French in the Eyes of a Four Year Old

Rennes: it was beautiful outside and I
saw these pretty flowers.
It was just before sunset, I was
walking home from the bus stop after a long day of school.

First and foremost, there will be pictures interspersed to keep you entertained. But be warned that they have nothing to do with the subject matter!

Degustation (see previous post): delicious fruity wine. So good.

So Adrien, my host mom's grandson, is a pretty funny little kid.

First of all, he doesn't understand my name. As I mentioned in a previous post, Holly with a French accent sounds like "au lit" which means "go to bed" so to him, my name means go to bed. He can't seem to wrap his head around the fact that someone would be named that and so far he's called me Alice and now "au livre" which means "to the book." That doesn't make much sense as a name either, but he must think it does!

Degustation: if this looks weird to you, you're right.
It's TRIPE! aka stomach. But actually it tasted like barbecue so it was pretty yummy.

Dugustation: my violet nougat! 

Also, he calls sparkling water "l'eau qui pique" which means water that stings. For some reason he really enjoys drinking it even though after he takes a big swig he makes a pained face and says "ah, ça pique!!!" (ah, that stings!)

Today my host mom made a roast (it was verrrry yummy) and in French the word for roast is rôti (which for you anglophones is pronounced roe-tea) and instead of saying rôti, he kept saying "gros tigre" which means big tiger because it sounds very similar and that's what he thought my host mom was saying. It was pretty funny :P

Speaking of French and pronunciation and things: first of all, I never realized how many words in French sound exactly the same or incredibly similar but mean completely different things. Secondly, today during my phonetics lab my professor said I pronounced everything perfectly and congratulated me so I was really happy with myself :) especially since for some reason last time I did horribly. 

Around Rennes: actually, this is from a town called Saint Jaques de la Lande. I was wandering around one day before I met the professor that I'm doing my internship with and I found this pretty cemetery. 

So woohoo for a good day!







Also, check out Hope's blog about her study abroad experience in Rome (and one of the most flattering things ever in this particular entry). 

Saint Jaques de la Lande: close up of the mural.