Prague: Just a Taste

Well after our wonderful weekend in Dublin, many of our group expressed regrets that we had chosen to go there for our long weekend instead of Prague. And although Dublin was great, I think we made the right choice. 7 of us: Jenn, Carleigh, Carolyn, Peter, Wright, Miles, and I set off for Roissy (Charles de Gaulle airport) at 6:32am on Wednesday morning. After a a few minor difficulties finding our terminal (read: sprinting through the airport with our numerous carry-on bags) and making a connection in Frankfurt (I can now say I have been inside the country of Germany), we arrived in the Czech Republic. I have to say I had a pretty romantic picture of Prague in my head: I was hoping it would snow so we could have snow-capped buildings, preferably with classical music playing following our party around the city. Wright, on the other hand, pictured a post-communist waste-land. Reality was, unsurprisingly, somewhere in between. The sky was grey when we landed and the bus ride from the airport to the city center gave us a taste of the landscape: oddly grey despite the abundance of verdure.

Our hostel was located right off of Wenceslas Square (yes, like "Good King Wenceslas" from the Christmas Carol). We opted for this hostel right inbetween the "Old Town" and the "New Town" (which is still over 500 years old). We were there from Wednesday until Sunday afternoon, and I feel like we really made good use of our time. Here's a rough outline of what we did:

Wednesday evening: dinner at U Neklana, a restaurant which was recommended in Jenn's Lonely Planet "Prague" guide for its good, cheap Czech food. We absolutely loved it! It was the best food we had all weekend, and we had plenty of good food. Of course, I took plenty of pictures:

I have never heard people rave about Czech food, but I really enjoyed it. It was definitely quite different than anything I've tried before. But as much as I enjoyed it, it's probably a good thing I didn't decide to study abroad in Prague: if you think the French use a lot of saturated fat in their food, just try plate upon plate of sausage, potatoes, and cheese. But it tastes so good! And, there is a little more to it than that. First in the food pictures is Carleigh with her dumplings: they were stuffed with onions and grilled sausage. We had a lot of dumplings over the weekend and discovered many different varieties: the kind that were served with goulash were light, sort of spongy pieces of sweet bread, with a flavor akin to pain viennois here in France. The dumplings on Carleigh's plate were denser, probably made with potatoes and very filling (we all passed around the plates and tried a little bit of everything). Carolyn ordered weiner schnitzel and the preparation was similar to what I had in Vienna. Peter, Wright, and Miles all ordered the goulash, an excellent choice. The French equivalent of goulash is called boeuf bourguignone and it happens to be a specialty of the region which includes Dijon. But here in France they make the sauce with wine and in the Czech Republic they make it with beer. This goulash was by far the best we had all weekend: the sauce was simultaneously sweet and surprisingly spicy: we found hints of maple syrup, brown sugar, pepper, and many other flavors (after all of our degustations I think everyone is better at analyzing flavors). The goulash was served with potato latkas. Jenn ordered half of a duck, which I did not sample but she raved about it. I had the potato soup, which may seem boring, but it was exactly what I wanted. It was more of a vegetable soup than just potato soup and it contained brussel sprouts, asparagus, potatoes, and was served in a rye bread bowl. The rye bread went very well with the flavors of our dishes. All of us tried the Pilsner Urquell, the most well-known brand of beer from Prague. Peter ordered a Kozel next and after tasting this darker, richer beer I found that I prefered it, especially with the flavors of the food. It's amazing how the Pilsner tasted just fine before we started to eat, but with the food it tasted a little sour. The Kozel complimented the flavors much better. Anyway, for dessert we ordered fruit dumplings, which the guidebook mentioned. They were enourmous, stuffed with prunes, topped with whipped cream and clotted cream, and then dusted with chocolate powder. It was way too much, but very tasty. After all of that good food we walked back to the Old Town and wandered around that district for a little while. It wasn't too cold outside, actually it was quite pleasant. But it probably helped that our bellies were so full of all of the dense Czech cuisine, it really is true that that kind of food keeps you warm.

Thursday

• Free 3-hour walking tour with Sandeman's : when we first heard it was free we were a little skeptical, but it turned out to be a great choice. Our guide Ruth was very enthusiastic and she showed us around the Old Town, New Town, Jewish Quarter, and pointed out a few of the other sites. Honestly before I went to Prague I knew very little to nothing about the history of the Czech Republic or really any Eastern European history at all. After reading the guidebook on the plane, taking this tour, going to the Museum of Communism, and taking a tour of Terezin, I feel very well informed. The history of Bohemia/Czechloslovakia/the Czech Republic is very much a long list of outsiders who came in and ruled: first the Germans, then the House of Luxembourg, then the Hapsburgs, then 20 brief years of independence, then the Nazis, then the Soviets, and then, in 1989, independence. Our timing was actually quite apt because the 20th anniversery of the fall of the Berlin Wall was November 9 (we arrived on the 11th) and so many of these important dates were being celebrated/noted during our visit. The picture is of the astrological clock in Old Town Square. Prague has many buildings done in the Art Nouveau style, which I have probably seen before, but never in this quantity. Carleigh informed me that Art Nouveau was a movement in reaction to the sterility of the Industrial Revolution. It's very different from the architecture I have seen in France (the only major example of Art Nouveau in France is on the metro stations in Paris). I could list everything we saw on the tour, but it would probably start to sound like Frommer's instead of a blog. So suffice it to say that the tour was both informative and interesting and that I highly recommend that you go to Prague if you ever have to opportunity.
  
