Thanksgiving in France

by the way, you can see more pictures of our Thanksgiving on Facebook -> there's a link here on the right!

This has been a really fun week! Monday we had dinner at Soni’s with all the group. Tuesday was dinner with Sezen (yay omelettes!) and then Bar de l’U for international student night. While there Peter and I found out our class was canceled for Wednesday so we all decided to go out dancing. Stayed out late and had a good time and then Wednesday Peter, Jürgen, and I went to the salle de musique (music room for my anglophone readers :) in the Student Center and played piano and guitar and sang all afternoon. It was awesome…we have decided that Wednesday is now Music Day. Still waiting on my fiddle! :(

After Music Day we all went to the movies since they had a special for students-3.50 euros for a evening movie! Wow! So we all got together and went to see the new Christmas Carol movie with Jim Carrey. It was pretty good, but the Christmas Carol always kinda depresses me. I dunno, ghosts and sickly children and Charles Dickens 1800s cheesiness. But I liked the costumes (even though they were animated haha) and I was just happy to be with everyone.

Thursday was Thanksgiving!! I was pretty bummed about missing Thanksgiving so I decided to cook one anyway right here in Besac. It took almost 2 days of ingredient searching, armed with a dictionary and a lot of patience (sweet potatoes and cranberries were so hard to find here!) but by Thursday I was ready to cook a real Thanksgiving-turkey, gravy, sweet potatoes, dressing, cranberry sauce…the works. I got all of my friends together (since they’re all international it was their first Thanksgiving, which is pretty cute) and we started cooking after class got out yesterday afternoon.

I was a bit worried since I had decided to tackle Thanksgiving in a tiny French dorm kitchen with no oven, microwave, or anything…just 2 hotplates (4 burners total) and a lot of crossed fingers. We had hoped to cook at our friend Sabine’s apartment (she has a real oven, lucky) but she came down with the flu and there was no way that was happening. So, armed with a bunch of borrowed pots and pans I set out with a bunch of eager assistants.

d

Daniel and Laura handling the sweet potatoes, me in the back

I almost can’t believe it, but we managed to do everything-I made so many things from scratch-the sweet potatoes, the cranberry sauce, the dressing-I was really happy that my improvisations worked out. We even got really lucky with the sweet potato casserole. I bought marshmallows but didn’t have a way to melt them and had resigned myself to non marshmallow-y goodness when suddenly a German girl popped in to say hi to Jürgen and offered to pop it into her toaster over. Couldn’t believe my luck and soon we had toasted marshmallows! Yay!

me vs dressing

The dressing was another surprise-I made it all on the stovetop-celery, onions, chicken stock, and bread, and then pan fried it to make it crunchy. I actually ended up putting an oven safe pan on a burner to give myself more space and sauteed my improv dressing that way. Then I put tin foil on the top so it'd steam a little bit and let it cook by itself. I was just like…is this seriously working? Wow!


The turkey I left in the capable hands of Jürgen and Soni. I had bought some turkey breasts and figured we’d do a nontraditional take on turkey, so they seasoned it up with paprika and some other spices and sauteed it and it was delish. I didn’t even miss a roasted one. The gravy was also really good. I left my German boys in charge of making it and they really came through for me and whipped up something fab.

For dessert we had ice cream and German pound cake. No pumpkin or pecan pies, but hey it was chocolate so I wasn’t complaining at all.

ta-dah! 

The best part was everyone cooking together-we took over the kitchen and it was just like real Thanksgiving with everyone in the kitchen and laughing and talking and tasting…except it was in a bunch of different languages. Me and Igga were the only ones who’d done Thanksgiving before, so I was excited to bring this holiday to all my friends. Everyone was so helpful and we had a great time. Then everyone grabbed something and we brought everything downstairs to Soni's room. She was a great hostess...I must say it's no easy task to serve Thanksgiving dinner to 10 people in a tiny dorm room.  While we were serving the food Peter found the American and Canadian national anthems and played it for us which was pretty funny. Then we went around and said (in French) what we were thankful for and then I explained (in French) the Thanksgiving story and the Mayflower and the Pilgrims and Indians and all that. Good thing I'm a history major and could remember the whole story. I hope my French version made sense...how do you translate "Wampanoag Indians" and "Mayflower" and "Plymouth Rock" into French? :P I gave it my best shot.

yum yum yum

So with my German, Spanish, Dutch, English and Canadian friends well fed we started in on the cake and ice cream and then Peter got the guitar out and Jürgen and I sang some songs and then on a few everyone joined in. Then Igga, Daniel and Laura very kindly did the dishes (the best Thanksgiving present any cook can receive hehe) and then we all said goodnight and headed home.

