Taking Back Sunday

No, not the group whatsoever. More like my homework ambitions. Which, if you have noticed, I am studiously avoiding right now.

Yesterday was so much fun - I took a train to Rennes for the day. Rennes is about an hour and a half north of Nantes, so it wasn't too far and the tickets were a great deal with my handy dandy 12-25 pass. On the other hand, Rennes was also very cold. I have never just taken a train somewhere and not known what I was going to do before, but it was an adventure. Two girls from IES and I met at the station in Nantes, hopped on the train (this was when Vanessa and I realized our 12-25 passes weren't valid until next Friday at which point I decided to cry and put on a very fake bad accent in French if the conductor called us out, which he did not, so I did not have to cry), and went to Rennes.

We got off and went into the city with no maps or anything, but it was fun wandering around anyway until the cold and the hunger was a little too much for comfort. We did find the Parlement building which burned down 10 years ago, but they rebuilt it in the Louis -whatevernumber style it was originially built in; a new building looking old. Then we found a map (yay!) and tried to get over to some parks (and had to go back to the map to look again). There was a park with lots of ducks (made my day), a tropical bird house, and the most crocuses I have ever seen in one place. Ever. It was incredible to see all of that nature when I've been effectively cooped up in a city - I loved seeing the huge sequoia trees and the tiny crocuses. God really did have an amazing plan for everything he created!

After the park, we meandered our way over to the Musee des Beaux Arts de Rennes (I did go to the Beaux Arts in Nantes already for class last Thursday - gorgeous!). There was an art exhibition on American art from 1830-1940 on "how the west was won". It was neat to see how French people view American art, especially with many Native American pieces and history included in the expo. Following the park, we wandered around the Galeries Lafayette (it was so coooold!) and then got a cafe in a cafe before catching our train back to Nantes. It was a lovely day trip and so nice to get back "home" at the end of the day.

Now, I have to effectively take back my Sunday with a concentrated effort on a translation essay due tomorrow (2 pages to write on whatever I want...hmmm...), reading an article for grammar, and book reading for a report due later this semester. It's almost like being back at GCC - too much work!