Sailboat!

Salut salut!

This week has been absolutely beautiful here. We had a few days in a row where it hit 70 degrees, so I tried to be outside as much as possible! I went for a run on Friday and found a ginormous park with a friend. It was so tranquil and pretty, which is great considering it's located in the middle of the city.

Yesterday I spent most of the day at the yacht club with my host dad. He has a huge red sailboat. I helped him get the boat ready to be transported to I'm not sure where, but he's going to bring it to get re-varnished in the next couple of days. The club is on the Erdre River, which runs perpendicular to the Loire river in Nantes. It's a good sized body of water, but it's fairly calm. I saw some rowing teams practicing as I was sitting down by the water. There are also a lot of huge houses along this river, one of which you can faintly see in one of the pictures below.

It was nice to get out of the city and see the countryside surrounding Nantes and this new river. Apparently there is a path that starts not too far from my house that follows the Erdre river, all the way to the yacht club. So I'm going to have to explore that soon. Unfortunately the 70 degrees isn't lasting...today it's overcast and in the fifties, but i guess that's still pretty good compared to Minnesota :)

Today I'm trying to get some homework done, papers still haven't been started, but soon enough they'll be in full swing...hopefully.

I hope you all are having a great weekend! Until next time!

Kelsey :)

Cou Cou!

Cou cou!

I survived my first midterm, but won't know how it went until next week... My next exam is tomorrow for grammar. It will basically equal death :(

On Tuesday night i had a unique opportunity to go to a French movie premiere here in Nantes. The film was called La Premiere Etoile (The first star/memory). I went with a friend from IES who had gotten an invitation to attend the premiere from a friend she met here in Nantes. It turns out that her friend was actually the cousin of the director of the film though! And the director was at the premiere! So we got to meet him. He was also the principal actor in the film, so it was cool to see him both on screen and in person. It was wicked cool. I love movies. Afterwards they invited us out to have drinks with them. It was fun to be surrounded by so many movie loving folk.

The guy in the middle with the fur hat and plaid scarf is Lucien Jean-Baptiste, the director/actor I met.

Wednesday morning I was on a mission to find a nail clipper, but instead, came home with a new spring coat... It's navy blue, light weight, and pea coat style. There's also a belt that goes around the waist. I think it was a good purchase :) Of course I wore it today. I really can't resist wearing new things.

Today has been a really great day. I had my first visitor in Nantes! Mary Kay, a cousin of my mom's, took the train in from Paris for the day to hang out and see a little bit of the city. We saw the big sights, the chateau, the cathedral and the Loire river. We also covered most of downtown Nantes, but avoided the shopping. We ate lunch at a delicious creperie in the older part of downtown. I think she was impressed by the crepes! You really can't go wrong with them :) It's probably one of the things i'll miss most about being here. The accessibility of crepes...haha.

Mary Kay also brought me a bag of chocolate chips and Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies! Oh man, I am excited to attempt making cookies again! And thin mints are definitely something they don't have here. The French girl scout equivalents sell pastries and cakes here. They're good, but i'm not sure they can live up to thin mints...

Some other big news around my household is that my family's eldest daughter, Virginie (who lives in North Carolina), had her baby last Friday, the 20th. It was a boy and they named him Simeon, pronounced Si-may-on. My host mom is basically freaking out with excitement. She leaves for the states next Wednesday and will stay there for 10 days to hang out with her new grandson. My host dad is struggling with being called grandpa...he's not quite ready to enter that age category yet... And Guillome refuses to be called an uncle. He says that the baby and him are going to be friends. Again, i think he thinks the word 'uncle' sounds old.

In the meantime the family also continues to plan and prepare for Segolene's wedding. My host mom has started working on outfits for the kids who will be in the wedding and she helped Segolene with the wedding list and invitations last week. Segolene has also started getting material together for her dress, as she's making it herself. I have no doubt it is going to be gorgeous. She showed me the dresses that she was going to take some ideas off of, and those were beautiful. I'm excited to see pictures of the final product!

As you can see, it's kind of crazy around here with all of these big life events taking place. But everyone is just so happy and smiley all the time. It's great :)

I don't have much planned for the weekend. I think i'm going to take the time to get started on some papers and such that I want to have done before the beginning of April. Of course i want to blow them off until the week they're due, but i know how that goes. I'm trying to grow and learn from my past procrastination experiences...haha...or something.

I hope you all have great days! Tomorrow is Friday! Woo!

Love you!

Kelsey :)

p.s. Spring has arrived here in Nantes. The birds are out singing, and as my host dad says...the birds DO NOT LIE.

