Day 98: Finals, Finally

7 decembre 2009 (Day 98)
Oiy yoi yoi. Today we had tests. Lots of tests. We went to the school at 9am and began with written comprehension which lasted 90 minutes. I think I did average if not better than average for me. We had a long break for lunch so I went to the RU for lunch. It was so good! It tasted normal! I had mashed potatoes, steamed veggies, and a piece of chicken (with no bones or other gross stuff like the skin) cooked “peasant” style with mushrooms and some yogurt with fruit in it. It was yummy. Afterwards I went with Cadu, Rachel, and Brigit (with whom I ate lunch) and went to the post office to mail off Kirstin’s gloves from Sweden since it is so cold right now in Utah. Rachel came back with me to my room and checked out my music selection before we went back to take tests.
Oral comprehension was awful. Normally I think I did okay and get my score back and it is bad (not even Mari bad, just really bad). But today I knew I did badly so I can’t imagine what my score is going to be. God was crying quite hard because of my below-par performance on the test so I caught the tram home, made myself a grilled cheese sandwich (with better than American cheddar cheese) and did my laundry so I’d have clean clothes. I went over to ask John if he wanted to go to the symphony tomorrow. He couldn’t, but we ended up talking for at least 90 minutes amongst ourselves and Baptiste.
Oh I almost forgot (more like repressed the memory) the hobo man who was winking at me. I also ended up seeing him a lot yesterday, so it made for some entertainingly awkward times.

Day 97: I wish I was Julia

6 decembre 2009 (Day 97)
Today was a perfectly wonderful Sunday. We had choir practice at 8:30. In Relief Society we talked about what constitutes a good visiting teacher, we talked about The Proclamation to the World in Sunday School, and had a nice testimony meeting which started off with me saying the opening prayer. It was quite the disaster in my opinion. I couldn’t find the words I wanted to say, nor was my pronunciation of the French words correct. Oh well. It was a fun sacrament because the bread was, well toast! They sell “toast” here (it is already crunchy) so as soon as the boys started breaking the bread the crunching and giggling began. It made for quite the memorable time.
We had a relatively mellow choir practice. I actually take that back. Some of the boys were throwing a Power Rangers action figure. Afterwards I met up with Afton at the Chateau des Ducs de Bretagne to go to the museum in the castle since it was free today. The museum was incredible. We didn’t even get through all of it. They had a most impressive computer program showing the area in the past and today. It was like a video game and Afton was quite enthralled.
I came home, and Sterling was kind enough to cut my hair. She is an English major minoring in French from Seattle. I sort of messed up the back last time I went on a hair cutting rage, so she fixed it and did a great job. She also informed me about the wonderful world of fastpasstv.com . I am now happily watching Julie and Julia. It is making me want to cook my way through a cookbook, except I couldn’t do it here, nor could I afford to cook through a cookbook, although I would love to!
Can I just say that they have terrible French accents, it is so cute! I made some French toast since I had one fresh French egg left. It was quite delicious with my jam (nevermind maple syrup). What a perfect day!

Day 96: A Perfect Day in Pemberly

5 decembre 2009 (Day 96)
Today was quite a busy day! I woke up and did yoga (and only hit my hand on something once, an improvement for me). Afterwards I had breakfast and met Afton up to go to the market and then the museum. We had a lot of fun at the market, there were a lot of new vendors. Today I bought: some apple juice, an AMAZING almond croissant, bananas, and 1 kilo of: tomatoes, Clementine’s, and apples.
We met up with Sophie and our art teacher to see the new exhibit on Italy. Afton had a hard time with the lockers, it was pretty funny because she was cursing up a storm because she couldn’t close the door. There were some great paintings of Italy by people come Picasso, Kandinsky, Monet, etc. It was so beautiful and the museum really reminds me of Pemberly in Pride and Prejudice, especially with the marble floors and busts. I have actually decided that I want to name my daughter (if/when I have one) Darcy after Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice; I think it is a cute name.
After the museum we went to Amorino and afton got some coconut hot chocolate which smelled delightful while I ate my yummy almond croissant that I bought at the market. I have very happy news, there is going to be an Amorino in New York City! I found Harry Potter 2 (which I have been searching for) in a used book store, Afton found some funny postcards at another store, and then it was time for Afton to go home and have lunch. I headed over to the Christmas market. The Christmas Market is just that, a bunch of artisans selling Christmas gifts! The thing that I saw which I liked most were these planets you could hang from the ceiling. There were two guys dressed up as a pope and a monk. They were trying to scare people. I ran into Sophie long hair (from Seattle) who convinced me to try roasted chestnuts. They were quite delicious (and semi messy). Sadly it started pouring, so we went off on an adventure to find shelter. We avoided the moldy chestnuts, but ate all the others. Now I know why there is a song about chestnuts roasting on an open fire!
To add to my Pemberly day, I went on a “Balade en Bateau” aka a sightseeing tour on a boat. It was to see the “chateaux” along the Erdre. When they said chateau I thought castle. They meant really big houses, like Pemberly in Pride and Prejudice. So I was a little disappointed, but it was still fun because my friend Andrei who I met when I went to St. Malo and his friend. They played some good and not-so-good music while going down the river among all the wind surfers, canoers, and other boat people. Andrei said that my accent sounds a lot better from the last time that we met, but I can’t tell that it is any different.
I came home with my cold toes and made some gnocchi that I had with some lovely tomato sauce. To finish off my perfectly Pemberly day, I am watching Pride and Prejudice, especially since we talked about it all the while admiring the art in the museum.

