Foreigners coming to visit, going to visit foreigners

To say the least, it's been an action-packed last couple of weeks for me. To say the MOST... I spose I have to write a blog now don't I?

Me and my current/3rd host mum Marie-Anne and her sister/my 2nd host mum/my couselor Catherine

 FIRSTLY! I moved host families for the last time and am living in a not-even-a-town a few minutes out of Loudun with Jade, fresh from her exchange in Karratha. So am speaking/hearing waaaaaay too much Australian.

Luggage pile for the last time... which is probably a good thing cos I think I'd need 2 cars to carry it all if I moved again.
I don't know what I'm going to do when I leave...

My best friend Anna from Australia is travelling around Europe at the moment, and she came and stayed with me for a week which was awesome.
We went to a games festival in Parthenay with my host brother Gildas and his friend which was really cool - there were all sorts of games, like old-fashioned wooden games, circus games/tricks, modern games like playstation etc.

The original air hockey - WITHOUT AIR!

Whack-the-walnut! The idea is to smash the walnut as it rolls down the
tube but you can't see it and can only whack ONCE - impossible.

MY FIRST SNAIL!!! Escargots are delicious!

Then another night we went to see a concert at...somewhere. It was Sinsemilia, a reggae band - I think I'm going to have to learn to love reggae, because it's all anyone ever listens to in France. Bob Marley is practically a god over here.

Sinsemilia - and then there were fireworks after they'd finished!

The neighbouring chateau - yes, our neighbours live in a chateau.

I showed Anna the countryside around my house and we went to Loudun too, a few days later. Oh yeah, that's right. My exchanger friend Sebastian (who was living in Sete, on the South coast of France) came to stay for 3 days too, while Anna was here! We basically went to visit the exchange students living near Tours most days, because it was the week that everyone went home... now everyone is GONE! I'M ALL ALONE!

In America! With an American! And two Australians pretending to be Americans!

Actually it was funny because Ingrid and Mariana (cos we all met Seb at Annecy and that's pretty much how every exchange student knows each other!) didn't know he was coming, so we SURPRISED THEM! Ingrid came and met us while we were having a spontaneous picnic and Seb hid behind a tree - SURPRISE!

Ingrid's surprised face!

 Then when Mariana arrived later in the day (this all happened in Tours), we were at the Cathedral. So Seb pretended to be a homeless person and when Mariana walked past he started chasing after her demanding money! But then his disguise sort of fell off and she recognised him, but it did freak her out which was hilarious!

Evil homeless Sebastian

Visiting little ol' Loudun

So that was a pretty great week, seeing my best friend who I hadn't seen for 7 months and also being able to say goodbye to Sebastian and all the other students... it's just so SAD! They're all GONE!

Next up - the return of Jade! Roadtripped up to Paris with my host mum and a couple of Jade's friends who were going to surprise her at the airport... but it didn't quite work out that way, as usual.
We were staying with Jade's great-aunty just out of Paris, so we left super early in the morning to get to Terminal 1 on time. I'd made a sign and everything! We found the gate she was meant to come out of, and waited... and waited... and waited... for 2 and a half hours!!!! I had to put up with listening to overexcited American tourists who had just flown in gabbling about "Fraince!"
We asked at the desk 3 times when her flight was meant to come in and the woman just said "yeah, yeah, it's this gate! Don't worry!" LIAR! It was at terminal TWO!!!!
So we jumped back in the car, went the most roundabout way possible (merci, roadworks) to get to the terminal. And Jade was just sitting there, waiting for us as she had been for 3 hours. Oops.
But hey, at least we found her in the end!

Tearful reunion :)

Slightly touristic stuff - visiting Sacre Coeur along with everyone else in Paris

We spent the 14th July (NATIONAL FRENCH HOLIDAY!) sightseeing in Paris. Literally, we went EVERYWHERE, MAN.

Crepes in Paris!

Stopped by a few famous places...

Unknown soldier under l'Arc de Triomph

l'Arc de Triomph

Bastille Day fireworks!!

La Tour Eiffel at night... ahh!

