This Week

Sorry I haven't been on in a few days. My plan was to do one big post this evening about the past week but it has gotten very late and I'm just too tired to do it. I did want to come on here and let you all know that I'm going back to Bordeaux this weekend! I'm spending the night there tomorrow and Saturday in a hostel with my group of girls. We wanted to go back to really see the city and experience everything there is to experience. It's going to be a fun weekend! I  won't have my computer with me so I can't update you until Sunday evening, but I will definitely be on that night. Plus, my class for Monday has been cancelled so I have that whole day to post pictures and tell you my stories from the weekend. :)

Talk to you soon!

The Most Fabulous of Weekends: Weekend 2

Sunday: Slept in today and woke up about 9:30a- early enough that Christine and Lionel were still at the breakfast table. The three of us sat in our pj's and had bread with jam and drank coffee as the sun warmed us through the windows. It was such a simple breakfast but somehow is one of my favorites so far. Maybe part of it is that Guilhem was away with boy scouts and Emma and her boyfriend were still asleep, so it was like the three of us woke up just to have a secret breakfast together where no one else was invited.
After breakfast I went up to my room to work on my blog, laze around, and whatnot. My friend Roshanna texted me after that to get together for lunch. I got dressed and made the half hour walk to her room and then we sang Disney songs for a bit before walking downtown. We had both apparently forgotten that it was Sunday and that means that almost nothing was open today. We were very lucky to find a pizza place, "Pizzeria L'Etna," that was open but was serving a limited menu for lunch. Roshanna and I each ordered the calzone with ham, cheese, mushrooms, and one fried egg inside. Mmmmm mmmmm it was good

After lunch we walked around downtown Pau a little bit: we went in a couple of shops, walked by the château, and strolled down the Boulevard des Pyrenees. Unfortunately, it was freezing cold out and we could only stand that for so long. We took the bus back to Roshanna's after maybe an hour outside.

In front of the Château de Pau

Now for the real reason we got together today at all: to plan out our weekends! We went through my tour books and maps for at least two hours planning out trips to take each weekend for the next 3 months. I'll be posting the list up here pretty soon but for now, I satisfy you with this:

~In February, we have about a ten day break. My group and I are going to use that time to fly to Athens, Greece; spend three days there; fly to Naples, Italy; train to Rome, Florence, Pisa, Venice; and back to France.   =)

This was not a very magnificent day but I am truly bouncing in my seat with excitement over everything we planned out today! It looks like every weekend for the next few months is going to be the best weekend of my life.
I made it home in time for dinner: a tasty cauliflower soup and a couscous/ham/bacon bake. It looked like the couscous, meat, and tomatoes had been mixed together and then baked with a thick layer of cheese on top. It was very very good. After dinner, I was able to catch up with my family for a good hour and a half and told them all about Bordeaux. I think my parents are looking forward to that wine I bought. ;) Another very enjoyable Sunday in Pau!

The Most Fabulous of Weekends: Weekend 2

Saturday: Blah, 6:20a is far too early to wake up when you live in France. It certainly was a struggle getting out of bed this morning, especially when the entire rest of the house was still asleep, all the lights were off, the sun hadn't even woken up yet, and I knew I had a half hour walk in the freezing cold ahead of me. Although, it's not too too too bad when you know you're headed to french wine country for the day....
I made it to the bus just on time this morning but we ended up sitting for an extra 15 minutes waiting for one guy who forgot to wake up on time. Eventually, Ryan and Robina decided that we were getting too behind schedule to keep waiting and we took off without him. I would HATE to be him today. We drove for a little over an hour and then stopped for a bathroom and coffee break. There's another clue you're in France: every so often it is absolutely typical to stop what you're doing and refuel your body with caffeine. Once on the bus again, we made the hour and a half haul to Sauvignac to tour the château La Peyrere. *A château in France could either be a castle or a winery.* While it was truly freezing cold outside (most of the leaves on the ground were crunchy with ice), we got to see some of the most beautiful landscape yet. We also learned a lot cool facts about the wine making process and about this vineyard in particular. The one fact that really surprised me the most is that they harvest all of the their grapes by hand and they only have one full-time picker per year! During the harvest, they just hire a few temporaries to get the job done. Also, this vineyard limits their production in order to produce better wine. The woman who gave us our tour said that it is possible for the vineyard to produce 60,000 bottle of wine per year but they choose to only produce 40-50,000. Why? So that the wine they do produce is stronger, more concentrated, and just tastes better overall.

