Portraits of Bourgogne

Quel après-midi! (what an afternoon!) This morning while I was eating breakfast (plain yogurt, a banana, and a slice of bread with ricotta cheese) Joseph invited me to join the family for a walk in the country north of Dijon. Noelle has a friend named Dominique who owns a small farm and a lot of land about 45 minutes from our house in the centre ville (downtown) of Dijon. So around 1pm we set out in Joseph's Audi station wagon (it was a little cramped with Arcène, Orane, and I in the backseat, sort of reminiscent of Trey, Holly, and I in the back of Dad's car - with exactly the same body proportions). Arcène is the oldest brother and this was my first time meeting him. Normally he is in Paris where he is studying art history at the L'Ecole du Louvre. He packed a picnic lunch of fruit (apples, oranges, bananas), Camembert cheese (very strong Camembert, I tried it last night with dinner), fresh tomatoes, boiled potatoes, rillettes d'oie (goose pâté), some kind of sausages, a thermos of coffee, and a jug of water. On the way we stopped at a boulangerie and Noelle bought a large loaf of whole wheat bread, four miniature pizzas, and four large slices of chocolate moulleux (chocolate cake). Suffice it to say we had a lot left over. I don't think anyone touched the tomatoes, potatoes, or the sausages. I personally avoided the Camembert, having sampled it last night and found it a little too pungent for my taste buds. But the rest was delicious. *The picture on the right is of part of our picnic food.*

We drove north of Dijon, passing through a town called Abbeye St. Seine. I tried to find the names of the towns we drove through on GoogleMaps, but the above was the only one I found. As Noelle put it, we were in "La France profonde" (the heart of France). The countryside was beautiful. When we left the house the sky was formidably grey and it sprinkled for most of the drive there and during our picnic, but it wasn't heavy enough to deter us or spoil the gorgeous landscape. The leaves are changing colors and the rolling countryside and fields of crops and grass were just magnificent. *The picture on the right is of the Seine. You can see it's not much more than a stream* When we got closer to the farm the road was lined with trees, which made a beautiful canopy above our car. When we got down to the farm, which is at the bottom of a steep hill, those trees looked even more magnificent because they formed a solitary line across the landscape.

The farm is very rustic, with a farmhouse, a barn, and a small chapel. The buildings date from the 17th century. There's no running water, but the system inside the kitchen allows water to flow into the sink and then through a small canal into a well. There's also a bread oven in the house. There were grape wines (English grapes, not French grapes Arcène informed me) growing up the side of the house and when we returned from our walk Dominique picked some bunches for us to eat. Hendrix, the family's Border Collie, was absolutely thrilled to run free. He never stops moving here in Dijon, so you can imagine how excited he was to run around the farmyard and swim in the Seine.

There's also a donkey, to Orane's delight. She did not walk with us, but stayed by the farmhouse with the donkey. After our picnic lunch Noelle, Joseph, Arcène, and I went for a walk along the Seine. The farm is very close to the origin of the Seine, so it resembles more a stream than the rushing river one associates with Paris. My tennis shoes were thoroughly soaked by the time we returned, but the scenery was worth it a hundred times over. Part of the walk was through the wood, lots of dense foliage and rocks and moss (see picture on left). Noelle found an escargot, much too large for my taste. Once we crossed a bridge we walked through a large field, towards a herd of milk cows. The cows on the other side of the stream were very curious, they followed us in a tight pack as we walked through the field. *The picture below is of the field as we were walking towards the cows (they're at my back as I'm taking the photo). The people on the far right are Joseph and Noelle.*

We spent the entire afternoon there, leaving around 5:30pm. It was incredibly serene - no screeching buses, no blaring headphones, no crowd noise. Just lots of trees and a few cows. By the time we left it had stopped raining and the sun had come out from behind the clouds.

