Christmastime in Europe

A week before Christmas I decided to head to Paris to check out their Christmas markets. I went to the Champs-Elysées and to Sacré Cœur and Montmantre. There was a huge market lining the Champs-Elysées which was really pretty, but the stands were mainly food. I did get a really good steak and pepper sandwich though. 

Once I made my way up and down the street, I headed over to Montmantre and hiked up to Sacré Cœur. It was so beautiful over there.  A guy was playing music in front of the basilica and everyone gathered on the steps to listen and sing along. I bought some vin au chaud or mulled wine and watched for a little while.

On Tuesday, Dec. 20^th I headed to Braunschweig to meet up with my friends from URI. 

We went to the Weihnachtsmarkt which is their Christmas market and I got glühwein which is their mulled wine. It was really good. I also got a bratwurst sandwich that was almost as big as me! I couldn’t even finish it! Their market was much bigger than the one in Compiègne, much bigger. We also went to an Irish pub, a Mexican restaurant, and a club.

 I met Erin at the train station on Friday morning. She was coming in from southern Germany and would be spending Christmas with a friend who lived in a nearby village. We got to catch up over coffee and tea though, which was really nice. It was great to see people from home.

 Then, on Christmas Eve I decided to head back to France. I took a train from BS to Hannover to Köln and eventually onto Paris. My third train got delayed and I got into Paris late and missed the last train to Compiègne. After having a complete breakdown in the middle of the Gare du Nord on the phone with my mom, I decided to look for a taxi. Seeing as it was Christmas Eve and around 11pm, there were only a few taxis that would travel within Paris. So I was thinking of spending the night in the train station when this nice black man came up and said that it wasn’t safe to stay in the train station overnight and that I should find a hotel. So he brought me to a couple and only one had rooms available. Of course it was the most expensive hotel, but why would it be any other way. I got into my room and was a little nervous because it was my first time staying in a hotel room by myself, but I was so emotionally drained that I passed right out. I had set my alarm so that I would catch the first train the next morning, but my alarm never went off so I woke up 8 minutes after the train left. Oh the luck I have! I ended up heading to the gare and waiting for the next one except it was not for another hour and a half.

I finally made it back to my room around 11am and was so happy to finally be there. I had a bunch of Christmas cards waiting for me and two packages. So I opened up everything and it was like it was Christmas morning! I met up with Grace, Tess, and Grace’s friend (all from the US) and we had a nice dinner. We made quail and it was delicious. We also had artichokes, which was the first time I had ever eaten an artichoke that wasn’t in spinach and artichoke dip. It was good, but after a while, I was sick of the taste. The dinner was accompanied by wine and of course some orangecello! All in all, my Christmas ended up being full of Christmas cheer. I got to skype with my family and with Elena too!

The Dinner Table

 

I didn't know how to eat it

Grace opening up the wine!

Christmas Capital of France

Strasbourg! Yesterday, Wednesday, I got up at 4am and headed to the train station to head to Strasbourg. It is in the Alsace region of France and is right on the border of Germany. I took the TGV, which is the high speed train, and got there in about 2 hours and 20 minutes. No one really wanted to go or was giving me a straight answer, so I said hell with it and went alone. I really wanted to go, so I did!

I went mainly for the Christmas markets, but they didn’t open til 10am and I arrived around 9. I decided to walk around and check out some of the town before heading to the markets. The main town was surrounded by a river which made for a picturesque city.  Rainy of course, but it was beautiful just the same.

After a little while of adventuring, I went to the first market. There are tons of them set up throughout the city and it’s like a scavenger hunt trying to find them. I took a picture of the large map they had displayed in town and used that as my map.  The first market was a German market. Because Strasbourg is so close to Germany, a lot of Germans come here and most of the markets were in French and in German. It was really cool because I could understand some of the things in German!  After that I moved on to the next one and continued on until I hit them all. I am pretty sure I walked every street of Strasbourg. I bought a few little Christmasy things along the way too.

Around 3, I was about done and ready to go home, but my train was not until 5:45, so I went to a local restaurant and ordered an Alsacian beer and a tradition dish. I had smoked pork, potatoes with bacon and onions, and a salad. Altogether the meal was delicious. A little lonely, but these two old ladies talked to me for a bit. It was so sweet.

