Disneyland Paris!

So last Saturday, I got up at the earliest hour that I have since arriving in France. Five AM. Brutal. But it was worth it, because I was catching a train to Disneyland Paris!

A group of 6 of us took the TGV (aka 'really fast train') to Paris' Montparnasse train station. From there, it was really easy to catch a subway (a really long subway) to Disneyland.

However.

Once we got out of the subway and started to walk towards the park entrance, we hit a roadblock.

Apparently, apparently, because we were traveling so far on the subway, our normal tickets didn't work. We apparently needed a 1-5 zone ticket (a zone corresponds to how far outside the city center you go) but all we had was a 1-3 zone. or maybe even a 1-2 zone. I don't know.

So anyway, when we tried to feed out ticket through the doors that would let us out, the doors wouldn't open up. There was no info desk or place to pay... we were just trapped in this little limbo-area between the metro and the park.

There was, however, a special door that was used for people in wheelchairs and people with strollers. You would hit a button, and I'm assuming that someone watching the area would hit a button opening the door up for you. So we tried it, just to see if we could talk to someone about how the hell we were supposed to get out of there. The door opened... and no one showed up... so we just walked through. Nonchalantly (ish). And we just stood around for a few minutes... and no one came by. So we headed towards the park entrance, content with having saved 6,70€ each.

So we pay a fortune to get into the Disney parks (we bought a two-park ticket: Disneyland Paris and Disney Studios), because that's simply what you do at Disney... but we got lucky again, because there was a student discount. Sweet.


Entrance to Disney. me.


Castle. it was a very grey day.

We grabbed lunch first. We had been on the hunt for pizza, but we settled for hotdogs because we were starving and they were cheap. Nothing like eating real French food in France, right?

Afterwards we headed to Space Mountain. This is one of my favorite rides in Florida, and it was pretty cool here too.


Space Mountain

And then we ate more. and did more rides. and shopped. and ate more. In case you're wondering (I know you're not) I ate my way through the entire park. Popcorn, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, candied apple...

We spent most of the next day in Paris, hitting up things that we didn't see during orientation. I saw the Champs Elysées and l'Arc de Triomphe... and Montmartre for what feels like the millionth time... but all in all, a good trip :)


Side note: I wrote this entry two weeks ago, and am just getting around to posting it. I just got back from Winter Break, and this Disney trip is pathetic in comparison. Expect more blog entries to come on Fez, Rabat, and Madrid :)

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French Baking Attempt #1: Banana Bread

So I made banana bread! It's been a longtime favorite of mine, and not too complicated, so I figured I'd try it out in France. And it turned out really well!...once I got all of the ingredients. That was the biggest issue. (Skip the next few paragraphs if you don't want to hear me rant about baking powder and baking soda...)

First of all, let's look at the recipe. Wait, never mind, just found it again, and it's in French. That wouldn't really be worth posting. Anyway, the most difficult part was finding baking powder (poudre à pâte) and baking soda (bicarbonate de sodium). I asked my host dad if we had either, and he said that we had poudre à pâte... but he called it yeast. "No, not yeast. I'm making bread, but not a yeast bread" "Poudre à pâte is yeast" "Then I don't want that." We went on like this for about 5 minutes before I actually looked at said "yeast", realized it was baking powder, and brushed it off as some some of French/English misunderstanding that was actually probably my fault.

Next...baking soda. I had just gotten back from the grocery store (buying walnuts, which are incredibly expensive) and I asked where the baking soda was. We apparently didn't have any. Apparently my French family isn't big on baking soda. So I walked back to the grocery store (only about 5 minutes away), and they didn't have any either. They did, however, have like 30 different types of flan mix...? Not relevant. Sorry. So yeah, I guess French people in GENERAL aren't big on baking soda.

I came back, disappointed, because I know that you can't just leave out the baking soda (the horror!) and that my bread plan wasn't going to work. My host dad said not to worry, and that he was going to the pharmacy and would see if he could find any for me there.

Now, just so you all know, pharmacies in France are totally different than in the US. In the States, Rite Aid, CVS, Eckerd (RIP) are all pharmacies that sell medicine, but also food, toys, magazines, makeup, etc. In France, pharmacies sell medicine. And that's it. Only things pertaining to health. So I really wasn't expecting any miracles.

