My Joie de Vivre

Rome, the Eternal City

2010-05-23T12:32:00.003-05:00

I realize that I promised the Rome update over two weeks ago, but I never got around to it. We had a long trip home and I was incredibly busy trying to pack up everything to move to Milwaukee...more about that later.

We spent three wonderful days in Rome, starting with an open top bus tour of the city on our first evening. We drove by many of the famous sights and picked out the places we wanted to be sure to go back and visit again. We also purchased the Roma Pass which got us free entrance to our choice of two museums/sights as well as unlimited public transportation during our three days.

Trevi Fountain

We all threw coins into the Trevi Fountain to ensure our return to Rome -- it worked for me last time!

On Saturday morning, we joined a guided tour of the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, and Saint Peter's Basilica. The tour was advertised as being 3-3 1/2 hours long, but we were there for over five hours with our guide! The museums are enormous and there is no way you can see everything.

The Last Judgment, Sistine Chapel

In Piazza San Pietro (Saint Peter's Basilica)

With our Roma Pass, we chose to visit the Castel Sant'Angelo, which was used as a papal fortress starting in the 14th century and is connected to Saint Peter's Basilica by a passageway in the Vatican wall. Our second free entry was for the Colosseum and Roman Forum.

Roman Forum

On our last night in Rome, we took the metro to the Colosseum to see it lit up at night. We enjoyed our last gelato and then headed back to the hotel where we had a quick night's sleep before flying home!

Il Colosseo

Tuscany: Pisa, Florence, & Siena

2010-05-09T10:44:00.004-05:00

After our rainy time in Cinque Terre, we boarded a train further south to visit Tuscany. Using Florence as our home base for three days, we explored Pisa, and then spent a night in Siena before moving on to Rome. Unfortunately, the weather followed us all along and we spent most of our time dodging rain. We did get a few nice hours here and there so we have blue sky pictures in Pisa!

The Tower is still leaning!

Florence's Duomo

We took a nice walk up to Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence to get a beautiful (albeit rainy) panorama of the city of Firenze.

Florence

We loaded up all of our stuff and hopped a train to Siena on Thursday 6 May. Of course it continued to be rainy but we managed to stay fairly dry. We walked around the historic center of Siena, enjoyed some delicious gelato, and took some nice pictures.

Duomo in Siena

Il Campo in Siena

We are just finishing up our last night in Rome before heading home tomorrow! I will save those pictures and the update for a little later this evening, so stay posted!

Cannes & Cinque Terre

2010-05-04T04:14:00.002-05:00

We left Beziers on Friday on a 9 am train headed for Cannes. We checked into our hotel and had a nice chat with the owner about what to see in Cannes. We walked down to the film festival grounds (they are starting to set up as the festival begins in two weeks). We headed along the beach and Dad and I even put our feet in.

We had a nice last meal in France -- I had onion soup, a sirloin steak with potatoes, and creme brulee for dessert. I was hoping for escargot or frog legs, but I guess this was okay.

On Saturday, we set out on a long day of train travel. We had to change trains in Ventimiglia, which is right over the border in Italy. We finally arrived in La Spezia on late Saturday afternoon and headed to our hotel. We had a great pizza dinner on Saturday night, and rested up for our big day of hiking on Sunday.

Unfortunately for us, Sunday was the rainiest day we could have picked to hike the Cinque Terre! The scenery was still beautiful but we sure got wet and muddy! We hiked all the way from Riomaggiore (town #1) to Vernazza (town #4), passing through Manarola and Corniglia on our way. By the time we made it to Vernazza, we were in a torrential downpour so we had a late lunch there before taking a train to Monterosso, just so we could say we had been to all five towns! We headed all the way back to Riomaggiore via train to have a gelato, then we went back to La Spezia and to our hotel for the night.

Vernazza

Mom & Dad on the Via dell'Amore between Riomaggiore and Manarola

Me in rainy Riomaggiore

We left La Spezia on Monday morning and headed for Florence. We are headed to Pisa this afternoon and I will try to update again about Florence and Pisa before we head to the last two stops of our trip!

Ciao for now!

Au Revoir, Beziers!

2010-05-04T03:56:00.003-05:00

Mom and Dad arrived in Beziers on Tuesday 27 April and I was in the midst of my last week living and working in Beziers. Fred was kind enough to drive me to the train station to meet them, and then she took us on a nighttime driving tour of Beziers. We stopped to see the Beziers rugby stadium, the bullfighting arena, the theatre, and the cathedral.

On Wednesday afternoon, the three of us took a short train ride to Sete to meet all of my girls. We had a nice cocktail hour with snacks and different kinds of wine. I was very happy my parents got to meet my girls, and vice versa. It was certainly hard to say goodbye to everyone, but I know we will see each other soon. At the very latest, we will all be together in Oregon in summer 2011 for Eva and Dustin's wedding!

Dad, Annemarie, Britt, Martha, Eva, Rachel, me, Mom

My last week of class was quite calm and stress-free. All of the students knew I was leaving and each class was asked to thank me -- in English, of course. On Monday, we had a wine tasting with one half of my favorite class - Fred's cooks and waiters. My students proposed a toast to me...

My little waiters

On Thursday afternoon, I took Mom and Dad to class with me so they could meet my cooks. The boys were pretty funny, and really enjoyed it when Mom tried to count in French to take the picture!!

The cooks

Later on Thursday afternoon, I had class with Manue's secretaries. These girls were some of my toughest students at the beginning of the year but they have grown on me! They all are very interested in learning about the United States and several of them want to come visit me!

I am definitely glad to be done teaching and moving on to new things! But first, I think I'll spend about 10 days in Italy...

April Vacation: Part Three, Madrid

2010-04-29T11:34:00.003-05:00

Britt and I said our good-byes in Lisbon and she headed north to Faro where she spent the next several days with her friend Renata. I took a flight to Madrid (thank goodness the Icelandic volcano had calmed down) and I had no problem getting there.

On Thursday, I spent 11 hours walking around the capital of Spain. I saw all of the major sights, spent a few hours in the Parque del Buen Retiro, and enjoyed the Prado Museum at night while it was free. I had my handy Rick Steves guidebook (thanks to Britt) and could read about the history of each place before I visited it.

Plaza Mayor, the site of Spain's executions and other ceremonies

The Cathedral of Almudena, consecrated by Pope John Paul II

(Sorry about the bird droppings)

Palacio Real

Parque del Buen Retiro

Plaza de las Cibeles

The second day I was in Madrid I took a free 3-hour walking tour with an American guide from Houston. We saw many of the same sites that I walked by on Thursday but he also added some interesting information on architecture and the Spanish royal history.

I spent my last night in Spain sleeping in the airport because I had an early morning flight back home on Saturday. I had a lazy weekend in Beziers preparing for my last week in France.

Mom and Dad arrived in Scotland on Friday (April 23rd) and had a fabulous four days there playing golf at St. Andrews and seeing other courses. They flew to Toulouse on Tuesday and were successful in navigating the language barrier (with detailed notes and phonetic spellings from me) and they arrived at the Beziers train station on Tuesday night. Fred and I were waiting and we were reunited at last!

