Bonjour à tous!
I hope you're all having a great week!
As you might have guessed from the song, I spent some time au bord de la mer (by the seaside) again this week! When I was walking the sands of St. Andrews, this song was consistently stuck in my head, and it made a comeback yesterday. But I'm getting ahead of myself, let me start where I left off last weekend.
Last Sunday, after Saturday's lengthy hike, I was pretty tired. However, when my host mom asked if I wanted to go to Saint Malo for the afternoon, I didn't say no. I've been trying to continually push myself to leave my room, get out and actually do stuff so that I don't feel like I've missed out on anything during this semester. I especially try to spend more time with my host family, mainly by doing homework in the salon, but also by going on little outings like this one.
So we ate an early lunch then set out for Saint Malo, which is about an hour away. When we got there we walked around the ramparts, and she explained various historical facts to me. Saint Malo, along with a few other major cities in Bretagne, was actually almost completely destroyed during WWII. It was razed by the Allies, because it was being occupied by the Nazis. I was happy to learn that it was also the Allies who payed for the reconstruction of these cities, as they are all important ports.
So we did a little tour of the city, then made our way down onto the biggest beach, which we walked for a little while. Unfortunately there was ridiculous wind, so we didn't stay on the beach for long for fear of losing a nose or ears to the cold. (Je plaisante)
We then headed to one of the other beaches, which is actually sheltered from the wind. It was fairly warm, and comfortable enough that there were at least twenty people on the edges of the beach taking naps. After sitting there for a bit, we went in search of a nice cuppa, then headed back home.
It was really nice to spend a few hours just with my host mom. I really like my whole host family, but I don't spend much one-on-one time with any of them. When I do get to spend one-on-one time, I get to learn more about them than I otherwise would, because when more than one person is speaking I like to sit back and challenge myself to follow the conversation, rather than attempt to lead it.
I hope you're all having a great week!
As you might have guessed from the song, I spent some time au bord de la mer (by the seaside) again this week! When I was walking the sands of St. Andrews, this song was consistently stuck in my head, and it made a comeback yesterday. But I'm getting ahead of myself, let me start where I left off last weekend.
Last Sunday, after Saturday's lengthy hike, I was pretty tired. However, when my host mom asked if I wanted to go to Saint Malo for the afternoon, I didn't say no. I've been trying to continually push myself to leave my room, get out and actually do stuff so that I don't feel like I've missed out on anything during this semester. I especially try to spend more time with my host family, mainly by doing homework in the salon, but also by going on little outings like this one.
So we ate an early lunch then set out for Saint Malo, which is about an hour away. When we got there we walked around the ramparts, and she explained various historical facts to me. Saint Malo, along with a few other major cities in Bretagne, was actually almost completely destroyed during WWII. It was razed by the Allies, because it was being occupied by the Nazis. I was happy to learn that it was also the Allies who payed for the reconstruction of these cities, as they are all important ports.
So we did a little tour of the city, then made our way down onto the biggest beach, which we walked for a little while. Unfortunately there was ridiculous wind, so we didn't stay on the beach for long for fear of losing a nose or ears to the cold. (Je plaisante)
We then headed to one of the other beaches, which is actually sheltered from the wind. It was fairly warm, and comfortable enough that there were at least twenty people on the edges of the beach taking naps. After sitting there for a bit, we went in search of a nice cuppa, then headed back home.
It was really nice to spend a few hours just with my host mom. I really like my whole host family, but I don't spend much one-on-one time with any of them. When I do get to spend one-on-one time, I get to learn more about them than I otherwise would, because when more than one person is speaking I like to sit back and challenge myself to follow the conversation, rather than attempt to lead it.
This week was pretty normal, with a few fun lunch outings, one test, and a pretty solid lesson with my 3rd graders. All in all, I've definitely gotten back into the swing of things, but I'm still mixing things up enough to keep life exciting :)
Yesterday (Saturday), was our second CIEE outing. We went to Saint Coulomb and then just a bit further to Saint Malo.
We didn't actually see any of the town of Saint Coulomb, rather just a mansion toward the edge of town. Apparently in the day Saint Malo's richest all had "modest" summer mansions in Saint Coulomb and nearby towns. Saint Malo used to have a ton of people crammed in to not enough space, so it got pretty smelly in the summer. The rich would escape this by heading to the countryside.
These rich families all made their fortunes off of ships. For some it was ship building, but for a vast majority it was corsaires (privateers). Our tour guide told us that every noble family had their own priest and their own corsaire. While the corsaires had to give a chunk of their profits to the king, they kept the majority for themselves, which meant that any man good at his job could quickly rack up a fortune.