...and 20 minutes later, my host dad comes back with baking soda in a pharmacy bag. Go figure.

After that, everything was pretty much smooth sailing... except for not having a cup measurer and having to measure everything with a tablespoon...



And not having regular vanilla- instead, we had this vanilla sugar stuff. Which was actually delicious and I ate the leftovers in the packet...


Bread in pan. There would've been more, but I left a fair amount in the bowl to eat...


I would've got a photo after it came out of the oven, but I was in a rush to go into town and I forgot. And then the next day, it was served at lunch, and it was quickly finished off. Random French quirk: they kept calling it cake. Like, over and over and over again.
"Mmm this banana cake is so good. Do you make it often in the States?"
"Yes, I do. And we actually call it banana bread."
"But it's not bread. It's cake."
"Hmmm well we call it bread."
"Did you put sugar in it?"
"...yes?"
"Then it's cake."

And they all ate it with their forks. Who eats banana bread with a fork?! Apparently the French. I'm not complaining though... they can eat it with chopsticks or whatever as long as they keep singing my praises...

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French Baking Attempt #1

...is in the oven. Update tomorrow with either a success or failure story.

...do people say "failure story"? People say "success story", but I'm actually not too sure about the other one... you get what I mean.

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St. Malo and Mont St. Michel

On Saturday we took our first excursion- we went up north to St. Malo and Mont St. Michel.


Here is a nifty little map I found.

St. Malo is a port city that's surrounded by a giant wall. You can walk on this giant wall. We did. I almost fell off like thirty times. Crazy wind. (Just kidding)


Me being shackled.


La mer. The English Channel, to be specific.

There was a cute little town- St. Malo, duh- inside the wall. We walked around for a while and bought lunch.

When then went to another place... whose name I don't remember because I forgot to pick up an itinerary but it starts with a 'B'... and ate said lunch.


I thought this was cute.

There was also some major oyster selling going on. I had oysters for the first time in my life here in Rennes a few weeks ago. They tasted like salt, and their texture was similar to what I'd imagine it'd be like eating my own mucus. Needless to say, I did not buy any this time.


But here are some oysters, nonetheless.

After a bit of time here, we hopped back on the bus and headed to Mont St. Michel.


BAM.

Want to know some information about Mont St. Michel? Well we all know I [unfortunately] have zip interest in history, and I of course did not retain a thing that I heard during the hour-long audio tour, so I'll ask my friend Wikipedia to help me out here:

Mont-Saint-Michel was used in the 6th and 7th centuries as an Armorican stronghold of Romano-Breton culture and power, until it was ransacked by the Franks, thus ending the trans-channel culture that had stood since the departure of the Romans in AD 460.

Before the construction of the first monastic establishment in the 8th century, the island was called "monte tombe". According to legend, the Archangel Michael appeared to St. Aubert, bishop of Avranches, in 708 and instructed him to build a church on the rocky islet (that's random). Aubert repeatedly ignored the angel's instruction, until Michael burned a hole in the bishop's skull with his finger(oh, OW).

The mount gained strategic significance in 933 when William "Long Sword", William I, Duke of Normandy, annexed the Cotentin Peninsula, definitively placing the mount in Normandy.

In 1067, the monastery of Mont-Saint-Michel gave its support to duke William of Normandy in his claim to the throne of England. It was rewarded with properties and grounds on the English side of the Channel, including a small island located to the west of Cornwall, which was modeled after the Mount, and became a Norman priory named St Michael's Mount of Penzance.
During the Hundred Years' War (didn't that actually last more than 100 years?), the English made repeated assaults on the island, but were unable to seize it due to the abbey's improved fortifications. Les Michelettes – two wrought-iron bombards left by the English in their failed 1423–24 siege of Mont-Saint-Michel – are still displayed near the outer defense wall.

Anyway, there are tiny roads and restaurants and stuff inside (but before you actually get in the monastery) that looks like Diagon Alley.


Harry Potter!

And the inside was really cool too. Example: cloisters.


Only bit of sun you'll ever see in Bretagne.

I have other things to blog about that I will blog about... eventually... example: I found the best park ever and have been running there a LOT the past few days. It's so gorgeous/French. I need to take photos. Oh, also, my classes. Should blog about those too. Speaking of classes, I have an 815 tomorrow, and it's currently 1030... so I'm out. Buenas noches a todos!

