As the fall weather comes to a close

Today, my host mom told me that we would see the sun and then winter would visit us permanently. This made me sad and all the more determined to go on a nice walk. I dragged another girl along with me and she didn't want to go at first, but I refused to sit down until we were on the island. After that wonderful excursion, we went to Place Plume where all the students go to hang out and we got some tea. I ordered us some thé vanille (vanilla tea, for those who need clarification). I knew it was good because I had some the last time I was in Belgium. That was like the icing on the cake. Spending the last of the autumn weather with a cup of tea was poetic and relaxing.
This week was great. I'm not exactly sure what made it so great, but it was and I'm glad that it was. The weather was fantastic and school went pretty well. My teacher has been sick for the past two days, so we've had a sub and she's been great. I was completely lost when we were doing grammar exercises for the relative pronouns, so she worked with me for 45 minutes after class and I finally understand a little bit more :) I'm just proud of myself for piping up and saying something! haha.
I really miss Alix, though. She left for Belgium for the weekend on Wednesday due to her sister's birthday and it's been quite boring without her. I found out yesterday that there will be another student moving in here on Monday- he's Chinese and he's a level 1 French student at the Institute (beginner) and that's all I know. I'm trying to fix my attitude because now there will be three people sharing a bathroom... I know I'm spoiled, so I guess this will help me become a better person. Maybe. ;)
My host mom's mother is here visiting for the weekend, which made dinner really fun because I just got to listen and then we started talking about languages and I actually didn't stumble for word choices as much as I usually do. We also talked about blueberries and cranberries. They actually don't have cranberries in France, so I became a little saddened for the French because they will never know the wonders of cranberry orange juice or cranberry bread... or anything like that. But they have other things that the US doesn't, so I guess it all levels out in the end.
I'm loving being here in France and each new day brings things to learn and people to encounter. One thing that I'm not too fond of is the French way of shopping for clothes. Example: I was looking at some sweaters the other day in a store (which was much smaller than a normal American clothing store... Picture a shop a little bigger than a nail salon with as many clothes as a department store has in its women's section. Talk about crowded. Then, you have the French people who like to stand in the middle of the isle and look at something for a long time, maybe try it on... they don't care if you need to get by them, so you just mutter "Pardonnez-moi" and push past them. I felt really rude the first time I did it, but it was either do that or wait 10 minutes while the lady tried the shirt on in front of me. Yes. Shopping is much different here.
I'm going to have a nice weekend, full of going to a garden full of animals, then maybe a concert on Saturday. Sunday, I'm hoping to find the church that other Taylor students have gone to and then do homework/study... and I feel like I was going to do something else, but I forget it... Oh well.
All I have to say, as nice a week as it was, I'm very grateful for a weekend!

I feel like I should have been in a movie...

There are a few times in people's lives when the situation grants itself as prime material for a screen play. I feel as if there were several moments like that in the past couple days.

The big thing is France is to be able to speak the beautiful language PERFECTLY. Exhibit A: At least 2 lab sessions emphasizing the nasal phonetics: [a], [o], and [e]. We had been working on this one exercise for about 40 minutes on the second day (today) when I realized that it was exactly like something I had seen in a movie. Not only were we saying random sounds that sounded pretty much the same, but we didn't really have an idea what we were doing... I started laughing and the girl next to me asked, "Why are you laughing? What just happened?" and I asked her, "Have you seen My Fair Lady?" to which she responded, "No... Don't think so..." And I said, "Oh, well, when you see that movie, you'll understand why repeating sounds over and over again is funny." Normally I'm not that happy after Lab because I realize I can't pronounce things just like a French native, but I practically skipped out of the room today because I was Eliza Doolittle for an hour.

Saturday was an excursion day to St. Savin (abbey with Europe's oldest fresco), Angles-s-l'Anglin(castle ruins and weird exhibit), and a functioning abbey. The day began at 6:30am for me... We all left the corner of the boulevard around 8am to our first destination. Two hours later, we pull up to the first abbey. That was great and interesting... but the best part of this stop was when they closed down the exhibit while we were still in there. The lights turned off suddenly and we were all wondering who had broken something when our director said, "And it's lunch time in the abbey..." We left, needless to say, and our next destination was the really cool castle ruins and a rather strange exhibit that talked about the development of language and cave people... The castle was incredible though. I felt like I should have been Susan from The Chronicles of Narnia because the ruins were right on the river... it was really cool. After this town, we went to an abbey and eventhough we didn't really get to be tourists there, we went to a shop where they sell all the things that the monks make and that was really interesting. There was anything from soap, candy, jam, beer, and religious items. I felt like I should have either been in Robin Hood or some Redwall novel.

