Italy = Incredible!

On Thursday, we woke up at 3:30 in the morning to catch our flight to Italy! Helen, Emily and I bid Kathryn, who was going to meet a friend in Greece, a sad goodbye and started off on what I thought would be the most tiring travel day of the trip (once again, I spoke too soon!). I woke up with a sore throat and it got progressively worse throughout the day. I remember this day in a literal haze. Our flight to Italy was very smooth (despite the fact that everyone started clapping upon landing… I thought it was just a European thing and was happy to join in but Helen and Emily, who have both traveled a lot in Europe and had never experienced that, were wondering if we had unwittingly survived a near-death experience. We were laughing about that in a sort of freaked-out way when they played a fanfare over the intercom, making it that much more ridiculous!).

We had to take three trains after that to get to Riomaggiore, the city in Cinque Terre in which we were staying. It was a huge struggle in the Pisa airport to figure out our train tickets. Let me just say that Italy is bad at trains. They are efficient and on time but there are no signs and it is pretty much like they expect you to have the map of Italy memorized in order to know which train to get on. It can make for a real hassle. Plus, I felt so yucky and it was made worse by how tired I was—I napped every time we got on a plane/train but I always felt even worse each time I woke up. I was so groggy and out of it by the time we got to La Spezia, where we got off the train too early and had to sit and wait in a train station for the next train.

We finally arrived in Riomaggiore by way of a long tunnel—so we didn’t know what was waiting for us outside the train doors. When we stepped off the train, we were greeted by the wide Mediterranean sea, with cliffs and trees on either side. We were on a bridge, and this magnificent view was literally two steps away. It didn’t even feel like a train station. We ran to the edge of the bridge to look down at the water, and it was completely breathtaking. It was the best welcome ever!

riomaggiore!
our building is the third one on the left (right next to the building with green scaffolding)

This fairytale only got better as we trekked up the one main street to our hostel. The hostel isn’t one building since the city is so small and hilly; it owns lots of different rooms throughout the city. We followed the man to our room, and were blown away to discover that it was basically sitting on the shore. Our room was up some stairs, and we ran to the window when we got there. We had a view out of a movie—we could see the shore and the rocks and lots of boats, and across from us there were other buildings with real Italians on their balconies and clothes on their real clotheslines. There was also a hill across from us with steep steps that led to a restaurant and down to the rocks.

our building is the one on the right (!!)

riomaggiore!

We went out to explore a little, since it was still light and warm outside, and we ended up walking down the Via dell’Amore, which is the path that connects Riomaggiore with Manarola, the next city. Cinque Terre is made up of five villages and the entire thing is a national park, so there is a trail that connects all the cities. It makes for a great hike if you do the entire thing, but the part between Riomaggiore and Manarola was more of a leisurely stroll, which was perfect after our long day. We took about a billion pictures, for the view was more beautiful than we could have imagined. It is also the path of love, so there were statues and monuments all along the path dedicated to love, and people had put locks with their and their partner’s names on them all along the rails, as per tradition, to lock in their love.

via dell'amore

manarola

That night, we ate dinner at the best little restaurant. We got to eat on the patio and the servers were so nice, especially when we tried to use Italian to order. We had delicious pizza and it was so much fun! We were in bliss.

so excited for gelato and italy!

Unfortunately, I woke up rather sick the next day and had a fever, so I stayed in the room all day while Helen and Emily hiked to the beach. I went with them to dinner that night, but I was pretty out of it and my soup wasn’t very good anyway. I did find a cup of strawberries at the gelato shop on the way home, though.

sunset :)

The next day, it was cloudy, but I was feeling a lot better. We decided to postpone our beach plans for the next day since we were afraid it was going to rain, so Emily and I spent the afternoon exploring the town. We went in every single shop, and it was really really fun! We picked up some good souvenirs and it was quite enjoyable. We had our first pieces of focaccia for lunch, which was to die for. That afternoon, we met back up with Helen and sat out on the rocks with our journals, which was quite agreeable. I also bought a deck of cards, which turned out to be a good purchase, since Emily and I got just a little obsessed with playing card games for the rest of the trip. We also went back to the restaurant we’d first been to this night and it was really fun, although they accidentally brought me meat sauce and I may or may not have eaten a tiny morsel of beef! They brought me a new one though and it was fine… I guess now I can say I tried meat while I was abroad!

relaxing on the rocks :)

The day after was Easter! Luckily, nothing was closed. We did a repeat of Helen and Emily’s hike from Friday but I actually got to go this time, even though I was feeling kind of worse. We walked to Manarola, and from there we took the train to Vernazza, which is supposed to be the most beautiful of the cities. It was certainly the busiest one, but I think it was only the most beautiful from a distance. It was definitely the best view we saw, but it wasn’t my favorite village. We hiked from Vernazza to Monterosso, the last village where there is the best beach. There are no words how to describe how gorgeous the hike was. It was pretty rigorous, too, and we relaxed on the beach with gelato once we got to Monterosso.

hiking!

vernazza!

