Paris Day 2!

How odd that even though today was SO amazing, it had a completely different feel from yesterday! We did different type things, different speeds, etc. So different! Anyway..I shall explain.

I did not get to bed until around 2:30am last night because I was blogging, then I planned our route via metro, and then I showered. And we all got up around 7:30 am. Yes technically you would say I am "running on fumes" but Paris gives you some "Paris juice" in my opinion, I had energy all day!

We got ready, and went down for our free breakfast at the Hostel. It was actually very good! A croissant, roll, coffee, juice. That is what I had. They also had teas and some amazing looking granola w/ fruit bits cereal. Yummmm. Coffee especially was such a good way to start off the morning.

Our first stop was to go to a famous cemetery and see Jim Morrison and Chopin's grave. Oh yeahhh.  It was easy enough to get to the cemetery, a bit harder to find their actual tomb sites.  We split up (different walking speeds) and Chelsea and I went off to find them. It took at least an hour. We did not spend the 1 or 2 euro for a map, so occasionally we would ask people (in French of course :) even though they are all tourists haha) where they were. FINALLY we found them. Snapped some pics. And that was it. We met Ed and Noelle in perfect timing back at the entrance and headed to our second place for the day.

Jewish Art/History Museum. It was free, and sounded interesting, so we had planned to stop by. It was not clearly expressed on our map, but we soon saw where we needed to go and began walking. Found the museum! Walked in, got in free (being a student IN France is the BEST money saver ever), and are looking at our pamphlets and the surrounding articles and realize something.

We are in the wrong museum..

Oops? How does that even happen, haha. We were in some mechanical mathish museum hah. Left. SO glad we hadn't paid anything for it. And in 10 minutes were entering the Jewish museum! Free too heh. It was very interesting. I never knew much about Jewish practices after Jesus times, aka anything recent, so I got to learn about a lot of their customs and practices. After, Noelle, Ed, Chelsea and I had a talk. Not about the museum, about what to do next.

Ed and Noelle were not in a GO GO GO mood (completely understandable) being worn out from yesterday, and in a leisure mood. Also they were more interested in the Champs Elysees than the Holocaust Museum that we were headed to soon. So we decided that after we went to see Victor Hugo's house next, we would split up for the rest of the day and meet back at the train to go to Caen.

Victor Hugo's house. Very cool. Free. I haven't read his stuff so it was not as interesting to me as it was to Ed, for example, Les Miserables being one of his favorite books.

Then we split. It was 2pm by that time, so Chelsea and I scarfed a chewy bar and headed to find the Holocaust museum. Found it. Loved it. There was SO much information about how the Holocaust affected France specifically (With the Vichy regime in France at the time for example) so I thoroughly enjoyed that. We took a breather in the library/gift shop and I got a 50 cent coffee (They have coffee vending machines with these little espresso cups of coffee, SO good, SO cheap), then decided what we wanted to do next.

Originally the plan was to go to Musee d'Orsay, then Champs Elysees, then see what else we had time for. We decided that we didn't even know what was in the Musee d'Orsay (paintings), and were a tad museumed out, so we went to the Catacombs!

Turns out, after rushing on the metro to get there in time, they closed early that day. Dang it. It is a big underground tunnel burial system that the French used a while ago, and you can just go look at all the bones and open tomb stuff. Pretty legit. That will happen next trip.

Also we decided to run to the Luxembourg Garden and Pantheon since they were not too far and snap some pics. So we did. It started raining. We didn't care.

It was so nice getting in the Pantheon free, because we would not have gone in otherwise, and the inside was magnificent. It, inside, looks like a cross between a church and a museum and a Palace? There is a ton of art work on the walls and statues too. The lower underground level has a sweet crypt where we saw the tomb of Victor Hugo, Rousseau, Voltaire, and Alexander Dumas (Marie Curie and others were there but we did not want to spend the time to see them).

For the entire weekend I have been able to tune out the crowds. People don't affect my experience at all, I just do my own thing, enjoy what there is to enjoy, etc. But for some reason, the crowds at the crypt bugged me. I was ready to leave. It also might have had something to do with the fact that it was around 6 pm and I hadn't had anything but my breakfast, 2 chewy bars, and coffee all day.

Next stop. Napoleon's tomb. It is in the cathedral next to the Army Museum. This was closed. So no tomb for us. We definitely had researched hours and such, but they were not entirely accurate :(. Also, we had to go to the bathroom, bad. And we got excited as we saw signs in the courtyard of the big area we were in pointing to "Les Toilettes". So we walked around and around. But no. No toilettes. Fail Army Museum, fail.

Last stop of the day? Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe. It was dark, still rainy, but we had about an hour left and that was the last thing to see! We realized that the metro stop we were getting off at would not give us enough time to walk right up to the Arc, but we definitely saw it from the road ( I snapped a pic as we were crossing the Champs Elysees...blurry..scary..hah).

As we are browsing the stores and food on this famous road, we see something I was shocked by. Haagen Dazs ice cream restaurant. It was MASSIVE. You could sit down and order these massive desserts, or just wait in line like a normal ice cream store. But either way, Haagen Dazs, has its own store!

We browsed a few insanely expensive stores, then headed to finally grab dinner. Pain Au Pomme. A chain sandwich and dessert shop, was our last stop. I got a sandwich, drink, and big wedge fries (a surprise for me) for 6.90 euro. That and my 50 cent coffee were my ONLY purchases today. Yes parents, be proud :).

We had also ran into Noelle and Ed as we started our Champs Elysees walk which was completely random, but that was fun! We then met them at the train station after, as they had already seen where we were going!

SO that was the day. We saw so much, and yet it was a lot more informative items, and walking around than yesterday. Also, since we split up, Chelsea kept a faster pace and did not do any type of leisure activity (we always slowed down and enjoyed wherever we were visiting, but transit was always speedy). We already have our next Paris trip planned. It is going to be a leisure, shopping, enjoy the city trip. We have now seen the majority of famous wonderful sites that Paris offers to the immediate tourist, and now, I just want to sit and soak in its calmness. I love that there are 2 sides.

This being my/our first legit travel weekend, It was such a major success. I was happy and energetic and loving every moment. Nothing disappointed me (even the things that were closed. I will see them another time!) and I have such a better knowledge about Paris, it's Metro, and where things are, so I will feel so much more comfortable ever coming back!

Ok. That is enough for now. Ack, school soon. I need sleep. I am also getting a tad sick. My body, which I have been ignoring all weekend, will have its vengeance. Bring it on it was worth it haha.

*Also, my back is going to be probably the most sore I've ever had it in my life. Even though Noelle and I shared 1 backpack, I definitely learned a thing about packing light, and why it is important.

**I will do a picture blog post later when I upload them!

Paris day one.

Ok. I am going to skip whatever days I missed in order to explain my trip to Paris. I am writing this from the first hostel I have ever stayed in and it is SO nice. Probably more on the expensive side for hostels you can find (31 euro/bed) but it is very clean, nice, and safe.

I did not think I would like Paris so much. I never thought I would fall in love. I have. In the past 15 hours I have gone from skeptic tourist to confirmed lover. Wow. Wow.

I don't even know if I have the words to describe my feelings. We left Caen at 6am and got to Paris around 8:30? There was a slight mechanical delay that put us back 20 minutes or so. We immediately got our metro passes for the two days we would be there and headed up to Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart). I never knew that the metro was so easy to use! As long as you look at a map often enough, before too long I had it all figured out (I became the designated map/direction person, which I was happy about). Also, Noelle and I decided to share a backpack. We both filled the backpack that Paula lent me so graciously and As I started to walk around with it (I had the first 2 hour shift carrying it) I could DEFINITELY feel it in my back haha. But the awe of Paris quickly distracted me. Sacre Coeur is on a hill. Although we took the metro up there, we still had quite a few steps to climb. I'm glad we did that first before the wear and tear of walking all day caught up with me. But wow this massive church was beautiful. Even though there were tourists everywhere we went, I didn't mind at all. It is easy to ignore them and just focus on the beauty of whatever we were looking at.

Sacre Coeur. We walked around, and I actually just sat down in a pew for 5 minutes or so to pray and just fill up for the morning. Such a joyful way to start my morning! The little stress and annoyance of the backpack quickly vanished as I was reminded of how amazingly blessed I am to be over here in the first place.

