Celebrating the end of the semester

If I can give the French credit for only one thing, it would be their vacation schedules. They were smart enough to schedule in a two-week holiday in mid-February, just in time to combat the post-holiday blues and the blah gray weather that seems to continue interminably. Of course, this being France, things don't always sync up in the most efficient or practical way, so I had two weeks off in February from work, but only 6 days off from my master's.

The two week break from teaching was well-timed, since I had finals to work on for all of my master's courses. I spent about 10 days working feverishly at the library, attempting to digest an entire semester's worth of material and prove my knowledge by writing brilliant papers. This is one thing I definitely DON'T like about France - their university classes tend to be based entirely on one grade: one final paper or one final exam. That's it. And if you screw that one up, too bad, so sad, you just get a bad grade. So... no pressure, right?!

This was certainly a stressful time period for me, a time when I came up against all of my limitations as a foreigner in the French university system. I definitely had a few moments where I thought to myself, "I really can't do this!" But in the end, I persevered. Or well, I think I did - so far I've only gotten my results for one of my classes, and I was pleasantly surprised so hopefully the other grades will be similar (did I mention that French professors also grade VERY harshly, at least by American standards? Yikes, what have I gotten myself into!).

Having finished my finals, I celebrated by taking a trip to visit a college friend, Alice, who is also working as a teaching assistant in a small ski town in the Southern Alps. It is quite an ordeal to get to Alice's little town, a full day of travel: two two-hour trains, a long wait in between connections, and a nauseatingly winding hour-and-a-half ride on a bus that was driven by a madman who seemed to enjoy taking the hairpin curves at terrifying speeds. Once I arrived, fully intact though exhausted and feeling rather sick to my stomach, I rejoiced in just how wonderful small-town France is. First of all, provinciales (that is, people NOT from Paris) are genuinely welcoming and friendly people. You forget this when you live in a congested city where the people are sick and tired of tourists running amok in their town all the time (in a way, I don't blame them, but that said, there's no need to curse at me if I accidentally bump into you while trying to pass you in the world's smallest grocery aisle). Also, this was my first time in the Alps. They are simply breathtaking, and Barcelonnette, Alice's town, is blessed with fabulously sunny weather, and the temperatures while I was there were about equivalent to that of Paris's (i.e. around 50 degrees Fahrenheit).

Despite my post-finals exhaustion, I managed to get in three mini-days of skiing. I really loved the at- mosphere of the two resorts we went to - they were very small, not too commercial, and laid-back. Alice also set up a snowshoe romp under the full moon, followed by a three-course meal at a restaurant at the top of the mountain, cooked by a very cute British ex-pat named Nicolas, who joined us on the snowshoe down the mountain (though he sledded down the hill while the rest of us tried not to tumble face-first with our unwieldy snowshoes!). It was a 5 kilometer, steep journey, but the meal at the top of the mountain made the trek totally worth it!

The next day, I was completely wiped out from a half-day of skiing and the late-night snowshoe marathon, so I decided to take the day off from physical activities and visit the local jam-makers. These are two twin brothers in their 30s who are crazy about... jam. They make 25 different varieties of jam, all handmade, all done themselves in their little farmhouse! They let us come check out how they make the jam and of course allowed us to taste-test a lot of different flavors. I bought a jar of strawberry-rhubarb jam and am saving it for a special breakfast occasion.

All in all, it was four days of great skiing, good cooking (and even better eating, of course), catching up with college friends, and experiencing yet another side of France that I didn't know. Definitely an unforgettable highlight of my time here, and a well-deserved, well-timed vacation!

Picking Up Where I Left Off

I'm baaack. Well, technically I've been back (in France) for three weeks now, but it's perhaps taken me this long to finally get back into the swing of things. I had three lovely, relaxing, French-free weeks at home in the grand old USA for Christmas and New Years. I was overjoyed to see my parents, my family, my friends, and many American conveniences that I'd been missing (i.e. NON-handheld showers, normal-sized washing machines and dryers, supermarkets with all that familiar yet unhealthy food, people who don't actually drive like maniacs, my queen-sized bed, peace and quiet). I was quite sad to come back to Paris, actually, which surprised me. But after some self-analysis, I realized that my reluctance to return was due to a combination of my approaching finals for my master's courses, some extra hours that needed to be put in at my job, and the gray January weather.

