A weekend in Alsace

This past weekend was a 4 day weekend in France (when I asked my boss why she said "because this is France" haha) After much deliberation and frustration I decided on going to Alsace, the part of France that is closest to Germany.

On Thursday morning I had a bit of time to hang out around town so I went around to some of the sights in Nantes, to a large cathedrale and to a chateau. They were both very pretty and stricking. There is also this place called Ile de Versaille that is just a little island in the middle of the river t you can take a bridge to and there are pretty gardens, etc. Very nice indeed.

Then it was off to Strasbourg. The train that I took went straight there, so it was fairly simple and took about 5-6 hours, not awful. I left the train station (which looks like a giant bubble that smeone sat on) in search of my hostel. I found it fairly easily, it was pretty close to downtown, left my things in the room and set off to explore. I was happy because I was in a dorm room, but no one else was in it that night.

The streets of Strasbourg center around one main canal, a very picturesque view. (My contact for coming here, Dominique, told me it is the plus belle ville de France) All of the buildings there have so much character, painted with a myriad of colors. I thought that I could live there. I just started walking in he direction of crowds then, deviating from the group whenever I thought appropriate. There were lots of stores to wander in and out of as well as lots of good people watching. I had a nice tartine with vegetables that was pretty delicious, having a puff pastry crust and filled with a quiche-like eggy filling along with mushrooms, spinach, onions, tomatoes, eggplants, and thyme. Very delicious.

I went to the Alsatian Museum when I found it next. It was a good place to learn about the history of Alsace through their art and cultural relics. They had old stoves, pottery, clothing, beds, etc. that were all very intricately decorated in floral-like spidery patterns. So many bright and beautiful colors! I also saw the part of town called 'Little France'. It was adorable! Just a bunch of homes and stores and restaurants on a part of the canal with a lock. When I was walking through there was a guy who was kayaking on the wake of the lock!

I also went to the Cathedral in Strasbourg. It was a massive place with delicate and beautiful stained glass lining the walls and candles everywhere, as in most European cathedrals. The thing that was special about this one was that there was this enormous clock in the front. On the half hour it chimes and the apostles do a dance..very cool. I couldn't help but wonder...why the half hour and not the hour? Unsolved mystery... I went outside the, a bit on the warm side and hungry. So I got sorbet from the nearest stand. It was called Soleil Levant (rising sun) and was a rhubarb and lavendar flavor. Very possible the best sorbet I have ever had!

In Alsace one of the big foods is called tarte flambee. It is basically a really really really thin crust, white cheese, onions, and bacon. There are variations where you can add mushrooms or gruyere cheese, etc. Just about every restaurant had this. I sat down after a long day of walking and got the tarte flambee gratinee (the one with gruyere). Mmmmm!

I also got to go to Colmar in Alsace. It is a fair amount smaller than Strasbourg with the same sort of charm to the nth degree. I felt like I was in a fairytale medieval village waiting to find a dragon in a cave. Instead I found a collection of some of the coolest stores I have ever seen. I walkd into one of them and the owner immediately asked me if I wanted to taste before I had even figured out what kind of store I was in. I immediately said yes and then luckily figured out I was in a specialty oil and vinegar store. Fabulous! One by one she gave me tastes of various oils and vinegars: French pressed olive oil, Italian, basil infused olive oil (my favorite of the oils), tomato olive oil, truffle oils, balsamic vinegar (aged 16 years-mmm), cherry balsamic vinegar, fig balsamic vinegar, etc. So delightful and delicious!

I had a lot of fun mostly with just walking around Colmar- I figured out that you could buy a decent place for about 150,000 euros- not too bad! I also went to the Unterlinden Museum. It was another museum that focused mostly on Alsatian history. It had a huge variety in its collection though! I saw everything from silverware to suits of armor. (ps. I have decided that suits of armor are probably the creepiest things on earth!) For lunch I sat down at a cafe and had lamb kebabs with roasted potatoes and a salad. Mmm!

