Merci!

Merci! Special thanks to all my family and friends who made my stay as an assistante de langue in Nancy possible! I had an amazing experience making new friends and getting to know my French relatives better!

To my readers: I hope you enjoyed the ride! Thanks for following my adventures!

For those who will be assistants in the Académie Nancy-Metz in the years to come, please feel free to check out my tips and comment if you have any questions. Soak in the sites around Nancy and...Bon courage!

Place Stanislas

La porte de la Craffe

Le parc de la Pépinière

Les vacances de printemps: Deuxième partie

I think my travels have been jinxed by Murphy's Law- what can go wrong, will go wrong. (French translation: « Tout ce qui peut mal tourner, va mal tourner. ») I'll be returning to the U.S. tomorrow with a broken pinky finger. It is quite the embarassing story- I was riding a bike last Thursday with my seven year old Frech cousins in their neighborhood and fell. I was going down a hill back to their house, went too fast because I did not know how to work the gear on the bike, and before I knew it I was on the ground with a doigt cassé- a broken finger. At least I didn't wait long at the emergency room! I have a cast around my right hand now, but luckily I'm left-handed so the cast should be minimally annoying. While my cousins were helpful and concened, as soon as I returned from the hospital they wanted to make sure we could still go to the movies that evening- which we did. Murphy has not gotten the best of me!

The very next day my newly-aquired cast and I met up with one of my good college friends in Paris for the weekend. One the the major highlights of the weekend was unexpectingly crashing two weddings on the same day. On Saturday, while we were waiting for our train to Giverny at the Paris Saint-Lazare station, we explored the nearby Saint Augustine church. We noticed that some nicely-dressed people were waiting outside the church, but we were still able to enter the sanctuary. As we finished our walk around the church, we finally noticed the wedding program and decided to sit/stand with some other tourists in the very back of the church as the bride entered. Then once we had arrived at Claude Monet's House and Gardens later that afternoon, we saw another couple and their wedding party taking pictures around the property. What a beautiful idea! Fun fact: Monet prevailed in creating his Japanese-inspired water garden despite the objections of his neighbors to the garden (who were worried about invasive plant species).

Continuing on the Monet-inspired journey, we saw Monet's famous Les Nymphéas (Water Lilies) at the Musée de l'Orangerie the next day and other impressionist works at the Musée d'Orsay. It was truly spectacular to go from the gardens at Giverny that inspired Monet to the museums that house his paintings. (Travel tip: Many museums around France are free the first Sunday of the month, but expect long lines!)

Here are the picture and video highlights of the weekend:

The Louvre at sunset

Le Clos Normand garden in front of Monet's house

Le jardin d'eau at Monet's House and Gardens

Le jardin d'eau at Monet's House and Gardens

Le jardin d'eau at Monet's House and Gardens

Monet's House

Video of the Eiffel Tower light show: 

(Travel tip: The Eiffel Tower light show starts at 10 pm every night and only lasts five mintues, so find a spot to watch before it begins.)

La Tour Eiffel

View from the Arc de Triomphe

I had a wonderful time touring Paris with my friend and we certainly left no stone unturned- We visited Sacré Coeur, Notre Dame, the Louvre, Monet's House and Gardens at Giverny, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Musée de l'Orangerie, and the Musée d'Orsay! We even managed to squeeze in a Seine River cruise!

Nonetheless, I am super excited to head back home! À la prochaine France!

Les vacances de printemps: Première partie

Spring break has arrived! I have had quite the start to my first week of traveling.

Last Monday, the first grade teacher I worked with took me on a day trip around the Metz area. I got to see the sites in Metz that I had not seen before, and I got to visit the Robert Schuman House and Gardens. Robert Schuman is condsidered one the founders of Europe because he helped form the European Coal and Steel Community following World War II, which would eventually evolve into the European Union today. Schuman was of Luxembourgish and French-German decent, and loved his house in the Lorraine countryside.

