Final Blog Post (until next time)

I'm home!! Not real home, but I'm in the states and I will officially be home next week! The reverse-culture shock was super real at O'Hare, like fat children and brightly colored hair, but being able to speak English and to order exactly what I want (a cheeseburger with ketchup and pickle only, please) is very surreal. Also, the jetlag is incredible. I was ready to pass out last night at 7 o'clock. Granted, I hadn't slept much the night before, but even so. I woke up at 6 am this morning, also thanks to jetlag but hopefully by tomorrow everything will be better!

So far, I do miss France's familiarity. I, of course, adjusted quickly to being back here but not saying "merci" any time I go anywhere is super weird and being able to order food in English is just incredible to me. At the airport yesterday, we stopped at Rick Bayless' airport restaurant/food place and I wanted to order a "tres queso mollete" but it came out more like "très quesot molleter" and I said it with a french accent and it was really difficult. If I try to speak any other language, I say it with a French accent right now.

I also miss how people are quiet on public transportation. There's this respectful silence at all times and whenever anyone starts talking on the phone, it's almost seen as rude. Americans however have no issues with being loud on public transportation, which is something we share in common with the Italians.

Finally, I miss the people I spent the five weeks of the program with, French and American students alike. I feel like I made some really good friends through the program in Le Mans and I am so grateful that I got to be apart of it.

If nothing else, the program taught me how vast history is. Before the trip, I thought the Vietnam War in the '60s was ancient history. But after learning about France's history and how it starts in the 1100's (I think?), there's so much more to history than what I was taught in my American history class. No offense to Ron Swanson, but history did not in fact start in 1776. I feel like I actually have a more global perspective of the world and I was pleasantly surprised to learn more than just French or American history.

I definitely miss France right now, but it's so great to be back with friends and family in the states. I know it won't be too long before I return!

I can never be French because I never finish all the food on my plate

Brunch!!! We ate at La Recyclerie which was overwhelming and confusing and delicious. So I asked the woman at the counter what we were supposed to do, nodded and pretended I understood as she explained it to me, and then she explained it to us in English. So we got this giant metal lunch tray (I felt like I was back in middle school going through the lunch line <3) and then went through multiple lines with cold and hot food. What I didn't realize is that I could pick and choose what I wanted so I took one of everything and ate about half of my tray. There was coffee and juice and water to drink, plus potatoes, chicken, lox, roast beef, salad (definitely didn't eat that), quinoa (I think?), yogurt (delicious with jam and granola), bread, butter, jam, fruit crumble, something with a fully cooked egg and tomato sauce, gazpacho, and a mango puree. There was probably more but that's all I can remember right now and wow it was great.

With all the energy we gained from the ginormous brunch, we headed to the largest flea market in Paris, and possibly the world. They had records and world maps from the 1800s and super expensive antique furniture, chandeliers, light fixtures and a million other things we didn't even get to see. It was incredible. After looking and not even being able to afford much, we walked to the Montmartre cemetery where we visited Alexandre Dumas, fils and Edgar Degas' graves/tombs. They were huge and the cemetary was packed and showy, but it was very cool to see all of it. I found a couple graves that I would be ok having for myself. One had headshots of the deceased, the other was a mini building encrusted in gold. Some combination of the two might be best for me. Just ideas.

For a quick drink and snack, I drank what is probably my final bottle of cidre in France and the cafe from Amélie. Everyone in my family has seen this movie expect me so I didn't find it that special, but the cidre was excellent of course. We then continued walking through our neighborhood with a walking tour from one of Mom's books, which took us past the apartment where my bf Vincent Van Gogh lived for the final two years of his life with his brother. Theo, his brother, committed suicide two months after his brother did, according to what the book said. What a relationship they must've had.

To finish off the evening, we did some shopping and ate baguette, croissants, and champagne for dinner, and finished with macaroons for dessert. Pretty much my ideal meal. Currently I am procrastinating on packing because it's the woooooooorst (say that like Jean Ralphio from Parks). But the plane is leaving tomorrow morning so after one last boulangerie run, I'm out of here which is infinitely sad! I'll probably blog tomorrow just to talk about the flight and how awesome/terrible it was but if not, this could be my last blog post! I'm not ready to reflect on blogging tonight, so future,  jetlagged Maddie can deal with that tomorrow.

Euchre au Jardin du Luxembourg

Today began with a visit to the Palais Garnier which is the National Opera House in Paris. I'm not positive if shows are still performed there, but I believe that some are! The building is breathtaking and the hall of mirrors on the top floor rivals that of Versailles. We then went to a place whose name I can't remember to get some of their world famous macaroons but we were not allowed to take pictures of them. The macaroons however were phenomenal. There were some traditional flavors, like dark chocolate and salted caramel, but there were also untraditional flavors like milk chocolate-passion fruit, or mango-grapefruit-orange. One of my favorites was a raspberry-something else with a yogurt filling. We then had lunch Au Petit Suisse, on the recommendation of my cousin Toby, which was excellent. Ellie finally got her croque-monsieur!

The cafe was directly across from the Jardin du Luxembourg, which is absolutely gorgeous. We found some shade and some chairs so we were able to play a game of euchre! Ellie and Aunt Jen won, but it was a close game. Without really knowing what we were getting into , we walked over to the Parthenon and saw the graves of Voltaire, Rouseau, Emile Zola, and both of the Curies! (Mom was disappointed that Maries's tomb wasn't glowing with radiation). Voltaire and Rouseau's tombs were directly across from each other which is ironic because they were sworn enemies while they were alive.

The Latin Quarter was as busy as ever with tour groups and huge charter buses that should not be able to navigate the streets of Paris. The bookstore, Shakespeare and Company, was equally packed but if there were less people there, I would've loved to sit and browse the store for hours. The walls were entirely covered with books, floor to ceiling. There were new books from current authors, there were classic books and there were ancient books. I would love to spend the day tucked into one of the corners of the little store browsing through all that they had.

After some shopping, we metroed to the Arc de Triomphe where we were able to get to the arch, but not under because there was a ceremony that I didn't really understand going on. Directly in the middle is an everlasting flame for their tomb of the unknown soldier so I'm not sure what ceremony was happening there, but it was very busy. We walked down the Champs-Elysées for a while, did some more shopping, and watched as they began setting up for the parade for Basille Day on Tuesday. Finally, we metroed back to Montmartre where we picked up some food to eat with the rest of the leftovers we have in the house and just had an early night in. It doesn't feel like we do that much during a day, but then we get back to the apartment and I can't figure out why I'm exhausted. But after blogging like this about each day, we pack a lot in and are taking advantage of every hour we have.

