Before the Break

So here is that update that I have been promising you!

Wine tasting with French students:

French students are notoriously difficult to get to know. It's not that they are unfriendly, it is that they are not as open to dialogue with strangers... for the most part. That's a cultural trait that one must come to terms with when studying in France. That being said, I was absolutely thrilled when one of my classes was interrupted by some French psychology students inviting us out to visit some vineyards in the region as a cultural exchange. I was delighted! I anticipated the outing very much. There were about 3 times as many ERASMUS students as French students, but we broke into groups to get to know one another better. I was put into a group with my

Austrian friend Veronika and a native Angevin named Gabrielle, who studies philosophy at the Sorbonne. How cool is that?! That wasn't the only weird coincidence of the day: after I got home from the excursion, my host family told me that they were friends with the man who owned the first vineyard that we visited. Crazy stuff.

Anyways, the first winery was very cool. The man showed us all around one of his fields, and explained the process of how the grapes grew and the labor that was required, as well as how much light, moisture, and soil variation is needed:

The soil has an astronomical impact on the flavor of the wine. As we would later taste, the exact same grape processed the exact same was from two different fields taste nothing alike. It was bizzare. There were so many of us that we had to have the tasting within the cave where he made the wine:

That was a lot of fun. Then, onto a grand international picnic! We found a random field in the middle of the coutry with a great view of a spectacular country house. It was a great time. All of us were gathered together having so much fun! It was unreal. Next, the second place was visited. We were behind schedule so we didn't have that much time there as was planned. That was alright by me. The second winery wasn't as delicious as the first. It was a little off-putting. The countryside was gorgeous, however:

Oh, it was such a lovely day! We were back at the school by 4h30 and took our separate ways. I didn't buy any wine from my day, but I did by some most delicious grape juice from the first vineyard that we visited.

Amazing blues group at Le Wesh...:

The next day, Trey and I agreed to meet at Le Welsh because they had been announcing a Breton blues band would be playing that night. French blues? Yes, we were just as perplexed. And we were blown away by the amazingness of this group!!! Man, did they have swagger. You would think that they were all born and raised on the Mississippi delta as opposed to in the north of France. The head-bobbing, the encouraging shouting (i.e. sing it!), and the gratuitous cheering continued with each and every song. Simply put, they were FANTABULOUS. Despite cramped quarters and less than desirable acoustics, they still managed to rock my world and blow my mind with their amazingness. Trey, from Mississippi, was in agreement.

...and an unexpended jam session:

After the second set, a whole bunch of Africans that had been sitting towards the front began unpacking instruments. Apparently, the whole group was a gang of musicians from Bernike-Faso given a scholarship to study music in Angers. They had come to have a jam session with the blues band! The two worlds of music combined formed amazingly melodious, complex tunes and intriguing rhythms as all the musicians became completly immersed in their spontaneous creation. It was sublime. It was the most magical thing that my ears have ever heard. All too soon, they were done jamming... and half an hour had already gone by. It had seemed like only 7 minutes. THAT was some spectacular music.

Last classes of the semester:

They were over! I was happy... until I remembered that I had one left after break. Ick.

New friends and Irish tunes:

Le Welsh has a group of musicians come in every other Tuesday to play traditional Irish tunes. They are amazing and just complete the atmosphere of the bar (and I much prefer them to the accordion player that comes in on alternate weeks on Thursdays). Trey and I were enjoying their tunes together before vacation, when we stumbled across two fellow Americans at UCO, only in the CIDEF program. Le Welsh is the best-kept secret of Angers, for sure. And these students were enthralled by the bar, as it was their first time there. Trey and I made some new friends that day! It was wonderful.

Now you're caught up!

More things later.

Picnics and Procrastination

So... I haven't posted since spring break.

Woops.

For this, I profoundly apologize. Everything became very overwhelming after my wonderful vacation on the French Riviera. I promise to catch you guys up to speed in the next few posts. But I have had such glorious days recently that I just HAD to share it before everything else.

France has exam month. That's right: they draw out your suffering for a rediculous amount of time. And all of them are in a standardized style. They last 4 hours and have to be in a very strict form. You are not allowed to leave the room durring the first hour. They do not let you into the exam without your personal programme des examens and your carte d’étudiant... as if ANYONE would be willing to suffer through an exam unless they had to. Tant pis. I only have ONE LEFT. And I'll be chilling in Prague in between.