From left: Chantalle, Selene, Chai (pronounced like the Greek symbol Chi), Me, Roshanna, Allie

Believe it or not, this picture happened on accident

There were two massive Pyrenean dogs who came to greet us when we got off the bus!

After a tour of the grounds, we went in some of the wine caves and one of the production rooms. I wish I knew more about wine or had more experience drinking it or something that would make me a little more fascinated by everything we learned today. I did have a great time, but I think I lack the experience to truly appreciate everything we got to hear about and see today. 

This is the really good stuff (aka: most expensive)

After our tour, we were treated to an absolutely fantastic lunch and wine tasting inside a beautiful grand hall with a roaring fire to warm ourselves. It was very casually done: glasses were handed out and then 3 or 4 people would walk around with bottles to fill them up. First came the white wine and it was so so fantastic. 10 minutes or so later they came around with a chose of either a rosé or a clairet. Finally came the rouge: a Bordeaux of course! During the tasting we were free to sit on the couches by the fire, mingle by the snack table (where there were pretzel sticks, potato chips, and two different flavors of puffs- one was definitely tomato and the other I'm not sure. Although according to Roshanna it was butter flavor), or we could find a seat at one of the lunch tables. The lunch was completely delightful: there was a couscous salad, a chicken and tomato pasta, three different quiches, and bread. Cheese platters, apple tart, and coffee came out after that to finish off the meal. And lastly, I bought two bottles of wine for my parents and I to share when I get home in May. :)

My wine- A Bordeaux Clairet 2008 and a Bordeaux Superieur 2006

Can you believe this is only part one of the day? Next we hopped back on the bus to head to Bordeaux where we mostly just had free time to explore the city. I went off with the same group of girls because Roshanna has a friend, Crystal, who lives in Bordeaux after falling in love with the city during her USAC program two years ago. Crystal was able to take us to the Cathédrale Saint-André in the city and her favorite coffee shop cleverly named "French Coffee Shop." There was a carousel in the middle of a big square and the 1 euro fee to ride tempted us all to hop aboard. After that, we had what I still feel is a very San Franciscan experience: we watched a live street band, passed by a gold-painted man-statue who dances when you give him money, and pushed through a crowd who was admiring this guy as he balanced a basketball on his shin. I thought we were in France??   ;)

We ended our walk at the French Coffee Shop were I ordered hot chocolate plus caramel. Such a great choice! In my opinion now, hot chocolate should always be made with caramel. It warmed my bones just enough to make the walk back to the bus.

Lionel was kind enough to pick me up from the University when we got back and I came home to re-heated fondue, potatoes, and some more cold deli meat (all of which is still delicious the second time around). My soup was another vegetable soup but it was much lighter in color so I'm thinking cauliflower? It was late enough that I was eating by myself but I wasn't alone: Christine was on the phone with her daughter Anne-Sophie and she made sure to have that conversation at the table with me. And like a typical mom, she managed to stay engaged in her conversation AND pay attention to my meal enough to know when to take my plates, bring me more food, etc. I felt like she wanted me to have just as great a dinner as I normal have with them even though the circumstances were different. After dinner, we sat in the living room with Lionel to watch a little bit of some sort of France Has Got Talent type of show with magic acts, acrobats, and dancers. It was actually really neat to see. During the show, Michat the cat came in and jumped up on my lap. When I started scratching his ears, he pressed his head against my leg and melted into me. It was so precious and made me miss C.D. and Scamp terribly. Lionel and I have this on-going joke about all of the things that will be in my suitcase when I leave France. Every time he sees that I genuinely love something that gets added to the suitcase (so far we have coffee, raspberry jam, homemade bread, cheese, Spanish wine, and whole grain mustard). Tonight he told me that maybe Michat will find a way to sneak into my suitcase to come home with me too. :)

This was a wonderful Saturday and Bordeaux was so beautiful I am probably coming back next weekend with my group of girls.

