Hey all!
Some of you have asked for my address to send me letters or whatever. Well here it is: (It's actually the address of the program, but it will work just fine.)
Cali Neuberger
c/o Daniel Audaz, Resident Director
Council/CIREFE
Universite Rennes II
Place du Recteur Henri Le Moal
CS 24307
35043 Rennes, CEDEX France
Tada!
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Monday, September 3, 2012
Kouign Amann
So I think I found my favorite dessert. It's a Breton cake called Kouign Amann and it's basically a heart attack waiting to happen. But it was lovely with my little espresso at St. Malo yesterday. I should have taken a picture.
Kouign Amann is a traditional cake made with lots of butter and sugar and it's caramelized and SO AMAZING. Seriously. One of the best sweet things I've ever eaten. I could rave for days. Mine had a little caramel candy on the top and the bakery warmed it up for me and it was wonderfullllllllllllllll. I just had a mini cake, but I could probably eat a whole thing in one sitting. It's dangerous.
Here is a little article followed by a recipe if you are interested!
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2005/08/long-live-the-k/
Grandma Arlys, we can make this together sometime!
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Today with ma mere d'accueil
Today was a great day. There was one time when I kind of just wanted to take a long nap because I was on French comprehension overload, but it ended up being just fine. A nap in the car woke me up a bit. Alors...
The day started with a tour of the Thabor gardens. It's interesting because there's an English garden and a French garden. The English garden is very much like a forest with a path wandering through it. No symmetry and few flowers. The French garden is very symmetrical with lots of flowers and whatnot. The guide told us some of the history but it was all in quick French so I only understood a little.
A yellow rose for Grandma Bobbie.
After the gardens, we went to Mme Espanet's friend's house for lunch. It was lovely but I had a hard time following the conversation because I was really sleepy by the end. It was a two hour meal! Then we went to St. Malo, which is on the coast. It was pretty amazing, I wouldn't mind going back.
Sorry, not many words. I'm sleepy and I should go to bed because classes start tomorrow. Eek! I'll try to tell more stories about today later because it was really fun.
The day started with a tour of the Thabor gardens. It's interesting because there's an English garden and a French garden. The English garden is very much like a forest with a path wandering through it. No symmetry and few flowers. The French garden is very symmetrical with lots of flowers and whatnot. The guide told us some of the history but it was all in quick French so I only understood a little.
After the gardens, we went to Mme Espanet's friend's house for lunch. It was lovely but I had a hard time following the conversation because I was really sleepy by the end. It was a two hour meal! Then we went to St. Malo, which is on the coast. It was pretty amazing, I wouldn't mind going back.
Sorry, not many words. I'm sleepy and I should go to bed because classes start tomorrow. Eek! I'll try to tell more stories about today later because it was really fun.
Ma vie en Rennes
So I'm finally in Rennes. I guess I have been for a few days, but I haven't had much time to sit down and write a post about it.
My host mother's name is Madame E., and she's more like a host grandma but that's cool. =) She lives alone with her cat, and her apartment is very close to the campus and downtown. Just very short bus rides away! So I lucked out there. I can here seagulls from my window, and I'm not sure why, but it might be because of a garden near the apartment. Friday afternoon we walked together to the centre-ville and she pointed out all the old buildings and whatnot. It's pretty gorgeous. Here's a photo of town hall (the Hotel de Ville):
The biggest challenge is figuring out the bus lines and times. I have a feeling she doesn't like to take the bus or metro, so it's kind of confusing, but we're figuring it out together. I got to the centre-ville just fine on my own yesterday morning to meet up with the rest of the group.
We had a short tour of the city, then got lunch. I should have taken a picture because it was so good. I had a galette (like a crepe but not sweet) filled with chicken, spinach, creme fraiche, and had a sunny-side up egg cracked over the top. And an espresso. So delicious. OH AND I WAS SO EXCITED BECAUSE THE CAROUSEL WAS PLAYING BEIRUT SONGS! Beirut is one of my favorite bands. I guess the French like him too! I'll post again in a bit so you can here him. Here's a photo of the carousel:
After lunch we went to buy cell phones which was an adventure... but we got it done. We also got our metro cards for the month so I can use the bus and metro as much as I want for about 30 euro each month. So that's exciting.
After all that I went to Kelin's host family's apartment because of my still unresolved key situation. We have a lot in common so we had a good time practicing French. Then her host mom took us to a free outdoor concert where I met up with my host mother and listened to classical music for free outside in a really nice amphitheater. A weird thing was that for an encore, people started applauding in unison. Does that happen in the United States? Here's a photo. It's not the best because my iPod doesn't take good pictures in anything but sunlight.
Today we're taking a walk in the famous Thabor gardens and possibly going to St. Malo if it's nice. If not, I'll probably hang out with some of the people from CIEE. I hope you find my blogs interesting! Leave feedback if you want to know more! =)
A bientot!
