Life in France is like nothing I've ever experienced before. It's pretty regimented for me since I live in a family with kids. Every day I get up and go downstairs for breakfast, which my host mom sets out. Like, she sets the table and has all the breakfast things out and I always have cereal and milk...and the cereal she buys has literally chunks of REAL chocolate in it.
Classes start tomorrow, so that's going to change things a tiny but but not too much. I'll just go to class, have lunch in the cafeteria place (the food is delicious) and then go to class/go home, eat dinner, and then do my little workshops for singing/cinema/photoshop (none of which have started yet).
But when I'm at home, the kids are usually doing their own thing so sometimes I stay downstairs and do work, sometimes I go to my room and sit on my computer, sometimes I sit in the living room with my mom and watch the news.
I've been going to bed pretty early because we start early...actually the days I have class (M,Tu,F) I start at 8:30. I also haven't started teaching english in schools yet but I'm really looking forward to it.
I like to go to bed early. Some nights I'm asleep by 10pm, and that is the BEST.
I have a core group of friends, if you haven't seen in pics or whatever, but it's Amanda, Tanya, and Kelsey. They're the girls I went to Nantes with this weekend.
The trip was really cool; we saw the castle of the last queen of Brittany (the region where I live...its called that because the celts from Britain came here), so it's really really old. We also bought souvenirs...of course the ones I bought are all food related. Little jars of jams, caramels, and a Breizh Cola class.
Breizh Cola is a type of coca cola that is made in this region. Breizh is a Breton word (the regional language of this area). I LOVE this region though, it has such a rich culture that isn't completely French. It started off as it's own nation, then eventually had to be added to France or else it would have been defeated.
But anyway, I eat a lot of galettes here. It's a regional thing. They're like crepes, except made with buckwheat flour.
Okay, so there's a joke in that. I'm not sure if I'll explain this well but...first of all, there are a lot of "phares" or lighhouses, in English, in Brittany. Since we're, ya know, completely surrounded by coast. Secondly, to be "à l'ouest" is an expression that's sort of like "not all there" sooo a little crazy. So basically it's the Breton's themselves laughing at their reputation for slight insanity...and we're also on the west coast, so that's another thing.
and the chateau
And that mote around it is real! Those pics are just from google by the way.
Some other things that are cool about Brittany is that prunes and kiwi are very plentiful and inexpensive cause they're grown here! As well as seafood.
And generally cheese in France is inexpensive, even the fancy kinds, because it's made here. Last night we didn't feel like spending so much money on dinner so we just bought bread, cheese, and meat and ate it in the hostel. It ended up being only 4 euro a person (whereas eating out can be between 9 and 12). So that was a bargain and it was delicious.
You'd like it here.
Because of all the cheap fruit and delicious food and food culture and relaxed-ness of my household. The decor in here is really global bc my host mom has been all around the world and she buys it there/people send her things. It's actually pretty cool.
And staying in a youth hostel is great because it's inexpensive...but it's not fancy, so if you ever do that don't have your expectations too high haha. Breakfast is included though. There's coffee, cereal, tartines (which is like...pretoasted bread, i don't know how to else to describe it cause that's what it is haha), orange juice, hot chocolate, bread, jam, butter, honey, tea, dried apricots, and prunes. All buffet style, so it's pretttty awesome.
And also on Friday, our first day in Nantes, it rained allllll dayyyyy. All it every does is rain in this region because it's surrounded by coast...Nantes was way worse than Rennes though. Luckily my host mom insisted that I bring her rain jacket because my friend's umbrella literally broke because of the "tempests." It gets crazy windy and it's not uncommon to see people's umbrella's flip inside out. It's actually pretty funny! Luckily the castle we saw is a museum so we spend a good 3-4 hours in there.
Saturday was BEAUTIFUL though. We went shopping, walked around, saw brass bands playing in the streets, saw a chalk artist, went to a huge beautiful garden, and then ate dinner/hung out in the hostel. That took up the whole day and it was really great!
That's all I can think of for now, but that's the gist of things I think...
That's all I can think of for now, but that's the gist of things I think...
Oh, and how a youth hostel works:
Check in is between say 8 and 10 and then later in the day, say from 3-7. Your breakfast is included, but you have to be out of the hostel by 10 and you can go back in around 3 or 4 ( so they can clean or something, I don't really know).
You get sheets to put on your bed that you use the whole time. Showers and toilets are separate out in the hallway. It's very basic but also very economical.
We got our own private room because there were 4 of us but you can end up in a room with random people you don't know also.
And also I had to participate in the blog for my program so here's the link! feel free to look through previous entries, that might give more info on what it's like here.
http://study-rennes-la.ciee.org/
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