Monday-back to the grind with morning french class and a quick lunch at St. Nicholas (our favorite quick cheap eats of traditional french food-at least it seems pretty traditional?) but the afternoon was new and exciting with a mandatory wine and cheese tasting! (obviously not required to drink the wine but nobody was particularly dissuaded either...) this event consisted of four and a half hours of learning about wine and cheese, their production, locations in France etc. however all in french which made it a little difficult to be particularly sure of any of the facts. What I think I've gathered (though please take this all with a grain of salt or an entire shaker maybe) is that first you look at the wine for floaties (yes that is the technical term as defined by the dictionary of Mary Beth) then you look at the color to determine it's age (all of ours were 2-3 years), then you swirl it to see how quickly it falls down the side of the glass-this determines how much alcohol the wine contains, finally you smell which I guess is completely subjective so really you could say anything and just tell people you're a wine connoisseur and they'll probably respond with "Oh yeah I definitely smell the pickle" in order to seem as wise as you (that's what I do anyway) We got to sample four reasonably sized glasses of wine and 4 amazing cheeses plus two tapenade and beaucoup de bread.
When we got back for dinner we went upstairs and I emailed and researched (mostly for future trips) and then at 7:45 we were called down to dinner. However when we were called down to dinner our host mother berated us for not coming down of our own initiative at 7:30 and she calls up and has no idea if we're home and it's very rude (although we've been doing it like that for 2 weeks so I think really it was rude of her to wait 2 weeks to say something...) Then at dinner she asked if we were going out-I said yes for a little bit and she later in the conversation brought up how you shouldn't ever go out during the week only the weekends blah blah blah. Dinner consisted of soup with a bazillion star shaped noodles, salad with hard boiled egg and pine nuts, cheese plate, and an apple.
So we went to meet our friends and head over to the Australian Cafe again, we get there and enjoy a couple of one euro beers and who should walk in? Madame's son! SO apparently we're not the only ones who believe it's acceptable to enjoy ourselves on a Monday night-my response at that point? "suck it lady!" (also thank you for feeding us and letting us stay in your home...) The best part of the Australian Cafe is the Grease Mash-up song. When it came on last night a couple of us were dancing (along with many French people) on a table, and of course we all knew all the words. Apparently (despite the fact that there is only ever American music played) this is very uncommon, I deduced this fact due to the plethora of cameras flashing in our direction during this musical number (lip syncing contest anyone?) we called it an early night (as Madame does have a bit of a point about the weekends) and returned home via tram. However, at the Place de la Comedie quite a few very homeless very drunk people boarded the tram along with their dogs.... one tried really, really hard to get money from us before eventually breaking out into a very loud french song.
Today school lunch and conversation again. Though on our way to school we did run into Professor Shain who seemed very lost and confused and walked with us to school? That man surprises me only when he does nothing to be surprised about. Conversation included a discussion about paying people to go to school-yes very useful. Then we went to a cafe to read some Modern Europe (the most daunting task ever) and returned home for dinner where we made a point to say hello and ask how Madame's day was and of course promptly return downstairs at 7:30-where this time we learned we must empty the coffee filter in the morning-another task she failed to mention to us during our tutorial. Dinner today was mashed potatoes with ground beef in them followed by salad with walnuts and raisons (though apparently it's a faux pas to have salad and meet on your plate at the same time), and an apple. At least this crazy woman knows how to cook-it's her one redeeming trait.
Today I'm still questioning whether or not I've been clean since I've been here
I'm also wondering if this woman will EVER let us do laundry, I'm almost out of underpants (and you deltas know how I go through those...)
A Bientot!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Ou est le fun?
I guess this weekend starts at the very beginning...
