La Percée de Vin Jaune et les dorms!

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Hey all! It's been awhile since I've updated, and a lot has happened, so read on if you dare bear a long post. 😉 Where to begin...My adjustment to France has been long-winded, but I'm fairly certain I'm finished. I wish I could draw a chart to illustrate, but I began my time here excited beyond belief, incredulous at the wonders of France. Then my mood crashed for a few days, I became depressed, and all I could think of was Chipotle, my family and being in Lincoln. Then I hit a plateau where I was just tolerating being here fr about a week. And now as I have conquered the bus system/how to get myself around, I'm figuring out ways to save money, making even more friends outside of my Nebraskan ones, I am truly very happy to be here and I love it. As I write this, I'm sitting at a bar/café eating my favorite sandwich in Besançon and drinking un cidre (a low alcohol content sparkling beer type drink) and I am quite content. So if you were worried about my mental state, there you go.

Now about my schedule. I finished my first week of the semester and am now beginning my second. I enjoy all my professors, and the classes are sufficiently challenging and interesting. I'm taking a theater class, European culture, writing, oral, modern and contemporary French lit, Francophone lit, and a class on symbolism in different texts. My schedule simultaneously rocks and sucks for a variety of reasons. For example, it rocks because I have no class on Fridays, only one class Thursday afternoons, and I don't start until 11:00 on Wednesdays. It sucks because I begin at 8:00 on Tuesdays with class and don't finish until 6pm (obviously there's a lunch break in there, but still), I actually go until 6pm all of the four days of the week I have class, and I'm in classrooms 18 hours a week. So there are ups and downs, but overall I'm very satisfied.

Speaking of being satisfied, I was finally able to move into the dorms on Saturday! It took forever...largely because I'm living on the fifth floor of a building sans elevator, but I managed. I've posted pictures here of my room, and I'm now all settled and very much enjoying living there. There are three other girls from Nebraska on my floor, two more two floors below me, and three guys from Nebraska on the ground floor. It's nice to be around my friends. I was sad to say goodbye to my host family, but I'm going to keep in touch and we're actually having diner next weekend because my host-mother's other daughter is coming to visit. I will also miss living so close to my university. Before it took 10 minutes to walk, this morning I left my dorm at 8:45 for a 9:30 class.

And finally, the events of yesterday. I was able to go to another wine festival, similar to Champlitte that I posted about a week ago. This as different, in that it was basically an excuse to get really drunk. The other festival was really old, this one only 12 years old. But it was very fun in any case. It was to celebrate this year's crop of Vin Jaune. This wine is only made in the Franch-Compté (my region of France). And interestingly enough, it is forbidden to sell it in the states because of the bottle they bottle it in. It tastes a lot like sherry, and I didn't care for it, but it was still fun to go and experience the festival. They had other wines to taste as well and the day was very festive, full of music and tomfoolery, and it was beautiful weather for February.

I would apologize for the long entry, but you were forewarned 😉
A bientôt

SFech

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Photos

My First Meal
We have a communal kitchen on each dorm floor, and I made my first meal there last night. I don't know if it was because it was the first time I had cooked in a month or because I hadn't eaten a real meal in two days, but it was delicious. In true Besancon form, just potatoes, carrots and sausage, but delicious.

My food shelves
Note the bottle of authentic Bordeaux, the giant tub of Nutella, and the coffee maker (I splurged and spent 20Euro on it because in my opinion coffee is essential).

My Bed
It's probably the smallest bed I've ever slept in...

My desk
I went out and bought a couple cheap candles, those two orange and pink baskets and got the calender for free--they really add color to the place I think.

My room
Just to give perspective on how narrow my room is.

The train board
We go to take the "special train."

Some dudes
The festival was to celebrate the vin jaune (yellow) so of course there was yellow everywhere, including in the color of these ridiculous hats.

Yum
Dene and Damon tasting a regional cheese, compte.

The ceremony
The band at the ceremony was out of control.

Le Percee
"Le percee de vin jaune" means the piercing of the yellow wine. This was the first barrel, and the ceremoniously pierced it.

Getting wine
Dene in line, displaying a ticket for a glass of the treasured yellow beverage.

Posing
Dene and I next to a ridiculously large fake bottle of the vin jaune.

The band again
The band kind of just roamed around throughout the day and played spontaneously.

Comments

[Gas Station Girl]

Schedule
So are you going to be living at the University now for a while and not with the host family for the rest of your time? PS I love you.

[Noel \ /]

What?
Is that a long post? I think not, missy! All the things in your room are cute. It reminds me of my time in Japan and first getting to know my "Leopalace". Kepe having fun! I also got your comment on MY journal! Thank you. I had no idea you read my stuff. It's terribly boring compared to what you've got going on here. Still, I appreciate it! Feel free to continue to do so!