La Petite Exploratrice

My Cousins Are Awesome

2009-04-08T13:44:00.001-07:00

In March, I went back to Luxembourg to visit my cousin Sarah, her husband Matt, their daughter Abby, and new baby Luke. I had such a nice time seeing everyone, despite a food poisoning incident on the morning of the third day of my visit. My cousins were so great to me. They nursed me back to health by buying me Sprite, making me jello, and just being wonderful in general. Here are some really cute pictures taken before my ailment kicked in.

Sarah and Abby in downtown Luxembourg.

Matt, Sarah, and Abby in Trier, Germany.

Matt and baby Luke.

Me and baby Luke.

Little Abby.

La Grève

2009-03-11T16:23:00.000-07:00

The students at my university have been striking for five weeks now. They're protesting many of Sarkozy's new education reforms. This strike is quite bizarre to me. Strikes are a way of life in France. I probably see some sort of demonstration at least once each week, sometimes more (I've already seen two this week). Lately, they've been mostly student demonstrations, but I hear another mass strike is planned for all of France next week. Also, it is the students who are striking and have set up the blockades in the halls. And from what I hear they do it almost every year.

I take only two classes in the actual French university. My other three classes are held in the center for the foreign students. So for the past (almost)month and a half, I've only had three classes each week. Some of my friends, who are only taking classes in the French university haven't had any school at all. Of course panic kicked for all of the Americans due to the fact that eventually, the French students will have to make up all of the classes they've missed, probably this summer. But the study abroad students are leaving. We can't stay to make up classes. Oddly enough we've been assured that we'll still get our credits for our classes. So, not actually going to classes but still getting credits for them is...good. Right? At this point I'm not going to worry about it. There's nothing I can do, so as long as I get the credits I need, I'll be happy. And I have to admit that sleeping in every day is pretty damn nice.

Party at Jeanette's

2009-03-11T15:40:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went to a party at Jeanette's place. Jeanette is from Nova Scotia, and she is a lectrice at the university. It is a teaching job, and she teaches one of my classes along with a French professor (of course I haven't had that class for a month and half due to the strike, but that's another story). The party was delightful; great people and a great atmosphere made for a fun time had by all.

Here I am with our lovely hostess, Jeanette.

Sarah (England), and Sam.

Samuel (Hungary), Anne-Laure (France), Edel (Ireland, she is also a lectrice), Ilias? (Tunisia), and Jeanette in front.

Keeva? (England), Kathryn (England, also a lectrice), and Asia (US).

Pierre from France (sitting), Isabel (Germany), Sarah (England), Sam (US), and Jeff (US).

Miguel, Eduardo (Spain), Joaquin? (Spain), and me.

Dancing. Stripey 1 is from Poland, but I forget his name. :( I didn't meet Stripey 2, and Brooke in the blue is from the States. He is also a lecteur.

Lorella (France), Reshma (England), Matthew (England), Asia (US), Adam (England), and Sarah (England).

Hillary, another lectrice from Nova Scotia, and Lorella (France).

Great night.

St. Nicolas

2009-03-11T15:06:00.000-07:00

Last week, I took myself out to one of my favorite restaurants, the St. Nicolas, which is about a thirty second walk from where I live.

I've been there a couple of times before and I always get the same thing because it's one of the best meals I've had in France. I get the 16 euro menu which includes an entrée, main dish, and dessert. To start, I always get the Farci Poitevin, a specialty of this region. It's sort of a mix of cooked greens with goat cheese on top and it is sooo good.

Then came delicious, succulent pork cooked with prunes, with veggies on the side. Amazing.

For dessert I chose the day's special, which was pain perdu made from brioche. It's essentially what we think of as French toast. Delicious.

The owner was telling me that the restaurant is called the St. Nicolas because it used to be a church, L'église St. Nicolas. Here is a part of the original 11th century church wall.

Cool.

Little Dogs Everywhere!

2009-03-11T14:59:00.000-07:00

I was at a pizzeria last week, and one of the people working there had a delightful 5-month-old pug which I attacked with love.

Its name was Praline, which I think is a very good name for a tiny pug.

Just Another Night At The Bar

2009-03-02T15:26:00.000-08:00

Sam and the ladies.

Me and the ladies.

Paris Weekend

2009-03-02T13:48:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, I went up to Paris to visit Dominque and Jean-Pierre, and the Nattans. On the first night, Dominique and Jean-Pierre took me out to eat, along with one of their family friends. We went to the Vaudeville, one of the true Parisian brasseries. Here I am with Dominique and Jean-Pierre.

Oh my god, the meal was sooo good. It started out with foie gras, and then came beef with shallots and the most delicious potatoes, and it ended with a sort of chocolate-coffee cake with a liquid chocolate center and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. So good. We finished the evening with a walk around Paris and it was lovely.

The next day, Dominique and Jean-Pierre took me to the palace of Versailles, the seat of Louis XIV in the late 1600s. It was amazing. It's hard to describe how immense the palace and the grounds are. Dominique and Jean-Pierre commented that you can kind of see why the French Revolution took place when you visit Versailles. It's so lavish, and gigantic, and expensive. The rest of the country had nothing.

I've taken some picture, but it's really hard to capture what these rooms are like from a photo. Also, it's hard to get a picture when you're sandwiched between the other tourists.

Here is the chapel. We couldn't go in, but it was so beautiful.

Ceiling scene.

Another ceiling scene.

The Hall of Mirrors

Me in the Hall of Mirrors

Gallery

Versailles

The grounds. I hear they're even more beautiful in summer, when the flowers are out and all of the fountains are on.

Really pretty.

After the palace, and viewing the grounds, we also saw Marie Antoinette's residence, her little peasant village (which I think might have been my favorite part), and the smaller palace Napoleon once occupied. I didn't take pictures of these because, as i said, it's really hard to capture what it's like. So you'll just have to go to France and see it for yourself. We spent seven awesome hours visiting. And we only saw the first floor of the main palace. Only the first floor of the palace is open to the public. Other floors and rooms require an appointment with a reservation made months in advance. Amazing.

After my great visit with Dominique and Jean-Pierre, I went to visit Georges and Andrée. Georges was my grandmother's guardian in France after World War II. Now he is 101 years old. He and Andrée were doing great. I had such a nice time spending the afternoon talking with them, looking at old pictures, and talking about my grandparents. In the evening, their granddaughter Sarah came over, and the two of us went out to dinner and then walked around Paris for the rest of the night. Delightful.

Andrée and me.

Georges and me.

Sarah on the metro.

Sarah under the Eiffel Tower.

Me under the Eiffel Tower.

It's lovely at night.

Nuit de Sheriffs

2009-03-02T11:37:00.000-08:00

The Night of Sheriffs is an annual party for the engineering school ESIP. It's held each year as a farewell party for the graduating seniors. The students rented out a nightclub for the event, and I went with my friend Patrick.

Patrick being accosted.

Salwa!

This is my mean sheriff face.

I am trying to get this image out of my mind.

Antoine!

Simon!

Loubna and me.

Naked people.

Throughout the night, certain sheriff awards were given, like "the weightlifting sheriff" for the guy who lifts alot, or "the dancing sheriff" for the person who's really good at dancing. Then, they gave awards for a sort of king and queen sheriff. They brought in STRIPPERS for the king and queen. I couldn't believe it! Never in the States would strippers be hired to give the kind and queen of the party a striptease and lap dance!

