Shelly in France!

Spring Break! 3/12/09-3/25/09

2009-04-11T00:45:00.000-07:00

Notre-Dame de la Dreche 3/3/09

2009-04-11T00:06:00.000-07:00

Jess, Val, & I, it was quite windy.

Tim and Gerry on ground level. They didn't walk up the 300 steps.

Eric and I with the awesome scenery in the background.

All 13 of us at the top!
View from the top of the tower.

Top of the tower, Colin, Eric, and can't see the other 2 to know who they are.
Colin trying to fly or do the Titanic pose...

Val looking out one of the windows along the step stairway.

Tim even took part in drawing/spelling with the rocks.
This is a view on ground level.
Valerie is working on spelling out her name in rocks so when she goes to the top she can see it from the tower.
The tower was huge! and took forever to climb up to the top. Kind of dangerous too, because the steps were just carved rock and there was no lighting other than natural light. Some spots were pitch black. I counted the step but that was so long ago I don't remember how many. (I'm writing this post 3/11/09) I think it was 300 steps.

Us arriving and Colin looks so thrilled. It is now like a public park.
Here is an out look castle built for the protections of Albi, France. During the crusades Albi was known for the Albigensian. They were crusaders. This is what left of the tower. It was really cool.

Musee De La Mine (Coal Mining Museum) 3/3/09

2009-04-10T23:18:00.000-07:00

Jess & Val in a distance at the coal mine site. Lot of stipped land around.
I forgot to add this in earlier, but its me petting this really puffy cat! (also proof to Colin of me petting it)- it wouldn't let Colin pet it earlier but would let me come up to it:) haha I miss my cats

This was sure a long day, but first we started our Tuesdays normally with French class then eat in Albi's College Cafe. Next we ventured to a nearby Coal Mine in Cagnac, France. AGAIN this blog thing is weird so you need to scroll to the end of this blog and read going up to follow. So, see you at the bottom of this blog:)
We had some time in the gift shop... were supose to be spelling out YMCA. Colin wouldn't join.
Ending our tour, Tim putting his hat back on the rack.

Machine that would dig into the earth for coal. Its huge and we can't even imagine how noisy it would have been.
I'm making sure they stay up.
Main supports.

Oh! this is the cool bike that could transport people to and from places. You can see there are pedals and it is on a wire line system to follow paths.

In the train cart to go for a ride, although theres one problem... the train doesn't move! (Our guide was pretty funny, he had them convinced it would move)
Box cars of coal on a track. Our guide said they would use the track and horses to pull carts back and forth. Once the horses came down into the mine they would usually never come out. Due to the lack of sun light some would lose their eyesight. (what the guide said)

Own & Ian before they go down into the mine. (in the elevator)
Own volunteered so he got to demonstrate one of the miners jobs. Operating the controls.

Here is the proper way to use a come-along. Not many of the signs were in words, mostly pictures because not everyone knew French in this settlement.
I think this is were they would check in and out before going down into the mine. Some sort of air compression system.
I took a picture of a picture they had posted of some coal miners. Look like hard work.
Big warning sign about "NO SMOKING"! This is the same sign that the actual coal miners read too.
When we began the tour of the Mine we all had to wear hard hats. They were kinda gross and smelled and I had too much hair to fit under one while Jess's head was really small to fit in the hats. I picked blue of course.
Looks like Eric is posing, but I didn't mean for him to be in the center of the photo.
Big tank thing that I don't know what it is, but I'm sure it was used for something at one time.
Here is the biggest piece of Coal I've ever seen and of course I had to get a picture with it!

Here is the Cool Bus. Tim rented it to help transport all of us around. Eric, Colin, Jess, Val, & I got to ride in it w/Tim the drive.

Wine Tasting Nite!

2009-03-08T13:22:00.000-07:00

Here is my groups picture of us and our wine in a bottle crate. They can hold up to 600 bottles per crate.
Geoffrey on the left, is here pouring out to everyone the next wine to taste, he was in my group.

This is the botte/kind that my group chose, again the pink/dry.
We have some white wine here to taste.
Jess and Val with the Brens English school teacher.
The wine in my glass is the one that my group chosen. It was Pink/Dry wine.

