tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19960039279093258402024-03-19T05:09:15.997-07:00Laura's Semester in FranceLaurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989691569619105370noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1996003927909325840.post-43612832954641577942011-05-02T06:32:00.000-07:002011-05-02T06:32:36.131-07:00Spring Break!I know, I know, I've been neglecting this blog. I've been so busy all semester with homework. They're killing us over here, so the last thing I've had time for is updating my blog. Anyways, I was on spring break from April 22-30, during which I turned 21!!! Go me. I've been legally drinking this semester anyways so it wasn't as exciting as it could have been, but it was still fun. I feel so old. Here's an overview of each of the cities I visited for break with my two friends:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/226862_10150566955230696_756550695_18333288_3623270_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/226862_10150566955230696_756550695_18333288_3623270_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><a href="http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/226450_10150566955545696_756550695_18333291_320624_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/226450_10150566955545696_756550695_18333291_320624_n.jpg" width="320" /></a><b>Lyon</b>: We were in Lyon from the 22-24. It's the third largest city in France, but is still only 480,000 people, which is weird. Our hotel was on the Presqu'île, the peninsula inbetween the Saône and Rhône rivers. We were right by some nice shopping streets, Place Bellecour (a big square) and a short walk from Vieux Lyon, the pretty original medieval city. We weren't there for very long since we really only had one full day, but it was an excellent day, and we had beautiful weather. One victory in Lyon was the bagel shop we found! It was an American style place with special things imported from the US. I've missed bagels and cream cheese so much, so I got a toasted bagel sandwich with cream cheese. It was delicious. My friends were excited to be able to get Dr. Pepper, and they had other American pops like Mountain Dew too. Since Lyon is famous for its food, we had a Lyonnais dinner in the old part of town that night. Most of the specialties involve the innards of animals so I wasn't super adventurous, but got duck instead. I did get an amazing bowl of french onion soup, too.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/227878_10150566958670696_756550695_18333349_3380882_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/227878_10150566958670696_756550695_18333349_3380882_n.jpg" width="240" /></a>My favorite part was after some window-shopping and ancient ruins when we climbed up to the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière through a garden path going up the big hill. It was a bit of a struggle since I'm out of shape, but the Basilica was absolutely beautiful. It was different than the million other cathedrals I've seen this semester. There was a lower church and a more ornate upper one on top of it, both with beautiful mosaics. It reminded me of the mosaics and church I saw in Ravenna, Italy last May, especially with all the green and gold in the upper church. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/222328_10150566959000696_756550695_18333359_2351146_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/222328_10150566959000696_756550695_18333359_2351146_n.jpg" width="240" /></a> <a href="http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/227081_10150566959880696_756550695_18333384_6226747_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/227081_10150566959880696_756550695_18333384_6226747_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
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</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/222636_10150566962900696_756550695_18333428_6713903_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/222636_10150566962900696_756550695_18333428_6713903_n.jpg" width="320" /></a><b>Nice:</b> Our longest stop of break was Nice, from the 24th-28th. Some thoughts. The water looked beautiful and the long stretches of pebble beaches and palm trees were certainly a nice break, but I don't think I would go back. It seemed like a dirty, packed city, and there are more peaceful warm places. I'm glad I went, but I just wouldn't do it again. Our hotel was surprisingly awesome though. It was in a pretty good spot, 10-15 minutes from the beach on foot, right by a grocery store, and it had an American-style shower!!! We were so thrilled. I miss normal, standing-up showers. Anyways, here are a few pictures from around the city. Again, the water looked fantastic but it was still freezing! I was a trooper and went in for a few minutes anyways. Also, there were cacti in addition to the palm trees, so I loved that</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/227711_10150566963020696_756550695_18333430_5669329_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/227711_10150566963020696_756550695_18333430_5669329_n.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/222393_10150566964790696_756550695_18333459_4057400_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/222393_10150566964790696_756550695_18333459_4057400_n.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/226873_10150566963890696_756550695_18333446_4729189_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/226873_10150566963890696_756550695_18333446_4729189_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We spent a lot of our time wandering around Vieux Nice (again, the old part of the city) because it was cuter with small, twisty streets. There were a lot of olive oil and herb shops that smelled great, so we had fun shopping around. We spent one day going to a few of the free municipal museums...they were awful. The Contemporary Art Museum was fine, but nothing special. I, however, was super excited for the Natural History Museum. Even when they're small, they're always awesome. I just love them for some reason. Unfortunately, Nice's Natural History Museum was one room. Literally one tiny room, with a giant stuffed sea lion, 4 employees sitting around doing nothing, and a super super creepy fake person in a window. I was displeased. The saving grace of the day was when we walked (forever) to find the Marc Chagall Museum. We thought we would have to pay, but because we're EU students it was free, so that was a nice surprise! More money for all the ice cream we ate. This was a small, but nice museum and it was cool to see. Definitely the best museum. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/225664_10150566968840696_756550695_18333549_6238637_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/225664_10150566968840696_756550695_18333549_6238637_n.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/230719_10150566969005696_756550695_18333554_2065389_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/230719_10150566969005696_756550695_18333554_2065389_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A few of our friends from IES were in Nice at the same time as us (and we ran into another one at the Chagall museum with her parents!) so we went to the beach together one day. They also celebrated my birthday with me the night before I turned 21 at dinner! I had gone to this amazing place one of the first nights with the two girls I was travelling with. We had the best service we have had all semester, and we were especially happy because we managed to pick a restaurant that gave us a free kir (which is a drink for before dinner with white wine and usually blackcurrant liqueur). I had a gnocchi gratin, one friend had a steak, and my other friend had mussels (we traded bites and were all very happy). We loved this place and wanted to try the whole menu so we came back with the other girls for my birthday dinner! It was a success. I celebrated turning 21 French-style, with a bunch of wine for everyone. One of the girls got the rabbit dish of the day, which I had wanted to try before, so now I can say I've eaten rabbit. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/224147_10150566969205696_756550695_18333558_5739994_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/224147_10150566969205696_756550695_18333558_5739994_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/228726_10150566969770696_756550695_18333570_3429986_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/228726_10150566969770696_756550695_18333570_3429986_n.jpg" width="240" /></a><b>Arles:</b> Our last stop of the trip was Arles from the 28th-30th. Again, because of travelling we only had one full day, but it's a very small city (only about 50,000 people) so that was plenty to see everything we wanted. Once again, we lucked out and had an adorable hotel. The owner clearly loved speaking English with us even though we would try to speak in French so that was funny. Vacation was about 95% in English, so it's a miracle that I can still speak French for classes. I found a city pass for 7 euros that let us see one museum and four monuments so that was a perfect way to spend the day. We went for the Reattu Museum (the Arles one was closed until 2013 so that was out), the Roman Amphitheatre, the Roman Theatre, the cryptoporticus (basically old underground passageways), and the Church of St. Trophime and its cloisters. The museum was...interesting. It actually was, but it was just really bizarre too. It was a mix of old and modern art and was in a super old building. There were a bunch of Picasso sketches though, and those were my favorite part. It was raining at this point anyways, so the museum was a good hide-out. Speaking of art, we also saw the (now very touristy) cafe that Van Gogh painted in The Night Cafe. He lived in Arles a while so a lot of his paintings show the city. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/230444_10150566970675696_756550695_18333602_751732_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/230444_10150566970675696_756550695_18333602_751732_n.jpg" width="320" /></a> As for the other monuments, the cryptoporticus was creepy, as expected. Just a ton of underground passageways that went on forever. Not somewhere you want to get lost. The ampitheatre/arena was interesting. Sadly, we missed the Easter bullfights by a few days. I totally would've gone. The arena is from around 90 AD., and there was graffiti chiseled into the walls from the 1800s which was bizarre to see. During the medieval era they built houses and a church inside of the arena and used it as a fortress, so I liked the sketches that showed that. On our last day in Arles, we were hanging out in the square by the church and town hall, and there were a bunch of people in old-timey clothes, as well as an impromptu ballet performance, so that was a nice end to the trip before our (way too long) 7 hours on the train home. Now I'm back in Nantes for my last 2 week of classes and finals before my mom gets here and we go to Paris for a week, and then I'll be home! I'm excited to get home and see everyone!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/224741_10150566970110696_756550695_18333580_3617655_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/224741_10150566970110696_756550695_18333580_3617655_n.jpg" width="240" /></a> <a href="http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/229050_10150566969865696_756550695_18333573_3945259_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/229050_10150566969865696_756550695_18333573_3945259_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/226107_10150566950660696_756550695_18333246_734529_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/226107_10150566950660696_756550695_18333246_734529_n.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/227446_10150566970985696_756550695_18333613_4704709_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/227446_10150566970985696_756550695_18333613_4704709_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">If you want to see the rest of my pictures from break, you can check out my facebook photo album <a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150566910400696.664763.756550695&l=2e249d8c27">here!</a></div>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989691569619105370noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1996003927909325840.post-20998497459937481042011-03-22T15:52:00.000-07:002011-03-22T15:52:26.484-07:00Winter Vacation Part 2Here's the rest of my winter break stuff! Sorry the pictures were so messed up in the last one...this blog isn't very cooperative. They looked far better when I arranged them before the post messed them up.<br />
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Day Four: Today was a take it easy and walk around Dublin day. As usual, we had sun! It was nice out and there were actually flowers in bloom. Going back to cold Nantes was rough later. We walked around St. Stephen's Green, which was an excellent park. There was a big pond in the middle with an island, green things everywhere, random fountains, and tons of flowers. There was a part of the pond with swans, and some idiot boys kept throwing stuff at them. We were hoping they would get attacked, but sadly no blood was shed. After our nice jaunt around the park, we did some more window shopping. I think Sara and I stopped at every single jewelry store window we saw during the week! We found a Thai place with a delicious lunch deal, and then we were off to the Guinness Factory! I've been there before, and my favorite part of the exhibits last time was the part that showed all of the components for the beer, like hops and water, because it had an awesome waterfall. The waterfall was closed for repairs this time, naturally. We were getting tired, but the free pint of Guinness in the panoramic bar at the top of the factory certainly helped! For dinner we went to our favorite grocery store by Temple Bar, and got a great deal on pasta, garlic bread, and a trifle for dessert, so we just heated everything up at the hostel! It was deliciousss and cheap. I'll throw in a picture of Temple Bar at night with these pictures, because we walked down this street multiple times a day.<br />
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Day Five: This was our last day in Dublin. For lunch we had an Irish Breakfast with tea, one of my favs! Then we killed time before we had to leave at the free national museums. We went to the National Gallery, which we ended up breezing through. The Natural History Museum was sweet though, because how can you not love a museum filled with taxidermy? They had a pretty awesome collection, and Irish Elk skeletions, which were giant and super impressive. Afterwards, we went through another park across the street that had a statue of Oscar Wilde lounging on a rock. All of this was right across from where I stayed with my family last time I was in Ireland, but the Natural History Museum had been closed then, so I'm glad I finally got to go! After that, we went to the airport and eventually made it to Edinburgh. It was late and we were tired, but luckily we managed to find our hostel pretty quickly.<br />
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Day Six and Seven: Edinburgh is coldddd. Very cold. And cloudy. Originally I had expected this, but I was totally spoiled from our beautiful weather in Dublin. We were right in the middle of the Old Town part of the city, so we could walk everywhere. We did a lot of walking around and window shopping. We walked up to the castle, but didn't go in (too expensive for our tastes). We had to take a picture in one of the digustingly dirty phonebooths, of course. The city was amazing because it was so old, but had a creepy vibe because of that too. We went on a tour of Mary King's Close, which is one of the streets that is now underground. Again, it was cool but kind of creepy. At the end of the first full day, we went on a pub crawl with the hostel, although we didn't have enough energy to make it through all 6 bars and 1 club. We spent the evening hanging out with a super interesting Australian couple. They quit their jobs 9 months ago and have just been travelling around the world, and aren't stopping anytime soon! It was a good night, especially because we got fried mars bars from somewhere as a snack, but we were really tired after being so busy in Dublin. On the way home from the pub crawl though, we did pass the cafe where JK Rowling wrote part of Harry Potter!! The next day we went to one of the free museums which ended up being giant! We ran into another IES student there too, which was funny! I had possibly the best thing ever for dinner. It sounds weird, but just trust me: a waffle filled with chunks of sugar, topped with a HUGE pile of realll bacon (they just don't know how to do bacon in France, it's just random bits of ham), and covered in real maple syrup. It was heavenly. That night we foolishly went on a ghost tour. The first part was fun, walking around to different sights and hearing stories. But then we went into the vaults, and it was creepy as hell, and neither Sara or I like scary things. We bailed about 10 minutes early, but luckily an adult male left before us so we lasted long enough. Once we were completely scarred from one of the stories we heard in the dark vaults, we went back to our hostel and got maybe 3 hours of sleep between being awake with terror and the incredibly loud, cough/hacking/snoring French girl that was in the room. Lovely. It was a long trip home the next day. Sara is going to kill me if she ever checks this, but I'll make sure I put up the picture of her in the children's knight costume at the museum. This is my friend, everyone!<br />
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Remember, if you want to see more of my pics/not just tiny tiny thumbnails of them, you can go here: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=622350&id=756550695&l=c3b1de2c4f">Album 1</a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=622369&id=756550695&l=ecc457046e">Album 2</a>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989691569619105370noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1996003927909325840.post-47432479260418234262011-03-18T10:57:00.000-07:002011-03-18T10:57:26.684-07:00Ireland!Here's my very belated Ireland post! I've been busy with midterms unfortunately, but now they're done!<br />
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We had a week off at the end of February for winter break (and we get another week later for spring vacation, lucky me!). My friend Sara and I went to Dublin from Friday-Wednesday, and then spent the next 3 days in Edinburgh. W<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">e stayed in a hostel right by the Temple Bar area that ended up being awesome. We were in a great spot and could easily walk anywhere we wanted to go. Even better than that, we had sun every single day! It was fantastic. If anyone wants to see all of my pictures, here are the two albums: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=622350&id=756550695&l=c3b1de2c4f">http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=622350&id=756550695&l=c3b1de2c4f </a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=622369&id=756550695&l=ecc457046e">http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=622369&id=756550695&l=ecc457046e</a></span><br />