• Museum of Communism: or, why I love America. No joke, America has some serious problems, but compared to the kinds of suffering people have felt under other systems, I think we're doing okay. The most interesting part for me was seeing all of the propoganda posters and the photos and videos of the demostrations and riots throughout the communist regime (roughly 1946 to 1989). The police brutality against the demonstrators was really impressionable. I bought a postcard for my friend Hope which shows three women standing proudly and reads "They would have burned their bras like their sisters in the West, if only there has been any in the stores."
  
• Classical music concert at the Church of St. Nicholas on Old Town Square: this wasn't quite as good as the Vivaldi concert we heard in Paris, but it was significantly less expensive and the price/quality was probably equivalent. We heard pieces by Handel, Mozart, Bach, Vivaldi, and one or two others, performed by an organist and a pianist.
  

Friday

• Terezin: small fortress and the town. This took up a good portion of the day. Terezin is the name of the town which was used by the Nazis as a ghetto for Jews during the occupation of Czechloslovaki. Upwards of 150,000 Jews passed through there, and most of them were sent to Auschwitz and other concentration camps where they were murdered. The small fortress was a prison which held political prisoners. We purchased tickets through a tour venue and left on a bus at 9:15am, returning around 2:15am. Terezin is 60 km north of Prague. Before 1940 there were 110,000+ Jews living in Czechloslovakia and after the Germans started enforcing the Nuremburg Laws and persectuting them, there were around 80,000 still living there. Less than 10% of those 80,000 survived the next 5 years. The small fortress at Terezin didn't have any gas chambers or anything like that, but the conditions were still inhumane and shocking. Some of the cells which were originally intended to be a stall for one horse housed 18+ people. A room which might have comfortable held 50 people was inhabited by 600. It was heartbreaking. The Nazi guards lived right next to the compoud in relative luxury (they had a cinema, a swimming pool, and beautiful gardens, all of which remain today). And they lived there with their wives and children! How unbelievable, that they were able to treat other human being so cruelly and do it in such close proximity to the normalcy of a privileged family life. When I think about Holocaust deniers like the shah of Iran it makes me so angry - denying that the Holocause ever happened seems almost as bad as being someone who perpetrated it.
  
• Giant park with the metronome
• Dinner, overpriced and not as good as Thursday
• "Ghost Tour" of the Old Town, quite disappointing

Saturday

• Petrin Hill
  
• Prague Castle (St. Vitus' Cathedral and the museum) This picture is overlooking the Vltava River (which divides Prague), with Prague castle behind it
  
• Dinner with Miles' friend Whitney and her boyfriend Amund

Sunday

• Jewish Museum: Pinkhaus Synagogue, Old Jewish Cemetery, Cemetery museum

Unfortunately I don't have time to go into greater detail about some of the other things we saw. As much as I would love to write all night, I need to study for a test I have tomorrow, and I need to get to work on my presentation on organic agriculture in France (I present it next Tuesday, yikes!). I hope all of you are doing well!

Sights and Sounds of Dublin

Dear Blog Reader,

I am sorry to say that this entry will probably have to be quite short. It makes me sad because not only do I like to write about pretty much anything, I particularly enjoy writing about fun and memorable experiences. But I have been working pretty much non-stop since we got back Sunday night (including studying on the plane and train). I had two exams and a paper due today, and the paper and the exam in France Contemporain both counted for 50% of my grade in those respective classes. Add a cahier for Dr. Barbour and a very difficult translation for Giles (one of my CIEF professors) and I have been swamped. And tomorrow morning we leave for Prague! Ah! The train leaves at 6h32 (that would be 6:32am in the 12-hour format). You can probably guess that I haven't packed yet. I am embarassed to say I haven't really even consulted the guidebook yet. But Carolyn, Jenn, Carleigh, Peter, Wright, Miles, and I are all headed to the airport first thing in the morning. Now - Dublin!!
We arrived at the airport on Thursday night without a hitch. Actually, the entire weekend couldn't have gone smoother. Kara, Carolyn, Jenn, and I all flew together and Kara stayed with her friend Florrie while the rest of us stayed at the Litton Lane Hostel (would recommend it but not too zealously, it was inexpensive and had great location and excellent security, but other than that wasn't anything special). The next morning Elliott met us in the hostel lobby. For those of you who don't know him, Elliott is one of my best friends from Wake. He is also a junior and plays on the guys' Ultimate team. He lived in the same dorm freshman year as my friends Hope and Kennedy (I met him through them and Ultimate). He is an econ major and has been studying abroad in Dublin this fall, taking econ and philosophy classes at University College Dublin (UCD). I had a preview of Elliott's excellent tour guide skills this summer when I went to Chicago to get my visa for France. He lives an hour north of the city and he showed me around for the weekend. Friday was all about seeing the touristy spots in Dublin city, because Carolyn, Jenn, and Kara knew they were going to go on a tour of the Irish countryside for most of the day on Saturday. So in the morning we saw:

• Trinity College and the Book of Kells (an illuminated manuscript from 800 AD)
• Christchurch Cathedral (see the photo of Elliott and I below)
  
• Dublin Castle (we missed the tour but we walked around the outside)

Of course we had to stop for a post-lunch treat at Queen of Tarts, a tea/pastry shop that Jenn's host father recommended to us. We weren't dissapointed. After that we went back to the hostel to pick up Paley. Again, for those of you who don't know her (which is probably mostly those who didn't know Elliott), Lauren Paley is one of my oldest friends from Cincinnati. She goes to Colorado College and is studying abroad in Barcelona this semester. All of us headed to the Guinness Storehouse, which was originally the place where they kept all of the beer while it was fermenting, but now it is a giant museum/tourist trap for all things Guinness. While I thought the hyperbole was a bit overbearing at times (it really is just beer), it was cool to see how the beer is made. There was a free pint included with the tour, and we learned how to pull our own pint (Carolyn is standing next to our glasses, which are settling before we top them off). That evening we had dinner at a pub called O'Neill's. We all had some variation on Irish stew and Bulmer's cider, which is quite tasty. The whole evening was laid back and very enjoyable. We went to bed early after a long day of walking around.

