Spring weather is FINALLY approaching! :)

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So, spring is quickly approaching: flowers are blooming, the temperature is rising and spring break is a mere two weeks from grasp. Couldn't be happier!

A lot has happened these past two weeks, though not all of it is really "blog worthy"... more so just the day-to-day wonderful experiences in France. So, here are the highlights:

School has been going really well. I've had SOOOOO many tests the past two weeks, and I have a few tomorrow and Friday. But after that, I have a break from the exams for at least one week, so that's nice. Woa...I just thought about something... I don't think I ever told you which classes I'm taking. Well, here they are: Langue, Histoire de l'art, Grammaire, Français familier, Littérature, Mémoire and Étude Socioculturelle. Needless to say, I manage to stay busy… Nah, it’s not that bad. My professors are amazing, and I adore all of the classes I have chosen.

Every Saturday in March, thus the past two Saturdays, I have participated in an optional “mini-course” called Étude Interculturelle. We were told that we would explore various cultural differences between France and all of the countries represented by the students taking the course. Well, we have definitely done that, and it’s been really interesting. But I should have known something was up when I arrived to the first session and saw that the professor was the same professor for Expression théâtrale for the CIDEF. Yes, needless to say, next Wednesday I will be performing short skits for the PUBLIC. Wow…I’m not too impatient for that day of doom to arrive!!

Last Saturday night I ate dinner at a French family’s house with a few of the girls from the foyer. It was so fun, and the family was amazing. As was the food, of course. I’m pretty much in love with the food here. Anyway, the mother of the family was Marie, who works in a lycée. She was so energetic and absolutely hilarious. Kind of like the Florence Foresti type. If you don’t know who that is…YouTube her. Absolutely hilarious. The father was Jean-Bernard, and I don’t really remember what he does for a living, assuming I ever knew to begin with. Who knows...my memory is horrible. He was really nice but relatively quiet and chill compared to his wife. Their son, a student at the Université de Nantes, was Romain. He was so incredibly awesome. He’s studying philosophy and is the typical intellectual guy. Yet at the same time, he has many little surprises, making him anything but typical. He’s also quite the magician. Like…really. He did a few tricks after dinner and whatnot, and I must say I was completely amazed. I really don’t understand how people do that stuff. At all...

Last weekend I also went out with some students from the Catho: Huan and Nicolas. Huan, who is from China, lives not too far from my foyer and is in my Langue class (among a few others) in the CIDEF program. We’ve become quite good friends. And Nicolas, a student at the Catho, is officially my favorite person in all of Angers! Well, I don’t know if I can say that, but he’s super cool nonetheless. We go to the market together pretty often, meet for lunch on Wednesdays and parade around town on Sundays taking pictures. Those are our “regular” outings, but we get together randomly as well, such was the case the night we met up with Huan. Anyways, we just hung out and whatnot, but it was tons of fun.

This past Monday, I went out with Inès and Cecille, two girls from my foyer. There is a guy at the Catho named Jean-Baptiste (though we call him JB), and we went to his apartment to meet of few other people and then went out together. It was fun, but we got back sooooo incredibly late and had to wake up sooooo early the next morning. Therefore, probably not a good choice. But I’d honestly had the time of my life…it was for some reason one of my best nights in Angers so far. If time spent laughing is truly time spent with the gods, as the saying goes, and I’m definitely in paradise here in Angers.

Yesterday was St. Patrick’s Day, so I went out with Nicolas and Miyoko, a Japanese girl in my foyer. I was, of course, still dead tired from Monday’s adventure, so needless to say I didn’t stay long. But the students from the Catho threw a student St. Patty's Days party at a place called Falstaff, so I of course wanted to go for at least a little while.

Not this weekend but the next, I’m going to Normandy with the CIDEF, so I’m super excited about that. And this weekend I don’t have too terribly much planned. Just the usual: Saturday morning market trip with Nicolas, Interculturelle class that afternoon, laundry, studying and sleeping, which is what I’m most excited about!

So yeah, like I said, I’ve had a lot of stuff going on the past two weeks, but it’s more so just a bunch of really fun small things that add up, not really one major adventure to tell you about. Either way, I can’t imagine being anywhere else. Ever. I wonder if the saying is really true that “all good things must come to an end" ...Hmm... I prefer to agree with Diana Ross on one thing, whether she’s right about it or not: "You can't just sit there and wait for people to give you that golden dream; you've got to get out there and make it happen for yourself." I guess the hard part is deciphering what that “good thing” or what that “golden dream” really is. Hmm… food for thought I suppose… But in any case, I think that quote kind of explains a study abroad experience; if you want it to be phenomenal, you've got to go out of your comfort zone from time to time and MAKE it phenomenal. There's so much to do and see here... you can't waste time and opportunities by being too timid.

Well, nothing has changed…I’m still head-over-heels for this place: the culture, the food, the LANGUAGE, the history, the art, the literature, the landscape, the people, my “roots” (as we say in the South). Everything. Everything is amazing. And to make it even better, I’m learning fifty million things each and every day. Yeah…I guess you could say I wouldn’t change this experience for anything in the world. Except perhaps for peace… 😊

À la prochaine!
Haley Marie

More words/expressions from Ensemble, c’est tout :

1) les emmerdes - les problèmes
« Guillaume ne comprit pas mais préféra le laisser tranquille avec ses emmerdes ».

2) Chialer - pleurer
« Arrête de pleurer, mémé, sinon je vais chialer, moi aussi… »

3) Faire une gaffe - faire une action maladroite
« Oups, se dit-elle, j’au dû faire une gaffe, là… »

4) Pété(e) - ivre
« Quand elle arriva au boulot, elle était complètement pétée ».

5) Faire tilt - attirer l’attention ; toucher
« Son histoire m’a beaucoup fait tilt ».

So, these are just a few more "familiar French" words and expressions. Numbers one and four are really the only ones that I wouldn't go shouting out all over Paris. The others are just simply informal. One and Four, however, could be considered rude... just depends of who you're talking to: age, environment, how well you know them, etc...

Well, enjoy!

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Photos

Huan and I
Huan, from China, and I at Falstaff one night

Nicolas and I
Huan was explaining that Chinese girls often take pictures doing the gesture I am doing b/c they typically have round faces and want to "hide" part of their cheeks when they pose. I found that cute and quite amusing, so I decided to do the Chinese pose, for I too have a wide-ish face. And Nicolas has a rather long face, so he did the opposite. Haha...we are so lame...

Asian Yummy Goodness!
Some of my Japanese and Korean friends cooked traditional dishes from their countries, and we had an Asian feast last Sunday. Good times indeed! :)

Hello, America. Meet France!
Ok...EVERYTHING edible in this country is delicious. Especially these treats :) Anne-Elise, a girl in my foyer, and I frequent this shop in particular... probably too often... :)

The garden at the Chateau
Spring is finally arriving. Bloom flowers, bloom!