I didn't get to update before I left. My apologies. It was kind of crazy trying to get everything together.
This past Sunday I finally visited le château here in Angers. I went with Robert, Jaime, and Theodra, another américaine studying here. Those of you on facebook will have already had the opportunity to see a few. For those of you who haven't, here's a few:
I won't go into great detail about the castle. For those of you who are actually interested, you can probably find a lot of info online. I will, however, share a little about the tentures de l'apocalyspe, since I wasn't able to get any good photos of them. This series of tapestries was commissioned in the 13th century (I think). The relate the story of the book of Revelations, in keeping with all of the symbology. The tapestries start out with Saint John, sitting and writing. St John appears in almost every scene, book in hand, sometimes eating it, recording everything he sees. The seven churches, the horsemen, the seals, vials, bowls, beasts, whore, all of it. There are some scenes missing, due to what I suppose to be the deterioration of the fabric. All in all, it's quite a site to see. They're huge, and at the same time, a lot of the work is very detailed.
Monday through Wednesday was spent trying to get my schoolwork out of the way. I also submitted my class schedule. It's do or die now. I opted to leave la littérature comparée by the wayside. I'm replacing it with a class on the Renaissance and another ancien français class. Hopefully it'll work out. Time will tell.
I got my first chapter analysis back from my Montaigne class. Lots of red. All the same, the prof said I had understood fairly well. But I made a lot of grammaire mistakes. He was kind enough to point them out. I submitted another one this week. And I've got a commentaire composé due the week I get back from the UK. Speaking off...
I left yesterday at around 4pm. I had wanted to leave earlier, but I had been running late. Upon arriving at the gare, I discovered that I would have to wait another hour and a half. Tant pis. I got a new pair of headphones (lost the others), so I caught up on a few podcasts. I took a train from Angers to Le Mans to Rennes to St Malo. St Malo is a seaside city in northeastern Bretagne. Nice place.
It was already dark when I arrived (a little after 7pm). I got a map and proceeded to make my way to the house where I'd be spending the night. I had sent a message via couchsurfing to a number of people in St Malo asking to stay the night with them. One guy replied the day before I left. It was his house I was making for. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to call him ahead of time, so I didn't really know if he would be there or not. I called him from a payphone when I thought I was near his place. Since he hadn't heard from me, he assumed that I hadn't come. All the same, he came with several of his friends to give me a lift to where he'd be staying. Turns out he wasn't in St Malo that night, but in another city nearby.
We arrived at the house in Dinard (the other city) around 9:30. My host, Laurent, is a scientist who does work in the marais (salt water marsh, I think; Christine, if you're reading this, I thought of you). Laurent and his colleagues from work were actually having a party when I arrived. I don't know what the occasion was, but we had a good time. Fromage, saucisse, pizza, bière; there was also some spiced liquor that someone had made and aged for a couple of year. Very good. I was starving, and they were very welcoming. We only stayed up until around 2am, since everyone had to work the next day. Good times. A good first experience couchsurfing.
Laurent drove me to the gare maritime the next morning. It was very nice of him. Really, I couldn't think of a better host (his first time too). I grabbed a ferry at 10am to Portsmouth. I'm actually on it right now, as I write. I think we're passing Jersey. It's been a beautiful day. You couldn't ask for a better. Light clouds, pretty sunny, not much wind. It's been a pleasant trip so far.
I'll probably post this when I get to Carmarthen (Wales) on Saturday. I'm planning on visiting Carmarthen, Bangor, Oxford, and maybe Cambridge and London. We'll see how it goes.
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