It has been quite a while since I have update my blog! The time is just flying by. :( Last week we had some more meetings with Stéphane which were actually helpful because we learned about the "teacher's library". It's pretty much a place where you can check teaching material out. Pretty handy! After our meeting we all (minus Ashley) went to a restaurant for lunch. One we had been to before but I'm not sure if I wrote about it. Anyway.. at this restaurant they have HUGE sandwiches for a reasonable price and I was starving so I got a steak sandwich with french fries and cheese! YES. The fries were INSIDE of the sandwich. It was definitely heaven on earth!
On Friday, I went to my two other schools that I hadn't been to and the director's at both were super nice and helpful. I had called them both on Thursday to see if it was ok that I was coming in and the first school said that it was fine and that I could go in at 8:20am or 10:20am. I thought I would go at 8:20am just to get everything sorted out and have plenty of time to make it to my other school. So I took the early bus from the foyer, got off half way to town, walked to the next bus stop, took that bus and TRIED to get off at the correct bus stop but the doors weren't opening. The girl that wanted to get off at that stop was also pushing the button on her side and nothing was happening. We both started yelling "monsieur! monsieur!" and he was like "well you should have pushed the button!" I was so angry and I thought I was going to miss my next bus so I got off at the next stop and walked back to where I was supposed to be at. When I got there I looked at the schedule for my bus and realized that there are only two.. one at 8:01am and one at 8:32am.. it was 8:11am and I was supposed to be there at 8:20am. So I called the director and told him what was happening and he told me that he would be in class when I got there so that I should just go in at 10:20am. I figured that I could still take the 8:32am bus and just walk around, maybe get coffee at a café or something and just wait until 10:20am..maybe find the school as well since I had never been there. Well the bus stop is literally right in front of the school so there it was and all around were houses. Nothing to walk around and look at (without being creepy) and no cafés. So I figured that I would just go into the school.. :/ I interrupted his class for a little bit and he helped with everything but I felt so bad! It took about 15 minutes to get everything sorted out so then I headed back home .. to take a nap of course.
I took a nap and then I had some lunch before I had to head to the next school which is in a nearby city called Louverné. It's not too far..by bus it took about 15 minutes. I got there about an hour early because there weren't any other buses so I walked around looking for the school... the town was pretty much deserted..and then I found a café with about 50 men and no women. This place seriously has an issue with an abundance of (nasty, creepy) men. So unfortunately I had to walk up to them and ask where the school was at... they kindly explained while looking me up and down and then I said "merci" as quickly as possible and walked away. I found a bench to sit at so I played sudoku on my phone. I never really got into that game but it was fun to play on my phone. Finally when it was time I went to the school and met with the director. She was also super nice and super helpful. She complimented my French *woop woop* :D and then I headed home. The other assistants had a super busy day spending most of their day at the schools but mine just sent me on my way!
When I was on my way home I got off at the wrong stop thinking it was close to the foyer but I actually ended up walking for about 15 minutes. hahahaha
Let's rewind a bit! I have been wanting to get a cell phone with a plan rather than prepaid because in the long run it's cheaper. Then Mamie told me that she and Ben had been thinking about getting BlackBerry's which I don't know why it never crossed my mind. I guess I just assumed that it would be super expensive. So I went and asked about the BB's and they told me that it would bet he same price as the other phone I was going to get anyway so I decided to get that one. EXCEPT I needed my bank card and I had gone to the bank that morning to pick it up but my PIN number would come separately in the mail so I couldn't use it until then. The banker said it would probably arrive on Friday so all along I had Friday programmed in my head for getting my BB.
So FINALLY after I arrived from the school in Louverné on Friday I checked my mail and sure enough, my PIN number had arrived. I ran up to my room opened the envelope, grabbed my things and back out the door I went. I went to the bank to deposit some money. I asked the lady if I could use it right away (so that I could finally buy my phone) and she said no. I would have to wait until Saturday morning. KILL ME. Since I was already half way into town I decided to go to SFR (the cell phone company) and clarify things with the cell phone plan so that it would all be ready for the next day.
On my way there at one of the bus stops, people were getting off and a guy walked by with his friend and he waved at me... I have also trained myself to not respond to those nasties so I just turned my head. (ok, he wasn't that nasty...he was actually quite good-looking) I went to SFR where they told me that they longer had then BB that I wanted (the 9300 BOLD) and that they had no idea when they would be getting more. Maybe the next week, maybe in 2 weeks maybe a month... I was sick of waiting so I decided to just walk to the next cell phone store Bouygues and see what their plans were with the BB's. On my way there I took a shortcut through a parking lot and I heard a man (in French) say "Could you please hurry up ma'am otherwise I'm going to crash my car." I looked up and realized it was the same guy who had waved at me and I couldn't help but smile. EEK! He asked me what my name was and I kept walking.. he asked me again, and I said nevermind...he asked if I was French.. I shook my head no...he asked if I was another nationality I can't remember what..and I shook my head no... then he asked if I was Spanish but by then he had to turn and I was going straight so the awkwardness stopped but it was a bit embarrassing because I had nowhere to go and he was driving alongside me.
So I got to bouygues finally and I saw a guy helping some people so I started looking at a pamphlet pretending to know what I was looking at and then a beautiful man walked out from the back and said "bonjour" ... I'm so intimidated by good-looking men!! OF COURSE this would happen to me! lol so I told him what the situation was and that I wanted a BB. He explained everything to me but since my card wouldn't work until Saturday I told him but he wanted to try anyway.. it didn't work so I told him I would go back the next day. I was so excited that I would finally be getting my BB! The only thing is that they had the 9300 but it was 59€ with a 50€ rebate or BB Curve for 1€...Since I wanted to eat for the rest of the week I decided to buy the cheaper one because all BB's rule..except for my old one.. and I just really liked it and was eager to get it.
I walked back to the foyer from downtown because the buses stopped running at 5:30pm by the foyer because I live right next to the soccer stadium and there was a Laval game that night.
this blog is so long I will continue later tonight. my fingers hurt.
love ya'll <3 bisous
Monday, October 17, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
Update from Laval
So it has been a while since I have updated you all so I don't even remember where I left off or what even happened last week. :/
Every assistant has a contact person here in France to help us out with finding our schools, planning and pretty much just make things easier for us. Mine is named Stéphane and he is the contact person for the elementary school assistants. There are five of us. Three Americans (Ashley, Sara and myself) and two British girls (Sophie and Louise). We all live at the foyer and pretty much spend all of our free time together. Which is good and bad because no French is spoken during those times which bothers me a little. I wish I spoke more French but it's hard to find someone to just speak French with at all times. Anyway.. Since we don't start actually teaching until next week we have been having meetings every few days to prepare and ask any questions that we may have. Stéphane is really nice and super funny so we usually have a good time. He has been preparing us in any way possible. On Thursday we all had to call our schools and inform the "directors" that we would be attending the school on Friday to observe how French schools work. Talking on the phone in a foreign language is always nerve racking because you can't see their expressions or read lips!! It went way better than I thought it would and the director was super nice.
