Home away from home: Angers, France

So my last post was just before I arrived in Angers so now you need to hear about my wonderful weekend with family and friends.  When I hopped of the train, I went straight to L'Universite Catholique de l'Ouest.  This is where I studied abroad almost 3 years ago and where you can most of the time find Sue in her office.  Sue and Annika were there waiting for me.  We had a nice catch up session while I had some lunch and waited for Leann.  Leann is a friend from my club volleyball team at Oregon, who is studying in Angers right now and staying with the Berthelots this semester!  She came to get me from the university and we went out for a drink before heading home.  Therese and Jean were waiting for us when we got home.  I hadn't seen them since Thanksgiving so it was wonderful to catch up and talk with them.

I was so excited for dinner that night because it had been awhile since I had Therese's amazing meals.  This one did not disappoint.  For the starter course with the aperatif, which is the drink before dinner, there were little pieces of bread with salmon and spread, peanuts from Senegal, and chips with a greek dip.  Then, we had the entree, which is not the main meal in France but the meal before the plat principal.  So for this we had fish, that was almost in a cake like form, with sauce and a little salad. And then we had the plat prinicipal which was a quiche with lardons and leeks.  Now, quiche is pretty simple and most of the time taste the same but oh my goodness, this was the best quiche I had ever tasted.  And of course after I was completely stuffed, we had dessert which was a chocolate cake.  And throughout the dinner, Jean kept our wine glasses full.  Needless to say, I slept very well that night.

The next morning, Leann and Hillary, the other student staying with them went on an excursion with the university so my plan was to get lunch with Sue.  In the morning, Therese and I walked to the supermarket and to a few other places to shop for lunch the following day.  It was still nice out at this point so it was lovely walking around Avrille with Therese.

Right across from the Berthelots house is this little place to sit and relax

Sue and I met up for lunch in centre-ville and found a cute little salad bar place.  You pick all of your ingredients and they mix it for you.  It's like Subway but with salads.  And, everything at this place is completely green so they don't even have a garbage can, just a recycling bin.  It was awesome.  Then we walked about for awhile and went over to the Jardin des Plantes because it was such a nice day out.

Pretty church turned into gardening shed

pretty colors

beautiful day

Sue checking to see if this tree was the California Sequoia...it wasn't

me on a pretty day in Angers

After walking around for quite a bit we met up with Therese and Muriel at a cafe/bar called Chez Toi.  It was still nice so we sat outside and people watched. It was also the first time since Thanksgiving that I had seen Muriel so it was great to see her too.  But of course, we missed Valerie!

Hanging out with some of my favorite ladies!

Muriel and me...Wish you were here Valerie!

That night, I hung out at the house with Therese and Jean because Leann and Hillary hadn't gotten back from the excursion yet.  It was probably the first time I was ever alone with them because I had always had either a roommate with me or someone who was visiting.  They are probably the sweetest people I have ever met.  Therese was insisted on me trying the soup that she makes because I didn't get to try it when I was studying in the summer.  And it was amazing!  I would come back to have some home-made soup any time she wants!  Then, we sat down to watch a variety show on TV to wait for the girls. It was a lot of people singing and dancing which is always good fun and it didn't really matter that it was in French. 

The next morning, Leann and I were invited over to Muriel and Philippe's house for tea and maybe a walk.  They are now building a pool in their backyard and when I building, I mean that Philippe is actually doing all of the work himself.  I had to get a picture of this to show Valerie because it was hilarious. 

working hard at building the pool 

their new pool, will be ready by summer

Then Muriel, Leann and I went on a walk to the private château that is right by their house. That was pretty cool.  I guess a count lives there and most of the houses in Avrille are on his land that he has rented out.  

The back of the chateau

Then it was back to the Berthelots for lunch with the five of us, another host mom and her student, and Sue.  Big lunch.  I remembered to take pictures of this meal so here we go:

entree: salmon, tuna, avocado, salad plate

plat principal, potatoes

plat prinicpal, potatoes, duck, and cooked apples

leann with salad that goes with the cheese

Sue and me taking a break from eating this amazing meal

dessert: cocunut cake with a berry sauce. i had 2 pieces

leann and therese, adorable

et voila, cafe to finish it off

Then I brought out my video camera and we had even more fun!  They were all fascinated by it, and it was fun to take some videos too. 

