Mont St. Michel et St. Malo

Yesterday, there was an IES field trip to Mont St. Michel and St. Malo. Mont St. Michel is a very cool abbey/monastery. It is on this weird island rock kind of thing that sticks up out of sand where the tide comes in. Its absolutely breathtaking as you first see it rising out of the land (when we went tide was out). I was kind of disappointed by how touristy it was (the abbey its self had like 4 gift shops and surrounding the abbey/monastery within the walls were all souvenir shops and overpriced food). All that being said, it was definitely amazing and very impressive. My friend and I found a nice place to eat lunch with a beautiful view that was higher up. (I of course had packed my lunch being the smart celiac traveler!) We then went on to St. Malo, a small port city that has produced alot of explorers back in the day (that I have learned all about in my history book). My friends and I walked on a beautiful sandy beach, almost got trapped by tide (and by trapped, it only comes in about a foot deep so, its a relative term). And we walked around and ate ice cream (finally, I found mint chocolate chip. It was so delicious. Almost as good as the taco and gatorade I am craving). We then returned to Nantes!

As sure as Mont St. Michel rises like Olympus above the Brittany (ok I changed the lyrics slightly)


Closer view of Mont St. Michel and Friends!


Random Ceiling inside


My friends and I in St. Malo

Friday Afternoon=Finished for the Week

So, overall this week was quite enjoyable. Wednesdays I don't have class until 2 pm so I got up and got dressed to run (and it was cold enough to wear long sleeve underarmour!!) and my host mom asked me what I was doing. I was like "I'm going running like I always do" and she was super confused because it was "raining" (not even drizzling, just a little misty). Apparently, French people rarely run. If they do run, they never run in the streets, only in parks, and never ever in the rain. Well, I showed them my Americain-ness running in the streets in the rain, wearing white running shoes and shorts! Thursday, I pretty much chilled after my 8 am class and then ran and went to trampoline. We practiced jumping up and then landing on your stomach and bouncing to your feet. It is hard because you want to put down your elbows but if you do it will hurt your back alot more! It was really fun, but since I ran to trampoline, I was wearing shorts and my knees are a little ripped up.
Moral of the story: France is a very relaxing place to live, especially as there is very little homework and lots of fun stuff to do.
Tomorrow we are going to Mont St Michel and St Malo for a field trip! Both are supposed to be amazing. And now, I am going to go to carrefour to buy food!
A plus tard,
Laura

Feeling Rather French Today

This morning I got up and got ready for school like most mornings and luckily I am a mildly neurotic person and like to be on time. So, I decided to take the 9:09 bus for my 10 o'clock class (it takes about 20min from when the bus leaves til when I arrive). About 5 min before I left, my host mother tells me that there is a transportation strike (how french). I then walked to class (which takes a little less than 40 min but luckily I was planning on being early and had the extra time). I was planning on going to the big grocery store one of these days but was essentially out of lunch foods so I went to Marché Plus and bought galettes (the shells) and made myself a ham and cheese galette (how Breton). Walking back from IES, I saw (for the first time since arriving) a man wearing a beret. I felt pretty awesome covering 3 stereotypes of the French before 1 pm.
Unfortunately, I have to walk back to IES this evening and then go to the opera and some how, get home.

Yesterday, I had Aquagym. It was kind of bizarre but still quite fun. I was hoping my biceps would be sore, but no luck. Oh well! Its all students in the class but its taught by an older woman. Yet, enjoyable!

A plus tard
Laura

A Weekend in Europe

Friday, I went to my one class and then ate lunch at IES with my friends and returned to chez moi, theoretically to go for a run, instead I watched Bones and then went to the store and walked around. I met my friends at one of their houses where we made dinner (I had a delicious salad with avocados, apples, bleu cheese, chicken, tomato and lettuce. Yum.) And we hung out and I slept there. Upon returning chez moi the next morning, I read some and went for a run and then ate dinner with Marie-Annick and met my friends at a café, ate ice cream, and then walked each other to our respective abodes. Today involved more hanging out reading, walking around and running. Overall, a very relaxing weekend.