We toured one of the summer mansions, called la "malouinière de la Ville-Bague". The house is now maintained by a French family who bought it a little while back. They receive no financial support from the government, even though the house is a listed historical site. Apparently there are many châteaux for sale in Bretagne, since people can't always afford the upkeep.
Happily, her family has done a wonderful job, and they even converted the attic into there own personal museum, which we were able to visit. I used to work in a home that had been converted into a museum, so I always love it when I get to visit other museums of that ilk. Unlike the house where I worked, we were allowed - and encouraged - to touch a variety of things in this house, notably pieces from their collection of ivory and whale-bone creations. (There are some pictures below)
After our tour we hopped back on the bus for the quick trip to Saint Malo, where we all quickly found lunch. Then we met up for our tour of Saint Malo.
I learned a lot about the city -- although I honestly don't remember all of it -- but one of the most interesting things was the fact that Saint Malo was not always a part of Bretagne. I believe I explained in a previous post that Bretagne was not part of France until the 1500s, and that it retained special rights (and was essentially ruled as a separate entity) until the late 1700s. However, Saint Malo was actually separate even from Bretagne for a while, after its citizens revolted against the Duke. They eventually reached a settlement to rejoin Bretagne and France, but in the process gained a right which they still retain : Saint Malo is the only city that has the right to fly its flag above the French flag, which it does with pride.
If you're interested, I would recommend googling Saint Malo flag, and looking into the explanation of their flag, because I think it's pretty cool.
Anyhoo, we had a wonderful tour, then a bit of free time before we had to leave. I chose to use that time to go get une gauffre au spéculoos (WAFFLE :) ) with a friend. We took our waffles with us as we walked down to a beach, which we explored, and where we found some nice rocks to climb for a beautiful view of the sea.
I guess you could say I had a good weekend
:)
A la prochaine fois
Evelyn
Yesterday (Saturday), was our second CIEE outing. We went to Saint Coulomb and then just a bit further to Saint Malo.
We didn't actually see any of the town of Saint Coulomb, rather just a mansion toward the edge of town. Apparently in the day Saint Malo's richest all had "modest" summer mansions in Saint Coulomb and nearby towns. Saint Malo used to have a ton of people crammed in to not enough space, so it got pretty smelly in the summer. The rich would escape this by heading to the countryside.
These rich families all made their fortunes off of ships. For some it was ship building, but for a vast majority it was corsaires (privateers). Our tour guide told us that every noble family had their own priest and their own corsaire. While the corsaires had to give a chunk of their profits to the king, they kept the majority for themselves, which meant that any man good at his job could quickly rack up a fortune.
We toured one of the summer mansions, called la "malouinière de la Ville-Bague". The house is now maintained by a French family who bought it a little while back. They receive no financial support from the government, even though the house is a listed historical site. Apparently there are many châteaux for sale in Bretagne, since people can't always afford the upkeep.
Happily, her family has done a wonderful job, and they even converted the attic into there own personal museum, which we were able to visit. I used to work in a home that had been converted into a museum, so I always love it when I get to visit other museums of that ilk. Unlike the house where I worked, we were allowed - and encouraged - to touch a variety of things in this house, notably pieces from their collection of ivory and whale-bone creations. (There are some pictures below)
After our tour we hopped back on the bus for the quick trip to Saint Malo, where we all quickly found lunch. Then we met up for our tour of Saint Malo.
I learned a lot about the city -- although I honestly don't remember all of it -- but one of the most interesting things was the fact that Saint Malo was not always a part of Bretagne. I believe I explained in a previous post that Bretagne was not part of France until the 1500s, and that it retained special rights (and was essentially ruled as a separate entity) until the late 1700s. However, Saint Malo was actually separate even from Bretagne for a while, after its citizens revolted against the Duke. They eventually reached a settlement to rejoin Bretagne and France, but in the process gained a right which they still retain : Saint Malo is the only city that has the right to fly its flag above the French flag, which it does with pride.
If you're interested, I would recommend googling Saint Malo flag, and looking into the explanation of their flag, because I think it's pretty cool.
Anyhoo, we had a wonderful tour, then a bit of free time before we had to leave. I chose to use that time to go get une gauffre au spéculoos (WAFFLE :) ) with a friend. We took our waffles with us as we walked down to a beach, which we explored, and where we found some nice rocks to climb for a beautiful view of the sea.
I guess you could say I had a good weekend
:)
A la prochaine fois
Evelyn