Yesterday was the Fête Nationale, and although I now know there were activities planned and everyone had a blast, I was feeling especially homesick so I decided to take a day to myself. I slept in, showered, cleaned my room, Skyped home, etc.
Today was our day to discover Nancy, which means we had no class! :)
Although on our timetable it was written to meet at Monbois for 10am, we were told to be there for 9. So there we all were, at 9am, ready to go to the Musée des beaux arts. Of course, as assumed by French nature, no one was in a hurry to leave when we arrived. Students were still having breakfast and chatting, and half the group had not yet shown up. A few of us were weary of the time situation so we chose not to risk starting breakfast only to be told we had to leave just as we'd start eating. So no breakfast for us today.
Finally, around 10am, Stéphanie showed up and rounded us all up to head the the Musée. We were sectioned into groups, one French and one English, which would be the language our tours would be in. Each group had a tour guide and ours was not that great. She was dressed very casually, which was weird for us because generally when you go to a museum the employees tend to be well dressed in business attire. She showed us a couple of paintings (one of which was entitled with a line from an epic poem that I can't seem to remember). I was really upset by the fact that they weren't letting us explore the Musée by ourselves. Being confined to a group does not let you enjoy art, in my opinion.
After going through the paintings, they took us downstairs to where the vases were set up in big, well-lit glass cases. The inside walls were stone. They explained that when they started digging the basement for the expansion of the Musée they found these stone walls which are actually a part of the original fortifications of the city of Nancy. I thought that to be the most interesting part of the tour. It was so surreal to be touching walls dating back to the early 14th C (if I'm not mistaken). And finally we ended up at the cases of vases and I was beyond bored. I mean they were beautiful, don't get me wrong, but for our guide to explain the use of colour and materials from one era of art to another was something I would have much rather read in a history book or something. There were 3 vases that stood out to me, though. One was the colour blue that you can see all over my Piano Room at home (which is alternately named the Blue Room), it was beautiful. Another had designs of maple leaves (which really just made me feel like home) and the last was an etching of Tristan and Yseult (which was just stunning).
After the Musée, we were given the usual 2 hours for lunch at the Resto'U. I was mainly excited because instead of random concoctions of veggies or pasta, we got fries. Oh North America, how you've conditioned me to love fries!
After lunch we were off to do the Scavenger Hunt. Basically they took us all around Nancy to let us find the gems of the city for ourselves. It was interesting, but also very annoying. Most of us weren't into it at all. They showed us a house built in the early 1900s that was in the style of Art Nouveau. Apparently it's a sight that you cannot miss on the TGV out of Nancy. It was so out of the way of everything, and that's where the complaining began. We went to things we've seen a million times, but there are 2 that stand out in my memory (lol @ short term memory failing me). There was the monument dedicated to the independence of the US. On it there is a message saying "La ville de Nancy: À tous ses enfants morts pour la France au cours de son histoire". I don't know why that got to me. Among other things it just reminded me of the number of lives lost in wars everywhere, fighting for freedom. The other thing that stood out was the Porte de la Craffe. It's this big stone entryway to what Nancy used to be, dated back to 1336.
I think the best part of my day was befriending the Americans I'd not yet spoken to, and the Irish. We randomly had this in depth conversation about piercings and it just warmed my heart to be talking to people much like my friends at home.
After another few hours of aimlessly walking around, we met up at Place Stan for the réception à la mairie. Unfortunately for us, we were about an hour early. I spent this time with the Irish just talking about silly things and laughing. The best part was Katie's love for a certain someone and her comments about wanting to move to Canada to marry Vinny (for those of you who didn't go to elementary school with me, you won't know him). And then, minutes before the réception, Katie managed to break her shoe in the middle of Place Stan. Of course we all laughed, but the poor girl was forced to walk around barefoot. We asked around to see if there was a shoe store nearby, but no one gave us a definite answer. I volunteered to join Katie in her search, mostly because we got along very well and I preferred to stay with her than to deal with the others (as you can tell I was having an off day). We make each other laugh and she reminds me of my friends at home. Literally, within steps of leaving Place Stan we found a shoe store and she bought a cute little pair of flip flops with a flower on top, and we headed back to the group.
When we got back to the group, it was time to enter City Hall to go up to our réception. Basically we were taken to this beautiful room on the second floor of the building, up past a grand staircase, where were greeted by the Course Director as well as the Mayor of Nancy. He introduced himself to us and explained how important this program has been to the City of Nancy since its creation and how much its residents love the International students it brings. There was wine and juice and everyone was still chatting and getting to know one another. We took a series of group pictures, as well.
(I had made notes about other things to add to this post but as it's been over a year, it's a little hard for me to remember. At the end of each remaining post I'll leave a list in case my memory comes back to me.)
Getting home from dinner, I decided it was time to do laundry. (The entire time in Nancy I didn't do real laundry.) Basically I created a system of hand washing my pants, socks, and underwear (sorry for too much information) and hung them to dry along my closet doors, my bed frame, my desk, etc. Having a sink in my room made this exceptionally easy and a little less embarrassing than trying to figure out laundry by myself. I'm strange, I know.
At dinner, I had made plans with the Katie and Laura (two of the Irish) to go to the Lights show at Place Stan, I guess it's this great display of technology they present nightly (or every so often). We headed down to Place Stan and awaited something we weren't sure of. I can remember it clearly to this day. A spectacle of lights, all across the buildings around us, telling the story (through different lighting schemes and projected pictures) the history and important of Nancy. We tried to take pictures but there was no way you could capture something so amazing with a camera. It was truly an incredible experience.
(Notes I forgot: cute little shop, dinnnnerrrrrr)
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