Due to the fact that I never update my blog anymore, I think I will talk about some basics of life here in Nantes that I don't often get around to writing about.
First off, ever since I got back from Italy/Paris in March, I haven't had a tram pass. It certainly doesn't stop me from taking the tram, since it's kind of a necessity at night and when in a hurry. I have been checked by the ticket controllers a total of once in the past three months, so it's ridiculously easy to take it without a pass or ticket. But when not riding the tram illegally, which is most of the time, I bike or walk to IES and the university. Not only has this helped me discover many new nooks of Nantes, but it's become my sole means of exercise. It takes a little over an hour to walk to IES, and about 20 minutes to bike. I love having to commute actually, although it means that I leave my house around 8- 9 and don't come back until right before dinner, since I live so far away. But it's good fun biking around Nantes, although a little scary at times. Two of my friends have been hit by cars, so I finally got around to buying a helmet last week. Helmets are definitely not a la mode here.
FOOOOD. I'm going to miss French food most of all. Well, almost most of all. There are days here when I eat an entire baguette in a day, because 1. they are sooooo good and 2. they get stale after a day. I had no idea before coming here that there are so many different kinds of baguette (baguette de campagne, baguette tradition, flute gana, baguette complet, flute gana, etc). I also eat at least 1 log of chevre a week, a habit which I very much intend to continue in the US. For dinner with my host pappies, we eat a ridiculous amount of seafood. For example, for dinner tonight, we had huuuge shrimp which you have to peel yourself, salad, broccoli and potatoes. My host mummy is convinced that I am still a vegetarian, even though I do eat meat from time to time here. I think she got confused when I told her that I am a vegetarian at home, and it became too late to correct her really. And I certainly don't mind all the salmon and shrimp we eat here. Dinner goes something like this: appetizer-ish thing (fake crab salad, soup, etc), main course (usually seafood and a veggie), salad plus bread and cheese plate (we usually have at least 3 different cheeses, and always chevre since my host mom knows its my favorite) and then dessert. I got myself into trouble a bit by telling my host mom about my love of sugar early on, because now she tries to feed me dessert every night. Usually just a pudding or something to that effect, but it's often so hard to resist.
This week my host mom's daughter Barbara has been at our house, because she's in between jobs. She's 26 and lives in Paris, and it's been lovely having a host sister for a week. Last night she had four friends over for a little dinner party because my host mom was working, and while I was a little nervous about spending all evening socializing with older French people, it was actually quite fun. They drink and smoke like firemen, as the French say, and they must have each smoked half a pack of cigarettes throughout the evening, and we finished probably 5 bottles of wine. But it was one of the few times I've been in a social situation with all French people here, and it's always an excellent experience. Even if I don't say a whole lot, I enjoy listening to the conversation and asking questions when I'm confused about a word or expression or something. And it's always interesting hearing younger people talk about life and hearing my host sister say things about my host mom, because my perspective here is a little limited at times.
I've also been playing Scrabble with my host mom once a week for the last month or so, which pleases me greatly. I even beat her once! Scrabble in French can be just awful if it's a bad game where there's nothing to play, but overall I don't find it much harder than Scrabble in English. It's actually mildly easier, because I always go with the first word I see, since I'm not guaranteed to have very many word options. Also, there are so many more verb conjugation options and random places to add E's and S's!
Bed times! Tomorrow is my orchestra concert, and the last day of my teaching internship. Hoo boy.
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