That night, we tried a new restaurant, and this is noteworthy because I had the best pesto I have ever eaten in my life there. It was SO DELICIOUS. I also got chocolate gelato over strawberries after dinner, which was equally amazing. We ate it sitting on the dock outside our building, which was beautiful and peaceful—until two separate groups of Italian guys came calling, which was just funny.

there were lots of sailboats everywhere!

That night, we had a little adventure in our room. Ever since Emily had taken one good shower on the first day, we hadn't been able to get any hot water in our room, which mystified us since obviously Emily had not used up all the hot water the first day and it had never returned. We eventually decided that there just must be bad plumbing in the village, as if it was some primitive location. So none of us had had a good shower for almost five days, we'd just hopped in and out of the icy water a few times. Well, the last night I was brushing my teeth and I looked up and happened to notice a hot water heater suspended from the ceiling. I started cracking up and pointed it out to the others, since I thought it was funny that we even had a hot water heater in the room and we still couldn't get hot water. Emily came in to examine it and started turning dials but nothing seemed to fix it. She hit the light switch and we started to leave-- but then we noticed a tiny Christmas tree-like light on the water heater that had suddenly illuminated. She had accidentally hit a switch whose purpose we hadn't been able to figure out, so we'd just left it off-- the switch to turn on the hot water heater!! Someone must have turned it off the first afternoon and we hadn't touched it since. We left it on overnight and sure enough, there was hot water in the morning!

the trusty water heater and its light

On Monday, we made our way to Pisa, which wasn’t too difficult. It had gotten quite hot out, which was nice! Most everything in Pisa was closed since it was Easter Monday, so Emily and I had lunch at the first good place we saw—and ended up getting charged 5 euro for a lemonade! From there, we walked to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I have to say that this was a slight disappointment. It was much smaller than I thought it would be! We had fun taking silly pictures by it, though. Afterwards, there wasn’t much else to do. Pisa isn’t actually a very interesting city. We went back to the hostel and hung out until dinner, which was quite fun although the food wasn’t great.

Cinque Terre was amazing. I absolutely loved it. It is the most beautiful place I have ever been to. Even though I didn’t feel good and didn’t even really go to the beach, it was still my favorite place, which says a lot. It was so amazing and tranquil and breathtaking. It is one of my top three favorite places I have been so far in Europe, and I am so, so glad I got to go there. Riomaggiore was a great town to stay in and all the people were so nice. Helen, Emily and I had so much fun together and our surroundings were magnificent. I already want to go back!

Nice, I Guess?

Commence the worst travel day ever. I had a fever all night that night and I couldn’t stop coughing, and when we woke up at 4:30 on Tuesday to travel to Nice, I felt horrible. We had three train changes, and looking back on it, I am surprised I managed to be as coherent as I was. We were traveling for six hours, which included one long stop in a train station, and my luggage had somehow gotten heavier and overflowed into a big plastic bag I was now also lugging around, and it was awful. I did everything in a zombie-like state and I was so relieved to get to the hostel and collapse on my bed.

However, we were in the. Coolest. Hostel. Ever. It turned out to be the number-one hostel in France and one of the top ten in the world, which we didn’t know when we booked it! Our room was comfortable and the hostel itself was great. There was a huge common room with an upstairs loft and tons of computers, as well as a bar and a restaurant that served dinner! The surroundings were really pretty—it was on top of a hill—and they also led different excursions, like sailing, diving and rock-climbing. If I hadn’t been sick and I had had more funds, I would have loved to do one! I want to go back to Nice just so I can stay at this hostel again. Everyone working there was so much fun and we met some really nice people, too!

