le centre

Here are a few photos of the place where I take classes: 

7 Rue de Cadeniers....


The narrow shaft to the right is the elevator. It's 1000s of years old and hilariously small.  

musée des beaux arts!

Went to the art museum here in Nantes. I was pretty impressed: Lots of Kandinskys, a few Picassos, and some cool modern artists who I'm unfamiliar with. 

 
Mrzyk & Moriceau installation

Finished off the day by eating this little jewel. I wish I could spend my whole life going to art museums and eating fine pastries! 

nantes

This city is just so pretty; I will miss Nantes. 

Even though it's the best sports city in the country, apparently, Pittsburgh unfortunately can't provide me with a big ol' castle in the middle of town.

Mont Saint Michel

We visited Mont Saint Michel last weekend. If you aren't already familiar, Mont Saint Michel is this crazy edifice in the middle of nowhere.  Above, you can see end endless field of sand that surrounds much of the religious complex.  However, as tranquil and surreal as the sand may look, be careful....
Because there's quicksand here! If you look at the second warning down, you'll see it: Sables Mouvants. I have always wondered where on earth one would find quicksand, and Mont Saint Michel was the last place that I expected to find the answer. But check out the graphic next to the warning: A hand reaching out of sea of sand - pretty hilarious, I think. 

Anyway, the inside was also nice, and fascinatingly old. I found the largest columns I have ever seen in my life...not that I'm a column aficionado. But seriously, they're huge. 

mes soeurs d'accueil

Yesterday my eldest host sister, Quiterie, left to spend 3 weeks in Italy. She was so helpful to me throughout my stay! I'm sad that I'll be in the US by the time she returns. My other host sister, Astrid, is also shown here. The youngest sister, Cecil, wasn't around for this photo, but she's so fun too.  They have been teaching me how to speak french and bake french pastries. I feel so lucky!

Jules Verne

On Friday, Nantes celebrated it's most famous alumnus, Jules Verne. Each year, a "giant man" parades down the street. It blinks, looks around, all of its joints bend. Water even dripped off of his diving suit. Accompanied by hundreds of onlookers and a live band, it was a pretty incredible (and totally unexpected) sight. 

As seen below, the joints of the giant were moved by men dressed as pirates. For each step that the giant took, the men would hold on to a rope and jump off of a platform. What an exhausting job!


Celeste Boursier-Mougenot, a French installation artist, had set up an interesting piece in the center of Nante's commerce district. A large black box contained an environment wherein birds landed on super-sensitive electric guitars. As a result, the birds were making music on the guitars, accompanied by their own chirping.

ma vie

Life is beautiful right now. I can't even take my morning cup of joe without finding myself within 100 yards of something historically rich. 

Ma chambre

Welcome to my room here in Nantes. It's incredibly spacious (larger than my room at home, or even my 2 person dorm at Pitt). Also, it's on the top floor of the 4 story house, so I have a great view that overlooks the ville. Life is good in the penthouse! The window above my desk is amazing; I do all of my homework by the natural light of the sun (which doesn't set here until after 10:30, miraculously!)

la tour bretagne

Welcome to Nantes. The photo below shows the "Tour Bretagne" - the tallest building in Nantes, by far -- maybe the only tall building in this city of half a million.  The fog/blue stick people are part of some installation art project in the center of the city.

la plage

The other IES students and I spent this weekend at la baule. The first day, it was our private beach!

Musée D'Orsay

Visited the impressive Musée D'Orsay while in Paris. I saw a lot of famous artworks that we covered in art history class, including the Degas below. I think I enjoyed it even more than the Louvre! 

Pere Lachaise

While in Paris, we visited Pere Lachaise cemetery, the resting place for Colette, Chopin, Jim Morrison, and Oscar Wilde, among many other celebz of yesteryear. The vastness of this cemetery is impossible to capture or describe.  118.6 acres of mausoleums...

Carpeted in kisses from lipsticked devotees, Oscar Wilde's grave was a semi-touching experience.

chocolat chaud

While in Paris, we sipped on Angelina's world famous hot chocolate. One of the girls who I was with saw Orlando Bloom in this restaurant when she was there last year. 

La (vrai!) Tour Eiffel

The Tour Eiffel has been photographed from every thinkable angle. Its image has been captured by some of the best artists to touch planet Earth. Still, there is something fun and special about taking my own little photos of this monster. I guess it's just a tourism requirement, and I'm too much of a tourist to resist. Either way, The Tour Eiffel:
The Eiffel Tower is much larger than I had expected. It's difficult/impossible to adequately describe the sensation that accompanies experience something that I had seen so much through reproductions --this realization has been a recurring theme of my trip thus far. I ascended the tower later that night, but my camera had run out of batteries. C'est la vie!

la joconde

People always comment on how the Mona Lisa is much smaller than one would expect. Since the world population's remarks led me to believe that M. Lees would be practically microscopic, I might be the first person to say this: 

I expected it to be much smaller. 

Thus, here is a photograph with people in order provide scale.

la tour eiffel

Yesterday, I realized that I saw Vegas's knockoff Eiffel Tower almost precisely 1 year before departing to check out the real deal. 

la naissance du blog

I'm not sure how regularly I will update this, but if I manage to do so occasionally, wouldn't it be a nice way to record and remember my experience while keeping those at home updated? 

Um, that's my goal. We'll see how this works out.