Sunday was probably my favorite day yet, though, while I've been here in Tours. Alix and I took a bike ride along the banks of the Cher River to Villandry. The trip was a 42 km round trip (translates to about 26.5mi) adventure on a relatively flat path full of beautitul sights and good conversation. There were a couple times, like when we were leaving Tours, that I thought "Oh man, I'm going to be really sore tomorrow..." But yesterday's tomorrow has come and almost gone and I can say that I'm not unbearably sore. It's a great feeling and I wish I had a bike for longer (I had to return it this morning before class which was another adventure). Once we found the right trail and got going, I felt like I could breathe and relax and be myself. This is probably the first time I've felt this way since leaving the US. There was a point where Alix and I stopped and we just listened to the silence of nature as the sun came out from the clouds, creating sparkling ripples in the Cher River... It's one of those moments that will forever remain in my memory because the combination of sights and smells and emotions can't be justified on paper or in written words.
The trip to the castle took about 2 hours because we got lost a couple times at the beginning and then we stopped for pictures a lot. When we reached Villandry, we were having trouble walking. Between the two of us, Saturday had been a very tiring day, so once we hobbled into the shop to buy our tickets, we were wondering if this had been the best decision. After walking around for 30 minutes, we found the Sun Garden where we plopped down on the edge of the fountain and ate our picnic. I think we sat there for about 30 mintues just soaking up the sun and watching the people come through and look at us. We ended up leaving the gardens pretty quickly after that because we were tired (Well, after I introduced Alix to the grapevines and she ate a good number of 'em) and we went to Savonnier to look for a café that wasn't too touristy. We found one and drank some espresso. The trip back only took an hour. I don't know how that happened... Maybe it was the espresso... But it was great. There were parts when I felt like I should have been Anne Shirley... riding her bike through the woods of Avonlea... and then I felt like I should have been in The Sound of Music.

I know I've said that I should have been in a lot of movies, but don't worry. I'm not comparing all aspects of my life to someone else's script. I'm perfectly happy in my own life movie because I get a hodge-podge of everything :) And I don't have to worry about my salary. haha.

More interesting everday things

So, I know I wrote one yesterday, but I just had to write another one today to share some things that just amuse my mind while puzzle it at the same time.

1. Today, a Chinese student in my class was trying to say that he was going to walk somewhere late at night (to which our teacher had a strong opinion that he was "fou" or "stupid/crazy") but it was ok because he has a friend who bought a gun. He proceeded to talk about how his friend bought the gun and that he walks around with it and that it isn't dangerous. The entire class was cracking up in disbelief. It took a while to get it out, but he was actually talking about an airsoft gun. We still had a hard time explaining that to our prof, but I think I will forever remember this guy trying to explain why guns aren't dangerous...

2. My classmate who is from Canada was sitting next to me and she asked me if I had any gum. I said sure thing and pulled out my Trident gum. She was like "Is this American gum???" And I looked at her, kind of confused, and said, "Yeah... Why?" She said, "Oh, nothing... It's just Hollywood gum." Wait. Hold on. Hollywood gum? Wow. For those of you who don't know, buy Trident gum because it apparently is the gum of stars.

3. I went to the post office today to track down some letters that have taken forever to get to me and I noticed that the post offices in France are very different than the ones in the US. For instance, it's set up much more like a bank that I thought I had walked into the wrong building for a second. Also, the "tellers" were feeling up the packages that people were trying to send out, making sure that the customer was telling the truth about the contents. That made me laugh because I was sure that this one teller was going to refuse to send a package for this girl. I was then scared because the same mail-miser called me to his desk and I tried to explain to him that I had been waiting for about a month for some letters from the US... That was interesting. He ended up explaining the postal system to me... I felt about 10 years old. Thank you, France. Needless to say, there is nothing you can do about missing mail.

