Hola!
Yea, day three and the extent of my Spanish remains "yo quiero taco bell."
We had an amazing day today. At one point, Ashley turned to Amy and me and said, "Let´s just treat this like the `Amazing Race´." I think that accurately describes how we tried to power through our sites today. We woke up later than we wanted to (hey, it is our vacation after all) got ready and took the tour bus again. Barcelona was sunny and warm and it was such a wonderful way to start the day off. We rode the bus until we got to Gaudi´s Sagrada Familia. It is one of the most famous monuments in Barcelona. It is an amazing church that began construction in 1883. Gaudi spent 40 years of his life working on it, and died before it was finished. There is still major work being done on it today. It was magnificent. I mean really breathtaking. I overheard one woman say, "It´s the most beautiful thing I have ever seen." Although I´m not ready to make that commitment, I will say that it was quite the experience standing at the foot of such an impressive monument. We took so many pictures, but there´s no way to accurately capture it. At first glance it looks like it was created out of melting wax. The intricate detailing made it hard to take the whole thing in. I could have spent hours looking at each little scene on the sides of the church. The three facades represent Christ´s life- the nativity, the passion and the glory. We only were able to see the nativity and the passion. We walked around inside and took an elevator up to one of the spires. From there we could move from spire to spire. (I´m not sure that´s really the correct termanology, but for lack of a better word, spire will be used). It was a spectagular view of Barcelona but Ashley and I were nervous that high up. We took a lot of pictures that I can´t wait to post. The tour guide had said that it was easy to see Gaudi´s religous fevor due to his work on the church- its true. The incredible attention to detail did make it easy to see the passion motivating him to create such a masterpiece.
After the Sagrada Familia we hopped back on the bus and headed to Gaudi´s Park Guëll.
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Hi again- I´m writing the rest of this post Tues morning. We only get 30 min on the computer at a time and there was a line waiting for it after me yesterday. So let me continue the story. Just thought I should tell you because I plan on writing about last night and didn´t want to confuse people.
The park was awesome. It was an gorgeous day and the park was buzzing with people. I really like Gaudi´s work and the park was a cool place to hang out. Very beautiful. Instead of struggling to describe it, just know pictures will be on their way once we´re back in Aix. We basked in the sun (short sleeve weather), people watched and met some Americans on vacation from NY. (We could tell right away they were from the east coast.) *To the St. Louis bunch- it was a bunch of aunts and cousins and they were calling their Grandma on the cell phone. I definitely thought of all of you. :-)We checked out the Casa Museu which is located in the park. It was a house was built under Gaudi´s direction but by Gaudi´s assistant. Gaudi lived in the house for 20 years and the museum had Gaudi´s furniture (especially many pieces he himself designed) as well as sketchings of his for his many projects. The museum also housed works done by artists that had been associated with Gaudi.
After the park we headed back to the bus and took it around the town until it finally reached our hostel. It was starting to get a little chilly- especially because its windy sitting on top of a bus. The sun started to set and Amy and Ashley went inside the bus to stay warm. Motivated by the fact that I may never see Barcelona again, I stuck it out on the top of the bus as long as possible. Although I was FREEZING it was worth it. I got some great panoramic views of the city. After the bus finally came back to our hostel (the first stop on the tour is literally three steps in front of our hostel-how perfect is that) it occured to us that we only ate one meal that whole day. It was like we were reminded of how hungry we were cause we weren´t paying attention. Suddenly with hunger that can only be described as ravenous we LITERALLY ran to a food joint. Prior to our tribal food hunting run, there was debate for where to go. When we got to the food area of town, we still couldn´t decide. Spanish fast food? Slightly sketch and we didn´t know what to order. Pitas? Again, not looking that good. We finally saw Subway and a decision was unanmiously made. BEFORE I GET COMMENTS ABOUT HOW I NEED TO EXPERIENCE SPAINISH CULTURE MORE FULLY know that we had a Spanish meal the first time and plan on eating many Spanish feasts in Seville. We just don´t have the time in Barcelona.
We ate our food, chilled at the hostel and then started getting ready to go out. We went to the square where Tarantos- the flaminco bar from the first night- was located. The Spanish really like to live up the whole night. It was already 12ish when we went out and the club scene wasn´t happening yet. We decided to wait out some time at an Irish pub. We met a cute young couple from Ohio who we talked with for a long time. They had both studied abroad so we were sharing our opinions of the experience. It was a chill way to start the night, but the Americans wanted the full Barcelona experience so after the pub we hit up the club we could find with the longest line. It wasn´t a bad wait and it was SO WORTH IT! It was a great club- the girls danced it up. We also met some guys who lived in Seville. I turned on the tourist mode when I found out and had them copy down places to check out in Seville on a napkin. There were three guys total- two from Seville and one of their British friends. The Brit and one of the guys were heading back to Seville and offered to show us the city. We got their number and might call them when we get there. It was funny talking to them. The British guy told us that we had cool American accents. haha The Spaniards were fun too- I told them the few phrases I knew in Spanish and planned to use habitually throughout my trip. One of which is Feliz Navidad. They cracked up and told me that I probably should´t walk around Spain wishing everyone a merry Christmas.
All in all, I´m in love with Barcelona and living it up. We have some ambitious plans for today... I´m hoping we do well. Much love- hope to post again tonight.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Barcelona Day 2
And now, for today´s post.
My group had a lazy morning. After going on such little sleep for so long, we needed it. It was a gray day today, unlike the GORGEOUS yesterday we had. Yesterday the sun was out in full force and we were comfortable walking around in jeans and a thin shirt. Today it was cold and the forecast called for rain.
We ate breakfast at the hostel and then went out and got a 2 day pass for a bus tour. They run all over Barcelona and are a great way to see the city. We started riding on top of the bus but then it rained and we were forced to go inside it. It was really great to see more of Barcelona. I hadn´t anticipated Barcelona being as HUGE as it is. Its also very spread out which, after living in extremely condensed Aix, also suprised me. It was really neat to see some of the Gaudi buildings- especially La Sagrada Familia which is huge cathedral. It is Gaudi´s most famous work and has yet to be finished. They started construction in 1883. It´s breathtaking with its 12 spires for each disciple and all of its intricate detailing. We plan on seeing more of it tomorrow. After our bus tour, we went to go get food. We were starving and got some great gelato. Later as we were walking to dinner, Amy pointed out a French sandwich shop that looked good. I quickly shot down that idea citing the fact that we were in Spain, so we couldn't possibly get French food. I then quickly recommended Subway and the girls cracked up. lol Seeing as how I genuinely wanted Subway, was confused. The girls pointed out that I shot down French food and suggested we eat at an American chain. lol-oops. It was a funny moment. After dinner we went to Mass at Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar. It was so beautiful and after Mass we took pictures. We then walked back along La Rumblus which was bustling with people and walked back to the hostel, where I am now.
General Observations of Barcelona-
People don´t sleep here. We think Barcelona should steal NY´s nickname. This is truly the city that doesn´t sleep. We came back at 2 last night (we went to dinner after the show- I had a very Spanish dish...some type of rice. didn´t like it) and the streets were still packed with people.
Spaniards are nice!! Or, at least the one´s we´ve met. They´re friendly, helpful and are a definite change from the French that we´ve met. That being said, we are slightly homesick for France. At least there we can somewhat speak the langauge. Here langauge barriers are definitely more pronounced for us. haha- pronounced. Another funny thing, we keep trying to speak French to them. I guess its habit for us to respond to people with "oui" or "si vous plait". lol We keep laughing at ourselves for doing it. Ashley ordered at Starbucks in French and the guy talked to her in French, thinking it was her first langauge. haha hilarious.
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We're doing a girls night tonight. We are going to take a nap (because we have to stay out as late as the Spaniards) get dolled up and hit the down. Maybe go out dancing... we really are loving Barcelona. I'll try to keep you posted (oh so many lame puns tonight) with the events of the evening and tomorrows happenings. There is a lot do and much to see. I´m taking a lot of pictures and look forward to showing them to you! Hope all is well!
My group had a lazy morning. After going on such little sleep for so long, we needed it. It was a gray day today, unlike the GORGEOUS yesterday we had. Yesterday the sun was out in full force and we were comfortable walking around in jeans and a thin shirt. Today it was cold and the forecast called for rain.
