Salut faithful readers,
My adventures this week are not nearly as exciting as those reported last week, where I recounted my life story-well, just the October vacation part-in as many words as possible. And then followed that up with another anecdote explaining my new writing gig. Really, most of my work this week concerned my correspondence with National Geographic.
As a bit of future background for you, I should explain that next weekend I am going to Rome! I leave Wednesday afternoon for Paris, where I will stay with my friend Abby at her new apartment. Then on Thursday morning bright and early I catch a flight to Rome, where I will spend the weekend travelling with another friend from my October vacation, Haley. So, what with my week being cut in half, I had to prepare extra articles this past week so that I don't have to spend my first trip in Italy on my computer, researching and writing in French. That would be a slight buzz kill, in every sense of the term.
I ended up preparing three articles this week. One was posted on the website yesterday. It is about a class at my school that is travelling to Senegal to complete a two year project, where they created tricycles for handicap Senegalese children and now have the opportunity to present them face to face. I will post the link to this article below, so if you did not get enough of me in English you can read even more from me in French! Or at least check out my new photo for the website. The other articles I will not reveal here, as I don't want to spoil the surprise for you. Looks like you'll just have to keep checking back for updates.
Now you might be wondering, with all of this time and energy spent on researching, interviewing, and writing for a National Geographic position that is not my actual job, do I spend time working at all on teaching? And the answer is yes...but not as much as you might think. This is through no fault of my own; you see, half of my classes were cancelled this week due to various teacher absences, few of which I knew of ahead of time. So while this freed up additional time for me, I mostly spent it working on writing anyway. However, I am excited for a new project in two of my classes, where the students will be studying different aspects of their own choosing of American culture. Some topics include cinema, sports, food, presidents, etc., and they will be writing letters to various sources in the United States for information. It should be fun to hear what their take on American culture is when they have finished.
I witnessed an amazing cultural experience here this week. On Tuesday, I was invited to a wine and cheese tasting adult education class, which is normally quite expensive but I attended for free. The teacher works at my school, and is an incredibly friendly and gracious host. So I learned more about wine on Tuesday night than all my other nights, ever, combined. And this was the whole French experience; observing the color first, then smelling the wine to determine its composition, then swirling the glass and smelling again, to finally tasting it, with and without cheese. I have never felt so French in my life, and I can say it was one of the coolest things that I have had the pleasure of doing since I arrived. A close second was seeing the Adventures of Tin-Tin last night; the movie is a Spielberg film that is yet to be released in America, so ha! I saw a movie before you all! Never mind that it was dubbed over in French...but the animation is incredible, and I would recommend seeing it when you slow pokes back home have the opportunity. So that's all for now, quite enough I am sure, and hopefully the next time I write will be post-Italia!
Here is this week's National Geographic article: http://www.nationalgeographic.fr/actualite/un-americain-a-vannes-episode-2-voyage-en-afrique/7912054/
That's all folks
Tommy
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Friday, November 4, 2011
National Geographic comes calling
Just in case you did not get enough of me yesterday, I am back once again to whet your appetite for more information from France. Now, I know what you are thinking-how could I possibly have more to say? Well, trust me, this will be short, but it is important to me so I want to share it with you all.
In my haste to describe the past two weeks, I left out one major detail from my trip in Paris. While there I had the chance to meet with Francois Marot, the editor of National Geographic France. Many thanks to Ann Woolner for helping facilitate this rendez-vous. Monsieur Marot offered me the incredible opportunity to become the magazine's American correspondent in Brittany. This means that every week I will post a short article to the website, focusing on the many amazing cultural and intellectual facets of French society that I discover during my time here. I am so thankful for this chance, and while I do have to write in French, which is a work in progress, I am excited for the opportunity.