Besançon

and music!

I went home and skyped the family  and Pappie told me he got to the bottom of my package conundrum (cause Pappie can fix anything!! yay!) and everyone on that side of the pond had a good Thanksgiving, which I was happy to hear. I have to say that even though I wasn't home for Thanksgiving this was probably one of the best ones I've ever had-and not to sound like a cheesy Hallmark card or anything but it was a really good night. I was happy just to be with my Besançon "family" and share Thanksgiving with them...it's fun to cook for people you love and see them happy and enjoying themselves. Like that's what Thanksgiving is really about-being with people you love and being thankful for the things in your life. And last night, even though I was far from home I still felt loved and I still felt happy and thankful. I know it's sentimental and girly but I'm just being honest-the people I have here are great and I'm happy to have them in my life.

I hope everyone at home had an awesome Thanksgiving and enjoyed their ovens (that's one thing I'm definitely thankful for haha)  as well as good food and good times with family. I miss you all a lot and I'm thinking about you, eat some pumpkin pie for me :D

Today was my Ottoman class but it was a bit of a surprise because he randomly told us we were going to have the exam today! What!! I was like...uhmm..what do I do? and he very graciously gave me the choice to stay and try it or to peace out. Since I had already gotten up to be at this blasted 8am class I decided to stay and try it out. I don't know if I did the right thing but I'm not getting a grade for it, it's just for "soutenir votre français" as he said (help your French) so I figured what the heck. He gave us 4 questions on the Ottomans and I answered "Did religious reasons play a part in Ottoman conquests?" Uhm yeah duh. Too bad you can't just write that...well I got 4 pages out and then turned it in, first one done. Then I was like...wait...was I supposed to answer all 4 questions?? I don't even know. But hey, I tried.

I think in a way that my time here has kind of been a lesson in humility. I'm the kind of person that always wants to succeed, I want to be the best, I want to know all the answers and push myself til I achieve the highest I can. I'm not used to not understanding or feeling incapable or not doing well (i mean, besides in math and sports, which we all know I have no talent in haha) and living in a foreign country, speaking a foreign language and taking university level courses in that language in another country is kind of a recipe for being totally lost. I was thinking this morning what a frustrating feeling it is when your language skills hold you back-I hate fumbling for words and making mistakes and feeling like people think I'm less intelligant because my French isn't perfect...but I guess this is all part of the experience. I can't always be the best and sometimes I'm going to try my hardest and I'm still going to fall on my face. I guess it's just how you handle it and how you move on from it that really matters.

I feel like I've achieved a lot of my goals in France-my French has certainly improved, I've met some awesome people, I've traveled, I've been independent and solved a lot of problems that have arisen by myself. I've had an awesome time here and learned so many things that you know what, if I don't understand every assignment and make mistakes it's really not a big deal. I didn't come to France to worry about school, I need to be less hard on myself.

Anyway, this has been a really good week. Next weekend is my birthday! I'm so excited! This weekend we're going to Geneva...should be fun :)

bit of a random update

So here's some random pictures from my everyday...

Eiffel Tower all lit up for its anniversary a few weeks ago..this part of a bigger lightshow!

 

bored girl on a bus

 

one plug is the fridge. the other outlet is shared by the light, microwave, and water boiler...

 

my wall, new and improved!

 

my map...I'm not sure if you can see the pins on it

 

the other end of the desk (messy, sorry!)

 

kitchen area

 

bed with map

 

bed!

 

the view outside

 

guinea pigs and hedgehog toys :)

This was a totally random post. I'll recap my French Thanksgiving later on today! Right now I have to head out to my Ottoman class :P

alles klar!

