Une fille de voyage

Welcome to my blog. My name is Amber, and I'm a senior in college. This blog serves as an electronic journal to primarily document my study abroad experience in France from May 27th to June 22nd.

[enthusiastic-explorer]

Vendredi 6.1.2018 Jour 5 en France

Today was a long day! I woke up earlier than usual because we had to meet at the Gare-Rue Verte (Station-Green Street) before 8:15h in the morning. We were going to take the train and couldn’t be late. I was worried about being late, so I ate a light breakfast but took an apricot, tomato, and some bread with me to snack on. I managed to be a whole hour early, so I lingered outside of the Gare-Rue Verte for some time, but I didn’t want to be approached by any strangers or look vulnerable, so I went inside of the Gare where a little convenient market stood. I looked around, and bought a pencil pouch, and a book in French to practice my reading skills. I walked back outside and sat on the only places there was to sit, but I didn’t sit long before Abby walked up, also super early. I waved her down, and we decided to move to a little café nearby, called Bandol, so that we didn’t look vulnerable. The Gare-Rue Verte was heavy with foot traffic as it’s a major train station, and there were several peddlers / strange looking people walking around. Abby and I both got an espresso, and just sat talking and getting to know each other better. Abby was my French tutor during the past semester and I really appreciate her. Later, we decided to walk back to the front of the train station and spotted a couple of other students in our groups. Mme E was getting all of us sandwiches from a local shop called ‘Yvonne’ to take with us to eat when we got to the garden. We were going to Le Jardins de Monet en Giverny, France (Garden of Claude Monet) today. We collected ourselves, boarded the train, and went on our way. The train ride was approximately 3.5 hours, and then we had to take a shuttle to the garden which was an additional hour. We finally arrived and immediately had a little pique-nique as we were all hungry. The garden has thus far been my favorite excursion. I love nature, plants, flowers, bees, etc. Unfortunately, it did rain heavily. I didn’t mind, because it was still so beautiful, and these were sights I may never see again in person. I took many pictures. We also took a tour inside Claude Monet’s house, which was also beautiful. It was a really nice time. We spent several hours there but made our way back so that we could have supper with our families. Once back with my family, I enjoyed a glass of wine and spent time after dinner bonding and hanging out with them.    

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Jeudi  5.31.2018 Jour 4 en France

Today was another day of 3-hour French classes, and I had no trouble with the transit system. By this time, I’m getting a better grip on things. I have an advantage over some of the other students on the trip because I bus everywhere I go back in the States, but some of the students on the trip here have never used public transit. After lunch, we took the bus back to Centre Ville for our Reception at La Mairie honoring the connection between Rouen and Cleveland being sister cities. It’s sort of ironic that these two cities are sister cities because their weather patterns are so closely related. We arrived early, so we walked around Abbatiale Saint-Ouen (Monastery of Saint-Ouen) and took some pictures of the architecture outside. Time passed, and we had our quaint reception with the mayor of Rouen and conversed. The reception ended rather early, and I needed to go shopping for a bathing suit because after supper last night I had mentioned to my host family that I’ve never been to the ocean. They were so surprised that they promised that we would go this Sunday, and I needed a swimsuit. So, Carly, Indra, Audrey and I went to H&M where I picked up a lavender swimsuit. Then on our way to get something to drink, I stopped for a frozen Nutella macaron, and we made our way to a tea shop called ‘Dame Cakes’, where I enjoyed a lovely Green tea named ‘Vert Provence’. Afterward, we made our way to meet Mme E, Kim, and Abby for dinner before we all attended this classical concert honoring Jeanne d’Arc en musique. At dinner, we each had crêpe & hard cider followed by shared dessert crêpe. The classical concert was pleasant. Afterward, I walked home and prepared for an early rise the next day.

[enthusiastic-explorer]

Mercredi 5.30.2018 Jour  3 en France

Today I woke up earlier than 7:30 so that I could shower and have breakfast, and still catch the 8:00 bus. I was tired though because I didn’t sleep well. My host mom had already left for work, but I sat and talked to Marie for a little bit. I successfully navigated my busses, but due to traffic I was late to class by 15 minutes. The professor didn’t mind that much, considering we were waiting for one more student to join us who came close to 10:30. From 9h to 12h we had class, followed by lunch, followed by another meeting before we all went to Centre Ville together. We made our way to Le Musée Beaux Arts, which translates to the Fine Arts Museum. We were greeted by our guide, Franck, who was guiding us around the museum and giving us information about some of the more popular paintings, but he did so in French that was far beyond my level. Thankfully, MMe E. translated a summary of what he said for us to understand. We didn’t spend much time here, just around 1h and 30 minutes. After, we walked through a Park nearby called Square Verdrel. With all the walking we did, we grew hungry, so we walked to a little café nearby called ‘Social Perk’ which is supposedly a parallel to the Friends’ TV show series who often visit a café called ‘Central Perk’ (I’m not sure how true it is, as I’ve never seen the show). Anyhow, I enjoyed a delicious mango, pineapple, passion fruit smoothie before heading home for supper and family time. I presented the gifts I had brought for my host family after supper, and they seemed to enjoy them. I brought a card game, Apples to Apples for the whole family; Gobstoppers candy for Antoine and Marie; a deck of Vera Bradly printed playing cards for Marie; and I painted them a picture of our Terminal Tower which I didn’t pack with me because I didn’t want it to face damage on the flight. I told them I would mail it from the US when I return home. They told me that my gifts were unique and resembled my personality, which they adore, so I was relieved to see they enjoyed my gifts.

