Vacances!

Salut!

After a somewhat uneventful week, we have started our week of winter vacation. The week was spent doing the usual: schoolwork, summer internship searching and resume work, and we now know all of our controle continu (the semester-long assignment for each course) and can finally start working on those. The work is really starting to pile up with those assignments, expose presentations, and trying to keep up with the international student coordinator who teachers our History and Civilization course and Conference de Method: she is a very strict professor who apparently passed very few international students last semester. While this information, including her telling us the average grade she gives is a 7 (10 is passing), is making me very nervous, I think that it should all come together all right as long as I manage my time well. This is something I am going to have to learn to do even better as well since the school library is only open until 9 Mondays through Fridays and the other three libraries in Rennes are open on average 5 hours/day 5 days/week. This makes finding time to actually go to the library very difficult as the open hours often coincide with my class times (none are open after 7 except the at school). But, thanks to the internet, I believe I will be able to manage even with the minimal library time.

Enough about school, it's finally vacation time and it started with a very relaxing weekend. Friday night, we spent some time with three other international students (1 English, 1 German, 1 Canadian/Chinese) and made dinner as a group. Using a Japanese cookbook belonging to the Englishmen, we found a recipe for Gyoza Skins (Dumplings) and Teriyaki Stir Fry. After a long trip to a very large grocery store in a nearby mall, we stopped for a little McDonald's to hold us off until dinner could be made. After snacking a little, we headed back to the Canadian/Chinese girls apartment. We made ourselves the dumplings and stir fry, both of which were delicious, and finished with a fruit tart that we had bought at the supermarket. As you can imagine, by the end of this process we were quite full. We had planned to watch a movie, but cooking and eating took us so long that by the time we were done, we had to catch the bus to head back to Patton. As someone who very much loves eating, however, I was completely satisfied with a night of cooking and socializing.

Bright and early the next morning, we hopped on the train to visit a French girl who lives down the hall and invited us to come visit her home in the country. The town is called Montourtier and is about an hour East of Rennes. It is very small (Population about 300) and nearly everyone living out there owns a farm. We arrived by train in Laval, the biggest town nearby, and Margeaux, our friend, and her mother picked us up. Before heading to their house, we stopped at a store, of which I took a photo, that may not interest most of you, but I'm sure my mom will be happy to see. This is the French equivalent of Home Depot, which is nearly identical on the inside.

So, from there we took the scenic route through several villages to Margeaux's home in Montourtier. The countryside there is absolutely beautiful and I wish I could have gotten some better pictures of it. I attempted to take a video (as you'll see on the left), but I do not think it quite does it justice. We also got an interesting history lesson on the way through the towns. For example, the department (French equivalent to counties) they live in is home to several horse trainers because, according to Margeaux's mother, one of the first in the world to train race horses. As you would expect in a country famous for their cheese, there were also cows nearly everywhere.

That brings us to the second activity of the day. After a light breakfast and some lunch, Margeaux's mother organized for us to visit a nearby farm. This particular farm produces mostly milk, but was also home to pigs that we, sadly, did not get to see because there had been lightning which set off an alarm in that area of the farm. But, we did get to see their cows, of which they had 73, and calves. We got to see the process of milking the cows, feeding it to the calves, and how they take care of the newborns. It was all very exciting and reminiscent of my childhood at my grandparents house. Here are some pictures from that trip.

 Outside the farm, about half the cows are under the building in this photo and the other half were in the one to the left that you can't see, which is the one we went inside.

 The milking apparatus. It was quite sophisticated. The machines that attached to the utters had a laser guided system that would search for the utters first, then place the suction machine on them once they were found.

 Cows galore! (French Translation: Oh la vache!)

Newborn calf: This one was only about 2 days old! There were a few others as well, all less than 4 days old and all very hungry (they would not stop licking my hand) and very playful.

 Feeding system that brings the milk from the cows in the other room to the newborns.

To continue our small town adventures, we visited the site of a Roman Fortress at the Museum of Jublain, where Margeaux used to work. Margeaux gave us the walking tour of the remains of the fortress in addition to some of the artifacts indoors. The fortress dates back the the time of the Roman Empire, which made this a particularly interesting trip for us, since there is really nothing quite like it in the United States. Being able to stand inside something so old, with so much history behind it was truly mind-blowing, and an experience I will not soon forget. Some photos of the fortress and museum are below.

 The path into the fortress.

View from the inside. This is one of the main reasons it was built here. It is hard to tell from the photo, but there is an amazing view from all sides, making it quite ideal for a fortress site.

The living room and fireplace area in the officers quarters.

 Layout of the village with the fortress in the middle.

The three of us in front of the theater area.

After the trip to Jublain, we returned to Margeaux's house for the night. We then prepared for a night of family dinner and games. Following the French tradition, we had cidre and a snack around 6, since dinner is normally not until around 9. We then decided to make bagels for the family, since they had never heard of them. This was quite an adventure seeing as neither Morgan nor myself had actually ever made bagels before. Still, they turned out quite well, though a little small, and the family loved them. While they were in the oven, we had an aperitif with the family, which consisted of champagne and cidre, then sat down to dinner.

What was really amazing was that every meal was a true endeavor for Margeaux's mother, who was the chef of the household. Each one consisted of an appetizer, main dish, cheese, dessert and coffee and they were all phenomenal. She made us traditional French dishes both Saturday and Sunday for each meal and even bought some special cheeses to show us.





Overall, it was a very relaxing weekend and Margeaux's family was very nice and accommodating to anything and everything we might need. They were all very helpful when we had troubles with French, though they complemented us on our ability, and even tried to speak English with us from time to time. Below are some pictures of Margeaux's house and family.

 The front of their house.

 Margeaux's mother with the chocolates we brought them as a thank you gift.

Me and Morgan playing a card with Margeaux's younger brother Allan.

So, that concludes yet another installment of my adventures in France. I hope to have many more interesting things to tell you at the end of my vacation, though there is a high probability that most of those things will involve me studying or sleeping in. In any case, I will of course keep you posted with all of my activities as they happen, and I should have another post up by next Sunday. Thanks for reading and bonne vacances!

Tom