The Most Fabulous of Weekends: Weekend 5

Saturday: I had to get myself up early today to be at the université by 8:20a. We had a field trip today with USAC to the beautiful French Basque cities of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and Biarritz! We also made a small stop in a charming village named Sauveterre de Béarn where we had time to walk around, enjoy the picturesque river-side cottages, and munch on chocolatines. =)

To start, we were all on the bus except for one girl by 8:30a: when we were supposed to be pulling out of the school. Just like our last USAC field trip, we waited for the last straggler for a good 10 minutes at least, but unlike the last field trip, this person actually made it before we left them behind. Phew! We were on our way to Basque Country after that, and man was it a beautiful day! After about an hour and change of driving, we made a stop in the quaint French town of Sauveterre de Béarn. This is so French to me: we didn't take a break to "stretch our legs" or take a "potty break" as we do in the States; no, this was a "coffee and chocolatine break." What??! In case you're wondering, chocolatines are flaky pastries that are nothing more than croissant-style bread with two stripes of chocolate inside. It's about a 3in x 4in pocket of Heaven. So we spent 45min in Sauveterre taking in the sun, savoring chocolatines, and admiring this beautiful medieval French village. Plus, there was a lovely church near where we walked and we got to hear a little story about a bridge that was at the bottom of the hill beneath us. The way our advisor Ryan told it, this bridge was used for witch-trials way back in the day. There's a legend that goes like this: a young woman in Sauveterre was labelled a witch when the town saw her disfigured/handicapped child. The 'witch test' that was used on her was simple: throw the accused over the bridge with hands and feet bound- if she sinks, she's guilty; if she floats, she's innocent and was saved by the grace of God. As the story goes, this young woman and her infant child were thrown over the bridge in Sauveterre de Béarn, and sure enough, they floated....

Welcome to beautiful Sauveterre de Béarn!

The church in Sauveterre

Like a fairytale

There's the bridge towards the top of the picture

Almost all of the USAC buddies! (with chocolatines in hand... or in mouth)

Enchanting

=)

Ahhhh

After this wonderful "break," we got back on the road to head to the French Basque city of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port ("Saint Jean at the foot of the port"). Along the way, our advisors (Ryan and Robina) gave us lots of little facts about Basque culture and the French Basque regions in particular. There are seven Basque provinces- 4 in Spain (and I've been to one of them with my trip to San Sebastián), and 3 in France. I don't remember the names of the provinces but they each have a main city and I can remember  those: Vittoria, Bilbao, San Sebastián, Pamplona (Spain), and Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, Bayonne,  Mauléon (France). Most of the little tidbits they gave us about distinguishing Basque characteristics from any others had to do with Basque houses and Basque cuisine. For instance, a true Basque house is always painted stark white with only one other color (the classic "Basque red" that originates from the old habit of painting house trim with ox blood, or green, brown, or blue) for the trim and shutters. The houses are usually asymmetrical and often have lots of beams across the face to add visual-interest. Basically, they are very unusual and very pretty. The other fun-facts we got were about Basque food and drink: cidre (a very tart, slightly-spiked apple cider) is the most famous Basque beverage. Food-wise they are known for their Piperade peppers (the Piment d'Espelette I have become very fond of), cherry or almond Basque cake, and a Basquaise sauce that's made with tomatoes, piperade peppers, and spices, which usually goes fantastically well with fish. 

When we got off the bus we started walking up to the top of a very old building for the best views of the city. Once we reached "La Citadelle" we were handed quizzes with questions about Basque culture and a few Basque words that we were supposed to ask locals to translate for us. The first 5 or 6 people to get the most answers correct would win a prize of their choice.... 

Welcome to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port!

