Bourgogne

Is this not gorgeous?  I spent last Thursday through Saturday touring the beautiful region of Bourgogne (Burgundy) and driving through countryside like this.  It was unreal.  Our bus rides between sites are usually a great time to nap, but I hated to close my eyes for fear of missing some more spectacular scenery.  I was so happy because this type of trip is what I imagined myself doing when I decided to come to Europe.  I love the big cities like Paris, but driving through the countryside and seeing quaint little towns and groups of white cows dotting the hillsides makes me feel like I’m getting to see true France.

Abbaye de Fontenay

We started our tour at the Abbaye de Fontenay on Thursday morning, and it was a great introduction to what was a very picturesque trip.  The abbey used to house monks, so we got to see the church, dormitory, and grounds and tried to imagine the difficult life of a monk in the Middle Ages.  It was a chilly morning when we visited, and I can't even fathom what winters would have been like.  Let's just say I'm glad I live in the 21st century.

From there, we drove to Semur-en-Auxois for lunch.  We were only there for a couple of hours to eat, but I would love to go back.  The town is set up on hill, and the drive up to it is breathtaking.  Our group ate at a café, and I had boeuf bourguignon or basically beef stew, which is a regional specialty. 

Basilique de Vezelay

Vezelay

I wasn’t ready to leave Semur-en-Auxois, but we headed to another incredibly picturesque town called Vèzelay to see the Basilique de Vèzelay. The church was very cool and very old, and I’m always impressed by how people in the Middle Ages could build these massive and intricate structures.  After the tour, we had some time to walk around the town a little bit.  There were some really cool views of the surrounding area (see the first picture) and some cute shops with home goods and antique-y things.  From Vèzelay, we went to Autun to check into our hotel where we also had dinner.  The hotel had some of the best bread so far, and believe me, I’ve eaten A LOT of bread in the past two weeks.  Dinner turned into another three hour affair like these group dinners tend to do, so pretty much everyone just went back to their rooms and crashed.

Cathedrale Saint Lazare

Mont Beuvray

The next morning we got up early for our tour of the Cathédrale Saint Lazare in Autun and a little bit of the city of Autun.  Our tour guide was an adorable little French man (our tours are all in French, by the way), but it was a little difficult for everyone to get excited about seeing another church and more Roman ruins. 

The next stop on our journey was Mont Beuvray, the site of Bibracte, an important town when the area belonged to the Gauls and then Romans.  We went to a museum about Bibracte, and instead of a guide, we had headsets that led us through the museum.  It definitely was not anyone’s favorite thing we’ve done so far.  Afterwards, though, we went to the summit of Mont Beuvray where there’s an amazing view of the countryside.  We had about an hour of free time, and everyone was so tired and loopy after the museum that we just stayed up at the summit and goofed around taking silly pictures and doing cartwheels and somersaults.  Like I said, we were a little loopy.  That night in Autun was spent at a different, forgettable hotel where we had a forgettable dinner.  Some of us watched Jersey Shore on a laptop, which was a nice reminder of what I’m not missing about home, although it’s still very amusing.

Hotel de Dieu (or Hospices) in Beaune

Saturday we got up to go to Beaune and see the Hôtel de Dieu, a former hospital built in the 1400s. There was a market going on in town, too, which was fun to walk around.  The drive there was so beautiful because the roads were lined with vineyards.  The Vendange, where they harvest the grapes and determine if the wine will be good (I think), is coming up, and wine is a pretty big deal around here.  Beaune and the area around it is really well known for wine, so Madame McNelly even let us have a little wine at lunch.

Clos de Vougeot

After lunch in Beaune, we drove to Vougeot to see Clos de Vougeot, a wall enclosed vineyard with a château inside.  It was a very pretty site and it was interesting to learn a little about how wine is made, but we all felt like the tour could’ve been 100 times better with a wine tasting.  Oh well, we do have a wine course a little later on in the program, so there’s that to look forward to.

Last night we were back in Dijon and back to our homestays.  One of my host sisters was nice enough to give me a ride into centre ville to meet up with a few other girls for dinner since my host parents were at a wedding and everyone was basically fending for themselves for dinner.  We went to a restaurant in Place Emile Zola where there are a ton of outdoor cafés and had one of the best dinners.  I had a delicious pizza, and everyone got big chocolaty desserts that we passed around.  It was another three hour dinner, but it was fun to just sit and chat and drink wine in a smaller group.  We were all too full to do anything else, so everyone headed home after dinner.  My host sister came back to pick me up since there isn’t a bus that runs on weekends out to my area.  I’ll have to figure out a better system so I don’t need rides all the time, but my family has been nice about it so far.