 

After lunch, we looked at pictures on the TV from their trip to Senegal which they do every year.  And then we somehow got on the subject of singing and all of the adults wanted us to sing.  We are speaking mostly French in the video but here is what was going on.

And then it was time for me to leave, and my weekend was over already.  I had to get a few last pictures with Leann and with the Berthelots.  

Leann and Me

Jean and Therese...Love them!

It was so hard to leave this time because I don't know when I will be back.  They have been so sweet to me and they really family to me. Walking through the train station, I was remembering the first time I saw them and Sue as they waited for me to get to Angers to study abroad.  I remember being so scared that first day I got there and having to speak French with them all of the time.  And now, I think about the past 3 years and how much I have changed since then.  Part of me will always be in Angers because it was my first real home in France.  Until next time, Angers!  I will miss you dearly. 

C'est la belle vie! :)

Thanksgiving Weekend in France

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I hope everyone had a wonderful day filled with friends, family and lots of good food!

My Thanksgiving started off like no other I have ever had: I woke up and went to work!  Not fun!  But it actually was not that bad because I told my teachers that I would teach the students about Thanksgiving on that day. I started in the morning with one of my best classes.  The teacher sat in the back while I taught the kids about the first Thanksgiving and what we do now on Thanksgiving.  Then I gave them a worksheet where they had to math words and descriptions.  When we came to "Sound a turkey makes", I made the entire class of 12 and 13 year olds gobble like turkeys.  It was absolutely hilarious and just what everyone needed at 8:30 in the morning.  I had two more classes that day and in the middle of my second class, it started snowing!  They were excited to look out the windows and I taught them to say it's snowing in English so it was fun!  We were having a fun class anyway, playing hangman and having races to see who could guess a word first.  After that class, I was officially free for the weekend!  And since the trams weren't running because of the snow, I got to walk home!  I was one happy California girl, that's for sure!

Walking home in the first snow of the season

Trees at the university

Once I got home, after trying to get warm again, I managed to call everyone in my family and wish them a Happy Thanksgiving.  I called Stephen first, who spent the holiday in New Jersey with a friend.  After that I called Mom and Dad who went up to Oregon for the weekend and also talked to Uncle Gary, Aunt Steph, Spencer and Claire.  And after that, I surprised Aunt Teresa and Grannie in San Francisco with a call.  I might not have celebrated with any members of my immediate family but I felt that I was there from talking to everyone!  I also was very lucky to receive photo updates throughout the day from my family in Oregon.  Here are my favorites:

My parents in Oregon

My Dad in front of the Library at U of O

Uncle Gary, Aunt Steph, Spencer, and Claire

I was feeling a little nostalgic after talking to everyone but my blues were quickly cured when I went outside to take a picture with a few of my roommates...and ended up getting into two huge snowball fights.  Running around and laughing with the roomies was a great thanksgiving gift. 

Marthe, Nadege and Me in the snow

The next morning I woke up to go catch a train to Angers for the Thanksgiving dinner.  I got in by 1:30, perfect time to go get lunch with Valerie.  We walked around for a bit and then sat in a really nice coffee shop for a couple of hours to sit and chat and stay out of the cold!  Did I mention how cold it has been lately? It's been really really cold.  We walked back to the school to start setting up for the dinner that night.  The room looked really nice and Sue worked really hard to make everything perfect.  It was so fun once the families started to arrive!  I got to sit next to Valerie and her host parents and my own host parents were sitting a little ways down the table.  It was so fun to watch all of these students go from speaking English with each other to switching to French and introducing each other to their host families.  I saw Jean and Therese again, and Therese wasted no time in showing me off to her friends that were also at the dinner.  It was nice to be included in everything. 

