Kaitlyn’s arrival and vacation in Italy

As of December 5, Kaitlyn has been in France! After finishing up her student teaching in Wooster, Kaitlyn decided to come and visit me for five weeks. This is her first time to Europe (and in my book, her first real time out of the country…Niagara Falls is in a different league). Anyways, we have been enjoying our time together, getting ready for Christmas, spending time walking around Tours, trying to visit chateaux (we have successfully visited Langeais), and much more….but, the highlight of our time together has been our week long trip to Italy.

Kaitlyn and I left for Italy on December 17 (after successfully completing all my necessary paperwork/formalities with immigration at OFII). Our trip included stops in Rome, Florence, and Pisa. On 12/17, we traveled from Tours to Paris Beauvais (a regional airport outside of Paris) and eventually to Rome….where we spent our first few days. This was my second trip to Rome so I had the chance to revisit some things, as well as see a lot of new and different sites/museums/etc.

DAY ONE: ROME

We arrived in Rome very early Friday morning (around 12:30AM). We were worried that we were going to get in and not get to our hotel in time…since some European hotels close the front desk after midnight. Nevertheless, we made it to our hotel (Hotel Tempi). The hotel was really cute, offered free breakfast (good job Kaitlyn), and not far from the train station in Rome.

Our exploring did not start right way though. We rested and woke up around 9AM to start our first day of sightseeing in “The Eternal City”. After showering we headed down for breakfast (which was quite interesting…a selection of rolls, deli meats/cheese, cereal, and coffee drinks). Regardless, it was food and saved us a lot of money in the long run!

Kaitlyn and I purchased a “ROMA PASS” while in Rome. The passes cost us 25 Euros each and got us free admission into our first two museums/sites in Rome, reduced admission into every museum/site thereafter, and free transportation on Rome’s subway system. It was very worth it!

We started our first day of exploration in Rome by heading to the center of Rome via (1) Santa Maria Maggiore a beautiful church not far from the colosseum, (2) the Colonna Triana a column documenting one of many Roman battles, (3) the Monumeto a Vittorio Emnuelle II a gorgeous white building standing about a quarter of a mile from the Colosseum, and (4) Do-Do a restaurant were Kaitlyn ate some delicious pasta and I ate yummy lasagna. After lunch, we headed to the Colosseum…here I finally realized how peaceful and non-touristy the wintertime is in Italy! Last time I came to Rome with my sister, we were swarmed with vendors trying to sell us something, people dressed as gladiators trying to get pictures with us so they could have our money, and lines that would last for at least an hour…but NOT NOW! It was wonderful! Day one concluded with a visit to the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Museo Nazionale Romano, and the Spanish Steps.

DAY TWO: ROME

On our second day in Rome, Kaitlyn and I visited the Vatican (including: Saint Peter’s Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, and the Vatican Museums). It was an absolutely beautiful day in Rome! There were amazing blue skies and the weather could nto have been more perfect. We had looked at the weather forecast for Italy before we left and it said RAIN, RAIN, and RAIN….so we were excited to not see a cloud in the sky. Our day ended with some delicious gelato (Kaitlyn’s first real taste of Italian ice cream) and coffee at the Piazza del Popolo.

DAY THREE: ROME

I think that our third day in Rome was my favorite. We went to the Castel Sant’Angelo an old castle/fort that guarded the city; it was amazing! We climbed to the top of the castle and had gorgeous views of St. Peter’s Basilica, as well as the rest of Rome. The last time I was in Rome, my sister and I did not have the chance to go into the castle…so this visit was very exciting to me. Another highlight of my day was going to a restaurant called 00100…it was mentioned in the NY Times travel section (“36 hours in Rome”). Kaitlyn and I got pizza and a fried rice ball….all of which were so good! We ended the day with a visit to another museum (Museo Nazionale Romano).