Now that I've gotten a few finals under my belt and really hit my stride with my teaching, I feel like I'm back home, back in Paris, back to my life as it should be. Today, for instance, I taught three classes this morning and then hopped on the métro to visit another teaching assistant friend named Kathryn. She too works at a culinary high school with an in-house restaurant, so we decided to check out each other's brasseries to see which one is best! Lunch today at Lycée Jean Drouant consisted of pan-seared tuna with a vegetable tarte followed by raspberry pannacotta - simply delicious, and fantastically affordable at a price of only eight euros! Then I followed Kathryn to one of her classes where I helped her explain such important things to her students as 'corn on the cob' and 'to tie your shoes.' Afterwards I got to meet some of the teachers she works with, it was fun to see another teaching assistant in action.

Though I've been living here for a few months now, I realize that I have yet to post any photos of my room. So here is my little corner of Paris:
To the left, my super-practical Ikea bed complete with hidden drawers and built-in nightstand. I brought back some keepsake blankets with me from home when I went back from Christmas. Little red rugs to brighten the place up, my desk and bookshelf are on the right. The armoire is the object looming to the left! My window faces south, and thank goodness for shutters, which help block out the noise at night (my supply of heavy-duty earplugs helps too...!).

We live on the 10th floor of the building, so we have quite a view out of the kitchen window. In the distance on the left, you can make out the Eiffel tower and its searchlight. Straight ahead, the tall skyscraper is the Tour Montparnasse. And to the right you can sometimes see Sacre Coeur, in Montmartre. Not too shabby!

I wish you all a very happy new year and bonne année 2011! I'm excited to see what this year shall bring for all of us.

Celebrating the holidays, French style

I will be the first to admit that the arrival of the holiday season gave me a few pangs of homesickness. After all, the holidays are a time to relax with family and friends and a time for traditions and comforts - in short, many things I don't (yet) have in France! There was nothing for it but to make my own traditions with my friends and 'family' here.

I celebrated Thanksgiving twice: once the Sunday before actual Thanksgiving with my friend Miri and some of our British teaching assistant friends. We did our best to make the traditional American meal with the limited supply of ingredients available at a French convenience store (the only place in France that is open on a Sunday!). Given the challenge of working in a tiny kitchen with turkey breasts, some potatoes, a can of green beans, and a lot of garlic and mushrooms, I think we did pretty good! Our English friends were impressed (although the British aren't reputed to have the highest culinary standards, so I don't know if this is saying much...)

On Thanksgiving Day, I had a true Franco-American feast with several French people who live in my apartment building, two of whom had spent three years living in New York City and were quite enthusiastic about the idea of celebrating Thanksgiving. Fortunately, they were in charge of the turkey, stuffing, and gravy, which they cooked French style. Turns out that I prefer the French way of cooking the bird! It was simply delicious. I was responsible for the green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, and pumpkin pie. I made a few modifications to Frenchify things (crumbled baguette instead of French fried onions on top of the green beans, candied pecans instead of marshmallows for the sweet potatoes). Everyone loved it! So I think I've done my American duty by successfully proving to French people that some American food is actually tasty.

I must confess that I'm ambivalent about France's low-key, less-commercial approach to Christmas. For one thing, the Christmas 'season' doesn't begin until early December (unlike the U.S., where I know of at least one radio station that begins playing holiday music at midnight on Halloween). I personally enjoy all of the festivities leading up to Christmas - perhaps more so than the day itself. Missing such childish anti- cipation, I located the one place in France where it is Christmas practically year-round: Strasbourg. Once again, Miri and I took off for a weekend, staying with a really great French girl who was more than willing to share her apartment, meals, and friends with us. In the photo you can see Miri, Anaïs and me on a bridge in Grande Île, the historic center of Strasbourg which has been declared a world heritage site by UNESCO (can you tell that it's REALLY cold?).

