Quick Update

In London right now waiting to celebrate the New Year. I am returning to France Jan 2nd and will update then! Hope everyone has a Happy New Year!

Pompeii & Rome

I just got back from my pre-exam holiday to Itlay! Our flight to Naples left VERY early on Wednesday morning from Basel, Switzerland, so the four of us (Graeme, Taryn, Chelsea and I) decided to go to the airport late Tuesday night and sleep there!! Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep! We left Wed morning to Naples, Italy.

Naples is not a particularly beautiful city, it does have some rough around the edges character though. Our main point of going to Naples was to visit Pompeii the ancient city that was destroyed and covered by lava from the mountain Vitruvius and was re-discovered in the 18th century. It is very interesting to see how the city was built during the Roman Empire.

On Thursday morning we were on our way to Rome where we saw so many great ruins! I absolutely LOVED Rome! It is such a city of contrasts. You can wander the city and all of a sudden you have stumbled across some ancient ruin! My favorite was one ruin that had a few temples and it was where Julius Caesar was assassinated...but now it has become a cat sanctuary!

On Saturday Dec 8th it was the Catholic public holiday The Immaculate Conception and the Pope decided to make an appearance at the Spanish Steps to give a prayer to the Virgin Mary. We were fortunate enough to be standing on the side of the road when the Pope-mobile rolled on past, so here is a video of the Pope waving to me!!! (Ok, maybe he wasn't waving directly AT me, but it was close enough!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xgycrn48O0 (copy and paste this into internet explorer to watch)

So now it's back to school for 2 more weeks, then Christmas break! I don't have any exams to take, so I'm taking it easy and enjoying the Christmas Markets...even though the tourists make me angry (and no, I am NOT a tourist!).

Heading to Roma!

Hello all! Well tonight I am heading to Naples, Italy for one night (mainly to see Pompeii) and then heading to Rome for 4 days! So I will have pictures and an update on Sunday when I return! Hope all is well...miss you all.

The Maginot Line

Last Sunday the the "Amicale" (social) group of Marc Bloch University put together an excursion to the Maginot Line. The Maginot Line is an underground fortification that was built for the second world war and is situated on the boarder between France and Germany. We got to go on a tour of one part of the massive line. It was really interesting to see where the soldiers had to spend a large part of their time.
After the tour, our group went for dinner at a traditional Alsatian Tarte Flambé restaurant. They cooked the tarte flambés traditionally in a large open flame oven. For desert we had an apple tarte flambé. It was delicious!

I've posted pictures in a slideshow on the right side of my blog. You can click on it and you to the page to see the captions and see what the photo is about.

This weekend I'm going to visit the Colmar Christmas Market (30min south of Strasbourg), so there will be more Christmas cheer coming up!

Marché de Noël

Last night (Saturday Nov 24th) was the first night of the Marché de Noël! Every year in Strasbourg (and all over Alsace and Germany) each town has a Christmas Market. It is so neat! Each part of the city has a different market with handmade ornaments, decorations, and most importantly...food! They sell everything from candied apples to tarte flambés (like a really really thin pizza) to spiced wine. The atmosphere is great. I love just walking around looking at the lights and hearing the caroling. Next weekend we are going to a little city called Colmar which is about 1/2 hr south of Strasbourg to see their Marché de Noël as well!
























The main tree in Place Kleber. It is absolutely
enormous! So many lights and such a beautiful
sight.
























Angles by the Cathedral















Galeries Lafayette: A huge high end department
store in France (where I do most of my shopping!)















Market in Place Broglie (near to where
I will be living in the New Year!)






















My future street! I'm moving here
in the New Year.






















A traditional restaurant all dressed up for
Christmas. All the stores decorate for the
Marché de Noël.















Detail of same restaurant. The little people are
wearing traditional Alsatian costume.

In Between Times

So I just posted my photos from Switzerland! Sorry for the delay...plus they are not very spectacular "à cause des" clouds, so I didn't get any of the Swiss Alps, but never fear, I'll probably be going back sometime in the near future.

So this week is just a regular boring school week for me, studying (uhhh the reason I'm here!) and hanging out with friends.

One neat thing is that in two weeks I'm going to ROME! I just booked my flights for very cheap. I'll be flying into Naples and spending the day in Pompeii then the next day taking the train to Rome where I'll spend 3 full days. I'm so excited to see and experience the city. Most people that I've talked to have absolutely loved Rome, so I have high hopes...I'll let you know how it goes!