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Classes and Unfortunate Laundry Episodes.

Wrote this last week... just posting it... blogfail.

Classes officially started on Thursday. Thursday is my Hell Day (I have one each semester) and I had four classes. Written French (easy), Eng -> French Translation (not too easy), French -> Eng Translation (not bad), and The World of Work (interesting).

My classes (with the exception of my translation classes, because they’re with French students) are broken up by level- A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, and C2 being the highest. I’m in C1, and I have most of my classes with other C1 students and the occasional C2 student. I guess I was assuming that my “classes with other foreign students” would be made up primarially of other Americans, like they were in the Dominican Republic. Nope. Not at all.

Here’s an example- in my Oral Expression class Monday (oh, yeah, I also had that. Seems easy), there were no less than ten countries represented. Three Americans, two Indonesians, one German, one Brazilian, two Colombians, one Chinese, two Japanese, one Vietnamese, one Cuban, and one Pole. And that’s a small class.


Another type of pole. I AM SO WITTY.

It’s just such a cool experience, even just meeting these people! Despite speaking three languages, I guess I just kind of totally ignored the fact that other people could learn foreign languages too and we could communicate in these non-native languages. Yeah dumb. I just assumed that I’d never have a conversation with… say, a Japanese person unless they learned English, or I learned Japanese. I never factored in them learning French or Spanish.

So yeah, I’m having all these conversations with people who speak neither English, nor French, nor Spanish as a first language… yet we can totally understand each other. It’s really cool.

Hmmm what else is up. Tuesday I attempted to do laundry. I’ve been doing my own laundry fairly competently for the past 8ish years, without ever having a problem. This time, however, I had a few. Instead of pouring like, a liquid in with the wash, my host mom puts in these little blocks of cleaner. When I did my laundry Tuesday (last week my host mom did it for me), I accidentially grabbed the wrong block and instead put in the block for the dishwasher. And once you start the cycle, you can’t stop it… so there was really nothing I could do.

Secondly, and much more stupidly, I did something that I’ve only seen happen in the movies. Well, okay, for the record, I’ve done this a million times and it’s never been a problem. Maybe it’s the detergent they use in the States or something… I don’t know. So I mix my lights and darks. I just mix everything, usually, and never have any issues. This time, this included a bright red scarf that I was washing for the first time. Do you get where I’m going with this? Yeah. I turned everything that was white/grey in my wash into a nice, pale, pink. This includes every single one of my socks, my white tank top, my grey cardigan (which is now an ugly pinky grey color), and some other things. Fail.

When I haven’t been in class, with friends, or damaging my laundry… I’ve been…

Reading- there’s a really nice mini-library at the Franco-American center that I’ve been going to to get books. Yes I know I should be reading in French… I will… just give me some time… I’m in the middle of a really good series… okay done with excuses.

Taking walks and listening to audio books- aka my new obsession. I listened to the first two books in The Hunger Games series (The Hunger Games and Catching Fire) and now I’m almost done with Will Greyson Will Greyson.

Watching TV online- Just finished up Skins season 4, now I need to find/catch up on The Office and Glee.

Working out- There’s a park by my house, and a swimming pool that’s 2 Euro an hour.

Planning for February break- We’re going to Morocco! I’ll include more details once I know them… right now I’ve done nothing more than buy my tickets.

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Le Marché & Disneyland Paris

So this morning I got up early(ish) and headed for the second time to the market in town. I've been to a few markets before... there's one at home that mostly sells fruit/vegetables/bread, but you can also find things like SillyBandz... and there's a little one at school that's known for it's awesome pierogies (I don't think I'll ever learn how to spell that word correctly).

This market is different than those two though- it's huge and only sells food. and flowers. On the street, you can find pretty much every kind of fruit or vegetable imaginable. Everything's fresh, everything's colorful, and everyone is selling more or less the same thing, so the vendors try and dress up their stands to make them stand out more.





There are two buildings that are also used for this purpose everyone Saturday- they remind me a bit of the buildings at the Fairgrounds in NY- and are packed with people. One building is dedicated to meat- and they sell everything. And every part of everything. Many of the animals still had their heads on. Ew...

