24 June 2008

The End

Good thing I like being busy, because I have been BUSY. So far, no big culture shocks... I've been pleased to see that people really do smile a lot, and thrilled that prices are so low on this continent. (Worried about gas? Go to Europe and you'll feel fortunate to live in the States!) I've eaten about a dozen dill pickles, done a lot of shopping, and had a wonderful time. It feels so good to be home!

I might come back and post an epilogue, so to speak, but for now, this is The End. The story that was my year abroad has come to a cheerful close, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it!

I'm still a verbose person, so I'm going to be soon starting a new blog. There won't be travel photos, but I still have the occasional adventure! The URL is http://kelculator.blogspot.com, and Here is a link. I should have something posted quite soon.

So there we have it... The End.

-FIN-

18 June 2008

Final Departure

Well, my too-relaxing final ten days in Angers have come to a close, and I'm off to the airport to fly home. I have a habit of going through possible scenarios, so that I'm prepared for any situation. I feel totally prepared for departure, and leaving doesn't intimidate me one bit. But arriving... that still hasn't sunk in yet. I know where I'm meeting my parents, and I know my basic schedule over the next few days, but I'm not prepared for how being home will feel. I'm ready to deal with the physical part of being home, but the mental part? I'm not quite there.

At the end of my exchange year in Russia (2005-2006) I filled out a sort of questionnaire that I'd written, to try to prepare myself for reverse culture shock. When you move to a foreign country, you experience a short honeymoon period where you love everything and everything's interesting, then you fall into culture shock, where you miss everything about home, feel out of place, and can literally get sick from the unease of living in a different cultural context. However, with preparation, culture shock doesn't have to be too bad.
When you go home, you follow the same type of pattern: everything's great for a while, and then you crash into reverse culture shock. It's often worse than culture shock, since you don't expect it. No one thinks that they'll be ill at ease at home, but it happens. After coming back from Russia, I wanted to throttle a grocery store cashier because of the way she bagged our groceries (she put one or two items in each bag, but in Russia I was used to stuffing bags as full as possible, since they cost money too). Reverse culture shock takes you by surprise, and it's a strange thing. It is my theory that the exchange student can prepare him or herself for reverse culture shock by examining their time abroad, trying to anticipate what differences they'll see, and reflecting on their personal culture. So that's what I do.


Questions for the departing study-abroader

As I leave, what am I thinking?
I'm trying to answer the question, "Would I want to live in France again?" I love France for a lot of reasons: I love the history, the way towns feel, I love seeing France. I like the food, although since I have a budget it usually comes from my own kitchen. I really liked singing in the cathedral choir, and I like most of the people I met. However, there's a side of French culture that's somehow dark, and after only a few months it started to grate on me. I miss seeing people talk loudly in the streets. I miss people giving compliments, even to strangers. I miss seeing people wearing ultra-casual clothes. I miss smiling at, and being smiled at by, strangers (the French reaction to a stranger's smile is to wonder what's wrong with their appearance). I miss a lot of things about American culture, and although I got by, I'm not sure if I'd want to "get by" full time.

What did I get out of this year?
I can understand French as well as I understand English, I've learned how to cook a lot of stuff, I've learned a lot about myself and what I want (however cheesy that sounds), and I've gotten very good at filling dead time, thanks to my light course load.

How will life be different at home?
I'll be a lot busier! I was so frustrated by the French university system, since the courses were too easy (although whether this is due to the faults of the system or my own merit, I don't know), there was almost no homework (the system for sure), and almost no extracurricular activities. I couldn't work, I lived off-campus (there is no on-campus option), and social opportunities were limited. At home, I'll be back to my wonderful 30-hour days and sleep-deprived nights, and I can't wait! [Note: when, six months from now, I'm complaining about having a lot of homework and barely enough time for the five choirs I'm in, remind my how happy I should be.]

How am I different as a result of living in a(nother) different culture?
I think that while I was in Russia, most of what I noticed was what was different. Now, I tend to notice why things are different.

How good of a traveler am I?
I'm an excellent traveler. I can navigate airports, train stations, and subway and bus networks without a problem. I can follow a map, if there's good signage and I have some time to study it. However, talented though I may be, I have terrible travel luck. I've had something go wrong on nearly every trip. Thankfully, it's gotten to the point where I find it all hilarious and I somehow look forward to seeing what'll go wrong next! If nothing else, it'll make a good story for the blog :)

Describe France in exactly 25 words.
Centuries of history bring natural pride, but also fear of frightening and confusing change. It takes the heart time to modernize. Lots of bread, wine.

What aspects of France would I like America to adopt?
The French are good at remembering to bring their reusable bags to the grocery store. There are still lots of little, independent stores. There are farmers' markets all year round, not just in the summer (however, the climate easily permits this). People spend a longer time to eat a smaller amount of food, since life isn't as rushed. There's a high speed rail network that's on time 99% of the time (however, the country's smaller and the tickets cost a lot, so there are downsides).

What aspects of America would I like France to adopt?
People are very business minded. When there's a problem, people instantly start seeking a solution. Grocery stores and pharmacies are open on Sundays and at night. Milk is sold in large containers. You can buy sour pickles. People smile at each other a lot, and are more overt with their feelings, which are often very welcoming and warm. Public transportation and cell phones are more reasonably priced. There are lots of comedies and kids' movies made. And don't get me started on the educational system... I would choose America's any day.

What can be done to improve the image of Americans abroad?
I recently saw a commercial for a new morning TV slot of the "best of" American reality TV: the channel was advertising shows like "Elimidate" and "the Bachelorette" as the "best of" American TV! America is built on business, and exporting our media is certainly profitable. However, the rest of the world doesn't realize that a lot of what they're getting is considered junk on our side of the Atlantic. People think that Americans are stupid, egocentric, crass and vulgar. Given the media we share, this isn't surprising. The only European films that become "mainstream" in the States are the artsy type, like American independent films. If we tried to share only the good sides of American culture, maybe the good would be believed.
Another, more difficult problem is the difference in cultures. If Americans go abroad and act like Americans, they won't be received well. Europeans just aren't as open and extroverted in public. If you come to Europe and try to blend into the woodwork and turn on the ultra-polite side of your personality all the time, you're on the right track. Europeans don't realize that Americans are boisterous because of culture rather than rudeness, and Americans don't realize that when they try to be friendly in this way they're making matters worse.

What are the most striking aspects of culture I noticed, both good and bad?
Good: Humor is a lot more intellectual. Getting in a clever, cutting remark is still a respected talent, the sign of a quick mind.
Bad: People are very self-conscious, and it rubs off. After living in France for a while, you really do start to worry more about the way people see you.

What will I miss the most?
Whether people realize it or not, they're a lot more in touch with history here. America is very focused on the future, whereas France is more strongly rooted in the past. Neither's bad, and I won't mind the American mindset, but it's nice to feel a stronger connection to history.

