Off to Paris and Greece!

Hi all!
Just FYI: I leave for Paris today and then on Monday I get to meet up with my REAL parents in Athens for a Greek Isles/Turkey CRUISE, thus I will not have internet until Monday, April 20th! Please pray for safe travels...
Much love,
Maryn

Almost April! YIKES!

The photos (from top to bottom)
-Making crepes in the yurt!
-Me learning to drive a carriage in the forest
-The yurt
-Me and Adele, one of the refugees from the volunteer group
-Us in the carriage
-Me at St. Croix with the best crepe ever!!!
-Sophie and me under the Duplicity film poster
-Me and Mylene making crepes Tuesday night...yum...eleven...
-The Bradurie Saturday: even the patisseries bring their goods into the street!
-The Bradurie: it was crazy!!!










You’ve got to be kidding me…THE END OF MARCH ???

Monday: The usual Monday, with the inclusion of a “Translation” midterm, English lessons with my little Elisabeth and Henri (Elisabeth requested a song so I taught her the hockey-pockey to learn the parts of the body!), then volunteering. My good friend Sophie who I met through volunteering (she is a 20 year old student at the university and the sweetest, dearest Frenchie-and a Christian!) was there, like normal. And, she shared with me that just the day before her grandmother who lives in Nantes passed away. It was actually really comforting because she was so wonderful to me when my grandpa passed away, and now we could share the same emotions and I could at least try to be a comfort to her. Emotions and feelings of grief are universal.

Tuesday: My professor of the Moyen-Orient class is HILARIOUS! I love her, and I have that class two separate times on Tuesday. Well, in the middle of class in the morning she started to tell us this story about how she was in her elevator the day before and saw this white satchel. She was curious and thus stuck her pinky in it and tasted it. She said that later in class (she teaches at another university too) she couldn’t remember ANYTHING and was saying weird stuff…thus she told us that she had her first experience with cocaine just the day before! And we asked her what she did with the satchel-she left it in the elevator! She is so funny! Then, I went to the conversation table for lunch where a “native speaker” eats with us, and my professor also ate with us! She told us more crazy stories, all about her interviews and different stories with these famous people (she is really well known in her field and thus has met all the presidents of the US, all the leaders of the Arab countries, all the big-wigs of the UN) and all the faux-pas she has made---like when she accidentally asked the head of the UN if he was gay (another language, that is why it was an accident) and how that made it so she had the chance to interview him…long, complicated, hilarious stories!!! Anyway, after lunch I went to my French lessons with the mom of my English students, and then back to school for the second Moyen-Orient class and then my phonetics class. Then, Tuesday night, Lea and I were invited (this is a bit complicated) older brother’s, wife’s, younger sister’s house (she is our age and lives in Nantes and works at H & M) for crepes, cidre, and watching “Nouvelle Star”-the French version of American Idol, complete with the same theme music as American Idol. It was super fun and filling-we each ate ELEVEN (no lies…) crepes filled with either jam, nutella, or caramel-or a combination. And of course, cidre, which always compliments crepes!

Wednesday: I buckled down to work, hard core. I brought my laptop to school and set up shop at the center and worked all day in the library in between classes to research and write my big research paper (in French) for my Moyen-Orient class. Wednesday night was low-key as I snuggled up with Harry Potter.

Thursday: I buckled down to work all day Thursday too! On top of my papers for each of my IES courses, I just got my final assignment from my professor from the Fac (the French university---and remember that we are STILL on strike there so I have had that class ONE time, thus I don’t even know the subject really, but apparently it is France in the 16th, 17th, and 18th century…) and she sent me 5 pages of bibliography, plus 10 different topics that I can chose from to write my final dissertation for that class. Thus I need to research (all in French) and write a dissertation (all in Frenhc) on a subject that I have NO idea anything about-and I picked the class because it was the only history class that worked with my schedule, not because of the interesting subject. Thus, lots of work. But, Thrusday night I relaxed…Lea came over and we snuggled in my bed (it is a twin only!) and watched “Le Boum” a really popular 1980 French film about growing up…It was really good.

