Traveler's Tales

Hello friends! I hope everyone enjoyed their Easter. Personally I don't celebrate Easter, but the French do, so I got off from school for Easter monday. 

My parents returned home safely from La Rochelle, without too much trouble. Irritatingly enough, the airline lost their luggage. In spite of our persistent phone calls, it never arrived. Still I believe they enjoyed their time here. Perhaps so much so that they "accidentally" missedtheir return train to Paris. Fortunately they were able to catch a slightly later train, and theysucceeded in catching their flight without incident. 

I still attended a majority of my classes while they were here. My schedule is such that I spend the mornings in class with the afternoons, starting at 12:30, to myself. We took long walks in town, granting me an opportunity to show them the aquarium, the market, and other such sights. They seemed appropriately impressed by everything, in spite of their utter lack of French language skills. 

The lady I'm staying with invited us to have a cordial. I spent a conversation glancing back and forth from them to her, translating as much of the French as I could as quickly as possible. She left the same day that they did, to visit her son in Nice. Almost immediately after she left, I accidentally broke a vase with my backpack by turning too quickly. I tried not to worry about it too much while she was away, and she didn't seem too upset by it when she returned. 

       In my parent's absence, I felt a tinge of momentary melancholy. Fortunately I live in a beautiful city in a beautiful country, so that didn't last long at all. I immediately went out with my friends. A veritable parade of German boyfriends decided to visit La Rochelle to see my German friends (who you can see in the St. Patrick's day photo). My friend Saskia and her boyfriend taught me how to say Kant's categorical imperative in German. I made her write it down, so now all I have to do is memorize it. I hope I get a chance to come back and visit Germany again. The last time I saw that side of Europe I was a mere fourteen years old. Speaking of Kant, there is an exhibition at the mediatheque (that's a library if you haven't been following my posts) entitled "The last days of Immanuel Kant" (translated) which features crazy abstract photos and a weird structure of florescent lights. I'm pretty sure it earns points for being beautiful, but falls somewhat short of sublime. 

On Easter Sunday I hopped a ferry to Île-d'Aix with my friend Thais, she's Brazilian. The Île-d'Aix is a small island that rests near La Rochelle. Napoleon spent his last days in France there, hiding out from the British Navy and plotting a possible escape to the US. Thais and I borrowed bikes and circumnavigated the island... well, sort of. We kind of got lost a few times, which is hard to do on such a small island. We bought and ate some oysters off of a few local teens, and enjoyed the beaches. Unfortunately rain clouds loomed in the gray sky, lowering the temperature. The sun occasionally poked through to say hello, and our luck kept us from being rained upon. Unfortunately I returned from the island with a horrible cold, which kept me bedridden for a few days last week. 

Happily, I felt well enough on Wednesday to go to an international festival up at the school. I arrived about an hour late, which in France means that things had just started. This really annoyed my Japanese friends who were quite hungry, but amused themselves by keeping a balloon in the air. We weren't kept waiting for too much longer though, and my palette felt nearly overwhelmed by various nationalities of food served. I tasted offerings from Malaysia, Lithuania, Russia, China, Japan, and Africa. 

This past weekend, we hopped a train to Bordeaux. Once we arrived and deposited our belongings at the hotel, we went to a Cuban bar for some dancing and mojitos. Thankfully no one was seriously injured by my lack of dance moves. We spent most of our time in Bordeaux walking around and seeing the sights, passing a lazy Saturday afternoon in a park. I learned how to do a little bit of Tai Chi from my friend Linda, how to taste wine from the wine museum we visited, and how talented some of the skaters at Bordeaux's outdoor skate park are. 

On Sunday we stopped by the church of St. André, taking the time to climb to the top of the large tower behind. Because my friend Milenco is an EU citizen, and because the guy running the admission felt kind, we all got free tickets to go to the top. From high atop the tower, I saw a side of Bordeaux that one can only glimpse from the street. It never ceases to amaze me how much fun it is to be atop tall structures, even though I am acrophobic. On a side note, when I was in Paris waiting on my parents to arrive (their flight was delayed) I finally got around to climbing atop the Arc de Triomphe. The nice thing about doing so is that since Paris is laid out on a star, I could see in every direction. Although it was not as centrally located, the tower next to St. André was much higher and gave a wonderful view of the city. 