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Day 1: Since it was our first real day, we walked around for a while exploring. It was nice because I remembered where a lot of things were from when I was in Dublin a few years ago. We walked around Trinity College and wandered some cute side streets for window shopping. There was an indoor mall we really liked with delicious cupcakes. It made me miss being able to bake! After some vintage shops, we walked to the Jameson Distillery for our tour there! Sara got picked to be one of the testers, so she had to try several types of whiskey. I'm sorry, but I just cannot do whiskey. It's like liquid fire. Later that night, we got one of our many, many Irish meals of red meat and potatos, something we love dearly!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvuAsD0t8X6GCFIhgeHwhQmujDz2HZGR62J8CoLyC8bz74wbyVhHnKXsi20FGvO-IWJhejtovv1U7I963aZtPh0bKSqe7z1TexeA0f0sm4stktMfZcAYM3Z54UHsX3PXMWDURx5Z3U-X4/s1600/CIMG3195.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvuAsD0t8X6GCFIhgeHwhQmujDz2HZGR62J8CoLyC8bz74wbyVhHnKXsi20FGvO-IWJhejtovv1U7I963aZtPh0bKSqe7z1TexeA0f0sm4stktMfZcAYM3Z54UHsX3PXMWDURx5Z3U-X4/s320/CIMG3195.JPG" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilB4-tYxRh7bgmNOrrSOZtvBY6NpBvrACqQVbfMp6OqHN2-R57NSM-rZnVfqixkBaKkChzJePUcPLvxF-W0wiuwWCZeepyY7yB_szl28W2D_hRZuY0kSue6BO8pCHJtg8kI_izrtHw7gs/s1600/CIMG3196.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilB4-tYxRh7bgmNOrrSOZtvBY6NpBvrACqQVbfMp6OqHN2-R57NSM-rZnVfqixkBaKkChzJePUcPLvxF-W0wiuwWCZeepyY7yB_szl28W2D_hRZuY0kSue6BO8pCHJtg8kI_izrtHw7gs/s320/CIMG3196.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6FhpyXYwvNwhHeZklKc_jPPD7LEmdwfMY2f6nqlad6fldTeMjcdHznM-PUuCKVX4TMpWNrvO-tw8cq672pH1zpXIUyFEUOhgcbt8-WyHmg3J8kgP_P-3ipT7qheNVFZsYAmQLRRNKi5Y/s1600/CIMG3198.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6FhpyXYwvNwhHeZklKc_jPPD7LEmdwfMY2f6nqlad6fldTeMjcdHznM-PUuCKVX4TMpWNrvO-tw8cq672pH1zpXIUyFEUOhgcbt8-WyHmg3J8kgP_P-3ipT7qheNVFZsYAmQLRRNKi5Y/s200/CIMG3198.JPG" width="200" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;"></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6aylE_7tdhC6eXiW1mosHBy2tXmeI9FEhm1KWR6L7JihuyFRQpgabFL4gHidXHv1uvqL4xhJvgeQmMFFCJw3aLpcV58K3QnNwf8mou6qN455vszI9sQDdOaIoZXtGFF-roXG6nL1YBJY/s1600/CIMG3203.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6aylE_7tdhC6eXiW1mosHBy2tXmeI9FEhm1KWR6L7JihuyFRQpgabFL4gHidXHv1uvqL4xhJvgeQmMFFCJw3aLpcV58K3QnNwf8mou6qN455vszI9sQDdOaIoZXtGFF-roXG6nL1YBJY/s200/CIMG3203.JPG" width="200" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;"></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQEiD9R7E7UIW3rHYzErHIpNph-Zcb9aXwCdsyKvX30zB8AuHyWPE5nP4qaV4KBDWLUfVHyHgaJx7owd3kcCqEEc5Zb2WazAqx0wANE0CaYkhq5-0zSRkhMbCXSnReeWfah6tJ-IG4OxM/s1600/CIMG3214.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQEiD9R7E7UIW3rHYzErHIpNph-Zcb9aXwCdsyKvX30zB8AuHyWPE5nP4qaV4KBDWLUfVHyHgaJx7owd3kcCqEEc5Zb2WazAqx0wANE0CaYkhq5-0zSRkhMbCXSnReeWfah6tJ-IG4OxM/s200/CIMG3214.JPG" width="200" /></a><br />
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Day Two: This was one of our big tour days! We spent pretty much all day going from Dublin to Galway, and then from there on a slightly janky tour to the Cliffs of Moher, and then back. We <u>barely</u> made the bus back to Dublin because our tour was slow getting back. Otherwise we would have had to sit around and wait 2 more hours to even start the 3 hour bus ride. Luckily, we had beautiful weather again so the Cliffs were amazing! The tour also stopped at some random places along the way. I'm almost positive that we ate lunch in the same place that I did a few years ago. Here are a few pictures from the day!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOi2kVUXidT-2246XdlyGztM-sYDL6d9C_7_pPBKNFbDjA3Yq95csC9parNqFZ2vraAWkSwQ2zKO5Wj-NIVdM4F-K3Iu1yFEjk-Y8UrT9Yc4hhcyMtqZRg0KEIFDvp4OpGZBebeyvSaxA/s1600/CIMG3228.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOi2kVUXidT-2246XdlyGztM-sYDL6d9C_7_pPBKNFbDjA3Yq95csC9parNqFZ2vraAWkSwQ2zKO5Wj-NIVdM4F-K3Iu1yFEjk-Y8UrT9Yc4hhcyMtqZRg0KEIFDvp4OpGZBebeyvSaxA/s200/CIMG3228.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Q_Z3oOCObePz0yBattWE4aX3TjomJpveDIb1-qMIZXzTysXB7w0zpg0rftoKVWj26m1dH7QcT63XiN32wrVU3nRoriIpPTQcKixoulxYS6Mjdxm-lv6-Q3kBminewnLB_rNOCd1i6Q8/s1600/CIMG3250.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Q_Z3oOCObePz0yBattWE4aX3TjomJpveDIb1-qMIZXzTysXB7w0zpg0rftoKVWj26m1dH7QcT63XiN32wrVU3nRoriIpPTQcKixoulxYS6Mjdxm-lv6-Q3kBminewnLB_rNOCd1i6Q8/s200/CIMG3250.JPG" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD0d7y3C6KgQ8g9M4VQZlww-YkUF3ORKnAKWZ1ZAcnjarWyagPovLPFanyI9b0opz0KcjHq6DAsLZZ0_nro-Upd1v09YSftmc47-ZL7ByCp5K5d8FP1JSHj932FRtvV2s2DOJHqT6EFTI/s1600/CIMG3249.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD0d7y3C6KgQ8g9M4VQZlww-YkUF3ORKnAKWZ1ZAcnjarWyagPovLPFanyI9b0opz0KcjHq6DAsLZZ0_nro-Upd1v09YSftmc47-ZL7ByCp5K5d8FP1JSHj932FRtvV2s2DOJHqT6EFTI/s200/CIMG3249.JPG" width="150" /></a></div><br />
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Day Three: This was probably the best day! We went on another day tour, but this one was soo good! It was with Over the Top Tours, and this adorable old man was our driver/guide. It was a really small group, maybe 10 people, and we were in a mini bus/van thing. The tour was for Wicklow & Glendalough, but first he drove us through some other parts of Dublin, by the water. We saw some of the older Victorian houses and stopped by the water for some tea and ginger snaps that he had brought with! It was so cute. Sara and I sat in the 2 passenger seats in the front after that so we had the best views and got to talk to the driver. Then he took us past Enya's castle and Bono's house. He had CDs for each place we went to, like U2 for Bono's house (and going past some bar where Bono allegedly got drunk and passed out) and then soundtracks for when we went past places from movies. After that, we went outside of the city into the hills and stopped by Guinness Lake, which is called that because it's the color of a pint of Guinness! Also, the Guinness family owns a big house next to the lake that they rent out. Michael Jackson hid out there for a while and apparently Mick Jagger likes to bring 'female friends' there. It was such a beautiful view and it was just outside of the city! We drove past the bridge where PS. I Love You was filmed (which I've never seen but whatever), and drove through the areas where Braveheart and Reign of Fire were shot. The hills were all covered in flowers that bloom later in the year, which must be awesome to see. We also stopped at a random waterfall, and then after lunch we went to an old monastery, which was really cool. There was still a big tower standing in the middle that the monks used to hide in with all of the gold when the Vikings would come each summer to steal all the students for slaves. They would smoke out the monks in the tower each time though, so it didn't really work out. One of the churches was still standing, but the rest were destroyed by Henry VIII (something I actually learned in my Tudor-Stuart class last semester!). Then before going home, we stopped at one of the lakes (Upper Lake) in the Wicklow Mountains National Park. Our guide was fantastic and we all had suchh a great time! It was only 25 euros for the student price too, so it was an excellent day! Here's a bunch of pictures from the day!<br />
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That's it for now! I'll try and finish the rest of the trip this weekend!<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"></span>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989691569619105370noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1996003927909325840.post-65852578730691393002011-02-16T04:43:00.000-08:002011-02-16T04:43:54.920-08:00St. Malo & Mont St. Michel<a href="http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/180522_10150392274145696_756550695_17151685_1631512_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/180522_10150392274145696_756550695_17151685_1631512_n.jpg" width="240" /></a>Here's a quick update about our field trip last weekend!<br />