I also went to "Little Venice". It was an adorable little area of town where the streets were lined with flowers, cobblestone streets and the restaurants backed up to a canal. An enchanting sort of place. There were men playing the classic instruments of Venice and many a German tourist taking pictures. I had lunch at this place on the canal and had a tarte a l'oignon, another Alsatian specialty. Invision French Onion Soup meets the best quiche you have ever had! I was very much impressed!

It was then time to return home, an easy trip on the train and I was back in Nantes. I was very happy when I got back because a French lady actually asked ME for directions! :-) Maybe I'm becoming slightly acclimated. Pictures are to come soon when my camera cord gets here. (Thanks Mom!)

things i have learned during my first week in france

I have complied a list of things that I have learned in the past week:

~wear shoes without traction...when you step in dog poo (because you will), they are easier to wipe clean in the grass
~watch out at all times for moving vehicles
~german tourists are annoying...possibly more annoying than japanese tourists
~where a scarf and you will blend in
~walk A LOT - it's the only way to prepare yourself for the onslaught of glorious lipids that will be heading your way at the next meal
~if you speak in french first and smile, people will love the fact that you are american (c'est loin!)
~EVERYONE loves obama everywhere
~wine is more important than water. it says so in the bible
~materials handed out by the proselytizing johovahs witnesses can serve as good 'let's learn a new language' material- you can probably figure out what most of it says without knowing the language
~don't use your index finger to say '1', you will get 2 of things
~there is always time for a cup of coffee
~just because a guy is wearing tight jeans, nice jeans, and gelled hair does not mean he is gay (or a guido)
~you may think you can identify a fellow american by his NFL paraphernalia- look closely first at the team (49ers haven't been good for a looong time), then his pants (man capris), then his socks (dark, tall)- then listen to his speech
~carry band aids always
~if you sit alone, this serves as and open invitation for someone to sit with you, run after you when you leave a place, or perhaps even propose to you
~ the best sentence you can say in french " j'essaye de parler en français" (i try to speak in french)
~get your TGV tickets validated by punching them in a little yellow box in the station BEFORE getting on the train
~if while talking to a stranger and you tell them you are from a different nationality than your own, make sure you are up to date on that country's politics
~there are actually people who say 'zut alors!'
~signs outside of parks, etc saying 'no dogs' are really just suggestions
~repeat everything someone says- it helps with clarification as well as pronunciation
~people watching is even more fantastic than i thought (who knew people ate there pizza so many different ways!

quand je travaille en France...

I started work on Monday here... just about all in French! E.N.I.T.I.A.A. is a school that has all departments related to food science in a small area with a fair amount of buildings. I think there are about 200 students, so it's not very big, but the facilities are amazing! Their pilot plant has just about every kind of machinery that I can think of and the labs are huuuge! Each domain (chemistry, microbiology, processing, etc) has its own building.

So my contact for coming here, Dominique, picked me up at my apartment at 9 am on Monday and took me to the school. I was overwhelmed and doing my best to keep up with the conversation en francais. I got a bit of a tour and then went to meet my boss, Joelle. She is really nice and smiley and was very welcoming. She showed me the area where they all sit and drink coffee in the mornings and then explained a bit more to me about what I would be doing this summer.

My main job will be to analyze volatile compounds (aka the ones you smell and taste) in french bread via the High Pressure Liquid Chromatography machine (aka HPLC). Apparently there is an amino acid, lysine, that is limited in cereal grains and decreases as a result of browning reactions. This makes the bread have a worse nutritional content in short. Also from time to time I will make bread so that I can sample it. They focus on how to make better breads that will end up in grocery stores. Most of the day Monday I read about bread and about these reactions in order to create a good backround. For lunch I ate in one of their 2 cafeterias, fish with rice and broccoli. It was cafeteria food.

