Fun Stuff in Rennes

I live about a 10 minute bus ride from the city’s downtown area and have been down there a few times already. It is a REALLY cute city with lots of shops, restaurants, gardens, parks, bars, creperies, cafés; I love it! I already had a Breton galette at one of the creperies … super good. There are tons of different plazas around the city where it’s easy to meet up with people/hang out/etc. There is one main street with tons of bars on it, and I saw one called Le Tennessee Bar, so I’ll have to check that out soon. Apparently Thursday night is the big soirée night in the city since lots of students go home for the weekends. There was supposed to be a barbecue for foreigners my first Thursday, but it got rained out; but I was still able to meet up with a few American, English, and Irish assistants at a bar downtown. There are a couple of American assistants who lived here last year, so they are really good about organizing stuff for us all to do. But until I get a cell phone/have consistent Internet access, it will be difficult to get in touch with anyone besides my suite-mates. There’s an American assistant who has a French boyfriend (of 5 years – they met in high school & have been together since!) in Rennes, so she invited me to hang out with her bf and his friends on Friday night. It has always been pretty difficult for me to follow quick conversations among young French people (all of the young slang, etc), but after a few drinks it turned into a fun night! We ended up at an English rugby bar that had a very lively atmosphere since le Coupe du Monde du Rugby is going on in France right now. It was a great night until I walked home and realized that I was locked out of my school/dorm! No one has really given us clear information as to what gates/doors get locked at what times, and since most of the French students leave on the weekends, almost everything is closed around here on weekends. Luckily I was with some of the French people that I knew through the other American assistant, so I just stayed at their place. The next day I explored the area around the school and think I found a gate that will be open all of the time … hopefully!!

I actually opened up a bank account on my second day, since I need a French bankcard in order to get a cell phone plan. So my bankcard should arrive next week and then I can hopefully get the cell phone! Will keep you posted as soon as I get a phone number, address, etc, etc.