its beginning to feel a lot like christmas!

greetings friends! so, i am OFFICIALLY ON CHRISTMAS BREAK! :) and i'm super excited. on the agenda for break:

1. go to Rennes and help alex pack up his apartment and move all his stuff home

2. go to PARIS: in all its christmas glory! can't wait!!

3. spend christmas with alex and his family in his hometown of Le Mans

4. travel a bit in the northern part of France with ben and his american friends who are coming to visit

5. go to Tours to celebrate new years eve with my friends Fanny and Steven and Co. 

a lot on the agenda, and i am SO looking forward to it all! the weather has been really crazy here lately with storms and what not; apparently the trains are cancelled until 2pm due to fallen trees on the train tracks. my train is suppose to leave at 4:38, so i'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything goes as planned.

well i know its a short post, but i have got to get on the ball today! i have to shower (a must!), wrap alex's christmas present, PACK!, and i'm making rice krispie bars for one of my classes at school :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! i'm sure i'll talk to a lot of you before then, but just to be sure!

i love you and miss you lots. XOXO,

france-y pants.

long time, no blog!

hello strangers!
 again, my apologies for my absence, but a lot has happened since my last blog so this should be an interesting one :) so, for thanksgiving, my friends and i made a mock-up thanksgiving dinner. it turned out better than anticipated, but NOTHING compared to the delicious feast i missed back home! we made some turkey breasts and mashed potatoes with some carrots and broccoli. it was a decent substitute, but i definitely missed you all back home. it was good to see everyone on skype thanks to gary's iPad, but also kind of bittersweet.. i just wanted to jump through my computer to be with you all!
 the friday after thanksgiving, us americans here in france had our appointments at the immigration office in Nantes, France, a town about 45 minutes north by train. so we made a weekend of it, and some of our british friends accompanied us and we met up with valeria and some of her friends from her town of Laval. The appointment ended up being pretty straightforward, just a little visit with a doctor and an x-ray to test for tuberculosis and then a little meeting with a woman to get a stamp in our passport to complete our visa process. so now, i'm not going to get kicked out of France, woohoo! so after our 2-hour rendezvous at the immigration office, we were free to explore the city of Nantes. it was really quite nice, a lot different than i had anticipated, but still really nice. it was nice to spend time doing a little exploring and spending time with friends. one of my friends, sean, who went with us actually studied in Nantes for a semester, so he was a great tour guide! my favorite part of Nantes, was the castle in the middle of the city and the christmas market! it really is beginning to look a lot like christmas here in France, lots of lights and christmas cheer :) the christmas market in Nantes had a lot of little trinkets and treats and the christmas vibe is always fun! the downside of Nantes was the whole weekend i had been fighting a terrible cold! it was quite frustrating and annoying, but it happens. we ended up going back to the hotel quite early both nights because we all weren't feeling in tip top shape and anna had actually twisted her ankle on some sketchy stairs at a bar we had went to. so that was crappy, but Nantes itself was nice! another fun part of Nantes was we went to a museum of machines, where they had a life size machine of an elephant that walked around, sprayed water out of its trunk and made elephant like noises! it was really cool, and there were many other little gadgets and machines which were super interesting. there were little skits for some of the machines and they asked for volunteers and acted out certain scenes on the machines to demonstrate how they worked. all in all, it was a good weekend!
 so, after our fun weekend in Nantes, it was back to school. it is still going really well, and the kids still enjoy when i come, so that can only mean good things! pretty much the same old at school, kids are still cute, eager to learn and nice. however, i am surprised by the discipline at school. it is much harsher than i remember when i was in elementary school. so that is hard to get used to, but i just do my best to be nice and have fun while i am there and pass that on to the kids. i'm like that annoying person that winds them up and then leaves, haha! no, not true. the teachers enjoy my help and what i have to offer as a native speaker.
 after the work week, on thursday night i went to see alex to give him a little break from the massive amounts of studying he has been doing. he has ELEVEN exams in about a week and he has been working his butt off to prepare. it worked out well, because anna, ben, mark and i were going to go visit valeria in her town of Laval because it is all decked out in christmas decorations and we had seen on the news that it was a site to see and alex only lives about 30 minutes by train from valeria. so since i don't work fridays (woohoo!) i went to alex's in Rennes and then we all met up in Laval. it was really nice to see alex, and give him a little break. we watched some modern family and the hangover 2. for lunch on friday we had mcdonalds, and i had my FIRST big mac, ironically in france. :)
 after saying goodbye to alex, i took the train to Laval to meet up with val. she hasn't had the best of luck lately; she got some sort of bug bite (assumed to be a spider) and it has become SUPER infected and so she has been to the doctor three times now, and has made a consultation with a surgeon! i feel so bad, and it is SUPER nasty and painful. so she has been taking it easy and missing her classes for the time being. so i met her at her apartment where we tried to sort out the doctors and all worked out well, thanks to some help from alex who found the phone number/address to the emergency room. everything worked out fine and they put her on some antibiotics. since then she has been back twice and then that is when they told her to call the surgeon. i'll keep you updated on what happens, but keep her in your thoughts! so besides the drama with the crazy bug bite, we explored laval a little bit, drank some hot chocolate in a nice café, saw all the beautiful christmas lights and fun was had by all! :) on saturday night we went to a club and danced the night away! we got there around 2:30AM and didn't get home until 6AM! it was fun, but the next day we did absolutely nothing until our train left around 8pm. it was a nice little weekend away.
 this week at school, we are gearing up for christmas. the kids get pretty jealous when i tell them about all the snow back in MN. so feel free to send some this way! :) (but not too much!) i've also asked one of my teachers when her class does art, and i am going to help them with a few art projects before the christmas break, and hopefully continue to do so after break as well.

