i'm nantes kidding when i say i was in crisis

updates on the upcoming dates and the dates of the past

Since we last spoke- or read- or whatever this weird author/audience relationship is- I've been a busy girl.

Let's do a quick run-through of recent adventures, shall we?

NANTES, FRANCE

Nantes is a beautiful and lively city. Even though we were only there for a day I feel like I really experienced the city. We started our morning at Chateau des Ducs de Bretagne, and got to see an exhibit in the castle's museum on Ancient Colombian chamans and how metallurgy played a role in their celebrations and rituals.

We roamed the city for a bit, and then met with the group at L'ile des Machines- a huge workshop gallery of animatronic creations. The elephant pictured above was probably two or three stories high and sprayed water at the nearby visitors. We also got to ride their three story carousel, which was a bizarre steampunk looking contraption that I didn't fully trust, but ended up overlooking Nantes at the highest level on a dragon's back. Afterwards we stopped at an ice cream cart, and I discovered that I had never truly lived before tasting strawberry mint sorbet.

There was also a slave trade memorial in Nantes, underground by the banks of the river. We stopped in for a bit and read about the millions of lives involved in transatlantic trade. All in all, Nantes was a very interesting city. I may even try to go back in the spring.

AZAY-LE-RIDEAU

We were all supposed to sign up for a trip to Chambord, but the spots on the bus filled up too quickly, leaving Jack, James, Georgia and I in the dust. We didn't let missing out on Chambord get us down though, instead we woke up for a 9:30 train to Azay-Le-Rideau, another chateau in the Loire Valley. Nestled in a tiny town that was still sleepy when we arrived, this chateau was a fairy tale dream. I don't know if it was the crisp autumn air or the sheer beauty of the castle, but I was enchanted.

Inside there were moving centerpieces, dresses spinning and fountains leaping, and in the attic a young woman in a white dress played a flute. I felt like I was in Beauty and the Beast, true Disney magic was happening here people. James decided that Azay-Le-Rideau is the perfect sized chateau for his future husband and two kids- here's hoping I get an invite to Christmas!

Tour charlemagne

When we caught the train home, (note: BARELY CAUGHT, we bought our tickets seconds before it left the station and ran for our life to reach the closing doors) we decided our day of exploring wasn't over. We headed to Tour Charlemagne for a view of the city. For some reason it didn't occur to me that to get to the highest point of a medieval building I'd have to climb LOTS of stairs, so imagine my poor stubby legs' suprise when we climbed over 200 steps. The view was so so worth it though, and I'm glad we risked our lives on those precarious spiral steps to get the pictures.

I had a bit of an existential crisis this week though, I was sitting in my room when I got a message from my friend Vicky saying something about it being halfway through the semester and I thought: HALFWAY THROUGH THE SEMESTER, THAT'S A QUARTER OF THE WAY THROUGH MY TIME ABROAD. And it sent me into a panic, I could feel the time slipping away from me. Why was it a fourth of the way into the year and I had only been to France, and not even really outside of the Loire region?? I lost my shit, and started planning a million different itineraries, frantically trying to pack a few more countries into the odd bits of free time I have in my calendar.

I realized I have way more time than I thought, obviously. But in my panic I also started to narrow down the places that I was scared to miss, the ones I really want to see. And in my personal crisis, in true Katelyn fashion, I dragged my friends into the storm with me. A stress crazed Katelyn lured Marta and Andrea into the kitchen with promises of popcorn and cheap train tickets, and left successful with plans to visit Beligum in December, a finalized Amsterdam itinerary, and a possible trip to Luxembourg. Homegirl got it DONE.

I think that when I look back on my trip abroad, one memory that will definitely stick out will be me and Andrea sitting on the floor in the middle of my hallway, planning and booking a trip to Brussels in the span of about a half hour at midnight. My neighbors peeked their head out a few times to see what the commotion was as we ooohed and ahhhed over the Belgian Chocolate Village and the Magritte Museum.

So I'm feeling better now, and even looking towards spring semester trips when I'll have a lot more breaks and can go farther away. I've got some things in the works currently (did someone say cheap flights to Portugal??) Until next time- you can probably find me in my building's community kitchen, making skillet meals and planning excursions.