I feel like so much has been happening lately and I havent had a chance to blog about it and then it becomes old news and then you never hear about it!!! So I’m going to try NOT to bore you but catch you up to snuff:
Monday: First day back from break. Mondays are actually my favorite day of the week this semester because I really like the classes I have on those days :) Vacation felt like it continued a little longer though because Emily and her roommate Kaysey were on break and so Emily went to visit her former host families in Grenoble for the weekend and on Monday night Kaysey came to Rennes! I took her to English night at an Irish pub in Rennes called O’Connells. English night is sometimes hit or miss but it ended up being really fun. We met some really cool people & spoke a lot of French :D
Tuesday: We woke up and I briefly showed Kaysey around the city before going to class and then she did her own thing during the day, wandering around. We got back together for a late lunch and then said goodbye because she was on her way to Nantes, via a carpooling social network (www.covoiturage.fr), where she was meeting up with Emily.
Wendesday: I went to class like usual on Wednesday and after my last class, I took a train to Nantes…I haven’t gotten up the courage to covoiturage yet. The train took me to Redon, where I had to switch to a bus that took me the rest of the way to Nantes…I think I heard someone mention that there was some sort of construction on the line to Nantes, which was why we took a bus. Anyway it was very strange and made me feel like I was on my way to a cross country meet that was really far away. Haha anyway, I got to Nantes and met up with Emily & Kaysey as well as Pascal. Pascal is the guy at whose place we couchsurfed. I feel like that was a strange sentence but I think you get the idea. They stayed there the night before and I just stayed there Wednesday night. We walked around the city, saw some crazy shiz and got some food before going back to Pascals.
Pascal had a really big apartment and so there was plenty of room for all of us. He invited us to go to a concert that he and some friends were going to that night and since we had nothing better to do, we agreed. Good thing too, because we had an awesome time!! The opening band was Henry’s Funeral Shoe, followed by SSM, and then the headliner was Radio Moscow. We were checking out the merch in the back between sets and started talking to Brennig, the drummer for Henry’s Funeral Shoe, and he was really cool. Hanging out with him totally made my night. Another thing that was pretty cool, is that I found out the band Radio Moscow is from IOWA. No joke. And it gets even better. Guess where they are from in Iowa?! AMES. actually Story City but apparently they associate with Ames because that’s what Brennig told me first before he remembered Story City. I didn’t want to be a creeper after the show and hunt them down but isn’t that crazy?! I randomly ended up at a concert in Nantes where a band from my hometown(ish) was performing. Crazayy.
Thursday: Kaysey wanted to make a big American breakfast for Pascal because he had been so nice, and so she made pancakes, bacon, eggs, and potatoes. All delicious, but after just one pancake I could barely move…I was so full!! yummy though. I missed my train (bus) back unfortunately, and so I had a few more hours with Emily and Kaysey in Nantes. We wandered around and explored but the main thing we did was go to Le Lieu Unique. If you’ve ever heard of Prince or Le petit écolier cookies, they are made by a brand called LU. These initials come from Lieu Unique, which is the name of their old factory. It was converted into a restaurant, cafe, librairie, boutique, hammam, and a space for “les spectacles et exhibitions.” Anyway it was freakin awesome.
Le Lieu Unique
detail
I got the bus back to Rennes at 16:00 and on the way I tried to write a poem about the wild mistletoe that is infesting and killing the trees in Bretagne but didn’t get far.
How is this the only non-blurry photo from the whole night?!
That night was Rich’s birthday and he had an enormous party (I think about 100 ppl were there, which meant no one could move in the apartment lol). It was really fun because there were so many different groups of people there. There were the English speakers, the Spanish and the French and probably some other more obscure languages represented as well but it was just a really fun time in general :) Everyone left for town around 00:15 because the last metro runs at about 00:30. This is where the night turned strange, but amusing :) We were all going to meet up at a club called L’espace, but we lost half the group and then found the other half right outside the club and apparently it was too expensive so we all sorta split up and went our separate ways. I was with a new friend that I had made that night called Rob and we ended up meeting a whole bunch of French people in a park at which point my other friend also named Rob joined us and then we went to the first Rob’s house (which is freakin awesome btw. He lives in a real house right off the main drag in Rennes and lives with 9 French ppl. Jealous much? Yeah, me too.) to warm up before the other Rob and I walked home. Whew! crazy night haha but really fun :) Sometimes the best experiences in France are when you just start talking to strangers.
Friday: I didn’t do too much on Friday (I don’t have any classes on Friday), but I met up with my friends Imogen, Maire and Barbara for lunch at this adorable tartine restaurant in the middle of town before shopping a little bit (no purchases for me though, shucks!). I saw a really cool pair of frames when Barbara went in to get some contact solution. They’re a light tortoiseshell color and they’re pretty square shaped but the coolest thing about them is that on the inside of the frames, they’re a lavenderish, purple-y color, so when I turn my head you can see a little hint of it…I’m super tempted to get them :D
Saturday: Today I really haven’t done much but recover from such a long week. I’ve been blogging a lot today and I’m hoping to meet up with some friends tonight. I’ve cleaned up my room a little bit, but I still have a little bit more to do, like usual ;)
I’ve been listening to Wet Sand by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Neutral Milk Hotel’s The King of Carrot Flowers Pt 1 repeatedly. It’s that kind of day…chilly and dreary. I’m sending out rays of love and sun to all of you! Bisous!
xxo
Tags: birthday party, breakfast, concert, couchsurfing, covoiturage, english night, Friends, glasses, henry's funeral shoe, le lieu unique, lunch, mechanical elephant, nantes, neutral milk hotel, pancakes, radio moscow, red hot chili peppers, Rennes, SSM, tartines, the king of carrot flowers pt 1, traveling, week in review, wet sand
annhyphencharlotte 
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