Guess Who Gets to Be a Teacher!!!

So before I start in on my title subject, I need to talk about my weekend. So My friends and I got way lost on the way to the play, so we missed it. Sad, I know, but we're going to see another one for class soon- I mean we have to anyway. Saturday was amazing. We went to Mont St. Michel and Saint Malo. Guys, I am ready to move in for life! haha Ok so Mont St. Michel is incredible. First of, let me say there are about a million stairs to the top of this historic monastery and I climbed them all!! Rocky ain't got nothin on me! We saw some some monks carrying a big bucket of water. I took a photo of it. They reminded me of characters from Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The view from the top is breathtaking. Mont St. Michel is on an island almost- it depends on when the tide is in and out- surrounded by sand and marshy fields. The horizon goes on forever and its so peaceful. The interior of the monastery was very interesting, but it was the exterior view that made the experience. I took loads of pictures and I'll make sure you all get to see them. There's only one pathway to and from Mont St. Michel with little shops and restaurants (with outrageous prices) lining the pathway. It almost seemed surreal me being there. It was very inspirational, and I want to return in the summer perhaps to do some writing. I wish you all could have been there to see it. Put Mont St. Michel on your to-do list everybody!

Saint Malo is where I'd love to live. It is right on the ocean and the water looks incredible. The town is surrounded by a tall wall- which has many pathways you can walk on to view the ocean. I just sat on the top of the border wall with my friends, soaked in the sun and watched the waves crash against the rocks. I've never seen a more beautiful beach in my entire life. It rivals the Grecian shores you see in all the moves like Mama Mia or Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. The weather was gorgeous, and my friend Megan and I went exploring among the rocks (not a good idea in uggs guys- just throwing that out there). We collected seashells and watched the tide come in. They have a pool sort of built into the ocean- its just a rectangle wall that kind of sticks out of the ocean near the shore similar to a wave pool with platform diving boards on the far side. By the time we had finished exploring the rocks, the tide had come in and the pool border was virtually non existent. When we went into the town, we discovered cute creperies, cafes and stores all over. We shared a lemon crepe and a small jug of cidre. There was a pretty shnazzy state fair-esque amusement park on the outside of the town wall. One of the guys wanted me to ride Toxic with him- which I almost did, but my search for a free bathroom took precedence. Toxic is a ride with four people on each side of a long, long, long, metal pole(thick enough to support both sides obviously). And it just spins around vertically leaving one group straight up and one group straight down. It looked intense. They had a bunch of other random rides like this Casper haunted house ride and a pirate ride that totally had cardboard cutouts of Jack Sparrow and Captain Barbosa ( I definitely think it wasn't legal but whatevs- they're the French, they can do what they want). So anyway, long story short, peace out America, I'm movin' to St. Malo cause I can have a beach in my front yard and carnival rides in my back yard! Try beating that!

That evening I had a nice dinner with some girls from IES at one of the girls' houses- her host family is away for the week. We went to the Monoprix first to stock up on food and this french guy came up to me and asked me a very inapropriate question (use your imagination). When I pretended I didn't understand French he said "Not English, French, French.. uhh I love you. I love you." Awkward. My friend came to my rescue. Warning: The produce aisle can be dangerous in France. Men may try to pick you up. haha Its really not a big deal just always remember safety in numbers! Yesterday my entire host family helped me on my grammar homework. It was pretty hilarious. We had duck for lunch and when my host mom explained this to me, me lil bro said "Comme Donald, le meilleur ami de Mickey." Only I didn't understand him with his French accent so he said it like 3 times before I said "Oh Donalad!" In a total American accent. My whole family laughed and imitated my reaction/accent. Good times :)

