So since I messed up, I left 1 day earlier than the rest of the group, leaving me to make the trek to Charles de Gaulle airport by myself. When I inevitably got lost in the airport I went up to the information booth behind an American family. They asked for help in butchered French. The man behind the counter responded in English, and they left. Next I went up and asked where to go (in not as badly butchered French, I'd like to think). His response ... in French. IT WAS A SUCCESSFUL TRIP if he felt confident in my French abilities enough to respond in English (at CDG airport nonetheless). SCORE!
The second thing I noticed in Charles de Gaulle (after it's gigantic and you need to know exactly where you're going before you get there was that there was way too much English around me. I was taken aback by it. However it was nice to wait in the ridiculously long line and have a good conversation with another college student about our travels.
So overall reflections about this trip:
I still don't like paying 50 centimes to use the bathroom.
Or how the stores close early and Sundays AND Mondays have of the country is practically closed (Although, I really like the idea of not working as much so you can spend more time enjoying life, doing the things that matter).
I feel like I know more about France this time around since we traveled a lot more (with the class and without it).
Public transportation in France is amazing - much easier and cheaper to travel compared to driving everywhere.
French people (and probably most Europeans) don't understand the American-ism of "I'm Irish, Italian, etc. etc"). To a French person when you say you're "Irish" you come directly from Ireland. To most Americans, "I'm Irish" means that you're of Irish heritage. (That was an interesting conversation with Caroline's friend Vincent...)
SCUBA Diving is simple bliss - It's the same language everywhere and most divers are really chill and laid back, no matter where they're from ;)
Life should be simple and enjoyable. Don't waste your life worrying about things that will complicate it and make it difficult or hinder your happiness. Do something that will make you stand out because at the end of your life, you're just going to be a pile of bones stuck in a box for eternity (or maybe not???)
Overall t was a very nice trip, definitely worth the money for the experience and being able to practice and improve my French as much I was able to. Thank you for letting me come along again and a great trip.
See you in another 2 years, maybe even sooner ;)
Bisous,
Lisa
dimanche 8 août 2010
vendredi 6 août 2010
Last night in France
So my last day in France went by incredibly fast. After 4 hours of classes, my French final and packing, it was time to meet with the group to have our end of the trip dinner. It was the same restaurant as two years ago. 1 big change from 2 years ago is that there was no drama over the seating arrangements: everyone sat somewhere without worrying about who they had to spend the rest of the evening next to. Low drama= very nice. The dinner itself was a nice traditional French meal.
After dinner (and a mention of a job in the future?? I’m holding that to you, by the way) we went out to Becky’s favorite bar in Rouen for a last drink, Murphy’s. Caroline and several of her friends joined us, and then we headed back to Mont St. Aignan – for everyone else to study for their finals the next day, and for me to finish packing and get ready to leave bright and early in the morning. It was a sad goodbye, but I’m sure I’ll see everyone in the future- even Caroline and Joffrey. I still have Eastern France to visit, so I'll be back soon enough ;)
After dinner (and a mention of a job in the future?? I’m holding that to you, by the way) we went out to Becky’s favorite bar in Rouen for a last drink, Murphy’s. Caroline and several of her friends joined us, and then we headed back to Mont St. Aignan – for everyone else to study for their finals the next day, and for me to finish packing and get ready to leave bright and early in the morning. It was a sad goodbye, but I’m sure I’ll see everyone in the future- even Caroline and Joffrey. I still have Eastern France to visit, so I'll be back soon enough ;)
jeudi 5 août 2010
Sundays= things are closed...
Daren, Becky and I decided to do a little sightseeing for our final day in Marseille. We went to check out Le Pharo, where Napoleon III built a castle (?) overlooking the old harbor to watch the boats and the beautiful view. Unfortunately we forgot that France practically closes down on Sundays, so we couldn’t go inside, but the harborview and park was lovely. After this we wandered around to find Fort St. Nicholas which was also closed. The outer fort was open so we could walk around and see the memorial for World War II and the liberation of Marseille.
After the historical sites we decided to try to do some souvenir shopping. It was a bizarre shock for us to NOT be able to find anything open or available, except for a few tabacs with overpriced post cards. I guess we were a little spoiled in Paris with the souvenir shops everywhere and always open.
Later that afternoon we were on our way back to Rouen, with a stop in Paris of course. New fun fact that we learned? Starbucks is not the same everywhere… At least the hot chocolate is good everywhere ;)
Bisous,
Lisa
After the historical sites we decided to try to do some souvenir shopping. It was a bizarre shock for us to NOT be able to find anything open or available, except for a few tabacs with overpriced post cards. I guess we were a little spoiled in Paris with the souvenir shops everywhere and always open.
Later that afternoon we were on our way back to Rouen, with a stop in Paris of course. New fun fact that we learned? Starbucks is not the same everywhere… At least the hot chocolate is good everywhere ;)
Bisous,
Lisa
Faire de la Plongée à Marseille
For some people on our trip their goal was to spend every possible moment in Marseille on the beach. My objective? To go SCUBA diving in the Mediterranean. I had been communicating with a local dive shop to come diving with them and thankfully they also had a special offer for non-certified people to dive with them as well. The lucky and brave candidate was Liz- her boyfriend is a very good diver and she was interested in seeing what it was like and to explore Marseille a bit more. An added bonus was that they had a very reasonable price for a guided boat dive, only 30 Euros and 47 with equipment—not bad at all.