The next day the other girls went on their day-long tour and Paley, Elliott and I did some more exploring. In the morning we went to the zoo (Elliott's choice) and we were pleasantly surprised at how active the animals were. We saw Bengal tiger cubs frolicking with each other and their mother and an astoundingly ugly gorilla, only inches away from us behind the glass. We walked around Phoenix Park and saw the Wellington Monument (dedicated to the guy who defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo). That afternoon we went to St. Stephen's Green and Merrion Square (which has a statue of Oscar Wilde in it, since he lived across from the square for a good part of his life). We stopped for some hot chocolate at a place called Insomnia Coffee (Elliott's suggestion, aptly named). That evening all of us met up for the highly-acclaimed musical pub crawl. We paid 10 euros and the group (there were probably 40 or so people total) went to a total of three pubs and had a private concert of Irish music. We started at a pub called The Oliver St. John Gogarty Bar (see the picture on the right). I've posted a video below. I'll warn you the sound quality on my digital camera isn't quite top notch (this is probably the third video I've ever taken with it). I absolutely loved the Irish music. The catchy jigs and reels were absolutely infectious - I could not get enough. We went back to the first pub again after the pub crawl officially ended around 10:30pm because we wanted to hear more.

Here are a couple of other things we saw:

• The General Post Office (site of the 1916 Easter Uprising)
• "The Spire"/Monument of Light
• Statue of Molly Malone
• The Georgian architecture/brightly colored doors
• Temple Bar area
  

Unfortunately this is all the time I have to write. Hopefully I can add more later, but I'm sure I will want to talk all about Prague too. This will have to suffice. Oh, one more thing: below is a picture of a plaque - it has a James Joyce quotation on it. They're laid in the sidewalks around the city and they correspond with the location of the plaque. I thought it was a pretty cool idea.

"Sol Calcaire, Belle Couleur"

Well, dear blog reader, it's a good thing I was extra productive this weekend. Because I can't say I have done one minute of homework in the last three days. I'm feeling more guilty now that I just typed it out, but there you have it. It's not really a problem since I got everything that's due this week finished...but it still doesn't seem like a good precedent. Anyway, I'm going to jump ahead and tell you about all of the cool and engaging things I've been doing instead. First, here are a couple of pictures from this past weekend:

The ladies (minus Mary-Kate, who was in Toulouse this weekend). L to R: Carleigh, Jenn, Carolyn, me, Kara

This was Saturday night, I straightened my hair for a change of paceSo last night I went out to dinner with the Ultimate Frisbee team, Les Discjonctes. We met at Franck's apartment and then walked to Le Palmier, a Moroccan restaurant. This was the first time I've hung out with the team outside of practice, and I was really looking forward to it. When I arrived at Franck's apartment though (it was only a 20 minute walk from my house), I was immediately intimidated. I guess I hadn't realized how at practice I am not required to speak or follow a conversation for a majority of the time - just play. Here it was me and 20 other francophones, and I was doing my best to keep up with the conversation and not sound too much like a bumbling American. Don't get me wrong - everyone on the team was just as friendly and welcoming as usually, maybe even more so. I was just much more aware of my language flubs, without the game to distract me. It was a lot of fun though. I'm so glad that I have the team here in Dijon. Not only is it fun to play Ultimate again, it's so cool to get to spend time with Dijonnais. CIEF is a good program, but it isolates the international students from actual French students. So while I am taking classes at the University of Burgundy, I have yet to actually talk with a French student there. Anyway, dinner was great. My chicken tajine was delicious and not too pricey, I would definitely go back. When I went up to pay for my meal, I discovered that our two servers were both native Fassis (from Fez, Morocco) and that they had been there this summer when I was there. Obviously Fez is a big city, but I still felt like it was kind of a cool coincidence.

And then this afternoon was degustation #5 with Monsieur Lafond. Tonight we learned the rest of the basic terminology for following a professional degustation. Part of me is a little frustrated that we didn't really learn how to assess the wine completely until this evening, but the other part of me understands that there is no way we could have absorbed everything in the first session. I'm going to attempt to sum up our course so far in a few brief lines:

Session #1: Why are Burgundy wines unique? The answer being the soil, specifically the amount of calcium in the soil
Session #2: How grapes are grown to make wine
Session #3: How the grapes are turned into wine
Session #4: How to "déguste" (sample, taste) a wine (assessing the level of acide and moelleux [mellow, or "buttery"] in a white wine)
Session #5: More on how to déguste a wine (assessing the level of acide, moelleux, and tanin, assessing the aromas (based on four categories: végétale, animal, épices, feu)

A few quick facts I've learned about Burgundy wines:

• There are only four cépages grown in Burgundy, two white (Chardonnay and Aligoté) and two red (Pinot Noir and Gamay). Chardonnay and Aligoté always come from grapes with white skin and white juice, and Pinot Noir and Gamay come from grapes with red/purple skin and white juice.
  
• Gamay is the only one of the four which is not grown on a calcium-rich soil, it's grown on granite
• For a white Burgundy wine there are four classes (in ascending order, according to quality/finess): Bourgogne --> Village --> Premier Cru --> Grand Cru. So wines of a certain quality are only allowed to put "Bourgogne" on their label, not the village name or "Premier Cru." The difference in quality of wine is all about location, the best crus come from the places where the cépage is best acclimated to that particular soil's composition.
  

