What I learned and other random facts

So what did I learn about France while I was there?

Cafes:
Don't expect to get ice with anything. If you do it's probably with a soda and will consist of 2 cubes.
Water not in a bottle (aka tap water) will be served whenever they feel like bringing it to you. You're not paying, so they're not in a hurry.
You don't have to tip! Everything is built in. It's strange if you do (though they're very gracious about it)
You can stay at a cafe as long as you like as long as you order something. Once you do that you're set to stay and they probably won't bother you for a long time.


Food in General:
Everything is eaten with a knife and fork (knife in right hand, fork in left). This includes pizza and hamburgers.
Salads are typically eaten after the main dish and before dessert. 


Housing:
No air conditioning (this goes for restaurants too). Most houses have lots of windows and thats about all the air circulation you get. (I did have a fan in my room)
Dryers don't really exist so most clothes are hung to dry.
There is a bathroom and a toilet. The two don't often reside in the same room.
Wi-fi can be touchy, if they have it at all.


Social Protocol:
Bisous (two cheek kiss). This is done upon arival and leaving...to everyone. This can take a while if there are a lot of people present. Hugging is a no no. Our french friends actually said they liked that Americans just have to come in and say hi because of how long it can take to say goodbye. My friends from home hug though, so it's similar and also takes a while.
It is a very special moment when someone starts using tu instead of vous (formal you). Cherish this moment because you are now friends or have a certain closeness.


Music:
American music that is played in France is 5-10 years behind whats popular now...unless its dubstep.
There really are people who walk around playing the accordian...also the chello, violin, sax, and random other instruments.


School:
They really hate you being late. They would rather you not come at all then interrupt their class.
There is a 20 point grading scale and 20s are not given often.


Food:
The french cannot make guacamole.
They also don't really have spicy food other than dijon mustard.


Travel:
Trains are really convienent and cheap in France. 
For countries not bordering France, it's usually cheaper to fly.
The metro is super easy to navigate and inexpensive.
You have to be careful with taxis, some will rip you off. It's best to ask the place you are at to call because they tend to have one company they use.


I'm probably forgetting things, so I may update this post as I remember. But some tips or little things that may be helpful if you are ever traveling in France.


I still can't believe how fast my month there went and that I've been home a whole week.  I wish dearly that I could go back. Perhaps someday soon!


I haven't decided yet what I'm going to do with this blog now. I may use it again for travels, or I may leave it as is. I do hope that you've enjoyed reading it as much as I had fun writing it. I don't think there is anything better than the thrill of traveling, adventuring, and finding new places. I hope you can be inspired to go on an adventure of your own!

Au Revoir France

Sorry my last post is so late. There are several reasons for this. In Paris we has really bad wi-fi connections. Then between leaving Paris and getting home, something happened to my computer and the hard drive crashed, so I had to take in my computer and get a new one. It's all fixed now, unfortunately I have lost some of my photos from the trip. I'm glad that I've been uploading as I've been going along to Facebook so I have atleast some photos from everything we saw and I have all of them from the last two weeks.

Wednesday there was a talent show at the Geinguette for students from the Institut. It was a goofy time, but fun to watch people from all different backgrounds sing, read poetry, and play music. Everyone from our group was there, plus our school friends. Afterwards we went to Place Plumereau to hang out.

Thursday night we had a delema. Bassnectur was playing in Paris and it was 80 euros for train tickets and the concert tickets. We wouldn't have gotten back to Tours at 8:30 the following morning (we had school at 9:30). So since it was our last night in town, we decided to stay in Tours. Luckily, there was the Fete de la Musique in town that evening. It's a concert that started 30 years ago to allow up and comming musicians play along side big name bands. It has now spread to over 100 countries on 5 continents. This year they were celebrating the anniversary on pop (specifically the Beatles). The festival started officially at 8, but people started playing around 6:30. You could walk all around the city and see different people play.

The last week we were there was pretty fun. We had our final exams on Monday and Tuesday. The rest of the week in class we did fun things like watch french music videos, movie trailers, and play around in Phonetic lab. Our last day of class we had a party. We played french board games (meaning english games in french, and they're hard!), drank wine, champagne, and ate cheese. It was a fun final day and I think all college classes should end.

Christelle and Coraline, our grammar and oral professors. Also this was my last lunch in Tours!

Friday afternoon Zach, Erica S, Andrea, Morgan, Jess and Maria all headed to Paris, but on different trains. So when Zach, Erica S. and I got to Paris first, we has a fun time lugging our suitcases up and down the metro for a good hour (we were sore on Saturday). After everyone else got into town, the girls checked into our hotel (Zach had his own) and then went for dinner. After dinner, we headed back to our respective hotels and passed out around 11. It felt good to get a full nights sleep.

Saturday morning, us girls got up and going by 11. We walked from our hotel, by Notre Dame where we stopped and took pictures for a little while and then walked across the Seine to the Marias to a cafe where we ate lunch last time we were in Paris. We tried calling Zach at noon and he was still in bed. After we finished lunch we heard from him and told him to come meet us. 30 minutes later when he still hadn't shown up we called him again. An hour later when we still hadn't met up with him, he let us know he was lost by the Bastille, so we told him to stay put and hopped on the metro to rescure him. It actually worked out well because we were able to see the Bastille (where Marie Antoinette was beheadded, along with many others) and the Victor Hugo house. There was also the most delicious chocolate shop we passed with so many macaroons!!!

