended up being very, very helpful and gave us some maps to the city, a menu to the restaurant we eventually had dinner at, and also some useful information that Monday nights at O'Connel's is English night!
So having waited till our restaurant opened we went about a block down and found the sweetest most adorable, jazz-themed Italian restaurant called Papa Mia. Let's just say the Fucci's would be very proud! The décor consisted of a lot of jazzy paintings, delicately hand-blown glass chandeliers, and old books that lined the wooden beamed walls. When we ordered our pasta none of us were surprised to find that it was absolutely delicious and the wine of course was matched perfectly with our choice of food. At the end of the meal we all knew we wanted dessert and it was obvious that whatever we chose would be excellent. In the end we chose the crème brouillée and, just like in the movie Emelie, we cracked the shell. Perfection comes in many forms I think, and I can definately say that it resides in this French dish. We all felt extremely happy and pleasently full so we paid for our meals and went on our way to find the métro again.
One thing we learned on our little excursion is that it is better to be safe than sorry! The métro is just like any other train station, you buy your ticket, and either electronically or physically, the ticket is stamped. We had a bit of a run in when we found out that sometimes the people in charge of running the métro will just randomly come aboard and check to see that everyone has their ticket with them. Today happened to be one of those days, and we were extremely glad we had found an extra ticket hidden in Kayla's wallet. Otherwise we might "avoir des ennuis'.... deep doo doo. So here we are, day three down and about 200 and something left to go! Tomorrow is our orientation for classes so I will be finding out what classes I will be taking, and when they are at. a tout a l'heure, et a bientôt pour la jour prochaine!
So from there we were all craving some café au lait and wanted to find a little cafe or restaurant to appease to our craving. We walked around for a good forty five minutes or so unfortunately because Sundays in France are very boring, and nothing tends to be open. So we finally found a little pub called O'Connells run by these two Irish blokes who were possibly the nicest Irishmen we had ever met. We had our cafe au lait and the irish bloke we ordered our drinks from ended up being very, very helpful and gave us some maps to the city, a menu to the restaurant we eventually had dinner at, and also some useful information that Monday nights at O'Connel's is English night!
So having waited till our restaurant opened we went about a block down and found the sweetest most adorable, jazz-themed Italian restaurant called Papa Mia. Let's just say the Fucci's would be very proud! The décor consisted of a lot of jazzy paintings, delicately hand-blown glass chandeliers, and old books that lined the wooden beamed walls. When we ordered our pasta none of us were surprised to find that it was absolutely delicious and the wine of course was matched perfectly with our choice of food. At the end of the meal we all knew we wanted dessert and it was obvious that whatever we chose would be excellent. In the end we chose the crème brouillée and, just like in the movie Emelie, we cracked the shell. Perfection comes in many forms I think, and I can definately say that it resides in this French dish. We all felt extremely happy and pleasently full so we paid for our meals and went on our way to find the métro again.
One thing we learned on our little excursion is that it is better to be safe than sorry! The métro is just like any other train station, you buy your ticket, and either electronically or physically, the ticket is stamped. We had a bit of a run in when we found out that sometimes the people in charge of running the métro will just randomly come aboard and check to see that everyone has their ticket with them. Today happened to be one of those days, and we were extremely glad we had found an extra ticket hidden in Kayla's wallet. Otherwise we might "avoir des ennuis'.... deep doo doo. So here we are, day three down and about 200 and something left to go! Tomorrow is our orientation for classes so I will be finding out what classes I will be taking, and when they are at. a tout a l'heure, et a bientôt pour la jour prochaine!
mon adresse!
So for my family and friends, if you all want to send me a letter or anything I am posting my address for you all! It's kind of weird, but just copy it as is and you should be fine!
MEAGAN DESROCHES 721
Résidence universitaire
Square de Normandie - CS 31002
35010 RENNES Cedex
MEAGAN DESROCHES 721
Résidence universitaire
Square de Normandie - CS 31002
35010 RENNES Cedex
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Day two en France
Day two. Ah much better! I got some really good, sleep like a rock, rest! This made my first day in Rennes, and what a fabulous day it was! So here is my list of exciting things that I encountered today:
1) Woke up at the embarrasingly late time of 12:45, and took a shower in the weird showers that you have to press a button in order to keep the stream going.
2) Took the metro down town to check out restaurants and found this really cute one that we were automatically beamed down as American's because none of us could understand our waiter for the first three minutes and he had to explain the menu.
3) Ate my first "dejeuner" in Rennes! When they say French food is good and good for you, I think they underestimate it. It was beyond delicious. I had a white fish with an olive oil sauce, and potatoes, and this interesting mesh of artichoke, spinach and cream sauce. I know it sounds tasty!