This evening at the degustation we tried five different wines: Aligote 2007 (our reference wine, the same one we have been trying every week since the first session), a Bourgogne red 2006 (this is by default a Pinot Noir because almost all of the Gamay is made into Beaujolais), a chardonnay village 2005 we tried on Monday evening, than a Mersault chardonnay village 2005, and a Mersault chardonnay premier cru 2005. What was really interesting about the progression of wines that we tried tonight was that I was able to identify and savor more flavors/aromas in the Mersault chardonnay village than the premier cru. You would think the premier cru would be definitively better, since it's of a higher echelon. The aromas were much finer, but not as well developped. M. Lafond explained that that particular wine would be much better in a few years, it was still too young to really achieve its full potential. Having him explain the four categories of aromas made it easier to approach the wine. Rather than just looking for n'importe quoi (anything), I could think to myself, "okay, do I smell any flowers, white fruits, earthy/grassy aromas...okay...now animal scents like meat, leather, animal skin..." and so forth.

Our next session isn't for another two weeks, but if you can't tell, it can't come soon enough for me. M. Lafond really has done an excellent job imparting so much of his knowledge to us, but in a way that's concise and approachable.

Oh but the day's adventures weren't over yet. I raced home on my bike and just caught Noelle, Orane, and Pedro finishing dinner. Pedro is a Swiss student who is staying in Dijon for two weeks on a "séjour linguistique." When I asked what that entailed, I was informed it means that he takes French classes all day long and spends the night with a host family. Pedro is actually from Brazil and he speaks German, Portugese (and the Brazilian variety of Portugeuse, sort of like the Mexican version of Spanish), French, and a little English. I thought I should tell you just in case you were starting to get impressed with my French and humble amount of Arabic...

After dinner Orane and I font des cookies ensemble! My extensive searching and trips to various grocery stores paid off because the two of us together made a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies to rival any which have ever come out of the Dayton family kitchen (and without baking powder!) I chopped the chocolate chips by hand, but they were dark chocolate and probably even better for it. It was really cute, actually. Noelle turned the kitchen totally over to us and Orane and I donned aprons and everything. She tried to speak only in English (to practice), but we abandoned that pretty quickly. I feel like I haven't spent very much time with my host family this week: classes, Les Discjonctes, the degustation, and everything else, have kept me running around like crazy. Orane is really very sweet. She was so eager to make the chocolate chip cookies and I think we were equally pleased that they worked out so well. I helped her with her English homework afterwards too. It required translating English sentences into French, so it was good practice for me too. Tonight was a great example of how home-stays can be so rewarding. I got a chance to hang out with Orane, a French girl very close to my sister Holly's age, and just do something fun together. We got to make one of my favorite treats from home, which is one of her favorite treats too. We spoke a lot of French and she got to practice a little English. We ate cookie dough. I can't think of a better way to overcome cultural barriers.

So tomorrow: Dublin! Ah!! Now, time to sleep. Oh, and since you made it to the end of the blog post, I should probably explain the title, as a kind of a reward. "Sol Calcaire...belle couleur" is one of the first catch-phrases M. Lafond taught us (I think this was our first or second dégustation). He told us we can use it whenever we're examining a Burgundy wine (except Beaujolais/Gamay, of course). It translates to "hm...grown on a calcium-rich calcium....beautiful color." Basically it makes you sound smart, even if you don't know anything else to say about the wine. It's become kind of a joke with our group, and we've started to use it to describe random liquids/food/objects. Okay, maybe you have to be here. Anyway, bon soir! (good night!)

"Attendez, j'ai une SUPER idee"

The title of this blog post is a quotation from a little boy who we overheard while he was running around with his brothers at the "Foire Internationale et Gastronomique de Dijon." He couldn't have been more than five years old and his excruciatingly articulated French accent was absolutely endearing. A translation: "Wait guys, I have an awesome idea!" The adjective "super" is much more popular here than you would think. At first I resisted using it because it seemed like such an Anglicism. But I have heard so many Dijonnais use it, I've started to pick it up too. For example: "Il est super comme chien" which means "What a good dog!" I used it today when I was walking with Noelle, Joseph, their friend Helena, and Hendrix. We got sort of a late start this afternoon - I ended up having lunch with them unexpectedly and we didn't finish until nearly 3pm. We walked along the canal of the River Ouche, which runs through Dijon. We actually walked on the same path which I took to get to Lac Kir, just further down. Apparently that path, sort of similar to the Loveland Bike Trail, except very fine pebbles instead of paved, meets up with the road to Paris and goes for quite a way. Maybe if it's nice sometime later this week I'll try to ride my bike out that far. Anyway, we walked along the Ouche and threw sticks for Hendrix, who eagerly plunged into the canal to retrieve them. His energy really is boundless. It has been sort of rainy and foggy this weekend, but the sun peaked out for a little while and it wasn't too cold. The trees are truly in their full glory now - they seem to take on an even more ethereal quality in the mist.

So this weekend started on Thursday after class, with Les Discjonctes practice outside from 7-9pm. This time 10 people showed up, so we got to play 5 v. 5, much more agreeable than 3 v. 3. We also used forced a side again - which was much appreciated on my part (sorry for you blog readers who are non-Frisbee players, forcing a side means designating a side and trying to force the offensive player with the disc to only throw it to one side of the field. This makes it a lot easier for the defense to stay in front of their player). I really can't say how happy I am to have the chance to play Ultimate here in France. Not only is it wonderful to play again, but I really get a chance to practice my French in action. The guys give me a hard time about my pronunciation sometimes, like when I tried to shout "Prends ton temps!" quickly and it came out as a garble of syllables. But really, it's all in good fun. I also found out this weekend that we're going to have a Discjonctes soirée on Tuesday night - we're going out to dinner at a restaurant on Place de la Liberation. I'm very excited.

