After a long day of travel, I arrived in Nantes yesterday! As soon as my dad and I got to the hotel I fell right asleep after not sleeping for 24 hours. That night we ate dinner with my host family! It was great to meet them and their son Louis (11) and their pet rabbit. The rabbit (named Monsieur) is funny, he is absolutely massive, about the size of a cat, and just roams around the house freely. The dinner was a challenge, my host parents speak very little English and my dad does not speak any French. It was hard to be constantly switching back and forth. 

Today was my first full day in France, and it sure was busy! After a night of somewhat restless sleep my dad and I were up to see Nantes before I had to check in at my abroad program. We had lunch, delicious Croque Monsieurs, and walked around Nantes. 

Then I made my way to the IES Center to check in with my abroad program. I met a few other students as we waited for our host families. They were all very nice and I’m looking forward to getting to know more students tomorrow. 

Today is Three King’s Day in France, which is celebrated by eating a galette des rois (King Cake). In this tradition a small figurine is baked into the cake and the person that gets the king in their piece is the king for the year. Louis is the king this year! 

Tomorrow we are starting orientation in the afternoon which is good because I definitely need to catch up on some sleep.

A bientôt!
Marissa