Hope you enjoyed this rather bloated post! 

Bonne nuit

Week Three

Friday: Sorry I never got around to posting about friday ON friday. Not a ton happened that day but a couple of interesting things: In class, the pace finally picked up as everyone took it to heart that we needed to be participating. And at the end of the day, Iñaki- the guy who made a scene in class- apologized to everyone for his behavior yesterday. He said it first in french and then in english and it seemed to be very genuine. And after, he went up to the teacher, shook her hand, and kissed her twice on the cheek. He tried to walk away but she pulled him into a hug- it was very sweet and made us all feel completely relaxed in the class again. So, hopefully there will be no more class drama; just good stories about my french slowly progressing. Actually, I did get a bit of a compliment from one of the advisors, Ryan (who is also my Business in the EU teacher): he wanted me to verify that I was in the right level of french classes because he thought I tested rather high for someone who hasn't taken any college-level french. :)
I must say that dinner was rather epic tonight. We started off with aperitifs in the living room by the fire place. There was that sweet spanish wine again but there was also a new addition: Lionel's homemade black current wine. It was delicious but comes out so sweet and thick (and very very light on the alcohol) that he added another red wine to it for drinking. With that we had some little snacks like tortilla chips and these tasty peanut-flavored puffs while we listened to piano music. Such a splendid way to start a great meal!

Dinner consisted of that most classic and most copied of french dishes: fondue. Yes, it was totally delicious and completely different from any fondue I've seen made in the States. There was this heating contraption that sat in the middle of the table; it had a hot plate on top and six round heating impressions underneath. On top, Christine set a casserole dish full of seasoned, boiled potatoes and underneath is where we fondue-eaters would slide our individual melting pans. Basically, you put a big slice of fresh fromage in your pan and then you set it in one of the heating indents. Then you just wait until your cheese is melted to whatever consistency makes your mouth water. After that, you eat the most delicious cheesy potatoes you could possibly imagine. I had two slices of deli meat with that (a salami and some sort of ham) but it was all for show.... I just wanted the cheese!

Our table: you can see the fondue stand in the middle, Guilhem being a ham, Christine scolding him, Lionel pouring my wine, and Emma and her boyfriend Guillaume 

The little pans filled with happy, melting cheese

My plate :)

Hate me. I would if I were you

Another lovely day in Pau. I'm so excited to go to Bordeaux tomorrow! We're starting off with a tour of a winery in Sauvignac where we'll also be treated to lunch, and then we have about four frees hours to check out Bordeaux. I'll have pics up asap!

As always, thank you so much for reading. I love and miss everyone!

Week Three

Wednesday: Today I had my presentation in french. I was doing fine all day and then I got nervous right before... only naturally I suppose. I think mine was pretty boring compared to the others' but I think I presented more of what we were supposed to. I'm going to assume my professor prefers a good presentation to a funny one. We didn't have much more to do today besides the presentations so it was a nice, slow, simple day of classes. Afterwards, went home early again! I got good stuff done in that time: I created a list of gifts I wan to get for my family and start looking around on different websites for things I want to buy in a couple of weeks (I'm forcing myself to wait until the Soldes get more intense, usually by the first week of February). Another tranquil day. :)
For dinner, we had another green soup that was a little broth-y-er than usually and had some tiny spaghetti noodles in it. After that, Christine re-heated the very last of that yummy quiche just for me! The main course tonight was very unique: basically it was a ton of spaghetti noodles. The way I dressed my noodles was to smear a knife-full of pesto paste on top, pour olive oil over the whole thing, salt it, and mix. It was surprisingly tasty! I had a slice of ham on the side and cut that up to eat with the pasta. For dessert, the epic fromage blanc with raspberry preserves.
I got to talk to my family tonight (minus Sabrina because she was already at school for the day) and that is always fun. The rest of my evening basically just consisted of talking with them, taking a shower, and going to bed. I'm liking having all of this time on my hands to do simple things in a very relaxed manner.