Day 95: Last Day of Class

4 decembre 2009 (Day 95)
Today was the official last day of class! We did a little review for our oral exam next week and then it was off to theatre. We did really well today. There were loads of people (standing room only) and no one had any big mess ups. It is kind of bittersweet that the theatre ended, it was so much fun. My history professor came and watched us and said that he was very impressed! My Scottish neighbor John came and watched as well! He actually waited until it was all over to talk. We ended up covering a variety of topics as usual and have decided that we need to hang out sometime.
History was magnificent as usual and I am terribly sad that it is over. Monsieur Touvron was particularly funny today. We had the life of Napoleon in two hours, which is definitely not enough time. He was born in Corsica, which was owned by Italy a few years before he was born, so he had an incomprehensible accent when he came to France. This accent, not his size haunted Napoleone Buonaparte. He wrote a lot in his intimate journal. He slowly took power in France and crowned himself emperor Napoleon I in 1804 after his coup d’etat in 1799. In 1808 he started losing battles and after some bad luck in Russia he became a Prisoner in Elba in 1814. He escaped and started to traverse the Alps to go to Paris to get back the crown from Louis XVII’s brother, King Louis XVIII. Louis heard about this so he sent an army down to stop Napoleon. This army was made of Napoleon’s old soldiers, some who cried when they saw him again. They all started marching together towards Paris, in what was called the “100 Days” and Louis packed his bags and Napoleon became the emperor again. The Battle of Waterloo kicked his butt and he was sent to the Island of Saint-Helen where the British watched him until he died: naturally, from stomach cancer (thus he always had his hand on his stomach?), or because the English poisoned him with arsenic (which was found in his hair). We also talked about how Napoleon and Sarkozy have some similarities. My favorite quote came from a tangent he went on: “Men never make history, circumstances make the men.”
He also talked about the play. I had quite the epiphany about the joker and how he is the one who is allowed to make fun of the king and that is why liberty kills him, because when the people are allowed the liberty to trash talk the government, his position becomes useless.
I went to institute today, which reaffirmed the idea that I need to work on my French. It was fun going home though! We sang Christmas carols which was fun since it was “raining” and the Christmas lights are all up. It reminded me a little bit of temple square, but one million times less cool.