After our main adventures in Bordeux, we took a tour of a vineyard and a small town called St. Emilion. Not only was I able to see a working vineyard and taste some of their excellent wine, but we were afforded the opportunity to view a huge underground church in the catacombs beneath St. Emilion. Never before have I climbed to the top of a grand tower and descended into the depths of catacombs in a single day. 

This upcoming weekend I will be going to the Châteaux d'Amboise, a famous castle used by French kings during the fifteenth and sixteenth century. I'll be sure to write all about it when I return.

In addition, I have a plan to add more photographs to this blog. I will endeavor to post a photo each day (Monday through Friday) to show you a bit more of La Rochelle and France in general. Sometimes these might include a caption, other times it might be a bit more. In any case, I appreciate your patience with my infrequent posts. I hope this will solve the formatting problems with trying to include lots of photos in a single post. 

I trust you are all doing well, and I very much enjoyed speaking to those of you who have e-mailed and called me since I have been here. I look forward to recounting my adventures here in person in the not so distant future. 

Reporting In

Hello friends! This week my parents are in town. I've been showing them around, and I'll try to write another post this weekend about our time here together, including their unfortunate mishaps in Paris. For now I wanted to take a bit of time to talk a bit about how things went with Rebecca a few weeks ago. She returned to the US, but we spent a lovely week together here in La Rochelle. Things warmed up here in La Rochelle with the approaching spring, and the market brimmed with fresh fruit and vegetables. We enjoyed many a lovely meal together, cooked some fresh fish, and generally relaxed around the city. 

I was ecstatic to be able to see her again. The fact that we were able to spend her birthday together in France will remain a happy memory for us both for years to come. I surreptitiously planned, with the assistance of Danielle, a surprise birthday party upon her arrival. So while we spent the morning in Paris, walking along the Champs Élysées, the best part of the day was allowing her to meet my friends and see the city I now call home. 

My landlady was gracious enough to allow her to stay here with me at a much cheaper rate than we would have found at any of the local hotels. Even though I frequently had class practically every morning while she was here, we passed the afternoons wandering around town and seeing the sights. I went to the local aquarium here, which I'm told is the best in western Europe (and I believe it). We walked along the ocean, picnicked in the park, and, of course, rode bikes. Rebecca isn't much of a cyclist, so mostly we strolled around town. We got to spend St. Patrick's day together, which was insane. I got a free t-shirt and hat, as well as a little drunk. There are several Irish pubs here in La Rochelle, and my friends and I managed to stop by most of them over the course of the evening. 

I'll try to post some more pictures of the time we spent together, but check the separate post below for a few photos from our time together. I'll try to update further this weekend or some time next week. This blog is very taxing during a busy school year, especially when I'm hopping off to Paris every other weekend. 

Photos from St. Patrick's Day

This is me, in Paris, with a beard. It's gone now.

Rebecca got along great with my friends on St. Patrick's day, so well in fact that they decided to wear matching hats! 

This is us in an Irish pub. Fun!

Longest Post Ever! (Now with twice the photos)

Wow. It has been an incredibly long time since I wrote anything at all for this blog. Between schoolwork, going out with friends, bicycle trips around town, bus rides, the library, and many many other exciting things, I simply haven't found the time to update. But, I'm here now, and we can put all of that behind us. It's Saturday night, and I'm feeling more than a little bit under the weather. So I thought I'd take this opportunity to catch everyone up on what's been happening with me these past three weeks. And as a bonus to all of you, I've included almost all of the pictures I found the time to take during our brief time apart.

This first photo is of a Chinese friend of mine, (I know her name, I just have no idea how to spell it, so I won't try) she is cooking me and my German friend Bergette (I hope I'm spelling that one right) a phenomenal lunch of authentic Chinese food. She just decided to invite us over one afternoon, about three weeks ago, to enjoy some of her cooking. It was delicious, just see for yourself: 

I can tell that La Rochelle feels like home when I don't find it the least bit odd to sit down to a Chinese meal and speak in French to people who don't speak French as their native language. The familiar translation difficulties came when I realized that she wasn't offering me bread, "Baguette," but rather chopsticks, "Baguettes" (silent s) but I made up for it by showing off my impressive chopstick skills. It's good to know that the lifetime I've spent at sushi joints and munching take-out Chinese food wasn't time wasted.