Strasbourg is famous for its Christmas markets which sell a tantalizing variety of holiday goodies: spiced hot wine, gingerbread of every variety, smoked meats, local cheeses (especially munster), and sauerkraut sauerkraut sauerkraut! Plus loads of Christmas ornaments, decorations, and gadgetry. Strasbourg being situated on the border of France and Germany (and belonging to the Germans for a spell in the 19th century), the architecture is a mix of quaint German timber-frames and the classic French style. The town, particularly bathed in the warm glow of Christmas lights (see photo at the right!), enchanted me. It was just the dose of holiday spirits that I needed!

I was sad to leave this picturesque little Christmas town. However, my next stop is the good ol' USA! I come home to Charlotte one week from today, where I'll spend some quality time with my parents. We'll be making the annual pilgrimage to my grandmother's farm in Tennessee where we'll spend Christmas, and then my best friend Carla is flying in from Boston to spend New Year's with me. January 4th I fly back to Paris. Until then... bonnes fêtes to you all, safe travels, and have a very happy new years!

Two Trips and a Conference

Paris remains quite busy for me! I've moved to my new place, and I'm happily settled in there - pictures to follow, I promise. Not that I spend much time in my room, as I am constantly exploring Paris, France in general, and doing lots of teaching and taking lots of master's seminars.

This being France, we were graced with 10 days off at the end of October, and it seemed to be the perfect time to take a trip to Bordeaux. So off I went with another American teaching assistant. Thank goodness for France's high speed train system - I found myself in the southwest of France in practically no time. There my friend Miri and I stayed with some local Bordelais that we met and saw as much of the town and region as we could.

Bordeaux is famous for two things: wine and prehistoric art. So of course, Miri and I had no choice but to embark on a randonnée de vin (translation: wine hike). It was a fantastic day-long trek guided by a bilingual local Frenchmen who led us through chateaux and vineyards, and across tiny villages tucked into the French hillside. We stopped for lunch in a tiny rural chateau where we ate a picnic of the local specialties: little smoked duck filets and rillettes, rare white asparagus, delicious cheese made from sheep's milk, and spiced bread smothered in jam. The meal was accompanied by a light red wine and a classic Bordeaux red. Later in the day we tried seven (!) more varieties of wine at the largest vineyard in the region, including the best red wine I have ever tasted (and whose name I have sadly long forgotten... I had too much wine, I suppose).

We also took the time to check out Bordeaux's regional museum, the Musée d'Aquitaine. The museum is really quite impressive because it tells the story of the people of the region from the very first people who inhabited Aquitaine - in prehistoric time, tens of thousands of years ago - through the Middle Ages, Renaissance, up through modern time. The caves of Lascaux, for example, which contain some of the oldest recorded human art, are found in the Aquitaine region. The museum is full of artifacts from the area that scan pretty much the entire record of human civilization.

Upon my return from an energizing and informative trip, I immediately got back into a serious mode with my very first academic conference. The colloquium was all about the work of Pierre Bourdieu, an influential French sociologist whose theory and research was a founding element of the school where I am getting my masters, and - not coincidentally - the most important sociologist in terms of the research I do. The conference was attended by many cutting-edge sociologists from around the world who presented their research and explained how it has been influenced by Bourdieu. I had the opportunity to meet many fascinating researchers, students, and professors. And above all, the conference helped solidify my passion for what I study, and how excited I am to be a part of this field.

My next adventure was a long weekend at my friend Laura's house in the French countryside - this time, the southeast region of France, called the Rhône. Laura is half French and half Greek, and her parents gave me an incredibly warm welcome. Her house and little village are the epitome of province - she lives in a little stone farmhouse, which she informs me is surrounded by either corn or sunflowers in the spring and summer, and they have two ponies, a dog, and two cats. We spent the weekend sleeping in, reading, walking around the village, and eating wonderful homecooked French and Greek meals.