The Victor Hugo House and the Place des Vosges

After we met up with Zach, we headed over to the Eiffel Tower (on the complete opposite side of town) to meet up with Maria's cousins from Columbia (the country not SC) and to say goodbye to Marshall who was heading to Brussles. This was the first time we were at the Tower during the day. It's crazy how long the lines to climb the tower are. Even longer if you want to take the elevators. 


At 6 we headed back to our side of town to pick up Flo and Romain (our friends from Tours) from the train station. They decided that our goodbye wasn't enough so they came to Paris for a proper one. We picked up cheese, baguettes, and wine and headed BACK to the Eiffel Tower. On the corner of Pont d'Iena and Avenue de New York they blocked all of the roads and put up a huge screen for the France Spain soccer game. We were planning on watching it there, but the police weren't letting anyone else in because there were so many people. We ended up just watching it at a cafe near the metro station. Game was 2-0 Spain, so a sad defeat (Maria was happy). Afterwards we met up with Lara who was at the Eiffel Tower with a friend who was in town for the week.

Final goodbyes to our Tours friends and also to the people from USC who we wouldn't see until school starts again. It seemed fitting to spend out last night in Paris where we started the trip. I can't wait to see them all again. It was incredibly sad to say goodbye.

So time for a wrap up now that I'm home. I thought I would be sad to leave, but I never thought I would miss it so much when I got back. It's great to see my friends and family, but lets face it, France stole my heart. I would go back tomorrow if I could, and I can now see myself living there someday. It was everything I imagined and more. The history, the sights, the sounds, the language, the love. Just as in Midnight in Paris "That Paris exists and anyone could choose to live anywhere else in the world will always be a mystery to me."


One final post after this about things I learned/were different than I though!
Thank you so much for following my trip. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

Football, Wine Tasting, and Birthdays!

This week was a very fun, very typically french week. We spent a lot of time watching football (soccer) because the Eurocup is going on right now. The France-England game was crazy with all the fans, and there was one unfortunate group of England fans. There was a group of about 10 of us, including our new french friends (Groove, Flo, Little K, Romi). Like their names? One (sorta two) of them are rappers, but they are very nice guys and have been a lot of fun to hang out with. We taught them how to play some american card games.

Morgan cheering!

We found a really good pasta place for lunch one day near the Place. I had curry chicken and cheese pasta. It was delicious.

This was the first day it was sunny in about a week. We came back after lunch and relaxed in the sunshine.

Our school is so pretty.

Tuesday, Dr. Persels took the whole group to a Moroccan restaurant. We had cuscus, lamb, chicken, lamb sausage, and veggies. We also had a special "vin gris" or gray wine. It had a very distinctive flavor, but was so good! After dinner we had a special tea they made and baklava (yum!)

Wednesday we had a wine tasting at the Institut. We had one white wine and 5 reds. There was also special cheese and bread for each wine that we had. Our wine man, Michael was very knowledgable and funny. He taught us the proper swirling, holding, and smelling. Of course you're supposed to spit out the wine after tasting, but he let us drink it.

This was a mild cheese with a blackberry jam. Yum

 Learning about cows and goats when he served the camonbere (a non-pasturized cow cheese from Normandy)

Friday, Zach and Austin went to play tennis. They were doing road construction outside of my house, so I decided to tag along and watch because it was far too noisy to stay home. I had the official title of line judge. Zach is the president of the tennis club at USC and Austin played on the varsity team all four years in high school, but neither had played in a little while. It was a fun afternoon spent.

Austin playing

Zach serving.

Saturday was Morgan's 21st birthday. I took her out to dinner at MAO again and we has a lovely time. It was my first time ordering wine at a nice restaurant. They did the whole presentation of the bottle and poured a little bit for me to taste. Morgan was laughing at my awkwardness with it. I had duck and Morgan had steal.

This was a mango with cream sweet rice. It was an amazing mixture of tastes, textures, and temperature. All in all a great meal.

MISC Pictures

So what do we do when we're not in class and we're not at chateaus?

Well for the most part we hang out at cafes, wander the city, watch stupid youtube videos that we then quote for days, and hang out with our new friends. It's amazing how quick we bonded with other people. There is a group from Wake Forest and from West Georgia that we have become friends with. Our group is kinda split into two groups, not that we don't like eachother because we really are one big happy family, but the other group is a little more touristy and my side is more content to just hang out with friends.

But most days we go see Dr. Persels at his office hours and then sometimes we'll meet up after dinner and go out for a little while. Tonight we're going to watch the France and England football game at a pub. Wednesday we're going to get Morrocan food with the whole USC group and Thursday we're doing a wine tasting at the university. This weekend I think we're going to Amsterdam for Morgan's birthday!

Morgan hiding from the rain after school.

At Dr. Persel's office hours (raining again)

Typical Saturday night at "The Spot"

Jess, Maria, Lara, Morgan, Austin (West Georgia), and me

Our first night at a discotech

Me, Austin, Cody (visiting from US) and Morgan

Me, Arthur (our new french friend), and Morgan

One night at the Loire

This was at Clos-Luce

Zach being weird.

Daniel's 21st Birthday

Marshall, Lara, Whitney, and Austin