I went to a huge party the following Friday night. It was put on by a student organization at the school, and they chartered buses to take us to a club outside of La Rochelle. The open bar meant that most people were trashed, but I had a decent time dancing with some friends of mine and generally hanging out. I stumbled home exhausted at five in the morning after the bus dropped us off. Fortunately La Rochelle is a city where violent crime is practically non-existent. I tried my best to look extra intimidating, though exhausted, on the walk home though. 

The above picture is of my dearly departed friend Theo (this isn't even the strangest pose I've seen him in) He left us about a week and a half ago to return to the US. We had a nice sendoff at Rachael and David's apartment. I wish him all the best back in the states. His girlfriend, Danielle, who remains here to finish her studies, will miss him dearly. In an effort to cheer her up, I forced her to rent a bicycle with me and ride around the city.

A quick side-note about how awesome the bike system is here in La Rochelle. At the central bus station there is a wonderful man, who I have become friends with over many many days of seeing each other (we use the familiar form of the word "you"), who informed me that with my student bus pass I can keep their bikes all day long. Consequentially, I have delighted in riding them all over the city. Not only is it fantastic exercise, but it's truly a marvelous way to see the sights. Everyday that the weather is nice, which is often, I borrow a bike and ride along the ocean, through the park, or simply along the well trodden streets of La Rochelle. This system needs to be adopted by the US. By investing in bicycles we could help alleviate our dependence upon gasoline, improve our infrastructure by building bike friendly roads instead of fixing our decrepit highway system, and help American's to get the exercise they so desperately need. Of course I'm probably oversimplifying, but riding a bike is tremendous fun, and I defy anyone not to have a good time doing it here. 

Moving right along, to another awesome aspect of French culture: the library. Ever since I purchased a library card, I have been enjoying their vast selection of books, movies, dvds, cds, and graphic novels (or comic books if you insist on being a jerk about it) Those of you who know me can attest to the fact that back in the states I am an avid library goer. I have worn out the signature on the back of my library card. Before I got this excellent laptop, I used to walk to the downtown library to use their free computers to access the internet for hours at a time. Believe me when I say, as someone who has been to libraries in many different states in the US, that the French médiathèque is unbelievable. I have seen record stores with smaller music collections than they have their. And I'm not talking about laughable eighties hits, although they're here too. I've listened to everything from the Sex-Pistols to Bishop Allen, to Ray Charles, to the Gorillas, to crazy European artists I've never heard of before. In addition, the dvd collection is on par with some of the smaller Blockbuster rental stores I have seen. They have recent hits, Woody Allen, tv shows, South Park (eight seasons), and more. I'm not knocking libraries back in the states, because they certainly do an incredible job with their limited resources. But when I can sit on the third floor of a library with a good book, gazing through a glass wall that looks out upon the harbor, I know it's as close to heaven as an avid reader can ever be. I promised my friend Eryn I'd take a picture, and I'll try to post one later. 

Someone asked me in an e-mail not too long ago how I have time to do all the neat stuff I get to do here in France. After all, I am here to go to school... right? Well, the truth of the matter is I mostly just write about the fun stuff, rather than boring people with the incredibly dull work that are my business classes. School is fun. I like learning. But when I am placed in a class titled "International Negotiation" with students from all over the world, I expect more than a project on the proper way to negotiate the purchase of a used car (I only wish I were joking about this!) Maybe it's asking for too much for me to expect my business classes to be challenging. After all, even compared to my easiest philosophy class, any of the five business courses I've had throughout my college degree are a cakewalk.

Fortunately not all classes are quite so mind numbingly dull. My French class, for example, is always a delight and a challenge. I feel like I learn more French language and about French culture everyday. And I am meeting lots of really cool French students. Like my friend Tiffen (French for Tiffany) who invited me over to celebrate her twenty-first birthday party. Turning twenty-one in France isn't accompanied by massive amounts of over-intoxication, as they frequently are in the states. Since the legal drinking age in France is eighteen (sixteen for beer) the atmosphere was decidedly more fun. 

