Au revoir, Tours!

Wow, so tomorrow is my last full day here! (Unfortunately I have 2 exams to take!) It has certainly flown... As much as it'll be sad to leave France, it will be nice to be back in the US.

Something I've noticed being at the Polytech that I wanted to mention before I forget is that the students here are very big on greeting each other. When you see someone for the first time that day, you always, always greet them with a handshake or la bise, no matter how well you know them. This courtesy holds true for everything, whether it be a hunt or a club meeting, and it's not something that is overly prevalent among students in the US.

I was thinking the other day about how many castles I've seen in Europe - at least 11, I think, a pretty respectable number. I'm not sure I could even count the number of cathedrals, I've seen so many. So here, just for fun, are the castles I've seen:


Loches


Amboise


Blois


Chenonceau


Chinon


Tower of London


Chaumont-sur-Loire


Chambord


Villandry


Rocamadour


Beynac

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C'est nul! = That's worthless!

Apparently I'm going to be rich this coming year. According to the French, when you first hear a cuckoo in spring, you will be rich during the coming year if you have change in your pockets. This was at the country house, where I went for one last time on Thursday and Friday. This was another long weekend, since Thursday was Victory Day, and today (Monday) is also a holiday because of Pentecost.

This weekend was our last excursion - to the Perigord region of France. The Perigord is a region that is well known for its food. Needless to say, we ate really well. The region's specialties are nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts), liver (foie gras), duck, and truffles. As much as I was curious to see what a truffle tastes like, it costs quite a bit for a tiny little mushroom.

One of my favorite stops along the way was the château de Beynac - a privately owned castle at the top of a huge cliff. It was one of those cool-looking fortified castles, offering a superb view of the Dordogne River from the top of its ramparts.

We also visited the gouffre de Padirac, a huge system of caves following a subterranean river. We took a boat before walking around a little and then taking the boat back. It was pretty cool. (pictures added)

Every semester, all the Bucknell students in France vote for someone who best integrated themselves and made the most of their experience. This semester, my peers voted for me to get the prize! Needless to say, I am flattered.

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It's strange when certain words don't exist. For instance, the word "nut." The French have words for walnuts (noix), hazelnuts (noisettes), almonds (amondes), peanuts (cacahuètes), but there doesn't seem to be a general term to describe them all. Also, the other day, we had cantaloupe. I asked what it was called, and they told me "melon." I asked what type of melon, but then it became clear that melon actually means cantaloupe. (Watermelon is pastèque) Who knows how you say melon in French...

I was realizing today that the Polytech' kind of reminds me of high school. Well, ok, a highly specialized high school for big kids. The productique department is all contained in one building, they block out your entire schedule for you, there's no course selection at all involved. Today someone came into my class to tell us to all go to a meeting - in fact, it was an assembly of all the 3rd years - I guess you can just do that in that sort of an environment.

The meeting was actually kind of interesting. At the moment, the productique department is composed of the EEs and the MechEs, but when you get your degree, it is a degree in productique. There's talk now of changing the system to separate the two so that your diploma will actually say either electrical or mechanical.

Interesting revelation of the day: in France am does not mean morning! on the contrary, it stands for après-midi, meaning afternoon. That confused me for a couple minutes.

Well, our last excursion is coming up this weekend, then it's the home stretch!

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Officially 10 days left in France... Today my engineering professor just didn't show up for class. So that was interesting. Rumors are afloat about a train strike near the time when I leave, but I don't think it should be a problem. Thanks to Sarkozy, there is a bare minimum of service for when they go on strike.

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Fun French expression: noyez le poisson = evade the issue (literally "drown the fish")

Salut, mes amis. Not too much new here... though the weather has finally given us a break. I spent a relaxing weekend at my host family's country house. I brought along an origami book and some juggling balls, so it was fun to show my host siblings such things.

I was surprised, though, that after lunch, when we were sitting outside baking in the 70-something degree heat, they decided to have hot coffee! I guess it's a must-have, though somehow that doesn't do it for me. It was also Paul's 14th birthday on Sunday, so we celebrated that French-style with a round of 'joyeux anniversaire'.

