Today we bought tickets for 15 euro to see the opéra Orphée aux Enfers. One very cool thing about Avignon is that there are such interesting things within walking distance. Also, it was cute because Tomas, Hugo and Marie were in one of the scenes. We understood the general gist of the production due both to prior knowledge of the myth as well as the fact that the songs were subtitled (and sung) in French. Unfortunately, there was a lot of speaking in the opera, which made parts difficult to understand, as they tended to speak very fast. Oh well, overall, a very good show.
Anyhow, classes start tomorrow so we'll see how often I update this sucker. Now, I'm off to read some of La résistance expliquée à mes petits-enfants for class tomorrow.
30 March 2008
29 March 2008
Chez les Lestrelin
Today was good as well… I feel that after classes start these entries are going to be limited to weekend travels and smaller updates. Anyways… Today we toured Avignon a bit and started to get acquainted.
Christophe talking about the Palais des Papes (behind him)
A view from the top of the Palais des Papes: a vineyard (empty) and the Rhône with the Pont d'Avignon.. you all know the song, don't lie.)
At 16h45 here (1145am in Cincy), I had my phone interview with Rotary for the scholarship. I think it went really well, and I should have some news on that in a week or so. Mr. Dineen (the chair of the committee) is going to see if there’s any way to work out my being in France with the regional interviews. It was amusing because the hotel didn’t have a phone and I didn’t want to use my cell (which Michel told me to do) so I had to use a phone booth next to a super-busy street for the interview… but it went well.
My (SUPER AWESOME) bedroom: (No, really, Cait and I feel like we're living in a Homes & Gardens magazine... so goregous. I'll take more photos of the house later... Promise.
view from my balcony. Yes. there is a balcony.
view from the other window. That's the avenue de la violette.
Isabelle made us an amazing dinner tonight for us two. She had to take the three older kids (there are four: Marie [12], Hugo [9], Tomas [7], and Pauline [3]) to the opéra, since they're in it. Anyways, it was delicious. A salad with beets and tomatoes. Tabouli. Brie. Bread. Quiche... amazing.
It's definitely a hard life here in France.
At 16h45 here (1145am in Cincy), I had my phone interview with Rotary for the scholarship. I think it went really well, and I should have some news on that in a week or so. Mr. Dineen (the chair of the committee) is going to see if there’s any way to work out my being in France with the regional interviews. It was amusing because the hotel didn’t have a phone and I didn’t want to use my cell (which Michel told me to do) so I had to use a phone booth next to a super-busy street for the interview… but it went well.
My (SUPER AWESOME) bedroom: (No, really, Cait and I feel like we're living in a Homes & Gardens magazine... so goregous. I'll take more photos of the house later... Promise.
Isabelle made us an amazing dinner tonight for us two. She had to take the three older kids (there are four: Marie [12], Hugo [9], Tomas [7], and Pauline [3]) to the opéra, since they're in it. Anyways, it was delicious. A salad with beets and tomatoes. Tabouli. Brie. Bread. Quiche... amazing.
It's definitely a hard life here in France.
Yesterday's Post... the hotel didn't have internet.
Okay, so here we go. Now I can give a bigger update and add some photos as well. It’s kind of amusing, since I just changed my Word to French as the default language, therefore everything is underlined. I’m already completely adjusted to the time here, as we stayed up all day yesterday (hence the entry about how I was toute claquée by 3am). So that’s good.
Like I—very briefly—mentioned yesterday, our flights went very well. (See photo below of me and Cait at the Cincinnati airport before our first flight) I didn’t sleep a lot on the plane even with the wine we had with dinner (yes, they let us drink wine on the plane… Oh, how I love you, France) and the melatonin that I took… I wasn’t too happy when they served breakfast at 7am on the flight to Paris—little sleep and feeling gross will do that to you. Little did Caitlin and I know that we’d end up wearing the same outfits all day.
I think the first time it hit me that we really were in France was on our flight to Marseille when we were surrounded by people speaking French (we could actually understand a decent amount). Caitlin was seated behind me, which was fine, because I was seated next to a very nice couple who spent part of the flight talking to me about Marseille. I didn’t catch everything but, I got more than I had expected. I did realize however that I don’t understand celsius at all… I’ll definitely have to get used to that.
Mike met us in the aéroport without any problems and after putting all our baggage on a cart and finally in JP’s van, he gave us a tour of the countryside near Marseille. We got to see the sea—very blue and gorgeous with some little waves—and the beautiful areas around Marseille. The building all have an orange tint to them.
