...I fucking love this country.
Salut tout le monde...j'suis en France! Which is both amazing and slightly dreamlike. I’ve already learned more French since I’ve been here than I did all of last semester. My comprehension level has taken a HUGE leap upwards. I'm pretty thrilled. This past year has given me wanderlust like you would not believe, and not having much room to explore at GAC was kinda crushing me. There's a lot I was getting fed up with, and well, this is exactly what I needed. Quelle surprise. Anyway, it's impossible to type out the past few weeks, but here are some of the basics...
After I met the 25 other Americans in my program at Charles de Gaulle, we spent three days in Paris getting the orientation/touristy crap out of the way. The youth hostel we stayed in was about two minutes from Notre Dame by foot. Damn…Paris is a beautiful and interesting city, but three days was enough to make me glad I didn’t choose a program there; everything is expensive, and the exchange rate SUCKS. One of the first things I noticed; no one is overweight. Maybe it’s the way they eat, maybe it’s what they eat. Everything edible here does seem like it has less sugar and fat than it’s American equivalent. Whatever it is…wow, there is a striking difference between walking around Chicago and Minneapolis and walking around cities in France. The other immediate observation, French people dress differently. There’s a lot of black, the men have style, and scarves and fauxhawks are ever-present.
My favorite memory from Paris was our tour of l’Hotel de Ville, which is the old city hall/parliament building. Gorgeous, yes, no question. But also breathing with hundreds of years of history and overflowing with fascinating artistic symbolism. I have a particular memory from when I was in the ballroom, which is ornately painted and lined with depictions of women representing different region of France. I was floored. It was just like...ok France, you win, I am freaking impressed. I was a bit dismayed no one in the program seemed to want to go out in Paris. When I was like “hey let’s get some wine and go explore the city!” people responded with “…no thanks it’s 9:30, and the directors said it’s dangerous to be out this late!”. Freaking lame. But, I did manage to get three people to drink under the Eiffel tower with me. That is the one thing that is cheap in Paris. 3 euros can get you a bottle of drinkable wine. After Paris we went to see Chartres Cathedral, which is one of the oldest and largest in Europe. Truly baffling to imagine how something so huge and complex could have been built so long ago. It’s scary to think it was nearly bombed during world war two; because that thing is just a masterpiece of human civilization. After that and our trip in Paris, several people on the trip made comments along the lines of “I understand why the French are the way they are; because they have so much to be proud and arrogant about!” I’m not sure the French have a significantly disproportionate amount of patriotic fervor than anyone else. But holy crap yes, from what we’ve seen so far, there is a lot here that is pretty awe inspiring.
After Chartres, we left for Rennes, which is the capital of Bretagne, the westernmost region of France. It’s that peninsula next to Normandy. It’s one of the few remaining Celtic nations (the others being Wales, Cornwall, Ireland and Scotland) and as such, there's a pretty interesting Celtic influence here. We arrived at the university, where our host families picked us up. As soon as I met my host mother, Agnes, she gave me bisous (the cheek kisses) and stood about one foot away from me during our following ten minute conversation. I was thinking WHY ARE YOU STANDING SO CLOSE the entire time. I knew conceptions of personal space are different here, but that was still a bit surprising to feel in person. Anyway, she and Patrick (mon père d'acceuil/my host dad) are pretty wealthy. They are in their late 50's, not married, intelligent, and very nice. My bedroom window looks out onto l’Hotel de Ville de Rennes and the city opera. My host brother, Pierre-Antoine, is 18, likes British rock and sports, and has either a mental disability or severe emotional problems. My host sister, Anne-Charlotte, is 23, and likes Wu-Tang Klan and talking at a million miles an hour. In general, my family is much less reserved than a typical American family would be...lots of loud comical outbursts, lots of wild gesticulations during lively dinner conversation. Sometimes I think about how someone who didn't speak French and couldn't follow the conversation would be pretty baffled by what the hell was going on...haha. Also, we drink wine at dinner fairly frequently, and have gotten tipsy together a few times by now while doing so, which I always find pretty damn funny. They keep their house at a balmy 45-50 degrees at all times. I’m not sure if the heat is actually on. What I am sure of, is that my body heat provides more warmth than the stupid 200 year old radiators, which are basically there for decoration. Apparently this is typically French. However, at least it’s about the same temperature outside, which is still warmer than Minnesota. Hooray, I win!
By day, Rennes is a picturesque French city. It's gorgeous and quaint and old. By night, it’s a playground for the inebriated French youth. I went exploring my first Thursday here, and found la Rue de la Soif (“the street of thirst”) by following the loud hippie college students. It’s full of bars and crowded with people gettin their drink on at night on every Thursday/Friday/Saturday. When I went back with friends the next night, I discovered the music they play here in bars is pretty damn good! A lot of electro, house, rock and hip-hop remixes. A bunch of the bars I've been to have a packed bar and tables downstairs, with a DJ and a dancefloor upstairs. So far, the other Americans in my program are tamer than I expected. Only a few partyers, and even then, they're just kinda slowly warming to the idea of staying out all night/clubbing/having to walk home inebriated. Also, "drinking" to many of them is child's play by Midwestern/Gustavus standards. But, the friends I have made are pretty nice, and more importantly, amusing. Classes started two weeks ago, so I've just started getting to know some of the other exchange students. All my knowledge of random foreign shit is SO paying off. The Chinese students love me for being able to speak to them in Hanyu, the Turks love me for being able to sing parts of Murat Boz songs. Etcetera. I think it makes me pretty different from the other American students, who are like..."oh, you're from Singapore. Where's that?" Some of them will, for example, drift into English or use it to explain something they don't know in French, which is okay since we're still trying to get to know eachother. But I mean, when there are two Saudi students trying to be a part of the conversation, assuming they speak English is just rude, and some of the American students don't realize things like that yet. In any case, it's cool to have such good outlets for my interests in foreign culture.
Well, this is long and feels too narrative and has been lingering in the half-finished lj netherworld for too long, so I'm gonna stop and attempt to catch up to the present more quickly. I'll post about Cancale when I get enough time to upload more photos at a cybercafé. I'm still trying to figure out my schedule at school and plan a haphazard trip for "winter" break. Paris? Marseille? Barcelona? Who knows. Bonsoir à tous...