Her Campus

Here is the link to another post I wrote for a blog on Wake Forest's branch of Her Campus.

Adios America, Bonjour L'Europe!

Bonsoir!

Voyage en Provence et Ma Nouvelle Famille

Bear with me for what will probably be an absurdly long post, but so much has happened since I last wrote!

Last Thursday morning, our group left Dijon and headed to Provence, a region in the South of France, for some touring.  We were on a bus for about six hours, but it wasn't bad since we had an opportunity to nap and to observe the French countryside, which is so beautiful.  Along the way, we could see rolling, green mountains, vineyards, cornfields, and fields of sunflowers (the last two reminded me of home!).  We stopped for lunch during the drive, too.  I was expecting to grab a sandwich and hop back on the bus, but seeing as this is France, we took an hour lunch at this insanely nice rest stop (for a rest stop, that is).  It had a cafeteria where you could choose from all sorts of foods and have a full sit down meal, kind of a nice change of pace from the usual grab and go eat in the car.

We finally arrived in Orange late afternoon and took a guided tour of le théâtre antique d’Orange, a monument left by the Romans that has the best preserved scène (or stage).  The théatre is still used for operas and concerts, which makes for a cool juxtaposition of past and present.  From there we continued on to Arles, driving through Les Alpilles (little Alps) to check into our hotel and chill out for a bit before heading to dinner.

The next day (Friday), we started out with a tour of the Musée Departementale d’Arles Antique in Arles.  It had several scale models of typical Roman monuments that we had seen, like the théâtre, and ones we would be seeing later on.  They also had mosaics, sarcophaguses, and other artifacts that had been recovered from Roman times.  The museum also had a room full of artifacts that were recently found in the Rhône River that runs through Arles, including the head from a statue of Julius Caesar.

After the museum in Arles, the group got back on the bus for the short drive to the charming city of Nîmes.  Once there, we had a guided tour of l’arène or l’amphithéâtre, where gladiators used to fight and where they still hold bullfights and concerts today.  After that we walked to the city’s center to see the Maison Carrée, which was also in the center of the Roman city and served as a temple.  We then had some time to walk around a little before heading back to Arles for dinner.  Friday’s dinner was at a very typical Provencal restaurant where they had regional specialties like ratatouille.  Some of the kids in the group ordered fish and were surprised to find the head was still attached when it was brought out.  Luckily, I played it safe with lamb cooked in Provencal spices.

Saturday was by far my favorite day.  We got to sleep in a little bit and then had time to go the marché on the main street in Arles.  It was like a farmer’s market on drugs.  There were vendors selling clothes, shoes, spices, fabrics, olives, bags, bread, cheese, fruits, and vegetables.  I probably could’ve spent hours milling around, but we had to get back to the bus to go to Saintes Maries-de-la-Mer.  The Mediterranean coast was about an hour away, so we spent the entire afternoon on the beach.  It was so relaxing and so gorgeous.  Later on the wind picked up and we were getting face-fulls of sand, so we moved up onto a jetty (I don’t know if this is the right word) or basically a group of rocks that was sticking out into the sea.  From there we had a great view of the beach and marina and the town behind us.  There were only six of us that stayed on the beach all afternoon, but we all agreed it was the BEST day.  We topped it off with ice cream cones before getting on the bus back to Arles for our last dinner there.

Sunday morning we left Arles to go back to Dijon.  We made a pit stop at the Pont du Gard, an awesome Roman aqueduct.  We walked around and took pictures for about an hour, and then made our way back to Dijon to meet up with our host families. 