This is the group of all of us, including the Brens students.

Friday night we invited the Brens Wine school student over and tried the wines that we picked out Thursday from the wineries we toured and visited. Here is our glasses and spit buckets.

PARIS:TAKE 1

2009-03-04T12:05:00.000-08:00

Well hope you enjoyed looking at my PARIS: TAKE 1 Blog, In April I will have a TAKE 2, so keep posted! RECOMMENDATION: IF YOUR JUST STARTING TO READ MY PARIS TAKE 1 BLOG, SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM THEN READ AND SCROLL UP TO FOLLOW IT IN ORDER:) THANK YOU.
This makes me look really big, but I think it looks really cool.
I'm not good at taking my own picture:)
Day 8: Thursday was a free day for us, which was pretty relaxing for us because we were busy all week visiting stuff. So, we made another stop at the eiffel tower. Sat on a bench in a park nearby and watched people, it was fun. We then headed toward the Latin Quarter.

Here and above is some of his sculptures.
Here is an advertisment for his art, he seems to be pretty popular in Paris.
This is one of his drawings, it shows what it is like to be in one of the camps.
Next, we walked to Schlomo Salinger's home. Once we met up with him we walked to his art storage area. This guy is 80 years, in good health, lived a terrible teenage life, but he was the happiest man I'd ever met. He told us before we left to make sure we enjoy life and live a humane life. He was in a Holacaust camp from the age of 13 to 17 years. He said he missed death five times. At his camp they would hold hanging ceremony's were the soldiers would pick so many jew and hang them. He said he was on the list 3 times to be hung, but either they ran out of rope to hang him or did not do hangings that day for some reason. He would of died if a Russian soldier wouldn't of found him once they had control over the Germans. The german soldiers thought he was dead already on the ground, so they didn't shoot him, but he was somehow still alive. The Russian soldier put him in a hospital and he had amnesia for seven years where he forgot everything about the Holocaust. But during the seventh year all his memories came back and that is when he started sculpting and painting. They resemble what the people went through. He mentioned that he had to watch his father die by being gassed to death. Very terrible memories.
Here is the "gates of hell"

Dan the man and the thinker. This is his thinking pose... (I don't understand it either)

Leah...
Jess..
Colin...
Here is Eric's thinking pose. (we all got our picture with it of course!)
Then the famous "thinker" statue is this one. I must not get out much, b/c I didn't really know about this statue, but all the other kids in our group recognized it. Valerie is posing below with it.
Am I close to the pose?? :) Well I can tell you for sure that I was thinking, maybe not as hard as the statue, but pretty close:)
Here is the original "THINKER"
Day 7: We went to the Auguste Rodin Musuem- which is of his life time and he's well-known for his sculpture of the "thinker". Then we met an amazing man! His name was Schlomo Salinger, he was a holocaust survivor, so he is currently 80 years old and is an artist. He said he somehow survived five deaths, like at his camp... or I'll wait till I get to that picture to explain.
This is Val's pretending to be asleep pose, I'm just trying not to laugh. Sally: today we ate at the same place we did last summer:) It helped that I knew where it was, b/c we only had a little time to find food before a more detailed tour.
Then Jess...
Here is the train ride back... he was the first one to conk out.

The gardens. French gardens are very different than American style. The French are particular I guess you can say, just take a look at my pictures and you'll see, they put cement in between the plants. (awkward)
I was trying to take a picture of us as we were walking by the mirror, but it didn't turn out so well. Colin does a better job at this.
"The Hall of Mirrors"

Day 6: We rode a train to Versailles to see the palace. Gerry wasn't able to go with us, so it was just Dan and us. Somehow we made it there and back:) That took up most of the day, then once we were done checking it out, Colin, Jess, Val. and I headed back and went to a movie for the night. It was the OR. Original version, so it was in english and just had french subtitles. Felt like we were in America for a change.
I believe this is the tomb of Napolean, ( I forget which one) but the top is made out of gold.

