Normandy

Yesterday: the last excursion offered to the CIDEF students for this semester. I have to say, I'm rather glad that they are over. Don't get me wrong--I liked them and enjoyed each and every one of them, but it will still be nice to actually have some weekends free.

So. The excursion. Where did I go, you ask? Normandy.

Enough said.

This trip was the longest and--I must admit--the most tiring day of all of the excursions. It was also a completely different trip than its predecessors. Whereas the other trips were very fun and lighthearted, Normandy was anything but...which wasn't really surprising.

I truly, honestly do not feel like recapping every little detail. For that, I apologize. But after all, extensively reliving such a serious and sad trip does not really appeal to me at the moment. So instead, I have decided to list the activities in list form with a short explanation and my impressions regarding each one.

So here goes.

1.) Memorial Museum: kind of self-explanatory. There were three different sections to this museum: the causes of the war, the French occupation, and the time after the US joined the war. We also got to see two movies, one about D-Day and the other about the Battle of Normandy.

2.) The Cemetary of American Soldiers: again, self-explanatory. There were these huge monuments to honor the soldiers, as well as thousands of headstones, mostly shaped like crosses. Here and there was a headstone shaped like the star of David to represent a Jewish soldier. It was very humbling to see that sight.

3.) Omaha Beach: one of the beaches where soldiers landed on D-Day. We only stayed for about twenty minutes--after all, it was a beach. There was a monument and sculpture built right at the top, but not much else to set it apart as the historical landmark.

4.) The Huc Ranger Peak: this was my favorite part. It was a point between Omaha Beach and Utah Beach where a group of American soldiers were given the near-impossible task of taking out hidden enemies before they had the chance to fire on those landing at the beaches. To do so, they had to scale a peak and then play a fatal game of hide-and-seek with the Germans. The land was still full of trenches and hidden bunkers where the Germans stockpiled their weapons.

5.) The Cemetary of German Soldiers: to finish off the day. The ambiance of this cemetary was completely different than that of the American cemetary. The crosses were grayish-black and placed in groups of five (not sure why). In the middle was a steep hill on top of which was a rather imposing monument. I think that Katie described it best when she said that the American cemetary was to honor and remember the soldiers who lost their lives in the war, whereas the German cemetary was more a sign of respect for the deceased.

Paris, Je t'aime

My Paris weekend has come and gone. It was absolutely amazing and even better, nothing went wrong! It always seems that whenever I go anywhere, nothing seems to go as planned. This time--to my surprise--it did!

Katie and I took a train to Paris Friday night and checked into the Villa Modigliani. We went to bed immediately, as our plans for Saturday required as much rest as possible. Saturday itself was very tiring. We got up extra early so that we could get in line as soon as possible for our first attraction: the Eiffel Tower.

Wow. That is all I can say about that the tower. Words cannot fully describe it. We paid to take an elevator all the way up to the top, and the view was magnificant. We could see the entire city all around.

Next on our agenda was the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysee. We spent about two hours walking on the street and ate outside under a canopy. We also bought French ice cream cones--strawberry. Delicious!

The Louvre was next. As the museum is huge, we decided to try to make our visit as short as we could and yet still see the most important pieces: the Mona Lisa, Aphrodite de Milo, etc. By that time, we were both getting rather tired, as we hadn't had the chance to sit down since 7 in the morning.

As an end to the day, we decided to visit the Eiffel Tower again when it was all lit up for the night. It was the perfect end to an awesome day. We rode the carousel across the street, bought popcorn, and just as we were turning to leave, the tower lights started blinking off and on, like little stars. It was absolutely beautiful.

In the beginning, we didn't have any plans for Sunday beyond checking out of our hotel and catching our return train at 2. Saturday night, however, we made a snap decision to visit the Notre Dame Cathedral after check-out. After all, neither of us had much baggage to carry, which turned out to be a very good thing. The weather on Sunday was rather cold and windy and we had to wait outside in line for at least a half hour.