Thursdays Rock

As a science major, one must understand that I am used to spending ridiculous hours during the school year in lab and class (esp last semester). But now, here in France I only have class for 12 hours a week! (I guess this is what humanities and social science majors feel like). So, what do you do when you have one class on Thursdays and it ends at 9h15 am? You go for a leisurely stroll to different bookstores to locate books you need for classes. Debate stopping by the famous chocolate shop that you have never stopped by and really want and then decide against it because it is only 11am. Then you run into friends in the street who are going to the tabac for stamps and walk with them because, what the heck, you don't have anywhere to be. Then, head back to the center to eat lunch for about an hour and a half. Then you go and hang out in the piano room and end up having a quasi jam session. And read a little of the 900 page book that you just bought (that part is a little scary because its 900 pages in French). Then stroll home to go for a nice long run and go to trampoline class.

Trampoline is a great great thing. Its being like a little kid again. Except there is a coach yelling things like "you're looking in the wrong place" "se grouper (to grab your knees in the air)" or things like that. It was so much fun. Way way better than gym douce.

Also, so, typos. You will have to pardon my occasional typos because sometimes I write from the IES center with the "clavier français" where M is in the spot we have a semicolon, and A is in the Q spot and W is in the Z spot and Z is in the A spot and , is in the M spot etc etc etc. Tres confusing seeing as most of them are the same. Well, now I must go eat me some breakfast and go to my once class for Fridays!

A demain (probablement)
Laura

Gym Douce

Since you all know me, I feel that you will appreciate my experience at "gym douce."
It started out with our teacher having us walk around criss crossing and in circles etc and speeding up until we were running. Then we alternated our running styles about every ,in or so between heavy feet like an elephant and light feet. We then stopped running and swung our arms and were supposed to make monkey sounds. Unfortunately, I think we were all laughing too hard. We proceeded to roll around on our backs with our legs in the air, and then roll back and forth to bring our legs over our heads and then jump up into a standing position. Then sitting, we inched forward sitting on our butts and then scooted backwards. Then started crawling around on all fours and periodically rolling over. The instructor then told us to stop and to arch our backs and sway like cats. After this we were supposed to massage our heads on the floor while in a child's pose type thing. All I could think was that I am going to get athlete's foot on my forehead. We stopped and then gave each other massages which was a little awkward. If nothing else, my abs got a good zorkout from silently laughing uncontrollably for an hour and a half and trying not to show it on my face. My when I come home, after four months of gym douce, I can teach all of you the great techniques.
Tchao,
Laura

SUAPS, Harrison Ford, and Missing Professors/Buses

On Sunday, I bummed around, went for a good run (well, first three miles were good, and then I was kind of farther from chez moi than I thought and almost died). On Monday, I had my first classes! In FRENCH! Easier than I thought they would be. My first class starts at 7:45 am and it takes me about a half hour to get there! Then I have a two hour break so I went to the University to sign up for gym classes (SUAPS) and they tried to overcharge me so I had to get little pictures taken of me (I now have 15 remaining pictures the size of my thumbnail if anybody wants one... hahah) and pickup my real student card and then go to my next class, after which I managed to return and sign up for a trampoline class, aquagym, and gym douce (muscle toning, relaxation and massages). All of which I am very excited for. I had decided that I was not going to take something I had done before!
Then on Tuesday, I went to my first class which I almost missed because my bus never showed up and I had to take the next one. The professor was harder to understand than my first professors. And then I had to rush to the tram station and go to the "fac" (university campus) and for that class, there were some students waiting but the professor never showed up, so we all left. I asked Mme. Rochet about it and she said that its kind of common the first week. I also got nervous when M. de Berranger started talking about strikes in Oct/Nov and a couple years when there were no classes for three months. Eek, lets hope against that.
Last night, my host mom and I watched Witness (the Harrison Ford movie) on TV in french... AND I UNDERSTOOD ALOT OF IT, as in, I don't think that I missed anything in the plot, and I got alot of the nuances. I actually really liked it.

Well, pictures of the day?
The Château of the Dukes of Brittany


My friends but not me outside the Château


My friends and I at the jardin des plantes


A bientôt,
Laura

PS I realized I don't think I ever answered the question of what Zut means. Zut means "dang" but zut alors means like shucks or "holy mackerel" very similar to crudmunkle.