La Dernière Note en France

It's hard to believe this day has come. My last day (last 4 hours) in Nantes. In exactly 4 hours I'll be leaving to go to the train station, and 30 minutes after that I will be on my train to Paris. I can't really describe my feelings besides the fact that my feelings remind me very much of the night before my first day of Freshman year of college....leaving behind a life I created and lived for something new. At least this time, I know what I'm headed towards.

The director of my program here told us that when we go back, "you will have changed...but no one will understand or treat you differently."

I already know this is true; I can feel it.  But I am the same Monica as always, just with more experiences, more knowledge, a more open mind...a piece of my heart will be left in Nantes tomorrow. This program has done something indescribable for me. I will never forget anything I experienced and I know that for the rest of my life I will look back on this trip in a light that is incomprehensible for anyone else to understand: fond memories but also incredible envy of my 19-year-old self and the life I once led, independent, in Europe. I will never be able to experience this again, but I am so thankful I had the opportunity to write this monumental chapter in my life.

With that said, I'm fricking ready to come home! I'm elated to be seeing you all again so soon!

Watch out, world. Monica is ready for you.

Beaucoup de Photos!

Hello from Portugal!

I just finished making captions for all of my online photo albums, so here are their links!

I'll do a broader update and an entry about Portugal when I get back to Nantes! So far Lisbon is AWESOME and I've met SOOOOO many amazing and fun people here in my hostel! I'm truly having the best time I could have ever hoped to have!


UPDATE: 

I'm back in Nantes, now, and it's truly the home stretch. I have 2 papers due and my final exam at the fac next week, and then the following 2 weeks are class reviews and IES finals! I have 2 more trips planned:  one through IES -- a trip to Clisson, France (this coming Saturday, the 24th)-- and another with 3 friends -- to the south of France to the large seaside city, Marseille (the following weekend, at the beginning of May).



Enjoy the photos and the commentary I added! Feel free to ask questions and I'll answer them in my next post!

Le Weekend de Pâques

Bonjour tout le monde! Happy Easter and Passover!
I thought I had updated my blog, but it turns out I published it under another account by accident! Here's my most recent entry! I wrote this yesterday--keep that in mind when you read my plans for "tonight" and "tomorrow."

It's been a long, long time since I last posted a blog entry (over a month I think, unacceptable)! I recently uploaded all the pictures I've taken up until this point, and they're all online! I'm working on captions and have completely finished my album from London:  Londres
I visited London the 19th through the 22nd of February, so a very long time ago! But here it is! I visited two friends from Ithaca, Rose (who I met way back in Orientation of Freshman year) and Laura (who I met through my sorority)! I stayed in their apartment, which is VERY nice, but very pricey as well. They're incredibly happy there because it's beautiful, very well situated, and their landlady loves them (and therefore gives them all of these random extra things like nice china). They live with a third student from Ithaca College named Kelly, who is also a very nice and fun person. (Ithaca has a college campus in London, so all of the students in their program are from Ithaca College, however they aren't fond of many of the other students, so they've become really close and have met and become friends with a lot of British blokes!)

This coming Thursday afternoon I'm leaving with my good friend Amanda to go to Lisbon, Portugal, and we're coming back the following Sunday afternoon (8th - 18th!). We are SO excited to go. We've heard so many amazing things about Lisbon and are staying in a hostel that's ranked among the best in the world!

I'm about to go to Amanda's house, actually, to eat dinner and sleep over (3-day weekend for Easter), so I'll continue writing captions and updating my blog tomorrow.
Update: I just got back from Amanda's house and we had a great time. I watched Paris, Je t'aime and Hannah Montana the Movie for the first time! 

I miss everyone very much (especially since I wasn't with my family to celebrate Easter for the first time, I think) and I can't wait to come home, even though I'm also sad that I only have about 40 days left of this program. It's been an incredible experience with many ups and downs, but I've never regretted my decision to come here. I hope everyone is doing very well--please keep me updated if you have any big (or small) news!

À bientôt,
Monica

Je Reviens!

I'm back!!

