Loire Valley (I)

MOT DU JOUR:

Nuage (Cloud)

As in : Our bus driver, Stephan, drives our stick shift bus like a cloud.

Today’s post is short because I had to report/finish my post from last night. Unfortunately, I think something has happened with the main source of my WiFi in my homestay because I can’t access the internet at my house. To top it all off, as I tried to reboot my computer in my moment of hysteria, I lost the paper I had been writing (due today at midnight)…awesome. I was looking forward to a night of chick flicks, youtube videos, and skyping, but unfortunately I had to bide my time by actually packing for my trip and (GASP) reading ahead for my excursion.

We met at our bus (a Mercedes-Bez bus may I add; I love Europe all the taxis are nicer than my Kia Krusher…which I miss terribly) at around 9:00 and much to our driver’s and Madame’s surprise, all 12 of the students were there at 9:05. We started our on our five hour bus ride, only stopping twice (Mom would have died), and arrived at Chateau de Chambord around 3:15. We had two hours at the beautiful chateau that was built for Francois I, even though he spent 72 days of his 32 year reign there. It was designed by Da Vinci, and inside thre is a double helix staircase that has two separate concentric staircases rotating around a hollow column. You can see the other people who are walking up the other set of stairs but you never pass them and the cases never intersect. It’s kind of hard to explain/imagine but it’s a math major’s dream.

It’s amazing to see the transition of architecture throughout France’s history. In just one month I’ve seen the ruins of Roman gladiator stadiums, medieval gothic cathedrals and bubonic plague cemeteries, and now I’ve spent my day walking through the home of Marie Antoinette’s great grandfather. They are so extravagant they make the Larchmont McMansions look like playmobile houses. Although, this chateaux is NOTHING compared to what we will see at Versailles.

We arrived in Tours tonight where I finally got internet! We had a group dinner and are about to watch a movie and go to sleep. I’m looking forward to a lax week in Tours and then a free week in Paris.

I’ll be sure to write again tomorrow.

Bisous

Caro

Caroline le Pire (Caroline the Worst)...

I'm the absolute worst! I haven't posted in so long, but I promise i'll make it a quick one to get everyone up to speed before I set off on my longest excursion....time for words of the day!

MOTS DU JOUR:
Le manège (carousel)
La grand roue (ferris wheel)

As in: It's kind of weird how every city in France equipped with either a carousel or a Ferris wheel...no joke. It's also really funny to count how many children are crying on them.

The rest of Normandy was amazing. After we spent our day at the WWII memorials we finished our trip at Mont-St-Michel and Chartres. Mont-St-Michel is an amazing abbey that was built on tiny rocky island in the middle of a bay…feel free to google image is. I know Coddie has been there and can attest to the fact that it is absolutely amazing, but SO crowded with tourists, easily the most crowded place we’ve been….and our guide there pretty much made fun of Americans for having no culture and no cathedrals comparable to those in France (whatever, you’re welcome for ending German occupation and accepting your gift of the statue of liberty). After Mont-St-Michel we went to Chartres for the day and saw…wait for it…another cathedral! It was actually beautiful and I was really happy that we got to have some free time there.

Upon arriving back in Dijon on Tuesday, we entered directly back into school mode with a test and class all day Wednesday and class and a test on Thursday. Thursday night we had a cocktail party at a swanky restaurant in Dijon for the students, all their host families, our lovely bus drives, and the coordinators of the program. It was really nice to see all of my friend’s families and made me definitely feel more like we were all part of a little community. I talked for the entire night with a family that didn’t have any students this semester but were invited due to the fact that they have hosted students for the past ten years. Both the husband and the wife were very complimentary of Wake Forest and said they had never had any problems with their students! (Go Deacs)

Friday, as usual, our class was cancelled and my host family left to go to Paris to visit with some of their work colleagues for the weekend. They invited me along but I was overwhelmed with work (we already have reading for one of our university classes), and wanted to spend our first weekend in Dijon with my friends. Both nights of the weekend I played hostess and had wine and cheese in my house before dinner, and Saturday night had a full dinner (wine, cheese, fruit, bread, and pasta) before we went out to a bar (for a little bit…don’t worry mom, it’s Europe I’m not doing anything illegal or going crazy thank you).

