My Parents in Europe: Paris, Nantes, and Salamanca!

So Friday I took the morning train to Paris. It was a beautiful dusk ride; we passed so many foggy blue rivers and sleeping villages. In Paris, I took a Metro to the West Train Station and walked to our fine 1 star hotel: Hotel du Brabant. I spoke to the manager and told him I was waiting for my parents, sat down in an easy chair next to a giant wolf-hound named Joker, and commenced to reading Madame Chrysantheme by Pierre Loti, which is excellent and very enjoyable.

I waited for around forty five minutes in the lobby, my heart skipping a beat every time I heard the sound of suitcase wheels rolling along the pavement outside (as there were many, many hotels on the street, which was named Rue des Petits-Hotels – Street of the Little Hotels.) Finally! the sound of the rolling suitcases belonged to my family – I jumped out of my chair and ran and jumped up into the arms of my brother, nearly knocking him over.

It immediately felt so wonderful to be with them again and to feel a part of my own real family. What's more - they brought me lots of my comfy winter clothes I'd left behind, various American products I'd requested - and most importantly they brought me Bowlin' - the most beloved doll in the world and the doll most near to being human. Bowlin's favorite part of Paris was the Eiffel Tower.

Paris was passed busily, with lots of Metros (a bit difficult for my father, who came with his foot in a boot as a result of an ankle spur) and lots of sights in only two days! My favorite part was probably visiting the Musee d’Orsay, which is considered to be the most beautiful museum in Europe, and was indeed extremely beautiful in its own right – it is a converted train station - and very, very full of beautiful paintings. I loved especially getting to see Monet’s Water Lilies and Van Gogh’s Starry Night.

Other high lights included: walking the Champs-Elysees, taking the street car ride up to the top of Monte Montre, Sacre Coeur, which is truly my favorite building I’ve been in the entire time, and other less epic but no less wonderful moments, like my father singing “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire” while we all ate over-priced Chestnuts we bought off a bum, walking with my mother through the Jardin des Tuileries, and just getting to be with my wonderful brother, who looks and acts like such a man! It’s crazy.

Then we went through the ordeal of renting a car, which was actually wonderful in that we ended up with a super nice Fiat, and then drove to Nantes.

In Nantes, immediately after checking my parents into their hotel, we walked the two blocks to my apartment to have dinner with my host family. It was a very funny and wonderful evening! My host family tried very hard to speak English, with Arnaud working the hardest and speaking the best. I had to translate quite a bit, but it wasn’t too terribly awkward, and Clotilde went all out preparing an amazing meal. It started with Kir in the living room, then we moved into the dining room for our entre, which was fried egg, salmon and caviar with a homemade sour-cream based sauce. For our “plat principal” Clotilde prepared a traditional Moroccan meal, as she spent part of her childhood growing up in Morocco. It consisted of a lamb curry stew that was divine and served over couscous. For desert, she made a white chocolate ice cream cheese cake with a brownie crust. It was seriously one of the best things I’ve ever tasted. My parents were rightly very impressed, as was I, and kept telling Clotilde and Arnaud how badly they’re going to spoil me. It is true that I do have it very, very good here.

While in Nantes, we also went to a traditional Breton Creprie, went to a few bars with Hanna in tow, and while I was in class my parents visited the Cathedral and Chateau and Jules Verne museum and all that. In all, I think they discovered that Nantes is a truly wonderful town.

And then Tuesday night, in the middle of rush hour traffic and a rain storm, we headed out of Nantes for Salamanca.

It was an incredibly long and taxing drive, longer than I think we had all expected, but it felt very comforting in a way, to be on a road trip with my family – it is the time of the year for such drives – traditionally driving between Nashville and Knoxville or Nashville and Detroit – and it felt somehow suiting to me that we should have such a road trip now since there will be no such experience this Thanksgiving.

On the way down the coast, we stopped in Biarritz for lunch and San Sebastian just to see it, and both towns were very lovely. In San Sebastian, the tide was coming in and was crashing in full waves over the ramparts, completely drenching pedestrians and cars. The power of nature is so incredible – even in civilized, ancient Europe.

