Excursion #2: Toulouse

Bonjour!

   Well, Friday was 3 weeks since I left home! It's crazy to think that one more week will be a month. I've never been away from home this long so it's a new thing for me. I've been doing pretty good so far though. I email my mom multiple times a day. I skype with my friends some during the week and I skype my family every weekend. 
   Thursday we went on our second excursion. We went to the city of Toulouse. This is were we flew into for our second flight when we originally came over. From Toulouse we took the bus to Ambialet. Needless to say, I hardly even remember the Toulouse airport. By that point we were all pretty exhausted from the flights. So thursday we got to spend time actually exploring Toulouse. Our main attractions were the Saint Raymond Museum and the martyrdom of Saturnin ( Saint Sernin's Basilica). 

 Saint Sernin's Basilica was massive. It was a site for pilgrimages and was seen as a  safe haven. The church was built as a marking place of the burial of Toulouse's first Bishop. He was tied to a bull and the bull drug him out the city gates. The rope eventually broke and a church was built where his body laid. There is a road that leads to the church. The name of the road translates to the road of the bull. It was built in the form of the transept and like most medieval churches, it is oriented to the east, ready for Christ's return. It's made of both brick and stone, creating a strong support system. The inside has an arched ceiling and 1/4 circle arches on the sides for support.

  We also spent a lot of time in the museum. 

    After learning about the history of Toulouse we were given some free time to explore ourselves and shop. For lunch I actually had a cheeseburger and fries, very American but I couldn't help it....it smelt so good! We went into a bunch of shops and I found myself in a very cute and quaint little store. I bought a scarf that I fell in love with. You'll see it in the pictures I put up from the play which I wore it to. Later I ended up bringing Hannah back to the same store. She bought a scarf and I bought some more things as well. 
  Friday we watched a movie in art class. It was the movie "Cyrano de Bergerac." It's an old french film. It was also made into an American film called Roxanne which we watched last week. We watched the french version with subtitles so we were able to understand it. We watched the film so we would be able to understand the plot when at the theater later that night.  We went into Albi and saw the play "Cyrano de Bergerac." It was so amazing to see a french play. Although I couldn't understand all the words, I did know the plot and their language is just so beautiful to hear. We all decided to dress up for the play and it was really fun to get all fancied up and go out together. 

                              (Hannah, Allison, Megha, Devon, Jen, Jessica, Me, Kayla)

               

 (Hannah and I)

 

(My roommate, Devon, and I)

    There's my new scarf! After the play we played card games and had a good time. Yesterday I spent most of the time uploading pictures, and relaxing while listening to music. I got to skype with my brother, Adam. He is student teaching at Indiana High School right now so we talked about that some along with other stuff. A lot of times I miss him just being goofy. I miss little things from home like that. Like him always jumping out from behind doors to scare me, listening to him play the guitar, and just talking to him about things. I miss my mom's back rubs and hugs before bed. I miss "playing" with the horses with my dad. This weekend my mom went with my Nana and Pappap to NC to see my sister. They were helping my sister do some shopping for her wedding this summer. I wish I could've been there to see her trying dresses on and all the fun girl stuff. I haven't been able to talk to my sister much since I've been here. She works a lot and with the time change, it makes it difficult. I hope that I'll get to skype with her and catch up soon...
   Last night we watched Hercules after supper. I forgot how much I love that movie. I remember my friend Kelsey loved to sing "I Wont Say I'm in Love" that Meg sings in the movie. After the movie I worked on my art project before going to bed.
   This week I also got a package from home! My mom sent some of the things i wasn't able to fit in my suitcase, along with peanut butter (which they don't have over here)!! 

   Today I'm hoping to get a lot of work done and then go for a walk to relax and explore! It won't be too long until we're traveling to Barcelona so i'm really looking forward to that! 
Have a great Sunday everyone!

Au revoir!

Amy Morgan






 

Every Day is an Adventure

Bonjour!
   
   This weekend was pretty laid back. Us health majors did a lot of studying. We have our first anatomy exam friday. I gotta start out strong! The beginning of the week went along with the normal schedule of classes.
   This morning we got up at 8 and did insanity (a workout program). It felt good to get up earlier and start the day out with a workout. We're hopefully gonna to keep doing it. We have Sophie's class at 11 then french after lunch. After french we have Eric the elder's class because tomorrow we're going to Toulouse with him for our excursion. That means new pictures to come!
    Earlier in the week we had an interesting dinner. Joe, one of the boys on the trip had never really ate fruit before. He has only eaten one grape and a piece on an orange in his lifetime. So the guys had the idea to blindfold him, and have him samples all the different fruit we had. I have to admit, it was pretty funny. Joe ended up really liking some of the fruit too!

