Blogs from Nantes, Pays-de-la-Loire, France, Europe - page 9

Europe » France » Pays-de-la-Loire » Nantes November 19th 2006

It is funny that I happened to pass by this building a second time par hasard (by chance). It is the old site of where copper apprentices would go to learn in this area. When I first saw it, I was told that these apprentices would travel throughout France, learning from all of the great masters. Upon their return, the apprentice would make a master creation, using what they learned along the way, from all of the people they met and helped them along the way, and turning all of the practice and knowledge into a unique style they could call their own. I comment on this second passing by this simple, out-of-service workshop funny because it was when I saw it for the second time that this thought donned upon me: I have always believed ... read more

Castles of the Loire Valley

Europe » France » Pays-de-la-Loire » Nantes October 31st 2006

Happy Halloween

JBCollinMezin

Hello everyone, Things are very busy (but fun) over here. Since my last post, I've done quite a few things: visit 5 castles, visit a boulangerie, been invited to eat dinner with a older French couple, experienced a French family reunion, and done lots of planning for our Rome trip (we leave today). In this special Halloween edition, I'll do my best to get you all caught up before my Rome trip takes over the blog. A few weekends ago, IES piled us all into some tourbuses and drove us to the Loire Valley to see the chateaux (castles). What with various nobles angering the king and having their castles royaly seized and other nobles not faring too well during the revolution, there are very few castles in France that are still privately owned. The rest ... read more

Studying vs. Catching everyone up on my exploits

Europe » France » Pays-de-la-Loire » Nantes October 18th 2006

Trois Drapeaux de Toulouse

amy m anderson

Granted, I shouldn't be writing this. I should be either a) studying for my grammar midterm that's going to kick my butt, b) studying for my sociology midterm that's really gonna kick my butt, or c) studying for my art history midterm of which i have no idea what to actually study. But really, since my family here just got WiFi, I now have constant internet access. Thus, lots of useless distractions. So it's going to be another week-long recap because I don't know how to sit down each week and get this all down. Nor, at this point, do I remember most things, so you all can thank your lucky stars for that. Two weeks ago, the five of us journeyed to Toulouse (and, no, Mom, I checked, it has nothing to do with Toulouse-Lautrec, ... read more

Weekend Trips

Europe » France » Pays-de-la-Loire » Nantes October 5th 2006

Mont St. Michel

JBCollinMezin

Hello everyone! As always, I've had an eventful time since my last entry. My classes are very interesting; they require a lot of work, but it is incredibly easy to procrastinate because there are rarely any specific assignments. For instance, in The Palestinian Question, we have a few books that cover the material of the class in greater detail. In order to write a paper or complete the final exam, it is highly recommended to read these huge books (the one I've bought is 950 pages). It requires a lot of disicipline to get started on books that are so large and complex (and written in French). My grammar class is different from the rest of my classes in that we have daily work to do, although it is not graded. The professor is incredibly educated ... read more

Mmmmm, peanut butter.

Europe » France » Pays-de-la-Loire » Nantes October 3rd 2006

Mont St. Michel

amy m anderson

A lot has happened in the past two weeks. But I swear I’ve learned to keep it shorter (not short, but shorter). Soooo . . . we : foraged for oysters, found a home in Pornic, all survived the bomb, realized the dead bodies were not on display, successfully scavenged around Nantes, challenged the Marseillais to duel, longed for Chicago-style hot dogs (well, just me) and peanut butter (definitely all of us), were salivated over by wolves, got trapped in quicksand, and found both ends of the rainbow. And it’s all true. Okay, oysters & a home in Pornic : Pornic is a little beach town southwest of Nantes, and for 33 euros total, 4 of us could travel roundtrip. Thus, we booked it. It wasn’t the best of days, but over here, you’ve either got ... read more

Brief history of France

Although ultimately a victor in World Wars I and II, France suffered extensive losses in its empire, wealth, manpower, and rank as a dominant nation-state. Nevertheless, France today is one of the most modern countries in the world and is a leader am...more history

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