My favorite to figure out: How many miles have I traveled, as the bird flies?
I rounded up by about 75 miles, and got... 25,000 miles. Or about 40,000 kilometers, for any metric readers. Pretty impressive! Of course, I actually covered more distance, since trains and planes don't go in perfectly straight lines. And that's only the big trips.
The cool thing is that, by adding this to the miles traveled during my year in Russia (about 30,000) I figured out that I've traveled as far as the circumference of the earth... more than twice :)

So all in all, am I glad to be heading home?
Yep.

17 June 2008

Reassuring

Well, over the year I collected enough points with my supermarket fidelity card to get a twenty euro gift card. I used it today to get the three liters of milk I'll drink between now (Tuesday evening) and Thursday morning, some more scratchy sponges to scrub the bottoms of all of my pots (because anything that's not immaculate gets deducted from my security deposit), and whatever else I wanted with the rest of the money. That turned out to be:
- watermelon
- nectarines
- Gala apples
- cherries
- fresh figs
- strawberries

I just got all of the really expensive fruits, basically, and my next few meals will be fantastic fruity feasts. Alliterative ones, at that.

I'm on the road for Chicago in 36 hours, and I can't wait. I had a good year, but it ended a while ago... now I'm just killing time.

13 June 2008

Goodbyes

I had a fun day today: slept in, went to a movie, did some errands, went to choir practice. But at the end of choir practice, I had to say goodbye... and that's no fun. I hate goodbyes, because I always cry, and crying's not the most fun thing to do. I am going to miss this choir SO much. The music was good and the singing was good, but the people are incredible: they're the most welcoming, kind group I met in France. This choir is, without a doubt, the one thing I will miss most about France.

I leave in six days. In about 127 hours. I can't wait to get home, but I wish that I could bring France with me.

09 June 2008

Final Days in Naples

Here's a selection of my travel problems so far this year:
• Chicago-Paris: bag got lost; I didn't get it back for three weeks.
• First trip out of Angers: apparently we had the wrong ticket and were traveling illegally, but we talked ourselves out of a few hundred euros worth of fines.
• Lyon and Avignon: I got lost EVERYWHERE.
• Milan: flight back got cancelled, replacement flight was delayed, there weren't any more trains, and I had to stay in a hotel in Nantes for the night. Also missed two classes because of Air France.
• Metz: train was late, missed the next one, got soaked wandering around in the rain in between.
• Hungary: both my flight and Kristen's flight were late.
• Ireland: we missed our stop getting off the bus and had quite a walk to the hostel.
• Portugal: the taxi cost twice as much as it was supposed to.
• Geneva: Switzerland costs five times as much as it should :) I also got lost and had tram mishaps several times.
• Disneyland: our train back was delayed an hour.
• Chiavari: Nothing much went wrong, but the elevator did break (with me and a nun in it) when I was checking into the hotel. They got it fixed within a few minutes.
• Coming back from Naples: Well, something disastrous has to happen almost every time I travel, or this blog would be boring! I found the bus to the airport without mishap, arrived at the airport with a bit more than two hours to spare... and that's where things started to go bad. The flight was supposed to leave at 11:35... and it left at 1:00. It was supposed to get in just before two, but arrived at 3:09. My heart sank very fast when I saw us taxing past Terminal 2, because it takes ten minutes to get from Terminals 1 and 3. We got into the baggage claim at 3:30, my bag came out at 3:40. Trains are often late at the airport, so I decided to hurry anyway and hope for the best... which made me look really suspicious to the customs officer. He stopped me to ask where I was coming from and such, and I said, "Naples, but I live in France, and my train is in two minutes in Terminal 2. I'm hoping it's late!" He seemed reassured that I wasn't creepy, and wished me luck. However, it took five minutes to walk to the train station to take the little train to T2, then I had to wait four minutes, and my train had been on time. Grrrr. For once, I'd been praying that it would be late!
So I went to the ticket office to change my ticket, and only had to pay 15€ for the exchange and the more expensive ticket. Brilliant. I will, of course, arrive in Angers an hour before the next bus, so I'll have to take a taxi. I don't think the 25€ worth of damages is enough for me to write a really angry letter to Eurofly: even if they were willing to reimburse me, I wouldn't have an opportunity to use the inevitable coupon, since they wouldn't send me cash.
Anyway, from my experience it appears that flying from Italy to France is frustrating.

Before the travel misadventures, however, I had a wonderful few days in Naples. There isn't a huge amount to see: once you've gone to the Amalfi Coast and Pompeii, you've got one day of tourism in the city and at most one more day trip. I didn't really want to go to Capri, since it's another set of touristy villages along the beach and cliffs like Amalfi and Cinque Terre, so I just spread out the Naples sights over a fews days, and did a lot of sleeping in and relaxing. [Note: sleeping in, since I had morning sun through the windows and was going to sleep around midnight, meant getting up around 8:30.]
• I went to the Contemporary Art museum, which was hilarious... I love this kind of ridiculousness. They don't allow photography, so I don't have pictures of the four things I would have liked to photograph:
1) Upside-down art: the guy featured in their temporary exhibition (who has a name) liked to paint things upside down. He actually painted them upside down, he didn't just paint them normally and then flip them. I can sort of understand why this would open the mind, since it forces you to think in an unnatural way. There was one of a bird in a tree that was particularly good.
2) A tube of air... hard to describe. There was a square tube made of very reflective glass. Most of it was suspended from the ceiling, but one end went out of the building through a hole in the window. Therefore, there was fresh air coming in through the hole. When you looked at it from the side, you saw the tube, but if you looked into the tube, you suddenly saw nine squares because of how reflective the glass was. It was pretty neat.
3) Another piece was made of fluorescent lights, and spelled out "Five words in five colors." Each word was a different color. That made me chuckle.
4) I actually looked in the gift shop for a picture of my favorite, but couldn't find it. It was along one long wall, and had panes of glass set vertically into a long pile of what looked like dirt. The panes of glass were closely spaced at one end, and got further and further apart as they went. Each had a white fluorescent lightbulb number in the corner representing the distance to the next pane of glass: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34... [The Fibonacci sequence] That made me laugh out loud. I like mathy art.
Naturally, I wouldn't allow any of the "art" in this museum into my house, but I love going to see it.

I took the funicular up to the top of Naples' favorite hill, where St. Elmo's castle offers a great view of the city. You can see very far, and it's colorful and beautiful. The gelateria didn't have any of my favorite flavors though, so I didn't stay on the top of the world for long. I took the funicular down on the other side of the hill, and successfully navigated the way back to my hostel, via gelato.
Here are some pictures from the top:


Here's another of Naples' castles: it has about four. This is the "New Castle," a.k.a. the French Castle, which was built when the French borrowed (my favorite way to say "briefly conquered") Naples. But see, the empire that borrowed Naples was Anjou, which has its heart in Angers. This castle looks quite a bit like my local château.

