Les Châteaux de Loire: Chambord, Chenonceau, et Azay Le Rideau

Chambord
Chenonceau
Azay le Rideau
On Saturday I had another excursion with the school to visit some of the Chateaux in the Loire Valley. We left Angers at 8am and arrived at Azay le Rideau first. This chateaux was finished in 1527 and is built on the Indre River. As you can see it rises directly out of the water!
Next up was Chenonceau. This was probably my favorite simply because of the construction directly over the Cher River. It was built several times in the early 1400s but the version that can be seen today was finished in 1521. Unfortunately when i was there the entire front side was under construction so the only part that could be seen completely was the side view, which of course was still beautiful.
Our last stop was Chambord. Chambord is the largest Chateaux in the Loire Valley and was originally built to be the hunting lodge for François I and was completed in 1547. Louis XIV and Louis XV both spent time at the Chateau during their reign. During World War II art from the Louvre was stored at Chambord. There was an exhibit while I was there that talked about this piece of history.
Another great trip within France! This coming weekend I will be going to Paris with some friends so there will be more stories to come I am sure!

Mont St. Michel Video

Video!

Saint Malo and Mont St. Michel

Mont St. Michel (above) Saint Malo (below)

Yesterday I went on a day trip to Saint Malo and Mont St. Michel. Both were absolutely gorgeous and unlike anything I have seen in real life thus far.

Saint Malo:
Saint Malo is a fortified city in northwest France with a wall surrounding the entire town. It became notorious for being the home to French Corsairs (or pirates) where they made a great deal of wealth forcing the English to pay a fee to pass through.
My experience in this city was wonderful. It was a little chilly but the sun was out and the water looked amazing. I spent the majority of the time just walking around the outer walls and looking out at the water. As I was walking around I was passed by local joggers and it hit me that people still actually live there. How amazing would it be to live in a place like that? Physically surrounded by such history! After I made my way around the perimeter I went down into the city which was quaint and made good use of the space. All of the apartments and stores are built up. After spending some time exploring the city I went back outside the walls and watched the boats go in and out. (Dad, this should be one of your sailing destinations!)

Mont St. Michel:
Mont St. Michel is an ancient Monastery and stronghold that dates back to the 8th century when the first monastic structure was built on the Island. It is famous for the quick tides that quickly make the island inaccessible. Wikipedia will probably do more justice to the history than I can. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_St._Michel
I do know that Mont St. Michel was the inspiration for the depiction of Minas Tirith in The Lord of the Rings, Return of the King film.
Anyway, it was a beautiful area to explore. There were so may different rooms and chambers. The main cathedral is breathtaking and it is still used today for prayer. My favorite room was La Salle des Chevaliers, which is where the knights hung out.
All in all it was a fabulous day. Lots of history, lots to see, and two places I will never forget!

First Week of Class

So is it Thursday and my first week of classes has almost come to an end. So far, I LOVE IT. I have always liked school but this is a completely different experience. I placed in the advanced (320) level at Université Catholique De l'Ouest and therefore I have six mandatory hours of language each week and then I get to choose 4 or more electives. So my electives are History of Art (included is a trip to Musée D'Orsay in Paris at the end of the semester), History of France, Grammar, and finally French Utopias and Utopian Visions.
All of the above are taught in French except for the Utopian class. I have only had three grammar classes thus far but it is already super helpful. History of France is especially exciting to me because for one I love history and its fun to learn the history of a country taught by a native French person in the native language. Since it is second semester and some students have been here since fall, the history I will be learning starts with the French Revolution and continues through the World War II.
This weekend I will just being exploring Angers more and getting into a routine. I will study too of course....

The Taxi

So I had an interesting experience in Angers last night. A few of us went out last night and most places close at 2am. My house mate and I needed to take a cab home since there were no more buses going our way.
I get the cab company on the phone and tell them my whereabouts, the lady asks me "attendez s'il vous plait" "please hold" and I did and she hung up. I thought I must have said something wrong so I hand the phone to my friend who is better at french than I am and he asks for the cab, gives the address, she asks if its for the girl, he says yes, and that its for three people and she said that they would not send a cab for only three people. This seemed very strange to me. So I call back one more time and ask again politely for a cab. As soon as I say the address she hangs up on me.
So, we were stranded. Luckily our friends host family allowed us to stay the night there and my housemate and I call the cab this morning and they send one right away. weird.
So we get into the cab at like 8 this morning and we ask the guy why they refused to send us a cab when we had called three times last night and really needed to get home. Apparently, there have been many incidences of students drunk-dialing cab services when they dont actually need a cab. The driver said they must have heard our accents and assumed we were just drunk french kids and thus they refused us a cab. Still not ok in my opinion. But next time he said just to make sure to say we are American students who really need a ride home and there shouldnt be a problem. I would have called another cab service but alas the town is not that large and there is only one cab company. So, another lesson learned here in Angers.
Luckily the worst case scenario ended up being ok because we were safe and had a safe place to stay. My host mom is going to give the cab company a call today as well because she is of the opinion that they shouldn't refuse anyone a cab over the phone, because even if they have had drunk students call in the past, there are still people (like us) who just really need to get home and cannot walk home like many others.
Needless to say I am now going to take a VERY long nap and get ready for classes to start tomorrow!

