La Belle Promenade

A friend asked me the other day what my favorite thing about living in France was. Without really thinking, an image popped into my head of my walk to school in the morning, and I smile. Of course I enjoy the beautiful chateaus and the delicious cuisine; but what I enjoy the most is my daily stroll through town on my way to school. For the first few weeks, I would start my walk by thinking: “Wow, I am really going to school in France.”


When I step outside, the cool, fresh air blows across my face and I am more awake than ever. As I walk down rue d'Epluchard, I see all the French townhouses with their old style of architecture. People start to open their windows above me, as the sun is now up. It feels as though everyone does this at once and if they were talking they would be saying “a new day is here.” I quickly run past at least one window where someone is beating a rug, the dust and dirt falling slowly behind me. My daily stroll feels almost like a musical sometimes, with the signing on mute.

It is only dark while I am walking to school one day of the week, because I have a class at 8 a.m. On the other days, I see a few people out on the street and I listen to them speaking. I hear moms saying “allons-y!” to their children. I hear friends saying “bonjour” as they pass on the sidewalk. I see young children walking to the elementary school around the corner. To me, the French language sounds somewhat formal, so I find it very cute when I hear young children speaking it. One morning I walked past a townhouse when a little boy, who was maybe three or four years old, came hopping down the steps and runs into me. I smile and don't look back until I hear “excusez-moi”from his tiny little voice. I was shocked because in the U.S., you would not hear these words from a small child.

As I get closer to the University, my favorite structure appears on the right side of rue de Jean Fontaine. It is an extremely old church that is not in use anymore. The huge, rusted red doors are locked shut, preventing me from sprinting toward them to walk inside. The stained glass windows are so colorful and inviting to the eye, I wonder what it would be like to sit inside. Every morning I stop, for just a few seconds, and look up to absorb. I will never get over the fact that I am walking by an ancient church with so much history.

The Université Catholique de l'Ouest is just ahead and I snap back to reality and keep walking. I reach the school after my twenty minute walk. I seem to experience a huge difference in my readiness to learn by simply walking past my favorite sights in France, rather than being dropped off by a bus.

Welcome to London, Nothing Works Here

A couples weeks ago, I traveled to London for a four-night vacation with a few friends. It is a fabulous city that I hope to visit again someday. Although it was hard to pick just a few, I will share with you some experiences from my trip.


It was so nice to be surrounded by English speakers for a few days. When I went through customs at the train station I didn’t expect the officer to be speaking English to me. I never thought I would be so happy to hear “Can I see your passport please?” I anticipated that it would also feel a little strange not speaking French to people in restaurants and stores, and that was very true. At every single meal I ended up telling the waitress “merci” or “sil’vous plait” at least once. It was the weirdest feeling to catch myself speaking the wrong language and having to quickly grasp onto another word or phrase in my head. For those few seconds, I felt like I was a foreigner to my native language.

There are mostly exotic restaurants to be found around town, including Chinese, Lebanese and Indian. We decided to eat at these types of places most of the time, as the English cuisine didn’t look too fabulous. Although, I did go to London planning to try the famous “fish and chips,” so that had to be done. One day, we stopped at a small English café alongside a harbor and of course they had fish and chips on the menu. When it first arrived the aroma was appetizing. However, when I took the first bite I expected something more, something with a crunch. My eyes also popped wide open as I realized the fish was battered and cooked with the skin still on. Oh yes, shiny scales and everything. I am still glad I gave that experience a whirl and can say that once I got over the presence of the skin, the poisson wasn’t half bad.

Being in London for 4 days gave me the chance to see all of the tourist sites, such as the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey and Big Ben. These historic sites were very fun to explore. Visiting St. Pauls's cathedral was the most eye-opening experience, with a large dome and stairs climbing to the very top of the vividly painted ceilings. Shakespeare's globe theater was really neat to see. Even though it isn't the original globe theater, which burned down in 1613, it resembles the the original theater quite well- it doesn't even have a roof! I was inspired by the museum and the theater so much that I decided to take a Shakespeare class when I return to U of O next term.

I was also fortunate enough to make it out to Wimbledon: the oldest tennis tournament in the world. I browsed through the museum and saw some pretty amazing things. There was a display wheel of all the different types of racquets that have been used in the past century and a case with the different types of tennis balls made over the years. I loved seeing everything about the evolution and the history of tennis, a sport I have played for years, laid out in front of me. I was then allowed to walk into the stadium seating at Center Court. Since it is now off season, I obviously wasn’t able to watch a match, but my imagination brought me to a summer day watching Andy Roddick or Maria Sharapova on the baseline. It was an incredible feeling to be standing in the middle of history, victory and prestige. I hope to find myself back to see a match someday soon.