<a href="http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/169026_10150392274340696_756550695_17151693_2998949_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/169026_10150392274340696_756550695_17151693_2998949_n.jpg" width="240" /></a>It was supposed to rain all day, but we lucked out and had fantastic weather. Blue skies, sunny, nice temperature. First we went to St. Malo, which is an adorable town on the English Channel. It's surrounded by an old wall so we started by walking around the ramparts, and then wandered around the beach and climbed on the rocks. It was so beautiful! I would love to go back there for a vacation.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/169042_10150392275625696_756550695_17151726_5055626_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/169042_10150392275625696_756550695_17151726_5055626_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><a href="http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/180058_10150392275170696_756550695_17151714_2674061_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/180058_10150392275170696_756550695_17151714_2674061_n.jpg" width="320" /></a>Then I got a nice leisurely lunch with my two friends. We picked the restaurant because we could smell garlic from the outside, and it turned out to be a great choice. We had bruschetta and salmon risotto. After that we just sat around in the sunshine near the palm trees until we got picked up by the bus. Such a nice change of pace. It was just a cute, small town with lots of fun places to eat. And lots of pirate themed things to buy because apparently there's some random pirate history for the town. That random building out in the water is Chateaubriand's tomb. Anyways, like I said I would love to come back here for a week of vacation or something. Rent a house and hang out on the beach and wander the streets. Also, during the summer season I guess there are a lot of ferries that go to England, so I'll just have to go there for the second week of my fantasy vacation!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/181534_10150392278610696_756550695_17151837_1337696_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/181534_10150392278610696_756550695_17151837_1337696_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>Next we went to Mont St. Michel. This was a lot more touristy. We also passed something called Alligator Bay on the way, which apparently just has a lot of crocodiles and alligators to look at. We were all pretty sad that wasn't on the itinerary. When we got there, we booked it up to the top right away to get our tickets to see the abbey. Our chaperone was our grammar teacher who is kind of intense and scary but we like her anyways. She was insane and practically ran up to the top through all the hills and stairs. It was a struggle for the rest of us. Then we all wandered through the church and abbey and stuff at our leisure. It was alright, but we were getting tired and as sad as it is, cathedrals all start to look the same after a while. A lot of the stained glass windows had Celtic designs though, so that was interesting. We had a lot of time to kill after that, so I walked around the whole thing with my friends on the sand/mud/clay. RIP our boots. Whatever we were walking on seems to have permeated the leather. There were random spots of quicksand too which was weird. Then we got some hazelnut coffee to kill the time we had until the bus left. Once our bus driver finally woke up and let us on the bus, we headed home. We got a nice nap in on the drive. Afterwards, I went out for Chinese with 7 of my friends. It was great because we got to the restaurant early enough that we got the private party room off to the side, so we could be as loud as we wanted! It was great to have the day away. I'm totally ready for winter break, which is next weekend. Until then, I'll be working on projects and starting to get ready for the upcoming midterms. And possibly starting the papers that we got assigned for April. But who knows.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/181622_10150392277860696_756550695_17151805_4391977_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/181622_10150392277860696_756550695_17151805_4391977_n.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/168310_10150392278000696_756550695_17151812_4387752_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/168310_10150392278000696_756550695_17151812_4387752_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/180870_10150392278190696_756550695_17151820_4249904_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/180870_10150392278190696_756550695_17151820_4249904_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989691569619105370noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1996003927909325840.post-33670698327885553482011-02-07T15:56:00.000-08:002011-02-07T15:58:54.549-08:00Guacamole and 60s decorJust a short update about some fun things I've been doing, and what's coming up!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgz8w4yksennTCUgPeA4rNwIsPuhfjhBef4L5g4yC8-2r-8Ztk-tiOufKAP2VgyDzjy4tY-zHvMQk3QPRwW-7LS76aLz0yl2B_B6NEj8-edPcb6D1Ro-gH155TiwC5DC0AInVv9C4Bebs/s1600/CIMG2998.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgz8w4yksennTCUgPeA4rNwIsPuhfjhBef4L5g4yC8-2r-8Ztk-tiOufKAP2VgyDzjy4tY-zHvMQk3QPRwW-7LS76aLz0yl2B_B6NEj8-edPcb6D1Ro-gH155TiwC5DC0AInVv9C4Bebs/s200/CIMG2998.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>1. L'Art-scène: This is one of the little bars we like. It has live music on Thursdays, so last week a big group of us went to hear some Brazillian music!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs262.snc6/179064_10150386829640696_756550695_17063699_7719806_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="200" src="http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs262.snc6/179064_10150386829640696_756550695_17063699_7719806_n.jpg" width="150" /></a></div><span id="goog_502070044"></span><span id="goog_502070045"></span> 2. I found a place that sold donuts which was a big victory. Obviously, I get fun French pastries for the most part, but someone had been talking about donuts and by some miracle I found this one about 30 minutes later! There's a great patisserie/boulangerie (bakery) that's only a 2 minute walk from my school and apartment, so we go there for baguettes, sandwiches, and of course, random pastries. I'm trying to sample them all. I'm a big fan of the tartine chocolat and the mini raspberry tarts. Every Sunday, my host mom said she'll get me a new little traditional cake or pastry to try, so that's awesome for me! Anyways, about the donut, not the most flattering picture but it's still great. Behind me is Place Royale with the fountain all lit up at night! Also featured is my awesome new purple coat!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs057.snc6/168727_10150386830915696_756550695_17063725_4735541_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="150" src="http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs057.snc6/168727_10150386830915696_756550695_17063725_4735541_n.jpg" width="200" /></a></div> 3. We made guacamole! On Fridays since we only have one class, we go grocery shopping, have a big lunch, and then lounge around watching a movie or something. I've been craving Mexican food (and have yet to make it to the burrito place around here), and guacamole is about the only thing I can make without a recipe, so I split the ingredients with 2 friends and we made a giant bowl! Avocados, red pepper (no spicy peppers here, sadly), onion, tomato, lemon, salt, pepper, and some tortilla chips that we found in the foreign food section of the grocery store. It was sooo good and we watched The Nightmare Before Christmas while we ate it.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs018.snc6/166802_10150386831415696_756550695_17063732_7439573_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="240" src="http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs018.snc6/166802_10150386831415696_756550695_17063732_7439573_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> 4. Saturday night a group of us went to Burger House, which is owned by this really nice guy from Olympia, Washington, who moved here 4 years ago. It was so so nice to have a real burger! They were a good price too, so I will definitely be going back. Right around the corner from Burger House is La Maison, which is this bizarre/awesome bar that's decorated like a house from the 60s. Here's a picture of my friend in the kitchen, and then the black and white room is the bedroom, so we had our friends take an awkward picture lounging on one of the 'beds'. We had a great time, and later in the night we managed to get a picture in the bathtub in the bathroom! The next day, we went to La Folle Journee, which is this giant classical music festival in Nantes. We got free tickets from our school to one concert, so I went to a Brahms one with my friends. After that we grabbed lunch, and then went to the art museum because on the first Sunday of the months, museums are free here! It was small but a pretty building, and we saw one of the paintings from our art history class. Overall it was a good weekend, even though I was feeling sick again. This weekend we have a fieldtrip one day, so next update will have those pics hopefully!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs061.snc6/167167_10150386838460696_756550695_17063964_6908429_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="240" src="http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs061.snc6/167167_10150386838460696_756550695_17063964_6908429_n.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs301.snc6/180988_10150386832910696_756550695_17063760_8386726_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="cssfloat: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="320" src="http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs301.snc6/180988_10150386832910696_756550695_17063760_8386726_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989691569619105370noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1996003927909325840.post-10299054241428682032011-02-02T02:23:00.000-08:002011-02-02T02:23:43.423-08:00Happy Blizzard/Groundhog Day!This is a post about random boring things going on here, dedicated to Caitlyn. Enjoy.<br />
