A Whole New World: November 2010

So Thanksgiving does not exist here in France (obviously), but our school tried to make up for it by having a Thanksgiving Dinner this week. The only problem is that the dinner was Wednesday, and Wednesday wasn’t Thanksgiving. So sad. I miss my family right now, because we always spend lots of quality time together this time of year, but at least I get to see them via skype! It’s weird that it’s a normal week with classes and homework. If I was in the US, I’d have made the 4ish hour drive home by now and I’d probably be helping my mom in the kitchen. My French mom once asked me how to make mashed potatoes, because she had never made them before!

Thanksgiving in Rouen.....it snowed for the first time, which is extremely rare at this time of year! It was beautiful and I went outside and frolicked in the backyard while catching flakes on my tongue. After that Isaure (my host sister) and I sat around the fire inside. When my host mom came home she had us try a tart that she made and it was such a nice addition to the day! I was going to run (as this is my first year without a Turkey Trot) but when it started snowing and got really cold, I decided I'd rather stay cozy inside the house. My friend decided to make a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, and it was AMAZING! We had turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberries, stuffing, and I made pumpkin muffins for dessert. We didn't end up eating until about 11 at night (we underestimated the necessary preparation time), but it was a really fun night full of laughter and friendship. There were 7 of us at dinner, three Americans, one Columbian, one German, and two French, so it was fun to explain Thanksgiving traditions to them. We listened to Christmas music while we dined and it really got me in the holiday mood! After dinner we went to a school party at a discotheque, so I didn't get home until 4am where I promptly fell asleep to prepare my mind for my 8:30 French class.

Thibaud, me, Bernadette, Andrea outside Chez Pepe on my birthday

Thibaud and me

My family wrote a little happy birthday note to me on the white board!

Isaure in front of the fire

Pretty fireplace :)

My lovely pumpkin muffins!

The tart!

Cedrick (French), Florian (German) getting ready for thanksgiving dinner

Let the festivities begin!

Bernadette (left) cooked the wonderful meal

everyone at the table

Yes we rocked out to techno music after our thanksgiving meal

Me, Andrea, Bernadette

SNOW!!!!

The day before Thanksgiving was my birthday, so we went to the restaurant Chez Pepe with some friends and it was a lot of fun! I also received flowers from my mom! The day was relatively relaxing since I don't have classes on Wednesdays :) I didn't get to eat any birthday cake, but I'll make sure to do that when I get home. At the restaurant they did bring me an apple crumble with a candle in it, and my friends sang happy birthday to me in French! Yay for being 21!!

Here’s a little strike update for those interested…the retirement bill passed a while back, but there was another random strike yesterday-meaning I had to get up an hour earlier if I wanted to get to school on time! I asked my family about it at dinner, and they didn’t know what the strike was about this time (mumbling that strikes occur all the time for no reason in France). Also, today, due to the snow (it was BARELY dusting the ground) the buses didn't run at all!

Speaking of family dinners, my host dad always has such interesting things to tell us! He is a quiet man, but when he does talk, I find out how knowledgeable he truly is. Last week he told us about the linen plant. It has blue flowers and apparently it requires wind to grow properly. The wind moves the plan around, and that movement is important for the plant. Another thing I learned is why the British drive on the left side of the road. Evidently, back in the days of riding on horseback, it was easier to pull out your sword and defend against an attacker if you were riding on the left side of the road. Who knew! Once at dinner we played a game called “le nez du vin,” which means “the nose of wine.” The game had various vials that you had to smell and then guess what was inside. I was pretty bad at the game. I don’t have “le nez du vin.”

I bought a coat here in France, and I love it, but the buttons keep popping off! I couldn’t take it to my mom, so my host mom sewed the buttons back on for me. I love living with a French family because I miss my family at home and the host family is a good substitute.

