First presentation, Chateau Chenonceau, and RESIDENCE CARD!

I am now positive that I could never be an improv performer in France. Allow me to explain. In several of my classes, it is required to give a 15 minute speech on topics of our choice. Friday was the first time I was subjected to this horror, giving a presentation on the topic of the drinking age in America and the effect that it has on American teenagers. Now, I'm usually okay with talking in front of a group of people. Presentations don't normally scare me and even if I procrastinate a lot, I just get the basics down before class and then kinda B.S. my way through it and it works out just fine. However, this does NOT work in a foreign language. Oh, I got the points across, sure. However, after I sat down, my teacher went through a list of grammar errors long enough to keep us occupied for about ten minutes. Oh, and that's another difference between French school and American school - teachers read your grades and faults in front of everyone, as opposed to in America where your teachers tell you privately how horrible you are. Teachers here stand at the front of the class and say "Well, Katina. You're an idiot. Here's why."

All in all, it wasn't actually too horrible, I'm just glad that I have one presentation down and I know what to expect for the next one. The next presentation is actually in my literature class where we each had to choose a French author. I'm going to be talking about Alexandre Dumas and I'm hoping that I can kill a whole bunch of time outlining the plot of "Le Compte de Monte Cristo" so that it'll be a little less nerve-wracking. And I'm definitely going to double check my grammar next time so that I don't leave it all to improvisation.

Also on Friday: I FINALLY RECEIVED MY RESIDENCE CARD. This is quite a big deal for me, actually. Not only does this mean that I'm officially okay to stay in France until next summer, but it means that I am done with all the stupid paperwork. I have been filling out endless forms, visiting endless offices, going to appointments just to be told that i need to make more appointments, paying fees and basically stabbing my own eyes out since well before I left for France in September. I believe it was sometime last spring that I started filling out paperwork to get my visa. First you have to register with the Campus France website (and pay them a fee), and wait for confirmation. Then once they give you the go-ahead, you make an appointment with the consulate in San Francisco - which you HAVE to visit in person - to turn in a mountain of paperwork. (This is after having paid fees, gotten WAY too many passport-type photos taken, and made a trillion copies of each document.) After going all the way to San Francisco, myself and the other people staying in Nantes for a year were informed that we still hadn't gotten a 'real' visa, we only got a visa that permits us to start applying for the residence card. Great. So the little group of us has been scampering around Nantes since we first got here in September, filling out more forms, paying more fees, getting medical exams, getting X-rays and once again making a trillion copies of EVERYTHING. At just about every office that we went to, we would be told "oh, you don't do that here. You have to go to the blah blah blah office, across town."

It was the definition of a wild goose chase. And yet, voila:

Yes, here it is in all it's glory: my Titre de Sejour, complete with a horrible picture of me.

And now, I am finally done. Unless I get another email telling me there are a hundred more forms to fill out and fees to pay, and to tell the truth, that wouldn't surprise me too much.

The Chateau Chenonceau with gardens in the foreground. You can't tell in this picture, but it actually stretches across the Cher River.

On Saturday, we went on another group outing to the Chateau Chenonceau. Same early wake-up time, three hours of on-and-off bus sleep (and the resulting aching in my neck), another belt-bursting lunch, and plenty of sight-seeing. Most of our day ended up being devoted to sitting on a charter bus or eating meals that were curiously pre-destined for us. We got a half an hour to walk around the gardens when we first arrived at the Chateau, and then we all met up for lunch which, in line with French stereotypes, lasted like two and half hours.

Walking towards the castle, Ciara and I made a friend. We named him Dane the Donkey.

Ciara, Ariel and I on the path from the parking lot.

The restaurant by the chateau is pretty fancy. I mean, stuffed animal heads and chandeliers fancy. As with our last excursion, the place knew we were coming before we got there, so we sat down at tables that were already set with an overwhelming amount of cutlery surrounding our own little individual baguettes. We didn't have to order anything, it had already been decided for us. First, they brought out a little concoction that I almost want to describe as a pot-pie. It was basically a tiny little tart with some sort of meat on the inside - the general consensus was that it was some sort of turkey, but it was almost like turkey paste as opposed to chunks of meat. There was a hunk of what could possibly have been bacon on top, and it was all set on a little bed of lettuce with some mysteriously delicious dressing. After clearing our plates and taking away one set of silverware, we were brought the main course which was chicken with another mysteriously delicious sauce and mushrooms. This was even more delicious considering that I just found out a few months ago that I actually like mushrooms. The rice, peas, carrots and mini potato that came with it were mediocre, but by this point we were all starting to get full and were wondering amongst ourselves whether or not this meal was going to be like the mussel ordeal at St. Malo. It definitely ended up as such - we were bombarded with course after course. Despite being full, they brought us all another salad with cheese and more bread, and then to top it all off, they brought out a giant cake with sparklers, everyone applauded, and then we all dug into giant pieces of what was essentially an ice cream cake with strawberry and vanilla ice cream with an almost meringue-like frosting. Even after all of that, Sasha and Lindsey dared each other to take a piece of cake that another group of people had left uneaten on their table when they left.

