Oxford (the other one).

Well, it's been awhile, at the very least a week. What can I say, I've been busy. I also haven't had internet access on mon ordinateur for the past few days, so that didn't help.

I am currently sitting in a pub/hostel, drinking the best pint of Guinness I've ever had. It's like we were made for each other. I could really go on about this beer, which is kind of surprising given my usual disdain for Guinness. But I'm gonna stop and talk about the pizza (which just arrived). It's huge. It's so big. I'm hungry, but I don't know how I'm gonna finish it. brb.

Nom. Vive le stéréotype. This pizza is giving Mello Mushroom a run for it's money. I chose this hostel almost at random, too. It's a good deal (internet, breakfast, locker). I got here in London via bus from Oxford. That's where I spent the majority of my day. Woke up before dawn was even in the works to take a 5am train to Oxford. Got there, stowed my bag at a hostel, and hit the streets. It was a pretty dreary day. Rain, clouds, wind. Still, it was a lot of fun.

I took a walking tour at around 10:45. I am certain that I was the youngest one in the group. It's was really touristy, and I wasn't crazy about everything we visited, but it was still good. I learned a lot I wouldn't have known otherwise. I'll make sure to post some pics to facebook (with labels) to show you firsthand. NB: for all you stalkers (I'm talking to you North Korea), you'll have to friend me see the photos (is ther FB in NK?). Oh well.

Going to Oxford was a bit like a pilgrimage for me. And I'm not just talking about Tolkien (or Lewis). Oxford represents the foundation of education in the English-speaking world. It's kind of a big deal. Lots of writers, scientists, politicians, and actors attended colleges in Oxford. That part was a bit weird: Oxford University is comprised of 30 odd independent colleges who are often in competition with each others for the best students. Not really something you would intentionally plan, given the option.

Just to list a few of the places I visited (you can wiki them if you want a lot of info):

Jesus college (on the tour): dining hall was pretty neat (see pictures)
Exeter college: where Tolkien went to school
Merton college: where he taught
Christ College: big literary history and it's the biggest or oldest or something
Wolvercote Cemetery: Tolkien and Edith's graves
The Eagle and Child: local watering hole frequented by the Inklings (I got some terrific beef and ale pie)
The Bodleian library: old books. reaaally old. I think I'd give five years of my life to be let alone in there. interesting pre-reformation architecture and motifs, too.

That's all I got for now. I might post again after I turn some homework in next week. I haven't forgotten Wales. On the contrary: le français est bien ma langue de metiers, mais le gallois est celle de l'amour.

Friends.

Another week has passed. This next one ought to be interesting.

I'm loth to start with another post about going out to a bar. It's not the only thing I do. However, it makes for a better story. Breakfast, library, class, lunch, library, home, study, dinner, sleep - that's pretty dull. So I'll skip it and go straight to Tuesday night.

Oh, wait, other things happened Tuesday. Like the arrival of Robert and Jaime. I didn't have classes on Tuesday, so I ran a few errands that morning (post office, CAF) and then hung around on campus to see when Robert would turn up. We'd been communicating online. I eventually met up with him, his parents, and his host dad. I showed them around campus a bit (not that big) and then, since Robert wanted to try a kebab, we went to rue Bressigny for déjeuner. That was hoot. Those shops are mainly student hangouts around midday. We were pretty out of place. After lunch, they took to take a look at the château.

Jaime's train came in around 3h45. I met her there, waited a bit for her host family, and when no one showed up, we headed for the school. After a short meeting with the logement office, she got a taxi to her home. Turns out, in addition to a good bit of miscommunication, her host mother had fallen ill. Jaime mentioned three pages of rules. I lucked out there.

I think everyone's slowly settling in now. We'll see.

Tuesday night was Mardi Café. It's a chance for foreign students and frenchies to meet up, hang out, talk, exchange culture, etc. It's was a fun night, but it started slooooow. I had forgotten one important fact: I'm in France, i.e., there are French people, i.e., nothing starts on time. I showed up at the appointed hour, on the dot, only to wait 45 minutes for the person I recognized to walk through the door. Meh.