Once I finished dinner, I walked around one of the markets again and then headed to the train station. The town was all lit up and it made me so happy. I am really glad I went. It was a very long day, but I am definitely glad that I went!

Euro Disney

On y va!!!

Look at all those umbrellas!

On Saturday, Dec. 3rd, my two Argentinian friends, Pipi and Sebastian and I went to Euro Disney along with some other UTC kids. We left Compiègne around 8 in the morning, still dark out and of course raining.  Crazy European weather.  Anyways I was not expecting a lot of people to be there since it was raining, but turns out there were lots of people there. 

Everything was decorated for Christmas and it was all lit up. It was so cool. I have never seen Disney dressed for Christmas before! This was Pipi and Sebastian’s first time at Disney so they were like two little kids in awe of everything. There were two parks there, one similar to Magic Kingdom and another similar to MGM Studios. As soon as we arrived, I took them on Tower of Terror. It’s my least favorite ride, but they really wanted to do it. After that we headed to Rockin’ Rollercoaster, but there was a long wait so we got fast passes and went to see the cars stunt show in between. We headed back to Rockin’ Rollercoaster and Sebas was amazed at how we got to “cut” the line. We sat in the first seat and it was his first time ever sitting in the front seat before. It was pretty awesome. 

and its still raining...

There was not much else there so we headed over to Magic Kingdom. We headed to the castle first. It was Sleeping Beauty’s castle, a pink one, and much smaller than the one in Orlando, but it was fine for Pipi and Sebas. After that we ate lunch and saw the Mickey spectacle which was half in French and half in English. Pretty funny. It was weird to have Sleeping Beauty be the main princess. We don’t even really acknowledge her as a "main princess" in the US. Also, they had the girl from The Princess and the Frog as well as Rapunzel from Tangled perform. Afterwards, we went on Space Mountain and Thunder Railroad. By that time it was pretty late and everyone wanted to buy a few goodies before we left. We went browsing through a few shops in Magic Kingdom, but no one found anything, except for me. I found a 101 Dalmatians postcard. There was lots of shopping in MGM so we headed back there. 

The Spectacle

On our way back though, Pipi realized she lost her ticket therefore she would not be allowed back in. I let her take my ticket because it was her first time in Disney and she wanted to buy her family some things. I waited outside the park while they went shopping. Probably for the better, this way I didn’t spend any money! When they were done, we headed to the bus and headed home. It was a great day, full of rain, but full of laughs. 

Pipi and I hanging out with our new friends

Would you just look at it!

I saw the sun for the first time in days today, maybe even weeks! It was luxurious. It was not too chilly either. I decided to walk into town after I met with Marin. Oh yeah, Marin is the name of the boy that I am helping with his English, finally found out his name.

Every year Compiègne has a marché de Noel. I saw it being set up last week, but its in full swing now. It is set up in the center of town, in front of l'hôtel de ville, otherwise known as the city hall. There are a few stands selling some Christmas ornaments, fruitcakes, of course, and some other little Christmasy goods. There was also a vendor selling bretzels, hot mulled wine, crêpes, and even churros. They are very multicultural. Hot mulled wine may be the best invention ever! It is so warming and delicious. A perfect drink for a day with a little nip in the air. 

Slowly by slowly more and more stores are putting up decorations. I am so excited. I love the Christmas spirit! There are real Christmas trees and everything lining the streets to the center of town. The ones at the marché are sprayed with fake snow haha. I can't wait to go back at night and see everything lit up.

London Adventures

Friday

Arrive in London and meet Shelby at the bus stop. Get lost getting back to her house. Meet her roommates and her roommate, Kellie’s friends that were also visiting from Spain, Germany, and Ireland. We were a pretty multicultural house! Went to O’Neill’s a bar/club with a rock band and we were “front row.” It was awesome because they played some pretty good songs and we danced all night.

Saturday

Toured the Tower of London, bought roasted peanuts from a street vendor under the bridge, walked across Tower Bridge, lunch at a bagel shop, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, witnessed a Veteran's parade, walked through St. James’s Park and fed some ducks, Buckingham Palace, fireworks at the London Bridge, Covent Gardens, dinner at some random restaurant and gelato to follow, finally home. Watched the Syracuse basketball game (all the kids including Shelby go to Syracuse) and Signs and went to bed.

From the Tower of London

Tower Bridge

Parade

Just hanging out with Big Ben

Which way next?