While having the time of my life exploring France, I have also been dealing with being sick for a little over three weeks now. For a while I was pretty convinced I had the pig flu, excusez-moi "H1 N1," but that didn't end up being the case. Instead the doctor told me it was just a long lasting cold giving me all sorts of unpleasant symptoms. Oh yes, I did indeed visit a French doctor. His name was Dr. English and surprisingly he did speak a few words of English. Visits to a doctor here are pretty interesting. To start, a doctor's office can appear on any random street you are on and it may just look like a house or apartment building. When I reached the door of the building I had to buzz the doctor's office to open the door. Someone answered and had me state my name and why I was there, in order to let me in. I thought that it might be slightly obvious why I was there but I answered her questions and was allowed inside. The office had a secretary next to the door, although I couldn't figure out her purpose. Dr. English seemed to do everything himself. He led me into the examining room, which also happened to be his office. Even during the middle of my exam, he answered his own phone, took apointments and even handled the payment (cash only). He acted like a little, old grandpa and was very nice. He wasn't rushed at all and was very patient when I slowly described my symptoms. This was a whole different experience. I had someone with me to translate, which was very nice, but did I understand most of what he was saying I was sick with. I did not, however, expect to be sent away with three prescriptions. I am feeling much better now and although my experience at the doctor's office was interesting, I hope it will be my last while I am here.

I'm on vacation now with three days off from school this week. Wahoo! London, here I come!

School and Chateaux

So, I know it's been a while since I have given you all an update about my abroad experience. I've been extremely busy going to school all day and traveling to the chateaux on the weekends! I cannot believe it has been 5 weeks already since I arrived in Angers. I miss home every day, but I have become well adjusted to this beautiful place and am loving it.

School is going really well. It has definitely been an experience taking classes in a language that I am just learning. However, I was thinking about this today and it wasn't long before I started to understand everything my professors were saying. My professors are very good at charades, but it's also not too difficult to pick up what they are saying after spending all day, every day immersed in the language. I'm taking a core French language class (Lange) and two elective classes: Expression Orale and Comprehension Orale. Expression is basically a speaking class that consists of many games and conversations with classemates. Comprehension is a listening class where we listen to different conversations and try to make sense of everything we hear. Due to the fabulous philosophy at CIDEF, I hardly have any homework to do because I spend most of the day at school. This does mean long hours and more participation during the school day, but it's actaully fun most of the time and i'm learning- so I can't complain!

One thing I didn't expect about my classes was for there to be people from so many different nationalities. I suppose I should have expected that since I am starting in a beginning level of French I wouldn't be joined by students of French nationality...duh! Most of the other students in my class speak English, which can be nice at times but has also proved to get me in trouble. I found that during the first couple weeks, people would turn to me and ask for clarification in English if they didn't understand something. Well, I would quietly answer them and then hear "non parler anglais!!!" from the professor. I never thought I would be avoiding English but it has helped me improve my French, not to mention not getting me in trouble! After going to school here for a month I can say that I feel very accomplished and excited about the French I have learned thus far. My host mother tells me that I'm improving, so i'm just going to take her word for it!

On the weekends I have been going on excursions with my program and they have been awesome. I have been up and down the Loire valley already and it's such a beautiful area of France. The area is known for all of the chateaux ( I think there are ten) and i've been to four of them. Each one is unique and has it's own history. I get a different feeling when I'm inside each one and I always wonder what it would have been like to live there. It is crazy to think about how old the chateaux are and that I am standing inside of them. Not saying that I don't love Oregon, because I do, but probably the oldest structure there is a barn. It's just a little cool to live around the corner from King Reni's chateau :)

That's all for tonight, bonne nuit!

Kaitlin

French Cuisine

I was not quite sure what to expect a typical French meal to consist of before arriving in France. When I visited France a few years back, I remember eating a lot of pizza and pasta in restaurants, which I was sure was Italian food. I just came to the conclusion that maybe I didn’t branch out far enough on the menu to try any real French cuisine. After being in Angers for a few weeks, I have learned that while French cuisine does in fact exist, there are so many different cultures here that bring different foods into the mix. For example, there seems to be a fairly good-sized Arab population in Angers and with this comes the creation of the “Kebab stands.” I have eaten at one of these a few times and I can say that while it may be satisfying my desire for greasy food, it is something I cannot eat more than once in a blue moon.


I have also seemed to notice several Asian food restaurants. Not too many, but more than I expected there to be. I ate and a Thai restaurant on last week that was pretty delicious. It was a little on the spendy side but was refreshing and perfectly proportioned. Then there is the ever-so-popular Chinese restaurant called Asia Wok, which I find myself at a few times per week. The owner, as do I, enjoys giving me French lessons while preparing my food.

