I've really been slowing down on blogging, mostly because not as much has been happening recently. This past week I've had classes and stuff, of course. Except for Science; that was canceled this week since the professor was gone, and we're just going to have to add time on to subsequent classes to make up for it. I need to start writing a journal for school outlining what I do in each class; Rawson wants it so that if we end up with a bad grade or something doesn't transfer, she can give us the benefit of the doubt and add on points from the journal.
Sunday we four girls kind of hung out. The Musée des Beaux Arts (which is a museum that's literally a five minute walk from our house) has free admission on the first Sunday of every month, so we went over there after brunch. The first thing that really strikes you is the giant tree in the courtyard; at some point I need to put the pictures I took of it on facebook. The actual museum itself was a little boring; lots of random paintings. There were some kind of interesting sculptures of fish and animals and things that were pretty cool. One of these days I need to go back and walk through the grounds, though; there are these gardens that people wander through and walk their dogs and stuff, and it looked really pretty through the windows. On the other side of the courtyard from the entrance is a random little exhibit with what might very well be a fake elephant. It's supposed to be Fritz; a Barnum & Bailey circus elephant that went crazy in 1904 and had to be put down. The circus donated the body to the city, and the skeleton was in some museum until it was lost in a fire. It was kind of cool, but random. Most everything is closed on Sundays, usually, but we wandered past the little park in front of the museum and saw that there was a little antiques market in the street. We also found a patisserie that was open. It's a really cool place; they make gigantic pastries but charge about the same as any other patisserie in town. We bought a little chocolate & cherry tart thing for a treat and shared it between the four of us back at the house. Then we decided to watch The Notebook, which I had never seen before. It was an interesting experience; any girl who's seen it knows that it is impossible not to cry at multiple points throughout that movie. Unfortunately the bell for dinner rang just as the movie was finishing, so we all had to go down with tear stained faces; of course that would be a night that Daniel would come to dinner! They all thought we were crazy emotional females, but whatever; dinner was paella again and that made me happy.
The rest of the week was less interesting, so I'll just give quick rundown of the highlights:
Monday was relaxing; in Greek I decided that my professor is cute (lol!), but only when he's talking about Greek. Linguistic passion? Definitely a turn-on. After class, I was talking to Giovanni on the way back towards home, and we made a date to go get a drink after class when we come back from vacation. That should be fun; he really seems to like talking to people from all over the world.
On Tuesday Valeria was sick, so she stayed home most of the day. I kind of missed my day of solitary relaxation, but that's okay; I have vacation coming up!
Wednesday was nice, since I didn't have Science. My translation class continues to be slow, and actualités continues to require no actual work, so that's good.
Grant decided to come with me to the Italian class on Thursday, which was fun. It was really cold and snowy, though; the temperature has plunged again this whole week, and I really want it to be spring finally. We ended up walking through some little shopping centers to warm up on our way back home from class. Thursday was also when Valeria left for Paris to meet up with her family, who had flown to Europe to visit during our vacation.
Friday I had class early, as usual. There were just six of us; I'm guessing most of the others had already left to start their vacation. She had us listen to some weird songs in French, but the class went fine.
Yesterday I did very little; Xavier and Jaqueline woke me up early wondering where Mamie and Sierra were, since they'd stayed out all night with the French boys. So I spent my day enjoying vacation, relaxed, and worked a bit on planning my trip to London. Yesterday evening was also when Alexandra came to the house. She's also a Cobber, but she's been studying abroad in Germany and is only here for a couple months during her school's vacation.
Today one of Geneviève's friends (I think her name was Michelle) came to brunch to meet us all. She was really sweet, and really talkative. Xavier kept going on about how much she talked, but I think that's just because she's the only person I've met so far who can talk more than him. She asked us all what we were studying, and told us about her life and her family. Apparently she was 18 and had three kids when her husband died, and in France at the time the age of majority was 21. So she was telling us about the house she had her son build, which has a bedroom for every one of her kids in case they ever need to come home. She kind of reminded me of my own grandmother, and I really liked her. After brunch, Grant and I took Alex on a tour of the city, to start her getting oriented. I finally took a bunch of pictures, since I haven't really gone around and done that much yet. We went inside the walls of the Musée des Beaux Arts, although not in the actual museum, and also looked at the cathedral. One whole section is closed off for construction and upkeep work, but it was still beautiful. I'm nothing near a Catholic, but I absolutely love cathedrals. Tonight, Daniel visited again and we had puréed vegetable soup and quiche for dinner, with tiramisu that Daniel had made for dessert. He's really good with desserts; it had too much cream and kind of fell apart, but it tasted really good. After dinner, I stayed downstairs for a little bit and watched some of Ice Age 2 in French with Mathias.
Tomorrow, I need to pack and make sure I'm ready for London, since Tuesday is when I leave! I'm really excited!
Showing posts with label xavier. Show all posts
Showing posts with label xavier. Show all posts
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Finally Accomplishing My Reason For Being Here
This week has been interesting; it's the first week since I got here that I have an actual (mostly) stable, normal class schedule. Monday morning I slept in, since I didn't have class until late evening. I went out with the others to buy sandwiches for a late lunch, and then we found a little art supply store where we found folders and paper for classes. The artistes (Valeria and Mamie) needed sketchbooks and pencils for their drawing class, so they found those and everyone went back. I, however, had class to go to.
My new Ancient Greek class goes from 5-7pm, so I made my way up to Rue des Tanneurs and found the classroom. I made sure to ask the professor what class it was, to verify that it was definitely for beginning beginners and not halfway through. I had missed the first class period, but it turned out that several other people had too, so at least I wasn't alone. He briefly went over what he'd talked about last time and gave us the book list, the Greek alphabet, and a couple of worksheets. I quickly discovered that he is extremely fond of photocopies; I left the class with 8 or 10 pages of worksheets and other random things. After getting briefly lost in the Tanneurs building (they apparently close stuff down by 7pm, and it was hard to figure out where to go) I headed back to Le Nonante. Since it was the first time I'd had to walk around the city at night by myself, I was a little paranoid. I ended up taking the longer way around down the larger streets, rather than going through the little tiny old ones.
