Lescar

On Wednesday my History of Art course took a field trip to Lescar. We went and thoroughly examined an old Roman cathedral. At first appearance, I thought that it was not as pretty as all the other cathedrals that I've seen in Europe. But what made it so cool was learning about all the history in it. For example we learned that there are two different types of bricks used. The bottom layer was how the church was originally built, but Roman churches often have low ceilings with small windows and are very dark and somber, so later the walls were lengthened and they used a different type of bricking.

We went inside and learned about the different mosaics and sculptures and their religious meanings. There were carvings of Adam and Eve and the four animals of the gospel writers. Also there was a mosaic of an Arab hunting. It is rare to find mosaics of Arabs from that time in France, but the way that they know that it's an Arab is because he has a peg leg, and the Arabs were far more advanced in medicine at that time. 

Our teacher showed us the place where royalty would sit during church and there was a funny thing about the chairs. When you stand up, you can pull up the seat in a certain way so that you can still lean on it and not put so much "effort" in staying standing and the lady's skirts would cleverly hide this. haha

After touring the inside, we went and sat in the cemetery (A little creepy I know) and examined the gargoyles. They are all rather creepy I must say, but that was the point: to scare people by reminding them of the punishment that awaits for those who sin. There were ones of dogs eating children and sirens and stuff like that. We all drew a couple of them and that concluded our tour.

Feeling Less Like A Foreigner, Until I Speak...

On Sunday, I started out the day by church hunting. I went to the church which I had gone to the previous week only on a Saturday called Saint Paul, I found it to be closed, but it referred me to another, Saint Pierre. I thought this was a little weird, but I didn't even know any mass times, I was just walking to where I saw churches on the maps in hopes that I would stumble across one close to a mass time. (I didn't have Internet til Sunday night) Saint Paul was a very modern and simple looking church. They had the lyrics to the songs written out, so it was nice to understand that. The people were very friendly, but on the older side. Their priest was leaving so after church we had wine and quiche. Anyways, after searching I found Saint Pierre and it was a very beautiful, bigger church, but it was a little cold inside and empty. There was a woman who was very welcoming. She gave me her book which has all the scripture readings for each mass in French. It helped me a lot to be able to follow along and understand more. I was also excited because I understood some of the main key points of the homily! Whenever I understood a complete idea I got very happy! Listening to a foreign language over a loudspeaker is a lot harder than a one on one conversation. I haven't decided which church I will go to yet because they each have their strong points and their weak points. I do prefer my church back in the U.S. though.

After church, I spent the day with my host family. They took me to what literally translates as empty attic, or a big community garage sale. It takes place on the lawn of a castle called Franqueville and loads of people bring things to sell. It was pretty fun!

Next we went to downtown Pau and walked around some more. It was a beautiful day outside and we brought the kids to a park to play. Then we walked along the Rue des Pyrenees where one can see the Pyrenees all on one side. The handrails has the names of different peaks and cities with a carved line so that when one looks in that direction they know the name of what they are looking at.

We ended the walk with some delcious ice cream. Something about ice cream here is just better. I got dark cherry and rasphberry flavored. Once we got back to the house I played with Juliette for a while. She put on a dress which looks like that of Cinderella (Cendrillon in French) and danced around to music from the Jungle Book 2. It was soo cute and we had fun. Then we played a family game of soccer since the boys love it and I do too of course!

Courtney and I cooked another meal for her family today. We made Hawaiian chicken (cooked in pineapple juice), peanut butter cookies (My host mom does not like peanut butter- it is not very popular here in France) along with rice and salad. 

I also cooked my first French chocolate cake, although I can't take much credit for it because it was a premade batter that I just put in the oven. The cake is different here, flatter and without frosting and of course there is the French chocolate.

I am loving my phonetique courses here. For the group ones we just go to the computer lab and listen to a CD, repeating everything we hear. Each class we are assigned a paragraph to practice and read to the teacher the next day. They are tongue twisters designed to challenge what we need to work on. My host family helps me, although I think I frustrate my host brother sometimes when I just can't make the right sound, but I have my revenge since the th sound in English is hard for the French! Based on how we read the paragraph, the teacher then decides which lesson we need to do for the next day. I also have individual phontetiques classes which are one on one speaking. The professor has really explained a lot of the basic things, that no one ever told me. Thanks to her I am improving so much on my French r's. I think it is improving my pronunciation a lot! Or at least causes me to think about it more often!

I am also take an art history class which is taught all in French. The teacher is great and speaks nice and slow for us. I am learning a lot and it is increasing my vocabulary by a ton! Especially the names of animals. 