Thursday night the whole Wake gang went out to a club called Le Chat Noir. This club has been talked up by the other international students, our professors at CIEF, etc., so we figured we should check it out. We had a good time and Kara, Carolyn, and I ended up going back last night. Thursday night there was a 4 euro cover (plus 1 euro for the coat check) and Saturday night it was 6 euro to get in. Now that I type it out, it doesn't really seem like that much, but I had made it all semester without paying a cover, so it seemed sort of exorbitant at the time.

Friday morning I woke up reasonably early so I could make it to the market. Inspired by my humble success at cooking earlier in the week (I made penne with an eggplant/parmesean sauce and added sundried tomatoes), I wanted to get some fresh veggies. I had a very interesting experience at the market. In our CIEF classes all of our lessons revolve around current events: so in my Comprehension Ecrite class (basically reading comprehension) our homework each week is to read an article which Stephane gives us and then answer questions about it. The article for this week is about the la peine de mort (the death penalty), which is currently outlawed in France. We talked a little bit about the history of the death penalty in France in class on Thursday to get some background before reading the article. It was outlawed in 1981 in France, which at the time was the last country in Western Europe to do so. Lately there has been a resurgence of French citizens who want to reinstate the death penalty, particularly in relation to instances of child abduction/sexual assault against children. So, the reason I am bringing this up is that it came up in conversation at the market! I was chatting with one of the produce vendors - about nothing of real note (a lot French people recognize after the first exchanges and then proceed to guess where I am from, this guy went through Denmark, Norway, and Germany before I told him I was from the US). So, at the end of the conversation when I've gathered up my purchases and am preparing to walk away, the guy pauses and then adds "You know, you've got it right in the US" (in French, of course). Curious, I ask him what he means. He says "well, you have the death penalty there, don't you? Here [and he indicates a little kid walking by, holding his mother's hand], little kids get abducted and bad things happen and the government doesn't really punish the people who do it." I am paraphrasing, of course, but I was a little offput. I've never had anyone bring up the subject of the death penalty, and certainly not someone I just met. It's interesting to see which issues are really charged here, and to experience that in real life and not just in a textbook. Obviously this is just one guy's opinion, but I thought I'd share, because it made an impression with me.

So anyway, I bought brussel sprouts, mushrooms, 4 carrots, 2 peppers, 1 head of garlic, 2 onions, 3 oranges, and 3 apples: all for less than 10 euro. That is why I love France: the cheapest food you can buy is freshly-baked bread and fresh produce. Last night I cooked up the brussel sprouts and mushrooms and added them to quinoa and then tonight I made penne with the eggplant/parmesean sauce, but I added sauteed garlic, mushrooms, onions, and sundried tomatoes to the mix. YUM. It's funny, you would think for someone who spends so much time sampling and describing food, I would have more experience cooking my own. But it comes down to this: neccessity. When I am home, I have my mom and her cooking is so delicious I never need to cook (I have plenty of experiencing baking breakfast things and treats). And then at school I have the Pit, which is not always super healthy or super tasty, but always super convenient. So, now that I am sans Lisa Dayton and the Fresh Food Company (aka the Pit), I have taken the plunge into cooking my own meals. So far, it has been great success.

Friday afternoon Carleigh and I went to see a film called Le Ruban Blanc ("The White Ribbon"). I saw a preview for it when I went with Carolyn to see Le Petit Nicolas and I noted that it won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival this year. After seeing it, I understand why. Carleigh and I saw the original version (German) with French subtitles. The viewing itself was an interesting experience. My overall impression of the German language is that it is very harsh and gutteral. But in this film is was much lighter and more musical as a language and I recognized many of the English cognates. So it was a weird feeling to hear something vaguely similar while reading the translation in a language which is becoming more and more familiar. Between the two mediums, I think I understood all of it. The film itself is a piece of art. I don't want to go too far into the plot, because I sincerely hope all of you see it. It was a little dark and I certainly wouldn't recommend it for the pre-PG-13 crowd, but as an intellectual and sensory experience it was captivating.

Here's a Wikipedia summary (which I altered a bit):

"The White Ribbon is the story of a village in Protestant northern Germany in 1914, just before the First World War, as children and adolescents in a choir directed by the village schoolmaster, and their families: the Baron, the superintendent, pastor, doctor, midwife, peasants. The plot revolves around their lives and the strange accidents which occur."

I think it's important to note that I did not know that the story was taking place right before WWI when I went to see the film, and that is an essential element of the story (but one that I recognized on my own). You may or may not remember that earlier in the semester I made a pledge to see one film in French per week. Well, this is the conclusion of my 10th week here in France and I have seen 6. And 2 of those were this week-end. Oops. Well, hopefully I can make those up, although I'm not sure I'll have the time between Dublin next weekend and Prague the following week. Here's the list of the films I have seen so far:

1. Harry Potter et le Prince de Sang-Melee
2. Les Regrets
3. Le Petit Nicolas
4. Le Pensionnat (a Thai film dubbed in French, which I saw with my host family)
5. Le Ruban Blanc
6. Mademoiselle Chambon

The best one so far has most definitely been Le Ruban Blanc. I saw Mademoiselle Chambon this evening and thought it was alright, but nothing earth-shattering. In theme it was somewhat similar to Les Regrets.

So Friday evening Kara, Carolyn, Jenn, and I went to the "Foire Internationale et Gastronomique de Dijon." There have been posters for it all over Dijon: bright blue posters featuring a gorgeous Greek girl and reading "Bienvenue a la Grece" (Welcome to Greece). This fair is an annual event in Dijon and each year a different country is invited to share their native food/dances/products/etc. Our CIEF professor Stephane has been talking about taking a group with CIEF to the fair next Friday (when we're in Dublin), so we thought we'd go this weekend. Friday night was the opening night and the fair lasts two weeks I believe.