4) Had my first cup of cafe au lait!!! They brew the coffee and then they put the cream through a dispensor so it's frothy and hot and you pour it in yourself. I had ONE little baggie of "sucre" in my cafe au lait and for those of you who do not know how I drink coffee, I have coffee with my sugar and cream. But here, it is heavenly and fantastic and does not need sugar, even if it's strong.
5) Bought the most ADORABLE pair of French heels that match my French-looking coat. They hurt, but they are tres chic!
6) Since eeeeeeveryone here wears black from head to toe on a daily basis I bought some black tights (well two :)) and hope to blend in a tad bit more!
7) I heard a French accordian while we were walking on the street!!!!!!! How incredibly steriotypical but it made me so giddy!!
8) We encountered French cheese. All I can say Julie is that brie here is beyond beyond beeeyoonnd amazing!
9) French wine..... mmmmmmm...
So there are some good encounters and the reason why I am already feeling practically home! I miss you all, and a bientot pour la jour prochaine!!!
1) Woke up at the embarrasingly late time of 12:45, and took a shower in the weird showers that you have to press a button in order to keep the stream going.
2) Took the metro down town to check out restaurants and found this really cute one that we were automatically beamed down as American's because none of us could understand our waiter for the first three minutes and he had to explain the menu.
3) Ate my first "dejeuner" in Rennes! When they say French food is good and good for you, I think they underestimate it. It was beyond delicious. I had a white fish with an olive oil sauce, and potatoes, and this interesting mesh of artichoke, spinach and cream sauce. I know it sounds tasty!
4) Had my first cup of cafe au lait!!! They brew the coffee and then they put the cream through a dispensor so it's frothy and hot and you pour it in yourself. I had ONE little baggie of "sucre" in my cafe au lait and for those of you who do not know how I drink coffee, I have coffee with my sugar and cream. But here, it is heavenly and fantastic and does not need sugar, even if it's strong.
5) Bought the most ADORABLE pair of French heels that match my French-looking coat. They hurt, but they are tres chic!
6) Since eeeeeeveryone here wears black from head to toe on a daily basis I bought some black tights (well two :)) and hope to blend in a tad bit more!
7) I heard a French accordian while we were walking on the street!!!!!!! How incredibly steriotypical but it made me so giddy!!
8) We encountered French cheese. All I can say Julie is that brie here is beyond beyond beeeyoonnd amazing!
9) French wine..... mmmmmmm...
So there are some good encounters and the reason why I am already feeling practically home! I miss you all, and a bientot pour la jour prochaine!!!
Day one en France
Day one. What can I say about the country of France? It's extremely different. If you ever come here, expect a bombshell of change because it's quite clear that America and France are two VERY different places. First off, the flight was very tiring. Our first stopover was in Iceland (I know right?) at the Keflavik International Airport in one of the most hoppin' cities in Iceland. Jess I got you a postcard from there. Icelandic is a funky language too btw, we heard it all throughout the flights and there were little service tags on every seat on the plane that gave you a little tidbit from the language. Also the plane was abnormally comfortable and spacious, owing to the fact that we had three seats to two people and had more room to put our stuff on. In front of each seat was a touchscreen monitor where you could watch movies, tv, play videogames, and even see exactly where you were on the flight (like altitude, how far you were by miles, and where in the world you were).
The flight then took off from there and we were flying over the english channel.... this is when I started to get very very giddy and stare at the moniter for an hour to see when we would touch down in Paris. For all of you who do not realize how much I am in love with France, I basically had a coniption when we landed and almost died when we got out of the plane. One thing you all need to know is that the Charles de Gaulle airport is a crazy maze. And also pack light. I had to lug around 2 giant things of luggage (one of them was extremely annoying and kept falling over) a carry on colling bag, and a giant "purse" filled with odd things such as my rain boots. From the airport we took a "mini-bus" as they called it to the Montparnasse train station. This is where we got laughed in giggled at because we had about 9 things of luggage that we had to try to get up an escalator (which was blocked off with these big metal stumps... why would anyone do that?) and we got the entire train station to know that "HELLO! We are Americans!!!") It was pretty painful.
Then was the process of buying the tickets, which we couldn't do with our American visa's at the automatic ticket booth so we just went to a ticket person instead. The train ride from there to Rennes was very very long and we added even more of an American flare to our already American selves by having extreme issues with getting our luggage to fit on the train. Merde. As the train arrived in Rennes we were super tired, super cranky, and super annoyed that it was raining and looked terrible outside. I suppose it was then that none of us had any energy to speak in any French and we could have passed out right there in the train station. But no, from there we had to take the Metro to the University to check in, speak to the head advisor of the exchange program, and then finally wander to streets for a place to eat.
