Science Fiction and the Beach

My life lately has been a little more relaxing so I haven't had much to write about, but I have done a few interesting things in the past week.

Thursday night I went to a science fiction festival in Nantes. One of my teachers gave me some information on it and 2 free tickets if I pretended to be in high school (which I did successfully.)  I'm not the biggest science fiction fan nor do I pretend to know a whole lot about it, but it sounded interesting so I decided to go. It was fun, but I definitely felt a bit out of my element. For starters, there really weren't many women there. Though I guess I wasn't too surprised by that. They had an exhibition on "V for Vendetta" and David Lloyd, the creator, was one of the featured speakers. They had a few other exhibitions, which included some interesting paintings, science fiction films, book signings, and games. I played a couple video games for X Box and old school Sega, which was pretty cool. They also had lots of live action role playing games which I found a little funny. Most seemed to be military/fighting based, but there was also a vampire role playing game. It was definitely interesting!

After the science fiction festival I went to couchsurfing party with my English roommate, Frances. She had heard about it from a French girl she met, and it was basically lots of people who wanted to meet with people from different countries. I loved it because I met a bunch of French people! One of my main goals coming to France this time was to make permanent French friends and I fiiiiinally feel like I'm making some. I've found that making French friends here can be pretty difficult. French people tend to be a little more closed off when they are out with their friends; not at all like Americans who go to bars and are extremely social with random people. However, I have also heard that once you do make friends here, they will be your friends for life. They don't take the notion of friendship very lightly. My teachers have been very nice in inviting me out with them, but I'm glad I'm also making some French friends on my own. I think it will also help me improve my French a lot!

Saturday I went to a nearby beach town called Pornic with both my roommates, an Argentinian friend, Florencia, and another Argentinian who is an assistant in another city. The day was really quite perfect for the beach; it was sunny and in the low 60s. I cannot believe we are still having weather like this in November! I had a fabulous time just walking along the beach, sticking my feet in the frigid Atlantic Ocean, and picking up seashells. We didn't get to explore the town very much since we spent most of the time on the beach, so hopefully I can go back soon! All in all it was a wonderful weekend.

Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera to Pornic so I don't have any pictures of my own. Here are a couple pictures that my roommate took:
 Photo credit: Frances Pope

 I look like such a dork in this one!