I had a little fun with my reflection.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
PARIS!!!
Yes, finalement I'm here! The city I will be living in for the next 9 months. Yesterday we said au revior to our Biarritz host-families and took a short plan ride into Orly airport. We were then split up into groups according to where our host families live. After much confusion with the not-so-organized cab drivers, I arrived at my apartment in the 15th Arrondisement.
I am living with the MOST ADORABLE woman ever in the most beautiful apartment ever!! Just to give you a little taste of what it's like here, I'm writing this at 11 o'clock at night in my room while watching the Eiffel Tower light show. Yeah, yeah, no big deal or anything... There will be pictures very soon I promise!! Ok, the adorable woman, Francoise, is a widow who lost her husband a few years ago. She has had many many students from the HCJYF program but I am the first Hamilton student she's housed. She has one son who is grown and had 3 younger children of his own. She is very easy to talk to and corrects me in a very nice manner when I make a mistake speaking. Her sister lives just 3 floors above us with her husband. She visits often and helps with dinner, etc. She also has some connection with the l'Ecole du Louvre but...not quite sure what that is...better get on that...
You will be very proud to know I successfully navigated the three Metro stops it takes to get to Reid Hall (I know its not a lot, but hey, give me some credit here). I was so early I decided to stop at a little café on the rue Montparnasse and get one of those shot-sized, caffeinated-so-much-it-made-my-hands-shake-for-an-hour cups of what the french call "coffee". IT WAS AWESOME. That little detour was also my first real "café in Paris". After countless hours of serving burgers and wings and scrubbing bathroom floors at the restaurant this summer, the only thing keeping me from strangling those 40-something, washed-out, drunk, biker chicks/dudes was the image of myself at a Paris café. This morning, I was finally at my café!!
Pictures to come!! Bises!
I am living with the MOST ADORABLE woman ever in the most beautiful apartment ever!! Just to give you a little taste of what it's like here, I'm writing this at 11 o'clock at night in my room while watching the Eiffel Tower light show. Yeah, yeah, no big deal or anything... There will be pictures very soon I promise!! Ok, the adorable woman, Francoise, is a widow who lost her husband a few years ago. She has had many many students from the HCJYF program but I am the first Hamilton student she's housed. She has one son who is grown and had 3 younger children of his own. She is very easy to talk to and corrects me in a very nice manner when I make a mistake speaking. Her sister lives just 3 floors above us with her husband. She visits often and helps with dinner, etc. She also has some connection with the l'Ecole du Louvre but...not quite sure what that is...better get on that...
You will be very proud to know I successfully navigated the three Metro stops it takes to get to Reid Hall (I know its not a lot, but hey, give me some credit here). I was so early I decided to stop at a little café on the rue Montparnasse and get one of those shot-sized, caffeinated-so-much-it-made-my-hands-shake-for-an-hour cups of what the french call "coffee". IT WAS AWESOME. That little detour was also my first real "café in Paris". After countless hours of serving burgers and wings and scrubbing bathroom floors at the restaurant this summer, the only thing keeping me from strangling those 40-something, washed-out, drunk, biker chicks/dudes was the image of myself at a Paris café. This morning, I was finally at my café!!
Pictures to come!! Bises!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
"Chateau Champion"
A trip to Bordeaux would not be complete without a little wine tasting! Even though it was about 10:30 in the morning, we were all excited to tour the facility and have a dégustation. The family that runs Chateau Champion have been in the business for 8 generations. Crazyyy. I bought the 2007 Merlot we had at the tasting. The question is: will I have room in my suitcase for it when I depart for Paris??
Le château de la Brède
On our way to Bordeaux we stopped to take a tour of Montesquieu's Château. Very very cool on the outside, but even more breath-taking on the inside. Unfortunately, photo's of the inside were "interdit"(forbidden). We had a very nice woman tour guide who spoke very well and was easy to understand. I am starting to judge the french people who mumble and the ones who actually formulate comprehensible sentences...
Friday, September 11, 2009
The Past Few Days
Bonjour à Tous!
I have been in Biarritz for just over a week now, finally over the jet-lag and nervous jitters. There were a lot of "firsts" that happened the past few days. I ordered my first glass of French wine at a restaurant the other night. Very tasty. It was rosé if you were curious...
I saw my first not-on-the-tourist-map French cathedral (one of many I hope) during our day-trip to Bayonne, another city about 30 minutes away from Biarritz. The Cathédrale Sainte-Marie de Bayonne is rich in history as well as the city it occupies. You know the bayonet? Yup, first made in Bayonne.
Our HCJYF group went to the cinéma and I got my first real taste of a French film. It was, hands down, the most bizarre thing I have ever seen in my life. No point really, no explanation of why things are the way they are, lots of nudie-shots, and lots of drinking. Pretty French if you ask me...
Probably the best first was the first compliment on how well I spoke French! Kylie, Alden and I were in an artisan chocolate shop in Bayonne. The woman was very pleasant and we all exchanged niceties. She asked us where we were from and we told her Les États-Unis and she said we spoke french très bien. After buying our chocolate and leaving the store, we did a group high-five to celebrate our little victory.
Tomorrow, HCJYF is going on a weekend trip to Bordeaux, the wine-capital of the world. Plenty of more stories to come I'm sure!
Bises!