Today is our last day in Paris before we fly out tomorrow morning :(

l'Avenue de Champagne

Listen to this song while reading this blog post:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcJ3L6EOUWQ

Today was wonderful. We rented a car and Aunt Jen drove us out of Paris, which was slightly terrifying but she is a very talented driver so we made it to the city of Reims. After stopping at the Office of Tourism and getting an expensive lunch recommendation, we ate lunch at Paul (Ellie's new favorite). We then drove to the winery of Gardet where we got a private tour of the entire Champagne-making process from start to finish and then got to try some of the champagne! It was excellent.We then drove along the scenic Route Touristique du Champagne which led us through many little villages and past some of the bigger wineries. Eventually this route led us to the Avenue du Champagne which has all of the major Champagne houses on one street. The houses were massive and absolutely gorgeous!! We were too late to partake in any tastings there, so we got ice cream, walked down the Champagne Street, ate dinner and then headed out! Typing this blog right now, it doesn't seem like anything we did was that exciting or fun, but all four of us are beat right now and today was one of my favorite days of this past month! While I don't find the countryside as breathtaking as others do, if you have the chance and are willing to face the crazy, aggressive, mistake-prone drivers of France, I highly recommend making the trip out there!

Paris is AWESOME when you're not with the tourists

Today began with a market at Aligre, where I was prepared to buy Kangaroo saucisson  (in honor of Zippy) but Mom wouldn't let me. So instead we got camembert and goat cheese. Also there, we got my beloved Prosciutto di Parma (jambon de Parme, en Français) which is my absolute favorite thing in the whole wide world I think. I felt like the market was about the same size as the Le Mans market, food-wise, but there were a lot more scarves and jewelry and other vendors. People there were super patient as I attempted to speak French to order food! We then went to Holy Belly, recommended by Tony Bourdain himself, which was like a little slice of Chicago tucked away in a side street of Paris. I got skate (the fish) and some cidre and I was content.

We stopped at one of the best boulangeries in the city, Des Idees, where a beautiful apricot tart was purchased and later smushed into my bag. However, it was still salvageable and totally delicious. While walking down the Saint Martin Canal, we got to watch a boat really, really slowly pass through the locks of the canal and then we went to a second, atelier chocolat. Except this time, this one had a tea room. Jacques Genin is where I'm going to work when I refuse to leave France at the end of the week. The had chocolate, caramels, chocolate covered caramels, and these Pâtes des fruits which were like eating little cubes of different flavored fruit jelly covered in sugar. It sounds kind of weird, and some of them were, but they were also super delicious. Rhubarb was the personal favorite.

Before returning home, we stopped at another boulangerie, a fromagerie, and multiple cooking stores. The cooking stores were like "Sur la Table" but for real chefs and we just looked there. The boulangerie and fromagerie were to pick up more food for the smorgasbord that was our dinner. Back at the apartment, we ate ate saucisson (3 kinds), cheese (3 kinds also), baguette, prosciutto, butter (amazing), and then random pastries that we'd picked up throughout the day for dessert. It was a wonderful meal and also great to have a chill evening because we will be up early for our adventure with French driving (they're crazy) and Champagne! A demain !

Everyone has at least 3 blisters on their feet

Our first full day in Paris together!!!! Our day started by taking the metro to the Louvre, where we just visited the outside of the giant pyramid. Then after a quick walk through the Tuileries Garden, we went into the Musée d'Orsay where we saw Degas's, Monet's, Manet's, and Van Gogh (even though "Starry Night Over the Rhone" wasn't there???). After a quick coffee and a walk back to the opposite side of the Louvre, we went to "l'As du Fallafel" and ate the best falafel ever. It was in this super cool Jewish neighborhood, which we got to walk around a little bit after and then, hopefully, we'll continue to walk around today There was a line out the door for the place we went to where as for the poor falafel place across the street, it was absolute desolate. No one was there which seemed very sad, but also everyone seemed used to it. At 2 pm, the restaurant was packed and we were whisked from waiting to moving to a different place to wait and then again to a table that was pointed out to us. The service was super fast, the menu was in at least five languages, and the falafel was fantastic! Highly recommend it if anyone's in the mood for falafel in Paris.

After exploring the neighborhood a little more, we walked back toward Notre Dame and passed the outside of the Centre Pompidou (I had no idea that all these museums were so close!). We waited in the super long line for about 15 minutes before he got into the cathedral and got a look inside. Ellie picked to visit the Musée de l'Orangerie, even though we knew nothing about it, so after walking back through the Tuilleries and passing a guy who loved playing with/feeding pigeons, we made it to the museum. Little did we know that "Nymphaes" means "Waterlilies" and that the main exhibit in the tiny museum was Monet's waterlilies! The museum was tiny, but the two, cavernous rooms on the main floor were covered on all four sides by his ginormous canvases of waterlilies. It was a spectacular surprise so Ellie is now picking everywhere else we go.

As we started to walk to dinner, we passed Place de la Concorde where the center of it is closed off because they've set up grand stands for the Tour de France which will end in Paris in about a month. We also got to pass the heavily guarded US Consolate, located right next to Place de la Concorde. Then we found the most expensive street in Paris with all the designers you love to look at but from whom you couldn't even afford a t-shirt. We stopped at an upscale chocolate atelier and window shopped everywhere else, until we got to Spring, back on the other side of the Louvre (with a point of reference of the Louvre, we walked passed it four times). The restaurant, Spring, was phenomenal. The chef is from Chicago and what he makes, is what is served. So we had mushrooms as an apertif, lobster and tomato salad and a white fish with potatoes in a broth as our two starters, quail for dinner, and then a trio of peach cobbler, rosemary sorbet, and lemon curd for dinner and as a final bite, a chocolate-filled raspberry in a little brownie coating. It was absolutely fabulous and one of the nicest restaurants I have ever been too.

But before the night was over, we took a cab over to Trocadéro to take pictures with the Eiffel Tower and we got to watch it sparkle at 10 pm! While walking under the Eiffel Tower, we realized how short the lines were so I had the brilliant idea that we should go up! After waiting in the first line for 30 minutes, we bought our tickets and went up to the second floor to wait there to go to the very top. And the top is cool when the city's dark and everything's lit up, but there's glare on the glass and if you go up further, there's no glass so there's no glare but it was so cold!! Ellie and I ran up, did a lap, and then ran straight back down to wait in another line to get to the second floor and then in another line to get back to the ground. All-in-all, it took about two hours and the majority of that time was spent in line. But it was still cool to see Paris all lit up and we were on the Eiffel Tower when it was sparkling! However it feels less like magic and more like lightning when you're actually on the tower instead of looking at it from a distance.

We got home and were absolutely exhausted so planning for today/blogging had to wait for this morning. But just from yesterday, I've realized how much better Paris is when you're not hitting every tourist shop and you have money to buy delicious food. And while we did hit a lot our touristy things, we also saw a lot of new things and super cool neighborhoods!

Graduation and Reuniation (not a word?) !!

Yesterday was the official last day of l'Université d'été, which was sad. It started with final presentations of the internships in the morning, then a quick trip to the 24 Hour Race museum, just because we'd never been. And then there was the graduation reception! It was no caps-and-gowns affair, but all of our names were called to accept our diplomas. The French don't do graduation ceremonies - when they're ready to graduate, they go to a secretary's office, ask for their diploma, and she prints it out so they can both sign it. That's it. So the fact that Akron has approximately 5 different graduation ceremonies, for each college, is a very weird concept to the French.