After school we went to the car rental place and started registering for our car. We were almost finished when he handed us the first set of keys and said, "so when you get in the car the clutch..." and we were like NO! as none of us know how to drive a manuel but they had no manual cars on the lot. Luckily the 4 car rental places were all located in the same tiny kiosk of a building behind the train tracks (it didn't seem weird at all), so we were able to ask at all the other agencies if they had 2 automatic cars. Finally Europcar told us they might have something-an eight person van. So we went out to look and see if it would be big enough... it was a GIANT silver Mercedes van-and we figured we were totally cool enough to go big pimpin through Europe (plus it was cheaper) so we rented the van. There were only 4 of us at the car rental place so we were going to go pick everyone else up. We decided a good meeting place would be right in front of the train station unfortunately we didn't realize that there were only tram tracks and no road in front of the train station, it didn't help that we only had one way to go and a bus was coming behind us so we couldn't back up-we ended up driving onto the tram tracks-with a train coming right at us-but we were able to pull onto a sidewalk and out of harms way in order to ask some sort of official looking people how to get back onto the road. Eventually we were able to do a drive by by an upper level parking lot and hit the road-that is after several wrong turns and very narrow streets. But we were able to get on the road-all 10 of us in our 8 seat Mercedes (with the help of some handwritten directions and my iPhone) The toll roads presented a bit of a problem as our American Credit Cards weren't good enough for their European toll booths... but once the ticket was in we couldn't get it out again so although we backed up we had to pull up again because we still couldn't get through the toll. Eventually someone came and took cash from us. It took us a while to find the Promenade des Anglais but eventually we arrived at the Hotel Meyerbeer (our hostel) around 6:30. We parked the car in a garage which was going to be closed on Sunday but we really needed to just get rid of it. So we checked in and had a couple glasses of wine and talked for a while (the girls were all staying in the hostel and the guys were staying with their friends in Antibes-about 15 minutes away by train)
We all went to dinner at Milo's (a very random restaurant) and I had some pork with a honey sauce and tiramisu (with a glass of champagne) for dessert. Then we wanted to try and find some sort of bar or nightlife as Nice was supposed to be known for it. We started wandering around and we were having a lot of trouble finding anything. So a couple of the girls decided to ask people where the bars were, they asked "ou est le fun?" (where is the fun?) we eventually got directions to a club called "le high" it was very mod dark and FUN! it wasn't too crowded-there were a lot of guys and not a lot of girls but we just danced with each other singing along with such artists as the Black Eyed Peas, and classic songs such as "Candy Shop" but we had a great time before heading back to the hostel.
I woke up Saturday morning and decided to take a walk. So I walked to the train station to price tickets for Monaco and then back down to the Promenade des Anglais. It was a beautiful morning and so nice to walk around. Then we went and got breakfast right on the Promenade. AND, they served Petit Dejeuner Anglais, which meant I got eggs, "bacon" (really more like Canadian Bacon), and lots of bread and toast. It was nice to have something besides just bread for breakfast. Then we headed to the train station for the short trip to Monaco. We got of the train in Monaco and headed for the water. Then walked up to the Monte Carlo and I lost 10 euro playing the slots WOOP. Then we walked up to the Palace of Monaco and had some lunch (I had a ham panini and some french fries) then we visited the Cathedral and the grave of Princess Grace-because we ARE cultural. Then we walked through the old town and back to the train station.
Back in Nice, we hung out in the room and hung out for a while (since we got the impression from the night before that night life started quite a bit later in Nice than we expected. We also decided that drinking before dinner was a bad idea-SO we decided to put our wine in water bottles and take them with us. We walked over to Old Nice where we knew of a couple of bars and restaurants. We found one that looked pretty authentic (I had a Nicois Salad-with tuna, anchovies, olives, egg, celery, and some other stuff, Something else Nicois that was like pot roast with spaghetti, and an apple tarte) we were seated upstairs (the only ones) but shortly after another large party came up and we had to move tables for them. They were quite noisy and rowdy-they were celebrating somebody's birthday. But soon we joined in the fun yelling and screaming (the patron of the restaurant didn't really appreciate our obnoxiously loud behavior. The event turned into a sort of French-American "mixer" which was a lot of fun. We then went to look for a couple bars that we'd heard of. One which was famous for its meter long shot box. So we got one to split. We did make the interesting choice to order Bailey's which the bartender said was her first time pouring shots of Bailey's-I think there was a reason for that but nonetheless she gave us a free round. Then as that was a seated bar and there was no where else to sit we wandered looking for another bar. We went into this Irish Pub (where we were IDd???) where we asked the bartender for a suggestion (couth ?) he told us about a bar called Wayne's so we decided to go there but this guy Patrick either the bouncer or a bartender chased us down explaining how drinks were cheaper at his bar and so much better all in some sort of British Accent-which inspired me to respond in a worse yet snarkier version of a British Accent inquiring about these "cocktails" and decided he was right about deal so me and one other girl went back while the others went ahead to Wayne's. We drank our cocktails and went to Waynes-where the dancing is on the tables and the DJ gets excited because a certain son of God happens to be in the Mother F***** house. But it had a certain Je ne sais quoi and would be on my list of recommendations. However due to the aforementioned bailey's shots there might be a small amount of regurgitated substance near one of Wayne's windows... at which point 2 of us departed for the evening. It was a truly phenomenal experience over all.
