La Vie Quotidienne

Two weeks down!  It's been probably the craziest two weeks of my entire life.  I'm beginning to get into the groove of daily life, so that's pretty much what this blog entry is going to be about.

I've finished my first week of classes, and my favorite class so far is actually Theater!  (Who would have thought, right?)  We don't have any written work, and we just go to class and basically make fools of ourselves.  Yesterday, for instance, we began the class by standing in two lines facing one another.  One group at a time, we were given an emotion to act out.  Then, our prof would shout out a different emotion, and we would have to immediately change.  For example:  "Quelque chose est très amusante......TRISTESSE!"  It was hilarious to watch the people across from us, and to realize how ridiculous we must look.  Another "exercise"  that we did was that we got into groups of four.  The first person was given something to act.  My group had, "Tu as peur de quelque chose."  Then, the prof would tell the 2nd person in the group, "plus!"  and to the third, she said, "PLUS, PLUS"   And to the 4th, "PLUS, PLUS, PLUS!!!"  By the end, the prof was yelling out of excitement, and the person acting was trying to look extremely scared. It was hilarious! Tomorrow, we're going to start working on the play that we're putting on at the end of the semester.  The play is "La Visite de la Vieille Dame."  It's a French adaptation of a German play.  Should be interesting. :)

 So, I thought it was finally time that I posted pictures of my room. It's verrrrrry small, but I'm liking it more now than I did when I first got here.  I have a little fridge and my own bathroom, so it could definitely be worse.  It has quite a bit of storage...in the form of these cubes.  They're actually kind of fun. haha. 

I finally bought a hair straightener this week.  This rainy weather and my hair were not getting along.  Now that I have a straightener, I can at least attempt to fix it.

I've almost gotten the hang of the art of baguette buying.  I've learned that after 2 days, your baguette will no longer be edible.  Unless you enjoy eating rocks.  I go just about every other day to the Express little grocery store down the street.  I've also learned that if you go earlier in the day, you have a much larger selection.  If you wait until dinner time, the French people have gotten off work and have swarmed the store for all the good baguettes.  I've also bought a knife and a plate with the sole purpose in mind being to cut and eat my baguettes.  I enjoy making my own jambon, beurre, & fromage sandwiches for dinner, breakfast, any meal really.  I've also bought a jar of the store brand Nutella which accompanies my baguette quite nicely.

Another thing I've realized....Ever wondered why the French people drink so much wine?....One reason...It's cheaper than a soda.  I've seen bottles of wine in the store for less than 2 euros.  A 20oz. Coca Cola in a restaurant...2.40.  That's more than 3 dollars, folks.  Sheesh. I have had a few cokes while I've been here, but I usually try to buy them at the grocery store where they're a bit cheaper.

Sunday, I decided to hit up all the Nantes "tourist spots" that I'd not yet seen.  I first went to L'Isle de Nantes to see the famous Elephant.  It's a "machine elephant that walks and moves realistically.  It's actually pretty cool.  I would not have paid for a ride, though, because the thing only moves about a mile an hour and the ride lasts for 45 minutes.  Yikes.  Anyway, I took pictures and was satisfied.  I then started to head toward the Cathédrale de Nantes since I'd not yet seen it during the day...BUT, I heard music coming from inside the "Château des ducs de Bretagne."  You see, Nantes used to be the capital of the Brittany region of France.  It was later moved to the Pays de la Loire region.   Turns out that entrance into the chateau was free because of a music festival, so I got to walk around inside the grounds of the castle for free which usually costs 5 euros.  I love free things. :)

After that, I continued on to my previous destination of the Cathedrale...  In front of the cathedrale, I actually ran into the American that was in my intensive class the first 3 days!  He was on a search to scour out the best hotels for when his parents visit in October.  So, we spent the next like 4 hours half looking for hotels, and half being distracted by awesome things to see.  There are so many cool buildings to see in this city.

Unfortunately, the weekend ended, and classes began again.  Monday and Tuesday are actually really short for me.  I only have one class each of those days.  Wednesdays, on the other hand....are horrible.  I have three classes in a row.  Each class is TWO HOURS LONG.   It's exhausting.  Though it is getting much easier to be able to understand without having to work too hard.  I'm even beginning to get better at eavesdropping in French. haha.  Not the best skill, but definitely fun. :) 

I know this blog has been kind of all over the place.  I'll try to blog more often.  À bientôt!

Here are some pictures from Sunday:

One of the cute French houses near my dorm.

L'Elephant

La Loire

Le Château

The music festival in the chateau

Two adorable French women walking in the castle.  I couldn't resist taking a picture.

Cathédrale de Nantes

Basilique Saint-Nicolas

Rue Jean de la Fontaine!

This was a "mall" like thing that we stumbled upon.  It was so cool!

La Cigale....Le restaurant le plus connu à Nantes

Église Notre-Dame du Bon-Port