After we headed to the Louvre. Took a quick metro trip or two and were there! we walked in the garden and when we got close enough to see the monstrous palace that it is, we also saw the line that was there to enter. Thankfully RIck Steves (the best european guide book EVER, and I am a guide book skeptic) told us in his book of a different entrance, which we found with ease and got in free with our student cards!
The Louvre is massive. The paintings can take up entire walls, Napoleon's apartment was stunning, and Mona Lisa, well was so jam packed with people that I could not study her, just take a quick picture! We also saw these tall guys in line, big, foreign looking, attractive, guys. We were about to ask them what country they were from when the moment vanished. But then all of a sudden we glanced up and they had gotten stopped by some randoms and were taking pictures. These two guys were somehow famous! We stalked them for a little bit. Then they disapeared so we said if we saw them again (unlikely) we would ask who they were haha. We saw them again. Chelsea bravely went up, they had gotten a lot of attention. And we talked to them for a second. DId not get names but they are two pro wrestlers in the WWE haha. Super nice, American, which was weird, but our curiosity was satisfied. We got to see so much art (most of it I did not recognise), a lot of sculptures, and just well, as much as we could in the few hours we spent there.
Then we headed to the Island to see Saint-Chapelle and the Conciergerie (Where Marie-Antoinette was held before her execution). We were supposed to pay but we asked for a student discount and they let us in free too! Neither were super spectacular though compared to everything else haha.

Next. Notre Dame. Massive. Expansive. Breathtaking. MASSIVE line to get in. We decided we had seen many churches and even though it was Notre Dame, we would have to continue on.
Next, Deportation Memorial. It is a memorial for the 2,000,000 ish French that were killed in Concentration Camps during WW2. It was small but very beautiful.

By this time, it was around 5pm and we headed to our Hostel to check in and drop off our bags for the evening. 'OOPS! hostel' it is called haha. Very nice hostel. Clean and we found it with no problem! It is in the southeast side in the Italian section? Tons of shops and food in a not touristy part at all. Perfect for dinner. Especially since all I had eaten that day was 3 or 4 (don't judge) small chewy bars, tea, and starbucks coffee (YES I found one :) hehehee). We freshened up in our room then went and got some of the best italian food I have ever eaten and a small in-expensive place. THe staff, although on the slow side were very friendly and gracious with our struggling French (As everyone in France thus far has been with me).

After, at around 9ish we headed to see the Eiffel Tower at night. And the minute we walked up the metro station at our stop I was taken aback. Yes I had seen the Eiffel Tower some during the day, but it was distant and rusty looking to be honest. But at night, it sparkles on and off with lights always shining, and when we walked out of the metro and were confronted with it right before our eyes, it was sparkling. Ack! LIke I said, I did NOT know I would like Paris this much. We walked there, very weary of scammers and pick pocketers, and made our way to the line to go to the 2nd level! Getting a student discount, it was only 6.40 euro to go up there, the first sight we had to pay for all day. WOW. The view. The city. The cheers in the background as someone on the other side got engaged (we think). Was so fun! We went picture happy (It is way easier to when virtually everyone has their camera out, you don't feel judged as a tourist..because everyone is..). It got a bit chilly up at the top but it did not take away from the beauty at all. :)

I was in an eternal state of joy all day. It was weird, My body ached most of the day and I found it SO easy to ignore. I didn't eat for most of the day, and I didn't notice. Maybe Paris just does something to you, it captures all of your attention. This was my experience today. I'm sure that other people in my group had different reactions and feelings, Paris is weird that way, but we had a wonderful time. Tomorrow, still more planned! Must. see.everything.

We, before even leaving, decided to cut out Versailles until next Paris trip because it is far out of the way. And we also are going so fast and hard this trip that next trip will be a more leisurly chill trip. This is the trip to Go GO GOOO and see SEE SEEEE. And I love it.

Oh. When we were waiting in line for the Saint-Chapelle (one of the only lines we waited in), an older couple started conversation with me and then the whole group. They were so nice, from New York, and we had a lovely chat for 10 minutes or so. Just a fun little tidbit.

Also. THe 2 people sharing the room with us is this random older french couple. And by older I mean probably 30's or 40s. But that is old for hostels, since usually only youth stay in them. But they were already asleep when we got back tonight. THey might even be gone when we get back in the morning too.

This is long. I could say twice as much. I know I missed some stuff.

The weather was perfect. Overcast and cool. aka no blazing sunlight, and a nice breeze to keep you cool as you speed around town :)

I also stubbed my toe at one point. It was incredibly painful. No blood. No worries. Hah.

Salsa?

I will explain the salsa at the end.

So it turns out that my wednesday's are VERY long. I go from 8:20 until 12:10. Then lunch. THen I start up at 1:30 and go until 3:40. Thankfully I have good teachers and interesting classes!

So our teacher for our French Oral class is a young energetic lady. She wore this purple salsa type dress with the layers and pleats and bright pink shoes to class. Character. Chelsea and I were discussing whether or not she was a salsa dancer, because it just seemed like she was...So Chelsea went up and asked her! And she nearly exploded. She was like "AH OUI! How did you know??" And we tried to explain how she just seemed like it haha. She then told us 4 different places we could go salsa and how one has free salsa lessons on Wednesday nights! Heh.

We talked to some of our friends and decided that Chels and I would go downtown and find the place, and find the time of the lessons, then we would all go try it out. It took us over an hour to find the place, not because it was far, but it was hidden. Ugg. THey like, take down all the signs and decorations during the day so it just looks like the back entrance to a store or something.

So after a nap and dinner, we headed out. I wore a skirt, nice and flowy, and after we found it (easily seen at night time) we nervously entered. It was SO awkward haha. the lessons hadn't started yet, and people were just sitting, sipping drinks. And the place is NOT big, so I know that we stuck out like a sore thumb. Anyway. We found a table finally (out of the 6 available), that did not have a 'reserved' sign on it, and huddled in the corner waiting for something to happen.

The teacher yelled "Allez!" and all of a sudden, all thepeople I thought were just there to relax and have drinks hopped up to the small dance floor! Excellent, we weren't going to be the only ones. Yes, all the instructions were in French, yes the small bar/dance club looked like it was straight out of Cuba, Yes, we were lost most of the time. But we started to get the simple moves down. And soon it became enjoyable! Then after dancing solo, he tells everyone to get in a big circle with a partner. Chelsea. Partner. But he did not like that and moved me away by myself inbetween two couples! I was like "uhhh". But apparantly we were going to be rotating partners so in one rotation I would have a partner and there would just the a gap where one person wouldnt have a partner. But before we could start a random guy came up and in words I did not understand (but through context clues I did) asked if I was by myself. Obviously I was. So we were matched. He smelled SO strongly of cigarettes and cologne. Goodness.

The music starts, we attempt the easy dance steps. I fail.

Partner switch! Yay I get another shot at this. A little better this time! Switch! Ok, I think I can do this. Even though I do a different dance move every time(it always depends of if the guy is doing the correct thing or just his own little jig). There were all ages of people. From my age up to mid 50's I'm guessing. So that was fun. And the majority of the guys had NO clue what they were doing, and a fraction of them did, and those led well.

By the end I was definitely sweating and having a good time. But then, the lesson was over! We survived. Haha. We decided not to stay and dance on our own and headed out.

Hah, that is an experience I will not forget. And some people want to go back next week. I will consider it. I am SO uncoordinated though. (Once during the lesson he added clapping to the dance moves,and well...let's just say I stuck to the footwork). So we shall see!

I got back and did my 5 minutes of homework before crashing in my bed. The end!

class day 2.

I woke up to an intense fog resting over everything outside. It was wonderful and so cozy! It was gone by 9 ish though :(

My second day of class. Woot. It was hardly class though, I only had one class from 1:30-3:40. Easy peasy. It was Oral French, aka speaking. We got paired up(she intentionally put us with different nationalities of people), and we did various activities like introducing our partner, or interviewing eachother for "Miss France" competitions haha. It was pretty fun.

Before class I had gotten up at 8 and gotten ready, had good quiettime, and listened to an Antioch podcast! Very relaxing, nice to have some alone time. After, I went to the Vissol and got on my computer to send some emails and such. Then I met Noelle for lunch. Lunch was CRAZY. It felt like everyone on campus decided to eat at the same time we did, because we could not find a place to sit for like 3 or 4 min. We wandered, and grabbed 2 seats finally that were beside eachother, facing some random guys. Talk about awkward. They looked so young and we just talked to our respective friends haha. Well they didn't really talk. Noelle and I did..some.

Then there was class.

Then I came back to my room and had more alone time! I read the newspaper, for like, 3 minutes. Then did the sudoku. Heh.

