Holy FAC My First Week of Classes

January  24- January 28

Bonjour mes amis,

This was week was my first week of classes. I am currently signed up for 4 classes with IES and 1 class at the university (FAC).  Monday, January 24 I woke up at 9 am for my 11 am class. Now, there is a cat that roams around the neighborhood because her owners are getting older and apparently do not give her enough TLC. This cat is incredibly smart, she can open doors. So Monday morning as I was getting ready, the cat climbed upstairs, came into my bathroom with me, and hopped in the sink. 

She did not bother me at all, just hoped in the sink and chilled there while I got ready. I had my French class with IES and my Marketing class. My French teacher Mme. de Pous is old school; you never show up late, forget to do your homework, or fail to participate in class, she will get you. So far we are just reviewing French grammar but she always has us reading little articles on current events. I have an awkward amount of time between my French class and Marketing class so my friend Harkiran and I went and walked around Nantes and window shopped. My marketing class is going to be interesting. The class has an international focus and we are all put into groups and have to pick a major company to research and present on at the end of the semester. My teacher, Mme. Urbain seems very nice. On Thursday, my host mom called my cell right as my professor was walking in, I tried to tell my host mom I had to go but she was insistent on chatting. After about 3 minutes I hung up and my teacher was not angry because I was speaking in French. We had soup and egg roll things for dinner on Monday night.

Tuesday, January 25 I only had one class, The European Union and France with Mme Murgier Girard at 4:15 so I slept in and met up with my friend Julia to get lunch and maybe shop a little. We found a creperie in Bouffay, a place near the center of town that has a lot of restaurants and bars, and had galettes. What is a galette you might ask? Well a galette is a savory crepe that has egg, meat, and cheese on it. There are tons of different kinds of galettes, I got a galette complet: Ham, Cheese, and Egg...delicious.

I found a cute dress for 21 euros in this little boutique and then we got a beer before class with our friend Mallory. My European Union class is supposed to be an economics class, but so far we are just being introduced to the geography of Europe and each country's demographics and geographies. I think I had soup and steak for dinner, Tuesday night but I'm not sure, it's all a blur of deliciousness.

Wednesday, January 26 I had my first course at the University, or the FAC as all the cool kids call it. I am taking History of Economics which is a License 1 class, basically a freshmen level class with 100 or so students. I met my friend Erin, who is also taking the class, at the tram stop so we could take the tram together and try to find the "Ampi Graslin". We arrived 40 minutes ahead of time and found our class room without any issues so we roamed around the economics building until class started. 

The class started at 10 am, we had a break at 11:30, then started up again at 11:45 until 1 pm. The teacher spoke slowly and repeated himself a lot which was helpful. Unfortunately, all of the students in the class were talking amongst themselves throughout the entire class. It was very hard to hear the professor over the students. I could not believe how disrespectful the students were. Erin and I decided we would sit in the front row next time so we could actually understand what was going on since the class started 3 weeks before we got to Nantes. Right after class, Erin and I had to book back to IES for our 1:45 class with Mme. de Pous. After class, Harkiron, Doug, and I got a beer at this awesome little bar near Place Royale called the Royal. I went home for dinner and had some sort of fish again for dinner. 

Thursday, January 27 My European Union class was cancelled so I just had "France and the United States in the Middle East from 1945 to Today: Alliances and Discrepancies " with Mme. de la Foye from 2:45 till 5:15. I know very little about the Middle East and considering whats going on in the world right now, I should really get informed. I think I am really going to enjoy this class, my professor teaches at the University in Rennes. She is very dynamic and funny but you can also tell she is very passionate about her work. I had a make up marketing class at 6 because my professor was unable to make it to class Wednesday, I had another galette complet for dinner. 

Friday, January 28 last day of classes before the weekend wooo! I only have one class on Fridays and thats my French class with Mme. de Pous. My bus was late and I was 10 minutes late for class. Mme. de Pous was not pleased and said the bus was no excuse to be late. I made a big mental note not to ever be late again if I wanted to keep Mme. de Pous from kicking my butt. I was done with class by noon and just went out with some friends and ate at the kabob place for dinner before hitting up a few bars before going home. 

