A little more on the excursions, especially the Châteaux

The excursions I have taken with the honour program are really great! I have seen so many very interesting places. Of all of our excursions, I have found the châteaux of the Loire to be especially interesting. These castles are beautiful and unique, each with their own story that contributes to the culture and the history of France.

 

With my class, I have visited the Château de Saumur and the Château de Chambord, the Château de Chenonceau. I also saw the Château de Brézé with Leon (I do not really count this as a visit, as we did not enter, but rode our bikes passed it. I asked him if we could stop and look at it on the way back home, which we did. Unfortunately I did not have a camera for a picture, as we were riding bikes and I had not anticipated there would be a château by the side of the road). All of these châteaux are very large and extraordinary, and the fact that each château has its own history makes it even more fascinating. It is really awesome to be able to see these magnificent castles and at the same time learn about their "quirky" stories (it does not get much quirkier than the Black Chamber!) and how they played a role in the history of France!

As my program is located in Saumur, the Château de Saumur was the first château we visited. It was the first château de la Loire I had ever seen. I found it very cool that a long time ago someone actually lived in this castle. Who could possibly use all the space in the château to live in?! But of course, being a home was not the only function of the Château de Saumur. It was also used as a prison and an armory! Today, it is split up as a museum of Tanks and Horses (Website of the Cadre Noire.)

We visited the castles of Chambord and Chenonceau as a class. Chambord is the largest of all the châteaux in the Loire River Valley. It evokes thoughts of a palace in a fairy tale because of its absolutely enormous size! It is hard for me to imagine that someone actually could afford to live there. It seemed to luxurious even for a king to own. Even after several hours of wandering and taking pictures in the châteaux, we had not been to every room. Although I did not see everything in the châteaux, there were a few things that really grabbed my attention.  In the entrance there is a double helix staircase that was created by Leonardo da Vinci. I also kept an eye out for salamanders, which were sculpted into the walls ceilings and floors all throughout the palace. The symbol of François I, I learned. All of this was magnificent to see, and also great to know. My host mother said she was very impressed when she asked if I knew about the salamanders at Chambord and I responded that they were the symbol of François I. I felt pretty good about that!

    At Chenonceau, I learned some of the history of the Castle as well as the people who lived there. There are some stories that I find very strange, like the story of the Black Chamber (for more information on the Black Chamber see here). I also saw the very famous bridge which crosses the Loire, and is situation next to the very intricately patterned gardens. 

I am very happy I have had the opportunity to see all these wonderful sites in France to say the least! All the sites are great. They are a lot of fun and I find them very interesting. And what's more, I am learning a lot while enjoying myself at the same time!

A little more on my French family

   As the summer has passed, I have built a strong relationship with my host family, to the point where I now consider them to be truly a part of my family. Each member of my family is always happy to include me in his or her activities. I ride bikes and play sports and swim with Leon. I compete with Louis and his friends in ping pong and video games. (I always lose, but I like to think I have improved.) I often go shopping with my parents (Cécile and Pierre) and have learned that supermarkets here are rather different than supermarkets in the US (You can't buy clothes, a lawnmower, a bike, and food all at the same time. Supermarkets are only for  food.) It is a very good feeling to be included in the daily life of each family member.
   In addition to participating in the lives of my family, they also participate in mine. They are always happy to help me if I am having difficulties with my homework. They will help me find the answer to a question I do not understand, and then share a little extra knowledge or maybe even a story that helps me remember the answer and better understand the reason for the answer. In addition to aiding me with my homework for my classes, they are also happy to explain subtle differences between French and English.  For instance, at the beginning of the program, Cécile often asked me "Are you sure?" to which I naturally responded "I am sure." After this exchange, Cécile always would have a puzzled look on her face. Suzanne ( my host sister) later explained that "sure" is not an answer in French and can not be used as "yes," like we use it in English.  So, I learned something new and rather important  for my French vocabulary. At the same time, my sister learned that the phrase "I am sure," or responding to a question with "sure" is approximately equivalent to "yes" in English.
   All in all, I am very content and extremely grateful for my host family and all they have done for me. My french family (Cécile, Pierre, Louis, Leon, and Suzanne) is gènial! (Gènial means "awesome"!)