Overall, I was pretty disappointed. I was under the impression it was going to be like the Taste of Cincinnati, with lots of different vendors selling small plates for a euro or two. I was expecting to have the opportunity to try all different regional products from around France. The actual event was held inside what in the US would be called a convention center and was more of a convention than a fair. There were lots of restaurants inside, each selling different regional French cuisines, but all involving a full three-course dinner. There were also lots of vendors selling jewelry, clothes, gadgets, and pretty much anything you can think of. The Greek room was fairly small. There was a restaurant, where we ended up eating and a few stalls with sugared nuts, Greek pastries, olive oil, and a few souvenir-type products. I'm sort of sorry we ended up eating there. My moussaka (which tasted a lot like lasagna) was good, but certainly not worth what I paid for it. Next time I would skip it, but we had no way of knowing that in advance.

Saturday was dedicated to homework. I got practically all of my assignments for the coming week out of the way, because I need to work ahead for Dublin and Prague. Carolyn, Kara, and I went for a run, but besides that I didn't really leave my room all day. The three of us went out to Le Chat Noir and had a good time (after hanging out with Carleigh a little). I have lots of cute pictures, but I left my camera at Carolyn's house, so I'll have to add them later. It was certainly strange not to participate in any Halloween celebrations, but I noticed that my host family's neighbors had a very small Jack-o-lantern on their steps, and it made me smile. Last night was also super foggy, which gave the evening a truly Halloween aspect.

So overall, a good weekend. Not the most exciting, but certainly well spent. I promise to add more pictures later, plus a detailed update on our wine course with M. Lafond, which has its fourth meeting tomorrow evening. Happy November to you all!

Lost in Translation

Alas, alack, another entry about food. So this evening I had dinner with my host family (I'm now eating with them every Tuesday and Wednesday night because Ultimate Frisbee practice is on Monday nights). This evening Renyu (yes I completely butchered his name in my last entry) prepared the meal for us. It was an authentic Chinese-French meal and I found every aspect delicious. Noelle asked Renyu why he called it Chinese-French instead of just Chinese, and he said because he prepared it here in France. Gaspard helped him and I was totally impressed by their culinary skills.

We had an onion-based soup with noodles to start. I could have just had the soup for dinner, it was delicious and perfect for a chilly fall evening. But then each of us had a plate with four different elements: a piece of chicken, some mushrooms, onions and peppers, and what resembled scrambled eggs with fresh tomatoes. For dessert we had a pomelo (Noelle's contribution). I'd never seem a pomelo before - the fruit is enormous! It's sort of like a grapefruit on steroids, but the sections on the inside look more like a giant orange than a grapefruit. The texture is closer to an orange, but less juicy. The skin is much thicker too, you can peel off the inner casings since they're so thick. Maybe polemos are very common, but I've never seen one before. I'm including some pictures I found online in case you blog readers have not encountered one either.
So during the dinner Noelle proposed that I prepare an American meal for them. Jenn has already cooked meatloaf for her host parents (the two of them), but I am a little intimidated at the thought of cooking a meal for Noelle, Joseph, Orane, Gaspard, Sarah, and me (6 people!) Renyu proceeded to ask me to describe typical American food. Of course, this is slightly more difficult than it sounds. Unlike "French food" or "Chinese food," a lot of "American food" is really a variation on the ethnic foods of other nationalities. Of course, apple pie and macaroni and cheese are both "American comfort foods," but it's not like my mom prepares those everyday. It was really difficult for me to describe how our dinners are different from theirs. And it wasn't because the two are so similar, I can't say that anything I've had here has really resembled something I eat at home on a regular basis. We have yet to have any fish...and salmon is a staple at my house. I have yet to eat any corn, peas, asparagus, or broccoli. We've had other vegetables: lots of beets, lettuce, and peppers. Still, it's sort of difficult to explain breakfast foods like muffins or things like "pumpkin pie" when there aren't really exact translations. Some boulangeries sell "cookies" (same thing as the American version) and I've seen "muffins" too, but those words are Anglicisms and although the word "tarte" sort of gives the impression of "pie," it also makes it sound less unique when I describe it using a very French term.

After dinner Renyu got out his laptop and I showed them some pictures on Foodnetwork.com. It's a little easier to demonstrate with photos than to try and describe them. Renyu showed us some pictures of Chinese dishes his friends prepare at home. The photos were on the Chinese version of Facebook (apparently they have their own knock-off version, in addition to the world-wide standard one). Renyu suggested that all of us (Orane, Gaspard, Sarah, him, and me) hang out tomorrow afternoon after I'm finished with class - the rest of them are on vacation this week. I get out of class at 1pm tomorrow and I think I'm going to run to the grocery and pick up the supplies to bake the famous Dayton-family-oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookies. I need my confidence a little bit first before I tackle a full meal using measurements I don't recognize and an oven/kitchen I am not used to. Apparently tarte tatin is Joseph's favorite dessert, and since that's the French version of apple pie, I'm planning on making one of those too. But one thing at a time. I'll let you know how it goes!

Oh, and in case you, dear blog reader, were getting the idea that there is no intellectual activity going on here in Dijon, I am pleased to inform you that classes continue to go well. I had lots of them today - 6 hours in fact. Expression Écrite (written expression) from 9am-11am, La France Contemporaine from 12:15pm-2pm and then Art History from 2:30pm-4:30pm. Waking up at 7:30am for class on Tuesday morning is always a little rough after the late night Ultimate practice on Monday evenings, but I really shouldn't complain. I am learning so much and having a wonderful time!