DAY FOUR: ROME-FLORENCE

We picked the perfect day to travel from Rome to Florence. If I learned anything from my last trip to Italy it was that things are closed on Mondays… So, with this being said, Kaitlyn and I decided that Monday would be the perfect day to make the train ride from “The Eternal City” to “The Renaissance Capital”.  We left Rome midday and took a long-train (4-hours…we lost 2-hours in Florence, but saved us 50 Euros). When we arrived in Florence, we checked into our hotel and immediately began to explore the city…which was covered in SNOW. First we headed out to find a brush for Kaitlyn…she “lost” hers in Rome (it was later found in her suitcase…), and then we had dinner at what was my favorite restaurant in Italy during this visit. Kaitlyn and I ate at La Grotta Guelfa. I chose a fixed menu that included: a glass of wine, water, an Italian espresso, a crustini sampler (white beans, tomatoes, pate, mushrooms), cheese ravioli with a tomato sauce and peas, chicken scaloppini with mushrooms,  and a piece of cake with this delicious chocolate layer! Kaitlyn went for something a little lighter…she had a glass of wine and pasta with carbonara sauce. After dinner we just walked around Florence and saw the city lit up for Christmas.

DAY FIVE: FLORENCE

When we woke up on Tuesday for our first official day of exploring in Florence the sky was hazy and the ground was still slippery from the snow/ice combination. Nevertheless, we headed to the Piazzale Michelangelo where we had gorgeous views of Florence…though slightly hazy. We also visited the San Miniato al Monte a gorgeous green and white church that sits in the hills overlooking Florence. Again, we were so lucky to be in Florence when there was a tourist-low…we could only imagine how packed these two sites would have been during the late summer months! We descended from the hills of Florence slowly…making a snowman along the way…and headed to a restaurant recommend by The Cleveland Plain Dealer. Oliandolo is about two blocks from the Duomo (Florence’s main church) and changes it’s menu daily. I had a tart-like/quiche-like dish that had a layer of pasta in it…very tasty and interesting. Kaitlyn had a salad with tuna, AMAZING cheese, green beans, and some other stuff… It was then gelato time before we ascended into Giotto’s bell tower, went to the Uffizi galleries, and thought about having dinner at Za-Za (a restaurant that two of my friends—Heather and Jenny—said was a must go to place).  

DAY SIX: FLORENCE

On our third day in Florence we headed to see Michelangelo’s David, the Santa Maria Novella and Santa Croce churches, and the Plazzo Vecchio a fortress-like townhall turned into a museum.

DAY SEVEN: FLORENCE-PISA-PARIS-(TOURS)

We left Florence on 12/23 with the intention of being home in Tours late that night (1AM on 12/24)… Kaitlyn and I left Florence around 11AM to head to Pisa where we would be flying out of to get to Paris. While in Pisa we made a stop at the Leaning Tower of Pisa…because that is what you do in Pisa! It was pretty cool to see, but not as tall as I had imagined it would be. It was, however, a gorgeous day (probably 55-60 degrees). We spent about 3-4 hours in Pisa before heading to the airport where both Kaitlyn and I sat biting our nails constantly calculating if we would have enough time from our landing in Paris Beauvais (9PM) to get into the center of Paris to get to Gare Austerlitz for our train (10:52PM) to Tours.

In the end, we did not make our train to Tours…we spent the night in Paris. We found a hotel around 1AM and slept till 5AM. We spent about 25 Euros/hour for our hotel room/bed. We finally got back to Tours at about 10AM on Christmas Eve…with enough time to get groceries for our Christmas Eve/Day dinner!

Well, another trip to Italy has come and gone…and what an incredible time and trip it was!

Off to Paris for a few days,
-Alex and Kaitlyn

My New French Friend

Last night I met Chantal, a 58-year old retired teacher. She sent an email to all of the elementary school English assistants looking for someone to spend a couple of hours with a week. I respond yes…and yesterday we had our first “meeting” (if I should call it that).

I am really excited about this opportunity. Chantal did the same thing last year with another assistant named Diana (who is now in Brazil) and they spent time together cooking, walking around Tours, going to the movies, shopping for groceries, etc. Chantal speaks English and is doing this purely for her pleasure. She hopes that her English will improve, she will make a new friend, and she can help me perfect my French.