4. I have one French prof who never comes to class on time. I would be ok with that, except for the fact that most of the class is there, waiting for her... and she keeps us 10, 15, sometimes 20 minutes late. She's crazy and I enjoy being in her class, but I also enjoy my time away from school. This is the same prof who has a mustache. She picks relentlessly on a guy from Belgium, who has been nickname "Mignon Garçon" (Cute boy) by a Chinese girl in my class. This is the same class that all the crazy stories come from (the gun and the face decorations). Thank heaven that this class is interesting because it's normally during the time when my body just wants to sleep.

5. This last item isn't funny, but it definitely grabbed my attention. Alix, who works in the prenatal section of the hospital here in Tours for the 6 weeks she's here, told me on Monday about some of the things she got to do that day. Among the great stories of hearing about births and then her boredom with C-sections, she shared that she saw/had to assist with abortions. That broke my heart. There are so many things that people do not understand about life, I think. Alix told me of this lady that was there for her 4th abortion... She already has 4 children and the lady is 24 years old. This was the discussion at the dinner table that night and, while everyone at the table was prolife, it was really sad to think about. I was very surprised because I hadn't even heard of such things in the US happening, except for in special clinics. I wouldn't be surprised now if these things happen in American hospitals...

So, needless to say, I'm learning a lot here. I'm sure I'll include more misunderstandings later. I think my host parents' son is here from New York, so I'm looking forward to the dinner conversation tonight... I really want to see if he has a New York accent when he speaks English. We'll see. Still really looking forward to it!

"But you don't eat acorns..."

This is what my host mom said to me at dinner last night after I tried to explain the different kinds of squash to her. Now, for me, squash is a big deal and I understand that a lot of Americans don't even know what the differences are between a spaghetti squash and a butternut squash, but trying explaining those to someone in French, where those words don't even exist. Let's back up a step so you can fully get the impact of what happened:
Last night, we were talking about Halloween and how it's not celebrated in France... And Alix piped up and said that she loved the round orange things, as she started motioning her hands in the air in circular motions. I just looked at her and my host parents were like, "Oh! Poitrons!" (Translation: Pumpkins) And I died a little inside that they don't fully get to appreciate the pumpkin... Then, I was further surprised when my host mom started talking about a "poitron" that her friend had given her. She turned to me and said in her very thick French accent (spelled how she said it) "booterrenut" and I was like "Oh! Butternut squash! I love that!" They asked me if it was the same as a pumpkin, so then I had to explain that there were different kinds of squash (and we didn't know the word for squash at the time so they kept using "poitron"). I brought up the acorn squash because it is one of my favorite things to eat during the fall and I didn't know the word for acorn in French, so this is what the conversation looked like
I said: "It's like a seed that grows on a tree..."
Host Mom: "Like a flower?"
Me: "Not really... more like a nut"
Host Dad: "Like a coconut?"
Me: "Nooo... It's small... and I don't know what tree it comes from..."
(So my host dad grabs the dictionary and he looks up "acorn" and finds the word)
Host Dad: "It comes from the maple tree..."
Host Mom: "But you don't eat acorns. They're really bitter and hard."
Me: "Right. That's just the name of the squash."
Host Mom: "So it's just a name?"

So many of our conversations are like that... Things that I try to explain and it ends up being a game of twenty questions with the dictionary. The funnest part about this whole conversation would be the literal translation of what we were calling the squash:
"pumpkin of spaghetti" and "pumpkin of acorn" and "pumpkin of butternut"
Needless to say, it was hard for me to keep a straight face during that time.

I now now the correct word for squash: "une courge"

Feel sadly for the French during Halloween next week when they continue living life as normal and they do not begin to see ornamental "courge" appearing everywhere.

A couple more fun language incidents that have happened to me this week:
1. On Sunday, I was trying to talk to Alix about the train station, but kept mispronouncing the word and ending up saying things like "Let's go back to the war and check the times" or "Is there a bathroom at the war?"or "What time did we leave the war?"

2.I was trying to tell my host mom that we learned terms for body parts in class on Monday and I ended up saying we learned different parts of the heart, which was partly true... and then later I mixed that word up with the word for a main street...

3. Today, a Chinese guy was trying to describe why it's dangerous to meet people you don't know because they can don disguises and follow you and instead of using "make-up" or "disguise," he used the word "decoration" which means to literally have decorations on your face... It was hysterical.

Good thing God gave human beings a sense of humor.

