Normandy day 2: le Mont St. Michel and St. Malo

Normandy day 1: Omaha Beach and Pont du Hoc

Normadie? Norman-oui!

This weekend I got to go to Normandy! The trip is included in the program, so although I had already visited several spots on the itinerary, I didn't want to pass up a free weekend away. I wasn't disappointed. The trip was worth it if only for the chance to see the ocean (I absolutely love the ocean) and the bath I took in the hotel (this is the first bathtub I've come across in France). Overall, the trip was a lot of fun, but I felt that we didn't spend enough time in any of the places we visited; we got to see everything but we never got to see anything. But I'll make that my sole complaint. I had an absolutely wonderful weekend.

Friday we met at Gare St. Lazare at 8:30 and departed for Bayeux. We had just enough time to see the tapestry (a lot of fun--I love tapestries, and this one was especially kitchy) and eat lunch before getting back on the bus and heading to Omaha Beach. I made a beeline for the ocean and spent some time walking around, enjoying the salty air and taking pictures before reascending the hill and wandering through the American cemetary. We didn't have time to go through the museum before we had to get back on the bus and head out to Pont du Hoc--the location of German bunkers during WWII. All that remains now are giant holes in the ground and some concrete and tangled steel ruins, but barbed wire fences still line the cliffs. After only 45 minutes, it was back on the bus and off to the hotel near Mont St. Michel. There, they fed us and we had the evening to ourselves. I took the opportunity to take a bath because, as I mentioned, this was the first tub I'd seen since arriving in France. It was absolutely glorious after a long day on the cold, windy coast. Several of my friends attempted to find a bar in the small town we were staying in, but returned about 10 minutes later--no luck. So we spent the rest of the evening just hanging around talking.

The next day we got up early for breakfast before heading off to le Mont St. Michel. It was high tide when we arrived so the water still came to the base of the mountain. It looked absolutely magical in the morning light with the fog rising from the water. After a tour of the Abbey, we had enough time to do a little souvenir shopping, but not enough to tour the tidal plains surrounding the mountain. For that I guess I'll have to make a third trip out there! Then it was back on the bus and off to St. Malo. Upon arrival, our first priority was to find lunch. I was extremely excited to take advantage of our seaside location and order a French specialty: Moules frites, mussels drowned in white wine and served with French fries. I tried to teach others at my table to use an empty shell to pluck the mussels from their shells rather than using a fork (which tends to be unwieldy with the small shells), but no one else was a fan of this traditional French trick. After lunch, we met up with the rest of the group to tour an old pirate house (St. Malo is known as a pirate town). I was disappointed to know that the proprietor of this particular house was a poor excuse for a pirate--he was a merchant who committed tax evasion by hiding undocumented merchandise in a secret basement between his house and his neighbor's. After that, I only had time for a hurried tour of the walls (which brought extraordinary views) before we had to jump on the train and head back to Paris.

Back to Paris, back to work

This morning I took a 5:25 eurostar back from London. Yes, I went to London again. I wasn't planning on frequenting the city so often, but tickets were too cheap to pass up! So, I left Friday morning at 6:43 again, and again, had a wonderful weekend.

Stephen is now living in the dorms, so this time, I got to hang out in a more collegiate environment and meet all his friends! On one hand, I'm slightly jealous of his living in the dorms. Don't get me wrong, I'm still loving my current host family, but he's actually making friends his age from England, Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, etc. There are parties every weekend he can go to, and everyone lives close by so he doesn't have the hassle of trying to get people together from all different ends of the city. But, I suppose it's a trade off. In France, without the experience of immersion in my French family, my language skills would definitely not be improving as quickly as they are. So, in the end, I guess I'll just have to enjoy English dorm-life while I visit and French-home-cooking when I'm here.

Friday was a day of relaxation. I got next to no sleep the night before, so the morning started off with a long nap. We spent the afternoon wandering around and doing a little shopping. Jil Sander did a line with the Japanese brand Uni Qlo (their version of the Gap), so I wanted to visit the store and check it out. I walked out very happy with a pair of black skinny jeans for about 20 GBP after my student discount. That evening, we splurged on dinner at an Italian seafood restaurant called Pescatori. It was amazing. After a meal of calamari, hand twisted pasta cooked perfectly al-dente in a pesto sauce with prawns (for me), seafood risotto (for Stephen), a bottle of inexpensive and extremely delicious white wine, espresso, and grappa (for Stephen) we were absolutely stuffed. We made our way back to the dorm where I got to meet some of his friends at a party. However, I was tired and too full of pasta to move, so we turned in early.

Saturday we took a train to Milton-Keaynes, a bus to Buckingham, and finally, after calling a taxi from a grocery store, arrived at Stowe house: a real English country estate. The house is famous for its landscape gardens, which, as you walk through them, are supposed to simulate a journey from life, to death and through the afterlife according to classical tradition. The gardens were truly amazing and we had our own private tour which lasted about an hour and a half. The day was chilly so after our tour, we had tea, scones and cake in the little tea room. When we were finished, we walked by the information desk to see if they could call us a cab back to Buckingham, and, to our surprise, the little old woman working the desk offered to drive us all the way back to Milton-Keaynes when her shift was over! We gladly took her up on the offer, avoiding both the taxi and bus ride, and benefiting from her knowledge of the area's history as we made our way back to the train station. That evening, we grabbed dim sum (including pork buns, one of my all-time favorite foods) from a neighborhood restaurant and met his friends for dessert at Yog (pronounced y-ah-g) the British version of Fro-yo (which, as you might have guessed, the British pronounce y-ah-gurt).