Here is the Moulin Rouge, pretty popular place.
Aw... heres the good one of me and the basilica, although the tip of it is missing.

Do you think he made it to the next poll???.... well he did, this is what Ian does in his free time. jk
This is a good one, it looks like Dan is taking a picture of Colins but! haha
Right up at the entrance.
I was trying to get me and it in the picture, well.. I did, although I'm just covering it.
I was hoping for more of the city to show than me just standing there:)
Me, Jess, & Val with Paris in the background.

Looking down from the Basilica, some famous french films were made here.
Doesn't is look neat??
The lovely city of Paris.
Eric waving to the camera.
Then here is a side angle picture of the Sacre Coeur.
Here is a cool house located right at the top of the stairs, I just like how it looks.
Gerry is slowly coming up the stairs, they sure were a work-out going up.
Here is the way we went up to it, the back way.
Day 5: We went to the Sacre Coeur Basilica. Here is a side view, so you probably do not recognize it yet. But it was built for the people, kind of in forgiveness. This areas people were killed under another power and the new power wanted to do something for them in return for all the horrible things that has happened to them. I'll have to check this information to make sure I'm correct, but I'm pretty sure it is. You cannot take pictures of the inside so you cannot really have an opinon of it, but some people in Paris hate the architecture of it and some hate it, so it really depends on the individual's taste.
Very beautiful inside.

Day 4: Which was Sunday so we toured all around the Latin quarter, first we stopped at the Sainte Chapelle, it was another church decorated beautifully of stained glass, the pictures I took don't look as good as it did in first hand. Then we went to mass at the Notre Dame de Paris. That was really cool, we attended the international service, so a little part of it was in English. I felt like I was in a church service in the 1800's, they played the huge organ that is built into the church and when you sang it was neat because of how high the ceilings are and its gothic arched style.
This picture was taken for you Sally! Since you seem to love bridges.

I just thought this looked really cool.
A distant picture of the Louvre.

You can tell that it was a train station by the structure, and the famous clock. Some one told me that this train station was one of the stations that Hitler used to ship the jews to the camps. That could be false data, but their is a good chance it's true.
An example of the new trend, the outdoors.
This one just looked so real!
Val & Colin are just very excited to be here.
Name of the painter: Jean-Francais Millet- 1875
This picture shows what we think, two potato farmers, husband and wife who are morning for their children. The painting shows three graves dug, and we assume it is for their children, but we do not know why or how they died. It was very interesting, it reminds me of the picture above Grandma Cummings TV. When you read this mom, you'll have to check.
Here is Gerry explaining the meaning of this picture.

DAY 3: We went to the Musee d'Orsay: it was a train station and was transformed into a museum. I visited it last summer so I don't have many pictures this time to show. But this museum mainly consists of 19th century paintings, and shows a new trend of painting and that was the paintings of outdoor seens. They slowly became popular, the nature paintings.

Me, Val, & Jess.
Here is me, Colin, Val, & Jess. The whole group went to a discotheque.
And from looking across the le seine river.
And another...
Here is another part of the Louvre.
What Jess does in her free time.
What Val does in her free time.
Part of the Louvre! Its so big that I could not fit it in one picture!

Here is one of the biggest pictures on the Louvre.

Me & Mona.
" The Mona Lisa!"
I don't really know who the statue is of, but I got a picture with him last June so I thought I would again:)

Just to show how huge the halls were. We were headed to the Mona Lisa.
Owen, Mr. Toast, & Lindsay.
Eric, Staci, Cat, and Leah waiting also.
Here is Colin, Valerie, & Jess waiting for our tickets to get in.
After the Eiffel tower we walked to one of Gerry's favorite places to eat,which was good and we had the rest of the day free! So we walked around, got use to the metro and went out later in the night. DAY 2 the next day we went to the Louvre: a landmark and the world's largest museum. Above is a picture of the inside: the upside down pyramid.
Here shows the construction of the eiffel tower, the purpose of it when being built wasn't to be the symbol of Paris, actually the parisians didn't like it at first, they had to get use to it.
Here is just picture of a busy street in Paris. I like how the building angel between the roads, their really cool.
We stopped by at the opera house, pretty cool building.

