From Barcelona to All Alone-uh

Hello everyone!  So right now I'm on my first of two breaks this semester (I like France's breaks better than the US's) and I decided to go with some of my friends to Spain.  We left straight away on Friday night and took the night train to Barcelona so when we woke up we were right there ready to start the day.  Barcelona is absolutely gorgeous and I'd recommend it to anyone!  The weather that first day was also really great--full of sun and a temperature that lets you go outside with just a sweater--and it's always slightly bizarre but on-the-whole fabulous seeing palm trees in February.  The next day was rainy unfortunatly but we didn't let that stop us.

Mini-Adventures Galore!

Finally we’re settling into our schedules here in Nantes! Classes are confirmed and have been attended multiple times, I can get to and from many places in Nantes via tram (though I still won’t touch the bus), and I’m even in the process of becoming a regular at a creperie. Not everything is completely set in stone yet (I’m going to be trying a new club and possibly a new dance class on Thursday and Friday respectively and my internship won’t start until March 1) but it’s certainly starting to feel like a routine. This, of course, meant it was time to shake things up a bit! So on Saturday we had our first of three IES-sponsored field trips—this one to the seaside town of St. Malo and the famous Mont St. Michel.

Tours around Tours and the Return to Nantes

Hello friends!  Well, the other students and I have returned to Nantes* after a 3 1/2 day orientation in Tours, a city in the Loire Valley that is close to many chateaux.  In all, we visited 5:

• Loche: A mideaval chateau overlooking an adorable little city.
• Chenonceau:  Had a lot of beautiful grounds but we were given entirely way too much time to explore.
• Blois:  Completed during different epochs and so it has different architectural styles all around it and right next to each other in the same building (all of which I know nothing about, but for an architecturally-inclined person, I'm sure it's even more fascinating).
• Chambord:  A very large chateau that housed the Mona Lisa and some other paintings/cultural artifacts ("les otages de guerre") during World War II to protect them from the Nazis.  The historical, cultural, and human consequences are almost too much, positively and negatively, and a cause for contradiction of the heart (saving paintings over people?).
• Usse':  We only visited here for about 15 minutes and didn't go in because it was on our way home but it was the inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty castle! (shown below)