When I got home, everyone was just finishing with dinner. Jacqueline had saved some for me, though, and I was ravenous. I had to hurry, since we had planned on going to the Café des Langues again. We went with Luzé and her friend Sarah again and managed to get there before it was crowded with people. The group basically got split in two, and our end became the "English" table. I talked to some nice Swedish and Danish girls, who were in Tours doing mission work, and some creepy French guys who seemed to be there to try and pick up Americans; one of them kept trying to say that he knew Sierra, when obviously he didn't. After a while we left and came back to the house.
On Tuesdays I don't have any classes at all, but everyone else does. So I slept in, relaxed, and did my Translation homework for Wednesday. It was really nice to have a chill, solo time. I did go out briefly for some shopping and to get a brioche, though. Yay, brioche! That evening, Mamie and Aaron found out from some German girls that there was an event planned for exchange students, so they went to check it out. Apparently we were all supposed to go; they had our named on lists along with our French buddies, and they had sign-up sheets for the various school events throughout the semester. We hadn't heard anything about it, which was a little frustrating, but we didn't really know if there was a reason why we were left out.
Wednesdays, in contrast, are my intense days. I had a meeting at 9am over at the Fromont building to sign up for my CUEFEE classes, so I hurried through breakfast and made the half-hour walk in record time. Kate and I both needed to sign up, so it was cool to see her. We finished early enough that I came back to the house before Translation and walked to class with the boys. It was a fun enough class; we mostly finished the article we were translating from French to English and have one going the opposite direction for next week. Pelletier talked to us after class about not going to the event Tuesday night; we explained that we hadn't heard about it and got that taken care of. Now we should hear about things when they happen!
Then Grant and I walked down Rue Nationale on our way to Fromont, for my first CUEFEE class, and got delicious "complete ham sandwiches" on our way (the complete part is the mayo, and tomatoes, and lettuce, and stuff). It turns out that the little sandwich stall is La Grignotine, the same business as on Rue Bordeaux. I like them a lot. The CUEFEE class was called "Actualités," which means Current Events. It seemed like it'd be a pretty easy class, although it'll require more work. Kate and her friend Christina are in the class, as well as a Swedish girl that Grant knows from choir, so we even have people to talk to! We had a brief discussion about the metric system and conversions, as well as how cold it gets at Concordia. Don't we Cobbers love our school; we complain about the location constantly! ;-P
After class, Grant had to hurry home to check his email (RA stuff, apparently. He had ants in his pants all class about it.) so I waited the half hour for my second CUEFEE class: French Sciences. I ran into Sierra, who had a different class at that time. The Sciences class turned out to have less than 10 students, and most of them were older. There was a British girl named Natasha there who's also in my Translation class, so we talked a bit. The topic of the period was global warming; apparently the first unit will focus on the environment. I kind of felt like I was back in 9th grade, it was so easy, but whatever. I'm really only taking it because it fits my schedule. We're also doing some work on constructing a scientifically well-composed written argument, so that should help me improve my writing skills. When I got back to the house after dinner everything was weirdly quiet; most everyone had either class or choir, so they were all gone. I was starving after all my day's walking, so dinnertime seemed to be forever away. In the future, I think I might have to buy snacks at the store and come up with things to do on Wednesday nights.
Today I was pretty tired, since I'd stayed up really late. That was okay, though, since I didn't have class until 2pm. I dragged myself out to Tanneurs for Italian, which we thought would be the actual class we would take. It turns out, however, that the session we wanted is also really full and there wasn't space. Grant and I stayed anyway, figuring that the extra exposure to the language would be good, especially if we're going to have to transfer to a different group. Now we have to email one professor to see if she has space, and if not there's one last group we can hope for. Still, that'll be next week's concern, and at least the different groups are at the same time so our schedule won't change, just the classroom. He and I went and took care of some other administrative stuff we still needed to do, and bought sandwiches on our way back to the house (ham pizza panini om nom nom!).
Dinner tonight was chicken and some cooked vegetables that were really delicious. It was a little awkward, though; Xavier decided that the topic for the dinner conversation would be gender equality, in his continuing efforts to get people to speak up in French. No-one wanted to say anything, though. Valeria and Luzé and I spoke some, but a lot of people didn't say anything. I'm not sure if it was the topic or Xavier's intimidating insistence that kept them quiet. After dinner and dishes we came back upstairs. Everyone else went out, since they don't have classes on Friday and their weekend is already started. Since I tested into a higher level on the CUEFEE test, though, my written and oral classes are bright and early at 9am over at Fromont. I'm not looking forward to it.
Bonne nuit, tout le monde. Dormez-vous bien!
My new Ancient Greek class goes from 5-7pm, so I made my way up to Rue des Tanneurs and found the classroom. I made sure to ask the professor what class it was, to verify that it was definitely for beginning beginners and not halfway through. I had missed the first class period, but it turned out that several other people had too, so at least I wasn't alone. He briefly went over what he'd talked about last time and gave us the book list, the Greek alphabet, and a couple of worksheets. I quickly discovered that he is extremely fond of photocopies; I left the class with 8 or 10 pages of worksheets and other random things. After getting briefly lost in the Tanneurs building (they apparently close stuff down by 7pm, and it was hard to figure out where to go) I headed back to Le Nonante. Since it was the first time I'd had to walk around the city at night by myself, I was a little paranoid. I ended up taking the longer way around down the larger streets, rather than going through the little tiny old ones.