What's up?

"thank you for being here"
In front of Buckingham Palace where the Queen lives

Sunday

Abbey Road to take a picture, of course, Notting Hill, back to Covent Gardens to get some hot chocolate and really good cookies and to listen to some guy playing music in the center, walked through Piccadilly Square and Oxford Circus then continued down Regent Street where we did some window shopping and saw all the Christmas lights until reaching Marble Arch, and back home!

Woohoo Abbey Road

Covent Garden dressed for Christmas

Monday

Get up at 4:30am to catch the bus to bring me to the airport. Get a chai, cinnamon bun, and Cosmo before heading to security where I find out my flight is booked for the next day. Yup, I went to the airport a day early! So I went to the desk to find out how much it would be to change my flight. The guy said 83 pounds so I said see you tomorrow. Clearly London did want me to leave, and neither did I! I went to the desk to buy a ticket and the lady behind the counter wasn’t waiting on me so I asked her if I could buy a ticket and she said “yes when I open.” I asked when that would be and she said at 7. It was 6:57, really, she couldn’t just give me the ticket then.  After I bought the ticket, I walked out to the bus stop and as I was walking there, the bus pulled away and I had to wait another half hour before the next one. Thank you lady behind the desk. I finally got back to Shelby’s around 9. I hung out with her roommates while she was at class and then later that night we went to Primark, a huge department store, and cheap too.

Tuesday

Get up at 4:30 and repeat the same process as I did the day before. I wanted to make sure I knew what to do, that’s why I made the trial run yesterday. This time I finally made it back to Compiègne. I was walking back from the train station when I realized that I left my wallet on the train. My wallet that had my passport, credit cards, license, basically, every single piece of identification I own. I ran back to the train station and told the teller. She had me fill out a lost item report and said if it turns up we will call you. I was freaking out and assuming I had lost it forever. I walked outside to wait for the bus and called my mom crying when the teller came up to me and said that someone had found it and that she had it. So I went back inside and got my wallet back, fully intact. I want to thank whoever found it and turned it in. I headed back out to the buses clutching my wallet. I then boarded the bus only to realize I had taken it going in the wrong direction so I took a nice detour of the Compiègne Industrial Park before arriving back at the train station, 20 or so minutes later. I finally got on the right bus and got back to my room around 3. After a long day, I came home and made some homemade chicken soup and showered and headed to bed.

Phrase of the trip

“them crumblies” – Leigh, from Ireland

Besides the whole wallet fiasco and you know going to the airport a day early, it was the best trip I have taken so far. I met so many people who are also studying abroad and it was awesome to hear their stories and to talk about places that we have all visited. Thank Shelby for a great "extended" weekend!!

A Big Day for a Little Girl

Today, I met with a 14 year old boy to practice his English. His mom had contacted the school and they recommended me so I called the mother on the phone and we made arrangements to meet this morning. Now that I have talked on the phone, I can do anything! Turns out I even know my phone number in French because she called me back. Once I got the phone call, I was like sweet I didn't mess it up! Point Nicole. I had to walk there seeing as I don't have any other mode of transportation and it only took about 20 minutes. It was a part of the town that I have not ventured to yet. I wrote down the directions and headed out. At one point, the street changed name and I didn't know that so I stopped and asked a lady walking if I was going in the right direction, and I was! They live in a house on the outskirts of town, but it was a very nice walk there. The first meeting was a little awkward because we didn't know each other, but I think next week will be better. If anyone has any suggestions as to what we should talk about, I would love to know. I am not entirely sure what his name is because I cannot pronounce it, oopsies! I am sure I will learn it in time. We are going to meet every Wednesday for an hour and I am even getting paid. 


After my meeting with the boy, I headed to lunch with my friends. I was super hungry and what was for lunch, potatoes. Legit, a plate of potatoes. Well to be fair, it was potatoes au gratin, but still that's usually a side, not the main dish. It was still good nonetheless. I had a little time before my next big outing, so I headed into town and did some window shopping which then turned into me buying a new pair of black boots. I have been looking for flat black boots for quite some time now and I have finally found a pair. Of course when you are not looking for something, you find it! Either way, I have them now and they are super cute!