It was an interesting struggle communicating with the dive shop to book our spots. The response I got to “Est-ce que vous parlez anglais?” was “Attendez. Je trouverai quel qu’un.” Well this someone had very limited English, so I decided to stick with the French. It was a nice test. After repeating what she said several times to make sure I understood her, we were set. Then we just had to get there. We had a bit of an adventure getting to the dive shop: Le Centre de Loisirs in Les Goudes, Marseille -- we took 2 metro lines and 3 buses to get there!
We arrived very early, so our logical decision? Let’s hit the beach! Once again it was a nice beach. There was some trash floating in the water by the cove, but a few men were raking it out of the water, and throwing it away. Good for them.
We met up with the dive crew to get started. The crew spoke little English, so it was fun to go between translating and explaining dive stuff for Liz. We had 3 different pre-dive chats to explain what was going on. Twice in franglais- more French than English, then the last one in English - one of the staff divers spoke very good English, and was eager to teach us in English how to dive. He was later apologetic and surprised to learn I was an “Advanced Diver” and that I didn’t need the educational talk, but it was nice. We also met a few French people from Avignon who spoke decent English. Fun times on the boat with them. Reminded me of why I love divers so much- their easy to get along with and they’re a lot of fun.
The dive itself was fun. My guide was very nice- Jean Pierre. He showed me around the site, pointed out some shells and interesting fish behavior. I was fortunate enough in my trip abroad to Bermuda to be taught by a cephalopod expert (octopus, squid, cuttlefish) who taught us how to spot octopus, and I did!
After the dive we were on the boat headed back when they stopped the boat. The cause? A MOLA MOLA FISH! The guy I was talking to didn’t know the English name for it, only the scientific name. So what is it? The Ocean Sunfish. A prehistoric fish that has an interesting evolutionary history. And it’s technically considered plankton – it can’t swim against a current. So cool to actually see one.
Gros Bisous à Mola mola ;)
Lisa
It was an interesting struggle communicating with the dive shop to book our spots. The response I got to “Est-ce que vous parlez anglais?” was “Attendez. Je trouverai quel qu’un.” Well this someone had very limited English, so I decided to stick with the French. It was a nice test. After repeating what she said several times to make sure I understood her, we were set. Then we just had to get there. We had a bit of an adventure getting to the dive shop: Le Centre de Loisirs in Les Goudes, Marseille -- we took 2 metro lines and 3 buses to get there!
We arrived very early, so our logical decision? Let’s hit the beach! Once again it was a nice beach. There was some trash floating in the water by the cove, but a few men were raking it out of the water, and throwing it away. Good for them.
We met up with the dive crew to get started. The crew spoke little English, so it was fun to go between translating and explaining dive stuff for Liz. We had 3 different pre-dive chats to explain what was going on. Twice in franglais- more French than English, then the last one in English - one of the staff divers spoke very good English, and was eager to teach us in English how to dive. He was later apologetic and surprised to learn I was an “Advanced Diver” and that I didn’t need the educational talk, but it was nice. We also met a few French people from Avignon who spoke decent English. Fun times on the boat with them. Reminded me of why I love divers so much- their easy to get along with and they’re a lot of fun.
The dive itself was fun. My guide was very nice- Jean Pierre. He showed me around the site, pointed out some shells and interesting fish behavior. I was fortunate enough in my trip abroad to Bermuda to be taught by a cephalopod expert (octopus, squid, cuttlefish) who taught us how to spot octopus, and I did!
After the dive we were on the boat headed back when they stopped the boat. The cause? A MOLA MOLA FISH! The guy I was talking to didn’t know the English name for it, only the scientific name. So what is it? The Ocean Sunfish. A prehistoric fish that has an interesting evolutionary history. And it’s technically considered plankton – it can’t swim against a current. So cool to actually see one.
Gros Bisous à Mola mola ;)
Lisa
Restful Rouen and Marseille
Thursday was a day filled of recuperating from Paris and getting ready for our next big trip: Marseilles! To allow a decent amount of time for the trip, Tony and Caroline prepared double classes on Thursday to give us Friday off – Thanks!! Greek class consisted of talking in circles about the quality of life and science vs. philosophy. French class was about different verb tenses and listening comprehension for train station messages…. Always difficult to understand it. After class, Caroline convinced some of us to head into town for the last Terrace de Jeudi, the summer concerts that they have in Rouen. It was a nice concert, but we still headed back early to try to get some sleep before our early morning departure.
Friday morning we met up early to start our multi-stop journey ahead of us: La Gare de Rouen to Paris at Gare St. Lazare, then a metro ride to Gare de Lyon to take us to our final destination: Marseille! We arrived in sunny Marseille around 1:30, got to the hotel around 2:00 and we were on the beach by 3 pm. PARFAIT!
At the beach we definitely had a stroke of culture shock: I’ve never seen so many topless women in my entire life! Apparently they have the choice to be covered or not—many of the older women decided to go half naked. Lovely.
Around 6 we decided to head back to get ready for a nice dinner. It was wonderfully shocking to stay to the beach so late- in Newport the latest you could stay at the beach would be around 4 or 5 if you’re lucky. In Marseille? People were still arriving around 6 pm. Pretty nice.
Friday morning we met up early to start our multi-stop journey ahead of us: La Gare de Rouen to Paris at Gare St. Lazare, then a metro ride to Gare de Lyon to take us to our final destination: Marseille! We arrived in sunny Marseille around 1:30, got to the hotel around 2:00 and we were on the beach by 3 pm. PARFAIT!
At the beach we definitely had a stroke of culture shock: I’ve never seen so many topless women in my entire life! Apparently they have the choice to be covered or not—many of the older women decided to go half naked. Lovely.