Get ready Mom for what I did on Sunday…

1.     3 Loads of laundry (1 by HAND)

2.     Full load of Dishes (by hand)

3.     Refolded and organized all of my clothes!

I wouldn’t get used to it though…I’m not sure how long I can keep this up.

I hope all is well in the US, I’ve officially been here for a month, can you believe it?

Can’t wait to see you all in December so I can show you all the amazing photos I’ve been taking!

Love, Caroline

PS. Look at my friend Ellen’s blog too! She has photos and is actually interested in journalism

www.elleninfrance.blogspot.com

Normandie (partie II)

MOT DU JOUR!

inconscient(e): Inconsiderate

As in: Call me an obnoxious American, but I find it inconsiderate when Italian parents lets their children skinny on Omaha Beach where my countrymen sacrificed their lives on D-Day...just saying.

PHRASE DU JOUR! (Brought to you by Ginny DeLacy)

Sans l'Amérique, les Français seraient de langue Allemande!: Without America, French people would speak German!

If you haven't guessed already...today we visited beaches of Normandy and the Museum of WWII and D-Day. This was EASILY the best day I've spent in France. The museum was SO well done and the video they showed us was perfect. I can't say enough about it. It's my favorite museum I've been to...EVER. For the first time since I arrived here, I am so proud to be an American. Normandy, especially near the beaches and battlefields, are so American-friendly, and the older people here are still thankful for everything that American troops did for France. Everyone in the group left the museum swelling with patriotism and our teacher let us speak English because she could see we were so proud of our backgrounds. 

After the museum we walked all over Omaha Beach, Pointe du Hoc, and Arromanche-- all sites of the D-Day landings. After that we had the most emotional part of the visit. We went to Colleville which is an American cemetery for all the soldiers who died during D-Day and the following battles. The seaside rolling greens are covered in ivory crosses and jewish stars marking the more than 10,000 graves on the site.  It must have been a special day because most of all the groups there were American veterans. I really wanted to sit down and talk to one of them, but we didn't have enough time. 

After the cemetery, we visited Gold Beach where there were the remains of the temporary ports erected by Winston Churchill on June 7th 1944 the day after D-Day. The museum there was cheesy with creepy mannequins, but it was awesome to walk on the beach and see all the ports. We're now in our hotel in Bayeaux and about to go to dinner!

Go America.

Hope all is well in the states!

bisous

caro

ps. hello? mother? father? remember me? can you all call me?

pps. hello john kirkpatrick, here is your shout out

Normandy (partie une!)...this post is dripping with sarcasm.

So...I've decided to start doing words of the day (mots de jour if you will) because I figure you all might as well learn some french too!

Since we're starting out...I have TWO words that coincide with my first days in Normandy
1. "petit annonce personnelle"--> Personal Agenda
sentence: It's really rude how all the Japanese tourists in Normandy have personal agendas; they get in the way of your pictures and act like it's no big deal.

2. "echafaudges" --> Scaffolding
sentence: It's annoying how whenever we go to visit pretty cathedrals they are covered in scaffolding
WARNING: do NOT try and explain this word to a German...it will not translate (I've tried)

Now onto the trip!
We left for Normandy early Wednesday morning and arrived at our first stop "Maison d'Eugene Mercier" which is a HUGE champagne factory, around 11. After a tour of the cellars and a little bit of the grounds, we got to have a tasting of their signature champagne. It was really interesting to see how it was made, all the old bottles (the oldest was from 1923) and learn about the region.