Sue and Me 

Valerie Sue and Me

Valerie and Me

Dinner was phenomenal!  I was a little worried at having Thanksgiving dinner in France but it all turned out great.  But of course, since we are in France, this was going to be Thanksgiving dinner French-ified, and so there were courses.  We received an aperitif of champagne along with crackers and little pieces of bread with cheese or salmon flavored spread. Next, was the pumpkin soup.  Phillipe, Valerie's host dad, was very hesitant to try anything with pumpkins but he actually liked the soup and took a second helping.  After the soup, came the main meal:  turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and a vegetable mix.  Complete with cranberry sauce.  And it was delicious.  The mashed potatoes were surprisingly well done and although they did not have gravy, the cranberry sauce was very good.  The turkey was very very good and even the vegetable mix was tasty.  I am never one to eat until I drop on Thanksgiving; I would rather eat a little here and there than have a giant plate of food.  Not this year.  This year I ate when I really did not think I could eat anymore. But it was all just too good to stop!

During the dinner, Sue had all of the U of O kids sing the fight song for the host families.  Luckily, the words were projected on a screen and the tuned was played.  I got up with all of the students and we clumsily sang the fight song, no one really knowing the whole thing.  The main thing was that the families enjoyed it.  Or they just enjoyed laughing at us.  Phillipe joked that he was going to throw tomatoes at Valerie when we were up there.  But it turned out great in the end and it was a fun thing to do. 

Sue had the students volunteer to make apple and pumpkin pies the night before and Valerie made two.  Phillipe said that he would only try the one that Valerie made because of his ambiguity towards pumpkins.  Luckily, we found the one she made so we could all have some of that one.  And, no surprise, it was delicious! Phillipe even liked it and ate a whole piece! Good work Valerie.  During dessert there was a slide show with pictures from the students over the course of their time here.  Valerie even added a picture of the two of us so I got to be in it!  Sue also mentioned me and the other assistants that were at the dinner during her speech when she thanked everyone.

It was so wonderful seeing everyone, even though it was for so short a time.  My host parents have invited me back sometime in March or April to stay with them.  They are so cute!  And I told Valerie's host family that when I came back I would definitely come see them as well.  I have become really close with them too from staying with them two weeks ago and celebrating Thanksgiving dinner with them. 

Muriel and Phillipe, my other set of host parents

I only stayed in Angers for one night and then it was back to Caen.  I got up on Sunday to go to the market.  I honestly love Sundays because the only things I do are going to mass in the morning, go to the market, and hang out for the rest of the day in my room or in the house.  Today, was a little different because after the market I decided to see if the Christmas market was open...and it was! I walked around all of the little stands and it just made my day to hear Christmas carols.  When I came back last night, all of the Christmas lights had been turned on too!  It's officially Christmas season and I couldn't be more excited!  I only have three more weeks of class before I head home for the holidays!  I'm going to enjoy these next three weeks, because I have heard that Europe at Christmas time is amazing and I am definitely beginning to experience that.  I will make sure to get some pictures of the Christmas market for next time!  Until then, I leave you with this beautiful photo from the weekend. 

View from my window on a snowy morning

Cest la bonne vie pour moi! :)        

Angers, une belle ville!

Many of you probably know that I studied abroad during the summer between my sophomore and junior year in college.  I went to a small town in the Loire Valley called Angers, and absolutely loved every minute I spent there!  This semester, my very good friend Valerie is doing the same program that I did! She is living with a host family that lives in the same town as my host family and are very good friends with them! Valerie told me that as soon as her host mom found out that I stayed with the Berthelots and I was living in Caen, that I had to come visit and stay with them!  So over Veteran's day weekend, I returned to this amazing, beautiful city!

I took a train on Wednesday because I do not have classes that day and the vacation started on Thursday.  I got off the train and walked straight to l"Universite Catholique de l'Ouest where the AHA office is located as well as all of my friends who are studying.  When I studied abroad, I became very close with the site director, Sue.  Sue has lived in Angers for about 10 years now and takes care of all of the students in the AHA program.  She was in her office when I arrived and Valerie got there about 15 minutes later when her class let out.  We talked for a little bit before Valerie and I went to lunch at a small creperie.  Valerie had another class in the afternoon so I went out for coffee with Annika, who is an assistant in Angers.  I met Annika at the University of Oregon and we have had a few French classes together.  It was good to see her since we hadn't seen each other since graduation in June.  When Valerie got out of class we took the bus back to her host parents house where I met them when they got home from work.  They are a young, very sweet couple who hasn't been hosting students for that long.  They have a beautiful home, with a very chic feel to it.