Dominique took me back home at about 6 and showed me how to work my oven. It is gas and you actually have to get a match to light it- I would have never figured it out! I then went to the supermarche to get some food. It was getting to be their closing time, so I didn't spend much time, but I loved it of course! Their pprepared foods were things like hollandaise sauce and sandwiches made with baguettes, lots of smoked fish. I got some vegetables, sausage, etc. Then I encountered their wall of smelly cheese! Amazing! Just and entire wall of cheese where we would have our processed cheeses, but theirs were all artisan made and had quote a stench. Mmm! I just chose 2 at random and then grabbed some wine. My 21st birthday meal: a baguette with brie, sausage, tomatoes, lettuce, and hollandaise sauce and then some red wine. C'etait parfait! It's amazing how 2 euro French wine is so much better than $20 American wine.

The next day at work I got to learn how to make bread! I felt like a spy coming in to steal the precious secrets of the French bread. I recognized most of the equipment in the bakery lab from the time I spent in the bakery lab at Danisco last summer. It was the oven...that was the difference. There were three levels and you could control the temperature at the top and bottom of each level. The oven also had a steaming option that you turn on to create a good crust. The smells were intoxicating! That afternoon there was a group from Pennsylvania that came for a tour and so I tagged along. The students, for an oral exam in their English classes were supposed to give all of us tutorials for how to work the machines in their pilot plant. It was very interesting!

I also got to meet some people. One guy asked if I wanted to go get a coffee in their student lounge and I said I had to get back to work. Dominique overheard and said "You always have time for coffee!" I love working in France.

Yesterday was the first day that I went to work by my self via the tramway and then on foot. The tramway went perfectly, but on foot I got a bit lost. Oops! I don't think I paid enough attention when I went on the route via a car. I eventually found my way after stopping to ask people and then had a day of reading about bread en francais. I was so tired after that!.

Today is a holiday in France and so I have a 4 day weekend. This morning I went to downtown and walked around a lot. I got to see a chateau and a cathedral that they are famous for and then I just walked along the canal and watched all the people on their boats. Tres jolie!

Now I am going to go and spend my weekend in Alsace, bordering Germany!

Bon weekend!