I Don't Think I'm Meant To Be A Rugby Player

2009-02-10T14:13:00.000-08:00

I went to see my first rugby game last Sunday, with my friend Vicky, from England. Oh my god. I think if I were to try to play rugby, I'd be crushed to death within the first thirty seconds. How do these guys play this sport and still...live? I really enjoyed the game, and it was great to have Vicky (who is a rugby expert) explain all of the rules to me.

Note the tangled pile of bodies.

The scrum.

A Sunday well-spent.

Jonny Bell's Concert

2009-02-10T13:46:00.001-08:00

Last Saturday, Jonny Bell, a delightful Enlgishman, played a concert at the Café Bleu.

I think that the entire international student population of Poitiers showed up, along with all of their French friends. It was great! Jonny Bell played and sang wonderfully, and a good time was had by all. After the concert, we all headed to the bar.

Here is la girafe. That is a lot of beer.

Jason and Mélissa.

Lindsey and Erik.

Emma, Jo, and Jonny Bell. Woo, England!

Abby and Vicky. Woo, England!

Arnaud and Liz.

Aerika and Tucaud(?).

Me and delicious muscat. Mmmm, muscat.

Alyssa and me.

Lucille and Shawna.

Hillary, Katie, Alyssa, and me.

Potluck at Sylvie's

2009-02-10T13:07:00.001-08:00

Last Friday, Sylvie, the director of the Centre Oregon here in Poitiers, had a potluck at her house in Chasseneuil, about half an hour from Poitiers. It was nice to meet all of the Americans who had just arrived in January. I also fell in love with Sylvie's beautiful French country house, and charming pets. I miss cats! While it seems that every French person has a dog, and takes that dog everywhere with them, cats are hard to come by. So it was a dream come true for all of us cat-deprived Americans to have a feline in our presence. Now for some pictures.

Me and Aerika and the kitty.

Me and Aerika and the kitty desperately trying to escape my grasp.

Setting up the food. Delicious food.

Sylvie's daughter Agnès.

Erik (who is studying in Germany, but was visiting Lindsey), Lindsey, Aileen (from St. Louis University), Alyssa (also from SLU), and Jason.

Sylvie (our director), Shawna, Odile (Alyssa's host mom), Alyssa, and Devon in front.

Shane, Lindsey, Erik, Aileen, and Katie (from SLU). Also note the beautiful house.

Rachelle, Sam, Jessica (SLU I think), Hunter (SLU), Hillary (SLU), and Katie. Again note the lovely house.

Jason and the cat!

Adrienne and Karen.

What a wonderful night!

Black Thursday

2009-01-29T12:41:00.000-08:00

Today, there were mass strikes throughout all of France in protest of Nicolas Sarkozy's handling of the financial crisis. French employees stopped work today (on what some news sites have called Black Thursday)saying that Sarkozy has done too much for businesses and not enough to protect jobs and raise the low wages of French workers. I managed to get a bus to school this morning (I didn't think any would be running, but there were a few) only to find that my professor was striking. Of course there was no way for me to have known this since some teachers were striking, and some weren't, and they don't really have a system of contacting students. This is what I saw in front of Poitiers' city hall later in the afternoon:

This sign says, "Sarko, the people will have your skin."

"Sarko steals from the poor to give to the rich."

It should be even more interesting when the university students start striking Monday and close the school. I'm not sure how that will go. I'll keep you posted.

Oh, and Have I Mentioned...

2009-01-25T10:15:00.001-08:00

How disturbing the Orangina ads are?!

*shudder*

I Have A Pigeon Hole!

2009-01-25T10:05:00.000-08:00

There is a pigeon hole outside my window. A white pigeon lives there, and a black pigeon. I think the white pigeon is a male, and the other is a female, so I'm hoping that there might be baby pigeons in my hole at some point.

Wonderful pigeons!

I'm Really Sorry I Missed This

2009-01-25T09:59:00.000-08:00

On December 10, there was a signing of the book The Wolf and the Geisha by Lu Si Lin and Dildo. I didn't go. What was I thinking?

The Holidays in Poitiers

2009-01-25T09:15:00.000-08:00

So I know this is about a month late, but I wanted to show you what the holidays are like in Poitiers. It was sort of like a fairy-tale world, with the little Christmas market in the town square, and the ice rink, and the live animals outside the church. There were even loudspeakers put up in the streets that would play Christmas music. Here is the city hall at night, with the ice rink and the Christmas market in front of it:

Here is a school group at the ice skating rink. Note how many kids have fallen. They were so cute. I couldn't stop laughing.

Another picture of the charming French school-children. The Christmas booths are in the background.

Here are the pygmy goats huddling outside the church!

Shaggy ponies outside the church!

I petted the sweet, shaggy ponies!

More pygmy goats!

There was also a delightful pot-bellied pig who would walk around snortling. He was sort of hard to photograph though, because he was usually eating hay behind a cow. I also saw a donkey biting another donkey, which was quite shocking to me because I had never seen farm animals biting each other like that. I think the biter might have been trying to have sex with the bitee, but I'm not positive. Anyway, visiting the animals was always the highlight of my day, and I would stand and watch them and laugh with delight.

Here is one of the displays in the shopping center. The cats moved too. I think this pleased me way more than it should have.

And of course...

What's Christmas in France without a manifestation? For a couple of days the high-schoolers marched the streets protesting a new education reform. I managed to snap this picture as they passed by my bus:

This was actually a very stressful day, because I was taking the bus to one of my final exams, and the demonstrations were making the buses late. It all worked out though. Here is another picture I took downtown. I think the sign says, "Youth forgotten, Youth outraged."

Oh, France. How fascinating you are.

Lucy and Genevieve Do Paris

2009-01-25T09:10:00.000-08:00

One of my best and dearest friends, Lucy, was able to visit me for about ten days during Christmas break. I was so happy to have her with me for Christmas and New Year's Eve. It's hard to be away from family and friends during the holidays, so having Lucy in France was wonderful. Lucy arrived the evening of December, 22nd. So we'll call the 23rd...

DAY 1:

We were so fortunate to be able to stay with Dominique and Jean-Pierre for a few nights. They live in one of the suburbs of Paris, so we woke up early and headed in to the center of the city. It was so incredibly cold, so our first priority was to find a café. We found one directly in front of Notre Dame de Paris, so we sipped 5 euro cups of tea (Paris is crazy expensive) while gazing at the cathedral.

Here we are standing on a bridge over the Seine, with Notre Dame de Paris behind us:

The cathedral was our first order of business, and it was especially exciting for an art history buff like Lucy. From there, we visited the gothic chapel, La Sainte-Chapelle. Sainte-Chapelle's stained-glass windows are utterly mind-blowing. I stole this picture from a website, because my photos didn't really do it justice:

After Sainte Chappelle, we had a delightful lunch. Lucy had a mushroom pizza and I had blanquette de veau, nom nom nom. Here we are at the restaurant:

We then decided to walk to the Champs-Elysées:

While walking on the Champs-Elysées, we encountered Obamamania:

When we reached the Arc de Triomphe we were absolutely exhausted. We had already been walking a couple of hours at this point, so we sat on a bench for a while as we gathered strength to climb to the top of the monument. These are the stairs we climbed:

Here is a view of the Eiffel Tower from the top of the Arc de Triomphe:

From there we walked (a really long way) to the giant department stores on the Blvd. Haussman:

At this point exhaustion was setting in. We calculated that we had walked something like 9 hours. We had a drink at a cafe and then headed back to Dominique and Jean-Pierre's. This took a little longer than we had planned, because we got off at the wrong stop (of course). But we finally made it, and sat down to the most wonderful meal of cheese ravioli and mushrooms.