Discovering Dijon

This past weekend my friend Bobbie came to visit from Venice. In case you didn't catch the earlier post, Bobbie is also a junior at Wake Forest and has been one of my very good friends since we met in the Outward Bound pre-orientation program before the beginning of freshman year. We have been running buddies ever since, and she and I have trained for two half-marathons together. She is studying abroad at Casa Artom, the Wake Forest house in Venice. She arrived on a very early (read 6am) train Friday morning and left on an overnight train Saturday night. So we had two full days and one evening of fun in Dijon.

It's funny how having someone come visit you in your "hometown" really forces you to explore the places you overlook in everyday life. For example, before Bobbie's arrival I did not know the population of Dijon. And I hadn't been inside any of the three major churches I walk by on a regular basis. So here are some fun facts I found in my research about the history/FAQs of Dijon:

• Population: 150,000 metropolitain, 250,000 in the greater area
• Student body of the University of Bourgogne: 30,000
• Dijon is the préfecture of Bourgogne and the département of Cote-d'Or (both of those are administrative terms, sort of like a city being the capital of a state, but département is smaller, like the county within a state)
• Dijon is the twin city of Dallas, TX
• The Palais des Ducs et des Etats de Bourgogne was embellished in the 17th and 18th centuries by Jules Mansart (who was one of the architects of Versailles) and later by Jacques Gabriel
• The "Tour Philippe le Bon" (tower of Philip the Good, one of the Dukes of Burgundy during the 10th-15th centuries) has 316 steps to the top and a panoramic view of Dijon
• The Parc de la Colombiere was created in 1672 by Antoine de Maerle, the designer of the gardens of Versailles and the avenue leading from Dijon's city center to the park was once called "the most beautiful avenue in my kingdom" by Louis XIV
• Les Halles, the permanent covered market, was designed by Gustave Eiffel, a Dijonnais (the term for someone from Dijon)

So Friday was dedicated to exploring all Dijon has to offer. After going back to bed until a reasonable hour, Bobbie and I had a quick breakfast and headed out to explore. I showed her Parc d'Arcy, Place d'Arcy, and Rue de la Liberté (the main street). We went to les halles and explored the market which is set up every Tuesday and Friday from 9am-1pm, around the permanent structure. I found a cute heather gray wool hat, which is cute but also very functional, since it got quite cold this past week. We also purchased everything necessary for the perfect French picnic: strawberries, grapes, a small log of chèvre, a baguette, and two small tartelettes (rhubarb for Bobbie and lemon for me). We walked from centre ville to Parc de la Colombiere - a little bit of a hike, but very scenic since the leaves on the trees along the "allée" (avenue) are changing colors. Despite the nippy weather and an occaisional mist of rain, we thoroughly enjoyed our picnic, and getting caught up with each other's lives since we left Wake at the beginning of May.

We took the bus back to centre ville and bought tickets to go up to the top of Tour Philippe le Bon (mine was free and Bobbie's cost 1.50 euros, no big). The 316 steps to the top weren't so bad because the staircase was quite wide, unlike many narrow flights I have ascended while exploring various cathedrals in Europe. And the view from the top was well worth the effort. I had no idea Dijon was so immense. I could also see the "toits Bourguignons" (the patterned roofs) much better from above. It was also interesting how big Cathedrale Saint-Bénigne is compared to the other buildings. From the ground it looks to be about the same size as the buildings surrounding it, but it's actually enormous.

After checking out the tour, we walked around the Musée des Beaux-Arts. Bobbie has been taking an Italian Renaissance art history class in Venice, so she filled me in on the Italian paintings and I shared with her what I had learned about the French paintings. Sort of like visiting Jeremy in Vienna last weekend, it's really cool to be able to exchange information and learn things from the people who have been experiencing them first-hand.

For dinner we joined Peter, Wright, Miles, and Jenn at Wright's house for burgers and fries (the boys bought the food and fixin's and Peter was head chef). After dinner all of us (plus Carolyn, who met us there) went to a soccer match! Dijon Football Cote-d'Or (Dijon FCO) is in Ligue 2, or the second-highest league in France. Their stadium, which holds about 8,000 people, was a 10-15 minute bus ride from Wright's house. We got there just after the game started and our seats were on the extreme end of one of side of the field. I really enjoyed the game, despite the fact that our view could have been better. Dijon FCO lost to Nantes 2-1, although I personally think we were robbed, because the refs nullified two goals, at least one of which seemed completely legitimate. Dijon FCO's mascot is la chouette (an owl), the symbol of Dijon - a very cute mascot.

Saturday Bobbie and I went for a 35-minute run. I seriously think Bobbie is the secret to my running success. It was the best I have felt on a run in a long time. When we're back at Wake we're definitely going to resume our daily early-morning running dates. After another breakfast of granola and yogurt (I have successfully adapted to the taste of plain yogurt) we went to Parc d'Arcy for some reading/journaling. The picture below is the view of Parc d'Arcy from the bench on which we were sitting. Saturday was completely laid-back. Once we got cold from sitting in the park, we headed to a coffee/tea shop near the hotel I stayed in upon first arriving in Dijon. I've seen this place many times and often wanted to go in, but never really had a reason/opportunity. But Bobbie and I had no obligations and plenty to talk about, so we went. It's called La Causerie des Mondes and it's a new favorite of mine. They only serve beverages, but they have dozens of varities of tea and lots of different flavors of hot chocolate. I tried macaroon-flavored hot chocolate and it was delicious! Bobbie got an Irish coffee - yum. Apparently there's a cafe in Venice which serves the same brand of hot chocolate that I ordered (in the same mug no less), but there is costs 7 euros, as compared to the 4 I paid. There are definitely some perks to living in a less-touristy town.

