Living vicariously through the study abroad students

The first weekend of December I traveled to Rennes in the northwest of France to visit AJ, who is ‘studying’ abroad in the small, medieval town. Asides from a brief stint in Paris two years ago, this was my first true taste of France and French culture. Awesome trip, great time but the French really do not do much to dissuade the stereotype of being douche bags. Generalizing, while not fair with such a small sample, is too easy as the majority were quite rude, especially to my friends studying in the town trying to improve their French.

Douchebaggery aside, it really was a cool city. I spent Thursday night in Paris and headed to Rennes on Friday by train (the efficiency of the European train system still amazes me every time I use it). After catching up a bit, we headed to a pub for a quick pint and the World Cup draw. Many drinks later and a very below par Mexican meal (you may be asking: why would you eat Mexican food in France? Answer: when you are with a group of girls all logic should be thrown out the window. Secondly, women are horrible gauges of good Mexican food. If that offends the lone, if any, reader of this blog then just ask AJ about his Chi-Chis experience in Brussels. Enough said) we headed to a club. Pretty standard European club/night as we stayed out until sunrise making our productivity the next day all but nonexistent.

Our big plans for Saturday were attending a Stade Rennais (French first division soccer team) game. The pre-game involved tubes of beer as we slowly recovered our swag from the night before. AJ sprung for the best tickets in the stadium (only 5euro more than the upper deck Real Madrid tickets we had a fortnight earlier), which placed us two rows back at the midfield line. Baller. To make the experience even better, we ate traditional Brittany (region) food called Gallettes, grilled sausages wrapped in wheat crepes. After another full night of debauchery, we ended up at this little stand for a Scooby-Doo. Cheeseburgers, fries, lettuce, tomatoes, special sauce all inside of a toasted panini, had there been some chili or spicy sauce it would have been no different than Hubbas. It was a fantastic way to conclude the weekend’s festivities.

My late train Sunday allowed us to do our sightseeing/walking tour the next afternoon before my long trip home. Great to see AJ and I am glad that we decided to meet there and not Paris as it was very cool to see a part of France with no American influence.