Goodbyes, hellos, another vacation.

4:06 AM

A couple weekends back, my two good friends, Emily and Diana, and I went to Saint Malo for a last 'hurrah' for their time in France. Instead of our usual couchsurfing/jumping on trains without paying for them/doing only activities that are free, we decided to splurge on a nice Airbnb apartment right on the beach and also a day trip to Mont Saint Michel since we were already in the area. The first day the weather was pretty bipolar, so Emily and I spent the day partially outdoors on the beach enjoying the weather and partially indoors hiding from the rain. After searching for a market that apparently didn't actually exist, we found ourselves in a wonderful cheese shop with a wonderful cheese man who was super stoked that we spoke french and actually cared enough about our cheese experience to ask him for advice. Once we asked him for strong cheeses, he gave us several cheeses to sample, then gave us a free little ball of goat cheese after explaining something about pollen and flowers and dirt and wine pairings, which was pretty lost on us. (We speak french, but not THAT well...) The next day we headed to Mont Saint Michel, which was pretty, but unfortunately we had some terribly windy and rainy weather, so we were more than happy to get back to our humble abode to curl up in sweatpants and play cards with a bottle of wine. The next day, the weather was incredible, so we went to eat 'the best ice cream in France', which did not disappoint, and stroll along the beach. Overall, it was a wonderful weekend, except when our host tried to claim our 200 euro deposit because of a couple small knife marks on their counter, which we accidentally took for a cutting board.

HA!yeah obviously...

The view from our apartment!

The most accurate thing I've seen in France

Taken recently after "the incident"

Bless you, cheese man.

The following week was filled with the other assistants "profiter"-ing from their last week in France, and me happily following suit. The weather was nice, so we enjoyed pique-nique-ing near the river and enjoying each other's company. For our last goodbye soiree, some of the assistants held a "progressive" a la Carlton College, where the whole group moved from apartment to apartment having aperos and snacks prepared by the host, before ending up at an apartment all together.

Your classic bathroom tequilla timer

Face paint was involved

MIGNETTE. I just might miss this cat more than any person I've met this year.

After saying goodbye to the assistants who returned to the US of A, the assistants who stayed decided to go on a big bike trip to start off our two week vacation. First we stumbled onto the train with our klunky bikes en direction to nearby city, Tours. After consulting with their Maison de Tourisme about the best bike route (turns out there isn't one) and stopping at the local Carrefour for snacks, we were off on a 2.5 hour bike ride to Chenonceau. The route was of course beautiful, however we were more than happy to arrive at our destination to eat lunch.

This was not my idea, although I happily obliged

Clearly my favorite part of the castle. Incredible pots!

DISNEYLAND?! Nahhh, but yeah kinda.

The rest of the first week of vacation I volunteered at the local anglophone library for an intensive english workshop about America and English for 12-14 year olds. I was pretty amazed that the kids who were that young were able to withstand 3 hours a day of only English. My favorite parts of the workshop were playing charades with the words they had come up with ('poop' being their favorite...however I'm not sure how that's specific to America...) and playing with sidewalk chalk outside (an activity that the director had to check to make sure wasn't 'absolutement interdit' according to city rules...ugh France...).

Soon after, my friend Diane, who studied French with me at OWU came up from small town Milau to visit me in the thriving metropolis of Angers! Diane got the chance to see the Cointreau factory, troglodytes (houses that have been dug out of caves special to this region), and the local chateau. I was super happy to see Diane and reminisce about our days at OWU, and I think I'm correct in saying that the Angevin men were pretty happy to meet her as well.

This small child has nothing to do with anything, except that he is precious

CointreauVERSIAL!

SERIOUSLY French old couple found in the troglodytes

TROGLOLYFE

The rest of vacation has been pretty relaxed. I helped the mother of one of the kids in the workshop I volunteer with prepare for her interview in English, and was rewarded with a packet of madelines, which I immediately devoured. I also tried to bake lemon bread, and failed miserably. Geoff tried his hand at cooking, and was a bit more successful with "L'aligot", a mix of tomme de vache cheese, creme fraiche, and mashed potatoes; a specialty of the south of France.

Oops.

Despite what you're thinking, this IS how it's supposed to look (I asked)

That's it! Sorry for the absurd length.

ming.

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