Today was maybe our first totally free day since we got to France.  I got to sleep in and go for a run, and then I did some reading and sat out by the pool at my house all afternoon with my host sisters.  I figured I was allowed to have a chill day before two intense days of class and our next excursion to Normandy on Wednesday.

Sorry for the long post, but there’s always so much to tell! Missing everyone at home!

Bisous from France   

Her Campus

Here is the link to another post I wrote for a blog on Wake Forest's branch of Her Campus.

Adios America, Bonjour L'Europe!

Bonsoir!

Voyage en Provence et Ma Nouvelle Famille

Bear with me for what will probably be an absurdly long post, but so much has happened since I last wrote!

Last Thursday morning, our group left Dijon and headed to Provence, a region in the South of France, for some touring.  We were on a bus for about six hours, but it wasn't bad since we had an opportunity to nap and to observe the French countryside, which is so beautiful.  Along the way, we could see rolling, green mountains, vineyards, cornfields, and fields of sunflowers (the last two reminded me of home!).  We stopped for lunch during the drive, too.  I was expecting to grab a sandwich and hop back on the bus, but seeing as this is France, we took an hour lunch at this insanely nice rest stop (for a rest stop, that is).  It had a cafeteria where you could choose from all sorts of foods and have a full sit down meal, kind of a nice change of pace from the usual grab and go eat in the car.

We finally arrived in Orange late afternoon and took a guided tour of le théâtre antique d’Orange, a monument left by the Romans that has the best preserved scène (or stage).  The théatre is still used for operas and concerts, which makes for a cool juxtaposition of past and present.  From there we continued on to Arles, driving through Les Alpilles (little Alps) to check into our hotel and chill out for a bit before heading to dinner.

The next day (Friday), we started out with a tour of the Musée Departementale d’Arles Antique in Arles.  It had several scale models of typical Roman monuments that we had seen, like the théâtre, and ones we would be seeing later on.  They also had mosaics, sarcophaguses, and other artifacts that had been recovered from Roman times.  The museum also had a room full of artifacts that were recently found in the Rhône River that runs through Arles, including the head from a statue of Julius Caesar.

After the museum in Arles, the group got back on the bus for the short drive to the charming city of Nîmes.  Once there, we had a guided tour of l’arène or l’amphithéâtre, where gladiators used to fight and where they still hold bullfights and concerts today.  After that we walked to the city’s center to see the Maison Carrée, which was also in the center of the Roman city and served as a temple.  We then had some time to walk around a little before heading back to Arles for dinner.  Friday’s dinner was at a very typical Provencal restaurant where they had regional specialties like ratatouille.  Some of the kids in the group ordered fish and were surprised to find the head was still attached when it was brought out.  Luckily, I played it safe with lamb cooked in Provencal spices.

Saturday was by far my favorite day.  We got to sleep in a little bit and then had time to go the marché on the main street in Arles.  It was like a farmer’s market on drugs.  There were vendors selling clothes, shoes, spices, fabrics, olives, bags, bread, cheese, fruits, and vegetables.  I probably could’ve spent hours milling around, but we had to get back to the bus to go to Saintes Maries-de-la-Mer.  The Mediterranean coast was about an hour away, so we spent the entire afternoon on the beach.  It was so relaxing and so gorgeous.  Later on the wind picked up and we were getting face-fulls of sand, so we moved up onto a jetty (I don’t know if this is the right word) or basically a group of rocks that was sticking out into the sea.  From there we had a great view of the beach and marina and the town behind us.  There were only six of us that stayed on the beach all afternoon, but we all agreed it was the BEST day.  We topped it off with ice cream cones before getting on the bus back to Arles for our last dinner there.

Sunday morning we left Arles to go back to Dijon.  We made a pit stop at the Pont du Gard, an awesome Roman aqueduct.  We walked around and took pictures for about an hour, and then made our way back to Dijon to meet up with our host families. 