We ate breakfast at the hostel and then went out and got a 2 day pass for a bus tour. They run all over Barcelona and are a great way to see the city. We started riding on top of the bus but then it rained and we were forced to go inside it. It was really great to see more of Barcelona. I hadn´t anticipated Barcelona being as HUGE as it is. Its also very spread out which, after living in extremely condensed Aix, also suprised me. It was really neat to see some of the Gaudi buildings- especially La Sagrada Familia which is huge cathedral. It is Gaudi´s most famous work and has yet to be finished. They started construction in 1883. It´s breathtaking with its 12 spires for each disciple and all of its intricate detailing. We plan on seeing more of it tomorrow. After our bus tour, we went to go get food. We were starving and got some great gelato. Later as we were walking to dinner, Amy pointed out a French sandwich shop that looked good. I quickly shot down that idea citing the fact that we were in Spain, so we couldn't possibly get French food. I then quickly recommended Subway and the girls cracked up. lol Seeing as how I genuinely wanted Subway, was confused. The girls pointed out that I shot down French food and suggested we eat at an American chain. lol-oops. It was a funny moment. After dinner we went to Mass at Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar. It was so beautiful and after Mass we took pictures. We then walked back along La Rumblus which was bustling with people and walked back to the hostel, where I am now.
General Observations of Barcelona-
People don´t sleep here. We think Barcelona should steal NY´s nickname. This is truly the city that doesn´t sleep. We came back at 2 last night (we went to dinner after the show- I had a very Spanish dish...some type of rice. didn´t like it) and the streets were still packed with people.
Spaniards are nice!! Or, at least the one´s we´ve met. They´re friendly, helpful and are a definite change from the French that we´ve met. That being said, we are slightly homesick for France. At least there we can somewhat speak the langauge. Here langauge barriers are definitely more pronounced for us. haha- pronounced. Another funny thing, we keep trying to speak French to them. I guess its habit for us to respond to people with "oui" or "si vous plait". lol We keep laughing at ourselves for doing it. Ashley ordered at Starbucks in French and the guy talked to her in French, thinking it was her first langauge. haha hilarious.
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We're doing a girls night tonight. We are going to take a nap (because we have to stay out as late as the Spaniards) get dolled up and hit the down. Maybe go out dancing... we really are loving Barcelona. I'll try to keep you posted (oh so many lame puns tonight) with the events of the evening and tomorrows happenings. There is a lot do and much to see. I´m taking a lot of pictures and look forward to showing them to you! Hope all is well!
February 25- but yesterday´s post
hola!
I am writing this post from my hostel in Barcelona. I am actually just going to type what I wrote in my journal yesterday. It´s split up into different sections- hope you enjoy!
Feb 24
And so Barcelona begins...
As I write this, I am sitting at the port in Barcelona. The sun is slowly climbing higher in the sky and the day is beginning. Barcelona has already been quite the adventure. The bus ride took 7 hours and left Aix at 11PM. Ashley and I took sedatives hoping to sleep the bus ride away. Mission not accomplished. Needless to say, it was a long 7 hours. As we stepped off of the bus, weary and worn and began collecting our bags, we were just in time to see the rest of our group step off into a cab. Still groggy, it took us a minute to realize what had happened. At first we thought they had gotten the cab for us. As their cab sped off we realized this was not the case. They handed us a piece of paper bearing our hostels name before they left. We just stared. Shady business. We laughed because we couldn´t believe it. Ashley, Amy, Ryan and I walked around, slightly bewildered and not fully awake. How do you ask for a cab in Spanish? Luckily Ryan had studied Spanish and asking someone for help. We halied a cab without any problems and proceeded onward to our hostel. We´ll be optimistic and agree with what Ryan said- the other girls just had faith in our ability to get a taxi in a language we didn´t know and somehow find our hostel.
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Sure enough we did and tried to check in. When we reserved the rooms, they said we could check in as early as we wanted to. Turns out, this was not true. The rooms were not vacant for us yet. So we left our stuff there, and went to kill time in the streets of Barcelona. Allow me to say, that the city is slightly shady and night. We were surprised however at how many people were out and about. Ryan, Ashley, Amy and I wandered around until we found the port. We had gotten food before we left, so we sat and ate a little breakfast. Afterwards, we went to a flea market that had set up near the port. We also strolled along La Rumblus which is this famous street in Barcelona. The street was lined with animal vendors and street performers. The street performers were elaborately painted and acted as human statues. One "statue" winked at us, gave us glass pebbles and conned us into taking a picture with him. We laughed and kept walking. We stopped at Starbucks (aaah, finally a big coffee) and chilled out for a while, still killing time before the hostel. Ryan is an art major and he drew our pictures while we drank our coffee. After Starbucks we checked out this ridiculously huge market. So many colors and choices- it was overwhelming. We walked around the city for a while and then decided to try to find Ryan´s hostel. We walked for 30 min to get to the area and then couldn´t find it once we were there. We kept asking locals for directions. We got contradicting directions and were even told at one point that it didn´t exist. We did finally locate it and then Ryan treated us to a metro ride back to our hostel. We all took naps back at the hostel- we completely crashed.
Later that night, we reunited with the other girls and all went to a flamenco dancing place that an Irish woman I met at the market had told us about. It was a real hole in the wall. Really for locals and luckily for us- cheap. It was the coolest thing ever!! The dancers were amazing and it was nice to be in a place that was really Spanish, not simply a show for tourists. There was a band that played- 2 singers (one man, one woman), an acoustic guitarist, a man doing precussions and another man at a bongo. There were two dancers- one man and one woman- who took turns dancing. They both were amazing. The woman was fierce. She was the definition of confidence and the whole performance she had this great look of pride and power on her face. The man was PHENOMENAL! I´ve never seen anyone dance so hard before in my life. He was so into his dancing. Sometimes his face looked like it almost hurt to dance like that- his lips would quiver and show his concentration. Other times he would stare down the audience like it was a bull he was about to face in an arena. He wasn't cocky but he was confident and each move he made showed his self-assurance. He was sexy and sensual but never in an obvious way. He wore black velvet pants and jacket with a red button down shirt and a scarf. He certainly looked the part. He used the coat when he danced and would tug at it or swirl the bottom of it. He tapped his feet faster than I thought it humanly possible. One of the coolest parts of the show was when the music stopped and he slowly stopped his feet from moving... pat...pat..pat. stood still, took a very casual step forward and then slowly built it up again until he was furiously tapping them. He stomped so loud, I´m impressed the heels of his boots didn`t break. That was a cool part of the dancing- the dancers were the primary drummers. The music followed them. The dancing was in no way secondary to the music. At the very end of the show, the dancers brought up two little girls- ages 4 and 8 I would guess. They were clearly daughters of the dancers or the band. The 4 year old was dressed in a full flamenco skirt that reached the ground. It was adorable. They both took turns dancing for the audience. Both had unbelievable stage presence, especially for being kids. When the 8 year old started to dance, her face changed experssions and she looked just like the older dance- every bit as confident and proud. The 4 year old was the same. There was no trace of fear or shyness on her face as she danced in front of the whole audience. It was an awesome show and a great way to end our first day in Spain.
I am writing this post from my hostel in Barcelona. I am actually just going to type what I wrote in my journal yesterday. It´s split up into different sections- hope you enjoy!
Feb 24
And so Barcelona begins...
As I write this, I am sitting at the port in Barcelona. The sun is slowly climbing higher in the sky and the day is beginning. Barcelona has already been quite the adventure. The bus ride took 7 hours and left Aix at 11PM. Ashley and I took sedatives hoping to sleep the bus ride away. Mission not accomplished. Needless to say, it was a long 7 hours. As we stepped off of the bus, weary and worn and began collecting our bags, we were just in time to see the rest of our group step off into a cab. Still groggy, it took us a minute to realize what had happened. At first we thought they had gotten the cab for us. As their cab sped off we realized this was not the case. They handed us a piece of paper bearing our hostels name before they left. We just stared. Shady business. We laughed because we couldn´t believe it. Ashley, Amy, Ryan and I walked around, slightly bewildered and not fully awake. How do you ask for a cab in Spanish? Luckily Ryan had studied Spanish and asking someone for help. We halied a cab without any problems and proceeded onward to our hostel. We´ll be optimistic and agree with what Ryan said- the other girls just had faith in our ability to get a taxi in a language we didn´t know and somehow find our hostel.
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Sure enough we did and tried to check in. When we reserved the rooms, they said we could check in as early as we wanted to. Turns out, this was not true. The rooms were not vacant for us yet. So we left our stuff there, and went to kill time in the streets of Barcelona. Allow me to say, that the city is slightly shady and night. We were surprised however at how many people were out and about. Ryan, Ashley, Amy and I wandered around until we found the port. We had gotten food before we left, so we sat and ate a little breakfast. Afterwards, we went to a flea market that had set up near the port. We also strolled along La Rumblus which is this famous street in Barcelona. The street was lined with animal vendors and street performers. The street performers were elaborately painted and acted as human statues. One "statue" winked at us, gave us glass pebbles and conned us into taking a picture with him. We laughed and kept walking. We stopped at Starbucks (aaah, finally a big coffee) and chilled out for a while, still killing time before the hostel. Ryan is an art major and he drew our pictures while we drank our coffee. After Starbucks we checked out this ridiculously huge market. So many colors and choices- it was overwhelming. We walked around the city for a while and then decided to try to find Ryan´s hostel. We walked for 30 min to get to the area and then couldn´t find it once we were there. We kept asking locals for directions. We got contradicting directions and were even told at one point that it didn´t exist. We did finally locate it and then Ryan treated us to a metro ride back to our hostel. We all took naps back at the hostel- we completely crashed.