Le Marché

Today I went to the Samedi Marché (saturday market). I began my market experience with a fresh crêpe and coffee. I then proceeded to browse the endless aisles of fresh produce, clothes, shoes, bags, scarves, meat, cheese, and antiques. There were so many smells and not all of them great early in the morning (some cheese is smells very strong, and it was right next to all different kinds of raw meat). I stopped by a couple of old book booths and saw one from the 1970s all about the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California and it was of course in French. I just though it was kind of cool, i was good and didnt buy it though. Im trying to save the money for trips.
Speaking of trips, in addition to the ones organized directly through my AHA program apparently there are going to be about three other trips that i can go on through CIDEF which is the international program at Université Catholique De L'Ouest. And since they are organized by the school they are much cheaper because they get tickets and everything in bulk, so I am going to keep my ears opened for that.
As of now a couple of us are thinking Italy for spring break but nothing is concrete. Everyone is advising us to buy our spring break tickets soon though before the prices go up so we will have to plan that all out eventually. I would also really like to go to Switzerland at some point so hopefully I can fit that in on a long weekend.
It has been raining quite a bit lately and it was pooring this morning so I am going to hang out at the house for a bit until I go back out in the evening. The night before last a bunch of us went out (apparently all the students go to the bars on Thursday nights here...havn't figured out why yet) and my roommate and I had to catch the last bus home at around midnight, but it didn't take us all the way to our normal stop so we had to walk about 30 minutes to get home. It was raining and I caught a cold. So lesson learned, tonight we will call a cab and see how much that costs.
I was thinking about renting a bike while I was here since I do live so far away from the school and only having one bus to my homestay is kind of a pain, but, after watching these bikes maneuver through the roundabouts and cars not really stopping when they are supposed too im thinking the bus might still be the best option for me. Most of students live much closer to the school and downtown than me so they have a little bit more freedom, but I will figure out a way to be able to be a part of it all. It will just take time.
I also do not think I have completely recovered from my jet lag, so for now I think it is nap time!

View of Angers from the Château

I apologize that it is a little shaky, but it serves its purpose!

Fun Fun Fun!

Everything is still unreal here but I am trying my best to soak it all in. So far everyone I have met has been super friendly and have been very encouraging as I butcher their language. But as the nice waiter at the restaurant said last night "you will never speak it unless you try", so of course I will keep trying!
Yesterday we went to a large shopping center to get the essentials like school supplies and looked at some other fun shops as well. Angers is a really clean city except for the construction. They are currently building a tramway through the city center so lots of roads are dug up.
I have eaten so many bread products the past couple of days but they have all been amazing! luckily I have been walking everywhere so hopefully it doesnt hang around my middle too much. And if it does, oh well, cause im in France!
Aunt Kathy wanted to hear about the fashion and it is pretty similar to the US but everyone looks really put together, even the grade school kids. a lot of scarves, boots, dresses, skinny jeans and pea coats. One major trend that I did not expect was cowboy boots! Lots of the girls have cowboy boots. Very interesting.
Tomorrow morning we are going to check out the Saturday market and spend another day walking around. I am glad I brought sturdy shoes!

Le Château D'Angers

Today as part of my introduction to Angers I was taken on a tour of Le Château D'Angers. It was built in the 13th century and the fortress was home to the Dukes of Anjou in the 14th and 15th centuries and King René. During the 16th century and the wars of religion the governor of the fortress had the tops of the towers removed to equip the towers with better artillery. After that it became a security enclosure and a prison.
Today however it houses the oldest and largest tapestry in the world, The Apocalypse Tapestry. It was commissioned by Louis 1, Duke of Anjou, and the brother of King Charles V and was created during the 14th century during the 100 years war with England and the Plague, and thus many did think that it was the apocalypse. Originally it was a big as a football field and was used as a traveling piece because there was no place large enough to house it. After that it began being broken apart and pieces went all over the place. Today it is 100 metres long and 4.5 metres high. The scenes are derived from the apocalypse according to Saint John from the book of Revelations.
It was an incredible experience to stand in front of something that was created hundreds of years ago!
After Le Château I wandered around with people I have met, had a delicious pastry and a coffee at a café and took the bus home all by myself (Im really proud of that part). Now I am home and having some downtime before dinner!

Small tour of Ma Chambre

So I am trying to upload a video...but I think the internet signal is too weak...I will try again later

Day #1

I made it safely to Angers, France after a 9 hour plane ride from Dallas and a two and a half our train ride from Paris. I was hoping to see a bit of Paris as we landed but there was a great deal of cloud cover and to my surprise when we broke through the clouds, it was SNOWING! I thought I had left that behind in Alaska.
The train ride was very pretty and I was able to get a glimpse of the countryside and all the cute little farmhouses and sheep.
My host Mom seems very friendly, she greeted me with tea and a Galette which is a cake/sweet bread with a souvenir hidden inside and whoever gets it in their slice is either le roi (the king) if you are a boy or la Renne (the queen). The souvenir was in my slice so today Je suis La Renne!
Tomorrow I get a walking tour of the City! Au Revoir!