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Fun French expression: la vache! = holy cow!

Well, I officially have less than two weeks left here. Time flies! So, to complete my French experience, I can now say that I've been to a French doctor. (who was very nice I might add) Fortunately, it seems that my little injury will take care of itself given enough time.

In the time that's left, though, I still need to finish a paper, go to three labs, present a final project, and take two exams. There's also our weekend trip to the Périgord in there somewhere. Going back to the country tomorrow to enjoy the nice weather while it lasts...

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Fun French word: berk! = yuck!

Happy May Day! As I mentioned, today is a holiday in France. Only on le 1 mai, anybody is allowed to sell lily of the valley (le muguet) in the streets. It's supposed to bring happiness.

I spent today at my host family's country house, with a fire in the fireplace. While we were there, Arnaud showed me parts of the airplane he's in the process of building - all from scratch, including the electrical systems. He showed me some wing parts and the instrument panel, with a few instruments installed. This will be the second airplane he's built - pretty cool.

I also had the chance to read a few of the family's old comic strip books, including Astérix and Tintin, both of which are well known in France.

France has an interesting system of allocating university vacations. Unlike in the US, where universities each choose their own vacation dates, it is regulated by region in France. The regions have staggered vacations, so not everybody has off at the same time. Speaking of vacation time, I have a little bit coming up - May 1st is a holiday in France (férié as they say) as is May 8th (la victoire en Europe). Seeing as both of these days are on Thursday, everybody gets Friday off as well. (on fait le pont, meaning make a long weekend out of it)

Today was interesting... Since my ankle is now a little swollen, I was slowly making my way between the classroom building and the cafeteria at the Polytech', only to be caught in the middle of a sudden hail storm. (la grêle!) Very random, decent sized hail, and I couldn't have run if I wanted to. It was kind of hilarious.

Random French fact of the day: The French do not really celebrate Halloween. (but you probably knew that) Also, my host mother makes homemade bread every day, which is nothing less than amazing.

Bonus!: Moral of the day: Do not play around on random gymnastics equipment! I think I pulled a muscle or something in my ankle... Let's hope it doesn't interfere with the tons of walking I usually do around here.

The high school kids are, amusingly, still on strike. I passed a whole mob of them chanting in the street today. The chocolate chip cookies I made have all been eaten, which must mean I did something right. Art history classes are done!

Random French fact of the day: Apparently old forest green army vests are à la mode in the middle school. Also, the French have weird brown sugar. It is exactly the same texture as white sugar, only brown! (It wouldn't pack or clump)

Thank goodness tomorrow is the last Art History class. After that there's just the paper to go...

Added photos to Divers.

Well, at least this weekend had nice weather. That's really all I could ask for, since this is Tours. I swear, I have never been anywhere where it rained more.

Next week's forecast:


typical. at least we might get a break for the weekend...

You all know the blood mobile, right? Well I can top that. Today, I saw the Bibliobus. Literally, "library bus." I didn't have my camera... but apparently this thing drives around the countryside so people don't have to drive the distance to the library!

Ok, well as a couple people have pointed out, this is something that we have in the US too. But since I've never seen one, I thought it was cool anyway...

Bonjour à tous! It's been quite a while, I know, but I've had travels, work, and nice weather to distract me from this blog!

Since my last post, I have: been to London, seen Wicked, seen the Olympic torch, been through the Chunnel, seen a couple châteaux and other places in France, been to Venice, been to Rome, and been to the Vatican.

But before I get into that, let me just say that it really is true that the French go on strike ALL the time. In fact, as soon as I flew back into Paris, I passed a bunch of protestors... in the airport! Yup, must be France. Recently, all the high school kids have been on strike, walking around outside en masse, blocking major intersections, as seems popular with ceux qui font la grève... Imagine high school kids going on strike in the US! It just doesn't work that way...

London:
It was a bit of a change to be suddenly surrounded by English! I really enjoyed Wicked, seeing the Tower of London (in the snow!) was cool too. We also went to Greenwich where you could stand right on the Prime Meridian.