To celebrate our last evening together before everyone left, we went to dinner where I ate my first vegetable of the entire trip - a salad with avocado, egg, and mozzarella (and tomatoes which were eaten by Esther because I could only go so far) !! A picture will be uploaded soon so that I can prove that I did indeed eat it! The 20 of us then watched La Nuit des Chimières which is very similar to when the animations are projected on to Cinderella's Castle in Disney, but instead of a castle, it's a cathedral and Roman wall (cathedral from the 12th-ish century, Roman wall from 200BC-ish). France and it's history is crazy. Every time I saw the cathedral, I was temporarily in shock because this monstrous cathedral was in the town, and none of the locals even batted an eye.

The salad (before and after, to show that it was all eaten)

The sundae I got post-salad (Foret-Noire) because all of the salad was eaten

La Nuit des Chimières at the Cathedral of Le Mans

This morning, I was up at 7 to clean my room, room inspection was at 10, then there was shopping, lunch, and eventual, tearful goodbyes with the French students. Overall, I believe that I gained a lot from this five week program. First of all, my French improved! I'm not fluent, but I'm on my way! Additionally, I have become more tolerant, patient, and open-minded as a whole. This was the first class I've taken that wasn't America-centric. I also have a new empathy for what foreigners go through when entering a new country - learning a new language and culture by just being thrown into it is hard! I loved this entire program and I have made friendships that will last well beyond this trip. I can't wait to study abroad again! And for the French students to come visit Akron next time.

This afternoon I took a train from Le Mans to Paris-Montparnesse and then a taxi past EVERY TOURIST SITE IN PARIS to eventually get to the apartment where I was reunited with Mom, Ellie, and Aunt Jen!!! They're all tired, since they got into Paris this morning and jet lag is hard, but they were able to walk around the neighborhood a little this afternoon and then we all went to dinner at this wonderful restaurant that Aunt Jen knew of from a blog. It's an early night for us all, since they're jetlagged and I woke up so early this morning. Tomorrow, however, will be a day of much walking and seeing all of the sites! Can't wait to explore the city with them!!

Calm before the Storm

Today's been a super chill, watch-movies-and-nap-and-finish-up-homework day. I was able to go to the Le Mans market for the final time on this trip this morning and I got some delicious, late-season strawberries, along with a Tartlette Normandie (mini apple tart) and a baguette. I also watched "Skeleton Twins" with Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader - super good. I highly recommend it although it is not funny, as one would expect with those two as the leads. It is a very good movie though.

Today I finished up some of the last homework I had for the classes and I'm currently in the process of working on the final presentation of my internship for tomorrow! I've had a week+ to work on this so naturally, I am working on it tonight.

Everyone's getting ready to go home - we leave Le Mans the day after tomorrow! It's very sad, but a lot of us are ready to get going. Personally, I would love to spend another month or two in Le Mans, taking different trips every weekend but all good things must come to an end (or something like that). From France, I'm really going to miss the French students and the seemingly constant supply of baguette, butter, and prosciutto di Parma (which combined, makes a fabulous sandwich). But also, I'm missing ice and air conditioning in America. I have enjoyed this trip immensely but also family is flying out in two days and I cannot wait to see them!!!! I have the address of the apartment we're staying in and a game plan of how I'll get there so I am ready to go!

Le Mans likes their 24-Hour events I guess

Today was the end of what began at 2 pm yesterday. Opening with a musical performance, the 24-Hours of History, leading up to America's Independence Day, began! After the introduction and music, we went on a history-themed scavenger hunt all around campus. There were French and American students on each team so it was helpful because the French students knew campus much better than us! The only problem with the scavenger hunt was that it was two million degrees outside (but actually, at least 97. And the running around campus did not help). We then took a break and learned about different speeches in American history before the Renaissance dancing!! People came dressed in Renaissance garb, played Renaissance music on Renaissance instruments, and others taught us Renaissance dances. Most of the dances were in one big circle moving back and forth. It was so much fun. But also, it was so sweaty. In addition to skipping in circles, the room we were in was also so hot. It felt as how I'd imaging hot yoga would feel. After dancing, there was a sampling of drinks through the ages, which unfortunately I left early from because I was dehydrated (I think) and had a killer headache. I was asleep around 11.

While I was asleep, they sang America's national anthem at midnight with champagne, watched clips from patriotic American movies, learned about a contemporary art movement in France (it involved covering naked bodies in paint and then pressing them against canvas), going on a run (at 6 am after no sleep!!!), and then playing more games outside. By then, it was 9 am and that's when I came back.

When I got back, I got to participate in a Franco-American quiz about crossovers in music and famous people. To finish out the whole event however, five people in the Université d'été got up and read a poem about liberty from their country (Korea, Yemen, Poland, China, and Spain). It was incredibly touching to have the poems read in their native languages with the translations right next to them in either English or French. It was a very powerful way to end the 24-hour event and it made me so grateful for all the opportunities and privilege I've received in my life, just because I was born in America. Very proud to be American today.

So then tonight, a group of French and American students went over to a French students' house and her family hosted us to celebrate her birthday/the Fourth! It was such a melange of cultures - we had burgers and sausages but also vin petillant, rillette, and multiple tarts. This past month has been an absolute blast and I'm very sad that I'll be leaving in just three days!

LE FIN DU STAGE

Today was the last day of the internship!!! Also I realized this morning that I forgot to post anything last night!

Yesterday was hot. I felt as though I was standing on the sun in 12 different sweaters. I also didn't eat anything but croissants and nutella until 3 pm, so that didn't help at all. Yesterday was also the final for the history class so that is officially done! It was a three hour final paper, but I would like to thank AP English for coming in clutch and helping me get through that. After the exam however, I did nothing except try not to die and run to the grocery store for baguette and water.

Today was great though because the high was only 87 Farenheit! Tomorrow is supposed to get up to 39 Celcius which I believe, if I calculated right, is approximately the temperature of the sun at its surface. So if I never blog again, it's because I melted.

But this morning I got to sleep in for the first time, possibly since arriving in Europe, so sleeping until 9:30 am was super cool. And then it was the last day of stage!! Ben and I spent the first couple hours looking at the website of the site to finish up our paragraph of our opinions on the site for the school. Then our advisor/professor Maria made her was over to ISIALM because everyone in the office made a little reception for us in the break room with all these local foods like rillette (delicious, you'll just have to take my word for it because if I describe it to you, you'll think it's gross), cidre, wine, cookies, and cider jam - all from the region! It was so sweet of them to do and it was fun to get to chat with them! Everyone there was so kind and especially patient with Ben and I, so overall it was a wonderful experience and I am so thankful for it!

The little reception! With everything from either Le Mans or the region of Sarthe, where Le Mans is located (I don't know what happened to the right side of the picture)

Going to our stage everyday was very similar to how I feel when I ride the Millenium Force. I am always freaking out while waiting in line and thinking about the hill one rides up before the first hill makes me nervous but then I go down the first hill and the ride is over before I know it and I'm ready to get straight back in line, just to feel nervous all over again. On the tram and bus ride to ISIALM (we had about a 50 minute commute each way), I was always nervous because we never really knew what was going to happen that day, but then we got there and got started and it was really fun. But then I was nervous again the next day. Thank you to everyone at ISIALM who made the experience so enjoyable! And I think Ben and I are going to be on their facebook again, so that's super exciting!

