Le Sud de la France.

Hi. Welcome to Paris... And we're off!

The Program's South of France trip began less than 24 hours after our arrival to Paris.

St. Jean de Luz.

Gorgeous beach city.
Stayed here five nights spent most of our days in other surrounding cities. I loved this town.
Its charming, warm, has great food, and I felt settled in at the end of our five days.

Biarritz.

Planète Musée du Chocolat.

The cocoa we are drinking below was almost completely straight cocoa!
All their products were extremely rich but nonetheless, extremely delicious.
Dark chocolate is my newest love affair.

Bayonne. Officially in Le Pays Basque.

We studied a lot about Basque heritage (what is known) and the culture they stay so loyal to.
The Basque essentially created their entire culture, including language and practices.
They identify with the authority of the female figure and are extremely family oriented.

Ascain.

Here is the pizza that I still longingly dream after.

I think it was the most obnoxious eating I have ever done in my life (think Bill Murray in What About Bob?).

San Sebastian SPAIN!

Spent the morning hiking up to the Christ statue and of course, eating some gelato (apologies for the trippy lighting).

 

Spent the whole afternoon at the beach!

Weather was perfect, beaches were CROWDED, swimsuits were minuscule if not completely absent.

All added into the adventure and excitement of a Spanish beach.

 

Last night in St. Jean de Luz.

Weather was perfect. Ocean was perfect. Sunset was gorgeous.
Courtney and I were literally giddy!
And yes, I actually swam in the ocean waves! All you who have tried to drag me in should be proud.

 

King Henry III Chateau.

On our way to Albi.

 

Albi.

Largest Brick Cathedral in the world. Easily my favorite Cathedral I have ever been to.
The inside was absolutely breathtaking. So many details, I swear every inch was painted, adorned or decorated

 

Rocamadour!

This little Bread and Breakfast was ADORABLE.
Pictured above is the B&B and below is a residential house behind the B&B that we couldn't get enough of.
We claimed it to be the house from Madeline!

 

Passing through Rivendale on our way to dinner in Rocamadour...

 

Padric.

Down 300 meters. Up 300 meters. Lots of stairs.

Down at the bottom was a huge cave! We took a walking tour and almost tipped our boat in the boat tour!

 

Sarlat.

We arrived just in time for the Wednesday markets! Dried fruit, cheese, sausages, herbs, clothes, jewelry... These markets are prestigious! And everything was delicious.

 

Tapenade.

More or less its olive spread and it changed my life. 

 

Dinner in Sarlat.

More pizza. And Shelby got some pasta. Deliciouse!

 I promise I eat more things than pizza.

 

Typical, regional dishes in the South of France.

First in the small glass is a carrot cream. Pretty much carrot whipped cream. I liked it, probably only two other girls did too. In that same picture in the white dish is some pate. Consistancy of canned tuna.

Next picture. Puff pastry appetizer with creamed olive spread, goat cheese, and sun dried tomatoes. Surprisingly delicious.

Third picture. More pate on wheat toast, green salad with walnuts and duck! Duck tastes like strong chicken. If we didn't have so much duck while we were in the South of France I might actually like it.

Okay fine, I like it.

 

Ladies and gentlemen. I give you... Foie Gras.

Seriously had this served to us on five different occasions.

What is it?

I don't know.

Okay I kind of do.

Foie gras in a nutshell: Obese duck liver (dark stripes) and duck butter (the rest).

Its a very respected delicacy, and I tried it I really did, but it is just not... good.

 

Just a little bit of me. And Anna. Trying to bottle the insanity. Clearly not succeeding.

 

Canoeing! In the Valee de la Vezere.

 

  

Very thrilling. I was Pocahontas.

9 miles. 4 hours.

Successfully tipped and capsized our canoe, it was pathetic.

But of course, great.
I love when things go wrong.

 

Marqueyssac Gardens. Very Alice in Wonderland.

 

More of the gardens.

Pictured below: Program director Daryl and his wife Mary

 

Last night of the travels!

What should we do to celebrate? Gelato DUH.

 

The Email:

Bonjour family!

Okay. So I am going to give you guys an account of the past (almost) two weeks. Sorry I havn't been updating more. You may have already heard some of the things I am going to say but most of it will be new. I am going to include details like city names and specific dates because I want to make sure to have them down somewhere. Here we go!