It was a good thing the hostel was so great because I ended up seeing a lot of it. We had three full days in Nice, and I spent all of them in bed with a fever and a horrible cough-- my cold got way worse. On the plus side, I got a lot of writing and reading done and I chatted with a few really nice girls who were also staying in our room. I also got to meet the hostel cat, No-No—she wandered into our room on the second day, circled the room, took one look at me and jumped up onto my bunk! She stayed there and snuggled with me all afternoon, which definitely made me feel better. And since the hostel had a restaurant, I didn’t have to miss out on going out to dinner with the girls, which was nice. Caroline met up with us on Wednesday night and it was great to see her!

No-No joined me for an afternoon of napping! :)

On Friday I was feeling a bit better, so I went to the common hall to watch the royal wedding! It was cloudy and the other girls were tired, so they joined me, and it was so much fun. I hadn’t really been into William and Kate before I watched the wedding, but it was so sweet and so much fun to watch that we were pretty much obsessed afterwards. They served free tea and biscuits at the hostel and it provided very good entertainment.

That night, we decided to go out to dinner since it was our last night in Nice. This was my first view of Nice! Haha. We went to the old section of town, and it was really pretty. We found a delicious Italian restaurant and had a fun dinner. It was really nice to get out and hang out with Helen, Emily and Caro—finally!

downtown nice

nice by night

The next day, we had almost the whole day before our train left. We headed to the Matisse museum in the morning, which was really fun! It was amazing to see how versatile Matisse was in his work. We also found a pretty park that had a maypole! I was really excited by that. Then we went back to collect our luggage, which we dragged with us to the beach. It was super windy and Nice has rocky rather than sandy beaches, but it was still nice to lay around by the ocean, which was quite pretty.

maypole!

That afternoon, we got on our train to Dijon, which was a straight six-and-a-half hours! It got to feel quite long. By the time we were two hours away, our car had almost emptied and we were completely delirious. I never wanted to even look at a train again. We stumbled off and waited for a cab and finally we were home, travel-weary and tired, but completely content. We had the best break. I couldn’t have asked for anything better (well, aside from maybe not to get sick) or for better travel-mates, and it was just so much fun. I felt so lucky to be able to see these amazing parts of the world and experience all these different cultures. It was a much-needed respite from school, too, and definitely fulfilled my desire for adventure! I have to say I was really glad to come back to Dijon, and that was nice, too, because it kind of felt like home. :)

la plage

Break!

Well, it took a marathon eight-and-a-half hours of class today to get us there (we had class at 9 am and I didn't get home until 7 pm!), but we are officially on spring break!!! Yay! So I thought I would write a little update about my travels before I set off on Saturday morning.

We're leaving for Barcelona on Saturday, where we will spend five days. Then it's off to Cinque Terre, Italy for five more days, and finally to Nice in the south of France for the last four days! We have two weeks of break total and it is feeling much-needed. I'm so excited for our travels, and also a little nervous!

So look forward to lots of pictures and stories in two weeks. :) For now, here are a couple of photos of Dijon when the weather was really lovely last weekend.

parc des colombieres

my host mom and me! she took me and kathryn on a hike last weekend

Sunshine in Strasbourg

Where can you encounter sausages, ancient art, accordion players, snobby Frenchmen, castles, other exotic meat products, a history based on syphilis, the European parliament, cobblestone streets and, best of all, authentic soft pretzels? If you guessed Alsace, you'd be right!

It would be hard to sum up last weekend in a few words, but if I had to, that list would do it (oh, and sunshine). At 6:30 on Friday morning we jumped (well, actually we sort of dragged and grumbled in the lovely way of the half-asleep) onto our minibus and headed northeast to the region of Alsace, an area that has gone back and forth between France and Germany since the days of yore (although it has belonged to France since the end of World War I, aside from Hitler's seizure of it). It's very heavily German-influenced because of this (hence the sausage, sauerkraut and pretzels), and they even have their own dialect, Alsatian, which is a mix of French, German and Dutch.

After stopping for breakfast on the way (I had my first pain au raisin, which was delicious), we made our first stop in Strasbourg at the European Parliament. This was equal parts interesting and frustrating. For one thing, we had learned about almost everything that our tour included in a politics class that four of us took last semester, which rendered it more interesting but also extremely annoying because we found we had forgotten most of the information we'd learned. For another, we had the strangest/worst tour guide in the history of the world, and this is not an exaggeration. Nathalie had had him in years past and she had actually called this year and requested not to have him, but that obviously did no good. He repeated everything at least four times, would not stop talking about the most useless things (like television screens and stairs) and he defined everything. Direct quote: "This building is in a shape. This shape is a circle. The building is in the shape of a circle, the form that is round. It is a circle." We and the German students on the tour with us had to struggle to keep straight faces, and even though it was interesting to see the Parliament, it was definitely not the most useful tour.