April Vacation: Part Two, Portugal

2010-04-26T16:26:00.002-05:00

Britt and I arrived in the beautiful Algarve region of southern Portugal, ready for a few days of relaxation in between our city visits in Granada/Sevilla and Lisbon. We checked into our hotel in Albufeira -- probably the best luck we had with accomodations. We had a room with two twin beds, a TV with American channels (!!!), a refrigerator, and a pool-side patio. All of this with breakfast included for 8 euros each per night!! After the first night we decided to stay one extra instead of going to Lisbon a day earlier. In the end we very much enjoyed our nice hotel in Albufeira but would have loved to have spent more than one day in Lisbon...I guess I'll have to go back!

We spent a lot of time on the beach in Albufeira (surprise, surprise). It is a major tourist/resort town, especially for the British, but since we were there before the high season started, it wasn't overly crowded.

The (empty) beach in Albufeira

Beautiful rocks on the beach

Our first day there we enjoyed strolling along the mostly empty beach for about an hour. The next day, however, there were many more people and we found TONS of jellyfish!!

A "jelly" next to Britt's shoes

After three fabulous nights in our luxurious hotel in Albufeira, it was time to depart and head north to Lisbon. We took the bus and had a great view of the city as we crossed the Tagus River. Once there, we checked into our hostel and set out to explore. We met up with Britt's friend Renata who studied with her in Senegal back in 2007. Renata is on a Fullbright Grant in Dakar this year studying women's basketball. We went to a wine tasting together and then she showed us around Lisbon like an expert tour guide, even though she had only been there for about four days.

Rossio Square in Lisbon

Panoramic view of Lisbon and the Tagus River

After our one quick day and night in Lisbon, Britt and I parted ways. She headed farther north to Porto to spend a few more days with Renata, and I flew to Madrid. Luckily the volcano had stopped interrupting travel plans and I made it with no problems.

Stay tuned for a look at Madrid...

April Vacation: Part One, Southern Spain

2010-04-25T12:31:00.002-05:00

On April 11, Brittany and I left Sete for Girona, Spain where we would catch a flight the following morning with Martha to Malaga, Spain. Thanks to the train strike in France, it was a little more difficult to get to Girona than originally planned. (On a side note: basically the entire trip was one travel gaff after another, but being as carefree and spontaneous as we are, everything worked out perfectly!) Our train made it to Perpignan, France where we had the option of waiting for a bus that would take us just across the border (but we weren't guaranteed seats on it) or we could shell out some extra cash and take the frogbus to the Girona airport like we had done in the past. We had to run to catch the frogbus, then took another bus from the airport to central Girona where we stayed for the night.

After ignoring all six alarms we set, we rushed out of bed in the morning just in time to catch our bus to the airport. Literally, just in time. If we had missed that bus, we would have missed our flight...good thing we didn't!

We flew into Malaga, which is on the southern coast of Spain. Our hostel there was fantastic and we met several fun people that we hung out with during our three days there. One day we took a bus trip to nearby Nerja, which has some of the most beautiful beaches in the area.

Nerja

Me, Britt, and Martha in Nerja

After a very quick three days, it was already time to say goodbye to Martha as she went back to Barcelona to meet her mom and sister who flew in for a visit. Brittany and I took a bus from Malaga to Granada and visited the old Moorish palace at the Alhambra. The Alhambra is one of the most beautiful places that I have ever been and I highly recommend it to all who travel to Spain. I only had room to share two photos on this blog, but I have posted many more on my facebook page and I will put the link at the bottom of this post.

View of the Nazaries Palace and city of Granada from the Generalife Gardens at the Alhambra

Inside one of the rooms of the Nazaries Palace

That night in Granada, Britt and I took full advantage of the local custom of free tapas with every drink you buy. We snacked on some delicious Spanish appetizers including chorizo, patatas bravas, roast pork tenderloin, and more!

The next morning we walked to the bus station to buy our tickets to go to Sevilla. Unfortunately all of the buses were sold out for the next five hours! (Another travel snag...) We purchased our tickets and headed to the Granada cathedral for a picnic and then we explored the street markets selling all kinds of colorful items.

We finally made it to Sevilla where we were greeted with a torrential downpour. We checked into our hostel and stayed put for the night. We made dinner in the kitchen and took turns dumping out the pot of water that was collecting the rain falling through the roof.

In the morning, we walked around Sevilla for a little while, then headed to buy our train tickets to Portugal, going early this time so they wouldn't be sold out! As our luck would have it, there was no direct train from Sevilla to Portugal even though I had found the schedule online before leaving on the trip! Instead, we headed to the bus station to get a ticket from Sevilla to Faro. The not-so-friendly woman at the ticket counter informed us that the bus left at 2:30...or in 25 minutes. And we didn't have our backpacks! I stayed at the station to buy our tickets while Britt sprinted the 10 minutes to the hostel and 10 minutes back. I was outside waiting for her when she came FLYING around the corner with one backpack on her back and the other on her front, hair wild, sweat running...and in knee-high leather boots! If we had more time I would have taken a picture, but for the moment, all I could do was laugh! Luckily we made it onto the bus just in time and settled in for our ride to Portugal.

Sevilla Cathedral

Unfortunately our time in Sevilla was cut short by our transportation issues. This trip was just a quick taste of the city that has charmed many with its flamenco dancing and beautiful cathedral. I guess I'll just have to go back...

Stay tuned for another post on Portugal and one on Madrid. In the meantime, check out more of my pictures at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2189662&id=20306625&l=f6cd8a8fb7

Catch-Up/The Beginning of April

2010-04-25T10:38:00.004-05:00

I realize that it has been a very long time since my last post. I have no excuses...except I have been on vacation for the last two weeks. I am going to try to do several posts between today and tomorrow, so keep checking!

I will start with the first week of April, which seems like a very long time ago! I spent a lot of time in Sete hanging out with the girls. Everyone was starting to have visitors and take trips so we had to have our "last supper" as a whole group back on April 1st! The six of us girls plus Bruno and Martha's friend Matthew met at an Italian restaurant in Sete for dinner. Rachel surprised us all by giving us a drawing of the six of us. It was so easy to pick out each one of us because everyone has certain characteristics and clothing that we wear all the time -- blame it on having to pack for 8 months overseas!

We took a reenactment photo after dinner at the restaurant. Unfortunately since we all dressed up for dinner, we aren't wearing the clothes we were drawn in!

Later that weekend, I took my inaugural hike up Mount Saint Clair, the hill that is perched on top of Sete. The view was gorgeous and the hike was great exercise! I liked it so much I even went up again the next day!

The good-bye dinners continued the following week when Pau and I cooked our last meal together as roommates. She left for the April vacation and isn't coming back to Beziers before going home to Mexico.

I also spent the weekend before vacation in Sete with some of the girls. Brittany was in London with 50 of her students, Martha was traveling with her friend Matthew, and Rachel was meeting her friend Liz in Paris. Annemarie and Eva were still there, as were Eva's fiance Dustin and her friend Amanda. We spent a beautiful afternoon at the beach in Sete, taking care to mind the rocky cliffs...

Now that you are all caught up on my last couple weeks before vacation, I can get working on the vacation pictures and blog!

For more pictures from April, see: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2189660&id=20306625&l=63ce82c90e

Weekend Chez les Ch'tis

2010-04-01T09:46:00.004-05:00

Last Friday, I left Beziers around noon and took the train to Carcassonne. I had a little time to walk around the city center before heading to the airport, but I didn't get to the medieval ruins. I flew from Carcassonne to Charleroi (Belgium) before taking another bus and train to get to Lille. I met Emily, who is the younger sister of my former roommate Erin. Erin and I studied abroad during the same semester and I visited her in Lyon once. Now Emily is spending her semester at La Catho in Lille, and she invited me to come visit my "alma mater" with her.