The cathedral was worth the wait. We had to climb all the way to the top of an endless winding staircase. Imagine walking in a tight circle for ten minutes straight and lifting your leg up to your chest with every step. When we finally got to the top, we were on the level with the famous gargoyles of the Notre Dame. I tried to take a picture of each separate one, as they were all so different from each other. All around were posted quotes from Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame and we were even able to see the big bell mentioned so often in the book.

Basically, I am torn about my favorite part of the weekend. It is either between seeing the nighttime Eiffel Tower or touring the Notre Dame. I can't wait to go back during spring break!

Once a Dork, Always a Dork

Through today's experiences I am now able to offer valid proof that I am a dork. That's right, I don't deny it; in fact, I am rather proud to be one.

Anyway, the day did not really start off that well for me. First of all, Wednesdays are early days for me: I have an 8:00 class, which means that I have to wake up at 6:00 in order to walk to class and get there in time. On top of that, I had a really good dream last night. Now, I mentioned before that I never remember my dreams. And this day was not an exception: I merely woke up knowing that I had had a good dream, without being able to remember it.

It is a curse.

This might not seem like a very bad day to some, but for me it was enough. And I have now reached the part of my tale where I offer proof as to why I am a dork. Therefore:

Reason #1: To cheer myself up, I went to a bookstore during lunch.

Reason #2: I spent nearly an hour looking at the books in said bookstore, ensuring that I did not actually eat a lunch.

Reason #3: I spent another half hour reading my favorite parts of select books that I found in French.

Reason #4: I bought three books (for less than 20 euros!), even though I knew that I would have to lug them home later.

Reason #5: These books--in addition to a few others that I am planning on picking up--will be my souvenirs of France.

Reason #6: The books that I bought are the French translations of the Lord of the Rings series.

And the final piece of evidence I offer to validate my dorkiness:

Reason #7: Visiting said bookstore and buying said books did not just cheer me up, but absolutely made my day. I am now in a state of euphoria, despite the mountain of homework that I have.

There. Concrete proof. You're welcome!

Chateau Excursion #2

So yesterday was, of course, the second half of the chateau excursion. Katie stayed the night again since there wasn't an early enough bus to take to meet in the morning. On Friday night we ended up eating out at a Chinese place in the Centre Ville.

Let me tell you: French Chinese food blows American Chinese food out of the water! They served us these crispy little chip things followed by our appetizers--I ordered "nems", which are eggrolls. Of course, I didn't know that at the time; I just wanted to try something new. I'm not really a big fan of eggrolls, but these ones were amazing. They were piping hot, and I was provided with lettuce to roll them in and a sauce to dip. And that wasn't even the main course!

For dinner, I got pineapple chicken with Cantonese rice. I think the dish speaks for itself. And then there was dessert. Since I've come to France, I have become rather accustomed to having a dessert with meals--most of the time, it's just a piece of fruit or some yogurt, but I have also had crepes, ice cream and mousse from time to time. So ordering dessert was not really as big of a stretch for me as it once was. What was the dessert, you ask? Pineapple beignets. You might think that that is a lot of pineapple for one meal, but after all, it's one of my favorite fruits! And they were amazing! I got two, and I ended up taking one home for breakfast the next day.

But I digress from the original subject of this blog--the trip. This time, we visited four chateaus--Amboise, Clos Luce, Blois, and Cheverny. Of the four, I liked the outside of Amboise the best. It had these amazing gardens, complete with a statue of Leornardo Da Vinci that was pretty cool too. The Clos Luce was the chateau where Leonardi Da Vinci lived, but unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures of the inside! It was really too bad, because there were statues of all of his inventions and personal quotes on the walls. Katie got very excited about this one, as she said that "this is the closest I'm going to get to real science while studying French in France!"--she's a chemistry major.

The one that I liked the most of all--for that day--was Cheverny. While Amboise was beautiful and Clos Luce was interesting and Blois was impressive, Cheverny seemed more...classy. It looked like it could actually be lived in during modern times--which it has been. As strange as it seems, this actually added to the charm of the chateau itself. Not to mention, the grounds of Cheverny also included a chenil--a kennel where hunting dogs are kept. I got several pictures of the dogs themselves--they resembled beagles, only much bigger.