Back to Nantes...

Bonjour!

Well i made it home from Malta. After two flights, a couple train and metro rides, and a final train back to Nantes, i am back safe and sound in Franceland. Now it's on to midterms! Woo....

On Friday I had mentioned that we were going to visit the Blue Grotto in Malta, and it was absolutely beautiful. We all hiked along the cliffs and looked out over the water pretty much all afternoon. The sun was out the entire time too, so we enjoyed taking in some rays as well! Don't worry, no sunburns. Here are some pictures that can sum up the afternoon better than i can explain it!

After we made it back to Valetta, Audrey and I found a Carnival Cake in honor of the festivities about to take place. It was good, but had sooo much sugar, that after a few bites we felt sick. It looked pretty though!

The night was spent in Paceville, which is basically where the night scene is in Malta. With tons of people and music blaring from every club it was quite the experience :)

Saturday morning we all slept in. I basically packed up and headed to the airport around one. I reached Paris by 8:30, and the hostel I stayed at shortly after. The hostel experience was a good one. Nothing worrisome about the experience. I shared my room with two girls from Brazil and one girl from France. They were all extremely nice. It was fun to use French, as that was the only language we all mutually spoke. I was happy to put my skills to use.

Sunday morning i was up by 8, and spent the morning walking around Paris before my train at noon. My ultimate goal was to find a Starbucks (I couldn't help the American in me that so desperately wanted a Chai Tea Latte!), but on the way i just soaked up Paris. Because it was so early on a Sunday, the streets were pretty deserted. I found a small market with fresh veggies, fruits and pastries along the Seine river, and eventually made my way down to the Louvre and the Tuileries Garden. It wasn't too shabby to see all that, plus the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe in the distance, all within a couple of hours. I originally thought the Starbucks was right next to the Louvre, but after failing to find that, I made my way to the Boulevard Saint Germain, and walked along there, for at least an hour, with the hope that i would just run into one. I was about to give up and get on the metro to go catch my train, but then...

Voila! :)

It seriously appeared and made my life. And there was a metro station right across the street, so i just caught the metro there and made my way to the train station. The metro stop is Odeon on line 4. Everyone should remember this in case you find yourself craving a normal, American sized beverage, especially of the coffee variety, while in Paris.

Here's what the stop looks like, if you're ever confused. Yeah that's right. I took a picture of the metro stop.

Alright, well the blogging has been a wonderful method of procrastination for the past half hour, but now, i must study. I hope you all have a fabulous Monday!

Kelsey

We found the pastizzas!

Hola from the Mediterranean!

Well Audrey and I managed to find a pastizza and man were they good. We each got one of the mushy pea variety and the ricotta cheese. We decided that the mushy pea one sounds gross, but tastes like split pea soup, so really it was delicious. It tasted like something you would have with dinner though, not really something you would have for dessert. The cheese one however could go all ways. I think it was my favorite of the two. But i mean who wouldn't like melted cheese in a flaky pastry. YUM.

p.s. sorry i look like a goon! Between the rain and the pastizza and trying to be coordinated enough to hold the umbrella while eating the pastizza...well it was a challenge..haha

Yesterday morning we all took the morning to sleep in. However, there is some construction going on next door and apparently they think it's a good idea to start at 8 am...so sleeping in failed. But it was a beautiful day, a little windy, but overall warm and sunny. The flat received some new visitors for a couple of days, so while the Luther gang was at class, i welcomed them here and took them for a walk along the water and through Sliema. It felt a little weird to be on the tour guide side of things. I almost feel like i live here. France seems like a long ways off at the moment. I think it'll be hard going back and getting into the swing of things again. Especially that whole speaking French 24/7 thing...

Last night we went to a bar called Simon's just down the block. The owner, Simon, apparently has pretty close connections to the groups who come here each year form Luther and Concordia. It's even gotten to the point where he has t-shirts from both schools! He's a very lively character, always cracking jokes and dressing up in weird outfits. It was a good place to finally try the local Cisk beer. It was better than the local soda, Kinnie. Much better. I had heard they were similar, but after an official tasting i can say that i approve.

This afternoon we are going to a place called the Blue Grotto. It's a natural arch built into the cliffs on the southeast side of the island. It sounds like it should be really cool. There are also some old temples nearby that we are going to check out as well. Apparently they are the best preserved temples on the island. I think they date back to 3000 BC, which is just so ridiculously old. It's a hard concept to grasp on to. There's only one bus that runs out towards these things, so we'll see how well that works. As you've seen in the previous blogs, the buses are always questionable here in Malta. We're kind of just playing the day by ear to see how things go. Spotaneous days with no concrete plans are my favorite. I like adventures.