My fourth week in France

    I have passed once again an excellent week in France, without a cloud in the sky (metaphorically AND literally!) My family is fantastic; my classes have been both intriguing and useful; and I've been seeing and learning about more of France!
    We have been discussing the francophone countries in class this week. In the linguistics course, we had a "mini-course" of Haitian Creole. This was especially interesting for me, as I have visited Haiti several times and have found the island to be fascinating. During the course, I learned that Creole is very similar to French phonetically, and if read aloud, I could make a rough (but rather accurate) translation into French. We read a passage of Christophe Colomb and his discovery of Haiti in Creole, and also were assigned another passage to translate for homework. I took an extra passage "just to read," because I find Creole to be very interesting. In these lessons, I learned some things which I had never known before. For instance, I did not know that Haiti was originally inhabited by Native Americans like the Arawaks and the Caribs. I am really happy to have learned all this and planning on researching even more in the future!
   Also, this week we visited a nursing home. The choir sang some French songs for all the elderly who lived there, and then we all sang the "Star Spangled Banner" and the "Marseillaise." When we started to sing the Marseillaise, all of the residents joined in, which I thought was pretty neat. As we were exiting, one of the gentleman who lived there came outside with us and started singing another French song. Once he was finished, he explained that this was his way of thanking us for coming and singing for all of the residents who lived there. I found this amusing and really cool.
   After the singing, we departed for the Abbey of Fontevraud, which is a very ancient monastery. It was built in the 12th century! The monastery was really cool. I took some pictures of the architecture and paintings in the building (see here). The history and the elegance of the abbey were both really astounding!
   Sunday, which was the 14th of July was the French Fête Nationale, which is equivalent to our 4th of July. Like we have the Declaration of Independence, the French have the storming of the Bastille. The Bastille was a prison for political prisoners which was a pre-revolution symbol of power for the king of France. So, we celbrated, similar to how we do in America; Louis, Leon, Gregoire (friend of Louis), and I celebrated by shooting off explosives in the backyard. After shooting off our fireworks, Leon and I rode our bikes to downtown and watched the city fireworks. It was really awesome to watch the fireworks exploding over the Loire River. There are some pictures of us shooting fireworks and the city's fireworks at the link above.
    All in all I had a really interesting, educational, and entertaining week in France!

Third week in Saumur (Normandy)

   My third week in France was fantastic! This week we took a trip to Normandy from Wednesday morning to Thursday night. This trip took place over the Fourth of July, which I found to be very appropriate. Monday and Tuesday of this week, we spent time in class discussing different places in Normandy, the history of Normandy, and World War II. After having thouroughly discussed all of this, I was very excited to go to see the places that we had talked about.
     We left by bus early Wednesday  morning. In the bus, there was a lot of singing, "dancing" ( it's hard to dance in a seat!), and game-playing to pass the time. After approximately four hours, we arrived in Saint Malo, a coastal town with lots of stores and also has a dock and a beach. There were some really cool stores there, including a candy store with barrels of all sorts of candy,some ocean-themed stores, and clothing stores. After wandering through downtown for a while, I went down to the docks with some friends. While checking out all the boats that were in the dock, I saw a huge group of jellyfish floating in the water. They were close enough to touch... but I decided touching one might not be a great idea! I tried to take pictures of the jellyfish, but they were rather transparent, and did not show up very well on the camera.
   At this point I was a little pressed for time (more places to go and things to see!), so I ran down to the beach, collected some shells, and stood in the water for a little bit before running back to the bus. Once on the bus, I took a little nap. When I woke up, I could see the monstrous abbey that is Mont Saint Michel in the distance.
   Mont Saint Michel is easily the most impressive building that I have ever seen. Not only is it enormous, but it was constructed on a hill which rests in quicksand. How on earth anyone managed to construct this without modern tools is absolutely beyond me. Upon entering, to be completely honest, I was a little annoyed that much of the base of Mont Saint Michel is a bit like a mall that sells souvenirs of itself.  However, after viewing the rest of the castle, I appreciated the elegance of all the rooms and the architecture. Looking down from the top balcony to the ground below was also magnificent. I could see France for miles. When I looked straight down, all the vehicles and people on the ground looked very much like colorful ants.
    After leaving Mont Saint Michel,  we headed for the hotel. The hotel was right across the street from the Atlantic, so after dinner, we all went swimming. It was pretty cold, but everyone had a lot of fun anyway. I spent about an hour playing frisbee in the water, and some stayed in even longer than I did! We were in bed by 10:30 because we had to wake up for breakfast at 8:00 and ready to leave for the day by 9:00.
   The first place we visited July 4th was the Point du Hoc. This is the site where the American Rangers landed and battled Germany during World War II. I  was able to walk through the underground bunkers of the Germans, and also able to view all the huge holes in the ground that were the products of explosives and artillery. This really made an impression on me.  What a thing it is, to be able to walk and view a place where so many people lost their lives fighting for the freedom of others.
    After the Point Du Hoc, we went to the the American cemetery. I always knew that a lot of people died on D-Day, but I was absolutely blown away be the sheer vastness of the cemetery. It was row after row of crosses, about as far as I could see. Because it was the fourth of July, there was a French organization there presenting each person who entered the cemetery with a rose to put on a grave of a soldier. I gave my rose to George H. Washington, who was from Oklahoma. It left a big impression on me, to give a name to the grave. Each grave had a name. And each name was a person who had a life, with friends, and family, just like me.
    I also visited the tombs of the unknown, right next to the cemetery. These people were also soldiers of the same battle as the soldiers in the cemetery, but who could not be identified. I think that this must be very upsetting for the families and descendants of these soldiers.
    Our group walked from the cemetery to Omaha beach. On the sand, we sang the national anthem. After picking up some shells, we returned to the bus, and headed for the Musée de Caen, the museum of WW1, WW2, and especially D-Day. I took many photos and learned a lot that I had not known before.
    This was without a doubt the best and most patriotic Fourth of July I could have ever  asked for. I truly feel blessed that I was privileged enough to spend my Fourth of July learning about and honoring those who died for us to make our country what it is today.