Overall, I had a great first week and look forward to the semester ahead. I will post again soon, good luck with all the snow. Bisous

KSG

Nantes By Night

January 22- January  23, 2011

Hommes et Femmes, Bonjour!

..Or should I say bon nuit! Saturday morning I woke at around noon because I was exhausted from a long week of orientation and grabbed a quick breakfast of toast and tea. I decided to walk my bus route to IES and downtown Nantes so I could take some pics and figure the city. I left my house around 2 and got downtown at around 2:45- 3. 

After walking around for a little bit up I met up with my friend Doug and got some biers. By this time it was already almost 6 pm and I wanted to go home and shower before my big night out on the town. I walked back to my bus stop and went home to change and get ready to go out. I left home at around 7:15 and met some friends at a kabob place behind place royale. We stayed there for about an hour until we were all assembled. Then we went to a little Irish pub to watch hand ball, not the same game in the US, it's like a mix between water polo and basketball. After having a few biers there we went and found Bouffay which is a part of Nantes that has a lot of bars. We found another Irish pub with a bunch of IES students and went there for a while. The boys had bought a thing of whisky and put there coke bottle in my purse and almost got me kicked out of the bar. Thankfully the owner was Irish and kindly explained to the boys why they can't bring in drinks to bar. My friend Dmitri and I met some French people who had known some IES kids from last semester. We went to a club not too far from Commerce and they taught us how the the French dance...basically fist pumping but with your hand open instead of closed. I did not get home till about 5 am because I caught the last late night bus from Commerce at 4:30 am. 

Sunday Morning I woke up at about noon feeling exhausted. I went downstairs and had some toast before going back to my room and reading for a little. I had lunch with my family around 1:15. Some sort of salad with artichokes, avocados, cheese, and vinaigrette; it was delicious. Then we had some roasted red meet for lunch with potatoes cooked in creme fresh. It was amazing and then had vanilla profiteroles with chocolate sauce for dessert. After such a rich lunch, my host mom, Marie-Aude, took me on a tour of the Jardin de Plantes, a huge garden down the street from my house that was beautiful. I cannot wait to go back in the spring to take more pictures when all the flowers are in bloom. 

Well, tonight we're having soup, yogurt, and salad for dinner. I start classes tomorrow. Dear everyone returning to connecticut college today, I miss you and have a wonderful semester! I'll post again soon about my academic adventures in France. Here are some more pictures I took of Nantes. À Bientot!

KSG

First Week in Nantes!

January 17-January 21, 2011

Why hello there...

I have had an incredibly busy first week here in the beautiful city of Nantes. The weather has been beautiful but a little chilly (0-7 degrees Celsius , 32- 55 degrees Fahrenheit).

Monday, January 17.

I woke up at around 8 am and got ready for my first day of orientation in Nantes. My host mom, Marie-Aude, had breakfast ready for me and told me she was going to teach me how to take the bus to and from IES. Lucky for me there is a bus stop right outside my house and I take the number 21 or 23 line right into downtown Nantes and get off at St. Nicholas. From there it is about a 10-15 minute walk to IES. From 9:30 till 12:30 we had administrative orientation with Mme. Rouchet. She gave orientation guides which she called "The Bible" and we spent 3 hours going through it because she did not really trust us to read it all ourselves. We then had 1.5 hours for lunch and a few friends and I walked to the Place de Commerce, one of the big city centers and got a sandwich at a little stand. We then walked back to IES and had a one hour long etiquette class with Mme. Rouchet about the polite way to interact with our families and the French population at large. After that, we got put into 3 separate groups that we were going to take prep classes with all week. Our final activity of the day was a walking tour of Nantes. My tour guide was a girl named Kaitlyn who lives outside Nantes and did the program last year. The Artarit family, my host family, hosted her last year. After our tour which ended at about 5:30, I went and got a French cell phone. I managed to find my way back to the St. Nicholas bus stop and get on the bus home. I got home around 7:45 and then ate dinner at 9:30. I had soup and some sort of spanish keish with potatoes, and sausage. It was delicious per usual.