We did take the train into Lyon one day, since it is only 45 minutes away. There we explored the old historic section of town, ate traditional Lyonnais pralines, visited beautiful cathedrals with breathtaking views over the city, and climbed over ancient Roman ruins. All in all it was a relaxing weekend in the French countryside - I now understand why so many Parisians own a second home in province! Ahhh the things I will buy when I win the French lottery.

Tout va bien!

I know, I know, I'm terribly overdue for a blog entry. My apologies for the silence, I'll make sure this post makes up for the lost time! But where to begin...

Two weeks ago I began teaching in the high school. So far I have 10 classes total that I teach - the students range in age from 15 to 27, and have a similarly enormous range of English skills! The past two weeks, I played introductory games to make my students feel more at ease speaking with me, and also showed them a photograph of my house back in Charlotte, which led into a discussion of the role of housing in the American dream. You know I can't keep sociology out of it! I think the students found it interesting - as did I! It was funny to hear what they found interesting about my house: the mailbox, the long driveway, the big yard, the American flag on the corner. Most of my students - and most people in France, especially Paris - live in small apartments in town. Very different from the suburban America that I grew up in, to say the least.

I've now had two different orientation sessions for my master's program at l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales. At both meetings, I felt so reassured that I've made the right choice pursuing my masters at l'EHESS. The school, its history, the professors and researchers, the other students are all my kind of people - intellectually curious, eager to do research, pushing the boundaries of current knowledge, challenging everything taken for granted. I think it's going to be a great bridge between Wesleyan and my doctoral studies (wherever those will be...!). My courses (which mostly consist of small research seminars - an anomaly in France!) begin next week and I am SO excited about this. I'm really hungry for some intellectual challenges, and I can't wait to learn sociology from the French perspective.

Finally, it is with much relief that I can officially say that I have found housing! Yesterday I responded to a small announcement I found on a bulletin board at school for a room in a woman's apartment. I called and she immediately invited me over. We both clicked and so I will be moving in next week. This is an immense load off my shoulders, because I have spent a lot of time, money, energy, and stress trying to find a place. Apparently Paris is now officially the second most expensive housing market in the world, after Tokyo. The location is truly ideal, a good place in between my master's classes and the high school where I teach. It's on the tenth floor, so I have a magnificent view of Paris from my room - and from the kitchen, I can see all of Paris, including the Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur, and Montparnasse Tower. Not too shabby! Not to mention the price is extremely affordable, and the woman with whom I'll be living is very nice and welcoming. I can't wait to finally have a place to call home!

Welcome (back) to Paris!

I've been in Paris over ten days now, and it really feels as though I never left! As soon as I arrived, everything felt familiar and right, kind of like I was 'home' again. My flight came in very early Monday morning, and I took a long cab ride from the airport to the monastery where I am staying for the moment. With the help of two nuns, I somehow managed to carry all of my suitcases up to the third floor where my room is located. It's a pretty nice room - I have a small bedroom with a bed and desk, and a large walk-in closet plus a bathroom with a shower and toilet. There are 30 girls living at the monastery, all of them in college here in Paris. They're all French, except for one, who is Taiwanese and doesn't speak much French and who prefers to speak to me in English. It is definitely a good opportunity for me to practice my conversational French skills and to meet French people my age. We're all served breakfast and dinner together, although I am very sad to report that the food is simply awful! But since it's included in the price of the room, I have a hard time justifying buying other food when I know I can eat for free...

These past two weeks have been filled with formal and informal meetings for the other teaching assistants. Thanks to the wonders of Facebook, we've all been able to communicate with each other and there were a few outings organized amongst the assistants. The assistants are not just English-speaking Americans - they represent languages and countries from all over the world. They're really a diverse group of people in terms of age, background, origin, etc, and it's really neat that I get to hang out with such fascinating people!