C'est moi =)

Happy USAC kids

What a view... it can't be that bad living here

My friend Chai, totally rockin' the heck out of this picture

From every angle, these mountains never get old

We spent a good 15 minutes up here admiring the gorgeous view and feeling so thrilled and blessed by the fantastic weather. After that, I buddied up with a very sweet girl who I have not spent enough time with named Jessica. The two of us walked around the cute alley-type streets of the city for the next hour going in and out of shops and talking with a few strangers to get help with our Basque translations. Jessica bought a pretty Basque stone necklace for her mom and we each split two Basque chocolates just because. I was very happy about this. :)

Happy me! One of the chocolates was a thick square of nothing but soft caramel wrapped in milk chocolate and the other was a bar of pistachio, nougat mixture wrapped in dark chocolate. Mmmmmm

We were only given about an hour in the city. After time was up, we all re-borded the bus and headed to our final destination: gorgeous Biarritz! If you've heard of Biarritz, France before it's probably because it's a huge tourist and celebrity destination; especially in the summer. Biarritz used to be a fishing port town and there is at least one original fishing dock that still exists there today. Now, though, it is mostly a place for people to eat seafood at its restaurants, buy Basque towels/table cloths/napkins/etc at its shops, and get a little crisped lying on its gorgeous beaches. Ryan was nearly giggling as we walked through the city. He said that every year that they've done this trip with the USAC students it's been rainy and grey outside. But not today! No, today the sun was out in full force and there was hardly a cloud in sight. It was truly a gem of a day.

Welcome to sunny, beautiful Biarritz!

We started out our afternoon in Biarritz by walking past its lovely church and then heading to lunch. Ryan and Robina had some guts when they organized our lunch today: they somehow managed to get all 52+ of us seated at a restaurant that sits close enough to the beach to see the water while you eat! Not sure how they managed this (especially with it being at a French restaurant- a place where chaos is not welcome) but they did and it was fabulous. While we waited to be served, Pauline (a French student who helps out with USAC planning from time to time) and Robina announced the winners of the quiz challenge. Jessica (my buddy) was one of the first four to be called and I was going to be frustrated if I didn't win too- we had done the quiz together! A few names in, though, Robina called mine and I got to chose between what was left: I don't remember what the first thing was but the second was a pretty cool, silver "Pays Basque" (Basque Country) keychain. I snagged it. :)

Our lunch menu was selected for us, of course, but it was really great. We started off with a cold tomato-based soup that had cucumbers inside and a little olive oil on top. I ordered myself a glass of a very tasty and fruity white wine from the bar, and when I came back, there was a cute (free) postcard sitting on the table. Ryan and Robina were generous enough to get us each a Pays Basque postcard as a small souvenir! After soup it was duck and creamy, scalloped potatoes. Mmmm. For dessert? Epicness... Basque. Almond. Cake. OMG!

Soup, wine, and postcard

My duck and potatoes

My delicious Basque dessert :)

We were all very happily full after this and we had free time for the rest of the afternoon to do as we pleased around the city. Some people were staying overnight as well so they had plenty of time to see Biarritz. I buddied up with some other girls when we left the restaurant: Aleca, Jenna, and Sarah. The three of us walked into a Basque "linge" (linens) shop to look at the towels and things that were there. I had really been wanting to buy a nice kitchen towel to bring home with me and luckily I found a pretty one at this shop that wasn't too expensive. Afterwards, Aleca and I both agreed that all we really wanted to do for the rest of the day was be by the beach and visit the chocolate museum that was somewhere in the city. Jenna and Sarah wanted to do some more shopping so we split up, and Aleca and I headed towards the rocky cliffs on the west end of the main beach-front boulevard. 

If I'm not mistaken, Biarritz is known for having some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Here's why....

Lovin' life!

Cue the mermaid pose!

While we were taking in the glorious view, our friend Erin (the one from my San Sebastián trip) met up with us. She was also interested in the chocolate museum so the three of us started walking that way; fortunately, with the sea just off to our right the whole way. :)

A very interesting building/artwork on our way to the chocolate museum

We found the museum after about 15 minutes of walking and it was pretty cheap to go inside. When you pay, they give you a small baggy with four rounds of melting chocolate inside (a white, a milk, and two darks). This was definitely a good decision. They also told us to keep our tickets to present them to the person at the end of the tour and get a free "real" hot chocolate (that would be straight cacao and water, if you're wondering what "real" hot chocolate is). Oh yeah, this was a VERY good decision.