Around 6 we decided to head back to get ready for a nice dinner. It was wonderfully shocking to stay to the beach so late- in Newport the latest you could stay at the beach would be around 4 or 5 if you’re lucky. In Marseille? People were still arriving around 6 pm. Pretty nice.
mercredi 4 août 2010
Visiting the Inevitable: Death
Wednesday was a day filled of death? We started at the Catacombs, which was a real eye opener about life. The catacombs started out as a quarry for limestone, and then as the cemeteries in Paris filled up, they ran out of room for the bodies. So a logical response? Let’s take the bodies out and stack the bones in the quarry! 6 million people were removed from their first resting spot and were taken apart and stacked in the catacombs. Along the way they had anecdotal sayings about life and death. The overall affect: you can do all these different things during your lifetime, but in the end you’re going to be a bunch of bones. Yep, I guess I better leave a good legend or story behind to live on?
Which leads me to the Pantheon. It’s an old cathedral in the Latin Quarter and it holds the remains of many famous people that have made contributions to the world, or honored France. Most notably (to me at least) were Marie and Pierre Curie, Voltaire, Louis Braille, Jean Rousseau and Victor Hugo. One of the coolest things about the Pantheon is that it still has many empty crypts leaving space for people to be honored and entombed here in the future. It’s history in progress.
After the Pantheon, Becky, Daren and I had planned to go eat our lunches in the Tuileries Garden, but along the way to the metro stop, found a cute little English pub with a good menu and really good prices, so of course we stopped to grab a bite. I got some garlicky chicken and the others went for traditional fish and chips, complete with mushy peas (and no cole slaw… reality check that fish and chips are not only from New England and that they originated in England). Quite delicious. Later that afternoon we met up with the group at Gare St. Lazare to return home… ehhh to Rouen. After weeks of traveling and spending each night in a different place, it’s very nice and homey to have a familiar place to return to. Gotta love this town.
Encore une fois,
Bisous!
Which leads me to the Pantheon. It’s an old cathedral in the Latin Quarter and it holds the remains of many famous people that have made contributions to the world, or honored France. Most notably (to me at least) were Marie and Pierre Curie, Voltaire, Louis Braille, Jean Rousseau and Victor Hugo. One of the coolest things about the Pantheon is that it still has many empty crypts leaving space for people to be honored and entombed here in the future. It’s history in progress.
After the Pantheon, Becky, Daren and I had planned to go eat our lunches in the Tuileries Garden, but along the way to the metro stop, found a cute little English pub with a good menu and really good prices, so of course we stopped to grab a bite. I got some garlicky chicken and the others went for traditional fish and chips, complete with mushy peas (and no cole slaw… reality check that fish and chips are not only from New England and that they originated in England). Quite delicious. Later that afternoon we met up with the group at Gare St. Lazare to return home… ehhh to Rouen. After weeks of traveling and spending each night in a different place, it’s very nice and homey to have a familiar place to return to. Gotta love this town.
Encore une fois,
Bisous!
Prisons to Aquariums
Tuesday we had only 1 official stop to make: Musée D’Orsay. D’orsay used to be a train station, but was converted into an impressionist and modern art museum. It was my favorite art museum on the last trip, but now that title goes to L’Orangerie.
After D’Orsay, Becky, Laura, Meghan, Caroline and I headed over to L’Île de la Cité to visit some of the lesser visited sights: La Conciergie (palace turned prison and a last stop for many people before they are guillotined during the French Revolution, one of whom was Marie Antoinette, and a possible relative of mine? There’s a list of all 2658 people who were executed, someone with my grandfather’s name was listed….). It was interesting to learn that at this time in history, even prisons had different levels of living before being beheaded. The poor were cramped in tiny rooms with no furniture; the rich could purchase a single room with a cot and a desk to continue working.
After visiting la Conciergerie (and taken advantage of their free bathroom) we went to visit La Sainte Chapelle. We tried to visit it 3 years ago but the line was insanely long. Today it wasn’t too bad, only 45 minutes wait. And it was definitely worth the wait. Basically the entire chapel is stained glass windows from floor to ceiling depicting 10 different stories from the bible. Beautiful.
The rest of the afternoon took a different twist: AQUARIUM TIME! I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the group I was with (minus Caroline) wanted to go check out the aquarium, so we did. As the Fishes Curator at New England Aquarium told me, aquariums in France are generally small, but very well done. And this one was no exception. They had a very nice variety of fresh and saltwater (including an African Lungfish!! ) . After the aquarium we went back to the hostel, changed into our “fancy clothes” for the trip to meet to have a nice dinner with the class, treated to icecream, and went to Les Halles for the evening.
Bon soirée!
Lisa
After D’Orsay, Becky, Laura, Meghan, Caroline and I headed over to L’Île de la Cité to visit some of the lesser visited sights: La Conciergie (palace turned prison and a last stop for many people before they are guillotined during the French Revolution, one of whom was Marie Antoinette, and a possible relative of mine? There’s a list of all 2658 people who were executed, someone with my grandfather’s name was listed….). It was interesting to learn that at this time in history, even prisons had different levels of living before being beheaded. The poor were cramped in tiny rooms with no furniture; the rich could purchase a single room with a cot and a desk to continue working.
After visiting la Conciergerie (and taken advantage of their free bathroom) we went to visit La Sainte Chapelle. We tried to visit it 3 years ago but the line was insanely long. Today it wasn’t too bad, only 45 minutes wait. And it was definitely worth the wait. Basically the entire chapel is stained glass windows from floor to ceiling depicting 10 different stories from the bible. Beautiful.