After that, we checked in at our hotel and went to lunch. The restaurant was very authentic, with dark wood walls and checkered towels and things hanging everywhere, which was cool, but I didn't actually enjoy the cuisine, especially after I found bacon on my vegetarian tarte flambée. After lunch, we had free time to explore Strasbourg. We went to the cathedral, which was beautiful, and then we wandered down to Petit France (thus named because the French came to the region in the Middle Ages and brought syphilis with them), which was beautiful! We walked along the sparkling river, which is lined with old-fashioned buildings and pretty trees. We were really lucky to have beautiful weather all weekend, and it was so enjoyable to walk around. We also took a boat tour along the river-- my first boat tour-- and it was so much fun.

Petit France!

We bought pretzels later and then a few of us went back to the hotel to relax until dinner. The food at dinner was not better than lunch, and it was made worse by the fact that our waiter was the epitome of a snobby French person. Although the French can be somewhat rough sometimes, I honestly hadn't encountered a stereotypical French snob until this restaurant. He scolded us for not cleaning our plates and proclaimed it must be because we had eaten at McDonald's beforehand, and then he delayed our dessert by a half an hour as punishment. He also pulled the really clever trick of pretending like he couldn't understand us when we spoke, even though there is no way he couldn't have (we've encountered this more than once). All in all, I was really glad to go back to the hotel, curl up in bed and watch a movie with Helen before bedtime.

some of the group waiting for our boat tour

The next day we left Strasbourg and headed first to le Château de Haut Koenigsbourg, which really was high up, just like it says in the name (haut). It was really really fun and when we got to the top, there was the most beautiful view out the windows. We basked in the sun for a while before we left. I think château-visiting is one of my favorite activities here. There is so much interesting history to learn and think about, and they are so beautiful as well as very fun to run around in.

the group in front of the castle!

From there, we made our way to the village of Riquewihr, stopping at a picturesque church on the top of a hill on the way to see the view. The drive was kind of like Mr. Toad's wild ride, but it was lovely-- I felt like I was in a movie as we rolled across the hilly green countryside through tiny little villages, each made up of old-fashioned houses and a church. The region is also famous for storks, and we got to see a few perched on chimney-tops.

basking in the sun in the middle of the countryside

Riquewihr felt even more like we had stepped into a storybook. It was a tiny village with everything traditional and charming, from the cobblestones beneath our feet to the Alsatian woman handing out hot, fresh macaroons from the window of her pastry shop. We got to eat lunch outside, which was great, since we were taking every opportunity to soak up the sun. Once again I didn't really find anything I wanted to eat-- that was the major downfall of this trip for me. If you want to eat vegetarian and/or not very richly, Alsace is not the place for you. Lunch was fun (and I had violet ice cream afterwards-- yummy!), but I was sort of in a bad mood afterwards, since I had eaten salad for every meal for the last three meals. We also had free time but there wasn't much else to do, Riquewihr being so charmingly tiny, so we just sat in the sun for an hour and chatted.

sunny lunchtime!

Nathalie came and found us in the late afternoon and we went to some caves for a wine tour and tasting. So far, this was my favorite wine activity by far, for a few reasons. First of all, we only spent about five minutes in the cave, which suited me just fine because the caves are cold and spiderwebby and the process of winemaking is really something I could not care less about. Second of all, we were served the most delicious traditional cake to go with our wine tasting, and free cake is always good, especially when it has glazed almonds on top and it is a local specialty. Third of all... drumroll, please... I tasted a wine that didn't make me want to spit it out all over the table and head to the nearest dentist's for a thorough mouth cleaning! I actually liked the first wine we tasted, which was a Reisling. I bought a bottle, too, because it was grand cru, which is the very top echelon on the scale of wines (see, I am learning, if reluctantly), and only 15 euros, which was a steal, and because after our professor explained to us that the appeal of wine is less the wine itself than everything associated with it-- it is an experience of nostalgia, you could say, and the most important thing is when you bought the bottle of wine and the memories that come out of the bottle when you open it, as he said-- I was persuaded that I really should bring home a commemorative bottle of real French wine.

proof of the wine

After this, we got back in the bus and drove to Colmar, where our hotel was located. We hung out before dinner (we found "Glee" in French on the tv in our room!) and then we went to our restaurant, which was located in Petit Venise (Little Venice) and situated right next to a river! This dinner was great. My appetizer was goat cheese with honey brulé, and I think it might be my favorite specifically French food that I have tasted so far. We had a really good time and all ended up crying from laughing at one point, including Nathalie.