When I got home, everyone was just finishing with dinner. Jacqueline had saved some for me, though, and I was ravenous. I had to hurry, since we had planned on going to the Café des Langues again. We went with Luzé and her friend Sarah again and managed to get there before it was crowded with people. The group basically got split in two, and our end became the "English" table. I talked to some nice Swedish and Danish girls, who were in Tours doing mission work, and some creepy French guys who seemed to be there to try and pick up Americans; one of them kept trying to say that he knew Sierra, when obviously he didn't. After a while we left and came back to the house.
On Tuesdays I don't have any classes at all, but everyone else does. So I slept in, relaxed, and did my Translation homework for Wednesday. It was really nice to have a chill, solo time. I did go out briefly for some shopping and to get a brioche, though. Yay, brioche! That evening, Mamie and Aaron found out from some German girls that there was an event planned for exchange students, so they went to check it out. Apparently we were all supposed to go; they had our named on lists along with our French buddies, and they had sign-up sheets for the various school events throughout the semester. We hadn't heard anything about it, which was a little frustrating, but we didn't really know if there was a reason why we were left out.
Wednesdays, in contrast, are my intense days. I had a meeting at 9am over at the Fromont building to sign up for my CUEFEE classes, so I hurried through breakfast and made the half-hour walk in record time. Kate and I both needed to sign up, so it was cool to see her. We finished early enough that I came back to the house before Translation and walked to class with the boys. It was a fun enough class; we mostly finished the article we were translating from French to English and have one going the opposite direction for next week. Pelletier talked to us after class about not going to the event Tuesday night; we explained that we hadn't heard about it and got that taken care of. Now we should hear about things when they happen!
Then Grant and I walked down Rue Nationale on our way to Fromont, for my first CUEFEE class, and got delicious "complete ham sandwiches" on our way (the complete part is the mayo, and tomatoes, and lettuce, and stuff). It turns out that the little sandwich stall is La Grignotine, the same business as on Rue Bordeaux. I like them a lot. The CUEFEE class was called "Actualités," which means Current Events. It seemed like it'd be a pretty easy class, although it'll require more work. Kate and her friend Christina are in the class, as well as a Swedish girl that Grant knows from choir, so we even have people to talk to! We had a brief discussion about the metric system and conversions, as well as how cold it gets at Concordia. Don't we Cobbers love our school; we complain about the location constantly! ;-P
After class, Grant had to hurry home to check his email (RA stuff, apparently. He had ants in his pants all class about it.) so I waited the half hour for my second CUEFEE class: French Sciences. I ran into Sierra, who had a different class at that time. The Sciences class turned out to have less than 10 students, and most of them were older. There was a British girl named Natasha there who's also in my Translation class, so we talked a bit. The topic of the period was global warming; apparently the first unit will focus on the environment. I kind of felt like I was back in 9th grade, it was so easy, but whatever. I'm really only taking it because it fits my schedule. We're also doing some work on constructing a scientifically well-composed written argument, so that should help me improve my writing skills. When I got back to the house after dinner everything was weirdly quiet; most everyone had either class or choir, so they were all gone. I was starving after all my day's walking, so dinnertime seemed to be forever away. In the future, I think I might have to buy snacks at the store and come up with things to do on Wednesday nights.
Today I was pretty tired, since I'd stayed up really late. That was okay, though, since I didn't have class until 2pm. I dragged myself out to Tanneurs for Italian, which we thought would be the actual class we would take. It turns out, however, that the session we wanted is also really full and there wasn't space. Grant and I stayed anyway, figuring that the extra exposure to the language would be good, especially if we're going to have to transfer to a different group. Now we have to email one professor to see if she has space, and if not there's one last group we can hope for. Still, that'll be next week's concern, and at least the different groups are at the same time so our schedule won't change, just the classroom. He and I went and took care of some other administrative stuff we still needed to do, and bought sandwiches on our way back to the house (ham pizza panini om nom nom!).
Dinner tonight was chicken and some cooked vegetables that were really delicious. It was a little awkward, though; Xavier decided that the topic for the dinner conversation would be gender equality, in his continuing efforts to get people to speak up in French. No-one wanted to say anything, though. Valeria and Luzé and I spoke some, but a lot of people didn't say anything. I'm not sure if it was the topic or Xavier's intimidating insistence that kept them quiet. After dinner and dishes we came back upstairs. Everyone else went out, since they don't have classes on Friday and their weekend is already started. Since I tested into a higher level on the CUEFEE test, though, my written and oral classes are bright and early at 9am over at Fromont. I'm not looking forward to it.
Bonne nuit, tout le monde. Dormez-vous bien!
Friday, January 15, 2010
Catching Up
So Tuesday we did not, in fact, get classes. We went to the Université for our meeting with Caroline, and she took us on a tour of the building on the Rue des Tanneurs, which is the Department of Letters and Languages. That's where most of us have most of our classes, theoretically, if we have classes yet. She also showed us books of classes related to various majors, which wasn't really helpful because we didn't know what we were looking for or how to find it. But she wrote down what we told her about what classes we wanted, and we were given the impression that she would figure them out for us and email us with her findings. That or we would just wait until our other meeting on Thursday. So we were all pretty upset that we had gotten almost nothing accomplished. On our way back to the house it was snowing pretty hard, and the cobblestones were really slick, and it was altogether miserable. We finally got back to the house, holed up, and were just glad to get off the streets. That night we had ravioli for dinner, which was really good. We didn't do much that evening besides hang out and worry about classes.