Now on to my next big adventure - getting my hair cut! I am officially a Frenchie. I was really nervous because I had to call and make an appointment, but after talking with the mother on the phone, I had a little more confidence. I decided to call, but of course, it was Monday and nothing in France is opened, so I had to call back yesterday. I understood everything the lady asked and was able to answer all of her questions. I am going to be a pro at talking on the phone in French! Luckily, the hair dresser had an opening for this afternoon so I took it. I accidentally walked past the place the first time so I had to turn around once I realized. And whats better than to turn around in front of a bus stop of waiting people. Oh well! When I walked in there was only one hairdresser so I told her my name and she told me to sit down after she took my jacket and bag and hung it up for me. I thought it was odd. After she washed my hair, which was basically a head massage, she asked me how much I wanted to cut off and I was a little unsure. Turns out she cut about 6 inches off the back! I think this is the shortest I have had my hair since I was in third grade! Also, I didn't cry when I got it cut and I didn't even try to put it into a ponytail as soon as it was done. This is a huge step for me!

I am so excited that I finally got it cut and I love it too! I mean I probably won't be able to ever get it to curl under like the hair dresser did, but I will manage.

Bathroom Luck

Not many people can say that they have been stuck in the bathroom. As of yesterday, I have joined the select few in this group. Yes, you all heard correctly. Not exactly sure how it happened, but I went to brush my teeth and next thing I know, the door is stuck. Turns out in the two minutes I was in the bathroom, the latch of the door decided to break and cause the door to jam. Luckily my roommate was home at the time. With the use of two credit cards, a knife, pure force, and 20 minutes later, I finally was free. I was pretty sure that that was the end, but it wasn't! I was a little hesitant to use the bathroom at first, but I quickly got over that.

Vaches, Vaches, Vaches

What's today, oh yeah, my first job interview! And this just isn't any job interview, its one in French!

In coaching myself for the interview, I contacted my Mom, Angela, and Elena for advice on what to say and to think of some possible questions they might ask. I also went through a series of breathing exercises, no I am just kidding! On the day of the interview, Wednesday, I left with my folder, pen, and lined paper. I was definitely ready for this interview. The only thing was that I had to take a train to Paris, the metro to another gare (train station), wait two hours for the TGV (a super fast train) to Vendome, and then a taxi to Montoire where Romer, a division of Hexagon Metrology, is located. Oh and to start off the day, the bus was super late, completely unlike Compiègne, so another woman waiting and I walked to the gare de Compiègne together. She was really nice and talked for the half hour walk to the gare. I made it just in time to buy my billet (ticket) and board the train. Turns out she is originally from Russia, but has lived in France for 12 years so speaks fluently. I understand everything we talked about and held a constant conversation for about a half hour. It was great. I had a good feeling that today was going to be a good day.

I brought a book with me to keep me occupied for the long journey ahead. Good thing I had because by the end of the day, I had already read 120 plus pages of the book! For all you who know how fast of a reader I am, that was remarkable. 

The part of the trip that I was most nervous for was meeting the taxi that Hexagon had reserved for me. Luckily, a woman with a sign saying Hexagon was waiting right outside the gare de Vendome for me. We took a 25 or so minute car ride to Montoire. On the way, I saw vaches, vaches, and more vaches (cows). I felt as if I were in Foster/Glocester - no school! I am pretty sure there are all of five houses in Montoire and Hexagon. Although, it was very pretty, it was not much of a social area. Upon entering Hexagon, the rush of nerves paralyzed me, but I was fine once the lady behind the desk smiled at me (the first person in France to smile at me). I met with the head of research and development as well as one of the heads in the engineering department. They presented a short presentation about the company, asked me questions, I asked some, discussed the living arrangements and transportation, and toured the facility. Overall the whole thing took two hours and while the company seems great, there were a few bumps in the road. One being the transportation to and from work. I would have to live in Vendome which is about 25 min away as I mentioned earlier and there is no public transportation, unless you consider the cows! I would have to buy a car and/or rent one if that is possible and I am not sure how attainable that may be. I was also not entirely gung-ho for the projects that I would be doing during my internship. They are more of a design based company and the facility in France only works on robotic arms, which is not one of my ideal internships, but hey, who ever finds one that is perfect. 

The whole experience was great. As I was reflecting on the whole interview, I am proud that I went to the interview and did everything in another language and all on my own. You learn to do a lot of things that you never imagined doing when you live in another country. Before I make my final decision, I am going to look into some other options. I think there may be something more suitable for me. If not, I guess I am going to buy a cow!