Bonjour Nantes

I sat for awhile in the station, having my first real glimpse again of the French language. I was starting to get a bit nervous, wondering if my abilities would be good enough. It was time to board with my cumbersome bags. I finally found my traincar, the last in the row and boarded. The luggage storage areas were full and mine was the biggest bag of them all. I started to panic a bit, seeing that the car was pretty packed with little room for extra storage. I sat by my seat for a bit, wondering what I was going to do because the only space I thought it might fit was far overhead, virtually impossible for me to lift my bag to. People around started yelling in French and then in English because they couldn't get passed me in the aisle, but I couldn't figure out what to do. I was definitely THAT girl (my worst fear realized)! Finally a nice man stood up and helped me and I sat down, deciding that French men were nicer than French women. I slept most of that train ride, getting more nervous than ever.
I arrived in the Paris Nord train station and had to somehow figure out how to get to the Montparnasse train station, all I knew was that the guy in England had told me I was looking for line 4, I had no idea what that meant. I probably looked very lost for awhile as people kept coming up to me, asking for money. I finally decided to ask a store worker where to go and she pointed me towards the Metro, the line 4 making much more sense now. Men helped me with my bags up and down sairs, I got a ticket, and soon I was on the subway heading for Montparnasse. I was feeling pretty good about my French after that. Paris rejuvinated me! I got to the train station with about an hour to spare and got a multi grain baguette filled with chicken, tomatoes, mayo, and lettuce and I ate it along with as much water as I could get my hands on.
It was time to board the train, but it was a bit more confusing this time because the cars weren't marked. I just kept asking people who looked like they knew what they were doing and I kept getting closer to my location. I finally boarded the train that had plenty of room for my luggage and me, much to my relief! I sat, slept and listened to music the whole way. When I got there, I was to be greeted by Ingrid and Sophie, two girls who are going to be in Knoxville later this summer. It took awhile to find them because there were two exits, them being at the opposite one that I chose, but I found them. We chatted on the way to my new apartment and I was happy that I was keeping up fairly well with the language. My French of course wasn't perfect and I think from time to time I answered questions that were different from what they asked, but it was all okay.
I got to my apartment on the 3rd floor of a cute little street and was very happy to be greeted by a friendly woman who gave me the tour and keys to my place. It is fully stocked with bed linens, silverware, bowls, towels, etc.- everything that I could possibly need including maps of Nantes! My kitchen has a fridge/freezer, stove/oven, sink, washing mashine, couch, and some dressers. There is a closet to put all of my things in the hall, along with a bathroom, and then on the opposite side of the hall, a shower room. In my room there is a futon on the floor made up for sleeping, a bed with a really cool tapestry for sitting, a shelving unit, a table and chair, and a coffee table. It is really cute! I even have a phone and wi-fi already working. Ingrid and Sophie invited me to go eat with their friends, but I was tired so I opted out, having made plans the next day with them to get food. They called about an hour later saying that they needed to go to Paris to get their visas for the US and so they came with a bag of food for me. (Most stores are closed on Sundays)
I then slept until about 2 pm the next day, probably not good for getting my body on schedule. I woke up and decided to go on my computer, opnly to find that my battery was about dead and my convertor could only handle 2 pronged appliances (my computer battery being 3). I gorgot that I needed to bring that other attachment and got very worried because I don't have much hope that they would have that here. I then looked in my bag of food and had a banana and a crepe. I took a long, much needed shower, unpacked and felt refreshed. I then studied French for a bit an dwas hungry again. They had brought me what looked like sausage and onion frozen pizza. One problem: I can't figure out how to turn on the oven! I ended up putting a pan on the stove along with a top and cooked it that way, probably not ideal, but it worked. Confused at a fishy smell eminating from my pizza, I discovered that it was in fact a tuna and onion pizza. Todo, we're not in Kansas anymore!
I then decided to take a walk around and discovered that there is a river very near to my apartment that is lined with beautiful parks. I walked through it with probably most of the people in Nantes, it must be the Sunday afternoon activity! There was a beautiful walking bridge that went across the water, houses, benches, and grassy areas filled with wildflowers. I definitely felt like I was in a dream! It is absolutely gorgeous and I spent the rest of my day there. I walked back and finished the rest of my pizza.
Then I got a bit desperate for some outside world! I fashioned a convertor with some bobby pins that I cut the ends off of. It probably isn't the safest option, but it works! At least for now... Tomorrow my original contact is coming to get me and then we are off to the lab! I hope everything goes well! I have almost forgotten completely that it is my 21st birthday tomorrow! I am a strange bird indeed.
It looks as though for now that I will still be able to skype, my ID is 'amibear1'

I hope everything is well back in the States!