After I did most of my homework, before receiving a text from Noelle saying she was eating with some other Baylor people. They invited me but I felt I should stay and finish my homework and stuff. So Noelle came and unlocked her door so I could get the cooking stuff, so I could make dinner for myself. It was a first!

I, of course, had my pasta with vegetables. It is a staple in my life. Almost every night we eat that. And I love the simplicity and healthiness of it. I had a carrot, small potato, onion, garlic clove, and a handful of green beans, cooked and with spaghetti. The Herbs de Province, salt and pepper, and olive oil, just make for the most delicious dinner ever. Which I don't think i'll get sick of for a while.

So a few of us want to go to Lyon this weekend, so around 8pm Chelsea and Ed came over so that with Noelle, the 4 of us could plan what we wanted to do, look at fares for the train and or cheap plane flights, times, and such. We decided to go to Paris instead. We looked for Hostels for 2 hours. Stuff get's booked! We will keep looking tomorrow haha. Fail.

my dinner :) yummm

First day of OFFICIAL class

Well, today began my first day of regularly scheduled classes. I have now begun the routine that will continue until mid-december, and well, Mondays are going to be a toughie. I go from 10:30am-5:40pm with a 1hr20min lunch break. With three different classes though, things stayed interesting. I mean, it was only the first day. I started with writing, and I have the same teacher as orientation week and she was super nice so that is exciting! That was long, and almost boring, but I learned some challenging things! So that is good and interesting. And I have homework in that class. All the rumours that there is no homework...wrong.

Lunch break. Cafeteria. Good pizza and salad.

Headed to a class on the main campus which is a speaking/writing workshop. Super flexible class, and we attempted to write poems from the first person view as being a monument. For example (in french though) "My name is the Grand Canyon, I am a black hole. I swallow all that fall". Yes, profound, deep. I could publish it. But in french it is much more difficult to write, and therefore, exactly what she wanted haha. Awk.

Went to the last class of the day, Phonetics. I was excited for this class because I have never done any type of phonetics class in my life. My teacher's name is "Fabien" which just reminds me of Fabio and makes me laugh off the bat. Turns out we are in a lab where each seat has a headphone/mic set and some buttons on the table. Our teacher is SUPER animated and funny and pronounces things in a way where it sounds perfect, but also funny. He knows it is funny. I have uncontrollable laughter for probably the first 5-10 minutes of class. I try to stifle it when he looks my direction. It is not the fact that we are awkwardly repeating random syllables after him, it is just the whole scenario of phonetics plus a funny teacher. Any how. Then we put on the headset and he puts on one and when he speaks you can hear it in your headset, and when you repeat after him you can hear yourself too, and everyone else is dimmed out by the surround sound of your own noise cancelling type headsets. After doing that for an hour, I was in a great mood. I love phonetics! (Also there is no final exam at the end of the semester..)

Well, it is weird to end classes and it be 5:40 at night. But Chelsea and I talked some and decided we wanted to see if "Des Hommes et Dieux" (Some Men and God) was playing anywhere in Caen, Since we already went to a discussion on it haha. We found it playing at 8pm and pm, so we parted for like an hour, Noelle and I made dinner, and then Ed and Chelsea came over for dinner. Ed, Chelsea and I then headed across town to go see this movie at a random theater. It was actually super close to where we went to church on Sunday. We literally sit down right as Previews are going and the lights dim as we get comfortable in our seats. Perfect.

The movie, in french, no subtitles, was very good. It was about a true story, and the way the film is made, it was very life like? Aka, no background music, a lot of scenes that just show normal life type actions (man going to retrieve wood for 1 whole minute, end scene), but it was very interesting, and with lots of context clues, I understood the movie.

After, Chelsea and I had a giggle fit in the lobby over a stuffed bunny statue in the corner (we were also tired..) and the three of us headed back to the tram. It is so nice having month passes for the tram. We never have to worry about having the right amount of coins anymore to buy one trip tickets. SO nice.
Got back. Sleep time. Good day. Again. :)

Weekend :)



Mmm strawberries from the market..

Saturday, my last completely free saturday before classes start. What did I do? Shop! Noelle and I decided to just go into town and meander in some clothing stores..heh. So we headed to town around lunch time, in no rush, and grabbed a sandwich for lunch. It was one of those days weather wise, that when the clouds covered the sun it was chilly, but as soon as the sun came out the weather was PERFECT. Thankfully, the sun came out while we at our sandwiches in the grass. After, we went and got Noelle a phone! (Everyone is caving and getting one because of the need to communicate with eachother here heh). After we had decided to go to H&M, a clothing store, that is actually in the US too. It has cheap but very cute/stylish clothes. There are so many stores that are rediculously expensive here, and so it was good we knew off the bat a place we could shop without dying.

I grabbed around 3 things and when we headed to the change rooms, as I was trying on my clothes, I realized that this was the first time in 3 weeks, that I had seen myself in a full lengh mirror! This sounds odd to say, but honestly, there are no mirrors in my dorm, a small one above my mirror and that is IT. i think it is good, people (me included) are less able to obsess over their looks, or take forever trying on things in the mornings because all there is to do is put something on and hope that your friend (Noelle) across the hall will tell you if you look rediculous or not.

So I ended up buying 2 shirts for a grand total of around 25 euro ish? Not too shabby. Noelle got a cute outfit as well, and I had been texting Ed, so he found us there right as we were checking out. Also, I need a winter jacket, I looked at a couple they had and found some I liked, but I am going to shop around more, because I really want a leather jacket..heh, Fake of course.

So with Ed we headed to get him some late lunch, and at the Boulangerie that we went to, Noelle and I wanted dessert, so I got this soft serve Italien ice cream and holy cow. not only was it PILED on the cone, It was so thick, sweet, and flavorful (I had never experienced vanilla this way before) that by the time I leveled off the ice cream to the cone, I was stuffed, and Ed finished it off for me.
We headed back to the dorms after running into a few friends, and decided that we would meet back up in an hour to go to an organ concert at the Abbaye aux Hommes. Well, Kaitlyn and Noelle took a nap, and slept in. Ed is soon calling and knocking on my door. Oops, so we rush, get ready, and grab Chelsea from her room, and are off! Only around 20 minutes off schedule. Well when we get there, we had missed it hahaha. Oops. SO we head to a Pizzeria for dinner and split these 2 pizzas that were amazing, as usual.

Pause. I know I say that everything I eat is good.(Except my salami, butter, and pickle sandwich, which was only OK) And I am not exaggerating. The food here is just, different. So much fresher, and more flavorful. I was thinking the other day about trying to explain to a bakery here to use preservatives in their bread, and how absurd they would think it was. Daily producing food is just the norm, and they do it with excellence. I am going to miss it when I have to return to Waco and eat, well, I don't know.

Continuing. We headed to the Iglise St. Pierre, for a DIFFERENT organ concert (we are the coolest college kids) that was happening at 8:30. It was put on by a young talented musician and lasted over and hour. He played a lot of French composers, and ended with some from Bach. I honestly did not like the first 3 or 4 songs he played, they seemed off rhythm and like he was messing up a lot (Which is probably not the case at all), but things got more interesting when he played this piece that sounded like Creation. Very dark, repetitive, like what it sounded like when there was a void in space before anything existed type thing. I loved it.

As soon as it ended Ed whispered something to Noelle and she started laughing siliently uncontrollably, I was confused, leaned over and she said "Ed just commented, 'Well that was nightmarish'". HAHAHAHA. Now it is all in context, but the seriousness that this magnificent cathedral radiates, combined with the small older congregation we were surrounded by, just made the comment hilarious for some reason, so for the next 5-10 minutes, Noelle, Ed, and I are stifling our laughter and unable to stop. Holy Cow.
That ended our night and after we just headed back to bed, Chelsea stopped by our room so we could find a Church to go to the next day.

For church we had to wake up at 7:00am ish to catch the train around 8:15 in order to get to this unknown church by 9. Well Noelle and I slept in until 7:45, oops, no shower for us! We rushed and met Chelsea almost on time, and then headed to the tram to wait for 10 minutes because Sunday it barely runs (every 25 minutes instead of like, 12 minutes). When we go to the other side of Caen, get off, and find our Church, just in time, it is empty. Hmm...awk? We look at the sign outside the church and it says the service is at 10:00am. Ok. So we head to a boulangerie to get a more substantial breakfast(the rush in the morning made that hard), and took it to a nearby park bench to munch on. I got a pepito, the pastry I raved about the other day and took pictures of. It honestly wasnt as good as the other one, although still incredibly fresh. So we just sat in the warm morning sunlight, while the town around us was still asleep, oddly, untill 9:50 and headed back to the church.

