Guilford College Women's Lacrosse

31 Days

That's right people, 31 days until my glorious return to the U.S. of A. Well, I don't know about glorious but my return nonetheless. I am so excited to come home, there are just some things I just miss (Cookout anyone?) and besides I've been here since August, I'm ready to go back home. But I've still got some awesome things coming up... like going to Paris next weekend for Thanksgiving with my cousin, some day trips, and buying Christmas presents! I am very excited to be going to visit my cousin (she lives in Paris with her husband and two adorable little French babies) for Thanksgiving. She and I are going to do an American Thanksgiving for her husband and kids. My mom sent me her favorite recepies so I am sooo excited. I'm a domestic diva and I can't wait to test my skills. Oh and coach, I have yet to make your recepies that you sent me but I'm going to one day I've just been busy being a world traveler and all.

This past weekend I went to Germany to visit Carrie! That was super fun. We had a very adventrous time and it was super fun. We ate lots of sausage and traditional German food (saurkraut in Germany is way better than in the states) and of course tried various beers. Very delicious I will say, and you cannot get stuff like that in America. Anyways, we were also super tourists and walked around taking mad pictures of Munich-y things... like the Glockenspcheil. That was really cool, minus the Communist Party rally we accidentally ended up at (it was in the city square where the Glockenspcheil happens to be). Walking around the city was really cool because it looks SO different from France... even the apartment was crazy different. I don't really know how to explain that one but I walked in and it just looked German to me. Anyways I had such a good time and I would love to go back sometime!

I know I'm a week early, but have a good Thanksgiving break!

bisous

Meaghan

the Alps, view from my plane flying in!

 

Oh hey what up Germany

 

Glockenspcheil

Au Revoir France, Guten Tag Deutsch

I'm so very excited because on Friday morning I am going to GERMANY (or the Germ as I like to call it) to visit Carrie Ernst!! We are going to drink a lot of German beer because what else should one do in Germany? Its world renowed for its delicious brews. But don't worry, we also have lots of cultural activites planned like seeing those wooden people that come out of the giant clock when it chimes and going to museams. Needless to say, I'm super excited!

Carrie was actually here visiting me in Rennes over the weekend and experience la vie en France (or life in France). It was pretty nice. We went on a stroll through my neighborhood and enjoyed a dinner of Crêpes and Galettes and Cider even though the people were like going crazy and did not give us our correct order and I still have no idea what we actually ate. Whatever, it was deeeeelissshusssh. We then went out with a French man that one of my friends from Guilford knew when he was here last semester. He was super chill and we had a great time talking about North Cackalacky (he went to Elon for a year) and the NBA (fyi Tony Parker is NOT French he just went to school here or something and pretends like he is French) and lots of other things.

That is pretty much all that has been going on in France for now. I'm pretty sure our vacation had drained everyone of all their energy and all our professors gave us exams in the past two weeks so that was cool (not). 

Bisous

Meaghan

Parc du Thabor, Rennes... sooooo beautiful and amazing I love going here!

 

again... these were taken in early October

All you do in America is play sports

Bonjour everyone! My fall break was amazing! I was lucky enough to go to Paris with Ellie, Reegan, and Hannah. That was so much fun and it was great to see them. We did the usual Paris things such as the Eiffel Tower at night (the best time to see it), Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, Montmartre, the Centre Georges Pompidou etc. and of course I made them eat like real french people meaning lots of bread and cheese and of course delicious French wine. I've come to the conclusion that the French have the BEST bread and pastries and things like that. When I was in Amsterdam I was literally counting down the days until I was back in France so I could buy a delicious Pain au Chocolat or Pain au Raisin (basically a croissant filled with chocolat and one with raisins and sugar... amazing) for a euro each. When I get to America again I know I'm going to miss the French cuisine so much... it is literally amazing and nothing can compare to it in any way.

The rest of my break was awesome though. Amsterdam is a beautiful city best seen by bike. People there don't drive cars they ride bikes and they will kill you if you get in the way. It was super fun to bike around and see Amsterdam the way the locals do, although it is kind of easy to get lost like my friend Elyse and I did on our jaunt around the city and somehow ended up in ChinaTown/ the Red Light District and didn't realize that was where we were which was a little scary. I also think it is funny that ChinaTown and the Red Light District are right next to eachother and intermingle a little bit.

Next, I was in Brussels for the end of my 11 days. That was my favorite city that I've visited so far. It was beautiful, easy to walk around, and did not have canals that were confusing to navigate. Also, since they speak French there it was easier for me to talk to people and figure out what I was doing and where I was going. Brussels is hilarious because they have 3 statues that are relatively famous; they are called Manneken Pis, Janneken Pis, and i dont remember the name of the last one. Basically all three are statues of people and a dog peeing. Manneken Pis is a little boy and it was built in the 1800s, Janneken Pis was built later (like 1987) by a bar owner to attract people to his bar, and the last is a dog that is just random. In any event, Manneken Pis is the like "star" of Brussels and all the chocolate shops have little chocolates made into the shape of Manneken Pis.

Overall, it was a good trip but I am so tired now! 11 days of traveling is rough. But I do have a great Arnaud story, which refernces my title. I was talking to him the other day before I left and we had a very englightening conversation on the American education system. He looked me right in the eyes and said "I wish I went to school in America, all you do is go to class in the morning and play sports all afternoon." No matter how much I said that wasn't true he said he has seen a lot of movies and that it most definitely is true. I think he has decided hes going to move to America one day and just live like Van Wilder because im pretty that is the impression he has of what America is like (thank you MTV).