From left to right you can see Milenko (my fellow classmate from Venezuela), Tiffen, Ray (a Canadian who clearly thinks he's more gangsta than he really is) and a friend of Tiffen's whose name I have unfortunately forgotten

This past week I have had a vacation from school. I guess it's the equivalent of a spring break, although it just kind of happened that way for me. Most of my friends had their breaks last week, and only for a few days. Others didn't get a break at all. I was going to go to Bordeaux this week, but after I bought tickets to go to Paris next weekend, I decided I couldn't really afford it. I'll probably go for a weekend some time in the future. I had a decidedly low-key week, hanging out with friends, riding my bike around town. I did go to the movies Thursday morning to see Watchmen. It came out here two days before it was released in the states, and since I'd read the book before I didn't mind that it was dubbed over in French. The movie was so engrossing that I forgot at several points that it was in a foreign language. 

Well, this post has gone way longer than I was expecting. It's late, I'm tired, and I have to finish up preparations on a presentation to be delivered in Monday's French class. It's a comparison between the French electoral system and the American one. While the French's system is undeniably more complicated than ours, I do appreciate the fact that they hold their elections on a Sunday, and that no campaigning is allowed at all after the Friday before. Also they don't allow annoying ads to run on Television for months on end. 

Please write me an e-mail to let me know you're still alive. Today is the Philosophy conference back in Oklahoma, and not even La Rochelle can keep me from a slight feeling of sadness that I'm missing it. Fortunately I've got next week in Paris, and my girlfriend coming to see me to look forward to with anticipation. If I don't write another post for two weeks, you'll know why. 

Foxhunting, Flying Disc, and Peacocks

       It's pretty late here on a Sunday night, but I wanted to go ahead and get this post up so that I don't forget to do it later. It's been another busy week here in La Rochelle, but I think I'm falling into a routine. My British and American culture class is going well, and I have to write a short paper on Barack Obama. I'm also finishing up a project on the British foxhunting ban, which is a lot more exciting than I thought it would be.      

     Yesterday I went to the market, after eating free couscous for the second Saturday in a row, and bought some stuff for a romantic Valentine's day dinner. Rebecca and I dined together (my dinner her lunch) via webcam. While it wasn't the most romantic experience in the world, it was nice to enjoy a bit of face-time with her. Only one more month before her arrival here in La Rochelle!     

    My French class keeps adding new students from around the globe. This past week I befriended a Venezuelan student, named Milenko, who has been living in the Netherlands for the last year. Maybe after I start my International Negotiation class I'll be better able to broach the subject of our country's fiery rhetoric against one another. Until then I'm holding my tongue and sticking to conversations about French food and culture. 

     The wind storm that hit last Monday nearly blew the town away. We had eighty mph winds. It wasn't a hurricane, in spite of the wind and the rain, since the wind wasn't fast enough and hurricanes don't happen in the north Atlantic (at least they're not supposed to.) I blame Al Gore... not global warming, just Al Gore. 

      After a lengthy odyssey to find a flying disc (or a frisbee if you must use the brand name), Danielle pestered me incessantly to go out and toss the disc around. It was far too cold to do so for most of the week, and yesterday was no exception. Even so, I walked down to the beach and gave it a few good tosses. I can never seem to aim correctly with those sorts of things, and this particular disc was very slightly warped. This led to a lot of apologizing and scurrying to collect the misthrown disc, which soon developed a crack down the middle of it. Eventually this much maligned disc broke in twain, leaving Danielle crestfallen. Theo, on the other hand, was quite pleased to discover that half of a broken disc makes an excellent boomerang, but I think Danielle might have found him to be a little insensitive. 

        Afterwards we decided to go to the animal park and drown our sorrows in the antics of zany peacocks. This particular one decided to spread its feathers to intimidate a particular ornery rooster. The rooster didn't back down, but I didn't miss the incredible photo op. 

       I suppose I should push myself to do more exciting things this week.  It's rather difficult keeping a blog filled with interesting things when I spend most of my time in class doing boring things. In the spirit of entertainment, if anyone has suggestions for things they want me to photograph or write about, please let me know. I even have a skype phone number now, so if you want to give me a call or leave me a voicemail, feel free to e-mail me for the number. 

C'est moi, gratuit!