Thursday: I decided to finally have coffee with breakfast this morning instead of tea... an excellent decision! I've been avoiding it because sometimes having such an acidy drink in the morning makes me feel sick. But I just can't resist the chicorée coffee the Desroys' have (that's the name of the coffee we usually have after lunch and which Lionel and Christine both drink a bowl of every morning). I tried the fig preserves today for my second piece of bread instead of the raspberry (the first piece just has to be Nutella) and it was very good. All in all, an excellent breakfast and I felt comfortably awake all through my first class!
After lunch we were supposed to finish the rest of the presentations but our class took an interesting turn instead.... First, it's important to remember that all conversation in class (with the teacher, with other students, etc) must all be done in french; which is difficult because french is a language we are learning. Second, you should picture our class as being pretty fun and light-hearted feeling because there's only 14 of us and we're getting pretty used to each other's sense of humor. Third, class expectations are very different in France when it comes to participation. Teachers in America demand participation just like French professors but the difference is that if you don't participate in class in the States, you usually just get a lower grade in the class. In France, though, non-participation will not fly. Unfortunately for us, we're all used to paying attention in class without speaking up and we all seemed to simultaneously forget what class we were in today. So, after lunch Mme Baudry walked us through an activity that should have taken 20 minutes but took at least an hour to complete. This is due mainly to the fact that only 3 or 4 students talked during the activity. Well, that light-hearted mood our class usually has went away like someone flipped a switch when our teacher let us know that this was completely unacceptable. Mostly she told us just that; there was no yelling or anything. But people get pretty nervous when they are being confronted and scolded. Also, she gave us this talking-to just after asking one student to leave the classroom because he was laughing while she was talking (which was a bit of a shock for all of us in itself because she has not done this yet, this guy participates a lot in class, she didn't give him a warning or anything, and she had JUST told us to take a five minute break). THEN- as we're already quivering a bit in our seats- she asks the one Basque student in our class why he didn't participate in the activity (he is one of the more natural french-speakers in our class and always has something to say). Not only did he go off on her for the next 15 minutes but he couldn't do it well enough in french so went off in spanish- which, if you remember rule number one, is an insult in itself. Yikes! It was a tense class this afternoon. The mood recovered by the end but I think we're all still nervous thinking about what happened. Hopefully tomorrow will be better...
Roshanna and I decided to walk to Le Clerc after class to shake off the nerves and hang out a little bit. We both bought a sweet treat at a little pâtisserie and then sat at a nearby café for a little coffee. I bought a delicious bread that I cannot quite describe to you: it was like a croissant on the outside but had an almost fried-egg texture on the inside. And all over it were pockets of clumped-together chocolate chips. OMG was this so worth the 1 euro it cost me. Whenever any of us foreign students buy coffee here we just get café au lait (coffee and milk) because it's the only thing we actually recognize. Well I went bold today and got something different- can't remember the name but it had vanilla in it- for 1.90£. Unfortunately that ended up being a teeny tiny vanilla-flavored shot of espresso, but I drank it gladly knowing I was having a truly French snack with my friend. Roshanna and I finished our homework at her dorm room, then, and I made the trek home after that.

Got home in time to kick around on the computer a bit and then Emma arrived with her boyfriend Guillaume ("William" in english). I guess she has a long weekend so she came home for a few days. We had true broccoli and cheese soup tonight and then Pasta Bolognese, which was very good and reminded me of when we have spaghetti at home. A little salad after that and then dessert: a chocolate mousse topped with whipped cream. :)

I'm probably going to talk with my family here pretty soon so time to go. I'll update you all on my friday tomorrow and then you get to hear about my amazing adventure in Bordeaux on saturday!

Goodnight and thanks for reading!

Lionel-isms

As you know, I've been interacting with Lionel a ton. He is always telling me stories about the French Revolution, WWII, airplanes, the Pyrenees, etc. He seems to know at least a little bit about every topic imaginable. He can talk to you for hours about the weather, flowers, plants, herbs, animals and their physical characteristics, and the french language (he is always going off on how two words sound so similar but mean completely different things). He is a very intelligent man and jumps on the opportunity to learn new things. But, fortunately for you and I, I am beginning to see a rather comedic side to him too. I can't remember when each of these happened so I'll just put them all together here.