DAY 2:

Christmas Eve. We woke up early and moved into our hotel. I had booked the Hotel California in the Latin Quarter for a reasonable price, and it turned out to be utterly charming. When we got there we decided to take a short nap, but ended up sleeping for five hours. I guess we were a little tired. After our sleep we decided to venture into Paris' China Town, but first we needed tea to fight off the frigid temperatures. Here is Lucy with a charming tea set:

Here I am with a charming tea set:

Then we headed into China Town and had a delightful Chinese Christmas dinner. It was good, but definitely not as good as Chinn's. From there we went to the St. Michel area of Paris to find a place to get a drink. We stopped at a lively Greek restaurant to have a couple of kirs. Here are the Christmas Eve festivities at the Greek restaurant. It was joyful!

Here I am with Nikolai, the waiter who loved me:

After our drinks, we headed to Saint-Severin church to experience a Christmas Eve midnight mass. We didn't stay long, but it really was lovely. Especially when everyone would sing together, and their voices would echo inside the 11th century church. Beautiful.

DAY 3:

Christmas. Lucy and I decided to do the Eiffel Tower. I don't think I have ever been so cold in my entire life. Oh my God. So Cold. I think we waited about an hour on the ground. That was already freezing. But then on each level of the Tower we had to wait another hour to board the elevators to the next level. And of course it gets colder and colder the higher you go. The view really was spectacular, although it was somewhat overshadowed by the near hypothermia.

Here is the view:

Lucy and Genevieve at the top of the Eiffel Tower. After three hours, we made it to the top. Soooo cold.

After our descent, we went back to the hotel for a little bit to thaw before dinner. We had the most wonderful fondue for our Christmas meal.

Before going back to the hotel for the night, we had a drink and shared a banana split at another restaurant. What an utterly delightful Christmas.

DAY 4:

On this day, we did errands (buying train tickets, exchanging money), and visited the Louvre.

I've always heard about how huge the Louvre is, but you don't really realize it until you go. Lucy and I were there for about three hours and only saw a tiny portion of the museum. We got to see some awesome things, though.

Of course, La Jaconde:

And Venus de Milo:

And my absolute favorite, the Nike of Samothrace, circa 190 BC:

The Nike of Samothrace was absolutely breathtaking. She stands at the top of a large staircase, and you can't see her until you're at the bottom of the steps, and then she appears. Brilliant.

DAY 5,6,7, and 8

On day 5, we took the train back to Poitiers. This actually worked out well, because poor Lucy was deathly ill during this time, and it was much easier to nurse her back to health in Poitiers than it would have been in Paris. Also, there's not terribly much to do in Poitiers. So we mostly hung out at my apartment while Lucy hovered on the brink of death. But she was feeling beter by day 7 and 8, which was good because on day 9, we headed back up to Paris.

DAY 9:

NEW YEAR'S EVE. We left Poitiers in the early afternoon, and checked into our hotel when we arrived in Paris. Then we went out into the city, where we desperately tried to find Lucy's boyfriend, Bill, soccer gear, to no avail. After eating an early dinner we returned to the hotel and took a little nap since we knew we would be out late enjoying the New Year's festivities. Around 10:00 pm, we headed out into town. First, we went to the St. Michel area to get some of the most fantastic minestrone soup that we've ever experienced at an Italian restaurant where we had eaten the week before. Then we decided to go to the Champs-Elysées. Now, we had been warned by multiple people not to go to the Champs-Elysées on New Year's Eve because it could be dangerous. But we had also asked around, and multiple people told us that it was the best place to celebrate. So we were curious, and we figured we would go, and if we didn't like it we would leave. We went into the metro which was pretty crowded at this point, and while we were waiting for the train, a kid standing next to us (probably about 14-years-old) pulled out a gun. Now, I'm not a gun expert. But the thing looked real. And the kid was offering it to his friend, and the friend wouldn't take it, which leads me to believe that it was real. Lucy and I moved away quickly. We boarded the train, and at the next stop, the metro was so packed with people trying to get to the Champs-Elysées that we could barely move. And the train was there, but it wasn't going. Metro workers emptied the entire train (I don't know why, maybe it was too full?) and that's when Lucy and I decided it was time to get out of there. We didn't want to be stuck in the metro when the clock struck midnight. Also, people were already pretty rowdy in the station, and that, combined with the whole gun thing convinced us it was time to go. We ended up really close to the Pont Neuf, which turned out to be perfect. A lot of people were gathered with bottles of champagne and glasses, and it was really quite charming. Here is a picture Lucy took of the crowd gathered on the Pont Neuf:

Almost-2009-excited-Lucy:

Almost-2009-excited-Genevieve:

A picture Lucy took of the Eiffel Tower glittering at midnight!:

We then started to make our way back to the St. Michel area, stopping at a bar on the way to get a glass of champagne (10 euros each, but hey, you have to have champagne on New Year's), warm up, and rest our high-heeled feet.

I would say the molestation began after that, as we continued walking to the St. Michel area. You see, the men find New Year's to be the perfect opportunity to try to get kisses from every girl they come across. Now I'm fine with some celebratory bisous, but a lot of those sneaky little bastards reposition their mouths during the bisous in order to obtain a full-on lip kiss. Luckily, Lucy and I have good reflexes. A lot of the men were very grabby as well, so some muscle was required to disengage ourselves. Thank God Lucy was there. I'm not really good on the muscle front. As we walked through the streets, poor Lucy was harassed by a lot of men bowing to her, speaking fake Chinese, asking if she was Japanese, or saying hello in Chinese. Charming. We then attempted to find a bar, that had cocktails for less than 19 euros (19 euros!). We eventually found a bar that was charging 12 euros a cocktail, so we figured why not, because it was New Year's, and we each got a mojito. The bar was mostly filled with men, so Lucy and I were pretty popular. One guy even offered me money as we left the bar! I couldn't believe it! Where's the boyfriend when you need him, right? We then decided to take a taxi home, which was a ridiculous idea since every taxi in the city was in use at that point. We tried the metro, but made it only one stop before we found out that the line we needed was closed. So we left the metro, and took our place in the taxi line that was forming in front of the Montparnasse train station. This didn't really work either, since only about one taxi was arriving every half hour, and there were about fifteen people ahead of us. Suddenly, two motorcycle taxis drove up, and Lucy and I looked at each other and decided we would take them back to the hotel despite the outrageous price. It was cold, we were exhausted, Lucy had a flight to catch the next day, and we certainly weren't going to get a regular taxi soon. So we put on the helmets, gloves, and jackets the drivers provided us with, and rode motorcycles back to our hotel. It was totally worth the money. Here we are at the end of our ride:

We made it back to our hotel by 4:00 am. I'm postive that if we had waited for a regular taxi we wouldn't have made it back until 5:00 or 6:00 am. We got about 5 hours of sleep, before getting up and heading to the airport. Of course I was sorry to see Lucy go, but we had an absolutely AWESOME time that we'll always remember.