How the French do American Sandwiches

Tonight at Pic, the student bar on campus, there was an American themed repas (plate). Each week there is a different theme. One week it was a romance theme and if you bought a sandwich you got a rose. Cheesy things like that. Anyways I was interested to see how they interpreted American sandwiches seeing as their hamburgers were far from American. I got my plate and the sandwich had three slices of bread (this is a lot for the French), two slices of ham in each layer, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise all held together with a toothpick. The sandwich was accompanied by chips and candy haha. There were sour gummies, root beer cans, and my favorite, gummy bears. It was a pretty good meal and the biggest sandwich I have seen since being here. Although I was not too fond of the white bread, it was delicious all the same. One recommendation I would have for future American themed sandwiches would be to do a turkey and ham combo. I think Mark from the IEP house needs to show these guys what an American sandwich is; although, they are headed in the right direction.

Karaoke French Style

This week, Esperanto had a karaoke night for us at one of the bars. We decided to go there and check it out. Contrary to how Americans do karaoke, the French do it slightly differently. For starters, I did not know there was any other way to do karaoke other than the way we know it, but I was wrong. French karaoke does not include a microphone and consists of the whole bar singing every song. There is not just one person that goes up and chooses a song to sing. The French have the words projected onto a screen so that everyone can sing along. Everyone is up and "dancing" and singing. Now for the playlist. What is karaoke without a little Journey - French karaoke. There were tons of ABBA songs, like their whole discography, Kate Perry,  some really lame songs that I have never even heard of, and a few good ones in between, oh and how could I forget, A Whole New World from Aladdin (but in French). It was by far an experience.

Fall is Back

Fall is back again. I definitely brought the Floridian weather back with me because we had two weeks of 80 degree weather and nothing but sun. Unfortunately that came to end this weekend. It is back to being cold and rainy here in Compiègne. I have not seen the sun in three days; its quite depressing. Fall is not the same as it is in Rhode Island. There is no Scituate Art Festival here, no apple picking or pumpkin picking, and most importantly, no meat pie for Dad's birthday! Seeing as there are only five trees in all of Compiègne, I have not seen too much foliage which is also quite triste (sad). 

It has finally hit me that school has begun. I would rather be out exploring, but sometimes you just need to buckle down and do work. So far my classes are not too bad. I am taking German as you know if you read my earlier blog and that is probably my favorite class. Scratch that, it is my favorite class! It is getting a little harder now though. My French class is going okay. I am giving a presentation this week with two other people on non-verbal communication. Thank you COM 100 for having me write that analysis on non-verbal communication. Never thought I would be saying COM 100 was worth it, but I guess that is why we shouldn't say never. My composite materials class is hard, but its okay. Stephan and I are lab partners and we made composite fiber plaques last lab. This week we are going to be doing some testing on the plaques we made. Learning about the European Union for three hours in a row and right after lunch is so long and so boring. It is also hard to stay awake because you have just eaten too. We as a class struggle through it. Some of my Spanish speaking friends are in that class as well as a few Americans so that's good.

A few things I noticed in my classes. All the French students take out their pencil pouches, notebooks with a thousand lines, literally, and then pay full attention for the entire class. Also, classes are an hour and a half at the minimum. I thought 50 min was a long time, boy was I wrong. Stephan and I have come to the conclusion that we are going to have awesome attention spans in class when we get back. Enough about me, back to the students. They all take out their red, blue, and black pens, and a pencil, oh and a ruler. Then they always write in pen and always in cursive, even for engineering classes. If we do an example with a figure, they draw the figure in pencil.  That is the only time they ever use pencil. They use their ruler to make sure the 3-d square or whatever they are drawing is exact. Come on people. They use their ruler to underline the title of their page too. The different colored pens are used for making their notes neat and organized so they can distinguish between this or that. I still haven't figured out their decoding yet, but I am working on it. By the way, no one even looks at their phone during class either. This is not just one or two kids, this is everyone. It is so bizarre. The French are way more strict about note taking than we are.

Just a few observations that I have made since being in class. Also, I can tell which students are French by their backpack too. I would say 2/3rd of the French students at UTC have eastpack backpacks. It is the oddest thing I have ever seen. I guess it would be like walking around campus and seeing NorthFace everywhere, but worse!