We arrived in Salamanca a bit later than anticipated as a result of rain, and so it was dark when we approached the city. It seemed to be surrounded by a vast empty space, devoid of lights, which we came to discover was in fact a desert. Gross. But.
Salamanca is beautiful. I would say that it is very much the Spanish equivalent to Nantes – not too large or too small, not too touristy. It does seem much cheaper than Nantes, which is certainly an advantage.

Additionally, as mentioned previously, Spanish culture seems much more flamboyant than French culture and this was evident in everything: people are friendlier, architecture more intricate and less reserved, bars louder and more raucous, etc. Even the color of the earth – the warm brownish orange of the sand and stone that comprise the buildings – is much more welcoming than the straight lines and cool colors of the while limestone buildings of Nantes and northern France. It is quite amazing actually how different the two countries are despite the fact that they share a border.

Jonathan was such an excellent host! He met us the first night in the town plaza, after which we checked into our hotel and then found a Kebab restaurant to eat at since we’d arrived so late most other restaurants were closed. The next morning we met him after his first class, had tortilla’s at a nearby bar, then visited the cathedral.

It was seriously the grandest most beautiful building I’ve ever seen. It is so immense and decorated so intricately and vibrantly, with lots of gold and bright colors and stone carvings. It was also incredibly tall and large and light.

Wonderful.

We visited an ancient Roman bridge, various beautiful university buildings, an Art Deco museum, roof top gardens. Joey and I also went with Jonathan to his apartment to meet his Senora Maria. She seemed very funny and boisterous, and Jonathan’s house mate Matt was very friendly and sweet. I did find though, that the standard of living between Nantes and Salamanca is very different: Jonathan’s apartment was much smaller than the de Kermadec’s, much more modern and less attractive. He also explained how much more cautious he has to be about using lights and taking long showers, etc, as in Spain such things are very expensive for the average individual like Maria.

In contrast, such things aren’t too terribly expensive in France, and the de Kermadec’s are decidedly wealthy. (I was cautious the first few days about using lights, etc, as in our Introduction material we were told that French people are very stingy with their electricity uses – however this only resulted in Arnaud coming in the room and asking me if I could see alright, acting like I might be a little crazy doing my homework in dim lighting, and then flipping on several lights for my benefit.)

I met several of Jonathan’s friends and they all seemed really wonderful. Spanish foreign exchange students might be, surprise surprise, slightly less pretentious than French foreign exchange students.

I hated leaving Jonathan. I cried, as usual. It was dumb.

And then came the ride back towards Paris. We ended up spending the night Bayonne, where we had coffee the next morning. Then we drove up to Tours, where we had dinner and walked around a bit before heading to the train station where I said goodbye to my parents.

It was incredibly hard on me, I love the three of them so much, and they have always, the three of them, been my closest and best friends. I feel so lucky to get to have such a great relationship with them, so blessed that my parents raised me to be close to them and also raised Joey to be someone who I truly feel will remain my best friend for the rest of my life, but all these factors contribute to making such separations truly, truly difficult. I cried so hard.

The following things are a consolation:

• that when I see them next, it will be glorious, heavenly Christmas time.
• that when I see them next, plans will be underway for them to give me my very own little kitten named Pantoufles.
• that despite the fact that I was incredibly sad in Tours, shortly after arriving in Nantes I went out with some friends and had a great night
• that I am enjoying myself so much and have a great situation: good host family, good town, good classes
• that I have a Hanna that I get to see every day
• that I have a Jonathan that I get to see two to three times a month

Mostly, I know that I wouldn't change anything about this experience. It has been such a blessing, such a challenge, but I feel that I have grown and continue to grow as a person because of it. I truly feel that it was neccessary for me to do this - it is something that I've talked of doing my whole academic career - and I am just sooo grateful that I have parents and friends and a university that all support me in such endeavors.

And now I am off to Avignon with Hanna and Jonathan. Huzzah!