On Saturday, we walked around the city during the whole day. It was wonderful to be back in Lille, a city I absolutely love. As much as I appreciated it when I lived there, this trip made me realize just how beautiful and vibrant it is. It was a bittersweet experience because the six dear friends that I spent my semester with were not there. We walked around and I pointed out places and told stories to Emily about my semester there. I also noticed a few things that had changed, but I was glad to see that my favorites were still there (Pirates, Croc' Pizza, Ali Baba Kebabs, Dog Sandwiches, etc.)

Grand' Place

Me at "La Catho"

On Saturday night, I took Emily to Pirates, which was my favorite bar in Lille. We spent many (MANY) nights there and got to know the bartender, the owner, and many of the locals. My good friend Baptiste met us there. He lived across the hall from me in my dorm and we spent a lot of time together then. He also was very helpful in many ways, including taking me to the doctor when I was sick and keeping my luggage for me while I traveled.

Me and Emily at Pirates

Me and Baptiste

Me and Eric (Once bartender, now owner of Pirates)

It was so nice to have some wonderful Belgian beer since all we drink down here in the south is wine! (Yes, Mom, I had Leffe 9 and it was SOOO good!) I was sad to leave on Sunday morning, but it was time to start my 10 hour journey back to Beziers. I shed some tears as the train pulled away from the station...Lille is such a special place to me.

French Eating

2010-03-26T04:13:00.002-05:00

The girls and I have been taking every opportunity to eat as many French delicacies as we can during our last few weeks here. Last weekend we were invited over for dinner at a fellow Couchsurfer's house. We prepared a fondue savoyarde, which is a cheese fondu made of three types of cheese (Beaufort, Comte, and Emmental) and mixed with white wine and garlic. We dipped bread into the fondue and ate until we couldn't move!

On Wednesday afternoon, we had fresh oysters for lunch. Martha and Britt went to buy the oysters - 3 kilos - and we all sat eating oysters and drinking Picpoul de Pinet, which is a white wine made near Sete. We put Martha and Britt to work opening all the oysters:

I decided to ignore the fact that I may or may not be allergic to many types of shellfish and I ate a couple oysters. Luckily, there were no adverse effects!

I am headed to Lille in about an hour to spend the weekend with some friends. I know it will be a bittersweet trip because my friends that I studied abroad with won't be there. I will update again once I get back from Chez les Ch'tis!

In Love in London

2010-03-19T14:52:00.003-05:00

Since the end of the February vacation, I have been keeping busy with classes and trying to plan for the rest of my time here. I had my first visitor last week when Dan flew to London for the week. After a long day of traveling for both of us, we were reunited at London's Paddington Station around 2 a.m. on Friday 12 March. We spent Friday and Saturday in London, taking in the sights and going on a Beatles' walking tour.

Westminster Abbey

Big Ben & the London Eye

Dan & I with the Houses of Parliament

View of the River Thames with St. Paul's Cathedral

On Sunday, we flew back to France to spend the next few days in and around Beziers. We didn't explore too much, but spent some time in Sete with my girlfriends. I was really happy that Dan was able to meet my girls, and vice versa. Of course, I took advantage of having a wonderful chef at my disposal and we made fajitas, pork chops with green beans and mashed potatoes, and best of all -- I got breakfast in bed!

It was such a nice week together, although it wasn't nearly long enough. I am so lucky that he was able to get away from work to make a trip to see how I've been living for the past 6 months. I look forward to my last two months in France, but will definitely be excited to go back to my life in Milwaukee!

On a sidenote, my students have learned that I only have a few weeks left of working with them and some of them have taken the opportunity to thank me for helping this year. By far, my favorite class is my group of cooks and waiters who are in their second to last year of studying. They are mostly boys and occasionally make jokes and give me a hard time, but they really are sweet. Yesterday at the beginning of class, Vincent, one of my top students, asked how long I would still be here. When I replied that I only had 4 weeks of class left, he said (in French), "Thank you for helping me this year. I have really learned a lot from you being here." That comment almost moved me to tears and it goes a long way towards making me feel like I have made a difference, no matter how small.

Les Nouvelles Animaniacs Trek Through Europe: Part 3

2010-03-08T10:06:00.006-06:00

Here is the final installment of pictures and stories from the February vacation. I know you have all been waiting with bated breath.

After we left Berlin on 20 February, we flew to Venice. It was a bit warmer there, but still only in the low 40s and it was raining. We spent a couple of hours walking around Venice, found a supermarket, and took the bus to our bed and breakfast which was located in Treviso.

Canal in Venice

We settled into our B & B where we had an entire apartment to ourselves with a kitchenette so we made ourselves dinner and had a relaxing evening. In the morning, we had breakfast and then set out to see Treviso. The weather was a bit better and we enjoyed the historic city center. It was really nice to be able to relax and be on our own for a couple of days before heading to our next Couchsurfing host in Sardinia.

Treviso

We flew to Alghero, Sardinia on Monday the 22nd and due to a slight mix-up we had to wait at the airport for a couple hours until we could catch our bus to Cagliari. We finally made it around 9 p.m. and met Stefano, our CS host.

On Tuesday, we explored Cagliari and had a picnic on the beach. The weather was gorgeous (high 60s-low 70s) and we all took our coats off and enjoyed the sun.

Britt, Annemarie, Rachel, Me, Martha in Cagliari

Due to some unforseen difficulties with our Couchsurfing host, the five of us left a day earlier than expected and returned to Alghero on Wednesday morning rather than Thursday. We arrived in Alghero around midday and set off to find a place to sleep. I was able to muster up enough Italian to procure lodging at a wonderful hotel. The woman at the desk was extremely kind and patient with us. Again, it was really nice to have our own room.

We planned to check out of the hotel on Thursday morning and spend Thursday night at the airport, but we discovered that the airport in Alghero is so small that it closes over night. My Italian served us well and the hotel woman offered us a room for 10 euros per person. She admitted that she wasn't supposed to do that, but she wanted to help us out. I really don't think this would have happened if we couldn't communicate in Italian.

Alghero

The five of us enjoyed our last day of vacation and spent it exploring Alghero, soaking up the sun, and eating delicious pizza! We left the hotel at 4:30 a.m. on Friday morning to head to the airport to catch our flight at 7. After plenty of waiting for planes, buses, and trains, I arrived back at my apartment around 3:30 p.m. to learn that my electricity was out! How's that for a welcome home gift!?

For more pictures from the trip, check out my Facebook album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2183657&id=20306625&l=02d59831ed

Les Nouvelles Animaniacs Trek Through Europe: Part 2

2010-03-04T10:36:00.002-06:00

So much for providing part 2 of the update over the weekend too. Sorry for the delay! I know everyone is impatiently awaiting more pictures and stories (or at least my mom is...)

We arrived in Berlin on Tuesday 16 February and went straight to Klaus and Hildegard Kanstein's home. Klaus and Hildegard have been friends with my grandparents for close to 30 years and I stayed with them three years ago in Berlin with my family. They were gracious enough to invite me back, along with the four other girls. Klaus and Hildegard were fantastic hosts and provided us with many warm meals and wonderful stories.

