A Tour of Tours

What a crazy, crazy week! I meant to update on Sunday, but time got away from me and OH MY look at the time! It's Thursday night already!!

Here are the highlights:

Friday night I had dinner with my host parents and a couple of their friends--one of whom happens to be an English professor (I think) at a local school. So that was actually really cool. I actually understood about 95% of what was going on. However, I stayed up MUCH too late, and had to get up SUPER early on Saturday morning because....

WE WENT TO TOURS! ...It was actually not all that exciting. For those of you who maybe aren't familiar with the area, Tours is a slightly larger city about an hour away by train. It's actually quite similar to Orléans, is situated on the Loire, and has a chateau.

So Saturday morning, when we arrived in Tours, Angie called her friend Emmanuelle who lives in Tours and was going to show us around. We went to the tourism office and putted around a bit waiting for Emmanuelle. I got some shopping done (woo, shopping!)

Eventually Emmanuelle met us and she had her brother with her. So the 5 of us walked around town. First we went to the cathedral. I don't know why, but I love cathedrals. Maybe because we really don't have churches like that in the States. Partially I'm overwhelmed at the work that people put into them. I don't know. Anyway, pictures!!

The cathedral of Tours

Angie with Emmanuelle

Angie, Maddie, and I

After the Cathedral, we went and saw the chateau. It was actually not terribly impressive, and we didn't go inside. It was still blisteringly cold out, so we probably should have gone inside, but we just moved on pretty quickly.

Yeah... this was pretty much it.

Then, after a detour into a gaming store (Maddie, Angie, and I geeked out over Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings replicas), we walked around the old part of town. Maybe it's just me, but I absolutely ADORE these old buildings, they're so cute!

Absolutely adorable!

Emmanuelle and her brother went off to spend some time together, and so cue our three hour lunch break at a crêperie (yum!) to avoid going back out in the cold. Then we walked down to the Loire and ran into a bunch of Anonymous protesters (I was pretty psyched). Then we took gratuitous pictures of all the ice on the Loire before heading to the wine museum. The museum was pretty tiny, but I thought it was actually pretty interesting. Maddie and Angie got bored. lol

Maddie failing at eating salad. We were cracking up.

Anonymous! Why hello there!!

On the riverfront (those are Angie's and Maddie's shadows, too).

The Loire hasn't been this frozen in almost 20 years.

After stopping in a bookstore (I stocked up on French reading material), we headed to Emmanuelle's apartment for tea. This was absolutely splendid. We spent most of the time talking in French (her brother, François spoke very little English). This was very agreeable. Finally, we had to leave to get dinner before our train. We wanted to go to this restaurant called La Souris Gourmande (roughly: the mouse chef) whose dishes are based entirely on cheese.

Next time, little mousie, next time!

Unfortunately for us, it's a very popular restaurant, and there was no room without a reservation. So we went to McDonald's (naturally) and chilled until our train came. By the time I got home, it was 11:30. Quite the long day.

Sunday was a study day as Ethan and I had to prepare our presentation on Mardi Gras for Thursday (today!). Then I met Angie and Maddie and we got all our tickets for our big vacation coming up!! We're heading off to London, Edinburgh, and Dublin next week!

Tuesday was Valentine's Day, so the girls and I headed out for a drink in celebration at a little pub called the Hendrix on the Rue de Bourgogne. I had this sweet concoction called The Doors in which I got a glow stick (woo). Then I tried absinthe. It tasted like licorice. I ended up a little tipsy. Nothing seriously major.

The Doors. Pinapple-y and delicious.

Yesterday we went to see The Iron Lady (with Meryl Streep!). It was absolutely fabulous. However, I was expecting it to be in French, so when it started, it took me several minutes to realize it was in English. It was very confusing.

That's pretty much all for now! Not sure what we'll be up to this weekend, but I'm sure we'll do something.

The Little Things

So, I meant to put all these things in the last blog post, but I got so excited about the cute little goose I met that I completely forgot! So here you are, some random stories.

First, I'm not sure why, but a lot of people I meet here think I'm German. There was the random girl behind the cheese counter who asked if I was German (did I pronounce "chevre bleut" weird?). Then my history professor is convinced I'm German. He often likes to find out how various words are translated in various languages. So he'll give us a word ("chipie" for example), tell us what it means, and then ask what the word is in our language--so we have to translate it from French into whatever language (English for me) and then translate the definition of that word back into French and explain it to the class. Well, he ALWAYS looks at me and asks about German. *shrug* Strange. One of the girls in Angie's class said it was because I looked German. Do I look German? I have no idea.