        Just a quick post today. The weather has been acting a bit strange lately. Saturday afternoon we were beset by hail, but only after my trip to the market concluded. I also discovered a place on the old port that passes out free couscous. It was fantastic, and I have a photo up above to prove that there is nothing quite so wonderful as a hot serving of couscous on a cold Saturday afternoon. I think it's a muslim organization that is passing these out, but regrettably they will cease to do so at the end of February. Until then, I have found my new favorite lunch for Saturdays. 

        My new class, British and American Culture, has been relatively uneventful thus far. Being the only American in the class means that I get called on frequently to give an "American" perspective. This also means that I know the names of about three of the twenty four students in the class, all of whom know me by name. No zany misadventures this week, I've been too busy with school. On Thursday night when I went out to a bar, I feared that perhaps I was going crazy. Everywhere I went people seemed to know exactly who I am and took pleasure in telling me so in English. After the fourth time this happened, I realized that these were people from my class.

       No zany misadventures for this week, but I did manage to finally open a French bank account. After giving them two forms of ID, my passport, proof that I paid rent, my fingerprints, blood and semen samples, and a piece of paper promising them my first born, the lady I'm staying with came with me down to the bank to prove that I was staying with her legally. Banks here are run very differently than they are back in the states. For one thing, you have to make an appointment with them before you can actually open your account. I'd complain, but given that our banking system is part of what led to an economic meltdown, I think I'll hold my tongue. 

Lundi est le nouveau dimanche...

       As the title indicates, I was far too busy this past weekend to post. So hopefully you will excuse my tardiness with this new post. It has been a busy week, both at school and socially. Yesterday the sun came out, but today the clouds are back again. Fortunately the sun lasted long enough for us to take a picnic to the park. In this particular park live a donkey, several peacocks, geese, turkeys, other birds, deer, and a many agreeable goats with their kids. Although not quite a zoo, we occupied ourselves watching the animals play. By far the most interesting animal in the park, an old woman chastised the many French people who fed the donkey's bread. "C'est mal pour leur santé." she said, answering the age old question of whether donkey's get sick when fed too much bread. After watching her feed several carrots to them, we assisted in retrieving some of the larger pieces of bread from the cage, utilizing several fallen tree branches to extend our reach. I fear our efforts were entirely in vain. When we left I noticed several children and their parents approach the cage, their arms laden with baguettes. I tried not to worry about sick donkeys as we walked to the beach and enjoyed our picnic. We rounded out the afternoon by going to the museum of natural history. Like most of the major museums, it is free on the first Sunday of the month. I find myself eager to return and see more of the exhibits. It was difficult to explore the collection in its entirety in only an hour. I enjoyed thoroughly their collection of stuffed animals (see above)

       In other news, I resolved to speak in French as much as possible when in public, even with my American friends. One of my classmates is a particularly loud and extremely talkative American girl, whose voice and appearance prompt les garçons to practically fall over themselves at the chance to practice their English. On the other hand I have met many an interesting French person simply by making an effort to speak French. Even if I speak French like a Spanish cow, it's still good practice for me. When I met the other student from my university, who arrived in class last Monday, I realized just how good my French skills are for an American. In spite of my best efforts to allay her fears, her adjustment to living in France has been, to put it kindly, quite challenging. Still I think she is making real progress as are the Lithuanian students in my class. 

      Last week was Chinese new year, which meant a large party at a bar in town. Named after my favorite Truffaut film, "Le 400 coups" filled with students. I found myself talking at length to several Chinese students. All of them seem astonished when I tell them that I have been to China. I suppose it's not a popular tourist destination for Europeans. Inevitably these conversations in broken French turn to politics, as it did with a young Iranian I met a few weeks ago. It might simply be the international response to our new president, but most of the people I meet love America. Our culture is without a doubt our greatest export, and they firmly believe the propaganda we spout about the "American Dream" In spite of our political differences, I am happy to say that I enjoy the company of these students. Truly my time over here is a unique opportunity to learn more about the world. 

      It seems as though the week has been more action packed than this meager post would lead you to believe, but I simply don't have the time to write any more. I'm on my way to my first non-French class. It's on British and American culture, which might very well be a waste of my time. Still, I think it will be interesting to discover how others perceive our culture and to discover more about the Empire that spawned us. Some of you might find it refreshing to learn that I don't spend all my time here adventuring, but writing about all the schoolwork I slough through makes for a pretty boring read.