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I had Art History for the first time this morning...at 8:30am. I live around the corner and it was still rough getting here. There's two sessions and the other one is later in the day, so there were only 6 people in our class. It was basically the people that live close-by to the school. I would feel like a jerk if I bumped someone else down to the early class that lives far away. It was actually nice having a small class because none of us seem to know what we're doing so there's no pressure if we say something stupid. The prof is also really nice, and she prints out the notes ahead of time for us so we don't have to frantically write as she talks. She also walked in wearing a beret which was so stereotypical of the French art prof, so naturally we loved it. Today we learned about something something David, who was from the Neoclassical movement and had a tumor on his left cheek. That pretty much covers it. Since our prof was sick last week, we have 4 extra short classes to make up, which kind of sucks, but it's better than some of my other classes.<br />
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We're going to the RU (Restaurant universitaire) for lunch today, which is 3 euros for university students. You get a whole meal with sides and a dessert, so that's pretty nice. It's just a bit of a walk. There are 2 on the actual campus but I'm never on campus around lunchtime. The one we go to is by the hospital for the medical students, I assume. <br />
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After lunch I'm planning on sitting around the center, writing a cover letter, doing a little homework, and probably playing some Sims until my next class. Today I only have class 8:30-9:45 and then 16:45-17:45 but the grandkid is at my house all day so I'd rather stay here. I have to go to some conference on Poland tonight for my grammar class...sounds thrilling? It's at least 2 hours so it could be pretty rough. <br />
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Enjoy the blizzard! It's finally starting to warm up a tiny bit...high of 53 this weekend!Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989691569619105370noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1996003927909325840.post-84866398154708547942011-02-01T09:04:00.000-08:002011-02-01T09:04:07.093-08:00Nantes!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzKQPh_0ZfoXBDI1I9krcISvmBQiAup5fl3Mjjoj78JHpAIs5Y9Q5cT9GvptBEUN43YKXjg2IxNcIvn4th6vw9HGCYI1CKWr99Li2Fbfk3jBEv6ZDvYBTDXsemt8E6jVljqB_x5xY-y8Y/s1600/CIMG2905.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzKQPh_0ZfoXBDI1I9krcISvmBQiAup5fl3Mjjoj78JHpAIs5Y9Q5cT9GvptBEUN43YKXjg2IxNcIvn4th6vw9HGCYI1CKWr99Li2Fbfk3jBEv6ZDvYBTDXsemt8E6jVljqB_x5xY-y8Y/s200/CIMG2905.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgek9QF4LCKZ8gmuEQcXhKTjdiGdsdgb722pDjAAY6I5fC5_H3m_pcu1RNpgPEwICpkoNa8NlYlMaZbLNF-9mFjIEcJYBQW-VcEHa979mfJjYHvg9NHpWdJMMcbkv7iXRo7hblAJqQAjAM/s1600/CIMG2910.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgek9QF4LCKZ8gmuEQcXhKTjdiGdsdgb722pDjAAY6I5fC5_H3m_pcu1RNpgPEwICpkoNa8NlYlMaZbLNF-9mFjIEcJYBQW-VcEHa979mfJjYHvg9NHpWdJMMcbkv7iXRo7hblAJqQAjAM/s200/CIMG2910.JPG" width="150" /></a></div><span id="goog_1464994399"></span><span id="goog_1464994400">This weekend, I went to a fest-noz with a few friends, which is a tradtionnal Breton festival with live music and dancing. It's got a lot of Celtic influence so it was sort of like Celtic line dancing. My friend's host mom drove us to it, and it was a gym full of all sorts of people dancing for the night. We danced for about 3 hours, so we did a good job. I was pretty proud of how quickly I picked up the moves. I guess all of that showchoir was worth it....right. We'll probably go to one or two more this semester! It was a nice change of pace and fun to do something sort of bizarre for a night. It was probably the only exercise other than walking that I'll ever get here. </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkb_de6vY_Fadtbloud1ylAlOldnRjAlAgLxJMhx5bMvpFnmdCHLNfeS6ByxtnQLF9-oBlfRlPZi40DXjZdwPJTCzwt7-owHbDZyxelj3M-KLvmpbC-CE8DVUARC0BJwcB0b0bgdz8rZc/s1600/CIMG2926.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkb_de6vY_Fadtbloud1ylAlOldnRjAlAgLxJMhx5bMvpFnmdCHLNfeS6ByxtnQLF9-oBlfRlPZi40DXjZdwPJTCzwt7-owHbDZyxelj3M-KLvmpbC-CE8DVUARC0BJwcB0b0bgdz8rZc/s200/CIMG2926.JPG" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEZ13w8CTVMemeW-J5r7cVJI18ct2aXXC7jxANzhjLEFrUv32m3gNx9sgmsPfiQx-9RUP1fdxtsYpUTgABWcDsPYajrEOFveANK2-JlpmwCMiJjGOZ5LjS_3-7K9f6Hz-JRgBwoF8cxdE/s1600/CIMG2915.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEZ13w8CTVMemeW-J5r7cVJI18ct2aXXC7jxANzhjLEFrUv32m3gNx9sgmsPfiQx-9RUP1fdxtsYpUTgABWcDsPYajrEOFveANK2-JlpmwCMiJjGOZ5LjS_3-7K9f6Hz-JRgBwoF8cxdE/s200/CIMG2915.JPG" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgUstvw0Z7v-6cF35xqdaFYZfbfcfS10THJOW7FbHG9HiKE_7UFv5pH337ojgAd35ghMWLoFu8T3OtQLxR8N_MJGVsm9vjoJSdO2v4iOBuPMkXgi4DYKqlWvcH-BTF-rlcpKNoxckP3hM/s1600/CIMG2913.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgUstvw0Z7v-6cF35xqdaFYZfbfcfS10THJOW7FbHG9HiKE_7UFv5pH337ojgAd35ghMWLoFu8T3OtQLxR8N_MJGVsm9vjoJSdO2v4iOBuPMkXgi4DYKqlWvcH-BTF-rlcpKNoxckP3hM/s200/CIMG2913.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>The next day we went to the Museum of Natural History, which is literally a block away from my apartment. It's so strange to have such an impressive building right in the middle of a bunch of apartment buildings. The ground level had fossils and gems, things like that. Then there was a big staircase with walls lined with different types of wood. Upstairs was a two level room with zoology stuff. Part of the floor was glass so you could see the whale skeleton from downstairs. It was only 2 euros for us, so it was a good way to spend Sunday since nothing else is open. This upcoming Sunday is the first one of the month, so museums are free. We'll probably go to the Musee des Beaux Arts.<br />
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Yesterday after class, my friend Alex and I braved the cold and took a quick walk around Nantes. We've been exploring for a few weeks now, but we never remember to take pictures, so we hit up all the spots we wanted pictures of. This is le Château des ducs de Bretagne, complete with a moat! You can walk around the courtyard (middle picture) and all around the outside of the chateau, and then there's a museum inside that I haven't been to yet. I'm a big fan of the ducks that are always in the moat. When it's warmer I'd like to walk around the moat.<br />
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Just around the corner from the chateau is the <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Cathédrale Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul de Nantes. It has a lot of modern stained glass from the 70's which is interesting. Last time I stopped here there was a man giving a free tour, so we tagged along for a little after he insisted. It's pretty big inside and more impressive than the other random churches hidden around the town.</span><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">We were freezing because it's humid here, so the cold permeates every layer you have on, so we just went back to school. Place Graslin with the Opera House is right by our school and my apartment, and then Place Royale is near the shopping and on the way to the tram and bars, so I pretty much go through these two squares every time I leave the building!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989691569619105370noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1996003927909325840.post-28089179646548936512011-01-30T15:20:00.000-08:002011-01-30T15:24:24.747-08:00Classes!This week was my first week of classes in France! I'm taking one course, Translation II, at the University of Nantes, and the rest are at the IES Center. It's kind of weird because the schedules for the classes are all random, so I'll have my lit class 12-1:15 on Monday, and then 11:30-12:45 on Tuesday. I probably won't ever memorize my schedule. My earliest classes start at 9am (3 days a week), 10:15 (1 day), or 8:30 (1 day). Luckily I live right by my school so for the 8:30 class I can still wake up at 8 and just run around the corner! Inbetween classes I've just been killing time at the center doing homework or watching movies with friends, or running errands if I need to. Tuesday nights we have Conversation Club which is when French students come and we spend half of the time speaking in French and the other half in English for them to practice. Fridays I only have one class at 9 so I have pretty much the whole day free. Here are my classes:<br />
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<strong>Translation II</strong>: This is my class at the university. I'm not really sure why I'm in level II but I am. Two of my friends are also in it with me. Since it's at the uni, there's a mix of French students and our students. The French to English translation we did for homework wasn't horrible, but I definitely needed a dictionary to check things. The English to French one was a beast. How am I supposed to know the word for porthole in French off of the top of my head? It was a James Joyce excerpt so that probably didn't help. We have a mid-term and final exam, and we aren't allowed to use dictionaries for them, so hopefully they're easier than what we've gotten already. Class is cancelled for this week though, which is nice.<br />