The next morning we woke up and got some breakfast stuff at a market, and ate right on the promenade Then we went onto the beach (though it's covered with rocks not sand) and touched the sea. Then we dropped our stuff off at the car and met the guys at the train station and got something else to eat. Then we drove the car-or should I say land yacht up the very narrow very winding road to the top of the Chateau for a beautiful view of Nice. Then we hit the road to come back to Montpellier.
When we got to Aix en Provence, it was time to fill the tank of the car back up. So we pulled into the gas station but had the same Credit Card problem and since it was Sunday nobody was working there. So we asked a man at the gas station to help us out and though there was a communication barrier we figured out we were supposed to follow him. We followed his very fast driving in his very small car in our very large van and we followed him right into the parking lot for an apartment complex? A little nervous at this point we realized he was dropping his family off before taking us to the gas station. So again we were on the road behind this random man. When we got to the gas station we found out he used to travel around Europe on a moped and he really appreciated when people showed him the way so he likes to do it for others. We got gas and he offered to show us how to get back onto the highway. On our way we passed another gas station with people working-which happened to be next door to the original gas station...
After a slightly difficult time in Montpellier we were able to drop off the car by 7:45. My roommate and I stopped to grab a snack as we were back so much later than dinner normally is. But we got home and she offered us dinner I said oh it's okay I just ate and I'm not hungry-she sent me upstairs to drop off my stuff and come back down to eat-saying she'd just give me a little, meaning a sausage and dark greens filling an entire plate plus the after dinner yogurt. As she was setting the plates out for us she mentioned an old resident of her house had come by this weekend and asked how her new Americans were. She said we were "Sauveges" which apparently means Savage... because Kate didn't say hello one night and we go straight up to our room? BUT we almost NEVER come home when she does! Oh well two more weeks? AND we have clean sheets!
This weekend I learned: Nice men think that screaming in our faces or asking how much is the best way to pick up a girl
What I still want to do in Montpellier: visit Avignon, go to the museum, go to the restaurant with 80 kinds of Crepes
Ultimate Goal: FIND LE FUN!!!!!
After school we went to the car rental place and started registering for our car. We were almost finished when he handed us the first set of keys and said, "so when you get in the car the clutch..." and we were like NO! as none of us know how to drive a manuel but they had no manual cars on the lot. Luckily the 4 car rental places were all located in the same tiny kiosk of a building behind the train tracks (it didn't seem weird at all), so we were able to ask at all the other agencies if they had 2 automatic cars. Finally Europcar told us they might have something-an eight person van. So we went out to look and see if it would be big enough... it was a GIANT silver Mercedes van-and we figured we were totally cool enough to go big pimpin through Europe (plus it was cheaper) so we rented the van. There were only 4 of us at the car rental place so we were going to go pick everyone else up. We decided a good meeting place would be right in front of the train station unfortunately we didn't realize that there were only tram tracks and no road in front of the train station, it didn't help that we only had one way to go and a bus was coming behind us so we couldn't back up-we ended up driving onto the tram tracks-with a train coming right at us-but we were able to pull onto a sidewalk and out of harms way in order to ask some sort of official looking people how to get back onto the road. Eventually we were able to do a drive by by an upper level parking lot and hit the road-that is after several wrong turns and very narrow streets. But we were able to get on the road-all 10 of us in our 8 seat Mercedes (with the help of some handwritten directions and my iPhone) The toll roads presented a bit of a problem as our American Credit Cards weren't good enough for their European toll booths... but once the ticket was in we couldn't get it out again so although we backed up we had to pull up again because we still couldn't get through the toll. Eventually someone came and took cash from us. It took us a while to find the Promenade des Anglais but eventually we arrived at the Hotel Meyerbeer (our hostel) around 6:30. We parked the car in a garage which was going to be closed on Sunday but we really needed to just get rid of it. So we checked in and had a couple glasses of wine and talked for a while (the girls were all staying in the hostel and the guys were staying with their friends in Antibes-about 15 minutes away by train)
Back in Nice, we hung out in the room and hung out for a while (since we got the impression from the night before that night life started quite a bit later in Nice than we expected. We also decided that drinking before dinner was a bad idea-SO we decided to put our wine in water bottles and take them with us. We walked over to Old Nice where we knew of a couple of bars and restaurants. We found one that looked pretty authentic (I had a Nicois Salad-with tuna, anchovies, olives, egg, celery, and some other stuff, Something else Nicois that was like pot roast with spaghetti, and an apple tarte) we were seated upstairs (the only ones) but shortly after another large party came up and we had to move tables for them. They were quite noisy and rowdy-they were celebrating somebody's birthday. But soon we joined in the fun yelling and screaming (the patron of the restaurant didn't really appreciate our obnoxiously loud behavior. The event turned into a sort of French-American "mixer" which was a lot of fun. We then went to look for a couple bars that we'd heard of. One which was famous for its meter long shot box. So we got one to split. We did make the interesting choice to order Bailey's which the bartender said was her first time pouring shots of Bailey's-I think there was a reason for that but nonetheless she gave us a free round. Then as that was a seated bar and there was no where else to sit we wandered looking for another bar. We went into this Irish Pub (where we were IDd???) where we asked the bartender for a suggestion (couth ?) he told us about a bar called Wayne's so we decided to go there but this guy Patrick either the bouncer or a bartender chased us down explaining how drinks were cheaper at his bar and so much better all in some sort of British Accent-which inspired me to respond in a worse yet snarkier version of a British Accent inquiring about these "cocktails" and decided he was right about deal so me and one other girl went back while the others went ahead to Wayne's. We drank our cocktails and went to Waynes-where the dancing is on the tables and the DJ gets excited because a certain son of God happens to be in the Mother F***** house. But it had a certain Je ne sais quoi and would be on my list of recommendations. However due to the aforementioned bailey's shots there might be a small amount of regurgitated substance near one of Wayne's windows... at which point 2 of us departed for the evening. It was a truly phenomenal experience over all.
