March 28, 2014
API asked one of the host mothers, Mme Marco, to host a series of dinners throughout the semester. Basically 4 students could sign up (first come first serve) and have an authentic French meal and practice speaking for a couple hours. There's been about 5 of them so far. I went to the first one back in January with a couple friends and I had a great time. I saw that there was one space available for the dinner this week so I decided to go. At first I felt bad because I've already been but after I found out that the 3 other students going had already been once before, and a couple other API students have also gone twice I got over it.
Mme. Marco has a son named Liam whose 13 but he wasn't at the the other dinner I went to so I met him for the first time yesterday. He's a big Nintendo fan so we were nerding out together talking about video games, haha.
For dinner Mme Marco made a North African inspired dish (her family has ties there from when France colonized Africa) of wild rice with a sauce made from berries and oranges and some chicken. Of course we also had a baguette and some wine because it's not a true French meal without them, haha. The meal was delicious, and we spent about 2 and a half hours eating and just talking about various topics. We jumped around a lot but we did talk about what we've been up to since we were there last. The other 3 students went to a dinner about a month ago so there wasn't as much new for them but for me it'd been about 2 months. She asked if our French has improved since then and I definitely think mine has. At the very least my listening comprehension is significantly better.
After dinner Liam showed me his Wii U and asked me if I wanted to play Super Mario 3D World. I really want a Wii U and that game so I said yes. After one round my friend Nicole came and joined us. We're supposed to work together but you can also compete for points so naturally we were all trying to fuck each other over so we could be in first place at the end, hahaha. It was definitely a lot fun. We played for maybe 15 minutes before it was time for us to go. But before we left Mme Marco told us that she is going to have the next dinner session be a video game day so I'm definitely getting in on that! I don't care if it will be my third time, I will literally destroy everyone to get a spot hahaha. Don't get between me and practicing French or playing Nintendo!
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Champagne
Mar 22, 2014
I know the post is a bit late, sorry about that!
API took us on a day trip to Champagne, a region west/north-west of Paris known for producing champagne - what a surprise! Bet you couldn't have guessed that, huh?
It took about 2 hours to get there by bus so it wasn't too bad. Our first stop was in the city of Reims at les caves Mumm, a large producer of champagne that owns a lot of vineyards. We were given a tour of the facilities and we got to see how they store the wine for aging and they explained how the process for making champapgne is different from regular wine. With champagne there's a double fermentation process that causes bubbles which mix into the drink during aging. The tour was pretty interesting, but the best part was la degustation (the tasting) at the end. We were able to choose between having a glass of brut which is unsweetened with very little sugar (usually used as a wine with dinner) or demi-sec, a sweetened wine with a lot of sugar usually poured with desert. For me, more sugar is always better (haha) so I chose the demi-sec. It was really good and probably the best wine I've had since arriving in Paris.
After our tour of cave Mumm, we were given a couple hour break for lunch so we all split off into small groups to eat. After lunch we had about 30 minutes to take a tour of the inside of the giant Cathedrale in the city. The stained glass on the inside was gorgeous.
Next we boarded the bus for about an hour commute to Eparnay where we were going on a second tour of a major Champagne producer, Mercier. Unlike the tour at cave Mumm where we walked through tunnels and caves under the facility, the tour at cave Mercier was automated and through a really slow roller-coaster. I prefered cave Mumm because it was much easier to explore and appreciate the process on foot. The tour was so-so but at least we got another degustation at the end. This time I tried the brut though. Just as I thought, more sugar is better haha. The brute was okay but I definitely prefer the demi-sec. I think I was definitely in the minority though - almost everyone I talked to who had tried both prefered the brut.
Once the tour was over we boared the bus and headed back to Paris. Because traffic was heavier it took us close to 3 hours to get back.
I didn't take pictures of cave Mercier because it was similar to cave Mumm and because the tour made for not so great ones, but here are some pictures of cave Mumm and the Cathedrale in Reims
I know the post is a bit late, sorry about that!
API took us on a day trip to Champagne, a region west/north-west of Paris known for producing champagne - what a surprise! Bet you couldn't have guessed that, huh?