Major Computer Problems

2009-01-24T05:26:00.000-08:00

I have a lot to catch up on, but I'm having some major computer issues that are making this nearly impossible at this time. So, I WILL update as soon as I can.

Posts to come:
Lucy and Genevieve's Paris trip
Pictures of the holidays in Poitiers
My pigeon hole!!!

Thanksgiving Weekend in Luxembourg

2008-12-13T13:29:00.000-08:00

So, I've been lazy and haven't blogged in weeks, but I must tell you all about the fantastic weekend I spent with my cousin, Sarah, and her family in Luxembourg. Sarah's husband, Matt, is an engineer for Goodyear, and his work brought the family to Luxembourg last January, where they will live for two more years. Thanksgiving has always been very special for me at home, and I was very grateful to have such kind, wonderful, family members welcome me into their house for my first holiday away from my Oregon family. Oddly enough, this is the closest Sarah and I have ever lived, as I grew up in Oregon, and she grew up in Ohio, and we were able to see each other very rarely. It was also ironic to think that my Thanksgiving dinner in Luxembourg was really the most American Thanksgiving I've ever experienced. Mouthwatering Thanksgiving meals with my French grandparents always include non-traditional meat (such as goose, duck, or quail instead of turkey) or a twist on the traditional Thanksgiving fare (such as chestnut and sausage stuffing instead of bread stuffing, and yams cooked with brandy rather than marshmallows). I really enjoyed having an American Thanksgiving in Europe. Sarah and Matt invited many friends that they'd made, and everyone brought a dish. I think there were two turkeys, two bowls of bread stuffing, two bowls of mashed potatoes, gravy, cauliflower, green beans, yams, cranberry sauce, and of course two pies and ice cream for dessert. Delightful!

The next day, Sarah and little Abby took me into town while Matt was at work. Here I am with Abigail and the blue woman in downtown Luxembourg:

Sarah took me to the charming Christmas Market in Luxembourg. I tried some hot white wine (delicious) and Sarah, Abby, and I had pasta for lunch. I don't know what it is about Europeans, but they are masters of fast food pasta. We took a stroll around the booths, buying fudge and scoping out potential Christmas gifts. I thought it was interesting that the market included booths selling everything from nativity scene characters carved out of olive wood, to marzipan penises. I considered buying Jeremy some of the latter as a joke, but decided I didn't want him to be beaten by other soldiers for eating marzipan penises. After the Christmas market, and a chocolat chaud at a café, we returned home for Abby's nap (and mine as well). When Matt came home we went out to a wonderful restaurant where I had ravioli stuffed with foie gras. Nom nom nom. It was a delightful day. Here is a picture of the cousins from that night:

The next day, Matt, Sarah, and Abby took me to Trier, Germany, to visit a very well-know Christmas market. It was amazing. It was like a Christmas wonderland fairy-town dream place. Everyone was walking around with hot wine, and sausages, and potato pancakes, and delicious desserts. Here are Matt, Sarah, and Abby (and Luke is on the way!):

Sausage-themed trash cans: welcome to Germany.

A charming goat scene on the roof of a Christmas booth:

Sarah and Abby eat chocolate covered grapes:

A German einhorn for alex:

Adorable, pregnant Sarah inside the Porta Nigra, Trier's Roman City Gate from the 2nd century A.D.:

View of Trier from the Porta Nigra. The mass of people in the middle is the Christmas market:

Trier was wonderfully, and I was able to add another new country to my list. After Trier, we went home for Abby's nap (and mine, and I think Matt fell asleep too). Then Sarah made us a delightful spaghetti dinner (with real Italian pasta), and then we went out for tea and dessert in the town of Vianden. Vianden has an incredible castle on the hill, and the town was utterly charming. I'm glad we went at night because the town had such a wonderful atmosphere. It was so cold and foggy, and the streets were so empty and quiet, and there were Christmas lights or candles in all of the windows of the homes. It was really lovely. Here is a slightly blurry view of the castle:

My train left the next morning, and I definitely didn't want to leave Sarah and Matt's cosy house where I was thoroughly spoiled. But I'm excited for a return visit to see new parts of Europe, and meet the new addition to the family!

City of Lights

2008-11-25T13:16:00.000-08:00

Two weekends ago, I took the train up to Paris to visit some very dear family friends. Georges is 100 hundred-years-old. He was my grandmother's guardian in France after World War II. He is amazing. He still goes out every morning to go shopping, and helps out with the housework. When I arrived in Paris, Georges, his wonderful wife Andrée, and I talked for a little bit before their granddaughter Sarah came over. Sarah was ten and I was twelve the last time we saw each other in 2000, so we had both changed a lot. This is us now:

Sarah was so sweet and kind. We walked around Paris for hours, and it was so nice to have a real Parisienne as my tour guide. Our first stop was the Galeries Lafayette, a beautiful and famous shopping mall all decorated for Christmas.

I have a thing for enormous, well-decorated Christmas trees, so as you can imagine, the one inside the Galeries Lafayette tickled my fancy:

Here is Sarah with some reindeer in the Galeries Lafayette:

Here is a view of the Eiffel Tower from the terrace at the very top of the Galeries Lafayette. Sarah explained that it is all lit up in blue in honor of Nicolas Sarkozy's current Presidency of the European Union.

We then looked at the utterly charming window displays that the mall creates for the holidays each year. This year's theme was Alice in Wonderland, which delighted me to no end. I was only able to get a picture of one of the many vitrines (and not a very good picture at that) because I had to elbow my way past about a hundred small children and their parents to make it to the front.

After the vitrines, Sarah and I walked up the Champs-Elysées.

It was absolutely packed with people, but Sarah said it's always like that. We ended at the Arc de Triomphe, and then returned back to Georges and Andrée's.

Sarah's parents, Catherine (the daughter of Georges and Andrée) and Patrick came to dinner, and I briefly saw Sarah's brother Maxime before he had to leave. It was wonderful to see everyone again after 8 years. I had such a nice weekend, and next time I will try to get more pictures. I am hoping to visit again in January, to wish Georges a happy 101st birthday!

Hello Soldier

2008-11-13T07:41:00.000-08:00

For his two week leave from Iraq, Jeremy came to France to visit yours truly. It was so fantastic. When we weren't hanging out at my apartment watching the Colbert Report online, we were wandering around Poitiers, eating the best meals ever, trying new and extraordinary chocolates and pastries, and traveling elsewhere. One of the highlights of Jeremy's visit was our trip to Bordeaux. The first evening we were there we visited the Cathedral of St. André. It was huge and gothic. My favorite. Here is a picutre of the cathedral in the twlight:

We signed up for two tours with Bordeaux's office of tourism. The first was an afternoon trip to a vineyard with wine tasting, followed by a visit to the medieval city of St. Emilion, the town one of France's most famous wines is named for. Here we are standing amongst the grapes at Château Larmande:

Wine tasting in the cellar of Château Larmande:

Serious picture faces on top of the tower over-looking the city of St. Emilion:

Overjoyed picture faces on top of the tower over-looking the city of St. Emilion:

Jeremy being "hilarious" on top of the tower over-looking the city of St. Emilion:

Jeremy climbing on parts of the tower he definitely shouldn't have been climbing on (it was my fault. I told him he wouldn't be able to get up there):

View of St. Emilion and the surrounding vineyards from the top of the tower:

It was wonderful.

