"I don't want to go back to Paris"....said no one ever

Hello all ! Happy belated Thanksgiving! Sorry I have not been so good lately in keeping up with my posts. It's been a busy last few weeks of assignments (where did those come from?), some mild sad grey Paris winter-induced depression accompanied by the discovery of the 7th season of How I Met Your Mother on Putlocker, and the madness of planning a multi-country 12-day Christmas voyage. If you're wondering, I will be traveling to Strasbourg, Berlin, Prague, Munich and Hamburg with a good friend I met at Concordia Language Villages this summer. Now that will be an interesting blog post. Coming soon to a computer near you (if I ever come back/if the world doesn't end) mid-January 2013. 

Anyway, I guess I'll get you all caught up on the Christmas markets and Thanksgiving in Paris, and my trip to Rennes this weekend to visit Sophie, another great friend from Concordia. 

So, this was taken at the Christmas market on the Champs-Elysées. The Christmas markets started popping up at the end of November and will go until early January I think. There are tons of them in Paris, and in pretty much every city all across France as well.  They feature a lot of food stands with soft pretzels, Belgian waffles, crepes, etc, arts and craftsy/touristy cheesy products, sometimes a mini-roller coaster, and in the case of this picture an "exhibit" of animatronic animals (is that redundant?) representing all the biomes of the world. As you can see, I'm far too excited by this moose here whose head moves up and down. I took pictures of every single animal there, but I won't bore you with the rest. What the markets do not have, however, is actual French people. Most Parisians find them (or at least the one on the Champs-Elysées) to be "cheap". So I'm pretty sure I saw more Americans when I went than Europeans. Whatever, they can thank us later for jumpstarting their economy. But, at this market they do have a ceremony each year to turn on all the lights along the whole avenue. I was there this year, but I didn't see Diane Krueger, who was apparently the master of ceremonies this year. The lighting was also kind of anti-climactic, not even a countdown, but the street is gorgeous when it's all lit up. 

And this is the giant Ferris wheel at the Place de la Concorde (the end of the Champs-Elysées), which only appears at Christmas. And yeah, I definitely rode on it. 

As proof, this is me with two friends from Tufts who are also here for the full year, Paul (left) and George (right). 

This brings us now to "Thanksgiving" in Paris. These photos are from the one hosted by Tufts, with our professors and host families. It was great, it just wasn't Thanksgiving. But the next day we (the students) had our own Thanksgiving potluck using super-expensive-imported-from-America ingredients for authenticity. So totally worth it. I'll give the French credit for trying though. But their main defaults are that they don't understand the concept of overeating on purpose, the proper use of pumpkins, and the python method of digestion (where you immediately go lie down on a couch, floor, or bed upon the consumption of Thanksgiving dinner to ease the pain of digestion and let the Tryptophan work its magic). Oh, and also the reality that serving dinner in courses is unnecessary and also impedes the goal of overeating. Despite this, however, the dinner was pretty tasty and we all had a good time. Above is a picture of the pumpkin soup.

Here's the turkey which was also accompanied by some sort of sausage, a cranberry sauce, and assorted vegetables. The corn was sadly inedible, as out of politeness I couldn't use my hands, and I have not yet reached the level of knife mastery necessary to carry out such a delicate procedure. It is one of my many goals for this year. 

And lastly, dessert. An apple tart sprinkled with walnuts and some vanilla ice cream. Enough said. 

And now, here are the photos from my weekend trip to Rennes to visit Sophie! It was crazy awesome. I really like Rennes and didn't want to leave (hence the title of this blog post). It is smaller than Paris, but still has a lot going on, crepes and galettes are cheaper (1 euro at the food trucks!) and people are a little bit friendlier. Plus Sophie's host family has a cat, and I really miss having one/any domesticated animal for that manner. Above is an example of the medieval architecture of Rennes, a lot of which is original.  

Here's another example of a street I liked. Not sure why. But there is also a street in Rennes, as in many French towns, called "Rue du Soif" (Street of Thirst), which is lined with bars/clubs, etc. and often stinks like various bodily fluids and fish, for whatever reason. But Rennes has a great student night life, and student life in general, as it is a "college town". It's way better than in Paris, considering Paris has basically zero student life. 

Here's a picture from the morning market we went to on Saturday. They sell flowers, fresh produce, and stuff from food trucks there. And some artsy things. Above is a picture of someone playing a traditional medieval violin-like instrument and some sort of percussion instrument that she pumped with her foot and it made a clicking sound. Plus, she's dressed in traditional medieval garb. Doesn't get any more awesome than that. 

Here's another photo of the market. 

Here's me at an old medieval castle, of which of I've already forgotten the history. But there's a lot of this stuff around Brittany, as well as pagan stone ruins, and Roman stuff. 

Here's me with a cutout of a woman in traditional Breton clothing. The white hat for women was a huge thing there, and its height and the length of the ribbons had very specific meanings and rules about mourning, marital status, and age. Some women in the country still wear them apparently. 

Since it was freezing cold (for France) we took shelter in a cafe called Le Haricot Rouge (highly recommended) for some hot chocolate and a brownie. It was the best hot chocolate I've ever had, I think. Apparently there was some cinnamon and caramel in it, and some other mysterious ingredient. I'll have to go back and find out. 

This is just a medieval house I thought was cool because a) it's old and b) people still live in there. 

Saturday night we went to a North African restaurant for some couscous. I had the chicken curry. Yummy. The dinner lasted 3 hours though, as the waiter was not super attentive. But of course, when we left the restaurant at 11 people were still coming in to start their dinner. I will never get used to this madness. 

I chose the surprise dessert on the menu, which was honey flavored ice cream rolled in some nuts and other crunchy goodness. 

So, that was my weekend. Went bed at 4 am 2 out of 3 nights, did zero homework, then got back to Paris Monday morning and went straight to class. What a transition. Now I just have to brace myself for my first oral presentation at a French university on Monday and then whatever else France decides to throw my way this December. But I'm going to see a ballet performance tomorrow called "Octopus", and the Hobbit will be coming out soon, so life is not all school work and stress. Plus, I'm in Paris, which always makes life look a little rosier.