I was so happy to see the Eiffel Tower! It definitely lifted my spirits after being rained on all day. Here I am with my friends Brigit and Hannah! 

Our flight to Copenhagen got in pretty late so we didn’t do much that night besides get settled into the Airbnb that we were staying in. The next day we got up and did some exploring. It was definitely a little weird to be outside of France at first. The people, buildings, and the culture were all so different from the French culture that we’d all become accustomed to living amidst. 

One aspect of Copenhagen that I appreciated was the food markets! I got the chance to eat at two different ones: Copenhagen Street Food and the Glass Market. Copenhagen Street Food is on a little island off of some of the canals and overlooks a big river, the Øresund. The interior has an edgy and hip industrial feel with cuisines of all kinds being sold throughout. I shamelessly took advantage of the abundance of American foods being sold! The Glass Market is similar in set up but is much more modern and sleek. It consists of a few buildings that have no walls, just windows!

I also got a chance to see some of my friends from Muhlenberg who are studying in Copenhagen! It was great to catch up with them and exchange stories of our abroad experiences so far. 

After four days in Copenhagen, we flew to Amsterdam. When we finally emerged from the Metro, I was taken aback by the beauty of the setting sun over the countless bridges and canals. This part of the vacation was my favorite, Amsterdam is a beautiful city with tons to do. One of my favorite parts is where we stayed, in a house boat! We found a house boat on Airbnb and it was spacious and lovely. It was so nice to be out on the water. 

The first day in Amsterdam I visited the Anne Frank House with Hannah, Brigit and Fernanda. This is a museum that I have always wanted to visit (along with the other hundreds of people that we waited on line with for over two hours to be let into the museum). I didn’t learn much new information from the museum after studying the Holocaust and the Diary of Anne Frank in school for so long, but it was an unreal experience to go behind the original bookcase and into the secret Annex where Anne Frank and her family hid. I was expecting the Annex to be much smaller and harder to access. I liked that the Annex was left unfurnished because I feel like having a fake staging of props and furniture would have taken away from the hyperreal experience of being in this space. 

After the museum we walked around and explored the streets of Amsterdam. 

The Amstel River (and of course, bikes!) The white boat on the left is the house boat that I stayed in. 

We also took a canal tour of Amsterdam that was a nice way to see a lot of the city. Some of the narration was silly, but I still learned some interesting facts about the history and architecture of Amsterdam. 

Our last day in Amsterdam we walked around quite a bit to some areas we hadn’t visited and visited a modern art museum.  

7 hours of trains later I am back in Nantes! Back to school tomorrow…

xoxo, Marissa

I’m definitely trying to keep up with blogging when I can. A lot of the time I feel like my life has become a standard routine of going to classes and hanging out with my friends. But even in this new routine that has become my life in France, there are little moments and memories that I will want to remember, no matter how simple they might be.  

This weekend was pretty quiet here in Nantes. A lot of my friends had gone to Paris so there were only a few of my friends who were still here this weekend. Friday night, me and my friends Tatianna, Brigit and Hannah went to a steak frites restaurant called L’entrecote. Hannah and I had seen it when we were in centre-ville earlier that week and the line was out the door so we knew it had to be good. I was surprised at the popularity of such a gimmicky concept: 19 euro for unlimited fries, a hefty serving of steak with the restaurant’s “special sauce” (which is literally just butter and random seasonings), salad and bread. It was one of my favorite meals here and I loved just getting a chance to sit and chat with my friends over such yummy food to ring in the weekend. After dinner we met up with one of our French friends, Tiphaine, for a drink before heading home.

Saturday, Hannah, Brigit and I decided to take Tram Ligne 1 all the way to the end to visit the mall. I was expecting a more simple, European concept of a mall but I could not have been more wrong. This may be a little dramatic but this was the most beautiful mall I’ve ever been in. I think Hannah described it best: “I feel like I’m in America, but everything is just slightly off.” We browsed in the stores for a while before we got lunch at Ikea and headed back to Nantes. 

That night I ate crepes for dinner at my favorite creperie, Heb Ken. I think I could eat crepes and only crepes for the rest of my life if I had to. For dinner I love getting a galette with ham, cheese and an egg. And I of course had a salted caramel crepe for dessert with some cider. 

Since we were bored and it was raining we decided to go to the movie theater where we saw “Les 8 salopards” (The Hateful Eight). The film was in English with French subtitles. It was cool to see some of the disparities in the subtitled version of the film. There are definitely some language aspects that can’t be translated, like certain dialects and phrasings. I also found it funny that when Oswaldo Mobray was talking, the subtitles referred to him as the “bourreau anglais” (English hangman). Even though that was not directly said by the actor, an English speaker can easily hear the English accent and infer that he is British. It’s more difficult to hear accents when you don’t speak the language so this detail was added to the subtitles.

Overall I had a very fun weekend. It was nice to relax before the big vacation coming up which will be filled with traveling! On Thursday I am leaving for Paris with three of my friends and we will be there for just shy of 24 hours before flying out to Copenhagen. I will be in Copenhagen with seven of my other friends for a few days before heading to Amsterdam for the rest of the break. Ten days of traveling will certainly be fun but exhausting! 

A bientôt!
Marissa

As I get more acquainted with Nantes I am constantly in awe of its beauty and general quaint French-ness. I’m already dreading when I am going to have to leave, even though it is so far away. Time works weirdly here, I feel as if I have just arrived, but when I think back to landing in the Charles De Gaulle airport it seems like a distant memory. These weeks have been busy with exploring Nantes and spending time with my new friends. I have enjoyed getting to know so many interesting, friendly, and fun people from all over the country through my program. I now have friends from as far as Oregon and California! It’s fun to discuss regional differences in trends and slang with them. I apparently have a slight accent that I did not know about! 

Things that I find so beautiful and interesting are run-of-the-mill among the Nantais. I love the rivers in Nantes: the Loire and the Erdre. Every day on my tram ride to class I love to look out on the glistening Loire as the sun rises. A few of my friends live near the Erdre which is smaller than the Loire but it charming with boats docked along and people constantly walking along the edge. I went to a creperie boat on the River Erdre with a few of my friends last weekend. One of my favorite things about France and Bretagne in particular is the abundance of crepes!

I also recently had the chance to go to the top of the Tour Bretagne the only skyscraper in Nantes. It costs 1 euro to go to the top where there is an observation deck and a bar. It is called the Nid (nest) and everything is bird-themed, complete with egg shaped chairs. It was enchanting to see the city from above at night.

After Mont St. Michel we were all damp and fatigued. The next stop on the trip was St. Malo. We were only there for an hour so we sat in a creperie where I ate the most delicious salted caramel crepe! Being under the heat lamps and eating a warm crepe was wonderful. The creperie was adorable and everything was black, white and pink. I loved it and wish I had taken a picture. I also hope I have a chance to visit St. Malo again when the weather is nicer. As we walked into town (a walled centre-ville) the ocean and beaches looked beautiful and there was a lot going on, including a carnival of some kind. After such an exhausting and soggy day (that included a 6:30 wakeup) I was more than happy to return to Nantes! My iPhone has now recognized my host family’s house as “home” and I’m glad that I too am starting to feel that way!

A bientot,
Marissa