Day 5

So today was amazing! The day started off with a breakfast for all foreign students (Pau hosts students from other programs besides USAC) that was put on by a foreign students association at school. All 60+ of us walked over to Le Clerc where there's a restaurant upstairs. I think we took up almost all of the booths and tables in the place. To celebrate l'Épiphanie- the day the three wise men made it to the manager and met the King- we were served a hearty breakfast of true french café (coffee) and one slice of sweet bread *note sarcasm.* There were at least 15 of us who went up for second slices.... our stomachs are definitely not shrinking quickly enough. What's interesting about the sweet bread is it was also called King's Cake (for king Jesus); each round of bread had a figurine inside and crown for the lucky finder. The King's Cake that Emma (Emmanuelle) made had a flaky, sugary crust on top and a bean-texture filling. But our breakfast was like bread with sugar kernels on top. I must say, I liked this one better :)

That coffee already has two helpings of cream in it, by the way.

I spent the breakfast with a group of girls who are officially my buddies: Roshanna (pronounced rose-anna), Selene, Chantalle, and Allie. We talked for at least two hours and the conversation flowed naturally. It's so relieving to feel like you have a niche in a strange place!

Allie, Rosie, Me, Selene

After breakfast, Allie, Rosie, and Chantalle had their first class so Selene and I walked around the shops at Le Clerc for about two hours. I bought 4 shirts that I am absolutely in love with! There's a big thing going on in France right now called Les Soldes (the Sales). It's one of a very few times each year that pretty much anything you have to spend money on to get is marked down a great deal. We're all trying to take advantage of the sales, but it's a little difficult when everyone else in France has the same idea! Selene and I also figured out how to work the printer at a copy shop and were able to complete all of the necessary paperwork for the end of the Visa process. We turned that in today to Ryan so we should be good for the next few weeks (at some point everyone has to get a check up with a doctor??) After that, the two of us walked and talked around the campus... got some beautiful pics of the place!

In the grocery store XD

Mmm mmm!! A bakery in Le Clerc

When the rest of our group got out of class, we all went over to a second, bigger cafétéria on campus to hopefully find some better food. We did! At the big cafeteria you can order baguette sandwiches, fruit, yogurt, mousse, desserts, coffee, lots of good stuff! And a meal is still only 3 euro for students :) I got a baguette with lettuce, tomato, ham, and hard boiled egg slices and it was soooo good. I actually felt full after eating it too so that was a major bonus. That evening, the four of us girls (Selene wasn't feeling well and went home) met up with a year-long student named Chai. She's been in Pau since last semester and knows the place well. She took about 7 of us on the bus to downtown Pau for some authentic Indian food (my first experience with such food). We went to Visnu which is apparently the best Indian restaurant in town and had the first floor entirely to ourselves until the end of our meal. Chai's been to the restaurant enough times that the bartender gave us all the house cocktail with a free refill and free rolls of fried eggplant. The whole meal was so good and it was really fun to try all of the different sauces and dips and whatnot. I had Chicken Korma- chicken in an almond cream sauce with raisins- and rice. But I also had something off of many other plates (Chai was delighted to find that we were all good with one of her favorite things: plate-sharing). Chantalle ordered herself a small bottle of rosé and Allie and Chai split a bottle of red... well, that was the plan. It turns out that none of them good drink all of that on their own so everyone at the table pitched in to help finish the drinks. I actually liked the red wine which, if you know me, is definitely saying something.

After dinner, we realized that the bus system was closed for the evening so we had to walk all the way back to the université- a 20 min walk. My new friends were so concerned about me walking home by myself from there that five of them decided to walk 20 min more to get me there and then the 20 min to get back. So nice, right?! All in all, it was a truly great day. I made new friends, had great food, and experienced the downtown area as if I belonged there. Not to mention the super chic shirts I bought today too :) I'm definitely beginning to enjoy myself in Pau

Day 4

Today started with breakfast (which I was finally able to eat without feeling completely sick) and then Christine walked me the half hour trek to school. I have the option of taking the bus to and from school but it is definitely cheaper to walk when I can. It was really nice to walk for so long with Christine because she was in the mood for practicing english! :) We talked a lot about family (hers and mine) and french ideas about health. For instance, 'walking is not only better for you than riding in a car but it is also nice to the environment.' I got the sense from our conversation that the french frown upon American eating habits when Christine told me about a very "shocking" experience she had on her first trip to American where she saw... an obese woman! (The topic of obesity and over-weight people became something of a source of humor for Guilhem at dinner. He and Emmanuelle talked about overweight people as if they only exist in magazines or movies. It went something like: "are there really fat people in America?!" "Oui." "HAHAHAHAHA").