This has been a good week. Besancon is so pretty since they've started putting up Christmas lights and everything. I can't wait til it's all lit up! I feel like such a slacker because since I've been here I haven't really stopped to take pictures and really appreciate what a cute little town Besancon is. Yesterday the German boys and I looked up our towns on GoogleEarth and found our houses/universities/etc so it made me think I need to do a better job sharing my everyday with you all back home. For me Savannah is so normal but for them it was totally different, and the same for me when I saw their towns-they're so cute and medieval looking! It's so different than home and I wanted to capture the difference and show you all back home.

So! I promise to take more pictures, especially of all the Christmas stuff because I think it's going to be gorgeous here once it's all lit up. In the mean time I've pirated a bunch of Besancon pictures from my friends who're much better at taking pictures than me. :) That'll be on Flickr and I'll put a link up.

I'm pretty bummed because I recorded a tour of my room/my building but I can't get it on here. Too bad, I wanted y'all to see my new map and my expanded wall of mementos. Maybe pictures later...

Today has been so lazy...nothing going on, just trying to work on my papers and get my AASU courses straightened out. Since I'm so late registering everything good seems to be closed. Ugh. My junior year is  going to be so weird! Oh well, I really shouldn't complain about not being bogged down with school, what is wrong with me!

The week has been good-just school...I got good news-I only have to do research papers instead of exams for 3 of 5 classes! Yay! Excited! The French exams really scare me...

Thursday we had a Beaujolais tasting party. It was fun and everyone showed up so it was great to see them. Earlier that day I was walking home, got distracted by being able to see into a very nicely decorated apartment and fell and hurt my foot. Yeah...classic Shannon moment. Well it really started to hurt after the wine tasting but luckily it was better by Saturday and I was back to normal. I felt so stupid as I spent the next two days limping around! Luckily one of my friends here is studying to be a doctor and checked me out and told me I had just stretched the muscle and it was nothing serious. Next time I'll pay more attention!

Friday night I saw Twilight (in English with french subtitles) with Cassandra. It was...Twilight-y? I dunno...I just don't get the hype. Then I went to Andrea's to meet the group and have real Spanish sangria. Yay! Then yesterday we got a big group together for chicken curry. It was so nice to cook in a real kitchen again! We had a good time and everyone was well fed. Then we played some games (and since the common language was French we had to explain in 3 other languages about 4 times haha) After that we went to a club in Besancon (there's so few here...meh) and danced til the early morning and then walked home since it wasn't as cold as usual.

Anyway, Besancon pictures are up on Flickr-check them out and get an idea of the cute place I live in :)

also, Peter showed me this-it's an aerial view of Besancon! ta dah!

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7dfsq_loeuvre-de-vauban-a-besancon_travel

Lots of love to everyone at home, enjoy your warm weather :)

some more pics from Lyon, courtesy of my FB friends...

if you want to see the picture bigger just click on it! :)

The group! Note the mountains in the back-so pretty!

 first night...Irish girls leading the party, as usual...

 

Ruins of the Roman amphitheater

so cool! :D

 

Lovely Lyon

adventures in shannon-land...

Sorry for being so quiet! Last week was kind of a whirlwind...Tuesday we had a surprise party for Tete (which was very fun! no pics yet from it though...). It was great-it was a big group that showed up and he was so surprised and looked so happy. Laura and I got a map of Besancon and had everyone sign it with happy birthday and a special message. With all the languages it looked more like a UN memo than a birthday card haha...

Wednesday there was no school since it was Armistice Day/Remembrance Day/Veteran's Day. Nice chill out day. The rest of the week was just normal...school, hanging out, etc etc. But Friday we left on an AEIB trip to Lyon! Yay!

Lyon was really cool. It's a big city but it still has a good feeling to it, kind of like Marseille. As much as I love Paris I have to say that sometimes it's SO big you can feel really lost, but in Marseille and Lyon I felt like you could get a good feeling of the place and see a lot of things and be happy with it.

