My Semester in Rennes

le 25 fevrier- le 2 mars

2008-03-06T04:04:00.000-08:00

Les vacances!

Vacation started at Rennes II on Friday the 22nd after class. As planned, I was to go to Paris on Monday morning and then I was to leave for London on Friday afternoon to return to Rennes on Sunday afternoon. This only left 4 real days to see all of Paris and only a weekend to see all of London and my roomie! So much to do, so little time!

The taxi came at 4:50A.M. on Monday morning to take me and my two German friends, Anna and Eva, to the gare (train station). Normally there is a metro stop right inside the gare, but it was too early for the metro to be running. Because I hadn't thought about buying my ticket before hand, I had to pay 66€ for one way to Paris! We arrived in Paris at around 9:35A.M., but hotel check in isn't until 1P.M. so we had some time to just wander. It had rained recently and it was still dreary, not really sight-seeing weather, but on we went! We just had to hope that the weather would be better the next day.

Our hotel was right down the street from the Moulin Rouge and just a short walk from Monmartre and Sacre Coeur. First stop: Sacre Coeur. There were so many stairs!

My legs were burning as we ascended each stair. Sacre Coeur was so beautiful once we finally reached the top! Historical tidbit: constrution on Sacre Coeur started in the 1870s, but it was not completed until 1914. Two French business men vowed to build this church dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Christ should France be spared from assault during the Franco-Prussian war.

The view from the top was amazing. We could see Montparnasse, les Invalides, le Louvre, and of course, the Eiffel Tower. Everyone instantly forgot the stairs once we got to the top. There are two statues at either end of the door to the church: one is of St. Louis and the other is Joan of Arc, both of whom are patron saints of France. There was so much detail all over the facade of the building. Even the doors were bronze and depicted the Last Supper and other Biblical scenes.

It is forbidden to take pictures inside of Sacre Coeur, but the interior was even more impressive than the exterior. Outside there is a general buzz or languages and photo-ops, but inside, a hush descends. There were stations dedicated to many of the Saints complete with golden crucifixs, statues, and candles. The stainded glass was breath-taking. It was like the sun had come alive and wanted to tell a story about the life of Christ. I can only imagine what it would all look like when the sun is not overcast and shines freely into the glass.

From Sacre Coeur mozied on into Monmartre and Espace Salvador Dali where the street painters congregate. The whole place was too touristy for my personal taste, but it was fun to walk around for a bit. There are souvenir shops all down the roads here. The post cards are the cheapest here than any other place I looked throughout Paris. I think I bought 24 of them!

We then went back to the hotel to wash our faces and get settled in a bit. Eva and Anna knew some French guys from Rennes who were staying not far from the Centre Ville of Paris, so they were going to meet us at the Hotel to walk around a little bit.

We stayed in the Hotel St. Georges Lafayette in Monmartre. The rooms were small, but we had our own washroom with shower, and breakfast in the morning, so really, it was a good find. For a triple room, I ended up paying 20€/night. That really is an amazing price for a Paris hotel. If you're looking for chandeliers and bellhops, go somewhere else though.

The guys, Florian, Laurent, and Clement, were only in Paris for the day and then they were going to do some more traveling, so they wanted to see the big sights just as much as we did. First, though, they wanted to see Sacre Coeur! So, up we climbed once again, step after step until the bascilica came into view. I thought it might be less impressive the second time around in the same day, but really it was beautiful.
Next stop: Notre Dame. Anyone who really knows me will say that I have a terrible sense of direction and that I can get lost in a round room. Luckily, Anna had been to Paris twice before, Eva once, and the guys, being French, had been there several times. So, they were familiar with the metro and which direction to go. Anna, Eva, and I bought 5 day metro passes for 27€ for our stay in Paris. Because we used public transport for all of our touring needs, this was an excellent deal. That is, if it works. I don't know if I have some magnets hidden on my body, if my purse is made of lead, or if my mother has put some kind of tracking device on me, but my pass was desensitized. I had to jump over so many metro doors and slide though exits. James Bond had nothing on my break-in abilities.

Anyways, back to Notre Dame. This cathedral was actually built upon the ruins of a Roman temple, and building began in 1163. Napoleon was coronated here in 1804. There were many more people here than at Sacre Coeur, and there were many beggers moving throughtout the throngs of tourists. We walked throughout the cathedral and tried to drink in all in. The Rose Window was more beautiful than either my travel book or my camera could encapsulate. We walked along the Seine next to the cathedral, and it all seemed so surreal. We were in Paris. Not reading about it from a book or watching a movie. I was looking up at the bell towers of Notre Dame while the Seine splashed against the walls of the river banks. There are no words, and any attempt at taking a picture falls so short. Everyone just needs to stand there for themselves to understand.