Tuesday, January 18th

I accidentally set my alarm clock for 8:15 instead of 7:15 am. It takes me about 20-30 minutes to get to IES from my house and our first activity was at 9. I quickly ate breakfast and made it to IES by 9:10, since it was the first time most of the other students had taken the bus or tram, I was not too late. After a security briefing and our academic orientation, we had an hour to get lunch before our French language classes started. Since I use the bus everyday, My friend Doug and I went and purchased bus passes as well as an under 26 identification card gives students discounts on certain things, including bus passes.

After class, I went shopping for school supplies and shampoo with some friends at the monoprix which is kind of the French equivalent of walmart or target. I got on the correct bus and headed home, unfortunately, it was going in the wrong direction so I had to get off and walk to the stop that got me of the bus that would take me home. Because of my little detour I didn't get home till 8 but thankfully we didn't eat till 9:45. We had the same delicious soup, salad, and Fish, which I actually enjoyed. (I know crazy!)

Wednesday, January 19th

Wednesday was a long day at IES. We went on a tour of the University of Nantes from 9:30 till 11:30. Our tour guide, Elise is also the social coordinator for IES. She showed us the different buildings for different studies, we ate in the dining hall which was not too bad. Mallory, Julia, Sarah, and I met these two guys who were getting there PHDs in engineering. We got a cup of coffee with them and they seemed nice but then got pretty insistent on hanging out. So it's kind of awkward. We then took the tram back to Place de Commerce then walked to IES for 3 hours of classes. After we finished 3 hours of grammar, conversation, and French language, the French-United States Association organized a Galette des rois for us. A galette des rois is a French holiday where they buy special cakes called galettes that have a little statue thing in them (called the fève). Everyone is given a slice of the cake and whoever gets the fève is the king or queen and gets to choose their respective king or queen. They also served us cider and sparkling wine. I got the fève in our galette, so I was queen for the rest of our little party. I then took the bus home and was exhausted but still very hungry for some reason. We had soup, salad, and this delicious lasagna. Frozen dinners are a lot better in France than in the US.

Thursday, January 20th. 

Classes started bright and early at 9 am. Even though it was colder than it had been, it was sunny for the first time since I've been here. After classes, we went to the University Restaurant or RU and the students call for lunch. It was not too bad and only cost 3 euros. After lunch we had a meeting about what we expected and what we should expect from our study abroad experience. We were done for the day at about 3:30 so my friend Julia and I decided to go shopping. I helped her buy her phone and then we walked around. Clothes are very expensive in France, even during Soldes, the 3-4 period of time from the middle of January till the beginning of February where all the stores have big sales. Julia and I did not end up buying anything and instead found a little tavern in the Place Royale and had a beer.

Then I went home and got ready to go out. at around 7:45 I met up with a bunch of friends in the Place de Commerce where we found a little place to have dinner. Most of the boys had eaten but Julia, Mallory, and I had not. We all got cheeseburgers because we missed them. Mallory's was pretty well done, mine was a little pink, and poor Julia's was still mooing. She was so hungry that she ate it anyways, she was fine though. After dinner we walked around a little and this old man told us to go to this little bar, well not so much told and dragged us in. He left about 5 minutes after dragging us into the bar but it seemed like a nice place so we stayed. I met 2 girls and 1 boy from Sweden, a girl from Germany, and a young French couple. I chatted with them all night in a mix of French and English. Since the last night bus runs at 12:30, I barely missed the 12 am bus and had to wait for the 12:30 am bus. I got home around one and passed out.