Sunday, I went to Mass at the cathedral. In Italian, the word duomo, which literally means "dome," has been adopted to mean "cathedral." Naples' cathedral doesn't have a dome, but it's called the Duomo nonetheless. No pictures on the inside, but it was BEAUTIFUL. So beautiful that it deserves all-caps. I walked around for half an hour before Mass, and there's so much to see. There's a chapel on one side, and a little basilica on the other. There are tiny chapels all around the whole cathedral, and the ceiling has some of the most beautiful frescoes I've seen. There are mosaics on the floors, various colors of marble covering the walls, lots of gold... it's lovely. A lot of cathedrals display their treasury as a sort of museum, but this cathedral just has all the fancy stuff packed into the chapel on the side, and most of the relics in a chapel to the side. [Relics are pieces of saints' bodies... in the early Church, people hoped to feel closer to God by keeping relics, since they knew that the souls of these über-holy people were in Heaven. Christians face the challenge of believing in someone without a whole lot of physical evidence, and having something tangible helped them to feel close to God, who can feel so far away.]
The Mass wasn't as impressive as the building it was in... I seem to have chosen the old people's Mass, with a small congregation and no music. I should have gone to the noon one... oh well.
No pictures of the inside of the Duomo, but here are two of the outside. The second is a good representation of Italy: kids playing football (soccer) in front of an impressive landmark.

Now, I'm back in France for a mere ten days, and then I head back home. There are certainly things that I will miss, but I'm looking forward to a return to the fast-paced, busy life I lead in America. It'll be interesting to see how things have changed... and how I've changed. And this last flight will be one last chance for everything to go perfectly!

07 June 2008

A few bits and pieces about Naples

• In the basilica (courthouse) of Pompeii, they painted stone to make fake marble. Ha.

• Naples street vocabulary is a little different: [Note: this section is dripping with sarcasm]
- what I would call "crosswalk" is a place for cars to zoom through, or park
- what I would call "intersection" is the part of the street where pedestrians cross to the other side
- then there's the street art, which are decorative luminescent art installations on many corners which alternately show red, orange and green male stick figures. Since they have no discernable purpose, they must be modern art.

• I haven't seen "Neapolitan" ice cream, but I have tried a few of Naples' specialties. One is pizza: modern pizza is most closely related to Naples' invention. Neapolitan pizza is large and has a very thin, moist crust. You have to eat it with a knife and fork or fold it, since it's too floppy to eat like American pizza. Two pastry classics are babà and sfogliatelle: babà is a sponge cake soaked in rum, and I didn't like it too much-- possibly because I don't like rum :) Sfogliatelle is a filled pastry, and has a vaguely orange flavored paste inside filo-type pastry (the type used in baklava).

• You may have heard about the trash situation in Naples... basically, what happened is that all of the dumps for the Campania region filled. There's only one open dump, and it's not enough. There are several incinerators in construction, but since the mafia has indirect (or even direct) control and the government isn't efficient enough, they're not yet completed. The mafia makes a lot of money from illegal dumping, so they're in no hurry to finish the incinerators. There have been some particularly bad times (like in December) when there was no trash collection and piles of rubbish lay in the streets, but it's not usually that bad: you see more cigarette butts, napkins, and empty cups blowing around than in the average city, and the occasional very full dumpster, but that's the extent of the trash problem. The EU and the Italian government are cracking down on the situation, and there is progress.

• Counterfeits are everywhere, mostly sold by...

• African immigrants. Naples has ferry connections to Tunisia and Morocco, and seems to be a "first destination" for a lot of immigrants. They seem to be trying to integrate and be productive, although the new populations do change the "feel" of the city. One of the reasons people want to go to Europe is to see different, distinct cultures with that old world charm. However, now that they're all becoming more multicultural, it feels more homogenized. Strange paradox, isn't it! (Please don't read any racist or otherwise close-minded tendencies in my comments... I feel that change is inevitable and neither positive nor negative, I just like to try to figure out why that change happens.)

• I've often wondered, over the course of the year, what would happen to the pigeons if nobody dropped cigarette butts on the ground anymore. Can pigeons develop a nicotine dependency? They certainly eat a lot of it...

• Sirens are common, since it's a big city. However, traffic doesn't cede much to ambulances or police cars. Some cars may aim for the edges of the street and slow down, but others will take advantage of the newly open space in front of the ambulance to zoom ahead in traffic. Those lucky cars who are right in front of or behind the siren get to go faster than other traffic. All in all, ambulances and such don't go much faster than the general flow of traffic.

A few of my recent adventures:
• I went to the gelateria which is supposed to have the best gelato, and has won several contests. I actually wasn't very impressed: it was a lot creamier and less refreshing than I like my ice cream... just too heavy for my taste. And most of their flavors had dark chocolate in them, which I avoid.

• I did laundry at the hostel, which was nice because it was convenient. Italy has a nice enough climate that people don't use dryers, so I hung everything out on lines on the balcony to dry. Naturally, it then rained overnight, so my clothes were wetter in the morning than they had been at night.Another girl had the same problem, but she had to leave that morning: the closest laundromat with a dryer was a bus trip plus a ten-minute walk away.

• I went to Naples' best pizzeria with a couple of American girls staying at the hostel, and it was incredible. The crust was the best I've ever had, the toppings were perfect, the sauce was delicious... it was wonderful. I will probably go back today, on my way to the contemporary art museum (I was going to go climb Vesuvius, but for the third day in a row this plan has been put off because of rain).

04 June 2008

Napoli, Amalfi, Pompeii...

Last week I visited lots of places ending with the letter a, and this week it's i. Monday, I woke up unreasonably early to go to the train station, where I embarked on a cramped, though pleasant, eight hour train journey. Surprisingly, there was a direct train from little Chiavari to big Napoli! Naples is in the south, on the Western side of the boot... about at ankle height. I came here knowing very little about the city except that Anjou (the empire that Angers was the heart of) took it over for a while and that it's close to Pompeii-- I'd wanted to visit Pompeii since I was very little! Two good reasons to decided to visit a city, I suppose... an obscure historical fact and proximity to another city.

Honestly, Naples isn't the most beautiful of cities... most people go through it rather than to it. It has a lot of monstrous cement buildings, and most could use a coat of paint. It has a gigantic port, and ports aren't too pretty. There has been a big influx of immigrants, and there's a more obvious level of poverty than in a lot of other cities. But, there are several palaces and castles, a big historic district, a beautiful view of the sea and surrounding volcanoes and mountains, and the food is great. Neapolitans seem to be very welcoming, and there's a lot of fascinating history in the area.

Monday night I was lucky to meet Julia, who is a Canadian with a fascinating job and travel history... she's lived and traveled all over the world, but this is her first trip to Europe. Since both of us are traveling alone, we decided to join forces for the next two days to visit the Amalfi coast and Pompeii. Which brings us to...

