For the love of crêpes...

Four weeks ago today, I was unpacking my suitcase.  This means that I'm almost 1/3 of the way finished with my study abroad experience in France.  (woah).  Time is flying. 

Like a large percentage of folks in America, I've been catching up on my shows that premiered last week!  This mostly includes Grey's Anatomy, Glee, and New Girl.  I also watched the Desperate Housewives final season premiere just for kicks since I hardly watched last year, and I'm happy to report that I wasn't disappointed.  When you're away from home, it's the little things like watching your favorite shows that helps you get through.  Being in an entirely different culture that speaks a different language isn't easy.  I understand why they the France programs are so selective now.  It would be cruel to throw someone who didn't speak the language into this setting.  All the "cheap(er)" programs in France require at least 4-5 college level French courses before studying abroad.

The outside of the Musée

I'm finding that the 7 hour time difference (6 for my UT friends in Eastern time)  a bit of a hindrance.  Scheduling skype dates is difficult when I have to go to the kebob restaurant (since skype is blocked from the University internet), and my family doesn't even get home from work until I'm already asleep.  I still laugh when I log into facebook at 8 in the morning and see people updating status' about how they are just going to sleep.  My day is pretty much over by the time my friends and family begin to wake up. 

So, what have I been up to lately, you might wonder.  Welllll, last weekend, I spent Saturday morning sleeping in and being extremely lazy.  I needed to catch up on my sleep.  Having class at 9am on Fridays doesn't agree with my sleep schedule.  After I had sufficiently rested, my afternoon was devoted to skyping with my family.  I was extremely surprised when the video popped up and I saw about 7 people trying to share the screen. (My aunt, uncle, and cousins were visiting the Burg) They showed me their awesome breakfast which made me extremely jealous.  I don't necessarily miss the food, but I miss having a variety of food.  Since I have no way to cook anything, I eat a lot of sandwiches. 

Inside the Musée

Anyway, Skyping was followed by meeting up with a fellow Tennessean and heading over to the Musée des Beaux Arts in the heart of Nantes.  This fine arts museum closed this past Sunday in order to complete renovations over the course of the next two years.  Bummer, huh?  BUT, I got to see it twice (Once with my art history class, and again Saturday night) so I'm satisfied.  It was supposed to be a "night for young people" and was open (and free) until midnight on Saturday.  There were "demonstrations"  which reminded me a lot of what tv shows would show as interpretive dance.  It was one of the strangest things I've ever seen in my entire life...And I've seen a lot of strange things.  There were also art experts giving presentations on different works of art throughout the museum.

Crêpe avec un café crème...yessss.

At about 11:30pm, we decided to leave the museum and check out what goes on in the city of Nantes on a Saturday night.  We found a street near the Église Saint-Croix that was pretty crowded with people sitting outside the cafés with their beverages of choice.  We, however, thought that this would be the perfect time to order a crêpe!  I don't know how I managed to be in France for almost an entire month without having a crêpe, but I did.  I got the crêpe maison, which was a crepe with chocolate inside, and my friend Nick got a crêpe beurre-sucre.  Both were simply amazing.  I also got a café crème to accompany my crêpe.  (Sidenote:  Though I like French coffee, I've yet to find an equivalent to the coffee I had every morning in Costa Rica.  I miss that stuff. )

Late at night, the trams only run about every 30-45 minutes, so you have to time it just right if you want to catch one without having to sit around the tram stops where the crazies tend to come out....(even in broad daylight.)  So we had to wander around a bit before catching the tram, but no worries.  We got back, and all is well.

This weekend, a couple of friends and I are planning a day trip to La Baule...a beach city about an hour bus ride from Nantes.  We're going into centreville tomorrow to buy tickets, so hopefully everything will go smoothly.  I'm so ready to get out of Nantes if only for a day.  THEN, in a week and a half, I am going to visit my mom's friend, Veronique, in Chartres, and she's taking me to PARIS! I seriously cannot wait.  Mom met Veronique when she was studying abroad in France as an exchange student.  I've heard about her all my life, and I remember mom getting letters from her in the mail which I would make her translate for me. hah. Ah, so excited!

Abrupt change of subject ahead: But, this is something I've been meaning to mention for a while.  Being a pedestrian here is so different than in the US.  Yes, in the US, pedestrians have the right of way...but that doesn't mean that cars are going to stop for you to cross when the light is green.  Here, however, all I need to do is appear to have the intention to cross the street, and cars slam on their brakes.  It's a 180 from Costa Rica where if you walk out in front of a car, you get run over.  I'm usually pretty cautious when crossing the street, but it throws me for a loop when I'm standing on the curb looking for my perfectly timed moment to cross in order to not cause a disruption in traffic, and every single time, the cars stop!  I'm sure they point me out as a foreigner each time I apprehensively stand on the curb.  I'm getting better now at not waiting too long to cross.  I guess I'm just scarred by the memory of running across 5 lanes in Costa Rica just waiting to get hit by a truck.  Good times, good times.  :)  Well, that's all for tonight.  I'll try to blog more often instead of having one monster blog per week.