So this afternoon was the countryside north of Dijon. On Wednesday afternoon I got to see the countryside south of Dijon - the famous Route des Grands Crus. Think of it like the Napa Valley wine tour of Bourgogne, except this one is probably more famous in the world of wine than Napa Valley (but that's just my impression). I was on campus for a tour of the library and afterwards I met Joseph at his office (which is on campus) and got to see the film studio where he works. Since he drove to work that day (sometimes he rides his bicycle), he drove me home and on the way we drove down part of the Route des Grands Crus. The route is a road which connects Dijon and Santenay. It's about 60km long (a little less than 40 miles) and passes through 38 wine-producing villages and two regions, Cote de Nuits and Cote de Beaune. I don't remember all of the names of the villages we drove through, but some of them included: Marsanney-la-Cote, Morey-Saint-Denis, Gevrey-Chambertin, and Nuits-Saint-Georges. Nuites-Saint-Georges is the last village before the Cote de Nuits becomes the Cote de Beaune region, and we stopped there and did a small degustation. We tried both a white and a red from Chassagne-Montrachet, and both were very good (of course, I cannot yet explain in wine-speak why they were good, but they were pleasant to my palate). Joseph and the vintor discovered they were both from the same part of Bretagne (a region in northwestern France) and so they struck up a long conversation. Before stopping in Nuits-Saint-Georges we stopped at place called Chateau du Clos de Vougeot (see picture above), which is apparently relatively famous. The sun was just starting to set and I now understand why this region is called the Cote d'Or, in autumn when the sun sets behind the hills, the vineyards are illuminated and their yellowing leaves turn into a magnificent hillside of gold. It was breathtaking. I have never seen so many grape vines - they stretched as far as I could see.

Tonight we ate dinner late, which was not really a surprise since we didn't get back from the excursion to the country until 6:30pm. It was a full table tonight: Joseph, Noelle, Orane, Sarah, Arcène, Gaspard, and me. We had boudin noir and baked apples, roasted potatoes, and salad. For dessert there was fromage blanc and some of the chocolate cake leftover from our picnic (I had to abstain the second time around out of pure guilt). I'm assuming most of you don't know the translation of boudin noir. I didn't either, but it's sausage-like appearance made me nervous. I willingly tried some without knowing what it was, and that's probably for the best. It's blood sausage. For those of you who don't know what blood sausage is, Wikipedia it. Anyway, I ate it with the baked apples, which apparently is how it is traditionally eaten. I actually didn't mind the taste, although now (a few hours later) I sort of feel a bit nauseous. I didn't think it tasted bad, but I'm not sure why one would eat it given the choice of anything else. I understand how in the past it was necessary, when people had to use every single part of an animal to economize. But now I think I would just go without meat instead.

Oh, and I also fulfilled my movie requirement for the week. Tonight we watched a film called Le Pensionnat. It was the first time I have spent more than a few moments in the living room. They have two big leather couches and two big leather arm chairs. Everyone but Gaspard gathered to watch it together. Orane picked it out and I was a little surprised by her choice. It was interesting, but slightly morbid. The story follows a young boy who is sent to boarding school by his parents (straightforward enough). Things become strange, however, when the boy makes friends with a phantom boy, who we eventually learn died at that very school. The film was certainly interesting, because the story was told in a way which only revealed a few details at a time, and kept you second guessing what was going on. But certainly not what I expected.

Well I am very tired, off to bed!

TGIF

Well it's vendredi (Friday) and I am very excited for this weekend. This week has been super busy but in a very different way from the business of the week in Paris. I have been in Dijon all week, wrapping up Dr. Barbour's French Civilization course. We had two tests, one on Tuesday and one yesterday. The one on Tuesday went very well and I am waiting to get my score from the final contrôle (test). Interspersed with Dr. Barbour's tests and the first two France Contemporaine classes (those are with a professor from the University of Burgundy named Brigitte Sabard) and orientation activities at the University. Prof. Sabard has been teaching this course to Wake students as part of the Wake-in-Dijon program for a long time. It's basically a sociology course about French culture. I've never taken a sociology class before and I am excited for it. Our two classes this week were mostly theory and explaining the course and our final projects, but next Tuesday we're actually getting into the material. For our final projects we do a 30-minute presentation on an aspect of contemporary French culture which interests us. I think I'm going to do mine on the organic food versus local food movement in France. It might seem kind of specific, but I spent a little while talking to a Dijon native about it the other day and there seems to be enough cultural significance behind the subject that I hopefully I can find plenty of information.