We saw a lot of churches that first day for several reasons: 1. They're gorgeous 2. They're free to enter 3. They were a refuge from the rain. We went into St. Etienne du Mont next because of it's beautifully detailed outer facade. It was a foggy, cloudy day, so the stained glass doesn't look like much from the outside, but on the inside, it's breathtaking. Unfortunatly, I was unable to snap any pictures on the inside. There were the remains of Ste. Genevieve in a large, golden coffin in this Cathedral. Pope John Paul II visited once and there is a picture of him praying beside her. Ste. Genevieve is particularly important to Parisian Catholics because it was her prayers that saved Paris from Hun invasion, thus saving the city. She is, naturally, the patron saint of Paris.

From St. Etienne du Mont we walked to La Sorbonne, l'Université de Paris. I didn't expect it to be so inconspicuous. Clément told me though that when the students demonstrate outside of the Université, they close down streets for blocks. That might be something that I would want to see... from a telescope... in another city. He said that demonstrations at the Sorbonne are not as prevelant as they are in Rennes.

We kept right on walking through the streets of Paris until we came to St. Sulpice. This church was under restoration, so both towers were not visible but it was beautiful none the less. We walked around, I said a prayer for my family. I can't get over the kind of hushfull peace that exists in these old churches. You almost expect to see saints and angels praying along with you. It's enough to make you penitent about just about anything!

There was a pretty fountain that we stoped at for a few minutes to rest our feet. I expected to see coins in the bottom like there usually are in the States, but I guess the French don't do that. If I had any American money with me I might have tossed it in just to be rebellious!

We happened upon a little bar after exploring the church where we were able to rest our feet and warm up a little for an hour or two before heading back to Pigalle where our hotel was. It was really nice to have some French people with us because I feel like such an easy target when it is me and other foreigners, especially with other Americans. We're not really tourists in the pegorative sense of the word because we came from Rennes. We've had some time to learn how to blend a little. Here are some helpful hints:

- Don't smile all of the time. This is an automatic "Hi I'm American" give away.

- Speak so that only your imediate group can hear you when in public. Loud talking is for foreigners and drunk people. This also counts for cell phone use. I saw more cell phone use in Paris than in Rennes, but even so, they were usually brief and quiet conversations.

- Ladies: lots of make-up is a dead give-away. French women in general are pretty modest about make-up, or they don't wear any at all during the normal day.

- Sweat pants are a definite no! They are for exercising and sleeping, not going to the grocery store or walking around down town.

Back to mes vacances, though. Day two was just as much walking. The first sight that we visited was La Défense. Designed in the 1980s it is one of Paris's newer sights. It was really huge; Notre Dame Cathedral can fit inside la Grande Arche. La Grande Arche was built to celebrate the bicentenial of the French Revolution.

From there we took a bus that we thought was going back to the city center. This was not the case. We waited the full 45 minutes for the bus to arrive at the end of the line before getting back on the same bus, waiting 45 minutes, and getting off the bus next to La Défense once again. On the bright side, we saw some Parisian subdivisions, which was a relief because I was starting to think that people just lived in the monuments! There are apartments above all the buildings on the streets, but not everyone can live in apartments.

Eventually, we made it back to le Champs Elysée and saw l'Arc de Triomphe and the massive swarm of traffic that encircles it. I really don't think I could drive in France. You would have to be at peace with your maker each time you got into the car. History fact time: l'Arc de Triomphe was comissioned by Napoleon in 1805 after his victory in the Battle of Austerlitz. In the 1920s, the body of an unknown soldier was laid beneath the Arc and the eternal flame is lit every evening.

We walked around here for a bit, until we came upon Le Grand Palais and Le Petit Palais. These are two of the numerous museums scattered around Paris. Both of the Palais were built for the World Exposition of 1900. They now house fine art expositions. Admission was free so we decided to wander around for a bit. There was a pottery exposition taking place. I was not impressed by the art, but the ceilings were amazing. Every ceiling had a different mural painted on it. The chubby cheribs and dancing ladies have been on those ceilings for over 100 years, but the colors were still so striking and vibrant. In the center courtyard of the Petit Palais there is a little garden complete with pond and flowering trees. Gilded cheribs smile down on this garden, and it was a needed reprieve from the traffic and general clatter in the streets.