Yet another weekend passes

As I said in my last post, this weekend was a much needed change-of-pace. Saturday included sleeping in a little and then going out to the various markets with Alix (I know how to spell her name now) and then coming back for lunch, then I sat down to work on homework. Alix, on the other hand, (lucky girl) took her bike that she's renting around the town. I stayed in and that was nice, but trying to work on a presentation about pollution was not. I was up to my ears in articles about noise pollution, so much so that I was starting to believe that it was the noise of cars that was killing all the endangered species of frogs in Canada! Yes. There actually was an article about that.
Sunday, Alix and I went to Amboise and it was a little more expensive than I would have liked, but it was still really fun. I had visited there before (two years ago) and it was nice to go around at our own pace and visit the house where Leonardo DaVinci lived and did a lot of his work. That was probably the highlight of my weekend. The gardens surrounding the "chateau" were incredible... much like something you would see in an American park, with woods and pathways around bodies of water... much less organized than French gardens... But I loved it. The sun came out after a while and Alix and I picniced there... So incredible. We then had quite a dilemma as to when we should return because I didn't want to return too late, so we went back to the train station, looked at the times, found out that we had an hour to kill, so we traversed the bridge to "Ile d'Or" (literally translated "Gold Island") to walk around for a little while... But there wasn't really anything there. After that, we finally got back to Tours and went out for coffee and a pastery at a café that my director had deemed as one of the "temples" in Tours, basically meaning that it was one of the best patisseries EVER. And it was incredible. The most incredible things about it were the amount of money it cost to refuel my body AND that I was so desperately needing caffeine and sugar in order to keep going that the cost didn't even phase me in the moment.
So, I've been preparing for a presentation, right? And I've been trying to make sure that all the people knew what they were doing... aka I was stressing, but what's new.... So, this morning, we had the exposé and one of the group members who wasn't in class on Thursday or Friday (but I emailed them the info on Weds night) said he didn't get the email, so he "opted out" of the presentation. Whaaaat? I didn't know that was an option! What is all that about? Needless to say, I was rather upset and I had to try and wing it so that the information he was supposed to cover was covered... I'm just glad it's over. Not the best way to start a week... but not the worst...
My host parents are huge Bridge players... They have been playing it every day for almost a week. Saturday night, Mme Anne made dinner for Alix and I early because they were having the Bridge game over here... Then they played Bridge all of yesterday... And then, because I'm home for a little while before I go back to class, I come into them playing Bridge AGAIN with all their friends... I think this would be called "Obsession" but I don't mind. It's nice to see that they love having people around and that they hang out with friends a lot, even if it's during a card game.
Tonight I hope to go to Café des Langues, which is where people go to work on their language skills. I hope that I can meet some French people and hang out with them and just relax. I thought that it would be relatively easy to relax here, and it is if you know what you're doing, but don't count on lunch time for relaxation because apparently that's the time when everyone talks about what is wrong with their host families and what they're not happy with and how dangerous the streets are... I felt like I needed a therapy session after today's lunch... Agh. No thanks. If that keeps up, I might be having my own solitary confinement for lunchtime, thank you.

Alright. Off to class...

Brrrr... I didn't know Jack Frost lived in France!