Friday: Grammar midterm straight up in the morning. Then, I came home and organized my life, or so it felt like: such as changing my sheets, responding to BEAUCOUP to emails, tidying my room and the such-things that I had let go while I was working so hard this week…Then, later in the afternoon I went to the LU-the old factory that used to make the Le Petit Ecolier and all those cookies that I have never realized originated in Nantes-you know, the red background of the big LU sign? Well, we got to go to the top of the tower and have a view of Nantes, then see the art exhibition, and then drink a coffee in the café! Then, Friday night I had a spectacular evening at Lea’s house! Her neighbor came over for a beer before dinner and I learned all about renting and buying apartments and real estate in Nantes (her dad is a real estate agent and they were talking about buying and renting property). Then, her parents and I had a spectacular dinner that her mom made: vegetable seafood pasta followed by a lovely fruit salad for dessert-it was perfect. And, like always, the conversation was so wonderful and we shared hours of laughter. After dinner we watched their home videos from their visit to NYC and then the home videos of Lea when she was a cute little 7 year old…until midnight!

Saturday: Today was SO fun! I woke up and went running along the river, and then I went to the market where all the spring time fruit was available. I wanted to buy all of the strawberries that were delicious and such a good deal, but I am leaving in a week, and it is just ME so let’s just say my stomach was bigger then my eyes. But, I dried kiwi for the first time-it was really good! Then, after buying pineapple, strawberry and grapes, I spent the whole afternoon with my friend afternoon in the Dradurie---the one day of the year where all the streets in Nantes are closed and all the stores come out INTO the streets, even the boulangeries, and all their products are on sale. EVERYONE was out in the streets and it was crazy and super fun! Then, Andrea and I met up with my French friend, Sophie, who I volunteer with, and the three of us went to the new Julia Roberts film, “Duplicity.” Well, it was actually dubbed in French, no subtitles, and I must confess that the spy/thriller was a little bit difficult to follow in another language and I am excited to see it in English. But, none the less, it was good and I understood MOST of it, just not all…Then, Andrea and I had a lengthy creperie delicious meal at, where else, my favorite creperie: St. Croix. We both had two giant crepes (seafood for me, followed by tomato that is more like a pizza crepe). Tonight we lose an hour of sleep, the French daylights saving…

Sunday: Another wonderful day! I spend the whole day with my volunteer group in the forest about an hour from Nantes. We learned how to clean and take care of the horse and then we got to take a carriage ride and walk through the forest all afternoon! Then, we got to go inside their yurt where they live and they made crepes for all of us! It was a wonderful afternoon. Sunday night I spent another wonderful dinner with Lea’s family: her mom made a wonderful salad and this potato/seafood/vegetable dish followed by a homemade real French apple tart!

Normandy!

Monday: Classes. Teaching Enligh. Volunteering. Dinner with the grandparents. The useual Monday.

Tuesday: St. Patrick’s Day! After loads of classes and my French lesson with the mother of the kids who I teach English to, and my phonetics midterm, Lea and I went out on the town. We had decided to celebrate many things and went out to a really nice French meal, right on the river at Chez Felix. I had a REAL French meal which was delicious: a starter of crab bisque followed by real salmon, ratatouille, and a mushroom soufflé. Then, it was perfect, we came back to my house and watched “No Reservations” dubbed in French---the film with Catherine Zeta Jones all about nice restaurants and the presentation on the food.

Wednesday: I studied loads in the sun…school is catching up to me! Then, after classes I met up with my French friend, Sophie, who volunteers with me who is just a DEAR and so wonderful and we went out to my favorite creperie…again!