The next day, Wednesday, was absolutely gorgeous. We had thought about going to the Musée des Beaux Arts, which is an art museum that's really nearby the house. But by the time everyone was awake and ready to go, we had kind of lost the urge. We decided that since the Musée is free every first Sunday of the month, we'd just wait until February and visit the Musée then. The second we went outside, though, we saw that it was an absolutely gorgeous day. We took a bunch of pictures of how beautiful things were. There's a marché that sets up on the Boulevard Heurteloup a couple times a week, and it happened to be there that day. There were several stalls of flower-sellers, so we got Jacqueline a bouquet from all of us. Then we went up Rue Nationale, which is where most of the shopping is in Tours, and wandered in and out of stores. On our way back to the house, we went into a couple antique stores that we pass by fairly often. One of them had a lot of old books, and I found one called "Celebration of silence" (in French, of course). The beginning of it explains sort of the value of silence and how rare it is, and then the rest of the book is full of blank pages. I thought it was pretty cool, and it was only 3 Euro, so I bought it. Dinner that night was roasted chicken and green beans. Mathias sort of threw a tantrum in the middle of it, which was really awkward. Xavier had to talk to him about it, but they both seemed pretty upset. Then after dinner I asked Mathias if he was done with his water so I could take it to the kitchen, and Xavier gave me a short lecture about how I'm an adult, and I should treat Mathias like a child. It was weird. I also sliced my finger open on my razor when I reached into my showering basket in the bathroom. It bled a lot, but isn't anything serious. Now it's healing up just fine.
Yesterday was Thursday, and we finally had our meeting to (supposedly) sign up for our classes. I'll leave that to a whole post on its own, though, since it was pretty eventful and frustrating.
The next day, Wednesday, was absolutely gorgeous. We had thought about going to the Musée des Beaux Arts, which is an art museum that's really nearby the house. But by the time everyone was awake and ready to go, we had kind of lost the urge. We decided that since the Musée is free every first Sunday of the month, we'd just wait until February and visit the Musée then. The second we went outside, though, we saw that it was an absolutely gorgeous day. We took a bunch of pictures of how beautiful things were. There's a marché that sets up on the Boulevard Heurteloup a couple times a week, and it happened to be there that day. There were several stalls of flower-sellers, so we got Jacqueline a bouquet from all of us. Then we went up Rue Nationale, which is where most of the shopping is in Tours, and wandered in and out of stores. On our way back to the house, we went into a couple antique stores that we pass by fairly often. One of them had a lot of old books, and I found one called "Celebration of silence" (in French, of course). The beginning of it explains sort of the value of silence and how rare it is, and then the rest of the book is full of blank pages. I thought it was pretty cool, and it was only 3 Euro, so I bought it. Dinner that night was roasted chicken and green beans. Mathias sort of threw a tantrum in the middle of it, which was really awkward. Xavier had to talk to him about it, but they both seemed pretty upset. Then after dinner I asked Mathias if he was done with his water so I could take it to the kitchen, and Xavier gave me a short lecture about how I'm an adult, and I should treat Mathias like a child. It was weird. I also sliced my finger open on my razor when I reached into my showering basket in the bathroom. It bled a lot, but isn't anything serious. Now it's healing up just fine.
Yesterday was Thursday, and we finally had our meeting to (supposedly) sign up for our classes. I'll leave that to a whole post on its own, though, since it was pretty eventful and frustrating.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
The First Weekend
This weekend feels kind of lame for a weekend, but only because we haven't done much this week to make sitting around be special.
Yesterday, we sat around for a while and eventually I finally warmed up. Then it was dinnertime, and we had ratatouille with baked egg on top, which was incredibly delicious. They seem to do casserole-type dishes pretty exclusively for dinner. I'm not sure if that's because it's easier for them since they have work and school all day, or just because it keeps the kitchen warmer if the stove's on. :P
That evening we all hung out more. Jacqueline and Xavier are going to think we hate them; we just sit in our rooms on our computers all day. Really it's just cold downstairs, and we have nothing to do. The boys kept talking about going out somewhere, but we didn't know what we'd do or where we'd go. Fortunately the French don't go out until really late, so by the time we decided to go it was fine. Aaron led the way, since he'd gone Google-searching earlier. We went to a couple bars and it was a lot of fun, and then we came back and had to be extremely quiet coming back up the stairs so we didn't wake up the rest of the house. I don't know how everyone else had the energy to stay up longer; I collapsed into bed and was dead to the world.
This morning I woke up early and took a shower. The showers aren't nearly as bad as I was expecting; our professor told us that they didn't have shower curtains and that it was impossible to shower without getting water everywhere. It's a little small, but there is a curtain and it's actually pretty comfortable. On weekends the Dhommées make us a larger brunch instead of breakfast, so everyone went downstairs to eat around 12:30. We had these kind of strange ham and cheese baked sandwiches with pineapple rings on top. They were good, but weird.
Today we have to get cell phones to use while we're here. Hopefully the store will be open; I don't know when we're going to leave, since pretty much everyone went back to sleep.
Yesterday, we sat around for a while and eventually I finally warmed up. Then it was dinnertime, and we had ratatouille with baked egg on top, which was incredibly delicious. They seem to do casserole-type dishes pretty exclusively for dinner. I'm not sure if that's because it's easier for them since they have work and school all day, or just because it keeps the kitchen warmer if the stove's on. :P
That evening we all hung out more. Jacqueline and Xavier are going to think we hate them; we just sit in our rooms on our computers all day. Really it's just cold downstairs, and we have nothing to do. The boys kept talking about going out somewhere, but we didn't know what we'd do or where we'd go. Fortunately the French don't go out until really late, so by the time we decided to go it was fine. Aaron led the way, since he'd gone Google-searching earlier. We went to a couple bars and it was a lot of fun, and then we came back and had to be extremely quiet coming back up the stairs so we didn't wake up the rest of the house. I don't know how everyone else had the energy to stay up longer; I collapsed into bed and was dead to the world.
This morning I woke up early and took a shower. The showers aren't nearly as bad as I was expecting; our professor told us that they didn't have shower curtains and that it was impossible to shower without getting water everywhere. It's a little small, but there is a curtain and it's actually pretty comfortable. On weekends the Dhommées make us a larger brunch instead of breakfast, so everyone went downstairs to eat around 12:30. We had these kind of strange ham and cheese baked sandwiches with pineapple rings on top. They were good, but weird.
