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.

Ma Chambre

The bathroom ...


More of the bathroom ...


The kitchen ...

My bed ... and desk number 1 ...

And my desk number 1, my dresser, and desk number 2