Later that night, we reunited with the other girls and all went to a flamenco dancing place that an Irish woman I met at the market had told us about. It was a real hole in the wall. Really for locals and luckily for us- cheap. It was the coolest thing ever!! The dancers were amazing and it was nice to be in a place that was really Spanish, not simply a show for tourists. There was a band that played- 2 singers (one man, one woman), an acoustic guitarist, a man doing precussions and another man at a bongo. There were two dancers- one man and one woman- who took turns dancing. They both were amazing. The woman was fierce. She was the definition of confidence and the whole performance she had this great look of pride and power on her face. The man was PHENOMENAL! I´ve never seen anyone dance so hard before in my life. He was so into his dancing. Sometimes his face looked like it almost hurt to dance like that- his lips would quiver and show his concentration. Other times he would stare down the audience like it was a bull he was about to face in an arena. He wasn't cocky but he was confident and each move he made showed his self-assurance. He was sexy and sensual but never in an obvious way. He wore black velvet pants and jacket with a red button down shirt and a scarf. He certainly looked the part. He used the coat when he danced and would tug at it or swirl the bottom of it. He tapped his feet faster than I thought it humanly possible. One of the coolest parts of the show was when the music stopped and he slowly stopped his feet from moving... pat...pat..pat. stood still, took a very casual step forward and then slowly built it up again until he was furiously tapping them. He stomped so loud, I´m impressed the heels of his boots didn`t break. That was a cool part of the dancing- the dancers were the primary drummers. The music followed them. The dancing was in no way secondary to the music. At the very end of the show, the dancers brought up two little girls- ages 4 and 8 I would guess. They were clearly daughters of the dancers or the band. The 4 year old was dressed in a full flamenco skirt that reached the ground. It was adorable. They both took turns dancing for the audience. Both had unbelievable stage presence, especially for being kids. When the 8 year old started to dance, her face changed experssions and she looked just like the older dance- every bit as confident and proud. The 4 year old was the same. There was no trace of fear or shyness on her face as she danced in front of the whole audience. It was an awesome show and a great way to end our first day in Spain.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
le 21 fevrier: Mercredi des Cendres
Hi all!
I should be doing many other writing assignments before this, but I'm chosing to consider this a warmup. Hope all are well- I'm doing pretty good. I've been pretty tired this week so I haven't done much. Resting up for Spain- 2 more days!! Today is Ash Wednesday. Amy, Ashley and I went to Mass in the Cathedrale. It was a little different- they poured ashes on the head instead of marking a cross on your forehead. It was also white ash. lol Now before you all have images of me walking back to my seat, hair dyed white by massive quanties of ash I should clarify- they just poured a little bit in your hair in the sign of a cross. I'm pretty sure mine blew off as I walked away but Ashely's stayed in for quite some time. :-D Ashley and I teach our class tomorrow so she came over for dinner afterwards. When we went into the church we tried dipping our fingers into the holy water in the huge basin that holds it, but there wasn't really any there. The man next to it (who was dressed in shabby clothing- we think he might have been a bum) told us that there wasn't any there. We began walking to our seat. I noticed Ashley was no longer right by me so I look back and this old woman had grabed her arm and was saying something to her. When we were back in our seat, Ashley laughed and said that the woman had told her that the grungy man had used all of the holy water to brush his teeth. lol We laughed at this old woman's apparent joke and also how random it was that she chose to grab Ashley.
After they poured ashes in our hair, everyone proceeded out of the church into the street. I was very confused and expected to finish Mass. The priest had said however not to return to our seats and taking everyone else's cue, Mass was done. Ashley and I came back, ate dinner and lesson planned. Isabelle happily helped us prepare our lesson. Tomorrow's lesson: meal time. We're doing food words. I'll let you know how that goes.
Mardi Gras: Although it is a French term, I am sad to report that not much was done in Aix for Mardi Gras. Actually when I asked Maxime, he just mentioned New Orleans and shrugged. Marie, my French cousin who I met the first night I was in Aix and who took me to the night club came over however. I love her- she's so sweet! She had brought me a cd that I had asked to burn from her. I'm impressed she remembered. Anyways, with our new wireless internet here we also get new TV channels that you can access from the computer. One new channel we have- MTV. Maxime and I watched Laguna Beach two nights ago. It was hilarious to watch it with him- he kept saying how the kids didn't do anything but talk about relationships. He kept telling the girls on the screen to shut up. lol I told him several times that MTV wasn't a good representation of America's youth. Anyways, Isabelle, Marie, Maxime and I all watched "Parental Control" (a show where the parents choose a new significant other for their son or daughter cause the current one is horrible). Although they think MTV is ridiculous, they seemed to appreciate it quite a bit. They liked commenting on each new date. Ah MTV, bridging all cultures... We also get the Simpsons now... which I love. Its a French version, with French voices. The French voices are very close to the actual voices. I really liked watching it. Now if only they would get Family Guy or better yet, the Office. (I have to buy the new episodes off of iTunes on Fridays)
In the words of Bugs Bunny, that's all folks. Hope this post finds you all well! Much love.
I should be doing many other writing assignments before this, but I'm chosing to consider this a warmup. Hope all are well- I'm doing pretty good. I've been pretty tired this week so I haven't done much. Resting up for Spain- 2 more days!! Today is Ash Wednesday. Amy, Ashley and I went to Mass in the Cathedrale. It was a little different- they poured ashes on the head instead of marking a cross on your forehead. It was also white ash. lol Now before you all have images of me walking back to my seat, hair dyed white by massive quanties of ash I should clarify- they just poured a little bit in your hair in the sign of a cross. I'm pretty sure mine blew off as I walked away but Ashely's stayed in for quite some time. :-D Ashley and I teach our class tomorrow so she came over for dinner afterwards. When we went into the church we tried dipping our fingers into the holy water in the huge basin that holds it, but there wasn't really any there. The man next to it (who was dressed in shabby clothing- we think he might have been a bum) told us that there wasn't any there. We began walking to our seat. I noticed Ashley was no longer right by me so I look back and this old woman had grabed her arm and was saying something to her. When we were back in our seat, Ashley laughed and said that the woman had told her that the grungy man had used all of the holy water to brush his teeth. lol We laughed at this old woman's apparent joke and also how random it was that she chose to grab Ashley.
After they poured ashes in our hair, everyone proceeded out of the church into the street. I was very confused and expected to finish Mass. The priest had said however not to return to our seats and taking everyone else's cue, Mass was done. Ashley and I came back, ate dinner and lesson planned. Isabelle happily helped us prepare our lesson. Tomorrow's lesson: meal time. We're doing food words. I'll let you know how that goes.
Mardi Gras: Although it is a French term, I am sad to report that not much was done in Aix for Mardi Gras. Actually when I asked Maxime, he just mentioned New Orleans and shrugged. Marie, my French cousin who I met the first night I was in Aix and who took me to the night club came over however. I love her- she's so sweet! She had brought me a cd that I had asked to burn from her. I'm impressed she remembered. Anyways, with our new wireless internet here we also get new TV channels that you can access from the computer. One new channel we have- MTV. Maxime and I watched Laguna Beach two nights ago. It was hilarious to watch it with him- he kept saying how the kids didn't do anything but talk about relationships. He kept telling the girls on the screen to shut up. lol I told him several times that MTV wasn't a good representation of America's youth. Anyways, Isabelle, Marie, Maxime and I all watched "Parental Control" (a show where the parents choose a new significant other for their son or daughter cause the current one is horrible). Although they think MTV is ridiculous, they seemed to appreciate it quite a bit. They liked commenting on each new date. Ah MTV, bridging all cultures... We also get the Simpsons now... which I love. Its a French version, with French voices. The French voices are very close to the actual voices. I really liked watching it. Now if only they would get Family Guy or better yet, the Office. (I have to buy the new episodes off of iTunes on Fridays)
In the words of Bugs Bunny, that's all folks. Hope this post finds you all well! Much love.
Friday, February 16, 2007
le 16 fevrier
Coucou!
We just learned in my Oral French class that “coucou” is a popular way of saying hello here.