I ordered a beer and sat a table. It was a Kilkenny, a reddish ale brewed in Ireland. I was, after all, in the James Joyce. Angers has tons of Irish pubs. I don't really understand why. Anyway, after 20 minutes passed, a girl plopped down in the seat in front of me. She introduced herself as Roxanne. I thought of Cyrano de Bergerac. She must have figured out that I was a foreigner (I have no idea how; I look like anybody else in the street). We started talking, and when she learned I was an American (and not Irish), she got really excited. She was even more excited when I told her I was from Mississippi. "No," I tried to explain in French, "you don't understand. I'm from Mississippi." "Mais c'est super," she responded. Poor thing. I hope she doesn't first set out for MS if she ever makes it to the US. She's gonna be pretty surprised. She invited her collocotaire over, and we talked in English for a bit. Overall a nice gesture. I haven't really found the French very chaleureux. It's nice to break that trend.

My fellow erasmus students finally made it, followed by a few more I hadn't met yet, from the UK and Ireland. One mistook me for a Scotsman. We were joined by a handful of French people, a couple of guys that I spoke to a for a good while. I had one more beer: a Chimay Bleu, my first trappist ale. I'm sure I'll post more about those later, after my visit to Belgium. Needless to say, it was very good. Overall, a nice evening. Although it was much to long. I didn't make it back home until one-ish, with the majority of my classes the next day. Ergh.

Not much to say of Wednesday and Thursday. Early Thursday evening I went out with Robert and Jaime. We had a drink, chatted about our doings and going-to-dos. A nice catch-up. That evening I had dinner with mom. Beet/walnut salad, pasta with a bit of olive oil, and rabbit. Very good. Dessert was compôte de pomme with some sort of liquid cheese mixed together. It was good.

Friday was fun. I had lunch with a friend of mine from school, Alexandra. We have a lit class together. She's been here since the fall, so she knows Angers pretty good. I mentioned that I was missing my Indian food joint back home, and she agreed enthusiastically. We decided to try out a restaurant off one of the boulevards in town. It was pretty good. I had some sort of fried potato thing as entrée, pork curry (!) for plat principal, a little pâtisserie for dessert. Overall, very good. It was a good time to get to know Alexandra a little bit better, too. Afterward, we went to la bibliothèque anglophone, a used book sell (don't worry, I didn't buy anything), and ended up back at the library on campus.

I forgot to mention that between bibliothèques, we stumbled upon a cathedral in town, Notre Dame (not the Notre Dame). It was really cool. I haven't been in any of the cathedrals yet. I had kind of been saving them. But we found this one by accident and decided to go in. The church had been around for quite some time, but had been rebuilt in the 17th century. My host-parents scoffed a bit when I told them. They said it was hardly worth mentioning, since it was so young. Perspective. I didn't have my camera, otherwise I would have take a few pictures.

That evening I went out with Robert to get a bite to eat. We opted on a Mexican restaurant across from a café I had been to. We were seated, but Robert noticed some other CIDEF students at a nearby table. From KU, I think. We joined them, much to the consternation of the waiter. We were served some dorito-like chips and a very sweet salsa. No bueno, even by my standards (which can be pretty low). The meal was much better. It actually had some spice. While it wouldn't have fooled anyone from Texas (like one guy that whined a lot at the table), it would've been fine for anyone else. Afterward, we went to sit between the cathedral and the Maine to share a couple bottles of wine. We later headed for rue Bressigny (Soft); at this point, I bade everyone a good night and headed home. Classes have already started for me, and I'd had enough as it was. See? Limits.

Speaking of classes, I don't have any week after next. That means, starting this Thursday afternoon, I'm free for about ten days. I'm going to the UK via a ferry from St. Malo to Portsmouth. I hope to take a train to Carmarthen to visit fy ffrind Aron, maybe see the renowned JR (if I can catch him), and just perhaps make it to Cambridge to certain rajun cajun. I don't like her that much, but we'll see.