Next week I begin teaching at the high school, and I also have my first class for my master's. However, much of France will be on strike beginning on Tuesday, so I'm not quite sure if the high school and/or my university will be functioning! Ah the joys of France. In the meantime, the weather here is simply beautiful and I am off to enjoy a weekend of picnicking, museuming, and general enjoyment!

Deja Vu!

I don't think that I ever imagined that I'd write another entry on this blog... yet here I am, preparing once again to leave for Paris! Funny how similar I feel now as to when I was preparing to leave for Paris the first time - nervous, excited, anxious, and generally overwhelmed.
I am planning to fly out of Charlotte on Monday morning. I'll be flying standby on Delta, so this means an obligatory connection in Atlanta. Hopefully I will then catch an afternoon flight to Paris so that I arrive in France early Tuesday morning.
I'll have Tuesday and Wednesday to recover from jetlag, take care of some basics (cell phone, hairdryer, bank account, etc), and then Thursday I have my first meeting with the English teacher who I will be working with at the high school where I'll be a teaching assistant. Friday is the general meeting for all teaching assistants. Thankfully, the orientation for my master's program isn't until October 25, so I have a while to settle in with my teaching job before I have to worry about being a student myself.
Unlike the last time I left for Paris, all of the arrangements and logistics are left up to me. There's no group flight, no one to meet me at the airport, no one to make sure I get from the airport to where I'm staying, no one to help make sure customs goes smoothly. This both thrills and terrifies me, and I think is an accurate microcosm for the experience I'm about to embark upon. It will be truly a French experience in that I must learn to se débrouiller: a fantastic French phrase meaning 'to figure things out for oneself.' There is a lot left to do, a lot that is unknown, but that is all part of the adventure, I suppose...!
Hopefully the next entry will come to you from la belle France. A bientôt !

And now the much-anticipated travel update!

     Spring Break just ended, and needless to say I took full advantage of two weeks in Europe with no classes. I did and saw lots, and would’ve liked to have updated along the way, but unfortunately had to travel light and so did not have much access to a computer.  Thus I give you my fortnight of travels in four handy segments:

CHARTRES

     I started my vacation with a mini-trip to Chartres, which is a small town that is an hour northwest of Paris by train.  Two friends and I decided to spend half a day here on

the recommendation of several people we knew who had visited and enjoyed it.  Chartres is most famous for its enormous cathedral with beautiful stained glass, elaborate gardens, and labyrinth.  The shade of blue in the windows is very famous – no one has ever been able to precisely replicate it!

     We also took time to walk around the village, which was very cute and French.  We enjoyed the cottage-lined Eure River, an old church-turned-modern-art-exhibition, and the local specialty, Mentchikoffs (white chocolate-covered mini-meringues!).

LONDON

     After a two-hour train ride (including twenty minutes underneath the English Channel!) I arrived in London.  I spent two-and-a-half 

days there, staying with my friend Jill who is studying in London for the year.  I was thankful to have a ready-made tour guide to show me around Wesminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and the Tate Museum.  Though I did experience the traditional English rain the entire time I was there, I still really enjoyed being in London and seeing so many famous landmarks, such as the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum, the Globe Theatre which is a replica of where Shakespeare’s plays were debuted, and Princess Diana’s wedding ring at Harrod’s.

     Jill also did a good job fulfilling my American food cravings: we ate pizza, bagels, pretzels, sushi, muffins, and the requisite pub grub of course (fish and chips).  It was nice to have so much of the food  that I had been missing– though it’s probably for the best that I am back to my regime of (healthier) French food…

SWEDEN

    Jill and I then flew to Gothenburg, Sweden to spend a few days with her family friends, Curt and Marianne.  They were very kind in sharing their Swedish home, food, and culture with us.  We ate lots of traditional Swedish food (the well-known Swedish breakfast and an anchovy-potato pie), which was all particularly delicious

 because Marianne is a chef at a restaurant in Goth-enburg!  We also had many polit-ical dis-cussions and learned much about the political and social system in Sweden, as Curt is an independent journalist.