Ah, I finally I post. I feel like its been a while, and I have a lot to tell you about. So lets begin…
First, to answer some questions. No Cathy, I have not cooked any American cuisine for my French family yet. If I could cook like many of the talented chefs in our family then maybe I would. I’ve been trying to think what would be a really American meal for me to cook for them. My mind always reverts to mashed potatoes. I know my mom is probably smiling at that one- yes, my favorite food. But I am not a very coordinated cook and all of the appliances in France are old school so I don’t know if they would even have electric beaters that I would need. It took me a while to figure out how to work an old fashioned can opener back home this summer, so I’m thinking that I would struggle with the utensils here. So I have chosen to avoid further embarrassment and instead sit patiently, waiting for them to feed me. ☺
But please know that on days where I am being fed raw meat (by their relatives) or parts of birds that I didn’t believe were possible to eat, my mind wanders back to eating at Grandma’s house. The pain is intense in those moments, and I long for the Wasem’s spaghetti, Aunt Abby’s dip (that she makes especially for me) as well as all of the other culinary delights of our family.
Also, Aix is pronounced “ex” for those of you who were wondering.
A few more trivial things that I have noticed throughout my four weeks here… The pigeons here are numerous and they are not afraid of people. I’ve found that the big fat pigeons here walk more than they fly and they hang out around cafes waiting for a handout. One time I was leaning up against a fountain (coincidentally eating a pastry- how cliché is that?) and the birds kept walking up to me, heads bobbing furiously back and forth as they approached. They seriously would have walked straight into me had I not stopped my foot. I’m not sure what the animals of Aix have against me. Maybe they too spot me as a tourist and plan their modes of attack accordingly. Having distracted me with a pastry, they ram full speed into me in hopes that I will drop it. Who knows? But you gotta watch out for them. They know what they’re doing.
Oh the mopeds- as I have told some of you, after living in Aix I now have a strong desire to buy a moped. They seem like they are so much fun. Alas, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with mopeds. They are small and fast and thus can zip in and out of herds of people rather quickly. I have often played chicken with the mopeds here. “Are you going left? No? Right… I’m gonna go to um, I, um… this side?!” followed by a quick barrel roll out of their path. Haha ok, maybe I exaggerate. But I do think that often the moped-ists laugh at my indecision to chose a side to move to sometimes. Cars are like that too in Aix. The streets here are very narrow and often pretty crowded with people. As a logical American, I think to myself- this street is too small for a car to fit in. Also, it would be extremely dangerous for all of the pedestrians. -But the Europeans never cease to amaze me with their driving abilities. Where some would see a dangerous situation for all involved, they see an opportunity. Lol Let me recreate a typical day in a street here. People are walking in the middle of the street. Suddenly, you hear a noise. It is an approaching car. Everyone moves to the side and the car speeds by. The pedestrians flood the road again. At first, I was scared to death of the cars. No joke. I would jump each time one came. Now I confidently know the streets the cars can come down and from what direction. The street that my school is on is very narrow and cars come up it a lot. There is still a part of me that sometimes questions if me and a car will both fit in the street at the same time- especially at the top (it tapers and is even narrower). The French always answer that question with a yes, and zoom up RIGHT beside me. Another thing about the roads is some of them have these little posts in the middle of the street that attempt to slow traffic. As a car stops at the little light, the car is sensed and the little posts recede into the ground. The car passes, and they spring back up. It’s kinda cool in my opinion.
Alright, now onto more interesting topics…
My Archeology Teacher.
This is a post that I have been longing to write since my first archeology class. I don’t pretend to have an incredible interest in archeology. When I was signing up for classes I looked for opportunities to travel and also looked for classes that I figured would be interesting. So, I’m taking archeology and I couldn’t be happier. The class is taught by this young French teacher. He is absolutely, positively HILARIOUS. The class is taught in English and his accent is very strong. For those of you who are familiar with Father of the Bride think back to Frank (pronounced Fraunk). It’s kinda like that. I am continually impressed with his ability to make English sound like French. He is really funny anyways so add in the accent and he is a riot. We’re always wondering what he’s going to say next. Often in class I take more notes on what the phrases he has said than the actual material for class. SIDENOTE TO PARENTS: I AM FOCUSING ON THE LESSON AS WELL. :-D Lets go through some of the gems that he has said…
First off: The Affirmations…
In order to check his English, after almost every word he says we hear…
-yes?
-that’s ok?
-that’s logical?
-yes- you agree?
-that makes sense?
-yes, that’s fine?
Moving on to some truly great pronunciations/phrases….
I hope these don’t end up being one of those “you had to be there” kinds of thing, and it’s hard to type out how they sound. Just know, its funny to see which syllable he’s going to emphasize each time. Also, words seem to suddenly take on more syllables.
(Often the h is silent which makes sense because the French don’t pronounce it but its often funny to hear continually…) ‘elpful, ‘aven’t
-o- cured (occurred)
-veg-JET-tables (vegetables)
-I. D. (idea) as in “just to give you an I.D. (idea)…
-care-ACT-o-rized (characterized)
-un-AL-eezed (analyzed)
-inter-PRETING (interpreting)
- arpoo (harpoons)
- teef (teeth) the “th” is always pronounced as an f- understandably hard for them
-ans-WERE (answer)
-ca-MENT-aries (cemeteries)
-knowl-EDGES (knowledge) things often get “s”es that don’t have an s
-at (ate)
-peezants (peasants)
-soap (soup)
-fir (fear)
- to afraid the animals (to scare the animals)
-ma-moof (mammoth)
-lab-or-AT-ory (laboratory)
-when the tree was bornt (born)
-huge fire forests (huge forest fires)
The Quotes…. (it was hard to regain composure in class after hearing these)
(talking about cannibalism and religion- and being totally serious) “Isn’t that one of the ten? Isn’t that one of the ten commandments- not to eat your wife?”
(also on the topic of cannibalism) “Ok, so Grandmofer iz lying by the fire- she iz not moving, not reading stories to the children… pfff…ok, time to barbeque.”
(explaining why the caveman in the ice didn’t decompose) “the bacteries (bacteria) couldn’t wake up and eat him. “
(momentary loss for English- talking about different objects to make jewelry with) “You can have… a lot of words I don’t know how to say”
After writing these and rereading them, I realize that I cannot recapture the hilarity of these comments. Just know that they are great. Maybe I should record one of his classes for all of you… its truly a treat.
Next topic….
Valentine’s Day in France
So yesterday was Valentine’s Day. All of the American students obviously saw this as a great opportunity to buy gifts for our awesome host families. I, being one of them, eagerly bought my host mom a lovely tin of cookies and a box of chocolates for each of the boys. On Valentine’s Day, I walked into the living room and presented Guillaume his gift, smiled and wished him a happy Valentine’s Day. He looked a little confused but I thought it was just because he didn’t expect anything from me. Isabelle came into the room from the kitchen and I gave her the tin. She looked very surprised. She thanked me and after a minute she asked me in French if Americans give their family Valentine’s Day gifts. I said yes and she laughed. In France, Valentine’s Day is only for people in a romantic relationship. Hahaha Hence their surprise. They were both very happy to get the gifts, but very shocked. Isabelle loved it because she didn’t have a valentine this year after having broken up with her live in boyfriend not too long ago. She didn’t stop smiling. I felt a little awkward having bought my French brothers chocolates, which was obviously seen as a flirtatious move. Haha- oh but it gets better. I still had to give Maxime his gift. I now knew that it would be misinterpreted. Later Maxime was in the kitchen and I presented him with his box and hesitantly wished him a happy Valentine’s day. He also looked a little surprised and gave me a smile. Lol Isabelle quickly told him that in the United States, the family gets Vday gifts too. Hahaha- So I totally hit on my two French brothers by giving them gifts. AWKWARD! So typical of my life, especially here. Flash forward to later that night when Guillaume and a friend were driving me to Ashley’s house. As I got into the car, Guillaume’s friend- who I had met before- smiled at me and said “Happy Valentine’s Day!” and I said the same thing back. Of course, the two boys started laughing. Guillaume said “Kelly- its only for people dating!” (his friend was obviously teasing me) and I said, yes after today’s events- I know this now. They both laughed. Then his friend (who is really nice) started asking me if I had a “petit ami” back home. Knowing its too difficult to translate “yes but it’s complicated” I just said yes and then answered all of his questions. He kept switching back and forth from English and French. Right as I am getting out of the car, he says “ Don’t be sad that your boyfriend is not here- someday us will get married and have the children.” Me, now extremely confused, asked him “You and me? We will get married and have the children?” Guillaume started cracking up and his friend just looked really confused. Guillaume explained that he had said the equivalent of “nous” to me and then his friend started laughing too. He said “No- I meant you and your boyfriend. But sure, maybe someday we will get married.”
Please take a moment and relish the awkwardness of my life. Not only did I hit on both of my French brothers yesterday, but also their friend.
Hahaha- all you can do is laugh. I pity the kids here who don’t have a sense of humor. Except I think I have more embarrassing moments than most- leave it to me.