I was waiting to write a blog post until today because this morning we received the results of our placement tests and our schedules for classes at the university. Everyone in our group placed into level 5, the highest level. There are three sections and we're split up amongst them. But unfortunately my schedule is still up in the air, because the schedules we received today show all of us have classes on Fridays. In the past CIEF (the division of the university which organizes the French classes for international students) has made sure we have Fridays free in order to facilitate travel. We were told by Dr. Barbour that we would not have classes on Fridays, so most of us have already booked flights/hostels/train tickets for future weekend trips. Apparently this was the first year CIEF did not first consult the Wake professor about the schedules, but since the system has been the same for at least the last 5 years, Dr. Barbour didn't anticipate a problem. So she's getting it sorted out today.

Whichever day/time, my classes will include grammar, oral and written expression, and oral and written comprehension. There are also two sets of optional "conférences culturels" offered on Thursday evenings: one on wine and wine-making and another on the history of gastronomy. I am going to try and attend on the weekends I'm not traveling. Future trips: Vienna (next weekend), Dublin (beginning of November), Prague (long weekend in November).

It has been nice to be back on a university campus. The campus here seems to be a bit more spread out than Wake's campus, although that might just be my perception because I still don't really know my way around. The "orientation activities" this week have been a little awkward because the Wake group is sort of doing its own thing in relation to the general CIEF program. The CIEF "winter term" starts next week and goes through the end of January - following the regular university schedule. Many of the students at these orientation activities are just arriving in France this week and so they're totally new to Dijon - the bus system, the train system, where to eat, etc. I honestly haven't spoken to anyone yet (which sounds bad, but really all we've done was take a test, take a tour of the library, and get our schedules), but it seems that the students are from all over. I know there are a lot of students from Canada and there also seems to be a strong showing from China and Korea. On our library tour I think someone mentioned they were from Russia. There are a handful of students who appear to be studying in France as a retirement activity (they look to be 60+). My impression is that a lot of these students are studying here for the full year - the school year runs from the end of September/beginning of October through the end of June. I know there will be other students in my classes, hopefully I will get to meet some of them on Monday.

Things continue to go well with my host family. I ate dinner with them Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights. On Wednesday afternoon I met Joseph at his office (he works on the university campus) and he showed me the studio where he films and the computers he uses to edit the films. The building where he works makes all kind of multimedia items related to agricultural education, so I also met some of his collegues who make the CD-ROMs which come in biology textbooks and the courses or videos you can buy out of catalogues (either for institutions to purchase and show to their students/employees or for individuals to purchase). It was kind of interesting to see how they do it, since it's something I have used in the past, but never really thought about how it was produced.

Last night was supposed to be my first Ultimate practice with the university club team, the Discjonctés. Practices are Monday and Thursday nights, indoors on Monday and outdoors on Thursday. Unfortunately it rained heavily late yesterday afternoon and the captain informed me that practice was cancelled. But I'm going to go on Monday night! I am really excited about it. I've missed playing Ultimate and hopefully this will be a great way to meet other French students.

A la prochaine! (until next time)

Diner chez les Diebold (Dinner at the Diebolds)

I know, I know, all I talk about is food. Several of you have commented on how my posts make you hungry, so consider this your fair warning not to read this blog post on an empty stomach.