We hear singing inside yes! Are we late? No the band is practicing, ok! Then we realise the service does not start until 10:30. Shnap, the market closes at 1:30 that we were planning on going to, we can still make it we figure, we will just have to rush, so we sit on the Church steps then head inside 10 minutes later. It is a very small church, It reminds me of the one I went to In Nigeria, but the Pastor came to say hello and he was VERY nice! He spoke to us in French but managed a few English words too haha.
The service was so good. I actually understood what was said, Thank you Lord, and the message was very good. The first half of the service had one man leading and he would speak some, then we would sing a song, then we would pray some, and just back and forth with those three things for some time. People in the congregation would do scattered prayer at times when he opened up the floor and I really liked that. We sang a few songs that I actually recognised the tunes too! Of course these were in French though.

Then the pastor came to preach and he preached on communication, using the Samaritan Woman at the well with Jesus, and the conversation they had. He said that you need Humility, Listening, and the Truth like Jesus did. I loved that I could understand the sermon.

At the end he kind of welcomed us in front of everyone, so if the congregation didn't know we were there they did now, and after a British woman came up to us! She apparantly in the late 1990s did the same program as us at the University, came to the church, met her HUSBAND, and never left. HAHAHA, how funny. But also how awesome that we met her! Lottie, short for Charlotte was her name, and we exchanged contact info with her before we dashed out the door for the market.

Market. Wonderful as usual. I got some Moraccan food for lunch, and strawberries, figs, and green beans for dinners this week. Win. Pause on the strawberries. These were ripe. LIke they were picked the day before beautiful color red, super soft and perfect. Hence the pictures below. Words can not describe how wonderful they were. Like, you can get really good strawberries in the states, but the texture of these is different because they can be picked RIGHT when they are ripe, to be sold the next day. ACK, so good.

Came back, ate, listened to podcast (Carl's second part to Stake in the Ground series at Antioch) and then took a nice 3 hour nap. Excessive? I'd say so, but I did no set an alarm and I guess my body was tired. Heh.



My shirts and school books I bought :)




My twisto pass, student card, and bank card. I am an official resident.

Moroccan Food!



Class Day 3, Day 4, Friday. LOOOONG..heh. oops.

WEDNESDAY

Well today had some very interesting parts haha.

1. In class today, we signed a sheet saying that we would be in the level indicated on the paper. I am staying in A2. I feel a good peace about it. I will get good grades, learn some, review some, and I will challenge myself to learn some on my own if I feel like it gets slow. C'est bien!

2. We have been going to the cafeterias for the past few days and they are cheap and good! I can get more than enough food for less than 4 euro and the selection is pretty decent. It is funny because just like the cafeterias in the US, I see people getting just a massive plate of fries with bread and dessert haha, not healthy.

3. I did some more laundry and when I was at the front desk signing and getting the key for the room, there was a college age guy running the front desk. It became obvious very quickly that I was foreign exchange student, and he asked me where I was from. Then he asked me if I was interested in doing the tandem while I was here for the semester. That is where you get matched up with a student at the university and meet once a week to practice your french for half the time and they practice their english for the other half. Of course I want to! So I was like, Yessssss. I then tried to say how we are supposed to sign up online for it and blah blah, it was a fail attempt at french, then I THINK he said he wanted to do it too, hence we could just partner up, but I didnt understand, then someone else came in, and confusion commenced. So I left. Hahaha, he knows who I am if he wants to find me, but I was like, awk awk, don't know what's going on.

4. Ok. This happened before the laundry actually, but Genesis, Noelle, and I needed to go make some copies of our passport and stuff to turn in this last thing to finalize our visa's here. So we went to one of the multiple copy places to do it! There are like 4 or 5 copy machines and you just go up, put a card in (credit card I assumed) and then make your copies. Well I tried, to no avail, it did not recognise my newly gotten bank card! I was confused, so I went to ask the lady at the front, and she was like, show me your card? I did, and she laughed, and then pointed to the sheet showing all the COPY cards you could buy and fill with a certain number of copies that you then put in the machine. Oops. Fail. SO I bought, for 1 euro, a card that has 15 copies on it. And it was all smooth sailing after that!.

That night, Chelsea, one of our other baylor friends, invited us to this youth catholic mass thing that night. Catholic mass is better than no mass at all? So we thought it would be super interesting and went. She had been invited by a guy she met by chance, so we met up with him and he walked us over to the house it was at. There were around 30-40 people there, and the priest that led it was SO funny. HAHA. He came up to us right away and introduced himself in french. And even though he spoke french the whole time, he was very articulate and I could understand what he said. He laughed so much and was making jokes that made you laugh even if you didn't really understand haha. He told us how he has to do a wedding in English in october and isn't sure how to pronounce all the words. SO he was joking that if he spent an hour with each of us one on one we could help him learn how to pronounce them. I think he was joking, but we later were telling a girl that we would if he wanted to haha. Because then we could practice french with him after!

The mass itself, was outside, and it was cold. Also it was all in french...But the songs they sang were very pretty, and when he gave the message, I could understand the jist of it. It was really cool to hear scripture read in French, and just, stuff about God in French, those are words you dont normally hear around town. So we stood up when they stood up, sat down when they sat down, turned and greeted when they turned and greeted haha. They went and took communion or whatever they call it and we sat down. After we went in the house and they gave us food! We got to eat some yellow tomatoes that one of the young guys grew, and they were very nice. After we headed back even though they were going to see a movie because I had homework and the other girls had things they needed to get done too. So cool to be a part of that for a night though, they kept asking if we would come back next week. Maybe? It depends on if we find one that is at a Protestant church or not I guess, which I am going to find and visit this Sunday.
　
THURSDAY

Thursday was interesting to say the least. I don't know how after being here over 2 weeks I still am amazed by what happens when I look back at the end of the day haha.
So thursday was our last day of class for the week. Woohooo! Class was fun because we got to look at pictures and make up stories..but seriously, Chelsea and I got very creative with ours haha. After class we went to lunch at the cafeteria and we happened to get there a little later than usual, but it was so nice because we missed the big rush of people that get there and leave in time for their next class. So we got to just sit and talk and relax as the place cleared out.

After, Genesis and I went over to the Vissol to use the computer lab for a few hours. It is just for foreign exchange students, but we did find out that we were only supposed to be using it for homework..oops? Heh. After we came back and took a long nap because we had been invited to go dancing with Agath(Genesis' family's cousin) and they don't leave until 11pm. So we napped, then made dinner, then found Chelsea who was coming, and headed over to Agath's house! Apparantly, unknown to us, it was one of Agath's best friend's birthday party that night, and they were all expecting us, all like 15 people that were crammed in her little apartment. A few of them spoke English, but it was so fun to be able to just be at a normal french party and practice french, hear french, etc. We were supposed to leave at 11 to go out, I think, but before I knew it, it was 1:30am, and we were still just all talking with eachother.

In my head I was like "We are NOT going out this late.." haha, I was getting tired obviously, and to treck around Caen that late, when the train already stopped for the few hours in the middle of the night, it did not sound appealing. It didn't to Noelle or Chelsea either. Genesis even went and changed into comfy clothes so that sealed the fact that we were staying to chill instead of go out.

A super interesting guy was the birthday guy, Pierre I think his name is? He knows more about american music and actors than we do, and he is fluent in english after only studying for a few years. He is also studying to be a doctor. Aka, smart. But he was also IN LOVE with Justin Timberlake. Like, LOVE. It was SO funny hahahaha. I mean Justin Timberlake is a good artist, it makes sense people would like his music, but this guy was a very dedicated fan haha. It made for a funny night as he was also the DJ.
Obviously things get funnier as the night goes on, and I just started to get super tickled by the french people's accents when they spoke english. My french is obviously worse than their english, but it was just SO funny when they would say things in super short, blunt sentences. So i was giggling, a lot.
Some of them, including the birthday boy, walked us home around 3:30, and we all agreed to just sleep in until our bodies woke us. What a fun night!

FRIDAY

No school today! Woot. Friday for some reason, they gave us a break so we got to sleep in as late as we needed to recover from being out so late the night before. I got up at around 12:30pm, and got going. Noelle and I headed to Carrefour to get stuff to make "holy cookies", these no bake, chocolate, peanut butter, oatmeal type cookies.