For dinner the foyer had a "moules et frites" night which consisted of mussels and french fries. Judge me all you want but it was delicious! The mussels aren't exactly filling so I had chicken afterwards and then I felt like I was going to explode but guess who had dessert afterwards? YUPP! moi. :D It was an apple pie but as much as it's an apple pie it tastes nothing like an american apple pie.. it's a hundred times better. Then we all just hung out in the bar area and played pool and darts. That all quickly turned into sitting and talking because no one was really good at any of it.
On Friday I woke up early and got ready for the day. I made eggs for breakfast and headed out to the my main school. This school is called Badinter which is right next to the building where we meet Stéphane. On Thursday I went back into town and looked for it because I knew that it was close to the building but I wasn't sure exactly where it was at. I walked around the whole block to find out that it's right next to the building where we have been meeting for almost two weeks! haha I felt a little dumb but relieved that I knew where to go for the next morning. Back to Friday! So I took the bus to my school and of course I got there super early. The director had told me to meet him at 8:20am but I arrived at 8am because I didn't want to be late. I sat in his office and he didn't arrive until 8:30am. Oops! He explained that the school is particularly for troubled families and that sometimes things get intense and the kids get out of control. He introduced me to all of the teachers but no one was particularly nice to me. I asked him which class I should visit first and the youngest teacher said "why not?" in his best English.
I ended up going to his class first even though he teaches the equivalent to kindergarten which I will not be teaching but I just observed. The teachers in France are hardcore. At times I felt as if I was at bootcamp. They are so intense and so mean to the kids that it's kind of sad to watch at times because kids are kids! Anyway, I learned a few things about the school that will definitely help me later on. School starts at 8:30am and then they get a break at about 10:15am for 15 minutes or so. Then lunch is from 11:30am to 2:30pm ..yes two hours!! INSANITY. At 2:30pm classes start again with a break at 3:45ish and then school is over at 4:30pm. Their schools obviously get out later than they would ever end in the states but they also get a two hour lunch. Stéphane told us that in Laval EVERYONE takes a two hour lunch no matter where you work. I was able to go back to my apartment for lunch and then head back. On my way back the bus overheated so we had to get off and wait for the next one which almost made me late for my next class but I made it just in time! I was worried I would be late and make a bad impression but it was raining and I didn't have an umbrella so I didn't want to walk the rest of the distance.
Friday was such a tiring day even though I wasn't teaching, it was tiring being with children all day long. I got back to my apartment ate some pasta from the night before nd then took a nap. I only intended to take an hour nap but it ended up being a four hour nap. I knew I wouldn't be able to fall asleep for a while so I downloaded Gossip Girl and How I Met Your Mother so I would have something to do in my room. I finally fell asleep at 2am which wasn't bad considering I woke up from my nap at 8pm.
On Saturday I woke up and packed to go to Tours for the weekend. Ashley and I wanted to get the rest of our clothes from Romain's so we last minute booked tickets to Tours. We arrived in Tours at around 4pm, quickly ran to a flower shop next to the train station, bought flowers for Romain's parents and jumped on the bus from Tours to Monts which took about 45 minutes due to traffic. It usually is closer to half an hour but the traffic was crazy. We finally got to Romain's and we went upstairs to Romain's room and woke him up from his nap. *Oops!* We watched a French (comedy) movie about some kids that go on a field trip and a lot of things happen throughout the trip and then we watched one episode of How I Met Your Mother. Afterwards we ate yummylicious dinner with his family and watched some TV. There was a singing show called "Sing Off" which was acapella singers but they were horrible. We cleaned up and then got ready to go out. Benjamin came over and then we headed out.
We went back into Tours and headed to Place Plumereau (the usual place) and met up with some friends, Frank, Delphine, Thomas/Toto, Cindy, Aurélien, Amandine and another girl but I forgot her name. :( I wasn't feeling very well so I didn't drink anything the whole night because I didn't want to make it worse. After Place Plum (pronounced ploom not like the fruit) we headed to le Pacio (the usual club) but It was only Romain, Benjamin, Aurélien, Ashley, Amandine and me. We all went in but the music was horrible so we only danced for a few songs and then we left. Romain kept apologizing for the music always being terrible when we go but it was obviously not his fault. We were going to go back to his house and watch How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM) but we decided to go to McDonald's instead to get McFlurries. Since I can't have milk products I got a small fries but they were the size of a medium so I could barely finish them all. We sat in Romain's car and Aurélien and Amandine sat in her car so we rolled the windows down and talked like that. Very random but it was fun. :) When we got home we all went straight to bed because Romain (Roro) & Benjamin (Choco) had soccer the next morning. I hadn't been to a soccer game in forever so I wanted to go watch. I slept for a total of three hours and then woke up to go to the soccer game. It was freezing cold out and raining so Romain's dad lent me a rain jacket (what a cutie!). Since I had plenty of time to spare I sat down and talked to him about rugby and soccer for about 20 minutes while we ate breakfast and while Roro got ready.
The game was in a small town outside of Monts called Azay le Rideau. It was at a new stadium that had just been built and had astroturf. It was actually super nice but they don't have bleachers which I didn't quite understand. Anyway, I sat on the turf and watched the boys play soccer in the windy and cold weather. They don't understand how I can have fun watching them play soccer but I actually love it. Roro ended up scoring at the very last second of the game and then we went back to his house and looked at pictures from his parent's recent trip to Turkey. There are some crazy things in Turkey! We ate lunch right after ..a delicious lunch. I don't know what it is but everything here is so delicious. We could eat the same thing in the states and it wouldn't taste as delicious. Roro's parents are the sweetest people ever! When they host us they go above and beyond to make sure we are comfortable. The only thing they don't change is how quickly they speak. Which is nice to know that I can understand it but when I can't I feel bad having them repeat it. I really do wish that I had more opportunities to speak French and perfect my accent.. which I understand that will never disappear but I wish it would sound more natural when I speak.
ANYWAY, after lunch we helped Roro's mom clean up and then we packed our suitcases and watched yet another episode of HIMYM. Then we all headed to the train station. Roro's train to Paris left five minutes after ours so they helped us get our big luggage onto the train and then he went to his train.
When we go to Tours from Laval or vice versa we have to connect in a city called Le Mans. I had originally thought that our connection time was around an hour because that what it had been the past few times but luckily I checked again and it was only a ten minute connection. Of course we had to go down a ton of stairs and back up a ton of stairs to get to the next train which hadn't arrived yet. You never know how long the train will stop for so you have to hurry up just in case it only stops for a few minutes. Of course we had assigned seating and our car was the second to last. There you have Ashley and I hauling our huge bags through the crowd. When we finally got on the train I was sweating and the place where you store luggage was completely full. Since my suitcase has four wheels I couldn't just leave it and go sit down. I also couldn't lay it on it's side because it would have blocked the aisle. I stood on the train trying to not fall over for forty minutes until we finally arrived in Laval. Luckily the train station is no more than 10 minutes away from the foyer so we made it back alright. I only have one flight of stairs to go up to get to my apartment but Ashley has four...and the biggest suitcase in the world with one working handle. I brought my bag to my room and went to help Ashley. She was pretty much half way there by the time I arrived but I helped her carry it the rest of the way. I don't even know how she got it as far as she did. I would have given up for sure. I unpacked a bit and then headed to bed.