The next morning we got to see Colmar in the daylight, and it was very sunny daylight, indeed. I wore shorts! We got to gallivant around a pretty courtyard with a fountain and lots of colorful flowers while Nathalie figured out our tour, and then we had a tour of the art museum, which is one of the most visited beaux-arts museums in France. Our tour guide was interesting but he too was rather rude-- not to us, but to some of the patrons. I have never heard anyone shush so fiercely!

the plaza in front of the art museum

After this, we had the best lunch ever. We ate at an outside cafe, and it was blissfully warm and sunny. An accordion player stopped by as we were sipping on our drinks, and we took a moment to realize how extremely French we were being right now. The accordion player was even wearing a striped shirt! This lunch was great, and afterwards we had the most magnificent ice cream sundaes I have ever encountered. My framboise melba, which consisted of raspberry sorbet, vanilla ice cream, raspberries and the most flavorful, creamiest whipped cream in the world, was literally the best ice cream I have ever consumed. Needless to say, we were in a state of bliss by the end of our meal.

best. ice cream. ever.

Our bus ride back to Dijon was shorter than the one there since we had moved south over the course of the weekend, and we all dozed off. We came back to cloudy skies, and not two minutes after we had all gotten home, there was a huge thunderstorm! Since then, though, we've been having lovely weather-- spring has really sprung!

La Vie Quotidienne

Sometimes I feel like studying abroad is an experience of opposition. When things go right, they go so right and everything feels perfect and it's like the stars aligned to make everything happen right and all the parts of my life seem like they work together and my brain works in both languages and everything seems to fit together. But when things go wrong, it feels so much worse here than it does at home.

It seems sometimes like studying abroad is more about crossing the hurdles than enjoying the time in between. I know that isn't true, and that the good stuff will and does outweigh the hurdles by far, but it's easy to feel like half the things are great, half of them aren't. You have the worst class ever and then the best afternoon ever. You can have fluent two hour conversations with your host mom and be completely useless in the presence of a fast-talking salesperson.

The last week and a half has certainly been a period of opposition. Some of our classes are getting really frustrating and a little hard to deal with. The grading has really been stressing me out and it's impossible to talk to the professors about it. One of our professors is great, and his philosophies are pretty similar to American ideas, like that you should explain activities to students and use exercises rather than straight memorization to teach and that you shouldn't be condescending to your students. (Really radical concepts.) But otherwise, I guess I have to look at it as a case study of the French culture. The professors don't have the same respect for students as in the US, things aren't explained well if at all and we're tested on stuff we haven't been prepared for.

But on the other hand, we had beautiful weather for a couple of days. Last Friday we walked around the lake, tried to go to a dance class and failed but had a really fun time wandering around the sports area of our school, and then we went and bought drumstick ice creams and took them to the park and sat and talked for a few hours in the sun. It was so lovely. All the fountains in Dijon have been turned on, and they're beautiful! There's one right outside my house and it's surrounded by violets and poppies that have just bloomed. This Wednesday was also really fun. Cha and I had lunch and shared a rhubarb tart, which was delicious, before doing some shopping. We had dinner at the Condorcet, as usual, which is always nice and relaxing. We also got to talk to Michel on the phone for a few minutes. And on Thursday one of our professors asked us for suggestions as to how to change the course, and we had a really productive conversation.

So it's easy to feel down, but, luckily, it's easy to feel up, too. Traveling sort of makes people bipolar. But despite it, and because of it, you learn a lot, even when you've only eaten salad for three days because you're in a Germanic city and your only other option is blood sausage or ox tail or something. We're exactly halfway through our time here, and I think April brought with it a little bit of a slump for us. Between making summer plans and being frustrated with classes it was easy to get a little homesick. But the good part is that you learn. We're always learning and always thinking and mulling and I already feel like I couldn't possibly articulate what I've learned so far. And one of those things is that the positive and the negative come together, especially in an experience like this, and you just have to know that. But the best part is that that means that there's always a positive after a negative, and even when you have had a really awful week, you get to go away on vacation with the best nine girls ever in eighty-degree weather with the nicest, loveliest psuedo-mother/tour guide/teacher and explore a new place, and you have reason again to say over and over, "Is this real life?" Being here obviously brings with it a storm of emotions, a lot of them conflicting, but what I feel above all, when I think about my home and when I'm doing things here, is lucky.