Oh, also, I realize a lot of the french words I am using should have accents, but I am too lazy to look them up and insert them here. Shame on me.
My host mother's name is Madame E., and she's more like a host grandma but that's cool. =) She lives alone with her cat, and her apartment is very close to the campus and downtown. Just very short bus rides away! So I lucked out there. I can here seagulls from my window, and I'm not sure why, but it might be because of a garden near the apartment. Friday afternoon we walked together to the centre-ville and she pointed out all the old buildings and whatnot. It's pretty gorgeous. Here's a photo of town hall (the Hotel de Ville):
The biggest challenge is figuring out the bus lines and times. I have a feeling she doesn't like to take the bus or metro, so it's kind of confusing, but we're figuring it out together. I got to the centre-ville just fine on my own yesterday morning to meet up with the rest of the group.
We had a short tour of the city, then got lunch. I should have taken a picture because it was so good. I had a galette (like a crepe but not sweet) filled with chicken, spinach, creme fraiche, and had a sunny-side up egg cracked over the top. And an espresso. So delicious. OH AND I WAS SO EXCITED BECAUSE THE CAROUSEL WAS PLAYING BEIRUT SONGS! Beirut is one of my favorite bands. I guess the French like him too! I'll post again in a bit so you can here him. Here's a photo of the carousel:
After lunch we went to buy cell phones which was an adventure... but we got it done. We also got our metro cards for the month so I can use the bus and metro as much as I want for about 30 euro each month. So that's exciting.
After all that I went to Kelin's host family's apartment because of my still unresolved key situation. We have a lot in common so we had a good time practicing French. Then her host mom took us to a free outdoor concert where I met up with my host mother and listened to classical music for free outside in a really nice amphitheater. A weird thing was that for an encore, people started applauding in unison. Does that happen in the United States? Here's a photo. It's not the best because my iPod doesn't take good pictures in anything but sunlight.
Today we're taking a walk in the famous Thabor gardens and possibly going to St. Malo if it's nice. If not, I'll probably hang out with some of the people from CIEE. I hope you find my blogs interesting! Leave feedback if you want to know more! =)
A bientot!
Oh, also, I realize a lot of the french words I am using should have accents, but I am too lazy to look them up and insert them here. Shame on me.
Reflecting on my French skills
So what I thought would happen is happening. I figured I was pretty good at French in the States, but I knew once I got over here I would struggle a little bit. People know I am American just from the way I speak French, which is pretty embarrassing. I can't communicate very easily with my host mother which means I have to ask a million questions just to make sure I understand correctly, and even then I'm never quite sure if I have. And if someone isn't speaking directly to me, I can't understand them at all. Little snippets of side conversations on the street don't catch my ear like in the US. (Where I overhear everything someone is saying whether I want to or not.) It's a little disconcerting but I have to keep reminding myself it's only been a week, I can't be perfect. Communicating with the other CIEE students is a lot easier because we're all in the same boat. People just speak so fast here!
I have had a few breakthroughs, though. I was able to help my host mother figure out how to make her wifi work. I bought stamps at the post office. I figured out how to buy a cell phone (in Franglish and with lots of help... but still). And I asked someone if I was in the right place to meet up with my host mother last night. So I can get along ok, just not as well as I would like to. And like I said, people start speaking English to me once they hear my accent. =(
Tomorrow (Monday) starts the "pre-program," which is two weeks of French language and culture classes at whatever level we tested into. I'm really hoping I got into the same level as my friends!!! So we can all get better together.
I have had a few breakthroughs, though. I was able to help my host mother figure out how to make her wifi work. I bought stamps at the post office. I figured out how to buy a cell phone (in Franglish and with lots of help... but still). And I asked someone if I was in the right place to meet up with my host mother last night. So I can get along ok, just not as well as I would like to. And like I said, people start speaking English to me once they hear my accent. =(
Tomorrow (Monday) starts the "pre-program," which is two weeks of French language and culture classes at whatever level we tested into. I'm really hoping I got into the same level as my friends!!! So we can all get better together.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Paris! Partie Deux
We visited the Jardins du Luxembourg twice:
Kelin, me, and Jenny!
Then the Hotel de Ville
I didn't really think it was that interesting. Am I terrible? Probably because I couldn't really understand most of the tour.
The Latin Quarter where we had dinner a couple nights:
La Notre Dame:
Et, bien sur, La Tour Eiffel!
Oh, and Shakespeare and Company!!!!
Kelin, me, and Jenny!
Then the Hotel de Ville
I didn't really think it was that interesting. Am I terrible? Probably because I couldn't really understand most of the tour.
The Latin Quarter where we had dinner a couple nights:
La Notre Dame:
Et, bien sur, La Tour Eiffel!
Oh, and Shakespeare and Company!!!!
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