Moving on…
Teaching at the French School
I am also in a comparative education class here. Part of the course requirement is teaching an English class at a French elementary school. Ashley and I teach a class together and today was our first day. The class we are teaching has students who are 8-10 years old. Luckily last night I told Isabelle our lesson plan and she told me that she thought we had too much material for one class. We changed our lesson and broke it up into two. For the first lesson we had the students pick American names. We also worked on “Hello. My name is _____. I am ___ years old. I go to St. Catherine’s (their school)” and the questions that correspond with meeting someone.
After our class today, Ashley and I couldn’t stop gushing about how cute the kids were. They were adorable- tres mignon! I was nervous before we began, because I was worried that my French wouldn’t hold up. We came into the classroom and the kids were filing in from recess. They all told us “Hello” or “Bonjour” and sat down. “La maitress” their teacher gave us an introduction and then Ashley and I explained our classroom rules to them in French. After we were done, the teacher asked the class what we said the rules were. Hands shot up and they answered her. Then Ashley and I introduced ourselves in English. After we were done, the teacher again asked the students what we said we liked to do. They responded to her in French. It was really cute- some kept repeating what the others said. After that we started by acting out how you say hello to someone. Ashley would say something and then say the French equivalent. The teacher sternly told her not to translate. As we acted out our introductions, we told them that in the United States we don’t do the bissou but rather shake hands. There were some giggles at that one. After we showed them how we say hello, we went around the room and had them say “Nice to meet you” and their ages one by one. They really found it hard to say “years.” The y is a challenge for them. Then we had them pick their new names. First we pronounced all of them in English. Katie, Lindsey, Amanda, Amy, Beth, Rachel, Lauren, Sarah, Anna, Kelsey… etc and Tommy, Kyle, Brian, Matt, Mike, Dylan, Pat, Kevin, Mark…. You get the point. Haha note how many of those are friends or family members of mine. Anyways, Beth was pronounced “Bet” and though the girls loved the name Rachel, none of them could say it. The boys were also excited and really liked Pat and Tommy. After they picked, they filled out a passport paper we had made for them. They drew a picture of themselves and wrote My name is (their new name). I am __ years old. I go to St. Catherines. Next week we are going to do “I like” and “I dislike” which they will also fill out on the passports. They kids really liked us because we were friendlier and more encouraging than their teacher. I don’t know if many of you know this (and I’m sure I’ll discuss this in further detail another blog post) but the education system is very rigid in France. The kids are used to being compared to one another and drilled for memorization. So I think an hour with some nice American students was a good reprieve for them.
I think that teaching this class will become one of my most fulfilling experiences here in Aix and a very important part of my study of the French culture.
Alright, this was a marathon posting session and I think I’ve given a pretty good conclusion of this past week. I will try to post more regularly so you guys don’t have such a long post to read. Hope you enjoyed it and that everything is going well for all of you! Hope that snow melts away. Not that I would know what that’s like. I went for a run today in short sleeves- it was so sunny!! ;-) Sorry, this is my revenge for the kids at U of I who rubbed it in my face that they had two snow days…
Much love.
We just learned in my Oral French class that “coucou” is a popular way of saying hello here.
Ah, I finally I post. I feel like its been a while, and I have a lot to tell you about. So lets begin…
First, to answer some questions. No Cathy, I have not cooked any American cuisine for my French family yet. If I could cook like many of the talented chefs in our family then maybe I would. I’ve been trying to think what would be a really American meal for me to cook for them. My mind always reverts to mashed potatoes. I know my mom is probably smiling at that one- yes, my favorite food. But I am not a very coordinated cook and all of the appliances in France are old school so I don’t know if they would even have electric beaters that I would need. It took me a while to figure out how to work an old fashioned can opener back home this summer, so I’m thinking that I would struggle with the utensils here. So I have chosen to avoid further embarrassment and instead sit patiently, waiting for them to feed me. ☺
But please know that on days where I am being fed raw meat (by their relatives) or parts of birds that I didn’t believe were possible to eat, my mind wanders back to eating at Grandma’s house. The pain is intense in those moments, and I long for the Wasem’s spaghetti, Aunt Abby’s dip (that she makes especially for me) as well as all of the other culinary delights of our family.
Also, Aix is pronounced “ex” for those of you who were wondering.
A few more trivial things that I have noticed throughout my four weeks here… The pigeons here are numerous and they are not afraid of people. I’ve found that the big fat pigeons here walk more than they fly and they hang out around cafes waiting for a handout. One time I was leaning up against a fountain (coincidentally eating a pastry- how cliché is that?) and the birds kept walking up to me, heads bobbing furiously back and forth as they approached. They seriously would have walked straight into me had I not stopped my foot. I’m not sure what the animals of Aix have against me. Maybe they too spot me as a tourist and plan their modes of attack accordingly. Having distracted me with a pastry, they ram full speed into me in hopes that I will drop it. Who knows? But you gotta watch out for them. They know what they’re doing.
Oh the mopeds- as I have told some of you, after living in Aix I now have a strong desire to buy a moped. They seem like they are so much fun. Alas, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with mopeds. They are small and fast and thus can zip in and out of herds of people rather quickly. I have often played chicken with the mopeds here. “Are you going left? No? Right… I’m gonna go to um, I, um… this side?!” followed by a quick barrel roll out of their path. Haha ok, maybe I exaggerate. But I do think that often the moped-ists laugh at my indecision to chose a side to move to sometimes. Cars are like that too in Aix. The streets here are very narrow and often pretty crowded with people. As a logical American, I think to myself- this street is too small for a car to fit in. Also, it would be extremely dangerous for all of the pedestrians. -But the Europeans never cease to amaze me with their driving abilities. Where some would see a dangerous situation for all involved, they see an opportunity. Lol Let me recreate a typical day in a street here. People are walking in the middle of the street. Suddenly, you hear a noise. It is an approaching car. Everyone moves to the side and the car speeds by. The pedestrians flood the road again. At first, I was scared to death of the cars. No joke. I would jump each time one came. Now I confidently know the streets the cars can come down and from what direction. The street that my school is on is very narrow and cars come up it a lot. There is still a part of me that sometimes questions if me and a car will both fit in the street at the same time- especially at the top (it tapers and is even narrower). The French always answer that question with a yes, and zoom up RIGHT beside me. Another thing about the roads is some of them have these little posts in the middle of the street that attempt to slow traffic. As a car stops at the little light, the car is sensed and the little posts recede into the ground. The car passes, and they spring back up. It’s kinda cool in my opinion.
Alright, now onto more interesting topics…
My Archeology Teacher.
This is a post that I have been longing to write since my first archeology class. I don’t pretend to have an incredible interest in archeology. When I was signing up for classes I looked for opportunities to travel and also looked for classes that I figured would be interesting. So, I’m taking archeology and I couldn’t be happier. The class is taught by this young French teacher. He is absolutely, positively HILARIOUS. The class is taught in English and his accent is very strong. For those of you who are familiar with Father of the Bride think back to Frank (pronounced Fraunk). It’s kinda like that. I am continually impressed with his ability to make English sound like French. He is really funny anyways so add in the accent and he is a riot. We’re always wondering what he’s going to say next. Often in class I take more notes on what the phrases he has said than the actual material for class. SIDENOTE TO PARENTS: I AM FOCUSING ON THE LESSON AS WELL. :-D Lets go through some of the gems that he has said…
First off: The Affirmations…
In order to check his English, after almost every word he says we hear…
-yes?
-that’s ok?
-that’s logical?
-yes- you agree?
-that makes sense?
-yes, that’s fine?
Moving on to some truly great pronunciations/phrases….
I hope these don’t end up being one of those “you had to be there” kinds of thing, and it’s hard to type out how they sound. Just know, its funny to see which syllable he’s going to emphasize each time. Also, words seem to suddenly take on more syllables.
(Often the h is silent which makes sense because the French don’t pronounce it but its often funny to hear continually…) ‘elpful, ‘aven’t
-o- cured (occurred)
-veg-JET-tables (vegetables)
-I. D. (idea) as in “just to give you an I.D. (idea)…
-care-ACT-o-rized (characterized)
-un-AL-eezed (analyzed)
-inter-PRETING (interpreting)
- arpoo (harpoons)
- teef (teeth) the “th” is always pronounced as an f- understandably hard for them
-ans-WERE (answer)
-ca-MENT-aries (cemeteries)
-knowl-EDGES (knowledge) things often get “s”es that don’t have an s
-at (ate)
-peezants (peasants)
-soap (soup)
-fir (fear)
- to afraid the animals (to scare the animals)
-ma-moof (mammoth)
-lab-or-AT-ory (laboratory)
-when the tree was bornt (born)
-huge fire forests (huge forest fires)
The Quotes…. (it was hard to regain composure in class after hearing these)
(talking about cannibalism and religion- and being totally serious) “Isn’t that one of the ten? Isn’t that one of the ten commandments- not to eat your wife?”