That said: I'M LEAVING FOR PRAGUE ON SUNDAY!!!

My wonderfulness of a week started last Saturday with a glorious picnic with fellow ERASMUS students in parc Balzac right along the Maine. Here is what our view was:

It was GORGEOUS, with the sun setting behind us and hot air balloons traversing the sky, it was as if our wine and cheese party in the grass was a perfect setup by the universe. Oh, it was a glorious occasion. After the sun went down and 10h30 was approaching, we relocated to Falstaff's, a bar downtown, to continue the party. It really wasn't my scene at all (the word "scuzzy" came to mind), but it was still a lot of fun.

Sunday was lazy. Monday was a night at the Welsh with Edgar and Trey. Trey will be adventuring for a bit, then picking up his wife in Paris, so I won't see him for a while. For Edgar, it was goodbye. Tuesday was a desperate attempt to study. Wednesday morning was my final written exam. I spent that afternoon exploring the Musée David d'Angers and the Musée des Beaux-Arts. Both were very cool: the former being located in a bombed-out church with a glass ceiling, the latter located in a renovated palace. Less modern art then I would have liked, but very fabulous collections. Thursday started slow with a liesurly walk downtown to buy some postcards and take in the sun a bit. That evening was my first ever oral exam... yikes!!! I hope it went well. The good news is that I only have one left at this point! Summer is so close, I can taste it!

Thursday evening requires a separate paragraph! Edgar and I agreed to meet up after my oral exam. Midnight in Paris, the new Woody Allen film, was on our list to see:

So we went to a little pasta place near the movie theater that was delicious. The theater is called 400 Coups, which is the name of one of the most famous and amazing French films of all time. It was very much like The Neon, but much larger. Once the film started, Edgar and I were in awe from start to finish. This film is on par with Woody Allen's classics! Oh, it made our hearts sing. And I'm pretty sure every other audience member wanted to kill those obnoxious English speakers who were constantly gasping and laughing and whispering excitedly. It felt so good to watch a film with a fellow enthusiast, which hasn't happened since Paris with Sofia. It really made me miss Bob. Even now, I still laugh at some of the jokes in the movie. It's a gem, and one to add to my permanent collection. After a very satisfying sojourn at the theater, Edgar and I stepped out into the beautiful, brisk night, and made a beeline for The Welsh. We met up with Maria and had an amazing time. Edgar and I said goodnight to her around midnight and began to head home... then ran into a bunch of ERASMUS students hanging out at another bar on the way. We stopped by to say hello and shoot pool. It was a blast! Thursday was an overall successful day.

Now, onto today! I have been in a certain funk lately where I will not greet the day unless there is some motivation that forces me to shower, eat regularly, and leave the house. It's been bad, I admit, but I'm working on it (see above). Anywho, upon hearing my dilema, Maria had invited me to see the amazing tapestry musem we have in town. I greeted the sunny day at 9am and was excited for our rendez-vous. It did not disappoint! I met Anna from Sweden and we all got sandwiches and ate under the shade of a tree in the gorgeous park behind the château. Conversation was lively and wonderful. Then we biked across the river to the little museum. A special thing about this museum: it is located in Europe's oldest hospital, built in the 12th century. On top of that cool atmosphere, imagine amazingly beautiful, innovative, breath-taking tapestries:

It was so glorious!!! I could have stared at some of those works all day. The one above mirrors the great Apocalypse tapestry, which is hanging in the château. Only this one, by Jean Lurçat, is not biblical in nature. It deals with the threat of nuclear holocaust. It's mind-blowing to think that these pieces are tapestries!!! Yeah, someone wove all of these beautiful things together. All that you can do is to simply stand in awe of them. After the amazing 2 and a half hours of admiring the tapestries, we meandered about in the herb garden at the side of the hospital. We left shortly after by bike, and Maria and I went to get coffee and some sorbet. Dinner with the family out on the patio was also fantastic. I have a farewell picnic to look forward to tomorrow evening, as well as packing for Prague!

Life is too fabulous to spend another full day in scrubs.

I promise to catch everyone up soon!