The rest of the afternoon took a different twist: AQUARIUM TIME! I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the group I was with (minus Caroline) wanted to go check out the aquarium, so we did. As the Fishes Curator at New England Aquarium told me, aquariums in France are generally small, but very well done. And this one was no exception. They had a very nice variety of fresh and saltwater (including an African Lungfish!! ) . After the aquarium we went back to the hostel, changed into our “fancy clothes” for the trip to meet to have a nice dinner with the class, treated to icecream, and went to Les Halles for the evening.
Bon soirée!
Lisa
Le Notre Dame and Art
Monday we met at the Notre Dame cathedral and had a lecture on some French history, the Notre Dame cathedral and L’Île de la Cité in particular. (We should have a French history course as part of the French language program at RWU by the way). After we waited in line to visit the cathedral (it surprisingly went by very quickly) and we were lucky enough to see part of the midday-mass (we didn’t stay to watch it, though). Afterwards we went to L’Île de la Cité to get some lunch and some of the famous ice cream. Unfortunately the ice-cream shop was closed, but we had a very nice lunch with everyone. After running around with Tony and Caroline to find a metro shop with mobilisse tickets for the class we went to L’Orangerie next to la Place de la Concorde (the guillotine used to be here during the French Revolution, now it’s a beautiful square with statues for each of the major cities (Rouen included) and a crazy roundabout. L’orangerie was amazing! They have a lot of different impressionist works, but it’s most popular for the Water Lily paintings by Monet. It was beautiful and very well done. There were 3 rooms dedicated to the Water Lilies, each with 3 paintings. The paintings were huge! They were approximately 4-5 feet tall and ranging from 20 – 40 feet long. The paintings were hung on white walls with benches in the middle of the room so you can sit and admire them… which we did. It was an incredible experience.
Afterwards we went to the Tuileries Garden to eat our dinner (sandwiches smuggled from the hostel, cheers for that!) and had some fun with the fishes and birds around the fountain. After eating we went to check out the modern art museum, Centre Pomidou. Generally I’m not fond of modern art, but I liked the floor we went to. A lot of the paintings had bright colors and crazy patterns, or would take a well known monument, such as la Tour Eiffel, and distort it to make it their own. It was a cool museum. Plus, the really nice view of the city made it an even better visit.
At dusk we went to L’arc de triomphe to climb up and see L’étoile at night. We were able to catch the 10 pm night show at the Eiffel Tour, when the Tower lights up and glitters. It was very nice, worth the crazy spiral of stairs to reach the top.
Bisous,
Lisa
Afterwards we went to the Tuileries Garden to eat our dinner (sandwiches smuggled from the hostel, cheers for that!) and had some fun with the fishes and birds around the fountain. After eating we went to check out the modern art museum, Centre Pomidou. Generally I’m not fond of modern art, but I liked the floor we went to. A lot of the paintings had bright colors and crazy patterns, or would take a well known monument, such as la Tour Eiffel, and distort it to make it their own. It was a cool museum. Plus, the really nice view of the city made it an even better visit.
At dusk we went to L’arc de triomphe to climb up and see L’étoile at night. We were able to catch the 10 pm night show at the Eiffel Tour, when the Tower lights up and glitters. It was very nice, worth the crazy spiral of stairs to reach the top.
Bisous,
Lisa
mercredi 28 juillet 2010
Oh My God! That bird just caught the fish!
Monday we met at the Notre Dame cathedral and had a lecture on some French history, the Notre Dame cathedral and L’Île de la Cité in particular. (We should have a French history course as part of the French language program at RWU by the way).
After we waited in line to visit the cathedral (it surprisingly went by very quickly) and we were lucky enough to see part of the midday-mass (we didn’t stay to watch it, though). Afterwards we went to L’Île de la Cité to get some lunch and some of the famous ice cream. Unfortunately the ice-cream shop was closed, but we had a very nice lunch with everyone. After running around with Tony and Caroline to find a metro shop with mobilisse tickets for the class we went to L’Orangerie next to la Place de la Concorde (the guillotine used to be here during the French Revolution, now it’s a beautiful square with statues for each of the major cities (Rouen included) and a crazy roundabout. L’orangerie was amazing! They have a lot of different impressionist works, but it’s most popular for the Water Lily paintings by Monet. It was beautiful and very well done. There were 3 rooms dedicated to the Water Lilies, each with 3 paintings. The paintings were huge! They were approximately 4-5 feet tall and ranging from 20 – 40 feet long. The paintings were hung on white walls with benches in the middle of the room so you can sit and admire them… which we did. It was an incredible experience.
Afterwards we went to the Tuileries Garden to eat our dinner (sandwiches smuggled from the hostel, cheers for that!) and had some fun with the fishes and birds around the fountain. After eating we went to check out the modern art museum, Centre Pomidou. Generally I’m not fond of modern art, but I liked the floor we went to. A lot of the paintings had bright colors and crazy patterns, or would take a well known monument, such as la Tour Eiffel, and distort it to make it their own. It was a cool museum. Plus, the really nice view of the city made it an even better visit.
At dusk we went to L’arc de triomphe to climb up and see L’étoile at night. We were able to catch the 10 pm night show at the Eiffel Tour, when the Tower lights up and glitters. It was very nice, worth the crazy spiral of stairs to reach the top.
