Author: sam_goeuriot

Today on the bus ride to Amboise, Hailey and I saw a garbage truck and she was amazed with how skinny and cute it was. Once we got to Amboise, we walked to a bridge over the Loire and took some pictures. During our tour, we learned that instead of water, the castle moats had two lions. We also learned that they built a tower with a ramp for carriages to go up and down so that guests didn’t have to walk up a bunch of stairs. 

After lunch we walked around to shop. We went into many interesting stores, and I bought quite a few things. I negotiated the prices of a bracelet with a shop keeper and then that bracelet broke an hour later… It was also interesting to see all the French books and French manga. Afterwards we learned about chocolate and got to try many different versions. My favorite was the raspberry one that was made of cocoa butter and not chocolate itself. It’s most like white chocolate but has a very strong raspberry taste. We learned that the chemical formula of chocolate is similar to that of dopamine and that if you eat enough, you can feel the same feeling as being in love. 

Once we got back, I met up with Emma and we headed to the cat café, I looked it up and we learned that it closes on Thursdays so instead we went to Starbucks. There were many different food options including pancakes and donuts. I got a Frappuccino and a pain au chocolat. Emma got three pancakes and they gave us a plate and tray for our snack. With her pancakes, she got maple syrup which was packaged in a metal container instead of plastic. With all of the sugars and sweeteners, there was also salt and pepper. We both got cold drinks but neither of them was in clear plastic cups. Afterwards, we went back and ordered Bchef burgers. They messed up our order, but the meal was still good. Again, there was no plastic. Her drink came in a completely paper cup, with only a piece of tape over it to stop it from spilling. I didn’t finish my burger, but I’d definitely get food from there again.

After a chilly Tours morning, a herd of students began their migration from the school to the bus station. During their treacherous trek, several students stopped at a nearby cafe to quench their dreadful thirst for caffeine. Once the students regrouped with the other half of their herd, they hopped on the bus and cautiously drove to the land where they would spend the rest of their day: Amboise. Students first thoughtfully split their free 20 minutes into some efficient and rushed shopping among gift shops, ice cream parlors, and chocolate factories. Then, students squished through a guided tour with a lovely and sweet guide! Students learned about historic buildings including a chapel, a castle, and a mansion. After this thorough tour, students migrated to the grassy banks of the Loire where they settled for a quick meal. The students then continued fueling their shopping obsessions by spending the next couple of hours traversing through valleys of little shops. Some students bought sweaters in preparation for the next deadly winter frost while others bought beautiful jewelry because why not. Finally, the mass of students gathered in front of their final battle: a chocolate factory called Bigot. They spent the next hour learning about the history of the cacao bean and how it transforms into different kinds of chocolates. While the students and one of their leaders struggled a little bit to maintain their full patience, many got to feast on delectable chocolates! As a final treat, students enjoyed some pastries with apple juice! A brief visit from their Bigot guide ended their day with silence!

Today we are explored the Musée du Compagnonnage. Compagnons are artisans and craftsmen that dedicate this life to learn and master a craft. Starting as an apprentice, each compagnon learns the traditional techniques of their craft until they are are ready to submit a piece they made to the Compagnons du Devoir. The works of aspiring compagnons surrounded us, each one telling a different story, using different materials, and different techniques. The intricate detail present in each work showed the dedication of each craftsman had to their craft. It was inspiring the amount of time put into one piece. This unique experience taught me about a tradition that has been going on since the middle ages and the dedication still seem toward this tradition today.

Today we went to our student’s morning classes and then walked to tours a table, a French restaurant where cooking students helped us make a mini tomato / goat cheese dish, strawberry shortcake, and chocolate lava cake. After rating our meals, a 10/10, we got free time to shop, eat or relax around tours. Then we headed to a museum where we got to learn about the history of artisans and compagnonnage. We saw a lot of different trades represented and liked being able to walk around freely. After taking a quick detour to see a wall (hotel de beaune-semblancay), we were left to continue the rest of our day with our exchange students and their family’s!

Today, on our 7th day in Tours, we visited Le Chateau de Chenonceau, a castle in Tours, as well as Le Moulin des Aigremonts, a historic windmill. At the castle, we visited the many gardens around the castle as well as the bedrooms, ballrooms, kitchens, and balconies of the castle. Afterwards, we had a nice sunny picnic near the castle, before leaving to visit the windmill. At the window, an amazing guide showed us around the mill, explaining how it worked, and the history of the mill. Our day then came to an end, and we arrived back in downtown Tours to meet our students and go home for the day.

Today we had a picnic lunch right outside of the Château de Chenonceau! Once we were done with our food, we walked to the trash can and realized there were 3 different bins. One was for glass, another for plastic/ metals, and the last one is for cartons/ papers. In the USA, we usually only have one or two, so I thought it was very interesting how in France there is more than 2 trash/ recycling bins. When I was throwing my trash away, I noticed that in every bin, the corresponding trash was in it. This is another thing I found interesting, people actually respect and follow the different trash bins. We were able to throw everything away correctly but we gave the leftover bread to the ducks and birds haha!