The next morning we woke up and got some breakfast stuff at a market, and ate right on the promenade Then we went onto the beach (though it's covered with rocks not sand) and touched the sea. Then we dropped our stuff off at the car and met the guys at the train station and got something else to eat. Then we drove the car-or should I say land yacht up the very narrow very winding road to the top of the Chateau for a beautiful view of Nice. Then we hit the road to come back to Montpellier.
When we got to Aix en Provence, it was time to fill the tank of the car back up. So we pulled into the gas station but had the same Credit Card problem and since it was Sunday nobody was working there. So we asked a man at the gas station to help us out and though there was a communication barrier we figured out we were supposed to follow him. We followed his very fast driving in his very small car in our very large van and we followed him right into the parking lot for an apartment complex? A little nervous at this point we realized he was dropping his family off before taking us to the gas station. So again we were on the road behind this random man. When we got to the gas station we found out he used to travel around Europe on a moped and he really appreciated when people showed him the way so he likes to do it for others. We got gas and he offered to show us how to get back onto the highway. On our way we passed another gas station with people working-which happened to be next door to the original gas station...
After a slightly difficult time in Montpellier we were able to drop off the car by 7:45. My roommate and I stopped to grab a snack as we were back so much later than dinner normally is. But we got home and she offered us dinner I said oh it's okay I just ate and I'm not hungry-she sent me upstairs to drop off my stuff and come back down to eat-saying she'd just give me a little, meaning a sausage and dark greens filling an entire plate plus the after dinner yogurt. As she was setting the plates out for us she mentioned an old resident of her house had come by this weekend and asked how her new Americans were. She said we were "Sauveges" which apparently means Savage... because Kate didn't say hello one night and we go straight up to our room? BUT we almost NEVER come home when she does! Oh well two more weeks? AND we have clean sheets!
This weekend I learned: Nice men think that screaming in our faces or asking how much is the best way to pick up a girl
What I still want to do in Montpellier: visit Avignon, go to the museum, go to the restaurant with 80 kinds of Crepes
Ultimate Goal: FIND LE FUN!!!!!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Ice Dancing on the Discoteque Rink
Let's see, let's see...