Friday, January 21st

Today was our last day of prep classes before signing up for our real ones. We all have meeting at different times and mine is in an hour or so. We ate at the school restaurant again and one of the PHD guys Tony was there which was pretty awkward because he cannot take the hint that none of us really want to hang out with him again. After lunch I came home and chatted with my house family for a little and decided to update my blog. I have to leave soon though so I can catch my bus back to IES. I will post again soon about my first weekend in Nantes! À tout a l'heure!

Here are some pictures from around my neighborhood, enjoy!

KSG

Tour à Tours

January 13- January 16, 2011

Bonjour Madames et Monsieurs!

I have just returned from Tours, a city 2 hours east of Nantes. IES took us to Tours in order to orient us and help us bond as a group. We arrived in Tours Thursday evening at about 5:30, we had to pick a roommate on the bus ride there to bunk with for 3 nights. I roomed with a girl named Alex from Dallas, Texas who goes to Claremont McKenna. After arriving at the hotel we quickly put our stuff in our hotel rooms, my room had a loft where I volunteered to sleep...

It was interesting to say the least. Anyways...after dropping our stuff off we went downstair and had a meeting about our schedule for the week and introduced ourselves to each other and the faculty. We then ate dinner in the hotel restaurant, we had a little salad, white fish, and some sort of vanilla custard thing for dessert, it was not that good. After dinner, a few other students and myself decided to explore the city of Tours a little, we walked down the main street Boulevard Béranger and found a little pub where we sat down and had a beer so we could get to know each other.

Friday morning we left the hotel around 9 am drove about an hour to our first chateaux, Loches. The chateau was the home of King Charles VII who is known for not being too well off as far as kings go and having a very scandalous affair with Agnès Sorel, a young girl who he fell for and treated as his favorite, even above his wife. It was cool but the chateau wasn't that impressive because Charles was not a rich king. However, near the chateaux was the Donjon, which not mean dungeon but keep. This donjon was built for military purposes and had many prisons and storage rooms. 

After stopping at a little restaurant for lunch, fish again, ick...we got on the bus and drove to Chenonceau. We did not have a tour guide for this Chateau so I don't really know that much about it. It was a beautiful chateau right on the River Cher, it was really cool inside and had a beautiful garden and a hedge maze which was fun to run around in. 

After the Chenonceau, we headed back to the hotel in Tours for dinner. Thankfully, we had breaded chicken with noodles and cauliflower soup for dinner so I got to eat something, it was not great, but it was edible and better than anything else the hotel served us. We then went to the little épicerie and got 2 euro champagne...which was not so yummy but it was 2 euros so can't be that. Then we walked over to Vieux Tours where there was a bunch of bars. We met a bunch of French guys who were nice but when they tried to get all of us to go to a house party and one of their houses we left. 

     Saturday morning we left the hotel around 9:30, still a little tired from the night before, and headed off to Blois, which is actually 4 different castles. Unfortunately, Blois was bombed heavily in WWII so a lot of the castle had to be restored but it still looked cool...

We then drove an hour towards Chambord and ate lunch at this amazing hotel. We had a 5 course meal. We started off with an amuse bouche which was a little spring roll looking thing with some kind of meat in it along with vegetables, it was delicious. Then we had a plate with a bunch of different pattes that were all pretty good. One of the boys sitting at my table, Andrew, did not know you spread patte on bread and just took a big hunk out of it...he tried it again with bread and found it a lot more pleasant. Our main course was a little potato pie with very tender duck in it and then two pieces of chicken breast, it was AMAZING! Our fourth course was a cheese plate with a goat cheese and some sort of other spreadable cheese with a yellow rind.. I enjoyed both of course as I love cheese. Our fifth and final course was a dessert plate with a little thing of creme brule which was very thick and custardy and tasted a lot like corn, a little chocolate souffle, and some raspberry sorbet. After not really eating because I do not like seafood, this meat heavy meal was greatly appreciated. After our big lunch we headed 15 minutes down the road to my favorite chateau of the trip...Chambord.