Thursday: This was the day of the NATIONAL greve meaning I had to walk to school because transportation wasn’t working and there were people marching and protesting everywhere…it was crazy!!! I am not sure if people in France are truly passionate about what they are protesting or if it is more the fact that it is something to occupy their time and get excited about. Nevertheless, EVERYONE was out and it was a lovely sunny day, perfect for striking right? And doing homework and class…

Friday: In the afternoon, I got to visit the History Museum of Nantes with IES. They set those of us who wanted up for a 2 hour free guided visit of the history museum of Nantes, which was actually pretty incredible: learning about the role of the slave trade, the bombing of Nantes in World War II, the LU cookie factory (Le Petit Ecolier…yup, those come from Nantes) and now their role as a city of “culture” as they like to believe. Friday night was really low key, a French movie chez moi with Lea because Saturday morning was EARLY as it was the morning of Normandy!!!

The WEEKEND: This weekend was really fun, but REALLY busy and not much sleep. It was our field trip to Normandy to visit the beaches and the American cemetery. We set out super early on Saturday morning, had a lovely sunny picnic in Caens, and then spent the WHOLE (and I mean WHOLE 5 hours!) afternoon visiting the museum at the Memorial of Caen. Saturday night we slept in Caen and had a wonderful three course French buffet dinner, complete with salmon and seven different types of dessert. Instead of going out on the town, about ten of us girls stayed in our pyjamas and played cards for about 4 hours passing the night away. It was really fun! Sunday was another early morning and we set out for the American cemetery, which was really moving. We got to walk amongst all of the rows of graves, and along the beach. After that we visited Point du Hoc and saw the bunkers and the bombed out earth. In the afternoon we totally switched it up and visited a completely DIFFERENT part of Normandy…a visit to Haras du Pin, this famous horse breeding/preservation stable as apparently Normandy is known for their horse breeding? It was interesting…? But I was a little too tired to truly enjoy it, and I never was much one of those “horse girls” growing up. Then, we had a three hour bus ride back to Nantes and finally arrived home at 9pm! It was a really fun, full, and tiring weekend!

In fact this week was actually pretty rough. After 97 wonderful years of life, my grandpa (my mom’s dad) passed away on Wednesday. This was my first experience with death and it awas made just that much more difficult by being away from my family and away from anyone who really knows or loves me. I just wanted to be held and I woke up Thursday morning with a migraine and my eyes glued shut because of the amount of crying that I had done. Needless to say, please keep my family in your prayers, especially my grandma who is now going to be alone after 59 years of marriage. Anyway, I tried to fill my head with other things and keep myself very occupied this week. Here are some of my highlights:
-Monday: I got to read Harry Potter in the sunshine and then teach English to my little 7 year old French girl, Elisabeth, who really doesn’t understand anything I say in English or in French and just responds “Yes” to everything…I guess that a repetition of yes is better than a repetition of no. Monday night I had my volunteer group and the theme for the week was “Game night” so I got to play dominos and cards in French!
Tuesday: We had our Middle East mid-term in the morning and then after conversation club I went out to dinner at guess…? My favorite creperie with two of my friends that I met through my volunteer group who are university students and super nice!
Wednesday: No highlights.
Thursday: Lea was at school this week, but her parents had invited me over for dinner so after class I went to her house and had a wonderful evening with her parents. They were so kind to me and literally opened their arms to me and let me cry and talk about grandpa and they cried with me. Her mom, Catherine, made a wonderful shrimp linguine dish and I brought my homemade chocolate chip cookies…The topic of America came up, as it always does with them, and it was so funny to hear what they find so intriguing about America: when they visited NYC two years ago (all of their first time in the states) they bought two suitcases full of America things, including suspenders and American light switches (which are very different than French light switches). So funny!
Friday: I spent a wonderful afternoon in the 60 degree sunshine walking along the river with my French friend, Sophie, another friend that I met at volunteering who is also a university student. She is SO incredibly sweet and unaffected and when it came out that I had had a hard week because of my grandpa she just embraced me so hard and was so understanding and, she is a Christian, and prayed for me. It was a wonderful afternoon in the sunshine! Then, Friday night, I showed Lea what an American sleepover was (soiree de pajamas!). We walked her dog all over town in the balmy spring air, drank a coke at one of the many outdoor bars that was hoping, ate dinner, and watched a movie, then snuggled into her bed and looked at the People Oscar issue that my mom had mailed to me! French sleepover!
Saturday: Lea gave me a REAL French manicure (except with orange nail polish!), I went to my first football game (soccer…the fans were just as interesting as the game, they get SO in the sport) and saw the film Marly and Me!
Sunday: Lea and I took advantage of the beautiful sunshine and visited the most famous tourist attraction in Nantes, this enormous elephant that makes a ½ hour walk with 50 people on it. It is really bizarre in my opinion, but all the Nantais are really proud of it…? It is really interesting, but after ½ hour on a really slow large elephant the view begins to look the same from every part of its body. But, it is something that you have to do in Nantes. Then, Sunday night crepe night was invaded by the grandparents…the parents of my mom were here for the weekend, so we had a very fun lively dinner with a grandma who couldn’t really hear very well and kept slipping their enormous dog crepes under the table! (They brought their dog with them).