Il fait trop chaud et je vais mourir (it is too hot and I'm going to die)

Wow today was hot. It's like 95 which isn't terrible, but there's no AC anywhere in France so it's just hot all the time. Literally, one of my favorite things that I brought from America was this little fan which is my second best friend, next to nutella of course. Tomorrow's high is 97 (today was 94) and then Friday could get up to 100!!! It's going to be burning up here. America is all about comfort so I really don't sweat much on 90+ degrees in Ohio because there's AC everywhere, but not in France. AC is so rare but the stairwell in the res hall is nice and cool since it's all stone and there's no sunlight.

So today we had class in the morning and then Ben and I had our stage this afternoon. We were in a class that was all about communication and how one presents themselves. The class was taught by this man who is also a clown, so he was very animated and relatively patient with Ben and I even though neither of us always knew what was going on. The professor was cool, but it was one of the most frustrating internships I've had yet. Fortunately, there is only one more on Thursday and then that's it! And on Thursday, we're having a mini-reception with different local foods and I can't wait!

Thursday it's only supposed to get up to 87 so fingers-crossed that I will make it until then!

This is our final week in Le Mans as well! We leave in one week from today! It's very sad but there's still so much that needs to get done before leaving. I can't believe how fast this has flown by.

Dorm, I mean Res Hall, Room Appreciation Post

Today was just class and then a lecture in a comic book shop, so nothing too exciting. So I would like to take this evening to show my dorm room since I have not posted any pictures of it.

Before cleaning my room (I really wanted to take authentic pictures). I have a bed and desk and windows with a view of the university restaurant. There's actually a surprising amount of storage under the bed and above the desk, but this is all the space I have. 

This is the full bathroom. Hence, how I could pee, shower, and brush my teeth and the same time if I wanted. I've only tried to do two of those things at once. 

The hallway of the res hall and stairwell. I'm on the second floor which means the third floor in America and two flights of stairs everyday which is actually not terrible at all. 

The view directly out of the side entrance and a building I pass while walking to the tram stop

Tram stop

Ciel all lit up at night (a building right down from the tram stop) and the kitchen in the dorm with Croque Madame's!!! (Like a grilled cheese with ham in the middle and an egg on top!)

If I could live in a French city, I think Bordeaux is my second choice (to Aix-en-Provence)

So today was our third and last day in Bordeaux which was fun because we got to sleep in! Yesterday, we went to the winery of Saint Emilion where we got a tour of the town and then had a picnic lunch before walking around the town to do some shopping. When we got back to downtown Bordeaux, we took a tour of the city which was very informative, but it was about an hour too long and the tour guide tried to take us down the smelliest alleys on purpose probably. Bordeaux is the dirtiest city I have ever been to, which didn't bother me, but some of the little streets and alleys do not smell good. After the tour we did a little, mini wine tasting at a wine bar and then went to dinner! The restaurant was called "Potato Head" and served whatever they were able to buy at the market that morning. For an appetizer, I ate fois gras and tuna in this incredible tomato-y broth which was absolutely delicious!

So then today, we slept in and then met at the market at 10 am. For lunch, Esther and I got fresh, raw oysters which we ate right on the river front with some bread and a small glass of wine. Have I ever mentioned how hard it is to be an exchange student? It was absolutely delicious and in addition, I got macaroons at the market. It was similar to the market in Le Mans, but there was less produce and more seafood and wine! This weekend was absolutely gorgeous weather-wise! We took the train back in early-afternoon and made it back in time to get pizza in Le Mans! This is the beginning the final week of the program which makes me so sad! But I've also resolved that I will not eat any more kebab for the rest of the trip - it's delicious and I highly recommend it (it's similar to a Greek gryo) but I absolutely can't eat another one on this trip.

Raw Oysters on the Waterfront

12 little Macaroons

Bordeaux is cool!! Cooler than Paris!

So today, class ended early so that we could pack and head out to Bordeaux! After a lunch of kebab, we jumped on the train where I slept for 3.5 of the 4 hours! For the next two nights while we're here, we are staying in a youth hostel which is super super cool. There are 6 of us (all from our group) staying in one of the rooms tomorrow, and then the two others from the group have their own room. When we "checked-in" they gave us a key and a set of sheets and that was it. The room is really big and the showers/bathrooms are really nice! We haven't spent a lot of time here so we haven't met too many people yet, but everyone here is very friendly and helpful! 

For dinner tonight, we walked around the city and eventually ended up at Chez Leon where I ate this delicious pesto pasta. We strolled around town for the rest of the evening and got to see the river all lit up at night. The city feels more like Montreal than Paris because it feels way more metropolitan (I don't think that's the correct word) than Paris. The architecture of the city looks like Paris, but it's much more diverse and there are a lot more different kinds of people there. I wish we had more than a weekend to spend here! Tomorrow though we're going to a wine tasting and then we'll have more time to explore the city! 

Update: I forgot shower shoes so even though the shower was very nice, that kind of worries me. 

Additionally there was a terrorist attack today in France! (Also in Kuwait and another country...) it was on the complete opposite side of the country though so it's not too big of a deal for us! But still scary that that happened for sure. I'm not 100% on what happened or why, but I'm sure details will continue to come out. 

La vie est difficile

So not much happened yesterday, so a post didn't seem necessary but mostly I was just exhausted because these days are so long and there's so much going on! We have classes/an internship everyday until 5, then other meetings or get-togethers, and then everyone's remembering that we only have one week left after this so everyone's trying to hang out every night, which is so much fun, but almost no time is left for homework/sleep. All I want to do is go sit in the park and read Jane Eyre on my iPad or go shopping downtown because France's semi-annual sales on everything started yesterday but there's not a ton of time so, in summary, it's really difficult to live in France for the summer and to have friends and fun all the time!

But actually I've been really tired these past two days and before I came here this summer, everyone was talking about how good the coffee is here but it just doesn't do it for me. Their caffé is a double espresso, which is super convenient and quick to drink, but I just don't feel awake after it. Tomorrow we leave for Bordeaux for the weekend which means a four hour train ride which means four hours to sleep/read which is the actual dream. And then on the way back on Sunday will be another four hours for napping!

Last night, one of the French students came over to the dorm with quiche and chocolate cake so we picnicked outside (because it was gorgeous!) and it was super delicious. Then today after class and the internship again, Esther and I went out with a couple friends who are originally from Le Mans but spent the last year in Akron teaching/taking classes. It was so much fun to hang out and talk with them! Then when we got back to the dorms, the French students were over and eating omelettes for dinner! So while everything is busy and I feel exhausted, everything is also super fun and I am having an absolute blast all the time.

The French Know American Culture but Not Vice-Versa

Not much happened again today, just more class and then we went out to dinner for James' birthday! But first we saw Jurassic World, which I had very low expectations for, but it was actually excellent. It was so suspenseful and while Chris Pratt did a good job, the dinosaurs were the true stars of the film. The movie was (fortunately) in English with French subtitles. And then after, we went to dinner where I ordered duck but actually had the most difficult time eating it, even though it was delicious. But the act of cutting up the pieces was just so difficult. I learned, however, that you when you "cheers" people, you look them in the eye, say "santé", and never EVER cross glasses. That's very important that that never happens, even though no one knows why.