Today we had a meeting with Stéphane to recap on what had shocked us at our schools and to give us some tips on how to create a lesson for our classes. After our meeting we all came back to the foyer and then headed to the big super market Carrefour. I bought some more groceries and some things that I had realized that I needed for my apartment that I had forgotten before. Now my apartment is more complete with place mats and coasters (Thanks to my mom for making me feel like I cannot live without them!). Hopefully it's the last time that I have to shop until I at least get paid. Tomorrow I have to go into the bank and get my French debit card. ;) so pumped! and then I will be getting a new cell phone. WHOO! We are also going as a group to get our social security stuff figured out. I hope it all works outtttt. :D
Happy birthday to PAO!!! My beautiful sister :D :D :D I wish I could celebrate with you but we are on complete opposite sides of the planet right now.. :( Have a great day at Universal Studios with momma and George!
Hopefully tomorrow I have more time to give a more detailed description on my observation at school. ;)
love ya'll
Valé
gros bisous <3
Every assistant has a contact person here in France to help us out with finding our schools, planning and pretty much just make things easier for us. Mine is named Stéphane and he is the contact person for the elementary school assistants. There are five of us. Three Americans (Ashley, Sara and myself) and two British girls (Sophie and Louise). We all live at the foyer and pretty much spend all of our free time together. Which is good and bad because no French is spoken during those times which bothers me a little. I wish I spoke more French but it's hard to find someone to just speak French with at all times. Anyway.. Since we don't start actually teaching until next week we have been having meetings every few days to prepare and ask any questions that we may have. Stéphane is really nice and super funny so we usually have a good time. He has been preparing us in any way possible. On Thursday we all had to call our schools and inform the "directors" that we would be attending the school on Friday to observe how French schools work. Talking on the phone in a foreign language is always nerve racking because you can't see their expressions or read lips!! It went way better than I thought it would and the director was super nice.
For dinner the foyer had a "moules et frites" night which consisted of mussels and french fries. Judge me all you want but it was delicious! The mussels aren't exactly filling so I had chicken afterwards and then I felt like I was going to explode but guess who had dessert afterwards? YUPP! moi. :D It was an apple pie but as much as it's an apple pie it tastes nothing like an american apple pie.. it's a hundred times better. Then we all just hung out in the bar area and played pool and darts. That all quickly turned into sitting and talking because no one was really good at any of it.
On Friday I woke up early and got ready for the day. I made eggs for breakfast and headed out to the my main school. This school is called Badinter which is right next to the building where we meet Stéphane. On Thursday I went back into town and looked for it because I knew that it was close to the building but I wasn't sure exactly where it was at. I walked around the whole block to find out that it's right next to the building where we have been meeting for almost two weeks! haha I felt a little dumb but relieved that I knew where to go for the next morning. Back to Friday! So I took the bus to my school and of course I got there super early. The director had told me to meet him at 8:20am but I arrived at 8am because I didn't want to be late. I sat in his office and he didn't arrive until 8:30am. Oops! He explained that the school is particularly for troubled families and that sometimes things get intense and the kids get out of control. He introduced me to all of the teachers but no one was particularly nice to me. I asked him which class I should visit first and the youngest teacher said "why not?" in his best English.
I ended up going to his class first even though he teaches the equivalent to kindergarten which I will not be teaching but I just observed. The teachers in France are hardcore. At times I felt as if I was at bootcamp. They are so intense and so mean to the kids that it's kind of sad to watch at times because kids are kids! Anyway, I learned a few things about the school that will definitely help me later on. School starts at 8:30am and then they get a break at about 10:15am for 15 minutes or so. Then lunch is from 11:30am to 2:30pm ..yes two hours!! INSANITY. At 2:30pm classes start again with a break at 3:45ish and then school is over at 4:30pm. Their schools obviously get out later than they would ever end in the states but they also get a two hour lunch. Stéphane told us that in Laval EVERYONE takes a two hour lunch no matter where you work. I was able to go back to my apartment for lunch and then head back. On my way back the bus overheated so we had to get off and wait for the next one which almost made me late for my next class but I made it just in time! I was worried I would be late and make a bad impression but it was raining and I didn't have an umbrella so I didn't want to walk the rest of the distance.
Friday was such a tiring day even though I wasn't teaching, it was tiring being with children all day long. I got back to my apartment ate some pasta from the night before nd then took a nap. I only intended to take an hour nap but it ended up being a four hour nap. I knew I wouldn't be able to fall asleep for a while so I downloaded Gossip Girl and How I Met Your Mother so I would have something to do in my room. I finally fell asleep at 2am which wasn't bad considering I woke up from my nap at 8pm.
On Saturday I woke up and packed to go to Tours for the weekend. Ashley and I wanted to get the rest of our clothes from Romain's so we last minute booked tickets to Tours. We arrived in Tours at around 4pm, quickly ran to a flower shop next to the train station, bought flowers for Romain's parents and jumped on the bus from Tours to Monts which took about 45 minutes due to traffic. It usually is closer to half an hour but the traffic was crazy. We finally got to Romain's and we went upstairs to Romain's room and woke him up from his nap. *Oops!* We watched a French (comedy) movie about some kids that go on a field trip and a lot of things happen throughout the trip and then we watched one episode of How I Met Your Mother. Afterwards we ate yummylicious dinner with his family and watched some TV. There was a singing show called "Sing Off" which was acapella singers but they were horrible. We cleaned up and then got ready to go out. Benjamin came over and then we headed out.
We went back into Tours and headed to Place Plumereau (the usual place) and met up with some friends, Frank, Delphine, Thomas/Toto, Cindy, Aurélien, Amandine and another girl but I forgot her name. :( I wasn't feeling very well so I didn't drink anything the whole night because I didn't want to make it worse. After Place Plum (pronounced ploom not like the fruit) we headed to le Pacio (the usual club) but It was only Romain, Benjamin, Aurélien, Ashley, Amandine and me. We all went in but the music was horrible so we only danced for a few songs and then we left. Romain kept apologizing for the music always being terrible when we go but it was obviously not his fault. We were going to go back to his house and watch How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM) but we decided to go to McDonald's instead to get McFlurries. Since I can't have milk products I got a small fries but they were the size of a medium so I could barely finish them all. We sat in Romain's car and Aurélien and Amandine sat in her car so we rolled the windows down and talked like that. Very random but it was fun. :) When we got home we all went straight to bed because Romain (Roro) & Benjamin (Choco) had soccer the next morning. I hadn't been to a soccer game in forever so I wanted to go watch. I slept for a total of three hours and then woke up to go to the soccer game. It was freezing cold out and raining so Romain's dad lent me a rain jacket (what a cutie!). Since I had plenty of time to spare I sat down and talked to him about rugby and soccer for about 20 minutes while we ate breakfast and while Roro got ready.
The game was in a small town outside of Monts called Azay le Rideau. It was at a new stadium that had just been built and had astroturf. It was actually super nice but they don't have bleachers which I didn't quite understand. Anyway, I sat on the turf and watched the boys play soccer in the windy and cold weather. They don't understand how I can have fun watching them play soccer but I actually love it. Roro ended up scoring at the very last second of the game and then we went back to his house and looked at pictures from his parent's recent trip to Turkey. There are some crazy things in Turkey! We ate lunch right after ..a delicious lunch. I don't know what it is but everything here is so delicious. We could eat the same thing in the states and it wouldn't taste as delicious. Roro's parents are the sweetest people ever! When they host us they go above and beyond to make sure we are comfortable. The only thing they don't change is how quickly they speak. Which is nice to know that I can understand it but when I can't I feel bad having them repeat it. I really do wish that I had more opportunities to speak French and perfect my accent.. which I understand that will never disappear but I wish it would sound more natural when I speak.