A lot of my eating experiences so far in France have been at restaurants, cafes, brasseries, sandwicheries, boulangeries, spaghetteries (okay, I made that last one up). Since I have been traveling for so much of the last month, I haven't had that many opportunities to eat at my host family's house. But I am looking forward to doing it more often. Noelle's cooking is superb. The entire experience is also very different from eating out. So, tonight's meal:

At 8pm sharp Sarah knocked on my door to inform me dinner was ready. I put on my shoes and walked the few feet from my apartment/room to the kitchen door. The table was already set with a basket of bread and and a salad. Orane, Joseph, and Sarah were seated. Noelle called Gaspard to the table, and then brought out the meal: a whole chicken cooked in what looked like a terra cotta dish (at least that was the color, although I think it was also the material) and a bowl of halved baked potatoes wrapped in tin foil. Joseph and Gaspard carved the chicken and we passed around olive oil, salt, and a kind of cheese with the consistancy of sour cream for the potatoes. As usual, we drank water with dinner. During the meal the family discussed the possibility of Orane participating in an exchange program through her school. Next year she would spend 6 months in Berlin. The Diebolds asked me how my placement test went today, and I tried to follow their conversation about the economic conditions in Russia (Joseph ran into a friend today who is Russian). There were also tomatoes and zucchini in the pot with the chicken. Although the meal was simple, it had great flavor. The bread tonight was not baguette, more of a multi-grain bread. I've noticed that the breads we eat with dinner are more often multi-grain or whole wheat, as opposed to the baguette with breakfast. But it really varies. I've eaten sourdough, whole-wheat, cheesy-olive bread, the works. After the main course comes the salad. Tonight it was something I've never had before: a salad of endives, sliced apples, and grapes tossed in a Swiss vinegarette (the only reason I know it is Swiss is one of them brought it up). Noelle comes from Switzerland and she often cooks Swiss dishes or uses products made by Swiss companies. It was very light and tasty. For dessert we had compote (think applesauce, but it can be made with different fruits, tonight it was pear). I have noticed that "dessert" with the Diebolds is more often fruit or yogurt or fruit compote than sugary sweets like ice cream or pastries. Maybe that's the French dietary secret. When they say dessert, they mean fruit. It's sweet though, and I have developed an affinity for plain yogurt (this time it really is plain/natural yogurt, unlike my freshman year at Wake where I thought I was eating plain yogurt for all of fall semester and it was really vanilla-flavored). I'm hoping to carry this through at home, since it's so much healthier.

So that was dinner. Some stereotypes which have not proven true:

• French dinners always involve wine.
• French dinners always last 3 hours (I am always the last to finish, everyone in the family eats very quickly)
• French dinners always involve 3 courses (tonight was unusual in that Noelle did not offer any cheese after the main course, but usual is one or two of the potential offerings of salad/cheese/dessert. And they're certainly not formal)

A stereotype which has proven true:

• French food is delicious.
  

One more thought before I resume my attempt to memorize all of the significant dates in French history between 1515-1789 (that would be the beginning of the reign of Francois I and the debut of the Renaissance through the French Revolution). I realized recently that in at least one way, in the attempt to learn a language, there is no substitute for living in a country which speaks that language. This is because here there are so many labels which demonstrate the names of items I might not know how to identify in French. Like bouche d'incendie is "fire hydrant." I would probably never learn that word without seeing a fire hydrant with the above written on a sign next to it, pointing to it. Same thing with au secours which means "Help!" or "Emergency." It's like living in a French textbook. This is probably a very infantile concept, but I have found it to be remarkably helpful. So bravo, study abroad. And bravo, my parents.

The Rest of Paris

Hello all,

Sorry it has been such a long time since I updated. It's not for a lack of events/sights/experiences to report. I was simply too busy while I was in Paris and ever since I returned to Dijon on Saturday afternoon I have been recuperating and working on the nine cahiers (reports) due about our two-week excursion. I also have a two tests on what we learned during this past trip, one on Tuesday and one on Wednesday.

There's no way for me to write on everything that happened Wednesday through Saturday morning, so I'll include a list and then elaborate on my favorite bits:

Wednesday

• Versailles
• Musée Rodin (the former home of sculptor Auguste Rodin, with many of his works inside)
  
• Les Invalides/Église du Dôme (which houses the tomb of Napoleon I)
• Théâtre: "La Cantatrice Chauve" de Eugène Ionesco at Le Théâtre de la Huchette
  