Jürgen is the coolmeister 24/7

So we left Besac with a bus load of foreign students and some French handlers and set off. In Lyon we stayed in a nice hostel and the first night we went out to meet the Erasmus/International students of Lyon. Unfortunately there was a bit of a miscommunication and we went to the wrong bar or they didn't come or something...I wasn't exactly sure. So we went to this really strange karaoke bar type thing. It wasn't very happening but since we were a group of almost 50 people we made it exciting. Partying ensues..

me and the girls

The next day was very well organized-they took us to the famous basilica in Lyon and then to some Roman ruins with an amphitheater and things like that. I was all excited about Roman stuff because I'm a big nerdy history major like that :) We had a picnic (or pique-nique as the French say...) lunch and looked out on the Alps (since they surround the city-really beautiful!). I was just happy because Niamh swapped me her ham and cheese for my tuna fish sandwich. Success!

 

the group at the Roman ruins

After this we went to a cathedral and then we had the rest of the day off to do what we wanted. We wandered around a bit before we girls broke off to do some shopping. While shopping we found a Starbucks...I had to stop in for a little taste of home since there's not one in Besancon. I really really wanted a cheesecake or a brownie to complete the experience but at 4 euro a slice I just couldn't bring myself to shell it out. But the iced soy mocha was good and Starbucks in France still smells exactly the same as Starbucks in Savannah. Brought back memories.

 

red coat team!

After shopping we went back to the hostel and planned to meet up with the group for dinner. Well that didn't exactly happen...we were 30 minutes late to dinner...oops...it was a strange dinner though. It was some kind of Alsatian food called "flam" and it was basically a very thin bread with this cream sauce and then like ham, onions, mushrooms etc on it. It was pretty weird, not gonna lie. Not bad though.

So after strange flam dinner we went out to "faire le fete" (translation: party). They took us to this really cool club that was on a boat. It was great-minimal creepers, lots of dancing and different kinds of music and everyone had a good time.

Sunday was less organized. We kind of just hung out til a little after lunch and then went to a park called "Tete d'Or" where they had gardens and a zoo. On the way to the park the Lyon Erasmus coordinator was trying to get us to sing on the bus and he starts asking everyone to cheer when he said their country...I forgot I had talked with him the night before until he suddenly shouts, "And don't we have an American too? Where's Shannon?" and so I cheered by myself haha. it's always such a funny feeling to realize you're the only American in the group!

At the park we wanted to go to the zoo but it took so long to walk there that by the time we got there we only saw 4 animals and then had to go. Sand cats, lemurs, a huge porcupine and hiding tigers...i think my zoo experience was complete anyway haha. On the way Peter taught me the seasons in German. Hooray for German word of the day :)

 

Laura and Jürgen in the park

Back onto the bus and off to a medieval town. It was like Mont St-Michel but smaller and not as many people. It was very cute though. We walked around and sampled a galette (i think that's the name...not sure). It was basically a thin cake with caramelized sugar on top. Yummy. Europeans are so lucky that they live amongst this ancient stuff. In Savannah we're all so excited that we get to live amongst the history when downtown but here's it's really everywhere. You can't get away from it. I think it's great. But then again, I'm pretty nerdy :)

After this it was back on the bus and to Besancon...we were very tired!

panorama of Lyon

Yesterday was pretty bleh...aren't Mondays always like that though? The highlights were German class (since I always have a good time there) going out with Peter's friends from Germany last night, and of course *drumroll* finding out I can rent a fiddle for 17 euros a month!! I'm so excited!! :D

I picked out my classes for AASU. I think next semester isn't going to be very exciting :( But oh well, it's all easy so I really shouldn't complain!

Anyway, today was my day off which meant I was a slave to the laundry machine...and only 2 of them worked out of the 3. Ugh. So annoying.

Life is good though-the weather is warming up a bit and classes are fine. I'm sad my time is running out here though! Big kisses to everyone at home...enjoy your 70 degree weather (so jealous)

oh, and i have to say, all the photos are shamelessly stolen from Jürgen's facebook since my camera died the first day! :D

Happy Wall Fall day! The German Department here at the university sponsored an event where we made a giant human chain in Place de la Revolution and then walked through centre ville to Place de 8 Septembre holding hands and carrying signs talking about the cold war and the Berlin Wall etc etc. It was pretty cool actually since we had so many people join in. It was a huge chain, all of holding hands and walking through the city...lots of people were surprised by the sight of us. It was a small gesture, kind of silly sometimes, but at the end it was cool that so many of us came together to remember that event. I mean, most of the people in attendance were students-tons from the international group showed up-and even though most of us were children when the Berlin Wall fell, it still matters today.