It took about 2 hours to get there by bus so it wasn't too bad. Our first stop was in the city of Reims at les caves Mumm, a large producer of champagne that owns a lot of vineyards. We were given a tour of the facilities and we got to see how they store the wine for aging and they explained how the process for making champapgne is different from regular wine. With champagne there's a double fermentation process that causes bubbles which mix into the drink during aging. The tour was pretty interesting, but the best part was la degustation (the tasting) at the end. We were able to choose between having a glass of brut which is unsweetened with very little sugar (usually used as a wine with dinner) or demi-sec, a sweetened wine with a lot of sugar usually poured with desert. For me, more sugar is always better (haha) so I chose the demi-sec. It was really good and probably the best wine I've had since arriving in Paris.
After our tour of cave Mumm, we were given a couple hour break for lunch so we all split off into small groups to eat. After lunch we had about 30 minutes to take a tour of the inside of the giant Cathedrale in the city. The stained glass on the inside was gorgeous.
Next we boarded the bus for about an hour commute to Eparnay where we were going on a second tour of a major Champagne producer, Mercier. Unlike the tour at cave Mumm where we walked through tunnels and caves under the facility, the tour at cave Mercier was automated and through a really slow roller-coaster. I prefered cave Mumm because it was much easier to explore and appreciate the process on foot. The tour was so-so but at least we got another degustation at the end. This time I tried the brut though. Just as I thought, more sugar is better haha. The brute was okay but I definitely prefer the demi-sec. I think I was definitely in the minority though - almost everyone I talked to who had tried both prefered the brut.
Once the tour was over we boared the bus and headed back to Paris. Because traffic was heavier it took us close to 3 hours to get back.
I didn't take pictures of cave Mercier because it was similar to cave Mumm and because the tour made for not so great ones, but here are some pictures of cave Mumm and the Cathedrale in Reims
Monday, March 17, 2014
London
March 14-16
I spent this weekend in London with my friend Jaclyn. We flew over Friday evening after our classes were over. The flight only took about 45-50 minutes so it wasn't bad at all!
When we arrived at Heathrow Airport in London we had to go through British Border Control -- and that was not fun at all. We had to wait in line for about 45 minutes and when it was finally our turn to talk to an agent, we learned we needed to fill out some "landing cards" so we had to get out of line to do that. Luckily they didn't make us go to the back of the line and they just let us go once we filled them out. The Border control agent was very pushy and aggressive in asking why we were staying; apparently "we're visiting" and "we're tourists" and "we want to sight-see" were not great answers but she eventually let us through. To make a comparison: when I arrived in France, Border Control was just a a guy at a desk who looks at your passport to make sure it matches your photo and then he stamps it -- it took all of about 15 seconds!
Once we were done with the airport bullshit, we met Jaclyn's friend Sarah who is studying abroad in London for the semester and who volunteered to show us around. First she showed us how to get to our hostel using the Tube so we could get settled in. Once we dropped our bags off we left because we had booked a reservation for the London Icebar -- a bar made entirely out of ice. It was really cool and the urban punch I ordered was really good. The tickerts only allowed us to stay there for 45 minutes which seemed short to us, but after being there 45 minutes seemed plenty because it was cold as fuck haha. We arrived in London fairly late so after the icebar there was enough time to get a really late (11:30pm) dinner. The only place we found open was an Italian restaurant so we got some really good personal pizzas. We needed to be up early the next day so we returned to the hostel.
On Saturday we did a lot of sight-seeing. I saw Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and some really gorgeous British public parks like Hyde Park and St. James' Park. The weather was beautiful -- 60 something and sunny! -- so it was a great day to walk around the parks. We spent most of the day sight-seeing so we worked up quite an appetite so of course we had to go get Fish & Chips! What would a trip to London be without that?!
Sunday was by far the best day though. Jaclyn and I had tickets to go on the London Eye, a giant Ferris Wheel that let's you get a great view of the city. The Eye only goes around once but it moves very slowly; we were up there for about 30 or so minutes. The pictures I took made the pricy ticket worth it. After the Eye, we met Sarah for lunch and killed a couple hours visiting some shops and enjoying walking around the city. We also went to The British Museum and saw the Rosetta Stone! But then it was time for the best part of the trip: a tour of the set of Harry Potter! Jaclyn and I had bought tickets. We had to take the national rail and then a bus to get to the studio and it took about an hour and a half. The tour was absolutely amazing! We got to see sets from the movie and the real props and costumes used in the films. Jaclyn and I took more pictures there than from the rest of the trip combined haha. The tour lasted about 2 and a half hours, and then we arrived at the gift shop -- shiiiittt! Of course the merchandise is overpriced because they know people (myself included) will buy it anyway but it was especially expensive because of the awful conversation rate of the dollar to the British pound. I said "fuck it" and I bought a Hufflepuff hoodie and scarf -- it cost me about $100 but it had to be done haha.
