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!