Did you say America?

Oui, c'est vrai!

Last Thursday I left Compiègne at 830 in the morning to take a a bus to take a train to take the metro to take a plane to take another plane to get in a car to finally make it to Amelia Island, FL for my cousin Caroline's wedding. By far, one of the longest days of my life. And then, after travelling for 16+ hours, are my parents there to pick me up from the airport? No! I was expecting this huge welcome home committee and what did I get, nothing. Oh well, I got to spend a little more time in Jacksonville airport than I planned on. 

Part I

Let's start with the people I met on my travels.

Michelle: I first met her trying to get out of the metro terminal and into the airport. Apparently I had the wrong metro ticket (as did she) although this nice couple let us sneak in with them! I formally met her while we were waiting in line for our tickets at the United Airlines counter. I was very exciting to finally be talking to an American and where we could be loud and excited about everything. The French are not much for showing emotion. So we were telling each other our life stories of course and turns out she lived in China for a number of years because her dad was an ambassador there. Now, she lives in Salt Lake City, UT. Boring according to her. Last year she spent the semester in Paris studying. What exactly, I don't remember, but she came back to visit her friend for two weeks. Anyways the ticket guy thought we were together because we were talking like longtime friends. We discussed everything from the differences in France and the US to how I have friends studying in China right now to how somehow our lives connected. We were on the same flight to Dulles and she sat in the row behind me.

This brings me to the next person I met:

Hubert: He was sitting in the seat behind me and I overheard him talking about how he had studied civil engineering. I immediately was interested and decided to turn around and through the seat ask where he studied. An hour or so later (the flight was 8 hours so I had time), I found out that he was born in France and studied at the oldest engineering school in Paris, and then he went to Stanford and studied there. After that he did work in both countries and was also a professor. He is now retired and lives in California, but he still does some research at a local university. Every year he goes over to France to visit a former student of his and they collaborate on their research. It was so cool to hear all the stuff that this guy has done. He has also traveled everywhere. Like everywhere. His favorite place was the Canary Islands. Mom, he reminded me of Ed that we met on the cruise. As we were talking apparently everyone was listening to our conversation, but I didn't notice nor did I really care. I only know this because the next person I encountered was on the flight to Dulles with me.

Some lady from Jacksonville: As I was going through customs, a lady was saying how her flight was at 4:50 and she was hoping to make it. I thought to myself, hmm, my flight is at that time too. Let me ask her if she is going to Jacksonville. She was. After going through customs, I kind of lost her, but saw starbucks and immediately went to get a chai (it was delicious) and then get my dishy gossip fix from People magazine! When I made it to my terminal, she wasn't there, but I wasn't overly concerned. I was enjoying chai and gossip! Next thing I know I hear someone calling Nicole and I look over and its the lady. I looked a little confused because I had never told her my name and she must have sensed that because she then goes, well I know that's your name because I heard you on the plane haha. Anyways, she asked me to watch her bags while she ran to the bathroom and to starbucks. She was even going to get me something, but I already had one. She was really nice and we talked for a bit before we boarded the plane. She was in Paris for a few days and was antique shop hopping. I am not entirely sure what she was looking for, but she didn't find it. Once we boarded the plane, she wasn't sitting near me so I of course met someone new.

Nancy Lemoux (no idea how to spell it): For all of you out there who know Nancy Lemoux, a lifelong friend of my grandparents from NH (Oh yeah, now I know who she is talking about), this woman looked just like her. I even did a double take. Turns out she was visiting her daughter who was going over to Sweden to do cancer research. She was on her way back to St. Augustine. He other daughter just moved to Tampa and she just got back from visiting her before she went to DC. 

Crazy all the people you can meet in a matter of 16 hours. All you have to do is smile and then just start talking. For some this may surprise you, well for my mom it did, but I am not as sheltered as you all think I am. I can talk to total strangers! Angela - step one in going to Pawtucket without being scared - check

Part II

Sorry this one is so long. I just have so much to share.

The wedding was absolutely beautiful. My cousin Caroline looked gorgeous and he dress looked stunning on her. Her now husband, Gregg, is a super nice guy and a great addition to the Bonvouloir family. Caroline had asked me to do a reading at the wedding, and I am not going to brag or anything, but I nailed it! It was so nice that she included me in the wedding. I felt so honored. PS - I am the favorite cousin! Sorry to all you guys, you are tied for second.