I arrived at Chantal’s beautiful home (filled with furniture and art from Asia and Africa) around 5:30PM. I was late….I misread the email (which had actually said 5:00PM). I get confused because the French use military time so whenever I see 17h00 I never think 5:00PM right away. Anyways, I made it and we had a cup of tea together and she went over the emails I sent her and corrected all the grammar/word usage for me! It was great! When we were talking she would stop me mid-sentence to correct my verb conjugations, prepositions, and masculine/feminine problems with nouns. I met her husband (Francois) and granddaughter as well….who I think I will be seeing regularly when I go to her home.

We are going to meet once a week (at least)….most likely every Wednesday around 5PM. I am looking forward to my next visit to her home….when Kaitlyn will accompany me! She will learn some French and Chantal will be forced to speak English! ;)

Thanksgiving…in France

I am thankful for so many things this year. I am thankful for my supportive family and friends (who were as excited as I was that I was going to France for an academic year to teach English). I am thankful that I have a job during a time when the unemployment rate is almost 10 percent in the United States and even higher for people my age. I am thankful for the friends that I have made in France, the ones that helped make this year’s Thanksgiving just as special as the other ones that I have celebrated. But, I am especially thankful to know there are so many people who love and care about me back in the United States. Though I am thousands of miles away from home I have received letters, packages, facebook posts, blog comments, and emails filled with love and support….It is amazing to know that so many people are following me on my journey as an English assistant in Tours, France.

Well, as you all can most likely guess, this year’s Thanksgiving was not “normal”. Once you set foot outside of North America, the idea of Thanksgiving is so foreign that you find yourself trying to “do your best” to make just another Thursday something extra special.

Thursday, November 25, 2010—I did not have the day off, I did not have my family around me, and I did not have a house filled with the smells of turkey, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, and other Thanksgiving goodies cooking in the oven. It was like any other Thursday in France…I went to work, I came home and ate lunch, and I returned to work… In my classes I talked about Thanksgiving and in some I had the opportunity to make turkeys (out of the students’ hands). Three of my four classes went really well, though my fourth one was terrible! I had to end the class early because the students were so bad (talking, not sitting still, laughing, dancing, moving their chairs and desks….)…and they are 9-10 years old, so not even the little ones! I think they were so distracted by the fact that today was the first snow in Tours…

When classes were over, I went to the grocery store and bought a bottle of the 2010 Beaujolais Nouveau (it’s tradition back home to have a glass on Thanksgiving) and some bread. I then came home and started preparing my contribution to the Thanksgiving meal that was going to be later on in the day (around 7:30PM). I was in charge of the mashed potatoes…not too difficult and quite different than preparing a bunch of dishes over the course of a whole morning/afternoon! I peeled a 2.5-kilogram bag of potatoes and after boiling them added 8 cloves of garlic (YUM), milk, sour cream, butter, chives, salt, and pepper. They were delicious! I then got ready to head to Ryan’s where we all would be eating and celebrating Thanksgiving.

Jenna, Molly, and I arrived at Ryan’s a little after 7:30PM; the house was filled with smells of Thanksgiving! It was so exciting! And though Ryan was not able to find a whole turkey, we managed to have two turkey-loin-like-things (it was white meat turkey and tied up in the shape of a short, thick pork loin). They were absolutely delicious and tender! And, in addition to the turkey (cooked with bay leaves, potatoes, chestnuts, and mushrooms) we had: sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, spinach casserole, salad, macaroni-and-cheese, corn, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and bread! It was perfect! Our potluck-style Thanksgiving worked out really well. There were 12 people total…a mix of Thanksgiving-virgins (French and Brits) and hardcore Thanksgiving-going-Americans.

All in all it was a great way to celebrate Thanksgiving…though I wish I could have been in the States with my family! Needless to say, it was not “just another day” in France.

-Alex