Kayla, the Citadel and Crepes!

This weekend, Kayla came to visit! We had lots of adventures and it was so much fun to have her here in France. On Friday, we did a little grocery shopping after her train got in and then we cooked dinner and watched a movie and just caught up. My host mom went to Munich to see her daughters last weekend so she was gone and we had the house to ourselves, which was fun, especially for cooking.

On Saturday, we ventured to Besançon, a petite ville about an hour away, for a day trip with Kathryn. We knew what we wanted to see there, but we hadn't planned anything more than that, so it ended up being a bit of an adventure! It was actually pretty cool to go somewhere and just explore and wing it for once. When we arrived, we had to figure out how to get from the train station into downtown, but thanks to our wonderful deductive reasoning skills we found not only the bus stop but also the right bus. We were starving, so we basically went to the first cafe we saw to get sandwiches. It turned out to be a totally traditional French cafe! It was quite an experience. It was run by an old man named Max, and his friends made up the majority of the clientele. They were just hanging around at the counter talking and joking. He came and talked to us for quite a while before he gave us menus and he told us about his son, who goes to school in Wisconsin. He went and got his University of Madison mug and showed it to us, and he asked us about where we were from. He made all the food himself, and it was a typical slow French experience (they traditionally take a lot of time to make and eat their food). We waited for our check for quite a while because the French like to just sit there and talk for hours. The people at the bar kept looking at us like we were the most exciting thing to come to Besançon in a while, and one of the men stole our drinks off the tray when Max was bringing them to us. ''That is what it is like to be a man in a French cafe,'' Max said. Another old man came up to us and asked us questions, too. It was really cute and felt sort of like something out of a movie. It was also fun to translate everything for Kayla ;)

When we were done with lunch, we spent rather a large amount of time walking around trying to find the signs pointing us to the citadel. It was pretty dreary and cold outside, and it seemed like the signs kept pointing us in opposite directions. By the end of the day, we were convinced that the tourism office doesn't actually exist. Eventually we found a map and some questionably placed signs and made our way towards this citadel. It was kind of a long walk, but we finally found the citadel-- about 300 feet above us on a cliff. We stared at it for a minute, decided that we would not want to be one of the people in the tower on the edge (the wall was pretty much flesh with the side of the cliff), and set about trying to find the path up. This presented another struggle, and after concluding that we probably shouldn't walk through the tunnel all the cars were driving through to get there, I asked at a tobacco store. He told us there were stairs just to the left, so we went on yet another hunt and eventually found them (quite a ways down from the left, I might add).

So we climbed and climbed and climbed. It wasn't all that bad, but the stairs were super old and steep. When we finally got to the top, though, the view was so worth it. It was gorgeous! The buildings of the citadel were pretty, too-- built under the reign of Louis XIV! Over the years, it has contained defense resources, a school for cadets and a prison, as well as prisoners of war captured and, for the most part, executed by Germany, who seized the citadel during WWII. Now, however, it houses a zoo and botanical gardens, which were cool, but slightly depressing-- it was about thirty degrees outside and the lions and flamingos did not look at home. We got to climb to the very highest towers, though, and walk along an open path between them. We ended up at the exact spot we had been staring at from below just an hour earlier and which we had decided looked like it was about to topple off the cliff. Luckily the rocks held up for us and the most eventful thing that occurred was lots of picture-taking of the breathtaking view.

On Sunday we walked at the lake and met up with some other Dijonettes to see The King's Speech and just hung out. It was a great weekend, in all, and so fun to be able to have a little bit of Puget Sound here :)

that looks stable, right?

the view from the highest point!

