Bonjour à toutes et tous!
I hope that you all have been having a wonderful week, and that you have sent love to the mothers in your life (in case you don't know, today is Mothers' Day in the US [but in France Mothers' Day isn't until the last weekend of May]).
I had a pretty wonderful week, especially since we didn't have class on Thursday or Friday this week. My host family took me with them on a mini vacation to the Gulf of Morbihan (Golf du Morbihan), but before I talk about that I'll start on the earlier part of my week, when I was still in Rennes.
This Tuesday, I went out with some friends after dinner -- originally with the intention of finally going to see Captain America : Civil War, but we didn't actually wind up seeing it because we weren't gonna get out of the movie until midnight ish, which would have meant that we'd miss our buses. Anyhoo, Wednesday afternoon we actually got to see it! I still haven't seen Deadpool :( , so this was my first time going to a French cinema. It was also the first time in years that I saw a movie in 3D (it was the only option for the English version), so it was a pretty unique experience in general. If you haven't seen the movie yet, go see it, it was pretty gosh darn awesome, and set up the Marvel Universe for more epicness :))
So now, on to my trip south with my host family :)
We went down to a small (ish) town called Séné, just southeast of Vannes -- around the "V" of Vannes on the map below
I hope that you all have been having a wonderful week, and that you have sent love to the mothers in your life (in case you don't know, today is Mothers' Day in the US [but in France Mothers' Day isn't until the last weekend of May]).
I had a pretty wonderful week, especially since we didn't have class on Thursday or Friday this week. My host family took me with them on a mini vacation to the Gulf of Morbihan (Golf du Morbihan), but before I talk about that I'll start on the earlier part of my week, when I was still in Rennes.
This Tuesday, I went out with some friends after dinner -- originally with the intention of finally going to see Captain America : Civil War, but we didn't actually wind up seeing it because we weren't gonna get out of the movie until midnight ish, which would have meant that we'd miss our buses. Anyhoo, Wednesday afternoon we actually got to see it! I still haven't seen Deadpool :( , so this was my first time going to a French cinema. It was also the first time in years that I saw a movie in 3D (it was the only option for the English version), so it was a pretty unique experience in general. If you haven't seen the movie yet, go see it, it was pretty gosh darn awesome, and set up the Marvel Universe for more epicness :))
So now, on to my trip south with my host family :)
We went down to a small (ish) town called Séné, just southeast of Vannes -- around the "V" of Vannes on the map below
So Thursday mid-morning (fin du matinée), we loaded up the car and set out on the road. Let me tell you - I have taken many a roadtrip in my lifetime, some of which lasted over 15 hours. I have also taken roadtrips in my mom's tiny Yaris, but my mom is a packing boss (and her car has nice storage space), so, despite having three people and a dog, two people and two dogs, or whatever configuration, we made it work with a decent amount of personal space. In France, cars are tiny, and don't have much storage space. While it wasn't as cramped as it could have been, it definitely felt like I was in one of those clown car sketches when we all piled out of a tiny car that was laden down with three bikes, plenty of food, and the rest of our shit.
Anyhoo.
We stopped along the way for a picnic lunch at the Château Kerguéhennec, which, while not as extremely magnificent as the Châteaux of the Loire, was still pretty god damn beautiful. We went to a contemporary art exhibit in the castle, which I will willingly admit I didn't really dig. I frequently don't really get contemporary art, especially this kind, which was mostly monochromes or one stroke of black on a white canvas or other stuff like that. I had much more fun looking at the château itself (and learning that my host fam feels similarly about the art we saw). My favorite part of the château was definitely this library that we saw, which I tried to capture in picture, but there is no way to capture the smell or feeling of a room that should be full of books, have a fire in the fireplace, and where you should drink a nice pot of tea (or whatever you fancy). I wanted to steal the room and bring it back to Maine with me :)
After our picnic lunch, we finished the drive, arriving in Séné at our Airbnb in the early afternoon. After settling in, we set out under the beautiful sun to bike around the town, particularly the coastline. It was really beautiful, and warm enough that I was just in shorts and a tank top, and still overheating (although, as everyone knows I overheat easily, so I'll say that it was in the mid 70s to give actual perspective :) )
Friday was, unfortunately, not nearly as nice of a day, and I was not prepared for the chilly weather, so I tapped into my Mainah strength to stave off the cold :) Friday we (Malo, Jean-Claude, Danielle, and I) were joined by the oldest host bro (Yoann), and two of Danielle and Jean-Claude's friends. We caught a ferry over to a nearby island, l'Île d'Arz, where we spent the day walking around. We walked around the island for a few hours before stopping for a picnic lunch, then picking back up and walking into town for a cup of coffee (and to get out of the rain). While it was pretty chilly, it was still very pretty, and it was so nice to smell the salt of the sea again -- that's one of my favorite smells at home, and I really, really miss it. It was also great to spend time with almost all of my host family in a new context.