One part of French cuisine I very much enjoy is the creperies. These are definitely the type of restaurants that I can call French. I love the fact that I can enjoy a crepe at any time of the day without being judged. A couple friends and I ate at a creperie on Sunday night called Creperie Bretonne on rue des Deux Haies. The obvious and instant plus to this restaurant was that it was open on a Sunday. However, it was also very delicious and it was here that I managed to eat my first nutella crepe. The only strange part about my experience here was that all the lights went out in the restaurant for a few seconds. Nobody reacted or said anything except for Dayna who pulled a flashlight out of her purse and announced “flashlight!” It was amusing to see that we, the Americans, were the only ones who reacted. Something interesting about dining in a French restaurant is the delivery of the bill. In France you have to ask for your check when you are ready for it- a very foreign concept. At this creperie, however, the check was brought to our table without asking. The waiter must have known we were American, weird I know. We then put our money on the plate and waiting for it to be picked up. After 15 minutes, it was finally retrieved by the waiter. My friends and I were expecting change so we waited at the table for it to be returned. It must had been 10 minutes when one of us said “where is our change?” We waited another 20 minutes and couldn’t understand what was taking so long. We all started to get a little anxious. I felt as though there was nothing I could do. For some reason I felt rude asking for my change in a foreign country. This silly little problem was out of our hands and, although I am usually a very patient person, I did not enjoy it. We then saw the people sitting at the table next to us walk to the register to pay. We followed and were finally given a chance to relax as we walked out the door.

So, what is French cuisine? So far I’ve found that it consists of a lot of bread, cheese, vegetables, and galettes, but it is also a combination of foreign cuisines. This is similar to American food and that makes me feel right at home.

Being a Foreigner

An excerpt from something I wrote last week during an English class:
Before coming to France, I never thought of myself as becoming a "stranger." A stranger to someone in another country. Now that I'm here I realize that I am someone unfamiliar to French natives and that I am now the minority. As an American, I feel that I am never put in this type of situation for an extended period of time. The country that I live in is so large that I don't find myself traveling to other countries very often, simply because they are so far away. Here in Europe it is immensely different. The countries are small and close together, granting people the opportunity ti become a foreigner with just a quick travel to the nearest boarder. This has made me wonder- How does a person from France, for example, feel when they travel to Germany? Do they feel just as much of a stranger as I do in France?


I think that one of the clear disadvantages to being a "stranger" is simnply that you are labeled as a "stranger." You are one who is different and the one who natives here don't understand. This can lead to a lot of judging and starring, as I have found. However, some natives are also drawn to foreigners because they do have a different story to tell. I have already run into a few natives here who really want to speak English with me and want to learn more about my culture. This is a cool experience that makes me feel like I am no longer the only "stranger."

One thing I do enjoy about being the foreigner is that I'm always wanting to be active in the culture. The fact that I am in a foreign place and don't know a lot about the culture here is making me want to go out and learn. (This makes me feel like such a tourist though!) This is easy to do here as I am surrounded by historical places and artifacts.

My hope at the end of this experience is that I don't hear French people speaking around me and feel totally out of place. I realize that French language will always be a foreign language to me, but I want it to become something familiar. I've only been a "stranger" for two weeks, but I already feel myself soaking into the culture and starting to look at Angers as a familiar place.

Kaitlin

Next post: My first week in French school...coming soon

I'm here!

Bonjour Mes Amis!


After 28 long hours of traveling, I made it to Angers, France on Monday. My plane rides included the usual 2 year old crying a few rows ahead of me, people coughing up the swine virus for all I know, and a chinese woman speaking German sitting next to me - it all was quite interesting! I flew from Portland to Atlanta and then Atlanta to Paris. Then I took two different trains to get to Angers (a 1 1/2 hour trip from Paris). Trying to buy a train ticket and making sure I was on the right train was a little difficult, not to mention trying to lift my 50 pound suitcase up the stairs on the train! Needless to say, I was very relieved to make it to Angers :)


It has taken me a while to get used to the time change and to overcome my jet lag. The first day I arrived I felt very overwhelmed. I found myself gazing at my beautiful surroundings and absorbing the french language too much that I even walked straight into a parking meter. Talk about being one embarressed  American! Ah! Anyways, the town is awesome. It is a perfect mix between a city and a small town. The streets could not be more confusing but my roommate and I are learning our way around quickly by way of trial and error. My host mother is very nice, although I can't communicate in full conversation with her yet because she doesn't speak English. On Wednesday I took a French placement test. I knew I would probably be placed in a lower level considered I barely understood the directions! I am so excited to start classes on Monday and learn some French!


Last night was my first night out to the bars here, which was totally awesome. I met some cool people from several different countries. I loved talking to the British! There is a really awesome bar called Falstaff that is owned by a French woman who loves international students. This was the perfect place to start out the night! She even played the YMCA!


I am surprised at how well i've started to adapt to this culture my first week. At times it was a little difficult trying to fit into another culture, especially with people starring and judging you because they know you are American. My first night here I couldn't help but think "what am I doing here?" I knew that was probably a normal feeling so I didn't worry about it too much. This thought got me to thinking though about my true purpose for being here. I am here because I want to branch out and be immersed in another culture. I am hoping that being apart of this culture will help me to learn more French and that I will meet many great people along the way.


That's all for now!


Kaitlin