marCH...marching on...

March…

Monday : After school I met up with Lea at this cafe where her photography is being shown for a drink ! Then, Monday was awesome. It was a “repas partage” at my volunteer group. All of us made a meal together and then got to eat together. It was this really yummy stir fry over rice with salad. I brought a fruit salad and my banana bread to share…both were eagerly welcomed. There were again about 15 refugees and about 7 volunteers and I ended up staying until about 9:30pm. My new friend Adele (who is the woman who I met the first time who fled the Republic of Congo in the middle of the day and still doesn’t know where her kids are) and I got to talk more. After dinner I walked to Lea’s house and we did homework together (and I helped her with her English homework).

Tuesday: My favorite Middle East class twice, more class, more class, then conversation club. After conversation club I went again to my favorite creperie with Audrey, one of my French friends who I met at conversation club, and we shared a lovely dinner!

Wednesday: Class, study, class, class, home for dinner and then FOUR HOURS OF READING THE LOVELY world of Harry Potter!!!

Thursday: No tennis today because the strike continues and they had a meeting this morning for the strike and it was in the tennis courts so no tennis. But, I did have my French conversation with the lady whose kids I teach English to. We talked in French for an hour over a cup of tea! Then, after class, I went again to the Christian youth group, AGAPE (which I figured out is part of the same thing as Campus Crusades for Christ). It was wonderful, again, to be in Christian fellowship, sing in French, pray in French, and listen to testimonies in French. When I got home late on Thursday night I snuggled into my bed and finished the third Harry Potter (in French)…I am onto #4! Thursday was a hard day because it was Karina’s 21st bday back in the States and I wanted to be there SO badly with her.

Friday: Friday too was a day of homesickness because it was Mama’s birthday back in the states, and again, I just wanted to be there celebrating with her! But, after getting our grammar midterms back in the morning and doing better than I expected, I went on to an all afternoon photo shoot with Lea! The life of a model is tiring I learned, and as much fun as it is with Lea, I learned that I really don’t think that I will drop out of school anytime soon to work on my modeling career. But, it was fun for the afternoon (and lots of changing!). After my tiring afternoon (hahaha!) Lea and I kicked off a wonderful, tiring, and fun soiree! We shared a delicious meal of tofu ravioli lasagna, salad, and French bread with her parents that her wonderful mother, Catherine, prepared. We had delicious food and even better conversation. Her dad even had the idea that we should all go to Spain together so we are going to take a weekend trip to the north of Spain the last weekend in April. Oh, and we cannot forget to include the apple crumble that her mom made. The funny thing is that they don’t call it crumble, but they call it a miette, which is literally the French word for “crumble”-the morsel of food. After dinner, Lea and I kicked off our evening at LU-Lieu Unique where we had drinks with her brother’s girlfriend and all of her friends because she was visiting from Montreal. They were all super nice. After a couple of hours there, we went to the apartment of another one of her friend’s for a little pre-party before we went to the Club O at the Hanger Banane which is the place to “sortir”-go out. We had to be dressed appropriately because it was this really chic night club. I wear boots, black leggings, a black dress and pearls! I was let in…It was a French experience and I was there until about 2am and took a taxi home (which was 20 euros…and will never do again!) It was definitely an experience!