     We explored a lot of Gothenburg itself; although it’s the second-largest city in Sweden after Stockholm, it still only has 500,000 inhabitants.  Despite this relatively small size, Gothenburg has an extremely well-developed tram system that was only a few meters from Curt and Marianne’s doorstep!  Thus we were free to travel into the city center whenever we wanted.  There we found art museums, shopping, and lots of warm and colorful botanical gardens and greenhouses.  We also checked out Gothenburg’s harbor by biking along the river and through the city’s many parks.

     One of the high-lights of Sweden was the day trip we took by ferry with Curt and Mari-anne to the southern archipelago, which is a string of islands off Sweden’s coast that is very rugged and populated by small fishing towns.  These were rustic and breathtakingly beautiful – a pure nature that you don’t get to experience in London or Paris!

IRELAND

     After saying goodbye to Sweden and Jill, I met up with another friend, Kate, who is studying in London as well.  She and I hopped on a plane to spend a few days in Cork, Ireland.  We stayed at a

very nice youth hostel in central Cork, and were delighted to find out that planning our trip wasn’t necessary… there were plenty of outgoing, friendly, Irish people at every turn to tell us what we had to see and do in Cork!

     It turns out that we had made a very good choice in going to Cork because the seaside and the historic countryside are both easily accessible, in addition to the city itself.  Thus, on the recommendation of a few gregarious strangers, Kate and I decided to take a short trainride to Cobh (pronounced Cove).  Cobh is famous for three reasons : it was the port of exit for many of the immigrants who left Ireland in the 19th and 20th centuries.  This was particularly fascinating for me, as I have visited the Ellis Island processing center in New York, where many of the Irish immigrants entered the United States.  Cobh was also the last place of embarkment for the Titanic, as well as the Lusitania, which sunk not far off the shore there.  So we found a really informative museum in Cobh giving

 us information about all of these events.

     Back in Cork, Kate and I decided to visit the Butter Museum on a whim.  We didn’t realize that butter has been an important staple in Ireland for thousands of years – in fact, the ancient Celtic people used to bury their butter in peat bogs to refrigerate it, and so one of these  thousand-year-old barrels of butter has been fossilized and is on display in the museum!  Pretty neat.  The kind man working at the museum insisted that we go next door and visit the Bells of Shandon… so of course we did.  These turn out to be church bells housed in a tower where you can go and ring the bells yourself !  This was a pretty unforgettable experience as well.

     Finally, Cork is only a twenty-minute busride from Blarney.  I expected Blarney to be an overpriced, touristy pile of rocks, but it turned out to be beautiful!  It is a thousand-year-old castle 

surrounded by flowery gardens and rolling, emerald hills.  Once at the top of the castle, you not only get a breathtaking view, but also to kiss the Blarney Stone!  The Stone apparently gives all those who kiss it the ‘Gift of the Gab,’ or the highly sought-after power of eloquence and flattery.

    So after these wonderful travels, I am now back in Paris with only three weeks left (eek!).  I have two weeks of class and one week to pack and write and hand in final papers.  I’m trying to enjoy springtime in Paris and make the most of the time I have left here!

La Belle Belgique

    So last weekend was excursion #2 with the International Parisian Youth Club.  First we visited Bruge, a small canal town near the Atlantic coast that is known as the 'Venice of the north.'  I was surprised that hardly anyone seemed to speak French; it was either Dutch or English.  Belgium is officially a bilingual country, but in Bruge all of the signs are in Dutch and I heard a lot of people speaking this odd language.  I must admit I find French much more beautiful!

    Bruge is not only home to a bunch of canals, but also a béguinage (a community of women whose husbands went off to war and who didn't want to renounce their marriage by becoming nuns) which had a beautiful garden of daffodils in full bloom, the Church of Our Lady (home to one of the few Michelangelo sculptures that is located outside of Italy), a very beautiful Hotel de Ville (town hall) - not to mention a lot of delicious chocolate shops.

