Les Montagnes

This last weekend was a beautiful one: I went up into the Pyrénées Mountains with my host-parents and stayed in their family cabin on Saturday and Sunday. The drive up on Saturday morning was absolutely gorgeous as there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the mountains were crystal clear from the time we left to the time we arrived. The cabin is small, but can house several families -- My host-mom's father designed and built the house when she was young, and she has been spending weekends, weeks, and summers there ever since. As the family grew up and expanded with their own children and spouses, her father built another room and, just recently, a completely separate cabin for all of the kids.  

Cabin on Sunday morning after the snow.

The back porch has a beautiful view of a snow peaked mountain (no big deal), and to the right is a stream of snow-runoff. It really is the most beautiful location. There is also a small, old church up the hill a ways, which is where my host-parents got married (aaw).

My pictures can describe the rest of the scenery for me:

View from the porch (the small cabin on the left is the other cabin; oh, and there is the pool). 

Close-up of the mountain in the above photo.

It was a really old village.

City sign. 

Church where mes parents were married.

Another old, overgrown shack.

The town, as I mentioned is incredibly old, and my host mom told me little tidbits as we walked in the snow: the house next to theirs was a hiding place for Jews during WWII and the curator from the church would pick them up there and help them cross the mountains into Spain. Most of the small shacks that we saw were the cheese houses; it was where they would let the cheese set in the winters before there were regulations for sanitation. :) Johnny Depp has a cabin not far from them. It's a great town!

We visited one of their family friends who raises goats and makes "chevre" cheese. Here's a picture of a goat:

My host-dad looked at them and said, "You all make wonderful cheese! Thank you!"

I tried many things this weekend: Escargot (sooo delicious!), froi gras (also delicious), several wines (I couldn't tell you the names, but they were good), and boudin (also known as blood sausage...I was not a fan. I wasn't sure of what I was eating until I looked it up later...).

Yum.

It was a wonderfully relaxing weekend, and it only solidified the yearning in my heart to live secluded in the mountains with nothing to do but reading, hiking, chores, and snuggling with my dog. 

Une Semaine Normal*

This last week was what I imagine to be my "average week" for the next 6 months. Classes were quite normal, with homework that I procrastinate, and note-taking that result in doodling (basically exactly like my home university). I'm getting quite comfortable in my classes, and I'm able to start applying what I learn outside of the classes, which means that my French is improving enormously.

I'm meeting once or twice a week with a French conversation partner; she wants to improve her English and she's helping me with my French. I speak a little more French than she does English, so I explain English grammar while speaking mostly in French -- Aaah!

On Wednesday night I went out with some friends to a karaoke bar (yes, I did sing!). It was quite entertaining, there was a bit of dancing as well as karaoke. Generally we go out Thursday nights; Thursday night is the night that all of the university students go out because most of them return to their respective homes after classes on Friday.

So, this looks like it will be the norm. Of course, there is nothing normal about it as every day is exciting and new as I develop my French and meet new people from all over the world. I am loving it here, and it is hard to believe that already it has almost been a month. This chapter of my life is speeding by, and I'm trying my utmost to take it all in, savor and appreciate it: one day, one page at a time.

Aquarelle no. 2

Attempt at painting number two:
I had a hard time with this one; the dock was difficult, and my host-mom had to do most of that part. The tree is my favorite.

J'adore Bordeaux

Picture this if you will: it's early in the morning and there is a light mist hovering over the world, a thin layer of blue sky peaks out just above the horizon and you can see the sun inching up over the snow-peaked mountains. As you drive, the trees speed by and you get glimpses of rustic shacks and cabins; there is no one to be seen except a farmer and a fisherman every few of kilometers. The world is all shadowed, and it makes the scenery that much more mysterious and beautiful: this was the start of my journey to one of the best days I have yet had in France. We set out early to Bordeaux and, obviously, it was the most beautiful morning. Amid the groaning of tired college students, I was practically bursting out of joy and appreciation for this beauty.
Our first stop was at the chateau "La Peyrere" (chateau's are not necessarily castles, most vineyards are called chateau's). The proprietors were a single family, which included two enormous dogs (you can imagine my excitement when I first saw these majestic animals:

I want to be her when I grow up.