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<strong>Panorama of French Theatre (17th-20th Century): </strong>I have the most homework for this class, and since its a Monday/Tuesday class, I only have one night to do some of it. It seems alright so far. We're starting with Phedre by Racine, and I pretty much understand it so that's good. Later in the semester we'll be reading La fausse suivante by Marivaux, Ruy Blas by Hugo, and Agatha by Marguerite Duras. I also I have to pick another piece from a list to read myself and present or something. I'm not really sure. That's kind of a pattern with all of the classes. We eventually have to do something big but they're really vague.<br />
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<strong>Religion, Society, and the State in Modern France</strong>: For this class we pretty much get lectured at, which is fine. Our professor is this old guy that makes jokes occasionally, but he never smiles so it can throw you off. The other day he made some comment about how if we all survive the semester, and if he doesn't die by the end of it. It was weird. The topic is interesting though. We started this week by talking about religion in France around the Revolution, and then we'll start talking about the secular state. Again, I have no idea how much work this class will actually entail. Oh well.<br />
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<strong>French 19th and 20th Century Art</strong>: Our professor was sick this week sooo I have no idea how this class is!<br />
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<strong>Topics in Advanced French Language and Composition</strong>: This is my grammar/conversation/language class. By some miracle I tested into the highest level, so it was optional to take the class, but that's kind of the whole point of taking classes in France...so I'm taking it. Our prof is interesting, but she is terrifying to everyone at the same time. I have to go to some conference about Poland this week for this class. We switch between going over grammar issues we've noted, and random language things, like vocabulary and reading articles.<br />
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In other news, I've planned my winter vacation trip to Ireland/Scotland! All of the plane/train tickets are booked, and now we're just doing hostels and eventually will figure out things to do. I also got a library card for the municipal library, Mediatheque, right by where I live. It was only 3 euros so not bad. I found a little store that sells peanut butter for all of my friends that miss it. Today we went to the Museum of Natural History, which is right down the street from me. It was only 2 euros for students. I took a few pictures so I'll put those up soon. I'm hoping to take some pictures of Nantes tomorrow after class, so hopefully my next post will have those! Also, I went to a traditional Breton dance/concert this weekend, so I'll talk about that later too! <br />
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Everyone in the Midwest, enjoy the blizzard!Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989691569619105370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1996003927909325840.post-10155327372194656542011-01-26T09:47:00.000-08:002011-01-26T09:47:16.881-08:00Les Chateaux: Partie Deux<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRtzUefNCXt1ji_99F7e8Ki924F1R73aWUUmFJ595j7k-eGSunmSvqDmbD1WHl4BSZWlMqdHdXI3yG_vNrn2QkFB2mWVkVWtTAz8JZP9XMubp8zdKAbm_TnVe_pzT6sn4RNg4UUJ168CE/s1600/CIMG2781.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRtzUefNCXt1ji_99F7e8Ki924F1R73aWUUmFJ595j7k-eGSunmSvqDmbD1WHl4BSZWlMqdHdXI3yG_vNrn2QkFB2mWVkVWtTAz8JZP9XMubp8zdKAbm_TnVe_pzT6sn4RNg4UUJ168CE/s320/CIMG2781.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> Day two of les chateaux was 1/15/11. The first stop of the day was Blois. We started in the courtyard, and you could see three different architectural movements in the three sections of the building. The coolest part was the opera stairs, where the King could sit to watch the performances in the courtyard, but everyone else could still see him. </div><br />
One of the parts of the building (the one not pictured here) was actually empty because it was never completed. The other sections had museums on the ground floor (for original statues and stoneworks from the area), and then the rooms upstairs were decorated and furnished with replicas. They were mostly dark colors, like brown, maroon and navy blue, with gold accents. They all sort of looked the same so after a while they got boring. There was one small room that had original wooden panels for the walls that were decorated in gold, so that was cool. I liked the floor tiles in that room too, so I added that picture to the post.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwzXnfm0c2n_dBSrP2xqSSJgtwOzyLjpZZuvxwcEGFgUCDVanxj7OoKkAIbKEB5WQ59bWBLfyL4eMHVKbU0M_3BP4bap6pshe-K3u0-O2C2nWXCXQoZ6f3tNICAe3l_v2Mr6tP83_r3z4/s1600/CIMG2784.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwzXnfm0c2n_dBSrP2xqSSJgtwOzyLjpZZuvxwcEGFgUCDVanxj7OoKkAIbKEB5WQ59bWBLfyL4eMHVKbU0M_3BP4bap6pshe-K3u0-O2C2nWXCXQoZ6f3tNICAe3l_v2Mr6tP83_r3z4/s320/CIMG2784.JPG" width="240" /></a></div> There were random artifacts spread throughout the rooms, and my favorites were the decorated piano and a porcelain or ceramic looking violin.My favorite part, however, was the big throne room at the end. It was freezing in there because there weren't any big fireplaces but it looked awesome. The ceiling and walls were all decorated. The picture below is just part of the giant space. Also, it had stained glass windows at the end, and I always love stained glass! Of course, we all took turns taking pictures on the throne that was across the room. After that, we had some free time so we looked at the little chapel on the grounds and some random huts, probably for caretaking. One of them looked like Hagrid's hut from Harry Potter so obviously I appreciated that!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWgQwZWCWTdOfn9eumfpDfQTnMOCEO4V6UtkAIvT0q4C90tXQl60RBLI86uLPfkGmLlyRys4EPgoFDzLMlwLLlGlM7j4TT4xnXvBXfpZ6A46VztSXt9Wx5eCEQtn_fmUA9djqRG73tqoE/s1600/CIMG2790.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWgQwZWCWTdOfn9eumfpDfQTnMOCEO4V6UtkAIvT0q4C90tXQl60RBLI86uLPfkGmLlyRys4EPgoFDzLMlwLLlGlM7j4TT4xnXvBXfpZ6A46VztSXt9Wx5eCEQtn_fmUA9djqRG73tqoE/s320/CIMG2790.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJK6j353Us7ycEdDx8Q-7mhyTITQFn8_DjQ1EoUxrGxfXjzjgFym5W8ZiVYDNKilgRUcgOwb59HkZvAoUnp5BmI_ckGBWfT1FcRJA0xViwYfp31bhedefDAqJZwmMrlyW9KQyzevyyEGY/s1600/CIMG2804.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJK6j353Us7ycEdDx8Q-7mhyTITQFn8_DjQ1EoUxrGxfXjzjgFym5W8ZiVYDNKilgRUcgOwb59HkZvAoUnp5BmI_ckGBWfT1FcRJA0xViwYfp31bhedefDAqJZwmMrlyW9KQyzevyyEGY/s320/CIMG2804.JPG" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1BCjN0IfuvlwOlTtWYE6fT1i7bmaSUBysOlHnuXTQLskjOFKi0i8ZkvFcPGsaUOBT4RDHAqCSLyUBBpSAvUhGZsIf12fnTa1VLnK2NLrcMwVnkPB1Znbjy5o1TAslxrENmmetaOiG1bA/s1600/CIMG2813.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1BCjN0IfuvlwOlTtWYE6fT1i7bmaSUBysOlHnuXTQLskjOFKi0i8ZkvFcPGsaUOBT4RDHAqCSLyUBBpSAvUhGZsIf12fnTa1VLnK2NLrcMwVnkPB1Znbjy5o1TAslxrENmmetaOiG1bA/s320/CIMG2813.JPG" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_TTv3syuIKbP7ix4R4c9VOz_H4glreJir3FC0fT4vunw1hhzI12Q6vJdHYSDDjIz74fXjxBXNFJIcH4zf8IGFQjmj6BuoSuUprz1QNv2rA6SQaUillPke6wBBk3qWGzZNcmedvvSomGE/s1600/CIMG2794.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_TTv3syuIKbP7ix4R4c9VOz_H4glreJir3FC0fT4vunw1hhzI12Q6vJdHYSDDjIz74fXjxBXNFJIcH4zf8IGFQjmj6BuoSuUprz1QNv2rA6SQaUillPke6wBBk3qWGzZNcmedvvSomGE/s320/CIMG2794.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"></div><hr /><div class="separator" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjol9_0jsH_Y6S-U4Te-Wd2g3CNkKJ5iqYv8qum6mcQ9cZqG6-zidqWJspUIm4_CeO6MO670FQ7VqcKD_lnrwkOm5rovmdPJkG_2Ke5CDZZ9BkalrvgULyNJb6tS8EK5swMy1kwMbvDefg/s320/CIMG2847.JPG" width="320" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirlmEH9Ulwbf0BHfLyvqPlpued_fwedwKsLqYTbHGAUwGuhhABsCu7hE71dPrfNriMiHWw4agw1hT-D1xdLRyeYDBs7I38uIcFXuaOKJLFCbVwwUuPLiAoR8b14gl-leC5f17YKSabNFo/s1600/CIMG2840.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirlmEH9Ulwbf0BHfLyvqPlpued_fwedwKsLqYTbHGAUwGuhhABsCu7hE71dPrfNriMiHWw4agw1hT-D1xdLRyeYDBs7I38uIcFXuaOKJLFCbVwwUuPLiAoR8b14gl-leC5f17YKSabNFo/s320/CIMG2840.JPG" width="320" /></a>Next, we visited our final chateau, Chambord! It was beautiful out so I got lots of great pictures out front. The best part was going onto the roof because all of the spires and towers made it look like there was another city on the roof. We spent the afternoon wandering around. Honestly, there isn't much more to say. It was a cool, big chateau, but it was weird because no one really ended up living there. The last picture of the post is some random chateau we stopped at on the way back to Nantes to take pictures of. Apparently it influenced Sleeping Beauty. Next post will be about my classes!</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDDyOKPCbmJh7bOXFtpe6H8DljMgAqUNKeMwDel-TGIdz3G0sL75wJomm1t_6-ADaI3K3hx8aIqy3fbmXCQbpzH_ysIsutBY84OCFHIOS2eZSJV1igzwSCqBpvwWSZKr1ebz3DNt8E9XI/s1600/CIMG2863.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDDyOKPCbmJh7bOXFtpe6H8DljMgAqUNKeMwDel-TGIdz3G0sL75wJomm1t_6-ADaI3K3hx8aIqy3fbmXCQbpzH_ysIsutBY84OCFHIOS2eZSJV1igzwSCqBpvwWSZKr1ebz3DNt8E9XI/s320/CIMG2863.JPG" width="240" /></a><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0zyJe1wUkcIoB04vB5RPsyzBbmQnZ3QgpABT3-OGjh0CkNtnIBoiw7KOhKdc74iGisemQPKhLu0LdhnJmYx5qMiZggpaDRZn53mizXivGuso9NtXTuPWuKTwLHXdE6n1eWA9eM-KQh2Q/s320/CIMG2854.JPG" width="240" /></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMty2rDl9czH_a4b_xqHV4Ilt-YzcfWfW_VSAB6QsF9Q5jy91MoPfm0aJGie0fp7d7XiMO6DXiC6kjnvWH7WZTymZTaWdMfDRvg4mVC50T4lK8RvQXvOA6UQsuj8v2qwdr27czbzYhl8Q/s1600/CIMG2881.