This week, by contrast, has been pretty stressful-- I think my worst since getting here. We got our midterm exams back and while I didn't fail, it didn't exactly give me lots of confidence about receiving As for my work here, and the whole system is just confusing and frustrating. We've struggled a bit the last couple of days, but now the week is over and I have a free weekend, so I am going to reorganize and try to really work. My host mom said she would help me and made me feel better about the whole situation. Also, a few of us made crepes for dinner and dessert together earlier this week and studied and it was really fun. I made my first crepe ever! It was very fun, and I really enjoyed my savory crepe! I'm still not a huge fan of dessert crepes-- but don't worry, I'll make them for you when I get home anyway. ;)

the crepe i made!

Rivers and Forests and Châteaux, Oh My!

Towering facades of bright white stone, spiral staircases awash in early morning light, towers worthy of Rapunzel, and tree-lined pathways that somehow preserve the majesty of arriving at a castle, even without horse-drawn carriages. Those are just a few snapshots of our weekend in the Loire Valley (I should also probably add in porcupines, the best tour guide ever, getting married, jumping a lot and stinky trees for any Dijonettes listening in ;) ). We left Thursday for Blois (pronounced Blwah, much to our delight), a town on the Loire River. The train ride was fun, and all we did Thursday was have dinner at the hotel (the Holiday Inn), which made for an evening filled with laughter and relaxation.

Friday morning we set off for Blois, château number one. It was only a short walk from the hotel and we were all excited to start castle-exploring. When you arrive at Blois, you walk into a courtyard, and you're surrounded by the four walls of the castle. Each side was built by a different king in a different time period and in a different architectural style. It's pretty rare to see so many different architectural periods just by turning in a circle. Blois was the castle of King Louis XII, whose symbol was the porcupine, so there were porcupines sculpted into all the walls. It was also where Catherine de Medici lived with King Henry II. After we toured the rooms, we walked across the grounds to the wall, where there was a gorgeous view of the village and river below.

amazing view #1

the gamma phi betas at the castle :)

the sun came out just in time for our visit!!!

After we were done at Blois, we went downtown to the find the crèperie where we were supposed to have lunch, but it was unexpectedly closed! This turned out to be a happy accident, though, because we stumbled upon the cutest bruschetta restaurant instead. It was all decorated with hearts and birds and other cute things in turquoise and white, and it was entirely run by one woman! Her ability to serve the eleven of us as well as the two other couples who came in just after we did was pretty impressive. I had a tomato, mozzarella and basil bruschetta with a green salad, and we had elaborate crepes for dessert! Mine was apple-chocolate with caramel ice cream. I don't think I actually like crepes that much, but it was fun! Then we walked along the river to meet our taxi drivers, who we had for the whole weekend and who were really nice.

It was about a twenty-minute drive to Chambord, our next château. This is probably one of my favorite places in the entire world. It is definitely top on my list of visits/activities I have ever done. We followed a pretty pathway towards the castle, which led past the castle to a forest. We turned at the château, however, and went inside to meet our tour guide, François. He told us about Chambord's mysterious history-- no one knows who the architect was (although, as we discovered during the tour, they think it was da Vinci) or why it was built. The castle holds a lot of secrets, and it felt like we were unwrapping a gift or something over the course of the tour as we discovered one thing after another. Our guide was hilarious and dynamic, and he would give us just enough clues to get us guessing and then wouldn't tell us the answer until later on. We learned a lot about François I, who built the castle; about his plans to build a canal system through France (the reason why the castle was built on water); about his symbol, the salamander; and about the meanings behind all the different sculptures on the castle walls. It was extremely interesting and lots of fun. Since historians knew almost nothing about Chambord, they analyzed every inch of the castle, and they actually discovered a lot of information. For example, they figured out that one room was used as a chapel just because on one of the salamander sculptures, there is a baby salamander biting the toe of the big salamander, and that represents the Catholic idea that the adult nourishes the child (I think there is a little more to it, but I don't remember-- you get the point, though). It was amazing to see how all these very tiny, sometimes unnoticeable details told the story of a king hundreds of years ago.