  

2nd week in Saumur

I just returned home from a neighborhood "picnic." I am going to start out this post with this neighborhood picnic while it is fresh in my mind. The food was fantastic, obviously (keep in mind I am in France.) The food was very different than any picnic I have ever seen in the US. It was a little like a fancy potluck (bread, cheese, creme brulée, quiche, roast chicken and ham, wine, every fruit, vegetable, and french dessert anyone could ever hope for, the list goes on and on.  After my first plate, I felt I owed it to myself to have seconds, or rab, as one of the neighbors told me. In addition to the food being excellent, I found the neighbors were very friendly and had conversations with many of them. I discussed all sorts of topics, from US and French history, to schooling in France, to French idioms. I had a great time, and not only got to eat great food but even got to learn some things and meet new people while I was eating.
I also learned many cool things in school this week. For literature we read an excerpt of Le Petit Prince, which I found to be an ingenious book when I read it in French class this past school year. We also have been learning about different areas of France in Culture class. I have found it both challenging and fun do discuss all our material in French.
This week our group also got to meet the mayor of Saumur. The mayor was very impressed with how well a group of American students could speak French. She also asked us how we liked the city and what we thought of France, to which everyone responded that Saumur and French life were reallly cool and really different from life in the US.
 What a week it's been! à bientot!
 


I'd like to mention as I write this Louis is furiously pounding away on his drumset

First Week In Saumur, France

I have passed a great first week in Saumur, France! Before departure in Chicago, I was pretty nervous and excited all at the same time. I was going far away from my home and everything and everyone that I knew with a group of people I had only met once before. But I soon found all the other kids participating in the program were very outgoing and I had made many new friends before I even boarded the plane. My nerves dissappeared and were replaced with excitement and anticipation of a fantastic summer! Upon arriving by shuttlebus in Saumur from the Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris, my nerves returned. All of the host families were waiting outside of the bus, waiting for their host student. I would again be leaving the group I had become familiar to with a French family. My host brothers, Louie and Leon had come to pick me up. Louie is 17, like me, and has his license. So he drove us all back home in the car. The first few days the boys spoke very quickly and my host mother had to tell them over and over "trop vite!" After the first weekend passed my ability to comprehend what I was being told increased significantly. Monday, the 17th, was my first day of class. For the first day of class we took a tour of downtown Saunur, I saw a lot of awesome things such as; the Chateau de Saumur and Saumur's military academy.
On my second day of school we had actual classes ( literature, grammar, linguistics, culture, and theatre.) I couldn't pick a favorite, I like them all and find them all very interesting. I also like the homework that we are given. The homework isn't bookwork, but questions to ask my family, which I have found helps spark conversation, and reading passages from French literature and history, from which I have learned a lot about the French culture of both the past and present.
 My class also made an excursion trip to the Chateaus of Chenanceau and Chambord this week. I have never seen any castles as magnificent as these! I saw a lot of the things I learned about in highschool French class, such as the Chambers of Louis 14 and the beautiful gardens at Chenanceau. And just yesterday ( Saturday, the 22nd) I attended an event downtown with an incredible display of vintage bicycles, games, cars, clothing, accessories, and all sorts of other crazy vintage collections!
As one can imagine, I have hours worth of information and stories to share, but my usage of internet in English is limited to one hour a week, as my trip is supposed to be entirely in French. So, I'm off to finish my homework for tomorrow (discussing the kinds of music my family members like and if the have any favorite musicians.) Until  next week, au revoir!

p.s. I looked for typos, but might have missed some. The French keyboards are different from ours in the USA!

p.p.s. I am going to upload photos as soon as I figure out how to. All of the computer options are in French and I don't want to accidently destroy my family's computer!