Chez Les Gailly à Dinard

A few weekends ago, I visited a French friend who I met at Laketrails 2 ½ years ago! His name is Nathan and he studies in Lille, but his family lives in Dinard, Brittany. All of his family was in town for the weekend because there was a British Film Festival (http://www.festivaldufilm-dinard.com/). Dinard is across the bay from Saint Malo, a town I visited earlier in the semester after Mont Saint Michel.  Dinard/Brittany are across La Manche (The English Channel) from England, which explains the reason for the British Film Festival.
I had a wonderful weekend and loved staying with his family! They were so nice and welcoming to me, I felt very comfortable and at home. Saturday, we saw Tolstoy, The Last Station as soon as I arrived. The other films I saw were Neds, and We Want Sex, which was the story of the female Ford factory workers striking in London in the late 1960s for equal pay (my favorite film).

Statue of Alfred Hitchcock, who supposedly filmed a movie in Dinard

Saturday afternoon after the film, Nathan baked a delicious chocolate cake and he and his siblings took me on a stroll around the town and on the beach. The best part of the weekend was spending time with Nathan and his siblings, practicing French, and learning tons of new vocab. I loved listening to their conversations; it was a challenge for my listening comprehension skills, but I think I improved after the weekend.

Nathan and Me on the beach :)

French family meals are my favorite, and the dinner and lunch I ate with his family were especially memorable. We ate in the garden and I tried galettes (similar to crêpes, but salty) and bulots! These are little snails that come from the sea. It was my first snail-eating experience, but I have since eaten escargots with my French host family. I actually really liked them! The bulots had more of the seafood taste, but that’s probably because the escargots were covered in butter and garlic…mmm. You have to pluck the body out of the shell with a little pick tool.

Me trying bulots!

It was great to see Nathan again and a wonderful opportunity to stay with his family, see some of their traditions, and visit Dinard. Definitely one of my favorite weekends here!