France:
Tours is an ideal city from which to visit châteaux, since it is right in the middle of the Loire River Valley. But there are seriously a ton of them, so you have to pick which ones you want to go see! This time around, my dad and I went to Chaumont-sur-Loire, Chambord, and Villandry. Chambord is perhaps the most well known - it is enormous, though François 1^e only built it as a hunting lodge. Chaumont-sur-Loire is smaller, but pretty cool looking. And Villandry, which is right next to Tours, has immense gardens.


Driving around France, we stopped at the Futuroscope a French "theme park" that is really not a theme park. It's a park of movie theaters, each one with a different technology, be it 3d, virtual reality, or seats that move. So that was cool.

We also visited the seaside town of La Rochelle, on the west coast of France. Formerly fortified, you can still see and climb up some of the town's old towers. After seeing some of the town, we took a boat out to some of the islands and Fort Boyard (which is apparently featured in a well-known French tv game show that I had never heard of) The view from the top of the Lantern Tower:



Venice:
Perhaps my favorite part of the vacation! Venice is such a unique city, in that to get around you either walk, or travel by boat on one of the many canals. You can't even ride a bike, since all the roads are twisty and full of steps to go over bridges. It's really really easy to get lost, too. (no this isn't just coming from me) I got lost a few times, even with a map. While I was there, I got to hang out with an Italian friend, which was fun. One day, I took a boat out to explore some of the island in the lagoon. The island of Torcello has an old bell tower you can climb up, that gives a pretty spectacular view:



Rome:
This is a huge city, with lots of stuff to do, though le métro est nul! Which means a lot of walking. But the ancient ruins were pretty cool, and the Vatican museums were pretty impressive. To bad the Pope was in the states. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, I've put the links of the left.


Things are starting to wrap up in Tours, and the weather is finally starting to get nice. I can only hope that Tours does not keep up its seeming trend of constant rain! If I can, I'll get in a few more updates before it's time to go.

Alors, à plus.

Pardon my French! I've been busy, and seeing as we have to write reports on our excursions anyways, I thought I'd just post what I wrote about our trip to Normandy. For those of you who aren't keen on reading my French, you can click the button for a slightly-choppy English translation. Aren't I considerate? Check the links on the left for more pictures.

Un week-end en Normandie

Il faisait beau. Les vagues s’écrasaient doucement contre la grève. La mer était calme, tranquille, et turquoise. Le paradis, non ? Mais cette plage n’a pas toujours été comme ça. Nous étions sur la plage d’Omaha. Aujourd’hui, c’est une plage comme toutes les autres. Mais c’était l’enfer le 6 juin, 1944, pendant la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, quand la plage d’Omaha était une plage du débarquement pour les soldats américains. Le Jour J, on l’appelait. Quand on parle de ce jour-là, on parle d’Omaha la sanglante – très loin de la plage aujourd’hui.

Mais ça, c’était le clou de notre voyage. Après être arrivé en Normandie, notre premier arrêt était pour la ville fortifiée de Saint-Malo. Autrefois, Saint-Malo était un repère pour les corsaires français qui obligeaient les bateaux anglais à les payer. Un autre fait divers qui m’intéressait beaucoup (puisque je suis à demi canadien) était que Jaques Cartier est parti de Saint-Malo pour découvrir le Canada ! Pour décrire Saint-Malo en quelques mots, on peut dire que c’est très cool. Et imposant, peut-être. De se mettre sur le rempart et regarder les petites îles dans une mer verte en sentant le vent souffler, c’était surréel. Toujours entouré par les murs, j’ai mangé des fruits de la mer pour le déjeuner pour compléter l’expérience. Au lieu de partir en bateau, (comme je voulais presque !) nous sommes allés en car à notre prochaine destination.