All the French students know so many American TV shows and books and music and presidents and politics while all of us Americans have significantly less knowledge on those topics in French. We were able to talk "To Kill A Mockingbird" and "Pretty Little Liars" and the upcoming election, but I knew nothing about any French TV and the one French singer that I like (Stromae) turns out to be Belgian, not French. I feel so bad that I can't talk about French culture like we are able to talk about American culture, but at the same time it's so interesting to hear their opinion on American things.

Versailles (kinda)

So I thought that I posted yesterday but I guess it didn't send or I completely imagined typing it up and that actually never happened..... But either way not much happened yesterday! We went shopping in Milan before catching our flight back to Paris. When we got to the Paris Hyatt to check-in, the woman behind the counter told us we were "clients du jour" which meant that our room was upgraded to have a view of the Eiffel Tower! At the top of every hour after dark, the Eiffel Tower sparkles for 5 minutes, so we got to watch that multiple times which was awesome.

This morning, we ran around the train station in Paris trying to find this specific kind of ticket to get a train to Versailles. Eventually, we did arrive at the palace but we were 10 minutes late so we missed our private tour of the interior. For the next two hours, Esther and I searched desperately for wifi to try to contact anyone in the group inside the palace to try to find them. After about an hour, we decided to just walk around and look at the gardens until the rest of the group showed up. After another hour, they did show up so we were able to get lunch with and walk around the gardens with them.

The gardens look like something straight out of Pride & Prejudice, so when I got back to the dorm, I made myself a sandwich for dinner and watched the ultimate romantic movie of all time (the Keira Knightly version, of course). It was nice to just have the evening to relax and rest before this upcoming week and then Bordeaux this weekend! Additionally, I finished the book "The Hundred Foot Journey" on the multiple plane/train rides this weekend and I highly recommend it! It's about this Indian immigrant who starts his own restaurant in France and his family and mentors and it's a wonderful, easy read. He also uses a lot of similes with food, so I don't recommend reading it while hungry but I have been craving Indian food since I started the book. Definitely worth the read!

What I learned at the Expo Milano is

1) bring a stroller! You will cut all lines into the pavilions and everyone's super friendly about it

2) buy a "passport" at the gift shop at the enterance so you can have it stamped at all the different pavilions 

3) start at the back of the event and tower your way towards the enterance (just like a cedar point)!

4) wear tennis shoes. Specifically for the Brazil pavilion

You walk on that net of death

Today I realized my dream of the past two months - to attend the world's fair in Milan. The weather was absolutely perfect and today was so much fun! Getting to the expo was an adventure, but when we arrived and made it though security, it was spectacular! We ate Korean for lunch and then Dutch for dinner! 

Holland had my favorite pavilion because it wasn't a pavilion at all - they had all these food trucks and a DJ playing cool music that got everyone dancing. For dinner I got a beef stew sandwich (incredible) and then afterwards, some mini pancakes with nutella. South Korea and Morocco were my next favorites.

 

Holland enterance

Cool social criticism and TV-moving, story-telling robots in South Korea

The American Pavilion! Feat. President Obama! (Michelle was here literally three days ago) 

I took so many pictures today, so those will all be uploaded soon! But for now, those are just some.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (I can't believe we made it)

We left right from out internships. I took the bus to the tram, and then the tram to the train station. Esther and I took the train from Le Mans to Paris - Montparnesse where we were told we could catch a shuttle to the Beauvais Aiport by taking the metro. So we took the metro to this shuttle stop, got on a charter bus that drove us for two hours to the airport north of Paris. We got to the airport only 50 minutes before our flight left which ended up being just enough time, and then we flew to Milan. We then took a cab from the airport to the hotel. That's 7 different means of transportation (if I counted correctly). The only major transportation we missed were boat, horse and buggy, and bike. 

The timing for it all worked out absolutely perfectly though. We literally got off one thing and straight onto the other - it was impeccable. The only downside is that it was so well timed that there wasn't any opportunity to get food. So after checking into the hotel at 11:45 pm, we threw our stuff down and walked down the street to find a bar or some place that would be open. Fortunately we found a restaurant with a man behind the counter who didn't speak English or French, only Italian, but was very friendly and cooked us risotto at 12:30 pm while Stevie Wonder sang to us in the background. We didn't tip him because we weren't sure if we we're supposed to - does anyone know if we should've??? In France you don't tip, but also in France that restaurant would've been closed because it's late at night and inconvenient for the workers. 

The hotel were staying in is absolutely gorgeous! Our room is ginormous and the bathroom here is about the size of our dorm rooms in Le Mans - we don't know what to do with all this space. We have our own little terrace that overlooks the street and there are a couple folding chairs in the closet that we can set up outside! I feel so incompetent not being able to say colors or even count to 10 in Italian, but this weekend is an adventure! So far, the three Italian people we've encountered have been very friendly and helpful, but we were also paying them (cab, hotel, food...) so who knows. Tomorrow is the worlds fair!!! So we're eating breakfast in the free-wifi-having hotel and then figuring out how to get to the expo from there! I cannot wait to go!!

Mom, I have some new landscaping ideas

Today we got to visit a beautiful Château in the city of Angers today with some of the prettiest gardens! (I'll upload pictures later, but right now it's too late and I'm too tired to fight with my phone...). We also got to see this incredibly huge and useless tapestry that depicted the apocalypse. It was 7 meters wide and 150 meters long. Divided into 6 sections, each section took two years to make. It's way too big to be displayed in a cathedral and it's too expensive for anyone to own, due to all the labor that went into it, unless you were a Prince because then you would buy it purely to show that he had enough money to buy it. The tapestry was gorgeous and it was amazing to see that humans could make something as fine as it by hand.

For the rest of the afternoon, we walked around the city, visited the cathedral of Angers, and then walked around a museum that used to be a medieval hospital (?). To be completely honest, I zoned out while the professor was explaining what the museum was, but I do know that it was attached to the cloister of an abbey. And currently, there are different tapestries depicting the end of human kind that were made in the '60s.

This evening, I was planning on going to bed early and just taking it easy all night, but instead I found out about a dance performance happening in the old city. So we met up with some of our French friends and we watched African, modern, tango, and tap dancing. It was so interesting because it was so casual and informal whereas in America, even novice performances are treated like professional productions. It was also cool because not everyone was good at the dancing - one of the African dances looked more like a Zumba-style, follow-the-leader type that a rehearsed dance. But it was cool to just sit back and watch what the locals can do! Also all the French women are very chic and literally all of them can pull off boyfriend jeans which is incredible. We hung out with our friends for a little while after the show, and then we headed back because I need to pack tonight! Tomorrow, I leave for the weekend for Milan and the World's Fair!! I am so excited I can barely contain it!

French BBQ

These past two days have been so long and so exhausting which is why I was, unfortunately, not able to post last night!

Yesterday, we had class in a medieval abbey and then right after, we got lunch in a local cafe where I got a delicious cheese and ham omelette. Then Ben and I were off to our stage where we were in the negotiations class again! This time we were put on two different teams and each team had to negotiate with the other. My team ended up losing the negotiation, but it was the final culmination of the class! The students in the class (all three of them) invited Ben and I to a BBQ at one of the students' house later that evening. So later, Ben and I were picked up from the University and driven to Nicolas' house!