During our time in Berlin, we visited many WWII and Cold War sights and learned a lot about the history thanks to Klaus' wisdom. It was very cold in Berlin and there was quite a bit of snow on the ground as you can see from the photos.

The Holocaust Memorial

The Berlin Cathedral and TV Tower

The 5 girls at the Brandenburg Gate

Kaiser Wilhelm Gedachtniskirche (Memorial Church)

Martha, Rachel, Hildegard, Klaus, me, Annemarie, and Britt

One afternoon, we decided to stay at the house and make muffins for Klaus and Hildegard. They had mentioned Nana's recipes and I was able to email and get a couple. We made apple muffins and cappuccino chocolate chip muffins! It was really nice to be able to give a little something back to the Kanstein's as they made us feel so welcome during the week.

Berlin was my favorite destination of the trip, even though I had seen much of it before. The other girls really enjoyed it as well, but we were all ready for some warmer weather in Italy...

Les Nouvelles Animaniacs Trek Through Europe: Part 1

2010-02-28T07:49:00.002-06:00

We have returned! We had a fabulous two weeks traveling around Europe, and I have decided to split the blog update into three parts. This way I can give more detail to each location, as well as have something to write about this week! For today, I will talk about our time in Dublin, Ireland.

We left France early in the morning on Saturday 13 February and after many hours and modes of transportation (foot, train, bus, plane, bus, foot) we arrived in Dublin. We stayed with a Couchsurfer named Frank (Couchsurfers are a community of people who invite travelers to stay at their homes for free). Frank and his roommates welcomed us with a Carnival-themed party where we met people from all over the world (Ireland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Poland, Kazakhstan, Mexico...just to name a few).

We spent Sunday and Monday in Dublin, taking in the sights and enjoying some Guinness.

Christchurch Cathedral in Dublin

On the first day, we took a free walking tour that hit the main sights including Dublin Castle and Trinity College. The weather during our stay fluctuated immensely. One moment we would have blue skies and sunshine, and the next it would be raining. I guess that lives up to my expectations of Ireland...

On Sunday afternoon, we headed to the Guinness Storehouse to take a tour. We walked through the building, learning about the brewing process, the history of the Guinness family, and the evolution of advertisement. The last stop was at the Gravity Bar where we enjoyed our complimentary pint of Guinness with a 360 degree view of the city of Dublin.

On Monday, we explored more of Dublin, including spending some time at Trinity College. We stopped at a grocery store first, then had a picnic in the cafeteria!

Doors in Dublin

We left Dublin and our Couchsurfing Palace on Monday night to go to the airport. Our flight to Berlin was a 7 a.m. Tuesday morning, so we spent the night on benches in the food court of Dublin's airport. Overall, we enjoyed ourselves in Dublin, but it was not as thrilling as any of us had expected. Stay tuned for the report from Berlin...

Regional Cuisine

2010-02-08T11:51:00.003-06:00

Last week, to celebrate Annemarie's birthday, a group of eleven of us went out to eat. We made a reservation at the restaurant d'application at her school, which is also a vocational school like mine. Our meal was completely prepared and served by students who are learning to be cooks and waiters. They are supervised by some of their professors, but working here gives them hands-on practice for their future profession.

The head chef teacher was generous enough to let us all walk through the kitchen as he described the preparations for the meal.

Our first course was "fillets de rouget avec son mesclun et tapenade" which is fillets of red mullet (?) fish served cold over a mixed green salad with black olive and anchovy tapenade.

The main course of the evening was "carre d'agneau avec ratatouille" which is rack of lamb! I have only had lamb a couple of times before this and it was delicious! The ratatouille is composed of tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant, zucchini, and onion.

We were then served with a cheese plate which had Pelardon, a soft goat's cheese which is made in our region, and Roquefort, the sheep's milk blue cheese that is well-known for being extremely strong!

Our dessert course was composed of "peches flambees" and some type of green, flavorless melon, and a dollop of vanilla ice cream.

It was really fun to eat a traditional meal from our region, and as always, our group had a great time together.

Rachel, Martha, Britt, Annemarie, and I leave on Saturday morning to start our February vacation. We will go first to Dublin, then Berlin, Venice, and Sardinia before returning to Beziers/Sete on February 26th. We will only have sporadic access to email and internet. I will email my parents when I can, so if you would like an update you are welcome to contact them!

A Walk Through Beziers

2010-02-02T08:13:00.002-06:00

I have been struggling to come up with a good post because nothing exciting has been happening lately. I will have lots to write about after our big vacation! For today, I decided to post some photos of my typical walk from my apartment to downtown Beziers. Enjoy!!

After leaving my high school, walking north to the major road that cuts all the way through Beziers

Approaching Les Arenes on the left and heading west towards downtown

A wonderful bakery I pass every time I walk downtown - it always smells SO good!

Les Alles Paul Riquet - the pedestrian area, seen from the North end

Eglise de la Madeleine

In other news, I went to Montpellier two weekends ago with Rachel and Eva. We saw Avatar in 3D (in English). It was excellent! I stayed in Sete all weekend and even watched the Vikings-Saints game on Sunday night/Monday morning. Poor Vikes...

Looking at my calendar, it seems time will sure fly by! I have 2 weeks of class, then 2 weeks of vacation for February. March will be split in half by Dan's visit (March 11-18), and April is practically worthless with Easter weekend, one week of class, two weeks of vacation, and one final week before my contract is up and Mom and Dad are here!

La (Les) Fete(s) des Rois et Narbonne

2010-01-17T08:48:00.004-06:00

There isn't much to report from across the pond, but I know I promised to write more frequently, so here it is...

The French celebrate Epiphany on January 6th during which they eat "Galette des Rois" or Kings' Cake. Inside the cake is a little figurine, called the "feve" and whoever finds it in their piece of cake gets to be king or queen for the day. We definitely enjoyed this holiday as the cakes are delicious! We celebrated once in Sete, and once in Beziers at my apartment.

Eva, Me, & Rachel at our Epiphany celebration in Beziers

This weekend I travelled to Narbonne with my roommate to stay with several of her Spanish assistant friends. Narbonne is only a 15 minute train ride west of Beziers and it was a chance to visit another new town. We went to a discotheque Friday night and stayed until almost 4 a.m.! On Saturday, we did some sightseeing in the town before coming back home Saturday evening.

Moi, at the Palais des Archeveques (Archbishops' Palace)

Narbonne on the Canal de la Robine

That's all for now...ciao!

Home for the Holidays

2010-01-10T07:55:00.006-06:00

I realize it has been quite a long time since my last post! Things were crazy during my two weeks at home and I hardly used my computer. I will try to stay more up-to-date...let's call it a New Year's Resolution!

The last week of class before vacation was fine. Everyone was ready for a break, so the students were even more excitable and rambunctious than usual (I didn't think it was possible!)

My friend Britt and I went to Barcelona on Saturday morning, the 19th of December. We spent the day together sight-seeing, enjoying tapas, and living it up together. She left on Sunday morning, and I spent the day with an Argentinian that we met at the hostel. See my facebook album for photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2175583&id=20306625&l=4cfae42b78. I spent Sunday night in the airport before heading home on an early morning flight. I flew Barcelona-Amsterdam-Minneapolis-Des Moines. Thankfully the weather cooperated and I was able to get in and out of Amsterdam (all the flights during the weekend had been cancelled due to snow), and gladly I didn't have any security issues like on Christmas Day...