Ok so today I met with the professor who is going to organize my teaching internship. Luckily I'm with another girl from IES so we can walk to and from there together. She has the 18-20 year olds that are getting ready for the Bac (sort of like the SATs only more intense and life defining) and I have the 16 to 18 year olds- at least that's the plan for now. We were given a tour of the school and the prof explained how things are going to work. I'm so excited!!! I'll be teaching english to high school kids!! Originally I wanted little kids, but I decided I wanted to work with kids who are at a higher level of English. I don't want to be teaching kids how to say cat or dog- no thanks. So the school isn't far from my house, and it is huge!!! Its a specialty school, vocational if you will, and they have these massive shops with loads of intense machinery that I've never seen before in my life. Kids wearing jumpsuits and such work with these machines that are hard core (Rosie the Riveter comes to mind). There are two schools in one and the building is shaped like a big hollow square with 3 basketball nets in the center cement park. I'm so excited to get started!!!! I get to formulate my own daily activities! I work with the kids 4 hours a week on English. Technically I won't really begin for 3 weeks because they get two weeks vacation starting February 6th. On the way home from the school, though, I was shocked. All the kids were smoking! I couldn't believe it. Robin Williams wasn't kidding when he said they give babies cigarettes here! -for those of you who missed that Robin Williams Live on Broadway reference, you're missing out... go watch it! Well, time for some R&R and then some Devoir (homework). Later!!

Classes in French Ahhhh!!!!

SO I just had my first class of Sociologie du Cinema at the University of Nantes and it was an interesting experience. I met these two French girls waiting outside the Ampitheatre for the class to start and we chatted a bit. I sat next to them, and they were really nice. The first hour was cool, the teacher explained the objectives for the class and talked about different genres of film in relationship to sociology. There was this white glob of I don't know what developing on the professor's lower lip, and it was really distracting. I couldn't look at him when he talked because it grossed me out, but I need to read lips to help me understand what the Prof. was saying. It made my life altogether pretty difficult. And he would whisper/mutter things from time to time which made it tough to understand him. I started to get really tired but thankfully he gave us a 5 minute break after an hour and 30 minutes straight of listening him talk about the syllabus. Then he lectured for the rest of the class and I could barely keep up. Thank God I took a sociology class last semester, so I had an idea of what he was talking about even if I didn't understand him word for word. It just made taking notes difficult. Everyone around me was writing stuff down hard core and I would catch a few words I recognized here and there and jot down what I thought he said. Thankfully one of the girls I met let me borrow her notes. She's really cool! Tonight I'm going to see a play with my French Panorama of Theatre class "Les Precieuses Ridicules." I'll give you guys a review of it later. Now that my head has thoroughly exploded, catch ya later!

J.. C. Crystal is my new favorite person ever!!!!

Ok so tonight I went to a Soiree at my university to celebrate the end of finals and it was a crazy/hilarious experience. First of all, they sell beer at the student club area which I thought was interesting. They even have different flavored syrups they put into the beer to make it taste better. Ok so the building was packed and there was this sizable stage at the back of the space where the french singer Jean-Claude Crystal was performing. I have to say this man and his band made my evening. I cursed myself for not bringing a camera. He looked like a wax figure dressed in tacky elvis type clothes with a bad tan. His skin was orange and his teeth were so white and big they looked like those plastic ones you can buy for Halloween to be funny. And his hair looked like a wig but I don't think it was. He was dancing on the stage and getting into the music like nobody's business and he looks like he' in his 50s! It was awesome! He and his band mates all looked like they jumped out of a rejected episode of That 70's Show. I only caught the tail end of his set, and my friends said he was doing French covers of The Beach Boy's music earlier. He played this awesome song called "Je suis Amoureux de Ma Femme." There was this couple dancing in the corner like professionals to the song and singing along so I figured it must be famous. I liked it so much I looked it up! Here's a link to the song by the original singer http://www.wat.tv/audio/richard-anthony-je-suis-amoureux-o0ra_leog_.html. Its kind of catchy I think. Give me your opinions. Here is the website of JC Crystal. Check it out!! http://www.jc-crystal.com/