After the Human Chain event it was kinda fitting that I headed to my German class...I've made some French friends in that class which is exciting. They've been helping me with my French mistakes since I understand German easier than them. Nice trade.

This morning was sucky...I had my French Revolution class and the prof is just a jerk. I don't like her at all. She gave us a 7 out of 10 on our French Revolution timeline and said we forgot a bunch of important things but then when she went over it she said things that we obviously on our timeline. Earlier in the class she snapped at us for talking before this boy gave his presentation. We were talking about how we needed to get the notes because when the French students do their presentations they speak too quickly or don't enunciate and we don't understand...but yeah she totally called us out elementary school style and was really mean about it-even though the boy had been setting up and other people were talking. Then when we were going over the timeline she called us out again-literally singled out the foreign students by name and proceeded to announce that we had made a lot of mistakes and forgotten stuff and then asked us what the first event should have been. She said it really quickly and condescendingly-I really had the feeling she was trying to confuse us or use it as a chance to put us in position where we'd make a mistake with our French and then she could make fun of us. Luckily we have Jurgen who speaks awesome French and he answered her and even called her out for saying we hadn't done something we actually had. I heart him.

I don't know what's up with her. I'm worried about this class because we only have 2 grades and she was such a jerk today it makes me wonder if she's going to be hard on us when we have our exam. It's so annoying too because a) she doesn't even teach, it's the students giving presentations (and some even admit their only sources were freaking wikipedia!! and she allows it!!) and b) i don't even think she has a degree...I could learn more about this subject from my own research. Ugh. Whatever. I don't have to see her ugly face until next Monday. It's so frustrating because I was excited about this class and she's really just so nasty and hateful I hate going.

This weekend was really fun-our little group of friends went to Paris! Not little exactly...our Spanish friends (4) our Germans (3) and then me and Igga reppin' the anglophones. Saturday morning I almost missed the bus to the train station...luckily I didn't! Me, Sezen, and Igga went to the Eiffel Tower and climbed it (I know you're happy, Jud) and then we saw the Arc de Triopmhe, walked down the Champs Elysees, did some shopping, and finally made it to Place de la Concorde. It was so nice to be back in Paris and know where everything was.

We met up with the rest of the group plus Jurgen's friend that he's known like all of his life. I always like to meet those kind of friends. We had some good Vietnamese food and a hilarious moment when we asked the guy to take a picture of us and he turned the camera around and looked into the lens so we could all see his giant eye on the screen facing us...it was so funny no one could stop laughing. I couldn't believe he was serious!

Anyway, then we went to the Eiffel Tower again and saw it by night. They had a really awesome light show to celebrate its 120th anniversary, so that was really awesome to see.

Sunday I left the group to go and visit Oma! I also got to see JJ, MB and William-who is such a cutie! I visited for a long time and admired Oma's new place and had some lunch. It was fun :)

After that I went to meet everyone in the Latin Quarter-while waiting on Blvd St Germain by the metro I randomly ran into Mourad's friend from Chicago who I met when I went to visit last year! Isn't that crazy? He walked by and I recognized him and called his name and we chatted for a bit. What a small world...

So after that I met the group, we went around the Latin Quarter and then it was time to head back to Besac. I made the train...but Igga and Sezen didn't! They took the next one with everyone else, but it was kinda funny going home all alone...luckily I made it :)

anyway, things are going well...it's really cold but my coat is warm so can't complain too much.

grr

Today has been frustrating but now that I'm snuggled up in my bed with tea and cookies it seems less bad. I was in such a bad mood a little while ago I just decided to come back to my room, take a nap and see if the day would get better. And it has so far...

If you recall from my post last night-my light situation! Well after I made that post the lights went out again and stayed out. I learned from my neighbors that their lights had gone out too, but it seemed like it was only our side of the hallway. Since I was having dinner with friends that night I went by the main office to complain on the way to dinner. The woman was so rude and unhelpful and not at all understanding with the fact that I'm a foreigner and didn't have the vocabulary to explain things like short circuiting plugs and stuff like that. She eventually told me she'd send someone by and shooed me away. I went to dinner which was lots of fun-Pierre made crepes (salee et sucre! miam miam) and we had a big group show up-somehow there was enough for everyone. we had a good time though-it was the usual group of me, Igga, Laura, Peter, Jurgen, Sara, Soni, Tete, Andrea, and Pierre, plus two Romanian girls, a British guy named Matt, an Italian girl named Leticia and another French guy who's name I never caught. Matt, Peter and Jurgen were helpful when I explained my light dilemna-and they asked why I didn't just flip the switches on the circuit board. Umm...because I had no idea what that thing was. Hehe.

