Traveling: It leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.

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  • Nantes Day 2

    Day 2 we started off with a French class, which was a lot of fun. We played a Jeopardy style game with questions about grammar, vocab, French culture, Nantes history and more. Then the instructor had setup a scavenger hunt that took us all over different parts of the city and our prize at the end was a coffee at the nicest cafe in Nantes. Then we had a break before our afternoon architecture tour (which ended up getting cancelled due to storms). I took the break to grab a sandwich and eat it while I wandered around Nantes.

    Place Graslin and the opera-this is just about a block from the IES Center, so I passed this every day
    Passage Pommeraye-a covered passage built way back when so that people wouldn’t get their shoes/dresses dirty while walking down to the lower part of the city
    Now the passage is filled with unique shops and interesting architecture!
    Place Royale with Basilique Saint-Nicolas in the background
    Chateau des Ducs de Bretagne-this was built at the end of the 15th century by Francois the 2nd who was the last Duke of Brittany (Bretagne in French).
    LU tower-if you’ve seen the LU cookies in the US-the company originated in Nantes and this was originally the factory-now it’s a space with art exhibits and cafes

    Around this time a storm came through with lightning and dumping rain, so I made it back to the hotel to wait it out. Once the storm passed the sun came out and the rest of the day was beautiful. Since our tour was cancelled, I used the rest of the day to go see Ile de Nantes, which was abandoned shipyards when I was studying here, but has now been converted into an exhibition area with restaurants, parks, etc.

    Crossing the Loire to get to the island
    Les machines de l’ile is a museum that has now become a major attraction in Nantes-mainly for it’s giant mechanic elephant
    The museum has an array of mechanical animals that are demonstrated throughout the day
    I tried to post a video, but it was too large of a file to post, but the elephant is what people come to see and he/she(?) walks the whole length of the museum, moving it’s trunk and shooting water out of its trunk

    After the museum, I had a meeting with our visiting French instructor who happens to be from Nantes and then I was off to find some dinner. I had seen this creperie the night before, but they weren’t open, so luckily today they were!

    There was a creperie we used to go pretty often as students-I don’t think this was it, but I’m honestly not sure
    Le complet (ham, egg and cheese)-this is the standard go to
    I can’t remember what this one was called on the menu, but it was homemade salted caramel, local made vanilla ice cream and homemade whipped cream, topped with almonds

    After dinner I needed to walk off all the crepes, so I decided to head back to some of the things the bus used to go past on my way to school

    The cathedral of Nantes (officially Cathedrale Saint-Pierre et Saint-Paul), which was unfortunately the victim of an arson attack in 2020. They have been working on repairs and it is scheduled to reopen in September.
    Porte Saint-Pierre: this would have been one of the doors in the original wall surrounding the city in the 15th century
    Colonne Louis XVI
    Anne, Duchesse de Bretagne (and eventual queen of France) statue with LU in the background
    One cool thing about Nantes is the street signs are all in French and Breton. Breton is the regional language of Bretagne and is a Celtic based language.

    I wish I would have had more time to explore this part of town-I did get back the next day (you’ll see tomorrow), but I wish I had even more time!

  • Nantes-Day 1

    I mentioned this in a previous post, but in Fall 2003 I studied in Nantes, France, which is on the northwestern side of France. This was one of the most life changing experiences for me because this is where my love of France really became cemented (so much so that after being back in the US for a semester, I came back to France in Fall 2004, but that’s another story). When I studied, I was in an immersion French program for Americans led by IES (which is an American company based out of Chicago). The IES Nantes Institute celebrated their 60th anniversary this year (housed in the same building for all 60 years!) and to celebrate they invited all of their alumni back. I was delighted that it overlapped with my time in France because I haven’t been back to Nantes since I left in December 2023.

    So, on Thursday I took a 5 hour train ride from Lille to Nantes to participate in the reunion activities and explore Nantes evolution over the past 20+ years. First stop, was my hotel which was directly across from the IES Nantes center.