For your comic relief:

One evening I was sitting on the couch next to Lionel. We were each on our laptops when all of a sudden he asks, "As-tu un boyfriend?" (Do you have a boyfriend?) I thought this was an absolutely hilarious question because I couldn't (and still can't) fathom why he would care about something like that. But it got even better when he responded to my "no" with "I have to introduce you to some French boys!" *How do you feel about that one, dad?*

Last night we were each on the computer again when Lionel turned his to me so I could see the website he was on. It was the homepage for Fragonard Perfumery in Grasse. He said, "when you're on your honeymoon, you make your husband take you to Grasse and you go to every perfumery including this one."

After our hike in the Pyrenees, Lionel and Christine were looking through the pictures I took when Lionel turned to her and said, "I'm so cute for pictures aren't I?"

Last night at dinner, Guilhem was talking about China and Chinese people (I think because his homework had something to do with that region) when Lionel pulled the corners of his eyes back and started talking like a Chinese person. Not funny enough for you? Try to imagine that high-pitched, nasal voice people do when imitating the chinese language but put it on top of a middle-aged man speaking French.

The last one- for now- I was on one of my favorite clothing websites (ModCloth) when Lionel walked by and pointed at a dress, "C'est mignon!" (That's cute!)

Week Three

I think I'm going to start reporting to you whenever I have the time. So far, I've been trying to sit down every evening and talk about the day but quite often (like now, 5:45p) I have more time during the day. So at least for the weekdays, I'll just sum up everything that's happened since the last post. Don't worry, weekends will still get their full air time. :)

Monday: I slept in today, thankfully, to recover from the long weekend. As glorious as it was, I could hardly feel my legs going to bed on Sunday. So I got up today around 10:30a and took my time cleaning up around my room and taking a shower. After breakfast (the typical delicious homemade bread, raspberry jam, nutella, and tea) I did some of my first homework- reading for Business in the EU. Lionel and Guilhem came home for lunch and then we all sat down to a very hearty, traditional french meal of beef and vegetable stew. There was a bowl of boiled potatoes (in big, thick halves) that were so soft they melted in my mouth. The stew itself was very chunky: the onions were only cut into halves, the carrots into thick rounds, and the meat into large cubes. To serve this lovely meal, Christine scooped some potatoes onto each plate then drained the broth out of a couple of spoonfuls of stew and poured it on top. Lionel got out that delicious, chunky mustard again and I ate that with the meat. It was a very tasty, earthy kind of meal but it wasn't my favorite; mostly because the meat had a lot of fat on it and meat is the one thing I can't help being picky about.

After lunch we had cheese, bread, and fruit (I had an apple and felt very self-conscious when I was the only one at the table who ate the peel). After that, what do you think? Coffee and chocolates of course! :)

Christine, Lionel and Guilhem all headed out after that, so I was alone in the house and used that time to finish my reading. After that, I got ready and walked to my one class for the day (Business in the EU at 3:15p). I came right home after class and everyone was still out, so it was almost like I never left. I spent a good couple of hours working on my blog and doing homework for my french classes. Then Lionel and Christine came home and pretty soon it was time for dinner: broccoli soup with the rest of our beef stew puréed with it; and crêpes with ham, melted white cheese, and one easy-over egg inside. Yum! For dessert, some more cheese and bread and then my favorite: fromage blanc and raspberry jam. Christine also got out a Nutella flavored chocolate pudding so I ate that too. :) What a lovely day

Tuesday: Today was my early day for the week- class at 8a. That sounds pretty normal for school, except that I have to get up in time to walk at least a half an hour in the dark and cold. Plus, the french believe in leisure which means they believe in doing things at practical times at a reasonable pace. Therefore, when I told Christine that my class started at 8a she said, "c'est très cruel!" (That's so cruel!). My thoughts exactly...

I haven't commented on my school lunches much lately but they've been pretty good so far. One day I had a baked white fish with tomato sauce and pasta, and I've ordered quite a few baguette sandwiches (always for 3 euro or less). But today's was so good I have to tell you about it, because it was the first time I bought pizza! It was a marguerite pizza but of course it had a french cheese on it and one large tomato slice in the center, topped with one large slice of cheese. It was super melty and delicious. Just thought you'd like to know about that.