• Eiffel Tower at night
• Dinner: Dans Le Noir

Thursday

• Guided tour of the Louvre: Eugene Delacroix, Gericault, Ingres, Titien, "La Jaconde" (the Mona Lisa), Veronese, da Vinci, Giotto di Bondone, Pierro dela Francesca, Pisanello, Girodet Trioson, David, Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, "La Venus de Milo")
• Hot chocolate and pastries at Angelina (!!)
• Musee de l'Orangerie
• Sacre-Cœur
• Dinner: Refuge des Fondus

Friday

• Inside of the Opéra Garnier
• Lunch with Alden Masters (a fellow CCDS lifer) at a little cafe called Chez Janou
• Musée de Quai Branley (an exhibit on Iranian photography)
• Spectacle: Cirque Plume (a smaller, French version of Cirque du Soleil, it was incredible)

So some of my favorite moments from that comprehensive list of experiences. I am tempted to write solely on the food, but I will resist. My favorite moment from Wednesday was definitely the dinner at "Dans le Noir," but since I've already written about that, I will mention Versailles. This was my second time visiting Versailles and I am a little sorry to say I liked it better the first time. Wednesday was our first really overcast day of the trip and that combined with the changing seasons (last time I was there it was early June and the flowers were blooming in full force) made the gardens not quite as spectacular as I remember them. I had also forgotten about the mobs of tourists. This may sound incredibly stereotypical of me, but I have found Japanese tour groups in profusion here in France. And in connection with that previous statement I have also seen some incredibly short people. Mostly women, but also some men who can't be more than 4 1/2 feet tall. I am 5'5" and which is an absolutely average height for an American woman. Here in France I often feel like a giant. When we were in Louis XIV's bed chamber I was trying to take a photo when I felt something brush against my elbow - it was a woman's head! As in, the top of her head. I had to pay attention because I didn't want to squish her. Anyway, the crowds made Versailles not quite as enjoyable as I had hoped. Although I did really enjoy seeing the Hall of Mirrors. Last time I was there it was being restored. And, I take back what I said earlier about Fontainebleau competing with Versailles. Versailles is in a category of its own.

Thursday was an excellent day, possibly my favorite of the trip. In the morning we had a guided tour of the Louvre. The Louvre is incredible and very overwhelming. Just walking from the central area to one exhibit could take 10 minutes. There's no way that in our two hour tour we saw even 1% of the art inside. I actually prefer smaller museums, where I have some hope of seeing a majority of the art inside. Nonetheless, we saw some neat paintings (and sculptures). Our guide was the same as Tuesday's Musée D'Orsay tour and she did a great job again. She excelled particularly at explaining the transition from one style to another. The best example was in one room where she showed us two paintings directly across from one another. At first glance I would have guessed they were the same style, but upon more careful consideration I saw that the faces in one were much more realistic. The more realistic, a painting by Giotto di Bondone called "St. Francois d'Assise recenvant les stigmates" marks the transition from the gothique style to a more Renaissance style (more human). But besides the faces most of the other parts of the paintings were very similar, so you could really see how the styles were evolving - not just appearing as the textbooks sometimes present them.

After the tour Carleigh, Carolyn, Jenn, Mary-Kate, Miles, and I headed towards Rue du Rivoli and the best hot chocolate in the world. Mom, Trey, Holly, Mimi M., and I discovered Angelina last time we were in Paris and I personally couldn't wait to go back. All six of us ordered the "chocolate a l'ancien 'dit africain,'" the thick, rich hot chocolate Angelina is known for. If you've seen the movie Chocolat, this hot chocolate is similar to the one prepared in the film. It's heavenly! Each of us ordered a pastry also. I ordered the Tartelette Eva based on the following description: "sweet pastry, creme brulee with Bourbon vanilla, vanilla marscapone cream, fresh raspberries, strawberry shortbread." You might notice nowhere does it mention chocolate. That was intentional, because I knew hot rich and chocolate-y the hot chocolate would be. Well, check out a picture of my tart on the right. Yup, it's 85% chocolate. Those other parts in the description, they were the garnish. So I had my dietary allowance of chocolate for the year. The whole group had a great time though. Angelina is more a tea room than a cafe (although they serve real food too) and it was a wonderful treat.