The only complaint I have about yesterday is the weather. Though the forecast was for sunshine and warm temperatures, as usual, the weatherman lied. Not only was it cloudy and gloomy, but it even started raining a little bit in the late afternoon. Not the best weather to be walking around outdoors.

Good News, Bad News

Someone (I can't remember who) once said to me that the true test of someone's commitment to attending church was whether or not they would go during bad weather, such as a thunderstorm, hurrican, tornado, blizzard...you get the idea. Well, I would like to modify this statement just a little bit; the true test isn't whether you would actually go during bad weather, but whether you would walk in said weather to attend church.

I would have to say that I have passed this test.

The weather in Angers lately has been nothing short of beautiful; my winter coat is officially in the closet along with my heavy scarf. That being said, you'll find it no surprise that when I left the house this morning at 9:20 for my customary walk to church, I was wearing nothing but my leather jacket and some light gloves. I suppose that the wet ground should have been an indication for me to grab my umbrella, but in my defense...okay, I should have grabbed an umbrella. I had not reached the end of my street when it started to rain.

The Good News: I wasn't a heavy rain, barely a drizzle.

The Bad News: After a half hour walk, even a drizzle will take its toll.

That's right. Thirty minutes with nothing but occasional trees to shield me from the rain. Needless to say, I was absolutely soaked when I walked into the church; I left a sizable puddle in the entrance way, and more than one person shot me curious glances about the state of my appearance (have I mentioned I look like a drowned rat when wet?).

The Good News: The two hours of church was just enough time for me to dry completely

The Bad News: I had to walk back home in weather that was even worse than before (can you say downpour?).

And that is not quite the end of my day. After lunch I had a meeting with my partner in my Langauge class; we have a presentation on Tuesday, and we were planning on fine-tuning our information to prepare. The place where we were meeting is called the Jardin du Mail, and its--you guessed it--about a half hour walk from my house. Why is it that everything takes half an hour?

The Good News: I remembered my umbrella.

The Bad News (?): It stopped raining.

Ok, maybe that is not all bad, but the rain was replaced by strong winds. When I finally got to the meeting place, Bo Kyoung was nowhere to be seen. So naturally, I checked my cell phone.

The Good News: She had called me.

The Bad News: She did not leave a message.

The Worse News: My cell phone was all out of minutes, so I could not call her back.

So instead, I waited. Two hours later, I was still waiting. She never showed. Which means that we have to figure something else out before Tuesday rolls around. Sigh. I hate when things go wrong, don't you?

The French Captain Nemo's

If you know anything at all about my family, you know that pretty much all of us are completely, irrevocably and irreversibly addicted to the subs at Captain Nemo's, a restaurant right in the middle of Romulus. My older sister worked there for several years, and I therefore blame her for the downfall of our entire family. But still, who can blame us? Who can say no to a piping hot steak-and-cheese sub with lettuce, tomatoes and the special Capain Nemo's spice and oil combination? I'm drooling just thinking about it!

But anyway, the sole reason behind this post is that I have found it: the French equivalent (or as close as I'm going to get) to a Captain Nemo's, and all right here in my little town! It is called "Grinotine", and it can't even really be called a restaurant. There are no places to sit, or put your food down to eat. In fact, the closest thing that I can compare it to is a concessions stand at a sports game. But the food more than makes up for its lack of sophistication. For a mere 3.50 euros, it is possible to get an entire meal, including a warm sandwich/panini, a beverage, and a pain au chocolat for dessert.

One bite. One measly little bite was all it took for me to fall in love with this little uncouth stand. The pizza sub that I had was absolutely delicious, not to mention filling! I was able to save my pain au chocolat for the walk home. Even slightly smushed (I had it in my purse for a few hours), that morsel was the highlight of my walk home.

Sigh. Can it get any better than this?