Ok. I pretty much also just listed all the things you should never try to get at the grocery store here. Peanut butter? Does not exist. Oatmeal, took me 20 minutes to find. Cocoa powder? I randomly stumbled upon it after I decided to substitute the chocolate and peanut butter with Nutella, their delicious chocolate spread. Also, the sandwich I got...campagne de sausisson. Aka, baguette with THICK layer of butter, THIN THIN layer of salami, and a few pickles thrown in. The most random combination I've ever eaten, and yes I did eat it. I waited to get back to my dorm so I could scrape off the butter, but the pickles and salami tasted pretty good! Just weird...

I made the cookies and they worked! However, Nutella is super sweet, and there is a lot of sugar in it, aka they are loaded with sugar, a little too much. So next time, if I can not find a saltier substitute for peanut butter, I will just decrease the amount of sugar in the recipe to compensate the Nutella. But yeah, everyone liked it! Ed came over for dinner with Noelle and I, and Genesis stopped by to grab a few cookies, but she had to leave to go have dinner with Agath and Agath's brother. So Ed, Chelsea, Noelle and I headed to Eglise St. Pierre (Church) ,for a debate on this movie that came out called "Deux Hommes et Dieu" or "Two men and God". The movie was about the Algerian monks that got kidnapped and killed in the mid 1990's, and some of the actors were from Caen and came to speak? We figured it would be interesting.

Turns out we definitely should have seen the movie first. I could barely follow what they were saying, and by debate they just meant conversation with questions from the audience. So we left half way through with the intention to watch the movie next week sometime. We decided it was friday night and we couldn't go back to the dorms yet, so we started wandering around town and ran into another guy from A&M. Talked for a bit, kept walking, then ran into 2 other people from Baylor! Haha, a places starts to feel like home when you can walk around and run into friends in the middle of the town. So we hung out with them at a bar, in a little nook in the corner that we found. Fun chill night! Sidenote, it was FREEZING when we had to walk back at the end of the night...the cold is coming!　

First 2 Days of Class :)

Well. The classes have started. Not difficult yet, we are just in orientation and they are seeing if we are in the right level. I don't know if I am. I am in A2 right. And It is a tad easy right now, but will it stay easy? I don't know, I'm hoping the teachers will know to move me or not but they are asking ME! I'm like, I don't know! So that is a tad frustrating because it is only day 2 and the profs already want to know where we think we should be. But a wise friend calmed me some by reminding me that God will place me where he wants me to be and I need not worry. So I shall not stress.

So that is class. it is 8:30-12:30ish with a break. And both of my teachers I have for the week are nice.
I get a mandatory chest xray this thursday morning for something on my visa form, and tonight we went over back to the cousin of Genesis' family and made dinner for her! She is super nice and was telling me how she would practice with me whenever because practicing talking and conversation is the best way to learn! We made pasta with veggies, of course.

I got my twisto rail pass and my bank card, so I am getting even more settled. And I am not sick anymore!
DId some laundry yesterday, that was good..
Doing some more tomorrow, that will be good..

I have been on a chocolate kick, I dont know what it is, but at some point every day, I just crave chocolate haha. I have been resisting mostly, but there is a vending machine in the building next door and Noelle and I have meandered over a few times..heh..hehe. The chocolate bars are smaller if that makes it better. Hah.

No homework yet really, and no class this friday, or any friday hopefully! I hear it isn't TOO common. Woot. I don't want to get my hopes up though.

Also there was an awkward tram pile up today hah. We had decided to walk instead of take the tram because it was super short, and there were 3 TRAMS all going to same direction all piled and at the same place (usually they are seperated by 5 minutes or so). It was SO funny and one of them derailed and turned into a bus to get out of the way haha. So funny and we were so glad we had decided to walk we because we definitely beat the train we would have taken.

Need Sleeeeeeeeep

Sunday

Well I did not think anything super interesting would happen today, that it would just be chill and 'normal', but no, something interesting ALWAYS finds me.

So we went to the market in the morning, more like afternoon, because we were super tired from staying up late Sat night. Still havent gone to church but next sunday we are for sure. So we head to the market and walk around. I looked at the Converse they have, I am going to buy a pair :) heh, but I am thinking about which style/color I want first. I am thinking the low cut grey ones.

So I got some vietemese food for lunch and the guy was very nice and spoke some english and french with me while he got my food, and asked me about texas. He was like "Oh Texas! Where the former president George W Bush is from right?" Very nice man. I also got 2 eggplants for some dinners this week, and I got a small chocolate crepe for my lunch dessert mmmm.

So we realized that the market closed at 1:30 so we were forced to leave. We ran into Ed and the North Dakota girls though and said we would hang out later. So we headed back to the dorm and ate our lunch then Genesis and I decided to go lay outside and soak up some of the beautiful sunny weather.

Well all was well for about 1/2 an hour, but then i glance up (and we were not in like an obvious place, and we were just laying there napping in our normal clothes) and I see these 2 guys with a dog coming towards us. "Nooooooo" I say to Genesis. Please just leave alone right? Like there are times to approach strangers to meet them and there are times not to, this, when we are having peaceful alone time, is not the time to come meet us, intentions are not as good usually. So they get close enough and are saying something unintelligable to us and then...then, one of them pulls out their phone and is like 'prends un photo?' aka, can I take a picture of you?! I look up, and am like "NO, NO, NO". He gets the point and puts the phone away, but that is all the talk they need to come over and start asking if we are american and if we understand them and such, I give blank stares because honestly I just am not in a socializing mood. Another situation and I would have been like, yay I can practice my french and meet people, but not then. They guess I'm from England because people there are beautiful and they said I was, and i'm like nope, and they ask if I am French, nope.

Genesis pops in saying she is Spanish and just rambles in spanish for a while, and finally they meander away after talking some to Genesis about Columbia. But goodness it took a while for them to get the point. They could have been just nice guys wanting to talk, but I doubt that, they were old to be students, probably 28 or so. And yeah, just kind of sketch. So we decided it was time to get up, so we walked to where Genesis is staying to pick up her stuff then headed back to Noelle who was in her room. We decided to nap.

Ed wakes us up knocking on our door and so we talk with him some, unfortunately he was looking for something interesting to do and we were not doing anything, so we said we would stop by his and the Dakota girls' dorm later to do something.

DInner timeeeee. We cooked eggplant, carrots, and green beans with our pasta and olive oil and it was so delicious! Yum..I love cheap delicious dinners, which also allow me to get some vegetable intake. Then I skyped my family for a bit too! I found that in the kitchen there are 2 bars of service so I can skype, but we just did the phone, no video, because 2 bars still breaks up a lot with video.

After we headed over to the other dorm and chilled with the girls and Ed for a few hours just talking in the kitchen, then all of a sudden it was midnight, or past that, and we all had early class, so, it was time for bed!

I was thinking too, and once school gets going in full motion my days will look very similiar and I probably won't want to, or have time to, blog every day. Just a heads up. :)

Fail Day? JK no such thing.

Well as good as our intentions were today to get things done, things did not go exactly as planned? We slept in some, and I felt way better when I woke up, yay!

Had some good Jesus time, then we headed to town to get lunch and go get our monthly Twisto pass(the tram and bus system here). Turns out you need a picture of yourself, so we left to return on monday sometime, with a picture..fail #1.

SO then we headed to the bank because they needed to see our student cards when we got them, but it turns out we were an hour late and they close early on Saturdays. Fail #2.

So we went to Carrefour and got some vegetables for dinner and a few breakfast bars because we have been lacking in breakfasts, and as many of you know, I am a strong advocate for eating breakfast! So now I shall have breakfasts! Win #1.

SO we headed back to our rooms to go sign up for laundry times, and the front desk is closed on saturdays. Fail #3. NO laundry done this weekend. Ew?

So we head to town to find some Ugg boots for Genesis. We go in like 5 different stores, no Ugg boots. Fail #4.

After about an hour of window shopping and such we head back to make dinner of bow tie pasta, broccoli, onions, garlic, and potatoes. And our burner starts beeping at us randomly in the middle of our cooking and refuses to work. Fail #5.

So we go to the level below us and use their kitchen! Yay the broccoli finished cooking. Win #2.

So we eat and listen to music and it was delicious because we added some herbs/spices this time to our pasta. Heh we are becoming more adventurous with our cooking hah. I showed them some of my favorite bands, like Adele, City and Colour, etc. And both Genesis and Noelle sing and love musicals/Broadway, so they were showing me their favorite songs in that genre haha. fail/win # 1. So different.