So, my first article is up on the website, and I wanted to post the link here for those that are interested. It is written in French, but at the least you can see my beautiful photo (which will eventually be replaced with a better one, hard to believe I know) and see my name printed at the bottom. And for those ambitious ones out there, I imagine a quick Google translate will allow you to get the jist of the article. This first one is about Ultimate Frisbee in France; surprising I know, that I would write about Frisbee, but as it is relatively unknown here I figured it was a good starting point. Well hope you enjoy, and in the future a new article will be posted every Friday to the website. If you go to nationalgeographic.fr, then click on the link actualites, you will see the headline posted.
http://www.nationalgeographic.fr/actualite/un-americain-a-vannes-episode-1-lultimate/7911892/
Your friendly American-Brittany correspondent
In my haste to describe the past two weeks, I left out one major detail from my trip in Paris. While there I had the chance to meet with Francois Marot, the editor of National Geographic France. Many thanks to Ann Woolner for helping facilitate this rendez-vous. Monsieur Marot offered me the incredible opportunity to become the magazine's American correspondent in Brittany. This means that every week I will post a short article to the website, focusing on the many amazing cultural and intellectual facets of French society that I discover during my time here. I am so thankful for this chance, and while I do have to write in French, which is a work in progress, I am excited for the opportunity.
So, my first article is up on the website, and I wanted to post the link here for those that are interested. It is written in French, but at the least you can see my beautiful photo (which will eventually be replaced with a better one, hard to believe I know) and see my name printed at the bottom. And for those ambitious ones out there, I imagine a quick Google translate will allow you to get the jist of the article. This first one is about Ultimate Frisbee in France; surprising I know, that I would write about Frisbee, but as it is relatively unknown here I figured it was a good starting point. Well hope you enjoy, and in the future a new article will be posted every Friday to the website. If you go to nationalgeographic.fr, then click on the link actualites, you will see the headline posted.
http://www.nationalgeographic.fr/actualite/un-americain-a-vannes-episode-1-lultimate/7911892/
Your friendly American-Brittany correspondent
Back to School
Hello all,
For those of you following my blog, you may have noticed that there has been a longer break than usual between posts. I know you have been anxiously awaiting my return, and here I am ready to cure your misery and keep you waiting no longer. It has been an eventful two weeks for me, as I had my first French school vacation and used it go to some nearby attractions in Brittany as well as a four day excursion to Paris.
The beginning of my hard-earned holiday was a one day trip to L'Ile de Groix, an island accessible by ferry from the town of Lorient, which is a half-hour train ride from Vannes. So yours truly woke up at 5:30 am on a Saturday morning-shocking for those of you that know my sleeping talents-and caught the 6:30 train to Lorient. Though at the time I was seriously debating the merits of my decision to unravel myself from my cozy comforter, I can now say that this was one of the best decisions I have made since my arrival in France. The island was absolutely gorgeous; wonderful hiking and bike trails all over, soaring cliffs, crashing waves, and clear blue water. This kind of environment is one of my all-time favorites to see, as the coast here is so different than anything one finds in Georgia or Florida. Needless to say, I had way too much fun taking pictures and finding the inner photographer in me. After more than ten miles of hiking and several wrong turns, I made it back to my apartment exhausted but totally satisfied with my day.
The next big trip I took was to that city featured in the movie Ratatouille: Paris. Whereas my first trip was a solo adventure, this one was made with the company of two old friends, one from camp-Haley, and one from my previous study abroad experience in France-Abby. It was fantastic to see the city for a second time and travel with such good company; in addition to seeing the most popular sites-Notre Dame, the Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, and the Eiffel Tower-we also visited Montmartre. This area instantly became my favorite part of the city. It is famous for its art, as many of the world's most celebrated painters resided here at one point or another. It also houses Sacre Coeur, a beautiful church that provides a fantastic view of the city, as well as one street performer who can not only juggle a soccer ball in any way imaginable, but can do it while hanging like a monkey forty feet in the air from a street pole. And that is no exaggeration; I have pictures to prove it. I can also honestly say that the Eiffel Tower is tall. Perhaps that is the most obvious statement I will ever post in this blog, but the immense height of the tower cannot be understated when you are standing on the top. The soccer team that practiced below us resembled a game of FIFA, where the players are so tiny they hardly look real.
As if the memories of Paris were not enough, my hotel also felt compelled to leave me with one last parting souvenir of my vacation. They sent me on my way with my own collection of microscopic pets. These pets take care of themselves, and they always say hello every now and again just to make sure you don't forget about them. That's right, for those of you bewildered by this reference, that means they sent me home with bedbugs! What would a European experience be without these guys? So the last few days have seen a complete decontamination of myself and my apartment; I am talking an all out war, me and Francoise on one side, and an army of unseen beasts on the other. I am confident though that I will win, and your words of support will be much appreciated.
