I can't believe it's only been a week since I moved in with my host family! Just like Mia and Emma, I dove straight into the abroad experience, and Mary Paule and Hilar been beyond gracious and encouraging for the entire time.
Last night the schedule finally caught up with me and I noticed a cold coming on - Mary Paule was so nice! A lovely dinner, some tea and honey, and off to bed! Today I am recuperating, so it is the perfect time to finish filling y'all in on the longest 10 days of my entire life.
6e Journée
We were left to our own defenses on Thursday (jeudi) to meet up with the other international students for a formal tour of the city. By then, most of us knew our way around relatively well, but we weren't as privy to the history of the town. Visiting the Joan of Arc monument in the center of the city and learning about how Rouen survived and rebuilt after two world wars was incredibly interesting. It was also great to get to know some of the international students as French is, again our only common language. Inside one of the churches we visited, there was an art exhibit going on. It was so cool to see such an ancient place turned into a forum for art and expression of a more modern age!
We visited even more churches, or rather full abbeys on Friday, meeting in the morning and taking a bus to visit Abbaye de Jumièges, Abbeye de Sontenelle, and Abbaye de Boscherville - all located in Normandy in the countryside surrounding Rouen. The first visit was unguided, so Emma, Taylor and I sampled some fresh plums (we had to taste them to figure out what they were - we thought they were maybe giant grapes?) from the orchard on the grounds. The next two, after a delicious lunch, were guided by a docent and a monk! All of the abbeys were really cool to see and inspired a different kind of expression from our previously secular church visit.
Yesterday I visited the open market with Mary Paule. The produce was beautiful, the cheese was super fresh, and some of the seafood was even still alive! I went back this morning to check it out again and there were even more people there, all with adorably well behaved dogs and perfectly french shopping bags. If I'm not traveling I plan to make the market visit a weekly thing - even if you aren't there to buy anything, the atmosphere is super fun!
Last night the schedule finally caught up with me and I noticed a cold coming on - Mary Paule was so nice! A lovely dinner, some tea and honey, and off to bed! Today I am recuperating, so it is the perfect time to finish filling y'all in on the longest 10 days of my entire life.
6e Journée
We were left to our own defenses on Thursday (jeudi) to meet up with the other international students for a formal tour of the city. By then, most of us knew our way around relatively well, but we weren't as privy to the history of the town. Visiting the Joan of Arc monument in the center of the city and learning about how Rouen survived and rebuilt after two world wars was incredibly interesting. It was also great to get to know some of the international students as French is, again our only common language. Inside one of the churches we visited, there was an art exhibit going on. It was so cool to see such an ancient place turned into a forum for art and expression of a more modern age!
7e Journée
We visited even more churches, or rather full abbeys on Friday, meeting in the morning and taking a bus to visit Abbaye de Jumièges, Abbeye de Sontenelle, and Abbaye de Boscherville - all located in Normandy in the countryside surrounding Rouen. The first visit was unguided, so Emma, Taylor and I sampled some fresh plums (we had to taste them to figure out what they were - we thought they were maybe giant grapes?) from the orchard on the grounds. The next two, after a delicious lunch, were guided by a docent and a monk! All of the abbeys were really cool to see and inspired a different kind of expression from our previously secular church visit.
8e - 9e Journée
Yesterday I visited the open market with Mary Paule. The produce was beautiful, the cheese was super fresh, and some of the seafood was even still alive! I went back this morning to check it out again and there were even more people there, all with adorably well behaved dogs and perfectly french shopping bags. If I'm not traveling I plan to make the market visit a weekly thing - even if you aren't there to buy anything, the atmosphere is super fun!
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