After that we had a longer drive to Reims (pronounces Rins...go figure, thanks France). Normandy is on the northern coast of the country so it was kind of schlep but definitely worth it. After lunch we headed out on our tour of Reims. Reims is known for being the site of the baptisms in Clovis in 496 AD. After that, it became the church where all Kings of France were "made sacred/blessed" (I'm not sure of the English translation). It was beautiful and although I thought all the cathedrals in Burgundy were rather mundane, the grandeur and the history behind the cathedrals in Normandy made them much more appealing. We then went on a bus tour of the city and then headed to our next town: Rouen

After the long drive we were pleasantly surprised with the fact that the bus had leaked during the rain storm and all of our bags (clothing included) were completely soaked. After getting to my room with my roommate and many expletives, the owner of the hotel was such a gem and offered to dry all of our clothes for us while we were at dinner.

After leaving the hotel the trip did a COMPLETELY 180, and I went from being miserable to probably the happiest ever. We went to this tiny restaurant where we had a room practically to ourselves and immediately our prof ordered wine for the table (good move). Dinner that night was the best I have ever had, mussels, steak, crepes, cheese, and--in true french, and Paula Dean fashion-- LOTS of butter.

The next day we woke up still full and with dry clothes and headed out on our tour of Rouen. Made famous by being the site of Joan of Arc's murder (we saw the place she was physically burned), Rouen is a melange of architectural styles and cultures, that suffered heavily in WWII. In Rouen, our first stop was another cathedral. Joan of Arc was tried in this church and damage was so extensive in a bombardment on April 9 1944, that only one of the chapels survived. Luckily, when the war started, all of the stained gladd windows were removed from the church and taken somewhere else for safe keeping--so all of the glass work was original dating back to the 13th century. After the cathedral we went on another walking tour. My absolute favorite part (also the most morbid) was the old burial yard used for all the bodies who died from the plague but they couldn't fit into the cemeteries.  It was a huge yard with a building enclosing it decorated with skulls and signs of death-- so cool.

After leaving Rouen, we stopped for an hour in Honfleur, a beach town, and just walked around and got creeped on by french men (typical). Now we're in our hotel in Bayeaux! To be honest, I have no idea what's here, but I'll be sure to fill everyone in tomorrow!

I hope everyone is well and I'm sorry this post was so long!
Bisous!

Bourgogne!

I returned on Saturday from my excursion all over Burgundy. It was beautiful but totally different from Provence--lots of hills, lush greenery, and of course, plenty of vineyards!

We saw so many cathedrals that they all are sort of running together but they were all beautiful! We also saw l'Hotel de Dieu is Beaune, and l'Abbaye de Fontenay-- both stunning! Unfortunately I forgot my camera entirely so I don't have pictures but I plan on stealing some from my friends so you will see them! We're actually starting a snapfish account for all of our pictures so that we can pick and choose what pictures we want and all of you at home can see them too! I'll be sure to post that link when I get it.

These past few days have been crazy. We're trying to cram a week full of class into two days! I'm just sitting in my room studying for a test tomorrow, prepare a presentation on the beaches of Normandy, and write a 2 page paper on monuments from the weekend. It definitely feels like a semester at Wake. Luckily, I leave on Wednesday for a week long trip to Normandy which I am SO excited for.

I promise I'll remember to bring my camera and my computer so I can update from the road! I hope everyone had a lovely memorial day and it was certainly bittersweet not spending it with all my loved ones in New York!! I'll update again soon

bisous,
caroline

...uh oh

I'm waiting to have dinner with my family, so I though I'd post once before I head out to a tour of Burgundy for the weekend!

I woke up this morning to about 30 itchy bites all over my arms and legs...a little disconcerting. After a day full of itching at a museum, at lunch with priests (we have class at their retirement home), and all through my three hour class, I finally got home and showed my host mom the bites. Turns out, the little guest house I'm staying in has a nasty problem with ants.

SOO now I have a spray that I put on all the barriers of my room just in case any buggers try to get in. I naturally got up this morning though and did what any sensible french girl would do when she was stressed out...got a crepe with nutella-- somehow they just fix everything.

Ill update more on saturday after I'm home from my trip!

A Bientot
Caro