All in all, Chambord was simply fascinating. The castle itself was beautiful, as well, and we were running around it like giddy children, taking pictures like crazy. It was one of the most fun things I have done since I got here-- and probably also in my life! Our tour was two hours long, but we hardly even realized it. We left just as the castle closed, and the late afternoon sun was illuminating the castle as we left. It was gorgeous (and a perfect opportunity for more photos!).

the amazing Chambord. François only spent forty days here total after building it-- can you believe that?! it was finished in 1547, and since then, it has only been inhabited for twenty years altogether. um, i'll take it if no one else wants it!

amazing view #2

the castle was really cold inside, but they had fires going to warm us up! it made me feel even more medieval :)

ahhh.

an example of the sculptures-- lots of F's and salamanders. Each salamander is slightly different

Needless to say, we were somewhat exhausted after Chambord, and it was nice to head back to the hotel and relax before dinner, which wasn't good enough to warrant talking about. After dinner, a bunch of us hung out in one of the hotel rooms and watched French tv. We stumbled upon a spectacle that was apparently a charity concert but was really just a bunch of French people dressed up like crazy people. It was hilarious. There was even a battle between a Lady Gaga impersonator and a midget Madonna. Oh, the French. One thing that I discovered this weekend, though, is that my French has really improved (as has everybody's!). I could tell, of course, that I was getting better at speaking and more comfortable, but this trip was the first time I had watched French TV or had a tour guide since we were in Paris... and I understood almost everything. It was amazing! When we were in the train station, I heard the announcements about trains over the loudspeaker and understood them without even thinking about it, and then I realized that when we were arriving in Paris, I had strained to hear them and struggled to understand. I remember thinking that it seemed like the woman was speaking impossibly fast and I was worried I wouldn't understand enough when we got to Dijon because I couldn't understand the announcements. That was a pretty cool moment in the train station. I also could understand the TV shows for the most part, and I understood our guides completely, both things that had been difficult in Paris. It was really cool to actually be conscious of our development of language.

The next morning, we set out for Chaumont-sur-Loire. It was a bit farther, but the drive through the countryside was nice. The green hills and vineyards always remind me of Sonoma County. :) We followed a lot of very shallow steps up into the hill on top of which Chaumont-sur-Loire is built, but it was worth it when the castle came into view. Out of all the ones we saw, this one was most like a fairy tale princess' castle. A drawbridge led to the plump, tall towers and a bright green lawn sloped down to trees below the castle. In the other direction, quaint buildings once used for horses and servants marked the way to an expansive field and some gardens. We half-expected Rapunzel's hair to come tumbling out of a window above. There was even a wishing well in the courtyard. We didn't have a guide for this castle, and it was pretty small (haha), so it didn't actually make for a very exciting visit, but it was pretty nonetheless! As we left, it got humid and overcast, and it started to rain on our drive to the next château.

the cute well! and behind me, amazing but less easily photographed view #3

chaumont-sur-loire!

From Chaumont, we drove to our last castle, Chenonceau. It had my favorite entrance out of all the castles-- a very long tree-lined path with a large iron gate at the entrance. We ate lunch at the castle's cafeteria before heading to the castle itself. Chambord had the most inviting surroundings, but Chenonceau had the most beautiful gardens. Unfortunately, it had just started raining and the sun had disappeared, so we ducked into the castle gratefully.

We had an audio guide for this one-- just a pre-recorded thing that took us through all the rooms, and I didn't really like it. We were on our own, and all isolated from each other because we were wearing headphones listening to the guide, so I wanted to go at my own pace, but I couldn't because I had to keep with the guide. It was also a lot harder to pay attention to than a real person, so I didn't really get much out of it. Anyway, the castle was mostly filled with replica beds and dressers and portraits, so I didn't feel like I really saw anything new, although Catherine de Medici's study was beautiful. We warmed up in front of the fire once we'd gone through all the rooms, and then we headed outside to walk through one of the gardens and take pictures in front of the castle. It was really pretty, but I think I would have had a much better time if it hadn't been wet and gray and freezing. It wasn't actually raining, but it was still disagreeable. We went to the labyrinth after that, which was cool but would probably have been infinitely more fun had we been ten years younger and two feet shorter. :)

where's your horse-drawn carriage when you need it?

amazing view #4. i wished we had more time and better weather to explore the gardens

!

On the way home, we stopped for a wine tasting, but it isn't really worth mentioning since it consisted of a fifteen-minute tour in the freezing cold caves, during which we just looked at a lot of bottles, and then a glass of champagne for everyone, which I didn't want. However, the four castles had made for an amazing weekend, and I happily dozed off in the car on the way back as real rain started to come down. We relaxed (I took a bath!) and then had dinner, which was also not good enough to merit description, but was uproariously hilarious. I'm pretty sure every person in that restaurant was very happy when the eleven of us finally left, but we didn't care-- you only study abroad in France once, right?

kisses from the Loire!