Last two days
Poitiers
On Monday I went to Poitiers, the administrative capital of the neighbouring Poitou-Charentes region about an hour away by train, to meet up with Ella, a French student from Hertford who is a language assistant there.
As a town, Poitiers is immensely dull. In size it is smaller than Tours, which is about the size of Oxford or Luton, with few things to do in the city centre. On the other hand, it was great meeting up with Ella and chatting. We were never more than acquaintances at Oxford: the amount of time I spent talking to her on Monday was probably greater than the amount of time we’d ever talked to one another before. However we did get along well; we would exchange small talk before classes and I could always count on Ella to sign a few letters for Amnesty. She seemed reasonably content overall in Poitiers, except for a few minor issues such as we all have on our year abroad. I was also immensely jealous to learn that she was accommodated by her school in a spacious room with a large common area and kitchen for a mere €135/month! Although the furnishings are a little weird and she has no internet, this is amazing.
I got home from Poitiers, ate, then went out to the Cafe des langues, where we assistants usually meet each Monday evening. However, as it was the holidays, nobody I knew was there! Initially I was disconcerted but then the whole point of the night is to meet new people. I ended up talking to a Libyan with a crazy accent about Gaddafi and then met a young French-Pakistani woman who knows one of my students. Overall this was pretty brilliant.
Nantes
Yesterday, I went to Nantes with two German assistants. Nantes is quite a bit further down the Loire, nearly on the Atlantic, and took about two hours to get to by train. It’s also the sixth largest city in France and as such made a very nice contrast with Poitiers; it was very lively, and we actually didn’t have enough time to see everything we wanted. There’s a Chateau there where the Dukes of Brittany used to live when it was independent, which we visited, before heading to “The Machines of the Island”. This is a fantastically innovative development taking place on an island in the Loire. There are three parts, of which one has already been completed: a GIGANTIC MECHANICAL ELEPHANT. Yes, you read that right. It is three stories tall, moves it trunk and ears, and even has eyelashes. Furthermore, about forty people can sit on it at once and it takes them for rides around the island! I am so fantastically enthralled by this elephant that I can barely express myself. All cities have become so similar, with such similar attractions, that something extraordinary like this really enthuses me, and perhaps even makes me feel brighter about humanity in general and our capacity for invention and fantasy in particular. Unfortunately we couldn’t go on a ride because of the nasty weather - lots of wind and rain - but we still saw him. The two other parts of the island should be ready by 2010 and 2016 respectively; the former is a GIGANTIC carousel with several levels composed of various sea creatures, the latter a GIGANTIC metal tree covered in plants with two metallic herons on top which visitors will be able to sit on and, allegedly, fly around the tree on. So, Nantes is definitely worth checking out in the near future.
I also had a delicious Nantais meal - some regional fish for the main and something called crème nantaise which the restaurant may have invented.
The last thing we did was go to a chocolate exposition which was random and a bit of a rip-off, although we did each quite a bit of chocolate.
So yes, despite the quasi-tempest, I really enjoyed Nantes, as did the two girls (who, tangentially, sang Ode to Joy for me). We didn’t have enough time there though, so I will definitely have to go back some time.
On Monday I went to Poitiers, the administrative capital of the neighbouring Poitou-Charentes region about an hour away by train, to meet up with Ella, a French student from Hertford who is a language assistant there.
As a town, Poitiers is immensely dull. In size it is smaller than Tours, which is about the size of Oxford or Luton, with few things to do in the city centre. On the other hand, it was great meeting up with Ella and chatting. We were never more than acquaintances at Oxford: the amount of time I spent talking to her on Monday was probably greater than the amount of time we’d ever talked to one another before. However we did get along well; we would exchange small talk before classes and I could always count on Ella to sign a few letters for Amnesty. She seemed reasonably content overall in Poitiers, except for a few minor issues such as we all have on our year abroad. I was also immensely jealous to learn that she was accommodated by her school in a spacious room with a large common area and kitchen for a mere €135/month! Although the furnishings are a little weird and she has no internet, this is amazing.
I got home from Poitiers, ate, then went out to the Cafe des langues, where we assistants usually meet each Monday evening. However, as it was the holidays, nobody I knew was there! Initially I was disconcerted but then the whole point of the night is to meet new people. I ended up talking to a Libyan with a crazy accent about Gaddafi and then met a young French-Pakistani woman who knows one of my students. Overall this was pretty brilliant.
Nantes
Yesterday, I went to Nantes with two German assistants. Nantes is quite a bit further down the Loire, nearly on the Atlantic, and took about two hours to get to by train. It’s also the sixth largest city in France and as such made a very nice contrast with Poitiers; it was very lively, and we actually didn’t have enough time to see everything we wanted. There’s a Chateau there where the Dukes of Brittany used to live when it was independent, which we visited, before heading to “The Machines of the Island”. This is a fantastically innovative development taking place on an island in the Loire. There are three parts, of which one has already been completed: a GIGANTIC MECHANICAL ELEPHANT. Yes, you read that right. It is three stories tall, moves it trunk and ears, and even has eyelashes. Furthermore, about forty people can sit on it at once and it takes them for rides around the island! I am so fantastically enthralled by this elephant that I can barely express myself. All cities have become so similar, with such similar attractions, that something extraordinary like this really enthuses me, and perhaps even makes me feel brighter about humanity in general and our capacity for invention and fantasy in particular. Unfortunately we couldn’t go on a ride because of the nasty weather - lots of wind and rain - but we still saw him. The two other parts of the island should be ready by 2010 and 2016 respectively; the former is a GIGANTIC carousel with several levels composed of various sea creatures, the latter a GIGANTIC metal tree covered in plants with two metallic herons on top which visitors will be able to sit on and, allegedly, fly around the tree on. So, Nantes is definitely worth checking out in the near future.
I also had a delicious Nantais meal - some regional fish for the main and something called crème nantaise which the restaurant may have invented.
The last thing we did was go to a chocolate exposition which was random and a bit of a rip-off, although we did each quite a bit of chocolate.
So yes, despite the quasi-tempest, I really enjoyed Nantes, as did the two girls (who, tangentially, sang Ode to Joy for me). We didn’t have enough time there though, so I will definitely have to go back some time.