Tuesday
Tuesday morning we left bright and early for the port, to get tickets for a ferry to Amalfi. I don't have sea legs (or a sea stomach) so this was an interesting voyage... not the most comfortable way to travel, but certainly beautiful! Rocky islands, sparkling sea, Mount Vesuvius... the views were great. We got to go out onto the back deck of the boat for a while, which was an experience. Incredibly windy, because of how fast the ferry moves, and very salty. Good thing I like salt, because if you spend time near the Mediterranean you taste it in the air and on your lips! Here's a picture of the boat's wake and the mountains:

And here are some more views from the boat:


One of my favorite insignificant things about Europe are the lizards! They're everywhere, although they're very quick and hard to spot. This guy paused long enough for me to get a picture. Lizards are so cute.

We took a bus up the mountain from Amalfi to Ravello, which is another cute town in the area. There is a bright white basilica in the square, which had a lot of these dragon-like creatures in its art... we saw them in several places in the area, but they remain a mystery.

We got pizza in Ravello, since it's close enough to Naples, which is the home of pizza. I got a pizza that had mushrooms, proscuitto, and artichokes. It was so delicious! Apparently, the region grows thornless artichokes, which sounds like a brilliant idea. After lunch, we wanted to hike back down to Amalfi, but it was so hard to find the beginning of the trail! We asked about six people for directions to the top of the trail indicated with the black line on our map, and everyone told us something different. Two people pointed out the top of the red trail, which isn't supposed to be as picturesque... but since we could tell that it existed, we took it. Still great views of the coastal villages, though!

Since Amalfi had a beach and it was hot, we took a few minutes to dip into the sea. It's unbelievably salty! Once you put your head under, you even seem to be breathing salt. But the water was beautifully cold, and once you cool down, the sun is a lot more bearable.
After our swim, we got gelato and tickets for the bus back to Sorrento, which is a beautiful drive all along the coast. It rivals Cinque Terre as the most beautiful place I've been. Such a peaceful place, with a mixture of natural beauty and man-made charm. From Sorrento a short train trip brought us back to Naples... a trip by ferry, bus, feet and train!

Wednesday
Wednesday I had another of those days where I got to visit something I had always dreamed of seeing, but never thought I would see: Pompeii. Pompeii is the most well-known of a handful of cities buried in the 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the local volcano. It was buried in pumice stone and ash, trapping plenty of the 20,000 citizens inside the villas, marketplaces, and temples of the city for more than a millenium. Thanks to the ash, the city was still in remarkably good condition once it was discovered and excavated. There are intact frescoes and mosaics, statues, and trinkets that have been discovered, and walking around the gigantic ghost town is fascinating. After you've walked through a few houses, the atriums and gardens and frescoes become a bit of a blur, but the scale and grandeur is amazing. For a city that was destroyed, it's in great shape! Here's a picture of a typical block.

Most of the statues and art have been moved to the archeological museum in Naples, so there are lots of empty plinths. Every so often though, you see something charming:

Looks a lot like me :) Here's the big theater: there's a big one, a small one, and an amphitheater. The public areas in Pompeii are as interesting as the private houses.

But the villas are just as neat! Most have an atrium, which usually had a downward sloping ceiling with a hole in the middle, which filled the little pool with rainwater. Bedrooms and the kitchen would be off to the sides, and a large courtyard was past the atrium. The houses usually were flanked by two stores, which provided the family income and a "day job" for the slaves.

Many of the frescoes are in remarkably good condition:

Here's the forum. The temple of Jupiter was in the middle, which was the most important, if not the biggest, temple.

And here's the view from Pompeii. It's such a beautiful area, as long as nothing's erupting!

Back in Naples, we found some lunch (I got prosciutto and melon, which is a delicious, classic combination) and then went to the archaeological museum. A lot of the frescoes and mosaics at Pompeii are replicas, and the originals are preserved in the museum, along with lots of smaller things that were found on the site. Among these discoveries are a lot of graphic NC-17 type art, which is housed in the "Secret Room," apparently because it used to literally be secret, and you had to apply to the emperor owner if you wanted to see it. The art from Pompeii's brothels made it here, among other things.
This mosaic reminds me of the Nightmare Before Christmas sector of pop culture.

My favorite thing in the museum was a statue of a lion, whose face is just so cheerful looking. It looks like he's grinning, and I find it charming.

This is the museum's 1/100 scale model of Pompeii as it is now: it's accurate even down to tiny frescoes on the minuscule walls! This will perhaps give you an impression of the size of the place... we walked around for four hours, and didn't see all of the places of interest, let alone everything there is!

This fresco may look familiar... it's one of the most famous from Pompeii.

The building that houses the museum is quite impressive. The ceiling of this room is all painted, none of what looks to be sculpted actually is. It makes you do a double take, but then you realize the perspective is a bit off. From the exact center of the room, it looks most convincing.

This pig statue is really cool. I assume that the head and body must be hollow with all of the weight in the back legs, but unfortunately you're only allowed to examine with your eyes in museums.

And here are five (or seven?) statues.


Last week I was glad to have solitude and time/space to think, and this week I'm thrilled to be surrounded by lots of interesting people in the hostel. Traveling alone isn't bad, since you meet people to travel with, like Julia. Everyone's been to interesting places and has stories and recommendations to share, which is so much fun. Last night, an Australian couple who are retired and travel five months out of every year invited me to share their dinner (they'd made a massive pot of pasta and sauce and had more than they would eat) and we chatted for a long time. When I meet people my age, I get ideas for things to do, and when I meet people who have accomplished those things, I get ideas for the kind of person I want to grow into. Active, intelligent, and globe-trotting as much as possible! I have a good start, I think :)

01 June 2008

Gelato Everywhere!

Well, now I've eaten gelato in Milan and Verona (in November), Pisa, Chiavari, Corniglia, Vernazza, Monterosso, and Genoa. And this is only the halfway point of my Italian vacation!

The past few days, I’ve visited several little towns and one city. Friday, it was yet again raining, so I decided not to go to Florence. Instead, I went briefly to Santa Margherita, which is a little town by Portofino, which is a slightly bigger little town. Both are really touristy, so I didn’t want to stay long. I walked around Santa Margherita for about half an hour, admiring the colorful buildings, numerous statues of Columbus (the whole region is very proud of him) and shops that I don’t have enough money to even contemplate going in.
Here’s a picture of the sea. I’m a big fan of the Mediterranean.