things to look forward to:
1. paris during christmastime!: alex is taking me on a little trip to paris before christmas so we can see all the lights and what it is all like during the christmas season. i am SO excited!
2. christmas with the garennes: alex mom has kindly asked me to join them for christmas. although its not the same as being with all you crazy people, it is nice to know that i have somewhere to go and nice people to spend it with.
3. the massive package from my amazing family! :) can't wait to see what's inside!
4. new years with friends: i'm planning on spending new years with my friends fanny, steven, grant and valeria in Tours! should be a good time :)

i'd love to hear from all of you more often (just like you LOVE when i write my blogs) this writing thing goes both way people! so auntie, grandma, and all you others out there feel free to write me! i will definitely be missing all of you even more than usual around the holidays! MISS YOU AND LOVE YOU ALL!!

XOXO,
france-y pants

meet and greets and lots to eat!

  Hello again! Sorry I haven’t written in a while, but I have had an eventful week or so to share with you all! So last week on Thursday, I went to Rennes to celebrate my one-year anniversary with Alex. We had a busy weekend ahead of us so we decided to just relax in his apartment and exchange gifts. I got him the Hunger Games trilogy and a nice necktie for his internship and he bought me a necklace and a pair of beautiful red leather gloves with a cute little bow on them. I love them; they will look so cute with my black and white winter jacket. On Friday morning, Alex and I took the train to Le Mans, the town where Alex’s parents live and where he grew up. It was my first time meeting his parents, and I was very nervous. But turns out there was no reason to be nervous, they were super nice! Alex’s mom prepared a delicious lunch and we sat and talked for a while. After lunch, his parents went on a long bike ride like they do every weekend, and Alex took me downtown and showed me around the city. It is really nice, seemed pretty calm but definitely bigger and more things to do than in La Roche, where I live.

  That night, after my little tour of Le Mans, Alex and I headed by car to Tours, where our friends Fanny and Steven live, and where I studied abroad. It was Steven’s 21^st birthday on Thursday, so we thought it would be fun to stop by and celebrate. It was about an hour and half drive, so nothing too terrible and when we arrived we were greeted with hugs and smiles and some delicious aromas of food! Fanny had made us all little individual lasagnas for dinner with a nice little side salad. It was so tasty!  And for dessert we had chocolate cake, with a gooey center and English cream. Yum yum! After dinner, we sat around and talked while having a few drinks. We then proceeded to head downtown and got a drink at a bar called les Puits Sait Tous. It was fun to sit around and chat with some Cobbers J. After the bar, we hit the dance floor at a club called Le Pacio. It was pretty fun, but the music was kind of lame. But we made the best of it and had a good time.