   Yesterday I spent most of my day studying but we did take a little break to go outside. Here's some pictures of me with the dogs <3

  
    They're so cute! Then after supper and some more studying we decided to go for a walk...in the dark, with barely any light. Yeah....we're smart. Wanna guess how far we made it? About 100 yards. Here's a picture of us starting out!

  Being that we're a group of girls, we got scared and sprinted back to the monastery. It all makes great memories. I can't wait to make a million more memories in the next 3 1/2 months!

Au Revoir! 

P.S. I also upload all of my photos to this link...
http://amyclevenger.kodakgallery.com/

Oh, Just Lovin Life

Bonjour!
Life just keeps getting better here in Ambialet. I absolutely love all the wonderful people I've gotten the chance to meet. For example, meet Hannah and Megha....

    They're my partners in crime over here, the kind of people that can make anything fun. Meet my roommate, Devon. 

    Devon and I will go to bed at 12 and then stay up talking til 3am. It's crazy how you can come into something like this barely knowing anyone, and yet in this short period of time, I now feel like I've known them for years. 
   Needless to say, I'm having a great time. Yesterday we had art class in the morning. Then for lunch we went to Nadine's and I had pasta. After Nadine's some of us went to Peter and Margret's.  They welcomed us into their home. Margret taught us some of the french church hymns, it was so neat to hear us singing them in french. Hannah got to play the guitar with Peter while we sang. She did an awesome job. We learned the translation and we practiced the songs so we'd feel more comfortable if we go to church. Margret then made us tea and we had cookies and cake to go with it! When it was time to leave we found Shaq (the dog) waiting for us outside. Then we headed back to the monastery...

   After super we goofed off some more. We got on a random chatting site online. We met a 15 yr old girl from Germany. She was upset and she told us it was because her boyfriend hit her and she showed us the huge bruise on her face. It was really sad. We talked to her for awhile and tried to help her or at least make her feel better. Her situation was really bad and the realization of it all had a big effect on us. I feel so blessed that I not only still have my parents, but that they love and support me through every decision I make. I have so many great people in my life between my siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and amazing friends as well. My support group is so large and now it stretches all over the world. 
   Speaking of my crazy family, I was using an app called blip.me last night to talk to some of them. My sister was using it and she happened to be with some of my cousins, uncle and aunt. They're the crazy fun ones that can always brighten your day. They're always being goofy and just having a good time, making the best out of life. Now I have these voice messages from them that i can listen to whenever I'm missing them or just need a pick me up. Sometimes it's the little things that mean the most <3 
  This morning we went to the store to get some supplies and now i have the rest of the day to study! Doesn't sound very exciting but I really need the study time. Plus it's kinda rainy out today, making it a good day to stay inside. If I get some work done I might start painting later. 
Sending Hugs and Kisses to those back home!
Au Revoir! 
Amy

Excursion #1: Cathédrale Ste-Cécile d'Albi

   Today we went on our first excursion with Eric, the elder. We went back into Albi which is where we have class on Mondays as well. Our main focus was on the Cathedral St. Cecilia. It's a massive cathedral that towers over the city. We described it as simple yet very detailed with the additions that had been completed about 2 centuries after it was originally built.

   Every little detail means something, and Eric knew all of it. This is the entrance.

This was on the opposite side to see when you are leaving the cathedral. It is supposed to be the wild man of the west. Eve was shown opposite of him representing lose women. It was to be seen as a warning when leaving the church.

    We took a break and went to find some lunch. We ended up eating at a place in the center of town. I had a poulet kabab which is a chicken kabab but it was a huge sandwich. It was soooo good. We're gonna have to go there often. We also got chocolate chip cookies and later nutella crepes! We went shopping after eating and i made my first purchases! I got a pleated blue skirt and a hat! The hat was a little expensive but i love it! Here is Hannah and I in front of the hat store and i have my new hat on!

  After our break we went inside the cathedral...

 

   Eric the elder, our professor, was able to tell us so much about the building. All the statues have symbolism and the whole building is just incredible. 

   After arriving back at the monastery, i took a nap before working on some things before supper. Now we're watching Good Will Hunting/working on art projects. I'm ready for the weekend!!!

Cordes- The City in the Clouds

Bonjour!

Yesterday we spent the morning in Cordes. It's a city that is literally as high up as the clouds.

 We had to walk up the streets which gave us shops and houses to look at.

