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Published: January 26th 2008
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Crazy Shopping at Troyes
You think the Mall of America is bad? A fight broke out in Lacoste because some man took some woman's spot in line. I'm talking a fight that security had to break up because it was physical. In this picture I'm in the back of the line, it was a 25 minute wait, but I got an extra 20% off my entire purchase! shop a lot and go to a wine festival. Done and done.
This past Sunday we had an “excursion” through our school to go shopping in Troyes, a city that is about 3 and a half hours away. Why go shopping there? you might ask. Well, Troyes, although not exactly a large town, is home to a very large outdoor shopping mall with a whole bunch of outlet stores. But remember, I am in Europe so of course these outlet stores are for Armani, Burberry, Swarovski crystal, Swatch, and various French clothing designers. For those of you who know me all too well, this was bad news for my checkbook. Among my favorite purchases are a designer dress by French designer Tara Jarmon, a pair of Armani jeans, a Lacoste sweater, and a pair of very chic/very European black boots (among other things as well). If you add up what I saved compared to what I spent, you would notice that I actually was quite thrifty with my money; I prefer to look at things in an optimistic light 😊
Monday was the antithesis of Sunday. We had another round of placement tests, this time for the
Mmm.. candy
Sugar upon sugar upon sugar. I needed some energy. semester courses, and these were longer and harder. Our day o’ fun began at 8:30am with an hour and a half written exam with short essay questions. But it is hard to show any mastering of the French language with questions like “describe your most charming day,” and “a guy stops you on the street and asks you to help with a movie shoot, what happens next?”...200 words each, GO. Let’s just say that I got creative and worked talking dogs, dancing tigers, AND Johnny Depp into the mix (seamlessly I might add. Thank you honors program). After the written portion, we had another hour and a half test for written comprehension, with your basic “read the passage, answer the questions” format and another half an hour of my favorite: grammar...which might very well be the bane of my existence at this point. Break for lunch and then I had my oral interview, which was just 15 minutes of me explaining how I am going to mix theatre and French in my professional life, what video games my brother likes, and what I think of France so far. Oh, and because of my lack of technical vocation vocabulary, if anyone
Strawberry Goodness
Actually, it wasn't that good... it was like a peep, but strawberry...but it definitely looked cool! asks, Dad: you are now a full-fledged doctor of radiology and mom: you make computers. Congrats, I am so very proud of both of you 😊 And to finish the day off, we had an hour-long oral comprehension...a bit tedious for kinetic learners like me.
If you were wondering why I am including this mundane and tedious day in my ‘travelblog’, it’s to prove that not all is fun and games... I still have school and for 25 hours a week mind you, so no need to be too jealous. Until you read about Tuesday...
Tuesday: we had the option of staying in class and doing the same thing we always do, or go on a field trip to a real wine festival. No brainer. Champlitte is a little town about an hour a way from Besancon. A lot of smaller villages in France have a saint that watches over the town, and once a year there is a big celebration to give thanks and bless the town for another year. Champlitte’s saint: Saint Vincent or, the saint of “vin” (wine). So needless to say, it’s a 24 hour party for the habitants of Champlitte, and we got
Long Day
Money spending is hard work. I should get paid to do it. to participate. When we first arrived, we attended a mass, which was very interesting because it was a mix of a Catholic service as well as a Pagan service, worshiping the bread and wine that sustains. Apparently this is a tradition that has been carried on for about 400 years and I really enjoyed singing French hymns and kyries and hearing the French Eucharist prayers. Same ideas, different words. After the mass, the whole town created a big processional from the church to downtown where there were bottles upon bottles of wine, and well as French bread, doughnuts, and biscuits free for the taking. Thus, the celebration had truly begun with the first glass of wine at 11am.
Before we signed up to go on the trip, we were warned about a marathon lunch that we would be sitting at for 5 hours. I shrugged this off as an exaggeration but in reality, it was an UNDERestimate. We sat down for lunch a little after 1pm and didn’t finish until after 6:30. 8 courses. Yes, it’s true: St. Vincent gave Thanksgiving a run for its money (see attached photos). The soup, green beans, ham, and trout were absolutely delicious. Yes,
Champlitte
This is the church where the service was held to give thanks and praise the Saint who watches over the village. that’s right, folks. I ate fish and liked it. It was red trout stuffed with pike and I actually enjoyed it. I still don’t think you’ll see me eating walleye or shrimp anytime soon, but it’s a start. There was really only one course that I truly hated, but I still tried it! It was basically pig insides shoved into pig intestine...and it smelled and tasted just like it sounds it would. Excuse my language but the best way to describe it would be poop. We thought that the sewer had backed up until we saw that the true source of the odor was the thing being dumped onto our plates. And don’t begin to think that it is an acquired taste; over 1/3 of the grand dinner hall emptied upon the entrance of this course. The French don’t like it either... only crazy people who have sold their tastebuds for gold (or shoes, in which case I couldn’t blame them) But I digress. Food: Good. Dessert and Cheese: Better. All the free wine and champagne you can drink: Best. I had 12 glasses (over 8 hours mind you) including Auxerrois, two types of Chardonnay, two types of Pinot Noir,
Gevrey Chambertin, and 2 types of champagne. It’s obligatory at a wine festival to try them all, so who was I to object? I didn’t want to offend. I do feel like quite the connoisseur now. I am quite remorseful that I missed class though...
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So to review, food and wine in France get an A+++, mundane classes and ridiculous exams are universal.
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Noel /
non-member comment
Envy
wow, there is so much envy right now. Though contending with classes sounds tough, having the balance of an all day wine party sounds like a hoot and a half. By the way, I <3 you. Nous dirons que le postier m'a donné quelque chose très speciale ;). Je te vais ecrire.