Notre arrêt suivant était même plus impressionnant que Saint-Malo : le très connu Mont-Saint-Michel. Après être arrivé, il y a plusieurs choses qui m’ont surpris. Premièrement, l’abbaye est énorme ! Quand on regarde le mont de loin, c’est impossible de dire la grandeur. Nous avons monté beaucoup d’escaliers ! Aussi, je pensais que l’île serait seulement l’abbaye. En fait, il y avait plusieurs petits magasins et restaurants. En plus, je pensais que l’île serait plus ou moins une île tout le temps. Mais il y avait du sable partout sur lequel on peut marcher ! Malgré tout ça, le Mont-Saint-Michel est quand même très beau. C'est grâce à Philippe Auguste que l’abbaye gothique fut construite, et c’est Charles VI qui l’a fortifiée. Autrefois, le Mont-Saint-Michel était une vraie île à marée haute. J’imagine que ça devait être dur à construire ! Au Mont-Saint-Michel, la chose la plus frappante était sa beauté. Mon endroit préféré était, peut-être, le cloître. Dans la cour toute verte, on trouve la tranquillité. Je pouvais bien y imaginer les moines en train de réfléchir. J’ai beaucoup aimé que le cloître soit complètement caché. En regardant le mont de l’extérieur, c’est impossible de les voir. Alors, c’est un peu un endroit secret. La météo au Mont-Saint-Michel était très bizarre en basculant entre soleil et pluie toujours avec beaucoup de vent. Nous avons même vu un arc en ciel ! En partant nous avons dit au revoir à une sculpture de Saint Michel (de même forme que celui au-dessus de la flèche)

Notre dernière visite médiévale était la Tapisserie de Bayeux. En fait, la tapisserie est une histoire en images qui raconte la conquête de l’Angleterre en 1066 par Guillaume le Conquérant. Commandée par l’évêque Odon de Bayeux, la tapisserie a une longueur de 70 mètres. Dans l’histoire, la comète de Halley, qui représente souvent des choses sinistres, annonce que Harold II a pris le trône d’Angleterre. Guillaume, à qui le trône était promis, envahit l’Angleterre pour lutter contre Harold et reprendre le trône. J’ai beaucoup aimé les couleurs de la tapisserie. Les images ne sont pas vraiment en trois dimensions – c’est difficile à faire cela en borderie ! Mais avec les couleurs, c’était possible de donner aux images un peu de profondeur. Par exemple, on voit que souvent les choses en arrière plan sont plus foncées. La tapisserie était vraiment impressionnante. Premièrement, c’était incroyable de voir du tissu qui existait depuis le XIe siècle. Deuxièmement, il faut imaginer que le travail (à la main, bien sûr !) a duré longtemps pour créer un œuvre énorme comme celle-là.

Finalement, c’était l’heure de parler de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale – un peu plus récent que la Tapisserie de Bayeux. Nous nous retrouvions à Arromanches, où était le port artificiel utilisé par les Alliés pour prendre pied en France. En arrivant, la première chose à noter c'était les caissons en béton dans la mer. C’est la preuve que quelque chose s'est passée là-bas. Pour bien comprendre les événements, nous avons visité quelques musées avec des maquettes que montraient les ponts flottants. Nous avons aussi regardé des vidéos qui montraient la réalité et l’horreur de la guerre. C’est incroyable que tout a commencé le Jour J, le 6 juin 1944. Pour moi, c’était difficile d’imaginer comment les projets des Alliés ont resté secrets. On en avait pour pas mal de temps à construire les ponts, c’est sûr. Je sais qu’on a fait cela avec l’aide de l’Enigma, une machine très cool pour coder des messages secrets que nous avons vu dans un musée. Ce jour-là était dur et sanglante, bien sûr, mais c’est quand même difficile de l’intérioriser avec seulement l’aide d’un musée.

Alors, il fallait visité des endroits physiques et tangibles. Le premier, c’était le cimetière américain. Je ne m’attendais pas à être sur le sol américain, mais pour un peu de temps, j’étais chez moi. Le cimetière est énorme, avec plus de neuf mille tombes. Il y a deux choses au cimetière qui m'ont frappé. Premièrement, il y avait seulement la date de la mort sur les croix, donc c’était impossible de savoir les âges des soldats. Mais il y avait aussi l’état d’origine de chaque soldat. C’était assez bizarre de voir les noms de plusieurs états américains au beau milieu de la France. Même si ce n’était pas beaucoup d’information, cela m’a montré que tous les soldats avaient des vraies vies chacun. Mais comme n’importe quelle guerre, il y a beaucoup de soldats qui ont disparu. Sur le mur des disparus, il est écrit « The Whole Earth Their Sepulchre ». J’aimais beaucoup cette idée pour respecter les soldats disparus. Le cimetière allemand était beaucoup plus sombre que l’autre. Mais il y avait des dates sur les tombes, donc c’était possible de voir les âges des soldats. Beaucoup de soldats avaient seulement environ 18 ans. En visitant les cimetières, j’avais l’impression que tout le monde était des victimes de la guerre, indépendamment de leur côté.