Today we have to get cell phones to use while we're here. Hopefully the store will be open; I don't know when we're going to leave, since pretty much everyone went back to sleep.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Evening Silliness
It seems like I update this constantly; that'll probably drop off once we start classes, which is apparently next week, and not on the 18th like we thought. Still, I figure it's better to update more frequently, while everything's still fresh in my mind.
After my last post I did take a nap for a bit, partially because I was sleepy and partially because I didn't have much else to do. Later, Mamie came up and sat with Valeria and I, and we could still hear Mathias playing. Amanda, another Concordia student, was here for the summer, and she sent him a pair of little robot toys, which he came and showed us. He played in here for a while, which was adorable! We (or at least us girls) have all fallen in love with him.
When Xavier called us down for dinner, we had to wake up Joel (who had slept all day and hadn't even woken up for breakfast!) and Grant (who had been napping). Dinner was fun. Apparently January 6th is the Fête des Rois (Feast of Kings), which is a Catholic holiday that we don't celebrate in the U.S. After a delicious dinner of pasta and chicken with mushrooms in sauce, we had pieces of galette, which is a kind of pastry-cake. Inside each galette is a little figurine, and whoever gets the figurine in their piece is named the King or Queen for the day! We had two galettes, so Mathias and Lucé ended up both being the King and Queen.
After dinner we cleaned up, as usual, although it's more and more difficult to move around the more people show up. Then we went upstairs and now everyone is piled in our room to hang out. I think I might have to kick them out soon so I can go to bed early, that way I'll hopefully not be tired tomorrow!
After my last post I did take a nap for a bit, partially because I was sleepy and partially because I didn't have much else to do. Later, Mamie came up and sat with Valeria and I, and we could still hear Mathias playing. Amanda, another Concordia student, was here for the summer, and she sent him a pair of little robot toys, which he came and showed us. He played in here for a while, which was adorable! We (or at least us girls) have all fallen in love with him.
When Xavier called us down for dinner, we had to wake up Joel (who had slept all day and hadn't even woken up for breakfast!) and Grant (who had been napping). Dinner was fun. Apparently January 6th is the Fête des Rois (Feast of Kings), which is a Catholic holiday that we don't celebrate in the U.S. After a delicious dinner of pasta and chicken with mushrooms in sauce, we had pieces of galette, which is a kind of pastry-cake. Inside each galette is a little figurine, and whoever gets the figurine in their piece is named the King or Queen for the day! We had two galettes, so Mathias and Lucé ended up both being the King and Queen.
After dinner we cleaned up, as usual, although it's more and more difficult to move around the more people show up. Then we went upstairs and now everyone is piled in our room to hang out. I think I might have to kick them out soon so I can go to bed early, that way I'll hopefully not be tired tomorrow!
Walking in a Winter Wonderland
Last night after we went shopping we pretty much just hung out in our room. Valeria, Joel, and I napped, and then in the evening we went downstairs and hung out and talked to people in the salon. There's another girl here named Flabiola, who's from Peru, and right before dinner Lucé returned from Belgium. Lucé is Canadian, but born in Mexico, and she'd already been staying here. Mathias did his puzzle that Valeria had brought, and we watched some of Charmed, which was really strange because it was dubbed into French.
Then we had dinner, which was interesting with everyone at the table. I'm not really sure how we're going to fit twelve people in that dining room, but I'm sure we'll manage. Xavier had made a chocolate cake for dessert, which was fantastic. Everyone was talking about the fact that it was supposed to snow last night, and they were all freaking out. It reminded me of Seattle, where the possibility of snow was the top headline on the news. We helped clean up, and went back upstairs. Mamie and Grant were supposed to come in last night, but their plane was delayed, so we didn't know when they would be here. I finally got to take a shower (yay, buying shampoo!), and even caught Gramma on the phone and talked to her briefly. Around midnight, Joel came to our room and we just kind of talked about internet fads and things.
I had a really hard time going to sleep, for some reason. I think it was because I'd napped longer than I intended. I finally got to sleep around 1:30 or 2:00 in the morning, but I woke up completely at 4:30, and then woke up a couple other times through the night. This morning I woke up around 9:00, but Valeria and I were both really tired. We were getting dressed and thinking about going downstairs, when the doorbell rang! Valeria and I both looked at each other in confusion for a second, and then she burst out with "Grant and Mamie!" and ran downstairs. I followed after, and sure enough it was them, arrived bright and early in the morning. With them had also come the snow; there was thin blanket of white over everything; maybe an inch, probably not even that much.
Poor Jacqueline and Mathias must have thought we were crazy; they came after us a bit later, still dressed in their pajamas. That was good, though, because neither of us knew where the new arrivals were supposed to go. Turns out Grant and Aaron are sleeping on the third floor as well, and Mamie is on the second. All of the bedrooms have specific names, which is adorable. Valeria and I are in Les Marguerites, Grant and Aaron are in Les Pigeonniers, and Mamie and Sierra are in La petite Marie. Joel's by himself, so his room doesn't have a name that I know of. Flabiola is also on the third floor, on the other side of the water closet. I have no idea where Lucé's room is.
After Grant and Mamie had gotten settled a little bit, and we had talked and shared stories, we all went downstairs for breakfast. Mathias didn't have school today (apparently French kids don't on Wednesdays) and Jacqueline was home from work, so she told us that she could take us on a little tour of Tours. We finished, cleared the table, got ready, and headed out into winter!
She took us a different way than we had gone yesterday, through the little streets and older parts of Tours. We went by the Musée des Beaux Arts, and the Cathédral de Tours, and then went through what is apparently the antiques district to get to the Théâtre Municipale, or the City Theatre. After that we headed more towards the Rue Nationale, which is full of stores and boutiques, and that led us straight to the Loire river. That whole part of the city was bombarded during WWII, so it's all been rebuilt and is fairly modern. Tours is apparently a city in three parts, divided by the Cher river and the Loire. Le Nonante and everything we've seen so far is in Tours-Centre, the middle part of the city. We took some pictures, and Jacqueline took a picture of the four of us, where I look pretty much translucent.