My winter break went very well, even though I had many problems traveling due to a general transportation strike in France. (Read the entire article...it's very interesting, especially the people's comments at the bottom.) I once thought I'd be stranded in Venice, and another time I thought that I'd be homeless in Paris for a night while suffering from a nasty bug (I think it was a combination of things I ate and drank in Venice). Neither of those things happened of course, although I did lose a little bit of money (although I have to say not nearly as much as some other students; many people were affected by the strike).

It's going to take me a while to make and caption my photo albums and then write an entry about my adventures, but in the mean time, check out the new links I put up! They're right under the the picture of the flag, always right above the most recent entry.

And here's proof that I actually DID travel!!!

Tchao!
Monica

Deux Jours!!

Ahhhh! I only have 2 days before my winter break starts! This is absolutely MIND BLOWING! I'm so excited, but at the same time, the time is going by too quickly :(

Change of topic so as to avoid depression, this weekend was really fun! Check it out (captions and all, don't fret!) in my new photo album!      Le Rugby et Les Marraines

Today I took my first midterm! Even though I studied for just under 2 hours for it, I didn't feel as prepared for it as I'd hoped. But I'm sure I did well on it nonetheless. The teachers here are really nice in that they don't assign homework for the breaks (not that some classes ever give nightly homework, but you know, the ones that do)! When I asked my grammar teacher if there was homework over the break she responded, "Psh, do you think I'm that naive?! To assign homework over a break when you're all traveling around Europe?!" haha. Elle a raison.

I'm not going to bring my computer with me when traveling, so this might be the last entry until a week from Friday or so.

I bought a Twix Bar and I'm about to eat it. I'm really excited; it's my first piece of American candy since being here.

Bonne semaine,
Monica

PS - DNA in France is ADN
PPS - I bought 2 pairs of tights and a skirt for 15 Euros! (I'm finally satisfied with my wardrobe/selection, and I'm rather good at finding bargains; all the students were impressed with my finds!)

La Météo

Weather conditions in Nantes:

You'd THINK it snowed this much yesterday with the problems there were involving the public transportation system....

Le Club de Conversation!

I just finished making captions for my rather large new photo album! I have pictures of all sorts of things, so enjoy!  Les Saints et Les Amis

Once again this week flew by....next Friday I head off to London for my first break and when I come back it'll be March. I honestly don't know where time's been going.

I'm pretty sure that I'm just going to London and Venice now, and not Belgium because I couldn't get the girl that originally agreed to go with me to commit. I don't think she's doing anything for break because she never planned anything...Oh well. I might check out Rome for a day by myself (because it's so cheap to get there from Venice) and then head back to Nantes the Friday or Saturday of my break. Mme. Rouchet (one of the directors at IES) said that students that travel the entirety of the breaks are always too exhausted, anyways, so it'd be a good idea for me to come back and have a day or two to rest.

The Conversation Club started 3 weeks ago (3 Tuesday ago). The first night I was too tired after all my classes, so I didn't go. Last Tuesday and this Tuesday I DID go, though! And I will never miss another one again, no matter how tired I am!

It's the coolest club where IES students and French students from the University get together in groups of 10-15 in separate rooms and play social games or talk about a certain topic. Either half of the sessions is held is French and then the other English, or the American students speak in French the entire time and the French students speak in English the entire time (I've had both). It's really fun and you get to meet a lot of really nice, funny, and cool French students. It's an hour and a half so you really get a lot of time to practice speaking, listening, and getting to know each other. Plus, it's always reassuring to see other students your age trying to speaking your language with the same difficulties and mistakes as you have while speaking theirs. I love this activity; it's one of my favorite activities in the entire program here in Nantes.

I don't have too much else to tell you except for the fact that I can't really Skype with anyone. Ichat and OoVoo don't work either (other types of internet video chatting). The wireless internet here (and apparently all over Europe) just isn't good enough unless you have your own private internet router (which a lot of people actually don't have, including me). And the wifi offered at IES was horrible the one day I tried it.

So, if you'd like to talk to me more, my only suggestion is through AIM (AOL Instant Messaging).  If you don't already have a screenname, you can quickly make one free of charge; then I can instant message you!

Lemme know,
Monica