D'accord... the first week and a half have gone by so quickly!!! But à l'autre coté I feel like I have been here for my whole life; it's a really strange feeling. I know my way around here better than I do my hometown (that's not saying a lot) and it seems like everyone here knows me just as well as even my closest friends at Denison- it's crazy! The first week we went to Vannes, which is a little town in Bretagne. There we saw lots of chateaux, drank cidre (most disgusting drink I have ever tasted- we called it "smokey cheese water" but apparently it's a specialty), visited a sardine factory (weird but surprisingly interesting), saw Carnac, tried to have a picnic at the beach but it was crazy windy, explored the nightlife (there was this one Irish pub that we essentially took over- very fun and we had the whole place to ourselves! We also ate a lot of good food, bought some things, took lots of buses and basically just adjusted to life abroad!
Since getting back to Nantes, I have also had so much fun! It's kind of hard to begin, because so much has happened in such a short amount of time! My host family is so so nice, my mom is your typical stay-at-home mom, makes dinner which then everyone eats together, cleans everyones room, does their laundry, etc. She has been so helpful with both my vocabulary (or sometimes lack there of), helping me figure out the bus system, and just generally giving me advice. My dad is sweet too, he gets home around 8 or so everynight, right before dinner but he is really sweet. He promised to take me to the Loire Valley vineyards and also this wine tasting restaurant, and basically he wants me to become an "oenophile." My brother, Pierre, is amazing- really cool, laidback funny guy. I want to go out with him and his friends some time! He is so nice about telling me where to eat, where's a good bar, driving me places, and answering my questions about life in Nantes for people our age. Claire, my sister, is really nice too- she and I haven't talked a whole lot but she seems really sweet. Edouard is so funny, your typical 10 yr old boy- except in france kids listen to their parents! A big culture shock for me, when my mom tells him to stop playing video games its never "oh let me save it" or "oh just one more level" it's "OK Maman!" The professors are all amazing- Mme Rouchet and M Debaranger are the directors, both of which are hilarious but good teachers. Estelle and Samuel are two younger teachers and they are just ridiculous, we kind of walk all over then but they don't seem to care. Samuel is also our social coordinator so he advises us on good places to go out/accompanies us sometimes. The other students are sweet- I don't feel like listing out names, but like I said, I feel we have known eachother our whole lives... even though it hasn't even been 2 weeks...
As far as classes go- I'm signed up to take a French Classicism art history course, an Internal Trade econ course, a Translation course, an IES french grammar course, a French lit course (a french course with French students), and "iconographie moderne" (i hvae no real idea what thats gonna be about but it meets once a week and its at the university so I'll be able to hang out with more French students!) I am going to have to drop one course because I am taking too many credits, and I will probably end up choosing between the French Lit course at the University and the IES French Grammar course, depending on which one seems more interesting.
The food here is really good, but I'll eat anything as you all know so I don't know if that's saying much! But so far I haven't had anything that I didn't like. They eat so much bread, and also drink really good wine (two things that I plan on integrating into my lifestyle back in the US). They are also so fashionable! Like, something about the way they dress is cooler than us- and I can't figure it out! Maybe by the end of this semester I'll figure it out. Although, 2 people so far have stopped and asked me for directions so I guess I don't look toooo out of place :)
It rains almost every day here which is very depressing, but that's pretty much the only bad thing. And the French are obsessed with American politics (I think 5 people so far have asked me who I'm voting for... to which I respond Obama or else I would be shot in the face haha).
C'est tout pour aujourd'hui!
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