Getting to London

After having spent all day in the Detroit airport, it was finally time to get on my plane that would end up at Heathrow Airport in London. I meant to sleep the entire way so as to adjust to the time in Europe more easily, but the people sitting next to me were interesting...so it didn't happen. There was a lady from Minnesota who when she asked what I was going to be doing got really excited because her favorite new hobby is to make bread. She asked what my favorite flour was. She was going to London to visit a friend and had so many stories to tell. A guy sat down in the middle of our conversation and said that his parents own a wheat farm and he is currently trying to convince them to mill their own flour. He was on his way to Liberia to set up some kind of legal aid. He was a law student at Michigan. (sorry Ashley) We all spent most of the time chatting instead of sleeping.
I arrived in London to friendly customs officers and easy bag pickups and then had to decide which ticket would best get me to the London St. Pancras/ King's Cross area where my train would be leaving the next day. I finally chose the Heathrow Express (the more expensive option I quickly found out) to get me to Paddington Station and then to London St. Pancras from there. I easily found the luggage storage area after packing an overnight bag in the bathroom and stashed my luggage for a total of 12 pounds. Then I was off to be a tourist in London!
I started off by taking the tube to Westminster Station, somewhat unaware that I would be coming out at the Thames and right under Big Ben, quite a shock! There were tons of tourists being offered paper flowers and then quickly asked for money 'for the children' while they were taking their pictures. I got my own touristy type pictures of the Thames, the London Eye, and Big Ben. Then I set off in a direction that I was hoping was correct, about 10:15 am by now. I soon realized I was in the right direction (sneaking glances at my map and guide book from time to time) as I saw a group of protesters in the square across from Westminster Abbey. People were walking and taking pictures, so it was a slightly dangerous group to walk alongside! Really beautiful though of course, it was very cool to recognize all of these things of which I have long seen pictures.
I loved seeing the cabs in their characteristic shapes and the policemen with thier characteristic hats. Upon passing the Ministry of Defense I saw a police officer with a machine gun- quite surprising to me! I then found a small park next door that overlooked the Thames where I could sit and get my bearings. It was a slightly overcast day, but wasn't raining so I was very happy! I then realized that I had about 1/2 and hour to make it to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard so I set of in a direction that didn't seem to see many tourists. I got to see a cool little neighborhood with lots of shops holding hundreds of baguettes filled with a huge variety of sandwich ingredients. I also passed by a small street market with Indian food and books. MMm! I finally made it to Buckingham Palace at just the right moment along with the masses of tourists. I was beginning to forget that I was in an English speaking country! The ritual was neat to see in real like, but a bit anticlacmatic....the Royal Army Band played a medley of Ricky Martin songs!
I then walked along the Mall and in the park leading to Buckingham Palace. It was a beautiful place with a pond, rugby, and lawnchairs for rent. I kept walking through and found myself in the Embassy District, the first I saw being Uganda's. I think this place was the National Museum with huge statues of lions flanking the square, but I didn't go in. Instread I got a 'Salt Beef Deli', a tortilla filled with salt beef, mustard mayo, sauerkraut, and gherkins. It was much needed along wih some water and picked up my energy level a bit. I then set off for the Tate Modern Museum. It was a cool place on the opposite side of the Thames. While crossing I got a nice view of London Bridge, and the Globe Theatre- more recognizable to me than I would have thought. The museum was really cool and I got to see works from such artists as Picasso, Monet, and Matisse. It still blows my mind every time I see a work of art from one of those really famous artists, let alone so many.
I later went to meet my friend Joel, who I met in China, at a red phone booth at Oxford Circus. We had nice lagers and then went to a delicious Thai restaurant. WE had a fantastic meal of fish cakes, pad see-ew (both of which my homestay family taught me how to make while in Thailand), Massaman curry, and Singha. The best Thai I have had in a long time! He then took me on a laid back London night tour amongst some decently heavy rain, fun times indeed.!
The next day we went to the most amazing outdoor food market I have ever seen near London Bridge! We walked up and there were the largest wheels of the freshest (well maybe not- they were aged forever, but that's how it should be) cheeses I have ever seen in one place. Most offered sample, so I just went down the row trying them all. There were also people selling huge amounts of fresh artisan bread, gorgeous sea food (the tuna looked amazing), pastries, and produce (I had no idea pirple asparagus existed!). We made it to one of Joel's favorite vendors for a sandwich with chorizo, pickled bell pepper, and spring mix greens. It was delicious and I actually liked this more tame version of the bell peppers that I am used to! We sat on the Thames and ate our goods- mm! WE then headed back to find a raw oyster vendor so that I could have my first taste of the delicacy. I out some kind of red wine vinegar with onions on one and then tobasco and lemon juice on the other. I was shocked with how clean and fresh the flavor was and how much I liked them. Onward to some delicious cappucinos with the creamiest froth I have ever had!
We then went to a Thai style street market with the kinds of booths that you could get lost in! Brought back so many memories! Throughout my time in London I had noticed that everyone wheres grey or black, or black or grey. Here I think was all of the color in London- great for people watching! It was time then to head back to the train station to catch my train. A fun time indeed in London!