My classes went very well today: I answered a lot of the teacher's questions and felt a little show-off-y when I was the only one who completed an exercise we were supposed to do for homework. Everyone else had tried it and couldn't finish it because it was really hard. But somehow I figured it out and Mme. Levieil was impressed. :) I'm beginning to understand my professors well enough that I don't have to strain to pick up each word. And today was the first day I offered up complete sentences without thinking about them for minutes beforehand. Feeling real good about all of this!

I came home right after class again to organize my room, change my sheets, and whatnot. I worked for a couple of hours on my blog and on my biggest homework assignment yet: a presentation I have to give in front of my class IN FRENCH tomorrow afternoon. Not too excited about it...

For dinner tonight, we finished off the broccoli and veggie soup and then we had.... wait for it... another Quiche Lorraine! If you didn't read my post about the first quiche lorraine we had, don't worry, I'd love to talk about it again. It is a completely simple meal to make: Christine starts with a quiche crust, sprinkles a shredded white cheese around the bottom, scatters chunks of delicious bacon on top, pours a whipped egg and water mixture over the whole thing, and then bakes it for about half an hour. This comes out like a little slice of soft, warm, melt-in-your-mouth Heaven! I helped myself to thirds, which might possibly be rude in the french culture but I just couldn't help it. For dessert we had ice cream. There were three choices: strawberry, vanilla, or coffee. I went with the strawberry, which was like a sorbet with chunks of real strawberries inside.

Another fantastically tranquil day!

The Most Fabulous of Weekends

Sunday: If you've been able to follow my blog without getting completely jealous of me, that stops here. Today I woke up early because my host family wanted to take me hiking... in the PYRENEES MOUNTAINS. It is a rather simple experience to talk about, but it is also something I will never forget. I have been in more beautiful places very little in my life, and I think it is totally not fair that some people will never do what I did today or see what I saw. We spent 6 spectacular hours in the mountains, talking and hiking and taking pictures. It only took about an hour and 15 min to get there so I hope we do this many more times. Christine and Lionel were both disappointed with how little snow there was today but I could have cared less: it was stunning! They want to bring me back in February when the mountains are covered in a big white blanket so we can wear rackets on our feet to hike through the snow. I love the snow, but something about hiking in the glorious sunshine under a strikingly blue sky was soul-soothing.
We ate lunch up there too which means you grab a boulder, patch of grass, log, or something else provided by nature and eat whatever you brought. Being french, Christine packed a full meal; coffee and all. You can ask my parents, I died over this lunch! (I talked to my family on ichat that night and let out all of my excitement on them). We started off with ham sandwiches (one thick slice of ham inside two pieces of Lionel's homemade wheat bread) and then moved on to another couscous salad. This one had mushrooms, greek cheese, tomatoes, and something sweet (I think raisins)... very Mediterranean and very good. After that, I sat with a hot cup of perfect french coffee and ate chocolate. Envy me- it's only natural. :)

This was a magnificent day; one of my favorites ever! When we were done hiking and made it back to the car, we changed out of our hiking boots and headed out for a hot drink. We stopped in Lourdes at a cabin-themed café where we each had chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) and Guilhem and I each ordered a chocolate crêpe. He got his with Nutella and mine came with melted chocolates sauce. Best.Snack.Ever!

For dinner, we had another green soup (broccoli and cheese, I believe) but this time it had a fish taste to it. After that, marinated white fish with rice. Delicious! The fish had tomatoes, herbs, butter, and oil smothered all over it and had been baked until it was falling apart. This was a fantastic meal and was just what we needed after such a long day. We finished with dessert- something I am falling in love with: fromage blanc avec de la confiture framboise. A white yogurt that taste like cottage cheese grains, with 3 spoonfuls of my favorite homemade raspberry jam mixed in. MMMmmmmmm

This has been an unforgettable weekend for me and I can't wait for more like this! I miss you all and I miss home so much but I am officially having a great experience here. I'm excited to share so much more with you and I'm looking forward to May 9th as if it were the day I should win the lottery. :)