Recap, Fun-cap!

So...I am bored and procrastinating from trying to study for my compétences écrites test in a few hours. What have a decided to do? I decided to fill you all in on the randomness that has been my life for the last few weeks.

So hold on tight!

February 20th-26th:

Monday the 20th- BLT's are possible to make in France people!!! Well, I mean there isn't true bacon like there is back in the states. But we did find what I would consider to be Canadian bacon-esque. So we (Emily, Lukas, Samantha and I) made the French version of BLT's with avocado and, of course, brie cheese.

Tuesday the 21st- Had my first lunch with the director of our program M. Melin with the ladies of ISU and Niagara University. A legit five course meal in the teacher's cafeteria that we don't have to pay for? I'll take that. I also finally put up my usually photo display of everyone back at home. Now I have those who I care about loving faces starring down at me. Oh, and I must not forget that it was MARDI GRAS!!!! Mardi Gras isn't really celebrated that much here in France, but that didn't stop us. We (Lukas, Chris, Agata, Samantha and I) went to Emily's house to make crêpes filled with all sorts of yummy delicious things. We were determined to make the most out of this holiday!

Wednesday the 22nd- My translation class was cancelled in the morning. Too bad we all have to find this out at the university since it seems France doesn't like to email its students when classes are cancelled. So what do we do? Turn around go home and catch up on sleep! I also had my first etude sociocuturelle class and lets just say...yeah...

Thursday the 23rd- Definitely a pretty chill day. Nothing really out of the ordinary other than having my typical Skype lunch/dinner date with Theo.

Friday the 24th- I loved waking up and getting to see the faces of some of my favorite sisters and some of my favorite FarmHouse boys. Great way to start the day! And then to end the day watching part of the César Awards which can be best described as France's version of the Oscars. I guess it was a good substitute for not being able to watch the actually Oscars for the first time in forever on Sunday.

Saturday the 25th- Excursion #2 with CIDEF :) We spent the day checking out all that St Malo and Mont St. Michel had to offer. And might I add this this is the second excursion with blah weather out. I really hope that the next one to Normandy has nice weather out or I really may cry. I'll make a post possibly later on with pictures from the two. I just have so many ranging from walking on the ramparts of St. Malo to the heaven of a chocolate shop to the street call "The Dancing Cat" to climbing all the way to the top of Mont St. Michel to so many random pictures of love.

Sunday the 26th- This day was spent sleeping my life away plus Skype dates with the family, the best friend, Miss Brittany Herzovi and of course Beka. A good way to be filled in on all the gossip back home :)

February 27th- March 2nd:

Monday the 27th- I don't like Mondays. I have all but one class on Monday and I barely get any time to eat anything for lunch. It's just busy, busy, busy.

Tuesday the 28th- Weekly lunch with M. Melin. And doing all of my homework so that I can spend all of tomorrow late afternoon and night having my last Skype/FaceTime session with Theodore.

Wednesday the 29th- LEAP DAY! This felt like the longest yet shortest day ever. I think this is because I knew at the end of the day I would be seeing/hearing Theo for one of the last times. It was a sad yet happy moment to spend so long of a time just starring at a computer...as oddly as that sounds.

Thursday the 1st- Theo leaves :( See previous post for yesterday's recap.

Today the 2nd- I was woken up by Theo calling me on FaceTime to tell me that he landed safe and sound after his flight being an hour late. It was the fastest chat ever and I was slightly asleep still butt it was so great to know that he got to Texas safe (love you babe!). And now I am just waiting to take my test. Then, a big study session with a group that seems to be growing in size followed by a trip to the supermarché because I need groceries followed by pizza for dinner! And then sleep early because Nantes is tomorrow. Yeeeeeee!

So yeah...a good 30 minutes just wasted on writing this. Haha. I'll work with that.

Hope you all have a good weekend!

Bisou, bisou!