Today is also the start of Karnival in Malta. So there are lots of decorations going up everywhere, especially in Valetta where most of the events take place. We don't quite know what it's all about, but we do know that it gets crazy around here. There are a lot of dancing competitions, and people dress up in masks and costumes, with the goal of being unrecognizable. We kind of think Karnival is equivalent to Halloween at home, except that it's not supposed to be scary, just crazy. We'll go check out the festivities in Valetta either later tonight or tomorrow morning before i leave. There is also something called a Karnival cake, which is a big deal around this time of year that we want to try to find before i leave as well.

I probably won't get a chance to fill you in on the next couple of days until I'm back in Nantes, so I hope all is well with everyone! Love and miss you all!

Kelsey :)

The Marsa Post Office...

Hello all!

The Malta adventure continues. Yesterday i made my way to the island of Gozo, which is seriously about the size of Luther college. You can pretty much see every side of the island from any point on the island. Everything was very green, which was a lovely contrast against the blue water and dark gray sky. The weather didn't quite cooperate with my adventure, but it all worked out. It made out for some cool lighting and pictures.

Today is more laid back. Right now, everyone is tutoring the refugees at the camp in the southern part of the island. So i'm just kind of taking the afternoon off, relaxing. I am on vacation after all, right?? I had quite the amusing morning though...

Our destination was the Marsa Post Office, a couple of towns away from Sliema where we're staying. It was quite an adventure, again mostly due to the wonderful buses here. The first bus we were on was probably the funniest. We asked the lady sitting next to us where we should get off to get to the post office and she said she wasn't sure, so she turned to the lady next to her to ask her where to get off. Pretty soon the entire bus, packed with all locals, was talking about the post office in Marsa and were debating where we should actually get off. It was like a giant game of telephone. Hilarious. We were the only foreigners on the bus...haha. Eventually they all agreed on a stop and we got off. However, we had to ask about 5 more random people on the street where the post office was to finally reach it. But when we found the post office they were directing us to, it wasn't the right one...

So we went into a bank and asked for directions once again to the Marsa Post Office and they told us to get on a bus and just ask the driver to drop us off at the Marsa post office. So we find a bus and he drops us off right in front of the right one, and all is good. Except that when we got off the bus we all started walking the wrong direction, and then the bus driver honked at us and yelled that it was the other direction, and we look up at the bus and all the locals are looking at us and pointing in the opposite direction. Too funny. We basically caused an uproar on the Malta bus system today. It was an experience. We laughed a lot :)

I've also noticed that the Maltese people are much friendlier and more helpful than the French. You can smile and say hello to someone on the street here without worrying about the consequences. The bus drivers are usually pretty helpful in making sure you get to where you want to go, even if that means stopping somewhere where there isn't actually a bus stop. Plus there are so many old British couples here, most of whom have been here over a dozen times, that they are always more than happy to direct us in the right direction. They're always surprised to meet young Americans. They pretty much just ask us up front, what are you doing here??

As for the rest of the day, Audrey and I are going to adventure when she gets back from tutoring. I need to find something for us to go do... I'm hoping to find a pastizza, which is a flaky pastry with either a ricotta cheese or a mushy pea filling. It's a local specialty and apparently delicious. So in the words of my dad, I need to find a good hole in the wall and try one :)

Well that's all i know at the moment. I'll be sure to fill you in on my next couple of days later!

Kelsey

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLLEEN!! WOO! YEAH 19! :) :) :)

Merhba! (Hello in Maltese)

Hi team!

I'm in Malta! And i love it. It has been so great to reconnect with my roommate and the rest of the Luther folk here. Oh and i suppose the island is beautiful as well, but that's really just a bonus to the rest of it :)



Audrey had class all day today, so i had some time to explore. And let me tell you, it was definitely an adventure...

I spent the first part of the morning walking along the promenade in Sliema. This is basically just a long boardwalk that goes along the ocean for about 2 miles. However, i walked along the rocks and beach instead of the sidewalk. It was really warm out this morning too, so i enjoyed walking in my t-shirt and soaking in some sun.



My ultimate goal for the day was to reach Mdina, an old city, south of Sliema. Mdina actually means walled city, so the entire thing is surrounded by huge walls. Inside is St. Paul's Cathedral and many other historical sites. The streets are extremely narrow though and cars can't fit through them. Also, you can walk on top of the walls, and the views of the rest of the island are gorgeous. Pretty much from any point on the island you can see the ocean (that's how small it is).