Sunday we had the chance to do what I had been planning to do since my first trip to London: visit the Tate modern. The museum was great: modern, kooky, and all that, without being as inaccessible as the Centre Pompidou (no meat dresses or naked woman-holding-upside-down-chicken-video-art here). That evening, we met up with his friends again for Indian food. Which was very tasty.

Now, I'm back in Paris and it's time to get down to business: Homework. Thus far, I've done a pretty good job putting it off, but class is at 8 a.m. tomorrow so there's no more time for procrastinating!

La rentrée

Monday was my first day of class in a real French University with real French students. Right now, I will say (tentatively) that it went well. On the plus side, two different French girls asked me if they were in the right place for Littérature Classique. I count this as a win because a) I looked French and b) I looked like I knew what I was doing. However, my first lecture was very difficult. The professor talked very quickly and did not articulate particularly well, so it took all of my brain power just to listen and follow what he was saying. In the end, I hardly got any notes down because it took too much effort just to listen and comprehend, let alone worrying about the phrasing, spelling, and organization of notes. But I did follow everything he was saying. So overall, it was another win.

This morning, I had my first discussion section for this class. When the French say discussion section, what they actually mean is a three hour lecture for 50 people as opposed to 300. And it started at 8 a.m. To top it off, I could not just roll out of bed and rush off to class. I live a half hour metro ride away from the first and second year building at Malsherbes and wasn't sure of the classroom! So, I arrived at the building at 7:30. Thankfully, this building is arranged logically, unlike the mess formally known as the Sorbonne proper, and all classroom-searching went smoothly.

As for the class itself, I sat closer to the front where it was easier to hear the professor (who spoke much more clearly than the last one), and I was actually able to get some good notes! They're not perfect, and I've been doing a lot of verifying online, but overall, it went very well. However, I am a little worried about our assignments. Our grade is based on two in-class essays and an oral presentation. Both of these tasks are quite daunting given the fact that I write much slower than the average French student, I like to have both at dictionary and grammar book beside me as I write, and, it's even harder to speak eloquently (especially under pressure) than to write eloquently in French! Hopefully after a couple weeks I'll get into the swing of things, and with some practice, neither assignment will eat me alive.

Tomorrow I'm looking forward to sleeping in, then art history at the Louvre! Bonne nuit tout le monde!

Maintenant, la vie est belle

After a rather stressful week, I'm finally settled in with a new host family. That's right, I moved! There was nothing egregiously wrong with my former host family, we just didn't click. I found myself spending more and more time on my own in my room, and naturally, started feeling lonely. I didn't want to spend the entire semester hiding away, never feeling like I was at home where I was living, so I decided it was time to switch. Overall, the move went very smoothly. I moved in with Aurora so she helped me move my bags, and we were out of there in 15 minutes.

What did not go so smoothly was the fallout. Soon after the move was complete, I got a phonecall from my former host mom. It started out cordially enough. She was clearly sad that I had decided to leave, but did not sound angry and invited me to coffee to say goodbye properly. As soon as I agreed, her tone switched. She became insulting and condescending, basically telling me over and over that I was "mal élévée" (literally, poorly brought up, but in French the insult connotes being poorly educated and therefore low-class, as well as being impolite). I kept trying to apologize, but she refused to let me speak or explain anything. After she continued to tell me that this whole situation was probably due to inner conflicts of my own that I really need to work out, I finally hung up the phone. Needless to say, we will not be meeting for coffee. I am at least glad this conversation happened on the phone and not in person.

On a happier note, I am now moved in with my new host family and sooooo much happier! They are a young couple who work from home and have four young boys! The youngest is 18 months and the oldest is 13. I can't tell you how nice it is to be in a place where there's activity going on! They're very warm, very welcoming, and extremely talkative. So far, there doesn't seem to be a dull moment.

On top of that, my new host mom is an amazing cook! She told me that her goal is to cook something traditionally French for us every night! I'm in heaven. Last night, we had cassoulet--a dish from the Southwestern region of the country. It's a very rich dish (cooked, as the name suggests, in a casserole-like dish) with white beans, sausage of Toulouse, and duck confit. The beans soaked up the rich duck fat and everything was extremely tender. Absolutely delicious.

Looking forward to the rest of the semester, I am now extremely optimistic. I'm excited by the prospect to coming home everyday to this family, and I'm looking forward to starting classes at the Sorbonne on Monday! Thursday I went into the undergraduate offices at Malsherbes and formally enrolled in my subsections. Unfortunately, I didn't get the Latin subsection that I wanted, but the administrators of my program assure me that if I show up to the section I actually want, the professor will let me in. I feel like my semester abroad is finally starting!