Around 4pm we caught the ferry back to the mainland, and returned to the house. After just hanging out for a bit, we set up the apéritif and continued to talk over drinks. Then we moved to the table and continued talking over dinner. Yoann had to leave before dinner, so we were only six for dinner. After dinner the couple with whom we had spent the day made their way home, and my host fam and I hit the hay, tired after our day of walking and talking.
Saturday was our last full day in Séné, so we mixed things up and headed into Vannes for the market. Turns out the Vannes market, while not as big as Rennes', has a much wider variety of products. Firstly we made our way through a plant market (for lack of a better description), where there were dozens of stalls selling beautiful plants and plant-related materials, which was wonderful. After that we made our way to the actual marché, which not only had food (like the Rennes market), but clothes, jewelry, soap, and much more. We toured most of the market, picking up lunch supplies along the way, then headed back home for a late lunch. After lunch Malo and I stayed back to do some homework while my host parents went to a park to try to watch some birds.
That evening we headed back into Vannes for a night out at a restaurant, where we all had delicious food (although my host mom was bummed that the only veggie option was a falafel veggie burger, because she wanted me to have a more interesting experience [that burger was fucking delicious, so I didn't mind :) ] ).
Sunday (today), my host parents and I did a short tour on bike before lunch, which was a nice chance to see a little bit more of Séné. Then lunch, packing the car, and hitting the road. We stopped to see Jean-Claude's great uncle (who is actually about the same age as Jean-Claude) and his wife, and to share some Kouign Amann and coffee with them before making our way back to Rennes.
So another wonderful week :)
I hope you are all doing well, and I look forward to seeing many of you in a few weeks when I make my way back to the US
A la prochaine fois,
Evelyn
Anyhoo.
We stopped along the way for a picnic lunch at the Château Kerguéhennec, which, while not as extremely magnificent as the Châteaux of the Loire, was still pretty god damn beautiful. We went to a contemporary art exhibit in the castle, which I will willingly admit I didn't really dig. I frequently don't really get contemporary art, especially this kind, which was mostly monochromes or one stroke of black on a white canvas or other stuff like that. I had much more fun looking at the château itself (and learning that my host fam feels similarly about the art we saw). My favorite part of the château was definitely this library that we saw, which I tried to capture in picture, but there is no way to capture the smell or feeling of a room that should be full of books, have a fire in the fireplace, and where you should drink a nice pot of tea (or whatever you fancy). I wanted to steal the room and bring it back to Maine with me :)
After our picnic lunch, we finished the drive, arriving in Séné at our Airbnb in the early afternoon. After settling in, we set out under the beautiful sun to bike around the town, particularly the coastline. It was really beautiful, and warm enough that I was just in shorts and a tank top, and still overheating (although, as everyone knows I overheat easily, so I'll say that it was in the mid 70s to give actual perspective :) )
Friday was, unfortunately, not nearly as nice of a day, and I was not prepared for the chilly weather, so I tapped into my Mainah strength to stave off the cold :) Friday we (Malo, Jean-Claude, Danielle, and I) were joined by the oldest host bro (Yoann), and two of Danielle and Jean-Claude's friends. We caught a ferry over to a nearby island, l'Île d'Arz, where we spent the day walking around. We walked around the island for a few hours before stopping for a picnic lunch, then picking back up and walking into town for a cup of coffee (and to get out of the rain). While it was pretty chilly, it was still very pretty, and it was so nice to smell the salt of the sea again -- that's one of my favorite smells at home, and I really, really miss it. It was also great to spend time with almost all of my host family in a new context.
Around 4pm we caught the ferry back to the mainland, and returned to the house. After just hanging out for a bit, we set up the apéritif and continued to talk over drinks. Then we moved to the table and continued talking over dinner. Yoann had to leave before dinner, so we were only six for dinner. After dinner the couple with whom we had spent the day made their way home, and my host fam and I hit the hay, tired after our day of walking and talking.
Saturday was our last full day in Séné, so we mixed things up and headed into Vannes for the market. Turns out the Vannes market, while not as big as Rennes', has a much wider variety of products. Firstly we made our way through a plant market (for lack of a better description), where there were dozens of stalls selling beautiful plants and plant-related materials, which was wonderful. After that we made our way to the actual marché, which not only had food (like the Rennes market), but clothes, jewelry, soap, and much more. We toured most of the market, picking up lunch supplies along the way, then headed back home for a late lunch. After lunch Malo and I stayed back to do some homework while my host parents went to a park to try to watch some birds.
That evening we headed back into Vannes for a night out at a restaurant, where we all had delicious food (although my host mom was bummed that the only veggie option was a falafel veggie burger, because she wanted me to have a more interesting experience [that burger was fucking delicious, so I didn't mind :) ] ).
Sunday (today), my host parents and I did a short tour on bike before lunch, which was a nice chance to see a little bit more of Séné. Then lunch, packing the car, and hitting the road. We stopped to see Jean-Claude's great uncle (who is actually about the same age as Jean-Claude) and his wife, and to share some Kouign Amann and coffee with them before making our way back to Rennes.
So another wonderful week :)
I hope you are all doing well, and I look forward to seeing many of you in a few weeks when I make my way back to the US
A la prochaine fois,
Evelyn