After quite a long day (29 hours in airports or planes) I finally made it home! The whole family met me at the airport - even Divot - and we had dinner in Des Moines before heading home. Thanks to the wonders of jet lag, I couldn't sleep past 5 a.m. the first three days I was home, but I sure did get a lot accomplished! Who knew productivity was possible before sunrise?

The Siblings

For the most part, I had a very relaxing week at home in Iowa. I got to see friends Mal and Alison, and I even took a road trip to Cedar Rapids with Mal, her sister McKenzie, and mom Tammi in order to get fitted for our bridesmaid's dresses for Mal's wedding next August! The dress will be fern green, not the pale yellow we are wearing, but that is the style.

Christmas was a relaxing day spent at home with Mom, Dad, Zack, Nana, Papa, Grandma, Grandpa, and Divot. Santa was good to all of us this year - we must have been on the nice list! On Saturday, we added three more people to our already full house (maybe we should call it a hotel) when Dan, and his dad and stepmom drove in from Chicago. It was the first parental meeting, and it must have gone well since Dan and I are still together :) On Sunday, the four of us piled into the car and headed back to Chicago for Dan's grandpa's 90th birthday party. We then took the train up to Milwaukee to spend the week there.

We had an action-packed week and I got to see tons of friends! We went bowling, watched the Vikings games, cooked delicious meals (actually I supervised the cooking), celebrated the new year, went to a Marquette basketball game, and perhaps enjoyed a beverage or two. On Wednesday, Bridget, Cathy, and Jill came up for a Sin Bin Reunion. Things didn't go quite according to plan, but it was SO good to see those girls!!

Cathy, Bridget, Me, and Jill

For New Year's, we were invited over to a friend's apartment for heavy hors d'oeuvres and drinks before going to Lakefront Brewery to ring in the New Year. We had a great time with great friends, and I look forward to seeing what 2010 has in store for me!

Now that I have caught up on the happenings from the homefront, I will try to keep up-to-date. Not much has happened since I got back but I'm sure things will start picking up. Plans for the February vacation are underway and I will be sure to post about that soon.

Until next time, Bonne Année, Bonne Santé, et Meilleurs Voeux!

A Mediterranean Christmas

2009-12-16T08:17:00.002-06:00

Happy Holidays from the sunny south of France! Until a couple days ago, the weather was very misleading - I thought it was October instead of December! We had highs in the mid-50s until Sunday, when the temperatures plummeted. Currently it is 37 degrees at 3:30 in the afternoon!

The city of Beziers (and all other towns I have visited) try their hardest to make it feel more like Christmas even though we probably won't get any snow. We have a couple large Christmas trees in town, the streets are all lit up, and even the palm trees are decorated!

Christmas tree and Santa's train at the Hotel de Ville, Beziers

Last weekend, Fred picked me up on Saturday morning and we went to Montpellier for the Christmas market. Fred, Laura, Elisa, and I spent the afternoon there shopping, and even took a little break for ice skating! On Saturday, it was 55 degrees and sunny so it felt strange ice skating outdoors!

Laura and I on the ice

Elisa, Laura, and I with Santa

Place de la Victoire, Beziers

Apparently Christmas is a great time for a carnival. Les Allees Paul Riquet, which is the big pedestrian boulevard in downtown Beziers has been inundated by garish carnival rides and games. The sad part is, there is NOBODY playing said games or riding said rides! I'm not sure how long everything will be there, but I miss my serene, pretty Allees.

'Twas the night before Christmas, and there was a carnival?

I am more than halfway through my last week of class before vacation starts. I have a full day tomorrow, then only one class on Friday before FREEDOM! My friend Britt and I are taking the train to Barcelona on Saturday morning and spending the day/night there together. She heads for the States on Sunday morning, so I will spend the day in Barcelona before heading for the airport to "sleep." My flight leaves at 6 a.m. Monday (Barcelona time - CST +7) and I will arrive in Des Moines (after layovers in Amsterdam and Minneapolis/St. Paul) at 4:30 p.m. local Monday (11:30 p.m. Barcelona time). Needless to say I will be quite tired! I am looking forward to my welcoming crew at the airport, which will include Divot!

Joyeuses Fetes a tout le monde, et a bientot!

Weekend in Montpellier

2009-12-13T16:24:00.002-06:00

Again, I apologize for falling behind! I will update again this week before I leave to go home!

Last weekend (December 5-6) our big group went to Montpellier to celebrate Eva's birthday. We ate at a wonderful sushi restaurant (see picture below) and explored the Montpellier Christmas market. Several of us ended up staying in Montpellier at our friend, Boris' apartment.

Our group (minus photographer Martha)

Christmas tree in Montpellier

Annemarie, Brittany, & I in Montpellier

The time has flown since my last post - it's been 2 weeks already since Thanksgiving, and this one is not nearly as long as I wanted it to be, but it will at least give you a glimpse. Like I said, I will update one more time this week with Christmas pictures.

I can't believe that I will be home one week from tomorrow for Christmas! I have 12 more hours of teaching this week, and I can't wait for it to be over! I will go to Barcelona on Saturday with Brittany (pictured above) because we both fly out of Barcelona back to the States. We will spend the day together on Saturday, then I will have all day Sunday in Barcelona before spending the night at the airport. My flight leaves at 6 a.m. on Monday! I will be home in time for dinner on Monday with my family!

Thanksgiving French-Style

2009-11-30T13:35:00.004-06:00

When everyone in the United States was sitting down to a lovely Thanksgiving meal on Thursday, I was working. I taught several classes about the history and traditions surrounding the holiday, then I celebrated too with a three-day weekend! On Thursday night, I took the train to Sete to work on cooking for our big Thanksgiving party on Friday.

On Friday, I made green bean casserole and stuffing, and helped prepare the turkey! Bruno, my friend Rachel's French roommate, took the responsibility for finding the bird. He asked at a butcher's, who said he would call around. It turns out the butcher had a friend who owned a farm and could get us a turkey...a fresh one. Bruno, Rachel, and I dressed and stuffed poor Phinneas, then cooked him to a beautful golden brown. My, was he tasty!!

I can't believe my hand is inside a raw turkey!

We crammed about 20 people into Martha and Eva's cozy apartment for our feast Friday night. I put more pictures on Facebook, so you can see how squished we were, and how much food we had! It was a great combination of Americans, French, Spanish, Mexican, Colombian, British, Austrian, etc. We all had a fantastic time and enjoy each others company.

Martha, Rachel, & I

On Saturday, I took the train back to Beziers to do Thanksgiving all over again at Fred's house. We did our grocery shopping, then set out cooking. I had some wonderful helpers in Pau, my roommate, Laura, Fred's daughter, and Elisa, Fred's niece. We made turkey legs, stuffing, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and an apple crumble!

Pau and Laura peeling apples

Fred and I with all the food!

The five of us had a very enjoyable night and played Taboo to cap it off! It was fun to share the American tradition of Thanksgiving with a French family.

On Sunday, Pau and I went to one of her teacher's houses for a meal. Needless to say, it was a weekend FULL of Food, French, and FUN!

I am buckling down for the last three weeks of class before I come back to the States for the holidays! I hope to see many of you either in Iowa City or Milwaukee while I'm there. I'm always available by email or Facebook, so please drop me a note to let me know how you're doing!