I also went with Francoise, my ally and teacher/mentor, to the largest used boat show in Europe on Monday. Sailboats, motorboats, kayaks, canoes, you name a boat, and it is there. Pick any kind of boat-related merchandise, or non boat-related merchandise for that matter, and it is for sale. Now, I am not much of a shopper, and I am not easily persuaded to spend money on clothing frivolously; but on this occasion, I did buy a new scarf and nearly splurged on a jacket. This time, it was Francoise who talked sense into me and persuaded me that a jacket that shows my belly button with arms raised into the air is probably not the best investment. So my hunt for a new winter jacket continues.
Finally, as I know this post is dragging on, I will quickly explain how today showed both the best and worst sides of my experience in France. On the one hand today was supposed to be my first day back at work after the holidays, but all of my classes were cancelled. Since I don't work Fridays, this means that I end up not having my first classes until Monday. However, on the flip side, none of this was planned. So I showed up at work today, ready for four different classes having prepared presentations for each of them. One by one, I discovered that none of my classes were happening today for various reasons. The common thread unifying these cancellations was a lack of communication to me, so that I had no idea until I arrived at school today. But understand, I am not complaining too much as I now have a four day weekend and no class until Monday.
Well that about does it for the first blog of my second month in France. I have now established a new blog record in length, and I hope you made it out to the end alive, and not quite as tired as me. Hope to post again soon, and until the next time, ciao
Tommy
For those of you following my blog, you may have noticed that there has been a longer break than usual between posts. I know you have been anxiously awaiting my return, and here I am ready to cure your misery and keep you waiting no longer. It has been an eventful two weeks for me, as I had my first French school vacation and used it go to some nearby attractions in Brittany as well as a four day excursion to Paris.
 |
| L'Ile de Groix |
The next big trip I took was to that city featured in the movie Ratatouille: Paris. Whereas my first trip was a solo adventure, this one was made with the company of two old friends, one from camp-Haley, and one from my previous study abroad experience in France-Abby. It was fantastic to see the city for a second time and travel with such good company; in addition to seeing the most popular sites-Notre Dame, the Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, and the Eiffel Tower-we also visited Montmartre. This area instantly became my favorite part of the city. It is famous for its art, as many of the world's most celebrated painters resided here at one point or another. It also houses Sacre Coeur, a beautiful church that provides a fantastic view of the city, as well as one street performer who can not only juggle a soccer ball in any way imaginable, but can do it while hanging like a monkey forty feet in the air from a street pole. And that is no exaggeration; I have pictures to prove it. I can also honestly say that the Eiffel Tower is tall. Perhaps that is the most obvious statement I will ever post in this blog, but the immense height of the tower cannot be understated when you are standing on the top. The soccer team that practiced below us resembled a game of FIFA, where the players are so tiny they hardly look real.
 |
| Notre Dame |
I also went with Francoise, my ally and teacher/mentor, to the largest used boat show in Europe on Monday. Sailboats, motorboats, kayaks, canoes, you name a boat, and it is there. Pick any kind of boat-related merchandise, or non boat-related merchandise for that matter, and it is for sale. Now, I am not much of a shopper, and I am not easily persuaded to spend money on clothing frivolously; but on this occasion, I did buy a new scarf and nearly splurged on a jacket. This time, it was Francoise who talked sense into me and persuaded me that a jacket that shows my belly button with arms raised into the air is probably not the best investment. So my hunt for a new winter jacket continues.
Finally, as I know this post is dragging on, I will quickly explain how today showed both the best and worst sides of my experience in France. On the one hand today was supposed to be my first day back at work after the holidays, but all of my classes were cancelled. Since I don't work Fridays, this means that I end up not having my first classes until Monday. However, on the flip side, none of this was planned. So I showed up at work today, ready for four different classes having prepared presentations for each of them. One by one, I discovered that none of my classes were happening today for various reasons. The common thread unifying these cancellations was a lack of communication to me, so that I had no idea until I arrived at school today. But understand, I am not complaining too much as I now have a four day weekend and no class until Monday.
Well that about does it for the first blog of my second month in France. I have now established a new blog record in length, and I hope you made it out to the end alive, and not quite as tired as me. Hope to post again soon, and until the next time, ciao
Tommy
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| My new ride |
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| Sacre Coeur |
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| See, I'm not lying-incredible soccer dude |
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| Eiffel 65 |
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