After dinner we went back to Pierre's room. Peter brought his guitar and soon it was jam session time. Matt plays guitar and sings and wow was he good at it-we sang a few songs together and had such a good time...he's officially coming to our jam session from now on.

When I returned home my lights worked but I found that my laptop charger was a casualty of the ordeal-it wouldn't work anymore and my laptop was not getting charged. This morning I was up bright and early for Ottoman history from 8 to 12. Yecch. I took my laptop to the Apple store after class and the guy gave me bad news-nothing he could do to fix it and the warranty had run out on it. So I was forced to buy a replacement cord for 90 euro...it sucked a lot, but what choice did I have? I have to have the laptop. The only good thing is that it'll work in America (since I already have the American plug for it) and if my building fries it again it's under warranty this time.

I chanced to meet Laura who cheered me up :) then i went back to campus to deal with Stendhal (the main office place). They were unhelpful as always...I turned in my inventory so who knows maybe i'll finally get my missing chair (everyone has 2 except me). When I asked for a replacement lightbulb she told me they were out and advised me to go to the supermarket. I did, bought a light bulb, brought it home to find that it won't fit in my lamp because it has these weird things on the bottom of it. So frustrating. So now I'm drinking tea and enjoying being quiet and relaxing.

Tomorrow our group is going to Paris! I'm excited to go, it's nice to be in a familiar place. I hope tomorrow is better than today.

in other news my room continues to amaze me with its ghetto-ness...a few hours ago I went to turn on my light and the light bulb blew...just now my two other lights next to the bed and by the sink went out for no reason. I turned off the heater and they came back on. So now I must choose between having light and being warm. Hmmm...tough choice. Need to talk to maintenance tomorrow.

the rest of the week..

So now that you're all up to date on my trip, I figured I'd write a bit about normal life post-vacation. The weekend was a bit quiet-Peter's friends from Germany came so we helped him show them around Besancon, which includes the obligatory visit to the Citadel, Besac's only real attraction.

We brought everyone along :) 

It was a really awesome view-I'm glad I got to see it finally! So here is Besancon from the Citadel...

 

haha gotta love these girls... 

Besides the obvious attraction of the Citadel itself there are also museums and a zoo inside. Yes, you read right, a zoo. So as you're walking through this 17th century construction you suddenly come across monkeys in the moat and a giant tiger just hanging out in a cage. Random, yes. But funny. Sadly we couldn't find any kangaroos (though the signs promised them). Lies!

Anyway, Saturday was Halloween and nothing was going on in Besancon (since France doesn't celebrate it-how sad!) but we went out anyway

plus Laura was home from the UK! Yay! And with a hot new haircut... Anyway, we had a really good time, even though no one was in costume...

This week has been a bit quiet, getting back into school...I got a haircut, nothing drastic just a bit shorter. I was a slave to laundry and household chores the other day, I'm happy to be done with all that, for this week at least. Last night we all went out to a movie called "Micmacs". It's by the same guy who did Amelie and it was just as weird. Still a good movie though. Everybody is getting a haircut this week it seems like.

Today was just class and I was totally confused by it...we were supposed to write something but I didn't really understand so I wrote a Historical Overview and hoped for the best. That's what everyone else seemed to be writing, I was just worried because they were writing SO MUCH for a source that was only 1 page long. But then again they're French and therefore way more wordy than me. We'll see how I did.

Other than that, crepe party tonight at Pierre's and trip to Paris this weekend! Yay!

Big kisses to everyone, hope you're all well...

Tour de France-Nord!

Wow I have so many things to update on...the second half of my class was cancelled this afternoon so I'm putting my free time to good use!