They were going to dinner at their neighbor's house that night and Valerie and I were going to dinner with my host parents.  I was very anxious and excited to see them because it has been more than two years since I was there.  But I quickly felt right at home walking through the familiar roads and paths to their house.  Therese answered the door looking just as she did two years ago.  She is quite a bit shorter than me and commented that I have grown within the first few seconds!  I told her that I hadn't but then Jean said the exact same thing when he came around the corner!  It was so wonderful to see these two and start speaking with them again as if I had never left.  We all had dinner in the living room and of course, Therese made a feast!  We had some nuts and chips for an appetizer.  Next came artichoke hearts with shrimp and a salad with fantastic, most likely homemade dressing.  And for our main course, we had salmon in a white sauce with very flavorful rice.  It was one of the most amazing meals I have had since I returned to France!  Oh, and for dessert: homemade apple tart.  I don't know what it is about these families but they keep wanting you to eat and eat!  Jean cut the apple tart into 4 pieces! Then gave Valerie and me a quarter each! Think of it as eating a quarter of an apple pie after eating a huge meal! I was so stuffed but the tart was so good that I managed to finish it!

I don't know what it is about Jean and Therese but they are some of the easiest French people to talk to.  I feel that if I were staying with them for the year I would be fluent by month 4.  They are very patient, they speak slowly enough, and they help you when you are stuck and can't think of the word.  We talked about everything that night from our families, to US politics, to what I'm going to do in the future.  These are two people very close to my heart and I can't wait to see them again soon! And it's easy because I live so close now.

Therese, Jean et moi

The next day, Valerie and I met Sue to help her with some shopping and then we all met up with Annika to have some coffee and a crepe.  The weather was absolutely terrible this last weekend.  It was the trifecta of all storms: rain, wind, and cold.  Not a fun combination! But we managed to stay out for awhile with our friends and returned home afterward.  Thursday night, Valerie's host parents wanted us to have dinner with them.  They wanted me to try Racklette, which is basically like fondu.  They have a grill type thing that has slots, to insert pans of cheese.  The cheese melts and then you cover potatoes and meat with it and dig in!  It was absolutely delicious and I swore I could have kept eating the cheese and food forever!  Marielle made tiramisu for dessert in our own little cups.  It was another phenomenal dinner.  That combined with the wine we drank and we slept great that night.  

The next day was our adventure: Nantes and St. Etienne de Montluc.  We got up early in the morning to catch our train to Nantes.  Once we got to Nantes we visited the Cathedral and the Chateau.  It was another miserable weather day so we tried to get inside at most places as to get out of the cold, but more specifically the wind!  The Cathedral in Nantes was absolutely gorgeous with the tallest arches of any church I have ever seen. 

Beautiful Cathedral

Altar

Someone was practicing the organ here

We wandered around the church before going to the Chateau that was just next to it. 

The Chateau of Brittany Royalty

There was actually water in the moat around it! Very cool!

After wandering around for about 2 hours came the real adventure and reason why we were there: St. Etienne de Montluc.  Valerie's great great grandfather owned a bakery in the small town and our mission was to go find it and take lots of pictures of it!  We got on the train and only had about 20 minutes form Nantes.  Good thing we were paying attention because if we blinked, we might have missed it.  The train station was so small, I'm not sure it could even be called a train station.  We were the only two to get off and there was literally nothing around.  

Definition of small town France

It wasn't hard to find where we were looking to go because there were maps of the city everywhere and signs pointing to all of the major landmarks.  We started walking toward the church, because the bakery was apparently right across from it.  It only took us about 10 minutes, and we were laughing the whole time at just how ridiculous our little adventure was turning out to be.  Who would have ever guessed that we would be searching for this small bakery in a tiny little town in France.  We came up on "centre-ville".