French barbecues are similar to American barbecues in some ways but also so different in some other ways. For example, it was outside and Nicolas cooked kabobs of chicken and beef on a little Weber Grill. He also cooked hot dogs, but they were longer and thinner and probably of higher quality than American hot dogs. And the French don't eat hot dogs with buns, they eat them with baguette. They split the part of the baguette in half on the side and put in their ketchup and hot dog. I couldn't believe that they ate baguette with the hot dogs - they literally eat baguette with everything. For dessert, Nicolas put a round of Camembert on the grill in it's little paper box, until the box caught fire. Then it was wrapped in tinfoil and placed back over the coals on the grill. The cheese became gooey and warm, it was excellent served on baguette. We left campus at 7:30 and returned at about 12:30, so we spent a while at his house, but it was so much fun. It was great to meet some new French people and experience a French BBQ! Time flew by so quickly.

And then today, in class this morning we prepared for our trip to Angers tomorrow, where we will visit the castle and town there. And since today is Wednesday, we had the afternoon free so I took a 2-hour nap and eventually cleaned my room and ran to the grocery store for food! While I was trying to find people for dinner, there was a guy in the hallway knocking on doors and talking about a party later that night for all the students in the dorms. A group of us from the floor ended up going, and it was so much fun! I spent most of the evening talking with three Chinese girls who have been in Le Mans for the past 5 months. All three of them were studying French, but at first we talked in English because they were also able to practice it. After they learned that I could speak some French, we talked in more of a mix of French and English. One of the girls could do magic tricks, which she showed me, and they also like to sing songs like "We Will Rock You" or "Call Me Maybe". They also liked Avril Lavigne and the Backstreet Boys. They were so nice and so much fun to talk to and spend the night with!

One of the absolute coolest parts about studying abroad is all the new people one has the opportunities to meet. If it wasn't for this program, I probably would never have had the opportunity to meet as many French people as I have or get the opportunity to speak French with some girls from China. This experience has been an absolute blast.

My Run-In with Terminator/Steampunk Jesus

Today wasn't all that exciting - it's hard coming off of a high off of something as cool as the 24 Heures and having to go to class the next day.

Today we continued with the Medieval Ages and history is just not my thing. Not that I'm especially bad at it, but I just don't really care about why the "Dark Ages" is not a historically accurate term.

We also visited the Cathedral in Le Mans, after a two-hour lunch which consisted of delicious Asian food. The cathedral was very beautiful inside and it was build over a period of about 400 years. I can't imagine spending that much time on a single project, or having to find multiple generations of contractors to make that happen. After that, we debriefed as a group about our last stage and mentally prepared ourselves for the next day of the stage tomorrow, but overall it was just a chill, in-class day. It was a long day and I was out of the dorm literally all day, which was nice, but it was also nice to have a quiet night!

The Cathedral in Le Mans and the gorgeous little chapel in the back of the Cathedral (it reminds me of Saint Chapelle in Paris)

Terminator Jesus

My only real complaint about the north of France is that it never really gets warm. Sometimes it does, but it's more similar to Ohio in the fall and spring. For example, the high today was 73 and cloudy, but it didn't get up to 73 until about 4 o'clock and for that one hour, it was warm. For the rest of the day, it was not. In Ohio, when the high is 73, you know it's going to be 73 for most of the day. But in France, 73 means low 60s in the morning (until noon) and then for most of the night as well. Ohio is more extreme for sure, but at least you know it will get warm! I'm sure it doesn't get severely cold here like it does in Ohio. Apparently, it barely drops below freezing here in the winter, but c'est la vie!

I am a Tire-Changing Pro

Historically, from my TimeHop, today has been a really good day for me. One year ago, today was my grad party. Two years ago I was in Spain on my France trip with a group from High School. And four years ago, I was at Glee Live the concertso this day has been a really good day for me in the past four years! (Five years ago was the first day of Summer Health so that's not very good, but the other three years were great!). But I am happy to say that today has lived up to the history of today.

So today was the end of the Le Mans race, at 3pm. We got there around noon, so we were able to sit and watch the race for a little bit before we got up and walked around. Unfortunately, I was never able to buy my Porsche hat from Porsche's team shop, but we did get to stop by the Ford/Ferrari tent with all of these super old Ford's including the Ford that won 24 Heures in 1968(?). Ford hasn't really competed in this race since then, until this year. This year they weren't trying to win, but they wanted to make the most eco-friendly car that could complete the course (just completing the race is a huge accomplishment). Next year however, they're competing to win!

We then stopped by Toyota's tent where I ran into a friend from Akron! He was an exchange student at Akron from Le Mans, and he was working in the Toyota tent. He was running the tire-changing competition in the tent, which I rocked. I learned how pit crews change tires and I was able to change one tire in 21 seconds, so I'm almost up to the speed I need to work in one of the pits.

Me changing the tire like a pro

Finding a spot to watch the end was kind of difficult, but we found a close enough spot to the finish line! Porsche came in 1, 2, and 5; Audi came in 3, 4. Audi, I think, won last year and they're just so consistent but Porsche was breaking records in trial runs. Additionally, Patrick did not come in any of those top places, but his car did finish! We saw his car go around in the victory lap where all the cars travel in order of their place after the race ended. I felt like I definitely had something to do with his win even though I might not have.

The Le Mans race is excellent, and if you're ever in France while it's going on, I highly recommend it! Especially if you're a car enthusiast, or if you just like a good competition.

Side note - Milan is on! Plane tickets are bought and hotel rooms are booked! So that is where I will be next weekend!!

24 Heures du Mans

Today was the start of the infamous, internationally-adored car race that lasts for twenty-four straight hours in my, new to me, town of Le Mans, France. There are many, many tourists in the town which is awesome so I can take pictures of everything and be less self-conscious because everyone's taking pictures of everything. Specifically, there are a lot of Dutch and British people, but also people from Germany, Denmark, and some from the USA! But mostly British people, who are very friendly to talk to! It's fun to talk to them because they are foreign, but we can still communicate with them so easily.

So the race started today at 3pm, We got to the course around 12 and bought student tickets so they were half the price of everyone else's tickets which was phenomenal. The six of us ended up sitting on the inside of the track on this hay-covered-grassy area and by 2:30, the area was mostly filled. This is mainly a mans sport, not to say that there aren't women there, but there was probably five men to every woman. Additionally, there was always a line for the men's restroom, causing guys to just pee in the trees or against walls. I guess it's a guy thing because I don't get it.

It was super awesome to see the cars! They are very, very fast so getting a good picture of a specific car (Patrick Dempsey's Porsche!! #77) took a lot of patience and timing. After just looking through my pictures, I did not get a good picture or video of him at all... But I am now very good at spotting his car! Gray and white, with a light blue hood. And while it is super cool that he is a professional race car driver, he is also competing in the slowest group of cars. So there are four different classes of cars - from Formula One to cars that could be on the street (fast cars, but still street legal). PD is competing in the slowest group. But it's cool because all four classes of cars compete at the same time for the same 24 hours, so a lot of passing of the slower cars occurs.

