Not my post but it's cool anyway

If you want to know what my life has been like for the last week and a half, read this post about the Language and Culture institute.  I couldn't say it better myself.  Especially the part about the bathrooms.

http://study-rennes-la.ciee.org/2012/02/french-or-foe.html

I'm in love with Dinan.

No, it's not a frenchman, sorry to get all your hopes up.  It is a medieval city located about 45 minutes away from Rennes.  Marie-Paule and Jaques took me there yesterday for the afternoon and I've decided I want to live there. I'm going to buy a tiny medieval house on a cobblestone street and have flowers in my window boxes and lace curtains and walk my dog around town and eat crepes every day and be the happiest person ever.  Yup. I have my future all planned out. I can even work at the chateau-turned-museum they have! (Actually.... that's kind of not a bad idea.....)

All I could think of was how difficult climate-control must be for them without a centralized HVAC system.  I wanted to ask about it but we happened to stay past closing and kind of got shooed out... oops!  It was really neat though.  

The city itself was seriously gorgeous. We walked up an extremely steep cobblestone street to get to the ramparts, and then we walked along the ramparts. Marie-Paule pointed out the "newest" house in town: 1744. Seriously?! I still haven't quite wrapped my head around the fact that I'm in the midst of cities that are older by far than my country.  It's amazing.  Even when I put my hands on the old stones, I can feel all the stories that have happened over the years. Truly mind blowing.

There is a river that is great for kayaking, according to Jaques.

A really sweet model of a ship that made me think of both my Grandpas and Dad!

This wall is older than the United States. The holes they used to pour hot oil on the English are still there, covered with wire mesh for safety!

 Pretty wall and door.

 Can you see the cat?

Me on top of the chateau! (Please ignore the chin breakout... stress of being in a new country and all.)

 Me next to a really old theater!

 The huge bridge which would make mom die if she ever had to cross it. Maybe someday, mom!

 My future home.

Someone even did me the favor of bringing my car over here! Thanks, wonderful stranger!

After all that walking, we stopped at a creperie for - what else? - crepes and cidre. Delicious.  My crepe just had butter and sugar on it, and I probably could have eaten three more.  The cidre was also quite good, the three of us shared a bottle so none of us had very much. 

Mmm, crepe...

Today I registered for my classes! Along with the required language and civ courses, I am officially taking History of France from 1780ish to 1870, Creative Writing (in French), Translation Methods (From French to English, and I'm auditing it so that means no credit, but that's ok), and if I can get in, a C1 level course on the history of Art and Architecture in Bretagne. Sweet!!!

Tonight for dinner we had pizza and wine. It was wonderful. Until next time!

Dancers!

Here's a video of dancers at the market. Yes, I kind of screeched a little when I saw them and ended up temporarily losing the rest of the group when I ran to go watch them. Kinda silly when I had all the food for the picnic in my bag.

The Market!

Dad, I think you would go crazy at this farmer's market. There are so many things to look at and choose from! It is one of the largest open-air markets in Europe, I think.  I went yesterday morning with Kelin, Sally, Matt, Rachel, Alycia, and Lisa.  We walked around blocks of fresh food and saw a balloon artist, two accordion players, and some dancers (!).

Really nice veggies!

 Sooo much cheese!

 Olives!

 And yes, even hearts for sale.

 I picked up this flyer, which made me literally squeal with joy. Thinking about going to a class on Monday evening! And they're having a Soiree at a club on Saturday night, so if I can get someone to go with me, I'm all over that!!

We bought some strawberries, raspberries, cheese, and baguettes to have a picnic in the Thabor gardens. During the picnic, some people on motorcycles came up and we were afraid they were the police to tell us to leave or something. Turns out it was just someone learning how to ride a motorcycle! 

After the picnic, we bought another baguette to finish up the last of the cheese. Then we had a tour of the city, which was nice but also hot and long, and most of the places I'd seen before. We did see several weddings and the "bisoutage," though! The "bisoutage" is interesting because it's basically like hazing for new university students. We saw a bunch of students dressed in trash bags doing some pretty crazy things. It's illegal in France, but a tradition so people do it anyway. Reminds me a little of Greek Week back home. Unfortunately, no pictures.

I think today we're going to a medieval city with a castle, sooooo I'll post again later! So many posts!

The last few days...

Hey all, sorry I haven't updated this in a bit.  Been busy!

So for the last few days we've been taking classes at the Institute of Language and Communication to "refresh" our French skills. It's kinda tough... three hours of language in the morning and an hour of culture in the afternoon followed by a meeting at the university with the CIEE directors.  Looong days!
Here's a photo of the door, kinda, of the Institute:

I received the results of my placement exam, as well! Level B2, which means I can take the classes I wanted to take.  So I'm going to register for Cinema, Creative Writing, and the History of France from the Ancient Regime to 1870.  Lots of my friends got into that level too, so I'm happy!

So the last day I talked about was St. Malo?  Alright, let's see if I can remember what's happened since then.  This will probably just be mostly a photo dump post.

So on Thursday after class, several of us walked down to the cultural center to check stuff out.  Apparently there was a gas leak at the nearby cinema because all these emergency vehicles started showing up when we got there!  Luckily nothing exploded. Afterwards, we went to a cafe called Le Haricot Rouge, where we had Nutella milkshakes and played UNO with the dirtiest cards I've ever seen. Don't worry, I thoroughly washed my hands afterwards.

 We've seen this street performer nearly everytime we've been to the Place de la Marie.  It sounds like he has a squeaky dog toy in his mouth, and he tweets at people as they pass by.  I don't quite get it.

Here's me nearly home after walking our bikes about 2 miles. My host mother and I planned to go on a picnic, but my rickety old bike broke halfway there!  So we had to eat and walk all the way home.  Luckily there was a really nice sunset. (I should have taken a picture of the bike, the one in this photo is my host mother's. Mine had a Simba bell on it).

I'll write a separate post about the Marche de Lices!  That was an adventure all on it's own!

A Quick Snapshot of Life at Home

Hello everyone! So I know you've probably been wondering what my life is like here in Rennes. Here are just a few photos of my room here and of course my host mother.

The view outside my window

My room - yes it's kinda messy. Grandma Arlys is shocked right now ;-)

And finally, Marie-Paule and me!

I have so many pictures of already of Rennes. I'll post again later about what I've been up to this week.

Oh, and Coco doesn't fit very well in my bag so she just has to keep me company at home. (Sorry Megan, I still love her so much!)

Just because it's really adorable