    My 4th floor room

    The first event was a welcome reception. We were given a tote bag with some Nantes IES SWAG and then told to check our mailboxes. They took the student mailboxes and labeled one for each of us just like when we were there! In mine, was a directory of the students I was with in Fall 2023 and a paper I had written!!!

    Each class had a class delegate to report back every so often how students were enjoying the class, etc. This was my final report for the semester that I submitted because I was the delegate for one of the grammar classes. I don’t remember why they had us write it in English, but I’m certain this was the only paper I wrote in English all semester!

    At the opening reception we got to connect with alumni from many different years, so it was fun to compare notes on classes we took, how the center was setup, how the town had changed, etc. One of the best surprises was one of the women who worked there when I was a student still works there and was there, so it was nice to catchup with her and hear how things have changed from her perspective. She’s now been with IES Nantes for over 40 years! After the reception I went to dinner with 2 other alumni (different years than me) and then back to the hotel.

  • Ypres (Ieper)

    On Wednesday, the students had the afternoon off from classes for us to do a field trip to Ypres (in French)/Ieper (in Dutch), Belgium. This region was really a central battle point during World War I and has several sites, monuments and museums dedicated to that.

    Our first stop was Tyne Cot cemetery, which is the largest Commonwealth cemetery with almost 12,000 graves. Along with British, Australian, New Zealand and Canadian soldiers, there are a few German soldiers who were buried here because this is where they died. What’s more shocking is of the almost 12,000 graves about 8,000 of them are unnamed because they were never able to identify the remains.

    A sign at the entry of the cemetery that reads: The land for this cemetery was graciously offered by the people of Belgium to serve as a final resting place for the Allied Army heroes in the great war of 1914-1918 to be sure their memory is honored here.
    This one had a little drawing from a child by it. You can see the 3rd and 4th ones in are A Soldier of the Great War, so those are some of the unnamed graves.
    The sheer number of graves here is incredible and on the drive to/from the cemetery we passed many other smaller cemeteries that were burial sites for other soldiers.
    This is the In Flanders Fields museum, which is a World War I museum. It was really well done, with lots of military history, but also a better look at the people of the time as people not just soldiers. I didn’t take many pictures in here because the lighting was dark, but definitely recommend this one.
    Sint-Maartenskathedraal (St. Martin’s Cathedral)
    Just another cute Belgian building

    After dinner, we headed to the Menin Gate to watch the Last Post ceremony. The Menin Gate is inscribed with the names of over 50,000 Commonwealth and British soldiers who died in World War I and whose remains were never found. Each night since 1928 (except for World War II when they moved the ceremony to another location due to the German occupation) at 8:00pm they have a ceremony called the Last Post. During the ceremony, there is a bugle call, the reading of a few lines from the poem ‘For the Fallen’ (see below), 1 minute of silence, laying of wreaths (by various groups) and then the bugle call once again. These are the lines of the poem they used:

    They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: 

    Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

    At the going down of the sun and in the morning

    We will remember them.

    (Then the crowd repeats: We will remember them)

    That’s only one side of the names

    It was a really moving ceremony and I was glad I got to see it. Overall, a nice day of remembering the sacrifices of those who came before us.

  • Day in My Life

    Here’s another look at a typical day in my life. I forgot to take a picture of breakfast, but today was yogurt and granola. I did a better job of taking pictures of my walk today though (which is probably far more interesting than a bowl of granola)!

    Walking out the apartment building door this is what I see
    Onto the main road
    If you can see the trees ahead in the distance that’s where I’m headed-it’s about a 15 minute walk in total
    Boulevard Vauban-where the university is
    Building most of the summer classes are in (I approach from the left side of the picture)
    These are the doors you have to scan your badge to get in (blue and green means go ahead, red means don’t)
    Scanning in
    Walking up the stairs to floor 3 (which is actually the 4th floor because in France the first floor is 0)
    Observing a French class
    Pizza for lunch outside
    Tarte aux framboises for dessert-have to get my fruit in 🤣

    After lunch I observed a literature class and then after class I went to the grocery store.