McDonalds Can Cure Hearts

Well, at least that is what I want to believe. Samantha had a good idea mending broken hearts with good ol' American-esque grease.

Today has been a tough day. Not because of class or anything like that. And not anything that has to do with France actually. Today was tough because I had to say goodbye to Theo since he left for Texas and AIT today.

Now I am not gonna get all sappy on you or anything. Or at least I will try not to do so. That isn't the point of this blog. The point is to let people have a sneak peek at my life abroad...good AND bad. So today is a bad day, okay?

I knew today wasn't going to be easy. I knew today was going to be tough. I knew this day would be coming. It just sucks going from being able to talk to him about every day to not knowing if and when I will be able to see his face or hear his voice. That's the problem of not knowing how many freedoms and liberties he will have down at AIT. I know he will have them, but when is totally up in the air.

For now I just have to wait. I can't wait to get my first letter so that I will finally have somewhere to send letters to. And I can't wait to hear all about his adventures in Texas and all the work he will be accomplishing. No more sitting around for him being bored.

And I wait for June 29th. The day he will come home to me. The day I get to be back in his arms after five entire months of not getting the chance to. The day I get to say "Welcome Home" and hold him tight. I can't help but smile knowing that that day will come sooner then ever.

I love you Theodore. I don't know if you will ever read this but I am proud of you and I can't wait to end this long time a part from each other.

PS. Sorry for the unintentional sappiness. But one post out of many can't hurt right?

Châteaux de Loire

This past weekend was the first excursion that CIDEF plans for us. So, we went chateau-ing!

We visited 3 Chateaux in the Loire Valley: d'Azay-le-Rideau, Chenonceau et Chambord!

d'Azay-le-Rideau

This Chateau was built between 1518 and 1529.

Boring Factoid: It is known as a Museum of the Renaissance because of its tapestries and paintings.

The beautiful chateau!

All us girlies posing :)

One wall of the chateau.

You must take pictures from every single angle. THIS IS A MUST!

The moat and water around it was solid!

Next up:

Chenonceaux

This chateau is built over the river Cher.

It was built between 1513 and 1521.

FUN FACTS: It's known as the Chateau of Ladies and Catherine de Medici lived there!

Voila!

So many intricate and beautiful tapestries.

My favorite part of the construction of this chateau.

A closer look at how the chateau is built of the water.

I really wish we could have seen the gardens when they are in full bloom.

And finally:

Chambord

This chateau is the most famous of the three that we went to.

It is absolutely MASSIVE!

440 rooms, 365 chimneys and 57 staircases.

François the 1st lived here.

Random fact: It is known as the hunting lodge and the only person who has permission to stay her is Nicolas Sarkozy.

Definitely my favorite of the three :)

Can I get a "woot! woot!" for spiral staircase???

Where the women would wait and watch their husbands come in after a long day of hunting.

Moi!

Even in the muggy rain, it is all such a sight to see.

So that pretty much covers our chateaux adventures. It was a pain that it rained on and off all day and that I ruined my black boots, but it was still definitely worth it in the end.

Coming Up:

This weekend: Mont St. Michel

March 3rd Weekend: Possible Nantes day trip

March 10th: NORMANDY

St. Patty's Weekend: Dublin

Oh and I might wanna throw in homework and tests....

Week One: Complete!

Sundays in France....there is not much to do. Most shops and food places are closed on Sundays and unless you always want to go see a movie, life is pretty much dead. But, at least there is always homework, right? Haha....I should probably be finishing that....

But instead I feel like writing a post filling you all in on my first week!

Monday- CIDEF gave us all our placements. Let me tell you one thing, most people tend to get screwed over in there placements. I could start listing off names of people who asked to be moved up. For me, I believe I got placed in the right level (323!). Some things seem a bit easy and yet other aspects are a bit tough. The classes that I have will improve my French that is for sure.

Tuesday- One class! Woohoo!!! Downside. It's at 9am.