The chocolate museum! Could there be a happier place to visit in this whole, wide world???

A few statues in the lobby that are made entirely out of chocolate. Fortunately, I took this picture just BEFORE seeing the "NO PICTURES" sign. :)

The "tour" ended up being nothing much more than a 10 minute video (in French) about the history of chocolate, and then we were on our own to walk through the museum and look at all of the chocolate-making artifacts, chocolate-serving dishes, and chocolate-composed statues throughout history. It was interesting but not that interesting. We were, though, very happy to not have spent much money to see all of this and to at least be able to say that we've been to a chocolate museum where we saw all kinds of things that have to do with that delicious invention! And true to their word, we were indeed served real cacao at the end. It was hot, thick, and bitter. And it was so SO good! I could never drink it on a regular basis but I completely understand now why this substance has the history it has. I also bought a packet of cacao powder to bring home to my family so we can be really fancy and have to add milk and sugar to our hot chocolate like back in the old days. You'll all have to come over for "real" hot chocolate when I get home. ;)

We left the museum after that and started heading back towards the bus. Thankfully, we got to take in a little more of the beach along the way...

It was a really beautiful day. I have officially been to and absorbed some of the French Basque region, I have tasted real cacao, I have eaten Basque cake, and I have bought lovely Basque gifts for my family. After the bus ride back to Pau, I took the local bus on my usual route home and made it home in time for dinner (yes!). I believe we had another bacon quiche with Kathy, to give her something really French to try. Of course, she loved it. But who wouldn't I ask??

Thanks for reading!

Week 9

I stopped keeping close tabs on my meals after the wear and tear of my amazing adventure in Italy; but, I do have most of them written down- they just might be on the wrong day and are probably missing a few details (what was the soup, the dessert, was there a spinach salad, etc). But anyways, here's what I remember!