Here is the eiffel tower, above is a couple of pictures for you to see. Shows how huge it is!!
From the same location we could see this bridge which is suppose to resemble love (I think) and it is popular due to the shape of the arc underneath, it nearly breaks.

Here is our teacher Gerry and me. He is a very intelligent man, he gave us all the tours and taught us a lot of history about Paris.
Along the way to the eiffel tower, we stopped and saw the Le Pont Mirabeau. Yes, it looks like the statue of liberty but is not the one in New York. This is a replica of it. The French gave us the huge Statue of Liberty and this one is from the fellow americans that live in Paris as a gift of thanks. It is located beside one of the bridges across the seine river.
Here is me with the le seine river with the eiffel tower in the background.

The day one we toured Paris around the Seine river. Can you guess what this is?? Well you'll be seeing many pictures of it through out this blog. The eiffel tower!
Okay day one in Paris!! This is really funny, our first time using the metro, well for some, some of us already used it before, but when the metro comes you kind of need to hurry to get on, like you don't wait around and if theirs not much room you just have to push or squeeze in. Well five of the group didn't make it on at time! lol As we leave I see five of them starring at us, on the cement. It was no big deal, they would just catch the next one. But they learned fast :) The picture above is Jessica getting of the later metro, she was one of the left behinds :) Later in the week she has a metro situation too! lol.
Later the day we arrived after supper we went out to walk around and to learn our surrondings. We were really close to a metro and could walk to shops. We checked out the movie theaters, we would look for VO listed on the movies. VO stands for original version, most of the movies are made in America so their all gona be in english and will just have french subtitles. We didn't watch any that night. Above is a cool advertisment. This cow seems to be pretty famous. This add is located in a metro. I was teaching some of the group about the cow breeds, so this was an example of a holstein for them:)
Above is me hiding in my closet waiting for the others to come in our room so I can pop out and scare them. Some how I fitted in that closet, they were pretty cool. I did scare some of the guys I think.
Here is Lindsay coming in through the door.
Next is our lovely outside window view.
Below is the layout of our room. A bunk-bed with two other beds. I got the top bunk of course. The matresses are as small as they look in the picture. (not to compfy, but they worked)

Okay, now for my nine days in Paris! Sorry to take so long to write this blog;). We flew into Paris Wednesday Feb. 11th. The flight was quick and easy, fun for me. Then we flew back to Toulouse Friday Feb. 20th. The Wednesday we got there was a slow day. We didn't do too much other than get settled into our rooms at the fiap. Below or maybe its above is some pictures of the fiap. The fiap is a international college dorm. Their were people from spain, great britain, & from other parts of france there while we stayed there.

Our Fourth Excursion!

2009-02-09T13:46:00.000-08:00

On this excursion we had a big day planned ahead of us. We went to Toulouse, France. First we walked to the Saint-Senin Basicilica it was a lovely Romanesque styled church. Then we went to the church of ****, after that we got a little tour of toulouse by walking to one of the universities. We then ate at the cafeteria in the university, yum yum (not). After that we took the bus to tour Air Bus!! Then we had to hurry to the Musee de la Resistance and de la Deportation. Where we met up with some Dickenson College students. Next, we walked over to the students group house for some wine and snacks. Now, for supper they were suppose to go with us and help us navigate around Toulouse... because Toulouse is a pretty big city. But they kind of just left us, although one girl did stay. So, we managed to find our way around, ate at a good italien restuarant, ate a crepe for dessert, then left for the bus station. We used the pubilc bus transportation to get us back to Albi, then Jerry, Tim, & Dan car pooled us back to Ambialet. What a day...a long day:)