Lisa
After we waited in line to visit the cathedral (it surprisingly went by very quickly) and we were lucky enough to see part of the midday-mass (we didn’t stay to watch it, though). Afterwards we went to L’Île de la Cité to get some lunch and some of the famous ice cream. Unfortunately the ice-cream shop was closed, but we had a very nice lunch with everyone. After running around with Tony and Caroline to find a metro shop with mobilisse tickets for the class we went to L’Orangerie next to la Place de la Concorde (the guillotine used to be here during the French Revolution, now it’s a beautiful square with statues for each of the major cities (Rouen included) and a crazy roundabout. L’orangerie was amazing! They have a lot of different impressionist works, but it’s most popular for the Water Lily paintings by Monet. It was beautiful and very well done. There were 3 rooms dedicated to the Water Lilies, each with 3 paintings. The paintings were huge! They were approximately 4-5 feet tall and ranging from 20 – 40 feet long. The paintings were hung on white walls with benches in the middle of the room so you can sit and admire them… which we did. It was an incredible experience.
Afterwards we went to the Tuileries Garden to eat our dinner (sandwiches smuggled from the hostel, cheers for that!) and had some fun with the fishes and birds around the fountain. After eating we went to check out the modern art museum, Centre Pomidou. Generally I’m not fond of modern art, but I liked the floor we went to. A lot of the paintings had bright colors and crazy patterns, or would take a well known monument, such as la Tour Eiffel, and distort it to make it their own. It was a cool museum. Plus, the really nice view of the city made it an even better visit.
At dusk we went to L’arc de triomphe to climb up and see L’étoile at night. We were able to catch the 10 pm night show at the Eiffel Tour, when the Tower lights up and glitters. It was very nice, worth the crazy spiral of stairs to reach the top.
Lisa
Un week-end à Paris
Samedi
Samedi matin, tout le monde est allé au Paris. Nous avons rencontré avec Caroline et elle nous avons emmené à l’auberge de jeunesse où nous restons. Après, nous avons visité le Musée du Louvre pour visiter les pièces fameuses comme Le venus de Milo, la Joconde (Mona Lisa), les 3 frères, la bête-noir de Medusa, plusieurs autre que j’oublie maintenant, et ma pièce préfère, Winged Victory. J’aime le Louvre, mais il y avait beaucoup de monde, trop de monde pour apprécier les œuvres-des-arts.
Après le musée, j’ai emmené tout le monde à la Tour Eiffel pour voir les lumières et la tour à nuit. C’était amusant- nous avons apporté des bouteilles de vin et du chocolat et nous avions une bonne soirée.
Dimanche
Jour 2 du Louvre. C’était plus sympa aujourd’hui. Nous avons vu beaucoup de choses comme les sculptures Grecques, « The Seated Scribe » et les pièces plus vieilles que les choses que nous connassons, 4500-3000 B.C. !! Trop vieux pour la compréhension ;)
Après le Louvre, tous les étudiants sont allés au Champs-Elysées pour regarder la Tour de France! Il y a toujours plusieurs heures jusqu'à l’arriva des cyclistes. (Nous sommes arrivés à 13:45 et les cyclistes sont arrivés à 16:45!) Donc, pendant cette fois, Emerald, Becky et moi, nous avons parle une femme canadienne et un homme Parisien. Eventuellement les cyclistes sont arrives et nous sommes allées à la place St. Michel pour le diner. C’était délicieux et sympa. ;) Après manger nous sommes rentrées à la Tour Eiffel ensuite nous sommes retournés à l’auberge.
Bisous !
Lisa
Samedi matin, tout le monde est allé au Paris. Nous avons rencontré avec Caroline et elle nous avons emmené à l’auberge de jeunesse où nous restons. Après, nous avons visité le Musée du Louvre pour visiter les pièces fameuses comme Le venus de Milo, la Joconde (Mona Lisa), les 3 frères, la bête-noir de Medusa, plusieurs autre que j’oublie maintenant, et ma pièce préfère, Winged Victory. J’aime le Louvre, mais il y avait beaucoup de monde, trop de monde pour apprécier les œuvres-des-arts.
Après le musée, j’ai emmené tout le monde à la Tour Eiffel pour voir les lumières et la tour à nuit. C’était amusant- nous avons apporté des bouteilles de vin et du chocolat et nous avions une bonne soirée.
Dimanche
Jour 2 du Louvre. C’était plus sympa aujourd’hui. Nous avons vu beaucoup de choses comme les sculptures Grecques, « The Seated Scribe » et les pièces plus vieilles que les choses que nous connassons, 4500-3000 B.C. !! Trop vieux pour la compréhension ;)
Après le Louvre, tous les étudiants sont allés au Champs-Elysées pour regarder la Tour de France! Il y a toujours plusieurs heures jusqu'à l’arriva des cyclistes. (Nous sommes arrivés à 13:45 et les cyclistes sont arrivés à 16:45!) Donc, pendant cette fois, Emerald, Becky et moi, nous avons parle une femme canadienne et un homme Parisien. Eventuellement les cyclistes sont arrives et nous sommes allées à la place St. Michel pour le diner. C’était délicieux et sympa. ;) Après manger nous sommes rentrées à la Tour Eiffel ensuite nous sommes retournés à l’auberge.
Bisous !
Lisa
vendredi 23 juillet 2010
Impressionist Rouen part 2 and Meeting the other International Students
Today we went to the Musee des Beaux Arts in Rouen, where they're having a special exposition for Impressionist works from Normandie. The most impressive part was the 12 or so paintings of the Cathedrale de Rouen by Monet. Monet painted approximately 30 pictures of the Cathedrale at different times during the day with different lighting. The mayor wasn't very interested in the paintings when Monet painted them, so they were scattered all over the world (1 of them was from the MFA in Boston, btw). It was really nice to see a dozen together again. Our walking tour guide said that they've been working on this Expo for 10 years-- you can definitely see and appreciate their hard work. It was a beautiful collection.