The next group was called Tropical Punk, and they were ultra weird. It was indie electronic rock music. There was a girl on keyboards who looked russian and this average looking fellow in a wife beater(with a puggy belly) on guitar and bongos. They had music videos of their songs playing behind them on the big screen and they were so weird!! In the first video, there were all these farm animals wandering around, the guy singing in the fields and the woods and the girl was wearing this weird fur thing. At one point she took it off and was totally naked in the video! I could not believe it, the French are so free! All of my friends missed it. haha The next video was of the two singers at the table eating breakfast.... that's it... so so weird. The girl was sort of just talking in a strange language that sounded eastern Europeanish. My friends and I started dancing at some point cause everyone was just standing there, and then more people started to dance. Trendsetters! It was great! Later, a creepy video came on of someone wrapping wire around an egg for an explosion and we peaced out. It was getting way too crowded and our ears were starting to ring. It was raining hard core tonight and I got soaked on my way home. Nantes is really like Seattle. It rains every single night. Well, I'm going to bed, I have my first film class tomorrow! Wish me luck, I'm excited!!!

Three weeks in and I'm already a "Crazy American Girl!"

So last night was the inauguration ceremony. I had phonetiques during the swearing in portion. Everyone in the class was aching to be released. My friend just peaced out after 5 minutes; it was hilarious. I mean it was brutal, we could hear people laughing and clapping in the next room. Finally after everyone started cheering in the big class room next door with the TV, our professor was like "go ahead" only in French, and we all booked it out of their like there was a fire. There's good news and bad news. The good news is that we caught Obama's speech right at the beginning. The bad news is that it was dubbed, so we caught maybe every other sentence if that. I'm definitely going to re watch it online. I was still moved, nonetheless, by what I did catch of his speech. I just wish my grandmother was still alive to see Obama as our new President. She would have been thrilled. After the inauguration, I went to conversation club where we talked for 30 minutes in French and 30 minutes in English with a french student. The French student for my group was a girl named Alice. She's pretty cool and really nice. I never realized how fast we talk in english till we started talking to her. She was a bit overwhelmed I think. We exchanged phone numbers, so we might be going to this cool club this weekend called La Maison where each room is designed like a part of a house. You can sit in a bath tub and be served!! How cool is that! After the conversation club, we all went to dinner at a creperie with the french students to celebrate the inauguration. On the way there I met this really cool French guy. His English is pretty decent. While on his cellphone, he had me talk in English to he friend. It was really random. He asked me if I was mixed! Everyone here thinks I'm mixed because I'm not ultra dark. He also called me a crazy American girl at one point during dinner because I imitated a rapper or something. I don't really remember but it was pretty hilarious. I was wondering when something like that would happen. I'm glad I finally got it over with haha. He changed it to calling all of us girls Crazy Americans so that I wasn't alone in the craziness. Anyway, he asked for my number and he said he wants to hang out which is cool! He's going to try to go to La Maison with us on Saturday. I told him my email address and he cracked up! He texted me today and called me hotchocolate (b/c of my screen name, for those of you who aren't in the know). I'm really glad I've made a new French friend! Who knows what will happen, hopefully only amazing things! I'll keep you guys posted. Tomorrow my art history class is cancelled so I think I'm going to go see a movie with some friends. I don't have class till 5:30 which is super sweet! There's a soiree at the university to celebrate the end of finals. A couple of girls and I are going to make an appearance there, haha. Well, I'm going to watch gossip girl online and chill for the night. Catch up with ya later. Oh and write on my blog guys!! I really want to hear back from all of you!!

Don't Step in the Puddles in France Because They Aren't Water

So I was on my way to the FNAC this morning with my friend Megan, the FNAC is like a Borders and a Best Buy combined, and we saw a guy peeing against the wall in a corner in front of the store!!! I couldn't believe it!!! I knew France was free and all but not THAT free. Later today another friend told me that its a bad idea to step in most puddles in France because chances are they aren't water!!! The FNAC was really cool, but for the most part they have all American films. They even have Splendor in the Grass on dvd. Random! And the translations for the titles are hilariously different. In a later blog post I will discuss the different titles. Well, that's all for now. I'm going to go take a nap before my phonetiques class!