(Side note - Patrick Dempsey, actor famous for his role in "Grey's Anatomy" recently died on the show. Why? Because he's considering moving out to Le Mans and is currently in the process of looking at castles to buy.)

Along with the actual race, a lot of the cars have official shops and sample cars that you can look at. For example, Audi had a replica of their Formula One (I think?) car that was racing so anyone could go up and look at it. All the cars we saw had Michelin Tires. The Michelin man didn't hug us while he was walking in the parade so we're still a little upset from that, but also where's Goodyear?? Why is Akron not represented here?

Overall, the race is excellent. There is so much to do and it's actually so much fun to watch the cars go around. It's truly incredible. A lot of people don't consider car racing a sport, which is fair. And I agree, it's not an athletic sports but it's still a competition. And yes, you need to have a good driver of course, but more importantly, you need a great car! It's more of a competition between the engineers behind the car than necessarily the drivers (side note, there are three drivers per car, who each take about 40 minute shifts at a time). What they're able to build is incredible and I won't be attending any Nascar events any time soon, but I would go back to the Le Mans race.

I'm in for the night, but we're leaving tomorrow at noon to go back to watch the end of the race! I'm cheering for Porsche - I can't wait to see how it ends!

Today I Touched Patrick Dempsey

The original title of this post was going to be "My Afternoon As an MBA Student" but then something more more exciting happened to me.

But this afternoon, I was a French MBA student. It was the second day of our stage and so Ben and I sat in on a negotiations class. I had no idea that there was so much to learn about negotiations - in the 3 hour class I attended today, we only covered Plan B and bluffing. Incredible. But the professor was awesome because he taught the class in half-English and half-French. Before they can graduate, the French students need to pass an English language exam so they said it was helpful to have the class half-and-half but I don't think they meant it - I think they were just accommodating Ben and me but I wasn't going to complain.

After an adventure on the bus and tram, we returned to centre ville where we watched the Parade des Pilotes (the parade of drivers!!!). French parades don't throw out candy (except for Porsche), they throw out papers and lanyards and keychains. But mostly papers with the drivers faces on them.

Porsche Gummies

The 24 Heures du Mans is a car race that lasts for twenty-four hours. It starts at 3pm tomorrow here and will continue until 3pm Sunday. There are three drivers per team, and they switch driving shifts about every 40 minutes. I'm leaving my dorm around 10am tomorrow to get there super early to buy tickets but also to get seats because it will be packed around the start line. So this parade today was to officially commence the race, even though there have been festivities all week long. In this parade, there were all of the drivers of the teams and all sorts of super cool cars. This Maserati was one of my favorites.

At dinner this evening, we were sitting next to some friendly Brits so we asked them about the race. One of the men told us that it was his fifth time coming and its the absolute best. There's such camaraderie between all the competitors that there's just no other sporting event like it.

Which brings me to Patrick Dempsey. He is one of the drivers on a team so he was in the parade today, which everyone (specifically me) was so excited about. He was definitely one of the most popular, if not the most popular drivers in the parade. He got out of his car to take pictures some people, but when he passed us, he was back in his car. We had our hands out and he was waving so he reached out and for a full half second, WE WERE HOLDING HANDS WITH PATRICK DEMPSEY. I like to think that it helped that he knew we were American because 1) we were loud and 2) I was yelling "Patrick" without an accent. Today was magical and Patrick Dempsey is a very nice person. 

Normandy Beaches

So today, our group traveled to Omaha Beach in Normandy - where American troops landed on D-Day.

The professor was able to point out where the troops were out in the water while we actually stood on the beach. 

After standing on the beach, we visited the American Cemetery behind the beach which was hauntingly similar to Arlington, with all the cross-shaped headstones in perfect, white lines.

We then visited Pointe du Hoc which was just a couple miles farther down the road. Allied soldiers climbed up the cliff to reach the German Artillery that rested on top. There are craters all over the top of the cliff from where bombs exploded and some of the cement German bunkers are still there so you can walk though them. They're very tiny, dark, and a little creepy.

A picnic lunch was eaten outside of the WWII museum, and then we spent the next three hours in the building. The museum was dedicated to WWII and parts were told from the French perspective. I've never experienced any perspective other than American so that was interesting for me. The museum was on par with any museum in the National Mall. It was very well done and all the information on the walls was written in French, English, and German. My only complaint is that the exhibit didn't end victoriously - it ended somberly. It talked about victory in Europe and in the Pacific Theater but it wasn't celebratory or happy, it was somber in memoriam of all the lives that were lost. Today was very informative and I currently have so much WWII knowledge.

France is Dirty and It's Great

Since today is Wednesday, we only have class in the morning and then we have the afternoon off! So I did absolutely nothing this afternoon and rested literally all afternoon in my room, which I haven't gotten a chance to do yet - there's been very little down time.

Today in class we talked about World War II, in preparation for our trip to the beaches of Normandy tomorrow! It was interesting to learn about how the French are taught about WWII in comparison to us. For example, as Americans, we are taught that America swooped in halfway through the war and saved the day, essentially winning the war. I didn't realize/know that the Soviet Union was actually the country that won the war. Also, we barely talk about the Japanese-American concentration camps in America, if they're mentioned at all. In France, they mostly talk about the war in Europe, not so much the war in the Pacific Theater, and a lot about concentration camps, which makes sense since the war and concentration camps actually happened in their country.

Our two countries also have very different ways of showing our nationalism. For example, we demonstrated the pledge of allegiance to the French students who found our chant very strange. I never thought about it before, but one of the French students compared learning the pledge at such a young age (around the age of 5? Whenever kindergarten is) to being similar to brainwashing.

Yesterday, Ben and I were riding back from the internship and chatting with the guy who was driving us back. I told him that we were from Akron and the US to which he said "oh, the American Dream". I just replied, "yeah, kind of I guess? But not really". It was so weird to me that the French (possibly the rest of the world) has this conception of the "American Dream" that American's don't really have. I asked him if he's ever visited the US and he said he hadn't because it's too expensive. I don't know what the American Dream is or why other countries don't have the "French Dream" or the "South Korean Dream", I feel like I'm living in a dream right now, but is that because I'm France or because American supplied me with the opportunities and resources to be in France right now?

Finally, not everything in France is sterile and I love it. For example, at the market on Sunday, the woman who was selling bread touched the bread she was talking about and then handled money. No gloves. No hand sanitizer. Not everyone showers ever day. Not everyone smells good 100% of the time. It's so interesting to be in a culture for this time. Everything here is clean, don't get me wrong, but it's not as sterile as everything in America. I am all about it.

Fun side note- right now the cars for the 24 Hours Race are practicing and I can hear them on the track with my dorm room window open (even a little bit with my window closed).

Oh Man, Was Today Long or What

Oh wow so today was a long day. I didn't eat breakfast because I was on facebook and ran out of time and then I didn't eat lunch because I forgot papers in my room that I needed for the afternoon in the dorm (res hall) so I had to run across town to get those and bring them back. So let me preface with that.