ANYWAY, after lunch we helped Roro's mom clean up and then we packed our suitcases and watched yet another episode of HIMYM. Then we all headed to the train station. Roro's train to Paris left five minutes after ours so they helped us get our big luggage onto the train and then he went to his train.
When we go to Tours from Laval or vice versa we have to connect in a city called Le Mans. I had originally thought that our connection time was around an hour because that what it had been the past few times but luckily I checked again and it was only a ten minute connection. Of course we had to go down a ton of stairs and back up a ton of stairs to get to the next train which hadn't arrived yet. You never know how long the train will stop for so you have to hurry up just in case it only stops for a few minutes. Of course we had assigned seating and our car was the second to last. There you have Ashley and I hauling our huge bags through the crowd. When we finally got on the train I was sweating and the place where you store luggage was completely full. Since my suitcase has four wheels I couldn't just leave it and go sit down. I also couldn't lay it on it's side because it would have blocked the aisle. I stood on the train trying to not fall over for forty minutes until we finally arrived in Laval. Luckily the train station is no more than 10 minutes away from the foyer so we made it back alright. I only have one flight of stairs to go up to get to my apartment but Ashley has four...and the biggest suitcase in the world with one working handle. I brought my bag to my room and went to help Ashley. She was pretty much half way there by the time I arrived but I helped her carry it the rest of the way. I don't even know how she got it as far as she did. I would have given up for sure. I unpacked a bit and then headed to bed.
Today we had a meeting with Stéphane to recap on what had shocked us at our schools and to give us some tips on how to create a lesson for our classes. After our meeting we all came back to the foyer and then headed to the big super market Carrefour. I bought some more groceries and some things that I had realized that I needed for my apartment that I had forgotten before. Now my apartment is more complete with place mats and coasters (Thanks to my mom for making me feel like I cannot live without them!). Hopefully it's the last time that I have to shop until I at least get paid. Tomorrow I have to go into the bank and get my French debit card. ;) so pumped! and then I will be getting a new cell phone. WHOO! We are also going as a group to get our social security stuff figured out. I hope it all works outtttt. :D
Happy birthday to PAO!!! My beautiful sister :D :D :D I wish I could celebrate with you but we are on complete opposite sides of the planet right now.. :( Have a great day at Universal Studios with momma and George!
Hopefully tomorrow I have more time to give a more detailed description on my observation at school. ;)
love ya'll
Valé
gros bisous <3
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
new life, new everything!
So yesterday Ashley and I moved into the foyer and we each got our own studio apartments. We couldn't actually move in until 3pm so we went shopping for a little bit in the morning to kill time. I bought a delicious looking skirt. It is super cute and came with a cute belt as well. Anyway the point of bringing this shopping trip up is because an old man walked up to me yesterday and said "t'as une belle poitrine toi" and pointed to me.. which in French means "you have a nice rack". UM YEAH! DISGUSTING!
Back to the apartment...It is the cutest little apartment ever but the room is WAY too big for me! I could fit another bed or two in there so it was kind of scary at night. The lady in charge here is named Alexandra but we call her Alex. She is super friendly and super helpful with everything. In France, if you aren't making very much money and are under 25 years old you can find all kinds of financial help. There is a program called the "CAF" that pays up to 150€ of your rent per month but there are a bunch of forms to fill out but she helped us through it all so that we could get it done as soon as possible. My rent will be super cheap every month so that will be very helpful since I was freaking out about money!
After we got settled in to our new apartments, we went to Carrefour which is the closest thing France has to Wal Mart. We had to buy all new things. Plates, silverware.. anything you could possibly think of for a new apartment. It was like shopping for a dorm all over again! It's crazy how growing up consists of spending your life savings! I didn't spend as much as I thought I would have but it was still more than I would have liked. Everything is so expensive here. Even a little hand towel for the kitchen was about $3.50 for the cheapest ONE, yes you only got ONE towel. Not fun! When we left the store we had two huge bags each full of essentials and groceries. Of course, I forgot shampoo. haha When I got back to my apartment I made dinner (pasta & baguette) yummy! I also put up my pictures that I brought with me which seemed like a lot but on the huge empty wall it looks like 3 little pictures. I plan on decorating a little more once I get paid. ;) Until then I will live with an empty room and a rock hard pillow! :D C'est la vie!
I don't remember if I wrote this before or not but in the foyer you can only get internet in community areas so Ashley and I met up to go to the little café they have here. When we got to the café neither of our computers would connect to the Internet. It was super weird and I'm not sure why we both had the same problem but it said something about a self-assigned IP. I know what an IP is but I'm not sure why it had to be self-assigned or how to create one so a guy that's living here helped us out! He's an engineering student so all of this comes easy to him, I guess.
It's weird because this place clears out at about 11pm.. which is super early, in my opinion. Since there was no one to talk to I ended up going back to my room and (trying) to sleep.
Today Ashley and I went into the city (which is about 10 minutes away by bus) and got all kinds of tasks completed. I mailed my immigration papers to the office in Nantes, I mailed a card to the states, I opened a bank account, I finished grocery shopping and got my shampoo, and we got our bus passes! Such a productive day and tomorrow will hopefully be just as productive. I hope to get a new cell phone so that I have a plan instead of prepaid because I text too much! And I also want a nicer phone. I know today wasn't too descriptive but it was all business and no fun. It was a great day actually! For the first time since I got to France everything went smoothly and we didn't have any problems. I'd love to hear from you all so write to me on here or on fb! Also skype!! :D I don't start work until oct 17th or so and until then I only have meetings from time time so let's skype!
Love you!! <3
Gros bisous,
Valé
Back to the apartment...It is the cutest little apartment ever but the room is WAY too big for me! I could fit another bed or two in there so it was kind of scary at night. The lady in charge here is named Alexandra but we call her Alex. She is super friendly and super helpful with everything. In France, if you aren't making very much money and are under 25 years old you can find all kinds of financial help. There is a program called the "CAF" that pays up to 150€ of your rent per month but there are a bunch of forms to fill out but she helped us through it all so that we could get it done as soon as possible. My rent will be super cheap every month so that will be very helpful since I was freaking out about money!
After we got settled in to our new apartments, we went to Carrefour which is the closest thing France has to Wal Mart. We had to buy all new things. Plates, silverware.. anything you could possibly think of for a new apartment. It was like shopping for a dorm all over again! It's crazy how growing up consists of spending your life savings! I didn't spend as much as I thought I would have but it was still more than I would have liked. Everything is so expensive here. Even a little hand towel for the kitchen was about $3.50 for the cheapest ONE, yes you only got ONE towel. Not fun! When we left the store we had two huge bags each full of essentials and groceries. Of course, I forgot shampoo. haha When I got back to my apartment I made dinner (pasta & baguette) yummy! I also put up my pictures that I brought with me which seemed like a lot but on the huge empty wall it looks like 3 little pictures. I plan on decorating a little more once I get paid. ;) Until then I will live with an empty room and a rock hard pillow! :D C'est la vie!