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If you would like to view visuals of my trip, I recommend visiting the attached link to a photo album I’m putting together on Facebook. The wifi here is not that good, therefore it creates issues when I attempt to upload images to Tumblr. You don’t have to have me as a friend on Facebook to view the album. Details and dates will be attached to the photos. 

Thank you. 

[enthusiastic-explorer]

Mardi  5.29.2018 jour 2 en France

This day was an adventure. I woke up early, around 7:30 after a terrible attempt at sleeping, and had an omelet for breakfast that Karine prepared for me. We socialized a bit before I left to walk to my bus stop. I missed the 8:00 bus so I had to wait for 10 minutes for the next one. I didn’t know how my ID scanned, so an older French man helped me. The 5 took me to Centre Ville, which is their “city square” where I connected to an F2 to take me to classes. I had forgotten which stop I had to get off at, and I panicked which resulted in my premature getting off. I had gotten off at the stop in front of the University of Rouen, which was not where we were having our classes, but after asking directions one of the administrators at the University of Rouen walked me over to where classes were being held at, ESPE de l’academie de Rouen in Mont-Saint-Aignan. I made it to class a little past 9:00 but found that I was not the only one having issues finding their way, so a sense of relief blew over me. After our 3-hour lecture we walked back to the University of Rouen, which I guided the group to – now having the knowledge of getting to and from – for a little meeting before dispersing to catch the F2 back to the Centre Ville. We walked around to see shops, bits of the city, l’Eglise Sainte Jeanne D’Arc (church of Joan of Arc) and 3 cathedrals. The cathedrals were: La cathédrale Notre Dame, Place de la Cathédral, et Saint Maclou. Additionally, we were able to walk around la rue du Gros horloge (big clock), and a tour inside. After the tour of the clocktower, Connor, Babic, Hannah and I went to a Pharmacie because Hannah and I both needed toothpaste, & Connor needed deodorant. Moreover, we all walked to a bus stop to head home to be on time for supper with our families. I had thought I was on the right bus, but I was wrong, and the bus driver stopped at Centre Ville and kicked us all off. I panicked, but he explained to me that I just needed to switch sides and catch the 5 going in the other direction. Finally, I calmed and made it home for supper with time to spare. We had pasta with meat on top and shredded cheese. For dessert we had fraises avec sucre (strawberries with sugar), and un melon (a cantaloupe). Not long after I tried to get some sleep for another journey.

[enthusiastic-explorer]

Lundi 28.5.2018 Jour 1 en France

We collected ourselves after the 8-hour flight from Detroit Michigan to Charles de Gaulle airport. I managed to sleep for 2 of the 8 hours but instead of being tired I was thrilled. We went through customs where I received my first Visa stamp in my passport. We proceeded to retrieve our baggage and met with our bus driver who was to take us to Rouen. The drive was typically only 3 hours, but due to traffic and construction it took us 4.5 hours which set us behind a little bit. After taking a few pictures, I managed to sleep on the bus ride as best as I could. Finally, we arrived at the University of Rouen where we were given delicious sandwiches and welcome gifts. While we were introduced to the program and given syllabi for the duration of our time in Rouen. An hour past and we were shuffled outside to be picked up by our host families. Aside from email correspondence none of us had met our families before. The moment was shocking and exciting for everyone. My host mother, Karine and her daughter, Marie came to pick me up. After introductions were made we went on our way to their house which would be my home for the next 3 weeks. Karine spoke little English, and Marie was too shy to say anything just yet, but we communicated a little about ourselves in French. Karine drove me around and explained to me where I would have to catch the bus for the next morning to go to class. Lastly, we arrived at home and they showed me to my room. After I got situated, we had supper together at 8pm, which is when they always have supper. We ate Mexican burritos for supper. After getting acquainted with everyone else of the family, Antoine, and Jean-Christophe, I went back down to my room to prepare for my early morning and catch up on sleep.

[enthusiastic-explorer]

Goodbye Cleveland!

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I've got my sudoku puzzle book, and writing prompts. I had to run through my packing list one last time before leaving to go to the airport

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[enthusiastic-explorer]

The language journal I designed & I'll be using for the project that I have to conduct over the course of the trip

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This is my first time ever handling a Euro. Thankful for my Cousin who gifted me a generous amount of euros specific for this study abroad trip.

[enthusiastic-explorer]

Bienvenue!

Welcome to my travel blog. I will be utilizing this to the best of my ability to document, display, and open your eyes to a different world. 

At 6:30PM EST tomorrow, I will be flying internationally to France where I will be staying in Rouen, France. A little bit about Rouen: 

the capital of the northern French region of Normandy 

a port city on the river Seine

Important in the Roman era and Middle Ages, it has Gothic churches, such as Saint-Maclou and Saint-Ouen, and a cobblestoned pedestrian center with medieval half-timbered houses. 

The skyline is dominated by the spires of Cathédrale Notre-Dame, much-painted by Impressionist Claude Monet.  

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” - Mark Twain