After the museum I stayed in town to shop and grab lunch. (I LOVE the summer sales!) At 18:00, Becky, George and I met up with Caroline and Tony to meet some other international students for a glass of wine. It was a nice evening. We got to practice our French with a French student from Rouen named Charlotte, and learn about the education program here in France. It was nice- hopefully we'll hang out again sometime.
After this, Becky and I went with Caroline, Yannick and Vicky (Katie's old teacher and his girlfriend) to meet up with some of Caroline's friends to watch the Thursday night terrace concert. During the summertime in Rouen they have concerts on Thursday nights in different locations all over Rouen. Tonight was a jazz theme. Unfortunately, in true Norman style, it started to pour! (Il a fait comme le vauche pis <- new expression from Yannick meaning it's raining cats and dogs, well sort of). We got out of the rain and headed to Big Ben Pub where we met up with other students and had a nice evening out.
Gotta love the rain here ;)
Bisous,
Lisa
After the museum I stayed in town to shop and grab lunch. (I LOVE the summer sales!) At 18:00, Becky, George and I met up with Caroline and Tony to meet some other international students for a glass of wine. It was a nice evening. We got to practice our French with a French student from Rouen named Charlotte, and learn about the education program here in France. It was nice- hopefully we'll hang out again sometime.
After this, Becky and I went with Caroline, Yannick and Vicky (Katie's old teacher and his girlfriend) to meet up with some of Caroline's friends to watch the Thursday night terrace concert. During the summertime in Rouen they have concerts on Thursday nights in different locations all over Rouen. Tonight was a jazz theme. Unfortunately, in true Norman style, it started to pour! (Il a fait comme le vauche pis <- new expression from Yannick meaning it's raining cats and dogs, well sort of). We got out of the rain and headed to Big Ben Pub where we met up with other students and had a nice evening out.
Gotta love the rain here ;)
Bisous,
Lisa
mercredi 21 juillet 2010
Impressionist Rouen (part 1)
Today was a nice quiet day in Rouen, gladly welcome after a busy weekend in Belgium, Etretat and Giverny (Monet's house). We had class (including a quiz on ancient Greek pronunciations) then spent the day in Rouen buying our train tickets to Marseille (it's amazing how much patience the trip planning people have), booking our hotel and planning our trip. After dinner we decided to check out the nightime art-light show here. 2 years ago they displayed a series of Monet's paintings with crazy renditions (complete with a flying witch) on the La Notre Dame Cathedrale de Rouen. This year they're showing a variety of impressionist works on the Musee des Beaux Arts. It was a really nice show. They ha some very nice transitions, music, and twists on the paintings that gave it a new life.
It's days like these that I realize how much I love this city. :)
It's days like these that I realize how much I love this city. :)
lundi 19 juillet 2010
Belgique et Étretat
This past weekend 7 other students and me went to Brussels, Belgium. We had a good time going around the city and visiting some of their most famous monuments, the Mannekis Pis (fountain of a peeing boy by Grand Place, not sure why it's so famous...) and the Atomium. The Atomium was built for the 1958 World Expo, the first world expo after WW2. It's over 800 meters tall and is constructed to look like an atom (9 balls connected by tubes, making it look like an atom. However, any good scientist, or at least any former student of Dr. von Reison's, would know that they deserve the Nobel peace prize for this one: the central molecule has 8 others connected to it... an impossibility in the world of chemistry. I guess they weren't thinking scientifically...just structurally... Ok, science dorkiness ends here, promise!) ;)
Overall we had a nice trip. We were saddened to learn that the "Belgium waffles" that we're used to are really a dessert food, not breakfast. This led to 2 mornings of searching for breakfast waffles that didn't exist... whoops! Oh well. the desert waffle I had for brunch one day was amazing enough ;)
Étretat
One of the great improvements of this trip to the last one is the day trips. The one we went on today was incredible! We went to Étretat, a beach in Haute-Normandy north of Le Havre. It's famous for it's cliffs and the natural arches in the cliffs and bright blue water. Instead of sand, like Dieppe, this was a pebble beach. It hurt walking on the beach, but it was definitely worth it. Liz and I ran into the crisp water (definitely MUCH colder than the GOT, but still nice) and I swam around for most of the afternoon. Daren, Emerald, Kyrie and I all swam over the cliffs to check out a cave and continued swimming out to the big arch. Unfortunately the current was a bit strong so we were unable to swim all the way over to the "private beach" that we found, but we had a long, fun swim nonetheless. Good times all around.
In the morning we have class (yay Protagoras!) and then we're heading off to Giverny, la maison de Claude Monet :)
Bonne nuit!
Overall we had a nice trip. We were saddened to learn that the "Belgium waffles" that we're used to are really a dessert food, not breakfast. This led to 2 mornings of searching for breakfast waffles that didn't exist... whoops! Oh well. the desert waffle I had for brunch one day was amazing enough ;)
Étretat
One of the great improvements of this trip to the last one is the day trips. The one we went on today was incredible! We went to Étretat, a beach in Haute-Normandy north of Le Havre. It's famous for it's cliffs and the natural arches in the cliffs and bright blue water. Instead of sand, like Dieppe, this was a pebble beach. It hurt walking on the beach, but it was definitely worth it. Liz and I ran into the crisp water (definitely MUCH colder than the GOT, but still nice) and I swam around for most of the afternoon. Daren, Emerald, Kyrie and I all swam over the cliffs to check out a cave and continued swimming out to the big arch. Unfortunately the current was a bit strong so we were unable to swim all the way over to the "private beach" that we found, but we had a long, fun swim nonetheless. Good times all around.