Wednesday- Oh lovely 8ams. How I have not missed you one bit. In a perfect world I would be completely rid of you. But alas, I will manage through. (Sidenote: Today is the day my mind got raped by the bank here...I still don't want to talk about that confusing happenstance).

Thursday- The one day out of the week that I can sleep in! It is definitely weird waking up to a completely empty house. Especially with all the hustle from Madame's birthday party last night. Yet today is a very special day: it is mine and Theo's 4 month anniversary. Now, I know that 4 months really does play a huge role in the grand scheme of things. But this is the first of five anniversaries that we won't be able to spend with each other. So even if it is a Skype lunch/dinner date, I will take it. Love you <3

Friday- It's Friday, Friday. Another 8am on Friday. But at least it is finally the weekend, weekend! Even if I did start my weekend with friends rather late since it seems the next few days there will be a massive influx of family members that I will have to meet. It is just nice to know that I have made it through one week of classes and I still seem to be breathing (...yep....just checked!).

Saturday- SHOPPING!!!!!! The government mandated sales end on the 14th so obviously I am going to go buy cute clothes and shoes! I'm a girl. How could I not? And then to end the night with a night-in with wonderful friends, drinks and a Lukas-cooked dinner. Perfect. I definitely needed a night in after all the craziness.

And now I am here on this Sunday. Trying to finish up any homework and yet still procrastinating along the way (how else would I have ended up here). Oh! And good news! The weather is supposed to start warming up here. Finally the weather that I was promised to see :)

Brrrrr...It's cold out there!

So it looks like I must've brought Chicago weather with me here to Angers. And yes it sucks. Like a lot! So far it has snowed twice (once as a complete surprise to wake up to and the other time definitely expected) and it hasn't been above 25-30 degrees for the past week. Where is this warm or slightly brisk weather that I was promised?!?

But there is definitely a funny side to all of this: since France doesn't get much snow, the people here are never prepared for any of this type of weather. I see boys on my way to school having fun sliding on the ice. I see girls wearing high heels and skirts! Yes, you read that correctly. It's funny to see them trying to hobble around on their heels while I am wearing boots with thick soles for traction.

Annnnnnd you would think that being from the windy city I would be used to all this frigid weather but I am not. I keep getting asked why I am cold because, "You come from Chicago! You should be used to this." Well, turns out I am not. I might come from Chicago, but at least there I could bundle up in layers. I didn't pack anything like that for here so looks like until it gets warmer I may just have to suffer...

So as I am bundling up in blankets and turning up the heater in my room, I leave you with this:

Dear Chicago,

Please take your cold weather back. Nobody in France is prepared for this and seeing everyone fall on the ice is making me cringe.

Sincerely,

An American in Angers

And so it begins...

I have officially been in France for 3 days now. What is the number one thing that I have learned you may ask?

COBBLESTONE STREETS SUCK AND MY FEET ARE KILLING ME!!!

I don't think I have ever walked so much in my life!! Owwww! Haha. Time to invest in good walking shoes.

But anyways...

I am going to try to keep this blog for friends and family to be updated on my little adventures here in France. I will try my hardest to write as much as I can but I need some wiggle room in order for me to go out and have these adventures.

So a quick rundown of what has happened:

-Long plane rides are not fun.

-The train station was freezing

-I'm in France!! Ahhhhhh!

-I think I am going to really like living here with my host family.

-Angers is soooooo pretty. It's like everywhere you turn you see buildings made of different materials. There is just this atmosphere that brings everything to life!

-The sales are going on right now...this may be bad for my wallet and bank account...

-Angers turns into something new when it is dark out ;)

-Julie took me and Emily to the Chateau and Cathedral here. The views of Angers were très magnifique! Those who constructed architecture in the 12th and 13th century really put a lot of time and effort into making a structure that is absolutely beautiful!

So yeah. This next week will be loads of fun. So many things I want to see. People I would love to meet. Places I wish to go to. I cannot wait!