Oplah ! (l'expression preférée des Français)

After-school snack of flan and Orangina (ratatouille was for lunch!)

Making crepes

Cake contest at Arnauld's school's kermesse

The topic of discussion during dinner tonight was why the French are better than the English.

Faites la fête

France is the place to be during the summer.

Friday was La Fête de la Musique, a nation-wide free music festival of all genres on the first day of summer.  Started by the French minister of culture in 1982, it has since spread to over 100 countries.  The entire city of Saumur was out in the streets; down every alley some type of musician could be found and in every plaza a free concert.  We ate dinner and crepes in a narrow cobblestone street shared with a French rock concert, and then we meandered around the city which had transformed itself into urban fairgrounds until dawn.

Salsa in the streets of Saumur

The view from the appartement the night of the fête

Sunday was La Fête du Velo when the city was closed to all vehicles besides bicycles.  For two days the Loire was lined by bicyclists, and a vintage fair, featuring antique bicycles, took place.

A bicycle statue for the fête

My friends at the antique bike fair

The Tour de France begins the 29th!  July 11 (for the end of Stage 12 and the beginning of Stage 13) it will be in Tours, a city nearby Saumur that I'm visiting in a few weeks.

Les soldes began today!!! Les soldes is a month-long season of extreme sales mandated by the French government on ALL merchandise.  Stores are not allowed to have any other sales all year long except during this period mid-summer and also mid-winter (although they still have some special offers).  All the women in Saumur were out shopping this afternoon.  It is only the first week and the discounts range from 20% off to often 50% off, and the deals get progressively better throughout the season.  Even some of the guys in our group went shopping aux soldes today.

Clafoutis à la myrtille

Clafoutis fait par moi

Mélangez bien :

150g de farine

100g de sucre

1 sachet de sucre vanillé

3 œufs

une pincée de sal

un peu de rhum

Ajoutez de lait jusqu'à avoir une pâte lisse.

Tapissez le fond du moule (beurré et froid) de fruits (myrtilles, cerises, mûres, ou frambroises, etc).  Versez la pâte sur les fruits.

Cuisez au four à 180 C jusqu'à sentir l'odeur (~25 minutes).

Les châteaux du Val de Loire

Le château fort de Saumur

Le château fort de Saumur

La cathédrale de Saint Louis à Saumur 

La cathédrale de Saint Louis à Saumur 

Le château à Blois

La cathédrale à Blois

Le château Chambord (où vivait Louis XIV quand il était jeune)

Le château Chambord (pour la chasse)

L'escalier à double hélice désigné par daVinci 

Le château Chambord

Le château Chenonceau

Le château Chenonceau

Le château Chambord

Le château Chambord

Le château Chambord

Cacher l'anglais de la vidéo informative

Différences culturales

Gourmand, translating roughly to gluttonous or greedy around food, is the highest compliment in France.

There is no word directly meaning "cheap" in French; the closest is "not expensive" (pas cher).

Tonight is one of the little host siblings' birthday.  And the girl chose to have her birthday party at McDonald's.  Here MacDo serves croque-monsieurs and hamburgers with Camembert, and there are iPads at every table for enjoyment during dinner.

One of the few things I hate about living abroad is differently sized paper.  The standard paper in Europe and Asia is just a little bit longer and impossible to fit in American binders and folders.  No matter what country, I will always have a preference for the 8.5 by 11.  Plus the French use a keyboard that does not have QWERTYUIOP, and you have to hold shift to get the period!

Bienvenue à la France

     I arrived the day before yesterday in Saumur, France, a small city where I'll spend seven weeks studying French through immersion and daily language classes with IU Honors (Indiana University).  My host family consists of my mother, Véronique, who works as an EMT, my 11-year-old brother, Arnaud, and their dog, Gigy.  They live in an apartment on the third floor (no elevator) near the center of the city, and my room has a balcony overlooking the river.  They are very friendly and chatty which is a plus for my French, although usually I just smile whenever my host brother talks --we can go an entire five minutes without me understanding any of it or him noticing.  I think Gigy understands better than I.  He really likes video games and, for some reason, really likes me to watch him play video games too (I've fallen asleep to him nonstop narrating his game for me).

Arnaud

     As my interaction with French stereotypes go so far, I have a balcony overlooking the Loire (almost as romantic as the Seine) within eyeshot of a castle.  The streets are all narrow and lined with ancient buildings (like the saying "100 years is a lot in America, yet 100 miles is a lot in Europe"), but Saumur is like Carmel, Indiana in that there are lots and lots of roundabouts!  I have realized that France is mainly countryside.  Most of the other Americans' host families live in surrounding villages.  So far I have only seen Arnaud wear stripped shirts (a total of five).  As well, he and all other French boys have a strange fondness for capris.  French men seem to have more of a fondness for rather short shorts.  Anywhere soft drinks are sold, wine by the glass is also available.  I have been offered a baguette with every meal. (By the way, baguette also means wand in French --learned this from watching Harry Potter-- and Hogwarts is Pudlard).  On Saturday we watched Arnaud play in a handball tournament, a sport I had never before encountered in the United States, but it is almost as intense to the French as ping pong is to the Chinese.  On Sunday we visited the military base nearby Saumur where we played paintball!  Those French guys didn't know what hit them.

The view from my balcony