In the morning we have class (yay Protagoras!) and then we're heading off to Giverny, la maison de Claude Monet :)
Bonne nuit!
dimanche 18 juillet 2010
Don't let the devil pull you down! Quicksand!!
D-Day Beaches and le Mont Saint Michel
Monday we went to the World War II memorial museum in Caen, Normandy and then went to the American Cemetery where all of the American soldiers who died in Normandy, mainly from the D-day invasion. It was enlightening to watch the video in the museum showing the invasion and the progress the Allies made, then to go to the Cemetery. It’s hard to believe all of the horror that happened in this beautiful country, only 60 years ago, and how times have changed. It made me thankful to be living now in a time of (semi) peace, where I’m not terrified of my country’s enemies taking over and destroying everything I’ve ever known, and hurting my family and friends, and how unfortunate it was that 5,000 young men had to fight and risk their lives so that we could all live freely.
Our next stop was Mont St. Michel. This was my 3rd time visiting le Mont Saint Michel, but it’s just as beautiful and awe-inspiring as the first time, plus we got to walk across!! There was a spring tide and was still covering the parking lot, so we parked down the street a little bit, and we walked down. As we were walking, we realized that the tide was receding, so we called Tony and Caroline, and hitched a ride back with them, and splashed around a bit in the water. After our tour of Mont St. Michel (same tour guide as last time, btw), we raced back to the vans and headed to the other side of Mont saint michel’s bank (it’s essentially on an island, well it was back in the day at least), and met our guide to walk across through the tides to Mont St Michel. It was sooo nice! Our guide pointed out a skate egg sac (mermaid’s purse), a cuttlefish bone, a bryozoans colony, and some sponges. (btw, B. Wysor would be proud. I spent some time looking at algae (and definitely looked like the marine ornamental dork that I am) and tried to identify it... gotta love that phycology class ;) ) It was really cool to walk through the silt and get stuck in the quick sand! Apparently, back in the day the pilgrims thought that quick sand was like the devil was pulling you down to him... something to avoid! We, however, made our guide find it for us, taught us how to get stuck in it, and had a blast fighting to get out of it. It was a lot of fun, definitely worth the 8 km walk through silt.
Joyeux fête de bastille!!
Yesterday was Bastille Day—French Independence Day. A group of us went into Paris to check it out. Upon arriving in Gare Saint Lazare in Paris, a thunderstorm hit. I guess it was due—it was the first time it rained since I’ve been here…. 3 weeks. After the rain subsided, we walked around Notre Dame, did some touristy shopping and headed toward la Place de la Concorde and walked down the Champs Elysees. The Champs Elysees was insane! Soo many people everywhere! I was a bit surprised though. I was sort of expecting to see a bunch of red, white and blue (French colors too, not just American) everyone and a lot of celebrations, but it seemed like the rain washed away some of the cheer. Despite this, it was a beautiful afternoon. We caught the train back to Rouen at a perfect time. As we were waiting in line for a taxi, we could hear the fireworks going off. We raced down to the waterfront and got to see some really beautiful fireworks, and more people than I’ve ever seen in Rouen, combined ;) .
It's time for bed! Big day ahead tomorrow! Class and a trip to Bruxelles in Belgium for the weekend.
Bisous!
<3 Lisa
Monday we went to the World War II memorial museum in Caen, Normandy and then went to the American Cemetery where all of the American soldiers who died in Normandy, mainly from the D-day invasion. It was enlightening to watch the video in the museum showing the invasion and the progress the Allies made, then to go to the Cemetery. It’s hard to believe all of the horror that happened in this beautiful country, only 60 years ago, and how times have changed. It made me thankful to be living now in a time of (semi) peace, where I’m not terrified of my country’s enemies taking over and destroying everything I’ve ever known, and hurting my family and friends, and how unfortunate it was that 5,000 young men had to fight and risk their lives so that we could all live freely.
Our next stop was Mont St. Michel. This was my 3rd time visiting le Mont Saint Michel, but it’s just as beautiful and awe-inspiring as the first time, plus we got to walk across!! There was a spring tide and was still covering the parking lot, so we parked down the street a little bit, and we walked down. As we were walking, we realized that the tide was receding, so we called Tony and Caroline, and hitched a ride back with them, and splashed around a bit in the water. After our tour of Mont St. Michel (same tour guide as last time, btw), we raced back to the vans and headed to the other side of Mont saint michel’s bank (it’s essentially on an island, well it was back in the day at least), and met our guide to walk across through the tides to Mont St Michel. It was sooo nice! Our guide pointed out a skate egg sac (mermaid’s purse), a cuttlefish bone, a bryozoans colony, and some sponges. (btw, B. Wysor would be proud. I spent some time looking at algae (and definitely looked like the marine ornamental dork that I am) and tried to identify it... gotta love that phycology class ;) ) It was really cool to walk through the silt and get stuck in the quick sand! Apparently, back in the day the pilgrims thought that quick sand was like the devil was pulling you down to him... something to avoid! We, however, made our guide find it for us, taught us how to get stuck in it, and had a blast fighting to get out of it. It was a lot of fun, definitely worth the 8 km walk through silt.
Joyeux fête de bastille!!