I don't remember if I wrote this before or not but in the foyer you can only get internet in community areas so Ashley and I met up to go to the little café they have here. When we got to the café neither of our computers would connect to the Internet. It was super weird and I'm not sure why we both had the same problem but it said something about a self-assigned IP. I know what an IP is but I'm not sure why it had to be self-assigned or how to create one so a guy that's living here helped us out! He's an engineering student so all of this comes easy to him, I guess.
It's weird because this place clears out at about 11pm.. which is super early, in my opinion. Since there was no one to talk to I ended up going back to my room and (trying) to sleep.
Today Ashley and I went into the city (which is about 10 minutes away by bus) and got all kinds of tasks completed. I mailed my immigration papers to the office in Nantes, I mailed a card to the states, I opened a bank account, I finished grocery shopping and got my shampoo, and we got our bus passes! Such a productive day and tomorrow will hopefully be just as productive. I hope to get a new cell phone so that I have a plan instead of prepaid because I text too much! And I also want a nicer phone. I know today wasn't too descriptive but it was all business and no fun. It was a great day actually! For the first time since I got to France everything went smoothly and we didn't have any problems. I'd love to hear from you all so write to me on here or on fb! Also skype!! :D I don't start work until oct 17th or so and until then I only have meetings from time time so let's skype!
Love you!! <3
Gros bisous,
Valé
Monday, October 3, 2011
roller coaster weekend
This past weekend was kind of a huge mess but then turned into a great success. Yes that rhymed and I didn't mean it to. Saturday Ashley and I woke up and got ready to head out to Laval. The night before we had sorted our suitcases so that we only had to bring a little bit with us and then left the rest at Romain's until we found somewhere to live so that we didn't have to haul it around everywhere. That was Romain's brilliant idea otherwise it would have been a nightmare to haul everything around everywhere. We got ready and left the house a little bit later than planned but we were on our way to the train station in Tours. All of a sudden we see construction ahead and had to go around and take the long way there which made us later than preferred and then we ended up missing our train by one minute. Of course this would happen to Ashley and I... we have had so many things happen to us that it was really no surprise. Romain went back to Monts and Ashley and I went shopping in Tours. It ended up being a great last day in Tours but not expected whatsoever. We finally made it to Laval at around 8pm and we saw a little bit of the city and we weren't too impressed. We were exhausted so we hung out in the hotel and then went to bed.
Yesterday morning we woke up somewhat early and walked around the whole city to just explore and get to know the area. It ended up being a really pretty city. It's quite small but everything is super spread out so it doesn't seem very small. There are a lot of old buildings like any other part of France and there is a river that runs through. It's just really French and really cute. After walking around everywhere we went to a bar and got a drink. Then we got up explored a little more and then got some dinner. We had kebabs which are kind of like gyros but not as delicious. I'm sick of spending so much money on every meal but I feel like we don't really have a choice. I took several pictures of the city for all of you to see but again, I don't have my charger with me. After a long day of walking around we ended up back at the hotel and resting. I watched Tangled (in French) and went to bed.
Today we had our first meeting with our contact in France. His name is Stéphane and he is pretty much helping us with any questions that we may have about the teaching assistantship program. He keeps in touch with our schools and will help us get through all of the stress and whatnot. I was nervous because I didn't really know what to expect and guys intimidate me but he was super nice and outgoing. He studied in England for a little bit so he spoke English and French and would switch when necessary. At the meeting Ashley and I found out that we pretty much had to find an apartment in the next few days in order to get everything finalized like our bank accounts and everything else we need to have ready for this job to function correctly. Every other girl there had been talking about living at "le foyer de jeunes travailleurs" which is a place for students or young workers to live at. Since we don't have very much money it's just cheaper housing. It is kind of set up like a dorm but much nicer and bigger. At the meeting we thought about just living there and giving up on the apartment search. After the meeting we went out for lunch with the other three girls that we had met. Two are from England and one is from Texas. They are super nice and fun to be around. We had lunch and laughed almost the entire time. Afterwards we went with them to the "foyer" and checked out their rooms. We quickly decided to move in but instead of living with Ashley we are going to have our own apartments (studio apartments). I wasn't really fond of the idea but I'm just going to have to deal with it. I really wanted anything except to live alone. Everything happens for a reason, right? Well let's hope so because as of now I am not a happy camper with the thought of living alone. We went to talk to the lady in charge, filled out some paperwork and we move in tomorrow at 15h!! (3pm for you Americans ;);) ) It's exciting to have somewhere to live but it's also stressful having to spend so much money right away. I'm going to be poor for the next year!! Especially with student loans back home. I have come to the realization that coming here after graduating was not the best decision I've ever made. Loans are too expensive. It sucks to have that constant thought in the back of my mind and it won't go away for the next 10 years unless I win the lottery or marry rich! Whichever comes first, right? lol ANYWAY, now we're back at the hotel chilling, I might take a nap and then go eat dinner or something. It has been extremely hot here and it sucks!! Right now it's 84°F/29°C..GROSS!
Well I'll blog soon! I'm feeling homesick so I'm not having the greatest time .. I knew this would happen this time around but I don't know that there is much that I can do. Off to nap! Have a great day :D :D
Gros bisous,
Valé <3
Yesterday morning we woke up somewhat early and walked around the whole city to just explore and get to know the area. It ended up being a really pretty city. It's quite small but everything is super spread out so it doesn't seem very small. There are a lot of old buildings like any other part of France and there is a river that runs through. It's just really French and really cute. After walking around everywhere we went to a bar and got a drink. Then we got up explored a little more and then got some dinner. We had kebabs which are kind of like gyros but not as delicious. I'm sick of spending so much money on every meal but I feel like we don't really have a choice. I took several pictures of the city for all of you to see but again, I don't have my charger with me. After a long day of walking around we ended up back at the hotel and resting. I watched Tangled (in French) and went to bed.
Today we had our first meeting with our contact in France. His name is Stéphane and he is pretty much helping us with any questions that we may have about the teaching assistantship program. He keeps in touch with our schools and will help us get through all of the stress and whatnot. I was nervous because I didn't really know what to expect and guys intimidate me but he was super nice and outgoing. He studied in England for a little bit so he spoke English and French and would switch when necessary. At the meeting Ashley and I found out that we pretty much had to find an apartment in the next few days in order to get everything finalized like our bank accounts and everything else we need to have ready for this job to function correctly. Every other girl there had been talking about living at "le foyer de jeunes travailleurs" which is a place for students or young workers to live at. Since we don't have very much money it's just cheaper housing. It is kind of set up like a dorm but much nicer and bigger. At the meeting we thought about just living there and giving up on the apartment search. After the meeting we went out for lunch with the other three girls that we had met. Two are from England and one is from Texas. They are super nice and fun to be around. We had lunch and laughed almost the entire time. Afterwards we went with them to the "foyer" and checked out their rooms. We quickly decided to move in but instead of living with Ashley we are going to have our own apartments (studio apartments). I wasn't really fond of the idea but I'm just going to have to deal with it. I really wanted anything except to live alone. Everything happens for a reason, right? Well let's hope so because as of now I am not a happy camper with the thought of living alone. We went to talk to the lady in charge, filled out some paperwork and we move in tomorrow at 15h!! (3pm for you Americans ;);) ) It's exciting to have somewhere to live but it's also stressful having to spend so much money right away. I'm going to be poor for the next year!! Especially with student loans back home. I have come to the realization that coming here after graduating was not the best decision I've ever made. Loans are too expensive. It sucks to have that constant thought in the back of my mind and it won't go away for the next 10 years unless I win the lottery or marry rich! Whichever comes first, right? lol ANYWAY, now we're back at the hotel chilling, I might take a nap and then go eat dinner or something. It has been extremely hot here and it sucks!! Right now it's 84°F/29°C..GROSS!