We were brought to the reception on a trolley. It was pretty fantastic. My dad and I waved and said hi to everyone we passed. We were just having a good time. The reception was held at a place on the marsh. It was beautiful. It had a huge porch that overlooked the marsh and the sunset was amazing. I am pretty sure one of the most vibrant sunsets I have ever seen. Caroline did all the decorations herself and lets just say she should go into wedding planning. Alan too! You guys did a fantastic job getting everything ready. It was by far the smoothest wedding ever. 

So many fun memories from the wedding, I can't begin to share them all. It was a lovely wedding, with the best people, and the dancing and drinking were only pluses. Not to mention, I got to dance with my Pepere. Let's just say, I think I need some more ballroom dancing practice.

After four days of pure enjoyment, I had to say good bye to "home" and head back to France. It was only a car, plane, another plane, metro, train, and bus ride away until I was back in Compiègne.

Congratulations to Gregg and Caroline Willett!! Thanks for having such a great wedding for all of us to share with you. Love you guys (:

Mein Name ist Nicole!

I had my fourth first day of school since being here yesterday. This marked the official beginning of school though. All the others were just false alarms. France wants to make sure you are really ready before you have your first official day.

So I got up this morning (a good start to anyone’s day) and got some breakfast. While I was eating, I decided to check my email and got the best email ever, an email from China nonetheless. Elena wrote to me saying that she may be coming to visit – woohoo. Not gonna lie, almost cried! After that, I was pretty high on life so I finished getting ready, grabbed my ipod and headed for class. I ended up walking with Jiri, a guy from Czech who was also on his way to class.

My first class in a French University would of course be German haha. Jiri was also in my class as well as another friend, Jungho, from the US. It was really nice to have class with some kids I knew. Although Ale and I wanted to take German together, it didn't work out for us. Anyways, my teacher is super nice and so adorable. Ich lerne - mein name ist Nicole. Ich komme aus Amerika. Mein familie wohnt in Rhode Island. Ich studiere in Compiegne an der UTC. Learning another language in another language is a tad difficult. You have to know what they are talking about in French to know what they are teaching you in German. I think it is going to help both my French and my German and I am glad to be taking the class.

After German, I went to composite materials - fun, right? I met Stephan, a kid from URI, and we sat in the back together. I sat down, but wanted to change my position, so I went to go sit on my knees when I heard something tear; next thing I know, I have a nice giant whole in my knee. Yup, I ripped my pants. (Spongebob anyone?) I guess I am too old to sit on my knees in class! It was very hard to understand the professor nevermind try and comprehend the material. Luckily, Stephan is in my class and knows what is going on. We are also in the same lab.

Later in the afternoon, I had another class on composite materials, but this one was more of a practical class. For URI kids, it was like a recitation. There was a different teacher that taught this class and he was much easier to understand. It was also a smaller class and I enjoyed it much better. Less overwhelming. Once class ended at 6pm (way too late for me), I headed to Pic'asso, the student bar on campus, with Ale and Barbara, my roommate. We had a few beers before Ale and I went to our friend David's for dinner. All of my Spanish speaking friends were there and of course mate!

Overall, it was a great first day of school in France!

France - Tree Killers

France's structure of doing things is completely different than that of the US. First of all, they have no concept of time. I am currently in my second week of "orientation." It is just a cover up for saying, hey you aren't going to be doing anything for two weeks except waiting around not knowing what is going on, oh and paperwork. France also likes to waste paper. Erin, you would be very disappointed and need to show them how to use the double sided button on the copier. 


Signing up for classes:
You would think signing up for classes would be a generally easy concept. Nope, its not, its a long and tiring process. Let me fill you in on the steps I have taken thus far.
1. Find which classes you want to take in the course listing book
2. Look at the times in which the classes meet in a 10+ page packet (very confusing to read) to make sure there are no conflicts
3. Fill out a pink paper and have the mechanical engineering advisor sign off on it
4. Find a computer and request your classes
5. Wait for your name to be called and receive an orange paper which has the classes you got and the ones you didn't. (luckily, I got all of the classes that I wanted).
6. Stand/sit in line for 2 and a half hours to meet with another advisor to have them sign off on the orange paper that these are the right classes
7. Hand the orange paper to a lady who puts it into another pile
8.Wait until Friday to find out which sections you got into via email (this is the step I am currently in)


Are there any computers involved in this process, nope, but it would make it more convenient. Also, we started this process last Tuesday or Wednesday. It should not take nearly two weeks to get your classes approved. Who knows if we even get to pick what times we want the classes or if they do that for us. I have never missed e-campus so much before.