Mon endroit préféré de toute l’excursion était le Pointe du Hoc. Là, nous avons vu des cratères où des bombes ont explosé et les restes des bunkers allemands. C’était cool, émouvant, et effrayant de descendre dans les cratères en se disant « c’était ici où une bombe a explosé ». J’avais du mal à croire qu’on a simplement laissé tous les restes des bunkers. Il y avait des fils barbelés et des bâtiments détruits. Au bord de la mer, on peut bien imaginer les bateaux assaillir la plage et les soldats qui se cachaient dans les cratères en essayant de détruire les bunkers.

Finalement, notre séjour en Normandie était très intéressant pour voir des aspects historiques du Moyen Âge et de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale. C’était quelque chose qui m’a obligé à réfléchir sur les mérites de la guerre. Mais c’était indispensable de voir de près un chapitre important de l’histoire du monde.

To wish someone good luck before an exam in France, you don't tell them good luck. None of this "bonne chance" stuff. No, instead you say "merde!" and they don't repond. Supposedly that brings good luck. And perhaps it works, since I passed the DELF B2 yesterday! I was kind of surprised, actually, since it was a hard test.

To the countryside for Easter...

So, about French cuisine and Paris... The course was really good, mostly involving a French chef telling us what to do to prepare our meal. The menu was: a mushroom wrap as an entrée, cod for the plat, and pineapple-coconut crumble for dessert. Bon appétit!

Then I went to Paris for the weekend, which was a good time. There, i saw Montmartre as well as the Opéra Garnier. I also walked around the city a bit and saw a couple churches and the Eiffel Tower.



I especially liked the tour of the Opéra. It was indeed built over an underground lake as the Phantom of the Opera implies. The six ton chandelier also fell twice. Since the auditorium was closed during the tour, we got some super-cheap tickets for the ballet that night. It was... different - the first time I've ever been to a ballet. It was kind of hard to see the stage with our seats, but it was worth it just to see the room.



more pictures here.

The other day, my younger French host brother was telling me about Easter in France. Yes, you can find chocolate bunnies here, but it's not the Easter Bunny who hides eggs. No, here, it's flying bells. (les cloches volantes) Since church bells go silent the Thursday before Easter, children are told that the bells have flown to Rome. Then, on Easter when they come back, they bring chocolate eggs with them.

Yesterday, I took the DELF exam (Diplôme d'Études en Langue Français). It's a French language exam, the equivalent of the TOEFL for English. I passed! So now it's official that I can speak French.

I'll leave you with a picture from the hunt I went on today:



We didn't see a single fox, but I did see un lièvre (a hare) and un sanglier (a wild boar). After walking the whole day, everyone relaxed afterward with a glass of wine and some snacks.

This week, there's a French cooking course on Monday, and then I'm going to Paris for the weekend!

Hi all. So, my day yesterday was the most full day I've had in a while, really. After French early in the morning, I took the bus to the Polytech' where I went to class and had lunch. (I have my first test on Monday! That should be interesting...) I decided to stick around for the afternoon for a club meeting some of the other guys mentioned. (In the meantime, I was completely shown up in "baby-foot" which is what the French call foosball. They have a million different rules, and some of them can do things like launch the ball into the goal from their defense side.) The club was actually for a competition in the Shell Eco-Marathon, where you have to build a car that runs on hydrogen. It was pretty cool, and I was actually able to give some relevant advice on the car's electrical system. I'm hopefully going to work with some guys from my class to come up with some sort of voltage step up circuit to power the car's main motor. Sadly, the competition is near the end of May, and I'm supposed to have left by then. I stuck around a little bit afterwards to watch some of the MechE's completely dismantle this really old European car. One guy also drove me around in another car that they've outfitted to drive across Europe.

