Aquarelle no. 7

Voila! It's been a while since I've painted. There's one part I should have fixed, but I won't say which part so that people don't stare at it. My host mom says that I'm improving greatly, and she likes the style that I'm developing. I like painting trees. 

Ciao.

Partie Deux

Well ladies and gentlemen, I am officially on to round two of my stay in France. My classes with USAC are finally completed, and now all I have are my French language courses. I've had one week of these new French courses, and I really enjoy them so far; I have four professors, who all seem more fast-paced and on top of things than my last professors. I am the only native English-speaker in any of my classes, which is pretty cool

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Today is the last day in Pau for my Americans, which is an incredibly sad statement. I've built such wonderful relationships with them, and I can't believe that I have to tell them goodbye -- it came far too soon. We're hoping to organize vacations in each region where we live back in the US: San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, and Idaho are the destinations. We hope to be able to see each other each year or every other year...gosh that's depressing compared to the every day that I see them here. 

So it's a mix of exciting and sad; I'm stoked to be taking up my classes again and excited to continue learning, but I'm sorry that I have to say goodbye. C'est la vie. 

 

Résumé

I know that it has been a while since I've updated my blog, and so much has happened that I can't possibly go into as much detail as needed, so I'm going to give a "quick" resume of all the things I've been doing:

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Toulouse and Carcassonne for the weekend with USAC. We took a guided tour, which showed us two main churches: one from Roman times and one gothic-styled. Toulouse was really fun and we had a lot of downtime there as that is where we spent the night -- my friends and I went down to the Garonne River and sunbathed. Toulouse was holding their Carnaval that weekend, so we watched the parade while we ate our dinner out on a terrace.

Roman church

Inside of Gothic church

Ceiling art depicting Toulouse's history

Me and the Garonne

The day after Toulouse, we left early to go to Carcassonne, which is a magnificent, fortified city. We took a tour of the inner castle, and after lunch were left to wander the cobbled streets. We went to the torture museum and to the city's church (so many churches). This place was like a journey through time; it was absolutely wonderful.

Outer walls

Inner courtyard

Me in a wall

More outer walls

Cobbled streets

The week following, I went out dancing and I learned some traditional Béarne dances. They were mostly line-dances, and there were some couples dances thrown in there as well. My host-mom told me that I'm the first student to really get incorporated to the culture of Southwest France; it really has a completely different feel to it than the rest of France, and it's culture is so unlike that of any of the traditions in the US. It's fascinating and exciting to get to be a part of it.

I spent Easter with Estelle's family out in the country. We had magret de canard (a traditional plat of the region) and a ton of other delicious food. I felt as if my stomach was going to grow a second self by the end of the meal. Her family was so kind and I was given a large sac of chocolate to take home. :)

We had no school on Easter-Monday so I went hiking with some friends. One of my friends works at a kids' camp just outside of Lourdes, and he took us on the hiking trail that he takes the kids on. It was a beautiful, cloudless day, and the hike was incredible (although pretty difficult for small children...). Here are pictures:

View from the camp

View near the summit

Summit view

Another angle of the summit view

School-wise, I'm almost on my last week of literature class and my first week of semester two of French courses. I am very impatient to pick-up my language classes again; my French friends can correct me when I speak, but often they can't explain to me the grammar behind it, and then I don't end up retaining anything they tell me, so I'm excited to get back on track with my language courses.

Other than that, I've been seeing friends, going to movies, eating out, and appreciating every moment I have left with my beautiful Americans who are leaving in 10 days. Resume: terminated.

Lourdes

I'm technically on my spring break at the moment; I say technically, because I still have classes, but only one class three times a week, so I have a lot of down time. One Wednesday, when we didn't have classes, I went to Lourdes with two friends. For those of you who do not know, Lourdes is a pilgrimage destination for Catholics, and it is where St. Bernadette say the Virgin Mary in a cave. Catholics come from all over the world to ask for healing. 

The train ride was a short 20 minutes and we headed straight for the castle from the train station. Since it was March, there weren't many people there at all; in the summer months there are as many as 5,000,000 pilgrims, so we were lucky to be able to see it in tranquility. The chateau was beautiful (as are all of the castles I see here):

Le jardin

La Tour

The chateau was much more intricate than I had expected -- it had scenes set up of what the rooms would have looked like, there several art pieces as well as a wide array of costumes and utensils. 

After the chateau we stopped for lunch and then headed for the cathedral. This cathedral was absolutely breathtaking. I suppose pictures can explain it best:

The entrance with crosses from every country.

Voila

There's me with the cathedral.

Kind of resembles a submarine wearing a crown.

Entrance to the church and the crypt. 

I actually did not take a picture of the cave where St. Bernadette saw the virgin; it felt weird taking pictures while people were praying. The cave was cool though; the walls are slicked smooth from so many people touching them. 

It was a great trip. Here's a picture of holy water for sale: