L'Abbaye aux Dames: Girl Power

Today I went on a tour of Abbaye aux Dames (Women's Abbey) in downtown Caen. The garden of Abbaye is where I run, but I had never been inside so today I thought, pourquoi pas?

I was actually really inspired because the building and church are all dedicated to women saints only. (Shout out: Grandma, did you know there is a Sainte Judith?) 

Also, Charlotte Corday lived and was educated at the abbey from 1782-1789. She is a very well-known figure because she is the one who murdered revolutionary leader Jean-Paul Marat. This was her handy-work (see famous painting La Mort de Marat,) but then it was off-with-her-head. Unfortunate end, but I will say that this young girl from Caen really made a splash in the boy's club during the French Revolution!

Here are some more pictures of Abbaye aux Dames. A must-see!

The main church where Reine Mathilde is buried:

Eeeks?

My Dream House:

 

Baby Carnavale

Post-adult Carnavale, I was invited to go to the little one's Carnavale celebration at their school. They sang little French songs and ate little French crepes and it was BEYOND cute.

I did notice, though, that a lot of the outfit choices were quite different. While there were obviously the old classics (princesses and super heros), there were also some new ones that I enjoyed such as Asterix, girls dressed as little Norman fishermen, baby mimes, and a lot of Spanish conquistadors. Precious.

Carnavale!

Carnavale in Caen = day drinking, Halloween costumes, and the all around hilarity of seeing young French population participate in something that seems so American and frat-y!

Mira and I went with the traditional Carnavale look:

My first European Carnavale was definitely a success! 

oh, and P.S. I saw someone dressed as an 'American' and she painted herself orange and had her hair in a 'poof.'  Thanks a lot Snookie...

Ummm...

Is the sign telling you how fat you are when you choose a dessert in the school cafeteria really necessary? Deeepressing.

Les Bébés Français

I currently live in an apartment that I rent from a couple with three little kids. They essentially live above my unit, so I have a lot of interaction with them and love it. 

This probably will make me sound like an ice queen, but I'm not usually one to loovveeee little kids. I'm way too impatient and germophobic to be a big 'kid' person. HOWEVER, these three little French babies have melted my cold, snot-fearing heart and I am having such a great time with them!

I mean, just look at my sweet little Arthur waiting for someone to take him on a bike ride :) 

 

You can click on this video to get a better understanding of the little-kids-speaking-French-cuteness-overload happening in my life right now! A bientôt!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ph3DGFMV8c

Pensée du Jour

"Travel often, getting lost will help you find yourself."

Paris, je t'aime

Well, I'm back from Paris and it was just what I needed; complete with Parisian sunshine, window shopping, café hopping, and dry heaving at the smelly Metro-goers. Ahhh, Paris, how I've missed thee...

I went this time with my lovely friend Mira. Here are a few highlights: 

Our beautiful room. We stayed at the l'Hôtel Bradford Elysées and it was just as girly and Georgian as I like it!

Mira's first Starbucks ever! She liked it, but thought I was such a diva after it took me ten minutes to order my exact drink :) 

Centre Pompidou: Centre Pompidou (the modern art museum) is just finishing up their current exhibition, but will be starting a new Matisse exhibition in April which should be amazing!

Barrio Latino: It's a fun place to have dinner and go out, but I secretly persuaded Mira to go there because they have chips and guac...sorry I'm not sorry for craving Mexican/Latin food!

5. Not much better than a night out with good friends in Paris--c'est la vie!

Next time I'm in Paris I will be there will my parents and rendez-vous-ing with my boyfriend...can't wait!

 

Lamest Blog Post in All the Land

Well, nothing fun or interesting to report this week because I have six French tests and am bouncing between two high schools teaching and subbing as well. Wampp wammppppp

On a brighter note, I will be in Paris this weekend with my friend Mira so that is something quite nice to look forward to! She's a euro and has been there a million times, so our list of to-do's includes things like find great vintage shops and eat and drink...a lot. My kinda travel partner! 

Will post when I get back but in the meantime, wish me luck and enjoy the warm weather and Doritos tacos over there for me! Bisous!

Language Hangover

Only in Brittany’s French bizarre-o world does the Irish drinking holiday of St. Patrick's day go like this: 

--Italian food for dinner with two French people: switching between Italian with the waiter, and French with my friends

--Off to the Irish pub with all Irish and English language assistants: speaking British English…well not me because I’m not Madonna...but I was surrounded by it anyway

--Finally, head to the Latin club, Ché, to speak Spanish for the rest of the night with my Spanish roommate and her friends.

My head is spinning and no, it’s not because of those damn mojitos. I actually believe that I may have a language hangover. Holy left-brain overload!

 I hope everyone had a great St. P's day! I miss everyone!!  

Tout à l'heure!

Il fait beau!

It's a beautiful day in Caen which means it's pique-nique time! I hear it's just as beautiful back home in the States so I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying your non-winter! Bisous!

Café Magic!

While France is not really a "coffee-to-go" kind of culture, they do have several of these little gems in every building on campus. My friend Mira and I are now suckers for these little coffee making machines and I feel so energized when I'm running on 5 espressos a day!! 

The one in the picture is .80 euros but others are as cheap as .40 euros so it's hard to say no! I must say though, that the American in me still craves a Starbucks skinny vanilla latte, but that's our little secret...

Bon appetit!

So Over My Salads...

Well, it's lunchtime in France and as usual, queues of skinny people form in order to get a giant piece of bread product from the boulangeries.

I mean, seriously? Can someone PLEASE let me in on this bread diet secret? Rude. 

Laundry Day in France = The WORST

Let me know just make a suggestion to you if you do not speak French--do not try to do laundry. 