Day 94: My Musical Debut

3 decembre 2009 (Day 94)
Hurray for me! I wrote my last writing paper today. I also went and talked to my ISEP coordinator. She is…interesting. But we got things resolved and she told me a funny story about her husband buying a 100 euro smoked ham for Thanksgiving. Afterwards we had a little lunch party for everyone in my grade/level (C1). There were some really yummy tarts (not the sweet kind) and Annick snuck in wine. It was pretty funny in class afterwards; she was hiding the bottle in her giant purse. In writing we had a speed course and tried to go over a lot of things.
After class I watched The Lion King in French. It was great! A lot of the phrases were actually the same as the ones in our play. I really liked it though; thank you youtube!
I went to the IRFFLE party a little early tonight so that I could play Juan’s guitar. I was playing on the stairs and some stranger came up and was telling me how well I played, asked if I had a band, told me I could make money, and then that he would be my drummer. Long story short Juan and my professor, Daniele convinced me to play the guitar and sing in front of everyone at the party. I sang/played Viva la Vida (by Coldplay) on Juan’s classical guitar. I guess theatre has made me less shy, because I wasn’t nearly as nervous as when I had to play for Mike Christiansen, my guitar teacher for my final. And he was 99 less people! I messed up a bit, but not too bad and I got some compliments and lots of applause, so it couldn’t have been that terrible. Rachel came out with me to warm up, it was nice of her since she was sick and holding my food fork, lol. I was the very first act and it took us a while to get the mikes working, but yeah, it wasn’t too bad. Lots of Americans afterwards were like I didn’t know that you could sing/play so well. Mike was right, if you know a little bit you can impress a lot those who don’t know about the guitar. The rest of the party was all right. Not a lot of people brought food this time which was a little disappointing, but there were some other people who performed (poetry, skits, and music). I left early because I felt my voice slowly departing (you had to yell to communicate due to the music), but I heard that the rest of the party was a success.

Day 93: Ice Skating

2 decembre 2009 (Day 93)
Oh how my days are always full of good intentions. I was going to write my paper this morning, but Jeff D. from USU ended up asking me a bunch of questions about study abroad and such. I did get to go to the store and buy some yogurt and fromage blanc, vanilla flavored. It is super!
Fromage frais (also known as fromage blanc) is a dairy product, originating from Belgium and the north of France. The name literally means "fresh cheese" (with fromage blanc meaning "white cheese"). Pure fromage frais is virtually fat free, but cream is frequently added to improve the flavor,. Fromage frais can be served either as a dessert similar to yogurt, frequently with added fruit, or used in savory dishes. It is often served with honey in restaurants, as fromage blanc au miel. Never a day without Wikipedia. 
After a culture class of discussing the educational system [again] I had lunch and then rather unsuccessfully searched for secretaries. Living in France with a different educational system has given me a huge appreciation for the commitment to quality and facility we have in the US, like at Utah State. I am so proud (now) that I go to a university where things are organized, that I can easily get help, the internet works everywhere, where there is always toilet paper in the bathrooms which always contain more than two stalls, drinking fountains, and school spirit.
That being said, we learned about the gerondif in writing. I came home and had the last of my stuffed tomato from Afton while I talked to Mischa, my French buddy who I don’t ever really see. After I talked to Mischa I ran into John, my Scottish friend. We talked a little bit and I ate some fromage blanc while he had his dinner.
I was just beginning to do my homework when the magical sound of my phone penetrated my ear drums. Alas, a call to go ice skating! I changed and went with a rather large group of mostly Seattle-ans to go ice skating at Petite Porte. It was a lot of fun. They had disco lights and club music. It was under 5 euros including rentals, which isn’t too bad. I am getting better at ice skating backwards and I practiced twirling. We ice skated until 11:30pm when it closed and then came back to Fresche-Blanc and went to bed in our respective rooms.

Day 92: The Play!

1 decembre 2009 (Day 92)
Today was our first play performance! I tried to sleep in since I didn’t have anything until the play, but I didn’t sleep very well last night. I had breakfast, did some random things on my to do list, took a little nap, and was thinking about who knows what when I got a call from Tiana (18, Brazilian with French grandparents.. a cute little thing) in my theatre class asking where I was! Apparently we were supposed to be there at 10:30 and not 12:30. I changed and went to the TU to have a run through of the play. It went really well. I then had a Panini with ham, cheese, onions, and potatoes (yes potatoes). It was yummy for my tummy. After lunch I went back to the TU, changed and performed! At first we thought there would only be two spectators, but we had quite the crowd (in my opinion). I wasn’t too nervous and once I got started it was all go go show! Sadly not everyone had their best performance. It did make for some really entertaining lines. –He had a sword? >No. blah blah blah –He had a sword and 2 guns? >Yes. It was really fun to perform and felt good to be under the stage spotlight again (it has been a while). We had a little cast party after with juice boxes and an apple tart that Melanie brought.
We had three presentations in orale class today, so that is all we did. The kitchen on my floor doesn’t have a microwave, the floor’s kitchen above me is locked because the sink was dirty, so on the third try I found a kitchen that was open with a microwave to warm up my soup. For your information: pepper here is a lot stronger than in the states…it was spicy!