Amsterdam ... the last place we went unless you count driving through Belgium

So Amsterdam was the last place that I visited on my spring break unless you count getting off the bus in Belgium to get snacks, visiting Belgium. Audrey and I went on an awesome tour that wound around Amsterda's confusing straats (streets). It was a great tour detailing the history of the country, the city, its historical monuments, and other interesting factoids. The tour guide was adept at including interesting tidbits and maintained somewhat of a humerous commentary throughout various points in the tour. All in all it was a great way to see the majority of Amsterdam in an afternoon. We also explored Amsterdam on our own, going to the red light disrict, the Van Gogh museum, visiting a brown cafe, and walking by the plethora of coffee shops. If the US is considered the melting pot of the wetern hemisphere that Amsterdam is surely the melting pot of the eastern one.

It started in Napoli ....

Spring break, finally I was getting out of Angers. Haha! Napoli was the first stop on my itinerary and as a professor once told me it was home to the "best of everything and the worst of everything) an interesting mix of trash and treasures .... literally. Jess and I explored the city's National Archaeological Museum, one of its castles, and a great number of its (very confusing) twisting streets. And to think we only managed to get hopelessly lost a few times. It was there that I had probably the best pizza of my entire life. Recommended to us by our host Davide, the small family owned pizzeria (where ONLY Italian was spoken) boasted only a handful of tables and (in my opinion) had the best stone fire oven baked pizza ever! The pizza was so amazing I ate the entire thing in one sitting (it was quite a feat)! In the background you can see the main city of Napoli, the bay, and Mount Vesuvius.

L'Universite Catholique d'Ouest

Here are a few pictures of my school, or at least the prettiest part of my school. While many of the building are designed in this same style several (Batiment Bazin and the Science Building) are not as ... nice looking as the others. The Palais (the building below) is one of the oldest and most architecturally pleasing buildings on campus. Currently the Palais is under construction and is being restored and remodeled.

This is a small park in front of the Palais building along the avenue that leads up to it.

This is a rear view of the Palais and the entrance to the library.

This is a picture of the library. Although it does not look like much, the basement of the library is very cool. Extendin undreneath the Palais, the library's basement is filled with tunnels, skylights, and catacomb-esque study rooms. It has a very cool ambiance.

My House

I know that this post is a little overdue, but here are some pictures outside my house. The smaller house thing next to my house is really a shed - I think for the house that is next to us. The tree and the area around is is the neighbor's garden.

Musee des Beaux Arts - Angers

This past weekend Liz and I went to the Musee des Beaux Arts Angers. Much to our surprise and excitement we found out that the museums in Angers are free to students. How cool! So we spend several hours walking around and getting terribly lost in the art museum. Unfortunatly their signage is a bit lacking and consequently we never made it to the 3rd and 4th floors. But there is always next time ... All in all the museum was really neat. The permenant exhibit began with artifacts recovered from excavations in and around the main city of Angers. There were also artifacts from the chateau and the royal family that used to reside there. The remainder of the permanent exhibit was dedicated to various artists and time periods, including the modern one.

The temprary exhibit consisted of the busts and a few scultures done by the artist Auguste Rodin. He is a favorite sculpter of mine, and I hope to see the rest of his work someday. For now I was able to see some of his unfinished work, various busts, and some practice pieces.

This is one of the main galleries that houses the largest paintings in the museum. The interesting thing about this picture however is not the art on the walls. If you notice, next to Elizabeth on the wall is a flat screen TV. On the TV you may be able to vaguely see the woman. When I first saw this I though wow that is a really lifelike sculpture - then she moved! Yeah I was freaked out too. It turns out it is a black and white video recording of a woman who stands in different poses in this room. It was a little abstract/weird for me.

These next several painting are done by a modern artist named Isabelle Levenez. I might not understand them, but they are definitely interesting.

This region is famous for its apples and pears. This exhibit commemorates the long and ancient history of those fruits in the region.

If you notice, this painting has a curtain next to it. The painting is only uncovered for a couple months each year, as a tribute to the artist that the painting is of. For the rest of the year it is hid behind a curtain.

These are some of Auguste Rodin's busts.

This one is fairly famous and is entitled "Man with a broken nose"

This is one of Rodin's unfinished sculptures

This is a painting of the french artist Auguste Rodin

The Saturday Market

This past Saturday Liz and I visited one of the local markets at the Jardin du Mail. In the parking lot next to the jardin (garden) there were a bunch of stands for fresh fruit, vegetables, some baked goods, meat, and cheese. This region is well known for its apples and pears, but there were also a ton of oranges. Then along the street across from the parking lot, vendors set up stands for flowers, clothing, bread, wine, etc, etc. It was a pretty large market all in all, and I cannot wait to see the ones that are held in the summer. The above picture is of me in front of the fountain at the jardin. I ended up buying some grapes because they were about 4 euro cheaper than at the store. I have unfortunately discovered that grapes here are outrageously expensive.