09/06/11: Arrive in Paris. Get to the directors apartment & hotel pretty easily. Check in and receive our bus/metro passes. Spend the day getting the feel of the city though trial and error of public transportation. Kind of rough. See the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame but mostly just see the inside of the metro stations. Eat dinner as a group: vegetable quiche, duck, and a chocolate cake. Kind of gross. Stay in a small, quaint hotel down the street from the directors apartment.

09/07/11: Bullet train to Southern France. Arrived in St. Jean de Luz and had the night to"discover on our own." Got some ice cream, walked on the beach, found some good street sandwich shops. Slept in a hotel in St. Jean de Luz.

09/08/11: Started with a small trip to Biarritz. Visited a chocolate factory! Decorated our own slab of chocolate, tested some chocolate chips, and drank straight hot cocoa. So strong, so dark, SO GOOD. Then left for Bayonne, very charming, glitzy city. Bought some adorable rain boots. Ate a croque de monsieur for lunch (open face ham and cheese panini). Had a museum tour of an old Basque trading station. Learned about Basque culture: they are not sure where they are actually from, have one of the few languages on this planet not derived from Latin, very culturally tied together and even now have some desires to separate from the French nation, woman is the prominent figure in society-family/religious practices are surrounded by her. Slept back in St. Jean de Luz.

09/09/11: (small Pyrenees Basque Village) Museum of Basque Cakes. Had our own small cake-baking stations, learned how to make a traditional cake, then baked our own. WON THE CONTEST. Had the best cake they had ever seen. Not quite, but better than the chef's! Funny time, the chefs were young and quite enjoyed having 25 girls in their kitchen. Then went to the city of Ascain for lunch. Got some pizza, shared with Courtney. Obsessed with the Pizza we got. "Fruits de Mer" Fruits of the ocean: muscles, shrimp, crab, a little squid. Seriously so good. Came home fairly early and went swimming in the ocean (yes be proud of me I swam in the ocean! Waves were puny but still) in St. Jean de Luz. Slept there too.

09/10/11: Bus ride to San Sebastian SPAIN! Beach day! Got there early, ate at a small buffet cafe, got a weird quiche sandwhich. Hiked to a statue of Christ, beatiful lookout. Watched a couple come out of a HUGE government building to a bunch of traditional Spanish dancers, watched the beginning of their celebration. Really cool actually. Then spent the rest of the day on the beach. Lots of leather-dark people, lots of small tight mankinis, lots of topless women with weird boobs. Ate some churros dipped in chocolate. Went to a Marc Chegall museum. LOVED it. His artwork was very psychological, not psychotic. Slept in St. Jean de Luz.

09/11/11: Went to church en route. Luckily sat next to Professor Lee and he'd lean over and explain to me what/how people were saying things. Very interesting. Explored the grounds an old Chateau. Arrived in Albi. Went to dinner with a bunch of girls to an Italian restaurant. Delicious. Pesto pasta was great. Got some Tiramisu ice cream. There starts the Tiramisu gelato addiction. Saw on the news what the French did to commemorate 9/11. Sad I wasn't in Paris for it. Had a whole ceremony and a huge sign in front of the Eiffel Tower that said "The French Will Never Forget" it was really impressive. Slept in Albi.

09/12/11: Spent the day in Albi. Went to the biggest brick Cathedral in the world. It was amazing. So elaborate inside! Everything was painted, adorned or decorated in some way. Had a guided tour with headphones and it didn't last long enough. Then went across the street to a Toulouse-Lautrec museum. Also loved that so much! Very interesting artist, depressing life; but his artwork is so intriguing.. mostly because he is a little bit impressionistic. Painted a lot on cardboard and used many different techniques. Bought a bunch of post cards and a really cool watch. One of his posters was on the face. Very happy with that purchase. Left Albi by bus, arrived in Rocamadour at the CUTEST bread and breakfast ever! (Domaine de La Rue Hotel 46500 Rocamadour). Literally in the middle of nowhere. Spent the night exploring the house (we occupied the entire thing) and drooling over the place. Left for a walk to the restaurant. The walk was like a "pilgrimage" hike that people travel all over to come do. Had little statues/memorials to the different things Christ did before he was crucified. Passed through Rivendale. Not really, but the castle was built into the mountain and so beautiful, very fairytale-esque. Had a great group heart to heart with Professor Lee and his wife about how they met and how they approach marriage. Ate a local version of steak and steak fries. Slept in the cute Rocamadour B&B.