    After a few hours in Bruge, we headed over to Brussels.  For dinner, I went to a restaurant recommended by one of my French professors back at Wesleyan who is from Belgium.  I got croquettes aux crevettes (fried rolls containing shrimp in a creamy, cheesy sauce), and frites (fries), both specialties that originally come from Belgium!  I also had one of those well-known Belgian waffles, which are definitely better in Belgium than the kind they serve us at the dining hall at school.  And of course, I made sure to stop by the chocolaterie that my professor recommended.  I got a few chocolates to bring back for Thérèse-Marie (and a couple for myself too!).

    The next day, we explored the Grand Place, which is the

 beautiful square located in the middle of Brussels.  We then went to check out the Belgian Center for the Comic Strip.  Comic strips are considered a real art both in Belgium and in Europe, and so we found a lot of familiar favorites - most notably, smurfs! (which are hilariously called schtroumpfs in Dutch).  After the museum, we grabbed some sandwiches and went to picnic in the adorable, duckling-filled Leopold Park, which is located in the part of town where the European Union buildings are found.  Many of the EU's institutions meet in Brussels, and since I'm taking a class all about the EU, I had to hunt down as many of the buildings as I could.

  Before piling back on the bus, we found a great view of Brussels at the top of a parking garage (!), and I snapped as many photos as I could from there.

     I have to say that I was really impressed with Brussels.  There is a real mix of architecture that Paris is often lacking... you find art nouveau buildings and sculptures next to ultramodern glass-and-steel skyscrapers next to classically beautiful gothic cathedrals.  The people and food of Brussels also reflect this eclecticness - I've never seen so many ethnicities and heard so many languages spoken in one place!  Belgians are also self-proportedly aisé, which means 'laid-back' in a way that hints that people of other cities are NOT laid-back (hmm Paris, maybe?).  Basically Brussels was a breath of wacky, diverse, Wesleyan-ish fresh air!

An Excursion to Mont Saint Michel and Saint Malo

     Last weekend I had my first out-of-Paris experience since my arrival in January.  I'm glad I waited a while before leaving - I was ready to leave Paris and explore a bit, but I was also glad to come 'home' to Paris at the end of the trip!

     The excursion was through the International Parisian Youth Club, which the program recommended us to.  Five people from the program (including myself) signed up for the trip and we were joined by about 30 other young people from all across the world who are also studying and living in Paris.  We left Paris at an ungodly 6 am Saturday morning in a coach bus, arriving at Mont Saint Michel late morning.

    Mont Saint Michel is a small rocky island in the Normandy region (northwest France) that becomes completely surrounded by the ocean during high tide and can be reached by car during low tide.  I actually had a poster of Mont Saint Michel in my dorm room, so seeing the real thing in person was pretty wild.  At the top of Mont Saint Michel is a centuries-old abbey that is very beautiful.  We had 

amazing weather - a rarity in Nor-mandy, evidently - so we were very lucky!

      Of course, we couldn't resist taste-tasting all the local specialties: galettes de blé noir (buckwheat crêpe-ish pancakes with fillings like cheese and tomatoes or ham and egg), cidre (alcoholic cider), moules frites (fried mussels), galettes bretonnes (extremely addictive buttery cookies), and last but of course not least, caramel salé (salted caramel).  I think one of the best things about France is that it is such a rich and diverse country agriculturally that each region has very different and delicious specialties.

     After a day at Mont Saint Michel, we headed back to the bus for a quick ride over to Saint Malo, located in Bretagne (the Brittany region).  We spent the night at a nice youth hostel there and woke up the next morning to explore.  Saint Malo is an ancient, walled city with very pretty sandy beaches and island forts.  It is also the home to corsiers, which were basically legal pirates back in the days of kings and empires.  Chateaubriand, a famous French author, was born and buried at Saint Malo, hence the multitude

 of avenues, roads, alleys, and buildings named "Chateau-briand".

    It was a very enjoyable trip - this weekend I am off on a similar excursion to Belgium with the same group, so I will write about that next!