That was a test to see if she reads this blog.

I'd love to visit Oxford, too. If I can afford it and there's time. There's a certain writer I'm rather fond of that spent several years teaching there.

Just finished a night of galettes and crêpes. Very good via the eldest daughter of my family.

Bonne nuit tout le monde. I'll update again before I leave for le Royaume Uni.

Books and Beer

Yesterday afternoon, after visiting the supermarché and picking up some foods, I decided to go looking for books. I didn't really need any for class, but it never hurts to look. This foray turned out to successful. My first and only stop was a bouquiniste on rue Bressigny, not far from UCO.



The shop isn't big. I'd put it in dimensions approximating 20x12. Pretty tiny, by American standards. The room was stacked from floor to ceiling with books, most of them three or four deep. Merveilleux. I had originally gone seeking dictionaries. There's a couple people back home who I know would appreciate one. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything that popped out at me. That might be because I saw this first.

There's nothing spectacular about the contents in and of themselves. It's more the presentation. It covers the high points of medieval French literature. The pictures, most of them reproductions of illustrations from manuscripts, are fantastic. Inspired by this find, I started poking around for more books à propos to this'un. I found many more, some of which (the one below especially) will prove indispensible for my ancien français class. Being the only customer, the vendeuse noticed my interest and began retrieving several other books that she thought might interest me. They did. A short while later, someone came in selling books. I grabbed this from their stack. 5 euros.

Nothing flashy. It's basically taking a couple different excerpts (here from Le charroi de Nîmes and from Le Conte du Graal) and breaking them down into each individual word, its context, etymology, derivations, declination, and variations in spelling. Wow. So this book basically does what all of my professors have done when I've studied ancien français. Or words, really. I'm currently looking for similar works. Here's another fun one:

I've wanted this for awhile. I've been tired of reading it online. Only the modern translation though. Sad.

The following evening was spent out on the town with friends. French ones, mind you. We went to a pub in the northern part of the city center. Le Welsh. I kid you not. The sign out front displayed a red dragon, sitting in a drunken stupor. I'll have to get a picture of it. Fun place. Small, warm. It was actually my second time there, it being one of my first stops after figuring out how to get around Angers' center. The beer list there is incredible. They have a menu full of them. Most of them are in bottles, but that's pretty normal for lots of beer styles that are bottle aged. It's not cheap, so there's not much chance of me getting plastered regularly. You know, like I do at home.

We had a good evening, me, my South African friend, and a couple of Frenchies. Apparently there's a large supply of board games. We wound up spending a good deal of time playing some sort of dominoes game. It was fun. The pub (because it's not really a bar) is very conducive to such interaction. No TVs. No slot machines. Lots of French, people from the neighborhood. Authentic in the sense that it's not for tourists or students. Not authentic in terms to living up to its name. Not one word of gallois. Pity. I'll have to teach them one or two. Cwrw!

The beer: Etienne ordered me the beer of the month (i.e., whatever wasn't popular last month). It was a Carolus Ambrio, and it was good. Sadly, I didn't take a picture of it. It was served in a 33cl goblet (a little less than 12 oz.) that had the brewery's name and logo. Presentation seems to be everything here in France. As far as drinks are concerned, each has it's own glass. The color, as you might have guessed from the name, was a nice dark amber. It was very light, not heavy at all. But the flavor was pretty powerful, although not hoppy. I miss my IPAs. There were other herbs in there too. Dunno what. The brewery, Het Anker, is just north of Brussels. From what I gathered online in perusing their site, the base recipe for this beer dates from the 15th century. History in a glass.

The picture below is me and a Murphy's Stout. A little bit better than Guinness.



See the twinkle in my eye? There you have it. I plan on spending my winter vacances in Belgium. For the, uh, museums.

Cheers.