After the river, we turned and went through another older district, built in the 13th century (or something like that; I didn't quite catch what Jacqueline told me). It was amazing; I think I could spend entire days just taking pictures of the architecture in this city. We found a Monoprix, which is a supermarché where I was able to buy some slippers to wear inside the house. The staircase is old and kind of slippery; Joel fell down most of the bottom flight yesterday, so we've all been treading with trepidation since then. Hopefully with the slippers it won't be so treacherous.
We walked back to the house, and Jacqueline was helping me orient myself. I think I pretty much understand Tours-Centre, at least, and with a map I shouldn't have any problems at all. I might restrict more ranging to when it's not so wet out, though; my socks and the bottoms of my pants are soaked, and my feet were half-frozen by the time we got back to the house.
Since then, we've been hanging out still. We can hear Mathias playing in the house; he is so ridiculously adorable. Mamie gave him a little hamster toy that scoots around, and we can hear him playing with it. I really kind of want a nap, but I know it'll just make me tired again tomorrow. Such a conundrum. :P
Then we had dinner, which was interesting with everyone at the table. I'm not really sure how we're going to fit twelve people in that dining room, but I'm sure we'll manage. Xavier had made a chocolate cake for dessert, which was fantastic. Everyone was talking about the fact that it was supposed to snow last night, and they were all freaking out. It reminded me of Seattle, where the possibility of snow was the top headline on the news. We helped clean up, and went back upstairs. Mamie and Grant were supposed to come in last night, but their plane was delayed, so we didn't know when they would be here. I finally got to take a shower (yay, buying shampoo!), and even caught Gramma on the phone and talked to her briefly. Around midnight, Joel came to our room and we just kind of talked about internet fads and things.
I had a really hard time going to sleep, for some reason. I think it was because I'd napped longer than I intended. I finally got to sleep around 1:30 or 2:00 in the morning, but I woke up completely at 4:30, and then woke up a couple other times through the night. This morning I woke up around 9:00, but Valeria and I were both really tired. We were getting dressed and thinking about going downstairs, when the doorbell rang! Valeria and I both looked at each other in confusion for a second, and then she burst out with "Grant and Mamie!" and ran downstairs. I followed after, and sure enough it was them, arrived bright and early in the morning. With them had also come the snow; there was thin blanket of white over everything; maybe an inch, probably not even that much.
Poor Jacqueline and Mathias must have thought we were crazy; they came after us a bit later, still dressed in their pajamas. That was good, though, because neither of us knew where the new arrivals were supposed to go. Turns out Grant and Aaron are sleeping on the third floor as well, and Mamie is on the second. All of the bedrooms have specific names, which is adorable. Valeria and I are in Les Marguerites, Grant and Aaron are in Les Pigeonniers, and Mamie and Sierra are in La petite Marie. Joel's by himself, so his room doesn't have a name that I know of. Flabiola is also on the third floor, on the other side of the water closet. I have no idea where Lucé's room is.
After Grant and Mamie had gotten settled a little bit, and we had talked and shared stories, we all went downstairs for breakfast. Mathias didn't have school today (apparently French kids don't on Wednesdays) and Jacqueline was home from work, so she told us that she could take us on a little tour of Tours. We finished, cleared the table, got ready, and headed out into winter!
She took us a different way than we had gone yesterday, through the little streets and older parts of Tours. We went by the Musée des Beaux Arts, and the Cathédral de Tours, and then went through what is apparently the antiques district to get to the Théâtre Municipale, or the City Theatre. After that we headed more towards the Rue Nationale, which is full of stores and boutiques, and that led us straight to the Loire river. That whole part of the city was bombarded during WWII, so it's all been rebuilt and is fairly modern. Tours is apparently a city in three parts, divided by the Cher river and the Loire. Le Nonante and everything we've seen so far is in Tours-Centre, the middle part of the city. We took some pictures, and Jacqueline took a picture of the four of us, where I look pretty much translucent.
After the river, we turned and went through another older district, built in the 13th century (or something like that; I didn't quite catch what Jacqueline told me). It was amazing; I think I could spend entire days just taking pictures of the architecture in this city. We found a Monoprix, which is a supermarché where I was able to buy some slippers to wear inside the house. The staircase is old and kind of slippery; Joel fell down most of the bottom flight yesterday, so we've all been treading with trepidation since then. Hopefully with the slippers it won't be so treacherous.
We walked back to the house, and Jacqueline was helping me orient myself. I think I pretty much understand Tours-Centre, at least, and with a map I shouldn't have any problems at all. I might restrict more ranging to when it's not so wet out, though; my socks and the bottoms of my pants are soaked, and my feet were half-frozen by the time we got back to the house.
Since then, we've been hanging out still. We can hear Mathias playing in the house; he is so ridiculously adorable. Mamie gave him a little hamster toy that scoots around, and we can hear him playing with it. I really kind of want a nap, but I know it'll just make me tired again tomorrow. Such a conundrum. :P
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
These shoes were not made for walking.
They were made for standing in one place during choir concerts. But whatever, I've worn them all over Tours now. This morning I didn't wake up until 10am, and Valeria and I went down after a bit for a late breakfast of chocolate cereal.
Madame Dhommée used to have a cook and housekeeper to take care of the house, but since Xavier and Jacqueline are living with us, we're just supposed to take care of dishes and stuff like that ourselves. So after washing dishes we hung out for a bit, and then Valeria, Joel, and I went out to see if we could find a supermarché (supermarket) to buy shampoo and soap and other such necessities. Xavier told us to go by the train station, so we set off!