   On Saturday morning, we woke up and made some pancakes for breakfast and then Alex and I were off to his cousin’s 20^th birthday party in the town of Blois, just about an hour northeast of Tours. It was a beautiful, sunny day so it was nice to spend time outside and chat with his family. I met his grandparents, his brother, a few of his aunts and uncles and some of his cousins. They were all very nice and I immediately felt like I fit right in! So we got there around noon and had little appetizers and a few drinks and around two we started eating lunch. We ate and drank and ate and drank until I thought I was about to die! There were about 7 different courses and we didn’t stop eating and drinking until about 8pm! It was crazy, and I thought I was going to explode! I wish I had taken a little copy of what was on the menu, so I could explain it all to you, but seriously there were so many things! So around 9pm we were all just talking and hanging around when Alex’s uncle announced that we all had to go back downstairs because they were going to serve dinner soon! I couldn’t believe it, I was still SO full from before I couldn’t imagine eating one more morsel of food. So I opted out of eating dinner, I didn’t want to be rude but Alex said it was okay.  It was getting late, and we were getting tired, but we had planned on going out later that night with all of Alex’s cousins. We went over to his cousin Maude’s and her boyfriend Medhi’s apartment and sat around and drank and listened to music and talked. It was really fun to get to know Alex’s cousins. They are all so nice and friendly, I felt like I had known them for a long time. After quite a few drinks, and quite a bit of walking, we found ourselves at a club downtown. Alex’s cousin, Julien got us in for free (don’t ask me how!) and we danced the night away! It was super fun! There were these ‘cage’ thingies in the club, and the boys kept dancing in them, and us girls could not stop laughing! J After some time, the night started to wind down, and we were all so tired after such a long day. In the morning, we headed back to Alex’s aunt and uncle’s house where we ate lunch and sat on the back deck and chitchatted. After soaking up some sun, and playing some Wii, Alex and I decided to head back to Le Mans to return his mother’s car and where I would take the train back to La Roche, and Alex back to Rennes. The GPS took us on this super long way on all these curvy, tiny roads and Alex was getting really annoyed. But we made it back and had just enough time to eat a little dinner and head to the train station. It was hard to say goodbye after such an eventful weekend. I had so much fun, and didn’t want it to end! 

This past week, I had to help some of the english teachers with a training course on Monday and Wednesday. it was fun to help, and to meet some more people. I was helping them with vocabulary concerning things around the house, so I got to talk all about my lovely house in the U.S. It was nice to share about my house, but made me kind of homesick! In other news this week, I wasn't feeling very well, so I had to go to the doctor. :/ I was really nervous to go, but it turned out to be a good experience. The doctor was really nice, and told me that I spoke French really well! So that was a little confidence booster! I also started a new class at a new school, and it went really well. The kids are always so excited to learn about the U.S., so that's always fun. (One kid asked me why we eat eggs and bacon for breakfast? I guess I never really thought about it!) But they seem enthusiastic to learn, so that makes everything more enjoyable. This weekend, I spent the weekend with Alex in Rennes. We had some good quality time, relaxing and watching movies and TV shows (what we do best!) He has exams coming up before Christmas break, so I'm not sure how much time we will be spending with each other before then. But his mom invited me to their house for Christmas, so it is nice to know I will have nice people to spend the holidays with.  

 Next weekend, I have my immigration appointment in Nantes, so I'm excited to explore the city with some of my friends. I've heard there is a big Christmas market opening the day we get there, so that will be fun. 

I'll be thinking of all of you on Thanksgiving and wishing I were there to spend it with all of you!! I'm preparing myself, because I know around the holidays is when it is going to be the hardest to be away from all the people I love. So eat some extra turkey for me, and if anyone wants to Skype just let me know!

I love you all. Sending you my love from France!!

XOXO, 

francey-pants

back to the.. grind, which isn't so grindy.

hello everybody!!
 hope all is well back home, i'm missing you guys a lot lately! just must be the timing.. its been over a month now since i've left. crazy, huh? but anywho, i am here to tell you all about my adventures during my vacation. now don't get too excited, because it was a pretty relaxed vacation, which i'm cool with because i'm learning the art of doing nothing here in france, and getting pretty fricken good at it! :)

 so to start my vacation, i headed up to rennes to see alex. :) it was a typical weekend up in rennes, lots of relaxing, walking around, meeting up with his friends. yadda yadda yadda. but it was super fun. we watched a soccer game, and all the boys ordered burgers from speedburger, its like delivery pizza, only burgers and fries. lol. needless to say, the boys were in heaven as they wolfed those suckers down. i opted to cook my own pasta and beef patty. count that as money in my pocket! :) (plus, why would i want to eat a burger? it would waste up all that room i save up for pastries and cheese and baguettes!) after that, we headed over to a little soirée at another friend's apartment. it was fun, but i've come to learn that i need to come out of my shell. yes, i know, hard to believe that crazy mamie has a shell.. i get really self conscious about my french and what to say, and it is about time that stops! anybody who knows me knows i'm not a wallflower, so i've promised myself i have to take the plunge and dive into conversation, and not worry about sounding stupid. (note to self: bring bottle of wine for liquid courage) but all in all, its always fun going to rennes, spending time with alex and his friends and i LOVE that city.

