I'm back once again from my blog hiatus. For some reason, blogging has become more of a chore lately than in earlier weeks.
The biggest change the city of Nantes has seen in the past week or so was the sudden appearance of Christmas decorations throughout centreville. I went to the train station to buy tickets last week, and there they were. Also, the leaves are finally falling! I thought autum would never get here, and then the day I got back from Normandy, all the leaves had changed to gorgeous reds and yellows. Now, the falling leaves and the rainy weather have made for a quite perilous walking hazard. I'm not the most coordinated person in all the world, but I'm really trying to keep my injuries to a minimum in France.
Nantes is known as one of the rainiest places in France, unfortunately, and, the past week or so has not betrayed that reputation. Rain, rain, rain. Then, yesterday, the first sunny day in forever, I had class from 9:30-5. Talk about a bummer! Even though Nantes is now in the Pays de la Loire region, it was originally part of Bretagne (or Brittany in English). Bretagne is famously rainy...as you can see from this little BD I came across. Translated, it says, "In Brittany, we know that summer has arrived when the rain is warmer."
In spite of the rain, I've really come to love Nantes...It's also known as one of the most livable cities in France. I think this is partly due to the wonderful transportation system. I know I've said it before, but seriously, it's great. That's one the things I'll miss once I get back in the states. Don't get me wrong, I miss my little car dearly, but I will miss the ease at which I can just hop on the tram...No parking required. This region is also said to be the region where the French is the "purest." Who knows if that is actually true or if it was just someone bragging. I have found, however, that most people do speak clearly and without an obvious regional accent...which is VERY good for foreigners like myself.
I've also found myself speaking franglais when I'm speaking with other North Americans. (The french equivalent of Spanglish). For example, It's become fairly common that I accidentally say "mot" in the place of "word." This sentence actually came out of my mouth the other day: "What is the mot for..." It's not so much of a problem here since all my friends also speak French, but I have a feeling my fellow Tennesseans won't appreciate it as much. haha.
I experienced my first ever football game last week! (This is football as in soccer...not American football) I went with my Great Britain friends, so even they were calling it football. FC Nantes versus RC Lens. First of all, the stadium is at the very end of Tram Line 1, and part of Tram line 1 was out for construction. So, it ended up taking about an hour and a half to get there. Good thing we left early! We got there just in time. I've never been much of a fan of soccer. I hated it when I played it as a kid...for like 4 years. Why did I do that again? Anyway, NANTES WON! 1-0. There was also added excitement when a fan ran out on to the field and was tackled shortly after by the big security men in the middle of the game. I learned that soccer fans are hardcore. I learned several not so nice phrases each time the refs made a call against Nantes. The only chant I actually joined in on was, "Allez les jaunes!"
One of the thing that I found funny was that when you looked out at the crowd, all you saw was black! The colors of the team are yellow and green. Then, I remembered I was in France. haha. It's like an unwritten rule here that when it's cold, all color in the wardrobe ceases to exist. Everybody is wearing black and grey. It's not uncommon to see a woman dressed in a black shirt, black skirt, black leggings, and black boots all topped off with a black coat and a black scarf. In my opinion, a colorful wardrobe during the winter is a way to brighten my sprits. There's nothing like a yellow coat to combat SAD...or Seasonal Affective Disorder.
The other bit of excitement was my 21st birthday last week! First, I went over to Heather and Andrew's house for dinner. We had incredibly wonderful fajitas. Heather remembered me mentioning my disgust for onions and kindly chopped them up into tiny pieces. :) They also made me a birthday cake and gave me a beautiful scarf! I'll never be able to express exactly how much I appreciate them and all they've done for me since I've been in France.
After dinner, we headed to the movie theater to see TinTin. If you're reading this from the US, there's a good chance that you've never heard of TinTin. Well, TinTin is a Belgian cartoon character who is very very popular in France. (There have been stamps and coins dedicated to Tin Tin, people.) Tin Tin is an investigative journalist by profession...though he appears to be very young. He and his dog, Snowy, pretty much go on adventures all over the world. The movie was released in France at the end of October, but will not release in the US until December. I know my French comprehension is improving, because I understood about 95% of what was said during the movie. It helped quite a bit that there was a lot of action, but I was pretty proud of myself nonetheless.
The rest of the night was spent hanging out with friends in centreville. I couldn't have asked for a better 21st birthday.
Sunday, (my actual birthday) John, Nicole, and I were invited over for lunch at Matt's house. Matt is the American that leads the English Bible study I've been going to on Monday nights. His twin girls are the most adorable children ever. I haven't really gotten to play with babies/toddlers in a long time. All the kids I used to babysit are pretty much in middle school or older. (Nothing makes you feel old like seeing kids you used to babysit going to high school). Anyway, I've really missed interacting with little kids, so this was so fun. The girls are learning both French and English, but for now, they express themselves more in English. I loved it when they would say a sentence in half French, half English. haha. I've actually volunteered to help watch about 20 kids on Sunday afternoon during a luncheon type thing. These will be French speaking children, so this should be interesting. haha.
This week, for my culture class, I had to give a 10 minute presentation over French cinema. I've not really had much work to do thus far, so finding the motivation to put the presentation together was not easy. Once I found all my information, putting the presentation together was a breeze. I still ended up not finishing until 3am because I'm easily distracted. :) I feel like I did ok in presenting it, and I think that I'm going to feel quite comfortable speaking French in my classes when I get back to UT. I've always been semi hesitant to talk in my classes. My professors usually describe me as motivated and focused, but quiet. My classes next semester include French 440: Capstone (Which is generally the last class in the French major. It's basically a combination of literature, grammar, and anything else the prof wants to cover.) French 432: Contemporary French Culture, French 450: A Special Topics class covering the French Revolution, and Spanish 300: Intermediate grammar. I've been waiting my entire college career to be at the point where I no longer had to take any classes in English, and I'm finally there! Goodbye, Gen eds!
Tomorrow is a jour férié (holiday) here in France. It's L'Armistice de la Première Guerre Mondiale. (Armistice Day). Therefore, NO CLASS TOMORROW! We're totally being eased back into school after our Toussaint break. The French sure love their time off! Speaking of that, I'm still amazed sometimes when I walk by a store with the store hours obviously printed outside, and...It should be open, but it isn't. This happens even more so on Monday mornings or Friday afternoons. Funny French people.
Ok folks, that's all for today. Bon week-end à tous!