    Not the best picture, but the store was pretty busy and I was trying not to be obvious

    Then a friend messaged to meet up for a drink, so I dropped off my groceries and went out to see her. I just got an apricot juice and one thing I love about France is if you go to a bar and order juice, soda, anything non alcoholic they don’t bat an eye-the bar is a space for everyone to hang out (including kids) and so you order whatever drink you prefer and then you can sit for hours with just that one drink. I think it encourages people to be more social right after work and before they go home for dinner.

    Then it was time to head home and make dinner.

    Trying to use up things that are left as I only have a few more dinners to eat in my apartment.
    Pasta with tomato basil sauce and mozzarella balls
    Profiteroles-you can get much better versions at restaurants, but this is the grocery store version. They’re little cream puffs covered with loads of chocolate.

    After dinner, it was time to pack because I leave for Nantes Thursday morning and tomorrow we have an afternoon trip into Belgium and won’t be back until late.

  • Last Free Day in Lille

    Next weekend, I will be in Nantes (more on that later), so this past weekend was really my last one in Lille. Luckily, Monday was a holiday, so it was a 3 day weekend. On Monday, I decided to go to one of the museums I hadn’t visited yet, checked out the mall, a new park and had dinner with a new friend!

    The Musée de l’Hospice Comtesse is a former hospital turned museum. Lille has an overarching theme of “Fiesta” this year, which has turned into a lot of popup art exhibits, which you’ll see in some of these pictures.

    Courtyard
    One of the large rooms, which holds their current temporary art exhibit
    I thought the ceiling of the chapel was really cool. They had a large screen in front of the altar for the temporary exhibit, so I couldn’t get the full effect. Below is a video of what they were playing on the screen (I don’t understand modern art).
    Peeked behind the screen to see the altar.
    This painting shows the space as a hospital-it was run mostly by nuns and you can see the little bed area each person had in the back (with space they could put personal belongings). Through the doorway shows the nuns caring for the very sickest/dying.
    The garden where they grew medicinal herbs (which is still maintained)
    One of the rooms of the original hospital-this was more or less office space
    The upper floor is now devoted to art and history of Lille, which I found really interesting.
    The other side of the courtyard with another garden.

    After the museum, I went to the mall to walk around because I hadn’t been yet and it was near where I was supposed to meet someone later on. It was just a standard mall, but some of the shops had some neat things. Including a Ticket to Ride-Paris Edition!

    After the mall, I met up with a visiting professor’s wife for a garden visit and dinner. The garden we went to is called Jardin des Geants (Giants’ Garden)

    They had these cool animal sculptures coming out of the wall-they’re actually fountains they just weren’t turned on.
    Ponds-can you spy 3 turtles in this picture?
    A really neat pathway over the water
    A giant!
    I’m not sure if this was training this bush/tree to do something or what
    Water lilies!! Can you spy the frog? (we heard him before we saw him)

    Then we had to walk around a bit before the restaurant opened for dinner at 7, so we did some errands.

    The pink guys are down, but now there is the yellow jersey to celebrate the Tour de France starting here in July

    Finally, dinner time….it was well worth the wait!

    Le Complet (ham, egg and cheese)….I am a bit of a crepe snob because my first study abroad experience was in the region of France crepes come from, so the savory crepes must be made of buckwheat and folded in this style!
    The dessert ones should be on what we would consider a normal crepe and are folded differently depending on the filling. This one was the Kinder-Nutella inside, with white chocolate and crunchy bits on top

    All in all a great day and a good mix of culture, outdoor time and great food!

  • Roubaix

    Roubaix is a city in the suburbs of Lille about 30 minutes by metro from the Lille city center. It’s most famous for it’s art museum, La Piscine, but it was a fun (less touristy) place to explore on a Sunday.

