What a weekend!
Friday evening was my first class in "Escalade," or Rock Climbing. A friend and I signed up since its something that I have always wanted to do and as a student of the University of Nantes, I can choose from number of sports/dance/conditioning classes for about 7 Euros. Not bad. However, the biggest challenge of the evening was simply finding the gym. After taking the bus to the outskirts of Nantes, we got off at our stop and looked around, only to be surrounded by a few small buildings, fields, and some grazing horses. We were already late for our class but after setting of in the wrong direction, asking for directions, backtracking, and wandering around some more, we almost gave up. We both were also carring around huge backpacks stuffed with a change of clothes from school, lunch supplies to pack a lunch for the following day, computer, digital camera, and our walet..so we decided that (even though we wern't actually lost), we pretty much were carring our most important possesions and everything we needed to survive and could easily become hitchhikers or hobos. Thankfully, we were spared from that fate by finally coming across a sign that pointed us in the right direction and we arrived 45 minutes late. Nevertheless, the teacher was very kind to us, and within 15 minutes we had both been taught how to tie the knots, use the equiptment, belay another person and now we can come whenever we want with eachother or another student who knows how and just climb the wall until we are tired of it. So thats really exciting :) I don't really have armstrength, coordination, or experience tieing complex knots, but if I stick with this every week (which I plan on) hopefully Ill be a lot better by the end of the semester!
Saturday was an all day excursion with IES. I think these trips are SOO cool because we get transportation and ticket included in our tuition and all we need to pay for it lunch. The
morning's destination was Mont St. Michel which is the most visited monument in France(...supposedly, I find that hard to believe next to the Eiffel Tour). But anyways, Mont St. Michel is an island monestary that has been built up continually for centuries so it is very fun to explore because there are lots of layers and each is built in a different style. We received a guided tour, but unlike our other tours, no one informed this guide that 90% of the group was in the process of learning the language and he spoke fast even for native speakers. Still, it was interesting and he even demonstrated the acoustics of some of the rooms by belting out a low monk-like note. Outside the abbey, as the streets wind down toward the base, it gets extremly touristy with famous restaurants where an omelette is 40 Euros. We were pre-warned though so we enjoyed our picnic lunch in the beautiful sun that came out that day! It was also incredible looking out of the water. A causeway was actually build some years ago to connect tourists to the island but because of that, water hasn't been able to circulate well and sand is starting to build up. So I hear that "they" are going to tear down the causeway so they can return the island to the way it is supposed to look. Bravo for "them" :) Still, the swirls of sand were unique to see as well.
For the afternoon, we drove over to St. Malo, a city fortified with ramparts famous for its beaches which overlook the English Channel. It also is the home of Chateaubriand. So a few girls
and I set out to explore and hopefully in the end go and explore the castle. It wasn't until an hour later as we were relaxing looking out over the water that we were told that Chateaubriand is not in fact a castle, but the name of a famous French writer who was buried about 20 meters (ahh! Im going metric!)from where we were sitting. Oops :/ It was beautiful and relaxing to see the sea but as it started to get colder we headed back early. On the way back to the bus, I decided to pay .30 cents to use the bathroom in the wall of the old rampart since we had a 3 hour trip ahead of us. Probably one of my weirdest experiences yet. When I entered, everthing in the bathroom was drenched. Completely soaking wet. As I closed the door, a toilet seat came down from the wall. It was then that I realized that this was a self-cleaning bathroom. After closing the door to leave, I stood and listened to the gush of water as something in the ceiling sprayed the entire bathroom down! Whoa. I know that I just spent more time talking about the bathroom, than the city, but whoa.It just showered itself! Is that really neccessary after every use? It was crazy. and totally worth 30 cents :)
It had been a long tiring day, so instead of going to a restaurant, a few girls who live near me came to my house and we enjoyed a night watching Sense and Sensability (yes..in English because we're horrible students :P ) accompanied by some store-bought pizzas and some deliciously-American Chips and Salsa (and it was American...Doritos brand). It was fun just to relax and to make some use of my huge room!
That just leaves today, Sunday! This morning I attended a protestant church which has a very international crowd, contemporary music (a rarity in France), and an American pastor who speaks just a little slower french than natives. So it was very fun to sing songs like "How Great Thou Art" in French, and I will definitly be going back and hopefully can start to get involved in the Thursday night Agape group for students as well. Then, this afternoon was beautiful weather and a friend and I went for a long jog exploring a creek and trail that runs for miles right next to my house so its a great place to run :) I even found a track by my house in case I want to start doing speed work in a bit. But we'll see about that. So tonight I just plan to relax, read, and get some homework done.
So now that you know what I've been doing, what are you up to? no, seriously. I want to know! So whether its commenting or emailing, keep in touch!
