Monday held nothing out of the ordinary, aside from great conversation with my friend Elvia and an amazing Holocaust Literature class where we talked about Emmanuel Levinas!!! It made my day. I also found out about a great program called WWOOFing, but more on that later.
Tuesday was another gorgeous spring day with an interesting afternoon class about acting theory. I love that class when there are lots of weird videos involved that show different acting techniques. But the week didn't get truly great until that afternoon. I had an amazing skype date with my family! Then came a very lovely encounter with my host family at dinner. Anne had a meeting and was not eating with us. It was just me, Benoit, and Manon. As we were clearing the table after dinner, Manon blurted out the phrase "little spoon". I burst out laughing and asked her why she said that. Then, I got to explain the term "little spoon" to my host sister and she had a good laugh with me (it should be noted that the "little spoon" is the person who is being cuddled with when two people are napping facing the same direction, and therefore the person hugging them is the "big spoon"). Benoit still didn't get it. It would be hard for spoons to spoon in France, as they only come in two sizes: tiny for eating dessert or stiring one's tea, and monstorous for eating soup.
Admittingly, I had a lot of homework to do, but I could not pass up the opportunity to see some live music at my favorite bar, Le Welsh. Trey and I met up at le Jardin de Mail:
It's a gorgeous place and one of the many wonderful parks that are magnificent in the spring. From there, it's just a short walk to Le Welsh. Trey and I split some La Piautre, and the bartender told us that it's named after a special type of rudder used on the barges that transport goods along the Loire river:
I have to bring some back! It's delicious, and an organic brew produced locally. The live music was fantastic. It was all Irish reels and jiggs performed by a group with traditional instruments. They were the perfection of franglais, half of them speaking in english and the other half in french. However, the main force of communication was the music. They played together so well! Ah, it was gorgeous. We met a Quebecois at the bar who recognised Trey from a CouchSurfing event (he has a giant red beard and is therefore hard to miss). We talked with him for a long time before heading home after midnight.
I woke up early on Wednesday to finish my essay for a class that afternoon, but my day was still very good with that aside. Robert and I had made a dinner date to check out a mexican restaurant in the centre ville as we were both craving mexican. It had gotten good reviews from my Parisian friend Sofia. We met up at around 6:30, and the restaurant didn't open for an hour. We hung out barefoot in le Jardin des Plantes behind the castle and cathedral, right along the river. Being barefoot in the shade and talking about everything and anything was so wonderful. I even managed to forget my extreme hunger for a bit. The restaurant did not disappoint. I had my first margerita (which was 50% tequila, I am sure) and the meal was delicious. Robert and I had fresh-out-of-the-oven brownies for dessert. We ended the evening early (around 9:30) but it was magnificent none the less.
The next morning, I took the train to Nantes because I was out of soap. Sounds silly, doesn't it? But I found this amazing new brand of all natural, vegeterian, economically responsible products that I adore. I refuse to use anything else. Best showers I have ever taken, I kid you not. These products make me feel like a goddess. So it's worth 10 euros and a short train ride to get what I want. After buying what I needed, I had plenty of time before I had to catch the train home. So, I went walking. I walked around the castle for a bit:
It was gorgeous. Ah, I took my time with this one. I did not actually enter the castle, but rather took a walk around it. There is a lovely park and public garden. All of the mothers were out with their children:
It was such a beautiful morning. After a walk around the castle, I went to a public gardens right across from the train station. Oh, so many gorgeous things to see! It was very well planned and had amazing groups of flowers and little grottos and waterfalls. I took my time meandering about, and encountered two brothers from Senegal. We became fast friends and spent a good amount of time sitting in the shade, talking about politics and ignorance and traveling. They thougth I was German and were shocked to hear that I was American. They were really cool. French men have no problem making advances. None at all. We both had different trains at the same time, so they saw me off at the station. The week was going great for me, and springtime in France is the most magical time!
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