Well I'll blog soon! I'm feeling homesick so I'm not having the greatest time .. I knew this would happen this time around but I don't know that there is much that I can do. Off to nap! Have a great day :D :D
Gros bisous,
Valé <3
Sunday, October 2, 2011
A somewhat calming week
I left off on Saturday..so here it goes! Saturday we woke up at 1pm but we didn't leave the house until 3pm and then we headed to the mall. Ashley wanted to get a cell phone and had mentioned it Romain so there we went to get her a cell phone and do some grocery shopping. Our friend Aurélien works with cell phones and luckily he was in the mall at the same time so we met up with him and his girlfriend, Amandine and he helped us choose the best plan. We finally got to grocery shopping because there was nothing in the house to eat. By the time we got done shopping it was pretty late so we headed to our friends' house, Mélanie and Davy. They are also friends of mine that I made while studying abroad. I didn't get the chance to see their house when I was here before because they hadn't moved in yet. However, before we got there we were almost out of gas so we drove EVERYWHERE to try and find a gas station but they all seemed to be closed. We even ended up driving past a castle called Villandry and finally found a gas station shortly after. We made it to Mél and Davy's place in time to have some snacks and wine. We toured their cute house which is SOOOO French! They have caves right outside their house that are hundreds of years old. After our little snacks and wine we headed out because they were having more guests over.
We went home and made dinner and our friend Benjamin came over. We had some yummy tomatoes from Romain's garden and then we made some pasta with ham and tomato sauce. Then for dessert with had "riz au lait" which translates as rice with milk..which is pretty much what it is. It is kind of like tapioca but better. We cleaned up and then got ready to go out for the night in Tours.
We left the house at around 11pm. When we got to Tours we were the first ones there so we got a table at Place Plumereau (an old part of Tours with a bunch of bars and restaurants) and we each got drink. Our friends were still not there so we moved over to another bar and had more drinks until our friends got there. Finally Aurélien, Amandine and Alban showed up. We headed to a different bar (yes, a 3rd bar) and got drinks there. When it was late enough we finally headed to the club, le Pacio. Things are so different in France! Most bars do close at 2am like in the states but the clubs open at around the same time that the bars close and then they close the clubs at around 5am. I like this lifestyle much better! I could dance pretty much anytime and I don't like going to bed early so this works perfectly for me. We all danced like fools, except Ashley because she doesn't like to dance. I wish I would have taken pictures that night but I had left my purse in Benjamin's car so that I wouldn't have to check it when we got to the club. The only picture I have is one with Amandine and I that the photographers at the club took.
I had so much fun that night! The next morning we woke up a little bit earlier and headed out to play golf at "la Gloriette". We didn't actually play golf but we went to the driving range. It was my first time ever and I actually did pretty well and had a lot of fun!
* my new roomie, Ashley and I *
After golfing everyone was exhausted so we all headed home. We hung out for a little while and then Alban came over and some of Benjamin's friends came over for dinner. We made another delicious pasta and has some pâté with baguette as well. By "we" made dinner I mean the boys made dinner. Afterwards we watched a French movie called Podium that Romain loves. It is about a man who is an impersonator of a famous French artist and had to choose between his family and career. Obviously ridiculous events happen throughout the movie and it is quite funny. Everyone went to bed early that night because Romain had to head to Paris the next morning and Benjamin was taking him to the train station at around 7am.
I guess we can say that the weekend went pretty well! I had a lot of fun and I hope the weekends continue to be just as fun. The rest of the week Ashley and I hung out at Romain's and watched movies. We were also running out of food so we wanted to go to the grocery store to get some snacks and more groceries, and wine. ;) We walked around for a little bit but we didn't find anything so then we took Romain's car to the grocery store further down the road. I was so proud of myself for being able to drive a stick shift without it dying!! However, when we got home it died right in front of the house and people were trying to get by and couldn't. haha I finally got out of the way and then I couldn't park the car!! I don't know what my problem was since French cars are so little but luckily our friend Alban was driving by after work and saw that I needed help and parked it for me. he saved my life for sure! Earlier that day I had called a lady about an apartment in Laval but she didn't answer so I left a message. I called back before it got too late and she answered but said that the apartment is her brothers not hers so she gave me his number.
Tuesday I called the guy's number in the afternoon but he didn't answer so I left another message asking if he could call us back. He never did call us back so I called him and we planned to see the apartment on Saturday. Ashley and I felt way more calm about everything because the guy had told us that we were at the top of the list for this apartment so we thought we'd go into Tours for the day and go shopping. We headed to the bus station at around 3pm only to find out that the last bus comes at 1:10pm. WHAT LUCK! So we headed back to the house and watched some TV. After a while we were sick of sitting in the house so we decided to walk around Monts and go exploring. We first went into a Tabac (a small convenience store) and then walked around until we found the church which is pretty small but adorable. The neighborhoods in France are so adorable!!
**The apartment we were looking at has 3 bedrooms, is furnished which is the main part, and has a lot of other little things that we were interested in. There are only two of us but we figured 3 bedrooms are perfect because then we can have a GUEST room.. oh lala!! ;) ;)**
On Wednesday we had made plans to go into Tours in the morning and hang out with Ben, Fanny and Steven. (Ben is the guy I flew to France with, don't get him confused with Benjamin) Once we were in Tours we headed to Mangez-Moi for lunch. I had only had kebabs there but this time I got chicken with some spice that was actually pretty good. It might have been curry but I don't remember now. Afterwards we walked around all of Tours because Ashley had never been there and wanted to see the city. Fanny had a class at 230pm so we sat in the grass by the Loire river until she had to leave. Then the rest of us walked around and did a little shopping. Ashley and I headed back to Monts at around 4:15pm because it was the last bus until like 6pm or so. We made our usual pasta dinner and then did some laundry. We knew we would be gone all day on Thursday so we cleaned the house a little bit and then headed to bed.
On Thursday we woke up early again and got ready for the day. We cleaned the house a little more, finished laundry and then headed into Tours. We met up with Fanny and Ben and had lunch at Place Jean Jaurès which is a main part of the city with a bunch of cafés. After lunch Ben and Fanny went to Fanny's apartment to take a nap while Ashley and I finished touring the rest of Tours. We went to the museum to see the stuffed elephant that they have and then headed to the cathedral and then to the St. Martin Basilica. We were getting pretty tired and hot so we decided to head to Fanny's apartment. It has been in the 80s here since we arrived. It gets hot super fast and I only packed winter and spring clothes so it's kind of awkward getting dressed every day because I don't know what to wear!! :( At Fanny's we had a couple drinks before dinner and then Fanny made a delicious carbonara pasta. We got dressed and then went into Tours to Place Plumereau. We had a few drinks at one of my favorite bars, le Puits Sait Tout. Afterwards we headed to le Pacio but it was quite empty when we got there. They were playing salsa music which none of us were fond of..as the night went on they played better music but there was still no one there. We pretty much had the dance floor to ourselves but Ben and I rocked it when our favorite songs would come on. I took several pictures but I can't upload them yet because I don't have my cord with me. We got back to Fanny's apartment at around 6am and we all headed straight to bed.