À la prochaine!

The Long Awaited Switzerland Photos...Geneva

Chelsea and I on the train to Geneva













Me and Ellie (my friend who lives in Bern...she put us up for the night and cooked us AMAZING food!).











Entrance to the UN (I couldn't find Canada's flag but it's there somewhere!)











Me at the UN!












Flag of Geneva in foreground and Swiss flag in background.

The Long Awaited Switzerland Photos...Lucerne

The "Covered Bridge" in Lucerne
There are hundreds of paintings underneath the roof.











View of the "Watchtower" and the "Covered Bridge" in Lucerne.










Traditional Alpine Swiss Horn Players
**Watch the video I've posted of them playing!













Swiss Cows? (Yak...Yaks? what IS the plural of yak Jarrett?)













The Dying Lion Monument
(In remembrance of the Swiss Soldiers who were massacred during the French Revolution)

Freedom!

I am now officially finished my mid-terms. I had my oral presentation today of the History of the French Renaissance and I got 18+/20. So that encourages me that I'm not as bad at speaking French than I thought!

By the end of this month it will be mid-November! How crazy is that? I am very excited for Christmas time, as the city of Strasbourg is starting to put up many decorations in preparation for the "Marché de Nöel" (Christmas market) that starts November 25th. In the old city there is Kleber square, and they have just erected a MASSIVE pine Christmas tree! I can't wait for the city to be alive with lights!

Christmas for me this year will be exciting but also a bit weird. I am not coming home for Christmas, but traveling to Glasgow Scotland to visit my Grandma Anderson's cousin Harry Donald and his wife Catherine. They are in their 80's and this year they are having Christmas at their daughter Moira and son-in-law John's house. Harry & Catherine's granddaughter Amanda is my age, so it will be great to meet her and to see everyone again. I have only met Harry & Catherine once before while in Scotland (1999 I think) for Highland dancing, but I feel as though I've known them forever since Harry and I are email buddies!

On the 27th of December I'll fly to London, England with Moira and the girls and this is where we will part ways, as they are going to a theater production and I will meet up with my friend Chelsea. I will stay with Chelsea in her cousin's flat and we will celebrate New Year's there! I am very excited about this Christmas adventure!

I will have to post pictures of my Switzerland trip soon (tonight hopefully).

I hope all is well in Canada!

P.S. AS OF NOW YOU DON'T HAVE TO MAKE AN ACCOUNT TO COMMENT ON THE POSTS. I changed the settings, so now anyone can comment!

The Week of Exams...dun dun dun

So this week was my mid-term week. There are 4 sections that they test you on:
1. Oral comprehension
2. Reading comprehension
3. Essay writing skills
4. Oral presentation skills

So I'm done the first three, and have my 15 min oral presentation on the history of the French Renaissance on Tuesday. It should go well (hopefully!)

Meanwhile, this weekend I'm heading off to Switzerland! I have a friend that I met at IVCF at UVic and she is doing her masters there, so Chelsea and I are going to Lucerne (Mt. Pilatus), Bern and Geneva. At Mt. Pilatus there is an aerial cable-car that goes up the mountain so we can get a clear picture of what the alps look like! It's going to be amazing! Unfortunately the UN in Geneva isn't open on the weekend, so we can't get a tour of the inside (that would have been so interesting!) but we can still take pictures of the outside! I will post pictures as soon as I get back as well! I hope that you've enjoyed the ones that I've already posted :) À Bientôt!

Links

PS I've added some links on the left hand side of my page...they are ones that I find interesting, so you might too!

Western France-October Break

So our trip to Western France was a success! Chelsea (my Australian friend) and I traveled to: Tours, Château Chenonceau, La Rochelle, St Malo & Mont St Michel. I really love western France! It was nice to be on the coast again and to smell the salty ocean air! My favorite city by far was St. Malo. The beaches are gorgeous and sandy, but there is also rugged rocks all around. The city just seems to appear out of the rock.

We went to the History Museum in St Malo, and I learned a lot about Canada! Jacques Cartier (who "discovered" Canada in the 1530's) was from St Malo and on his first voyage he landed in Newfoundland. From then on, NFL and St Malo were connected through the fishing trade. I was shocked to find that I could learn something about Canadian History in a French Museum...but it makes sense. The French were the "first" ones in Canada after all; they wouldn't want the world to forget that!

