Week 20 & 21: 01/26 – 02/09
Welcome to /miel/, a written account of my life and what my days hold here in France. Thank you for coming to read today.
Yes, I missed a week. I know, I know, I’m sure you were lying in wait and were so utterly disappointed when you didn’t get to read the blog… well, I am here now to give you all the details you have been dying for!
Week 20: 01/26 – 02/02
Friday (January 27), I went to Compiegne with Nicole for the afternoon as she explored the Chateau de Compiegne for the first time. It was my third time in the Chateau, and I just love going and reliving some of my favorite parts of French history and learning more and more every time, along with seeing it through a first timer’s eyes. It was a pretty nice day and after we were done at the Chateau, we met up with a few other American assistants for an afternoon tea.
Saturday, Nicole and I went to Lille for the day! It was a wonderfully sunny day, and relatively warm (compared to the brisk and humid cold that usually encompasses Lille, since it’s very North). Our first stop was at the house of Charles de Gaulle, who was the last President of the Fourth Republic in France, and a General as well. This was a cool experience, because the house was laid out like the family would be returning any moment, rather than looking at everything through glass like in a traditional museum. We also were able to see a temporary exposition that explained the Bourgeoisie dining habits, traditions, and rules. You could read all about the societal rules that surrounded dining as an upper class family, as well as the strict rules concerning setting the table with the right glasses, plates, silverware, extra things, and making sure it was all in the right order too.
We ventured on to the Palace of Beautiful Arts, where I could fulfill a bucket list item and TOUCH A MARBLE SCULPTURE. It was a small exposition about our senses outside of sight, and you could touch marble, bronze, and wood sculptures.
The museum was TOTALLY awesome! We saw art from all ages, with my favorite being a wooden sculpture of Marie-Madeleine by George Lacombe.
For lunch, we were recommended a restaurant called “Mother”, where the beer was good and the burgers were horrible. I had a NEIPA and it was strong, hoppy, and full of pineapple flavors. The burger was severely undercooked (even for a Montana girl), and there was nothing special about it. It definitely did not compare to the great burger of Great Falls, Montana…
Finally, we got a waffle and a sweet treat from Méert, a famous pastry shop, and BOY were they delicious! We were able to see Lille at dusk and it was beautiful. The sun was just setting, and the buildings were being touched by the warm sun and it was breathtaking. See pictures HERE and you can see the incredible sunset.
Also, we were too antsy to wait the whole 2 hour train ride to eat our fancy pastries, so we had the wonderful dichotomy between our bougie pastries and the kind of dirty, empty, train… and the pastries were some of the best pastries that we had EVER tasted. Mine was a lemon custard with light meringue, small marshmallows, and a hard cookie base. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!
Wednesday, we celebrated the birthday of one of our colleagues, by going to lunch and then having some cake at her house. I am still learning the social rules with how long it takes to have an outing here. For instance, we sat down at the restaurant at 12:15 pm and I didn’t get back to my house until 4:30 pm! It was of course great banter and good tasting food, but over 4 hours…
I had coffee with another colleague on Friday in Compiegne, because I spend most of my free time in Compiegne (not really, but I spend a lot of time there)! I had a peppermint mocha that I had been craving for months, and it was possibly the best peppermint mocha I have ever tasted in my life. Good conversation, delicious coffee and yummy crepes.
Week 21: 02/02 – 02/09
We received one of Nicole’s family friends from Brazil on Thursday night, Bruna, as well as receiving two other assistants on Saturday night from Argentina and Spain. Saturday, all 5 of us went to Paris for the day to explore Versailles! If you don’t know much about Versailles, here is a quick, collapsed version of this extraordinary piece of history.
Versailles is part of my favorite French history, so getting to explore this massive chateau as well as some of the gardens was incredible. It is difficult to put into words how grandiose this chateau was, and to know the history behind it and what had occurred around Versailles… it was breathtaking. Here is a video that I was shown every semester in university French classes, that depicts how life was like in Versailles. It’s short, comical, and no French, so enjoy!
I was able to see super classic, famous paintings, such as the portrait painting of Louis XIV and the Coronation of Napoleon inside the Palace. I think these two paintings were my favorite part of the entire palace, as I had studied them within Art and French classes at university and finally saw them in person. They were vibrant, enormous, and, again, breathtaking.