Mike currently lives (when he has to work in Aix-en-Provence) in a studio apartment attached to his parents’ house, which is actually the same house that they lived in when I was here eleven years ago. The entire family is amazing. I can’t believe how welcoming they were. What’s more, I understood about 90% of what they said (they only speak French) and we spent the past day and a half sitting around talking and eating. Jean-Pierre had us try vin d’orange at dinner, which is a wine he makes himself from les oranges sauvages (wild oranges) near the house. Very good (and what a cool concept… wine from oranges ??? Apparently it’s very provençal, according to Katy, one of our professors).
Yesterday night, we went to a pub in Avignon to meet Michel’s friend Rémy who teaches Physics at a high school in the interior of the ramparts. It was a lot of fun, sitting around a table, trying French beer and discussing our two countries… well, until the drunk Italian students came and sat around us, starting singing and, finally, dancing on the tables… Then we decided to leave. All in all, a great first day.
Today was great too. We finally were able to shower and change clothes (woo !) and then had a huge lunch with the family. It was our first time to try pastis (an apératif made with anis)… very… black licorice-y. Around five, Michel dropped us off in Avignon with the group, and we walked around a bit before going out to dinner at Wooloomooloo (a restaurant near the hotel, where we sat on the floor… very cool ambiance) and then Cait and I took a group and went to the pub again.
(At the restaurant Wooloomooloo with the group)
(Reunited at last with ma chère Carolina :))
(at the pub with some of the other OU-ers)
Tomorrow, we’ll tour the université, the other students will get their cell phones (Mike has a phone for me w/ a subscription that LITERALLY does everything but make coffee), and finally meet (and leave with) our host families. I also have an interview for the Rotary scholarship over the phone… I’m really nervous (I want this scholarship SO bad, even though Mike assures me that I can come on my own just as easily). We’ll see..
Like I—very briefly—mentioned yesterday, our flights went very well. (See photo below of me and Cait at the Cincinnati airport before our first flight) I didn’t sleep a lot on the plane even with the wine we had with dinner (yes, they let us drink wine on the plane… Oh, how I love you, France) and the melatonin that I took… I wasn’t too happy when they served breakfast at 7am on the flight to Paris—little sleep and feeling gross will do that to you. Little did Caitlin and I know that we’d end up wearing the same outfits all day.
I think the first time it hit me that we really were in France was on our flight to Marseille when we were surrounded by people speaking French (we could actually understand a decent amount). Caitlin was seated behind me, which was fine, because I was seated next to a very nice couple who spent part of the flight talking to me about Marseille. I didn’t catch everything but, I got more than I had expected. I did realize however that I don’t understand celsius at all… I’ll definitely have to get used to that.
Mike met us in the aéroport without any problems and after putting all our baggage on a cart and finally in JP’s van, he gave us a tour of the countryside near Marseille. We got to see the sea—very blue and gorgeous with some little waves—and the beautiful areas around Marseille. The building all have an orange tint to them.
Mike currently lives (when he has to work in Aix-en-Provence) in a studio apartment attached to his parents’ house, which is actually the same house that they lived in when I was here eleven years ago. The entire family is amazing. I can’t believe how welcoming they were. What’s more, I understood about 90% of what they said (they only speak French) and we spent the past day and a half sitting around talking and eating. Jean-Pierre had us try vin d’orange at dinner, which is a wine he makes himself from les oranges sauvages (wild oranges) near the house. Very good (and what a cool concept… wine from oranges ??? Apparently it’s very provençal, according to Katy, one of our professors).
Yesterday night, we went to a pub in Avignon to meet Michel’s friend Rémy who teaches Physics at a high school in the interior of the ramparts. It was a lot of fun, sitting around a table, trying French beer and discussing our two countries… well, until the drunk Italian students came and sat around us, starting singing and, finally, dancing on the tables… Then we decided to leave. All in all, a great first day.
Today was great too. We finally were able to shower and change clothes (woo !) and then had a huge lunch with the family. It was our first time to try pastis (an apératif made with anis)… very… black licorice-y. Around five, Michel dropped us off in Avignon with the group, and we walked around a bit before going out to dinner at Wooloomooloo (a restaurant near the hotel, where we sat on the floor… very cool ambiance) and then Cait and I took a group and went to the pub again.
Tomorrow, we’ll tour the université, the other students will get their cell phones (Mike has a phone for me w/ a subscription that LITERALLY does everything but make coffee), and finally meet (and leave with) our host families. I also have an interview for the Rotary scholarship over the phone… I’m really nervous (I want this scholarship SO bad, even though Mike assures me that I can come on my own just as easily). We’ll see..
28 March 2008
Toute claquée.
Hey all,
Just wanted to post a quick blog update (quick since—as you can tell from the title—I am COMPLETELY exhausted or claquée). Caitlin and I arrived safely and on time in Avignon and met Mike without any problem at all. Thankfully, he brought Jean-Pierre's camion (van) so that we could fit all our luggage inside.