As soon as we pulled into Dijon, I was sooo nervous about meeting my family since I hadn’t been able to make contact with them and knew absolutely nothing about them.  It might’ve been for the best that I had no expectations because I am more appreciative of how lucky I got.  It’s a family that lives in the suburbs of Dijon, and they have four kids and a huge Saint Bernard named Maya.  Two of the kids live at home (Étienne and Alice who are 20 and 19) and the other two (Marine and Mathieu) are older and are either looking for a job or in med school.  Last night the whole family was home for dinner, so I was kind of overwhelmed, but even though I’m sure I come up with totally incoherent sentences, they couldn’t be nicer.  I’ve woken up the past two mornings to a huge spread for breakfast laid out on the table for me with several types of cereal, milk, juice, fruit, bread, jams, Nutella, and coffee.  French breakfast is the best.  Where else is it acceptable to have Nutella in the morning?  Family dinners have been great, too.  They serve it in courses with a salad-type thing (not lettuce) or soup first, then the main dish, then lettuce with oil and vinegar, then cheese, then dessert.  It’s hard to keep up with conversation when everyone is talking a mile a minute, but I can understand when they direct the conversation toward me or ask me a direct question.  I know it will get better as time passes, and hopefully by the end I’ll be able to jump into conversation.

This blog post is already out of control, so I’ll stop for now.  I also have some reading to do for class tomorrow and some preparation for a little group presentation I have to do for our trip to Bourgogne this weekend. 

À bientôt! 

Le premier jour de classe

Today was our first day of class with Professor McNelly and the first day it really hit me that I'm here for school too.  I got up this morning for breakfast at the hotel and then spent the rest of the morning doing homework in preparation for class at 2.  We had class in a retirement home for priests, although we didn't have any run-ins with any cute old men today.  Class was long (3 hours), but it went by quickly since we discussed our preconceptions of France and how history and the past are valued differently in the U.S. and France.  It felt different than most other French classes I've had, too, since I've been spending so much time with our group of 12 that I felt totally comfortable speaking French in class.  We all realize we're in the same boat as far as our language skills go, so there's no pressure to say anything perfectly.  Prof. McNelly is also sympathetic to our situation and understands that it will take time for us to get used to using French constantly, so she doesn't care if anyone struggles or messes up their grammar.
After class, a few of us went to a cafe near the hotel for a snack.  We've all been on such weird eating schedules since our days are so discombobulated.  All my meals have consisted of mostly bread and cheese, which is totally fine with me, but I've been missing the fresh summer fruit at home.  I justify the lack of fruits and vegetables in my diet so far to the fact that France is just generally healthier than the U.S.  It should be interesting, though, to see what my host family will serve me.
Tonight I spent most of the time doing my reading and other homework for tomorrow (super fun, I know).  We have class in the afternoon again, and then we have all evening to pack up and prepare for our trip to Provence this weekend.  Provence is such a beautiful area of France, so I'm really excited to spend some time there.  Once we get back, we get picked up in Dijon by our families (!). I won't have my laptop in Provence, but hopefully I'll have some great adventures to report on and some of my own pictures to show you!
Until next time, À bientôt!         

Je suis arrivée!

After over 24 hours of traveling, I finally arrived in Dijon, France yesterday to begin my semester abroad. Aside from the misery of the long journey here, I am so excited to be in France. Dijon is so beautiful and quaint, and I cannot wait to do some more exploring.

We're staying at a hotel for now until we move into our homestays in about a week. It's very centrally located, right near the Palais des Ducs, which makes up for the fact that it's so small. There are three of us in a room with a full and a twin bed, and there's no shower, just a bathtub with a handheld shower head and no curtain. After our first attempts at showering, we created a small flood in the bathroom...oops. Thankfully, they have WiFi here. It's amazing how an internet connection can be comforting in a period of adjustment.

Last night we went out to dinner as a group at a restaurant right by our hotel and right across from the Palais des Ducs in the Place de la Libération. My dinner included salad, bread, cheese, and wine, some of the driving forces behind me choosing France over any other study abroad locales. So, it was basically the perfect introduction to being in Dijon for the next four months.

Today we met for lunch as a group with our professor, Madame McNelly, and had a guided walking tour of Dijon afterward. Class starts Tuesday, so tomorrow will be spent taking care of business like school supplies and phones, since everyone is feeling weird without our phones plastered to our hands. We're all starting to plan out our travels for the semester too. Lady Gaga's European tour? The Harry Potter premiere in London? The possibilities are endless, and four months just does not seem like enough time!