The next day we had our wine and cheese class in the late afternoon. Before our class, we wandered around Bordeaux, ate lunch, and made some necessary chocolate purchases. I had a cold (one of us is always sick when we're together) and was feeling pretty bad at this point, so we found a tea salon to hang out in for a couple of hours before our class. Here are the best chocolates we discoverd in Bordeaux:

The mushroom is filled with caramel,and the bogue, or as Jeremy called it the beholder, is filled with different sorts of chocolate, chestnut paste, and almond paste. Nom nom nom. Here we are displaying our chocolates (although I realize you can't see the chocolates because I'm bad at the one-handed picture taking thing. Our beautiful faces should be enough for you):

Then we went to our wine and cheese class. It was awesome. Jeremy and I agreed that the tour from the previous day, and the wine and cheese class complemented each other well. While the tour had tought us about the production of wine, the class taught us about wine-tasting. We learned how to analyze the age of the wine by looking at its color, and how to properly smell and taste it in order to determine all of its flavors. We tasted three wines (and the portions were quite generous), and then we were invited to take what we wanted from the cheese cellar. Heavenly. Here is our wine and cheese class. Jeremy and I are all the way in the back:

In addition to Bordeaux, we also made some little day trips, including a visit to a seventh century fortified abbey in the town of Nouaillé Maupertuis (very close to Poitiers) and the coastal town of La Rochelle. La Rochelle also happens to be the town where Grand-père left for America in 1946, when he was 19. So I thought a lot about how it would feel to be in La Rochelle as a 19-year-old about to permanently leave his country. Very strange. Here is Jeremy on top of one of La Rochelle's towers. He is very confused by the sign telling him he should not be standing on the thing he's standing on:

Now some pics in Poitiers. We like playgrounds:

And overpriced tequila sunrises:

And the mandatory "Jeremy-standing-on-a-tree" shot:

Jeremy went back to Iraq last week, and I miss him so much. My apartment is so lonely without him. I want him to come back. Right now. But hopefully he'll be able to make another visit once he gets out of Iraq in March. And for his next visit, we're doing Paris.

Soon to Come

2008-11-11T16:41:00.000-08:00

Picutres from Jeremy's visit! It was the most wonderful two weeks.

Get Ready for a lot of Pictures

2008-11-11T13:14:00.000-08:00

The Oregon group traveled to the Loire valley the weekend of October 18th and 19th. It was wonderful to visit some of the beautiful sites outside of Poitiers. Our visit started at the estate of Marc Brédif-a Vouvray cellar none-the-less. Oh, how I love the Vouve.

Here I am wine tasting with Aerika and Liz in the cellar.

I really wanted to sneak one of these 1874 bottles into my purse, but then I thought better of it:

After Marc Brédif, we arrived at the town of Amboise.

Charming, no? After having a pastry or two in town, and taking a look at the cathedral, we then took a tour of the royal lodgings. Charles VIII was born here, and lived here with his queen. Here is the royal bedroom:

The royal drainage system (I love this!):

The royal chapel:

The royal view:

After Amboise, we drove to the place we were staying for the night, a sort of hostel catering specifically to groups like ours. This is what we saw when we woke up the next morning. Beautiful.

Amboise was wonderful, but I thought Chenonceau was spectacular. (Try to imagine it without the scaffolding).

Here is the room of Diane de Poitiers, the mistress of King Henri II, to whom he gave Chenonceau.

Catherine de Medici's bedroom:

The Gallery. During World War I, the owner of Chenonceau installed a hospital in the gallery at his own expense. During the course of the war, the hospital cared for 2254 wounded soldiers. During World War II, the gallery provided a convenient door into the Free Zone, while Chenonceau's entrance was in the occupied zone.

The gallery is built over a bridge. Here is the view of the Loire river from inside the gallery.

The chamber of Louise de Lorraine is one of the more interesting rooms in the castle. After her husband, King Henri III was assasinated in 1589, Louise went to Chenonceau for prayer and meditation. She was called "the White Queen" because she always wore white in compliance with royal mourning etiquette. Her room is decorated with mourning symbols.

The living room of Louis XIV, named so in memory of the visit he made to Chenonceau in 1650.

Our last stop before heading back to Poitiers was the town of Loches. We took a tour of the donjon, a sort of military fortress and prison complete with a torture chamber.

We then spent some time exploring the town. I particularly liked these strange figures carved into a pillar in the Loches cathedral.

Then, we headed home. Quite a wonderful weekend.

I Am So Ridiculously Excited

2008-10-17T14:28:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow morning, the Oregon group is leaving to visit Les Châteaux de la Loire! I can't wait. Here is our itinerary:

Saturday

8:45-Leave Poitiers
10:30-Visit the estate of Marc Brédif (It's a Vouvray cellar! My favorite!)
12:30-Arrive at Amboise. Eat lunch in town.
15:15-Visit le château d'Amboise.
16:30-Vist Clos-Lucé, the house where Leonardo Da Vinci lived and died.
Night-Eat and sleep at Château Ouen les Vignes

Sunday

10:00-Visit the Château de Chenonceau
12:30-Arrive at Loches. Eat lunch in town.
14:00-Visit donjon. I'm not sure what this is.
15:30-Visit the royal lodgings.
16:00-Return to Poitiers

Awesome. So I'll get back on Sunday, and then, on either Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday...

JEREMY ARRIVES. OH MY GOD! HE'LL BE HERE FOR 15 DAYS! I'M SO DAMN EXCITED!

Without Internets :(

2008-10-17T14:24:00.000-07:00

I am currently without internets until Thursday. So I'm back at the cyber cafés. I made three trips to the internet/phone store called Orange yesterday, only to return home to find my internet no longer working. Sigh. So typical.

Translation

2008-10-17T14:11:00.000-07:00

Here are the translations of those beautiful passages from Marcel Pagnol's Le Château de ma Mère. Thank you to Grand-père, Grand-mère, and Daddy for these.

My dear Lili did not come with me to the little cemetery of La Treille, because for years he had waited there, under a patch of Everlasting: in 1917, in a black forest in the North, a bullet in the head had cut his young life, and he fell in the rain, on tufts of cold plants the names of which he did not know…

Such is the life of men. A few joyful moments, quickly erased by unforgettable sorrows.

It is not necessary to tell it to children.

And the second:

But in the arms of a sweet-briar, under bunches of white roses and on the other side of time, there was for years a very young dark woman who always held tightly to her fragile heart the colonel’s red roses. She heard the guard’s calls, and the dog’s hoarse breath. Wan, trembling, and forever inconsolable, she didn’t know that she was at her son’s home.

So very sad and beautiful.

Oh Holy Mother of God!

2008-10-17T13:57:00.001-07:00

I had a long island iced tea the other night. Dear Jesus. It was the strongest drink I have ever experienced. When I asked Kelsey and Sam what was in it they told me everything was in it, but I didn't really think everything. I was wrong. Luckily, Kelsey and I were sharing. I think drinking one of these myself would have killed me.