I'm finally to the point where I can walk around without a map and I feel more confident in my surroundings! It is a good feeling!

Basque Country

This weekend the USAC program took all of its students in Pau onto an excursion through the Basque Country. We took and tour bus and drove first to a town called Bayonne. We had a guided tour through the town and got to see Cathedral, the underground storage chambers, the old walls to protect the town from the Spaniards (There were three different layers of walls) and of course the many shops there.

The old walls

Inside the church

Simply beautiful (Loved the symmetry)

After the tour we all ate a real Basque meal at a restaurant. There was super good bread of course, salad and chicken with lots of peppers and vegetables and fries. The fries here are different- they almost seem healthy! Then for dessert we had a wonderful creamy basque cake! So good! After that we had to try the chocolate since Bayonne is famous for having amazing chocolate. They had flavors that included Earl Gray Tea and other different, but good combinations. Then we went shopping in the town.

At the end of our shopping spree we came across a stringed instrument repair shop. My friend Courtney has been trying to find a cello to rent since we arrived and she ended up renting their only cello! She signed a contract in French! The owner let me play a guitar for a little bit too which made me very happy!

Next stop was Saint Sebastian Spain! My first time in that country, it was very neat! It was an odd feeling because France was beginning to feel comfortable, like I was settled there. Then I came to a new country and it was like being a foreigner all over again- only worse with a smaller grasp of the language. Luckily I was with someone who knew Spanish, so I wasn't completely stuck! We also ran into some USAC students who were studying in Saint Sebastian and they gave us some tips!

The schedule in Spain is so different from what I'm used to. They eat tapas at 7:30 which is where they have the food lined up at the bar and you chose what you want to eat based on what looks good. What you see is what you get! It's basically a bar of appetizers. They expect you to eat a couple and then move on to another place to eat more.

 

Diner begins at 10 and people don't even start going to bars until 11 or later. Once the bars close at 3 in the morning, then the clubs open! Needless to say, the Spanish sleep in later than the French. I can't imagine living that lifestyle!

San Sebastian is right on the ocean shore! It was so beautiful! I miss living on the water.

While we were there, there was a film festival taking place. They had a sort of "white" carpet set up with paparazzi and everything. Juliet Roberts and Gusti Ayu Puspawati were supposed to be there, but I never saw anyone famous. 

The next morning, my group went to an aquarium, which was pretty fun. It had a tunnel where one was completely surrounded by water. And of course, they had nemo and all of his friends!

 

On the hill above Saint Sebastian there is a statue of Jesus which overlooks all of the stores, restaurants and bars, we climbed to the top! Everyone keep saying, "Remember, Jesus is watching you." It was a bit of a hike, but the view was good and it kind of felt like a pilgrimage to find Jesus :)

For lunch that day, I ordered a basque desert since I had had a big breakfast. It was super super super delicious. Even just ordering that in Spanish was difficult. haha

Another thing that I loved about Spain was the live music that they had in certain squares. The main square was originally used for bull fights and one could rent the little balconies surrounding it to watch. Now there is music and markets in the square.

Back on the bus to our last stop which was Saint Jean de Luz. Another basque town on the ocean where all the roofs were red!

We visited the church where King Louis the 14th married his Spanish princess. Very ornate.

The town was famous for their macaroons, so of course we had to try them! So worth it!

Overall a very successful excursion! I loved it very much!

Life In Pau

The French keyboards are way different here. Right now I am typing on a computer at school and the keyboard is so different that it is quite a slow process. The period and numbers are secondary. (the shift key is needed to use them) My host family has been wonderful to me so far. I basically have my own apartment separated from the rest of the house with a kitchen, bathroom, shower and bedroom. It is very nice. There are three kids in the faily that I stay with: Juliet 5, Felix 8 and Martin 12.

My room here

My first dinner that I cooked here with Jessica

The cafeteria here serves very interesting food. I tried lamb for the first time the other day and today they served kangaroo. I didn't try it, but maybe next time. It is different from home in that you pay for each meal by the item, but it isn't too pricy. I get a salade, mousse; bread; two sides and an entree for 3 Euro.