At school, we finished up our orientation and then were free again for lunch. By the way, lunch is not just a necessity in France... it is an occasion. Rarely will you have less than 2 hours for lunch and rarely will restaurants bother to be open during non-lunchtime or non-dinnertime hours. You eat when everyone eats and you eat well. I went with a different group to "La Vague" where they were serving raviolis and a gray, fish-looking item. I got the raviolis and a piece of bread... 3 euros again. After lunch, we had a lot of time to kill so we walked around the campus and through the library. It was actually a lot of fun to just talk and walk with these people; I was able to get to know them a lot better.

Pictures from our walk:

After the walk, we went back to the classroom for a short talk about the end of the Visa process. We all have to fill out this form (OFII) and make copies of different things in our passports. Then we send the whole batch off to a certain office and our Visas are good and done. Make sense? It doesn't for me either.

"La Vague" named after the wave shape of the roof:

Now the fun part: we all departed for a walking tour of downtown Pau! It was so incredibly beautiful and is full of old world charm. After the walk, some students stayed to hang out in the area but I decided to go with the group that wanted to go back to the Université. Because, I was making the 20 min walk home all by myself. That morning with Christine was my first time doing it so I was nervous but confident. I did make time to stop in Le Clerc before with some girls my trek to buy water bottles (the French don't drink as much water as we do)... bad idea. It was sprinkling during my whole walk home so I had my umbrella out in one hand and had to juggle these hugely heavy water bottles with the other. For 20 min! Which, of course, ended up being 30 min when I got myself lost and had to turn around. I was truly beat when I got to the house but I was very proud of myself for accomplishing that little milestone. :)

Dinner tonight was the soup, again, but with a different and delicious entrée: une omelette! It doesn't look like an American omelette because it isn't folded over but lays flat in the bottom of the pan. It was plenty buttery and had some herbs and mushrooms inside. Mmmm mmmm! Accompanying that was a corn, cucumber, tomatoe, and black olive salad. And for dessert, the leftover King's Cake. Another fine meal. Throughout the evening I was able to unpack and talk to my dad on ichat. After Guilhem was in bed, Christine met both of my parents through an audio chat on the computer. Spencer joined at one point and Sabrina jumped in too... I was so happy to have everyone talk to each other! Christine told me afterwards that talking with my family meant a lot to her and the gratitude they expressed for her and Lionel bringing me into their home was much appreciated by her. I hope we can do this again soon :)

Pictures from downtown Pau:

The first few days

Day 3: This morning started off with breakfast, which is quite different from the typical American breakfast. In France, they eat very light in the morning so my breakfast consists of one or two pieces of bread, some jam (which Lionel makes out of the fruits from their garden), and a hot drink. My stomach still didn't feel well so I went with tea again. The breakfast is, and continues to be, very good but it is so so light. I feel hungry after eating it! I suppose this is something my body will just have to adapt to...
Lionel took me to the Université for our first true day of the program. We started off the day with a bang: all of the students basically walk in to a french placement test. We had an hour and a half to complete a written test and then we were walked in groups to the oral segment of the test. This was definitely nerve-wracking but I felt oddly prepared to speak french with the professor. It must be all of the french I'm speaking with Lionel and Christine. When the test was done, Robina (one of our resident directors) walked us all over to Le Clerc- a nearby mall and shopping center. Here we got our pictures taken for student IDs and then we were free for lunch and roaming. I walked with a group of girls to buy bus tickets and then we went over to the phone store where I bought a phone with about 3 months worth of minutes. It was a little pricey but is something I need to have. Afterwards, my group and I walked back to the school for lunch. We went to the cafétéria called "La Vague" (the wave) and got the only food that was left: pork, mashed potatoes, and stewed vegetables. It sounds like a good, full meal but it was only 3 euro and that means that it didn't taste so good. ;)
After lunch, all of the students met in a specific classroom for the beginning of our mandatory orientation. The resident directors Ryan and Robina gave us each a folder with maps, and phone numbers, and all sorts of important information, and then began to walk us through it. After about two hours, they took us outside for a short campus tour and then we were free. We must have looked like our eyes were glazed-over because Robina kept ending her sentences with, "we're almost done!" Christine picked me up from there and after a short drive through downtown to the see the Château and the mountains, brought me back to my new home where I went upstairs to talk with my family online until dinner.
For dinner, we started off with the same soup (again, I was last to finish eating) and then we had the main course. Tonight it was a deli tray of pickles, rolled ham, chicken and some sort of other meat that Christine immediately said, "you will not like this; don't eat it."There was a salad of spinach, tomatoes, and avocado as well- a very good meal! For dessert, Emmanuelle made Un Gateau de Roi: "King's Cake" which comes with a Burger King-type crown on top and small porcelain figurine baked inside. Whoever finds the figurine in their piece of cake gets to wear the crown and be king or queen for the day. Guilhem was the king that night; something he was very happy about :)
My stomach still wasn't doing so well but I officially had my bags! They showed up at the house during the day and I was able to dig up some medicine for my stomach. The night was a little rough again but not so bad. I woke up ready for Day 4