This week was pretty much a normal week... still an insomniac, but learning to cope. Classes become a little more difficult every day. For instance, I received a test back on Monday that I took on Friday and I was pretty sure that I needed to drop down a level. After talking with my prof, I felt like I needed to stay in this level just to prove to him that I'm not a wimp. I think it will be better in the long run anyways.
I went out a lot this weekend... Friday, Saturday, and Monday night... And then I became a home-body. Nothing wrong with that, but it's weird to think it's Friday again and that I get to do all that stuff again. A group of people are going to a discotechque tomorrow night (equivalent of a club) and I have already decided that I am not going. Not sure what I'll do instead, but I'm sure I can come up with something.
Wednesday is when the cold weather hit. First of all, I'm not used to hearing the temperature referred to in Celcius yet, so when people say it's almost 0 outside, I start panicking because I did not pack for that kind of weather... Then I realize that it's only 32 degrees Fahrenheit and I can handle that. The morning was fine and beautiful... much like a normal fall day and we even sat outside for lunch... but the day became colder as it progressed and we woke up Thursday morning to our first frost. Now, unlike in the States where you crank up your heaters and you cuddle up in warm clothes when you get home, I get home from a cold drafty building where I have classes, shiver into slippers and another sweater, and try desperately to think warm thoughts. One night, while I was trying to sleep, the only thing I could think of is how my nose is going to be permenantly cold for the rest of my time in France... It made me think of that one episode of Winnie the Pooh where Piglet has a nose warmer and it goes missing. Well people, my nose warmer has gone missing! Ok, maybe that's a little dramatic... and I know where I need to look... but unfortunately there's an ocean inbetween us.
I don't think I took my coat off the entire time I was away from the house for the past two days... But I am thankful for colder weather though. For instance: the plethora of smokers that stand right outside of the gates at the Institute has decreased significantly. Also, I can wear the same top two days in a row and no one will know (I changed my scarf...). Also, I come into class looking rosy-cheeked. My cheeks might be half frozen, but they at least look healthy. Also, you are that much more thankful when you enter a warm room.
I'm just thankful that the colder weather has not been accompanied by rain yet... Being wet and cold is completely different than just being cold. Tomorrow is going to be about the same temperature and Alex and I are planning on hitting up some of the markets around town... I hope that we don't freeze... But I think we're planning on stopping in at least one café to get coffee. (Thank you God that she loves coffee!)
I am getting really homesick, but God has been good in providing people to talk to (most recently Alyce, Jordan and Mom). I'm trying hard to get past the stress of school and homesickness, but that just seems to be the stage I am in. I'm really looking forward to this weekend!

Thoughts of an Insomniac

So, for the past two nights, I haven't been able to get to sleep until 2:30am... Two years ago... well, even one year ago, that would be normal. Now, not so much. So many things going on in my head and I think my body just wants to make things more adventurous for me, so I guess we're trying sleep deprivation...
There's a new "student" living next to me. My Lybian friend moved into his own apartment yesterday and a couple hours later, Alex, a Beglian girl, arrived. When I saw her, I seriously thought I saw someone from Taylor, but the only place Alex has ever been in the US is New York, so it's obviously not her. Today, we went out and explored because she needed to find the hospital and some other things because she's here for a practicum of sorts at the hospital for 6 weeks before moving on to Paris. It was great to hang out with her and speak French, although the getting frustrated and her asking me to just say what I was trying to say in English wasn't so much... I have a feeling we'll get along pretty well. I feel much more at ease this week in my host family's house... I don't know if that's because I have gotten used to life here a little more or if Alex's presence has helped that much. I dunno.
I'm so excited about the things that God is going to do in the next 10 weeks... I know that some things are going to be hard, but the beauty is that there is always an end to it and that God is there to hold my hand through those times. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to talking in English only as a last resort. I'm taking a vow of French, if you will. I figure that because I'm only here for 10 more weeks, and it is therefore impossible to become fluent, I would give it all I got to try and become as fluent as possible... We'll see how this goes.
So, as far as thoughts go, I have learned a couple of things after my sleepless nights and I thought that I should write them down here:
1. When you are going to go on a long walk, don't wear new shoes. Even though you might be in Europe and you bought new shoes, you're setting yourself up for some nice blisters. Have fun with those.
2. When you are trying to find a shop, make sure that you look all the way around you... like a 360 scan... that might prevent 20 minutes of walking in circles. Looking up from the map helps a lot.
3. It's completely normal over here for people to know more than 3 languages... My Belgian friend speaks Flemish, French, English, Italian, and a little bit of German. I felt very small after I found that out.
4. If you are a resident of France and you are caught speeding in any other country, you have to pay up front when the police pull you over. However, if you are in Spain and the "police" that try to pull you over are not in a marked car, don't stop. They're not police, they're theives. I learned this at the dinner table tonight.
5. The French version of grilled cheese sandwiches puts the American version to shame. It's like this: the perfect fluffy omlete next to burnt scrambled eggs.
6. The French have a different version of a zoo... There's a garden close to my house that has animals in "habitats" in it and there's no entrance fee. And just because there's a sign that says "DON'T FEED THE ANIMALS," the French like to share their wonderful bread with them... And the bear looked very sad in his concrete pad... I think it needs a hug.
7. My host father asked me what Obama had done to deserve the Nobel Peace Prize and all I could give him was a blank look. I've had other international people ask me the same question... I'll blame my inability to respond on my lack of political vocabulary...