We came back and had a wonderful dinner at our apartment. Nationalities represented at our apartment for dinner: American, Argentinian, Spanish, Brazilian. The mixture of languages (English, Spanish (Latin and Spain), Portuguese, French, and a little Italian) was so interesting to just sit back and see us all conversing, having good conversation, and simultaneously mixing all of the words together. It was the highlight of my weekend.
Sunday, we went back to Paris to see a few museums, since almost all museums are free in France the first Sunday of every month. We started at the Modern Art Museum, which was great! I was very pleased with the array of mediums, art styles, and representation. We then went to have lunch at the smallest café I have eaten in since being here. There was one woman serving, with about 30 people inside, and the entire space was the size of my bedroom in Montana (which is not oversized by any means). Per the usual Paris style, the service was poor, the server couldn’t care less about our experience being outstanding, and she chose to speak poor English with us rather than us speaking pretty good French with her… Also per typical Paris style, despite the poor environment, the food was DELICIOUS. We had pizza, fries and coffee and it all hit the spot!
This week has been pretty uneventful, although there have been more strikes this week, so a lot of our trains have been impacted. For instance, I didn’t work on Tuesday because two of my teachers had decided to strike, and my other teacher couldn’t get to school because all the trains had been cancelled. The strike is still on going about pension reform and years to work before retirement. I don’t know quite enough to speak on the topic, so if you’re so interested, Google is your best friend.
Tuesday was Linda’s birthday (my Spanish roommate, remember?), so Nicole and I surprised her with a dinner at our house, with all of our colleagues on Monday night. We had pizza, charcuterie, wine, bread, and a delicious caramelized lemon dressing salad that Nicole made. She was pleasantly surprised! Then Nicole and I took Linda out for a birthday cup of tea on Tuesday afternoon at the tea salon, and had good conversation and reflection about the past year.
Thursday night, last night, I went out to dinner with colleagues in Compiegne (of course), and it was very pleasant! I had a delicious “French Spritz” with St Germain, Prosecco and fizzy water, along with a fresh ravioli made with black truffles. It was AMAZING! The conversation was good, though all in French, and I learned all the “tea” (gossip). I also am continually learning and testing my boundaries with going out, because in a loud restaurant, with music, with a larger group all talking amongst each other, along with the surrounding tables having their own conversations – it’s exhausting! I have to focus super hard, and if I blank out for even 30 seconds, I miss so much of the conversation. I expect this to get easier, and it has gotten easier since October, but it is still mentally draining. At the end of the night, I had a raspberry tiramisu and a little espresso.
This weekend is dedicated to preparing for my trip with Katie, who gets here in THREE DAYS! I am officially on vacation and it feels so good! I only have 7 weeks of work left and then I am done with this contract! The end is so near, which is equally exciting and sad as well. But we’ll save that for another time.
I’m not sure if I’ll post next week or not, as I will be in Lausanne, Switzerland with my BESTIE, so it’ll be a surprise to us all.
TL:DR
High: Hanging out with a great group of friends from diverse languages, cultures and experiences.
High #2: Finishing this week and BEING ON VACATION! Also, the sun is OUT in Noyon!
Low: Being impacted by the public transportation strikes… these are times I wish I had a personal car.
Low #2: Still learning how to not become so fatigued with long French conversations and gatherings.
New French Word:
Fleur du suveau – elderflower
Lesson(s) Learned:
1. The French are really always on strike… but there are odd rules with the right to strike. For example, teachers can only strike on Tuesdays or Thursdays.
2. Black truffle is just SO GOOD, every single time.
3. Take time to look at train trajectories, and understand where you’re going.
4. It’s common for people to say “I invite(d) you to dinner”, and that means they are going to pay for you, and there’s no if’s, and’s or but’s about it.
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Until next week, I wish you all well. I miss you all incredibly much. Please send me a message, an email, some snail mail, whatever suits you best.
Shout out to Kari and Fred Haas for the Yellowstone postcard, thank you!
All the love,
Abigail
Below: The Mary Madeleine sculpture from the Palais de Beaux Arts in Paris
Thanks for the great news Abigail! You are seeing all the things. I love your heart for history and stories of your current home. It's very interesting to hear you talk about how mentally draining it is to have long conversations in French, I don't think most people think about that or appreciate it, because most of us (well us Americans, anyway) are not bi-lingual. I am waiting for when you have your AHA moment when that no longer happens. So Excited for Katie Lou!!!! All the love, Mom