Tuesday we woke up and went to school (I KNOW SOMETHING NEW AND EXCITING!) We had lunch at St. Nicholas (or a similar name to that) which was good and cheap. I had a quiche and some sort of coconut tart. Conversation class involved us talking about movie stars and whether or not they should be involved with humanitarian campaigns. After school, I came back to the house and decided to try and go for a run. The run was pretty much a fail though. I thought I would just run around and take random twists and turns, but run in the area of my house instead of the centre ville. Half way through my run, my iPod freaked out and stopped working so I stopped to try and fix it. After being unsuccessful for 5+ minutes I gave up and looked up to decide where to go next and I had no idea where I was. Not being somebody who runs often I got a little panicky and started walking in the direction I thought was right. Luckily I have a decent sense of direction and was able to find my way home fairly quickly (though I was close to getting on the freeway to Barcelona.) When I got back to the room though, the little lamp on the table made a loud noise and the bulb went out. Then our computers stopped charging, and then when I got in the shower it was scalding hot and suddenly freezing. We found out when we went down to dinner that the house didn't have any gas, that's why the room was freezing cold, the water was freezing cold (and maybe why our computers stopped charging?) Since there was no gas to cook dinner we ate pate (which is good if you don't think about what it's made out of for too long), salad, ham, and cheese. Though apparently I made a faux pas. When everyone was serving themselves the pate the cheese plate was right by my plate, normally when we have a cheese course the cheese isn't on the table until it's time to eat it-but today it was on the table so I thought it was part of dinner. So, while others were serving the pate, I served myself some cheese, but my host mom laughed at me and said something about having two courses on my plate at one time OOPS-another piece of french culture little known to the American student! However, my mistake wasn't as big as the one Kate made next. After dinner everyday we have a piece of fruit or yogurt for dessert. Today, we were clearing the table for the last course and Kate started gathering cups-I mentioned to her that we might still have yogurt so we should wait but she's just way more helpful than I am! When the host mom saw her bring the cups into the kitchen she said, "what are you doing!? how are we going to drink now?" When we finally sat down to our dessert (I had chocolate pudding) the host mom threatened Kate with a dictation, I think it was a joke but with our mom it's very difficult to tell-she WOULD do something like make us write a dictation... Since we didn't have our computers, Kate went to sleep soon after dinner and I finally finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
When we went downstairs for breakfast (already running late) there was a giant plate of onions and a note asking for them to be peeled and placed on the table in the garden. Given that we've had such a problem with our host mom liking us I figured we should do them all, so we did it as fast as we could and were only a couple minutes late to school. After school on Wednesday we went back to Chez Canaille for lunch. I had Gnocchi with red sauce and a Crepe Sucre. We had a nice leisurely lunch and then decided to go get our train tickets for Nice. But, when we got to the train station we found out tickets for this weekend were 90 euros! Everybody thought that was a little ridiculous so we decided to go check out how much the busses were only to find out there are no intercity french busses. Apparently the trains believe they will lose business if there is a domestic bus line so they have a monopoly on domestic transportation (and with prices like that they WOULD lose business so I guess they're right) we were supposed to meet a couple people from the group to go ice skating at four so we hopped the train to go to the rink. The ice rink was like nothing I've seen before. there were hills and tunnels and disco lights! Not having skated since I was about 10 I thought I did pretty well (only falling once...) I'll expect a call from the olympic team any day now... especially since ice dancing means you don't have to jump-I could do that right? When we got home for dinner and sat down our host mom thanked us so much for peeling the onions and said she had so much extra time because of it she made an apple tart for us for dessert that night. She said she knew we did it because she'd already asked everyone else in the house if they'd done it-which means she thought we'd be the last to do it... oh well. But the onion tart that they made was really really good, it was flavored with mustard. We had pate again for an appetizer and the apple tart for dessert. YUM! After dinner Kate had a job interview and I went to meet some of the girls for drinks (I might have told my host mom coffee...) We all got really girly drinks tonight, I had a Coco Loco, and a French Coffee and Le Petit Nice and then some sort of warm lemony drink at the Angleterre. Then we went home (a very quiet night)
Today we went to Cafe Georges for lunch. I had pumpkin soup (which was AMAZING) and some kind of quiche which was only okay. But it was very affordable. For conversation class we discussed what we thought about "baby drop off boxes" at least from what I understood of the conversation... After school I went for a run again but this time I tried to stay where I knew I wouldn't get lost and it worked out a lot better. The weather was beautiful today so it was really nice to run (mid fifties I even wore a skirt without tights... in January). Before dinner, our host mom told Kate she was very rude for coming into the house with saying Bonsoir (Kate had headphones in) oh well. Dinner was Vietnamese tonight-green beans with ground beef mixed together and white rice (with an orange for dessert)
Tomorrow: we find out if we can go to Nice and Monaco (hold your breath and pray to whomever your deity of choice may be for us)
What I'm missing today (besides the people I love): Mexican Food... enchiladas...
Things to do soon: Plan Barcelona and Italy!