Here are some other scenes from our nights out. This is Lindsey (Oregon), James (England), Aerika (Oregon), and Liz (Oregon)oustside Est-Ouest.

Here I am with Nico (France), Kelsey (Oregon), and Kerstin (Germany) at L'Havanita:

And Sam, me, and Kelsey:

Delightful!

I Have Never Seen Such A Thing In My Life

2008-10-17T13:51:00.000-07:00

Purple and orange cauliflower. I saw these the other day at Les Halles du Centre, the produce store where I buy my avocadoes, clementines, and pears every day. Awed by this amazing sight, I asked the nice woman who works there if they were natural. She said yes, they're not genetically engineered, they just have different vitamins that change their color. I love this country.

T-shirt Party

2008-10-17T13:23:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, my French friend Nico had a party at his apartment. We all wore white t-shirts, and Nico had markers ready for us. It was great. Here is a group shot, but this was still fairly early in the night. I think more arrived later.

Here is a picture of Tobias and me showing off our artwork. Since I feel that I excel at animal pictures, I drew Tobias a little pig that is saying "hi Tobias!" On my collar is Tobias' second favorite word in German: Schockschwerenot. This is apparently an explanation of surprise.

I don't think any of my readers speak German, but if you'd like to give it a shot, or look at more France pictures, check out Tobias' France blog here.

Here is a picture of the octopus someone (Christa maybe?) drew on Kelsey:

And the manatee Kelsey drew on me. It turned out looking rather suggestive, which Kelsey explained had not been her intention:

Here I am with Christa at the end of the night. What can I say? I just really like Vouvray, okay?

A Fine Day for Hazing

2008-10-15T16:40:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday, my engineer friend Patrick invited me to have a drink at a café with some of the other engineers. It turned out to be more than just a drink with friends. Every year, the engineering school (ÉSIP) hazes the first year engineering students. The first years roam the streets of Poitiers in groups, stopping at each station where they must bend to the will of the upperclassmen. I had the honor at sitting at one of these stations to watch the events. Here are Julien and Patrick spreading nutella and sprinkling almond slivers on the face of one poor soul:

I couldn't get a photo of exactly what this victim was trying to do (he was moving a lot), but please note the egg on his shirt, and writing on his forehead. He was trying to put a condom on his head, but when he was unsuccessful, he was told to put it over his shoe where it promptly ripped, much to everyone's chagrin.

At one point, one first year was forced to play a penis while two other boys crouched beside him to replicate the testicles. White yogurt was put into the mouth of the penis boy (I'm sure you can see where this is going), and two girls massaged his back until ejaculation ensued. I did not get a picture of this. Sorry everyone.

Here is a picture of Florian, moi, and Patrick:

And Antoine, Julien, and a boy I don't know. Some of the other tormentors:

I even got to experience some of the action when one of the first years made a sneak attack on Antoine, whom I happened to be sitting by. This is me, post egging. I guess you can't really see the egg in my hair, but it's there:

For the French Speakers

2008-10-10T18:18:00.000-07:00

I think the last two chapters of Marcel Pagnols' Le Château de ma Mère are some of the saddest and most beautiful lines I have ever read. For the French speakers, here are my favorite excerpts from the last two chapters. I will work on translating them for the English speakers. Or maybe the French speakers want to take a shot at translating these passages? (Wink Wink Hint Hint Grand-mère, Grand-père, and Daddy).

Mon cher Lili ne l‘accompagna pas avec moi au petit cimetière de La Treille, car il l’y attendait depuis des années, sous un carré d’immortelles : en 1917, dans une noire forêt du Nord, une balle en plein front avait tranché sa jeune vie, et il était tombé sous la pluie, sur des touffes de plantes froides dont il ne savait pas les noms…
Telle est la vie des hommes. Quelques joies, très vite effacées par d’inoubliables chagrins.
Il n’est pas nécessaire de le dire aux enfants.

That section just killed me. And the very last paragraph of the book :

Mais dans les bras d’un églantier, sous des grappes de roses blanches et de l’autre côté du temps, il y avait depuis des années une très jeune femme brune qui serrait toujours sur son cœur fragile les roses rouges du colonel. Elle entendait les cris du garde, et le souffle rauque du chien. Blême, tremblante, et pour jamais inconsolable, elle ne savait pas qu’elle était chez son fils.

Very Odd

2008-10-10T11:39:00.000-07:00

The same day I visited the cathedral was the weekend of Les Expressifs, the street arts festival I wrote about last week. When I left the cathedral, there was a musical theater group (I guess that's what you could call it) in front of the cathedral singing sections of Carmina Burana. In between the singing, a narrator explained portions of French history while the actors mimed the events. The actors were wearing masks, but by the plenteous amount of white hair, and what I could see around the masks, I don't think anyone in this group was below the age of seventy. And I'm pretty sure none of them were actors or singers. But hey, I'm all for staying active into the elder years. Perhaps the strangest part of the performance was the woman playing the Virgin Mary. She sat perfectly still behind the actors, holding the baby Jesus. I think she was supposed to be one of these living statues, and I'm pretty sure that she had eyes painted on top of her eyelids, so she could keep her eyes closed and avoid blinking throughout the performance. I found the result terrifying. I tried to get a picture but I was rather far away. I'm glad that this picture shows the masked actors as well.

Curiouser and curiouser.

Notre Dame La Grande

2008-10-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, I visited one of Poitiers' cathedrals. Notre Dame la Grande is a Romanesque cathedral. Its construction began in the eleventh century. I have a preference for Gothic cathedrals, but Notre Dame la Grande is beautiful, and different from other cathedrals I've seen. I've never seen a cathedral with painted columns, and I love that each columm has a different pattern:

Here is the view down the nave:

One of the stained glass windows:

Another window:

And another:

Here is the organ:

It had been a while since I'd been in a cathedral. I had forgotten the smell. Inside, it smells damp and moist and oh so very old. It was wonderful.

I Wanted to Kill Myself in the Grocery Store the Other Day

2008-10-10T11:06:00.001-07:00

I was shopping at Monoprix. The store was playing perhaps the worst remake ever. It was Hey Joe by Jimi Hendrix, with a latin twist. There was even a trumpet solo in the middle of the song. Physically painful.

Pastry of the Day

2008-10-10T11:04:00.001-07:00

Chocalate tart. NOM NOM NOM.

Les Expressifs

2008-10-03T16:41:00.000-07:00

Les Expressifs is an annual art festival in Poitiers. For four days (this year October 1-4)visitors can see street performances, concerts, and theater and dance spectacles for free. Tonight, Kelsey, Christa, our French friend David, and myself watched a drum group at the Palais de Justice, and a concert in a pavilion at the hotel de ville. The drummers were super cool:

I also enjoyed what we saw of the concert. It was a trio of three men; keyboard, guitar, and tuba. I thought they had a sound similar to Gogol Bordello and some Neutral Milk Hotel. Quite enjoyable.

This festival also seemed to bring out the entire hippie population of Poitiers. Surrounded by an abundance of dreadlocks and flowing, earthy clothing, I felt like I was in Ashland again.

After enjoying the concert for a little while, we went to a restaurant for hot drinks. It is sooo cold here already. I ordered hot wine which is perhaps the best thing to drink on a cold night when you want to warm up.