Link to photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2174626&id=20306625&l=8f6f938bdf

Not much has changed...

2009-11-22T14:48:00.002-06:00

I don't have much to post about but I wanted to write a little message to let everyone know I'm still here and doing well! Classes continue to be...interesting. I have had a couple good classes, but over all, the students have a very low level of English. I did a Thanksgiving lesson where I talked about the history, as well as Thanksgiving today, including my personal family traditions. They all think we are CRAZY for shopping on Black Friday!!

I so excited that this week is Thanksgiving! I am going to Sete on Thursday night and our group is having a big traditional meal on Friday evening. On Sunday, I will be introducing Frederique's family to Thanksgiving! I will take pictures of both celebrations and post again after the weekend.

Love you all!

I am the next Lance Armstrong...NOT!

2009-11-15T16:21:00.005-06:00

As I mentioned before, I bought a bike at a flea market my second weekend in Beziers. I had not ridden it since that day, so I thought this would be a great weekend to try it out. My friends in Sete wanted to go for a ride, so I took the train Saturday morning to Sete with my bike. We set off from there, and rode along the beach for about 18 km (about 11 miles). The sea was very rough and the scenery was beautiful!

The ride was great, but as we got to Marseillan-Plage where we were going to have a picnic lunch, I got a flat tire! This little incident cut our journey short, as we had to return to Sete by train instead of by bike. I hope to get it fixed this week so I can go on another adventure!

The rest of La Toussaint

2009-11-11T14:23:00.008-06:00

Wow, so it has been a very long time since I last posted! I will fill you in on the rest of our travels during La Toussaint holiday, then in an effort to avoid making you scroll down for hours, I will post again this week to talk about other happenings!

I left off last time with our arrival in Cesky Krumlov. We spent three nights there, and I have to say it was one of my favorite places we visited. The town is quite small, with one major street that winds through from the castle, to the main town square. We walked through the castle grounds and explored much of the town. It was a nice, relaxing break in the middle of the trip.

We left Cesky Krumlov, and headed to Prague with a stop in Cesky Budejovice, or as we called it, Cesky Budweiser. It is the home to the original Budweiser, or Budvar. It tastes nothing like its American copycat, which is to its advantage!!

Na zdravi!

We spent three nights at Sir Toby's hostel in Prague - great place! We did a free walking tour of the Old Town, New Town, and Jewish Quarter on one morning, then a free castle tour the next afternoon. What a great way to see the city! The first tour company hires young guides - ours was from Wales. The second tour was given by a Czech university student. It was very interesting to hear the history from the two different perspectives.

A cold, rainy day in Prague!

We left Prague on Tuesday, November 3rd and headed for Vienna. When our bus finally arrived, we were saddened to see SNOW! We had only a few hours to spend in Vienna before our night train, but with the cold, snowy weather, we didn't feel much like exploring. Instead, we had some cake!

We boarded the night train at 10:30 and finally arrived in Strasbourg Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. After waiting a couple hours, we said our goodbyes and boarded our respective trains. I finally got home to Beziers at 9 p.m. on Wednesday night! WHEW!!

In the end, it was a fantastic trip and I can't wait to plan the next vacation!

Finally, here are the links to my facebook photos. Anybody can look at them (you don't have to be a facebook user):

La Toussaint Vacation: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2170906&id=20306625&l=6dacb930fe

October Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2168900&id=20306625&l=f66d5d262a

September Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2166945&id=20306625&l=ad15c07003

First Half of La Toussaint

2009-10-28T15:39:00.005-05:00

I left last Friday (the 23rd - Dan's birthday!) to meet Katherine in Avignon. We took an overnight train to Colmar, France, which is a cute Alsatian town.

After the day in Colmar, we took the train/bus to Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. We stayed there Saturday night, and explored the town before going to Bamberg, Germany on Sunday afternoon.

Freiburg

We had a slight issue with the train to get to Bamberg and the hotel in Bamberg Friday night. Our weekend train pass did not cover the ICE train that we boarded, but fortunately, the ticket-checker took pity on us and did not fine us! He helped us find our way to Bamberg, even though that included 5 switches and 6 hours of train-riding!

We got into Bamberg around 6 on Sunday night, and went straight to the hotel which was closed. We had tried calling several hours earlier when we knew we would be late, but got no response. We finally decided to call a youth hostel in town when we couldn't get a hold of the hotel.

On Monday, we went straight away to the hotel and got things set up for the night. They had never had any record of us having a reservation, so it was a good thing we went early in the morning while they still had 'zimmer frei!'

We spent the afternoon at a brauerei/restaurant where we met a German-American man who is the head of a German society in Chicago! He bought us lunch and several beers and we enjoyed his company!

Bamberg

We got to Plzen on Tuesday late afternoon, but didn't get to enjoy the town much as Katherine came down with food poisoning. We stopped at the Pilsner Urquell brewery this morning and I had a beer before we boarded the train to Cesky Krumlov.

We will be here for three nights, then Prague for three nights before our night train back to France from Vienna. I'll post more at the end of the trip, and I'll be sure to post many pictures on Facebook from the whole trip!

Vacation Already?

2009-10-20T07:27:00.005-05:00

I've officially hit the one-month mark of being in France, and what better way to celebrate than to have two weeks of vacation? I leave on Friday to meet a friend to travel in Germany and the Czech Republic. I'm going to take my computer so hopefully I can update once from the road, but I'll be sure to add plenty of pictures when I get back! We are hitting Freiburg and Bamberg, Germany, as well as Plzen, Cesky Krumlov, and Prague, Czech Republic, then spending half a day in Vienna, Austria before heading home to France on November 4th.

Over the past week, I've been continuing to do introductory lessons in my classes. Since my schedule changes every week, I have only been with the same class a couple times.

On Friday night, I went with a teacher, Anne, to her home in Neffies. We attended a party to celebrate the new year of local wine at a winery. Below is a picture of a vineyard where they have started to trim back the vines in preparation for next year.

My girls from Sete/Montpellier came to Beziers on Sunday for a market and a picnic. Somehow we were mistaken and there wasn't a market, but we still had a great time. I am headed out to Sete this afternoon for Girls' Night - we are going to make French toast and play board games!

I will leave you with a picture of me and the statue at my high school...kinda cute, isn't he?

Latest Update

2009-10-12T12:34:00.003-05:00

My first week of class went really well. I mostly observed and answered questions about myself. The most frequent questions have been, "Do you have a boyfriend?" "Can I have your telephone number?" and "Have you ever met a celebrity?" The students seem excited to have a "real American" in the class, and I hope that continues because that will make my job easier!

I had my first experience with food prepared by the students last Wednesday when I went to a lunch with another teacher. We had to critique the food -- I felt like I was on Top Chef!

On Friday, I had my orientation in Montpellier. It was really nice to meet a bunch of other assistants. The orientation lasted all day, and then three other girls and I spent the night in Montpellier. Rachel (Minnesota), Eva (Oregon), Annemarie (Graz, Austria) and I rented a hotel room together and went to another assistant's, Brittany (St. Louis), apartment to drink some wine.

Here are a couple pictures of Montpellier. I will put all of them up on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2168900&id=20306625&l=f66d5d262a)

On Sunday, I went to Frederique's house for a party. Her daughter Laura (10) and niece Elisa (15) and I made cookies! The girls had fun and we ate quite a bit of the dough even before they were baked!