Ok. So, after that wonderful wisdom, maybe I've shared enough information to help me sleep. I don't know. We'll see.
A bientôt!

Ne me mange pas! (Don't eat me!)

I feel like this title is appropriate for numerous reasons, the first and foremost being that I yelled it during lunch today at my friend because she was yelling at me...

But it is really more fitting to use this phrase for the course that I landed in... It's a pretty intense level and I don't know what I got myself into. I was really happy to see the nice number next to my name when I looked at the list on Tuesday morning. It was like seeing that you made one of the lead roles. That's how happy I was. Then, I realized that with great numbers comes great loads of homework and expectations. The past few days were easy... Just talking and getting comfortable with the profs, but now I'm quaking in my shoes. Tomorrow, we have a "petit test" on some verb tenses and I have not reviewed these particular verb tenses in a long time... yeah, guess what I've been doing for at least 2 hours... I'm experiencing what we would call "Little Fish in a Big Pond." Not only I am near the bottom of my class as far as background knowledge goes, but I'm realizing that I actually have to work! I know! Those of you who know me at Taylor know that I never really put as much time into my French homework as I should have, but it was enough to get decent grades. Here, for the first time in about 4 years, I have to apply myself to this language thing. That's a daunting task... to keep with the fish analogy, I feel like I'm looking at this hook and I've got to find a way to get the worm off without getting caught and killed. I know that seems really dramatic, but these are big things in a fish's life, ok?

In other news, I've enjoyed no homework (up until today...) and being able to write a plethora of letters to various people and walk around the town that is my current home. I have yet to explore every part, but I'm going to try to get that checked off my to-do list soon. I've already found some of my favorite grocery stores. That should be no surprise to anyone who knows me. I, however, have not found my favorite café yet... The thing about that is that I'm scared to go there and do something wrong and never be able to come back... Ungrounded, but paralyzing nonetheless. Maybe that will be next week's hurdle. My my... so many things to do and hanging over my head... again, another reason why the title to this entry had to be what it is.

Just a couple of funny things before I surrender myself back to homework and studying:
-I accidentally set the table with the dessert knifes yesterday and my host parents thought that was the funniest thing ever.
-One of my teachers has a mustache. She's really animated and likes to wear low shirts... you can make that mental picture.
-I'm scared to go to a certain cathedral because a guy started talking to me there and he wouldn't leave me alone, so I'm paranoid that he'll try and find me there again...
-I wake up on my own at 6:30am... apparently my habits from the US came with me... Only now, I have to stay in my room for a while longer because noise travels very easily in this apartment. I'm thinking about inventing some kind of game that I can play to keep myself entertained until it's time to get out of bed.
-People in my group from Paris don't recognize me if I don't wear black. I only packed black clothes, so that's all I wore in Paris... but I bought some other clothes and this is the second day in a row that people haven't recognized me.

Life just continues to be an adventure... So, until the next episode, I hope your lives are filled with plenty of your own! :)

And I shall hereby deem it "out of place"