Eventually our French friend Nico joined us, and some friends of David's as well. Here is a picture of Kelsey, me, Nico (standing), and Pierre (making my delightful rabbit ears):

It was a wonderful evening, and now it is late, and I'm going to go to sleep. More posts to come.

You know you've left America when...

2008-10-03T16:32:00.000-07:00

you see condom dispensers on the streets. Oh, Europe. You delight me.

Fire Safety

2008-10-03T16:27:00.000-07:00

This was the sign on the back of my door when I lived in student housing before I found my apartment.

Damn, I need to get a extinctor so I can attack the fire in the event of discovered a fire.

Sam's Birthday

2008-10-03T16:16:00.000-07:00

Sam, a fellow Oregonian, lives on the floor beneath me. We do neighborly things together such as grocery shopping, laundry, sharing a broom, complaining about French bureaucracy, et cetera.

Last Tuesday was Sam's 22nd birthday. He had a little get-togther at his apartment where hamburgers were made, cake was eaten, and a merry time had by all. I believe seven countries were present to celebrate the day of Sam's birth.

Happy Birthday Sam!

Hooray For Internets!

2008-09-29T14:48:00.000-07:00

I finally have internet in my apartment! It took a little over two weeks, but I am now remembering the wonders of the web. Apparently France isn’t that great at things like organization and efficiency. I’ve come to learn that it takes about ten times more effort to accomplish anything in France than it does in the States. It’s kind of hilarious. Anyway, I now have the glory of the internets, but I’m still waiting for my landline to work. Oh well. One out of two at least.

So, it’s a terrible fact that I now have to go to classes. I have to keep reminding myself why I’m here. And the answer is not amazing food and beautiful clothing. Sigh. I have eight classes, which I must admit makes my brain explode after coming from college in Oregon where I take four classes (at the very, very most). Here is my schedule:

Monday:
-Civilization: 8:30-10:30 We talk about current French issues and culture.
-Literature: 4:00-6:00 We read a book a week. It’s not going well.

Tuesday:
-Oral Translation:10:00-12:00 This is in the actual French University, not just the center for foreign students. Scary.
-Written Translation:2:00-3:30 This is my only other class in the French University. I really like this class.

Wednesday:
-Written Expression: 11:00-1:00 This class is hard.
-Grammar: 1:30-3:30 Who doesn’t love a good two-hour grammar class?
-Literary History: 3:30-5:30 I really like the professor of this course. I think I would have more fun during this class if my brain wasn’t already fried from the two previous French classes.

Thursday:
-Oral Expression/Drama: 10:30/9:00-12:00 This class is cool. I’ve only had the oral expression part of it, but this Thursday is the first drama portion. I think it will be fun.

Here is a picture of this class:

Friday:
No classes. Awesome.

I will now try to place my experiences and observations thus far into categories. Starting with...

MY APARTMENT!

I love my little French studio.

Here is my little kitchenette:

And the view from my apartment window at sunset:

And my first dinner in my own French apartment:

I also have a private toilet and bath. Fantastic. More pictures to come.

FOOD!

I'm in France. Do I need to tell you how amazing all of the food is?

This was one of my first restaurant meals in Poitiers. Cous-cous with Morroccan chicken. Definitely not as good as grand-mère and grand-père's, but still delicious:

I also feel that it is a duty of mine to eat as many pastries and desserts as possible. Here is just a sampling of the tasty morsels I've been munching. Be jealous bitches:

BOOZE!

The drinking age in France is something like 16. I had my first drink with my fellow Oregonian (and Southern Oregon student) Lindsey, and my French engineering friend Simon. Not knowing what to order, I asked Simon's advice, telling him I only drink sweet alcohol. He suggested I order Kir. It's a sort of white wine with your choice of peach, black-currant, or blackberry syrup added. The one I'm drinking here is blackberry. It was delicious, although I think I've developed a preference for peach at this point.

Me and Lindsey:

Lindsey and Simon:

Kelsey, me, Christa-two more fellow Oregonians at a billiards bar. I tried a white martini here that night. It was not pleasant, so I went back to drinking Kir. Mmmm. Kir.

PARTIES!

French engineering students know how to party. They have a themed party every Thursday. On campus. I was told that officially, the building in which the parties take place is a library. It’s completely student-run, and during the day you can get free coffee or soda. During the parties, mixed drinks cost 1 euro, and shots are 50 centimes.

My first ÉSIP (the engineering school) party was hippie themed:

This is Simon, me, and Lindsey. I'm about to take my first shot. It wasn't bad. Except for the burning.

The second party was disco themed:

This is Ghislain on the left, and Simon on the right, and I don't know the boy in the middle:

And here is Quentin on the left:

I've also attended parties at the British and Irish houses, and another ÉSIP gathering at the billiards bar last week, but unfortunately don't have pictures. I'm sure there will be other opportunities.

Over the weekend, we celebrated Aerika's 22nd birthday. We went to an Indian restaurant for dinner, and then to Est-Ouest, one of the very popular bars in Poitiers. Here is a portion of our birthday celebration group. Lindsey, Aerika, and Rachel are from Oregon, and our French friend François is in the middle:

Wow. Okay. So that was a lot of catching up. Now that I have internet, I should be able to keep you updated much more frequently. Goodnight for now. It's almost 1 am, and maybe I should do some homework before sleep. Maybe.

It's amazing here and I'm having so much fun. I'll post more soon. I miss and love all of you!

Note to the Skunk Master

2008-09-05T15:37:00.001-07:00

I forgot to tell you. The green drink is water and mint syrup. Quite refreshing on a hot day.

So. Tired. Body. Shutting. Down.

2008-09-05T15:19:00.000-07:00

I was going to try to catch up on my blog tonight, but I am overcome with exhaustion. I still don't have internet, so I'm at the cybercafe right now. It's 12:30 am which is the latest I've stayed up since I've been in France, and I am tiiired. We've had french classes for 6 hours or so each day this week. I've also been busy signing apartment contracts, moving into my new studio (different from the first one I looked at and much better), and buying things like dishes and windex. I am so glad to have a place downtown. And this apartment has a tea salon in the building next door as well! I will try to go this weekend.

So everything is still wonderful here. I'm sooo glad that this orientation week is over. I will have more time this week to write about me experiences, provided I get internet on Monday (fingers crossed).

Since I'm too tired to upload pictures tonight, I will leave you instead with some observations I've made so far.

1. The French speak much more quietly than Americans. I always have to say "pardon, pardon?" because I can't hear what they are saying. Also, I am trying to speak more softly, so I don't feel like I'm yelling compared to the French.

2. All French dogs are adorable. Bella is of course the most adorable dog I know, but after Bella, these French dogs are fantastic. Maybe it's because I like small dogs more, and most of them are small. I think this because everything in France is smaller; small streets,small homes, small cars. Which brings me to my next point...

3. Small cars. I LOVE small European cars.

4. Also, I would say there are at least two pastry shops on every block. It's like Starbucks in America. Only better. Much much better.

Okay, I must head back to the apartment now for sleep. I will try to post more pictures and experiences soon. I miss you all.