Enjoy the pictures below from the trip!

bisous

Meaghan

Amsterdam, notice the 1000 bikes

 

Manneken Pis

 

me and Hannah in a random French park in Paris... notice our amazing European scarves

Can I watch lacrosse on MTV?

Recently, I was hanging out with a French friend I have here named Arnaud. He and I were talking about tattoos and I told him that I had a lacrosse one and he just kind of nodded and said cool. When I showed it to him he goes "OH! A butterfly!" I started laughing and explained that it was two lacrosse sticks. Arnaud then asked me (in all seriousness) "Can I watch laa-crosse on MTV?" I laughed and said no... Another interesting fact about this kid is that his favorite show on MTV is Next and Date My Mom, classy American television. I've basically decided that I love French people and their weird ideas about America.

This past weekend I was lucky enough to go to the Loire Valley, an area that is well known for its châteaux or castles and it was beautiful. We went to 4, and drove by 6 total... absolutely crazy and amazing and one of the best days of my life!

Tomorrow I am going to Paris to meet ELLIE AND REEGAN! And then HANNAH arrives Saturday! I'm so excited!! Then on Monday I am going to Amsterdam for 4 days and then Brussels for 4 days... I'm so excited. I've heard great things about both cities and how beautiful and fun they are. :)

Bisous

Meaghan

Azay le Rideau... one of the châteaux that we saw

 

Chenonceau, the most visited château in France... for good reason! It was my favorite. This is me and my friend Calli sitting on the garden wall overlooking the Cher river.

Lacrosse... it's kind of like fut-bol, but with sticks

Today in my oral expressions class, we had to bring in a picture and explain to the class why it was important to us. My mom recently mailed me my subscription to Lacrosse magazine, therefore I had plenty of options to choose from. I chose a really baller pic with two girls really going for a groundball and presented it to the class. My class has 4 other Americans in it, the rest are Eastern European, Chinese, or Middle Eastern and my professor is French. When I tried to explain what lacrosse was, the easiest thing I could think of was "c'est un peu comme le fut-bol européen mais avec les batons" translation: it's kind of like soccer, but with sticks. I was met with so many blank looks it was crazy! Everyone in the room was struggling to comprehend but i think i did a good job explaining by the end, it was less blank looks and more "ok I think I get it..." looks haha. It is hard because lacrosse is a traditional American sport, and it isn't even that popular there so how could it be known here? In France there are two teams, one in Paris and one in Lille. It is a completely different world here regarding sports... the conclusion I've come to is that everyone is obsessed with soccer (and it is SO cool here way better than the states), cycling (Tour de France... hello!), and badminton because everyone is required to take it in gym at the university and high school too I think, but everyone carries around their badminton raquets like it is NBD (no big deal) which I think is hilarious. Also the university that I go to  (Universite Rennes 2 Haute Bretagne) does not have any organized sports teams... there are gym classes you have to pay to take with different sports but nothing too crazy which is weird for me because in America all the schools have sports. Its such a different world.

It was really funny the other night, I was talking with some French guys, and the sterotype that everyone smokes here is completely 100% true, I politely declined saying "no, I am an athlete I don't smoke" but I think the word for athlete and addict are similar because the rest of the night the garçon was telling everyone not to give me cigarettes, that I was an addict. I had to laugh, it was hilarious. 

This weekend, I am going on a tour of the Loire Valley to see 6 châteaux in one day. I am super excited because they are the 6 most famous (aside from the Palais de Versaille... the place where Marie Antoinette lived and the Treaty of Versaille that ended WW1 was signed) châteaux in France.

Study hard for those midterms girls! I will see all of you in no time! Lets get excited for the season!!

Grand Bis

Meaghan

Ocean Side town of Sainte-Malo... it looked like the Little Mermaid haha... so beautiful! and the beach was one of the prettiest things I've ever seen!

I think I can see the Statute of Liberty!

Bonjour from France! France is absolutely beautiful and amazing, I have been lucky to see so many cool things in the month and a half that I've been here. I live in Rennes, Brittany (or Bretagne) which is in the western part of France on the Atlantic.  This weekend I went to the Point du Raz, the most western tip of France. Unfortunately I could NOT see the Statute of Liberty but that would have been really cool!

I am really enjoying living here in France although it is incredibly challenging. I thought I was completely fluent before coming here but I have since learned that there is ALWAYS more to learn. There have been some really great highs and some really low lows (such as a random French man asking me if I go to McDonalds every day in America) but overall I couldn't be having a greater experience. The French cuisine is everything it is cracked up to be, my mère, or French host mom, makes delicious food for lunch and dinner every day, we have crêpes all the time, and baguettes with everything it is absolutely wonderful! Here in Bretagne crêpes are a specialty along with galettes which are like crêpes but you eat them with ham and eggs inside followed with a glass of cidre, or alcoholic apple juice basically, a Breton specialty which is very delicious. 

Last weekend the Women's Lacrosse team had their end of the season fall ball tournament at W&L... good job ladies!! We are going to get both W&L and Lynchburg this season no doubt. I know that I have been running every day here, motivating myself by thinking about our season and everything we can accomplish if we are in shape and ready to prove everyone in the conference wrong. I am so excited for January, so everyone keep up the good work that you started this fall! I know I missed it but I'm sure it went great.

Good Luck with Midterms ladies! Have a safe and fun fall break!! (Ellie and Reegan, see you soon!!)

-Meaghan

Photo: Point du Raz, Finistère France

Erin Hoerner is a G