After, The Cousin of the family that Genesis is staying with invited us over to hang out at her place for a while. She is only 21 and has been hanging out with Genesis for the past week a lot. So we walked over to her apartment that she shares with her friend. It was only like a 5 minute walk! WIn #3.

How much fun! They were having a drink or so and eating pizza when we got there so we all just sat on the couches they had and just talked for hours. Mostly in French, but all of them understood some English and the 2 guys that were there could speak English if it was at a slow pace (The same for me in French) so conversation flowed very smoothly. They told us a lot about the culture in France and the ideologies and such. Like for example. No one goes to church. They said the only people who do are old people in their 60's who are very religious, but virtually none of their generation do and that is the norm for france.

Also most couples have kids and let them grow up some before getting married! So backwards from our culture. I had already recognised that some just by seeing a lack of wedding bands on the families on the tram and such, but they said that that is routine for familes in France. Also the divorce rate is at 50%. Also most kids start drinking around 16, and the statistic is girls there have sex when they are 13 years old. Guys when they are 11 I think? That is not a guy but a young boy :(. And when Genesis mentioned she had been with her boyfriend for 5 years and they hadn't had sex yet they were floored. Completely shocked. They could not believe that you could go 5 years. They said in France many people have sex the first night they meet and most people have a lot of 'experience' I guess you would say. How crazy. Basically, they were saying that it is just very liberal and free and their generation likes it that way. In the large cities, nothing is a shock to anyone, but in the smaller towns, just like in America, there are still things like homosexuality and stuff that is a shock to people. It relates some to America, but France is much more liberal, and much less diversified in their beliefs. Like in the States, although there is all the Sex, Drinking, and Athiesm, there is also the people who abstain and are practicing Christians. Not in France. There is no other side, virtually everyone is the same.

THey were saying this in a very nice educating way. Not preachy or trying to convince us their way was better or whatever, it was so interesting to just hear from local French people how the way of life is for them, how they see it. And they got to hear how we are in America some (we mostly focused on France). They even commented how people in the States are more religious/practicing. "Puritan" they said hahaha, but that did not translate like they liked.

Anyway, we did not get back to the dorm until around 1:45 am becasuse we just talked for hours at their apartment, but I hope we do it again! They like to practice their English, and vice versa for us hah. Definitely hard to wrap my mind around some of the norms for the people here though. Wow.

I'm on a Boat!

Well, not now, but I was on a boat for quite a bit of today. Wow today, again was a very interesting and fun day. The days just keep getting more and more fun.

Start from the beginning, we woke up, and went to our appointment at 10:30am to get our student card. It was on campus so that was nice to be able to wander around and feel more studenty. The people doing it were students, and The guy I went and sat down at, was like, "Have you seen Psycho?" And I, in a very sick voice (it left me this morning because I'm still sick), was like, "Haha yes", and he was like, "Your last name.." And I finished the sentence "Yeah Bates Motel!" Hahaha. People in the States don't get my last name being part of the classic movie, and yet some french college student did! How funny. I wanted to say more but I didnt want to speak in his face being sick, and He didn't know much english so I couldnt convey what I wanted to.

After getting my pic taken for my card and stuff, I went to get in the cashier line to go pay my social security (200 euro...). A guy gets in line behind me, and you can tell he like, wants to talk? He then asks me a question about where to get the card, and I attempt to help him, but I am speaking so quietly, my voice refusing to work, that it is a tad difficult. But we keep talking. I thought he was French at first, but it turns out he is from Spain, ( I can't tell accents apart), and was studying in St. Louis, Missouri, and decided to study abroad from his study abroad and come to France to learn French. CRAZY. He was nice though, and I met his friend that came too. So we chilled in line, then I got my student card, and paid, and Genesis, Noelle, and I went to meet up with the group going on a boat ride to the ocean! Free, compliments of the foreign exchange student program. Chelsea, another American, meets up with us and we walk down to the docks and hop on this big boat with 2 levels, the top is in the sun with probably 80 seats or so, then the inside level with about the same, probably more.

It was a BEAUTIFUL day today. And there was expected rain I thought, but no, warm, and sunny all day. ( I got burnt). So the 4 of us just sit down and talk for a while enjoying the scenery and such. It was lovely. Then I hear English voices behind me, so I turn and ask these 3 girls where they are from! And it turns out all three of them go to the University of North Dakota. Got some nice Northern accents too haha. They are very nice and outgoing and we all make friends immediately. When the boat gets to Ou'estriam, all 7of us walk around together and talk alot. We got some ice cream and walked on the beach some, and about 2 hours later just went back to the boat to leave haha, short field trip.

I had eaten nothing at this point by the way. Not having time for breakfast or lunch, my first food intake was some ice cream...then I had a small cup of Fanta at the boat ( they said they were providing a cocktail and food! But it turned out to be juice and cookies... fail). Then we head back. I saw the Spaniards who had kind of chilled on their own and said hi, but I never got to know them any.

The boat ride back was way more relaxed. Well..not at first. First the random French people who were in charge decided that each country there should go to the intercom and sing a song! HAHA it was awesome. First the people from Ghana went up and there are a ton of them, so they are all clapping and doing their African thing. THen a girl from China went up and sang a super sweet pretty song in chinese, then some american people (Noelle, a north dakota girl, and some random guy) sang a short version of God bless america, belted it really, and a few other countries went after. It was quite entertaining haha.

There was a strong wind the whole time, and I was exhausted and my fuel tank was still on empty, so I didnt really talk much on the way back, just sat.

We picked up some cold pizza from a Boulangerie on the way home, and I couldnt even finish it even though I hadn't really eaten all day. (ice cream and fanta dont count..). I definitely think my stomach has shrunk being here. I am still experimenting and eating all these new delicious foods, but that is sometimes the only meal of my day because breakfast has been fairly non-existant, and so we eat a brunch and a lunner or something. But it is fine because I am still going to bed full each night. I guess.

I got back and realized I was sun burned on my nose..and forehead...and I passed out on my bed for like an hour even though it was only 6:00 pm. When I awoke. We checked to see what level we got placed in!! It wasnt posted until 7 pm. ACK

I am in A21. Which is the 2nd level (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1). That seems to be pretty on par with my skill level, and this week with our testing I will find out if it is where I will stay permanently. So excited to start classes on Monday. My schedule is crazy though. I have 1 long class that lasts a few hours, then a short break than another long class. And that is monday-thursday. No class this friday though! Then the next week we will get a new schedule with our finalized classes :).

Now I am super super tired. THe north dakotans were trying out an Irish pub tonight and although it would be fun to go and practice french with people you meet there, I feel too sick and too tired to go. SO we ran over before the meeting time to tell them and then got some phone numbers. Now. Off to bed!

Food, Friends, French, Phone, Sick, FOOD

Wow. Today. Wow. So. Much. Stuff. Happened.


I love it. I feel like when I look back, I love every day. But that is a good thing. So today was orientation day. Aka, I actually found out more of what I will be doing here besides just wandering freely around a foreign French town. So we had to get up and meet at 8:45 this morning in the Vissol, the building next to our dorm, and we get there and there is a large group f students there already waiting as well. HELLO ASIA. The vast majority of the students were of the Asian race, which I did not expect! We ran into another girl from Baylor, Chelsea, and she is a very nice girl. She has been here since Saturday just roaming on her own meeting randoms and stuff, very free thinking and go with the flow, do whatever, type person. It encourages me to be more like that haha. We had met up with Ed, but he had to go off and do paperwork with some lady, and we all had meeting times to meet with someone to do paperwork for registration, mine was at 3:15 in the afternoon, so we all had some time. We also met a girl from London, she had already been here for a semester, he fiance is French, so she is living in Caen where he is, and learning some French! She had to go off and shop though. We walked to town and got some lunch, I got A Kebab, YUM. And we people watched.

Oh. FIrst we went to this random store with pizza, and there was a turning door to get in, and As I was going through, Noelle behind got her foot caught in the door, and it stopped/jolted the door temporarily, and my body of course kept going and my nose attacked the glass. It hurt, It like just bonked and left a little nose mark haha. Yes. It hurt. Hahaa but was insanely funny too.

So we got lunch, then headed back to the Vissol to pick up these tickets to go on a boat ride to the beach tomorrow! The program is offering it for free but there are only 150ish tickets, which is a lot, so people were waiting to get one when the doors of the office opened. HOLY COW. I felt like I stepped back 10 years, the immaturity it felt of the masses cutting and pushing to get a free ticket was insane! I guess in other cultures it isn't as big of a deal? Like kill or be killed mentality. Even the guy handing them out a couple times was like "Arrete!" Like "Stop stop". He knew us and saw us patiently standing and trying to inch forward and handed us a stack so we could take them and leave :) nice man.