However, there was some trouble reaching Mdina, at least initially. Let me tell you about the Malta bus system, at least from what i've experienced thus far. There is no rhyme or reason to the bus schedule. They basically come and go as they please. Also, the bus stops aren't labeled, so you never quite know where you are or what bus is going to stop there. There is simply a bright blue sign that says BUS STOP.

So i tried to get on a bus that would go directly from Sliema (where i'm staying) to Mdina, but everytime it came to a stop i was at, it would never stop, even though i was waving at it... so i eventually gave up on this and took a bus to Valetta (the capital) and then got on another bus towards Mdina. This turned into another adventure though, as i wasn't able to figure out where to get off for Mdina, and ended up just staying on the bus for another half hour.... BUT i found some beautiful sights. The bus drove to the most southern point of the island, to a place called the Dingli Cliffs. It was basically just a small strip of road at the top of a cliff, overlooking bright blue water and green hillside all the way down to the water. And because it was so beautiful out today, everything just sparkled. It was perfect. I decided to get off the bus and have the picnic lunch i had packed, and then just took some time to look out and sit. It was very peaceful.

The bus didn't come back to the cliffs for another hour and a half though, so there was a lot of sitting and observing. There was a big herd of goats and sheep in the fields behind the cliffs that were pretty amusing. They kept going in the street, and then the man herding them would run out and yell at them and they would go back, but only right on the other side of the wall. The sheep were even walking on top of the little stone wall that was separating the field from the road. It was pretty humorous.

When the bus finally came, i was able to find my way to Mdina. I spent the rest of the afternoon touring the Cathedral and the museums there, and then found St. Paul's Catacombs in Rabat, right outside of Mdina. The catacombs were creepy. Just very eerie to think that at one point so many dead bodies were there. They were better than the ones in Paris though. The Paris ones definitely take the cake with all the stacked bones...ah!

I eventually found my way back to Audrey's flat, with some more bus adventures. I also tried the local soda here, called Kinnie. It wasn't so good. It's made from bitter oranges and local herbs and it seriously isn't kidding about the bitter part. Apparently it's good mixed with alcohol? At least that's what all of our guide books have been saying. We'll see. I'm not convinced it'll ever be good. Apparently the local beer, called Cisk (pronounced Chisk) also has a similiar taste. I'll have to ask around to see what's so appealing about it.

It was a good experience to go and do things alone. I was able to see the things i wanted to and come back at the end of the day all in one piece. It feels good being able to do that. Tomorrow is another big class day for everyone here, and because i can't go with them, i'll be off on another adventure...hopefully. My goal for the day is to explore the island of Gozo. I'll take a ferry from the west coast of Malta, and then it's only a 25 minute boat ride to Gozo. I'm hoping to find some good hiking and explore some of the gorgeous beaches there. I'll probably be a little sad that it won't be warmer out and that i can't go swimming, but oh well. I'll live, no worries.



Well that was pretty much my day. I'm off to bed so i can have more fun tomorrow! Yay for vacation in Europe! Love and miss you all!

Kelsey :)

I AGAPE you!

Another week has passed. Time is really flying by here!

The strike at the University continues until tomorrow, so i didn't have class there again this week. However, IES classes are pushing through and going well. Midterms start right after i get back from vacation next week though! Gah! This week everyone has been a little under the weather, and today i can't say i'm feeling 100%. 8:15 am class this morning was a little rough. I'm hoping for a nap later this afternoon. Yay for naps! :)

This week has also been spent getting ready for Malta. I leave tomorrow! I can't even tell you how excited i am. The excitement could not even fit onto this blog it's so big. This morning i've been doing some last minute laundry and started laying out clothes and what not. Once again, i think i want to bring too much, so things will have to be vetoed later on...bummer. But i'm only going with my backpack and another small bag. So really, i'm doing well! Tomorrow night in Paris i am going to stay with the aunt of my host mom, so this afternoon i have to call her and figure out all the details. I'm a little nervous though. My host mom said she usually speaks really fast, and i'm just thinking that on the phone i'm going to fail horribly at trying to accomplish anything. But it's another adventure. So bring it on.

Last weekend, i cooked dinner for my family on Friday night! I made a Ziti pasta bake, salad, and chocolate chip cookies! Both the pasta bake and the cookies were a little tricky, as a lot of the ingredients aren't as common here, or have a bizarre name that's difficult to track down in the grocery store. But i succeeded! My family really liked it, or at least they said they did. But personally, i really liked it, so i don't think they were lying...haha. They told me the cookies were really American too. I was proud. We ate them with vanilla ice cream. It was delicious. I will have to make another batch soon.

