One Month down, lots of traveling to go

I can't believe I have already been here for over a month. Time is flying and my weeks are packed full of random activities, homework, and me attempting to do as many things as possible in the short amount of time I have here. Last week was no exception, I was crazy busy. On Tuesday I went to see a play called La Religieuse at the Theatre Universitaire de Nantes. The play was strange. Its about this girl whose mother sends her to live in a convent because the mom isn't married to the girls father and that means that her very being is shameful. In the convent all of the nuns torment her and when she finally moves to a different convent she gets raped by another nun. At least that's what I got from what I saw. I told you it was weird. The play was really emotionally draining but the actress's costume was really cool. It was this huge white sheet that was attached to the front of the stage and a big metal bar above her and the girl would run around and fight against the sheet which looked really cool. The play ended a little late so I missed my night bus and had to walk home. The walk wasn't very long, maybe around 15 minutes but on my way home at 11:30 pm I passed about 12 prostitutes which was a little frightening. Obviously I know that there are prostitutes in Milwaukee and Minneapolis but I have never had to walk home alone among 12 of them so it was quite an experience. My second play last week was a bit more light hearted. I went with some friends to see Tartouffe, a comedy by Moliere. It was really good and I actually understood some of the humor which is quite a feat in a different language.
On Friday I went on a specialty food tour of Nantes with IES. I feel like half of what I write about in this blog is food but I swear I not just eating all the time. We went to 4 different shops. The first was la maison du vin (aka the wine house) where we tried a muscadet which is a white wine. It was really good but wine isn't really my thing so I was happy that our next stop was a beautiful chocolate shop. After that we tried a specialty candy of Nantes which I think is called les rigolettes nantaise. They are hard candies with jam in the middle and they are super good. Our final stop was a little shop to try a kind of butter cookie which was delicious.
Friday night me and some friends met up with a few french students from the IES conversation club and we managed to speak in French the whole night! It was really fun and I could mostly get across what I wanted to say. They are all headed to various parts of the US this summer so they had a lot of questions to ask us. So far every French student going to the US has asked me if bars and restaurants are really strict about the drinking age. One of the students even asked me if he should get a fake id. At one point I was talking to two of the guys and could not for the life of me understand what they were saying. I just kind of nodded along but probably had a confused look on my face. This happens every once and a while. I should probably say something when it does but I don't want people to have to be constantly explaining things to me. Finally one of them told me that the other had been adding random words into his actual sentences to see if I would catch on. Obviously I was a little slow on that one but it was funny anyway. My excuse is that it was really loud in the bar we were at and thats why I didn't understand, at least that is the story I'm sticking to. They were all super nice and told us we spoke french really well. I'm not so sure this is a true statement but I'll take it. They also asked us if we could do a french accent in english. The only way I can do this is by quoting my favorite scene from the Mary Kate and Ashley movie Passport to Paris. If you haven't seen this movie you probably won't understand how embarrassing this is but I definitely quoted the movie in a fake french accent. Passport to Paris contains basically every sterotype there is about France. In addition the "french boys" in this movie aren't even actually french they are american which makes the whole thing doubly embarrassing.
The next morning we had to get up at 6am to catch a bus for Mt Saint Michel and Saint Malo. Mt Saint Michel is a huge beautiful abbey from the middle ages. It is surrounded by water and quick sand which fits pretty well with the medieval aspect of it all. We spent most of our time just walking around and taking tons of pictures. After that we headed to Saint Malo which is a beautiful port town. Once again we walked around and took tons of pictures but this time we got to walk around on the beach. It was really nice to be by the ocean. I can't wait til its warm and I can go to a beach without having to wear a winter coat.
 Sunday night I went to church with my family. We went to a church called St Nicholas which is this huge ancient church in the middle of the city. There isn't any heat because the building is so old so everyone stays bundled up. It was interesting to hear all the prayers in a different language and to try and figure out what was going on. I'm not super religious so I couldn't really tell you if anything was different but from what I understand the rites and everything are the same just translated.
This week is filled with homework and preparation for winter break. I have a ton of  projects and midterms to complete before break starts on Friday. However, it's incredibly difficult to focus on school when I am leaving for Paris and Barcelona on Saturday! I seriously can't wait! Next week is the first time I have travelled since being here and will be my first time in a hostel. Wish me luck with the hostel part!

La Religieuse