   

















We got a tour of the vineyard and the cellars and she told us how everything was made and processed and aged (all in French with wine-words). It was absolutely incredible; here are some pictures of the vineyard:

Les barriques

Pretty

This whole place was gorgeous.

*sigh*

Le "Chateau" 

Imagine waking up to this...

Bienvenu

I was absolutely engrossed in this place; I'm sure you can see why. The dogs, the trees, the buildings, the wine. We tasted three different wines; a rosé and two rouges. I ended up buying three of the rosé (I tried to buy 2 rosé and a clairet, but they were out of clairet and gave me another rosé instead), one of which I gave to my host family and the other two will be for transporting back to the states eventually. We ate lunch at the vineyard, then departed for Bordeaux.
Bordeaux...this was the most beautiful city I have yet seen; the 18th century architecture mixed with the river, the fountains and the chocolat made for a breathtaking afternoon. Right off the bus a large group of bikers road by, all waving and shouting out to us; across the street, a circus was in town, which meant that the large group of protesters outside of the tent were fighting for the fair treatment of animals (we assumed); there were a few people dressed up as lions and elephants (sadly I didn't get any pictures). Across the square from this was another demonstration of some kind outside the theatre. It was a very lively day in Bordeaux.
We began with a tour (naturally), at which time my mouth hung open about 90% of the time as I stared in awe at the buildings, the church, and the cathedral. When I walked into the first church and saw the pillars, the paintings, the stained glass windows, and the statues I couldn't help but laugh aloud to myself; it was just so amazing! The next cathedral was even more spectacular and I had to ask my friend if this was seriously happening. After the tour we were free to wander; many of the girls in my group were eager to go shopping, but my friend and I decided just to explore a bit. We grabbed a kebab (which is like something you would buy at PitaPit), then we set out in search for chocolat. :) We only got to spend about 3 hours total in Bordeaux, which was sad, but I am, without question, going back there for a weekend. The following is just a sample of all of the pictures I took during this perfect day:

The statue of Montesquieu  

Le Monument des Girondins

18th century architecture: iron rails & carved faces

"Place de la Bourse Trois Grâces" Three graces fountain.

First church

Confessional

Holy water sans water

Blackened limestone.

Grand entrance for important people.

I love these windows and iron railings.

Down a sidestreet.

La Cathédrale St. André

Inside la Cathédrale St. André

The organ

My favorite.

In front of the fountain of le Monument aux Girondins.

Fountain

So concluded a wonderful day. Wine, chocolat, friends, sites; this day was wonderful. I cannot wait to return to Bordeaux and get to see more of its beauty.

Bonne nuit, Bordeaux

l'Aquarelle

My host-mom started giving me lessons in water color on Sunday. She says that I have "l'esprit d'aquarelle" meaning I have a sense for water color painting. She is a wonderful artist, and there are beautiful paintings all over the house -- mostly landscapes.
I painted this:

I did the main part, then my host-mom gave it more texture and made it look better, but she says that it's great for a first time and insists that she didn't do anything (she did). She says that Sundays will be our painting days. I love my host-family.

Samedi 14 janvier

On Saturday I had a big lunch with my host mom, her son, and my host cousin. We started off with carrots and radishes with a vinaigrette, then we ate baked turkey with tomatoes, green beans, and baked potatoes. The next course was a light salad with cheese and bread, and we finished the meal off with le fromage blanc (my new favorite thing; it tastes like yogurt mixed with cream cheese) mixed with honey. It's strange taking an hour and a half to eat lunch, but I like it a lot.
After lunch my host brother gave me a ride downtown where I met up with these two crazy people:

We went to a delicious creperie by the castle and ate crepes and drank chocolat chaud, which seriously tasted like they melted chocolate into a cup and added a bit of milk; it was so heavenly:

After that we walked over to la Musée des Beaux Arts; it was a much bigger museum than I would have expected for a town like Pau. There was an exhibit dedicated to the rock 'n' roll hippie bands of the 60's and 70's, and then there was the main museum. We spent about an hour and a half there until I had to head out to catch my bus. These were a few of my favorite paintings:

Au Jardin d'acclimatation les éléphants - Paul Michel Dupuy

Chemins sauniers - Pierre Fournel

La Lettre - Henri LeRolle

Porte du Silence - Remi Trotereau

Vue du Chateau de Pau - Alexandre Millin du Perreux

Just another day exploring the town and its history. Au revoir!