We lingered for quite a while in La Causerie des Mondes and then did some shopping (I know, it was a rough weekend). Bobbie found some brown leather ankle boots and I got some gray suede boots which can be worn either as calf-height boots or ankle boots, depending on how you fold them. For dinner I took her to Cafe des Grands Ducs, a staple of the Wake Dijon gang. The food is "typical French cafe," which when combined with generous portions and low prices makes a perfect college-student-studying-abroad package. So, quite full of kir, quiche lorraine, crudités (a salad of raw veggies, one of the available side dishes and a personal favorite of mine), and a gaufre (waffle) for dessert, Bobbie boarded her train at 11:20pm to head back to Venice. I can't tell you how great it was to have her here this weekend!

Briefly, some other quick highlights from the weekend:

• On Thursday night the Wake gang went to a bar called SalsaPepa (which plays salsa music, but only on Wednesday nights). They played lots of American music and the last song was Cotton Eye Joe! As if it wasn't absurd enough to hear a "middle school dance" song in a bar in France, the French people around me proceeded to start square dancing! What the heck!?! I couldn't stop laughing, it was too much.
  
• This afternoon I went with my host family to their friend's farm in the country. This time we took two cars because our group included a Chinese student named Ginou (he knows my host family from when he went to high school in Dijon, not he is studying in Paris but has the week off for fall break - I am spelling his name phonetically), Sarah, Orane's friend and her friend's mother), Noelle, Joseph, and me. The fall colors were even more magnificent this time around.
• Tonight I joined my host family for dinner. There were 8 of us around the table! We had brouillon to start (same word in English, a clear broth), then croque monsieurs and some pot au feu (meat and veggies). For dessert we roasted chestnuts over their living room fire! I've never had roasted chesnuts before and they were delicious!

Well that's all for this weekend. I hope your weekend was just as relaxing and pleasant.

"Compter un, deux, trois, quatre..." Ultimate in Dijon

The quotation in the title is how you stall count in French. The funny part is when the offensive player throws the disc, they yell "UP!" in English, even though the rest of the lingo is totally French.

Last Monday was my first practice with Les Discjonctes, a club team in Dijon (which I originally believed is associated with the University of Burgundy, but now think it's just a club team, since many of the players seem to be older than college age). Practices are Monday nights from 9-11pm in a gym and Thursday nights from 7-9pm outside. I missed last Thursday's practice because I was in Vienna, but I went to my second practice on Monday.

There were 19 players - 17 guys, 1 other girl, and me (which is not a bad ratio, in my opinion). I found out my first night that routine of practice is very similar to the one I am used to with RUCKUS back at Wake. The 10-15 minutes before practice starts is spent just throwing the disc with a partner, warming up. Then we run some laps around the gym, do warm-ups, and stretch. Then we run a drill or two. The drills usually simulate the proper technique for cutting on the field, and all of the ones we have done so far are exactly the same as drills I have run with RUCKUS. That takes up most of the first hour and then the second hour is dedicated to scrimmaging (the best part). The first time I went we had 15 people total and we played 5 versus 5, with subs. This past Monday we played with three teams of 5 (plus subs), rotating a new team in every three points. When they picked teams for the scrimmage I was picked during the first round - to my great pleasure.

I can't really explain how much I have enjoyed playing Ultimate here. It's only been two practices, but both of them have been awesome. It might be because I am doing an activity where I can really compete (without a real language barrier stopping me) or just the joy of physical exertion in the form of organized competition. I personally think it's the latter. I was incredibly sore after the first night of practice, and only slightly less so after the second. It was much too cold for me to run while I was in Vienna, and my 9am classes on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings make it impossible to run those mornings (I have to leave 20 minutes to ride my bike to school and it's not really light outside until 7:45am-8am).

Les Discjonctes have only one tournament in the fall, and it's November 8, the weekend I am going to be in Dublin. It's sort of a bummer, but I will be perfectly content just to practice. I think the team members think I'm a little crazy, because the last two practices I have been so eager to run around and play. I didn't realize how much I missed it until we started warming up that first night. Just the feeling of the disc in my hand got me excited. Okay, blog reader, you're probably pretty tired of my Ultimate Frisbee obsessing, so I'm going to conclude there.

To answer a question from a response to a previous blog post: CIEF (Centre International des Études de Francais) is the department within the University of Burgundy which organizes the classes for the international students who come to study abroad in Dijon. All of my classes through CIEF (and I have 5: one on Monday, one on Tuesday, two on Wednesday, and one on Thursday) are with other international students and they're all focused on some element of the French language. The two other courses I am taking "La France Contemporaine" (culture/sociology class) and the art history class, are both Wake Forest-only courses, although they're taught by French professors.

Another extracurricular activity you might find interesting is a course on wine and wine-tasting being taught to the Wake group by Jenn's host father, Monsieur Lafond. He makes his own wine and is something of an expert (he actually came to Cincinnati in the early 1980s to do a wine tasting for some company, which was held on the skating rink on Fountain Square). Tonight was our second meeting, and we tasted the same Aligoté that we tasted the first night. M. Lafond is trying to get us to recognize this particular wine so that we can then use it as a point of comparision for other wines in the future. The course is focused mostly on Burgundy wines, although he has been comparing the techniques used here in Burgundy with those used by most vineyards in the U.S. Monday's session was all about the reasons why Burgundy wine is unique (geological and historical reasons mostly, lots of calcium in the soil and monks who were very assiduous with maintaining certain cepages). Tonight was about viticulture and vinification (how the vines are cared for and how the wine is made). Our next meeting is next Monday, and I'll let you know how it goes!