Saturday night i had some friends over to help me finish the leftovers from the night before. It was nice to be able to invite people over. My host family is so generous. I love them. And then it got kind of late, and my host mom said the girls could stay over if they wanted! So my friend Lisa spent the night in the room next to mine because she lives a little ways from my house. I was beyond happy. For real. I like staying in a family that is so similar to my real family, whom i obviously think is great :)

On Thursday nights there is a youth gathering at the protestant church here called AGAPE! Unfortunately there is no real Agape there, but i've heard it's awesome. I haven't had the chance to go yet, but i'm hoping tonight i'll be able to make an appearance. It's run by Americans, and the worship service they carry out is both in English and French. Apparently they sing the same worship songs that I've grown up with, so i'm really excited to make that connection here. I'll let you know how it goes!

Tonight, there is also a karaoke bar outing...haha. I'm quite intrigued by this. So i'm thinking i will be checking this out as well. It really is pretty fun seeing French people sing American music, as if the Americans singing American music wasn't bad enough. No guarantees that i will be singing!

Ok i love you all! I'm not sure i will get a chance to write again before i leave for Malta, but i will update you on my voyage upon my return! Wish me luck!

Kelsey

At least it's not snowing!

Hola people!

Once again, it's been a few days, ok a week...sorry!

Today has been a little bizarre. Every Wednesday morning i have class at 9, so i take the bus at 8:29 from my stop. HOWEVER, the last two weeks i have gotten to the bus stop at like 8:25 and the bus has already come and gone...so then i have to wait for the next bus, which is always late, which ends up making me late for class. Ughhhh. I miss the Camry and having class right outside of my dorm.

So class at IES this morning, fine, whatever. But afterwards i have to go to the University right away to catch an 11:00 sociology class. Well, there is apparently some sort of strike going on at the University, thus meaning that class may or may not be cancelled. So we get there and wait around, and then the prof comes, but it's seriously only the exchange students who actually came to class (3 Americans and 2 Polish girls). And he takes like 10 minutes to explain to us what's going on, and it's all kind of iffy and confusing to us, but in the end there was no class!

Then i went to lunch at the University caf, which is generally pretty good. But today i basically had a little salad and a plate full of french fries...haha. I thought i had the system worked out, but apparently not. Oh and there was supposed to be some sausage pieces with my french fries too, but the lady who served me just threw them on top of the french fries and when she handed me my plate, they flew off the plate, onto the floor, and that was the end of the sausage...

We'll see where the rest of my day goes...

A couple of observations from the last week...
1) There is dog poop every 5 steps on the sidewalks here. And not just a little bit, a lot.

2) My host brother loves to sing. And he's really good. And he sings all the time...ALL the time.

3) Some of my professors are absolutely amazed that we Americans don't know more about our country or the rest of the world. The French watch the news or read the newspaper here as if it's a new Harry Potter book. I understand the importance of keeping up on current events, but for most Americans, the news is not the show of choice. Thus, there are many points throughout each day, where i and the rest of the Americans here, end up feeling a little ashamed that we don't know more about the world. However, the news here mostly focuses on international issues/events, where in the U.S., we have both local and national/international news. The spectrum of information is just different in each place. I'm just continually amazed by the amount of detail everyone here seems to know about everything going on.

This past weekend was Les folles journees...kind of like crazy days. It's a classical music festival held each year in Nantes and it always focuses around a composer. This year was Bach, so every artist or group performed one or several of his works. I went to two different piano concerts, the first being a really young french guy, barely two years older than me, a complete piano genius. For real. The second had a small orchestra and then two pianos. I love watching the pianists hands. They just move so quickly and gracefully, almost as if they're dancing on the keys. I wish i could play like that! However, as good as these performers were, I can't say i'm a fan of Bach... Apparently next year is Chopin. Here is a picture of the Harp chorus i listened to afterwards. I don't think i've ever seen so many harps in one place!

I also got a kick out of this...

Restaurant/Cafe Zimmermann!

There was also a nationwide strike last Thursday. Public transportation shut down by noon, University classes were canceled, and thousands of people walked through the streets of Nantes, carrying signs and flags, singing, and drinking... I don't even know what it was specifically for, but i do know that strikes are common here, and are a reflection of the traditionally socialist society they have going on here.

Ok well, that's all i really have for now. Malta in 10 days!! Miss you all!

K :)