Another cool experience came later that evening at Sacre-Cœur. Our whole group split up in the afternoon (some people went to the cemetary where Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, and various other notable persons are buried) but met up in the late afternoon at Montmartre. Kara had made reservations for us at the fondue restaurant and in the meantime we hiked up the stairs to see Sacre-Cœur. Again, this was not my first time visiting, but this time it was a whole new experience. Jenn and I went together and as soon as we walked inside we realized mass was about to start. So we sat down in the back and watched and listened for about 20 minutes. It was really neat to see the cathedral come alive for the service. I have seen many cathedrals in the last few weeks, but never been inside during an experience. The cathedral was even more impressive when it was filled with the sound of the organ, the congregation (I'm not sure if that's the term for catholics), and the nun soloist. And the sanctuary was filled with incense, which added to the experience. I could understand most of what the priest was saying and the words to the hymns (also, possibly not the correct Catholic word) and the whole thing was really neat. Unfortunately you cannot take pictures of the inside of Sacre-Coeur, even when there isn't a service going on, so I can't show it to you. There is a giant mosaic of Jesus behind the altar, it's absolutely magnificent. I also liked the stained glass windows on the sides of the nave, which are smaller but somehow more brilliant because they are surrounded by more blank wall space. The picture on the left is of all of the girls at the base of Sacre-Coeur (front L to R: me, Jenn, Carleigh, Carolyn, Mary-Kate, Kara).

Dinner that night was a rolicking good time. "Refuge des Fondus" is a hole-in-the-wall place (possibly the most fitting incarnation of that moniker I have so far encountered). There is only one menu: cheese or meat fondue, which comes with hors d'oeuvres, a small glass of sangria, wine (served in a baby bottle, yes, I know, very strange), and fruit salad for dessert. There are just two long picnic-bench style tables, so we cozied up to the other students who book-ended our group. Although the place is small and definitely appeals to the rowdy college-types, I'm not sure how "local" it is - I'm pretty sure all of the customers spoke English and were students studying abroad. The small amount of wall spaces behind both long tables is covered with the signatures of previous customers, and we were able to find two Wake Eurotour groups' signatures! Our food was tasty and our whole group had a great time. I'm really glad that Kara's friend Amanda recommended it to us - it was perfect for our group.Okay, last thing, because I am simply running out of time and I don't want to try your patience by making this too long. The Cirque Plume on Friday night was very, very cool. I was not entirely sure what kind of spectacle ("show") it was going to be, but I was very impressed. The introduction didn't really clear up things either, but right away they got into the acrobatics. My favorite act was a woman who did tricks inside a giant wheel. Her body could fit inside and she would flip and swing on it and through it as it rolled around the stage. There were also two acts involving giant trampolines and various flips and moves. Right now my description is completely failing to convey the awe-inducing nature of the show. But suffice it to say, if you go to Paris, Cirque Plume is worth seeing.

So now I am back in Dijon. Tomorrow our group is reporting to the CIEF center at the University of Burgundy to take a placement exam. We'll start our classes there next week, but this week we're beginning our Contemporary France class (basically sociology), our Art History class, and finishing all of the evaluations for Dr. Barbour's French civilization course. Yikes!

Now that I am back in Dijon permanently (albeit gone for a few weekend trips), I am hoping to join the Discjonctes, the university Ultimate team. They practice Monday and Thursday nights and I might go tomorrow night (if the captain emails me back about the bus stop nearest to the gym). Wish me luck!

**9:29pm my time** I wanted to add that tonight I saw my movie of the week: a comedy called Le Petit Nicolas. Carolyn and I saw it at Olympia, another movie theatre about 10 minutes from my house (we saw Harry Potter 6 at Le Darcy). The theatre for the film tonight was huge! It was probably 5-6 times larger than the one at Le Darcy. I tried to count seats and estimated it would hold at 300-400 people. It was probably about half full, not bad for a 6pm showing on a Sunday evening. I enjoyed the film a lot, although from time to time it was a little difficult to understand what the main characters (a young boy named Nicolas and his school comrades) were saying.