Friday evening was my first class in "Escalade," or Rock Climbing. A friend and I signed up since its something that I have always wanted to do and as a student of the University of Nantes, I can choose from number of sports/dance/conditioning classes for about 7 Euros. Not bad. However, the biggest challenge of the evening was simply finding the gym. After taking the bus to the outskirts of Nantes, we got off at our stop and looked around, only to be surrounded by a few small buildings, fields, and some grazing horses. We were already late for our class but after setting of in the wrong direction, asking for directions, backtracking, and wandering around some more, we almost gave up. We both were also carring around huge backpacks stuffed with a change of clothes from school, lunch supplies to pack a lunch for the following day, computer, digital camera, and our walet..so we decided that (even though we wern't actually lost), we pretty much were carring our most important possesions and everything we needed to survive and could easily become hitchhikers or hobos. Thankfully, we were spared from that fate by finally coming across a sign that pointed us in the right direction and we arrived 45 minutes late. Nevertheless, the teacher was very kind to us, and within 15 minutes we had both been taught how to tie the knots, use the equiptment, belay another person and now we can come whenever we want with eachother or another student who knows how and just climb the wall until we are tired of it. So thats really exciting :) I don't really have armstrength, coordination, or experience tieing complex knots, but if I stick with this every week (which I plan on) hopefully Ill be a lot better by the end of the semester!
Saturday was an all day excursion with IES. I think these trips are SOO cool because we get transportation and ticket included in our tuition and all we need to pay for it lunch. The
morning's destination was Mont St. Michel which is the most visited monument in France(...supposedly, I find that hard to believe next to the Eiffel Tour). But anyways, Mont St. Michel is an island monestary that has been built up continually for centuries so it is very fun to explore because there are lots of layers and each is built in a different style. We received a guided tour, but unlike our other tours, no one informed this guide that 90% of the group was in the process of learning the language and he spoke fast even for native speakers. Still, it was interesting and he even demonstrated the acoustics of some of the rooms by belting out a low monk-like note. Outside the abbey, as the streets wind down toward the base, it gets extremly touristy with famous restaurants where an omelette is 40 Euros. We were pre-warned though so we enjoyed our picnic lunch in the beautiful sun that came out that day! It was also incredible looking out of the water. A causeway was actually build some years ago to connect tourists to the island but because of that, water hasn't been able to circulate well and sand is starting to build up. So I hear that "they" are going to tear down the causeway so they can return the island to the way it is supposed to look. Bravo for "them" :) Still, the swirls of sand were unique to see as well.For the afternoon, we drove over to St. Malo, a city fortified with ramparts famous for its beaches which overlook the English Channel. It also is the home of Chateaubriand. So a few girls
and I set out to explore and hopefully in the end go and explore the castle. It wasn't until an hour later as we were relaxing looking out over the water that we were told that Chateaubriand is not in fact a castle, but the name of a famous French writer who was buried about 20 meters (ahh! Im going metric!)from where we were sitting. Oops :/ It was beautiful and relaxing to see the sea but as it started to get colder we headed back early. On the way back to the bus, I decided to pay .30 cents to use the bathroom in the wall of the old rampart since we had a 3 hour trip ahead of us. Probably one of my weirdest experiences yet. When I entered, everthing in the bathroom was drenched. Completely soaking wet. As I closed the door, a toilet seat came down from the wall. It was then that I realized that this was a self-cleaning bathroom. After closing the door to leave, I stood and listened to the gush of water as something in the ceiling sprayed the entire bathroom down! Whoa. I know that I just spent more time talking about the bathroom, than the city, but whoa.It just showered itself! Is that really neccessary after every use? It was crazy. and totally worth 30 cents :)It had been a long tiring day, so instead of going to a restaurant, a few girls who live near me came to my house and we enjoyed a night watching Sense and Sensability (yes..in English because we're horrible students :P ) accompanied by some store-bought pizzas and some deliciously-American Chips and Salsa (and it was American...Doritos brand). It was fun just to relax and to make some use of my huge room!
That just leaves today, Sunday! This morning I attended a protestant church which has a very international crowd, contemporary music (a rarity in France), and an American pastor who speaks just a little slower french than natives. So it was very fun to sing songs like "How Great Thou Art" in French, and I will definitly be going back and hopefully can start to get involved in the Thursday night Agape group for students as well. Then, this afternoon was beautiful weather and a friend and I went for a long jog exploring a creek and trail that runs for miles right next to my house so its a great place to run :) I even found a track by my house in case I want to start doing speed work in a bit. But we'll see about that. So tonight I just plan to relax, read, and get some homework done.
So now that you know what I've been doing, what are you up to? no, seriously. I want to know! So whether its commenting or emailing, keep in touch!
1 comment:
i really like reading your blog joye! thank you for writing it. i hope everything is going good in france! au revoir.
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