Oh la la! What a whilrwind my first several days in France have been. After many many hours of travel by plane, train, and taxi I arrived in Nantes at the IES building. I spent the first night with my host family, the Olliviers. They live in a charming little house in a neighborhood about 10 minute bus ride from my school. Elisabeth, my host mom, stays at home so I have gotten to know her best so far. She is so sweet and very patient with my French- all of the family speaks slower for me and tries to explain something if I don't understand. They're so thoughtful. I do have to say I was pleasantly surpised by the amount of French that I could understand and speak that first day... more than I was expecting.
The next morning, I left for 4 days of offsite orientation with all of the other IES students and faculty. We stayed in a hotel in Vannes and traveled to other places around Brittany each day. The first day was spent at l"Ile aux Moines. We rented bikes and explored the island and ate a picnic lunch. The rest of the weekend included visits to several little cities with ports, a very old, beautiful fortress (La fortresse de Largoet) and a creperie. I have many photos from this excursion, but am having difficutlites uploading them. Once I can get them I will add them to the blog so you can see how incredible Bretagne. Really I haven't found one place in France yet that does not have beautiful buildings and charming character.
There are so many new things that I'm learning and experiencing- my head is spinning right now trying to decide what else to tell you (it also could be because it's getting late... I was planning on blogging earlieri but alas, I ended up watching the match au foot insteed and France actually won!) I am going to call it a night and write more very soon. Bonsoir!
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