Tuesday we woke up and went to school (I KNOW SOMETHING NEW AND EXCITING!) We had lunch at St. Nicholas (or a similar name to that) which was good and cheap. I had a quiche and some sort of coconut tart. Conversation class involved us talking about movie stars and whether or not they should be involved with humanitarian campaigns. After school, I came back to the house and decided to try and go for a run. The run was pretty much a fail though. I thought I would just run around and take random twists and turns, but run in the area of my house instead of the centre ville. Half way through my run, my iPod freaked out and stopped working so I stopped to try and fix it. After being unsuccessful for 5+ minutes I gave up and looked up to decide where to go next and I had no idea where I was. Not being somebody who runs often I got a little panicky and started walking in the direction I thought was right. Luckily I have a decent sense of direction and was able to find my way home fairly quickly (though I was close to getting on the freeway to Barcelona.) When I got back to the room though, the little lamp on the table made a loud noise and the bulb went out. Then our computers stopped charging, and then when I got in the shower it was scalding hot and suddenly freezing. We found out when we went down to dinner that the house didn't have any gas, that's why the room was freezing cold, the water was freezing cold (and maybe why our computers stopped charging?) Since there was no gas to cook dinner we ate pate (which is good if you don't think about what it's made out of for too long), salad, ham, and cheese. Though apparently I made a faux pas. When everyone was serving themselves the pate the cheese plate was right by my plate, normally when we have a cheese course the cheese isn't on the table until it's time to eat it-but today it was on the table so I thought it was part of dinner. So, while others were serving the pate, I served myself some cheese, but my host mom laughed at me and said something about having two courses on my plate at one time OOPS-another piece of french culture little known to the American student! However, my mistake wasn't as big as the one Kate made next. After dinner everyday we have a piece of fruit or yogurt for dessert. Today, we were clearing the table for the last course and Kate started gathering cups-I mentioned to her that we might still have yogurt so we should wait but she's just way more helpful than I am! When the host mom saw her bring the cups into the kitchen she said, "what are you doing!? how are we going to drink now?" When we finally sat down to our dessert (I had chocolate pudding) the host mom threatened Kate with a dictation, I think it was a joke but with our mom it's very difficult to tell-she WOULD do something like make us write a dictation... Since we didn't have our computers, Kate went to sleep soon after dinner and I finally finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Today we went to Cafe Georges for lunch. I had pumpkin soup (which was AMAZING) and some kind of quiche which was only okay. But it was very affordable. For conversation class we discussed what we thought about "baby drop off boxes" at least from what I understood of the conversation... After school I went for a run again but this time I tried to stay where I knew I wouldn't get lost and it worked out a lot better. The weather was beautiful today so it was really nice to run (mid fifties I even wore a skirt without tights... in January). Before dinner, our host mom told Kate she was very rude for coming into the house with saying Bonsoir (Kate had headphones in) oh well. Dinner was Vietnamese tonight-green beans with ground beef mixed together and white rice (with an orange for dessert)
Tomorrow: we find out if we can go to Nice and Monaco (hold your breath and pray to whomever your deity of choice may be for us)
What I'm missing today (besides the people I love): Mexican Food... enchiladas...
Things to do soon: Plan Barcelona and Italy!
Monday, January 18, 2010
Cafe Cafe Everyday
Sunday involved accidentally sleeping until 1 pm (my bad...) but then a couple of the girls from the group met at Cafe Canaille, near Saint Anne and had lunch and discussed future plans. For lunch I had a salad with sundried tomatoes and warm goat cheese on toast, it was very good but the kicker is that it was served with some honey flavored ice cream on the side? I think it was their way of saying congratulations for choosing a healthy lunch here's your reward!!! I don't know why they bothered because I already rewarded myself with a crepe sucre. I proceeded to read some of our required reading for Geneva (I finally finished chapter 1!! Only 400 pages to go...)
Today I went to class (which didn't start until 10 YAY) and sat down first ever homework assignment finished, when without even looking at my homework my teacher told me to go upstairs-myself and Eugene from my group got moved to a higher level!! We joined two girls from our group. The class didn't seem much harder but more focused on conversation and less on grammar practice? We did have to listen to a radio news story and that was really difficult for me (as understanding french people speaking french is the hardest thing ever for me) but it lead to some brief discussion about Haiti, the pope, and Burqas in france and freedom of religion. Tres Interessant.
While at the cafe, we finalized our plans for the weekend, a trip to Nice and Monaco!!! We booked hostels at the hostel meyerbeer in Nice, and are going to leave Friday after class yay!! But all of Sunday passed at the cafe before returning to dinner. Dinner was some sort of rice cake and salad and a cheese plate. The host family seemed a little distant and it's been getting worse and worse and making me quite uncomfortable, but I guess it's very short term. I finished the evening doing some research for our upcoming weekend trip (which will luckily allow us to get out of our host home for at least a short time)
This morning there was a note asking us to please wash our dishes (normally we put them in the dishwasher) and since we feel like we are on such thin ice we decided to write back that it wasn't a problem, and if she needed any help to ask us, thank you for your generosity, and we hoped she had a good day. Then we made sure the kitchen was extra clean and crossed our fingers.