Last weekend I spent a lot of time with my host family. On Saturday morning we went to a farm where you pick all of the vegetables yourself and that way it is fresh and cheaper. The apples that we picked were some of the best that I have ever eaten!! So yummy!! Then we went to the library and I got a library card. Since I already bought Harry Potter 3 and 4 in French and 2 of the Naria books in French as well, I rented the series Friends (In French of course) and La Vie En Rose which is a film I watched in high school. I figured since I've seen both of them, I should be able to follow it in a foreign language easier!! I've played some soccer with Martin and Felix which is a lot of fun! I enjoy learning the soccer vocabulary. The more French I speak the harder it is to spell in English!!! haha

On Sunday we went on a hike in the Pyrenees. It was a little over an hour drive. We started hiking at 10 and hiked to a pretty lake where we had a picnic. It's not that uncommon for a french person to buy a whole bagette and eat it all at once!! After lunch we hiked up to see a big waterfall and then turned around to hike back. It wasn't too difficult of a climb although it was very rocky.

The clouds roll in, during the afternoon

My host family

One thing that I found amusing was that they had cows roaming free and also people sheperding herds on the mountain side, so I'd be hiking and then have to wait for a cow to cross the road. Our final destination was called Pont D'Espagnol which is an old stone bridge with a large waterfall behind it, super pretty!!

Dowtown Pau is very picturesque. There is a castle onto which they project light patterns at night, lots of waterfountains, statues, stores and cafes. I went to one were we ordered lemonade and a type of fruity syrup and then proceeded to mix our own drinks while sitting outside enjoying the sun! It was wonderful!

A couple of nights ago, my friend Courtney and I made an American dinner for her host family. We made sphaghetti with a homemade family recipe sauce, a cucumber salade, garlic bread and homemade brownies from scratch!! It was fun to share our culture, but it was annoying to convert all the units!! I brought some brownies home for my family and they had brownies for breakfast!

I am co-teaching a class for little 4 and 5 year old kids who are starting to learn English! We taught them the Thank you song, Simon says (Jacques a dit) for the body part names, played with balloons for color names and other things like that. It is fun, but a lot of work.

Castles!

We left Paris in the morning to drive to Versailles. I was so, so, so excited to see the palace, but luck was not with me. The palace was closed because it was a strike day in France, so we were not able to see the inside or the chambers of Marie Antoinette. We ended up touring the gardens and renting some bikes to ride around them. Still pretty, but still disappointing. The fountains weren't even on! The strike had something to do with the changing of retirement benefits.

So much gold!

Fountain with the palace in the background

After Versailles we went and visited château de Chaumont. We had a guided tour. It was the guides first time doing a tour in English, but she spoke very well. I wish I knew more French history, I feel things would make a lot more sense here if I did. haha So many Kings and Queens and Dukes and such. Normally we have an option to chose a tour in French or English and I always take the French to practice, but there was only one guide this time. The castle was a mixture of Middle Age and Renaissance, both components were present. There a real drawbridge too!

We spent the night in Tours and walked around that town. It was a smaller town and we ended up eating at a pasta shop. They seemed excited to have Americans. They kept asking if the food was good! The next day we stopped at Château Azay-le-Rideau, this time with an audio guide tour.

I really loved the grounds of this castle. They were very lush and green. The next stop was to the town where I will be living: Pau. On the bus ride home I played the song I wrote called Missing You on the ukulele and sang into the microphone on the tour bus. Everyone loved it! Robina (The program director) said that it was best song that she had heard in 18 years of going on tours! I was so happy! I miss performing.

An American In Paris (Days Three and Four)

Our hotel had a very nice continental breakfast. The yogurt flavors are very odd here. They have apricot and citrus and pineapple. I missed my cherry and strawberry. There were lots of croissants and bread, also nutella! They served us hot chocolate, coffee and tea. The hot chocolate was amazing! One of my favorite things so far.

We started out day three by going to the Eiffel tower, this time we took the elevator to the top! It was the highest view yet and very cool! We had reservations, so we got to skip the line and we made it to the top right away! The first floor of the Eiffel tower has a cinema, some restaurants and shops. I can say I went to the bathroom on the Eiffel tower! hahaha We got a little lost trying to get down. We didn't expect that! We ended up walking down from the 2nd floor to the ground.

In front of the Eiffel tower is the peace monument which has peace written in many different languages on its surface. It is made completely out of glass. Unfortunately, the panel with peace in English was very cracked.

The group of students who went on the Paris tour (Half of the students who are now in Pau with my program)

Next we went to a place called Les Invalides. This was a building constructed by Napoleon to be a place for war veterans to come and live so that they are not exiled to the outskirts of the city. It has a dome coated it gold and also contains the body of Napoleon. He didn't have just one coffin- he had six, each placed inside the next. They are all made out of different materials. I could see this building very easily from the Eiffel tower because of its golden top!

His coffin

Also, the dome with the mural that is located on the inside is not at the same level as the outer dome. One of the Kings could not see the mural because of his poor vision, so he had another one constructed closer to the ground.