Today, I went to the Institute de Torraine for my oral exam and I will find out where I placed tomorrow and it will determine my entire schedule for the semester. I looked around me and I saw many Americans, which seemed strange after being at the Alliance with only one other American, along with clumps of other nationalities. I found it sad that none of the groups were mixed... I think this is the tendency of man: to cling to what is most familiar when situations are unknown and uncomfortable. I know I do it, yet it seemed very segregated, in a negative sort of way... I don't know if I can really explain it. Maybe if you compared it to a high school cafeteria, like in "Mean Girls" or "October Sky"... I almost can't believe I put those two movies in the same sentence.
After all of that, I decided to go "home" and chill, take a nap, email, all that sort of stuff... And then the time came to go out again to meet M. Kevin for a tour of Tours. I went to the supermarché (aka grocery store) because I was hungry and I was craving Fig Newtons. Alas, they do not have these marvleous things in France, but they had something similar, Figoul (I think), so I bought that. I proceeded to the Institute and sat under a bench writing down vocabulary words that I needed to learn. The French Newtons where like eating chewy fig jam inside shortbread... Good, but not quite the same.
The town of Tours is not that big, but it offers a lot. We walked around for two hours, learning about the history and seeing the difference between buildings reconstructed after the damage of WWII and the older buildings that made it through. It was quite interesting. While we were walking down the Rue National, which is the Tours version of the Champs Elysee (sp?), we saw a goat. Yes. A goat was wandering in the street... a busy street, too. We all just stopped and stared. M. Kevin said, "How in heaven's name did a goat get to be here?" I couldn't have said it better. It was one of the strangest things I have ever seen.
Later, walking along the same road, M. Kevin was warning us to be careful when walking in the street because a lot of the buses run on electricity, so they're very quiet... and he said, "To put it delicately, you'll get a slight smack in the small of the back if you step into their path." I thought that was also one of the best things I've ever heard.
Tonight at dinner, I learned a lot about the Islamic way of life. The other student living here is from Lybia and practices Islam. The dinner table topic was premarital sex, go figure, and he was talking about how it is forbidden in his country. He then posed the question to me if I would move from the US if it was the same there. I was surprised by this question and I responded that no, I would not move because it's not something I support (premarital sex) and that I wouldn't have known any different. The topic then moved on to more about his faith. Ramadan has just ended, so I got to learn a little more about that, which was really cool. It struck me though, during dessert, that here were four people with different beliefs: Catholic, Christian, and Muslim, all sitting down and eating in harmony in France. It blew me away. It was one of those moments where all you can do is look around and say "wow..." Camal also shared his dates from Tunis... and normally I don't like dates, but these were the best I've ever had. Maybe it's because they're from Tunis...
On a different note, my classes start tomorrow and I have to get some sleep so I don't fall asleep during class... that would be a bad first impression.