Fred had friends over for a "Country Party" where they listened and danced to country-western music - I felt right at home!

I'm starting another week so I'll post again about classes sometime soon!

La Couvertoirade, Millau, and starting class

2009-10-05T12:05:00.003-05:00

I've uploaded a couple of pictures from my afternoon last week at the cathedral. Below is the view over the river Orb and the northwestern part of Beziers.

This is the Cathedral Saint-Navaire in Beziers. The gothic interior is quite beautiful and quiet.

I had a great weekend staying with Mireille, one of the English teachers at Jean Moulin. She picked me up on Saturday morning and we got my library card, went to the beach, and strolled along the Canal du Midi. On Sunday, we went to a flea market here in Beziers and I bought a used bicycle for 15 euros! Now I can ride on any of the 240+ km of trails around here!

On Sunday afternoon, we drove north of Beziers to a small medieval village called La Couvertoirade. All of the shops are still open and you can watch the artisans at work weaving, baking bread, etc. We didn't get to see much activity, as it was Sunday, but it was still a nice visit.

We drove onto Millau, which is the site of the tallest vehicular bridge in the world! Even though we didn't drive across it, it was neat to see. We spent a little time in the town of Millau, then met Mireille's ex-husband to pick up her two boys. Luca (8) and Gautier (5) are so full of energy and tried to practice their English with me! When I left Sunday night, they both asked me to come back soon!

Today, I went to the bank for my appointment. Unfortunately, all of their technology was out-of-commission, so nothing was accomplished :(

I had my first class this afternoon. It was a group of 9 third-year students (17-20 years old) who are studying to be cooks. They had a practical quiz today, where they had to individually walk around with the teacher and identify the different appliances in the kitchen, as well as their relation to one another (e.g. "The fridge is on the left of the sink"). It was an interesting experience and I got to walk around with them and help by asking questions about the kitchen.

At the end of the hour, the teacher (Frederique), announced the students' grades on the quiz. She then asked them to thank me for coming to their class. Everyone seemed to be a little nervous telling me in English, but finally one of the boys piped up and said, "See you later." As I left, he and another boy waved to me! Oh, high school admirers!!

I have two classes tomorrow and three on Thursday, then I have my language assistant orientation in Montpellier on Friday.

Here is my mailing address at my apartment:

Amy Anderson

LP Jean Moulin

Avenue des Martyrs de la Resistance
34500 Beziers

FRANCE

Bisous a tous!

First Full Week in Beziers

2009-10-02T07:55:00.003-05:00

I survived my first week in Beziers! I've done quite a bit of exploring and have gotten some major accomplishments taken care of. I now have a French cell phone and a rail card that gets me up to 60% discounts off of all fares.

On Wednesday afternoon, I treated myself to lunch at a cafe on the main pedestrian street - L'Allee Paul Riquet. I tried the crevettes a la provencale. As you can see in the photo, they came in the shell with their heads and tails still attached. Nobody around me was eating them, so I wasn't quite sure how to proceed. I must have been quite the sight eating my shrimp with a fork and knife!

Here is a picture of my school. There is a general high school, as well as the professional one where I will work. Overall, there are about 4000 students, making it one of the top ten largest high schools in France. The professional section includes more than 1000 students who are studying to be cooks, hoteliers, etc.

I live in the building on the left of the photo, which also houses many of the administrative offices. The building on the right in the back is where all of my classes will be. The teachers' lounge is in there, and I have already spent quite a bit of time there talking with the teachers.

I will start work on Monday, October 5th! I will be working 12 hours per week, rotating between different teachers and classes. There are seven different English teachers and all are VERY nice. I spent this past weekend with Manue, am going to Mireille's house this weekend, and may spend a night with Frederique the following weekend!

This is my bedroom at the apartment. My room faces away from the main courtyard of the school (pictured above), so it is much quieter in the morning. However, it faces directly east, so I get the sun in my eyes. There are two bedrooms on the opposite side, and a bathroom and kitchen on my side. When I moved in, we didn't have a refrigerator, so it was difficult to go grocery shopping! The maintenance men delivered it yesterday, so now the apartment is all set!

My roommate moved in on Wednesday evening. Her name is Ana Paula, but goes by Pau. She is 26 and from Mexico City. We shared dinner the first night she was here and got to know each other a little. Both her French and English are excellent, so we have been conversing in both languages. I'm sure by the end of our time together she will have taught me a little Spanish!

On Thursday, I met two other American assistants for lunch at a cafe on L'Allee Paul Riquet. It was wonderful to meet other people my age!! They both live in Sete, which is about 30 minutes away by train, but work at a high school on the other side of Beziers. We are planning to travel to our orientation together in Montpellier next week.

Yesterday, I went with Fred to her bank so I could set up my account. Apparently I misunderstood, and this was just to make an appointment to get my account! I go back on Monday morning and hopefully everything will be worked out!

At the moment I'm sitting at a cafe outdoors looking at the Cathedrale Saint-Navaire and thinking, "life just can't get much better." I'll update again after this weekend. Until then, keep those emails coming!

First Weekend in Beziers

2009-09-28T15:47:00.004-05:00

I arrived in Beziers on Friday afternoon after a wonderful time in Barcelona. Frederique, an English prof at the school met me at the train station and took me to the lycee (French for high school). We went right away to get my keys to the apartment. I was the first (and the only for the moment) to the apartment so I had my choice of rooms. I will post photos and add more details in a couple days once I have settled in a bit more.

"Fred" and I took a little tour of the school - really more like a campus. The lycee is one of the top ten largest high schools in France with more than 1000 students! Again, more details to follow once I learn more about it!

At 5 p.m., I met Emmanuelle (Manue), who is my main contact person at the lycee. I stayed with her family during my first weekend outside of Beziers, in a small village called Bessan. I was very glad she invited me to stay because I don't even have a fridge at my apartment right now!

Amusingly, Manue's husband is also named Emmanuel, and goes by Manue...strange connection to Terry/i, non? I spent Friday night playing games with Charlotte, their 6 year old, a charming, energetic girl. She spent the rest of the weekend with her grandparents, so unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of her. Manue did invite me to come out to stay anytime I need to get away from the apartment or the city, so I will have other opportunities. We had ratatouille (!!) for dinner, which is a local specialty.

My room Chez Manue

On Saturday morning, Manue and I drove to Pezenas, the birthplace of Moliere to go to the market. It was a beautiful day and really fun to walk around a small town's market. We had lunch at a restaurant outside, and headed for the beach in the afternoon.

The beach near Rochelongue, France

On Sunday morning, we went to the market in Bessan. It was smaller than the one in Pezenas, but still very nice. We stopped at the butcher's on the way home from the market and I got a real glimpse of true French culture. Never before had I seen an entire skinned rabbit, teeth and all, for sale, nor had I seen full chickens plucked with the skin and scales still attached to their legs at feet! What an eyeful!

In the afternoon, we headed to another beach nearby with several of Manue's friends for a picnic. The weather was beautiful all weekend and I got a little sun!

This morning, we drove back into Beziers so Manue could go to teach at 8 a.m. I met a couple of the other English profs, then headed up to my apartment to clean and unpack a little. I got my internet worked out, so now I am reachable! I joined two of the English profs, Anne and Miriam, for lunch at la cantine.

In the afternoon, I set off to explore Beziers. I had been here once before during a high school trip, but I honestly didn't remember much of the city at all.