Les Chaffeurs

Here are a few things I've learned about French drivers:

1. All of them speed
2. Red lights have little significance
3. Their frame of mind is: How dare pedestrians want to use the street!
4. My lead-foot pales in comparison (it's difficult to stand on their buses; I went flying across the bus today!)

PS I bought way too much chocolate today, the mission assigned to me by my Uncle David to find the best chocolate something is quite formidable. Today I tried Tiramisu, pain au chocolat, some kind of truffle, and a pistachio-creme filled chocolat. Oh la la. The pistachio-creme filled was my favorite so far, although the pain au chocolat was flaky and heavenly as well. Gosh I'm going to get fat.  

Ce Matin

This was the view I had on my way to school this morning; it was absolutely gorgeous (trust me, the picture does not do it justice)!! I walk to school very early every morning and this view makes the early morning frost worth the walk.

Mes Cours

I began my French classes today and had a glance of what the next 4 months will look like; it's too soon to tell whether I like them or not. My professor speaks incredibly slow, which I suppose helps when I'm not sure what she's saying, but it felt too slow and I got distracted too easily because I wasn't focusing all of my brain power to understand her. We started with introductions, which took about 3 and a half hours -- not joking -- then squeezed in a half hour of grammar, which we will finish tomorrow. I'm used to more fast-paced classes, so I'm not used to it yet, but perhaps this class will be good for me. Time will tell.

In my language courses I'll be with the same group of 15ish students every day for every class, and I only have 2 different professors (this could be good or bad). The students in my class are exchange students from all over the world, which is really awesome because, in a few cases, the only common language is French. It seems as though the American students only ever want to speak English, which is disheartening, but it's probably because they're all a little unsure of what they're saying and don't want to mess up, even though we all inevitably do. Hopefully this will change quickly.

I'll be attending classes everyday from 8AM to 5PM or 9AM to 3PM(depending on the day). I have 2 hour breaks between each of my classes when I will more than likely do my homework (what else will I do?). I noticed today that the French don't really pay attention to time; both of my classes started and ended late because the class before us didn't get out on time and neither did we! There are no clocks in the classrooms, so either the students have to pay attention to our watches or the next professor has to poke in his or her head to remind us that another class needs the classroom.

This was only day one, and I'm sure many more impressions of my classes are to come. À la prochaine!

Pau, France

Today, I went on a tour of downtown (le centre ville) Pau with my group. 
Here are a few pictures:

A Cathedral under construction: each new steeple being built costs 2 million  Euros!

Un rue au centre ville (a sidestreet in downtown)

Le Chateau de Pau where Henri IV was born and slept in a turtle shell instead of a carriage. 

Gardens outside of the Chateau de Pau

This quarter of town is on the Rue de Pyrénées and has gorgeous architecture. There is also supposed to be an amazing view of the mountains, but it was a cloudy day.

l'Hotel de Ville 

The town of Pau is extremely old and has a lot of cute shops which are all 30-80% off right now because of the huge bi-annual sale France has every July and January. :) New wardrobe perhaps? 


A few new friends and I went out to lunch after our tour and quickly learned that you have to be very direct if you want to eat; just because you sit down in a restaurant does not mean that you want to eat there according to the French. We sat for a long time without so much as a glance or a menu from the owner until we realized that we just had to go ask. However, when we went to the counter to order the man gave us an how-dare-you look, so we are still a bit confused as to how we are supposed to go about dining in this city. 


After that I took the bus home where I found my long-lost suitcase waiting for me. Hazzah!