First Week (almost) in Nantes

This week has been crazy! On Wednesday I landed in Paris at about 9am then proceeded to try and find the train station to take me to Nantes. At the train station there were already a ton of IES students waiting for the train so that was really nice to not have to figure everything out alone. Even on no sleep the train was amazing. Trains are definitely the way to go, it made me never want to get on a bus again. It was super quick, super comfortable, and super easy. When we arrived in Nantes at around 3pm there were IES people there to greet us at the train station and take us back to where we will be taking classes. After that our families picked us up and took us back to our homestays. My family consists of 2 parents with 4 kids but only their youngest daughter lives with them. They are all really nice and we can understand each other pretty well. I like them a lot. For the most part I can understand everything they are saying to me but when they talk to each other its a little harder to follow. Im sure it will get much easier as we get further into the program. They live in a really nice apartment outside the center of town and it only takes about 15 minutes by bus to get to the center of the city.

The first night we had a dessert which I think is called a gallette du roi. Basically its this almond flavored pastry cake thing. It was incredibly good. From what I understand the gallette is eaten on jan 6th but I don't remember why. Baked inside the gallette is a little figurine and whoever gets the figurine in their piece is the king or queen for the night and wears a crown. I ended up with the figurine haha.
This weekend we took a trip with IES to Tours, France to visit 4 castles aka chateaux. The city of Tours was beautiful and had tons of bars and restaurants. This weekend was the first time we were able to go out. We went to a bar called "La Belle Epoch" and I was able to order a beer without a problem which is a little bizarre haha. The drinking age in France is only 18 so everyone in my group was legal as of landing in Paris. I'm not normally a beer person but the bar had a beer called Pelforth Blonde which was actually pretty good. However, the beer was ginormous (even though it doesn't look like it in the picture) and I couldn't finish it even though we sat outside talking for about two hours. It was fun to all be out together and get to know people in my program a little more. At the bar a guy from Algeria heard us speaking english and came over to practice his english. He was completely shocked to hear that none of us were really swearing. He got the impression from American tv shows that everyone swears all the time haha.

The castles were amazing. I had already seen Chambord and Chenonceau (my favorite) but Blois and Loche were new to me. Loche was actually a political prison so it was cool to see the dungeons and hear the history behind everything. We ate lunch at a restaurant on the grounds of Chambord which I believe was where a lot of kings went to hunt. When our entree came out everyone assumed that the meat on our plates was beef. Needless to say everyone was a little surprised to find out that the "beef" was actually duck. The dessert was a bit of a surprise as well but more of a welcome one. We had these lava cake things with lavender ice cream and a raspberry that was delicious.
Now we are back in Nantes and starting our week of intensive French language reviews until actual classes start on the 23rd.  As of now everything is great! I really like Nantes and I think this semester will be challenging but that is sort of what I was looking for. As a quick final word here are some observations about France/ the French people from my first week

1. Don't believe what people say, in France people eat A LOT. Every lunch and dinner I have had here has been at least three courses if not four. And the portions aren't tiny either. Granted they don't snack and everything is totally delicious but still. I had to skip dinner last night because I could not fit any more food inside my stomach.
2. It takes a lot more than skinny jeans, boots, and a scarf to appear French. Im going to have to buy some real French clothes to start blending in a bit better.
3. At bars groups of friends in France are much quieter than groups of Americans. We were definitely the loudest group in Tours even though we were trying not to be.
4. When abroad, for me at least, its not so much America that you miss. It's more the feeling of not being foreign, of knowing where you are going and not embarrassing yourself because you don't know the customs and aren't fluent in the language. You also miss everyone from back home. Being here is kind of like starting freshman year of college all over again but in a different language and you can't just call your mom when you are having a bad day.
5. Even with all of the boulangeries and cafes on every street, no one is walking and eating at the same time. I don't know where they go to eat it but they aren't eating it on the way to where they are going.
6. This one I just learned an hour ago. Some bus drivers will not allow you to bring a coffee on the bus. They will insist that you chug it before sitting down.

Thats all for now!