SATURDAY: After another morning at the Saturday market, I had a delightful almost 4 hour afternoon in the suburbs of Nantes. Friends of the French professor at Whitman live in Nantes and invited us four Whitman girls who are studying here to their house for a terrific afternoon of apple pound cake and endless cups of coffee. We talked education, world politics, the economic crisis, their visits to the U.S., life in France, everything. It was so fun to be able to visit with such a nice, welcoming couple. They told us if our parents want to come visit they have an extra bedroom and are welcome to stay. They were great (because I didn’t return home until 6pm!). Then, Saturday night Lea and I went to the cinema! We saw MILK and it was FABULOUS, and in version original. Then, Lea and I ate dinner at her house just us too, and began a French film, but fell asleep…

SUNDAY: Well, this was supposed to be the day of the farm visit with my volunteer group, but I am testing my flexibility muscle big time. I got an email on Saturday night that it was cancelled. I was SUPER disappointed because I was really excited for it, but I am learning to be flexible, and to relax, thus I took the free day to sleep, lie in bed and do nothing, read Harry Potter, run along the river, and then I went to Lea’s house where we sat side by side on her couch, drinking tea and eating biscuits and doing homework/facebook!

I LOVE MAIL!!!

Seiously though, if anyone wants to make my day, I have only recieved 4 pieces of mail TOTAL and I check my box EVERYDAY(several times per day) and yes, this is a desperate cry, but I would love to recieve ANY and EVERYTHING (packages are equally accepted!) I promise to send you some love from France in return...

My address (in case you cannot read the writing on the right of the column...)

Maryn Juergens
IES Nantes Abroad
7, rue des Cadeniers
44000 Nantes
France

LOVE YOU ALL and hope you are doing well...

MARCH!!!???!!! WTF, time, stop passing SO FAST!!!

Alors, WHY IS THE TIME GOING SO FAST !!!????!!! I never want to leave France and I am already thinking of ways and when I can return to Nantes. I just LOVE it here. (Picutres, only from the second photoshoot, I need to start taking photos...)

Ok, so ready for the weekly update? Oh, and the wonderful thing about this week was the weather!!! It was sunny and in the fifties everyday. It was LOVELY and wonderful and apparently this is NOT normal so we are quite lucky. I took advantage of it by wearing a skirt with leggings on Wednesday, but it wasn’t QUITE that warm.

MONDAY: Let’s see…After classes, Lea and I went shopping (or window shopping for me) and looked at all the fun spring clothes. See, the problem is that I really want to buy all those fun spring clothes, but when I am still wearing leggings UNDER my jeans, it is not quite practical…Then, at 5pm I had my first lesson with these French kids. I am an English prof now, apparently. No, not really, but once a week I am going to spend ½ hour each with a 7 year old girl and then her 10 year old brother teaching them English. They are SO cute and know hardly anything. The little girl, Elisabeth, and I practiced the colors and the numbers up through 12. In exchange, their mom is going to spend one hour each week with me working with me one-on-one with my French. It is a great opportunity! Then, after the English teaching I had my volunteering group again, which is called the Club of Solidarity. This time there were FIFTEEN refugees and 4 volunteers. It was super fun, again, and I got to meet some new and wonderful faces, and hear again new and harrowing stories. Almost all of them are waiting for visas here and have fled from French speaking African for some type of oppression or the other. The people are so refreshing and open and kind and I just cannot imagine their lives. This week after conversation and snacks we worked on teaching technology and talking about cheaper ways to call home (aka Skype) and things like that. Next Sunday we are going all day to a farm near Nantes. A former volunteer invited us all for the day for a big Sunday French luncheon followed by a farm visit and cow milking. I am quite excited. But tomorrow, the next club we have, is a “Shared Meal” so we are all going to cook and eat together!