Then I went back to Chiavari to change into beachier clothing, since it had gone quickly from “chilly and rainy” to “hot and sunny.” I took the train to Monterosso, the fifth of the five Cinque Terre villages. Naturally, as soon as I arrived, the clouds and rain came back. I decided to have lunch while waiting for the good weather to come back, and picked a small restaurant along the coast. However, it was really disappointing... I ordered lasagne ragu, which is hard to mess up. I’d had the same thing in Chiavari for about half the price, and it was wonderful. Here, it was just about the worst lasagne I’d ever eaten. It was worse than the store brand microwaveable lasagne I buy in France. I also got mushroom soup, which was virtually flavorless, and easily the worst mushroom soup I’d ever had. Luckily the place was cheap!
Walking in the rain is warmer than not walking in the rain, so I ignored the drizzles and went to get gelato. That, at least, was excellent as usual! When the rain slowed down, I walked around the beach and looked at stones. Monterosso has a sandy beach, but there are tons of stones of all sizes, colors, and shapes. What intrigued me most, however, was the large quantity of ceramic fragments, mostly terra cotta type tiles like the ones used for roofs and construction in this part of the continent. Some were as large as a deck of cards, some were barely large enough to tell if they were man-made. I kept one fragment that has two green stripes on it, and a few little pieces of sea glass. I was very tempted by a chunk of mosaic (just white stones in cement like an Italian sidewalk, nothing interesting) but I can’t justify bringing back rocks that weigh about five pounds. I do like rocks though, so walking along the beach was fun.
Saturday, I went to Genoa, which is called Genova in Italian. It’s the hometown of Christopher Columbus, and is a big port town. It has a large historic district (i.e. small streets and old buildings district), Europe’s largest aquarium, and is close to Chiavari. I brought, but didn’t even open, the Italy guide book I borrowed from the library. Genoa’s architecture is pretty neat:

My wandering talents are fairly impressive, since I managed to find the sea and the aquarium, the two things I really wanted to see. I ate lunch at a little restaurant by the waterfront, figuring that it would be a good place to get seafood. I ordered pesto lasagne (pesto was born in Genoa) and calamari, and both were superb. I do prefer meat lasagne, but the pesto was really good.
The coolest outdoor thing I saw in Genoa was a life-size ship, I’m assuming of the style used by Columbus. However, I can’t imagine the explorers needing this many cannon, so I’m guessing it wasn’t a replica of the Santa Maria!

The aquarium was really neat. Smaller than the Shedd, but it had a lot of neat things. It did cost a lot, so I read every single sign to get as much information for my money as possible! I learned that there’s a fish in the antarctic that doesn’t have any hemoglobin in its blood, that aquariums get their sea turtles when they’re confiscated from tourists who illegally exported them, that Nile crocodiles can grow to more than 20 feet long, that Mediterranean crabs have really long legs to allow them to walk in the sand and muck, and that morays are only poisonous if you eat their meat raw. Like all aquariums in the post-Nemo era, any time you see an anemone, you hear a child say, “Look, it’s Nemo’s house!” The Genoa Aquarium had an interesting response though... they had clown fish in other places, but they also had a tank of only fish found in Finding Nemo. It was easily the most crowded area in the place.
Here he is, the movie star himself... sort of...

This sign made me laugh out loud, which I usually try not to do when alone in public in foreign countries. I admire their desire to protect aquatic turtles, but their method seems a bit gruesome... I’d prefer if they returned the turtles to the environment in one piece. (Click on the picture to enlarge it and read the explanation of their methods.)

Amphibian exhibits are always fun, because they’re like playing Where’s Waldo. Find the chameleon in this picture:

They have a tank of sting rays to look at, and a tank of nice rays to... pet! I pet a guitar fish and one particularly friendly ray. Most of them were really antisocial, but one swam back and forth at the edge of the tank for quite a while. Rays’ wings feel strange... the five year old in me says “slimy,” but the geek in me says, “almost like their skin is frictionless.” However, their spine is rough and very solid. Once you pet a ray, you want to stick around to pet it again, because the sensation is so strange.

On the top floor, they have a neat set-up: you can walk over the tops of the tanks, so you can see the seals, dolphins, and sharks from above. I got there just in time to watch the dolphins be fed, do a few tricks, and then have play time. There was one dolphin who liked to punt the ball as high as possible, one who just pushed around a ball, and one who had figured out the most fun way to play: grab the volleyball in mouth, swim down twenty feet of so, then let go and swim up to the surface to watch it rocket out of the water. I do the same thing at the pool, although I usually hold the ball in my hands and don’t swim down more than six feet...
After leaving the aquarium, I looked for the center of the historical center. However, I wasn’t really in the mood for more museums and churches, and all the interesting stuff was at the top of a hill. Yuck. So I just got my day’s gelato, headed back to Chiavari (via Zoagli, by accident... I just climbed around the rocks on the coast while I waited for the next train), and lay on the beach while the sun began to set. I like Italy.
Today (Sunday) I went to Mass, and it was somewhat strange... it was the fastest Mass I’ve ever been to. There was very little music, and the priest and the congregation seemed to be having some sort of competition to see who could get through the prayers first. Instead of getting out, “Let us pray in the words our Savior gave us...” the priest would manage, “Let us pray in the words our Sa...” before the congregation cut in with the Lord’s Prayer. Odd. The Mass was over in forty five minutes.

29 May 2008

Pisa Photos, and Hiking in Cinque Terre

Chiavari and Pisa

(By the way, Chiavari is pronounced key-AH-var-ee) Here are some pictures from my first couple of days:
This is the beach at Chiavari. When I was studying Chinese a couple of years ago, my teacher told me that their ideal of beauty is mountains and water in the same view. I agree!

Here’s the Baptistry (the big round one), Cathedral (rectangular one), and Tower (leaning one) of Pisa. Apparently all of Pisa is leaning, not just the tower: the Baptisty and Cathedral are both leaning about a foot, as are many of the houses. However, the tower’s the most noticeable tilt.

The Catheral is incredibly beautiful, inside and out. Any imaginable type of art, from carving to fresco, can be found. Most churches in Italy have fairly simple facades, just striped with differently colored stones or completely plain. This one, however, is very ornate.

Here’s a self-timer picture of me in front of the tower:

This cracked me up-- a parking lot at one of Chiavari’s high schools:


Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre, which means “Five Lands,” is a collection of little villages along the cliffs of the Mediterranean coast. The five little villages are probably entirely inhabited by the people who cater to tourists and the people who cater to the people who cater to tourists... in short, they’re five of the top ten touristy villages I’ve visited. The most-visited places in Italy are Rome, Florence, Pompeii, Venice, and Cinque Terre (though not necessarily in that order). The real attraction, however, isn’t really the villages: it’s the rocky paths between them. It’s been made into a national park, to control (and charge) the throngs of people who want to hike. In total, there are about six miles of paths, which in rocky, mountainous measurement, translated to six hours of hiking. It becomes a full day when you add in stops in all the villages, and pauses at the beach to soak your sore feet. I hiked three of the four trails, and I concur with the people who had recommended Cinque Terre to me: it was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. Grueling, but rewarding. The first path goes from Riomaggiore to Manarola, and it is called the Via dell’Amore, the Lovers’ Walk. It’s the easiest: paved in most places, usually flat, and with only a few stairs.
This is the view from the walk. The sea is gorgeous, and mountains are by far my favorite topographical feature, so I was pretty much in heaven.

