Break, Take One

Alright, off we go. A brief recap of my Christmas break.

The first weekend of vacation I went to Caen to hang out with my friends there for a few days. Nothing too crazy, but fun as always. It was a weekend filled with Star Ac., food, shopping, and my favorite fellow assistants, Jen, Karina, and Natalie. Sunday I headed back to Carentan early because I was invited to a Christmas party at the house of an American couple I met through the Anglophones club. A crazy mix of Brits, Frenchies, and randoms-all in all a good time. Got to see their house, which is fantastic, partake in a little Christmas spirit, and talk with a nice French couple who ended up sitting next to me.

Tuesday I was up early and off to Bretagne, or Brittany as we say in English. I had visited some of Bretagne when I came to France in high school, and I decided to head back while I had some free time. I started out in Saint Malo, which is a beautiful seaside town on the English Channel. The oldest part of the city, Intra Muros (inner walls) is surrounded by ramparts, and I found it to be gorgeous and quite cozy, even in December. Since I was traveling alone, I spent the first day on my own walking on the beach, around the ramparts, and in town. It was fun and relaxing, and the way the town was decorated really put me in the Christmas spirit. When I went back to the hostel that night, I met my roommate, Dulce, who is from Mexico. She recently finished high school and decided to come spend a year in France, and was also traveling in Bretagne for the first week of her break. After talking, we realized that we had both planned on heading to a nearby city, Dinan, the next day, so we decided to go together.

Dinan ended up being even more charming than I had expected. I decided to go there because of the things I had heard about it from Michele, un francais who works as an academic advisor at UM. It is supposedly the best preserved medieval city in Bretagne, and it didn't disappoint. The houses were...quaint (I can't think of a better word), the streets curvy and narrow, and there were artisans every 50 feet or so. Dulce and I had a lot of fun wandering around, peering in windows, and admiring the architecture. We once had to stop and laugh at a new house that was being built, in the same crooked, old looking style as the medieval buildings around it. I guess you can't have something modern in the middle of all the oldness. We ended our day with a delicious Breton galette de ble noir (kind of like a crepe, but savory, and with darker flour) and then headed back to Saint Malo.

Thursday morning Dulce and I parted ways-she left for Mt. St. Michel, and I was off to Rennes for the day. Rennes was not was I had expected-bigger and grittier than I would have liked. I was expecting the old world charm of St. Malo and Dinan, and in a city the size of Rennes, I guess it's just not possible. It had its nice parts, but I still prefer the other two cities. The shopping, however, was a bit better in Rennes, so I spent my time there wandering in and out of various shops, enjoying the local color, and taking in a bit of Christmas spirit. All in all, I had a wonderful time in Bretagne, and it reminded me why I wanted to return to this part of France. Highly recommended to anyone who's looking to glimpse a bit of French life beyond Paris.

P.S. I just remembered-I was reading a bit of Natalie's journal (courtesy of a link on Karina's site) and she wrote "no, I still don't live in Paris. There ARE other cities in France." Thank you, Natalie. It always amazes me how I can repeatedly tell people "I live in Normandy" or "I studied in Grenoble" and the question immediately following always goes something like "So how you live in Paris?" or "How do you like living in Paris?" There is more, much more, to France than Paris. Asking me about Paris is like asking me about New York when I tell you I live in Michigan. Just in case you were wondering. :)