The heart of the city

And then we found the bakery,  right where her mom and grandma said it would be.  I took lots of pictures of Valerie in front of it for her family.  It is still a bakery to this day but no longer in Valerie's family.  

The bakery we came to see!  

After taking lots of pictures of the bakery and probably weirding out all of the townspeople, we found a cute little place for lunch.  Since it was still cold and storming, it was so nice to sit down in a warm restaurant.  Valerie tried to see if our really nice waitress knew anything else about the town or about the bakery but she didn't.  We did have a wonderful meal though so we were happy.

Valerie with her wine and the really cool water glasses

Me with my wonderful lunch! 

After lunch we still had about an hour until our train so we decided to try and find the cemetery.  As soon as we walked out of the center of town, we saw another huge map which was very very helpful.  Because this was such a small town, the cemetery was about two blocks away.  We walked over to it and found the entrance.  It was a green door in a stone wall, and Valerie said she felt like Mary in the Secret Garden when we went through.  It was a beautiful cemetery with lots of flowers on every grave and beautiful tombstones.  It was also quite large and we only had about a half hour before we had to be back at the train station.  Valerie suggested that we might send up a quick prayer to Saint Anthony for some help finding her relatives' grave.  I think my exact words were, "So Saint Anthony if you could just throw us a bone, we would really like to see Valerie's great great grandfather."  And the search began. 

Cemetery when you first enter through the door

We searched and looked at many graves and names looking for "Soulorde" which was Valerie's great great grandfather.  There really was not any rhyme or reason to our pattern, we just each took one side and walked all the way around.  Fifteen minutes later, we found the graves of "Soulorde".  Thank you Saint Anthony!

Valerie's family's grave in St. Etienne de Montluc

We were incredibly excited and I actually got chills at one point.  We had to leave shortly after that but it was a really really great day and a good adventure for a long weekend.  We went back to Nantes and looked around for awhile before heading back to Angers for dinner and sleep.

The next day, we didn't do a lot in the morning but relax.  We were so exhausted from the day before.  But then we thought of all of these other things we wanted to do so we completely jam packed out day from 2 pm on.  At 2, we walked to the Berthelots again for some coffee.  Therese, of course, had a little tart waiting for us as well.  We all sat at the kitchen table and talked for about 2 hours.  Then Jean went and ran errands, and Therese took the bus with Valerie and I into town.  We went to a few different shops with her and then she left to finish her day and we went to go see a movie.  It was a French film but there was an American character, so much of the film was in English with French subtitles.  The film was "Elle s'appelait Sarah" and it was wonderfully done although very sad.  The movie is based on a novel called "Sarah's Key" by Tatiana de Rosnay.

After the movie, we got dinner at a Greek restaurant that sold kebabs and then we decided we would stay out and go to a couple of different bars around Angers, some that we had never been to.  It was a fun night even though it was just the two of us!  We made our own fun!  We would have taken pictures but we felt that we already stood out so much that we didn't want to draw anymore attention to ourselves by taking lots of pictures!

The next day was Sunday and I was leaving at 4 to head back to Caen.  I took all of my stuff with me and Marielle dropped off Valerie and I at church.  After church at the Cathedral (which I had never been to so that was a fun new experience), we met up for lunch with Sue at a creperie.  We sat there talking for about 2 hours.  It's always nice to catch up with Sue especially since I do not see her that often.  Before we all parted ways, Valerie and I had Sue take the only picture of the two of us together just to show people that yes, we did hang out all weekend.  And good thing we did, because it is adorable!

Valerie and I in Angers

It was a wonderful long weekend and I am so happy I was able to visit with all of my amazing friends living in Angers right now! And, I am going back in just over a week for Thanksgiving!  Every year, AHA does a special Thanksgiving dinner and this year I was invited!  Even though they do not celebrate in France, it will be nice to have an authentic dinner with people that I have come to see as family!

Until then, I am back to teaching in Caen. Nothing new to report; my classes are all going really well.  It seems that everything has calmed down since the strikes and I can actually hold the kids' attention.  Hopefully it stays that way until Christmas break.  We will see!  Lots of love to you all!

C'est la bonne vie pour moi! :)