Here’s Manarola! I didn’t stay for long... I wanted to hike two before lunch.

The second trail goes from Manarola to Corniglia, which is the central town, perched on the top of the cliffs. The walk wasn’t bad, although it took an hour, three times as long as the Lovers’ Walk. I have asthma, but I only had to stop once or twice to calm my breathing... until I got to the end. The end of the trail is a miserable 368 stairs. You do about forty through the trees, and are relieved to see the “end,” but then instead of seeing Corniglia right in front of you, you see seemingly never-ending stairs zigzagging up the hill. I stopped to “enjoy the view,” which is a useful cover for “regain lung power) about ten times. Besides, it had been nearly seven hours since my tiny breakfast, and I was out of water. Luckily, like any discomfort, the memory quickly disappears, and Corniglia charmed the tiredness out of me.

I set off to refill my water bottle at a fountain and find some cheap food. The first place I came across had a Cinque Terre specialty, a mixture of vegetables (notably spinach and potatoes) in a thin crust. I got gelato for dessert before heading back to the trails. Gelato is basically a soft, very rich ice cream. The cones are generally very long and thin, and instead of round scoops, they use a little paddle to put the gelato on the cone. Thus, instead of having your two flavors one on top of the other, they’re side by side. It’s a bit odd, since you get a lot of flavor mixing, but it’s good. My two favorites are chocolate mint and cinnamon.

The path from Corniglia to Vernazza is supposed to be the most beautiful, and it is truly lovely. There are dozens of kinds of wildflowers, trees, and cacti to look at, rocky beaches hundreds of feet below, birds and lizards and butterflies flitting about, and therefore the area around the trail is perfect. The hike itself, however, is torture. Here’s the layout of the trail:
- Hike up about 200 stairs.
- Hike down about 200 stairs.
- Repeat three or four times.
Every time you get optimistic that the end must be near, you turn a corner and see...

...more steps. And since they’re made from loose rocks and dirt, the footing isn’t easy. The view is worth it, though. Here’s one with me in it-- luckily photographs don’t capture smell, because I don’t think I’ve ever been sweatier.

In this one, you can see Corniglia and Manarla, now very distant.

An hour and a half of hiking later, my legs were complaining, my ankle (which has a chronic sprain) was throbbing, and seeing Vernazza brought a sweeping sensation of relief. It sounds unnecessarily poetic, but that’s what it was!

Isn’t it charming? I headed straight for the beach, took off my shoes, and dangled my feet in the water until I felt less dead. Me voilà by the beach and harbor in Vernazza:

Then I climbed around the rocks for a while (there were several colors of granite, some sedimentary rock, and even some porous boulders that looked volcanic), got more gelato, and took a train back to Chiavari. I’ll go to the last town, Monterosso, another day.

27 May 2008

Buongiorno, Italia!

Just a quick post for the moment, to say that I am in Italy! I am staying in a little convent in the town of Chiavari... it is cheaper than most hostels, but I have a private room and private bathroom. The only downside is that there is no internet, which means that I am posting this from an internet café, which means that I am using an Italian keyboard, which means that I can not type an apostrophe and therefore sound unnaturally formal.

Yesterday I had to get up at four to be on the road by six, and after taking a bus, a train, a plane, a bus, and a train, I arrived in Chiavari. It is absolutely wonderful... I had a relaxing afternoon: went to the beach for a few minutes so that I could step into the Mediterranean, got gelato, got a supermarket dinner (chips, milk, and proscuitto... when I am on vacation, I make strange choices for meals) and went to sleep early. The nuns are really sweet, and they run a really professional feeling hotel in their extra rooms. Once they found out that I speak a tiny bit of Italian (though I understand a medium amount) it seems like they have made it their mission to speak Italian to me as much as possible, and they correct my grammar and help me find words. That is exactly what I was hoping for! And I know that they are doing it for my benefit... when I was particularly confused, I found out that one of the nuns speaks nearly perfect French. She just chooses not to, to make me speak Italian. Cool.

Today, I went to Pisa, to see the leaning tower and eat lunch. I have a train pass that allows me to travel basically as much as I want to, so my timing was flexible. Pisa is a relatively big town, and it is quite a walk to the tower. When they were building it, they noticed that it was sinking, and finished it a lot shorter than they had planned. So it is actually a lot less impressive than I thought it would be. However, the complex also has a cathedral and a baptistry, and both of these are spectacular. I went inside the cathedral, since it was cheap (it costs approximately $22 to climb the tower, so I ditched that idea instantly). It is gorgeous inside: such a mixture of types of art. Stained glass, fresco, mosaic, stone work, wood work, metal work, statues... everywhere you look, there is something lovely. I will post pictures once I am working from my own computer!

However, as is always the case with me, perfect travel is impossible. And the mishap of the day was particularly hilarious, because I had somewhat of a premonition of it. After I got pizza for lunch, my train of thought led me to wondering what would happen if one of my shoes broke. I play what-if scenarios in my head all the time, so it was normal. BUT IT DID. My sandal broke. In the cathedral. So I shuffled around until I got outside, and then took off the flip-flops. I had to wander around for about fifteen minutes before I found a place that sold shoes. They had two choices: white sequined flats, and shiny gold sandals of the style that would go great with a toga. I chose the latter, because my feet were ready to fall off from walking on the burning pavement. So now I have a pair of sandals that are about as far from Kel-style as possible. However, I think I will actually be able to get a lot of use out of them.

That is all for now. I will post pictures when possible. The sea, the sky, the architecture, and the weather are all beautiful. The north of Italy is pretty awesome!

21 May 2008

Pointless Post with lots of Points

I'm sure there are other little pointless bits of information that have been bugging you... if you're curious about any other banal details, comment and I'll add to the list!

Little Insignificant Tidbits About Life in France

- At the end of Mass, the priest says "Bon Dimanche à tous" (have a good Sunday) and everybody mutters/whispers their thanks, which sounds like a resounding "sss" throughout the cathedral.

- In French books, the table of contents is at the end.

- Popcorn at the movie theater comes in salty or sweet. Neither is covered in butter.

- Cinnamon and ginger are not frequently used in France.

- The French use the 24-hour clock. It took me about six months to get fully used to it... even though I'd been practicing for months before I arrived, and had to use it in Russia. It's really hard to retrain the way you think about time!

- It's not unusual to see lap dogs on trains.

- The Assumption, All Saints' Day, Ascension Thursday, and Pentecost Monday are national holidays.

- Acetaminophen is called Paracetamol.

- An "ombrelle" is a parasol, and a "parasole" is a beach umbrella. (A "parapluie" is your average rain-blocking umbrella. Very useful in this half of the country!)

- My favorite cereal in the world is sold in France (under the name Trésor, made by Kellogg's) and Russia (by Nestlé) but not in America. They're like solid Chex filled with powdered Nutella... yum.