On Friday morning I couldn't sleep so I woke up at 11am and then Ashley and I headed back to Monts to Romain's house. His parents had come back from Turkey on Thursday night so we were nervous to meet them when we got back. We had nothing to worry about. They are super nice and adorable!! His mom had folded our laundry that we left hanging in the basement and then she started making calls to people she knew in Laval to see if they knew of any apartments that we could look into. She gave us a few contact numbers and addresses of places we could look into. Ashley and I headed upstairs to Romain's room to watch a movie but I quickly fell asleep so Ashley watched Dumb & Dumber all by herself. :( Then Romain's mom came and got us for dinner which was delicious! We had rilletes (kind of like pâté) and omelettes for dinner. Very simple but very delicious! For dessert we had some delicious ice cream and a special cake from Alsace. It was very sweet and had pretty much everything you could possibly imagine including honey. Romain didn't get home from Paris until 11pm but he had said that he wanted to go out so we waited up for him. Ashley was too tired to go out so she went to bed but Romain and I went to the soccer "club house". It's where the boys play soccer every Sunday but they have a hang out place with a bar and everything. We went there for a little bit and met up with some of our friends. Then everyone decided to go to the club so we headed into Tours once again. Romain, Benjamin and I all rode together but once we got to le Pacio we didn't feel like going so we headed back to Romain's and watched How I Met Your Mother. We only watched one episode and then we all fell asleep so then we turned it off and went to bed and Benjamin went home.
This past weekend is another adventure so I will write about it all tomorrow since this is already SUPER long!! I hope you enjoy my stories even though most of the time they are super detailed and pointless. I just want you all to know what I'm up to! I miss you and love you all very much :D :D
Gros bisous <3 (big kisses)
Valé
We went home and made dinner and our friend Benjamin came over. We had some yummy tomatoes from Romain's garden and then we made some pasta with ham and tomato sauce. Then for dessert with had "riz au lait" which translates as rice with milk..which is pretty much what it is. It is kind of like tapioca but better. We cleaned up and then got ready to go out for the night in Tours.
We left the house at around 11pm. When we got to Tours we were the first ones there so we got a table at Place Plumereau (an old part of Tours with a bunch of bars and restaurants) and we each got drink. Our friends were still not there so we moved over to another bar and had more drinks until our friends got there. Finally Aurélien, Amandine and Alban showed up. We headed to a different bar (yes, a 3rd bar) and got drinks there. When it was late enough we finally headed to the club, le Pacio. Things are so different in France! Most bars do close at 2am like in the states but the clubs open at around the same time that the bars close and then they close the clubs at around 5am. I like this lifestyle much better! I could dance pretty much anytime and I don't like going to bed early so this works perfectly for me. We all danced like fools, except Ashley because she doesn't like to dance. I wish I would have taken pictures that night but I had left my purse in Benjamin's car so that I wouldn't have to check it when we got to the club. The only picture I have is one with Amandine and I that the photographers at the club took.
I had so much fun that night! The next morning we woke up a little bit earlier and headed out to play golf at "la Gloriette". We didn't actually play golf but we went to the driving range. It was my first time ever and I actually did pretty well and had a lot of fun!
* my new roomie, Ashley and I *
After golfing everyone was exhausted so we all headed home. We hung out for a little while and then Alban came over and some of Benjamin's friends came over for dinner. We made another delicious pasta and has some pâté with baguette as well. By "we" made dinner I mean the boys made dinner. Afterwards we watched a French movie called Podium that Romain loves. It is about a man who is an impersonator of a famous French artist and had to choose between his family and career. Obviously ridiculous events happen throughout the movie and it is quite funny. Everyone went to bed early that night because Romain had to head to Paris the next morning and Benjamin was taking him to the train station at around 7am.
I guess we can say that the weekend went pretty well! I had a lot of fun and I hope the weekends continue to be just as fun. The rest of the week Ashley and I hung out at Romain's and watched movies. We were also running out of food so we wanted to go to the grocery store to get some snacks and more groceries, and wine. ;) We walked around for a little bit but we didn't find anything so then we took Romain's car to the grocery store further down the road. I was so proud of myself for being able to drive a stick shift without it dying!! However, when we got home it died right in front of the house and people were trying to get by and couldn't. haha I finally got out of the way and then I couldn't park the car!! I don't know what my problem was since French cars are so little but luckily our friend Alban was driving by after work and saw that I needed help and parked it for me. he saved my life for sure! Earlier that day I had called a lady about an apartment in Laval but she didn't answer so I left a message. I called back before it got too late and she answered but said that the apartment is her brothers not hers so she gave me his number.
Tuesday I called the guy's number in the afternoon but he didn't answer so I left another message asking if he could call us back. He never did call us back so I called him and we planned to see the apartment on Saturday. Ashley and I felt way more calm about everything because the guy had told us that we were at the top of the list for this apartment so we thought we'd go into Tours for the day and go shopping. We headed to the bus station at around 3pm only to find out that the last bus comes at 1:10pm. WHAT LUCK! So we headed back to the house and watched some TV. After a while we were sick of sitting in the house so we decided to walk around Monts and go exploring. We first went into a Tabac (a small convenience store) and then walked around until we found the church which is pretty small but adorable. The neighborhoods in France are so adorable!!
**The apartment we were looking at has 3 bedrooms, is furnished which is the main part, and has a lot of other little things that we were interested in. There are only two of us but we figured 3 bedrooms are perfect because then we can have a GUEST room.. oh lala!! ;) ;)**
On Wednesday we had made plans to go into Tours in the morning and hang out with Ben, Fanny and Steven. (Ben is the guy I flew to France with, don't get him confused with Benjamin) Once we were in Tours we headed to Mangez-Moi for lunch. I had only had kebabs there but this time I got chicken with some spice that was actually pretty good. It might have been curry but I don't remember now. Afterwards we walked around all of Tours because Ashley had never been there and wanted to see the city. Fanny had a class at 230pm so we sat in the grass by the Loire river until she had to leave. Then the rest of us walked around and did a little shopping. Ashley and I headed back to Monts at around 4:15pm because it was the last bus until like 6pm or so. We made our usual pasta dinner and then did some laundry. We knew we would be gone all day on Thursday so we cleaned the house a little bit and then headed to bed.
On Thursday we woke up early again and got ready for the day. We cleaned the house a little more, finished laundry and then headed into Tours. We met up with Fanny and Ben and had lunch at Place Jean Jaurès which is a main part of the city with a bunch of cafés. After lunch Ben and Fanny went to Fanny's apartment to take a nap while Ashley and I finished touring the rest of Tours. We went to the museum to see the stuffed elephant that they have and then headed to the cathedral and then to the St. Martin Basilica. We were getting pretty tired and hot so we decided to head to Fanny's apartment. It has been in the 80s here since we arrived. It gets hot super fast and I only packed winter and spring clothes so it's kind of awkward getting dressed every day because I don't know what to wear!! :( At Fanny's we had a couple drinks before dinner and then Fanny made a delicious carbonara pasta. We got dressed and then went into Tours to Place Plumereau. We had a few drinks at one of my favorite bars, le Puits Sait Tout. Afterwards we headed to le Pacio but it was quite empty when we got there. They were playing salsa music which none of us were fond of..as the night went on they played better music but there was still no one there. We pretty much had the dance floor to ourselves but Ben and I rocked it when our favorite songs would come on. I took several pictures but I can't upload them yet because I don't have my cord with me. We got back to Fanny's apartment at around 6am and we all headed straight to bed.