It's a bit colder here than I had expected, although not nearly so cold as Moorhead. We wore gloves and coats and scarves, but the train station is only a 10 to 20 minute walk away. Once there, however, we couldn't find the supermarché at all. We saw the little briocherie that Xavier had told us to look for, and a whole street of little shops and stuff. But no sign of a basic store.
We looked at the map, and found a marché marked a little ways from the train station, so we headed there. It looked like the market wasn't being held that day, though, and we pretty much figured out that the marché is an open-air market where you buy food and art and handmade stuff, and the supermarché is where you buy toiletries. There was a fairly large street that went from the open marché back to Rue Mirabeau and Le Nonante, so we followed that back up.
After a bit of a pause to warm up our frozen extremities, we asked again, and Xavier repeated that the supermarché was right next to the train station. Once more, we set out. This time, we found what we think he was referring to, but the store was closed and the grates were down over the doors. It was right next to the briocherie, so we got brioche. If you've never had it, it's fabulous. Shaped kind of like a muffin, but more like pastry, the brioche basically made my day.
We wandered down the little shopping district again, and found a 2 Euro store (roughly equivalent to a dollar store) where we could buy some things. I had to ask at a pharmacie to find an ATM, since the store didn't accept bank cards. Then we headed back to Le Nonante to hang out some more. I get the feeling these days before class starts are going to be really relaxed, which I'm definitely cool with.
Madame Dhommée used to have a cook and housekeeper to take care of the house, but since Xavier and Jacqueline are living with us, we're just supposed to take care of dishes and stuff like that ourselves. So after washing dishes we hung out for a bit, and then Valeria, Joel, and I went out to see if we could find a supermarché (supermarket) to buy shampoo and soap and other such necessities. Xavier told us to go by the train station, so we set off!
It's a bit colder here than I had expected, although not nearly so cold as Moorhead. We wore gloves and coats and scarves, but the train station is only a 10 to 20 minute walk away. Once there, however, we couldn't find the supermarché at all. We saw the little briocherie that Xavier had told us to look for, and a whole street of little shops and stuff. But no sign of a basic store.
We looked at the map, and found a marché marked a little ways from the train station, so we headed there. It looked like the market wasn't being held that day, though, and we pretty much figured out that the marché is an open-air market where you buy food and art and handmade stuff, and the supermarché is where you buy toiletries. There was a fairly large street that went from the open marché back to Rue Mirabeau and Le Nonante, so we followed that back up.
After a bit of a pause to warm up our frozen extremities, we asked again, and Xavier repeated that the supermarché was right next to the train station. Once more, we set out. This time, we found what we think he was referring to, but the store was closed and the grates were down over the doors. It was right next to the briocherie, so we got brioche. If you've never had it, it's fabulous. Shaped kind of like a muffin, but more like pastry, the brioche basically made my day.
We wandered down the little shopping district again, and found a 2 Euro store (roughly equivalent to a dollar store) where we could buy some things. I had to ask at a pharmacie to find an ATM, since the store didn't accept bank cards. Then we headed back to Le Nonante to hang out some more. I get the feeling these days before class starts are going to be really relaxed, which I'm definitely cool with.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Sitting In My Bedroom, Finally!
I made it! Yes, folks, I am now secure in the little bedroom where I will be living for the next five months! It's really exciting.
The flight out was nothing special. Aunt Roxy got me to Sea-Tac and saw me off, and I went through security without any problems. I'd never flown Icelandair before. The guy sitting next to me was very pleasant; he'd been born in Wisconsin, lived in Australia for 10 years and so got dual citizenship, and had now lived in Stockholm, Sweden for 3 1/2 years. They don't serve complimentary food, so I had eaten before I left and bought a sandwich and orange juice to take with me. Of course, I got so absorbed in my book on the flight that I didn't think to eat or sleep until I was done, at which point there was only 1 1/2 left in the flight. I tried to take a nap anyway, but that was when an old guy in the row behind me and across the aisle fainted, and there was quite a crowd trying to make sure he was okay. The paramedics took him as soon as we landed, so I'm just wishing him all the best.
The annoying thing about the flight was that I didn't know I'd have to go through another (EU-sanctioned) security check when I got to Reykjavik. It was full-on; metal detector, shoes off, laptops out, no liquids. They even made you take all your electronics out of the bags to scan more closely. I didn't have a problem with the scanning, I just wish I'd known; then maybe I would've drank my orange juice and not had it taken away! After going through, they stamped my passport and I wandered through the deserted 6am Keflavik airport, trying to find my flight, which was an hour delayed and at a different gate than my boarding pass said. Nearly missed the boarding call, but got on the flight okay and was off again. This time I slept most of the way to France, although I was awake when we came across the Channel to see the coastline come up beneath us. I once again forgot to eat my sandwich (which they did not confiscate), making it a good 9 or 10 hours since I'd eaten.
Wandered through the labyrinth that is Charles de Gaulle, found my baggage, and by a stroke of good fortune had no problems at all meeting up with Valeria. She and I had decided to take the train together, to ease any problems aside with strength in numbers. We ended up sitting in the Charles de Gaulle/Roissy train station for two hours, which wasn't unpleasant except you had to pay for the bathrooms and there was no heat. Boarding the warm train was wonderful, although we ended up in separate cars. I mostly dozed on the way to our connection in St. Pierre des Corps, being too nervous about missing the stop to actually sleep. I *did* finally remember my sandwich, and felt much less dizzy after eating it.
When I departed the train in St. Pierre des Corps, Valeria had picked up another fellow traveler; Joel was arriving the same day. Our now trio made the connecting five minute train hop, and came out into the splendorous darkness of our first day (evening) in Tours. I proved my skills as a nimble navigator and we walked the rest of the way to Le Nonante, where we'll be staying.