Sunday: Joe and I got ourselves up with just enough time to cram our bags (no one cared about "packing" at this point) and check out of our room. Chantalle, Selene, and Allie all caught the early morning train to Pau but Roshanna stayed behind; she was really ill at this point. So the three of us checked out (I helped carry Rosie's things downstairs) and then we went out to find food before the train ride. It wasn't really breakfast time anymore and we could have cared less: there was a Kebab shop just across the way. Joe and I got  Kebabs stuffed with meat, sauce, and veggies but Roshanna wasn't interested and walked across the street to get coffee and a pastry/croissant type of thing. We didn't have time to finish our food there so we headed to the train station after that. We got in line with Kebabs in hand and bought tickets for 12:30p, or something like that. The guy at the counter greeted us with a [sarcastic] "bon appétit" when we walked up. Which was probably the polite way of saying, "you fat Americans are always eating on the go and we sit down when we eat in France. Get out of line you pigs!" =) But I won him back when I insulted us directly: we all chuckled after he wished us good eating and then it went silent so I said (in French), "well, we're Americans so this can't be that strange." He laughed, and certainly agreed, and helped us get the tickets we needed. After that, the simplest phase of the trip: enjoy the gorgeous countryside from Toulouse to Pau for two hours, eat a Kebab and entertain yourself with reading, writing, or something else. It was a piece of cake. The entire half-hour view from Lourdes to Pau is breathtaking and enchanting, so I had no problem enjoying the end of the train ride. My kebab was delicious so that easily got me through the first part. I was able to close my eyes for a little bit, and then, we were there...
It was raining lightly when we got to Pau- a welcome sign from this city. Joe and Roshanna headed right off to the bus and I stayed behind to wait for Christine. She pulled up soon after that and then the two of us headed home. When we got to the house, she very kindly offered to make me a recuperating snack: half a crab salad sandwich on white bread (not Lionel's), an orange, and a cup of chicorée. It was perfect. After that I headed right up to my room to plug my camera into my laptop. Lord knows that thing performed like a champ this past week and was going to need at least a year to upload all of my pictures to my computer. So I let that be while I unpacked. After that, the rest of the afternoon was a haze. I don't remember what I did after unpacking but at some point we ate dinner. At least I can remember that. After all, it was, in a way, unforgettable: oysters. Yayyyyyyyy. -_- Part of me was excited to try the oysters, but I had just been traveling like a mad person- I was in serious need of a good quiche or some crêpes! :) Christine, Lionel, and I each had a plate of 6, huge raw oysters (and they each had more after) while Guilhem and Emma (who was visiting for a view days) enjoyed the bucket of steamed oysters. How I wished I could be them. I've had raw oysters once before (thanks entirely to Phil and Joan Rutschow) but those were small enough to swallow whole and just experience the taste of the oysters. But these suckers, wow. I realized with horror, as I put the first one in my mouth that they were far too big to swallow whole. The terrifying reality hit with the slimy, sloppy oyster sitting on my tongue: I was going to have to chew it. I had no choice- it was already in my mouth. What was I going to do, spit it out? No, I had to do it. So, I did. And while the first bite triggered my gag reflexes, I got through it. I still don't yet understand how people can make a meal out of nothing but raw oysters, bread, butter, and wine but I don't find them 100% repulsive anymore. Eventually, I was able to try the cooked oysters. They were very simple; I don't think they had any seasoning on them. But they had a ton of flavor and I liked them a lot. Finally, Guilhem, Emma, and I were allowed to enjoy the best part: a pot of very hot, melted fondue and cubes of Lionel's bread. It was Heaven! There was a strong wine taste to the fondue and I think that heavy wine concentration is what kept the cheese so super soft and gloppy. It was amazing. :)
After dinner, I talked to my family for a little bit to let them know I was safe and sound. On skype, I was able to watch my sister open the birthday gift I had sent her just before my trip. It was very touching; almost like I was there with her! After that, they all tasted the various foods and treats I had sent and right then and there, my mom started some hot water for her and my dad to have cups of chicorée just like I do here. They all tried some chocolates and it was the coolest thing. They were doing the exact same thing that I do here on the afternoons with Lionel and Christine and I got to be there to watch them enjoy it. I loved it! After a good long talk, we said bye and I crashed very early. I am so happy to be "home"!

Monday: I definitely slept in today, enjoyed the breakfast I had missed so much, and then I got myself clean and ready for my one class of the day. I sent a quick shout out to my sister on facebook- today is her birthday (2/28). :) For lunch, we had fried hamburger patties with mustard; a pile of noodles dressed with olive oil, pesto, and seasonings; fruit; and the afternoon coffee. I somehow made it to Business in the EU but I have no idea what happened during class- I almost have no memory of this afternoon. For dinner: more raw oysters. Ugh. I was served 6 more and got through it once again. It was easier this time because I knew what to expect but I still didn't love it. I feel like there was another part to this dinner but unfortunately, I can't remember what. For dessert, though, I know that we had a banana, pineapple, and kiwi salad. This was very tasty but I have a problem with kiwi: I've developed an allergy to it where the back of my throat itches really badly when I eat it. So I left all of the kiwis and gave them to Guilhem when I was done. My throat was a little itchy from the juice but not as bad as it would have been if I'd have eaten the fruit directly. I went to bed tonight feeling slightly back into the swing of things.

Tuesday: It was certainly a struggle getting to school at 8a this morning, but I did it. We were so happy to have our two hour lunch break back that my friend Erin and I walked across the street after lunch to a nearby bakery and treated ourselves to pastries. I got another one of those soft, twisted bread things that is covered in chocolate chips for like a euro. It was just dandy. ;)
We had another round of the same dinner tonight: raw oysters. I thought I would be adjusting to them by now but tonight's batch actually grossed me out more. As soon as I smelled the salt water my stomach turned. At least tonight we switched things up a little bit and had bread with butter and small glasses of white wine. This might not sound very special, but we never have butter on our bread at dinner; that is just a breakfast thing. And I also learned tonight why we were consuming so many gosh darned oysters: a friend of Lionel's had somehow received three crates of excess oysters and a bottle of white wine that he was not going to use. So, he gave it all to Lionel. One day I'll probably reflect back on this and be insanely jealous of him. One day.....
Again, I can't be sure what the other part to dinner was if there was one. Certainly there was a salad (probably a spinach one) but I would think I would have been given more food than this as well. Oh well; I can only remember the oysters.

