Coteaux du Layon

Today we had the honor of visiting le mayor of Angers, and a museum filled with tapestries not typically open to the public. After some kind words, we got to sample a wine from the Loire Valley: Coteaux du Layon. Now many of you know that I do not really drink that much, but this was incredible...needless to say we'll need to find out how to buy some of this from time to time. It was really sweet, but really good....The few glasses of wine I've had these past few weeks have been excellent, early day tomorrow I have class from 8 to 5, then I think I need to do some laundry....the vacation is over

Pat

The house

The house in Angers
Originally uploaded by supermarioguy

Here is the view from the front, nothing too elaborate, but it looks nice on the inside. If you go in and head up the stairs, that is where Jacqueline lives..She has a nice living area with a computer and a nice flat screen tv, a good size kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. I live on the first floor with another student in different rooms and we have our own area for preparing meals or eating with a little kitchen and a bathroom...this leads into the pictures of the garden that I posted when I first got here. It is a nice place. In other news, I'm excited to learn about where and how I can play ping pong in France, my professor is going to help me get that info tomorrow, bonsoir!

Mt St Michel: A Great Excursion

Mt St Michel
Originally uploaded by supermarioguy

Wow, today started at 6:45 am, loading the bus at the university to go to Mt St Michel, and the city St Malo...We get on the bus to hear our enthusiastic director Marc Melin: "un, deux, trois, bonjour!"...I'll get a picture with him eventually, he is the director of the program that I'm in at the university, and he goes on the excursions and shows us things on the bus. That picture is Mt St Michel, a nice island place that can't really be described in words, but it is incredible. After a great few hours of walking around and taking in the sights there, we headed to St Malo, a city that was bombed during WWII and rebuilt..Now there are a ton of tourist places and creperies mixed in with some good landmarks like chateaus and churches. As I see more of these it's easy to take them for granted, but there are unique features about each place, they are really stunning. So it was a great day of seeing the sites, eating on the rocks at Mt St Michel, and discovering great local crepes with housemade dark chocolate and local cider at St Malo. Now time to get back to school for the week before more excursions next Friday afternoon and Sunday!

What you can always do in a French city

So I've been in France for over a week now and I've spent time in 3 cities. Now there are big differences, but also several similarities between these towns.. Some of these things will seem obvious, but this is the truth as far as I can tell so far from my time in France:

Top 4 things you can always do in a French city (depending on the time of day)
1. Go to the boulangerie and buy a baguette or croissant- easy enough, these places are everywhere, it's up to you to see which ones are better, or to try different breads. I eat normally the demi, the half size, since it's better for one person.

2.Have a drink or eat at a cafe- There are also tons of cafes, not just restaurants, but cafes or brasseries..sometimes you can only have a drink and you can't order any food, but rest assured these places will be around.

3.Go to the pharmacy- And we're not talking like CVS or Rite-Aid, these are places that are on all the streets, noted with a green cross..And they have just about every kind of cream or lotion that you could think of. When I bought sunscreen in Paris, the pharmacist was questioning me like it was a very serious purchase, very different than our idea of a pharmacy.

4.Get a haircut, as simple or as complex as you make it- So I got a haircut in Paris, and I think it took me longer deciding where to go than it did for the actually cut, but these places are not the average chain, there are tons and tons of places, some chains, some not. They are all over the place, and the prices can be anywhere from 10 or a little more to 30, 40 euro for a haircut.. Incredible!

That is what I've noticed in the cities I've been in, obviously there is much more to do than this, but there are the common things that I've seen.

Bon week-end

Bubbly: Perrier, Colbie Caillat, and the Hypermarche

What I bought at the hypermarche
Originally uploaded by supermarioguy

So my friend and I were placed in level 4, a little shocking and kind of sad for us, but it was just one test. The material is probably going to be a little easier in September, we will probably bump up to level 5 or higher for October if we do well. That being said, I learned a lot, and I mean a lot..My professor, Stephane Morin, is very smart and funny. He also really enjoys ping pong! Small world, huh?

Anyways, getting to the point of the post, the hypermarche. Obviously there is a supermarket, but then you have a strip of stores like a mall, a clothing part to it, and they sell all kinds of things. So having said that, I was able to get some Perrier ( my drink of choice in France, and sometimes in the US) and the latest Colbie Caillat CD all in one place! I have high hopes for this cd, hopefully it'll calm me down after a long day of intensive language courses..

The positives and negatives of French cuisine

Alright, so I took the test to see which level I fall into for the language classes. We find out what happens tomorrow morning. There are 8 levels, 1 meaning you don't know how to say hello, and 8 means that you can understand pretty much everything the director is saying, so I'll let you know how that turns out. But I wanted to talk about food. Take today for example.
Petit Dejeuner (breakfast) : toasted baguette with homemade peach jam at the house, and a cup of hot chocolate, very good. A simple French meal, a hot drink and some baguette with jam or butter..

Also always assume that lunch and dinner is served with bread.
Dejeuner (lunch): at the university mind you, It started off with a kind of pate, as you know a famous French food of who the heck knows what it is..That didn't sit well with me, followed by salmon, and I really don't eat fish, so now I'm 0 for 2. At least it was salvaged by some tomatoes and rice and a peach pie....but the pitts were still in the peaches! quite odd..

Le diner (normally will be at 7 pm at the house): She made this great Veal with a wine sauce, rice, cucumbers mixed with a cream sauce, and fresh tomatoes from her garden. Very good!! This is the type of cooking I've been waiting for!

I feel great about the food at the house, but I'm not too optimistic about the university cuisine, hopefully it gets better as time goes on..until then, I refuse to eat any more pate..yikes.

Here we go!

My room
Originally uploaded by supermarioguy

Here we are, in Angers..just moved in with the host mom, Madame Ramakers. She has two dogs, and I'm staying on the lower level of her house in my own room. She has a beautiful veranda and garden also, and there is a piano so I plan on playing and or recording when I can. Also here in another room is a student from North Carolina who will be studying at the university here as well. It feels great to finally be free of luggage and to have things sorted out a bit. The next few days are going to be interesting as I have a dinner here tonight, and then orientation and a test tomorrow morning at the university. It is going to get very interesting. All of a sudden it is September 1st and school is in session!

And yes, she has wifi, and it took a while but I figured out how to make it work with her help, very useful!

Here goes a semester at the Centre International D'Etudes Francaises!

-Pat