Another Acceptance!

Today I heard back from the University of Missouri Columbia. They have accepted me into their geography masters program and are offering me both an assistantship and a fellowship! YEAH! Sorry, I am a little bit excited. I just wanted to let you all know. I am still waiting to hear back from the University of Oregon and George Washington University, but will let you know what happens.

Completely Unrelated

Completely unrelated to the central purpose of this blog, yet still applicable to its author is a new bit of news. Recently I received an acceptance letter from Miami University (in Ohio). This is the first letter/email of its kind and I am really excited to already be hearing from some of my potential graduate schools. I will not know for another month whether I receive funding. I now wait in anticipation for other news from the schools that I have applied to. I just wanted to share my happiness and excitement with all of you!

The Laundromat

No matter how many clothes I brought (or bought), I eventually had to accept the fact that I would have to do laundry. Which meant that I needed to take my first ever trip to the laundromat. Before I could do laundry I had to purchase laundry detergent and/or softener. That was an exciting trip in and of itself. I finally picked some up after Liz and I debated the french translation for detergent and softener, compared prices, sizes, brands, and packaging. After about a good 15 minutes of contemplating the available choices, I settled on a detergent softener combo that came in prepackaged packs and was relatively inexpensive compared to the other choices. As for the laundromat trip itself, it was an interesting and expensive experience. Below is a picture of Liz in one of the huge dryers, Liz and I hanging out, the prices for the washers (3.80 euro for a small wash) and dryers (1 euro per 11 minutes), and finally me, reading the local events book while waiting for my clothes to dry. And, I would have you note that it takes about 3 sets of 11 minutes dry cycles to get a decent amount of laundry dry. In the end though, I was left with a large pile of freshly washed clothes and good smelling dry clothes.

The dryers are the huge ones in the back, and the washing machines are located on the sides of the room. In this picture you can see the door of one of the washers on the right.

The First Week

Classes started this week and they definitely got off to an interesting start. However after several days of negotiations I finally managed to gain entrance into the level that I needed. I am planning on taking on four classes although that is still 18 hours of class. I am required to take 9 hours of a general "Langue" or language class and then 3 3 hour electives which are as follows; Grammer, Art History, and an Everday French Socio-cultural class. Campus is fairly small with only about six building packed into a small triangular plot. The Palais as it is called it currently being restored and is one of the "prettier" buildings on campus (pictures are forthcoming). Although it ended up sunny today, the bout of springish weather we experianced when we arrived had now made itself scarce. Yesterday it actually started snowing (which I now understand is the norm here for this time of year), but the snow does not really stick. Other than that it tends to be cloudy and chilly in the morning and evening and warm and sunny in the afternoons.

Le Chateau et mon Ville; Angers

Here are some photos of major places around Angers. I will try and post a few more macro scale ones soon. But here are a few to start you off.




This is a side view of the cathedral within the chateau


The chateau is also home to a collection of famous Apocolypse tapestries

The cathedral is currently under restoration

This is part of the chateau in Angers. The chateau is one of the oldest walled "homes" still preserved in fairly good condition. The outer wall is surrounded by a mote and inside are several buildings and the cathedral.

This is the river called La Maine that runs near the center of Angers

This is one of the dominant cathedrals that can be seen above the skyline of the city

This is a photo of a dias inside the cathedral

The cathedral ...

This is outside the cathdral looking towards the river. The centre ville or the towns center is located near the river. On the outskirts are newer sections of the town where more modern apartment buildings have sprung up.

Mont St. Michel

Me in a cool little alcove along the wall the surrounds Mont St. Michel



An alter, pretty self explanatory




A courtyard in the monestary




(close to far away) Audrey, Rueben, Erica, Cheney

The main chapel in the cathedral at the top of Mont St. Michel and a part of the monestary

Here are Liz, Audrey, and I standing in front of a door on an outside courtyard at the Monestary in Mont St. Michel

This is moi

This is another scene from the monestary

This is a picture of the town and the streets that wind up towards the monestary

This is a picture of the whole of Mont St. Michel. You can see the monestary at the very top and the village that is built up around it. On the outside there is a wall that holds back the waters from the bay. The bay looks out into the Atlantic Ocean. There is a road that is built up and leads out to the monestary, but the parking lots are situated on either side. The island is closed off at night and in the morning because it becomes completely surrounded by water; the tide raises the water levels 7 meters.