The Palais are right down the street from Les Invalides, and even though it was a foggy day, the golden dome and gilded statues on the bridge over the Seine were an impressive view.

From Les Palais, we walked to la Place de la Concorde with its gold-tipped obelisk. This is the place where many people were guillotined during the Reign of Terror. It really is unreal to stand in places where history took place, the kind of history that historians put in textbooks because it was an important moment for democracy. And here I stand with my little camera, looking up at an Egyptian artifact that has seen countless generations looking up at it in much the same fashion. It's a reality check to be sure.

Our next stop was le Louvre. I always imagined that the Pyramid in the courtyard would look wildly out of place, but it just looked like it worked to me. The exterior of the Louvre was enormous! I could hardly fathom that so many artifacts and paintings existed in the world, let alone this one building in Paris. The girls were coming back on Friday because it's free for students after 6 P.M. and I'll come again with my family. The lines didn't seem too bad, but this really isn't tourist season.

We just kept on walking. Senate de la République, l'Opéra, we walked past it all. One place we did stop was La Galerie Lafayette, which is one of France's leading high-end department stores. I mean, there is a stained glass dome in the center. Come on. It was fabulous. We walked around a couple of the seven floors, checked out the rediculously over-priced merchandise. We then decided that it had been enough walking for a while, and returned to the hotel for a mini rest.

I really wanted to see the Eiffel Tower at night so we decided to head out there before dinner. It was really something to see. It shimmers for 15 minutes every hour. I took a video. At one point in the video I tried to show that the Seine was right next to the Eiffel Tower, but I forgot how dark night time can be, so all you can see is some cars, but riiiiight on the other side of the cars is the Seine.

I was really shocked to see men in uniform with automatic weapons walking around. There are police and security in the U.S., but they don't need huge guns! It's just a precaution, I know, but it seemed a little excessive.

We walked around for a while to figure out where we wanted to eat. We found some really hip little restaurant near St. Sulpice. Crepes and a cocktail is a pretty good dinner in my book. We had a long day ahead of us so we just headed back to the hotel after dinner.

Day 3: First stop: the Eiffel Tower. We approached the Eiffel Tower via Trocadero fountains. This really was a great view because you're looking from an elevated stance over a fountain and some gardens and close enough to get a good picture stands the Tower. We got to the Eiffel Tower around 11 A.M. and the lines were pretty long. It might have been better to come earlier, but you live and you learn. Only 2 of the 4 legs of the tower were open: one for elevator and one for walking the stairs. Obviously, we wanted the elevator! We stayed in line for about an hour and a half, so it really wasn't so bad. We also decided to only go up to the second floor. It's tall enough, you can see everything from there, and it's less expensive than the third floor.

Seeing Paris from this vantage point was really amazing. In the distance I could see Sacre Coeur, Les Invalides, Notre Dame, and the sprawling expanse of aging rooftops and domed monuments. We stayed on the Eiffel Tower for a good 45 minutes just looked from every angle. We walked past all of the monuments and "must see places" for the past few days, but it really doesn't get old, especially the Eiffel Tower. It made me almost feel bad for the people who live in Paris because if you see these places everyday, something of their grandeur and beauty is lost in redundancy. This, among other reasons, is why I could visit Paris 100 times and not get bored, but I would not want to live here.

There was some ice sculpture exibit on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower, complete with an ice replica and fun facts about the Arctic Circle and Alaska. That's one thing that I loved about Paris: there are museums and exhibitions going on everywhere. You have to make an effort not to be learning something at all times. For the regulars though, this might become more background noise than informative. As we were leaving the Tower, I could see that the lines had more than doubled. Maybe we did well to come when we did! Obviously the afternoon is NOT the time to go to the Eiffel Tower.

We started walking towards le Forum des Halles. St. Eustache Church is in this area, and it bears a striking resemblance to Notre Dame, having been modeled after it. This church took 100 years to complete, and it is obvious from the exterior that a lot of work went into its construction. There was a very cool statue in the courtyard next to the church called l'Ecoute. Basically, it is just a big head and a hand. Children like to climb on it, we took pictures near it, etc.

As we were walking around this square, some teenagers show up with a boom box playing techno music really loudly. Then this one kid starts dancing techtonic style (which is really popular, and really strange; youtube it, I'm not going to try to explain it). Yes, there was a dance off in the square next to the church. It was nuts. Some TV crew people showed up and taped the kids getting down with their bad selves and everything!