TUESDAY: Mardi Gras, and I definitely did celebrate. I am the president of my IES group, so I planned a Mardi Gras party for all the students that was to take place after the conversation club with the French speakers that normally takes place 6:30-8 on Tuesdays. Well, it was realy fun, but SOOOOOOOOOO much work for me. I did all the prep work (shopping---100 euros worth of food!, preparing all the food, baking FOUR loaves of banana bread, carting 10 2-Liter gallons of soda to the center on foot and on bus from my house and falling in the street because of the weight of my huge backpacking backpacked filled with soda, finding the music, advertising, setting up, and clean up…). Anyway, about 70 French and American kids came, we had masks too, and it was a huge success. Not a morsel of food was left, but it really drained me and was tiring. I also invited Lea, but by the time she arrived most of the fete was ending and all the food was gone. She helped me clean up (along with the kindness of other students too!) and then we went to her house to watch a film with her parents. Needless to say, I fell asleep in the middle, I was SO tired.

WEDNESDAY: Another day of PHOTOSHOOTING! Unfortunately the lady who owned the hat store didn’t quite like the style of photos that we did on Saturday, thus, alors, we redid the photoshoot, and also got to do some fun stuff just Lea and I too…It was super fun, as I LOVE being photographed!!! Then, I had class, and class, and had dinner with my host family and studied some. (I had a BIG grammar test-midterm-on Friday!)

THURSDAY: I studied a lot of morning for my GRAMMAR MIDTERM and also did other homework because the GREVE (Strike) at the university is STILL continuing thus I didn’t have my tennis or my Thrusday university class. And, to substitute for our lack of work at the university, our IES teachers are truly piling on the work load. Then we had a meeting about the strike situation (our university teachers are going to email us homework…) and celebrated the February birthdays. Then I had phonetiques and then I went to AGAPE, the youth group. This time I went WITH the other girls so I found it ok and oh my goodness, it was amazing. I didn’t realize how much I missed REAL Christian fellowship and I found it here and I can’t wait to return every week. There are people from all parts of the world, but all worshipping (in French) together. It is pretty powerful to sing and pray all together, in French. It just shows the universality of God’s great power. We had to leave early though to STUDY GRAMMAR because of our Friday midterm.

FRIDAY: Midterm in the morning. It is over now though! Then, since it was 55 degrees and sunny I took advantage and went running along the river!!! I did a lot of homework so I can be FREE on Sunday for Lea’s day off and not do homework. Then, I went to the COIFFUER of Lea (haircutter). Ok, it was really relaxing and about 1.5 hours because there is a chair that you sit in massages you while you have your conditioner in and they do a wonderful head massage and the studio is really nice, BUT, I asked for a change. I really wanted a “French do” and have bangs that go across my face and layers, well, she basically JUST thinned my hair. That is all. I didn’t have the nerve to say anything, but Lea came over later tonight and she is going to take me back because you really can’t tell that anything changed…Then, I had herring potato salad for dinner with my host family (very DIFFERENT) and then my IES friends Ana and Madelyn came over and we talked in French for about two hours. We were going to watch Juno, and did eventually when Lea arrived around 10pm, but it was really fun to just talk together in French and be able to understand each other completely in a different language, and to feel like I have real friends here.

SATURDAY: Today was GORGEOUS. I am talking 60 degrees and sunny gorgeous! I went for a nice long run along the river again and ran into four other IES kids (separately) running. It was the day to take advantage of. Then, I went to the market alone and bought fresh fruit and dried fruit too! Then, all afternoon Andrea (another IES girl) and I sat in the Place Royale (the central square of the city) by the fountain and studied and talked all afternoon! It was fabulous and WARM! Then, I went up with Lea after her work and we walked all around the evening, then got drinks at a café and then went to my favorite creperie for a fabulous and delicious dinner!!! Then, we saw the a French film at the cinema at 10:30. And 1am, it was a night!

SUNDAY: A day for relaxing. After a long night’s sleep I passed a luxurious afternoon at Lea’s couch. Actually, on her couch. She helped me with my French homework, opened my world to French music (which she gave me via memory stuck) and we watched a really good French movie that was kind of like highschool musical—a movie musical about romance! I have a phonedate with my parents tonight! Can’t wait!