Monday, September 7, 2009
First Day of Classes
So its been two days since I've updated and a bunch of stuff happened since then. Yesterday, Lisa (roommate) and I went to the beach by ourselves. It was very relaxing and I actually got a little tan going on. Ouaiiii! After baking in the sun for approximately two hours or so we decided to try out the ocean. I have never been in waves quite as large as these so it made a simple dip a little more exciting. The weather is beautiful all the time here. I haven't seen a rain cloud or any weather resembling Buffalo or Clinton in September.
Today was my first day of classes and I don't think I have ever been more mentally exhausted. Writing on this blog is pretty much the first time I could think/speak in English today. My group (consisting of Kylie, Alden, and 5 or 6 others) had "la classe de francais" for 2 hours, then "coversation" for another hour. After lunch, we had another hour of this "assistant" talking about cultural celebrations of the area. Interesting, but, after everything else, in a warm dark room, I felt myself starting to drift off. I looked over at Alden at one point and she had her sunglasses down and was taking a little nappy. Caught ya Alden!
After THAT we all had a meeting with Cheryl Morgan about some random things like if we all wanted to go to a certain movie, and what we need for that stupid Carte de Sejour. From what I gathered, we are also putting on a little sketch for our host families in the near future so I of course volunteered my juggling services amongst the singers and dancers. Greeaaaatttt. hahaha
I also got a phone and some sort of pay-as-you-go plan for 50 euros. I am just waiving my money goodbye already.
I said in my last post that my host family supposedly had two small children and that they were staying somewhere else while we stayed in their room. Yeah, that wasn't right at all. Yesterday for "la dejuner" (lunch) here strolls in a 30-something woman and a little girl about 3. We both looked at each other like...whaaaat? Our host mother and father are actually grandparents and have 1 or 2 children that are "plus age" (older) and THEY have children as well. So both of us pretty much failed on that family detail. I am going to say though, this little girl, and the vast majority of little French children are the cutest things in the world. Literally, their little voices when they speak french is "trop mignone!" Too cute!
Now, I'm planning on taking a little nap and eating a nice french dinner. I haven't even commented on the food/drink yet, but that should be a post in and of itself.
A bientot!
Today was my first day of classes and I don't think I have ever been more mentally exhausted. Writing on this blog is pretty much the first time I could think/speak in English today. My group (consisting of Kylie, Alden, and 5 or 6 others) had "la classe de francais" for 2 hours, then "coversation" for another hour. After lunch, we had another hour of this "assistant" talking about cultural celebrations of the area. Interesting, but, after everything else, in a warm dark room, I felt myself starting to drift off. I looked over at Alden at one point and she had her sunglasses down and was taking a little nappy. Caught ya Alden!
After THAT we all had a meeting with Cheryl Morgan about some random things like if we all wanted to go to a certain movie, and what we need for that stupid Carte de Sejour. From what I gathered, we are also putting on a little sketch for our host families in the near future so I of course volunteered my juggling services amongst the singers and dancers. Greeaaaatttt. hahaha
I also got a phone and some sort of pay-as-you-go plan for 50 euros. I am just waiving my money goodbye already.
I said in my last post that my host family supposedly had two small children and that they were staying somewhere else while we stayed in their room. Yeah, that wasn't right at all. Yesterday for "la dejuner" (lunch) here strolls in a 30-something woman and a little girl about 3. We both looked at each other like...whaaaat? Our host mother and father are actually grandparents and have 1 or 2 children that are "plus age" (older) and THEY have children as well. So both of us pretty much failed on that family detail. I am going to say though, this little girl, and the vast majority of little French children are the cutest things in the world. Literally, their little voices when they speak french is "trop mignone!" Too cute!
Now, I'm planning on taking a little nap and eating a nice french dinner. I haven't even commented on the food/drink yet, but that should be a post in and of itself.
A bientot!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Le Premier Jour
Ahh yes. The first full day of Biarritz. It was absolutely fantastic. Everyone is super-serious about only speaking French. My roommate, who goes to Williams College, and I, even in our room, only speak French to one another. Its certainly exhausting but I think I learned more French today than I would have in a week of college classes.
Biarritz reminds me of the Aix-en-Provence region where I spent a lot of time as an Au Pair. My host family is very nice. It's a husband and wife and they have two little daughters, but we haven't seen the daughters and I think we're sleeping in their room so we think they are at the grandparent's house or something like that. Not sure about that detail. haha
The real kicker today was the whole getting lost in a foreign country thing. Yeah. My roomate and I were trying to get back to our house and we thought that it was going to be super easy because we had these huge maps of Biarritz, but alas, our road was not on the map. AWESOME. So after asking every french person on the street as well as these sketch guys at a local pizza place, we finally found it. 2 hours of being lost. Good times.
Tomorrow is just for relaxation so we plan of logging a bunch of time at the beach.
A la prochaine!
Biarritz reminds me of the Aix-en-Provence region where I spent a lot of time as an Au Pair. My host family is very nice. It's a husband and wife and they have two little daughters, but we haven't seen the daughters and I think we're sleeping in their room so we think they are at the grandparent's house or something like that. Not sure about that detail. haha
The real kicker today was the whole getting lost in a foreign country thing. Yeah. My roomate and I were trying to get back to our house and we thought that it was going to be super easy because we had these huge maps of Biarritz, but alas, our road was not on the map. AWESOME. So after asking every french person on the street as well as these sketch guys at a local pizza place, we finally found it. 2 hours of being lost. Good times.
Tomorrow is just for relaxation so we plan of logging a bunch of time at the beach.
A la prochaine!
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