Me in the gardens of Versailles, photo cred to Jürgen 

Ok, so first off-the Tour de France Nord was awesome! We had such a fun time and I'm so happy I got to see more of France. Saturday we were up early (train left around 7! gasp!) and started our trip off in Versailles. It was kinda rainy and cold that day, but we were lucky because that was our only day with lackluster weather. Versailles was very pretty-we toured the inside and then saw the gardens-if you've been to Versailles you know how huge they are! We were so lucky throughout the trip since most historical sights will let students in free. Some places only gave free access to EU citizens under 26...since I was the only one without EU citizenship we had to be a bit creative and most of the time we handed over our student ID cards (they're french after all) and I told them I was Dutch. Cause I am...technically.

the group in Versailles 

Next stop on the trip was Orleans! It's mostly famous for being where Joan of Arc is from. They had the most beautiful Cathedral there...I was really impressed. It was my favorite of all the ones we saw on the trip. Part of the city is preserved in the old style, so as you wander around the old section you really feel like you've found yourself in the same city Joan of Arc lived in. It was so cute and picturesque and perfect for nerdy history people like me. The weather was so nice we spent a long time by the Loire River, eating snacks and talkign and having a good time. 

 

Kickin it in Orleans

 

Joan of Arc at the stake...not so pleasant! 

We also saw Joan of Arc's house, which was actually a bit boring. I've become so spoiled by exciting museums (shout out to the DH :D ) that when they're lackluster and not well thought out I don't even stay very long. Anyway, we walked around Orleans til late afternoon and then headed for our next stop...

Nantes! Here we saw many exciting things, including a huge botanical garden, epic chocolate shops, a mechanical elephant that actually moved, some crooked houses, and a real castle!

i'm never on the up and up with these kinds of shots haha

We walked so much that day, it was incredible. Even the boys complained a bit at the end. But I really got the feeling that I had seen Nantes and really enjoyed it, so that was the most important part. I wish I had pictures of the Castle...it was so cool! Still waiting on everyone to upload their pics (fyi the ones here are a mix of mine and Jürgen's...thanks Jürgy!)

 

Nantes' crooked little houses

After Nantes was Rennes, but first we spent the day in Mont St. Michel, which was so awesome I can't even tell you. What an amazing place!

 

It was just gorgeous. The ocean and the sand bars reminded me of home. The island itself is so interesting-it's like a little village that winds higher and higher to the immense church at the top. I was very impressed-and it was a great day :)

 

waiting to see the inside of the Church...a nun and her group of dowdy American girls were trying to cut us in line...can you yell at a nun for cutting, I wonder?

The next stop on the trip was Rennes. I was so excited to see Rennes since it had been my first choice for ISEP placements. It didn't disappoint-it's a beautiful city with so much charm and personality and Irish music! Yeah, everywhere! It was so nice to hear it again...makes me miss the fiddle...

 

me and Igga in a street in Rennes 

 

the group in front of the Parliament of Bretagne. This is post-pigeon attack.

We did so much in Rennes-I feel like I walked the entire city. We saw churches, random neighborhoods, another botanical garden, government buildings...you name it, we probably saw it. I wish we could've stayed longer in Rennes, but now it was time to go to Rouen!

 

famous clock of Rouen

Rouen was great, a nice taste of Normandy. We saw where Joan of Arc had held prisoner (and later executed eek) as well as some churches and pretty gardens and just the city itself. Unfortunately I got sick this day and wasn't able to enjoy it as much as the other days (mostly I was thinking about orange juice and sitting down). Still I had a good time and I was really lucky since everyone was worried about me (special thanks to my Spanish mommies who brought me tea and carried my bag and checked my temperature and my lovely German boys who let me sleep on their shoulder and carried my suitcase up and down all the stairs...I love you all :) )

 

breakfast with the group-nutella and baguette! 

After Rouen we got back on the train and headed for Besancon, tired and sad to see our trip over but happy to be back and happy to have had such a good time. It really was a very fun trip and I for one had a great time confusing the heck out of everyone we met since we were speaking like 4 or 5 languages between the 7 of us...I can't tell you how many people curiously asked us where we were all from. I don't think "Besancon" was the answer they were expecting...

Anyway, the trip was fab and I got to see a lot of my adopted country. There are more pics on facebook (I'll add the link with the others here at the right) and I'll put some of my favorites up on Flickr. Hope you enjoy!