We met a sweet old french man, who we named Sergio. He owned an antiques shop and he gave us all free french novels. His shop was really neat, there were things like old bikes, violins, radios, books, cameras, signs, lamps..etc. He was joking with us and singing and wanted all of us to sing him an American song. We sang happy birthday to Leah, being that it was her birthday. He loved and and sang it in french along with us. He had Tim get on one of his old bikes to try it out. Tim loves to joke around, so that's what this picture is....pretending to bike up the 70 degree hill.

   Whenever we made it to the top, we took some pictures at the lookout which is where the first picture was taken. We could see down on the surrounding cities. We went into some shops but not a lot were open. When we got back down to the bottom, we went into a store that had pastries and different drinks. I had a hot chocolate and a chocolate eclair. Delicious! 

   When we were all loaded back onto the bus we headed to the Albi rugby game!

Rugby is really intense, i had never watched it before. I'd describe as a mix between football and soccer and gladiators. Every 5 minutes the EMT's had to go out to wrap someone up and cover up the blood. The spectators were really into the game and it was funny to hear them shouting sayings like we yell in the U.S. in french. They would also sing and whenever they scored. During the warm up and around other places in France i hear a lot of American music. The cheerleaders for the game did a routine that had "We Found Love" by Rihanna in it along with other American songs.  Here are some more good rugby pictures!

They had cold beer or hot spiced wine to buy. Tim got us all the hot spiced wine and i was surprised at how good it was, we all really liked it. Eric told us that it's usually the wine, sugar, cinnamon and orange.

This is me and Megha trying the hot wine! 

Last night we just relaxed after the rugby game. The guys put football on the projector so we watched some of that too. We had all stayed up late the night before hanging out. Here's a group picture (of almost everyone) from that night.

That's 11/16 of us! We're all getting along really well and i love all of them already! 

   Today after lunch we started planning spring break! I'm going with Hannah, Megha, Allison, and Kayla. We're going to Ireland and Italy! So far we have our flight to Ireland booked along with where we are staying there. We're going to stay for 5 days including St. Patrick's day. Then we're going to Italy and we're meeting up with Joe, Robby, and Danny. We still have to book that flight and the flight home. We have an apartment picked out for the 8 of us to stay at in Rome, we just have to finalize it. I'm so excited! I feel like spring break is going to be here before i know it. Devon and Caleb were saying that for the traveling weekend we need to go to Croatia! I had never heard of it but it is really pretty. It has waterfalls and beaches... really relaxing. We'll see...it all seems so far away but it'll come fast. 

Tomorrow we start anatomy lab then we're going to Albi for lunch and french class. !

The other night my parents had to take my Grandpap into the ER and he ended up having to have his gallbladder out. It's a common procedure but that didn't stop me from worrying and it was the first time i wished i was home. He had the surgery yesterday and everything went well. The doctors said he was lucky they found it because he needed it taken out very badly. Sometimes it takes things like that to bring you back to reality. I'm very glad he's ok. Now nobody else get hurt or sick while i'm gone...please :)


I got to skype with my parents this afternoon again! Now it's time to study anatomy before going to bed.


Bonsoir!

The Cross

Bonjour!!

I'm loving France more and more everyday. 

   Last night we played the game Taboo until pretty late. We had some good laughs and for the word "vacation" Allison used the clue "study abroad is like this." So needless to say we're all having a great time. 
  This morning I worked on some anatomy and then we had lunch at Nadine's. I had the Croque Monsieur. It has ham and tons of cheese...

    After Nadine's Devon and I went on a hike up to the highest cross. 

   It was beautiful up there. You can see the monastery in the background. We also explored around some more and found some great lookout places. 

    We got a good workout while seeing some great sights. We walked back to the monastery the long way and I was happy to see that there is a horse at one of the houses below us!

 Yayy!!! :)
We also got some neat pictures in the town...

    When we got back to the monastery it was back to studying anatomy! After supper we all started working on our art projects. We have to present in the morning. Our artist is Jan Van Eyck. He was a realism painter that did a lot of religious paintings. 
   The project is taking forever. However, i believe that after the first one it'll get easier and easier. We have one every class on a different artist. 
   I'm ready for the weekend, yet i have a lot of anatomy left to study. It's hard to be in a beautiful country and make yourself sit in a room to study!
   Well that sums up my day!!


Bonsoir mes amis! (Good evening my friends)

Gettting back to work....

Bonjour mes amis!