The other building is mostly bread (mmm) and cheese. I bought a bit of (very overpriced) dried fruit there. Here's a photo... dried apple and coconut.


Yes, that is my suitcase... haven't completely unpacked yet...

Outside those buildings there's a huge section dedicated to seafood. I didn't really go over there because I'm not really a big seafood girl. It's slowly starting to change... but still. Slowly. There's also a section where you can get food to eat right on the spot, or take home for lunch.


Really big woks


And flowers!

I wish I could've gotten better photos- it's tough though, because it's always soo soo busy. Oh, also a few of my friends from my group and I are planning a trip to...


Disneyland Paris!

We're going for a day a few weekends from now. Did you know that it is the most-visited attraction not just in France, but in EUROPE?! Cause it is. We're planning on taking a train to Paris early Saturday morning, going to the park, crashing in Paris, then doing some sight-seeing on Sunday before we come home. The quickest (and cheapest, I think) way to get to Paris is the TGV. Le Train à Grande Vitesse... the Really Fast Train. I bought a 12-25 discount card for 50€, which got me a 44€ discount on this trip, and is good for a year. Sweet. Anyway so yeah, I'm excited. So touristy of me. I love it.

Oh PS: Guess what I had for lunch today? Boudin Noir. You know what that is? It's blood sausage. You know what that is? It's pigs blood. and onions, lard, garlic, parsley, nutmeg, cream, egg, salt, and pepper. It was terrible. But at least I tried it. Want a photo? Oh, you don't? Well here's one anyway.

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"I don't think I know you..."

This is a story about how I ended up totally out of place speaking Spanish in a French classroom with a professor who would only address me in English.

Over the past week, everyone in the group has been choosing/signing up for classes. For the most part, we sign up for classes through CIREFE- the part of the university just for foreigners. We do, however, have the option to take classes with French students if we place into a high enough level. After planning out my schedule, I saw that I was only taking 17 credits (heh) and decided that I wanted to add another class.

The longer I spend in France speaking French, the more I realize how much I miss Spanish. French was my first foreign language and is still and always will be my favorite, blah blah blah, but I really did enjoy speaking Spanish this past fall. Sorry, I digress. Anyway, I decided to take a Spanish class. There are a couple other Hispanophiles (yes, that is a word) in my group, and Monday afternoon another girl and I went to check out the course listings in the Spanish department.

And we found the [potentially] best. class. ever.
It was a translation class- which sounds fun enough as is. And it involved Spanish. And French. Yes, a two-part translation course: French -> Spanish, and Spanish -> French. No English involved at ALL. I had a huge moment of language-geekness and pretty much died on the spot.

We didn't sign up right away- we decided to check out the class first. Smart us.

The first part of the class was Tuesday afternoon- it was the Spanish -> French section. We got there early, sat way over to the side of the room, and hoped to blend in. People keep arriving, but no professor. We had hoped to talk to him/her before class started, but when he finally walked in, he started class right away. Everyone whipped out packets of Spanish lit. and they continued translating where they left off the previous week. In French.

It was kind of boring, not having the texts... and also kind of disconcerting, listening to the uber uber uber formal translating all the students were doing. I guess I was (naïvely) expecting them to be translating like novels or newspaper articles or something (yeah... now that I think about it, that was kind of dumb of me). They were using the passé simple (old French literary tense which I know how to use, I just don't like actually thinking about it) as well as really archaic words that even the French students were kind of shakey with.

After halfway through the class, the professor turns to us to ask us to translate the next part... then he kind of does a double take... "Je crois que je ne vous connais pas..." "I don't think I know you... "

My first instinct is to start rambling in Spanish, God knows why, and he looks at us funny and asks us where we're from. Los Estados Unidos. He then starts speaking English. Like... no. Just no. We're in a French/Spanish translation class, why the heck is English even an option?

Anyway, we sat through the rest of the class, and went up at the end to talk to him. I can't remember the exact order of the languages spoken, but I do know that we hit all three and the conversation ended with him speaking English with us. Just English. Sigh.


Molé
So yeah, I'm not planning on taking the class now. I really just wanted an opportunity to speak Spanish while I'm here- and considering the class is conducted in French... it wouldn't be that useful. I did see a nice Mexican restaurant in town though, so maybe I'll hit it up for some molé and a bit of práctica.

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