February: Friends, food, and fun - "comme d'hab!"

February is progressing nicely! I probably shouldn't say this, but I've hardly been working!! It's great! The other week, I only worked two days out of five, and this week, the same thing happened. My teachers keep canceling classes with me because lots of my students are getting ready to take the le Bac, which is the big, all-encompassing exam that French high school seniors (les terminales) have to take and pass in order to graduate and be eligible to continue on to higher education. Needless to say, there is a lot of stress that builds up in both teachers and students in the weeks preceding the exams. I'm happy to leave the kids be while they are busying cramming for such a stressful thing. 

There's a lot of debate in France over how effective le Bac actually is; there is a pretty dramatic failure rate, which costs the government a lot of money, since they pay to educate the kids who fail for another year so that they can re-take the exam! It's also been interesting to overhear conversations and complaints in the teacher's lounge (la Salle des Profs). Many teachers are upset over recent changes in the test's format and what kinds of skills are tested. Hopefully, the recently elected president, Francois Hollande, can make some positive changes in the education system in his next four years. Perhaps France can be a good example to the USA, as we desperately need to make sweeping changes to our education system as well. 

But anyway, on to the more fun topics! One of the classes that I work with is a BTS class. BTS is kind of like France's equivalent of Community College. You do a 2-year BTS program and then have the option of finishing up at a university (le Fac) to earn your "license", which is the equivalent of a US Bachelor's degree. BTS students are still on high school campuses, but they are a bit older and take a very different set of classes than the rest of the school. Some of the students from the BTS Communication class I teach have taken quite a liking to me and invited me over for dinner at one of their houses! How sweet! I went over one evening and the four of us enjoyed the very French meal of Raclette. It was delicious. With all of my experiences in this country, I had not yet tried Raclette, and I liked it quite a lot. The week after that dinner, they invited me back over for a feast of Cambodian food; another delicious meal. The gal who hosted is a prodigious cook; it was very kind of her to show me such hospitality! Those girls are great fun. We laugh a lot together, and it's really nice to get to know some French people who are my age!

Raclette with some new friends!

As I'm staring down the latter half of February, it is starting to hit me how soon this whole experience will be over. It's unbelievable to me how fast this time has passed, and how quickly the next three and a half months will fly by, so I've decided that I need to treat myself to my favorite parts of France more often. Since I haven't been working a lot lately, I've been making an extra effort to meet up with friends for coffee and/or take myself out for a café crème three or four times a week. A few months ago, N, V, and I stumbled upon a wonderful cafe that makes the best crème in Nantes! It's called Cafe la Province. I've been going there a lot these past few weeks. Maybe I can make it to 'regular' status by the time I leave! :)

One of my very favorite parts of life in France.

Other wonderful French treats that I've been and will be buying more of include butter croissants, almond-chocolate croissants, baguettes, and chevre cendré (my favorite cheese ever!). Vive la France!

Someone I'm very grateful for here in Nantes is my good friend Juan. He and I were in many of the same classes together when I studied abroad here in 2009, and although we've both moved around a lot since then, we've managed to keep in contact. I was so happy to hear that he was living back in Nantes when I told him I would be returning. We've gotten together sporadically since I've been here, and it's always so wonderful to spend time with him! He is great with languages - he speaks Spanish, French, and English, and all at native levels! - he's very intelligent and has dynamic interests. I have really been enjoying getting coffee or walking around town with him and laughing, having serious talks, philosophizing, and just having a great time with an excellent and understanding friend. I'm lucky to know him!

Juan! :)

On Valentine's Day, I did what I love to do here in France: I cooked a fancy dinner! V and C came over to my place and we cooked up tomates farcies à la viande (tomatoes stuffed with ground beef) served with rice, enjoyed some red wine, and then ate up some tasty sugar cookies that C had made. What a great way to spend the evening! It is always a fun time cooking and hanging out with these girls. I'm so glad we all met and have become such good friends!

Valentine's Day dinner with V and C!

Yesterday, since it was Friday, I didn't have to go to work, and the sun was shining, V, N, N's boyfriend, and I met up for coffee in Commerce and then wandered around Nantes together for a couple of hours. Here are a few snapshots I took:

NO CREEPING

I love this city!

Last night, about two dozen assistants from all around Nantes got together for a night out at a Spanish bar in Bouffay called La Bodega. They serve tapas and all sorts of tasty wine concoctions that you drink from a Porron (see picture below). Drinking from this special pitcher is quite difficult, but ridiculously hilarious to watch other people do and really fun to try yourself, once you get the hang of it. We took over a good half of the restaurant and stayed late laughing, taking pictures, and wishing we could all go to Spain!

Some of the gang

Porron! 

I had to add a picture of these beauties- suede shoes that I bought
 for 50% off at the end of les soldes. Yahoo! What a treat :)