Well it has taken me way too long to update this blog, but not to worry, I will update you on everything! September was a month of excursions, so for this post I’ll focus on all the traveling we’ve done so far.
Our first excursion was to the Côte d’Azur in the south of France. We traveled there by coach bus (I feel like I have a special attachment to coach buses after the countless hours I’ve spent going to and from regattas…definitely thought of Colby Crew!) My history teacher Jacques was playing guitar and singing random French songs, as well as conversing with my director Jon. When we arrived at Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer in the afternoon, we went to the beach (right by our hotel!) and swam in the warm Mediterranean water – it felt like summer again! The following day we discussed our summer reading with Jon on the beach and I kept pinching myself as I was lying on a beach in the Côte d’Azur instead of sitting in a chair in a classroom (or worse, a lab) at Colby! I must admit that the beach is probably not the most productive classroom setting, but I’ll take it! Later that day our group had the opportunity to go scuba diving, but I opted to take a little hike and see the Mediterranean from a higher viewpoint.
The view!
The following day we left for the town of Orange and visited the Théâtre Antique d’Orange, which was magnificent! It reminded me of the grand amphitheaters I saw in Italy and the theatre had an overwhelming amount history to learn. I sat in the shade and listened to my audioguide for a while; then I watched a mini performance of the type of theatre performed back in the 2nd century BC and several actors also donned the typical costumes. I wish I could have spent more time there to learn more about the theatre but it was time for lunch, and I had the most delicious meal at a restaurant nearby: for the appetizer, an asparagus tart with salad, followed by lamb stew, and for dessert, panicotta! I was très content.
Théâtre Antique d’Orange.
Our next excursion was a day trip to St. Romain. It felt so great to be in the countryside after living in the city of Dijon…I’ve realized that I am simply not a city girl! The weather was beautiful and we walked around in the adorable town of St. Romain, seeing vineyard after vineyard. We visited the church of Saint-Romain-le-Haut and Serge (one of my teachers) met us there to teach us a little art history. Afterwards we continued to walk around and had some great views of the cliffs and the village below. We ate lunch at our history teacher’s house (chez Jacques) – it was just lovely. Jacques’ wife made the best mousse au chocolat for dessert! I hope I’m not talking about food too much in my blog…I am just eating so many wonderful things here that it is a shame not to tell all of you!
Finally, the Colby group had a major excursion at the end of September to Paris and the Loire Valley. We spent four days in Paris, followed by two days in the Loire valley, and it was a wonderful break from classes. It will bore you terribly to tell you everything about my trip so I will list the highlights:
1. We visited the Louvre and I ran into Will Finney and Andrew Reid from Gilman!! The whole Sewanee study abroad program was there that morning as well. Somehow we managed to be in the same area of the Louvre at the same time on the same day in Paris. What are the odds?! Madame Colombat would be so proud of her three French 5 students studying abroad in France! That brief dose of Baltimore definitely made my morning. Our tour guide, Caroline, took us around the Louvre and focused on the French artwork, so we got to see some famous pieces (including some that I hadn’t seen when I came to the Louvre 2 years ago), but there was a lot that we missed. I wish I could have stayed longer and gone through more exhibits but you just get tired and after a while your eyes glaze over because you’ve been inundated with so much information! I’ll have to come back to the Louvre one day, perhaps without a tour group, so I can explore at my own pace.
2. My friends and I walked up and down the entire Champs-Élysées one afternoon and went in and out of a bunch of stores. Everything was pretty expensive but I enjoyed looking nonetheless. My friend Hannah and I actually sang the Champs-Élysées song as we were going down the street so that was pretty awesome!
3. I went to a concert in the Eglise Madeleine (a beautiful church that kind of resembled some sort of temple from the outside). A group of violinists and cellists performed Vivaldi’s Four Seasons as well as other classics like Pachabel’s canon and Ave Maria (they had a wonderful soloist). It was really cool being able to recognize all of the songs and know how they develop, since I listen to the Four Seasons so often while doing my homework! Good times in Olin library. I also thought of my Intro to Music class (thank you Professor Saunders) and smiled. And of course I had to listen to the Colby Chorale’s version of Ave Maria on my iPod after the concert. Overall it was a wonderful way to spend the evening!
