Blois, definitely not Blah, or castle hunting in the Loire Valley (1/4)

Last weekend, my friends Elizabeth (IU), Allison (Wisconsin), and I fulfilled our subconsciously suffocated dreams of being a princess during a trip to the Loire Valley. On Friday, we took the TGV (train à grande vitesse, or really fast train) to Paris and then a smaller train west to the city of Blois (pronounced BLWAH--quite possibly the hardest word to say without making a strange facial contortion). We arrived Friday afternoon, checked into our hostel, and started our castle hunt. We took a bus to see Cheverny, but by the time we got there, it had closed approximately one minute prior. Bummer. But we took pictures of the trees that blocked it out of our sight anyway. Saturday morning we frolicked around Blois. Pictures from that morning's adventures:

The church across from the Blois castle. Huge trees.

Blois has lots of nice rooftop views

The straightest road in France or the only straight road in France

Loire Valley (2/4)

At around noon, we catch a bus out to see Chambord, constructed under the reign of François Ier. Supposedly, the central spiral staircase was designed by DaVinci. Chambord goes way beyond my basic mental image of a castle. It is unbelievable. We start our visit off right with a picnic. That morning at the market in Blois, we found a really nice Brie--very mild, not gooey or stinky (don't get me wrong--I LOVE a good stinky cheese), but what was lacking in the strength of the cheese itself was made up for by the integration of cracked pepper in the rind. Yummy.

Loire Valley (3/4)

As we didn't catch the bus back to Blois until 6pm, we spent a good amount of time at Chambord. We got tickets to go inside and saw some pretty sweet living quarters. That François Ier really knew how to live. The architect was obsessed with symmetry, but one of the differences between the two wings of the castle is the chapel, which is marked by a cross that tops one of the spires. By the time we got outside again, the lighting had completely changed, and we once again got out our cameras and went at it. I didn't mess with these pictures at all. It was really this beautiful.

Elizabeth and Allison

Loire Valley (4/4)

On the way to Chaumont

Chaumont

On Sunday, we caught a train from Blois to nearby Onzain and then walked about 40 minutes to Chaumont. The Château de Chaumont is my idea of where Cinderella would live--big fat spires and a drawbridge. But Cinderella did not live here. Catherine de Medicis and Diane de Poitiers did, however. They're way cooler than Cinderella. That night I took the train back to Aix so that I could go to class the next day. Elizabeth and Allison played hooky and saw a couple more castles on Monday.

Picnic view number 1,259?

An update on school:

The university here, or the "fac," has gotten quite extreme with the strike. Students stand outside of every entrance and yell at you if you try to go in. I had one class there on Monday because everyone in that class, including the professor, is foreign, and nobody really understands France's strike culture. I may or may not have another class at the fac today. . . we shall see. Other than my classes at the fac, our program has required us to take at least four classes with the retired professors and doctoral students that they've hired to make sure we get credit for the semester. Through them, I'm taking an art history class, French literature and philosophy of the 18th century, history of religion in France, and social psychology.

We are currently experiencing April showers.

Calanque Attaque!

These pics are from March 22nd, when my neighbor Elina and her friend Virginie took Steven and I to see the calanques in and around Cassis (just a hop, skip, and a jump away from Marseille). A "calanque" (pronounced ka-LONK, fun to say) is a little inlet along the rocky cliffs that meet the Mediterranean around these parts. We spent the day hiking and admiring the view. The trail is rocky and I've still got a couple of bruises from a little stumble. Oops! It's amazing that the calanques are so close to us. The U.S. has got some great geographical diversity, but sometimes I feel like France has just as much but in a much smaller area--not to mention the vast architectural differences. There's a reason why France is the most tourist-visited country in the world.

Short nap in the sun here

Elina admiring the view

In the grand tradition of putting up pictures of good picnic spots

The water is extremely clear and blue.

And now for a story! Anybody remember the fiasco of me missing a final exam? Here is a quick recap and conclusion to the saga:

I had a really nice professor last semester who taught History of Music in the Middle Ages. I was rather quiet in that class, and the professor always made a special effort to ask me if I had any questions or needed any help. I'd usually respond with something along the lines of, "Oh yeah. I'm getting everything," despite the fact that he spoke at lightning speed, and it all went through one ear and out the other without the slightest intention of being retained. Final exam time rolls around. The final exam is the only grade for the entire semester. There is no way I was going to pass it. Naturally, one of the many things I misinterpret during class is the date and time of the exam. The final exam is the only grade, I repeat, and I completely miss it. I frantically e-mail the professor to ask if I could turn in a paper or something make it up, and he replies, saying that he cannot accept outside work to replace the exam and will get back to me about what can be done. I did not hear back from him, and I "tried" my best to just ignore the situation until last week, at which point I reminded my program director about it, and she tells me that she will contact the professor to solve this snafu. She does, and notices that he is coughing a lot.  She asks him if he is sick. He says yes, and on top of that, he just broke his leg, and his fiancée just left him. The poor man! As for my problem, he says that I was a good student; I always came to class, and I seemed serious about my studies. He says it's not worth the trouble of me turning anything in or taking the exam. He'll just give me a 14. Out of 20. For a French grade, that's decent, and IU transfers it as an A. (In all three of my other classes, I received an 11, which transfers as a B+. Eh, could be better, could be worse.) That was seriously the most difficult material I have ever encountered in a class, I turned in absolutely nothing, took no exams, and just because the professor was a thirtysomething year-old softie who was impressed that take music classes at IU, I got an A. I am still celebrating this victory.

The visitors 1/3

Because vacations are fun, the French like to have a week-long break in February. This was a great opportunity for Mom and Pops to come visit France (at least, Aix and Paris) and me. We spent some time exploring Aix and Marseille before taking the TGV to Paris for four days. We saw it all: Louvre, Musée d'Orsay, Notre Dame, Ste Chapelle, Arc de Triomphe, Musée Rodin, Eiffel Tower. . . AND I had really good duck a restaurant. Couldn't ask for anything more out of a vacation.

Blurry or artistic? You decide. As for me. . . well, I didn't want it to turn out this way. (Does that make it art automatically?) At the top of the Arc de Triomphe.

Mt. Ste Victoire at the Musée d'Orsay. Apparently, Cézanne painted it at least 72 times. We visited his last studio (in Aix) before our trip to Paris, and Mom even got to touch his chapeau!

Oh Musée d'Orsay, how I love thee.

Be jealous--I got to see the one and only Georgia Kuss. In Paris. For those of you who don't know her, Georgia is a dear friend of mine from high school. She's studying in Paris this semester.

The visitors 2/3

Musée Rodin. La femme accroupie (I think).

Musée Rodin.

Miraculously, not a photoshopped picture.