Artaq Festival Angers

So it's been a long time since July 1st. When I ended up back in Winnipeg this summer I wasn't sure I'd continue this project. But tonight I've decided to keep posting, even though my year abroad was cut short. I'll be traveling and back in Europe soon enough.

I guess I'll start where I left off, with some more photos and stories from France. These are from the 2nd annual Artaq Awards that took place in Angers this May. One Saturday before work I was walking around town and came across all this paper at the Place du Ralliement.

I did a little drawing and Yoh, a Japanese artist participating in the festival, came up and we chatted. I also met Ruben Grande, the photographer of a lot of these photos. Later on I checked out Yoh's show and some of the live painting that was happening around the city.

Some of Yoh's pieces

That evening I met back up with Yoh, Ruben and a few other artists, from all over - France, Belgium, LA, Italy, etc. One of the events was to paint on the windows of Galeries Lafayette, a French department store of the main square. Yoh invited me to join and Ruben was nice enough to take some cool shots. I drew some Matryoshka dolls for my friend Emma. It was tricky hanging onto the window sill, especially in my little dress!

Afterwards we headed to Hotel Bar du Centre with the other artists and stayed there till we got kicked out. Next we went to an exclusive discothèque I'd never seen or heard of. When we arrived the door was barred and locked and I thought we were out of luck. But someone rang the bell and a middle-aged man opened the door to a noisy, small room and filed us in. It was the weirdest bar I've been to, with big tropical plants, a huge TV playing 80s Spanish music videos, and drinks that started at 20 euro. You could smoke inside and the DJ was playing Blondie.

A few too many drinks at Hotel Bar du Centre

Definitely a memorable night.

Yoh's website
Ruben's website

Une Belle-Beille histoire

This weekend I moved out of my student dorm. I couldn't imagine the amount of stuff I'd accumulated.  After a lot of sorting I packed it all into 2 bags and 1 portfolio. It's a weird sight, having your entire life neatly packed and sitting by your door. Everyone has said their goodbyes to Cité Universitare de Belle-Beille and Lakanal and how it's my turn. I can't say I'll miss the crappy bus service or the weirdos that hang out at the corner by le Tabac du Lac. What I will miss is cooking with friends every night, bonfires by the pond and cramming 20 people into nine square meters. Here are some photos from some of my time spent at Belle-Beille.

Honey. 

Emma and José Maria - these two are great together

A shot of my room in February with huge hands!

Campfires in the bushes.  Ah-wimb-a-way, ah-wimb-a-way....

The agriculture campus had parties every second thursday and Erasmus students crashed just about everyone. 

Cheap sangria & dancing on the bar

Paddy playing guitar on St. Patricks day

Big dinners in our communal kitchens 

Having a picnic outside our residence between classes. Sometimes we didn't make it back to class.

A beautiful surprise Claire left at my doorstep one night.

Sitting around after Sunday brunch

For Jill's birthday we all got dressed up and went to dinner. Rachel did all of our make-up, what a star!

Shane gave me this mirror when he left, such a treat for a couple weeks. The flowers on the left were picked from a construction site. There are wild poppies everywhere.

Vachement Normandie: Caen & D-Day beaches

My friend Claire and I have been planning a trip to Normandy for a couple months and last week we finally made it. We couchsurfed with the Caen Couchsurfing ambassadors so naturally we had a great time in their beautiful home. Normandy also happens to be the Couchsurfing capital of France. Claire and I made it to Juno and Omaha beach and a bunch of war museums. The sights were stunning and very moving. Overall our days were very peaceful and reflective, and then we'd have a great night hanging out with our hosts, Nicolas and Amélie.

Juno beach

Omaha

The walk from Omaha beach up to the American cemetary... we felt a little lost but we got there in the end and the walk was beautiful. 

Our hosts lost their cat Obama last week but they found him the night before we arrived. Pauvre 'tit Obama!!! 

BBQ - Claire and I were ecstatic  

Ribs, sausages, wine, beer, calvados etc...

Funny cat. 

Our comfy comfy bed in their Napoleon home. It was right along le jardin des plantes, a big public garden. The building used to house the garden guards. 

Obama hanging out on his white house. The real Obama was actually in Caen while we were there, for the G8 summit.  Funny coincidence. 

This trip really reinforced how much I love couchsurfing. Our hosts were so generous and fun. We practiced so much French that I was talking to Claire in my sleep in French. Awesome!

Loire à vélo day 3: Tours, Amboise

On day 3 we packed up camp and headed to our last destinations, Tours and Amboise. We were 15km from Amboise when I got a flat tire. An hour long adventure followed full of life lessons: how to repair a leak, how not to buy a 3 euro bike pump from Carrefour and how to talk bike jargon in French. In the end we lost too much time and had to catch the train to Amboise from Montlouis-sur-Loire. 

We stopped in Tours and looked around a bit. This train station brings back bad memories of being stranded in Tours at 10pm earlier this month.

The usual - double espresso et un verre de glaces 

Final destination

Group shot with our biker shorts. John was too cool for them of course. 

I would be lying if I said the whole trip was lovely. There were sometimes I felt like my butt was going to fall off. But overall, it was amazing and I can't wait to do another trip!