As soon as we pulled into Dijon, I was sooo nervous about meeting my family since I hadn’t been able to make contact with them and knew absolutely nothing about them.  It might’ve been for the best that I had no expectations because I am more appreciative of how lucky I got.  It’s a family that lives in the suburbs of Dijon, and they have four kids and a huge Saint Bernard named Maya.  Two of the kids live at home (Étienne and Alice who are 20 and 19) and the other two (Marine and Mathieu) are older and are either looking for a job or in med school.  Last night the whole family was home for dinner, so I was kind of overwhelmed, but even though I’m sure I come up with totally incoherent sentences, they couldn’t be nicer.  I’ve woken up the past two mornings to a huge spread for breakfast laid out on the table for me with several types of cereal, milk, juice, fruit, bread, jams, Nutella, and coffee.  French breakfast is the best.  Where else is it acceptable to have Nutella in the morning?  Family dinners have been great, too.  They serve it in courses with a salad-type thing (not lettuce) or soup first, then the main dish, then lettuce with oil and vinegar, then cheese, then dessert.  It’s hard to keep up with conversation when everyone is talking a mile a minute, but I can understand when they direct the conversation toward me or ask me a direct question.  I know it will get better as time passes, and hopefully by the end I’ll be able to jump into conversation.

This blog post is already out of control, so I’ll stop for now.  I also have some reading to do for class tomorrow and some preparation for a little group presentation I have to do for our trip to Bourgogne this weekend. 

À bientôt! 

Le premier jour de classe

Today was our first day of class with Professor McNelly and the first day it really hit me that I'm here for school too.  I got up this morning for breakfast at the hotel and then spent the rest of the morning doing homework in preparation for class at 2.  We had class in a retirement home for priests, although we didn't have any run-ins with any cute old men today.  Class was long (3 hours), but it went by quickly since we discussed our preconceptions of France and how history and the past are valued differently in the U.S. and France.  It felt different than most other French classes I've had, too, since I've been spending so much time with our group of 12 that I felt totally comfortable speaking French in class.  We all realize we're in the same boat as far as our language skills go, so there's no pressure to say anything perfectly.  Prof. McNelly is also sympathetic to our situation and understands that it will take time for us to get used to using French constantly, so she doesn't care if anyone struggles or messes up their grammar.
After class, a few of us went to a cafe near the hotel for a snack.  We've all been on such weird eating schedules since our days are so discombobulated.  All my meals have consisted of mostly bread and cheese, which is totally fine with me, but I've been missing the fresh summer fruit at home.  I justify the lack of fruits and vegetables in my diet so far to the fact that France is just generally healthier than the U.S.  It should be interesting, though, to see what my host family will serve me.
Tonight I spent most of the time doing my reading and other homework for tomorrow (super fun, I know).  We have class in the afternoon again, and then we have all evening to pack up and prepare for our trip to Provence this weekend.  Provence is such a beautiful area of France, so I'm really excited to spend some time there.  Once we get back, we get picked up in Dijon by our families (!). I won't have my laptop in Provence, but hopefully I'll have some great adventures to report on and some of my own pictures to show you!
Until next time, À bientôt!         

Je suis arrivée!

After over 24 hours of traveling, I finally arrived in Dijon, France yesterday to begin my semester abroad. Aside from the misery of the long journey here, I am so excited to be in France. Dijon is so beautiful and quaint, and I cannot wait to do some more exploring.

We're staying at a hotel for now until we move into our homestays in about a week. It's very centrally located, right near the Palais des Ducs, which makes up for the fact that it's so small. There are three of us in a room with a full and a twin bed, and there's no shower, just a bathtub with a handheld shower head and no curtain. After our first attempts at showering, we created a small flood in the bathroom...oops. Thankfully, they have WiFi here. It's amazing how an internet connection can be comforting in a period of adjustment.

Last night we went out to dinner as a group at a restaurant right by our hotel and right across from the Palais des Ducs in the Place de la Libération. My dinner included salad, bread, cheese, and wine, some of the driving forces behind me choosing France over any other study abroad locales. So, it was basically the perfect introduction to being in Dijon for the next four months.

Today we met for lunch as a group with our professor, Madame McNelly, and had a guided walking tour of Dijon afterward. Class starts Tuesday, so tomorrow will be spent taking care of business like school supplies and phones, since everyone is feeling weird without our phones plastered to our hands. We're all starting to plan out our travels for the semester too. Lady Gaga's European tour? The Harry Potter premiere in London? The possibilities are endless, and four months just does not seem like enough time!