Porte des Allemands in Metz

The Robert Schuman House and Gardens in Scy-Chazelles

Then Tuesday I went to Nice again to begin a southern France and Italy trip with some friends. The weather was gorgeous! On Wednesday, we did a day trip from Nice to Monaco. We enjoyed the small-pebbled beach, saw the outside of the palace, and I gambled away 5 € at the Casino de Monte-Carlo. Here are the picture highlights of Monco:

Palais de Monaco

View of Monaco

Casino de Monte-Carlo

After a lovely day in Monaco, we were supposed to take a flight from Nice to Venice...and then a couple hours before our flight was supposed to take off we recieved a message from EasyJet that it was annulé- canceled! Appearenly there was a strike of EasyJet personnal at the Venice airport. Luckily, we had not left for the airport and we discussed our options with a kind employee at our hostel. He recommended that we take the local train to the Italian border  the next day and buy train tickets to Venice from there. So early the next morning, we were on our way to Venice. We finally arrived in Venice at 3:40 pm.

I stayed in Venice from Thursday evening to Friday afternoon, so my friends and I wasted no time exploring this amazing city:

Going under a bridge during our gondola ride

Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs)

Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square)

View from the Campanile di San Marco 

Palazzo Ducale (Doge's Palace)

Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square)

The last part of my Italy trip took me to Florence for the weekend. I stayed with a good friend's sister who was studying abroad there for the semester. She is an art history major and was able to explain to me the history surrounding the major landmarks and art in the city. Florence is such a beautiful city!

The Duomo

The Duomo

Basilica di Santa Croce

View of Florence from Piazzale Michelangelo

View from Giotto’s Campanile

One of the fake Davids in Florence

Ponte Vecchio

This break has been quite the experience so far! The adventure continues this weekend in Paris!

À la prochaine Nancy!

Time has flown by! This was our last week of work, and I certainly tried to make the most of it. It has been an extreme pleasure to get to know the other primary school assistants in Nancy! Meilleurs voeux! Best wishes for the future!

Nancy Primary School Assistants 2012-2013

Last Saturday, I went with a friend to the foire (fair) that is in Nancy for a whole month at Place Carnot. We went on several rides, but one of the most scariest was the montagne russe (roller coaster). Unlike a normal roller coaster, this one had no safety harness of any kind- you simply sat in the cart and held onto the metal bars at your side, hoping that you wouldn't fall off the ride. Obviously, we did not realize this until we had bought our tickets and were in line.

In school this week, I accompanied the first graders to the swimming pool. The students had already been divided into groups based on their swimming level. I have a lot more respect for the English teacher now because not only did she have to organize the students to get to the pool, but she is also a swimming instructor. She has to teach beginners how to swim, and in English! She had them using kick boards and noodles, allowing the students to get used to being in the water. I really am going to miss working with the teachers and students at my school, they were really welcoming this entire year.

On Wednesday, I finally visited one of the most famous museums in Nancy- the Musée de l’École de Nancy. This museum houses an enormous collection of Art Nouveau pieces, an art movement that has significantly influenced the city of Nancy. Art Nouveau was a movement that started in the late nineteenth century, and from my understanding, the philosophy of the movement was that art should be part of every aspect of life. The movement often drew inspiration from nature and incorporated this inspiration in all forms- from paintings to glass work to furniture and other everyday objects. Here are some highlights of the museum:

Stay tuned to read about my spring break travels!

La Fête des Jonquilles

Today I was very fortunate to go with an aunt and uncle to Gérardmer in the Vosges department for the Fête des Jonquilles (Daffodil Festival), an event that only happens every two years.

For those who are unfamiliar with Lorraine, here is a map of the region with its four departments (Meurthe-et-Moselle, Meuse, Moselle, and the Vosges) (Nancy is the capital of Meurthe-et-Moselle; Bar-le-Duc is the capital of Meuse; Metz is the capital of Moselle and the official capital of Lorraine; Épinal is the capital of the Vosges):

Fun fact: The department of Meurthe-et-Moselle got its strange shape when it was formed in 1871 at the end of the Franco-Prussian War. Meurthe-et-Moselle served as the border between France and Germany from 1871-1919 and during the Occupation allemande (German occupation) from 1940-1944.

Back to the Daffodil Festival- The people of Gérardmer (who live in a ski resort area) celebrate the coming of spring by decorating their town with daffodils.

Lac de Gérardmer 

Daffodil display on a building

The main event of the Daffodil Festival is the parade with the many chars (parade floats) made of daffodils. We had gorgeous weather and enjoyed the parade:

Babar!

Spiderman playing the drums! 

M&Ms!

Puss in Boots!

Shrek!

Spring has finally come to Lorraine!