 after rennes, on sunday afternoon i headed over to laval to visit my bestest friend valeria. laval is a short 30-40 minute train ride from rennes, and only costs about 7euros ($10ish)! so it was an easy and affordable jaunt. ben also headed over to laval on tuesday so we did a lot of what we usually do: talking, watching a little tv, eating, playing cards and walking around discovering the town. laval is really nice, really quiet like where i live in la roche, but laid out more like a french city in the sense that the streets are windy and long and you could get lost for days. it was really nice to spend some time with great company. it was pretty uneventful, so don't think that our life is so glamourous and lovely. we do spend a lot of time watching tv, playing cards, being bored.. but i'm not complaining, don't get me wrong! we did make sushi, which was almost a success! it was still good, but we accidentally bought NON sticky rice. whoops! but alls well that ends well. after sushi night, we decided to pass the time we would have a mock up america's next top model shoot downtown by an english style red telephone booth. see, we know how to pass the time! haha. it was really fun, and funny! pictures of the laval vacation, and of course, the photo shoot:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150393449937137.379605.503662136&type=1&l=f0e98849cd


so on thursday, i headed back to rennes because i am lame and forgot my hairbrush. it ended up working out fine though because it costs the same to take the train from laval-rennes, rennes-la roche. plus it was nice to see alex one more time :) because he has been stressed out with studying for some huge exams, , and when i am at his apartment i'm eating all his food, i decided to take him out to eat to a restaurant of his choosing. after some walking around, we gave in to our temptations and went to the 'back to the 60's' themed restaurant. (they really mean back to the 50's, they just got a little confused i think) it looked just like the old fashion 50's style diners back in the states. we got to drink our american sodas (dr. pepper and root beer, a&w no less!) and of course we ate burgers and finished off with a banana split for dessert! yummy! it was really fun.

did you expect anything else outta this kid? :)

so on friday i met up with ben at the rennes train station and we rode back to la roche together. our friend fanny came to visit us on saturday-monday morning so that was fun! we went out saturday night and then sunday afternoon we walked around and went exploring (i think we discovered just as much about la roche as fanny! we stumbled upon a few new parks and monuments..) also, in the town center, there was a fair going on. so that brought lots of life to our usually calm town. so it was fun to walk around and people watch. also, on monday was, obv, halloween! so the a bunch of the assistants in town got together and had a little party. ben and i were the only ones to dress up, but we wore our costumes proudly! we were 'stereotypical french people' clad with striped shirts, red scarves, berets, finger mustaches, bottles of wine (which came in handy at the party) and baguettes (which came in handy after the party) :) *see pictures* it was super fun. then on wednesday, ben, mark and i went to la rochelle, a nearby coastal city for a little day trip. it was a really nice city, but the weather was crap. so that was a bummer. but nonetheless we enjoyed ourselves, even if we cut our trip a little short and had to stand on the train on the way back. we were all in good company, and in FRANCE!

some major frenchies :)

la roche pictures: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150392110562137.379314.503662136&type=1&l=96a0b2c28e

la rochelle pictures: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150395268222137.379936.503662136&type=1&l=08d7444f49

yesterday was my first 'day' (and by day i mean hour) back to school. i had my hellion class, which has become a lot better now that the teacher has split them up into groups of 5-6. much more manageable. next week, i have to prepare lessons on family and colors (again.) and coming up, the big lesson on thanksgiving.. i'm thinking i'm going to concentrate on the whole giving thanks and stuffing our faces aspect. i'm really gonna miss you all around the holidays..

things to look forward to:

1. meeting alex's whole damn family next week! scary, but exciting.. hope they love me as much as you all love alex. we are making a little stop in tours, where i studied abroad, to meet up with some friends from concordia. its steven's, alex's concordia roommate, birthday next friday. so we are all going to celebrate! COBBERS UNITE!

