Sunday, February 14, 2010

France: January 12, 2002

Sorry I didn't write yesterday!! I went on a guided tour of the Notre Dame Cathedral of Amiens yesterday with the Tulsa students. It was colder inside the cathedral than outside! But, oh, it was breath-taking inside and out. I love how the tour guide explained that the pictures outside of the cathedral told stories from the Bible because when it was built during the Middle Ages people (most of them) couldn't read. So, the church decided to teach the people the Bible through these pictures. The outside (porch) used to be in color; it was painted. From time to time, usually during holidays, they light up the front of the cathedral in colors using a computer program. They know (from many years of analyzation) that there were certain colors used. Unfortunately, they didn't have John the Baptist's skull out while we were there. They say that's why this cathedral was built because a canon found the relics of John the Baptist's head! I did see the weeping angel in the cathedral...made famous by the soliders from America and all over who took pictures of it home because it reminded them of the times during the first World War when people didn't know when they would die or they could die at any moment. The angel has one hand on a skull and the other on an hourglass.

After the cathedral, I went to lunch with the Tulsa students at a Picardie Restaurant where I had le pate canard (duck patte), la ficelle picarde (the gastronomic specialty of Picardie) and la mousse du chocolat (chocolate mousse). I didn't like the duck patte. The ficelle picarde was alright; it was a type of cheese crepe filled with ham, cheese sauce and mushrooms. It was a bit bland, though. The chocolate mousse was exquisite!! After that I went to look at my potential apartment after I leave this temporary one. Although Therese told me it was close to where I live now, I had a hard time finding it. When I did find it I felt like hitting myself because it was so close! The girls I will most likely be living with are both French and speak little to no English. I'm taking a Spanish exchange student's place at the beginning of February named Caroline...very nice girl...she was the only one who has greeted me with kisses on the cheeks...the traditional French greeting...a little ironic that a Spanish exchange student was the one to do it. I thanked her for it. The French girls' names are Marie-Laure and Noemie. They're very nice. The room I'll be moving into is rather large, too!! After looking at the apartment, Marie-Laure and I went to the bank where I asked them if I could have an appointment to open an account. Also, Marie-Laure helped me get a card to be able to use a local computer lab. After checking my e-mail, I went to my apartment. There, Dominique was eating a very scrumptious dinner consisting of wine, cheese, une baguette (bread) and small fresh radishes. He invited me to join him. I did. I ended up skipping that party Tara invited me to (Anika's birthday party) because I was enjoying Dominique's company (and cheese, bread...and especially the wine) very much! I think he was flirting with me a bit...just a little though...but we talked a lot. We would switch between French and English and correct each other. Anyway, he's visiting Paris this weekend with his brother and best friend. But he offered to go to Paris with me next weekend if I want. I said it depends on whether I got with the Tulsa students on Thursday. But, I think I would actually enjoy myself more if I went with him...for one we talk very well together, two he's been there before so he may know his way around better and he speaks French much better than me. I figured out he's 34-years-old. He's pursuing a PhD in Entymology - the study of bugs.

Ok...switching pens here...the other one kept running out of ink in the middle of writing words. Very annoying to say the least.

Today was a rather uneventful day as compared to my other days here. I did finally talk to Mommy & Daddy on the phone; that was nice. :) Mommy kept asking me questions about the French and France. Oh...and I found out that I'll probably have to wash my clothes by hand because that's what Eva does. I tried finding a laundromat close by but was unsuccessful. Tara said there's one near where she lives but that might be a little too ridiculous to cart all my dirty laundry over there (near the cathedral) just to wash clothes. So, I just might suck it up (my pride that is) and buy some laundry detergent and wash my stuff by hand, although I probably can't buy any tomorrow because mostly everything is closed on Sundays. I did do some grocery shopping today (before I found out I needed detergent) and bought myself some orange juice, a couple of pears, some Camembert cheese (don't really like it too much though...I do like Brebie...have to remember to buy that later...Tara reminded me of the name tonight) some bread and a lot of yogurt. It's so much cheaper to get food from the supermarket than to eat out. I'll have to get in the habit of only eating at my apartment because I'm spending too much money already for eating out. I (stupidly) ate at McDonald's for dinner (again), although I did get a student discount. Something really cool they had in town tonight was a HUGE sidewalk sale...no I still did not buy a scarf...but I want to find a really good one along with a really nice black purse...heck I want the whole French look...I need the shoes, too. I did get part of "the look" tonight by buying a black French-looking coat that has a belt around the middle. But it was a bit cheap because one of the buttons already came off. Luckily I had my trusty sewing kit with me and sewed it back on! One thing I did forget was my bathing suit...there is a really nice coliseum nearby with a pool. Oh well...maybe I'll buy one later. We'll see. Tara and I hung out tonight from about 10:00 p.m. until midnight. She called me to see if I wanted to hang out and she also asked me where I was last night (because I didn't show up to the party). I told her; she was find with it...not mad or anything. She said she did have a hangover from yesterday, though, because she drank a lot of mixed drinks of Absolut Mandarin with Sprite. Tara and I went looking for a bar to hang out at...we ended up at Chez Froc...a popular spot in Amiens (or at least according to the map it is...). But, it didn't really remind me of the "traditional" bar because it was very lit up. We both ordered salads and afterwards had dessert of chocolate mousse for me and a type of icecream for her. Then, we went our separate ways to go to our apartments to go to bed, which I'm going to do now. Goodnight!!

1 comment:

  1. sounds like a not to bad time, I plan on going there 1 day I just dont know when. your stories are great keep it up

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