The Beginning of Shelly & Eric's Kitchen!! -Galettes

2009-02-08T13:45:00.000-08:00

Yum!!! it turned out great, Tim was our first taste tester and he gave it the ok. Then we let everyone else try it. They all loved it! Keep updated for our next kitchen time.
Here is me going for a bite...
BEAUTIFUL! If you look close, it says E & S. With Eric's lovely decorating around it.
Taa Daaa! Well it look a bit dark, but not burnt. Lets get a close up.
If you've never seen a vanilla bean before, well this is it! We used one in the galette, it was pretty neat.
Off it goes into the oven for 40 Minutes. Try converting Fahrenheit to Celsius in your head.... it got tricky for us.
Here is the awesome bakers!!
Me and the galette
Here is Eric and the galette l
This is a galette! It was just put together and now is ready for the oven. Eric & I put many hours into it, so were excited to see how it turns out:)

Driving Europe Style:)

2009-02-08T13:33:00.000-08:00

Okay, this is what happens when Ian or Matt or Eric gets ahold of my camera.
Yep, that is me driving in Europe! And in Europe they drive standard, so I'm driving a standard car. (Dan's car he lease for the semester here). As you can see, he is giving a thumbs up to my driving! (It was different because of everything in metric, so instead of mph its kmph. )
Here is just another picture of proof of my driving.
Some of my passengers were Matt & Eric.
Ian & Matt

Tour of AIR BUS!!

2009-02-06T13:19:00.000-08:00

This is of their working station, you can see a unpainted plane in front, (the green thing), this is where all of the planes are put together. They can fit three in at a time. This is the SECOND largest building in the world. But, biggest in Europe. Boeing has the largest building in the world of course.
Here is a Balooga Plane that they use to help transport parts to Toulouse.

Here is a picture of an A380! Well its really a picture of a postcard, but thats the closest I could get. We were not allowed cameras on the tour.
Okay Air Bus is Europe's largest Air Plane Company. They build planes and of course is America's main competitor of Boeing. But, we got to tour Air Bus!! In 2007 they came out with the A380!! It is a huge double decker commercial plane, that maybe we'll get to ride some day. Right now their in the process of making them. Which takes I think close to a year, is what they said. But in Toulouse is located the main office! This Wednesday we did our excursion in Toulouse (its pretty close to Albi). But here is us entering, I was so excited! I do need to suggest, that now I need to go tour Boeing, since I am an American and it is the largest American air plane company... (good gift idea, just need to get to Seattle some how:)
Here is me by the sign pretending to fly, it was also windy there as you can see.
Here is me and the A380, isn't it huge?!! That was the entry way, too bad it wasn't the real thing, but this is the closest I could get to one, I'm right by the A.

Here is the largest buiding in Europe!! Although second largest in the World. Boeing has the largest! We went in there later to see the actual building of the A380!
It says "Air France Industries" also passed this building on way.
When arriving to Air Bus we were passing all these big buildings, so I don't know what they are. I just know they all take part in making the planes.

SNOW DAY!!!

2009-02-06T12:32:00.000-08:00

Less than a hour later!! The missing snow man!! (I guess snow melts that fast over here.
But, we had a fun time enjoying the snow, we had a short snowball fight. I forgot to make a snow angel though, rumors have it that we might get snow this Saturday... so maybe I'll have my chance then:) After making FrosTY, we all enjoyed a cup of Hot Chocolate, or in french it is chaude chocolat. (which it is made with dark choc.)
Val, Jess, Me, & Leah- makers of FrosTY!
Of course we made a snow man!! His name is FrosTY. He looked better in person.
Here is the le tarn river that flows around us. Lookin pretty brown after this snow.
This picture was taken from the monastery balcony.
Looking down into the valley.

Isn't it so pretty, we had our own monastery winter wonderland. As you can see, the snow stuck to the trees very well.

Well, not quite a snow day, but we did not have to go to Albi for French. Look at all the snow!

My First Rugby Game!!

2009-02-01T06:13:00.000-08:00

Cat, Jess, Val, Collin, & Leah.
Chelsea, Eric, Me, & Staci.
As of what I learned, Rugby is a mixture of football and soccer. Or in my view, a lot guys fighting over a rugby ball with out protection gear.
Here is Albi's mascot. He liked our section the most because we cheered with him.
Staci, Cat, Jess, & Val.

Albi vs. ?

Cooking in the Kitchen!