- Electrical outlets have two small holes.

- A French breakfast has lots of sugar and caffeine (pastries or yoghurt and coffee) but no protein (meat or eggs). People are always surprised when I tell them what I eat for breakfast: eggs, yoghurt, and milk. No coffee, yet I stay awake all day. Amazing.

- Concerts/plays never start earlier than 8:30.

- Movies are released on Wednesday, not on Friday.

- Rain is rarely hard; it's usually a drizzle. Two days ago, I heard thunder for the first time this year.

- Toilets flush in interesting ways: there's usually a knob on top, which either has to be pulled up or pushed down. Sometimes there's a wide button to push. Sometimes the wide button is on the wall. Sometimes there are two buttons, for low-pressure and high-pressure flushes. Sometimes there's a chain to pull. I haven't seen a lever yet.

- Books don't come in hardcover. When books are new (before being released as a pocket paperback) they're a larger sized paperback. It annoys me, since they're not as durable.

- You can't buy a gallon of milk at the grocery store. It doesn't come in bottles that big, since people don't use a lot. The French don't drink milk straight like Americans do.

- Yoghurt comes in those little connected containers, not the larger separate pots like in America.

- A lot of people (me included) use fountain pens or other cartridge pens, and often use erasable ink. The erasability is through a separate pen: one end has a clear eraser, and the other end has a felt tip pen that has non-erasable ink, which can write over the area you've erased. Since the eraser solution is liquid, it makes the spot of paper you've used it on impervious to erasable ink. (Hopefully that comes somewhat close to making sense...)

- Tall buildings aren't very tall in France.

- Temperatures are in Celsius, and weight is in kilograms.

- French adults usually wear rectangular glasses, and kids usually wear very circular glasses.

- The first day of the week is Monday.

- Exam procedure is weird. There are students taking exams for lots of courses in the same room. You're told which desk number to go to, and you fill out an exam form, which has your name and information in a corner which is folded and glued down (like an envelope) so that the graders (who aren't always the professor) don't know whose paper they're reading. You're supplied with scrap paper too. Before the papers are handed out, they tell everyone to empty their pencil cases and put them away, and it's loud as they all do. French students are used to having pencil cases on their desks at all times. (They're trained that way.)

- There are lots of roundabouts and one-way streets.

- Everyone seems to follow the (relatively low) speed limit all the time.

- Band-aids don't come in colors or designs for kids.

- It's cheaper to buy tissues in little packets than in boxes.

- The keys are in different places on French keyboards. You have to press shift to type numbers, since most of those keys are for accented letters.

- There's a stereotype that French women don't shave: and there's a little truth to it, since true French women wax.

- In all my time in France, I've seen one stray cat and no stray dogs.

- French doctors have terrible handwriting too.

- Golden Delicious are the cheapest apples.

- French homes usually aren't air conditioned. They have thick walls, and summer is mild enough that it isn't necessary.

- There are very very few natural blondes in France. I would estimate that about 98% of French people are brunette. And most of these have very straight hair.

- When you call a phone in France, you don't hear a ring like in America. You hear a repeated beep until someone picks up.

- Eggs are brown. (Wikipedia says this is due to species and breed of chicken.)

- Stores (including grocery stores) are closed on Sundays. So are most restaurants.

- There aren't breakfast restaurants. People might go to a café for a pastry and coffee, but that's the extent of restaurant breakfasting.

- In Paris, there are a handful of 24-hour pharmacies. They're not common. When I try to explain why I thought this was strange, French people try to explain why no one would ever need to go to a pharmacy at night. If it's really serious, they can call a doctor. If it's not, it can wait.

- Streets aren't built on a grid system. They're built on a "hey, we could put a street here" system.

- Taxis don't have a taxi light on top. They just have a sign on the side saying that they're taxis.

- The most frequently studied languages in schools are English and German. A far third is Spanish. Nine other languages can be taught, but they're rare.

- In the university system, there's no correspondance between number of credits and number of hours per week.

- You can buy horse meat at the grocery store. It's for people, is just called "Horse" in between the "Pork" and "Beef" sections, and I haven't tried it yet. I've been planning to, but it's hard to drum up the courage.

- The French are very good at remembering to bring their reusable bags to the grocery store. At some stores, you can get the cheap little ones for free, but some stores don't have them. In this case, they sell bags (either disposable or reusable) at check-out.

- Drivers actually slow down when the light turns yellow... sometimes coming to a very fast stop. You're not allowed to cross when the light is yellow.

- Speaking of that yellow light... they're called "orange" here.

- Doorknobs on external doors are usually for decoration. The door only opens with a key, whether it's fully locked or not.

- Most houses have a high wall around them, so that you can't see into the yard. Some just have a high fence. Houses that aren't surrounded by a fence, or those with short fences, are called "American style."

- A lot of people think that the English word "bra" comes from the French "brassiere." However, the French word is soutien gorge, which literally means... "throat support." I think that's hilarious.

- The French, from kids to adults to really old adults, read comic books. They're considered a true art form.

- There's quite a bit of US election coverage in the (national) press, probably because our system is so weird. It's pretty optimistic. Coverage about the French government, though plentiful, isn't so cheerful. The new first lady, however, is quite well-perceived, over all.

- You hear a lot in the press about how the dollar is weak, but that's not entirely true: part of it is the fact that the Euro is having unprecedented inflation-- higher inflation over the course of a month than France had had for a decade, to be precise. It's hitting some people pretty hard, since prices on necessities like food have gone up markedly, but wages are stagnant.

- The "old people" demographic at Mass is pretty strong, but there are plenty of youth, young families, and middle aged people too. At least, it's balanced at the cathedral. Some churches (like the Madeleine, where I went once and was... disturbed... by the music) have a much much younger population, and some (like the Abbey where I go when I remember to wake up in time) have a very old crowd. There, I'm usually the youngest by... forty years or so. There are lots of churches, and because of the way the town grew, they're close together. Each has a unique congregation, because it's easy for people to go where they're comfortable, they don't necessarily have to go to the nearest parish. You hear a lot about empty churches in France, but from my experience, churches are only very empty if you go to Mass before 11 a.m.! Sunday is the day to sleep in.

20 May 2008

How did that happen??

I'm done. Finished my last exam (which wasn't too bad). No more courses, no more tests, no more lack of homework (well, no more official lack of homework... I still don't have any). No more riding the bus to the university. All of a sudden, the end of my exchange year seems particularly imminent.
In six days, I leave for Italy.
I spend two weeks in Italy.
Then I come back to Angers for ten days, during which I do some more Loire valley tourism.
Then I go home.
ALREADY??
It snuck up on me.

So now I'm getting into end of year mode... I closed my bank accounts, I went to the laundromat for what should be the last time (I'll do laundry once in Italy, and wash anything else I need to by hand), I've stopped buying food except for milk, eggs, and fruit, I've put aside some clothes and books to donate, and begun the "big clean" of my apartment. In less than a month, I leave this home and go back to my other home, and that's hard to grasp.