09/13/11: Went to a giant underground cave. Almost 300 feet below the earths surface. Went around by boat in the water and by foot in the dry areas. Had lunch together, ate duck and froi gras for the millionth time and was still sort of creeped out. Froi gras is duck liver. They literally fatten the duck up to the point where it is morbidly obese so the liver with have a buttery flavor. Everyone was slightly jealous of the vegetarians. Traveled to Figeac, went to an ancient hieroglyphics museum, pretty boring. Went to dinner together at a private restaurant. Delicious. Puff pastry with spinach and olives, then a fish with vegetable puree, and a raspberry mousse and coulis for dessert. Very good. Slept in Figeac. Creepy hotel.

09/14/11: Travel to Sarlat. Big market day. Spent the day exploring the shops, stands, and vendors. Went in with a lunch to get varied cheese, topinade (olive spreads) and bread. Also bought some dried fruit and some assorted herbs for our host as a gift. Then past a platebook store! Sooo cool. People were drooling over them and the whole time I was thinking that my dad was super cool for already collecting them :) Bought three, yes three "La Mode" ("The Fashion") posters from old 1920s fashion newspapers. Gonna want to get them all framed up real nice. I love them and swoon over them every so often. Went to a pre-history museum and learned about neanderthals and homo-erectus. Hard to pay attention. But I did, don't worry. Then another small cave-not much to report there. Got to our hotel, very hip and stylish. But still charming because everything in France is charming. Got some pizza at a local restaurant and more Tiramisu ice cream. Slept in Saralt. Hotel St. Albert.

09/15/11: Canoeing! Started at 9am and ended around 12:45 ha very long. The weather was beautiful, passed small castles and villages along the way. Stopped to swim at one point. Tipped our canoe! On our own accord.. it was pathetic. Completely capsized and it took us so long to drain it out and start heading down the river again. Mostly because we were weak with laughter, it was so funny. Another girl sliced her foot open and is being a wuss about it. Went back to Sarlat, went shopping, I bought a vintage couture gold and black skirt! Haggled it down 50% with a little help from another student. Very pleased about that. Then we went to see the gardens of Marqueyssac. Bus left without us.. but it didn't really leave just went around the block so it wouldn't block traffic. We still panicked and learned our lesson. Gardens were cool, mostly hedges. But it reminded me of Alice in Wonderland. Came home and ate in the restaurant hotel. Delicious! Again froi gras for appetizer, then a beef and potatoes dish, then homemade walnut ice cream with raspberry coulis. Favorite meal so far. Slept in Sarlat.

09/16/11: Today! Left at 7 in the morning, took a 5 hour train, two bus routes and then finally arrived at the directors apartment. Gathered my things. Gmail chatted K&V. They look great, even in the morning. Left via taxi to our host home. Arrived. Downtown Paris, great view, 4th floor. Struggled with the puny elevator, finally got to the right apartment door. Then the cutest French lady answered. She is like 5 foot flat (mom its just like us!) I would guess about 60 years old, brown hair, kind of shaky hands, classy style, pleasant French voice. She speaks not a lick of English. Well. A lick or two of English. But we were able to work our way through the details. So then we introduced ourselves and the tour of the apartment began. It is the most charming, traditional French apartment EVER. Exactly as I dreamed it would be. I will do a video tour soon so you can see. We have our own rooms, I am in the smaller room, Courtney in the bigger one. I am all unpacked and actually surprised at the lack of clothing I actually brought, whoopsie? Haha. But yes I am happy about this right now. I kind of got a little bit emotional settling in. I don't know why, maybe it was because I was so happy to be "home." Maybe feeling apprehensive about this being my "home." Right now I am feeling really good. Very happy, very grateful for this opportunity and gearing up to fully immerse myself in the French life, in my studies and in learning every drop of everything I can. Things grow together even when they are apart and although I feel like a complete cliche saying this I feel like this European experience will help me find myself (not find... more like narrow in on myself), tie my life together, and focus in on what things are important to me.

Anyway hope that wasn't too much information. Updates wont be as significant from now on, I will try to send small ones after we take small vacations. Wish me luck with school!

Talk to some of you on Sunday.

Please send me updates about you! Even if nothing is new.

Au Revior!
Madeline