My international negotiation class ended this week and we learned a lot of interesting things that helped me understand some of the challenges of France. For example, France is a low-context culture, while the US is a high-context culture. This means that in France, there are certain things they expect you to know, and so they are less likely to spell out all of the information (unlike the US where everything is explained a million times.) After learning about this I realized how true it is. For instance, when we first go to the school, they didn’t give us a tour, didn’t tell us about the cafeteria, or printing, or any of the normal school functions that you use regularly, but don’t think about. I survived by watching and following others, but I see now that the administration just expected us to know stuff like that, hence the lack of explanation.

Since this blog is full of random information, I thought I’d keep up the trend by talking about pop culture. First of all, Harry Potter FINALLY came out in France Wednesday at midnight. I will still go see it, but I forsee much confusion on my part. Not only is the wizarding terminology entirely made up, but the French have their own translations. For example, Muggle is Moldus, and some of the character names are even different! Also, in class I learned that the Twilight series is called “Fascination.”

Finally, electricity and utilities in general are extremely expensive in France. Thus, they “attempt” to be efficient at every opportunity. The bathrooms all have sensor lights, which is a good idea. What’s not a good idea is sensor lights in the hallways…I’ve had many a group project where we were working away, minding our own business at one of the tables, when all of a sudden we were plunged into darkness. I do see the value of conserving electricity, but really?? Some things in France still baffle me.

Ok well as I write this I am sitting here freezing like an ice cube, so it’s time to tell my family my heat isn’t working.

Talk to you again soon and Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Enjoy your break :)

This weekend we had a school excursion to visit the some castles in the Loire Valley! We visited Chambord, Chenonceau and Blois. We were also able to visit a vineyard where they typically keep wine for one hundred years!

The first castle we visited was called Chenonceau and it was quite vast. (It had a moat!) There were fireplaces inside and some of them had fires going! Surprisingly, they did a nice job of warming the room. In the castle, there was a random room with a touring art exhibit. It was fun to look at artwork in a castle. All of the beds were elaborately decorated, and notably shorter than ones you see today. I learned that it was because people used to sit upright when they sleep in order to preserve their wigs!

The wine cellar we saw was chilly, but that’s important to let the wine age properly. In Bordeaux, the wine tour I did was a little different, so this one was really interesting. We learned all about the proper tasting technique…First you observe the color. Lighter colors usually signify a younger wine. Also, observe the ring around the top of the liquid. The thicker it is, the better the balance between the sugar and the acidity. After observing the color, you smell without swirling (first nose) and then smell after swirling the glass (second nose). Swirling lets oxygen react with the wine and brings out more subtle smells. The third step is to take a little sip to taste the wine. In my wine class we learned that you should spit out the wine after tasting. The fourth step is to imagine what situation the wine would be good in…what food, what event, and most importantly, what people you’d want to drink it with. They had wine from every from everyone’s birth year, so some people bought some from their birth year. I bought a bottle to share with my family. This wine is special because I never like wine and I liked it!

The next day we visited Blois, where a lot of assassinations occurred! There were a lot of different staircases and at the time hallways were not common in buildings, so this was one of the first castles to have traditional hallways. In one of the rooms there were some pictures of fruit arranged in such a way that their shadow projection formed a face on the ground. It was so cool! There was a large courtyard in the walls of the castle that used to host lots of spectacles for the king.

The last castle was called Chambord, and it was the biggest of all. The whole castle was freezing, because it was really open, so there were doors everywhere where air could come in. I walked around with my hood up the whole time. There were a lot of strange rooms that had pictures of leaves, bugs, and other animals. Also, there was an “apartment” inside that was comprised of a set of rooms that were used by guests, and limited only to them and the servants who would clean them. This castle had an amazing central staircase with two parts. It was constructed in such a way that if you took one staircase and someone took the other, you’d both wind up in the same place but never cross paths. It reminded me of the staircase to exit the Vatican Museums in Rome.

Walking around the castles was so cool, and it was amazing to think about all of the history involved.

If you ever go to France, I definitely recommend taking a tour of some of the castles of the Loire Valley!