Thus passes Normandy

After the new experience of meeting my host father, leaving my new-found friends, and sleeping in an unfamiliar place without anything really familiar, I left Tours the next morning to meet with everyone else to start a new part of the trip, the excursion to Normandy for four days. It took about 3.5 hours to reach our first destination, the Memorial at Caen, which is a huge museum of WWII history. After picnicing in front of the memorial with the lunches our host families packed for us, we ventured inside and I was thoroughly impressed. The exhibits started you at the end of WWI and the events that led up to WWII, then it presented artifacts and timelines and all sorts of information of things that happened during WWII. I was so overwhelmed and it was quite an emotional experience. We were there until 4pmish. We then got into the car and drove a little further to Arromanches, the beach town where Winston Churchill commissioned a temporary dock to be built so that supplies could be delivered to the Allied troops after they invaded Normandy. There were a few old metal docks there, covered with seaweed and the metal rusting away, but it was so cool to see. You could also see the wave-breakers in the distance, the huge concrete boxes that were sunk there 65 years ago. We walked along the beach and I picked up some shells, reminding me of when I was in California with my family this summer, but this was at the same time completely different.
Our hotel, La Marine, was situated right above the beach and was very comfortable. I shared a room with Abbey and Maureen for two nights there and the whole group at dinner at the hotel restaurant. That was a real treat because they had amazing seafood there. My first night, I tried the soupe de poisson (The waiter didn't hear anything I ordered except for the dessert, but it turned out better in the end) and cod layered with spices and on a bed of veggies in some kind of citrusy vinagrette. I liked that so much, I had the same thing the next night, but I got pumpkin soup instead, which was also very tasty.
I thoroughly enjoyed that place because we, meaning all 11 of us, were together again and laughing and hanging out. I'm glad that this trip came when it did because I was not ready to be separated from all of them. The next day, breakfast consisted of glorious croissants and baguettes, supplimented with French cottage cheese (much like plain yogurt), ham, cereal... stuff like that. I'm so thankful that I'm in a country that likes coffee... and likes it strong! :)
The first full day of the trip, we went to the museum right across the parking lot of the hotel. It was small in comparison to the one the day before, but it was nice to know the historical significance of where we were staying. We then had free time to do lunch and explore the town. Abbey and I decided to just get sandwiches while the other people we were with decided to do a sit down type of meal. Abbey and I went to sit on the wall above the beach to eat our sandwiches and that was great. The seagulls were going crazy... It's probably because people are stupid and they normally feed the wildlife, so now people who want to eat their lunch have to worry about little gifts from the birds as they squawk and zoom over their heads... It was all ok though... We saw this group of older people down on the beach eating lunch and one made a heart in the sand with initials and kept looking up at the sky, as if he was making it for his deceased wife... It was very cute.
We then got into the mini bus and traveled to the American Cemetery. That was quite an experience all of it's own. I had heard and seen pictures of this place since I can remember, so I knew what to expect, but seeing the thing in real life was completely different. I think everyone should see it at least once in their lifetime... After going through the new visitor center, the cemetery has a different, more personal feeling. I walked into the cemetery, and honestly, I wasn't all that impressed, as horrible as it sounds... But I kept walking... and as I passed the chapel, I expected that to be the end of the rows of crosses, but they kept going. That is when I felt like all the air had been knocked out of me... I felt like I wasn't even worthy enough to walk on the grass and approach the crosses to see the names. I don't even understand what it was like that morning in 1944... And I don't think that I fully comprehend the sacrifice behind it. I was getting emotional (again) until I heard this lady shouting at her husband that they had to leave in 15 minutes. This wouldn't have really been a huge deal, except she kept yelling at him... "Are you keeping track of the time?" and "I'm not waiting for you if you're late!" I wanted to toss her over the wall onto Omaha Beach...
After hearing that for a while, I decided to leave the cemetery and head down to the beach. On my way over to the path, I saw someone riding a horse on the beach... which I thought was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. That was a beautiful walk and it took about 10 minutes to get to the actual sand. I kept thinking about what it would have been like to climb such a hill under enemy fire... Again, I don't think I was able to fully understand. I stood with a couple of friends on Omaha beach for a while before realizing we needed to get back to the mini bus.
The next stop was at Pointe du Hoc, a battle site where American Rangers landed and scaled the cliffs to capture what they believed to be a very powerful gun that could have completely ruined the landings on D-Day, but after heavy losses and finally securing the position, they realized that the gun had never been activated. The site now is full of bomb craters and remnants of the German post. You can mosey on into some of the concrete buildings and walk all around, which is something new because there used to be signs saying that you shouldn't step off of the path because there were still mines... Yeah... I stepped off the path...
The last stop of the day was at the German Cemetery. This made me even more sad than the American Cemetery. The visitor center was small and the displays looked like someone's 8th grade project on poster boards. Exiting the small building, I went into the cemetery where over 22,000 German soldiers are buried. For each small rounded plaque in the ground, there lies two soldiers. Compared to the rigid white crosses of the 9,000 some American soldiers, it was a sobering experience. I read a few of the stones and most of the soldiers were 22 and younger. That broke my heart. There was no pride here, no victory. It was almost as if they were trying to honor the dead while trying to mention why they died.
The next day, we packed up and headed toward Mont-Saint-Michel, the fortified abbey that has been built up over the centuries on a peninsula of sorts. On our way, we stopped in Bayeux to look at the Bayeux tapestry and the town. That was interesting, but quite different from the two previous days. When we arrived at Mont-Saint-Michel, we unloaded our things and began the hike to our hotel. Yes. We stayed in the medieval city. The hotel was spread into three different buildings. The first we went to was the restaurant and reception. The other two were the rooms. Abbey and I roomed again, for probably one of the last times (sad thought), in the higher building, which offered a little bit of a view. If I had to choose which place to spend the night at out of the two hotels that I experienced this trip, I would have a really hard time. The rooms were better at Arromanches, but the food at Mont-Saint-Michel was terrific. It was the best meal I've ever had in my life. 5 courses: an appetizer of raw salmon in tomato sauce (kinda spicy), then soupe de poisson, then salmon and rice and ratatouille, then a cheese plate, then tarte aux pommes (kinda like apple pie, but different). This event/meal took about 2.5 hours to complete. It was so much fun to sit there and talk with friends and laugh and eat good food. After, we, meaning Abbey, Alan, and I went out exploring. It was late, but we knew that the island would be brimming with tourists the following day, so we decided to be adventurous. It was so cool and I made the decision that I'm definitely coming back when I'm married. Hands down. It was such a cool place and so full of things to look at and walk around...
We left after our tour the next day, so we got home around 8:50 pm, after visiting St. Malo and St. Lo, both cities that were decimated by bombings during WWII, but were rebuilt. I decided to try and walk home, which I think was not the best idea, but I eventually made it and I had dinner with my host parents after meeting my host mom for the first time.
I'm going to cut this post short because it's saying that it's getting a little long, which is true. Thanks for bearing through this long update. I hope it was worth your time!