I mean, what in the giant-wall-long-instructions is going on?? Luckily I made a friend who helped me because, yikes! If you do try to faire la lessive without the apparent proper language training needed, then bon courage! You are a brave soul! :)

Tout à l'heure mes amis!

Parlez-vous français?

You may not speak French, but let me tell you who does...this wiener dog.

I don't know why that is so hard for me to grasp. The dog does not respond to "come, sit, or stay" but rather "viens, assis, et reste." This was all a very Water for Elephants experience for me and it got me thinking, should I teach my future dog to be puppy bi-lingual??  

p.s. The wiener dog in this picture was sashay-ing around la maison de l'etudiant where I study and I thought he might be homeless because he was sans collar, but then his owner came and scooped him up into his man-purse. C'est dommage pour moi because I reallllly wanted to take him home :) 

Caen and WWII

I thought I would share some interesting information I learned this week. I'm taking a French Civilization course at the University here and we just finished a unit on WWII and the reconstruction of France. 

Some highlights pertaining to my hood...

1. About 70% of Caen was destroyed during the WWII bombings. It was a very important port town at the time and this is why I'm told it was a target. Regardez:

2. What is most striking in the picture above is that you can see that there are a few buildings still standing and those just happen to be the most important and historic cathedrals and castles in town. A few spires were knocked down, but overall, many historical elements in Caen were not bombed. This leads to me point three...

3. The architects in charge of rebuilding Caen decided to go with the architecture that would make Caen look much like it did before the bombings. Although some things obviously were updated, Caen largely holds its historical feel because anything that was destroyed was rebuilt in an identical fashion. This marks a stark difference between the other town that was hit equally as hard during the WWII bombings, Le Havre. They went with more modern architecture and now the two towns look and feel completely different. 

4. Due to the layout of beach landings, the Canadians were the soldiers that came and fought in Caen. Here is a neat picture that my teacher showed us from they got into the town...pretty incredible! Well, I hope you enjoyed your history lesson for the day! :) Tout à l'heure!

Les Livres

If there was ever a book to recommend to everyone you know, this is it.  

Me Talk Pretty One Day by my beloved David Sedaris is one of my all-time favorite books. My friend Michelle turned me on to D.S. and I've never looked back!

The book consists of a melange of Sedaris' short essays mostly themed around...wait for it...living in Normandy, France and trying to learn French. Sound familiar? Obviously I would take interest in this, but I really think if you like 'smart-ass humor,' which I know that many of you reading this do, you will find this book to be quite hilarious. I would actually laugh-out-loud and I think that's pretty tough for a book to do these days. 

So stop what you're reading and go buy this book. I promise you will not regret it! 

Tout à l'heure mes amis!

Paris Fashion Week

Alas, Paris Fashion Week has come to a close, and I, for some reason, did not receive an invitation. I'm sure it just got lost in the French mail system, right Stella McCartney and Marc Jacobs?? Oh well, there's always the fall...

 p.s. Could Matt Damon and his wife be more precious?

 p.p.s Could Anna Wintour be more scary?

Citation du Jour

"Tous les globe-trotters du monde le savent, c'est dans les rues qu'ils se frottent à l'identité d'un pays, tant esthétique que politique, tant mystique qu'économique."

                                                          -Manu Chao

Plages du Débarquement (Normandy Beaches)

This Sunday, I had the chance to go to the Normandy beaches and surrounding area. This is what you first see when you approach the towns that surround the beaches.

Here are a couple photos of the beaches. The first is the Pointe du Hoc area (between Utah and Omaha) and the second is Omaha Beach. Somehow it was just as I had imagined it.

Talk about putting things in your life into perspective... 

Here, my friend Mira and I are standing on the edge of the Batterie de Longues-sur-Mer area which is where a lot of German soldiers kept their ammunition and were in hiding, ready to shoot. The little crawl spaces were quite eerie so it's odd that we are smiling in this picture but we didn't know what else to do with ourselves!

Finally, we were able to spend some time at the American Cemetery and Memorial. Doesn't get much more powerful than this.

I will be returning to the Normandy beaches when my parents come in April, so if anyone has any suggestions for areas they found particularly moving, please send them my way!

 

Small Side Note:

March in Normandy is not the most pleasant time to do outdoor tours. Case in point:

HOWEVER, (in big letters!) we were often the only ones at the tourist spots which allowed us to move quickly from place-to-place and see a lot of Normandy because there really are booklets of museums, beaches, monuments, etc. to see there. It is one of the most visited places in the world, so you do the math to figure out what this place will be like come June. 

Oh, and remember how I'm complaining about the bad weather we had that day, yeah well, when you see all of these monuments and what these soldiers did for us and France, you are more than humbled. In other words, if you ever have the opportunity to go to the Normandy beaches, no matter what time of year, JUST GO. :)

Welcome to Bayeux...

...where we have a 230 foot long tapestry 800 years older than your country....BAM!

 Bayeux is a town that I believe is the closest to the traditional Gaul France that you're going to find. I mean, look at this precious place!

Bayeux is where they house the Bayeux Tapestry (naturally) and other medieval gems that make you feel like George Washington could be the same age as your uncle twice removed. 

This amazing piece of work depicts the Battle of Hastings and hence, the beginning of the Norman Conquest a.k.a the reason why there are so many French words in the English language and I can speak Franglais so fluently. 

We also were able to catch the beginning of mass at the Notre Dame Cathedral in town. Both sights are must sees if you are in Normandy. Pretty incredible, I must say.  

 Top it off with a lunch break in a little crepe hut on the water...c'est la vie!