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.