Babysitting and Castle Adventures

Wow the past two weeks have flown by ! Sorry I have not had the chance to write to you ! Classes are going well and keeping me busy. Last weekend I spent catching up on work that I had put off while my family was here and also catching up on rest because we are in the final count down now !! Only four weeks left until I am back ! Holy cow has time flown !!

I have started babysitting for the director of the international program here once a week so that she can have some extra time herself. She is a single mother as well as dedicated teacher and director so I am very excited about the opportunity to give back to her for all the hard work she puts in for us students and it is great getting to know her better. Her son is named Olly, is almost two and one of the cutest little boys ever. While I am watching him we play games and watch movies in English because she wants to raise him bilingually. It is really interesting because he usually responds in French, although he mostly understands me in English (sometimes I have to repeat in French). So that has been a fun addition to my week !  

Yesterday I went on a mini adventure to a small town called Amboise with my friend Min. Our plan was to see the château there and Leonardo de Vinci’s house then take a train over to another beautiful château nearby. We ended up seeing a bunch of our friends there because the CIDEF excursion was also spending some time there so we toured the château and Leo’s house with them before getting lunch together !  It was a great time ! The château was stunning and included a chapel where Leonardo is buried !! That was very cool to see. His house was awesome too however a lot of rooms where closed to the public so we enjoyed his gardens the most because a lot of his inventions were on display there.

Once they left, we headed back to the train station to get a ticket over to Chenonceau, the other château we had planned to see, however there were no direct trains and the only one would get us there had a long layout and we would have arrived after it closed !! So we just bought a ticket home… We did have a really great morning though plus we were exhausted so it was nice to be home a little earlier even if we didn't see all that we had planned.

This week I have a couple tests so wish me luck ! Next weekend will be fun though because I am going on the Normandy excursion AND a German friend from the September class is coming back to visit for the weekend so that will be great to see him !

Family Time!

What a week ! As you know my family came to visit me and we had an amazing time!

                I met them at the airport in Paris on Friday, and we spent the weekend there! Friday we visited the Musée de l’armée and basically wandered around seeing all the fancy shops, a few Cathedrals and what not. Saturday we saw the Catacombs (spooky!) the Eiffel Tower and went on an impromptu dinner cruise on the Seine! It was so amazing! All the monuments and famous buildings were lit up by then so we could easily pick out the Louvre, the Musé d’Orsay, Notre Dame, etc. Also the food was delicious, so it was a fantastic time. Afterwards we meant to go see the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysées but it started pouring on us! As in we were soaked immediately so we turned back and called in a night. Sunday we got up bright and early because Versailles AND the Louvre had free entry! So we went to Versailles first and holy crap, it was stunning. We got to see the Palace including but not limited to the King’s and Queen’s rooms, the Hall of Mirrors, as well as tour the gardens in the back. Definitely makes the list of most beautiful places I have ever been. Next we hurried back to see the Louvre! We found a side entrance so we skipped the huge line out front (suckers!) It was amazing! We didn’t have much of a plan except to see the Mona Lisa (she’s still looking good!) so after that we meandered through ancient Greek, Roman, and Egyptian works. We exited through the front because of course we had to see the pyramid and the lovely courtyard. After that we had to catch our train back to Angers!

                This week I had all my midterms and my family needed to catch up on sleep because I didn’t really let them while we were in Paris. There was way too much to see for them to be sleeping all day! So we took it easy and enjoyed our time together. They got to walk me to class and I showed them around town. We saw some of the nice parks, two cathedrals (a “young” one built “only” 200 years ago and the other building in the 1300s!) and the chateau during the course of the week. Thursday my host family had us all over for dinner! It was so much fun! They invited a neighbor who works for my school and is also American to help me translate (my family doesn’t speak any French and my host family doesn’t speak English!). The food was delicious (as always) and we had a really great time. It was nice to show my family where I live and who I live with and they feel much better going home and knowing first hand that I am in good hands here.