Blogs from Tours, Centre, France, Europe - page 4

The name of my street is Clocheville. It is located very near the heart of old town Tours and there is very rarely a parking spot within three blocks. When I first arrived i had the choice between two places, neither one of which seemed at first glance to be very homey. The difference between the two was simple; the first choice was older, more rustic, and lacked conveniences like a shower or a washing machine; while the second choice was compact, sterile, and had everything to make life easy. The more rustic of the two was within walking distance to most of the interesting things in the city and it had a familiar smell that seemed to be like an old friend welcoming me in. Maybe it was the bigger kitchen or maybe just the ... read more

And the saying goes, "practice makes perfect." If thats the case then getting my stuff in a bag, tying up loose ends, and saying my good-byes should be similar to a hot knife through butter. Instead it feels more like I'm pulling my head out of a jumbo sized Chinese-finger-trap whilst walking through a large vat of quicksand. Throw in a stomach full of gluten, shake and bake in a plane for 10 hours and Vua-la!! ......the adventure begins. If you didnt understand all that basically heading out here was hard. If you dont know where "here" is, allow me to update everyone on my status. A couple of weeks ago I got a call from an agent saying there was a team in France that may be interested in my services. After much debate and ... read more

June 23 We arrived in Potiers at 6am and there was a noticeable difference in the temperature. It was cold, but that was nice as it had been so hot in Seville and even in Madrid. We went into the station and found the train to Tours didn’t leave for another half an hour so we had a little wait before leaving for our destination. Our train arrived in Tours around 8:30. We oriented ourselves on the map. Filip asked someone directions and we were on the right path toward our hotel. We got to the hotel around 9 am, too early to check in, but they allowed us to leave our bags until we could come back and check in around 1pm. We went to the tourist office and got info about the Chateaus and ... read more

The week after April break we had great weather in Tours. Monday and Tuesday I met up with the “cool” side of town (obviously my side) and we went to Monoprix (our favorite one stop shop for all our French needs) and got bagettes, ham, cheese, and chocolate—perfect components for the perfect picnic. We met the rest of the BEFers at the Prebends park (close to where everyone else lives) and enjoyed the sunlight and being completely reunited after such a long time apart in April. We were just sitting in the grass, chatting, when an old man came up to us and starting speaking to us in English. I don’t know if he wanted to practice his English or what, but he enlightened us about how that park is the most beautiful one in all ... read more

Sorry I haven’t been such a diligent writer lately, so here are just a few highlights of my last two weeks in Tours: 1. Giving my host sisters their presents from Ireland. I got Bea a rubix cube with sheep on it and Marguerite sheep slippers and their reactions were absolutely fabulous! Apparently Marguerite has always wanted slippers like that and I had guessed the right size! Yay! 2. Everyone’s favorite Professor: Jean-Nöel Billard, coming through on his promise. The first Thursday back from break he brought our class of me, Allison, Denise, and Mackenzie a bottle of Rosé wine which we drank during class like it was no big deal. He’s probably one of the nicest professor’s I’ve even had, but also one of the most boring lecturers and of us have ever experienced… 3. ... read more