Ariel and I in the restaurant. I asked specifically to get the deer-heads in the background.

Gargoyle drain pipe.

We sat around for a long time, wondering where Anne-Marie had run off to, and eventually we figured that we should just head towards the castle, so we did. I actually never did find out where she went or why, but we found her at the castle. The inside was very beautiful with tons of ornate rooms, but unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries part way through the visit so I only got to document a portion of it. I thought the most interesting part was the gallery, which I did get a picture of. Not only did it look amazing on the inside, but it's essentially a long hallway that crosses the Cher River, so if you look out of any of the windows on either side, it looks like you're standing on water. During WWII, people would run through the castle because one side of the gallery was in occupied France, but the door on the other side opened into the free zone. It was also used as a makeshift hospital during WWI.

The Gallery stretching over the Cher. The far door visible in this picture lead to the Unoccupied Zone in WWII.

The castle is surrounded by very long history of ownerships, being burnt down, being rebuilt and changing hands so many times that it's not even funny. The most interesting to me was the fact that Henry II gave it to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers who lived there for years and had many of the gardens planted. When he died, however, his widow (also named Diane) got bitter and kicked Diane de Poitiers out and took the castle for herself. (She gave Diane de Poitiers a different castle though, so I guess it couldn't have been all bad, right?)

Courtney in one of my favorite rooms: the green study. Each room had a huge fireplace like that.

The kitchen. They really like severed animal heads in this place.

After walking around the gardens for a bit, checking out the mini labyrinth that even I was too tall for, and hangin' with some of the donkeys near the farm, we all packed back into the bus for the three hour ride home. It was a lovely field trip, but we spent a total of almost 6 hours in a bus to spend less than two hours there - all in all a little unbalanced, but still fun.


And last but not least, daily life. School is going well - only 3 weeks left. I can't believe that! I'm going to London next week with some friends from the program and I'm going to meet up with my dad for lunch while he's there on a trip, which I think is awesome. How many kids can say that? "Oh yeah, I'm just gonna meet up with my dad for lunch in London. No biggie." After that, I'm going to need to focus for exams and what not, but I'm even more worried about figuring out what to do over the break between semesters. Not only is it going to be Christmas and New Years, but I'm going to be spending my 21st birthday somewhere in Europe! The problem is, I don't know where yet. I didn't realize until Halloween how strange it is to spend holidays and special occasions overseas, so I'm a little worried about what I'm going to do for Christmas and my birthday, I guess only time will tell. I might be heading over towards Germany for a while, depending on where everyone else is going to be. I don't know how much I'll be able to travel, but I'm going to figure something out.

One last random tangent before finishing up: I'm finally making progress in Harry Potter en francais! I'm almost halfway through, which is amazing considering that reading it almost feels like homework. It is getting easier, though. Plus, it's interesting to see all the little details that have to be changed in order to have it make sense in French. Some changes they have made:

• Hogwarts = Poudlard (lice of bacon, pork)
  
• Professer Snape = Professeur Rogue
  
• Hufflepuff = Poufsouffle (puffblow)
• Slytherin = Serpentard
  
• Ravenclaw = Serdaigle (claw of eagle)
  
• Scabbers = Croutard
  
• You-Know-Who = Vous-Savez-Qui
• The Sorting Hat = Le Choixpeau (the choice-hat)
• Muggle = Moldu
• Diagon Alley = Le Chemin de Traverse (the path of... crossing?)
• Neville Longbottom = Neville Londubat (play on words meaning 'long of bottom')
  

... and many more. I haven't actually gotten there yet, since I'm only on the first book, but I've heard from a reliable source that they actually changed Voldemort's middle name to Elvis so that it makes sense when his name is an anagram for je suis voldemort in the fourth book. Makes him less intimidating, if you ask me, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

Another change made: The title. Instead of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone", the French title is actually translated to "Harry Potter at the school of Sorcerers".

Well, I think that's it for now, but if I don't update sooner, I'll be posting pictures and stories from London by next Saturday or Sunday. Thanks for stopping by, and always feel free to comment and spread the love.

Until next time ;-)