Plus Tard

France, France, how I love you so, you'll never know.....but..

Ok So I've decided that I am going to try to make a biweekly list of all the major differences between France and the US that I discover throughout my daily adventures. Get excited!!!!

1. The bathroom and the toilet are in separate rooms, not always but for the most part. And you have to pay to use certain public restrooms.
2. People don't pick up their dog crap-Its everywhere!!!
3. Everything is closed on Sunday. Let me repeat EVERYTHING-except for the churches obviously
4. Restaurants are closed in the afternoon at specific hours, and eating places at the university are only open at the general lunch time. So ya better eat when its feeding time or you're screwed!
5. People don't smile at you if they don't know you- or at least that is what everyone in the IES program has been saying. French people have been smiling at me so I dunno what's up with everyone else.
6. The drinking age is 16 and it is not illegal to drink in the streets or drink and drive.
7. Universities are FREE, no tuition, no room and board- totally FREE -for people in France obviously, not Americans
8. In the French universities, at least the one I attend, the students don't have much respect for the professor and they talk the entire time. I could barely hear what the professor was saying today let alone understand him!
9. By law they only have two month long periods where stores can have sales- in January and June. I lucked out by being here now. They call them Soldes. And they have a store almost every two steps in the centre ville. I went shopping this Saturday and got some nice things including 3 French films: Jaquou le Croquant, Belle Maman, and Déjà mort.
10. There is no such thing as leftovers here. Everything has got to be gone off your plate and out of all the dishes. And the family all eats together every night, at least mine does.

That does it for today! I'll give you 10 more in the next week or so. I started classes today and I've got a bit of homework due for next week. I know everyone in the States is off for MLK day so enjoy it!!! I have to read Les Femmes Savante by Molière. And I'll be watching the inagurqtion ceramony tomorrow!!! I hope everyone has a good week!!

The End of the Beginning

So I've reached Friday, and the weekend is open to many opportunities. Today I pick my classes for the semester. To my luck, I found a film class at the university which I got approved for my major, so hopefully I can get into that. I also want to take a theatre class and an art history class which will also count for core and my major. Tonight after dinner, my friends and I plan on going to see the French film Et Aprés (Romain Duris, Evangeline Lily-from Lost-, and John Malcovich). Tomorrow we are going to explore the city and maybe do a bit of shopping ( All of France is in their soldes-sale- period) and then tomorrow night we are going to search for a discoteque (dance club).

Yesterday was hilarious! I went looking around in this comic book store and found the Where's Waldo books ( Ou est Charlie in French) and they also had Where's Bin Laden books. I had to leave the magasin so I could laugh out loud haha not really but I did laugh a bunch and show my friends. After all of our class sessions, the all of the students went to L'Hotel des Trois Marchands to eat the "Galette des rois" or kings cake. It was really good. There were two different cakes on each table with a crown on top. We each got a piece from the two cakes. Both cakes had a prize hidden in them. Whoever had the piece with the prize was the king or queen (roi ou rienne) for the day and got to wear the crown. They also had white wine and cider with alcohol in it. They were both really, really good- another thing that made the evening hilarious. At dinner, I talked a lot with my family. I forgot to mention this earlier but on Tuesday we had a hilarious conversation about Bush, Sarah Palin, and Obama. The boys think Michelle Obama is sexy and Sarah Palin is ugly- a nice change, I'd say, from the majority of American men who fancy Sarah Palin -yuck! Haha. My host family loves Obama and thinks Bush is stupid. They told me a story about the time Bush used binoculars without taking off they caps. My host dad saw the film W. and he thought it made Bush look even worse. I haven't seen it yet. No one in my host family knows what The Sound of Music is!!!! Isn't that crazy!! In the newspaper today the cover read "George Bush: The last weekend in the White House" with a big photo of Bush waving haha. Yay for days. I wish I could go to the induction ceremony, but I love Nantes, so it is okay! Well, I'm going to go finish my hw. Later!!

