One Month Already!?!?

I truly cannot believe that I have been here for ONE WHOLE MONTH ! Wow, I guess time really does fly when you are having FUN FUN FUN! This week was fabulous, but oh so tiring. The French don’t understand why I am always tired, but thinking and living in a different world and language really tires you out. I am ALWAYS ready for bed…I feel like a grandma! Here are the week’s highlights, day by day:

MONDAY: Monday afternoon Lea (my amazing French friend) and Meggie (my amazing US friend) came over and we made Valentines! And watched a French film! This was also the national holiday of crepes so my friend Andrea invited two of us over to her house and we had a dessert crepe party with her host mom! It was delicious, and I discovered a new wonderful combination: strawberry jam WITH nutella! Here host mom is this crazy 75 year old lady who is actually really racist so it was quite an entertaining evening listening to this French lady tell us stories of her past 70 students who have boarded with her!!!

TUESDAY: I had my favorite class, twice, the US-Palenstine-Israel-France 1945 to present, so that made me happy. I also had phonetics without the lab so we dissected sentences, wohooooooo…not quite my favorite. But then we had conversation club on Tuesday nights 6:30-8 and that was really fun, met some new French buddies. Afterwards, Lea met me and we went out to a French bistro-place. Apparently I ordered calamari over pasta in its own ink. It was actually surprisingly good! And, of course, just being with Lea was fun on its own!

WEDNESDAY: My glorious day of only two classes! I had a relaxing morning to myself, finished Mean Girls dubbed in French, then went to classes. I don’t think anything really exciting happened on Wednesday.

THURSDAY: Well, the French apparently have to always be on strike, so again, starting on Thursday morning they went on strike at the university, this time for a week! So, I had an AWESOME day! My tennis class was NOT cancelled so I had tennis. I met another “etranger” named Arthur from Romania who is very nice. We exchanged information, and have tennis together every Thursday, so hopefully we can hang out! I also had a meeting at the Secours Catholique which is this volunteer organization that I found online and went to the informational meeting they organized when I emailed them. They presented me with their mission and the ways I can become involved. And, guess what? I start on Monday night 6-8pm. I am not quite sure what I will be doing, but it sounds like a club where people can come and be social. It sound perfect for me, and I don’t really understand how it is volunteering, but, I will let you know! Then, Thursday night, after a lovely (JOKING) dinner of PLAIN white noodles and sticks of artifical crabmeat, I met up with Lea and her friends. We hung out in one of her friends’ apartment and I got to meet some new French friends and listen to their interesting taste in music!

FRIDAY: I had a coffee date with this girl named Audrey who is a student at the university who I met at conversation club on Tuesday and I invited her out to coffee. She is super sweet and studying sociology…we talked in French for almost 2 hours! It was grand, but tiring. Then, Friday night Lea’s amazing family had me over for a delicious meal of salad, celery salad, smoked salmon, and this homemade Kashi bread, topped off with chestnut mousse for dessert! They (Lea and her parents) are SO wonderful, welcoming, and kind and have really made my Nantes experience what it is! They are also really patient with me and help me with my French. After our great meal, Lea and I hit the town. We went to another one of her friend’s apartment where there was LOTS of alcohol and smoking. All the kids wanted to speak English with me…I kept trying to insist that I speak French but it didn’t quite work. Then, we went to Lieu Unique which is hard to describe. It is a the old “LU” cookie factory (Dad, you know your favorite LU Bastogne’s? Thos come from NANTES!) and it is a bar/art exposition center/café/restaurant/dance area all in one. Well, everyone who was anyone in their late teens and twenties was there on Friday night! It was a crazy Nantes dance party!!!

SATURDAY: Meggie and I (and others) had our annual Saturday morning (noon) market date. It was AMAZING and I was in heaven, like always. BUT, there was this whole TABLE of grapes. GRAPES!?!? My favorite in the whole world and they were delicious and without seeds (hard to find here) and only 1 euro/1kg…a steal! That was the best part of my day. We also did our sampling of everything and bought apples and bananas and also some dried figs and apricots. We were there for about two hours! Then, I went home to drop off my stuff for about 3 minutes, then headed out to meet up with Lea. She took me to the “Beau Lieu” which is this French shopping mall with Carrefour in it (French version of Walmart). It was just a sight to be seen. Then, we went and met up with her friend Pierre because they are both photographers and had organized this “Masquerade Blanc” (white masks) photoshoot for a project. For about 1.5 hours, me and two of their other friends modeled these masks in different poses and locations around Nantes. Everyone was staring at us, but it was a project for Pierre and Lea, and now they will have some fun photoshop material to work with! Then, Lea and I went to the movies: LOL, it is this new French chic-flick that came out on Friday and it was actually really good. The best part was that I actually understood pretty much everything (it was in French without subtitles!). Then, Lea and I went out to dinner at this really delicious creperie. I had one stuffed with all seafood and it was absolutely delectable. Then, we went back to Pierre’s apartment before their friend’s birthday party which was supposed to start at 11pm at this bar. Well, we showed up and waited for ½ hour and no one came…alas, I was exhausted after a day of “go go go” and played grandma again and went home…to sleep for TWELVE HOURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SUNDAY: If you did the math, yes, I slept to NOON! Lea tired me out…in a good way though! I felt quite refreshed and went for a lovely run along the river this, well, not morning, but I guess afternoon! Then, this evening I went over to Lea’s house for a date with my translation homework. Her mom had made wonderful spice bread and we sat around the fire drinking tea and they helped me with my French homework. Lea has school this week in Rennes (an hour from here) so I will be without my French playmate, but her kind parents invited me over for dinner and a movie on Wednesday night! Now, it is time for CREPE NIGHT Sundays!