Now, before I say anything else, I have to say: Joyeux anniversaire Dad! I know I'm a day early, but you deserve multiple days of celebration, so I thought I'd start now! I love you tons and I can't wait to see you and Ashley in April!!
Now, on to today's stories, because I'm sure you've all been on the edge of your seat all week :)
So, France is pretty awesome. I've been here for about 2 weeks, in Rennes for just over 1 week, and I couldn't be happier with my choice of study abroad locations. For any SU students reading this, especially French students, I would highly recommend taking a closer look at this program when you're trying to decide between the hundreds of programs Susquehanna offers. This program brings together students from all over the US -- this semester we're 30, and weirdly enough most of us seem to be from northern M states (Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, and Massachusetts).
The program is run by Daniel Audaz and Leah Honniberg, who are both wonderful, and both of whom have studied/worked/lived abroad, so who really understand the challenges that come with it. Leah organizes housing arrangements, and so far I have yet to talk to someone in my group who is unhappy with their host family -- I certainly am not. In this program we have the chance to take classes with French students, student teach in English classes at local schools, volunteer at the Franco-American Institute (IFA), the largest (and I believe the only) one in France, and so much more. As my semester progresses I'm sure I'll share more details about the wonderful opportunities this program creates, so I'll leave it at that for now.
So, this past week we started our pre-program program, aka the intensive language and culture classes we take to refresh and enhance our French and cultural awareness before we begin our actual classes on February 1st. We're basically booked from 9-5 (or 09h à 17h en français) each day. It's important and fun, but still tiring.
Luckily, Saturday came relatively quickly; a day with no commitments, no classes, and no meetings! While I like lazy weekends, I also want to explore as much as possible while I'm here, and the best time to do that is on the weekends. So, you can imagine that I was very happy that one of my friends, Alexandria, invited me to go to a coastal town called Dinard with her and her host parents on Saturday. They own a house in Dinard, so they like to go up there many weekends.
See image below -- find Rennes (big letters, can't miss it), and go north, past Dinan to Dinard. It only took about an hour to get there (aka less time than it takes to get from Belfast to Portland, from Brunswick to the border (or for my PA folks, less time than it takes to get from SU to Scranton).
Now, let me take a break from my rambling to show you some of the plethora of pictures I took....
Wow, that sounds so interesting Evelyn, thanks for the coastal security lesson.
Okay, yeah, so it doesn't sound glamorous, but don't let the name stop you, these paths are totally beautiful. If you looked through my pictures you will have seen some examples of the paths, although I didn't take many pictures of them since I was focusing on making sure I didn't fall.
These are the paths that used to be walked by coastal officers to make sure nothing nefarious was going on. Today, they are paths open to the public that run the length of the coast. We saw a lot of people walking with their dogs (Mom, I think you and Mellie would love it, although Suki would hate it cuz her paws would get really wet), or just out for a beautiful walk. I can't even imagine living in a town like Dinard, and being able to walk these paths daily, surrounded by centuries of history, taking it in as a given.
I am so lucky to be on this wonderfully bizarre experience, and I'm so happy that I get to share it with you. If you ever get the chance to visit Brittany, come and explore the coasts, soak in the history, and bring a friend who will encourage you to explore and appreciate every moment.
Merci à tous, à bientôt!
Evelyn