After we had gotten our fill of techtonic, we walked around Les Halles. There is a little shopping district in this area where there were some pretty hot deals, but I restrained myself! (Sarah and I will have to go back)

Right in this portion of Paris is the Centre Pompidou, and the exterior of the building was really cool. None of the pipe work for the building is on the interior. It is all perfectly visable. More than the building itself, I really liked the atmosphere outside. There were people sitting on the ground just relaxing, there were performers trying to make a little money, and there were tour groups coming and going. It just seemed so relaxed. We walked into the lobby, but when you only have 4 days to see the entirety of Paris, there isn't much time to stop and gander.

We did take a little rest at the fountain next to the Centre Pompidou, and it was the most bizarre fountain I have ever seen! All of the metal sculpture moved, spun, and spit water every which way. It was certainly different.

There really was only one more thing that I wanted to see in Paris, and that was la Madeleine, for obvious reasons. La Madeleine is a church modeled after a Grecian Temple dedicated to Mary Magdelene. Inside, there is a sculpture of her ascent into Heaven being guided by angels. It was truly beautiful. There is also a metro stop of the same name, so I had to snap a picture with that as well!

Marche, Jardin du Thabor, and Meandering

2008-02-05T02:43:00.001-08:00

le 2 fevrier 2008

On Saturday, my American friend Lindsey and I decided to find the outdoor market on the Rue les Lices. So, we got onto the metro, which is ridiculously easy to navigate because there is only one line. Sainte Anne was the stop we needed, and it's only about 4 or 5 stops away from Villejean Université. Sainte Anne is a beautiful cathedral complete with flying buttresses and gorgeous arches. Sainte Anne has a lot of cultural ties to Bretagne’s Celtic ancestry. In face, until 1532, Bretagne was actually under English rule. This is apparent in it’s half-timbered houses and nearly extinct regional tongue. But, back to Sainte Anne. Before the spread of Christianity to the Celtic region of the world, Ane was a pagan goddess. Then, as Christianity took root, the image of Sainte Anne, the mother of Mary, took the place of the pagan goddess. Sainte Anne is said to have appeared to a man in the town of Auray. She and St. Yves are the patron saints of Bretagne.

Lindsey and I don't generally venture outside of what we know when it comes to walking around down town Rennes, but there were people with empty bags heading in one way and people with full bags coming towards us as we strolled throughout the cobble stone streets, so we guessed we were heading in the right direction.

Soon enough we came upon le marché. It was a sensory overload. People were milling around everywhere; vendors were shouting prices; the scent of fish, vegetables, fruits, and fresh breads wafted through the air. I bought 1kg of pears, a few oranges, a lime, tomatoes, and an avocado for the week ahead. It seemed so surreal to be buying tomatoes in the presence of half-timbered homes and farmers whose family business has been farming for longer than my family has been in the United States. It was good to see that tradition has not been sacrificed to industry like supermarkets and corporate owned farms.

There was also a portion of the marché dedicated to the selling of flowers. Roses and lilies were there in every color.

From the marché we walked around through the maze of streets and boulevards, eventually coming upon another cathedral, though I couldn’t find a sign telling its name. Next to the church was the entrance to le Jardin du Thabor (jardin = garden). This used to be the church’s property when it was a monastery housing over a hundred monks. We took a stroll through some of the paths, though it all seemed to go on forever. There was a birdcage full of exotic looking parakeets in an array of vibrant colors. There were also a couple of extremely well-fed pigeons wobbling around the birdcage looking for whatever their pretty cousins let fall out of the caged perimeter.

We left the garden to buy a birthday cake for Anna, one of the German girls, and wandered in and out of shops. Someone stole my scarf last week, and you simply cannot be female in France without a scarf. I think there might even be a limestone plaque on Sainte Anne saying just that. No luck on a scarf, but we found an inexpensive shoe shop... there might be some trouble there...
On the way back to the metro, we happened upon a little open book marché next to the metro stop. I, of course, browsed the selection. I was surprised to see translations of American classics like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, as well as several books of American poetry. Though, American media is very omni-present in France. French radio is dominated by American music, etc. I bought a book for 3€, because what kind of a good day doesn't end with a new book?

That is all that I think of to write for now… though I am sure there will be more to come soon. I am going to visit my roommate Heidi Benson in London in a few weeks, and there might be a day trip to St. Malo this weekend, so I will keep the pictures coming!