I met up with some of the same guys that evening to go out to a restaurant. I had choucroute, which is a popular Alsatian dish with sauerkraut and sausages. They were all fascinated when I noticed that I had a couple dollar bills left in my wallet. I let a couple of them "buy" a dollar from me in exchange for a euro. I think I came out a couple cents ahead in that deal! Afterward, we went to play billiards, so a fun night.

Last week, we were on vacation, so I took the opportunity to see a little bit of Europe. I went to Bruxelles (Brussels), Strasbourg (a city in the Alsace region of France), and Genève (Geneva). Lots of picture here.

As far as highlights go, Brussels had a big square called the Grand Place next to my hotel. There was also this structure called the Atomium that I went to see.


Strasbourg is a really nice city - the city center is completely surrounded by rivers, and it has an older section of town called la Petite France:


Here's a spot where the river splits to go around the city. You can see what used to be a covered bridge and the cathedral (which was pretty impressive) in the background.


In Geneva, I went on a Tour of the Patek Philippe watch museum, which was pretty interesting (no pictures allowed though). I also took a boat on Lake Geneva, and of course saw the Jet d'Eau and flower clock. Here's a view of the city from the top of the cathedral:


That's all I for now, enjoy the pictures!

I can hardly believe it's already been a month here!

This weekend, Alix, Augustin's twin sister, flew in from the US, where she had spent 3 months. Right from the beginning, her dad jokingly pestered her to speak English to me. So now the entire family is here. This makes for quite the ambiance at the dinner table, with multiple conversations flying back and fourth. Needless to say, I don't always know what's going on.

The youngest boy, Paul, does the French equivalent of boy scouts, which the French call les scouts (pronounced "scoot"). Here's a picture of him in his uniform before he left to go camping this weekend:


The weather was pretty nice on Saturday, so I took a walk to check out le marché aux fleurs, which is an open-air flower market in the middle of one of the main streets. It stretches on for a respectable distance, and changes over to clothing and other vendors at some point. Regrettably, I didn't have my camera.

The family also showed me their country house this weekend, which is about a half an hour away by car. (As a side note, it's really interesting that once you leave the city, the French avoid traffic lights by using les rond-points (traffic circles). They have them everywhere, so that you can't really drive in a straight line for very long - to stay on the same road, you have to drive around half a circle every so often!) The family and many relatives live on the same plot of land. Apparently the beef I had for lunch was from an uncle who raises cattle there.

Seeing as it was one of those rare occasions on which the whole family was around, I was designated photographer. Here's a picture of the de Baudreuil family:

(in the back: Paul, Arnaud, Alix, Augustin; in the front: Marine, Camille)

And me with all the kids:


Today I went to my first engineering class at the Polytech'. It went well... The class is starting off with things that are review for me (binary, hexadecimal...) so that's kind of nice. But I was able to understand the professor. The thing that's going to mess with my head, now that I'm actually working with numbers, is that the French use commas instead of decimal points. Afterward, I had lunch with a couple French students I met in the class.

Now for a random fact that I find quite amusing: there's this one local radio station with the jingle "Nostalgieeeee." I guess that's the French version of "oldies" but it cracks me up every time I hear it.

À plus tard!

Today was an excellent day.

After my art class in the morning, Lily and I bought a pizza for lunch near my house, but decided it would be best to walk all the way back to the university before eating it.. a 20 minute walk. So that was interesting. After Bucknell's réunion hebdomadaire in the afternoon, I went to a bank to try to get them to put money on my student card, so I can buy lunch at the Polytech. I was very impressed with the conversation I had with the lady at the bank, even though she ended up telling me that it's impossible to do with my American credit card. (All French credit cards have RFID tags)

Then, this evening I went to a juggling club/course through the university. It ended up being me and five French girls. (Kind of funny - where I went Thursday, it was all guys!) Though of the five, three had never juggled before, and only one had ever juggled les masseus (clubs). So she and I juggled together, and I ended up passing clubs with her better than I ever have before. C'était super!

