Study Abroad: France

ambialet and marseille

2008-03-25T14:46:00.000-07:00

Spring Break --Pictures are worth thousands of words

2008-03-11T09:43:00.001-07:00

Whats Cookin' With Gerald

2008-02-18T06:20:00.001-08:00

This week we got to experience french culture in a new way. Our professor Jerry planned for us to come over to his house and prepare a traditional french meal. We prepared a four course meal for everyone complete with: a tart-like appetizer containing tomatoes w/ sauce and herbs, salad topped with goat cheese, rabbit marinated in a dijon mustard, mousee aux chocolate for dessert. There were 7 of us working in the kitchen at the same time. We were all given instructions on the board before starting. Along with the instructions we were given a french lesson based around food. It was a very interesting way to learn more about the language and culture too. After getting our assignments we broke into groups to make a different part of the meal. Four of us made the dessert, 2 made the appetizers, and 1 was a recorder to write down all the instructions and other random facts. Along with getting a lesson in cooking we also learned how to distinguish good wine. The french typically serve wine with at least two courses throughout their meal. We had a very nice rose wine with our appetizers and then a red wine with our meal. Can't ask for much more than a traditional french meal and wine tasting for class. Our meal was a complete success and everything tasted amazing.

2008-02-08T04:11:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we had 3 days off and decided to travel. We put a lot of planning into our trip and decided to visit london. Transportation alone was expensive and everything there was more than double the american dollar because of the currency. We tried to beat the system by packing our own food in our carry on bags. We each took with us two bagettes and about ten oranges. We were going to try to make that our meals and be as frugal as possible. However we ended up giving in on multiple occassions. London was expensive but it was a very fun trip. When we landed on friday mornign the sun was shining and it wasnt too cold. We got off the plane and went through customs and we kept using french words, completely forgeting we could speak english. After finding our way through the airport we got on the train and headed for our hostel. We had so many problems finding our hostel after getting out of the train station and everyone we asked kept telling us different directions. We realized we followed the wrong road and at some point it had changed to a different one. Our hostel was pretty nice it was an old courthouse that was renovated and made into a hostel. We met some interesting people while we were waiting for our room to be ready. We met some high school kids from spain who were learning english and spoke it very well. We waited with them for about an hour until our room was ready. After we got settled in we decided it was time to explore so we headed towards the area of the london bridge. We got there on the underground with no problems. We didnt have to walk very far to find the bridge and after taking pictures from a distance. After getting shots from far away we walked along the river and got our close up shots and walked across the bridge. Later that night we met up with Karen's brother who had been living in london for the past month. We also met up with him the next day and he was able to show us all the major sites. We covered so much ground on saturday and saw everything i wanted to see. The last day we went and saw the palace and the changing of the guards. Finally, we finished off our trip looking in all the tourist shops for souvenirs for everyone. I loved my trip to london, tried not to break the bank there but it was all well worth it.

Notre Dame, Latin Quarter, shopping

2008-01-29T14:21:00.000-08:00

Well on sunday we woke up at about 9 AM so we could take the metro into Notre Dame for mass. I was excited to go to mass because it was supposed to be an international mass. The whole mass was in french though, except for one reading that was in english. Even though i didnt understand everything, it was still an amazing experience. I was in awe the whole time. After mass we just took in the sites around the area. We visited the Latin Quarter which is where many young people hang out. We also found a small little cafe about a block away from the cathedral and sat down for lunch. Lunch was good and the prices were reasonable. We sat there for over an hour eating, talking, and playing cards. After lunch we kept exploring and checking out the souvenir shops. After we were done there we headed over to the eiffel tower because we wanted to go to the very top right at sunset. We got there got in line, but the one sign said that the top floor was closed. We were confused, got out of line, then asked someone about it. We were told it was closed for like a half hour because the top was full, and that it wasn't closed for the rest of the night. At that point, we just decided to give up and head back home. Then on monday we had art history in the morning and for about an hour in the afternoon. After class me, bridget and claire went to rue de rivoli in search of converse shoes. We got on the metro and had to switch trains for some unknown reason. we finally got off at our stop and our tickets wouldnt let us through the turnstyle. They must have timed out during our train ride and we were literally stuck in the metro with no way out. People were terrible at giving directions and we couldnt find where to buy new tickets. It turned out the place we needed to buy the tickets was on the other side of the turnstyle. We had to get security to let us through. By the time we got to the shops, they were all closed. I was frustrated and the train back seemed to take forever. It was a very exciting and new adventure. Then today we had art history in the morning, then economics in the afternoon. After economics our teacher took us to the champs ellyses which is a famous street with all the designer shops. At the end of this street is the famous arc de triumoph. The first thing we saw when we walked up the the steps out of the metro was the arc and i was just amazed. It is so awesome and the images look as if they are just painted on. These past few days have been very busy, but a lot of fun.