    Roubaix City Hall
    Eglise Saint-Martin
    We found a really cute brunch place that was full of locals! I got the avocado toast
    La Piscine (the swimming pool)
    This is a former swimming pool they’ve repurposed into an art museum.
    Behind the statues you can kind of see the blue tiles (it’s hard to tell in the picture), which is where the pool originally ended (the little reflecting pool today is only like 6″ deep).
    Garden of la Piscine

    We decided to walk to a different metro station to get back to city center in an attempt to see more of the town.

    Random cat statue (with blue paw prints leading up to it)
    Monument to 2 winners of la Legion d’Honneur-the highest French honor someone can receive. These people were both from Roubaix.
    Some random street art
    Train station

    On the way back to my apartment I finally stopped at Aux Merveilleux de Fred, which is a pastry shop. They created a pastry in Lille that is now sold at their shops throughout France called Le Merveilleux (the Marvelous), which is a combination of meringue and whipped cream that was so light and fluffy (and marvelous!). This might be my new favorite French dessert!

    It comes in an adorable little box.
    I got la classique (the original, which is chocolate).
    This is what the center looks like-it was hard to tell what was what, but I think it was meringue on the bottom and whipped cream on top and then the chocolate shavings were all around the outside. No matter what it was, it was amazing (and not nearly as heavy or rich as it appears!).

  • More Lille

    I spent a lot of time observing classes at the end of last week, so there wasn’t much to report, but on Friday I observed the World Class Museums course. This is such a neat course because pretty much every class they go out to a different art museum or do a town walk to talk about architecture. I got to join them at Palais des Beaux Arts (the art museum I was at the first weekend). Even though I had been to the museum before this professor only focused on paintings on the 2nd floor, so I got to learn about some other pieces. Below are a few of the paintings we saw/learned about.

    Saturday, I went to the big bookstore to make some purchases and decided on the way home to stop at the covered market. I ordered a pizza to take back to my apartment for lunch, so while I was waiting I walked around and took some pictures of the market. You can get fruits, veggies, meat, seafood, baked goods and more Tues-Sun in this covered market.

    My pizza-I still don’t 100% understand why the dough is black, but it was really good!
    Toursade au chocolat-I got this at the market and saved it for my afternoon snack (the French often have a snack around 4pm and then don’t eat dinner until after 7pm). I enjoyed it with a glass of peach juice-I’ve been really enjoying the juices here because they are basically watered down fruit puree, not Kool-Aid style and they are very affordable! I think strawberry is my favorite, but they’ve all been delicious!

  • What I Did In Bruges

    To start the day in Bruges we all did a boat tour (some of the pictures I posted yesterday I took on the boat, so there aren’t as many today). Bruges is surrounded by a canal, so boat is a great way to see the town!

    There are many bridges to go under and some of them the boat driver even warns you to duck (and no he’s not joking)!

    After the boat tour a bunch of the faculty/staff decided to find coffee. One of the professors has been on the program before, so he recommended this place and specifically the marocchino, which is espresso with chocolate and frothed milk-very well made! And a wonderful break from my instant cappuccinos!

    After coffee, it was off to explore and do a little bit of shopping. The teacher I was walking around with wanted to show off the wall of beer…(it keeps going a lot further than this picture can show

    …but I was more interested in the Tintin statue!

    Then we found The Chocolate Line, which was the chocolate shop recommended to us by one of our tour guides/staff members from Lille. They have all kinds of interesting flavors-I decided to get a small sampling box that had 8.

    They had some interesting flavors (Miss Piggy is hazelnut and bacon) to some quite weird ones (Chill Pill is apple and fresh cut grass).
    Buffalo made out of chocolate!
    These are the ones I got, they are: Creme Brulee, Provence (lavender), Raspberry Cheesecake, Strudel, Brugs Beschuit (milk chocolate, hazelnut with a cookie), Gingerbread, Deadly Delicious (blueberry, raspberry, hazelnut and violet) and Framboise (raspberry). I haven’t tried them all yet, but so far I think the Deadly Delicious was my favorite, although the Creme Brulee was really good too.

