Blogs from Angers, Pays-de-la-Loire, France, Europe

I know bloggers usually blog about the present but I'm just starting this traveling blog now and I'm going to try to recall my travels as far back as 2005. This is kind of a new year's resolution, to start doing something that I love while still having the safety of my job. I have always been someone 'safe'. Staying close to home, which I call Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada, which by the way is breath taking in its own right. My last year of university I had decided that I wasn't ready to be 'an adult' and walk into a full time job. I wanted to experience life! I decided to apply to go study aboard, study French of all things, which is my native tongue, but to do it in a foreign country, ... read more

My dilema here is where to start as the title says. I will admit that I didn't see ALL of Angers but I have seen some of it, and I've also seen it grow each time I return. I have visited the chateau, which I will admit, doesn't have anything on the other Chateaux de la Loire (which I will cover eventually), I have visited the cathedral, the little bistros, visited la maison d'Adam, walked through les Jardins du mail and a small park by Rue Jean de la Fountaine where I would go do work or just people watch on a Sunday. I have been very intrigued since my days in France of their 'joy de vivre', their easy going lifestyles and just their nonchalent way of going about things. Let's start with le Chateau ... read more

One of the things that studying abroad has taught me is that a lot of things seem like a big deal in the moment, but aren’t in the grand scheme of things. Right now my biggest headache is trying to figure out whether or not I’ll get credit for my classes that I’m taking here. And like most times that I worry about the future, I hear this one sermon from Grace Center in my head telling me to not expect bad things to happen all the time. I keep preparing myself for the inevitable worst where some credits won’t transfer over and I have to drop down to a French minor in order to graduate in May. It would suck, but is it the end of the world? Am I ever, ever going to use ... read more

I would have written in this sooner, but we haven’t actually had a bit of internet the entire time we’ve been here. Some friends and I even tried to steal internet from McDonalds yesterday and were thwarted by the Gods of the Wifi world. It’s really interesting not having internet, and I kind of feel like this is the one really crucial time when we’d actually need it. The first week, that is, when we’re still meeting people and trying to make plans, do things, and just stay out of your own room at all costs in fear of actually missing home way too much. So far, so good. Until now that is, but so far, I feel fine! Other than the first day here, I wouldn’t actually call anything that we’ve done bad. I’ve had ... read more

For anyone interested, the 'g' is more of a 'j' sound, unless the man in the tabac was toying with me. Mon francaise est terrible encore... Anyway, I made it again, 115 miles today and yet again quite a sore backside at the end of it. My left foot actually began to hurt a little today, so it seems unless I can come up with a revolutionary method for riding a bike the next 18 days could vary between moderate and extreme discomfort. It's not that bad actually, yet... Just quickly, the worst part so far would have to be yesterday getting the Man United chant "this is how it feels to be city... etc" stuck in my head, after hearing it on repeat for about 15 minutes at Craven cottage a week ago. Today was ... read more

Day 3 Last night in our infinate wisdom and to try and cool the tent down, we slept with the fly sheet open. This proved a mistake when stoph woke me up saying that he thought he had a bug in his ear and could i shine the torch inside his head to try and find it. I obliged and did my best to re assure him that there was nothing but a good deal of ear wax in his ear and that he should go back to sleep. After another whort while he still proclamed that he thought there was something in there tickling his ear drum and that we should try and flush it out with some water. He promptly lay on his side and i poured water into it. Sure enough after he ... read more

Bonjour! Last Friday, we arrived in Angers after flying from Dublin to Nantes and then taking a train from Nantes to Angers. This would be a special week, because we were reuniting with friends that moved to France for school 6 months ago (Soup and Mike). Soup lives in Angers, and Mike is living in Toulouse, which is about a 6 hour train ride from Angers. Upon arriving in France, we found ourselves in a different world - a different language world. I was pretty excited because that meant that I would get to start exercising my French, but I was also intimidated. French French is different than Quebec French, and my grammar is not fabulous. But it's fun - I really like trying to have conversations here in France, even though I struggle. I am ... read more

Continued: …the blood spilled out, first as a trickle, then as a solid stream from my thumb. After some wandering around we were able to break apart a tongue depressor and turn it into a pressure-applying splint to stop the bleeding. After all the good times in Bonnetable, it was suiting that this would happen just before my departure. I wondered if the Gods were telling me to stick around. Nevertheless, I hit the road the next day, traveling through Le Mans to arrive in Angers that night. It seemed that each day I traveled, the weather was getting just a little bit colder. As I went, I passed several areas under re-pavement. It really looks like this whole country is being repaved. Then I smelled something odd. My Russian friend Irina had told me that ... read more