Social Security:
One would think that having social security in their home country was enough. Well for France, it is not. They want you to have their French social security on top of your social security from home. It's not like it costs 203 euros or anything. On top of that, you then need to apply for your social security number which is another 27 euros. So I have spent (possibly my parents) 230 euros on something that I already have, just awesome. When do you get this number and the card that says you have this social security and everything - oh not for two to three months.


In general:
1.Everyone wants a copy of this paper or a copy of that paper, and are they nice enough to make the copy for you, no. You have to go and make the copies yourself and spend even more money! 
2.On top of that, everything in France is a slow process. It takes forever for anything to get done. You would think that they are technically advanced, but they are not. No one uses a computer to get anything done. It is very strange. I have noticed that France does not have a lot of trees and I am beginning to see why.
3. People at the UTC do not talk to each other. I am pretty convinced of it. One lady did not know that La Mare Gaudry was a university residence. It has been a university residence for at least four years, I am certain. Mind you, UTC consists of two buildings connected by a skybridge. Another lady did not know what ALESC, where we pay rent to and is in charge of university housing, was. It is located down the hall from where her room was. People do not pay attention here. They are clueless. It would be like the IEP directors not knowing that Angela existed - crazy!


Before coming abroad, I would have said that URI was the most unorganized school, but I am certainly wrong. URI is milestones ahead of the UTC.

Sur le pont...

...d'Avignon Compiègne...

It's a new version of the song. Yesterday, Sept. 10, Compiègne had a huge festival for the opening of the new bridge. I kid you not, there was a full ceremony involving all of the important people of Compiègne followed with a very long set of speeches, music, just the right amount of campaigners, free food and drinks!, "jousting," fireworks, and a really weird play thing. All for a bridge. Oh and free glow sticks! 

not how I usually go water skiing, but hey it worked

Ale and I headed to the opening ceremony around 11 and met up with a few others after. Once the speeches started and never ended, we decided to go walk through the Saturday market instead. Let's face it, spending money is so much better than listening to some old guy talk about the history of the bridge. I only bought an ice cream though. I did find a super cute dress, that Ale really wanted me to buy, only so she could borrow it I think, and a pair of shoes. I resisted the temptations and decided not to get them. I figured spending 2.20 euros on ice cream was a good buy for the day. 

After our mini shopping spree and walking around the town, we headed back to the bridge to see what was going on. Interesting enough, I saw something that I have never seen before - jousting in the water with boats. 

After the "jousting" there was not too much going on, so a whole bunch of us went back to David's (a friend from Mexico) and hung out for awhile, until it got dark. We then headed back to the bridge for the fireworks and acrobatic presentation. Contrary to how the US does fireworks, all at one time, the French like to shoot of a few, do some sort of play/acrobatic presentation/tell a story, and then do a few more, go back to the play, more fireworks, and so on for about an hour and a half. Let me just say that the fireworks took up about 10 minutes of that. I was very disappointed and just wanted to see the fireworks. I did get a free glow stick out of it and the bridge looked really pretty all lit up.

I am just waiting for the festival for the new rond-point (rotary) that they just opened near school. Like France really needs another one. It is their favorite roadway structure. 

Home Away From Home

Orange!

That is the one word to describe my room. If you love the color orange, you will love my room because I have giant, bright orange walls! Stephan, another kid from URI, came last week and we made an IKEA run this week. He has a car here which is super convenient! Needless to say, the IKEA we went to was two floors and probably the biggest IKEA I will ever step foot in. It was awesome. Definitely could have gotten lost in it. Anyways, I bought a new comforter to dress my room up a bit. I also bought a few other useful things. Overall, the trip to IKEA was a success.

I have started to decorate my room although I did not bring many photos with me, so I am going to print some and decorate some more. For now, here is what my room looks like:

my bed of course accompanied by Little Blonde Puppy

my giant room

bathroom

just the daycare kids playing outside

the smallest kitchen ever

again

my desk with the only pictures I brought form home

a giant useless table

a huge yet semi useless closet