Overall, I'm most excited about my french. So far, I've been able to communicate very easy with everyone without almost any problem. Aside from Caitlin and skyping home today, I haven't spoken english aside from a few words to anyone else today. Even at the airport. I LOVE IT.
I will have to edit this post tomorrow. I'm seriously stuggling to keep my eyes open. Cait and I decided to stay awake all day so that we would no longer be bothered by the "décalage horaire" (time difference). It'll be worth this tomorrow.
Will update tomorrow. Once rested. And showered.
Just wanted to post a quick blog update (quick since—as you can tell from the title—I am COMPLETELY exhausted or claquée). Caitlin and I arrived safely and on time in Avignon and met Mike without any problem at all. Thankfully, he brought Jean-Pierre's camion (van) so that we could fit all our luggage inside.
Overall, I'm most excited about my french. So far, I've been able to communicate very easy with everyone without almost any problem. Aside from Caitlin and skyping home today, I haven't spoken english aside from a few words to anyone else today. Even at the airport. I LOVE IT.
I will have to edit this post tomorrow. I'm seriously stuggling to keep my eyes open. Cait and I decided to stay awake all day so that we would no longer be bothered by the "décalage horaire" (time difference). It'll be worth this tomorrow.
Will update tomorrow. Once rested. And showered.
23 March 2008
Packing, weight limits, and million dollar shoes.
Spent the day at Kenwood with the family, getting stuff ready for the big day... which is now (as it's 12:13am), 3 days away. Wow. That's kind of surreal.
Anyways, I've started trying to pack... and well, I have lots of stuff. More importantly, lots of heavy stuff, apparently. There is going to be a lot of packing/unpacking happening before we take off on Wednesday, just saying.
And I should probably talk to Mike to make sure he's still down with picking us up at the airport. That would be important as well.
Seriously. 3 days. Me and my heavy luggage can't even believe it.
Anyways, I've started trying to pack... and well, I have lots of stuff. More importantly, lots of heavy stuff, apparently. There is going to be a lot of packing/unpacking happening before we take off on Wednesday, just saying.
And I should probably talk to Mike to make sure he's still down with picking us up at the airport. That would be important as well.
Seriously. 3 days. Me and my heavy luggage can't even believe it.
19 March 2008
5 pages away from departure.
I'm going to take a brief break from my Renaissance Final paper to update this sucker. Sofar I have 6 pages written (so 2-4 pages left there). Beyond that, I have a little under a page left of my French final, then I'll be home free. Mostly. I still need to print out and mail the letters for the libraries, but that won't be a problem. C'est facile.
As of today, there are only 8 days left until Cait and I leave for France. Very surreal, as I have been counting down since there were oh, 190 days or something. I'm crazy, what can I say. I talked to Mike briefly today, apparently he googled my host family and Cait and I will be living in essentially the center of historic Avignon. Mind you, I'm pretty sure everything in France is historic compared to the United States, but whatever.
I'm so happy that he's excited that I'm coming. I can't wait to meet him again. I mean, I met him when I was eight, bien sûr, but that really doesn't count. Especially since I spoke *zero* French. In planning my study-aboad/summer in France, I never even remotely imagined it'd turn out this well. Honestly, I expected to spend more time with Marie-Hélène and Gérard compared to Mike, Jean-Pierre and Maïté, like the last time I was there.
I sent Marie, Delphine and Mike all emails saying I was coming, fully expecting to spend amounts of time with them in that order, since I knew Marie, then Delphine better. I definitely never expected to talk to Mike as much as I do and definitely didn't expect him to be so excited about my coming to visit. I've gone from hoping I'd get to see him while I'm there, to having him pick me up at the airport in Marseille, going to see several concerts with him in Marseille/Montpellier, and then, after I'm done with my research/our trip to Italy, spending a month and a half either hanging out in Miramas or Eyragues or voyaging around Europe. I'm so excited. It's very cool for me, because he's kind of turning into a big-brother type person, which I've always kind of wanted. Example, today he told me he wanted to introduce me to one of his friends who lives in Avignon, in case I have any problems, because his friend could be there faster than he could. Probably unnecessary as we have Christophe, but still very cool. I think that knowing he's nearby has definitely made me a lot less nervous about picking up and moving to a foreign country for 5 months.
Anyways, I should probably finish this stupid final. After tomorrow, I never want to think about Edmund Spenser or The Faerie Queene again... or at least for awhile. I also have my interview tomorrow w/ Dr. Duvert to be the 200-level French tutor next year... I had the one for the 100-level w/ Prof. Moretti-Coski last night, so hopefully one of them pans out. We'll see!
Alrighty... here I go. Back to the Protestant Elect.