First Week

So today is my second day of orientation and things are going pretty well. Yesterday was kind of crummy because it was raining off and on and I had to go to the IES building for the first time from my french house. My host dad showed me the way on a map so it wasn't too bad. It was like living in Chicago only everything is in French! I just have to take the first and second line Tram. Its way better than the el in the chi. I'm a 5-10 min walk from the Tram but its not bad. The only thing that really sucks is that there isn't a law against not picking up your dog's crap. It is pretty disgusting because there is crap everywhere on the sidewalk. I have to constatly watch where I step. Orientation is pretty exhausting. Yesterday we spent 3 hours straight going through the IES "bible" that they gave us. We were given nearly 2 hours for lunch so me and a few girls went exploring. I got a quiche tart which was pretty good at this really cute cafe and then we got desert at this outside food stop. Of course we got lost, but we made it back and even had time to play the piano in the music room before lunch ended. Later we took a tour of the city and were shown all the important and useful places. Unfortunately the map they gave us was pretty useless because they only put x's at all the important locations- sans a key. So now we have to guess or just remember each place. It is really tough though because the streets aren't symettrical. They curve and turn and randomly end. It is very difficult to figure out your way around. There are so many places to eat and shop though. I had major sensory overload. It started to rain towards the end of the day which sucked cause I had to go all over the place to get my carte campus mensuel so I can ride the public transportation all of January. I got sick and last night was pretty crummy but at least dinner was good.

Today was awesome because I had the best lunch ever!!!! The food is amazing here. Orientation was blah. We had to take sessions on Grammaire, Traducation (translation), Langue francaise, and conversation. We also talked about saftey and classes. Ce n'est pas amusant. But at lunch time, we went to this petit sandwich place and I had the best sandwich I've ever had- chicken, gouda, some vegetable or something, and it was toasted!! It rocked my world. Then we went to the best chocolatier in Nantes (that's what the girl from our tour called it) and got macroons. I had never had them before but they were ultra good. This place has everything made out of chocolate- bottles, high heels, towers.... C'est bon! I have been given my first homework assignment today.- Read pages 24-31 of La Parure par Maupassant. Better get started! Peace!

Back in Nantes!