Now the French in Bretagne prefer to be called Bretans apparently, and they love a drink called cidre, and they love love love crepes. There are two types of crepes: gallettes, which are the savory kind in which you can get cheese and meats or egg in them, and then there are the sweet crepes, which are more like dessert and have a lighter colored flour in them. The cidre was very different from American cider because first off, like most drinks you find at a French table, it was alcoholic. So there began my first alcholic beverage in France, and I was too tired to care! Quel domage! But I definately tasted the gallette. Oh did it taste fabulous! From then on we finished our meal (no tip because the tip is always included in the meal, so you are weird if you do tip) and we made our way back to campus to unpack and finally passout.
Yeah, we didn't go to sleep till probably midnight Rennes time, which made it so that we had been up for a total of 38-40 hours. Ugh. We strolled the streets looking for a store that might be open for a little but NOTHING is open at 11 at night. Although people seem to like to walk their dogs at that time? Weird. So the one thing that I think I might go crazy about here is the obsessively chirping birds that do not stop no matter what time of the day. And I mean they chirp even when the sun goes down, when it's 3 in the morning, when a dog walks by.... it's annoying. Also the toilets in the dorm are from like the 70's and I feel like I am going to fall in everytime I sit on them. Not to mention there is a bidet in my room. According to modern Frenchman though they are not used for your butt anymore, but rather to wash your feet. Again, weird. Also the rooms themselves are extremely outdated, but private none the less. I finally fell asleep around midnight listening to birds chirping outside my window and not very happy. But as Sarah's nerdy German calander said to her, "everything takes time". Good advice Sarah's calander. Bonsoir, et a bientot pour la jour prochaine!
The flight then took off from there and we were flying over the english channel.... this is when I started to get very very giddy and stare at the moniter for an hour to see when we would touch down in Paris. For all of you who do not realize how much I am in love with France, I basically had a coniption when we landed and almost died when we got out of the plane. One thing you all need to know is that the Charles de Gaulle airport is a crazy maze. And also pack light. I had to lug around 2 giant things of luggage (one of them was extremely annoying and kept falling over) a carry on colling bag, and a giant "purse" filled with odd things such as my rain boots. From the airport we took a "mini-bus" as they called it to the Montparnasse train station. This is where we got laughed in giggled at because we had about 9 things of luggage that we had to try to get up an escalator (which was blocked off with these big metal stumps... why would anyone do that?) and we got the entire train station to know that "HELLO! We are Americans!!!") It was pretty painful.
Then was the process of buying the tickets, which we couldn't do with our American visa's at the automatic ticket booth so we just went to a ticket person instead. The train ride from there to Rennes was very very long and we added even more of an American flare to our already American selves by having extreme issues with getting our luggage to fit on the train. Merde. As the train arrived in Rennes we were super tired, super cranky, and super annoyed that it was raining and looked terrible outside. I suppose it was then that none of us had any energy to speak in any French and we could have passed out right there in the train station. But no, from there we had to take the Metro to the University to check in, speak to the head advisor of the exchange program, and then finally wander to streets for a place to eat.
Now the French in Bretagne prefer to be called Bretans apparently, and they love a drink called cidre, and they love love love crepes. There are two types of crepes: gallettes, which are the savory kind in which you can get cheese and meats or egg in them, and then there are the sweet crepes, which are more like dessert and have a lighter colored flour in them. The cidre was very different from American cider because first off, like most drinks you find at a French table, it was alcoholic. So there began my first alcholic beverage in France, and I was too tired to care! Quel domage! But I definately tasted the gallette. Oh did it taste fabulous! From then on we finished our meal (no tip because the tip is always included in the meal, so you are weird if you do tip) and we made our way back to campus to unpack and finally passout.
Yeah, we didn't go to sleep till probably midnight Rennes time, which made it so that we had been up for a total of 38-40 hours. Ugh. We strolled the streets looking for a store that might be open for a little but NOTHING is open at 11 at night. Although people seem to like to walk their dogs at that time? Weird. So the one thing that I think I might go crazy about here is the obsessively chirping birds that do not stop no matter what time of the day. And I mean they chirp even when the sun goes down, when it's 3 in the morning, when a dog walks by.... it's annoying. Also the toilets in the dorm are from like the 70's and I feel like I am going to fall in everytime I sit on them. Not to mention there is a bidet in my room. According to modern Frenchman though they are not used for your butt anymore, but rather to wash your feet. Again, weird. Also the rooms themselves are extremely outdated, but private none the less. I finally fell asleep around midnight listening to birds chirping outside my window and not very happy. But as Sarah's nerdy German calander said to her, "everything takes time". Good advice Sarah's calander. Bonsoir, et a bientot pour la jour prochaine!
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