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!