Wednesday: For dinner tonight, we [thankfully] were given a break from the oysters and had a fantastic homemade cheese and spinach lasagna. There were small pieces of herbed sausage mixed in as well but the focal point was definitely the spinach, cheese, and tomato sauce. Oh man, this was a good lasagna. Christine had baked it so that the cheese that was sprinkled on top hardened like a flaky cheese crust. The rest was insanely soft and warm. It was so good and so hot that I tried to devour it too quickly and burned my mouth. Oops. With this we had a salad and the usual dessert. I've been trying to mix up my choice of confiture with my yogurt lately. Typically (as you well know) I go for the raspberry or mixed raspberry that's available (the two mixes I've seen so far are raspberry and pear or raspberry and red currant), but there are a lot of other great homemade choices as well: black currant, red currant, blueberry, fig, etc. So I'm playing with options right now. ;) But raspberry is still the best.

Thursday: Thankfully, tonight was the end of the oyster escapades. My mouth and stomach truly couldn't handle anymore but I asked for three to be polite. Lionel gladly took my extra three. With this I was given the rest of the lasagna that was leftover, and I was very happy. :)

Friday: Two exciting things happened today: 1) a temporary house-guest named Kathy arrived for a two week stay with us, 2) I went out to pizza with a group of friends. Kathy is 39, was born and raised in China (she flew direct from Taiwan to Paris to get to us), is a top manager of L'Oréal, and is going to be working at the Paris branch for the next two years starting this summer. Kathy left her husband and her family to come and stay with us for two weeks as part of a month-long French emersion program to get her familiarized with the language. She speaks English fairly well but doesn't know much more than a handful of words in French. And I thought I had it tough showing up to Pau after a three-year-long hiatus from French! Thankfully, Kathy made a great impression on all four of us today- she is very sweet, friendly, and seems ready and rearing to take on French. I'm excited to get to know her a little better (and to be able to speak English with her for a few days!)
As I said before, tonight's dinner was pizza! A group of different friends and I met up in front of the château around 8p and walked to that great pizza place I went to with Joe and Rosie to pig out. I had another pizza with crème fraîche but this time it also came with onions and kebab meat. It was interesting but was very good. To finish, we all ordered dessert: I got a simple crêpe sucré (crêpe with sugar), and you know it was good. It was a great meal and it was fun to hang out with different friends for a little while.

My pizza

My dessert

My friend Aleca with her dessert: a crêpe topped with banana slices, warm chocolate sauce, ice cream, whipped cream, and sprinkles. I included this picture because I got to eat some of this monster- Aleca needed help finishing it :)

Unfortunately, when we left the restaurant Joe and I ended up at the back of the line together so it followed naturally that we walked together to where we were each headed. I say "unfortunately" because Joe was a perfect example this evening of the much-parodied male problem of NOT CONSULTING A MAP! For whatever reason, I took his word for it when he said things like "yea yea, I know exactly where we are" when we were on dark streets I had never seen before. We ended up walking around downtown Pau, in the dark, with me in heels the whole way for 45 minutes before we found the bus stop we each needed. Phew! When we parted ways to walk to our correct line, I saw that I had just missed the last bus for my line for the night.   >:(  So I walked back over to where Joe was and he offered to split a cab with me (he felt like it was his fault that I had missed my bus). It was going to be the quickest, shortest, and surest way home so I agreed. It was cheap, my feet hadn't started bleeding, and we had certainly had a great meal. I wasn't going to get upset about this minor hitch in the end of the evening. I finally made it into my room around 12a and got right into bed. After all, I needed sleep for tomorrow:

another field trip with USAC- to French Basque Country!!!