Trip to Mont St. Michel

2008-01-30T03:51:00.000-08:00

le 26 janvier 2008

We took a trip to Mont St. Michel last weekend and it was amazing. I took many pictures but they can never really describe or capture everything.

First, we met at the metro station in the morning. I met my Portugese friend Natasha there and we walked to Champion, the grocery store a few blocks away. We needed to bring our own lunches for a pique nique. Then we all got onto the charter buses. The buses are like American buses, so they're pretty wide. I was sure that they were going to be too wide for the streets of Rennes, but we managed to get there ahead of schedule.

I had seen pictures of the monestary in my lovely travel books, but it was so much bigger and far more beautiful than I expected! When we got out of the buses, and stood there before the building, I felt like I was living in an ant's world! When we walked into the enterence, we were greated by rows of kitchy little gift shops and creperies up and down the streets. It was cramped but cozy. We had to walk up in a spirel, then up some stairs, and more stairs, and more stairs...until I thought I my legs were going to fall off.

The final reward for all of those stairs was the terase at the top. The world seemed to open up and rivers converged at our feet before being lead to the channel. You could see smaller villages for miles before the landscape drifted away into a hazy horizon. This was not quite the tiptop where the golden St. Michael is perched, but that was within clear view. Here I ate my pique nique and talked with students from the States, Canada, China, Portugual, and Sweden, feeling oh so continental.

From there, we got to walk throughout the mazes of rooms and hallways that make up the interior of the monestary. In one of the larger halls, there was a sign saying that the monks ate their meals there, but they had to remain perfectly silent throughout the meal while someone read holy texts to them. This picture was so removed from the chatter and noise of taking pictures that we tourists were making.

Down a few more hallways and up several more flights of stairs, we came to the place that housed the prisoners kept in Mont St. Michel when it became a prison after the Revolution. I almost expected to see skeletons still in irons against the walls inside.

From there, we were able to move freely around the exterior of the monestary once again. There were so many levels of terraces it was difficult to no whether we were headed in the right direction. We ended up lost for a good 30 minutes, but when the view is so good, no one complains! We eventually found some tiny narrow passage that we could squeeze through, and we were back to the gift shops once again. I bought some postcards and we broused the overpriced goods. The weather was beautiful, and the sun was pleasantly warm, it was a shame to have to get back on the buses and go!

Many of my pictures can be found on facebook, or you can ask me for some!

Le 23 janvier 2008

2008-01-24T07:02:00.000-08:00

I have been in Rennes for 3 days now and it is a little strange, but the culture shock is not as severe as I thought it might be. One of the main differences is their attention to the conservation of resources. For example, the lights in the hallways stay on for only about 2 minutes. Then the whole hall is plunged into darkness, and you have to find the switch to turn the lights back on. For a few days I couldn’t find the switches, so I started counting the doors to find my room. It is very similar in the showers too. The water stays on for about 30 seconds at a time. So, you rinse, [water turns off] lather, [turn water back on] rinse. I can see the sense in it, there is a lot less water just going down the drain, it was just strange at first. Also, none of the stores give bags. You can buy bags that are more like a canvas than plastic, or shove the stuff in your purse. I bought a hairdryer and had to hold it on the metro. I was afraid that clerks in other stores I entered would think that I had stolen it, but it was OK.

Another cultural difference has to do with personal space. The French are very close talkers. I want to back away a little but I don’t want to seem rude. I feel like it has also been difficult to speak French to the French students because every time that I ask for help during the many instances I cannot find a certain batîment, people realize that I am obviously not French and begin helping me in English. This really speeds up the process, but sometimes I think that my French is better than their English. The whole bisou bisou thing threw me too. Most Americans wouldn’t kiss someone they have just met.

In the dorms though, it is so quiet and private. Doors are not left open like they are in the states. When you pass someone in the halls either they don't even look up or there is a quick "salut." I have not knocked on my neighbors' doors yet to say hello but I will do so soon.

In Rennes we have was are called “les parrains” who are French students who have studied abroad so they are given an exchange student to help learn the ropes and understand the various things that are being demanded of us. Mon parrain is Antoine and he was nice enough to give me (son fileul) and another American student a tour around campus to say what each building is for. He also gave me his cell number in case I need anything else and told me where I can buy certain necessities.

So, overall, the semester is beginning slowly but surely. I'll keep you all posted.