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Published: March 16th 2008
I’ve been meaning to start a blog ever since I got here. I could say there are many reasons for not having done it sooner, but the long and short of it is that I just never pushed myself enough to make it happen. Voilà…better late than never.
France has been really cool so far. I’m living with an awesome family that includes a mother who teaches the Harp and traditional Breton music, a father who teaches Spanish at a high school (lycée en francais), a 10-year-old boy who’s beaten me at chess every time (he’s won a few tournaments), and the most energetic 5-year-old girl I’ve ever met. They don’t speak English at all, so I’m forced to speak French at all times with them.
The city of Rennes, at least in terms of weather, could probably be best compared to Seattle, which is to say that it rains a lot here. The city, like a lot of things in France, has been around for ages. However, with two huge universities, it also has a fairly young and vibrant population. It is the capital of Bretagne, which has a strong Celtic-influence culture that came from across the English Channel, and was actually the last region to become a part of France (with the exceptions of Alsace and Lorraine). It is also the smallest city in Europe with its own metro system, which was just completed five or six years ago. The funniest (or at least the oddest) story I’ve heard so far related to Rennes’ history is that in 1720, nearly the entire city burned down in a fire that was started by a drunken carpenter who threw his cigarette into a pile of wood shavings. It just goes to show how fragile everything can be.
Classes are good. I’m taking courses at l’Université de Rennes II, in a department called CIREFE, which is designed for all international students interested in learning French. All of my classes are in French and are based on language acquisition, so I have classes like grammar, oral expression, written expression, civilization, history of France, etc… They’re difficult at times, but very good for my French (a saying I keep telling myself on those days when I’m really struggling to speak).
I’ve already made a good group of friends here, and have taken a few excursions to visit friends in other places. Our program spent our first three days in Paris. We also took a day trip to St. Malo, an ancient port city on the coast of the English Channel, and Mont St.-Michel, an ancient monastery that’s built on a hill practically surrounded by water, and you can’t access it at high tide. If you’re in to both analogies and the Lord of the Rings, think Minas Tirith (Google it and you’ll know what I mean).
Rachel (my girlfriend for those of you who don’t know) also already visited for a weekend, and then I visited her in Barcelona (which is where she’s studying abroad for the semester) after spending a day in Paris. JL, my roommate from the States, and Clayton, who’s studying in Berlin, were the latest ones to visit me, having just left this morning.
Hopefully, that will be enough to get you up to speed on my life. You can check out photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/collin.swan. I’ll try to keep it updated as interesting things come my way.
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Ashley
non-member comment
Tu me manques!
Collin, Merci pour m'a envoye ton blog. C'est bon que tu t'amuses en France, ta famille semble interessante. Le francais, il me manque - je suis un cours de francais 10 mais mais je n'aime pas bien la classe et je ne peux pas parler francais avec personne. Quand tu reviens nous allons parler plus souvent le francais. Vas-tu aller a la Suisse? Tu devrais gouter la glace suisse "Movenpick." Au revoir, j'attends la prochaine entree <>!