deux

I want to preface this post with a warning: this is basically just an update of what I did for my first week in france. Not too exciting, so if you're crunched for time, save it for later. or skip it entirely.

I made it to Angers, as it turns out*. I was able to contact my host mother via email and my host sister Margot was there to pick me up at the gare. So I settled in again to French life – tartines for breakfast (baguette toasted with jam), long walks to get anywhere, and delicious 2 euro chicken sandwiches. This time I stayed in Fleur’s room because a new host student would be arriving a few days after me, and he would have my old room. Fleur goes to school in Tours now, Margot is still in school in Paris, and my host dad works in Paris, so during the week it was just my host mom and I. What an unbelievably pleasant experience. I found that dinners with just Veronique and me were wonderful – I spoke French with much more ease than in front of the entire family, and I had a great chance to reconnect with my amazing host mom. On Wednesday of that week I spent all day at the train station with Sue (the director of my study abroad program from 2 years ago) and Annika (my friend from said program who is now doing what I do, but in Angers) waiting for the 19 new AHA students (AHA is the name of the program that I did with Annika, under the direction of Sue). This was surprisingly fun, and all the new students seemed quite friendly, though fatigued. My new ‘host brother’ was due to arrive at 6.45, but because of a 4 hour delay in Iceland, didn’t actually show up until 11. Fortunately we were forwarned, so my host mom and I returned home to eat and wait the four hours before returning to find him. He’s a OU student, and despite his psycho killer passport photo, quite a friendly guy. I found myself playing translator the next two days at dinner, as his French slowly returned. It was kind of fun to be a sort of mentor, giving him all the deets about the family and how to go about doing things. Thursday night being my last in Angers, Annika and I decided to have a night on the town. We started with a bottle of Rosé wine, at her NEW apartment (which I must say is the cutest place I’ve seen in a long time, and I’m incredibly jealous). After, we headed to our old favorite bar, K’lypso. This is where our group of anywhere between 10 and 20 would go most nights in Angers. The bartender, Amadhi, became quite fond of us, and would usually clear out the back section whenever we arrived. Before we left France 2 years ago, we all signed a big Oregon flag and presented it to Amadhi, and he returned the favor with a free bottle of champagne. Fast forward to 2010: Annika and I wander into K’lypso and see, right next to the door, our flag. So we order our beers and go sit in our old corner, but with only two it’s not quite the same. Eventually Amadhi walks by and Annika calls him over to see if he remembers us. When she tells him we gave him the flag, he perks up and says he misses us, and asks if we need another drink. So he brings us two pints, on the house. Before we leave, we decide to have one of his special shots (he creates these flavored shots himself, there are about 15 flavors). So we go to the bar and order one, we ask for the best one, and he gives us a mango shot. As well some flavored blue shot. He charges us 2 euro a piece, and after we take our mango shot, pours three mint shots and takes that with us. Well, Amadhi, you are the reason for my awful day of travel into Nantes, that’s all I’ll say.

                The next morning (Friday) I got up and packed and my host mom took me to the gare. Before I left I said goodbye to Sue, saying I would probably not be back before the vacation at the end of October. I arrived in Nantes and was picked up and taken to one of the teachers houses for lunch, where I met another assistant from India, Surbhi. After lunch we went to the school and met a few more teachers, and then I got dropped off at my temporary Foyer (which is like a dorm, kinda). I crawled into bed to sleep of Amadhi’s curse and around seven went out to find some food. All I could find was a tuna sandwhich, which I tentatively ate half of while doing a crossword bundled up on my bed. Much to my chagrin, there was no internet at this Foyer, and I was supposed to stay there until Monday. I texted Sue and she put the idea into my head to come back to Angers for the weekend. So after an incredibly boring night of crosswords and Mansfield Park, I asked the desk at the Foyer if I could leave my big suitcase there and not pay for that night (Saturday), and come back on Sunday. I’m almost sure he broke the rules to oblige me, but eventually we worked it out, I dropped off my suitcase, and took the next train to Angers. That weekend I got to hang out with the new students a lot, and go to the Chateau in Angers for free! I stayed at Annika’s, so I actually saved money (the foyer was 25 euro and round trip train fare was 14). So I said another goodbye until the end of October to Sue Sunday afternoon before returning to Annika’s for dinner. After dinner, however, the teacher who was to pick me up from the foyer early Monday morning called to say it would be in the afternoon. I was pretty upset about the idea of spending another few hours at the boring internetless foyer, so Annika suggested I stay the night, pointing out that I wouldn’t lose any money by doing so. Worst case I would have to pay for Sunday at the foyer. So I did that, and we had cocoa with Sue. Monday morning I went to the Catho (where Sue works and where I had classes 2 years ago) to hang out in the office for a few hours, where I said my third goodbye til the end of October to Sue and all the students. I took the train to Nantes and got my suitcase without having to pay for Sunday night, went to the school to fill out tons of paperwork, and came to my permanent Foyer, where I found out that I was going to be paying 510 a month instead of 480. I wasn’t too happy about this (in fact that along with the fatigue of travel brought me near tears), but one of my teachers worked it out so that I can pay it in installments until I get my paycheck at the end of October. Also, the French government reimburses people who don’t make a lot of money for part of their rent, so it won’t actually be that bad. But, what with all that extra money, my room is HUGE. Way too big for one person. I don’t know what to do with all this space. I wish I had a couch or something. We went shopping for groceries and housewares and I only spent 45 euro AND I got a comforter (sort of, it’s pretty lame, actually). And then I cooked dinner with Surbhi and now here I am, without internet once again (I get it tomorrow, hopefully). And it’s freezing. At least I have that comforter.

*from October 4th. Almost caught up.