New pics

2008-01-26T07:14:00.001-08:00

Disco and new pics

2008-01-26T04:55:00.000-08:00

Last night was our first successful night out on the town in Paris. Last weekend weekend we tried so hard to make it to a disco, but failed miserably. I was so frustrated and tired by the time we got home, all i wanted to do was go to sleep. This friday night was a complete success. We planned our night much better this time and actually had an address to help find the disco. It was very easy to find and it was a lot of fun. I really felt like a young frenchman last night. We went out at 12:00 and didnt get back to the house until 6:00 in the morning. I was so tired tonight, but i had alot of fun and i liked seeing how the french act in the social scene. The night was such a success and we didnt have any drama this weekend. Our day was also busy, and i think thats why i was so tired. We had art class in the morning, and we discussed the Greek and Roman Periods. Then, in the afternoon we went to the louvre museum to go through the corresponding exhibits. The Greek and Roman period was interesting to see the sculptures. It was amazing to see how much detail went into these sculptures. They're so smooth and well developed. I can't believe they could have done these sculptures thousands of years ago with no modern tools. We didnt get to see all of the sculptures, but we did get to see the italian paintings. In this section of the museum, we got to see the Mona Lisa. It wasnt as amazing as people build it up to be. It's very small and you cant get close to it because theres a rope and a big glass case. The other italian paintings were very religious and featured many saints. My favorite part of the museum today was the ceilings in the greek and roman section. They were huge elaborate murals with gold decorative trim that depicted scenes of the the greek gods. Today was a very long and eventful day but it was so much fun.

First day January 11

2008-01-18T03:04:00.000-08:00

Today, was a very big day after months of waiting it was finally time to depart. I flew out of State College, PA airport at 4:30 in the afternoon. I was meeting up with the rest of the group in Philadelphia. It was so hard to say goodbye to everyone, but i knew that everyone was excited for me to have this opportunity, as was i. I had a short lay over in Philly and then we all met up and got on our plane heading for Paris. The flight wasn't bad i got a few hours of sleep, which helped with the time change. We got there with no problems and everyone got their luggage. I was a little nervous that they lost mine because it too forever for it to come off the plane. After getting our luggage we found our way through the airport and met up with the director and one of our professors. We split up into 2 cars and 2 other girls took a taxi to get to our house which was on the other side of the city. We got to drive past a lot of major monuments on our way. Our trip took us about 45 minutes to an hour to get to our house. The house we are staying is very nice its old, but many renovations have been made to it to make it more modern. Every room in the house is unique. I have a room to myself because i am the only guy on this trip. Each room has its own sink and fireplace. We were all ready for a nap after we picked our rooms and got settled, but our director had other ideas. he said we should stay up until at least 8 because if we didn't, then we would be up really late the next night. So after getting settled we went for a walk before dinner. We went into the town of Sceaux where there's a park and in the park is a building called chateau de Sceaux. We walked all around the park before eventually being locked in. there are fences all around the park and it closed at 5:00 PM. we tried various gates to find a way out but we were running out of luck. We spotted someone in the distance and the director ran ahead to talk to them, but they disappeared. Luckily, a few of the girls ran up a side path to check for away out and found a lady that had a swipe key to let us out of the park. After getting out we walked back to the house which was about 2 miles away. We ended up walking about 5 miles today. After our walk we were all exhausted and we snacked on some bread and cheese, before going to bed for the night.

Pictures from the first day

First view of the eiffel tower in the distance during our drive to our house

La maison

My room

park de sceaux that we got locked in at 5 o'clock in the afternoon

Chateau de Sceaux

View of the sky leaving the park