Sunday, September 26, 2010

Alors, on danse!

Finally time to update my blog!

This week passed much like last, very very busy and full of work. But so many high points!

Last weekend I went to Paris to hang out with Mum before she left, and to see Anne-Marie and Jean-Pierre. It was so great. I took the same train into the city as Dave and Jenna, two recent X grads who are at CIDEF too. Spent most of the trip sleeping, and when I arrived Mum was at the station to greet me. So wonderful! She gave Dave and Jenna some advice on what to do in Paris, as she is now rather an expert. Then we took the train back to A-M and J-P's. When we arrived in Chatou (the suburb of Paris), it started to rain, big lovely fat drops. Mum and I took refuge under a tree and then booked it home. It was so nice to see A-M and J-P in their home. It was so comfortable there. There's nothing like great neighbours eh? Well, they don't technically live across the street any more, but they're still neighbours. They made me feel so welcome. I was absolutely exhausted, so after dinner I went to bed. Mum and I stayed up for a while to chat about life though, which was nice.

It was the weekend du patrimoine in France, which is when all the museums and sights across the country are either free or less expensive, so the entire monde was in Paris that weekend. We didn't feel the need to stand in the way-too-long lineups, so we didn't plan any touristy things for Saturday. Instead we got up, went to the local market (so fun - so much fresh fruit!), then came back home where I learned how to bake a chocolate cake from scratch. Mm mm goood. Thank you to Anne-Marie for the recipe and lessons! After lunch, Mum and I headed back into the city to wander around. We got off the subway at Les Halles, which is a massive underground mall. We couldn't move, there were too many people! After getting a little lost in the maze of stores, we made our way out and into Le Marais, the old Jewish neighbourhood of Paris. At around 5, it felt like the right time for a little je ne sais quoi, or as Winnie the Pooh would say, time for a little smackerel of something. We found a patisserie where you could sit down, and we each ordered a little piece of heaven - an opera and a millefeuille, two completely delicious cakes that you should eat if ever given the chance. Then we got back on the subway and returned chez nous. We had a lovely dinner, and A-M and J-P helped me with my homework.

Sunday, we went to see two sights. The first was the castle once owned by author Alexandre Dumas, who wrote The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. It was beautiful, and in the garden was Dumas' little writting house. I'll post pictures later. The second was the holiday home of Josephine Bonaparte, Napoleon's wife. It was fairly simple, as manor houses go, but pretty nonetheless. And there were real orange trees growing out front! After that we came back to the house for an hour or so, and then Jean-Pierre drove me to the train station. It was like having a tour of Paris' most famous sights in a half hour! We drove through the giant 8-lane roundabout that encircles the Arc de Triomphe, down the Champs Elysées, past various government buildings, Notre Dame, and in the distance, the Eiffel Tower. Then Jean-Pierre and Mum said goodbye to me at Montparnasse station and I went back to Angers. It was so nice to have a home-y weekend like that.

This week was quite similar to the final month of school - all the professors realise just how much stuff they've yet to teach you, panic, and so dump a truckload of work on you all at once to make up for it. But it this case, the time was reduced to a few days. But no matter, it's all done now except for our exam on Monday.

For my langue class, I had to conduct a survey. I unwisely decided to pick a topic that I found interesting, rather than one that would be easy. I chose 'the effect of the European financial crisis on the city/people of Angers'. Throughout the week I interviewed various people. On Wednesday I went to the Jardin du Mail, the most beautiful park right in the heart of the city. There are benches everywhere, so after significant time spent plucking up my courage, I approached a few people. It was worth it just to be there though. It was a warm, sunny day, and being there with my bike was perfect.

By Friday, my survey was completed and handed in. We got Friday afternoon off, which was a godsend. I'd stayed up until the wee hours of the morning to finish writing my survey, and I was one big lump of grump. Matt and I decided to be proactive and get some errands done. Matt had been told that for our visas, we need to send a bunch of papers to Nantes (which I had done before, but it got sent back to me with instructions along the lines of "get thee to the prefecture"). For the privilege of sending these papers, we must buy 55euro stamps... That would be $76 at the current exchange rate. So we went to the post office, thinking that would be the logical place to buy stamps. But, bien sur, we were mistaken. The woman at the post office redirected us to the local cigarette store. Why didn't we think of that? The first tabac we reached didn't have any of the kind of stamp we needed, but that woman redirected us down the road. By now thoroughly frustrated, we headed to the other store, and were finally successful. Then we went to the train station to buy tickets to/from Paris for next week, and then back to school to talk to the Secretary. Matt gave in his new stamp and I got instructions for how to assemble my papers. That being completed, I went home and had a much-needed map.

Friday night was another soiree at one of the international bars, Falstaff. We hung out there for a while, and then transferred to K'Lypso. They're fun bars, but I would really love to branch out to some local haunts. I feel like we're segregating ourselves by going there. But we had a great time dance dance dancing the night away!

This morning Laura, Jimmy (former Culture Editor of the Xaverian Weekly paper and recent X grad who is visiting for the week), and the guy who's couch Jimmy is staying on, Alexandre, went to the markets. The big one is next to the Jardin du Mail. There were sooo many appetising-looking foods! It made me so excited to start cooking for myself, to start trying new combinations. It was so great to experience the interactions between the regulars and the vendors, and all the people milling about. After that we went to the small market near the train station. I tried a fresh oyster from its shell! Quite slippery... I'll probably continue to avoid them in future.

Following that I had a highly productive day! I got my watch battery/strap replaced, bought a cell phone (finally), cleaned my room, and saw a movie with Laura and Jimmy. We saw Des Hommes et Des Dieux. I thought it was deeply moving (aka, cried throughout the entire movie). It's about a tiny monastery in northern Africa that falls prey to terrorists. It sounds awful and depressing, and it was very sad, but the fellowship amongst the monks was incredible. Several times throughout the movie the monks were shown chanting. I find that sort of religious a cappella music to be so ethereal. There's nothing like hearing a choir in a huge cathedral. Anyway, if your French is decent and you don't mind sad/slow movies, go see it (I think it's showing at the Toronto film fest).

Sorry for the novel. I'll leave it here for now, and wish you all a bonne nuit!

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