2009-02-01T06:06:00.001-08:00

For this cooking time with Gerry, we made mustard rabbit, baked core apples, tomato stuff, ratatouille, and turnips. It was all very good!

First we have our teacher Gerry, in his "hot stuff" apron and cute cooking hat.

Our Third Excursion: Carcassonne!

2009-02-01T05:17:00.000-08:00

Proof of how Mr. Toast wears out one of his owners. (Owen)- Bus ride home
Another entry way.
Of course the castle had a moot too!
The girls of the group.

This is the name of the Basilica.
It was gothic style. and you can tell by looking at the shapes of the windows or doorways. Like this window has a point to it.

Next we went to see the Basilica.
Chelsea and I had our own little table. I order chicken and fries. Which it came with a salad and dessert. The meal was very good.

We took a break from being a crusader and decided to eat.
It used to be open Eric said, until people would try to commit suicide and jump in it.
Once we actually got into the city, we came across a huge well/hole where they would get their water.

They had towers to keep watch for their safety.
Then if the crusaders got into the city, they had to fight hard to actually get into the castle. Eric said that they would set up tents to prevent pitch from getting on them and start digging to get a tunnel underneath the wall. Then they would get a way into the castle.
Here is a sneak peak of Mr. Toast with his owners Lindsay & Owen. (Mr. Toast is in Lindsay's hand)
As you look at the top of the rock structure, you can see holes, well this is where the knights/protectors of the city would shoot their arrows from toward the invaders. At some places they would dump "pitch" on the invaders. Pitch is like a sap, and it would be boiling hot!

Eric, our great teacher.

There is me and the door way.
Here we have an entrance that used to have huge doors that would be shut for safety. Then the crusaders would have to knock them down to get into the city. But as they were doing that, they would have to defend themselves from the flying arrows from above.
Up, up, & up.
Let the walk begin!
This is the way/side of the city we entered. Its so cool!

Me walking on the same bridge as the crusaders.
Here is the bridge that we will be walking on to get to the city, plus this is the same way the crusaders evaded the city of Carcassonne.
This is the city of Carcassonne, a view from the road. You can see that it has two forts built around it.

The weekend w/out Electricity...

2009-02-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

Me on my laptop, good thing the hotel had wireless internet, the coat became part of my daily wardrobe even in the room, and sleeping, once evening began. (due to no heat)

Also, when your bored you can jump on your bed... just kidding, we had to stand on my bed to get to our natural cooling fridgerator for yogurt.

My diet while in the room consisted of yogurt and apples... I'm holding I think like my third one of the day to eat.
How to refrigerate your dairy products when you have to fridge... well we stuck them out on the window ledge. It worked.
What to do when bored in a hotel... take a picture of yourself taking a picture...
Here is the heating unit that would not work! Yes, we had no heat in our hotel room.

Leah trying to keep warm and stay busy on her laptop.
Cat and Staci on their laptops, and mine charging.
A picture of our hotel. Should of gotten a picture in the day light.
I thought this was funny, it is a toothbrush dispenser in McDonald's bathroom. I think for 1 Euro
McDonald's thank you and see you soon sign.
For dinner we ate at McDonalds! It was different than the normal.
Below is Cat, Staci, and me

Above is Jess playing with an umbrella.

If you turn your head side-ways you can see the sign of the hotel we stayed in. (lets say it wasn't the greatest, but it got us through the weekend until Monday for class. Oh and the bottom sign that says Merci, et a bientot! meaning Thank you and see you soon!!

Below, is Eric, Val, & Leah, all looking so thrilled to go to this hotel.

Here is us waiting for our ride to Albi. Our luggage for the weekend is packed and ready to go.

Crepes

2009-01-31T23:54:00.000-08:00

Here is Leah, Lindsay, Owen, & me with our crepes.
Me and my first crepe for the year! yum. (w/nutella)

Our Second Excursion: Conques

2009-01-29T04:33:00.000-08:00

This sign says," Conque (the town) the big site of France, welcome.