2. weekend getaway in nantes: the weekend of the 25th, valeria, ben and i have immigration appointments in nantes, a city about an hour north of la roche. its suppose to be super nice, so we are going to make a weekend of it! some of our friends from la roche and val's friends from laval will be joining us, too! fun fun! 

ok this is getting long, but i hope you are all caught up! keep me posted on things going on back home. the kids looked ADORABLE in their halloween costumes.. but i didn't expect anything less. :) i love you all! keep in touch.

XOXO,

france-y pants.

apologies and apartment pictures

so, considering i've practically been getting harassed and hate emails from all who reads, i want to extend my apologies for my absence on blog. vacation has been going really well! but more on that later :) i will write one big vacation blog when its all over. BUT i did take pictures of my apartment this morning to share with you all who have not seen it yet. so enjoy!

view from the front door

living room/dining room

view from the bathroom door

ladders up to our lofts (mine is on the left) :)

bathroom, pretty standard

at the top of my stairs, my wardrobe

bedroom!

view of the downstairs from my ladder. 

 there you are folks! my home away from home :) its pretty cozy and has become kind of the hang out spot, which is always fun. we are only about a 5-10 minute walk for downtown and all necessities, such as supermarket, bank, etc. it is kinda spendy (340 euros/month, which is about half my income) but i am applying for something called the CAF, which is aid from the government for students/people with low income who rent apartments. it is very common for students in france to not have jobs, and focus mainly on their studies, so the government has this program to make rent more affordable. hopefully i can benefit from it as well! anything helps, right? our landlord is really nice and funny, too! and super helpful.. the other day i was running late to catch my train and i frantically asked him if he had a minute to drive me to the train station and he didn't skip a beat, just jumped in his car and drove me. i was SO grateful for that. 

 well thats all for now friends and family! i'm thinking of you all the time, don't forget to post pics of the kids from halloween! :D and yes, i promise more pics from vacation VERY soon. 

XOXO,

france-y pants

vacation already?

you better believe it! god, i love the french and their vacations. so starting thursday, i am officially on my first vacation, from the 20th-nov 3rd. crazy, right? it feels like i just got here! its been almost a month since i've arrived in france (oh my gosh, time is already flying by!) and everything is going peachy. this week, i've been teaching the kids all about halloween. it has been super fun. the kids are eating it up. i made them little crosswords and flashcards and color sheets and taught them all about jack-o-lanterns and trick or treating. and the kids are so cute and enthusiastic and really love when i come, which makes it all so much better! sometimes, when i leave, they come up to me and give me little kisses on my cheeks and say 'goodbye mamie!' with their cute little accents. melts my heart! i'm really liking it so far, and i think its only going to get better once i get to know the kids more and start getting a little bit more comfortable and a little bit more responsibility. the teachers are super nice too. i've become close to one of my teachers, celine. i teach with her 3 days out of the week and she is super nice. i'm going to be tutoring her 6 year old daughter, adele starting tomorrow. i'm looking forward to it! celine has also offered to lend me her bike, which is very kind of her. so i will find out about all of that tomorrow and let you know how that goes.

i spent the past weekend in rennes visiting alex. he recently found out that he got an AWESOME internship in, drum roll please.. PARIS! it is an auditing internship and he is super excited about it. its four months, from jan-april, so he also gets a long summer break and really nice pay. (lets all cross our fingers that he comes back to the US again for the summer! he is really hoping he can.) :) so i arrived on thursday evening (SO awesome not having to work fridays) and alex picked me up at the train station. that night, he had some friends over for a few drinks and then we went to a little get together at another friend's house. and after conversing and wine drinking, we found ourselves at a bar. it was really nice to put faces to names that alex has been talking about for a while now. they were all so friendly, it was great to meet them all. alex had class on friday, so i spent my day making my halloween lesson plans and  the rest of the weekend we did a little shopping and a lot of relaxing. alex helped me get my new phone, i got a blackberry! i really like it, and it wasn't expensive at all. so i'm excited about that. but it was a really good weekend, and im happy to go back again this weekend. after my weekend in rennes with alex, i am going to head over to laval, a town just 45 minutes east on train where my friend valeria is teaching english. ben and i are going to spend a few days there hanging out and exploring and then head back to la roche sur yon where we are going to make some day trips to nearby cities. money is tight, and we aren't 100% sure when we will be getting paid, but hopefully at the end of the month.

well that pretty much sums it up. if you didn't see, i added some new pictures to a previous post, so check those out! and seriously, i know you all want to punch me through the computer screen about my lack of picture taking, but i really do promise there are more to come. lots of love from france!