First thing in the morning, our own French Ross Geller took us around the Archaeology Museum in Le Mans. I've never met or seen anyone who gets more excited about the mesolithic period. The museum had some interesting artifacts, but there's only so long I can be focused on artifacts from 50,000 BCE on an empty stomach.

The real adventure began, however, after lunch time because today was the first day for the internship, which I didn't realize/remember when I woke up. It was then quickly a whirlwind where I was whisked away in the car of a master's student, named Corentin (I think), to the business school in Le Mans. On the way there, I talked to the doctoral student, Fatima (from l'Université du Maine, the school at which we're living and studying) the woman who set up the internship and when we arrived at the school, she told the people there that I could understand pretty well if they spoke slowly (everything was in French). For the first hour and a half at the school, we, Ben (another French student from Akron) and I, got a tour of the school, it was quick because the school's not too big. Then the two students, myself, Ben, and Fatima sat and talked with a couple students from the school until the professor was done with whatever he was doing. We talked about Akron, the popular sports in Akron, what we do at Akron, what they do in Le Mans, where they're from, and how we like France this far. Then Ben and I sat in a conference room and observed as the professor went through progress checks with Corentin and another masters student, Maxime, because they were at a "Checkpoint". They are both in separate work placements and at the end of July, they will both be done with school after a final presentation. So this checkpoint was to make sure they were ready, or at least starting to prepare for this final presentation. I didn't understand much of their projects, but it was helpful to be able to listen and read what they were talking about projected onto the wall as they edited the word document for the presentation. Everyone at the school was so incredibly kind as Ben and I stumbled and tried so hard to answer their questions and ask some of our own. A lot of nodding and saying "oui" or "d'accord" occurred today because I understood only about half of everything that was said to me.

Maxime was so nice and drove us home, since he lives in centre ville, close to a tram stop for us to take the tram back to the university. When we talked, he spoke in English and I spoke in French. Neither of us spoke the other language especially well, but well enough for us to understand each other. Also, conversations go quicker when the French speak English and the Americans speak French because neither of us can use words that are too confusing and the other person can immediately understand it all. After he parked, we got out of the car and Maxime shook Ben's hand. I also went in for a handshake to which he said, "Non, in France we faire les bises". So we did, which wasn't awkward, but I felt awkward that I forgot that that's what they did. So today was a huge, slightly frustrating learning curve because it's not fun to not always be understood/able to understand others. I think I'm going to enjoy this internship and I'm sure my French will improve immensely, but until then, it's frustrating to not be understood or able to say exactly what I want to say because I don't have the perfect word for it. Language is surprisingly significant - who knew!

First Day of Class

This morning, at 8:15, I ordered a pain au chocolat  and a café at the local boulangerie. And then it was the first day of class. The first class was from 9-noon and it was just expectations and a little bit of group work, but nothing difficult. This is my first true humanities class that I've ever taken and I've realized that the humanities isn't for me. There's a lot of questions like "what is humanities?" or "what is multiculturalism and why can it be both syncreitc and anti-syncretic" and the answers can be interesting, but the articles that we read to find the answers are not. L'ingénierie c'est bon pour moi.

Then it was lunch time. For lunch, I went to the university's cafeteria and it was beautiful! All the French students talked about how the food wasn't good at all, and they're not wrong, compared to the rest of the food in France. But compared to American cafeteria food, it was beautiful and delicious. I got fish with rice, and then chocolate mousse in a puff pastry sort of thing? It was very good, but the best part of the meal was the conversation. I spoke in French while the French students spoke back to me in English so we both got to practice the other language! It was so interesting to have a conversation like that. And then for any American students who didn't speak French at the table, they could still understand half the conversation.

The second class, after lunch, was slightly less interesting. It was about Gaulish religion in France, from about the 1st-5th centuries BC. It was the professor's first time teaching in English (since not everyone spoke French in the class) so she was a little bit stressed which made it even more difficult for her to talk. A couple hours after class, there was a reception in one of the administrative buildings with the students and faculty/President of the university. They had cider and delicious snacks, like thinly sliced baguette with butter and either smoked salmon (there is smoked salmon everywhere here) or prosciutto. But the best part of today was dinner. A French student from Akron, Farah, made samosas for the rest of us American French students and we had some of the French students over to our dorm as well to eat! There were about 15 of us in this little kitchen/eating area but it was so much fun to be able to talk and share a meal with them! Michael is making dinner tomorrow and hopefully they'll be able to come again! I'm nervous that I'll have to cook a meal, but my plan is to make breakfast for dinner because that's really the only food I know how to cook. Hopefully it won't come to that, but I feel so lucky to have so many friends who can cook!

French People Live in Medieval Buildings

Market Day!!!! Today was the first time I went to the open-air market here and it was everything I hoped it would be and more. One part of the market had lots of plants and flowers along with some books, clothes, shoes, and purses. However the other part had produce, cheese, meats (raw and cooked), wine, olive oil, fish, fresh crêpes, bread, pastries, and much more I'm sure I'm forgetting. The first time I walked through, I was so overwhelmed by everything around me that was happening! I wasn't sure how the lines worked or how I got help to pick out what I wanted, so I ended up going to the stands with the least amount of people at them (which probably wasn't a good sign about the produce...) but at least I was able to figure out what I wanted and how to ask for it with a little less pressure. I ended up buying strawberries, nectarines, a pot of flowers, and a baguette that stuck out of my tote bag in true French fashion. The market was so exciting and interesting and I can't wait to head back next Sunday morning!

After the market, I went to a play in the Cité Plantagenêt (the old city) put on by a local community-type theater. I understood some of what happened in the play, but the most interesting part was the "theater". The play took place in the cellar of a medieval house. It was cave-like and completely paved with stones, off which the sound bounced very well so no matter where the voice was coming from in the room, it could be heard very clearly! We then got to walk around the city with one of the French students, Pauline, who showed us good places to eat and the old Roman wall that defines one side of the city. From July 4 through August 29, there is La Nuit des Chimères during which pictures and stories are projected onto this wall with multiple projectors - similar, I believe, to the shows that take place on Cinderella's castle before the fireworks in Disney World where animations are projected onto the castle. She also told me that a lot of students live in the apartments in this part of the city because they're cheap. That absolutely blew my mind to imagine living in a medieval building - we have nothing even remotely similar to that in America. In addition, the buildings have been so well maintained that they're still inhabitable after ~8000 years? That's absolutely incredible to me. It's another example of how the French live their daily lives right next to this immense history and don't even bat an eye. I cannot imagine living in an apartment in which a family was once concerned about catching the black plague.

To finish off the evening, I went to a restaurant in the Cité Plantagenêt with Esther for dinner because all stores are closed on Sunday and we both forgot to buy food for dinner earlier in the week. We ended up going to Aux Cocottes Sarthoises without knowing what a cocotte was. It turns out, its a meal that is served in a small type of cast-iron skillet. I wanted the cocotte du jour but the waiter said that they weren't serving that so under pressure, I just randomly picked one which, I believe, was veal with cooked rice and carrots in a butter-cream sauce. It was absolutely incredible and I sopped up every last bit of it with the bread on the table. If nothing else, the food in France, Le Mans specifically, is wonderful even if you don't know exactly what you're ordering.