Germany comes to France :)

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Hello!

So the semester has ended, people have gone back to their respective countries and alas the world continues to turn. Most people went back home this past weekend… it was so sad to see my really good friends off at the train station Saturday and Sunday. Needless to say, tears were shed.

The last few weeks of school were absolutely amazing. The weather was gorgeous. Flowers were in full bloom (and Angers is not at all lacking in the flower department!). And exams were just around the corner. My exams, though assez difficult, seemed to have gone well. So I’m super excited about that. And my defense of the paper I wrote during the semester went incredibly well. I was so surprised. As I was waiting to be called into the room, I seriously thought I was going to pass out… I was really that nervous! But once I got in there and started talking, the words just flowed and the professors really liked it. And I, quite honestly, am extremely happy I had the opportunity to do the whole mémoire/soutenance duo! I really learned a lot from it.

Last weekend, Diana (another CC student who is currently studying in Germany) came to visit me. I told her that I found it rather amusing that we decided to get together in Europe. We hadn’t seen each other since the end of last fall semester (so since the beginning of December 2008). And despite the fact that for the month of January we were both just hanging around Columbia waiting for our semesters to start abroad, we never managed to find a date/time to work for both of us to meet up. But put us in Europe and in two completely different countries, and everything works like magic!

She arrived by train a little before midnight on Friday. After we had taken her bags to the foyer, she, Vanessa, Chris (2 other Americans from the CIDEF) and I joined some other friends downtown…for it was most people’s last night in Angers 😞 Anyways, we ended up staying out until 3ish maybe…then Vanessa and Diana stayed with me that night. However, Vanessa was leaving at 6am for Paris, so I woke up with her and saw her off at the train station. Later that morning, Diana and I went to the market downtown. I ended up getting two books (for which I had actually been looking!), and she got a teacup (she collects them). Well, afterwards we just took some random road and walked for far too long! I had no idea where we were, but it wasn’t really that big of a deal. My motto is, “the worst that can happen is that you’ll have to turn around”...something I’ve said (manyyyyyyyyy times!) on road trips with my best friend Kristi since high school! Well, luckily we didn’t just turn around and instead took some other random road because we just so happened to stumbl upon one of the coolest cemeteries in the universe! Ok…so that’s a bit exaggerated…but it was really awesome! So, we walked around the cemetery, took some pictures, and headed back to downtown. Once we had made it back (literally a few hours later!), we went to Monoprix, bought some cheese and bread and whatnot, and then headed to a garden to have a little picnic. Then we took a MUCH NEEDED 1-2 hour nap, waking up to see - yet again - more people off at the train station. After the tears had cleared up a bit, we walked with the few other CIDEF people left in Angers to the supermarket to grab something to all cook together. And yay for curry, vegetables and noodles all mixed together! It made my tummy happy. Then, we went downtown to a little restaurant for dessert and coffee. Afterwards, we all went out together and just chilled basically. Well, the next morning Diana went back to Germany, and I found myself with nothing to do. So I slept. A lot!

Yesterday I just started a book (No et moi by Delphine de Vigan) and I’m already almost done with it. It is absolutely incredible and so moving…it’s one of those books that just really makes you think…

In about an hour, I am heading to the train station myself. Thankfully not to go to the USA! I’m going to stay with Floriane (a girl that stayed in the foyer this year) until Thursday in Le Mans…a fair sized city between Angers and Paris. Another girl from the foyer, Rébecca, doesn’t live too far from Le Mans either, so she’s going to meet us tonight for dinner. I am so super excited to see them…it’s been about a month at this point! Lame!

Anyways, I should get going…I have yet to pack a single thing for the next few days! Anyways, now that I don’t have classes (which makes me really sad!), I have more time to write blogs and whatnot. So I promise to keep you very well updated on my last two weeks in France… 😞(((((

Hope all is well, and I’ll talk to you soon!
HM

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Photos

Food = Fun
Yummy scallops, crab tortellini, and other yummy stuff I can't identify, all put together creating what I like to call heaven on a plate. This is what I ate when we all went out to eat for our "farewell dinner."

Cimetiere de l'Est
An absolutely HUGE cemetery that Diana and I wandered upon :)

Cimetiere de l
A super awesome tomb thingy! It was my favorite for some reason :)

Cimetiere de l'Est
The chapel in the cemetery.

Cimetiere de l'Est
I'm quite the fan of stained glass.

Chateau d'Angers
I'm really doing to miss going right down the street to see this enormous fortress of a castle...

Cathedrale Saint Maurice
This cathedral is absolutely gorgeous. And huge. Unfortunately they are doing some cleaning at the moment, so I didn't even include the bottom half of the building in the picture (for it's covered by a wooden wall thingy). So no...the big dark colored thing at the bottom is not the door. But considering this church was built around 1025...I'd say it deserves some beauty sleep.

Cathedrale Saint Maurice
I've been to this cathedral many many many times, but I had never taken the little hidden side road leading off behind it. However, I was visiting the church once again with Vanessa, and we decided just to randomly take the little cobble stoned road to see where it led, and this is what we found tucked away in a back corner of the building.