(also on the topic of cannibalism) “Ok, so Grandmofer iz lying by the fire- she iz not moving, not reading stories to the children… pfff…ok, time to barbeque.”
(explaining why the caveman in the ice didn’t decompose) “the bacteries (bacteria) couldn’t wake up and eat him. “
(momentary loss for English- talking about different objects to make jewelry with) “You can have… a lot of words I don’t know how to say”
After writing these and rereading them, I realize that I cannot recapture the hilarity of these comments. Just know that they are great. Maybe I should record one of his classes for all of you… its truly a treat.
Next topic….
Valentine’s Day in France
So yesterday was Valentine’s Day. All of the American students obviously saw this as a great opportunity to buy gifts for our awesome host families. I, being one of them, eagerly bought my host mom a lovely tin of cookies and a box of chocolates for each of the boys. On Valentine’s Day, I walked into the living room and presented Guillaume his gift, smiled and wished him a happy Valentine’s Day. He looked a little confused but I thought it was just because he didn’t expect anything from me. Isabelle came into the room from the kitchen and I gave her the tin. She looked very surprised. She thanked me and after a minute she asked me in French if Americans give their family Valentine’s Day gifts. I said yes and she laughed. In France, Valentine’s Day is only for people in a romantic relationship. Hahaha Hence their surprise. They were both very happy to get the gifts, but very shocked. Isabelle loved it because she didn’t have a valentine this year after having broken up with her live in boyfriend not too long ago. She didn’t stop smiling. I felt a little awkward having bought my French brothers chocolates, which was obviously seen as a flirtatious move. Haha- oh but it gets better. I still had to give Maxime his gift. I now knew that it would be misinterpreted. Later Maxime was in the kitchen and I presented him with his box and hesitantly wished him a happy Valentine’s day. He also looked a little surprised and gave me a smile. Lol Isabelle quickly told him that in the United States, the family gets Vday gifts too. Hahaha- So I totally hit on my two French brothers by giving them gifts. AWKWARD! So typical of my life, especially here. Flash forward to later that night when Guillaume and a friend were driving me to Ashley’s house. As I got into the car, Guillaume’s friend- who I had met before- smiled at me and said “Happy Valentine’s Day!” and I said the same thing back. Of course, the two boys started laughing. Guillaume said “Kelly- its only for people dating!” (his friend was obviously teasing me) and I said, yes after today’s events- I know this now. They both laughed. Then his friend (who is really nice) started asking me if I had a “petit ami” back home. Knowing its too difficult to translate “yes but it’s complicated” I just said yes and then answered all of his questions. He kept switching back and forth from English and French. Right as I am getting out of the car, he says “ Don’t be sad that your boyfriend is not here- someday us will get married and have the children.” Me, now extremely confused, asked him “You and me? We will get married and have the children?” Guillaume started cracking up and his friend just looked really confused. Guillaume explained that he had said the equivalent of “nous” to me and then his friend started laughing too. He said “No- I meant you and your boyfriend. But sure, maybe someday we will get married.”
Please take a moment and relish the awkwardness of my life. Not only did I hit on both of my French brothers yesterday, but also their friend.
Hahaha- all you can do is laugh. I pity the kids here who don’t have a sense of humor. Except I think I have more embarrassing moments than most- leave it to me.
Moving on…
Teaching at the French School
I am also in a comparative education class here. Part of the course requirement is teaching an English class at a French elementary school. Ashley and I teach a class together and today was our first day. The class we are teaching has students who are 8-10 years old. Luckily last night I told Isabelle our lesson plan and she told me that she thought we had too much material for one class. We changed our lesson and broke it up into two. For the first lesson we had the students pick American names. We also worked on “Hello. My name is _____. I am ___ years old. I go to St. Catherine’s (their school)” and the questions that correspond with meeting someone.
After our class today, Ashley and I couldn’t stop gushing about how cute the kids were. They were adorable- tres mignon! I was nervous before we began, because I was worried that my French wouldn’t hold up. We came into the classroom and the kids were filing in from recess. They all told us “Hello” or “Bonjour” and sat down. “La maitress” their teacher gave us an introduction and then Ashley and I explained our classroom rules to them in French. After we were done, the teacher asked the class what we said the rules were. Hands shot up and they answered her. Then Ashley and I introduced ourselves in English. After we were done, the teacher again asked the students what we said we liked to do. They responded to her in French. It was really cute- some kept repeating what the others said. After that we started by acting out how you say hello to someone. Ashley would say something and then say the French equivalent. The teacher sternly told her not to translate. As we acted out our introductions, we told them that in the United States we don’t do the bissou but rather shake hands. There were some giggles at that one. After we showed them how we say hello, we went around the room and had them say “Nice to meet you” and their ages one by one. They really found it hard to say “years.” The y is a challenge for them. Then we had them pick their new names. First we pronounced all of them in English. Katie, Lindsey, Amanda, Amy, Beth, Rachel, Lauren, Sarah, Anna, Kelsey… etc and Tommy, Kyle, Brian, Matt, Mike, Dylan, Pat, Kevin, Mark…. You get the point. Haha note how many of those are friends or family members of mine. Anyways, Beth was pronounced “Bet” and though the girls loved the name Rachel, none of them could say it. The boys were also excited and really liked Pat and Tommy. After they picked, they filled out a passport paper we had made for them. They drew a picture of themselves and wrote My name is (their new name). I am __ years old. I go to St. Catherines. Next week we are going to do “I like” and “I dislike” which they will also fill out on the passports. They kids really liked us because we were friendlier and more encouraging than their teacher. I don’t know if many of you know this (and I’m sure I’ll discuss this in further detail another blog post) but the education system is very rigid in France. The kids are used to being compared to one another and drilled for memorization. So I think an hour with some nice American students was a good reprieve for them.
I think that teaching this class will become one of my most fulfilling experiences here in Aix and a very important part of my study of the French culture.
Alright, this was a marathon posting session and I think I’ve given a pretty good conclusion of this past week. I will try to post more regularly so you guys don’t have such a long post to read. Hope you enjoyed it and that everything is going well for all of you! Hope that snow melts away. Not that I would know what that’s like. I went for a run today in short sleeves- it was so sunny!! ;-) Sorry, this is my revenge for the kids at U of I who rubbed it in my face that they had two snow days…
Much love.
Monday, February 12, 2007
The Catch Up Posting- Feb 12
Hey all! Below are posts I wrote the past two nights. I haven't had internet at my French home so I have to post them at school. Hence the delay.
Hope you enjoy!
Saturday Feb 10
Hi all!
I am currently alone in the apartment. So naturally I am blaring The Supremes and dancing around. :-D Aaaand now catching up my poor neglected blog. I am actually waiting for Guillome to pick me up to go to Marseille. His best friend, a girl named Perrine, lives there. He invited me to go there and hang out with some of his friends tonight. I’m excited. Isabelle is out with friends tonight and Maxime is skiing so I’m looking forward to heading out of the house.
I serenaded Liza- the evil cat- as I walked through. She scratched me earlier. She didn’t seem to appreciate my singing. I seriously cringe as I walk past her sitting on the couch. I can see her suddenly lunging at me. She randomly punched me one day. Haha I say punched because I was just sitting at the table and she took a paw and smacked my face. Luckily with claws retracted. She’s the meanest of the French that I’ve encountered thus far. She did let me pet her today. I should have known our friendship would be short lived. I now bear her claw marks in my right hand.
I never liked cats anyways.
Today I went with my photography class to Avignon. It was pretty cool. We went to see an American photographer’s exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art. It was… interesting. I actually had seen some of the exhibit displayed in Peoria at the Art Guild. How random is that? The photographer had a section of his work that was just portraits of Americans (which was part of what I had seen) as well as- kid you not- sections entitled “bodily fluids”, “the morgue”, and “desire items”, and “the history of sex.” It was a bit hard for me to stomach, not gonna lie. haha I can’t even blame France for this one- it was an American artist. To break it down a bit, “the morgue” contained pictures of human cadavers, “desire items” were close up pictures of guns, and as for the other two, I’ll let the imaginations run free. Lets label the exhibit “creative” and move on…
I should tell you that when we got to Avignon in the morning it was gray, cold and raining. By the time we left the museum, the sun was out and the sky was blue. Provence has yet to fail me.