The first few days

Bonjour!
I'm sorry it has taken me so long to update all of you but my bags didn't quite make it with me to Pau so I've been without a way to charge my laptop...
Days 1 & 2: I survived the hardest parts of the trip- saying goodbye to my family and my home and managing to get through three different flights. It was as difficult as I expected to part with my family at the airport but I hadn't expected the amount of emotion that came from Spencer and Sabrina. (Not to embarrass them) they both fell apart! At the same time that I could hardly stand saying goodbye, I was so touched to witness the obvious strength in the connections between the five of us. After that, I went through security and the hassle of taking off and unpacking everything electronic and what not (all with my family watching, teary-eyed) and then I waved my final goodbye and went forth to my terminal. I met two girls from the same USAC program while waiting for my plane so I didn't feel too alone after that. The flight to Chicago was about 4 hours but felt longer. However, it didn't feel nearly as long as the 8 hour drag to Paris. Thankfully I met many more students while waiting for that flight so I recognized a lot of faces when we got off in Charles de Gaulle (Paris). Did I mention that I checked two 50-pound bags and had with me a heavy carry-on and 200,000,000-pound back pack??? I was so dreading the customs process in Paris because I expected to have to re-check my bags- which would mean hauling all of that weight around by myself- and have my carry-ons rifled through by security. Luckily, customs ended up being nothing more than a stamp in my passport. And while I was sooo happy to not have to man-handle all of that weight from my luggage, I'm thinking this is where my bags were misplaced. After the short hour and half flight to Pau (which feels much shorter when you pass out on the plane from exhaustion) I found out that I was one of three students whose bags didn't make it to Pau. Oh well, c'est la vie. My host mom Christine was in the airport to meet me. She kissed me once on each cheek- the French way- and then talked with a woman at Information about my bags. They arrived on that second day (January 4) at my host family's home (thanks to Christine) and I am so incredibly relieved to have all of my things. Christine has been so kind and generous... she lent me a nightgown and shampoo/conditioner while I waited for my luggage to arrive...
Needless to say, I was exhausted when we got to the house! I had been up for more than 24 hours and all of a sudden I was entering a stranger's house in the middle of the day while my body was craving the middle of the night. I felt sick from all of the traveling but hungry at the same time. Christine made me a snack while I settled in with my lack of baggage upstairs: a plate of four whole cheeses (at least one was a brie), some bread, a tangerine, and hot tea. I ate as much as I could but the more that went down, the more sick to my stomach I felt. While I was eating, I met Christine's youngest daughter Emmanuelle (18). She was asking me questions in rapid-fire french and, as I could understand maybe three of them, it was an awkward conversation. Eventually she went into the living room to watch TV with Guilhem (13). Sick with the flu, the poor guy was asleep on the couch when I got there. I finished off my tea and then went upstairs to take a nap. I think I slept for close to three hours and felt enormously better when I woke up. When I went downstairs, Lionel was waiting to greet me. He's a very nice man as had been sharing a lot of his personal interests and thoughts with me since I got here.
For dinner, we had a nice hot soup of carrots, potatoes, onions, and pumpkin. Naturally, I was the last one eating. When I realized this, I quickly sopped up the rest of the soup with my homemade wheat bread and on came the next course. We had tarte des tomates- a tomato tart. It looks similar to a flatbread pizza or quiche but is very thin and not at all saucy. It had cheese, herbs, and whole slices of tomato baked inside and Christine served it in slices that were cut with scissors. Finally, there was a spinach salad to eat with the tart. It was a very delicious meal but unfortunately I was still not feeling well. Throughout dinner I talked (in french, the best I could) with Christine and Lionel. Of course, they did most of the talking, but at least I can understand most of what they are saying to me; I just can't yet respond all that well. When we were done getting to know each other better, I went up to take a shower and get ready for bed. I was able to talk to my family on ichat for a bit- which made me terribly homesick- and then I crashed for the night (which was about 9:30p). I tossed and turned all night long with my yucky-feeling stomach but woke up with enough energy to start the next day...

                       Busy, crowded Paris                Green, spacious Pau

Miss you already!

I was sooooo thrilled to see so many friends and neighbors at our Bon Voyage party last night! Thank you all for coming and thank you to those who couldn't make it but have shared their good wishes for my trip with me. I appreciate all of the gifts and donations beyond words, but I think my favorite part about last night was looking around at everyone enjoying each others' company. There was so much laughter, story telling, and advice sharing last night. I felt so at home and so content with all of my wonderful friends and neighbors surrounding me =) Thank you again (for everything).... I miss you already!