So we found ourselves with nothing to do. We went to our meeting at 3:15 and they just had to ask us a few questions and give us our appt to get our student card tomorrow morning, then we realized we had nothing to do for the rest of the day. So we decided to walk to the bank to get some money out for the 200 euro social security fee we have to pay tomorrow, then take the tram to carrefour to get a few more veggies to make another dinner! I also wanted to look at some prices for prepaid phones.

Side note. I'm sick. I dont know when it crept up on me, but I am. Like one morning I woke up and my throat was a bit scratchy, then that went away, but the next morning, probably this morning? My nose started bothering me, by the afternoon today I could tell it wasn't allergies or anything, just a cold, or something. Head cold? My brain is foggy, my nose is stuffy and runny at the same time, i'm sneezing, and just plain don't feel well. But that is just a side note because i refuse to let it affect me haha, I just haven't been as peppy or talkative.

Ok, so we run into a friend on the Tram, very cool, there were also some middle aged guys that sat down in the back by me and they were very loud and, well enthousiastic? Not sure how to describe it. But They were laughing with eachother playing music for eachother on their iPods, and then commenting on why I was carrying an umbrella (I had thought it would rain, but it definitely was sunny outside), and then like suddenly ran out. So we get to Carrefour and Genesis (it is Genesis, Noelle and I at this time) recharges her phone with more minutes, and I start looking at prices. The provider, Bouyges, seems to be pretty cheap, but I end up going to a big "The Phone House" which has a lot of phone and a lot of providers, and tell them that "J'ai besoin de mobile avec un carte prepayee et SMS illimitee pour 3 mois", or "I need a cell with a pre-paid card and unlimited texting for 3 months". He immediately started speaking English to me, I guess it was that obvious...

So he shows me the best plan, and I decided on the cheapest phone there which was 20 ish euro, and a 2 month prepaid card that has 1h45m talk time and unlimited texting that lasts 2 months. It was 35 euro? Kind of a lot, but now I don't have to worry about it for a while and can text a lot without using up my minutes, because I think that if my minutes run out my texting stops working too? Not sure.

HAHA, but then this occured. I was curious to ask him if there was a French number I could use to post on Twitter, like a 40404 type number that I can send a text to that will post on my twitter account or w/e, and he doesnt understand what I mean by 'Twitter' (we are speaking English by this time), and I try to say it a few times, attempt to point at a twitter symbol in the store but he doesnt see it, and then I just say 'twitter' with a french accent sounding like 'tweet-air' and he is like "Ohhhhh, tweet-air!" HAHAHHHAHAHHHAHA. HAHAHAAHAH. Although I was feeling lousy that made me smile big time. That happens alot, like people know places in Texas and such but to say Austin, you have to say "Austeen" and such and then it immediately clicks for them haha, how funny though, to me.

And btw, there is not a number to text to tweetair.

Also, we made food again tonight, cost us less than 3 euro total, win. Also, I bought at the Carrefour mall the most DELICIOUS PASTRY EVER. It is a 'nous pepita'. Aka, a croissant with cream (kind of like custard) and mini melted chocolate chips all layered in the middle. Pics below. It is my new favorite food here. And i'm SURE soooo bad for you. Therefore I share with people, and hopefully not every boulangerie/patisserie will have them or I am going to be tempted too much. Holy cow. I also got to skype my mom unexpectedly for a few minutes! There is a tad bit of internet in Noelle's room and I was like, OH she is online, prob not though. So I just called for kicks and giggles, and it worked! My 1 bar of service was not enough to do video though so we just had like a phone call, for free. Win.

Us being fatty fats and eating the pastry :D

My cheapy cheap phone! I feel so dated using it haha. But a phone is a phone. It is in French too..heh.

The delicious pastry. Oh my gosh. It looks like meat and cheese, but it is chocolate and cream..

Rainy but Fun

I met someone from Texas today! So weird to think about! So we woke up and our only plans for the day were to go ask for some paperwork at the front desk of our housing complex that we needed for our bank account, and then go to the store and get stuff for dinner! We were waiting for Genesis to arrive, and it had been cold and rainy all morning by the way, when she bursts in, out of breath and explains how she just ran into two Americans.

So we go try to find them and invite them to lunch and the store with them. There is a guy from A&M and a girl from New Jersey I think? Not quite sure. But we luckily found their rooms and accompanied us to Carrefour! How fun to meet other people finally. The Texas A&M, Ed, I think is his name? Is very good at French, languages in general, very tall, very nice, very talkative! So we had a good time with him. And the girl, Lain I think it is, had been going for like 48 hours straight with no sleep, so she was a bit out of it, but glad to get some necessities at the store with us and explore some before crashing back at her dorm.

Ok, before I continue. What. The. Heck. Both of their dorms are AMAZING. LIke, I liked my dorm before I met them and Ed has his own bathroom and fridge, and Lain's is just super cute, might have a fridge I don't know. But mine looks super old now and like, rustic. I still like it but am curious how I got jipped...oh well I am in France I can not let myself get consumed or jealous over something so small.

So we got a sandwich and went to Carrefour which was hectic with 5 people, but we managed, definitely stood out some. That's ok! The rain stopped, yay. And headed back to the dorm. Lain went to go sleep and unpack so we went back and the 4 of us just talked for what ended up being a few hours. Then we got hungry and cooked our dinner of vegetables, bow tie pasta, olive oil, and salt and pepper, and a bottle of wine haha. We had to get pots and stuff too, and it turns out the little burners in our kitchen only work with certain pots. The smaller ones that fit perfectly on top. It is an induction stove and literally wouldn't even turn on with the other one that was bigger. SO weird. So we had a lovely healthy dinner and talked more until it was time for Genesis to go, so Ed headed back to his dorm too. The day went by super fast, especially since we didn't do to much, lots of talking and stuff since we met new people though so I quite enjoyed it!

I'm so excited we have orientation tomorrow it is going to be a BUSY day! We find out our ranking on the placement test, sign up for classes, and get our student Ids. AHH.

The raindrops keep falling on my headddddddd....

But don't worry, my eyes won't be turning red. Yesterday was a fantastic day. We decided to stay in Caen and explore the mens' and womens' abbeys. So we woke up, I checked my good ol' facebook, and we waited for Genesis to arrive on her bike. She got here at aroun 12:30 then we headed to town to get some lunch! We love to go to Boulangerie's Which are like, pastry sandwich shops. I got this pizza baguette thing? Not quite sure what it is. But it was delicious and filling. Then we saw "Fruity Cafe" and they had smoothies so we decided to try them! I got a chocolate one, which kind of defeats the purpose, but it was kind of thin, but good! Expensive so I won't be a regular guest.

Then we went to find the Abbaye aux hommes. Men's Abbay. It was beautiful. SO beautiful. We wandered around and just looked at everything. It has the tomb of William the Conquerer who was the founder of the church. We also saw some bones of some guy, or Saint, or something that were over 1000 years old. Ew. Yet awesome. They still use the big chapel area for Catholic mass on Sundays and stuff. Legit. Then we went L'eglise Saint-Pierre. It is right in the middle of the town where we always go and there is a lot of reconstruction going on on the outside to restore it some, and it is beautiful too, such history. And finally we headed to the Abbaye aux Dames, Women's Abbey. Of course, it was spectacular also, it had the tomb of Mathild? Some Duchess Matilda or something, she was some royalty in the Normand Clan a long time ago. I loved it, it was peaceful and not crowded with tourists or anything at any of them.  Finally we walked back to get some food, and headed back to the dorm. And then the rain started.

We had to pull out the umbrellas for the walk home, and it hasn't really stopped since, and it is morning now. Creates a very chill atmosphere though?

So last night, I was sitting in my room, playing Spider Solitaire..and in the room next to mine I start to hear some craziness from the girls next door. Here is what I wrote on my computer:

I have no clue what is going on a few doors down..

I hear a lot of girls laughing, and then suddenly all these animal noises..like a sheep 'baaaaing', a dog, more dog barking, quacking, SO strange. Basically, amidst French conversation and laughter, they are making random animal noises? Hah..also, there are a lot of pots clanging in the kitchen, they must have wanted a midnight snack. Not that it's midnight. It's only 10:40.