Here is a wood statue of the Apostle James and me.
Eric and me with the pretty mountains as our background. (too bad it wasn't fall)

Picture of part of the town. It was very pretty in structure.
Me introducing you to the common bath tub. It was very large.
Here is where only monks/priests could hang out, it is attached to the cathedral, and the big tub is where they bathed.

Above every main door, tells a story out of pictures, because people back then could not all read.

Here is Eric our teaching, showing and explaining reasons for why the cathedral was structured the way it is.
Here is some town houses, that people still live in during the summer.
The way we walked into the town.
Me & my umbrella, it rained lightly all day.

Here is a closer view of the cathedral in the town.
Here is the town of Conques, at you can see the town is on a ledge off in the mountains. Very pretty scenery here. If you look in the middle of the town, you can see the cathedral. This cathedral location was very important because it is where many pilgrimage rs went. They came here to pray to relics. Relics were a very popular thing at this time. People would pray to the relics for help, (and then the church would collect money from the people who saw the relics). So it was a money maker for the church too. If their prayers were answered they would travel all the way back to the relics to pray and thank.

Obama... to be continued when encounter better internet

2009-01-25T13:27:00.000-08:00

Olga (Gerry's wife) and their son Daniel:)
Here is Gerry and his 7 month old son Daniel. (isn't he adorable!)
Eric, Leah, Lindsay, & Owen sitting on the couch watching Obama.
Here is us trying to watch the inauguration of Obama. ( the internet did not want to cooperate)
After watching the inauguration, we got ready for a party! (Gerry invited some...

When bored...

2009-01-25T13:23:00.000-08:00

Here is Ian & Matt, and Eric would switch in with them through out the games.

We play ping-pong! Jess and I totally killed the guys. We won 5 out of 5 games!

Our First Excursion: Saint Bertrand de Comminges

2009-01-22T02:49:00.000-08:00

Picture of us checking it out. Well that is all for our first excursion, if you want to see better or more pictures check out some of the other students blogs.
Here is a gathering area for the monks or town people, connected to the cathedral.
Here is a peak of the area where the monks and royalty sat for church services.
Entrance to the cathedral.
This inside of it, which was very pretty with all the stained glass.
Here is the front of the Saint Bertrand de Comminges. It was so tall, that I did not even fit the top of it in the picture.
Next we actually went into the old Roman City.
Here is Eric, our teacher, talking/teaching us about this lovely Roman spa/bath.
Another picture of the spa/bath.

Okay, this does not look much different from the market, but it is located across the street from the market. Can you guess what it is??? It used to be a spa/bath. It is very large in size when you see it in person. There is little and big rooms in this spa. It also once had a gym. This was more the social hall/building where everyone went to socialize and clean up. Rumor has it that King Herald (the one that beheaded John the Baptiste) and his Queen once used this spa.
Another picture of the Roman Market.
Okay, this is not just stone and land, it used to be a large Roman market. The laid stones show where the walls used to be to divide the different products being sold. It also used to be a covered market. Not much left of it, but its still pretty cool.
Here is another picture of the pretty donkeys. Maybe they have them for us to take pictures of. The back-right donkey looks like its sunbathing.
On our way to the next Roman structure, we passed by some donkeys. I do not think they are actually used for anything, more just for pleasure. (by means, HAY-BURNER):)
Here is Chelsea standing by an (empty) sarcophagus in the oldest church.
Here is me in the oldest church in France!!
Next, we went to one of the oldest churchs in France! It was built in the late 5th century-early 6th Century. This is what remains of it, but it still shows the different rooms and location.
Basilique St. Just is the name of this church.
Here is a better picture of the whole church. Their was a cemetery fenced in around it too.
This is one of the earliest Christian symbols called the chiroh. This church had it engraved in the stone of the church.
Before we went to the Saint Bertrand de Comminges Cathedral, we stopped at this church. Sadly, it was locked, so we were not able to go inside, but in this picture Eric is teaching us what the entrance means. Ex. the half circle, pictures of the people.
Here is a picture of the Saint Bertrand de Comminges Cathedral. We went there 14th Janvier.

Party of the week!