L'eglise de l'Immaculee Conception

Fountains near l'Allee Paul Riquet

View over the outskirts of Beziers

I stopped at the Tourism Office on my way back to my apartment and got a good map and information. I found a grocery store and what is called Beziers' mall about 10 minutes past the lycee (I meant to pass the lycee, I didn't get lost!) and got a few things for groceries and necessities such as towels, shampoo, toilet paper, etc.

It sure felt good to be back "home" after 13+ miles of traipsing around my new city! I'll be sure to post soon with more information about my apartment, roommate (or current lack-therof), and the lycee. Until then, a tout a l'heure!

¡ Hola from Barcelona !

2009-09-24T13:30:00.005-05:00

Yes, I made it!!

I had a very long day getting here but I think it was all worth it. We got to the Des Moines airport shortly before 4 p.m. on Tuesday, and after saying goodbye to Mom and Zack, I waited for my flight. First I flew to Detroit, then Amsterdam, and finally Barcelona. Luckily, all of my flights were on time (even early!) and my luggage didn't get lost! I arrived at my hostel, checked in, and went out to explore.

Wednesday night my focus was on the Montjuïc area of Barcelona, which houses the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya and the 1992 Olympics Stadium. I walked to Montjuïc from the hostel, just about 2 miles, then explored. From the top of the hill, you can see a great view of the city. I was there right around sunset, which made for beautiful pictures! On my way back to the hostel, I stopped for a sandwich. I turned in pretty early Wednesday night, all tuckered out!

I woke up this morning, had breakfast, and armed with a map and my camera, took off to conquer the city. Being stubborn (and cheap) I decided to forgo the metro and just walk. You'll find out how much I paid for that decision at the end of this post...

First, I walked to Placa de Catalunya which marks the beginning of Las Ramblas. Basically a huge pedestrian walkway filled with tourists, people posing as statues, and kitschy souvenir stalls, Las Ramblas leads from Placa de Catalunya down to the harbor. I made my way down, saw the giant Columbus statue at the bottom, then headed to the Barri Gotic to see the Barcelona Cathedral. From there, I walked up to Sagrada Familia to see Gaudi's unfinished masterpiece. After a short rest on a bench, I walked up to Parc Guell, which is also filled with artwork by Gaudi. Little did I realize how long and UPHILL that walk would be!

I took my sweet time in the Parc, then basically rolled myself back down the hill to see a couple more of Gaudi's buildings, the Casa Mila and the Casa Battlo. The walk back to the hostel seemed to take longer than the rest of the day combined, and I fell into my bed for a short nap.

I've eaten dinner now, and I'm spending some quality time with all 200+ photos I took in the last two days! I am leaving in the morning to catch a bus to Beziers, where I can get settled into my new routine. I'll be sure to post again soon!

Now, for the damage I've done to my shoes and feet already: Wednesday -- 5.2 miles. Piece of cake.

Thursday -- 17.92 miles!!!

Everyone can see the rest of my photos on my facebook -- even if you are not on facebook. Just click on this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2166945&id=20306625&l=ad15c07003

Leaving on a jet plane...

2009-09-22T08:49:00.002-05:00

Today is D-Day. I'm up doing last minute things (yes, posting on my blog made that list) before we head for the airport with a pitstop in Grinnell for lunch with Papa and Nana.

We had an absolute blast this weekend in Iowa City. I'm really glad we could all get together once more before I leave. It was definitely hard saying goodbye to Bridget, Cathy, Jill, Eric, and especially Dan <3 I can't wait to see all of them over Christmas, and I hope some will be able to come visit me.

Now, after about a year of anticipation since I first heard about this program, it's hard to believe this moment is upon me. At this point, I'm just ready to be there! Enough of the preparing and WAITING -- let's get this show on the road!!

As always, you can reach me at amyanderson911@gmail.com or on Facebook. If we are not friends on Facebook, please add me (Amy Anderson, Marquette '09). I will be posting pictures there, as well as on the blog.

Happy Travels,

Amy

Last Weekend in the U.S.

2009-09-18T10:23:00.003-05:00

Wow, time sure flies. I had a great birthday last Friday, and since then it has really hit me just how close I am to leaving. Yesterday, I did a test run on packing to make sure it all fits -- and it does! I have just a few odds and ends to pick up before Tuesday, but I'm all set, other than that.

I have a group of 6 friends from school coming this weekend for a visit. We will tailgate at the Iowa football game tomorrow and just spend the weekend having a blast!

I am leaving out of Des Moines on Tuesday around 5 p.m. and arriving in Barcelona Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. local time (9:30 a.m. CST). I have booked my hostel in Barcelona for when I arrive and will spend a couple days there sight-seeing before moving on to Beziers.

I hope all my flights are on time and I arrive without any hassle. I'll be sure to update again once I am settled in my new home.

Love to all,

Amy

2 Weeks to Departure

2009-09-09T23:24:00.002-05:00

First, and foremost, I want to let everyone know that I have a new email address. My Marquette email will eventually be terminated, and to be sure I don't miss any messages, I created a new one. Please contact me at amyanderson911@gmail.com

Now, for an update...I'm back in Iowa City for the time being. Last Thursday I left Milwaukee and drove home via Chicago for my visa appointment at the French consulate. After some stressful Chicago driving, I turned in all my paperwork. Now it is just a waiting game...I should get my passport returned in the mail in the next week. If not, heads will roll because I leave on the 22nd!

I'm enjoying my time at home and trying to get my packing started. It's been difficult to get motivated because it doesn't seem like I'm leaving that soon!

Please keep checking in - I'll be sure to post at least once more before I leave!

XOXO, Amy

Getting closer...

2009-08-04T13:24:00.003-05:00

It's been awhile, but there's not much to update. I heard back from my teacher and I will be living at the school with the other language assistants (Italian, Spanish, & German, I believe). It should be a great experience to live with other people in the same situation, and I'm excited to have someone that I "know" when I arrive!

I go to Chicago on September 3rd to get my visa at the French consulate. Then I will be headed to Iowa City to spend some time at home before I leave for France.

I'm trying to fit in everything I want to do in the next 4 weeks in Milwaukee - not sure it's possible!!

Cheers,
Amy

Countdown to Departure

2009-06-23T16:50:00.002-05:00

6 months and 3 weeks after I submitted my application to the Assistant Linguistique program, I finally received my contract in the mail stating the location and school I will be working at. Ironically, I will be teaching at a school in Beziers, which is where my host sister in high school went to school! When I did my family stay for a week in March 2004, I lived in a suburb northwest of Beziers and rode the bus into the city to attend classes with her. This time I will be at the Lycee Professionnel Jean Moulin, which is a technical high school that prepares students to either enter the workforce after graduation, or attend a vocational college.

Beziers is located in the Herault department of the region of Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France. It is situated about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from the Mediterranean coast on the River Orb. The population of Beziers is currently around 74, 000. To read about the city, you can visit the wikipedia page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9ziers

I bought my plane ticket a few weeks ago and will be flying via Northwest Airlines from Des Moines to Barcelona. I leave on Tuesday 22 September, arriving in Barcelona on the 23rd. I will be flying home for Christmas - from Barcelona to Des Moines on December 21st.

I have emailed my school's contact person, who will hopefully help me out with housing arrangements and answering some questions about the school. I will keep you all posted as things get closer!!

Bisous,
Amy