I was able to skype with my family last night! We could catch up and it was great to be able to actually see their faces. My mom, dad, and Adam were all there to talk :) I could explain some of the things i do here better and they got to tell me about what's going on at home. I even got to see my dog, Bailey! Everytime i skype with them i'm going to be asking to see my puppy...just to make sure they haven't given him away yet. Here's us skyping!

   The skype snapshot quality apparently isn't great but you can see my wonderful family!! :)

I need to set up a time to skype my sister, Ashley too. 

   This morning was another rough one for me. I ended up staying up very late talking to my roommate, Devon. I didn't have class until 11am however, so i was ok. At 11 we met with Sophie to learn about the garden. Sophie speaks very broken english...she's trying to learn more. It makes it pretty hard to understand her but overall it went good. We learned about some history and how we are going to do a project in the garden in the last two months we're here. She also showed us some cool ways that the monastery operates in form of water drainage and composting. I would explain some of this myself except i'm not completely sure because it was so hard to understand. 

   After meeting with Sophie we had lunch. Today we had chicken cordon bleu for lunch along with the normal sides. It was really good, different than in the U.S. After lunch we met for french class....for 3 hours. It did go really fast however. Marie spoke french the whole time and it forced us to learn faster. I'm remembering a lot from high school but it's still hard with her accent and the time that has past since my french experience. We're all learning and it was a fun class. 

   For supper we had a zucchini dish that had cheese and maybe egg also? Not sure but it was very good. We also had lamb. I was willing and tried it. It wasn't bad except the piece i decided to try was very fatty. I'll stick with steak :) We all got on a nutella streak tonight also. We put it on bread or bananas or both. It's always good...

   Now we're watching a movie  that Dr. Rager (Larry) has for us. I'm going to attempt to study anatomy at the same time. Tomorrow is the day that we would normally go on excursions. Since we didn't have the class today that goes along with the excursions, we're just going on a hike in the morning. 9am. Should be fun! I'm excited to see around where i live and also get into shape!

   Reality has set in about anatomy. Trying to do anatomy while wanting to go outside or just chat with everyone is very hard. I'll have to get into a routine.

  Well movie time! i'll have more pictures tomorrow of the hike! Here is a good one to show where i actually live. 

That's it! On the tippy top of a hill. It's beautiful like i said...great view. 
Well time to watch the movie and do anatomy!
Bonsoir mes amis!

Exploration with Shaq, Jay-Z, and BoBo!

Bonjour!

   This morning we started our fine arts class. Gerald is our professor. He is such a sweet man and he's very interesting to listen to. He has a great love for the arts and art in history. I learned a lot about French art in high school, when Mrs. Gilmore taught us and we even got to paint our own replicas. However, because I must be still suffering from jet lag or just need to get on track with my sleeping schedule, this morning was rough. The class was three hours long. You lose our attention after about an hour and a half....at most. Everyone was getting pretty restless. From now on we will be split up into 2 groups and the time will be split as well. My group doesn't start until 11 which means i have time to sleep in and even get stuff done before class. We only have class until 12:30 which is when we eat lunch. Meals here are a lot different than the normal college lifestyle. We all eat together at a huge table, we eat slow and talk for a long time even after finishing our meal. It reminds me of sitting down for a meal at home, no rush at all. It's all so different here, relaxed. The common room is right down the hall from my room and that's where we all tend to go to hang out. We'll work on  homework, watch a movie, or just talk. We just go downstairs for meals or class. You'll be laying in bed and hear the dogs barking outside....feels homey. Yes! The dogs...we have three dogs here. They're names are Jay-Z, Shaq, and BoBo. They have all been rescued from a shelter through the years.

Meet Jay-Z -The Oldest

Meet Shaq-The Mature One

   Meet BoBo-The Baby (7 months)

   Today after lunch and working on anatomy, some of us decided to take a walk down through town. As we left the dogs followed and they walked with us the whole way. We ended up going almost 5 miles...we went down into town then took on of the roads that  led through the countryside. It was gorgeous, and a decent workout. The dogs were very playful....

We had lots of fun and took some pretty cool pictures too...

    When we got back we had supper along with ice cream which was delicious! Anything chocolate here is really rich and well...i love it! haha 
   I HAVE A SKYPE DATE WITH MY MOM IN TEN MINUTES!!!! Can't wait! I miss my family and it's only been 4ish days. Good thing they are keeping us busy. 
   Let's hope everything works and we can talk for a little before this girl needs to go to bed.
Tomorrow morning i'm working on anatomy and then Sophie is teaching us about the garden before lunch. After lunch we have french class again with Marie and Isabete. 
Well time to skype!


Au revoir!