17 May 2008

Concert and a Chuckle

Tonight was my last concert with La Maîtrise de la Cathédrale, the cathedral choir. We did a program of English sacred choral music, and it went quite well. Except for the word "the," the choir pronounces English quite well! We didn't have a very big audience thanks to some scheduling issues, but it was good anyway and they clapped for a long time. Woohoo!

And, since I remembered to take a picture, I have a picture of the page of sheet music that's been cracking me up for the past few months... click on it and see if you can find what I find so funny:

(Don't get it? It's the fact that "diminuendo" is split over two lines, and that the words under "inuendo" could be taken as one. I have a weird sense of humor.)

In other news, I leave in a month. And people keep asking me how I feel about that, which is a really hard question to answer.

15 May 2008

Magic

Monday and Tuesday, Kristen and I decided to forego the traditional castles and cathedrals and go to something with a bit more of a modern, childlike twist... Disneyland Paris. No, I'm not joking. There was even a 40% off deal, so it was cheap. (Comparatively) We got two days in the parks and a night in one of the hotels.
See, when you grow up in suburban Chicago, everyone you know has been to Disneyworld. I knew kids who went every Spring Break. I was usually the only person in my elementary school class who had never been to Disney. So I'd always wanted to go. Kristen loves Disney, and has been to both of the American parks, and wanted to go too. Perfect!

Disneyland was WONDERFUL. People call it things like "the happiest place on earth," and I can understand that. Everywhere you look, there are kids who are completely happy. The place is full of kids, and we saw maybe one or two crying. All the adults were happy too. It's truly magical... every little detail is so perfectly thought out, and it really does make you feel like a kid again. It's a different philosophy to rides, too. It's more about the background than the actual ride; all of the roller coasters are "inside" and most take place in the dark, with special effects. Space Mountain makes it seem like you're going through space, past stars and galaxies. Crush's coaster has lots of fish and feels like the ocean. The Aerosmith rock and roller coaster has stage type lighting and rigging, and loud rock music. The rides are alright, but the experience is incredible.

I surprised myself on several occasions with my reaction to the shows and the costumed characters... the atmosphere seems to bring out the joy and youth in everyone. Plus, the weather was ideal (sunny and mid-70s, not humid at all), the lines were short (the longest we waited for a ride was half an hour for Space Mountain... a lot of the time the only "wait" was the time it took us to walk through the empty lines. The second and third times we went on Space Mountain, the wait was less than five minutes.) and everything was bilingual at the very least. And since I'm a linguist, I had a TON of fun paying attention to the translations, and to what languages were found where.
Space Mountain: (AWESOME roller coaster!)

Our hotel, the Santa Fe, was a surprisingly realistic, though over-the-top, Western style resort hotel. I've stayed in real ones before-- the kind of place where you still change the TV channel with a knob, and where everything from the carpet to the bedspreads is pueblo-colored geometric designs. This hotel had it perfectly. Perhaps the John Wayne billboard over the neon sign was a bit too much... but it was great. They even had evergreens, a fake UFO, and a movie-set-style Western town to complete the atmosphere. Everything was in English and French at the hotel, but they had staff speaking all the other Disneyland languages (Dutch, German, Italian, Spanish).

In general, signage was in English and French-- however, most of the ride names were in English because they're the same ride as in the States, and all of the "exit" and "bathrooms" type signs were in French.

The Lion King show (which had fun costumes and shortened versions of all the songs) was either in English or French-- we went to the English one, and went back for the French one. However, it was pretty disappointing, since the dialogue was in French but all the songs were in English.

The Animagique show was really cool: it was a blacklight show with a lot of the classic songs, and they did some really cool things with puppets. There were animatronics, puppets, full sized costumed characters, marionettes, bubbles, and it was really cool. On a linguistic level, it was interesting, because it was a true mixture: the opening scene between Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse was bilingual, since Mickey spoke French and Donald spoke English. Once Mickey left, Donald himself was bilingual: "J'y vais, here I go!" Most of the songs were in English, but Under the Sea was in French.

The It's a Small World ride was about 75% in English, but sometimes the song was in French. Now that I've been on the ride (twice) I have an actual appreciation for the song, and I mind it a lot less. It's a boat-style travel through the countries of the world, with cute animatronics dancing and singing in traditional costumes or at landmarks. For most of the countries, there's a traditional instrument, and when you go past it, you hear the instrument playing the song.
Here's Paris:

The Pirates of the Carribean ride was all in French, except for the Yo ho yo ho chorus, which was in English.
Here's the pirate ship next to the ride:

There was a neat history-of-animation type show, which had a montage of famous Disney clips (about half in English, a quarter in French, and the rest a mixture of German, Dutch, Italian and Spanish) and a presentation about animation. The presentation, which was a "conversation" between a real live person and an animated Mushu, was in French. All the seats had headphones which could play the translation in the typical handful of European languages.

Some of the rides that had video introductions (Space Mountain and Star Tours, for example) had video with subtitle. Some had English with French subtitles, some had the reverse.

The Tower of Terror had a real live human giving instructions (after a French-only video). The one who explained procedure to our "elevator" did it in French (for me and Kristen... ironic), English (for an English-speaking family), and Spanish (for a really annoying group of teenagers who screamed throughout the entire thing, so that we couldn't hear any of the story). We have no idea how he determined that we spoke French.

The typical roller coaster "Keep your hands and legs inside the car at all times and secure your hats and glasses" was either in French or in English, rarely in both.

The stunt show (which was really cool: car stunt driving, fake fighting, huge balls of fire...) was in English and French, but in the strangest way. There were two hosts, one French-speaking and one English-speaking, and they gave the same information in a conversational style.
"Pour conduire ces voitures, il faut au moins trois mois d'entraînement."
"That's right, you need at least three months of training to drive these cars."
Exact same content, but they made it sound like they were just chatting about it.

The studio tram tour was in English and French, but in an even stranger way. There were two famous actors in the video, one French and one English, but they didn't say quite the same things. Sometimes it was just different jokes, but sometimes they pointed out different things that we were supposed to notice.

My favorite show, however, was Stitch Live. We went once in French, and once in English. It's a real-time show, where the animated Stitch interacts with the audience. There's got to be someone with a lot of controls for what happens on the screen, because they can turn the image upside-down, produce cake out of nowhere, and make Stitch move around anywhere. There's actual interaction with the audience: Stitch asks people's names, takes a picture of a kid and puts it on the screen, has conversations with the audience... it was hilarious. The French show was 100% French, and the English show was 100% English.

And here are some pictures!!
Cinderella is one of my favorite Disney movies:

Being France, there was a shopfront from Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, complete with umbrella and rain.

I was excited to take a picture with Sully:

And Kristen took one with Mike:

Finally, here we are with the ultimate of French Disney characters: Lumière.