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMty2rDl9czH_a4b_xqHV4Ilt-YzcfWfW_VSAB6QsF9Q5jy91MoPfm0aJGie0fp7d7XiMO6DXiC6kjnvWH7WZTymZTaWdMfDRvg4mVC50T4lK8RvQXvOA6UQsuj8v2qwdr27czbzYhl8Q/s320/CIMG2881.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRgg652j4bn_nL79aibimdCo-t-XgmmuS9SSf23OFKQNW7FDs05BcILJyeWgVYztYPrBB40I6PnabXn1Xk3wyCSZRmeE9Bk-u6PZTxlGnjj3he4oKQ3184dXaCAzidMa1MejQasWcVlsQ/s1600/CIMG2841.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRgg652j4bn_nL79aibimdCo-t-XgmmuS9SSf23OFKQNW7FDs05BcILJyeWgVYztYPrBB40I6PnabXn1Xk3wyCSZRmeE9Bk-u6PZTxlGnjj3he4oKQ3184dXaCAzidMa1MejQasWcVlsQ/s320/CIMG2841.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJUHu-SXs-5QeXIqxD3Ocy8-Og7oY_D8fGPL9FLQ4NzpaUUqlUNY1S3FzAm_f1Guy0iLArMd_3_RAC1FOCqn-Ec95rx_0uUDCMw0LvVMQh2RKHMsS1qqbv-tUv-5GrqKDanf_gcrdcC0g/s1600/CIMG2890.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJUHu-SXs-5QeXIqxD3Ocy8-Og7oY_D8fGPL9FLQ4NzpaUUqlUNY1S3FzAm_f1Guy0iLArMd_3_RAC1FOCqn-Ec95rx_0uUDCMw0LvVMQh2RKHMsS1qqbv-tUv-5GrqKDanf_gcrdcC0g/s320/CIMG2890.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989691569619105370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1996003927909325840.post-16164236673430848192011-01-26T06:44:00.000-08:002011-01-26T06:44:20.603-08:00Things Alex Likes/Doesn't LikeThe list you've all been waiting for....Things Boy Alex Likes and Things Boy Alex Doesn't Like. It will be updated as necessary.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Things Alex Likes</span></span></div><ul style="text-align: center;"><li>Drawing ducks</li>
<li>Smell of plane fuel</li>
<li>Sushi/Sake</li>
<li>Singing about sushi</li>
<li>Sleeping with the window open</li>
<li>Putting on weight</li>
<li>Cake</li>
<li>My notebook</li>
</ul><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b><u>Things Alex Doesn't Like</u></b></div><ul style="text-align: center;"><li>Babies</li>
<li>Prom pictures</li>
<li>Fish</li>
<li>Guided Tours</li>
<li>Sore throats</li>
<li>Super Sniffer</li>
<li>Folding maps</li>
</ul>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989691569619105370noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1996003927909325840.post-59013311315126652602011-01-22T13:31:00.000-08:002011-01-22T13:31:14.509-08:00Les Chateaux<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUr35N0hghmwSC4UpDuIRJWuGzbvQkbg3P99yIL6XN32JXZppCAuJa6g5wlffxUcMBhQwz-bviOelpLY-COGya7Je2MUaw1RyxgbxQE3x-hE-3UXOqhmFUici0Uv_4bKA_WGvunIy9rFI/s1600/CIMG2689.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUr35N0hghmwSC4UpDuIRJWuGzbvQkbg3P99yIL6XN32JXZppCAuJa6g5wlffxUcMBhQwz-bviOelpLY-COGya7Je2MUaw1RyxgbxQE3x-hE-3UXOqhmFUici0Uv_4bKA_WGvunIy9rFI/s320/CIMG2689.JPG" width="320" /></a>Once we got to Tours, we had 2 days of visiting les chateaux! The first one we went to was Loches, a walled medieval chateau, on Friday (1/14/11). There was the actual chateau, which really only had 2 rooms, then a church nearby, and finally le donjon, which is the keep. Afterwards we looked at the parts that had been used as prisons in the later years of its history. There were nicer rooms reserved for political prisoners, and then rooms where all of the normal people would just be crammed in. We also saw a spacious cage for some of the political prisoners, and an iron collar attached to the wall that some prisoners had to wear. In addition to being really heavy, the chain for the collar didn't reach the floor so you would have to sleep sitting up. My favorite part was le donjon because it was all green from moss and plants growing up the tower. All of the upper levels that would've been there are gone now, so it looks completely different. </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqahOj6zP6co1HKHPvNIBOgSh6JguMmiZ9OZjmGOZyfx92SIdc_5QYDK49GP3MQNjaNkAT2GzZ5E_WqICW8iWhD7QP26sqrb-NUBa_VWoNewlFNHmKQV7DBK1nRQ6jPj4sS2SOluZ_07E/s1600/CIMG2719.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqahOj6zP6co1HKHPvNIBOgSh6JguMmiZ9OZjmGOZyfx92SIdc_5QYDK49GP3MQNjaNkAT2GzZ5E_WqICW8iWhD7QP26sqrb-NUBa_VWoNewlFNHmKQV7DBK1nRQ6jPj4sS2SOluZ_07E/s320/CIMG2719.JPG" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg52qzOnrFfYMcssNizko7J2y4aHclGdVkdrc8VezOBmBsuI-ZrICG7RGmrSBlD3XhhYfEjsQH6y57QBlqFvuE2nYzN7t7OZEGIjMYvo7JvRlwkMjvNeNUDycUSCeYqm78GFCCmLUs1NZc/s1600/CIMG2695.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg52qzOnrFfYMcssNizko7J2y4aHclGdVkdrc8VezOBmBsuI-ZrICG7RGmrSBlD3XhhYfEjsQH6y57QBlqFvuE2nYzN7t7OZEGIjMYvo7JvRlwkMjvNeNUDycUSCeYqm78GFCCmLUs1NZc/s320/CIMG2695.JPG" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUth8_xW9_dXpfG_a3r6228-U7pV3kxooTrAvcHO44cE78cFy_JkNCAF4SAZbJvTCvoAWDJpwtG6zT_0TE01g9BHIBUG7FxRHA2ur-3-RsZSB60qMP8EbxFyHXJVmrViSfyRS1b1Enir8/s1600/CIMG2694.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUth8_xW9_dXpfG_a3r6228-U7pV3kxooTrAvcHO44cE78cFy_JkNCAF4SAZbJvTCvoAWDJpwtG6zT_0TE01g9BHIBUG7FxRHA2ur-3-RsZSB60qMP8EbxFyHXJVmrViSfyRS1b1Enir8/s320/CIMG2694.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">The second chateau that day was my favorite of the trip, Chenonceau! It's the one that crosses over the river. The rooms were furnished and they all had awesome, giant floral arrangements in them! You could see some of the original tiles in the entrance room. There was also a farm on the grounds with some donkeys and a horse, and a flower/veggie garden, plus a maze in the bigger garden. Also, the chateau had this hallway that I loved for some reason! It went over the water and had topiaries that were lit up...it was great. (Sorry for the weird positions of the photos, they're being difficult)</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqJiQmbC4Lqbe3vfW9vkZD7g2viZFimBJq1qmucAbqMCpBdbzUoSEhbTdBUCxXQFPIOhUxxII8LKseQXSvobIW5xrxoVJ1X1C871fDbzVvBF-pNkJyLfLceLSLOetx3OKKoZddJblzOl8/s1600/CIMG2749.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqJiQmbC4Lqbe3vfW9vkZD7g2viZFimBJq1qmucAbqMCpBdbzUoSEhbTdBUCxXQFPIOhUxxII8LKseQXSvobIW5xrxoVJ1X1C871fDbzVvBF-pNkJyLfLceLSLOetx3OKKoZddJblzOl8/s200/CIMG2749.JPG" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdnWxMkO4ca8Exjdd9m2cyo_fK9r_y5tN9JIAy3U9eQz4wWSWG8wCHvBHWRbg5VISVEEsF6B-xFa-T6FdVq6a5e9jTHfFtrEzgslb5clSzJsnucqE-nqcjGgtElH7iWYAxdX9A5jvQhEM/s1600/CIMG2760.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; 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cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh188DZNn83wvnfk44D4Ic5_G8TtHqRV0T7uflOteQ1Im4A3vzbQVQWsYFR7OpFAUUvFPIlAgNriaiiX1f0VceXWzKdd5Lf4zOdCGPQqoDHIOUrULmB_diI0TX8V8qLP1zxKxnKwYy_6dw/s320/CIMG2755.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtcMWYmoBYUopZKRSrZ9Yqrf3uoCfatxoCmN1pEnGVGEkFecHr81cux0mvMloS2yqtEehZzzTTkRbmqZkqnNvaM9inp_3gywKtoE2R6fq_K56vOIxMgwHqFEnS5i8COUVzA52rJpg-Oz4/s1600/CIMG2733.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtcMWYmoBYUopZKRSrZ9Yqrf3uoCfatxoCmN1pEnGVGEkFecHr81cux0mvMloS2yqtEehZzzTTkRbmqZkqnNvaM9inp_3gywKtoE2R6fq_K56vOIxMgwHqFEnS5i8COUVzA52rJpg-Oz4/s320/CIMG2733.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"> I'll post the other 2 chateaux tomorrow!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpmAHlOcHPy_h5x7oKBeWCIiZgCi-ikyRGQt11s2wSiIuycxw7aKB4EXwgiUHcCAEHC3DJnllyTkPuo31Eh2s3_eWf5EMcN151ryUpEnSPPpwsSM5u9WSakIFYd9jxMD47FecXibedWQk/s1600/CIMG2757.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpmAHlOcHPy_h5x7oKBeWCIiZgCi-ikyRGQt11s2wSiIuycxw7aKB4EXwgiUHcCAEHC3DJnllyTkPuo31Eh2s3_eWf5EMcN151ryUpEnSPPpwsSM5u9WSakIFYd9jxMD47FecXibedWQk/s320/CIMG2757.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989691569619105370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1996003927909325840.post-43376237944447510792011-01-17T12:57:00.000-08:002011-01-17T13:11:42.927-08:001/13 Arrivée en Nantes<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I've been sick and busy with orientation, so here's an update from last week. I promise I'll post photos from les chateaux soon!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7-j-tlH8O0Tftnn1yUTHCJWfK4489wYAFtJ4fRHyv9Zu3QoycOnvLIiqpDEORImbmpaEQqT_0GOJoVHcqT5jSCSTj43P0lmZF8-AGSYifiyxhx6dUbDHngaUE8vDPYN1UxpymX1c7d34/s1600/CIMG2677.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7-j-tlH8O0Tftnn1yUTHCJWfK4489wYAFtJ4fRHyv9Zu3QoycOnvLIiqpDEORImbmpaEQqT_0GOJoVHcqT5jSCSTj43P0lmZF8-AGSYifiyxhx6dUbDHngaUE8vDPYN1UxpymX1c7d34/s200/CIMG2677.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioKYQVh7NQRof-R3mVFK8o3Og0rvhG96P_BqvUVQAjrY6iRWw1jj-2d6Csm7l9uFfQyV-tpTq1gu80-RCpiK3QWDpBuLZi1Tt_F48VRYGMLY9siC2s_WnKzky5IX-1M_-e4O9JY_f9am8/s1600/CIMG2666.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioKYQVh7NQRof-R3mVFK8o3Og0rvhG96P_BqvUVQAjrY6iRWw1jj-2d6Csm7l9uFfQyV-tpTq1gu80-RCpiK3QWDpBuLZi1Tt_F48VRYGMLY9siC2s_WnKzky5IX-1M_-e4O9JY_f9am8/s200/CIMG2666.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">1/13/11</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirYzMn9Vx0vsB3HsDP0JW9Il16zdDF7yKBRLguRorz4_N-u9nHEjJt2bHGAym_QRIDbF85KS3BEGMnFSVGWX91U7-ML7sTPGUb36zjqPiAfe2bwiV1sGHuQIzjCJyF8RmCNwpiYcm5DsY/s1600/CIMG2673.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirYzMn9Vx0vsB3HsDP0JW9Il16zdDF7yKBRLguRorz4_N-u9nHEjJt2bHGAym_QRIDbF85KS3BEGMnFSVGWX91U7-ML7sTPGUb36zjqPiAfe2bwiV1sGHuQIzjCJyF8RmCNwpiYcm5DsY/s200/CIMG2673.JPG" width="150" /></a>Yesterday I got to my apartment. It's on the fourth floor right around the corner from IES. We all waited at the center for our host families to pick us up. They have a room full of computers, a library, wifi, and a piano at the center so that's good!