    Now it was time to find some lunch. We ended up sitting outside at a restaurant that served some traditional Flemish dishes. I had what they translated to “Chicken Stew”, but it was more like chicken and biscuits, but with super flaky biscuits and it also had little baby potatoes in it. It was very tasty!

    Then I decided to head to the Lace Museum, since I had been to Bruges previously and wanted to see something different.

    One of the examples of historical lace
    There was also an area where you could go up and watch them making lace-it’s a very complicated process!

    After the lace museum I had some time still, so I went to see the Basiliek van het Heilig Bloed (the Basilica of the Holy Blood), which has some amazing architecture and artwork.

    Then I decided to sit in the courtyard and listen to the carillon tower with a waffle. This waffle was terrible-the worst one I’ve had anywhere I think, so that was disappointing. The carillon was lovely to listen to though-it’s up in the bell tower and looks a lot like an organ but they are triggering the ringing of bells. They play all sorts of music from the tower and walking through town one of the songs I heard playing was “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast, so that was fun!

    All in all Bruges was a success (other than the waffle)-it is such a cute town even with all the tourists-I highly recommend!

  • Bruges

    Bruges is such a cute town in Belgium-it’s really touristy because it is so picturesque, but we were there mid-week which helped. Today, I’ll leave you with some beautiful pictures of Bruges and then tomorrow I’ll detail what I did while I was there.

    So cute!! More on what I actually did there coming tomorrow!

  • A Day in the Life

    I thought you guys might like to see/hear what my days look like, so here is a day in the life. If you like this kind of post let me know and I can try to do a few more! This was my day on Tuesday, June 3rd.

    First up was breakfast-croissant, yogurt and cappuccino. I can’t find coffee creamer here (which I knew would happen), so instant cappuccino it is because I can’t do black coffee.

    Then it was time to walk to the university-it takes me about 15 minutes to walk. This is the last stretch before I got there (I forgot to take a picture sooner), just after the black building (that says Vauban) I turn left and the building most of the classes are in is there. We each have a badge and we have to badge in and out of every building (and sometimes rooms within buildings), which seemed strange at first, but now it just feels normal.

    First observation today was a French Language class. This was a just above beginner class, so the teacher asked me to jump in and do some activities with them, which was fun! I’m really loving sitting in on the French classes even when they’re lower level.

    Class goes from 9-12 and then the next class starts at 1:15, so when I have 2 observations I’ve been getting lunch at this boulangerie, which is the best one I’ve found in Lille, so far. Lunch today was un sandwich au thon (tuna sandwich-my go to here) and un chausson aux pommes (a very flaky pastry with an apple filling-the closest thing we have would be an apple turnover). It was a sunny day again, so I decided to sit in the courtyard of the main university building on a bench to have lunch.

    Lunch time views
    Sandwich au thon
    Chausson aux pommes

    After lunch I went to observe an Environmental Science class, which is my first observation of a class in English. I was able to follow most of the lecture without knowing much about science (beyond high school) and then we moved to the lab. In the lab she had them (and me) looking through water samples for microplastics, which were challenging to find because they were so tiny, but it was incredible how “plain” water could be filled with them!

    After the lab, I walked back home to drop off my big bag and rest for a bit (I also did some dishes) and then I headed back to the university for International Night, which was fantastic! They had wine and cheese and appetizers for us to snack on and then several groups of students performed something from their culture. One of the students from India did a really impressive martial arts presentation.

    Then it was the walk back to my apartment and time to make dinner (at 9pm no less-very French!). My apartment has an oven, but no baking sheets, so I’ve taken to cooking everything on pieces of foil, which limits what I can cook, but at least cleanup is easy!

    Dinner before cooking
    Ready to eat!

    After dinner it’s off to read and then bed because I have an early morning tomorrow to catch the bus to our next field trip to Bruges!