Anyway, enough of the history lesson. Here are some pictures of my travels!






Tours: The old city
(we had a desert crêpe from the little restaurant at the bottom of the middle building).











View of the river Cher at Château Chenonceau













Reflection of Château Chenonceau (my fairy tale castle!)












La Rochelle: Chain Tower (left) & St Nicolas Tower (right).
















Sunset in La Rochelle



















Nightview
La Rochelle: Chain Tower (left) & St Nicolas Tower (right)











St Malo: view from island Grand Bé













Beautiful beaches of St Malo













The Abbey of Mont St Michel

La Voyage à l'ouest

So tomorrow Chelsea and I will go on our "reading break" holiday to western France! We have a week break before we start our "control continu" which is like midterms. So of course, I'm spending it traveling! We will be going to Tours, La Rochelle, Carnac, Lorient, St. Malo and Mont St Michel. We will return back to Strasbourg the night of Wed Oct 31...Halloween! So I'll be spending Halloween at my house recovering from travel (I know, hard life!). I think I might buy some candy and just pretend that I participated in Halloween. So unfortunately no posts for a while, but when I return there will be pictures and stories! Until then...

I do have friends!

Here are some long awaited pictures of people I have met :)







Every Thursday and Friday there is a fresh market and here is some cheese!













Bertrand, Will and Reni












Chelsea and I













Baptiste, Will and Reni













Me, Taryn and Cornelia














Reni and Chelsea











Reni, Taryn and Graeme















Me and Joanna my new French friend

The Quest for Internet

First I want to say sorry for not posting as often as I should! I do not have internet in my room yet, so it is quite the adventure searching for places with WiFi. I can access it at the University (but that is at the other end of the city), at the downtown McDonalds, and at the Irish Pub just down the road. So...those are my options! I will be getting internet in about a week, so expect some more posts and emails coming.

So back to Rugby...France was kicked out by England and then France lost the 3rd place title to Argentina. Last night England played South Africa for the World Cup Championship and...South Africa won. We watched the game in the Irish Pub again (I think we've become regulars becuase the bartender knows our names...good or bad I'm not sure!).

The weather has changed. It is now winter. Biking to school is now becoming not so fun when the winter wind is blowing in your face. I've bought a nice scarf to keep me warm but the next on the list is a nice warm toque (not a beanie as the Americans and Australians say!). I cannot wait until it snows here! As some of you know, winter is my favorite season and Strasbourg will be beautiful covered in snow! At the end of November there is an amazing Christmas market and I'm looking forward to browsing through it (although I hear it's filled packed with tourists...and no I do not consider myself a tourist anymore thank you very much! I figure if you live in a place for more than a month then you are considered a local!)

And France Wins...

So I've officially been in Strasbourg for 4 weeks! Time passes so slowly, yet fast at the same time. It seems like it's been forever since I got on the plane in Vancouver, but at the same time I can't believe it's already almost mid-October.
This last week has been a rugby frenzy...there was a huge game between France (les Bleus) and New Zealand (the All Blacks). One of the friends I've met here is from New Zealand and so obviously we were cheering for New Zealand! We watched it again in the little Irish Pub downtown and one of the bartenders is from New Zealand as well so he got us really good seats! It was kind of scary though to be sitting in the front of the Pub and to look behind you with a mob of Frenchman yelling furiously! (but it was fun...no real threat, don't worry mom!). So as you can tell by the title of this post...France won. You'd think since I was in France and studying French that I'd be cheering for France, but nope...I've now moved on to cheering for either Argentina or South Africa. Not sure which I want to win now. All I know is just not the French!
At the end of October we have a one week "study" break. And as you know how those go...there will not be much studying happening! Chelsea (NZ), Taryn (Australia) and I will be traveling around southern and western France! We plan to go to Nice and Monaco in the south/east then maybe to Avignon, La Rochelle, Carnac, Caen and then to Paris and back to Strasbourg. It should be fun!
I still need to post pictures of everyone...I'll get on that sometime :) For now it's off to do some homework!

First Week Over

So my first week of school is finally over! The homework is starting to roll in, and the vacation feeling is starting to wear off. I don't have internet in my room quite yet and I had some homework to do today so I went to a little café beside the canal and had a chocolat chaud and a baguette-beurre-confiture. I felt very Française! I will post some pictures of my friends soon...they are a blast!