Afterwards, we had time to roam the streets of Avignon. Amy and I went to go get food. We were starving, so we decided to go to this random restaurant. Not the best, but not horrible. I ate a lunch crepe and we went in search of the Palais des Papes. The “Palace of the Popes” is Avignon’s main claim to fame. It acted as the host of the Popes when there was a need for them to leave Rome. I don’t pretend to fully grasp the situation, even after listening to the tour guide phones we were given. Anyways, it was beautiful. There was a great moment where I was wondering the halls and decided that the room I was in should be documented in a picture. Haha… I wasn’t even in a heavily populated room, but after the flash went off I hear a voice yell at me in French not to take pictures. Oops- missed that sign. I wish I could accurately describe what being in the Palais des Papes was like. It was HUGE and stairwells kept winding up into different rooms. My favorite part was when we got to go up onto this lookout type thing. The view of Avignon was great. We were starting to run out of time, so we left the Palais to go find the Pont Saint-Benezet- Avignon’s famous bridge. We had to majorly book it. The bridge juts out into the Rhone River. It doesn’t lead anywhere and in my opinion is a bit random. It is very pretty though and by the time we were there, the sun was out in full force. There is this French song about people dancing on the bridge. So, naturally we danced and took photos. It was really cute because there was this group of older, British people walking the bridge and taking pictures too. The two older women in the group went into the middle of the bridge, held hands and posed as dancers. Amy and I smiled, and after seeing our amusement, they asked us to join them. So we went, held hands with British strangers and danced on the bridge of Avignon. It was a really cool moment. We all laughed.
Then Amy and I noticed that we were really late and needed desperately to get to the other side of Avignon to meet the bus. We started sprinting through the streets, dogging the French right and left. Haha We seriously ran for it! Luckily, the bus waited for us. Our photography teacher came to the back of the bus and told us about how the area used to speak its own Provincial language. He is an old Scottish man and in his shaky voice he sang to us a song he knew in that language. It was like being serenaded by a Scottish grandfather (or a very old Sean Connery). It was great- we all loved it and clapped when he was done.
We got a great view of the mountains as we drove the hour it took to get home. It was hard to stay awake though- it had been a long day.
Sorry this was the only post from this week. Not much happened- my Spain group booked our first night’s stay in Barcelona. We got a “guest house” type thing. It is supposedly not quite a hostel, but who knows. We’re very excited! If only we didn’t have school until then…
I tried using the calling cards that I was given. That was a frustration beyond belief. It didn’t work, and I need to find “access codes” for France. If anyone knows how to work one- please, enlighten me.
I keep waving. Ashley and I have decided that after habitually waving for 19 years, it is too much to ask us to stop our waving reflexes in three weeks. Perhaps with time…
______________________________________________
THE SUNDAY POST
Feb 11
Hey all. Today I am not doing much. Working on a paper that should have been done a while ago and going to church tonight.
Last night was fun. Guillome and I drove to Marseille. It was neat getting to see the city at night. It’s weird though. I know that France is going to be different than the States but each time I’m surprised at how different it is. I’ve heard many times that Marseille has bounced back and forth from being France’s second largest city to third largest. So when envisioning it, I pictured a big city and a skyline of a city like Chicago, St. Louis, etc. I kept waiting for the moment where the city opens up in front of you and there are a ton of lights. It’s not the same here. True, there are many buildings and there are lights but the intensity is not the same. The buildings are still very old and the lights are yellow and dim. It’s not like I’m being closed minded, but you just come to expect certain things. It took us a while to find a place to park. Europeans are crazy drivers. They zoom so fast in the narrowest, most populated streets. Driving with Guillome even in Aix I begin to pray for the safety of the pedestrians further up the street. “Please let them get out of the street… please.” Mom, as we drove on the autoroute I kept thinking about how nauseous you would be. My ears popped as we slowed back down nearing the city. They don’t take regular lefts either. There are all of these circles that you follow around to your turn. So coming from a high speed into one of those somewhat reminds me of a rollercoaster ride. I’m not trying to be dramatic, but riding with a French person driving is an experience. It’s true. Guillome laughed at me because as we were crossing the street there was a red sign to the pedestrians. A car was coming up and Guillome quickly crossed the street and I started to but then went back. Lol I didn’t think I would have time to cross. They just drive so freaking fast. I had to wait a minute before I felt I could get safely across.
Anyways, the party was ok. Yet another potentially awkward situation for me. We came in and –kiss kiss- said hello to everyone. The whole “bissou” (kissing) is still weird for me. Especially to the guys that I don’t know. I always hesitate like “Do I initiate this? Do I just go and kiss you now?” It’s random. I think that I’m supposed to say my name as we kiss because they usually tell me theirs and after I did the kiss kiss to one girl she said “Well I’m (insert name here) but I don’t know who you are.” Guillome told her my name and reminded her that I was the American. Then she smiled and was like “ok!” Perrine was awesome. So nice. When I told Guillome how much I liked her later he smiled and said “She’s not my best friend for nothing.” She spoke a mixture of English and French to me. She kept teasing Guillome and would include me in it and let me poke fun at him too. She is a journalist in Paris and both her and Guillome said that I had to go to Paris with Guillome when he goes. They told me they would take me out to where they go and let me sleep at her place. How great is that? So far, I have two different housing options in Paris- Perrine now, and Nicholas, Isabelle’s other son who lives in the heart of Paris. La vie est belle. The rest of the party went well. The three of us talked most of the night because we didn’t really know many of the other people there.
Another great moment from last night- Perrine was talking about how she used to know a lot of American students who went to the art school near her house. She called them her big sisters and Guillome said in French that he now had an American little sister. :-D
Gros Bis! Kelly
FINAL NOTE: Ashley and I went to Mass at the Cathedral tonight. We cracked up at the end because we kept trying to sing this song in French and we were butchering it. Hey, at least we tried!
Hope you enjoy!
Saturday Feb 10
Hi all!
I am currently alone in the apartment. So naturally I am blaring The Supremes and dancing around. :-D Aaaand now catching up my poor neglected blog. I am actually waiting for Guillome to pick me up to go to Marseille. His best friend, a girl named Perrine, lives there. He invited me to go there and hang out with some of his friends tonight. I’m excited. Isabelle is out with friends tonight and Maxime is skiing so I’m looking forward to heading out of the house.
I serenaded Liza- the evil cat- as I walked through. She scratched me earlier. She didn’t seem to appreciate my singing. I seriously cringe as I walk past her sitting on the couch. I can see her suddenly lunging at me. She randomly punched me one day. Haha I say punched because I was just sitting at the table and she took a paw and smacked my face. Luckily with claws retracted. She’s the meanest of the French that I’ve encountered thus far. She did let me pet her today. I should have known our friendship would be short lived. I now bear her claw marks in my right hand.
I never liked cats anyways.
Today I went with my photography class to Avignon. It was pretty cool. We went to see an American photographer’s exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art. It was… interesting. I actually had seen some of the exhibit displayed in Peoria at the Art Guild. How random is that? The photographer had a section of his work that was just portraits of Americans (which was part of what I had seen) as well as- kid you not- sections entitled “bodily fluids”, “the morgue”, and “desire items”, and “the history of sex.” It was a bit hard for me to stomach, not gonna lie. haha I can’t even blame France for this one- it was an American artist. To break it down a bit, “the morgue” contained pictures of human cadavers, “desire items” were close up pictures of guns, and as for the other two, I’ll let the imaginations run free. Lets label the exhibit “creative” and move on…
I should tell you that when we got to Avignon in the morning it was gray, cold and raining. By the time we left the museum, the sun was out and the sky was blue. Provence has yet to fail me.
Afterwards, we had time to roam the streets of Avignon. Amy and I went to go get food. We were starving, so we decided to go to this random restaurant. Not the best, but not horrible. I ate a lunch crepe and we went in search of the Palais des Papes. The “Palace of the Popes” is Avignon’s main claim to fame. It acted as the host of the Popes when there was a need for them to leave Rome. I don’t pretend to fully grasp the situation, even after listening to the tour guide phones we were given. Anyways, it was beautiful. There was a great moment where I was wondering the halls and decided that the room I was in should be documented in a picture. Haha… I wasn’t even in a heavily populated room, but after the flash went off I hear a voice yell at me in French not to take pictures. Oops- missed that sign. I wish I could accurately describe what being in the Palais des Papes was like. It was HUGE and stairwells kept winding up into different rooms. My favorite part was when we got to go up onto this lookout type thing. The view of Avignon was great. We were starting to run out of time, so we left the Palais to go find the Pont Saint-Benezet- Avignon’s famous bridge. We had to majorly book it. The bridge juts out into the Rhone River. It doesn’t lead anywhere and in my opinion is a bit random. It is very pretty though and by the time we were there, the sun was out in full force. There is this French song about people dancing on the bridge. So, naturally we danced and took photos. It was really cute because there was this group of older, British people walking the bridge and taking pictures too. The two older women in the group went into the middle of the bridge, held hands and posed as dancers. Amy and I smiled, and after seeing our amusement, they asked us to join them. So we went, held hands with British strangers and danced on the bridge of Avignon. It was a really cool moment. We all laughed.
