It's been a busy month! Soon after everyone arrived back in Nantes, the four of us girls (N., V., C., and me) went to see an opera at the Théâtre Graslin (which is two minutes from my place!). The opera house itself is just gorgeous. It has a very classic facade and lobby, with lots of columns and a huge staircase, and the main theater is amazing. I really felt like we were watching an opera in the 1700s! That was a fun event to experience, and it was cheap! I love getting discounts for being under 25. I have to profit while I still can (only one year left, yikes!)!
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| The lobby of the Nantes Opera House! |
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| The ceiling inside the theater. |
Not too long after the opera, everyone woke up to SNOW on the ground! What an awesome surprise! Nantes reacted just like Seattle always does, and the city was basically shut down, haha. No buses, but the trams worked, so I managed to get to school, despite an icy 15-minute walk from the tram stop to school. Almost all of the snow had melted away by the end of the day, but it was a treat to wake up to snowy rooftops and a quieter city than normal.
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| The snowy view from my roof :) |
Last weekend, N. and I went into the countryside with one of the professors from her school, Vincent, and a couple of former Spanish teaching assistants for lunch! The meal was hosted by another teacher and her husband at their house in the Vendée. Before lunch, Vincent drove us around to several historical sites in the region. The Vendée has a very bloody history, particularly just after the French Revolution, so there were lots of crosses and small churches marking significant sites and commemorating families that died. We also walked around a cool mini-chateau! I guess there are
chateaux (the BIG homes of nobles) and
logis (the smaller homes of nobles). The one we saw was a logis. :)
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| Le Logis de la Chabotterie |
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| The cute French country home where our hosts lived! |
Lunch itself was amazing! We started with some leisurely apéritifs and snacks while relaxing on the couches, then we moved to the table for the full meal. We enjoyed beef fondu, not with cheese, but with red wine! The wine was in the fondu pot, steaming away, and you poked your morsel of beef with the fondu stick and left it to cook in the red wine for a few minutes. It was delicious! For sides, we had a delicious salad and Ratatouille. And of course, there was lots of red wine to drink, too. I don't know how it could have been more French, it was amazing! A really lovely meal with seven other wonderful people.
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This house was seriously my dream house.
I would live here in a second! |
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| Les apéritifs! |
After we ate, we drove out into the countryside again to see an adorable little church with an ancient hollow tree trunk inside, where you could write down wishes and leave the papers stuck under the bark of the tree. Then, we went to see this crazy castle/monument that some pastor built in the 1800s as a shrine to the Virgin Mary. It was beautiful, but pretty weird, too, haha. There was a cool old windmill behind the monument that I really liked.
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| N. and me at the crazy castle/shrine. |
We then returned to the homestead and enjoyed a peach tart and some bubbly for dessert. YUM! What an excellent day. N. and I both had a great time!
One of the best parts of January in France are les soldes! Les soldes are the huge, country-wide sales that happen for the whole month of January and the whole month of July every year. They are pretty amazing. Almost all stores mark down most of their merchandise 20-50%, and then as they sales go on, you can get up to 70% off! Needless to say, it's the perfect time to buy those expensive items you've been drooling over for months but knew you couldn't afford. Lots of people are buying boots and clothing, but I bought a leather satchel!!!
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| TA-DA! I'm French! |
When I was in France in 2009, I wanted to buy myself a nice present that would represent my time abroad. I decided on brown leather boots, since boots in France are all the rage, and I love those things! I brought them back here with me this trip, and I still wear them a lot. This time, though, I was having a bit of trouble figuring out what I could buy to represent my time here. Then, one day at school, it happened. I walked into the teacher's lounge in late October and noticed that almost every teacher has a leather briefcase or satchel for their school documents. EUREKA! I knew I had to get one! I'm in France, I'm a teacher, so I should get something all the teachers have! Problem solved. Well, we all know that leather is expensive as heck, and I wasn't about to pay full price, so I snooped around and waited for the sales and wound up purchasing that beautiful baby you see above for 50% off! Wahoo!! I am very happy with my purchase and am grateful to V. and N. for going shopping with me and helping me make the final decision.
De plus, it's a French brand, 100% made in France, and the color is called 'cognac'. It's exactly what I wanted! :)
It was almost like the Spring in Nantes over the weekend. Saturday and Sunday were both beautiful, and at times, actually warm! I made an effort to carry my camera around with me to try to capture the city in the sunshine.
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