The rest of the day was spent commuting back to the city and then getting another late dinner. Our flight to return to Paris was at 8:20am on Monday so we were going to have to get up reallly early to take the 40 minute ride to the airport plus have time to go through security and have enough time left over to make sure we didn't miss the plane so we decided to just stay up all night instead of sleeping a few hours. Somehow we managed to stay up and get to the airport and catch our flight without falling asleep. By the time I got back to my host family's appartment I was absolutely exhausted and I passed right out.
It was a great trip and I had a lot of fun. As always, Picture Time!!
I spent this weekend in London with my friend Jaclyn. We flew over Friday evening after our classes were over. The flight only took about 45-50 minutes so it wasn't bad at all!
When we arrived at Heathrow Airport in London we had to go through British Border Control -- and that was not fun at all. We had to wait in line for about 45 minutes and when it was finally our turn to talk to an agent, we learned we needed to fill out some "landing cards" so we had to get out of line to do that. Luckily they didn't make us go to the back of the line and they just let us go once we filled them out. The Border control agent was very pushy and aggressive in asking why we were staying; apparently "we're visiting" and "we're tourists" and "we want to sight-see" were not great answers but she eventually let us through. To make a comparison: when I arrived in France, Border Control was just a a guy at a desk who looks at your passport to make sure it matches your photo and then he stamps it -- it took all of about 15 seconds!
Once we were done with the airport bullshit, we met Jaclyn's friend Sarah who is studying abroad in London for the semester and who volunteered to show us around. First she showed us how to get to our hostel using the Tube so we could get settled in. Once we dropped our bags off we left because we had booked a reservation for the London Icebar -- a bar made entirely out of ice. It was really cool and the urban punch I ordered was really good. The tickerts only allowed us to stay there for 45 minutes which seemed short to us, but after being there 45 minutes seemed plenty because it was cold as fuck haha. We arrived in London fairly late so after the icebar there was enough time to get a really late (11:30pm) dinner. The only place we found open was an Italian restaurant so we got some really good personal pizzas. We needed to be up early the next day so we returned to the hostel.
On Saturday we did a lot of sight-seeing. I saw Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and some really gorgeous British public parks like Hyde Park and St. James' Park. The weather was beautiful -- 60 something and sunny! -- so it was a great day to walk around the parks. We spent most of the day sight-seeing so we worked up quite an appetite so of course we had to go get Fish & Chips! What would a trip to London be without that?!
Sunday was by far the best day though. Jaclyn and I had tickets to go on the London Eye, a giant Ferris Wheel that let's you get a great view of the city. The Eye only goes around once but it moves very slowly; we were up there for about 30 or so minutes. The pictures I took made the pricy ticket worth it. After the Eye, we met Sarah for lunch and killed a couple hours visiting some shops and enjoying walking around the city. We also went to The British Museum and saw the Rosetta Stone! But then it was time for the best part of the trip: a tour of the set of Harry Potter! Jaclyn and I had bought tickets. We had to take the national rail and then a bus to get to the studio and it took about an hour and a half. The tour was absolutely amazing! We got to see sets from the movie and the real props and costumes used in the films. Jaclyn and I took more pictures there than from the rest of the trip combined haha. The tour lasted about 2 and a half hours, and then we arrived at the gift shop -- shiiiittt! Of course the merchandise is overpriced because they know people (myself included) will buy it anyway but it was especially expensive because of the awful conversation rate of the dollar to the British pound. I said "fuck it" and I bought a Hufflepuff hoodie and scarf -- it cost me about $100 but it had to be done haha.
The rest of the day was spent commuting back to the city and then getting another late dinner. Our flight to return to Paris was at 8:20am on Monday so we were going to have to get up reallly early to take the 40 minute ride to the airport plus have time to go through security and have enough time left over to make sure we didn't miss the plane so we decided to just stay up all night instead of sleeping a few hours. Somehow we managed to stay up and get to the airport and catch our flight without falling asleep. By the time I got back to my host family's appartment I was absolutely exhausted and I passed right out.
It was a great trip and I had a lot of fun. As always, Picture Time!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)