As of today, there are only 8 days left until Cait and I leave for France. Very surreal, as I have been counting down since there were oh, 190 days or something. I'm crazy, what can I say. I talked to Mike briefly today, apparently he googled my host family and Cait and I will be living in essentially the center of historic Avignon. Mind you, I'm pretty sure everything in France is historic compared to the United States, but whatever.
I'm so happy that he's excited that I'm coming. I can't wait to meet him again. I mean, I met him when I was eight, bien sûr, but that really doesn't count. Especially since I spoke *zero* French. In planning my study-aboad/summer in France, I never even remotely imagined it'd turn out this well. Honestly, I expected to spend more time with Marie-Hélène and Gérard compared to Mike, Jean-Pierre and Maïté, like the last time I was there.
I sent Marie, Delphine and Mike all emails saying I was coming, fully expecting to spend amounts of time with them in that order, since I knew Marie, then Delphine better. I definitely never expected to talk to Mike as much as I do and definitely didn't expect him to be so excited about my coming to visit. I've gone from hoping I'd get to see him while I'm there, to having him pick me up at the airport in Marseille, going to see several concerts with him in Marseille/Montpellier, and then, after I'm done with my research/our trip to Italy, spending a month and a half either hanging out in Miramas or Eyragues or voyaging around Europe. I'm so excited. It's very cool for me, because he's kind of turning into a big-brother type person, which I've always kind of wanted. Example, today he told me he wanted to introduce me to one of his friends who lives in Avignon, in case I have any problems, because his friend could be there faster than he could. Probably unnecessary as we have Christophe, but still very cool. I think that knowing he's nearby has definitely made me a lot less nervous about picking up and moving to a foreign country for 5 months.
Anyways, I should probably finish this stupid final. After tomorrow, I never want to think about Edmund Spenser or The Faerie Queene again... or at least for awhile. I also have my interview tomorrow w/ Dr. Duvert to be the 200-level French tutor next year... I had the one for the 100-level w/ Prof. Moretti-Coski last night, so hopefully one of them pans out. We'll see!
Alrighty... here I go. Back to the Protestant Elect.
04 March 2008
Book Reports, Freak-outs, &c.
Ah, it is officially Tuesday and therefore 22 days until I leave the country. It is also the day of the Ohio Primary, but that really takes second, well third, burner to the countdown and my large amount of homework that remains. All that stands between me and moving home/packing is:
1 English Tutorial paper
4 French Tutorial papers
1 Book Review for Me Talk Pretty One Day and A Year in Provence
1 English Final Paper prospectus
156182647125 (7) letters to the libraries in France I need to visit
1 Final French paper on Aliénor d'Aquitaine
1 Final English paper on a subject that still needs to be determined.
----
Approximate Page Total Remaining: 37
Already Accrued Page Total For Quarter: 70(ish)
What a waste of paper my life is.
Anyways. Not the point of this entry.
Point is: I'm beginning to freak out a little about leaving. Mostly subconciously (i.e. wacky Frenchified dreams), but still a bit nervous about leaving for 5 months. It's an interesting juxtaposition of feelings—being un peu terrified and being more excited than I've ever been. Everything that happens to me nowadays unavoidably has one of several thoughts appended to it: "The next time ______ happens, I'll be in France," "Only x more times of _____ and I'll be done and leaving for France" etc etc... you get the drift.
Now, if only I'd stop having terrifying dreams where no one understands my French and I wake up in a panic. I could live without those. Oh well, I suppose in 22 days those dreams, like my countdowns, will inexorably come to an end.
1 English Tutorial paper
4 French Tutorial papers
1 Book Review for Me Talk Pretty One Day and A Year in Provence
1 English Final Paper prospectus
156182647125 (7) letters to the libraries in France I need to visit
1 Final French paper on Aliénor d'Aquitaine
1 Final English paper on a subject that still needs to be determined.
----
Approximate Page Total Remaining: 37
Already Accrued Page Total For Quarter: 70(ish)
What a waste of paper my life is.
Anyways. Not the point of this entry.
Point is: I'm beginning to freak out a little about leaving. Mostly subconciously (i.e. wacky Frenchified dreams), but still a bit nervous about leaving for 5 months. It's an interesting juxtaposition of feelings—being un peu terrified and being more excited than I've ever been. Everything that happens to me nowadays unavoidably has one of several thoughts appended to it: "The next time ______ happens, I'll be in France," "Only x more times of _____ and I'll be done and leaving for France" etc etc... you get the drift.
Now, if only I'd stop having terrifying dreams where no one understands my French and I wake up in a panic. I could live without those. Oh well, I suppose in 22 days those dreams, like my countdowns, will inexorably come to an end.
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