I think it's about time I talk about some cultural differences. A big one is la bise. To say hello to someone (sometimes even if you've never met!) it's polite to kiss them on the cheek instead of shaking hands. The only exception is that two men will often just shake hands. No hugs in France, though. Another thing I've noticed is that it's polite to say bonjour to the cashier when you enter a store and au revoir when you leave, even if you don't buy anything.

Another thing is that A TON of French people smoke, much more than in the US.

On the subject of food, though... The French are big on courses. You never have multiple dishes at the same time. Sometimes, though, we will have the salad out at the same time as another dish, and they'll ask me if I'd like salad with the main course, as if that's an exception to the norm. I never know how many courses are coming, either - it seems to vary from meal to meal. The other day, I mistook the main course for salad, and wanting to save room for the nonexistent main course, didn't eat very much... oops! When it comes to dessert, the typical French gâteau (cake) has only one layer, and no frosting, though it is often made with some kind of fruit. Les tartes (pies) are also different here in that they are open-faced (kind of like a pizza with fruit, but very good). My host father came home from hunting the other night with a HUGE boar's leg. So I'll be able to tell you how that tastes.

Bonne nuit!

Bonjour à tous!

Another week has gone by here in Tours... our first week of classes! Well some classes. My engineering classes still have yet to start. One of the French classes that I've started, though, is... drumroll... an art class! Imagine me taking an art class! Should be interesting.

As for those other classes, it's been interesting, since for some reason the people at the Polytech told me I should take the wrong classes. After poking around on my own, I think I've found some suitable ones. For one of them, though, I can't seem to find it on the course schedule, though one of the professors told me it will be offered. This is France - maybe they haven't finished the schedule yet!

I went to a juggling club on Thursday - it was fun.

This weekend we visited our second château, Amboise. The weather was pretty good, though a little cold in the morning. Amboise is on the Loire, and pretty impressive from a distance:

My favorite part about Amboise is its circular towers. Inside, instead of a spiral staircase, there's a spiral ramp so the knights could ride their horses up. For your viewing pleasure, here's a great view of the Loire from the top of one of Amboise's towers. (ignore the half-people in the background)


Amboise is also home to the remains of Leonardo da Vinci. (en français: Léonard de Vinci) We also got to visit the location where da Vinci spent his last three years, and see models of lots of his inventions.

I've started listening to French radio when I get the chance - which is pretty often, since the walk to class is about 20 minutes, as is the bus ride to the Polytech. Amusingly, as I mentioned before, about 50% of the songs on the radio are in English, but when those come on, I just change the station. (Yes, there is no escape from "Hey there Delilah" or James Blunt...)

This morning, I took the bus to the Polytech to see if they could find something for me to do before my classes start. (And I also learned that if you forget to push the magical I-want-to-get-off button before your stop, the bus will not stop) In any case, it looks like I will be working on a little project before the engineering classes start. It has to do with solar panels, and since I've never done anything like that before, I'm going to have to do some research...

I had lunch with some French students (engineers) in the cafeteria, which reminded me very much of the Caf at Bucknell... at last something familiar!

This weekend, I visited le Musée des Beaux Arts, the fine art museum of Tours. I've figured out how to make panoramas (you need quicktime to see it, click+drag to look around), so here's the cool garden outside of the museum:


The museum had, well, lots of art... Here's a painting of what Loches (the château we saw) used to look like. You can even see Agès Sorel and Jeanne d'Arc in there:



Looking out the museum window, I saw a group of jugglers in the street. They were, of course, way more interesting than the art inside... what can I say? we had been there for a little while. I'll put up more pictures at some point.

Today I learned that French nasal sounds are hard. It can be really hard for us English-speakers to distinguish between sounds that don't exist in our own language. This week I'm going to a course on phonétique (think microphones and headphones). I think it's pretty good, since it's really hard to think about pronunciation in every day situations when you're just trying to get your message across.