Also: Check out Lilly's Japan blog at http://lillyandjapan.blogspot.com/

Catch Up

2008-08-30T03:52:00.001-07:00

Okay, I’ve missed a couple days of updates, so let me catch you up. On Thursday, Dominique and Jean-Pierre helped me with a lot of errands I wanted to accomplish as soon as possible, which I appreciated so much, because there is no way (at this point in my French) I would have been able to figure out cell phone plans and train passes on my own. They also opened my eyes to many new discoveries, the most important of course, being a store called Picard. Picard is the maker of those amazing frozen food products, and at the Picard store you can find frozen vegetables, fruit, frozen meals for one, frozen meals for two, desserts, and other wonders. See Mumsy, you don’t have to worry about me going hungry in France due to my lack of cooking skills. There is a wonderful, magical place called Picard.
After the day’s errands Dominque and Jean-Pierre helped me set up the cell phone that they gave me (they are amazing people) and we sat down to another wonderful dinner where I greatly enjoyed some white wine, and stuffed myself on foie gras. Here is a picture of the table:

I went to bed around 10:30, but found myself awake at 2:00 am (thanks a lot jet lag), then slept on and off until 6:00 am. Dominique took me to the train station in Paris, where I took my first TGV trip (the super fast train) to Poitiers. At Poitiers, Sylvie, the director of the Centre Oregon met me at the train station, along with Aerika, another Oregon study abroad student. They helped me get settled in to the Espace Kennedy, an international students housing unit, where I will stay for about 15 days. I’m quite glad I have a small bathroom to myself in my room, but it is definitely peculiar because it is just a tiny space, so when I take a shower, the sink and the toilet get absolutely soaked. Also, once you push on the button that starts the shower, the water only lasts for about thirty seconds. Then you have to push the button again. It’s sort of like those sinks at highway rest stops. But no matter.

During the fifteen days, I must find myself an apartment. This prospect terrifies me a little, mainly because I don’t know where anything is. If I knew where the Rue Rabelais was, it would be easy to go there to take a look at the apartments for rent. But since I don’t know my way around yet, every errand becomes a major procedure.

So, after I got myself set up in my room, I took the bus to Poitiers’ Centre Ville. It’s beautiful.

Tons of little cafés and restaurants surrounding the main square, adorable shops, and everyone is so nice and helpful. My first requirement was food, so I stopped at a café and ordered a menthe à l’eau ( a favorite of mine when I visited France in 2000) and a jambon beurre avec fromage (a ham and butter sandwich with cheese, also a favorite).

Then I began my errands, such as buying basics like soap, face wash, towels, flip flops (for the shower), scissors, et cetera. Eventually, sheer exhaustion overcame me. I stopped for an orangina at a café, (which I downed in about three gulps) and then took the bus out of Centre Ville. Of course it was the wrong bus, so it took me about an hour to return to the Espace Kennedy. The bus driver was so nice though, and I think he might have taken a different route in order to drop me off where I needed to go. When I got back to my room I was so hot and tired and all I really wanted was a cold glass of water. The sink water never really gets cold though, and there are few things I hate more than drinking luke warm water. I was too hot and exhausted to go out and buy water somewhere, so I stripped down to my underwear and sprawled on the bed in an effort to cool off. Of course I fell asleep (it was only about 5:30 pm) and slept until about 4:00 am. Then, I took a shower, got dressed for the day, and went downstairs to the WiFi area of the building at about 6:30 am. Apparently I need a personal password to connect to the network, and the man who organizes the passwords is still on vacation (all the French go on vacation in August). Oh, well. Today I will attempt to find an internet café. Also on my agenda today:
-buy a ten month bus pass
-BUY BOTTLED WATER
-start researching apartments?
-continue exploring the city

I think once I get settled into an apartment, and figure out the bus system a little better, I will really be able to relax. I miss everyone, but I am having a great time.

UPDATE: I think I found an apartment today! It's so cute. It's furnished and there's a sink in the room. There's a communal kitchen, toilet, and bath, but I think there will only be about four other students there, so it's perfect!

Also: My luggage came in Thursday, which was quite a relief.

Touchdown!

2008-08-27T14:04:00.000-07:00

I landed in France today. Right now I am staying in Paris with Dominique and Jean-Pierre, dear friends of my family. I am already having an amazing time. Of course, my checked luggage didn't make it into France with me, but that is only one unfortunate thing that is overshadowed by my personal travel accomplishments such as holding my bladder for 13 hours or so, and not falling off the stairs, escalators, subways, et cetera while lugging my computer, carry-on suitcase, and a million important documents. We had a wonderful dinner in Dominique and Jean-Pierre's lovely backyard tonight consisting of mellon, prosciutto, cured meat, pasta, small marinated onions, salad, and of course cheese. For dessert we had raspberries and strawberries (fruit is a traditional French dessert), and these amazing chocolate cakes with hot liquid chocolate in the middle. The cakes are actually sold frozen in the store. The brand that makes them specializes in all sorts of frozen dinner items. Apparently they're like TV dinners but really really good. Ah, simple and elegant as only the French can do. And when I get an apartment in Poitiers, I can make delicious meals and pretend like I cooked them! Here is a picture of Jean-Pierre and Dominique and our dessert:

And now I desperately need to sleep. It's 11:20 pm here and I don't even know how long I've been awake. This is what jetlag looks like:

Goodnight for now, mes amis.

Au Revoir!

2008-08-26T01:20:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, I set off on my travels. I'm pretty hyped up. Today consisted of lunch with Elena at the Wild Pear, four dollar manicures with Elena at the beauty school, saying goodbye to grandmère and grandpère, saying goodbye to Cheryl and Mike, and trying desperately to get my suitcase under the fifty pound mark. I had to remove a lot of clothes and about three pairs of shoes in order to do this. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to replenish my wardrobe in France. *sigh*.

My flight takes off around 4 pm tomorrow, and we'll probably leave Salem and head up to PDX around 12:30. I'm not looking forward to saying goodbye to my parents at the airport. Goodbyes are always terrible. And I'm going to miss them a lot.

I will try to post more about my adventures when possible. Au revoir mes amis!

I am France-Bound

2008-08-13T01:43:00.000-07:00

In two weeks, I will leave for one year. I will be studying in Poitiers, France.

Two weeks is not a long time. Here is a list of things I have done and things I have yet to do between now and August 26:

Done
-received my long-stay student visa
-registered for an absentee ballot
-notified bank
-obtained immunization records
-called insurance company about prescriptions
-asked Dominique and Jean-Pierre if I could stay with them in Paris for two days before taking the train to Poitiers
-checked luggage regulations
-endless paperwork and photocopying of documents

To Do
-figure out how to pack a year's worth of stuff into one suitcase
-buy calling cards
-change luggage tags to address in France
-figure out the most economical and practical way to pack a year's worth of my preferred brand of tampons in my suitcase
-make three copies of all important documents
-attempt to make myself presentable by getting eyebrows waxed, hair trimmed, et cetera
-write to Dominique and Jean-Pierre about the cell phone issue
-mentally prepare myself for turblulence during my flights
-buy converters, adaptors
-actually practice my French?

I am going to France in two weeks. I am leaving in two weeks to live in France for a year. In two weeks I will finally be able to live my fantasy of drinking wine while wearing a silk slip in a French apartment.

Also: Leaving in two weeks means seeing Jess and Alex in three weeks, and seeing Jeremy in about two months. I am so excited.