My host family took me to visit Chambord, a chateau about an hour away from Tours. It was very beautiful and very impressive. One of the rooms had white walls with intricate gold decorations that were absolutely stunning. I read a sign that talked about the clockmaker to a count or something, and was wondering why he would need his own personal clockmaker, until I noticed that there was an intricately, artistically decorated clock in most of the (many) rooms. The architecture of the castle itself was beautiful too. It was also interesting to learn about court etiquette. The virtual tour talked about the rituals of the king and queen getting out of bed in the morning and going to bed at night, ceremonies that would be attended by certain members of the court, if they ranked high enough.  Overall, it was a very interesting and beautiful view into a totally different time.

Today I woke up at 11am due texting my girlfriend until 2 last night. This must be why long distance relationships are hard. But Valentin was up until pretty late too, so I wasn’t the only one awake at that time.

Anyways, I did all my morning routines, and at 12 we had lunch. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures, but we had broiled chicken and broiled small potatoes. To be honest, the potatoes were a bit undercooked in my opinion, but the chicken was wonderful. By now Valentin’s mom realized that despite my seemingly skinny built, I actually ate a lot, so she gave me 2 pieces of chicken while everyone else just wanted 1. For dessert, I had this amazing strawberry cake.

Despite being a French family, Valentin’s family finishes their meals surprisingly quick, usually we get done in 40 minutes. Since we needed to leave for kayaking at 1:30, that left us about 45 minutes of free time. Valentin’s family is setting up their pool for the summer, so valentin decided to change the filters after lunch. I don’t know exactly how to help him because I don’t own a pool, so I just watched him and played with his dogs.

At 1:30, we left for kayaking. The kayaking place was in Vouvray, a quick 15 minutes drive from Valentin’s house. The kayaking place used a bus to transport us and the kayaks to Amboise, and we would kayak from there to Vouvray. Valentin and I were in the same kayak, and his mom had her own separate one. Valentin is way stronger than me though, and despite both of us being good kayakers on our own, both of us combined caused our kayak to keep turning side ways. His mom kept laughing at us, and we were stuck at the end of the group. Despite the difficulties, it was fun as Valentin and I kept chatting about our lives. Eventually, Valentin decided that he would take matter into his own hands, literally, as he told me to stop rowing and he’ll do it himself. And it worked, just at the cost of him being tired. However, due to our slow start, the 2 hour trip turned to a 3.5 hour trip, and we made it home around 5pm.

Valentin quickly hopped in the shower, and after he finished, I did too. After showering, I immediately collapsed on my bed and fell asleep. At 8pm, I was woken up and they told me we were getting ready for dinner, and I quickly got up and went downstairs for dinner. We had nearly the same thing as lunch, except for the addition of mashed celery, a dish that tastes a lot better than it sounds. For dessert, we all had different things, and I chose a raspberry cake that was delicious.

Honestly yesterday was a more eventful day than today, but today was still fun regardless

We started our day at Île d’Oléron, waking up late due to a dinner with my exchange parents’ friends ending close to 1 in the morning. We walked through the main road of the small town on the island to gather some groceries that we hadn’t brought with us. Afterwards, we started a bike ride to the lighthouse at the northernmost point of the island near noon, and 21 km/13 miles later, we arrived and had a late seafood lunch at a local restaurant. I tried langoustine, or a lobster/shrimp of a size in between the two. We then made the long and arduous climb to the top of the lighthouse, which is around 300 steps. From the top you could see nearly a third of island, which was already the second largest in France. Following this, we strolled along the rocky beaches during a surprisingly low tide peering into tidal pools and watching the crabs and shrimp scuttle out of sight. After we got some crêpes at the aforementioned restaurant, we began our return to where we were staying, this time an alternate route down the other side of the island. Although we may have gotten lost on the way, listening to the family’s arguments about which way to go helped me to solidify my understanding of which French word is “right” or “left”. We passed by the grass airfield on the island and many cows. The bike ride left me quite tired, and excited to bike to the other end of the island to see the castle.

This weekend my host family took me to Mont-Saint-Michel, a four-hour drive from Tours. In the morning we visited a mill and took a tour around explaining how the mill worked. Did you know the whole roof of a mill could be turned based on the direction the wind was blowing? With a bag of flour in hand, a quick change of clothes and some rest, we went to Mont-Saint-Michel. It was beautiful! It looks like it was straight out of a Disney movie, and it had an interesting story to match. After touring around the abbey, my host student and I met up with another pair of students and we had lunch together. After Saint-Michel my host family showed me what the beach was like in France. While very different from the ones I’m used to, being around the calm water was very peaceful. My day was extremely busy, but I am glad to have experienced something I never had before.