XOXO,
france-y pants

life of a primary school teacher: can't escape without marker on your fingers

  so i have started at my schools, and its going really well. the children are absolutely adorable. and they are really intrigued about the fact that i am from the states. for those of you who don't know i am working with primary aged kids, so around age 6-12. they are quite enthusiastic, but their english is very limited. but i am on strict orders to ONLY speak english at all times! so the kids can get a bit annoyed and frustrated, but it is going well so far. lots of games, lots of color sheets.. if you have any suggestions, throw them my way! today i actually had a meeting with the other assistants and two teachers from the region and we were taught different activities and ways to teach effectively, it was quite informative! i'm looking forward to using some of my newfound knowledge on the kiddos. also, the teachers are super nice. i'm excited to work alongside of them, and hopefully be a good asset to their classroom environment. since it was just the first week or so, i wasn't asked to do anything too difficult. mostly just help with pronunciation and singing songs about colors and such. i'm hoping i will be entrusted with a bit more responsibility as we go along. i did have one really awful class that i hope to never be responsible for.. they were throwing things at each other, constantly talking and kicking and hitting each other. it was horrific! but i learned at the meeting a little bit more about discipline and better teaching techniques to keep all children occupied, so they have no time for foolishness. as for all the other classes, the kids are so damn cute! one little boy asked me if i had seen obama, i said no and he told me had! (he probably meant on television, haha); another little girl asked me if i HAD a mother, but i thought she asked if i WAS a mother, so i promptly said no and i think i may have concerned her a bit. and the list of questions goes on and on.. but their little accents and like half of them wear cute little glasses (which makes me think of megan and her big glasses when she was little) and i can't help but smile. all in all, i'm enjoying myself in school, and i am looking forward to getting to know the kids more and sharing the english language with them all.

something on a more social level, it was another assistants birthday this past weekend (mark, from ireland) so anna and i hosted a little get together for all the other assistants to celebrate. it was super fun. although our apartment is pretty small for all 12 or so of us, it worked out just fine (there was even enough room for a beer pong table.. ok don't judge, mark was turning 21 and how can you not teach a crap ton of europeans about beer pong on someone's 21st birthday!?) whilst playing beer pong, we ate dessert and conversed and sipped wine like proper french people and then we went to an 'irish pub' (i swear french bar owners just write irish pub on the front of their building, when in actuality there is nothing irish about it). but it turned out to be really fun. there was even a dance floor, and believe me when i say we danced the night away. it was nice to spend time with some of the other assistants, speak a little french and have a good time. fun was had by all.

i also wanted to say, i told my mom that i dubbed this past weekend picture weekend, but alas i have not taken one picture. I KNOW, I KNOW. you all hate me from afar, but seriously it was gray and ugly all weekend. but i PROMISE pictures SOON! i am going to rennes this weekend to see alex, and i will definitely bring my camera, and when i get back i will be sure to get on the picture taking train.

love you all, hope you enjoyed the update. :) don't forget to update me about things back home.. like i definitely want to see pictures of the kids from halloween, and of course the new addition, princess phoebe. :)

XOXO,
france-y pants

i have arrived again, (but in a different city)! :)

hello everybody, sorry for my brief absence, its been a whirlwind of a week! so much to do, think about, pay for, and to boot, all of this in french! but i feel pretty good about everything. a few downfalls (i am seriously one of the most directionally challenged persons in the world, no doubt about that; ask the bus driver who had to drive me 20 minutes back to the city center) but for the most part, everything is going as expected. i arrived tuesday afternoon, and had to navigate my way to my hostel. of course, i went the wrong way and had to ask a nice gentleman where to go. i seriously, no exaggeration, thought my arms where going to fall off! my luggage was so heavy, even after leaving a good chunk of it back at alex's apartment. but i met up with anna, a girl from london who is also an english assistant and we found our way. we are now out of the hostel and in our new, fully furnished apartment! we found it online, met with the landlord, and the next day we were moved in. it didn't take long, and for that i am thankful. the hostel wasn't ideal and it feels nice to have my own space and settle in to my home away from home. (pictures to come!) most things seem to be falling into place, which is good. i have an appointment on wednesday at the bank to open up my bank account and to apply for housing insurance, in case there were to be a fire or something of the sort, just to be on the safe side. today, i had a rendezvous with some other english assistants who will be teaching in primary school like me. we just went over the main points of what will be expected of us while we are here. i start tomorrow, and im looking forward to it!