Chambord was definitely the coolest chateau we visited...it was huge! François 1er was the first king to live in this chateau, unlike many older chateaux that were built during times of war, this castle was built for luxury. We did not have a tour guide for this castle either but we had audio guides. 

After Chambord we headed back to the hotel for a dinner of yup you guess it, fish. I got the vegetarian dish thankfully. They simply changed the fish out with mashed potatoes...I do not think French people understand what vegetarian means so I'm happy I am not actually one. I was exhausted after a busy few days but I went out with some friends to Vieux Tours again for a few beers before calling it a night. I slept like a baby. 

      We woke up the next morning, packed our things, and headed downstairs for breakfast and placement tests. The tests took 3 hours or so and were not too bad except for the grammar test because I have not studied French grammar since junior year of high school. After the tests we walked around for 30 minutes before lunch. Unfortunately, everything is closed on Sundays but there was a cool car show happening in the center of Tours which I checked out with a few fellow students. After lunch, which was duck and potatoes...not that yummy...we got in the bus and headed back to Nantes. We stopped at a castle on the way home but I can't remember its name but it is the castle that inspired Sleeping Beauty. Once I got back to Nantes I waited at the IES building for my host mother to pick me up. I got home around 6:45 and had a delicious dinner of vegetable soup, salad, a pie thing that had fish in it but it wasn't too bad, and cheese for dessert. I am exhausted from my trip but I had a lot of fun and got to know my classmates. Real orientation starts tomorrow so I better be getting to sleep. If you want to see more of my pictures of Tours, click here ! ! Currently the Patriots are losing but I'm too sleepy to watch the second half. I hope everyone had a great weekend and I'll post again soon, À tout a l'heure mes amis!

KSG

Day 1: The Arrival

January 12, 2011

Bonjour mes amis!


     Since I am going to be in France for 4 months, I figured I would keep a blog for myself and my friends! I left Logan Airport on January 11th, 6:15 pm, just before the huge snow storm hit, I was very lucky. I sat next to a girl from MA who was going to study in Dublin for a semester. Once I arrived in Dublin at 5:30 am, I kind of went through customs not really and then got a chocolate croissant while I waited for my flight to CDG airport in Paris, France. Once I got to France I thought it was gonna take a while to get through customs but they just looked at my visa, stamped it, and sent me on my way. I some how managed to find my way to the train station in the airport after asking 3 people how to get there as it was in a different terminal than my own. I got to the train station at 10:30 and sat around till 1:15, when my train was to take me to Nantes! Thankfully, I met up with about 15 other students who were going to Nantes for the IES program so I did not have to get lost all by myself. On the train I sat next to a young French guy named Olivier and we chatted in French almost all the way to Nantes. He was very nice and gave me some tips about places to visit. Once I got to Nantes, I met up with the rest of the IES crew and we struggled with our baggage through the train station to find the IES people that were suppose to be waiting for us outside. Unfortunately, there was no IES representative waiting for us, but most of us had our guides so we just got taxis and found our own way to the IES center. Once there, there was a closet sized elevator that we all had to take one at a time with all of our luggage to the 3rd floor. After we dropped off our luggage, we went upstair to the IES abroad headquarters. We were welcomed by an older woman who spoke only in French. She gave us a directory of where all the other students were living and an itinerary for the next few days. Then we all sat around and chatted for a few hours while we waited for our families to come collect us. 
     I am staying with a middle-aged couple, Marie at Joël Artarit. Joël is a doctor and Marie is kind of his secretary, she deal with all of his paperwork and faxing, she works from their home which is nice because that means I get free wifi! Marie picked me up at about 18:45 and drove me around Nantes a little. I live on a private street near the center of Nantes. I have a good sized room with a desk, a bed, a closet, and little chair; it's very nice! We ate the most delicious dinner of soup, dinner crepes, and dessert crepes...I know I am going to be eating well! I can tell that I am going to have a wonderful time in Nantes! I will post every so often, I am off on a 3 day orientation retreat to Tours, France! Until then, Au Revoirs mes amis!