I have now been in France one week, and I cannot believe that it has only been one week! The plane and train rides were a bit of an exhausting blur. I recall mainly that the plane was very small, the Paris airport was very frightening, and the train conductor on the 10:27 was very rude and a good deal too near the Parisian stereotype.
Our first weekend was spent on a relaxing vacation to Bretagne that IES Nantes arranged to help us overcome le decalage (jetlag)! What a good idea! In Bretagne, we stayed in a hotel in Vannes, where every evening we were served three course meals that were, honestly, the best tasting meals of my life. Our days were spent in the following ways:
- Le Chateau de Suscinio (XIIIth -XVth century) : The chateau was very beautiful and gloomy looking, situated next to an estuary of sorts that was teeming with birds. Unfortunately, the majority of the chateau had been remodeled and was currently being used as a museum of sorts, with an exposition featuring mediocre to above average but scarcely excellent photographs of birds that live around the chateau. I was not too excited by this exhibit. HOWEVER. There was a back end of the chateau that had not been remodeled and it was beautiful. It had a dilapidated tower that looked out onto the estuary and it was a gloomy sort of magical day and there was a very chilly breeze blowing and all this I loved.
- Port Blanc et (plus important) L'Ile aux Moines: We took a bus from Vannes to Port Blanc, a beautiful harbor full of lovely sail boats. We took a short ferry ride from Port Blanc to L'Ile aux Moines, where we were each given a picnic lunch and a bicycle and five hours to explore! It was heaven. The island was full of beautiful little cottages, some with thatched roofs, old churches and springs and ocean views and docks and abandoned ships and everything that is wonderful. The houses were painted lovely, bright colors, as is befitting an island haven. Magnificent! Hanna and I got lost early on, which was unfortunate because one of our friends had Hanna's sack lunch, but we made the most of it and explored for hours and went on two short strolls, both ending in the sea and one which passed by some very odd and eerie old spring houses with steps extending down into the spring - I don't know why! - but very wonderful looking.
- Vannes itself: very lovely and full of medieval buildings, a large cathedral and lots of small shops. So far every town I've been in, I've thought, "Well, wouldn't this be a nice place to live!" but no worries I love home too much to betray it.
- La Forteresse: an ancient chateau that hasn't been tackily remodeled in anyway. The chateau is quite a ways from the main road, so we had to walk through a forest that had more ferns than any forest I'd ever seen! The chateau was so beautiful and overgrown, with plants growing through all of the rock fronts; an old chapel had all but been removed by time, with only one wall left, the most beautiful stone window remained, through which grew trees and black berries. Additionally, there was a lovely lake left by the long gone moat, which was beautiful also and which Hanna and I hiked around. (I scuffed my new shoes though and was sad!)
- Keroyal de Plougoumelen: a wonderful creperie in the countryside with a wonderful view of a lake from the back window. We had a lunch crepe - jambon, des oeufs et du formage (ham, eggs and cheese) and a desert crepe which I think was butter and sugar and cream so of course - delicious.
- Alignements de Kermario: the French equivalent of Stone Henge. Incredibly lovely and mystical. The rocks were aligned (hence the name) in long rows from shortest to tallest over the distance of a football field, at the front of the alignement, the rocks were placed closer together in a crescent and it is believed that this is where only the high priest could go. Its crazy how many similarities even dissimilar religions have!
- Saint Goustan: a beautiful town that Ben Franklin himself frequented while in France! Our visit coincided with their annual festival d'huitres: festival of oysters! Wonderful! It was a truly bizarre celebration. There are knights of the oysters who take themselves very seriously and parade about playing bagpipes and carrying platters of oysters to display. The town was incredibly beautiful and I would have liked to spend more time there but, dommage, nous devions partir!
- La Rochefort en Terre: yet another beautiful town. Lots of old, beautiful buildings, lots of beautiful flowers everywhere. There were lots of art shops, there was a jazz band playing in the town square, there was a lovely old chateau.
This week I've been taking orientation classes: French language and grammar of course, but also, French Manners and How to Make French Friends.
These are the most bizarre things I learned:
- Never say Bonjour alone. Bonjour, Madame, Bonjour, Clotile, but never just Bonjour.
- You only say Bonjour to each person once a day. If you said Bonjour to someone in the morning and then you see them again that afternoon, you cannot say Bonjour again without seeming weird.
- Never put your bread on your plate; it goes on the table to the left of your plate. (I seriously am not joking about this.)
- Your hands must always stay above the table, never in your lap.
- Always finish eating your food. You must not leave anything on your plate.
- If you call someone's house to speak to your friend and their housemother answers, if your friend is not at home you must end the conversation with, Sorry for displacing you, Madame, and thank you for your time.
- Always arrive either exactly on time or up to 15 minutes late. NEVER arrive early.
- Always use the formal VOUS to people you don't know, unless they are under 12 years old. Always.
- French families fight more than American families (though perhaps not more than my American family did (because of me)) but if the family fights at the table NEVER say anything or act like anything is going on wrong. (I experienced that tonight. YIPES!)
The most shocking things though
- Everyone kisses each other on the cheek. Everyone. Its not a myth.
- No one ever says Hello or Good day to the people they pass on the street, unless they know them. It is considered rude and weird.
- French people are SO SMALL AND THIN AND PRETTY
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