Second, I miss my cats. I know, I know! That's so lame. BUT, the one saving grace is that Angie has two lovely little kitties at her apartment--Taz and Cookie. Well, last week while we were supposed to be working on homework but ended up talking instead (this happens often), I had Cookie on my lap. Taz must have gotten jealous because he jumped up on the table and when I picked him up to put him on the floor, he decided to sit on my shoulder instead.

Taz is so cute perched on my shoulder.

And then I became a kitty jungle gym.

So finally, on my way to school every morning and on my way home every evening, I get to take the tram. This is actually quite lovely. I don't have to worry about traffic, I can read or just jam out to music, space out, etc. It's quite preferable to driving. Also, we get to cross two rivers: the Loire and the Loiret. Both are absolutely gorgeous. But from the very first tram ride, I fell in love with this little house on the Loiret. I'm certain that one day it will be mine. And I finally got a picture (albeit a crappy one because it was taken from the tram) of this wonderfully adorable house.

House on the water: you're doing it right.

Now, I know you can't see it very well, but it's so cute and full of character. And right off their back (front?) door is a dock with a couple boats. How awesome is that?

A goose tried to eat my iPhone (and other stories)...

Hello everyone! Sorry for the tardy update. I haven't been up to terribly many exciting things, though there has been some drama that's been making me feel "Blah" (hence the lack of updates).


Anyway, here's what HAS been happening: I started running with Angie and Maddie along the Loire river. "Running" might be too strong a word for what I do, really. I'm super, super slow you guys. But, I move my arms like I'm running and I think that's all that counts, right? Well, at least it's exercise, and it's a BEAUTIFUL view.

Pont Georges V - Our starting point

The view as we run toward the next bridge

Secondly, we thought we saw Robert Downey Jr. in a restaurant near the university. Stacie and I were so excited we took a picture! Okay, I took a picture, but Stacie wanted it, too. Needless to say, it wasn't Robert Downey Jr. BUT they could be brothers at the very least. The next day (after running), Angie and I decided to go see Sherlock Holmes. It was all in French, and I think I understood most of it, which was pretty awesome. Also, it was a good movie. I kind of want to read Sherlock Holmes now.

Mr. Robert Downey Jr. look alike

Last weekend I also got to make Julia Child's french onion soup for the girls. I know I just follow the recipe, but I kind of consider it my specialty. I was worried about how it would turn out because I was using a gas stove to cook it (which I've never done before), and not all the ingredients were the same. Vermouth, for example, was something I could not find. The recipe calls for vermouth or dry white wine. Now, I have no idea what a dry white wine is. So I picked up the cheapest bottle of white wine I could find.
In the end it turned out really good. It tasted different than it usually does when I make it in the states, but was delicious nonetheless, and I was pretty freaking pleased.

Friday night I tried escargot. It was gross. Don't get me wrong--it wasn't the texture. I think if it had been prepared differently (properly?) I really would have liked it. As it was, it lacked the buttery, garlicky, smooth taste I was expecting.

The escargot in their little bowls--I didn't have to do any work to get them out of their shells.

Creepy face as I put a snail in my mouth. I was actually pretty excited.

And then the excitement stopped as I realized it tasted a lot like spinach and not at all like garlic butter.

Yesterday I hung out with my host family. We played Scrabble (in French) which was pretty cool. I only needed help making a word once. Okay--twice. But the second time was because it was the end of the game and the only letters I had were "w", "x" and "k", which are like the hardest letters to place in French Scrabble. I lost pretty badly, but that's okay. It was fun anyway.


Today I woke up to about 2 inches of snow outside. I met Angie for lunch after she was finished at the local art museum (Musée de Beaux Arts). We had some pretty good pizza and then went walking around in the snow. PICTURE TIME! If you're interested in seeing a video of me being a pigeon maestro, check it out here on Youtube.

Pont Georges V, the cathedral of Orléans, and the tram

Another shot of the cathedral--we walked across the bridge just to get this shot

Geese that wanted some food--we were able to go right down to the water

This little guy tried to eat my iPhone that I was using to take photos. He was cute though. We're buddies.

Another shot of the cathedral

 After we took a walk, we went to the movie theatre near the river to see Félins (Disney's "Big Cats"). We had a little bit of time to kill so I got some hot chocolate (chocolat chaud viennois) at the theatre's café. It was the most ridiculous hot chocolate I've ever had in my life.

Mountain of whipped cream PLUS sugar packets, you know, in case it's not sweet enough for you.

Finally, I'd like to close by giving a music recommendation. I've been listening to Patrick Stump's debut record, Soul Punk, for like three weeks straight now and it's just amazing. Definitely give it a listen if you've got a chance.