Yesterday was Bastille Day—French Independence Day. A group of us went into Paris to check it out. Upon arriving in Gare Saint Lazare in Paris, a thunderstorm hit. I guess it was due—it was the first time it rained since I’ve been here…. 3 weeks. After the rain subsided, we walked around Notre Dame, did some touristy shopping and headed toward la Place de la Concorde and walked down the Champs Elysees. The Champs Elysees was insane! Soo many people everywhere! I was a bit surprised though. I was sort of expecting to see a bunch of red, white and blue (French colors too, not just American) everyone and a lot of celebrations, but it seemed like the rain washed away some of the cheer. Despite this, it was a beautiful afternoon. We caught the train back to Rouen at a perfect time. As we were waiting in line for a taxi, we could hear the fireworks going off. We raced down to the waterfront and got to see some really beautiful fireworks, and more people than I’ve ever seen in Rouen, combined ;) .
It's time for bed! Big day ahead tomorrow! Class and a trip to Bruxelles in Belgium for the weekend.
Bisous!
<3 Lisa
France La Deuxieme Fois
Bonjour!!
My name is Lisa, I've just finished my senior year at RWU (I'll officially graduate after this trip) and during my time at RWU, I've studied marine biology, French language, and environmental science. This is also my third study abroad trip; 1 trip to Bermuda and it's my second time here studying with Prof. Hollingsworth and Caroline in Rouen/Paris, France. Prior to meeting up with the group I spent 2 weeks traveling around Europe with my twin sister and best friend from back home (you can read our summer-long blog here if you're interested (there will be a lot of repeats, FYI)).
But back to the present. I’m currently in Rouen, capital of Haute Normandie, where Monet painted a series of cathedral paintings and where Jeanne d’Arc was tried and burned at the stake. It 's also our base of operations while we're in France.
During the first few days Caroline and Tony gave us an intro to Rouen and France including some time to explore and a guided walking tour throughout Rouen. It’s incredible how much history and charm one city can hold (generally true for all of the towns and cities I’ve visited so far), yet it's wonderful to come back to Rouen. I loved it 2 years ago and it's just as beautiful as I remember.
To make this trip different from the last (apart from being 2 years older and with a completely different group of students), I vowed to travel as much as my bank account would allow. However, this is the summer holiday for many Frenchmen, so my desires to catch a last minute train to somewhere exotic were crushed, but Daren and I learned of the most amazing deal Haute-Normandy has to offer: the weekend regional pass. A group of us jumped on a train and headed to Dieppe, a town on the coast, to explore more of Normandy and to go to the beach! Unfortunately it was insanely overcast at the beach (which is made of pebbles, not sand), so after dipping my feet in (other side of the Atlantic!) we went to tour the château-musée, which was full of maritime history, ivory statues and carvings and impressioniste paintings. Even though we couldnt travel as far as we wanted, Dieppe was the perfect little day trip!
Today was really nice—started with a French, catholic mass at the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen (a bit of culture shock there to an American, Lutheran girl), but it was definitely worth the confusion to attend mass in a medieval cathedral! Afterwards, we went to the outdoor market—soo many fresh fruits, vegetables, fish and other things! It's a nice tradition. Everyone has been so kind and helpful, and perhaps even amused by us! It's been great :)
In the morning we’re headed to the D-day beaches and memorial, then south to Mont Saint Michel where we’ll walk to the island!! That being said, bonne nuit tout le monde!
Bisous !
Lisa
My name is Lisa, I've just finished my senior year at RWU (I'll officially graduate after this trip) and during my time at RWU, I've studied marine biology, French language, and environmental science. This is also my third study abroad trip; 1 trip to Bermuda and it's my second time here studying with Prof. Hollingsworth and Caroline in Rouen/Paris, France. Prior to meeting up with the group I spent 2 weeks traveling around Europe with my twin sister and best friend from back home (you can read our summer-long blog here if you're interested (there will be a lot of repeats, FYI)).
But back to the present. I’m currently in Rouen, capital of Haute Normandie, where Monet painted a series of cathedral paintings and where Jeanne d’Arc was tried and burned at the stake. It 's also our base of operations while we're in France.
During the first few days Caroline and Tony gave us an intro to Rouen and France including some time to explore and a guided walking tour throughout Rouen. It’s incredible how much history and charm one city can hold (generally true for all of the towns and cities I’ve visited so far), yet it's wonderful to come back to Rouen. I loved it 2 years ago and it's just as beautiful as I remember.
To make this trip different from the last (apart from being 2 years older and with a completely different group of students), I vowed to travel as much as my bank account would allow. However, this is the summer holiday for many Frenchmen, so my desires to catch a last minute train to somewhere exotic were crushed, but Daren and I learned of the most amazing deal Haute-Normandy has to offer: the weekend regional pass. A group of us jumped on a train and headed to Dieppe, a town on the coast, to explore more of Normandy and to go to the beach! Unfortunately it was insanely overcast at the beach (which is made of pebbles, not sand), so after dipping my feet in (other side of the Atlantic!) we went to tour the château-musée, which was full of maritime history, ivory statues and carvings and impressioniste paintings. Even though we couldnt travel as far as we wanted, Dieppe was the perfect little day trip!
Today was really nice—started with a French, catholic mass at the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen (a bit of culture shock there to an American, Lutheran girl), but it was definitely worth the confusion to attend mass in a medieval cathedral! Afterwards, we went to the outdoor market—soo many fresh fruits, vegetables, fish and other things! It's a nice tradition. Everyone has been so kind and helpful, and perhaps even amused by us! It's been great :)
In the morning we’re headed to the D-day beaches and memorial, then south to Mont Saint Michel where we’ll walk to the island!! That being said, bonne nuit tout le monde!
Bisous !
Lisa
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