Jacqueline answered the door, after a slightly nervous moment where we thought maybe no-one would. She's the daughter-in-law of the woman who used to own Le Nonante. Unfortunately that lady, Madame Genevieve Dhommée, died a few weeks ago. Jacqueline and Madame Dhommée's son Xavier have decided to run the place now, and moved in for the purpose. We were shown our bedrooms and told about the rules (always lock the door when you leave, don't tie up the phone lines, turn all the lights out if you're the last one awake). I'm sharing a room with Valeria, which isn't necessarily ideal, but not because I don't like Valeria; only because I'd rather be alone. If it comes to roommates, though, Valeria and I seem to get along pretty well. She's really nice, and we had fun being camwhore tourists on the way out.
The bedroom itself is adorable. The walls are some kind of burlap-y fabric, and there are several landscapes on the walls, in addition to a copy of Café la Nuit. It's small, but in a cozy way, and the house has the particularly personable kind of smell and feel and character that only comes with age. Also, the beds are very squishy. I sat down on mine and I swear I sank in a foot.
When Xavier and Mathias got home (Mathias is their seven-year-old boy), Xavier repeated much of what Jacqueline had said and we had dinner. The meal was good, although I'm really noticing the flaws in my French. This semester is exactly what I need to get myself turned around right again. After dinner we helped wash up and set the table for breakfast (a cool little time-saving chore). Then we went upstairs and put our stuff away and started to settle. I tried to put pictures on facebook, but it was being annoying. I'll try again before I go to bed.
Tomorrow, my mission is to take pictures of the house and some of the surrounding area and possibly go exploring a little. Grant and Mamie get in tomorrow night, which should be lots of fun. Grant always makes everyone feel more at ease, and at this point in the semester, when we're all still a little shy and not quite at home, that should be just the thing.
One day down, five wonderful months to go!
The flight out was nothing special. Aunt Roxy got me to Sea-Tac and saw me off, and I went through security without any problems. I'd never flown Icelandair before. The guy sitting next to me was very pleasant; he'd been born in Wisconsin, lived in Australia for 10 years and so got dual citizenship, and had now lived in Stockholm, Sweden for 3 1/2 years. They don't serve complimentary food, so I had eaten before I left and bought a sandwich and orange juice to take with me. Of course, I got so absorbed in my book on the flight that I didn't think to eat or sleep until I was done, at which point there was only 1 1/2 left in the flight. I tried to take a nap anyway, but that was when an old guy in the row behind me and across the aisle fainted, and there was quite a crowd trying to make sure he was okay. The paramedics took him as soon as we landed, so I'm just wishing him all the best.
The annoying thing about the flight was that I didn't know I'd have to go through another (EU-sanctioned) security check when I got to Reykjavik. It was full-on; metal detector, shoes off, laptops out, no liquids. They even made you take all your electronics out of the bags to scan more closely. I didn't have a problem with the scanning, I just wish I'd known; then maybe I would've drank my orange juice and not had it taken away! After going through, they stamped my passport and I wandered through the deserted 6am Keflavik airport, trying to find my flight, which was an hour delayed and at a different gate than my boarding pass said. Nearly missed the boarding call, but got on the flight okay and was off again. This time I slept most of the way to France, although I was awake when we came across the Channel to see the coastline come up beneath us. I once again forgot to eat my sandwich (which they did not confiscate), making it a good 9 or 10 hours since I'd eaten.
Wandered through the labyrinth that is Charles de Gaulle, found my baggage, and by a stroke of good fortune had no problems at all meeting up with Valeria. She and I had decided to take the train together, to ease any problems aside with strength in numbers. We ended up sitting in the Charles de Gaulle/Roissy train station for two hours, which wasn't unpleasant except you had to pay for the bathrooms and there was no heat. Boarding the warm train was wonderful, although we ended up in separate cars. I mostly dozed on the way to our connection in St. Pierre des Corps, being too nervous about missing the stop to actually sleep. I *did* finally remember my sandwich, and felt much less dizzy after eating it.
When I departed the train in St. Pierre des Corps, Valeria had picked up another fellow traveler; Joel was arriving the same day. Our now trio made the connecting five minute train hop, and came out into the splendorous darkness of our first day (evening) in Tours. I proved my skills as a nimble navigator and we walked the rest of the way to Le Nonante, where we'll be staying.
Jacqueline answered the door, after a slightly nervous moment where we thought maybe no-one would. She's the daughter-in-law of the woman who used to own Le Nonante. Unfortunately that lady, Madame Genevieve Dhommée, died a few weeks ago. Jacqueline and Madame Dhommée's son Xavier have decided to run the place now, and moved in for the purpose. We were shown our bedrooms and told about the rules (always lock the door when you leave, don't tie up the phone lines, turn all the lights out if you're the last one awake). I'm sharing a room with Valeria, which isn't necessarily ideal, but not because I don't like Valeria; only because I'd rather be alone. If it comes to roommates, though, Valeria and I seem to get along pretty well. She's really nice, and we had fun being camwhore tourists on the way out.
The bedroom itself is adorable. The walls are some kind of burlap-y fabric, and there are several landscapes on the walls, in addition to a copy of Café la Nuit. It's small, but in a cozy way, and the house has the particularly personable kind of smell and feel and character that only comes with age. Also, the beds are very squishy. I sat down on mine and I swear I sank in a foot.
When Xavier and Mathias got home (Mathias is their seven-year-old boy), Xavier repeated much of what Jacqueline had said and we had dinner. The meal was good, although I'm really noticing the flaws in my French. This semester is exactly what I need to get myself turned around right again. After dinner we helped wash up and set the table for breakfast (a cool little time-saving chore). Then we went upstairs and put our stuff away and started to settle. I tried to put pictures on facebook, but it was being annoying. I'll try again before I go to bed.
Tomorrow, my mission is to take pictures of the house and some of the surrounding area and possibly go exploring a little. Grant and Mamie get in tomorrow night, which should be lots of fun. Grant always makes everyone feel more at ease, and at this point in the semester, when we're all still a little shy and not quite at home, that should be just the thing.
One day down, five wonderful months to go!
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