The concert.
4. One morning we went to visit Sainte-Chapelle as well as Notre Dame. I absolutely loved the enormous stained glass windows of the Sainte-Chapelle. I’d say Sainte-Chapelle is one of my favorite places in Paris – in addition to light and color provided by the stained glass windows, it’s also painted in a lot of blues and reds and golds – probably the most colorful church I’ve seen. A much nicer atmosphere than Notre Dame, in my opinion, even though it’s much smaller. I was happy to go back to the Notre Dame, our tour guide Caroline lead us around, but I don’t think I actually like the church that much because it’s so dark and somber. My favorite part about visiting the Notre Dame was getting to walk up to the top (I believe there were over 400 stairs)! I got lots of great pictures of the city of Paris and it was fun being so close to the gargoyles! I even got to see the bell at the top and wanted to sing “Out There” (Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame reference).
A pensive gargoyle.
5. One evening my friends and I went to the Eiffel Tower. We took a ton of pictures! I must say it was a pretty magical experience to eat a banana and nutella crepe as I watched the Eiffel Tower sparkle at the hour.
Left to right: Steph, Maggie, Me, Kallie, Jackie in front of the Eiffel tower.
6. One morning we went to Versailles – it was just as grand and decorated as I had remembered, but I took a very similar tour there two years ago, so it wasn’t really a novel experience. It was nice having our tour guide Caroline there to tell us about some things in more detail, but it was so crowded and overpopulated with annoying, pushy tourists that it was not the most pleasant visit. Also, there was a bizarre Japanese modern art exhibit in Versailles that looked completely out of the place. Maybe I would appreciate it more in a modern art exhibit, but I was not a fan of it being displayed in the ornate and elaborately decorated rooms of Versailles.
7. For our last night in Paris, Lucy, Hannah, and I had an elegant evening at the Ritz in Paris. We got dressed up and tried to walk into the Ritz “like we had a reason to be there” as Lucy put it. The doorholder wished us a good evening and we were escorted to a booth in the dining area. Looking at the menu was mind boggling – the drinks were SO expensive! The most expensive on the list was a bottle of some really fancy wine for 7000 euro. So ridiculous. After ordering much cheaper drinks, we were served chocolates as well as a variety of nuts and olives…so exquisite! When we were getting ready to leave the Ritz, we decided to be daring and steal the napkins embroidered “Ritz Paris” as a little keepsake (mature, I know). We managed to get away with it and I must say it was quite exhilarating!
8. And lastly, my favorite part of the whole trip: seeing my friends Fiona, Emma, and Dominique in Paris! Emma and Dominique are also juniors studying abroad, and my friend Fiona actually lives in Paris, so it was wonderful to catch up with them. I had my first café (expresso) with Fiona and I could barely drink it, it was so strong! Needless to say I opted for hot chocolate when I went to a café with Emma. Dominique showed me around the Latin quarter and we found a lovely restaurant for dinner. I must say, I am happy to not be studying abroad in Paris. The city is way too large and international for me. I know everyone would speak to me in English – I doubt I would learn much French. Also, all of the tourists are so annoying! Let’s ignore the fact that I am technically a tourist as well.
Next, we traveled to the Loire Valley, which might be my favorite excursion so far. We visited SO many chateaus and I was so happy to be in the countryside again.
