Running around in Rennes

As I sit at home, sick, dreading the Translation “devoirs sur table” (in class translation test) that I have this afternoon, dreaming of better times, I feel like I should write about my past two weekends, both of which were glorious. I’ll start with this past weekend with Carolyn, because it is a shorter story and does not include pictures.

I left you in suspense on Thursday as I got ready to head to the train station. After posting in my blog, I rounded up ALL of my dirty laundry, as well as a few other necessities, dropped my key off with Vaune, and went to the train station. Even with my giant suitcase I had very little trouble taking the Métro to Gare Montparnasse, where I arrived just in time to see which platform my train was on and roll on over there. I got on, a lovely man helped me with my bag, and I settled into my seat. I finished my book a half-hour into the ride, so then I had to spend the next hour and a half listening to the creepy man across from me whisper sweet nothings in bad English to his surprisingly pretty girlfriend. They were very weird and creepy. I was really glad when they got off at Laval.

When I arrived in Rennes, Carolyn met me at the train station. The Rennes public transportation system (which consists of one Metro line and many bus lines) was having some sort of Christmas pass thing going on, so I managed to get around pretty inexpensively for the weekend. We bought a couple of day passes and took the Metro to Carolyn’s dorm. I met her friends Tiffany, Brierley and Haley, all of whom were very pleasant. Carolyn was in the midst of making cookies in Haley’s toaster oven, so we finished that up and then went to Carolyn’s French class for foreign students, much like my grammar class at Reid Hall. It was fun, the teacher was pleasant, and I think I was sufficiently impressive so as to not make Carolyn look bad.

Friday we “slept in” which for Carolyn and me means we slept until nine. We lazed around and then went out to Indian food, which was delicious. After that we wandered around a cool crafts market. Then we went home and had naptime and went to see Il Etait Une Fois - more commonly known in the US as “Enchanted” - dubbed over in French. After that we kind of crashed again - we kept not eating being hungry for dinner and just kind of going to sleep.

Saturday we got up early and went to the open air market. It was a grey rainy day but the market was beautiful, with all the bright colors of the fruits and vegetables. We got galettes for breakfast - I got a double sausage cheese and onion galette, in which the cheese and onions are inside the galette and then the galette is wrapped around this delicious sweet sausage. It was amazing, if a little overwhelming.

When we got back, I did my laundry. I had brought all of my laundry with me because doing laundry at Carolyn’s dorm is cheaper and easier than hauling it to a laundromat down my street. While we did my laundry we lazed around and watched TV shows. Carolyn left to go do some grocery shopping. When she got back we were supposed to go to a music festival that was in Rennes that weekend, but we were too tired so we just chilled out some more. I know it sounds like we did a lot of just chilling out, but let me remind you that Carolyn had not been expecting a visitor, and I was very sick. So don’t judge!

Around seven we went to the grocery store one more time to pick some things up, and then headed to Carolyn’s friend Annie’s apartment. I already knew Annie because she (almost) stayed with me one night in Paris. Carolyn made lasagna from scratch while we sat around watching silly music videos. The lasagna was delicious, and at one point Carolyn and I got up and clogged. We were pretty silly, but it turns out we remember most of it - Carolyn better than I.

We went back and got ready for bed, and Brierley gave me some medicine for my stomach which helped it not hurt so much. Then it was bedtime.

Sunday was definitely a relax kind of day, because on Sundays in France there is nothing to do. Carolyn and I spent most of the day reacquainting ourselves with silly card games we haven’t played in years, most notably Spit, although we also tried Crazy Eights and Go Fish. For breakfast, Tiffany made pancakes, which were delicious. We watched a lot of Harry Potter, and I even popped some popping corn that Carolyn had found at a co-op in a pot and ate it with lots of melted butter and salt, and then in the evening Tiffany and Brierley made fajitas. Later, we watched Margaret Cho with Haley. All in all, a good time was had.

Monday morning Carolyn took me to Géant, which is a huge hypermarché and we found all sorts of fun things there. We also went to a crafts store and I bought some knitting supplies because I have been itching to just make something. Then we tried to go to this co-op so I could buy some popping corn for myself, but it was closed. We went back and got my stuff and said bye to everyone and then Carolyn took me to the train station. I forgot to punch my ticket so Carolyn had to run back and do it for me, but other than that there were no hitches. I knitted on the train, got back fine, and crashed. I spent the whole next day trying to find a doctor, but that’s another story for another time. As well as the story of Paige’s visit. There are now pictures, so I can post that soon!

Video of the Day - "Parle à ma main" by Fatal Bazooka feat. Yelle

I'll give you a hint - "Parle à ma main" means "talk to the hand." Watch it. It's hilarious.

J'ai douze ans

So part of my plan in life is to always strive to be more like I was when I was 12 or 13 - spontaneous, fun, not anxious all the time like I am now, oblivious to negative people, self-confident, thinking I can do anything. Part of what I miss is after school sometimes I would just be like, "Carolyn! Come over!" or "Sarah! I'm coming to your house and making popcorn!" Sarah would always say we were doing homework or that she was staying late at school to do work or practice violin when she would come to my house. We would call respective parents and tell them the plan, and someone would inevitably end up staying for dinner. And we walked everywhere.

This morning in Grammaire et Histoire de Langue, the teacher gave me a hard time for not typing an assignment that only I have. For one thing, I have very neat handwriting, and it's only one person. You can handle it. For another, it was just some exercises. Not an essay or anything. But she literally said that she physically could not correct it. What the hell. So I rolled my eyes and she yelled at me. I was suddenly reminded of Mr. Palladino/Mr. Wilkins/other mean teachers of LHS and Clarke Middle School lore. I did what I usually used to do in that situation (at the age of 12 or 13): First, I talked back to the teacher, saying that I had never ever turned in an assignment in France and that in the U.S. if you are doing numbered exercises it would be considered weird to type them up (which she did not believe). Second, I totally made a comeback by being the only person in that room full of French students confident enough in her abilities of the International Phonetic Alphabet to go up to the board and transcribe masculine and feminine forms of adjectives. I did pretty damn well and she was definitely surprised, and the French students started muttering. Finally, I said to myself, "Screw it, this teacher made me feel stupid for no reason and I am in a bad mood. I'm going to Rennes to see Carolyn this afternoon. I've had enough of mean Parisians." So after class I went and bought a train ticket to Rennes for this afternoon. I'm leaving in fifteen minutes. I guess this means it's time to call my Mom and tell her I am going to Carolyn's after school today and I will probably stay for dinner (and four nights). I am not, however, going to walk there.

(I would love to right about my great weekend, but I am waiting for Paige to upload the pictures. Soon!)