2009-01-22T00:04:00.000-08:00

Another picture of them playing the music. Oh, and the drum that Jim is holding is our "house drum" now. He donated it to us. (Eric & Ian use if mainly)
Leah, Me, & Chelsea. (If your wondering why I have my coat on, (mother) it is because of how cold it is in that room. Someways their is no heat.)
Here is Eric, Matt, Ian, Cat, Staci, & Jim in the back, at the party.
Now Tim is singing with the music!
Next we have Tim enjoying the music.
Next we have Dan, our computer teacher and behind him our computer tech. guy. He came to set up our printer system and joined us for the party. Then, Dan is the guy who saved my computer from the virus. Good thing he was here or my computer probably would not be working well to even write this blog. Aren't you guys lucky:)
This is Peter & Margaret, our neighbors. Margaret will be our choir director and Peter will be our music by playing the guitar. They came for dinner and the party. (very nice people)
Here is Chuck Olsen, his son, and Jim playing for us. They are faculty from Saint Francis, who stopped by at the monastery while they where visiting Europe. They are very good musicians.

French Class

2009-01-21T13:48:00.000-08:00

Bonjour, this is Gerry's house where we did have french class. Looks kind of small, don't you think?? Well it was, 14 of us (including Dan) crowded into Gerry's office room for class. Although I do have to say, this is a pretty cute house.

Tour of Monastery

2009-01-16T13:09:00.000-08:00

This is are lovely desk area, which most of my junk covers, and the heater. And that's all I have for the tour so far, look for more when blog continues.
Here is a side ways view looking in to Leah and I's room. (could not figure out how to flip it around) but as you can see, we have bunk-bed. I have the top, her the bottom, and then our lovely big window which opens too!

Here is the room we lounge in or have classes. The couches are quite comfy.

Fist week continued...

2009-01-16T12:30:00.001-08:00

Isn't she just the cutest! Everyone loves Blanchette.
And lastly, this is Brun. He is also part of the family, he loves to go on walks with us, and snatch hot dogs out of are hands. (talking from previous experiences)
Next member of the family is Jay-Z! He is pretty, Tim adopted him over Christmas break. In this photo, he is watching Blanchette the goat.
This is are pet goat (chevre in french) Blanchette! A pygmy goat. Isn't she cute, little on the chubby side, but does a very good weed whacking job. She is part of the family here.
Just another picture of my residence.
Sorry bout the darkness, but the sun was just not cooperating with me. But this is the church, it is over a thousand years old! (and it sure feels like it) During mass, we freezed to death. Tim said to dress warm and we kept all layers on during the whole service. Their is no heat, and it is all stone. Thank goodness the chairs were wood.
This is the name of the church that is connected to the monastery. We went to Mass, Sunday morning, (Janvier 11th). It was quite interesting. It was all in French, except Dan read a Bible verse to everyone (which was in English). Margret & Peter are neighbors want to get a choir together. So, next week will start practices on Friday :) That will be quite interesting.

One week here

2009-01-16T08:18:00.000-08:00

This is the back of the monastery. And to the right/down in the grassy area is where Blanchette resides. ( the pet goat/ grass mower)
Here is a better picture to show the front of the monastery.
This picture is the front of the monastery. The second floor windows is where are rooms are located.
Above is a picture of where I reside. It is a monastery, ( but I found out no monks live here any more) sorry Ellen... wont get any pictures this semester;)

Okay, to catch everyone up. Here is some photos of where I live now. AMBIALET. The picture above is the town/more like a village, of Ambialet. Tim said their is a total of 32 people living in Ambialet now. ( Some people have summer houses located here, so it is more populated in the summer)

Ride here...

2009-01-15T02:10:00.000-08:00

Flying here was not too bad. Took all day, but I like to fly, so it did not bug me:) Now, about the time change, (6 hours ahead) that was the hardest of all to adjust to. I was the only one awake on the ride to Ambialet, France from Toulouse Airport. There was a lot of agriculture around. So far I have not seen any John Deere equipment. Although I did see a Case I-H dealership! and I have proof. Far on the left on the picture you can see the Case-in.

Figuring out my blog

2009-01-15T01:52:00.000-08:00

Testing my blog...