First Day of Class

Yesterday was the first day of class! I have a couple 8:30am classes--Monday and Tuesday--but that is fine with me becuase I don't have class Fridays! That makes me so happy because then I can go traveling a bit and not feel bad about missing school :) They give us our timetable for the classes that are mandatory, but I get to choose 2 electives; however, I think I'm going to ask if I can take more than 2 electives becuase I really want to make sure I get credits back to UVic. It's hard becuase I have to choose electives that are similar to courses that I would have had to take in Victoria in order to get credits for it! So it's kind of a guessing game as to whether I actually will get credits, but in any case I'll have learned something new.

One weird thing over here is they don't have regular lined loose leaf paper! All their paper is like graph paper. I have NO idea how they write on it! I've looked in so many stationary stores and I have only found one that sells paper that is like ours. All the notebooks have weird square graph paper! It really is bizarre.

Results of Placement Test!

So apparently I'm in the avancé level for French! I just got my placement test results back and I'm in the DAEF program (Le Diplôme Avancé d'Études Française). There are 5 levels all together and I'm 2nd from the top! So happy! I hope that I get some credits that are transferable back to UVic. Classes start on Monday and I'm so excited! (I know I sound like a geek...but oh well!).

Tonight I also watched the world cup game of Rugby between France and Ireland. It was a win or die situation for France. If they lost to Ireland today they were out of the world cup. I went with some friends I met here (2 Australians and a Norwegian girl) to an Irish pub! It was a blast. Jam packed with people (mostly French surprisingly). I think they were there mainly to taunt the few Irish people in Strasbourg. The Irish lost 3-25. I was rooting for Ireland just to be against the French...plus my name is Irish, so why not? Apparently I was cheering for the wrong side!

La Ville de Strasbourg

Today I will find out how well I did on the placement test which determines what class I will be in for the school year...we'll see how that goes! As I've told some people, I can't wait for classes to start! I love wandering around the city and looking at everything...but I need a schedule to follow and a purpose to my day. I know it sounds weird, but it's true for me!

So far I've been able to comprehend enough French to get by. I've surprised myself with how well I'm doing language wise. The funniest thing that happens when French people find out I'm from Canada is they give me a weird look and ask "why are you here to learn French? Don't you already speak French in Canada?" I laugh and tell them that no, Canada is NOT a bilingual country even though our parliament seems to think so!!!

The paperwork that I have to do and the bureaucracy that I have to deal with is intense over here! And they don't seem to standardize any of their processes. Everyone that you talk to or every department says a different thing.

In Strasbourg there are 3 Universities but they are all on the same campus (l'Université Marc Bloch, l'Université Louis Pasteur, l'Université Robert Schumann). There isn't really any unified student life like there is in Canadian Universities. There are also no Student Residences that are a part of the University, they are all run privately. The university that I'm attending is called l'Université Marc Bloch. It is the social sciences, humanities, theology and literature University. I believe that Robert Schumann is the law University and Louis Pasteur is the science University. So it's a bit different than Canada!

Strasbourg is roughly double the population of Greater Victoria. The population of Strasbourg is about 702,412 compared to the greater Victoria area which is approximately 345,000. But, enough with statistics...here are some pictures!








View of Canal and St. Paul's church (protestant).




















Our Lady of Strasbourg Cathedral






















Typical architecture in Strasbourg! Look at the middle building...it's crooked!

















La Maison des Tanneurs. One of the most photographed monuments in Strasbourg.

















La Grande Rue in "Le Petite France"

à Strasbourg

So this is my first post! I've been here for one week and I had a bit of a scare when I first arrived. I had a bit of miscommunication with the residence I was suppose to stay in. I phoned just before I left and they said there was no problem and there was tons of space...but when I arrived I was told they were full! So I stayed in a hotel until I finally found accommodation. I live on the 7th floor in a little attic studio! I thankfully have an elevator that goes to the 6th floor then I go up one more floor to the attic.

Here are some pictures of my place!







This is the view from the door.













The view from the Kitchen













My Kitchen Table




















My Desk


















My Couch/Bed (Futon)













My Bathtub








So there you have it! My place :) Tomorrow I'll upload pictures of Strasbourg to give you a feel for the city!

I took my placement test this past Monday and I will know the results of what level French I am tomorrow. So this week has been a week of orientation. I went on a boat trip around Strasbourg yesterday and tomorrow is a tour of the University. So classes officially start on the 24th!