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">My host mom came with her granddaughter to get me and we walked my stuff around the corner. Her hrarnddaughter is cute, but very hyper and hard to understand between being 3 1/2 and having a lisp. She insisted on dragging me around the aprtment for a tour. It's a beautiful apartment and pretty big. There's a dining room and living room with lots of windows and high ceilings. A veryyyy nice cat lives here, who is super friendly. Sorry, Blindcat, you've been replaced for a bit! My room is a great size and actually has a double bed! I have a desk and some dresser drawers, and then there's a big wall unit across from my bed filled with books. There's also a cute black and white bulletin board so I put my pictures up on there. Good news, there's wi-fi! Then there's a separate toilet and a bathroom, which sadly had one of those short showers. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfj9ogmsBNuIX4f0mr7Q-q6fT2Ees8LhKvWIAbXwoKSzsnPHvcm6C8NcULdvJY-Nx4iMkjCmEwuFbng0otkC75D48PNuiHq691pvL59USmUOdXQ-OHYfpa-Lu8quGnooo2IolJpv1X9A8/s1600/CIMG2669.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfj9ogmsBNuIX4f0mr7Q-q6fT2Ees8LhKvWIAbXwoKSzsnPHvcm6C8NcULdvJY-Nx4iMkjCmEwuFbng0otkC75D48PNuiHq691pvL59USmUOdXQ-OHYfpa-Lu8quGnooo2IolJpv1X9A8/s200/CIMG2669.JPG" width="200" /></a>Her granddaughter insisted on 'helping' when I was unpacking, which basically consisted of her yanking my stuff out of the suitcase and putting it wherever she felt like. This happened quite a few times so I had to close the door until I finished unpacking. We had dinner, with soup and pasta and a little cheese for dessert. My host mom likes to have soup a lot, which sounds great to me. The kitchen is a decent size, and it seems like I have pretty good access to it. I can eat what I want in the fridge as long as it isn't on the other student's shelf.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I slept in this morning, but apparently most Thursdays a cleaning lady comes at 8:30am, so I'll have to make sure I'm up. My host mom was teaching an English class for retirees this morning so when I finally woke up, I found the other girl who lives here and her friend in the dining room. They were having tea and croissants so I joined them. They wanted to speak in English, so that was fine with me! She gave me a map of Nantes and they talked about some things to do.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">They left to go shopping because the soldes (month long sale once a year) started yesterday. Madame came back and we had lunch. She had a sandwich and a microwaved burger but I was still tired and out of it so I only had a salad and some bread, which I am regretting now. She showed me how to use all 3 keys to get in and out of the building and then I went to IES with my backpack to meet for our orientation in Tours. We're on two coach buses headed there now. We get to pick who we stay with in the hotel so I picked Emily from yesterday. I'm trying to prepare for the inevitable flood of info we'll be getting soon, and the horrifying prospect of the grammar placement test. I hope we get phones soon!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Later that night</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaOodRvj_Lp7utUxzTQyAGPg8n5maqCYTM8gnQRNqwYuZ1aHB5fiEjbR5gGR50_hehS1ggknIFYDx1dmi_NJkO64HOuHId9yEklHcef54kAt3Y30SldQRuHv28wTESg_z1-w_tjTiKdvQ/s1600/CIMG2682.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaOodRvj_Lp7utUxzTQyAGPg8n5maqCYTM8gnQRNqwYuZ1aHB5fiEjbR5gGR50_hehS1ggknIFYDx1dmi_NJkO64HOuHId9yEklHcef54kAt3Y30SldQRuHv28wTESg_z1-w_tjTiKdvQ/s200/CIMG2682.JPG" width="150" /></a>When we got to Tours, Emily and I put our stuff in our room. Apparently all of the rooms on this floor have random lofts with an extra bed in it, so we don't even have to share! Emily likes the loft so she has the honor of climbing up the ladder every night. Then we had a short meeting where we met the IES faculty and all of the students introduced themselves. There's a girl from Wooster that knows Amy! We have two days of touring les chateaux and then Sunday morning is a whole mess of French placement tests: listening, dictation, grammar, and reading.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Dinner was fun! I sat at a table with Kathryn, Emmi, Andrew, boy Alex, and Laura, who just got back from Quito! We had a good time and spoke francais for all of dinner. The meal was a veggie salad thing, then white fish with a side of veggies, some really good dessert, and white wine.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Things I should eventually write about: too much fish, les chateaux, being sick, and returning to/exploring Nantes!</div>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989691569619105370noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1996003927909325840.post-10207271955457872142011-01-13T03:22:00.000-08:002011-01-13T03:22:07.433-08:00Getting to NantesThis is my entry from 1/12 about actually getting to Nantes:<br />
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At O'Hare, Jess and Devin showed up just after me to check-in, although Jess got delayed a while because her bags were too heavy. At the gate Katie and Courtney eventually showed up, and we met Laura, who is going to Paris with Jess. Serena and Alex from IES Nantes joined us later. We saw two other girls from our program too as we were boarding.<br />
I sat next to Devin on the plane and by some miracle got some sleep, even though the man in front of me reclined his seat the whole way for the entire flight. I already have short legs but the man crushed me. I literally couldn't move them. Turns out it was an IES parent. <br />
We arrived on time and got out bags with no trouble, except Devin left her purse on the plane, but got it back easily. Devin and Katie left to get the bag, and Alex went to get some cash so we lost them, but then Emily joined our group. The four remaining IES people made it to Terminal 2 of the airport in Paris so we could wait for our train. We sat a few hours in 58 degree weather from the cold air coming in from the platforms. I had a ham and cheese baguette for lunch while we waited. Then Alex found our group, followed by Devin and Katie coming back. A little later, Emmi and Kathryn showed up, and as I got up to say hi we found Sam too! Everyone from IWU had officially made it. Victory. <br />
We all got on the train and made the 3 hour trip to Nantes. Some very nice old man helped me and another IES girl wedge our luggage on...thank god he didn't throw out his back or something. Another woman asked how long we were staying here because we had so much luggage. She probably thought we were just crazy tourists who overpacked for a week. When we got to the station, there weren't any IES people like the book said there would be, so we just took all the cabs there. Unfortunately, stairs were involved. I never want to take a suitcase with me again. Our (now even larger) IES group made it to the center where we took turns waiting for the tiny elevator to bring our stuff upstairs, and were greeted by name since they had memorized our pictures! We all sat around and spazzed everytime the doorbell rang. It was like an awkward blind date or some twisted orphanage where random French people were coming to choose their American. Eventually, Madame and her granddaughter came to get me. <br />
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Next entry: A 3 year old 'unpacked' my suitcase....Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989691569619105370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1996003927909325840.post-33872695200756455072011-01-11T08:16:00.000-08:002011-01-11T08:16:03.327-08:00Au revoir IWU!It's 10am on Tuesday, meaning I leave for the airport in a few hours! Of course it's snowing, but hopefully that won't mess up my flight at all. I managed to squeeze everything into a suitcase, duffel bag, backpack, and messenger bag. Everything is basically full, but at least nothing is super heavy. I leave around 6pm tonight. I wasn't able to use the online check-in for my flight, so I'll have to wait for the desks instead...hope everything goes smoothly that time. A few of my friends are on the same flight as me, and a bunch of other people from the IES program are too! Once we get to Paris, we have a few hours and then will be taking a train out to Nantes, my city. When I get there, I have one night before we leave for our orientation in Tours, so I don't know if I'll be online at all to update this for the next week or so. I'll be living with a retired English professor who occasionally has her grandkids over, and another 20yr old student lives there as well. I'm right in the centre ville and I'm literally around the corner from the IES Center for classes, so that's great! I'm also pretty close to the river. If anyone wants to send mail, you can use this address:<br />
<br />
Laura Cohen<br />
c/o IES Abroad Nantes<br />
7, rue des Cadeniers<br />
44000 Nantes<br />
FRANCE<br />
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Once I get settled in I'll put up some pictures! I'm not sure how often I'll update this, but I'll do my best!Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13989691569619105370noreply@blogger.com1