 i had a great weekend at the beach with alex! the weather was beautiful, so alex took the train down to see me, and we went to a little city called les sables d'olonne and laid on the beach and even swam in the ocean! it was perfect. :) we had a good time.

miss you all everyday. i see a little something that reminds me of all of you here, and i just wish i could teleport you and share it all! im hoping once my internet is up and working better, i will be able to blog more often. its just been a really busy week but i really do want to keep you all updated! lots of hugs and kisses!

francey pants :)

i have arrived!

hello family and friends!
 i have arrived, safe and sound. luckily, i didn't run into any trouble along our way. mom and dad dropped me off at the airport on wednesday sept 21where i met up with ben and val. we said our tearful goodbyes, knowing we would be missing all of the people we love back home, but with the anticipation of a huge adventure ahead. our first stop: iceland! the flight took around 5 hours and afterwards, just a short 1 hour and a half layover and then off to our new stomping grounds; FRANCE! the flight was surprisingly only 3 and a half hours, so in fact, the flight was broken up just right and it didn't drag on as it normally does.
 when we got to the charles de gaulle airport in paris, we went right to baggage claim and then down to the train station where ben and i bought our reduction passes for train tickets (une carte 12-25; a pass people between the ages of 12-25 can use to get reduced prices on train tickets; because we are young and cute! oh and poor.) :) and also our train to Rennes to see alex and our friend raphael. val stayed in paris to meet up with her future roommate, which ended up being sort of a hassle for her in the end. her roommate, ashley was coming from germany and her ticket was all messed up so val ended up having to wait in the airport until 8pm (we arrived at 1:30) until ashley got into paris, and then they stayed with our friend, romain, who we met in Tours when we studied abroad, who now lives in Paris. it all worked out in the end. it's much easier this time having contacts who are so willing to help out! i also had what my friend steven who is studying in Tours likes to call a PFE, a positive french experience! a man at the airport came running down the escalator towards the train station and looked at me and said, "Où est le train?!" (Where is the train?) I am assuming he thought i was French, which is why that makes this such a PFE! i looked at him and without hesitation said, "C'est juste là!" (It is just right over there! *pointing towards the train*) he said "Merci!" and ran away. i was pretty dang excited!
 so after a little bit of waiting, ben and i boarded our train (thank you to the nice frenchman who helped me lug my HUGE suitcase up the stairs of the train!) and made our way to Rennes. i absolutely love the train, it is so relaxing and convenient. it really just lulls me right to sleep! so 3 hours later, we hopped off the train, not so gracefully because seriously this luggage was a nuisance, and at the top of the escalator, i see alex, clad in his ralph lauren polo! what a sight for sore eyes! :) him and raphael had driven together to pick me and ben up, so we put all our stuff in alex's car and headed over to his apartment. after we got everything situated, we went out to eat kebabs at a restaurant. kebabs aren't the typical american kebabs, its more or less a gyro. so delicious! after that, we explored the city. i was in Rennes in february visiting alex, but it was ben's first time. it really is a very nice town. so many young people live here. in fact, alex told me that the population of Rennes is 200,000 and about 80,000 of those people are students! so it is really a hopping place to be.. always something to do. ben and i were pretty tired upon arrival, so we just had two drinks at two different bars, and then alex and i headed back to his apartment and raphael and ben went to raphael's house (he lives outside the city in a small town called saint-sulplice).
 friday i slept in until around 11 and then while alex did some studying (he has two BIG exams on monday) i went for a short run around a beautiful park right behind his apartment. its called parc du thabor (google it!) they have a little house with a bunch of birds, beautiful flower gardens and great walking/running paths. one minor bump in the road, i went to plug in my new hair straightener that cost me an arm and a leg and it MELTED! i thought i was using a convertor to change the voltage of the electricity, but i was only using an adapter, which just adapts the plug ins. so that stinks! otherwise, friday i spent most of my day with ben exploring more of Rennes because both alex and raphael have a lot of school work. but it is good for me and ben to explore because it is definitely what we are going to have to do when we get to our city, La Roche Sur Yon. today, alex woke up early to study while i slept in and then we did a little shopping so he could take a break. we have plans tonight to meet up with his friend jean-pierre and jean-pierre's girlfriend, so that should be fun.

i miss you all very much! i hope this blog makes it feel like i am not so far away! my eyes are your eyes :)

i love you and hope to hear from you all soon.

love, france-y pants