On Friday morning I couldn't sleep so I woke up at 11am and then Ashley and I headed back to Monts to Romain's house. His parents had come back from Turkey on Thursday night so we were nervous to meet them when we got back. We had nothing to worry about. They are super nice and adorable!! His mom had folded our laundry that we left hanging in the basement and then she started making calls to people she knew in Laval to see if they knew of any apartments that we could look into. She gave us a few contact numbers and addresses of places we could look into. Ashley and I headed upstairs to Romain's room to watch a movie but I quickly fell asleep so Ashley watched Dumb & Dumber all by herself. :( Then Romain's mom came and got us for dinner which was delicious! We had rilletes (kind of like pâté) and omelettes for dinner. Very simple but very delicious! For dessert we had some delicious ice cream and a special cake from Alsace. It was very sweet and had pretty much everything you could possibly imagine including honey. Romain didn't get home from Paris until 11pm but he had said that he wanted to go out so we waited up for him. Ashley was too tired to go out so she went to bed but Romain and I went to the soccer "club house". It's where the boys play soccer every Sunday but they have a hang out place with a bar and everything. We went there for a little bit and met up with some of our friends. Then everyone decided to go to the club so we headed into Tours once again. Romain, Benjamin and I all rode together but once we got to le Pacio we didn't feel like going so we headed back to Romain's and watched How I Met Your Mother. We only watched one episode and then we all fell asleep so then we turned it off and went to bed and Benjamin went home.
This past weekend is another adventure so I will write about it all tomorrow since this is already SUPER long!! I hope you enjoy my stories even though most of the time they are super detailed and pointless. I just want you all to know what I'm up to! I miss you and love you all very much :D :D
Gros bisous <3 (big kisses)
Valé
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Brace yourselves!
Hello everybody! It has been far too long since I have updated my blog. I am back in France as most you already know and life is crazier than ever. I arrived about a week and a half ago and I flew over with Ben (Obernolte) and Mamie (Vetsch)..my besties, of course! Saying good-bye to everyone at was definitely hard but definitely easier than last time. I guess I know that everything will still be the same when I get back.
So my momma and I flew from Hibbing, MN to Minneapolis, MN to meet up with Ben and Mamie so that we could head out together on our Iceland Air flight to Paris-Charles de Gaulle. I felt like I had packed way too much but there wasn't anything that I wanted to leave behind. We all had packed about the same about of things so I felt a little better about it. We said our good-byes and went through security and my momma stayed with my until the flight left. (Yay for Delta employee!!) The plane ride was split up so it definitely did not seem as long as it should have. We stopped in Reykjavik first and then connected to Paris-CDG. I watched some Glee and Modern Family so that obvi(ously) made it go faster as well. When we arrived in Iceland we walked around the shops for a little bit and then got on our next flight.
This was the big flight, the one I started getting nervous for because after the LOOONG wait.. I was FINALLY going back to FRANCE. But wait.... pause...WHAT?! It seemed like it had been forever since February when Mamie and I had visited Tours during spring break and now all of a sudden we were heading back? What's even more insane is that this time it's not for vacation, which is still trying to process through my brain. OK, PLAY. So we arrived in Paris looking as hot as can be and found our way to the train station. I had planned earlier that week to meet up with my new roommate Ashley at the train station. Since Ashley was nowhere to be found I started getting nervous and freaking out. Mamie and Ben bought their train tickets for Rennes and I finally got news from Ashley (thanks to Romain!). Her train from Germany had gotten mixed up so she wouldn't be able to get into Paris until 9pm at Gare de l'Est (another train station) which is nowhere near the airport. I texted Romain, a friend from when I studied abroad in Tours, and he told me to go into Paris so that we could meet up when he was done with work. He asked me if I wanted to see the Eiffel Tower... I said "it doesn't matter, I've seen it many times". But of course, he sent me to the Eiffel Tower because one cannot visit Paris without seeing the Eiffel Tower. :P
After going up and down a thousand steps in the Paris metro I finally made my way to the beautiful tower where the sun was setting. Romain showed up about 20 minutes later and we headed to the train station where Ashley would be arriving.
After meeting up with Ashley we headed to Romain's brother's apartment in Paris so there we went again through the metro with our huge american stereo-typed suitcases. Ashley had bought a new suitcase in Germany the day before but it is bigger than big. Romain and Ashley would take turns carrying it up and down the stairs and hauling it around. Everything started breaking on the suitcase little by little. I was laughing the whole time but Ashley sure wasn't. We were all tired, hungry and frustrated and there were TWO of FOUR handles left on the suitcase. We finally arrived at the apartment and hauled the suitcases up three stories...GREAT JOY. We cleaned the apartment as well as we possibly could and then we ate dinner which consisted of sliced ham and split peas. (It was better than it sounds) We then watched How I Met Your Mother (because we weren't tired enough already) and THEN headed to bed. :P
The next morning Romain headed to work and Ashley and I took a taxi to the train station so that we could head to Romain's house in Monts which is very close to Tours. Romain had very kindly offered to host us for the weekend or longer if we needed. Ashley and I bought our train tickets and had breakfast at a small café at the train station. The train ride was calming as usual and we watched Modern Family on Ashley's iPad. :D loves! We arrived in Tours and had some lunch near the train station to hold us up. We then went back into the train station to buy our train tickets to Monts (a 10 minute train ride). We bought our tickets at a machine and not with a person so then we had to figure out the schedule out on our own. A lady helped me by giving me the schedule... easy enough right? WRONG. I apparently had no recollection of how to read the schedules so we were running around the train station trying to find where the train would leave from. Luckily it's a small train station.
We finally figured everything out, we ran to the train and of course it left right as we were running to it. The next train was in a few minutes so we decided to stay put and take the next one. When the train finally pulled up we got on but another one of the handles on Ashley's suitcase broke. We couldn't help but stand there and laugh as the suitcase was falling out of the train. When we arrived in Monts Benjamin (another friend from when I studied abroad) picked us up and brought us to Romain's. We changed our clothes and tried to relax for a little bit before Romain arrived from Paris. Romain had soccer practice and then a friend's birthday party to go to that night but we were so tired that Ashley and I decided to stay in for the night and go to bed. It was definitely a genius idea because we slept until 1pm the next day..meaning we were flabbergasted!!(flabbergasted=exhausted [inside joke ;)])
I know this is a long post for my first two days in France but that's just how I roll. I hope I didn't bore you too much, or at all but I will update this more frequently. I have just been running around or sleeping so I haven't had time to gather my thoughts and write it all down. Have a great day/night whichever time zone you are in. I love you all and I miss you very much. I will try to update tomorrow about the rest of the week!
you know you love me,
Valé <3
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