A Picturesque Weekend

Sorry for the delay in posting! Since school actually started, I’ve been really busy…I have class every day from 9-5 (minus the 1.5 hour lunch break).
The month of September is an intensive French program, so my classes are language, civilization, and conversation. I’m in level 6 out of 8 (not bad, eh?), and there are 16 students in the class, but only 8 in the conversation group. I’m actually very excited for classes because speaking French all the time makes me want to work very hard to improve and learn more. I jot new words and phrases in a little notebook and look them up or ask Madame at the end of the day. I’ve also met tons of new friends at school!

I’m now going to recount my amazing weekend.
My other house-mate (the other American girl) arrived Friday morning! Her name is Wenonah and she’s from Minnesota, but goes to school in Pennsylvania. We have already become good friends (Wenonah, if you read this, feel free to object). She studied at the University in Angers during the month of August and already has a little group of international friends. On Friday night, we went out together via her bike…she pedaled and I sat on the book plate on the back. We only had one big tumble and one little one. No serious injuries, except for a large blister on the back of my thigh from the “seat”. It was very amusing. In the group of friends, there is one guy from Belgium, two from Spain, a girl from Scotland, and I’m making friends with more and more French people. We went to the two bars that all of the students go to: “Soft Bar” and “Falstaff”. The French people got a little crazy around 1 am and started singing a strange chant/song. Everyone knew the words and was very enthusiastic, but I couldn’t understand what they were saying. They also sat on the ground in a train with their arms up and people started crowd surfing down the line!

Vineyard on the way to the wine tasting

So after a night of making many friends, I woke up Saturday morning, watched TV with my French little sister (Aubery), and went to a wine tasting (“degustation du vin”)! My new group of friends went with a French student named Jojo and his father to a vineyard in the countryside of the Loire Valley. Absolutely beautiful. We sat at a table outside and tasted many wines while the owner of the vineyard talked about their tastes, how they are made, what food you eat with them, etc., all in French! I can’t even describe how wonderful this experience was, discussing all of the wines in French with my new friends and the owner. Unforgettable! I purchased bottles of my two favorites—Carbernet d’Anjou (mi-sec) “2009” and Coteaux du Layon “2009”. The cabernet had the most beautiful ruby color; I don’t know how to describe “mi-sec” in the English vocabulary of wine. The Coteaux has a golden color and is very sweet, but the sugar comes naturally from the grapes.

Me, Wenonah, and Ignacio at the wine tasting

Where we tasted the wines...

The Vineyard

Wenonah and I returned home after the wine tasting to a candlelit dinner in the garden in the backyard with our French family. The French truly know how to live—they eat well, drink well, rest well, and entertain well. After dinner, we went out with our friends to the student bars, then to a bar in a church! This was my favorite because there were many French people there and not a lot of foreigners. The church was beautiful with a very high ceiling and stained glass window. Once again, the French got a little crazy and started dancing on the bars. But the music was fun (a lot of old disco hits) and everyone was dancing!

At this point, it’s hard to imagine my first weekend in Angers getting any better, but on Sunday we went to the beach! It was Wenonah, Alexandra, Aubery, and myself. We took the train in the morning to La Baule, ate a picnic lunch on the beach, relaxed in the sun all day, and swam a bit. The beach was lined with enormous hotels, but the little city was very cute and chic at the same time. All of the houses had the family names on them (see photo) and were very pretty with the architecture and the colors. The weather was perfect, not very hot but still warm enough to swim. I only saw a few topless women—all older and with skin so tan it looked like leather. We came back on the evening train tired, bronzed, and content. It was the perfect first weekend!

House with the family name

La Baule

Alexandra, Me, Wenonah, and Aubery

I truly appreciate all of the messages from everyone! Lots of love!