I did go on a hunt this past Sunday - la chasse à courre, which is a hunt with lots of dogs - no guns. We were hunting fox. Hunting seems like mostly a "man thing", though there were some women in there as well. It was on foot, so I had the pleasure of running/walking the whole day in boots.



To communicate, you play fanfares on "un trompe," (cellphones = interdit!) a French instrument similar to a trumpet without valves, which my host brother and father both play. My host brother invited me to one of his practices tonight (he's on the back right):

It's been almost a week here, and I must say I have only one disappointment: French media, or lack thereof. The other day, I asked my host brother to show me some French music, and to be sure, there are French artists, but the thing that really surprised me was the amount of American or English music that the French listen to. It's everywhere... when you go shopping in un magasin or eat in un restaurant, there's very, very often music with English lyrics playing in the background. This goes for TV too - lots of popular series are American ones that are dubbed. I went to a bookstore the other day to buy a French novel to (attempt to) read, and came across many, many translations of books by American authors. (Tom Clancy and the like) So all that's been a little surprising.

On a completely different subject, I realize that I've forgotten to mention a very important member of the family. Ascote is a very friendly dog, though unfortunately she likes to make a lot of noise if I come home late at night.


The food here is really good. My host mother is an excellent cook. It seems as though the ability to effortlessly prepare fine cuisine is something the runs in the veins of the French. Eating customs are, of course, slightly different here. I always forget not to put my hands under the table! I'm also beginning to enjoy the cheese course we always have at dinner.

Today was our first excursion - we went to Loches (pronounced lowsh), a château that is pretty close by, after eating at a crêperie. It was really nice to finally have some nice weather. It was pretty cool to see the room in which Joan of Arc made her proposition to Charles VII. Lots of pictures here.

I'm pretty sure I'm going hunting with the family tomorrow.

I've been in France for four days now, and there is already much to tell. Friday/Saturday was a blur, especially since I don't sleep very well on planes or buses. We arrived in Tours a couple hours later than expected because the airline lost a number of bags. (none of mine though...) Once we arrived, I was met by my host mother, who drove me to their house to meet the rest of the family.

The family is very nice, and understanding if I don't always understand. I have two host brothers- Augustin (19) and Paul (13). I also met their older sister Camille who is my age, but she spends most of her time in Paris, where she goes to university. Augustin's twin sister Alix is in the US right now - I'll get to meet her when she returns in February.

This is my room (actually Alix's) on the third floor:

Tours is a great place to live, since you can pretty much walk anywhere, and it's loaded with little shops and restaurants. It is pretty much a city, despite lots of little one-way streets. I can already see my French improving, since I speak it all the time now (even with the other students!) though it has a ways to go. I've spent the last couple days constantly asking my host family for words (qu'est qui est le mot pour.... que veut dire...) and consulting my handy French-English dictionary. I watched a dubbed episode of Without a Trace (en français: "FBI: portés disparus") yesterday and understood rather well. I only have one class at the moment - it's to prepare me for the Delf (a French language exam), and reminds me very much of my high school French classes (grammar, vocabulary...)

The Bucknell office (and my French class) is right next to the Loire river. The bridge in the background is le Pont Wilson:

Today was an interesting adventure in itself. This afternoon, I took the bus by myself to meet with a director at the Polytech (school for engineers). It was... interesting... since I had hardly any directions, only the name of the stop to get off at and his name and department. After asking many, many students, I finally found the right building and somehow found him in it. He referred me to a very nice lady who teaches english there. (since everyone knows english in engineering) She gave me a tour of the classrooms and labs, and introduced me to some professors. She even interrupted a couple classes to introduce me to the French students majoring in EE! Apparently though, my courses at the Polytech start February 4. (Slightly frustrating since the course schedule is still not definite, and there's no way of knowing if they'll conflict with my French classes, as they probably will) In France, nothing is planned in advance at the university! Now, hopefully it will be possible to get course descriptions and get these courses approved by Bucknell (which STILL hasn't happened yet).

These first couple days have been a lot, but I am thoroughly enjoying it so far...

If you'd like to send me mail, here's the address:

[REMOVED]

À bientôt!