After class we had a much cheaper lunch than normal (yay) and then a couple girls went to a Cafe Georges to do some lovely reading of European History (...fun) then the group shrank some more and we went to another cafe for un petit verre de vin. Then we went home for dinner. When we arrived, our host mom said that we wrote a beautiful note and that she would correct it for us. So we went to dinner (chicken and vegetables) and though she was kind of quiet at first only talking to her son, eventually the conversation sped up and we discussed driving, driving drunk, movies, hostels, and college. There was one minor mix up... I was discussing my speeding ticket, and I was saying that I was on my way to school but they heard that I had been drinking alcohol... WHOOPS but we cleared that up eventually. Although I'm sure informing my host mother that I got a ticket for drunk driving could only improve our relationship... But it was much better after that, and she seemed a lot friendlier, told us we had had good conversation, and corrected our note. Oh and she told us that we shut the bathroom door too loudly... she's a little picky.
So, we've spent beaucoup de temps in cafes and every time we tell our host mom we went to a cafe after school she laughs. But we do a lot of reading there and you know the crepes are no deterrent either.
Today I miss giant lattes. When we order coffee here it's just not the same. But the croissants make up for it a little bit!
A Bientot!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Am I Clean?
After a very low key very mellow night at home on Thursday, Friday we went to class and as it was Friday we played Taboo and listened to some french music. Then we had some lunch at a little salad place-it was pretty American, I just had a very basic salad and some soup. Then we had a drink at a hole in the wall type bar, just a glass of red wine with a couple people. We walked toward the train station and back to the place de la comedie. Then we all went home for a couple hours to get some rest for our anticipated night out.
For dinner we had pasta with ham and a piece of fruit. Then we got ready and went to meet everyone at the cafe du theatre where we all had casual drinks and waited for everyone to join the group. We all walked to the Australian Cafe, which was supposed to be a really popular place for students and foreigners. It had life sized alligators and whales on the walls and played unbelievably American music. The play list included songs such as "who let the dogs out" (which helped me to imagine what it would have been like to be 21 in 1995-as good as having a time machine) and a Grease Mashup-which of course I loved and it culminated in all the bartenders standing on the bar and banging on things during "grease lightening." The downside was the 45 minute walk home, the upside was unlike my roommate I got to wear my shoes! (her feet are pretty beat up from blisters and what not)
Due to the teeniest bit of jetlag and just a little laziness we slept till noon and then got up to meet almost everyone in the group for what we thought would be a pleasant bikeride to the beach. However, it was really a bike ride to the outskirts of Montpellier which at one point had the lovely view of a pretty aggressive police arrest (don't worry dad I got out of the area as quickly as possible). Having asked for directions again we learned it was still a half an hour from the beach. By bus. This new piece of information encouraged us to turn around and return to Montpellier. We biked to a view point right of the Place de la Comedie, and again had to take a picture. However, with our group we end up taking a picture with everyone's camera despite the new technologies like facebook? We then returned our bikes-with the exceptional balance and signs that say "I'm a tourist" on them - they definitely weren't worth more than the two Euros we paid. But at the tourism office I bought a Montpellier teeshirt so it wasn't wasted! I mean we did get to see some very rundown parts of Montpellier and everything but I think my teeshirt was the best part!
On the way home my roommate and I stopped at a pattiserie and I got a little quiche and an apple crumble tart thing. Then we went to our house and rested-Kate actually took a nap and I caught up on my 30 Rock viewing. We were meeting for dinner tonight so we didn't eat at home. We ended up going to a restaurant called L'absolu, which was okay. I had a salad with potatoes, ham, and cheese on it, and caramel mousse for dessert-and some red wine.
We then went to a bar called "L'Angleterre" (or something similar) and caught the last couple minutes of their happy hour, and stayed and chatted for a while before heading to another bar we'd heard was good, "the barbarouse" this bar was themed like a pirate ship which meant when you went to it it was underground and the bar and everything looked like you were inside a pirate ship-wooden all over with nautical piratey decorations. We only stayed momentarily though because it was so crowded-I would like to go back on a less crowded night though. We then stopped inside a discoteque called the Oxymoron which seemed really weird so we stayed long enough to get a drink under the blacklight complimented by the flashy neon lights before moving on to return to Charlie's Bar, which we got some beer at but it unfortunately closed at 1 which allowed us to be there for only about 15 minutes. Apparently 1 o'clock on Saturday night is when everything starts to close down because we only found one bar after that (though I was ready to go home, my roommate was not) So we went to the bar and I spent most of the time convincing her we should in fact go home. My message finally got through at about 2:15 which got us home at 2:45 where our host mother opened the door for us! Apparently she wanted to make sure we didn't lock it because her daughter was coming home later that night. OOPS.