Ok so I have been gone for 3.5 days in Tours with the rest of the IES students. It was an amazing experience. Wednesday night we all got into the hotel and had a 3 course meal with wine and eel. They eel was interesting-very soft. We introduced ourselves in French and played an Icebreaker. Our hotel room wasn't that great because the heater kept on failing on us and it was ultra cold!!! The next day we went to 2 chateaux- Loche and Chenonceau. They were amazing. Loche was really cold and there were a lot of steps. The tour guide spoke in French, so it was a challenging tour to say the least. We at the George Sands restaurant which was awesome. For those of you who don't know, George Sands is a famous French writer-- female-- who went by a man's name to become a success. We ate duck there I believe. At Chenonceau we got to walk around by ourselves. It was huge!! The property goes on for days and it rest on a river. It is a chateau that we studed in French 270 this past semester so I was really exicted to be there. There was a farm and a labyrinth! It was amazing!! I'll post pictures later. Before dinner, me and two other girls checked out the stores in the center of town. All of the stores in France are having major sales for 6 weeks. They are only allowed to have sales twice year. So we looked at some clothes, shoes, jewelry, and books. We looked at a McDonalds, and they have way better food than us!!! Like Chocolate moouse, pineapple, and loads of other stuff. The French know how to eat! That evening I went out with a big group to an area in Tours where there were a lot of bars and creperies. A group of girls and I went to Le bar de vieux Tours. It was tres populaire avec beaucoup des personnes. We got bigs glasses of Sangria for 3 euros each. It was so good! We just chatted in French and English- it was an amazing feeling just being there!. The next day we went to Blois and Chambord. They were both huge, extravagent and beautiful. I didn't get to go through all of Chambord but our tour guide took us through most of Chambord. The restaurant there was amazing, accpet for the part where we ate deer and one of the group leaders told me I was eating Bambi. It made me sad so I ate very little of it. The fig was good though. The dessert was beyond amazing!!! It was like a tiny chocolate cake or something with a saucy chocolate inside and rasberrie ice cream/gelato on top. The bomb!!! Samuel, the IES leader I mentioned earlier, taught us some slang for raining. So you know how we say raining cats and dogs? Well in France they say Il pleuve comme une vache qui pisse- its raining like a cow pissing or il peuve des cordes- its raining cords. So that was fun. Chambord was awesome and huge beyond belief. When we got to the fifth floor of the keep, we looked out the window and saw in the front lawn the forty licks image from the rolling stones album cover mowed into the grass. It was hilarious!! That night we had the most familiar meal I'd had all week- chicken and fries!! It was quite refreshing after the eel, duck, and Bambi. haha Today we took 4 exams to test our level of French and then we returned to Nantes. I slept on the bus and it was so nice to return to pretty decent weather. It is supposed to be in the high 40s this week!! Tonight my host brothers and I celebrated the epiphany with the Kings cake for dinner with hot chocolate. It was really good. I hung out with the guys for a bit, and now I'm just chilling in my room. I spoke more French in this past week than I do in a year of class I believe. I'm loving it. I think I'm starting to dream in French. I understant my host family better everyday. Tomorrow is my first day of on-site orientation. Wish me luck!!! Plus tard!

Je suis en France pour Cinq mois maintenant

Bonjour mes amis!

It is so difficult to talk over here. Everyone speaks so fast, its hard to understand. Now I really appreciate how slow we talk in America. It kind of makes it ironic how slow we talk for those who don't understand us from other countries. So I'm at the house of my French family right now. They are really nice. There are three boys (and one girl who is studying in Paris at the moment). They have a really nice house that is 4 stories high! My room is really nice, and they even gave me a cord for the internet- I can't tell you how much easier that makes my life. WIFI in France runs about 3 euros an hour-ouch! We had a good dinner last night of tomato soup and this meat and cabbage meal- the meat was like hot dogs, turkey, and other stuff I couldn't tell. Then we had pudding for dessert- vanilla or cafe. I chose vanilla of course cause I'm not a coffee person. After dinner I gave my family the gifts I brought them. They all seemed to like them. My host mother said that I am going to have to help her try to cook something from the cook book I gave her because her english isn't the best- at least I think that is what she said haha. Now I'm about to eat breakfast and then the IES students are going to Tours for 3 and half days. I'm going to say au revoir now!

Bisou Bisou!

Paris At Last

When the pilot said welcome to France my heart leaped. I couldn't believe I was finally in France after years of anticipation. It was almost 10 in the morning, and I was excited. My venture through the airport and to the train station was pretty simple. The only bummer is that I have to wait a few hours for my train. I'm sitting in the train station right now and it is so freezing in here that i wish i was wearing 2 pairs of pants. There is no heat at all!!! I didn't sleep on the plane but im not tired. I watched Eagle Eye, City of Ember, and parts of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 on the plane. The selections weren't that great. N ow I am surrounded by all things French. When I got off the plane I was nerly knocked over by different and new smells. First perfume, then food, then something awful that I don't want to guess at. Now I can't smell a thing, but I'm pretty sure you could die here if u didn't have your coat on. I want to right more but I'm too cold to type, so I'll give you guys a better update once I get to Nantes and have settled in. Wish me luck!