Discovery After Discovery

I don't think I have had a week in my life filled with so many things to do, places to see, and people to meet! The second week of the French Language Intensive was completely jam packed. I barely even had a moment to relax for a little bit.

It was a slow start on Monday, with two sessions in a row of class instruction. Although the day was very long and many of the students (including me) were exhausted afterwards, we learned a great deal of information and were able to get started on our project for the week. The class that CIEE offers is structured in a way that students are assigned one project each week that they make contributions to throughout the week. The first week included general information: our first impressions of French lifestyle, our host families, activities we enjoyed, etc. etc. But this week we were tasked with creating a cultural magazine with a partner. That night, I went on an enjoyable run as I have been doing almost every day while on the trip.

Tuesday began with another session of class in which we learned about traditional art from France and Bretagne. What is truly unique about Rennes is that French is not the only language spoken there, Breton (the traditional language from the region Brittany) is also spoken. Hence, we  wee taught some Breton phrases on Tuesday as well. For that afternoon, we headed to the "Exposition 40m^3". This unique building housed contemporary art created by artists in Rennes. However, it was especially interesting because all of the art in the exposition had been inspired by a fictional group called 'The Halmens'. Several artists in Rennes have contributed to this project, and their efforts have createda well-thought out society with a lengthy book of plans and history to go along with it. After returning home, I went on another run (big surprise, I know).

Wednesday. Wow what an incredible day this was! That morning we departed from rennes around 8:45am and drove to the city of Dinan, one of the most historical cities in all of Brittany. It had several beautiful churches and antique items, and a fantastic selection of cuisine. From there, we drove to the beautiful village of Mont-Saint-Michel. One of the reasons I thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Mont-Saint-Michel was its application in popular culture. For anyone who has seen the Disney movie Tangled, it is true that the town of Corona in the film was based off of Mont-Saint-Michel. The famous abbey was rich in history too, which we learned about through an informative audio guide.

On Thursday morning, we had yet another course, in which we began to understand French cinema and movies. We assumed the role of movie critics and reviewed a movie that we absolutely loved (or hated). Then, we added this review to our Cultural magazine. Then, that afternoon we rode a bus to the outskirts of Rennes near Donzelot. There, we listened to traditional Breton music and even practiced some dance and singing ourselves at 'La Bouèze'. Experiencing these elements of culture first-hand was truly amazing, and it helped me better know the unique culture of Rennes in a new way. Thursday's date was June 21st, which is the Summer Solstice AKA the longest day of the year. The people of Rennes celebrate this day each year by hosting 'La Fête de la Musique' ('The Festival of Music'). That night, my host family joined me in the streets of Rennes where we saw countless musical groups perform in various styles of music: country, traditional Breton, pop, rock, acoustic, alternative, and any other genre you could imagine! I was truly blessed as I got to showcase my love to sing at an open mic at the festival. I can't even begin to describe how cool it was, but it is something I will never forget.

Lastly, Friday started with our weekly presentations of our project. It was fascinating to see the cultural magazines my class and I had produced and to see our many different interpretations of French culture. Afterwards, we were guided by some local artists on the popular Street Art areas of Rennes. We saw fantastic creations and were completely surprised when we were told we were going to paint some Street Ar of our own. Together, we decided on becoming the 'Rennesagades' and spent the rest of the afternoon painting our masterpiece, with the help of some professionals of course :)

See the time lapsed creation below recorded by my fabulous Program Leader, Maura. I was able to contribute to painting the letter 'D' with Mia Gualtieri so watch out for that!

[VIDEO::https://youtu.be/sL0QEMTk3cg]