 The next day, we hit the road for Saint Malo but stopped at Chartres to see the MASSIVE and amazing church/cathedrale.

Chartres Cathedrale - it doesn't fit into my camera lens!

A hole in the stained glass

When we got to the road parallel to the coast, and I saw the French beach for the first time, my first words were (translated): "It's a bit disgusting, isn't it?" Marie-Anne and Jade practically DIED of laughter - but let's face it, the sand was actually rocks and the tiny amount of water that was there was GREY. It's just not what I'm used to! I didn't mean that all French beaches are REALLY disgusting, just... different. Plus it was the North, apparently the South is much better.

Eventually we got to Cancale, where we were staying with some family friends who used to live in Loudun (Anne-Marie and her daughter Caroline who is best friends with Jade, and all 3 of us are the same age). ANYWAY too much information, that is where we stayed for 5 days.

I FINALLY REACHED THE COAST!

Oyster farming

I also found out why the water is, um... never at the beach. The tide goes out completely in 6 hours, so you can see only wet sand for a few hundred metres, then 6 hours later it's back in and it seems like a normal beach again. Weird? But that's how the oyster and mussel farming works - the tide goes out and everyone scurries out to grab the oysters that have stuck onto the poles in the shallows of the beach. Maybe not every 6 hours though.

The town of Cancale

Spent most days walking the trails along the coast of Saint Malo, admiring the beaches (it was sunny!) and gorging ourselves on seafood every night. I'm probably a teenage prodigy now thanks to all the omega 3 and 6 I ate!

It was a pretty chilled out holiday, really - we walked around town in Saint Malo a few times because that's where all the shops are and I bought some souvenirs...

There are heaps of buskers in the town, with strange traditional instruments

At Saint Malo beach!

The battlements behind me in the photo enclose the centre of Saint Malo because it was protection against British invaders (or some other country, I'm not sure). To get to the beach, you have to climb a billion stairs and then go back down another billion to get to the other side! But it was a nice beach and there was even a wall creating an ocean swimming pool for when the tide was out, so people could still swim.

Sunbaking on top of the battlements, sharing space with cannons

The best idea ever? Bury an exercise ball in the sand and do flips off it!

The Alfred Hitchcock statue at the beach in Dinard, a town near Saint Malo

It's meeee! On a rock!

We went to a lot of the towns around Cancale and Saint Malo to see the beaches, the towns/shops and battlements/monuments. And ate seafood, of course!

The citadel (city inside the battlements) of Dinan

 Dinan was actually a GIGANTIC city but because of the hill (ohhh, the effort it took to climb that hill) and all the trees covering it up, you'd have no idea it was there. It surprised all of us when we got to the top of the battlements/wall and could actually see it all! So these 2 photos are the view from the highest point in the city.

The bridge and on the very left, there's a canal which we parked next to - ended up walking a few k's just to get here!

Another traditional-Breton-music busker, in Saint Malo on the way home from Dinan

Cancale foreshore seen from the jetty

Kouign Amann - traditional Breton gateau

Had a taste of this DELICIOUS Breton cake - it's basically caramel au beurre salé (salted butter, as in really smooth butter with big grains of salt in it which makes caramel, somehow - YUM) with some flour and an egg and milk etc. But it's crunchy on the outside and creamy in the middle. I wonder if Australian customs will let me bring some home? DOUBT IT.
Also had crepes with the famous caramel salé (salty caramel) of Bretagne nearly every night for dessert, but don't have any photos of them because I ATE THEM TOO QUICK! Why is French food so GOOD?!

Then we were off! Back down to Centre, goodbye beach!

Jade and Izis

On the way home we stopped at Nantes to pick up a kitten - the newest member of the family. One of my host brother's friends asked if we could look after her cat for a year while she studied abroad, on some tropical island I think.
So now we have an 8-month-old running around the house, terrified of everything. I've never known a cat so scared! But she's getting better, mostly because she thinks I'll keep feeding her ham. (That was a one-off, but now she likes me!)

MORE NEWS SOON, when I've recovered from writing this one!