Best of March

The time is absolutely flying by! I feel like I just landed here in Nantes for the semester, but here I am already at the end of March. The last few weeks have been pretty busy for me between studying for and taking midterm exams (which went pretty well!) and enjoying the warm Spring weather. Here the some of my March highlights:

When I returned to my room after my first day back to classes after winter break, I found a vase of flowers and a little wrapped present from my host mom. The present had a post-it note that said "petit cadeau de printemps" (small gift of spring), and turned out to be a beautiful beaded bracelet. My host mother is so sweet. Since then, she has replaced the flowers in my room a few times with fresh different varieties, which puts me in such a spring mood.

A couple weekends ago, I went to a (free) tasting of local wine, cheese, and other regional specialties. I don't know much of anything about wine quality or taste, but it was a lot of fun to talk to the vintners of Nantes and get some free samples. I also tried escargot, salsa, cheese, and a little individual-sized cake. If I wasn't afraid of breaking a wine bottle or spilling snail juice all over my luggage, I would love to bring some Nantes delicacies back to the States.  

Cheers! Wine tasting with my friend Jacob

Last week I finally went kayaking for the first time! Every time I walk home along the river I see a bunch of people canoeing, kayaking, and rowing, and I wanted a piece of the action. My friend Devin and I signed up for a canoe/kayak phys. ed. class with the University of Nantes, so we met up with the "professor" and four other students to head to the river. It was so much fun, but we didn't bring a change of clothes, so we were pretty wet for most of the rest of the afternoon. So worth it. Next week we're going to play a game that looks somewhat like basketball, but you use your kayak paddle to gain control of the ball and launch it into the basket/net. We watched some people do it last week, and it looks pretty awesome.

I promise we actually went in the water, I just didn't want to get my camera wet

For St. Patrick's Day, I met up with a bunch of (American) friends from IES and some French amis from Conversation Club and various activities at the University. We naturally gravitated towards the only Irish pub in town, John McByrne's, as did seemingly everyone else in Nantes. Despite the enormous group of people in the street, it was a lot of fun to experience a French St. Patrick's Day. For the most part it seemed like only people under the age of 25 acknowledged the holiday here--my host parents didn't even know it was St. Patty's Day and my grammar professor laughed when we asked her what she was planning on doing to celebrate.

 This past weekend, I stopped quickly by Les Machines de l'Ile, a permanent cultural and artistic project (and major Nantes tourist attraction) with giant mechanical animals. I wasn't there long and didn't want to spend money, so I didn't go in the warehouse to see the whole lot of machine creatures, but I did get to see the most famous one--the enormous elephant! It can walk, shoot water out of it's trunk, and carry a group of people on its back. I'll have to return some time soon to catch a ride!

On Tuesday, we had the March birthday party at IES. This month's cake was some sort of fruit medley tart...I don't recall the exact ingredients, but it was quite tasty. I'm sure going to miss singing "Joyeux Anniversaire" and tasting a new variety of dessert every month. Maybe I can continue the tradition with my res life staff next semester.  

The past few days have been absolutely gorgeous outside. I've always found Nantes to be a beautiful city, but with clear blue skies and 65 degree weather, it's even more so. I've been enjoying the sunlight by relaxing along the river, going on picnics, and promenading through pretty gardens. I just discovered the Jardin des Plantes (Garden of Plants) today, which is great place to take a relaxing and scenic stroll, observe wildlife (and adorable French children!), or take pleasing nature photos. Plus it's only a 10 minute walk from my house!

Alyssa in the Jardin des Plantes

Tonight, my friend Katie had a dinner party at her host families house. It was a great time, and turned out to be a group with a lot people I don't often hang out with or know very well, so it was a nice change of pace. We had a simple but delicious chicken, vegetable, and rice meal with rich chocolate cake for dessert. Afterwards, we played a round of telephone pictionary, which was hilarious as usual. This group must be better at drawing than the one with which I went to Spain, because most of the final sentences retained most of the elements in the original sentence. The girl who sat to my left and received all my drawings was luckily on the same wavelength as me--she was even able to successfully interpret a drawing I did of Mrs. Pacman eating a squirrel sandwich.

Tomorrow I leave for a weekend field trip with IES to Caen and the D-Day beaches in Normandy. In preparation for the trip, a group of us watched Il Faut Sauver le Soldat Ryan (Saving Private Ryan), about the U.S. Normandy Landings during World War II. We're traveling with a French historian, so I expect it will be both an emotionally moving and informative weekend. I'll let you know in a few days!