Our first stop was the Chateau de Chenonceau (my personal favorite). My friend Emma describes it as a “Disney princess castle.” This chateau was built in the 16th century during the reign of François 1er (which is clearly displayed by the numerous appearances of his symbol, the salamander, throughout the chateau). There were so many beautiful bedrooms and tapestries and paintings, it was overwhelming! It was also slightly confusing to keep track of all of the owners of the chateau throughout the centuries. It was interesting to learn about all the uses of the chateau and its importance in France: in WWI, the gallery was converted into a hospital; in WWII, it became “la ligne de demarcation” that separated la zone occupée (the entrance of the Chateau) and la zone libre (back of the chateau). The gallery allowed for many people to secretly pass into the free zone, but apparently during the war, the Germans were ready to destroy the chateau at any moment. How terrifying – I can’t even imagine. The kitchen was charming, with lots of copper pots and pans, there were also separate rooms for making bread and cutting the meat. We didn’t see all of the rooms but I was already quite impressed with what I had seen and we walked outside to see the charming garden areas.
I also enjoyed going to the Chateau de Clos Lucé, built in the 15th century in Amboise, most famous for being the residence of Leonardo da Vinci for the last 3 years of his life. King François 1er invited da Vinci to live there in 1516. What I liked most about visiting this chateau was not seeing all of the rooms with the beautiful Renaissance décor, but rather seeing the rooms that held models and drawings of Leonardo da Vinci’s inventions. Some of his inventions had even been digitalized and made into a mini-cartoon. I had no idea he invented so many things! He was such a talented individual, really one of the most incredible people I’ve learned about. In addition to the Chateau, there is a lovely outdoor area called “le parc Leonardo da Vinci.” I would definitely encourage everyone to visit this chateau – as I was leaving I regretted not spending more time there because there was so much more to see than time allowed.
I am not going to go into quite as much detail about the other chateaus but I will give a brief summary! The next day we visited the Chateau d’Azay Le Rideau. We saw more quintessential beautiful Renaissance décor – lots of tapestries depicting stories and mythological tales which Caroline (tour guide) liked telling us about. That afternoon we visited the Chateau de Villandry et ses jardins (gardens)! We didn’t actually go inside the chateau, we just walked around the gardens, which I loved. The view of the design from above was magnificent – there were so many different gardens with a variety of plants of all colors! There was even a maze, which everyone was excited to get lost in, only to find that it was pretty small and clearly mapped out. Our next stop was the Chateau de Cheverny which was gorgeous and had very extravagant decorations. The biggest room of the chateau was filled with armor and weapons from the 15th-17th centuries, which was so cool! The chateau is currently inhabited by some family and it was kind of weird to see their pictures throughout the rooms. I would never want tourists in my house, though it must still be a magnificent residence! The last chateau we visited was Chambord, which was enormous…I think it had over 400 rooms! The coolest part of this chateau was the double helix staircase! Supposedly invented by da Vinci, the staircase turns around itself in a double helix and I felt like I was walking up DNA! I decided they should go to Chambord for a Magic Schoolbus episode. Yes, I was pretty much geeking out and having a Biology major moment. Slight diversion: the other day in Paris, we were learning about the stained glass windows in the Sainte-Chappelle, and apparently they used lead in between the window panes. The word for “lead” in French is “plomb,” but I didn’t figure that out for a while…then I made the connection that, on the periodic table, Lead = Pb. Yay for Chemistry (I hope Daas and Lisa are proud)!
Villandry gardens.
The double helix staircase (sideways).
Last thing I will mention about the Loire trip: we stayed in a fantastic hotel right next to Chambord called “Hotel Saint-Michel.” It was literally a world of a difference from our crappy Paris hotel. I slept in a queen size bed and was in a room for 2 instead of a room for 10, we had our own bathroom, and even a small TV! I felt so pampered. All of our meals there were absolutely delicious – without a doubt, the Colby students are well-fed on our excursions.
All in all, I would say that I have really enjoyed our planned excursions. They are a pleasant break from classes, but they also provide a wonderful learning experience! I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to see all of these places in person, and I know these will be unforgettable experiences. I am so grateful for my director, Jon, my tour guide, Caroline, my teachers Jacques and Serge, and of course, all the Colby students, who are the life of the program. I miss you all so much, wherever you are at the moment – I am always thinking of you!
Love,
Caroline