Next we went to the Museum called Musée Rodin. There are three very famous pieces of artwork there: the thinker, the gates of hell and the kiss. Rodin's work was mostly sculptures so there were gardens with statues interspersed throughout and also galleries inside.

The Gates of Hell

Very sad because there were little children carved all over it

The Thinker of course

The Kiss

Next my friend Courtney and I deviated from the group and made our way to Sacre Coeur. It is a place where there has been perpetual adoration for 125 years. It was very beautiful on the inside, but they don't allow photos which I am actually grateful for. The building sits on a hill with a great view of Paris falling below it. We took some time to pray inside and help continue the tradition. It was very beautiful!

Next we took a train to the Louvre. The train took us into the underground shopping mall which is connected to the entryway and right next to the part of the pyramid which is underground. We were confused thinking, "Wait, there is an Apple store in the Louvre?"

We found the Mona Lisa within 15 minutes which made us pretty impressed with ourselves. haha. Then we wandered into less busy quarters. I tried to mimic her expression, but then we decided that I really should just smile. haha

There she is! 

Venus de Milo

We had fun mimicking statues and paintings as we went along. We visited the Egyptian quarters, medieval quarters, the french painting sections and then made our way to Napoleons quarters which were very elaborate. I think there was a chandelier every five feet!

Another cool thing that we saw was Marie Antoinette's last letter to her sister before she was executed. We could read most of it and it was very sad. She talked about how she was found guilty, but was really innocent. She said her biggest regret about being killed is that she will be leaving her children. She wanted to go with her head held high like her husband, unashamed since she was innocent.

The Louvre is huge, so of course we couldn't see even close to everything, but we had fun and left some time to photo-shoot on the outside of course!

That night our group went on a boat tour along the Seine. While walking there we came across the spot where Princess Diana died. The torch was already there before, but it marks the spot and now people put her photo and writings about her on the statue in her memory.

The boat tour was nice, it was kind of a recap of all we had seen!

The next day Courtney and I refer to as the day of dead people. You will see why as I go through the itinerary. We started out by seeing all that is left of Bastille. It is just a few blocks in the middle of the metro station.

There is a monument to mark where the storming of Bastille occurred

Next we went to the neighborhood of Quartiers de Marais which is a part of town that used to be a swamp. They planted trees and vegetation to absorb the moisture and it eventually became a very famous, expensive part of town. The apartments of Victor Hugo are located here along with a statue of Louis XII.

Victor Hugo's apartments were the ones in the corner

Next we walked through an old part of town which has stores where the owners cannot change the signs on the outside because they are historical, so we saw stores which said Boulanger and sold clothes. It was amusing

Next we walked through the Jewish quarters which were very neat and historical. There were signs in Hebrew and the streets used to be lined with authentic Jewish bakeries. I had delicious cheesecake at one of them!

We walked around some more and saw the town hall of Paris which is HUGE! Then we saw Place des Vosges which is a crossroads for many of the pilgrimages throughout Spain and France. It used to be a church, but everything was burnt down in a fire except for the bell tower.

Next stop was a modern art museum called Centre Georges Pompidou. The museum is inside out in that the stairs are on the outside of the building and so are the pipes are as well. It was pretty interesting. It had a nice view and some pretty bizarre art of course!

Then we took the metro to another part of town to find the incorruptible body of Saint Catherine Laboure. When we arrived they were just closing for lunch so we ate lunch at a cafe there and returned when they reopened. I am so glad that we were able to find it. Saint Catherine Laboure saw the Virgin Mary in the chapel that we visited. She was posed as the picture on the miraculous medal shows. It wasn't so touristy as the many other places that we visited and I'm so glad that I went there.. 

 

Our next place of dead people was the Pantheon. It is a place where Victor Hugo, Alexander Duma, Marie Curie and Voltaire are buried. It also has a pendulum, "Le Pendule de Foucault," which never stops moving and helped to prove that the Earth is round and that it is spinning.

Our last stop was the cemetery called Père Lachaise which is a cemetery where lots of famous people are buried. It is very neat because the graves are like mini buildings above the ground often with stained glass windows and kneelers for praying. Edith Piaf, Chopin, Jim Morris, Oscar Wilde and many others can be found there. It's so large that I was only able to find the grave of Chopin.Also cemeteries close at night in France, so you must be careful not to get locked in when they close the gates! Scary thought!

Grave of Chopin

After all that we had a group dinner. It wasn't my favorite food. They had goat cheese and salad for the first course, then oriental chicken and last there was this ice cream with fruit chunks in it.