Then Amy and I noticed that we were really late and needed desperately to get to the other side of Avignon to meet the bus. We started sprinting through the streets, dogging the French right and left. Haha We seriously ran for it! Luckily, the bus waited for us. Our photography teacher came to the back of the bus and told us about how the area used to speak its own Provincial language. He is an old Scottish man and in his shaky voice he sang to us a song he knew in that language. It was like being serenaded by a Scottish grandfather (or a very old Sean Connery). It was great- we all loved it and clapped when he was done.
We got a great view of the mountains as we drove the hour it took to get home. It was hard to stay awake though- it had been a long day.
Sorry this was the only post from this week. Not much happened- my Spain group booked our first night’s stay in Barcelona. We got a “guest house” type thing. It is supposedly not quite a hostel, but who knows. We’re very excited! If only we didn’t have school until then…
I tried using the calling cards that I was given. That was a frustration beyond belief. It didn’t work, and I need to find “access codes” for France. If anyone knows how to work one- please, enlighten me.
I keep waving. Ashley and I have decided that after habitually waving for 19 years, it is too much to ask us to stop our waving reflexes in three weeks. Perhaps with time…
______________________________________________
THE SUNDAY POST
Feb 11
Hey all. Today I am not doing much. Working on a paper that should have been done a while ago and going to church tonight.
Last night was fun. Guillome and I drove to Marseille. It was neat getting to see the city at night. It’s weird though. I know that France is going to be different than the States but each time I’m surprised at how different it is. I’ve heard many times that Marseille has bounced back and forth from being France’s second largest city to third largest. So when envisioning it, I pictured a big city and a skyline of a city like Chicago, St. Louis, etc. I kept waiting for the moment where the city opens up in front of you and there are a ton of lights. It’s not the same here. True, there are many buildings and there are lights but the intensity is not the same. The buildings are still very old and the lights are yellow and dim. It’s not like I’m being closed minded, but you just come to expect certain things. It took us a while to find a place to park. Europeans are crazy drivers. They zoom so fast in the narrowest, most populated streets. Driving with Guillome even in Aix I begin to pray for the safety of the pedestrians further up the street. “Please let them get out of the street… please.” Mom, as we drove on the autoroute I kept thinking about how nauseous you would be. My ears popped as we slowed back down nearing the city. They don’t take regular lefts either. There are all of these circles that you follow around to your turn. So coming from a high speed into one of those somewhat reminds me of a rollercoaster ride. I’m not trying to be dramatic, but riding with a French person driving is an experience. It’s true. Guillome laughed at me because as we were crossing the street there was a red sign to the pedestrians. A car was coming up and Guillome quickly crossed the street and I started to but then went back. Lol I didn’t think I would have time to cross. They just drive so freaking fast. I had to wait a minute before I felt I could get safely across.
Anyways, the party was ok. Yet another potentially awkward situation for me. We came in and –kiss kiss- said hello to everyone. The whole “bissou” (kissing) is still weird for me. Especially to the guys that I don’t know. I always hesitate like “Do I initiate this? Do I just go and kiss you now?” It’s random. I think that I’m supposed to say my name as we kiss because they usually tell me theirs and after I did the kiss kiss to one girl she said “Well I’m (insert name here) but I don’t know who you are.” Guillome told her my name and reminded her that I was the American. Then she smiled and was like “ok!” Perrine was awesome. So nice. When I told Guillome how much I liked her later he smiled and said “She’s not my best friend for nothing.” She spoke a mixture of English and French to me. She kept teasing Guillome and would include me in it and let me poke fun at him too. She is a journalist in Paris and both her and Guillome said that I had to go to Paris with Guillome when he goes. They told me they would take me out to where they go and let me sleep at her place. How great is that? So far, I have two different housing options in Paris- Perrine now, and Nicholas, Isabelle’s other son who lives in the heart of Paris. La vie est belle. The rest of the party went well. The three of us talked most of the night because we didn’t really know many of the other people there.
Another great moment from last night- Perrine was talking about how she used to know a lot of American students who went to the art school near her house. She called them her big sisters and Guillome said in French that he now had an American little sister. :-D
Gros Bis! Kelly
FINAL NOTE: Ashley and I went to Mass at the Cathedral tonight. We cracked up at the end because we kept trying to sing this song in French and we were butchering it. Hey, at least we tried!
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
le 7 fevrier
Salut!
Yesterday was a fun day. I had class and then decided to go for a run before I had my next class. I decided I would also look for the hotel that my Aunt Char is going to be staying at when she visits Aix. I had looked on a map the night before and had googled the address but the next day I forgot the name of the street and my home internet connection had just stopped working. I figured I would just ask people as I went and just run around and see if I found it. I had a great run and got quite a bit out off town and saw some hotels. I didn't see the one that she was going to stay at though. So, being my father's daughter, I started asking people. I like practicing my French anyways and asked quite a few people. Each would get me a little closer. I walked further and further back into the city and still couldn't find it. I asked one more woman who gave me a really strange look and told me that I was standing next to the Aquabella Hotel. lol Sure enough, I looked up and there it was. It had a different sign on the other side and the sign that said its name was facing a different direction. haha I laughed because after this huge long search, it ended up being on the very same street as my school. So Aunt Char, be glad- its a great location from the Old Aix- and an even better one from where I am! :-D
I then went in search for this walmart-esque store that you can buy food for cheaper than Monoprix. Again, I asked a bunch of locals if they knew where it was. I didn't end up finding it. It's called E.D. and I found this store called EuroDiff which ended up being like a Bed, Bath and Beyond. I was confused and wanted to know if it had another layer that sold food so I approached a woman to ask her. I knew she didn't work there, but I figured she could at least tell me if this was the only level. So I walked up and started asking her in French if it was the only level but she interrupted me and told me that she didn't work there. She had this half amused, half smirk on her face and I got really embarrassed and blushed. I told her I knew she was a client but that I was just wondering if there was another level. She told me no and I left- I didn't really appreciate her attitude. Maybe it was because I was still in my workout clothes. Regardless, not a big deal. I went to Monoprix and then asked my French family later where it was.
Today it rained. I feel like its karma getting me back for teasing all of you who are enduring cold weather. Granted, it hasn't rained very long and it is still warm. But the sun wasn't out, and that's considered horrible weather if you live in Aix.
I'm in the library right now and all of the other students are scurrying around trying to book hostels and flights for the upcoming break. Starting Feb 23rd we have a 10 day break. My group is going to Spain. We're starting in Barcelona and working it out from there- let me know if any of you have suggestions for where to go!
Hope all is well- much love.
Yesterday was a fun day. I had class and then decided to go for a run before I had my next class. I decided I would also look for the hotel that my Aunt Char is going to be staying at when she visits Aix. I had looked on a map the night before and had googled the address but the next day I forgot the name of the street and my home internet connection had just stopped working. I figured I would just ask people as I went and just run around and see if I found it. I had a great run and got quite a bit out off town and saw some hotels. I didn't see the one that she was going to stay at though. So, being my father's daughter, I started asking people. I like practicing my French anyways and asked quite a few people. Each would get me a little closer. I walked further and further back into the city and still couldn't find it. I asked one more woman who gave me a really strange look and told me that I was standing next to the Aquabella Hotel. lol Sure enough, I looked up and there it was. It had a different sign on the other side and the sign that said its name was facing a different direction. haha I laughed because after this huge long search, it ended up being on the very same street as my school. So Aunt Char, be glad- its a great location from the Old Aix- and an even better one from where I am! :-D
I then went in search for this walmart-esque store that you can buy food for cheaper than Monoprix. Again, I asked a bunch of locals if they knew where it was. I didn't end up finding it. It's called E.D. and I found this store called EuroDiff which ended up being like a Bed, Bath and Beyond. I was confused and wanted to know if it had another layer that sold food so I approached a woman to ask her. I knew she didn't work there, but I figured she could at least tell me if this was the only level. So I walked up and started asking her in French if it was the only level but she interrupted me and told me that she didn't work there. She had this half amused, half smirk on her face and I got really embarrassed and blushed. I told her I knew she was a client but that I was just wondering if there was another level. She told me no and I left- I didn't really appreciate her attitude. Maybe it was because I was still in my workout clothes. Regardless, not a big deal. I went to Monoprix and then asked my French family later where it was.
Today it rained. I feel like its karma getting me back for teasing all of you who are enduring cold weather. Granted, it hasn't rained very long and it is still warm. But the sun wasn't out, and that's considered horrible weather if you live in Aix.
I'm in the library right now and all of the other students are scurrying around trying to book hostels and flights for the upcoming break. Starting Feb 23rd we have a 10 day break. My group is going to Spain. We're starting in Barcelona and working it out from there- let me know if any of you have suggestions for where to go!
Hope all is well- much love.
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