What I miss most about the US right now (aside from my family and friends of course) is the shower. Our shower has the flexible handle but no curtain. I don't really know whether to sit or stand or what when I'm trying to get clean. And washing my hair is impossible. But, c'est la vie!! I just wonder how clean I actually am...
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Beaucoup d'Ecole
Bonjour!
Today we had conversation class again. My conversation was about cheating followed by an essay on the morality of recycling. For lunch we tried a new cafe which turned out to be a bust. It was more in the North African part of the city and so the portions were huge (good) with mysterious meats and vegetables and it was only so so (bad) so we wont be returning there. We grabbed some mediocre pain au chocolat on the way back to school. I hope to try one of the many kabob stands soon.
School is funny, I feel like a first grader talking about very mature content. Tuesday afternoon in conversation class our conversation subject was alcohol. We discussed the drinking age in France and what drinking was like in the United States, and fake IDs but using the vocabulary of a 6 year old-because after speaking french for six years I'm still only at the "advanced intermediate" level (meaning barely able to speak) After class on Tuesday a couple of the girls and I found a tea and chocolate shop and we had coffee and hung out for about two hours before going "home" to dinner.
When we got home though our host mom asked if either of us had broken a pumice stone that had been in the bathroom. As neither of us had we said no but she didn't believe us and lectured us about telling the truth. oops. after lecturing us for about 5 minutes she asked how our day was and things went pretty much back to normal. We had pumpkin soup with garlic "croutons" (toasted bread) and cheese, salad with blue cheese and yogurt for dinner. That night we met up with a lot of the group and had drinks at cafe du theatre on the place de la comedie (the main square of the town) our table was right by a window overlooking the place and it was beautiful. Than we went to a bar called "Charlie's Bar" which was "American Themed" the music reminded me of music that would play during a 1960s movie when the characters were going into a bar that was a lot "rougher" than they were but the prices were good and the cliental was mostly students so it was a lot of fun and we all just got to hang out.
After school on Wednesday we went to "Quarter Libre" for crepes (both savory and sweet) I had one with ham, cheese, basil, and olive oil and then one with honey. The cafe was very cute and had rocks hanging from the ceiling and "rock art" on the wall-it sounds weird but it was very cute. For dinner we had some kind of tart with red sauce in it and salad, cheese, and an apple. Then a couple of the girls went to a bar on the place de la comedie for a couple hours.
The weather was amazing yesterday warm(er) and sunny and what I was expecting. Today however, it rained and my jeans stayed wet through all 5.5 hours of school. So because of the rain and the cold it will be a quiet night here and then tomorrow we're going to explore some of the more popular bars that we've heard of of like the Australian Cafe.
One of the hardest things is not having a place where the whole group can hang out. For example we all want to get to know each other, but there's nowhere we can hang out for free and it's too cold to hang out outside.
Finally a couple more goals for Montpellier: ride the merry-go-round, go to the beach, learn to speak french.
a bientôt !
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Bonjour! Le Premier!
This morning we had breakfast, baguette and butter and jam and coffee and then our host mom drove us to school. We had to be there at 8:30 for the placement test. then we had a break and our first class for two hours. I'm in "Intermediate Advanced" aka somewhere in the middle. Class went okay, we talked about the history of Montpelier introduced ourselves and did a listening assignment. Then we had another break where our prof recklessly lead us through the streets of Montpelier to show us the cheap wine at Monoprix and the mall (???? I Know right?) then we hauled ass to grab lunch and get back to the school for the "tour" that took 2.5 hours of french explanation of the freezing cold city (which apparently is warmer usually) then when that finished we stopped at Monoprix and the mall to pick up a few essentials (ie shampoo) and went and had a glass of wine with some of the kids from the group and then came home to dinner which was some sort of beef and potato dish, salad, cheese plate and yogurt (coconut flavored).
School today went better than yesterday-I suppose it can only get easier? But, 5.5 hours of french class is pretty overwhelming. Tonight I think I'm going to see what Montpellier is like by moonlight... ;)
Montpelier is a really nice city-our family keeps saying how small it is but it's WAY bigger than Hamilton, bigger than Monasque but still very "french," so far I like it but I still don't know very much of it so we'll see how it all turns out. I have french class five days a week, MWF: 10-1 TR: 9-12 1-4 so tomorrow's a long day-we'll see how that goes... My french seems to slowly be getting better and hopefully by the end I wont sound like a giant poop (at least that's my goal...)
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