That is what I wrote haha. Awk. Anyway, off to a grand day in rainy Caen


Here are some pics!

Outside of the Abbaye aux Hommes! It looks like a castle

In front of William the Conquerer's tomb in Abbaye aux Hommes

This is from the beach the other day (see how far the water was! And we were considered 'close')

Pretty normal day.

Not that there is such a thing as a normal day in France, but there was nothing extraordinary that happened?

Did laundry for the first time haha. You have to go to the front desk, reserve a block of 2 hours, and then give them an ID card in exchange for the keys to the laundry room, or laverie en francais. So we did that. And you also pay them for your washes and dries. They then give you tokens that you use for the machines. There is also only one washer and one drier, probably another reason you have to reserve. So we did that. Yayyyy clean clothes! But some of my black things got lots of fuzzies on them because a towel was in there also...oops. So we decided we could go to Carrefour after and get a lint roller.

We also went and asked one of the study abroad staff guys about the trips we would be taking as a group, so we wouldn't go there on our own. We are going to go to the Normandy memorial site, from WW2, and Le Mont St Michel. Look that one up. Yes. An island city castle like thing. I can't wait.

So finally at around 3 something we went into town to get a very late lunch, we were starvingggg, and I got a 'roti de porc' sandwich which was delicious, and this bread pastry called 'pain au pommes', so like apple bread. That was for my dinner. Then we headed back to Carrefour to get a lint roller, and I needed some pant hangers and the like. IT was SO crowded. We guessed later it was because of the strike happening the next day everyone was stocking up incase they couldn't get out much? Then we headed back to our dorms and planned all the places we want to go this semester.

There are quite a few places I want to go. It is weird though, when you actually have the opportunity to go, how suddenly you don't know what you would do there. Like, Sweden, or Germany, or Ireland. Yes I want to go there, why not? But at the same time i'm like..uh..what would we do there, where would we go once we got there? Haha. We will figure all that stuff out. We have England, Poland(for Auschwitz), Italy, Greece(maybe, kind of far), some places in France, Scotland, etc etc. We aren't supposed to leave France I don't think until we turn in some form connected with our visa. And we can't turn that in until we get a medical exam, which the school schedules for us. So we are going to travel in France a lot until then! I also got to talk to my mommy on the phone :) YAYY

First sit down dinner, the beach, the market, and more!

So we went to our first French Restaurant for dinner last night! And it was actually an Italian place, but still, restaurant...in France. It was around 9 and we hadn't had dinner yet, and the only places open it seemed were sit down places (Noelle and I are used to just grabbing food at stands and the like) so we started walking around to find some food. All the bars are booming by now and still open, but we needed fooooooood. We passed a Creperie, but it was empty, and we didn't know what to do, aka order and stuff. So we kept looking for something less awkward. We see a sushi place. Hm, sushi in France? Well Caen is by the ocean..but no. Too expensive. Then we see chinese, nope, we can't understand ANYTHING on the menu outside. Finally we settle on a Pizza place. We know by now that we will have to go out of the comfort zone and attept a sit down, I was more uncertain than Noelle, so we did it. We walked in, sat down, attempted to ask if the pizza was whole or slices, and split a "4 saisons" (4 seasons) pizza. YUMYUMYUM. There were artichokes, sausage, ham, maybe something else. They also brought this olive oil stuff that we put on it, mostly on the crust to make it softer, and it had the most wonderful flavors. We were so awkward eating though. They did not slice it for us. So we were muttering to eachother quietly.. Uhh, how do you hold your silverware, do you use silverware, how do you say this, how are we going to pay. etc etc. haha. by watching the only other people in there, we figured you had to walk up to pay. So we did. It was normal. and we left. YAYY. WE SURVIVED.


Eating there must have started something confidence wise with us because this morning we went to the crepe place to eat a late brunch. We walk in, I cannot think of how to say “do we sit down here?” so with pointing we go and sit in the corner. We order and I decided to try some French Cafe! ACK it was so good, yet different. It was in a very small expresso cup with a pack of sugar and a sweet mini cookie. Like a digestif cracker or something of the like. It was so delicious. COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE. J’aime le cafe. We both ordered crepes with cheese and meat and those are actually called ‘galettes’ because they are not sweet. They are also monstrous. Unfolded they would have been the size of a medium pizza, but they fold it in half like a quesadilla with the cheese and stuff inside. YUM. I could not finish. Too much food.

Then we had decided to go to the beach so we walked to the ‘busverts’ aka green bus, and get our bus tickets which don’t leave for 40 minutes. So we wander around a side of Caen we had not been yet, and then take the bus to the sea.

The beach was massive. I’ve never seen a beach so big. The sand part was sooo long and also so deep! If that makes sense..Like leaving the path at the back of the beach to walk to the ocean takes forever because there is so much sand. We did not make it because there was a barrier of seaweed and stuff we did not want to walk over. So we sat in the sand for like 2 hours. And played in the sand. Ish. Hah. It was fun. I forgot my camera btw. Just chilling and people watching and the like. We had run into some creepo guys at the beginning but they thankfully left us alone . And we were also sitting next to us were some English folk. They are right across the water after all. Lots of PDA (Public Display of Affection) on the beach, lots of kites, lots of families. There was a group of around 9 people that were flying their massive kites in sync! Like you see plane shows where they fly in patterns, it looked the same but with kites! It looked very difficult and pretty and they did that for hours.

Finally, it became too chilly because of the wind and sun going down some, so we got up and explored to find some food. We discovered the touristy side of the beach with a long road full of restaurants, ice cream, and stores. So we meandered down. YES. Glace d’italienne. Basically gelato. Mint ice cream again? OK. But this time instead of mint leaves in my ice cream there were chocolate pieces hah. SO GOOD. And the portions on the cone were not big. Probably in the US it would be a kid’s size, but it really is perfect.

So we are just walking down looking at shops and the like, enjoying our ice cream, and it feels like people are watching us...I comment to Noelle and she feels the same way haha. Awk. We check each other, nothing very unusual going on. No ice cream on the face, no crazy hair, no dresses flying up in the wind, etc. We weren’t even speaking loud so it’s not like we were screaming AMERICAN or anything. Ugg. We guessed maybe it was because it was just two girls walking, no guys with us, not a big group of people, maybe we were walking slow? Maybe we just look American? Shmeh, it’s not like we looked amazing or anything that would attract a ton of stares. But either way it was a tad awkward to just feel glances in your direction more often than not..

We head back, see Greek food we want. Go. SO GOOD. They speak English some, but we say we would like to speak in French, they like that. Brownie points with the french  I got this pork meat i think with tomatoes on the side, and some pita bread w/ tatziki sauce and french fries. Hah. Yes. French fries. I had my first French fry at a Greek place. Still in France. So it counts.

Back at the room. It is early. Aka like 8:30pm. And we have nothing to do. All places with internet nearby are closed. We don’t want to go into town, so it is sleepy time! Kind of weird. I want to do more, but we have exhausted our ideas for the day travelling to the beach, so resting is probably good since there is a market to go to in the morning!



THE MARKET

HOLY COW. Every Sunday morning there is a market downtown in Caen, also, everything is closed on Sundays so It is the only place to get food! So we definitely wanted to go. It is the biggest market i’ve ever seen. There is literally everything there. Fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, cheese, crepes, moroccan food, indian food, chinese food, breads(of course), and more that I can’t remember. But there is also non food items. For example: a stand just for converse shoes, or one for underwear, jewelry, kid’s games, teapots, all kinds of clothes, watches, kitchen utensils, etc etc. It was insane, and amazing. Oh tons of shoes hah. I am going every week.

Today I bought une baguette d’ancienne, une crepe chocolat, et un kilo de raisins. Aka. An old fashioned baguette, a chocolate crepe, and a kilo of grapes. I ate the crepe right away and I liked it way more than the one I had yesterday. That was my brunch. And I already tried the baguette, DELICIOUS. And The grapes are good too, just have some little seeds in them. So I am set for dinner later! But wow. The Market. Wow. I’ll take pics there sometime, it is just a bit awkward because it is so crowded and people would be like what? It sprinkled a little too, but nothing like it will be later this week when the normal raininess of Caen returns. We’ve been super lucky and had beautiful sunny weather, not for long.  There were also people there passing out fliers and the like, I got one that is from the “Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste” Hahahaha. Anti-capitalist? That just sounds funny. OH. It is for a protest on the 7th. I might have to go peek and see how it goes.

Anticapitaliste..haha

THE Market baguettes we bought!