The Start of an Adventure

Bonjour et bienvenue à la France! I’m so sorry I haven’t updated my blog yet – I have been kept busy here for the past two weeks! I hope I can adequately summarize what I’ve been up to without boring you terribly.

I guess I should start at the very beginning (since it’s a very good place to start :)!) Mom and Dad brought me to the airport and there I met all of the Colby students going to Dijon, including my dear friend Sus who flew with us to France on behalf of Colby to make sure the trip over went smoothly. After a nice flight to Paris, we were shuttled to a hotel in Dijon, where we stayed for a few days before moving in with our host families. These days consisted of various orientation activities and we explored the city a bit. I’d say one thing worth noting specifically about orientation is the 5-mile jog around the lake with my director, Jon, and a few Colby students. The lake is so pretty and it felt really great to exercise after being so sedentary on the plane/shuttle…though I was quite sore afterwards! I’m hoping to run there on a semi-regular basis throughout the fall.

On Sunday, September 5th, the Colby students met their host families, and later that night there was a gathering at Jon’s apartment for everyone. I was really nervous to meet my family, because upon arriving in Dijon and being forced to speak French, I realized how rusty I was/how little of the language I actually knew. Obviously concerned, I could hardly get myself to speak and silently freaked out. Luckily, my worries were assuaged when I met my host family: Dominique (host mother), Jean (host father), and Alban (host brother, 16). I am so lucky to live with such nice people. Their house is right in the center of Dijon, and I can also see the church Saint Michel from my window. I think I must need to live near a church, because at Colby I lived next to the Chapel for 2 years and now I’m next to a church in France as well! It’s comforting for me to hear church bells.

As far as academics go, my classes started last Monday (September 6th). My language course is pretty intensive, time-wise (17 hours/week), and in addition I am taking French History, Art History, and Literature – all in French of course. While I spend a good chunk of my day in the classroom, so far I’ve found that there’s little work outside of the classroom. This is definitely a pleasant break from the workload at Colby. I think I will enjoy my courses this semester – I like my professors so far; I think my main concern right now is becoming comfortable with learning everything in French (it’s hard enough learning history in English)!

One of the most notable events of last week was la grève (a strike) on Tuesday (September 7th). Currently in France there is a large population of aging people who are going into retirement, however there are not enough working people to support those who are retiring. I’m not going to pretend I know a great deal about population dynamics and the economy, but basically France is faced with financial problems due to 1) a large older population, 2) the increasing lifespan, and 3) lack of working citizens. President Sarkozy’s plan is to raise the age of retirement from 60 to 62 years old. More than one million French citizens are actively demonstrating against increasing the age of retirement (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11204528 for more information). I’ve discussed the strike with my host parents and with my professor and I don’t think there is an easy solution to this problem. Another strike is planned for September 23rd. I watched the news with my family that night, and it was really interesting seeing the effects of the strike throughout the country.

I know you all want to hear about all the amazing food I’m eating, so let’s see if I can summarize. In general, I’ve consumed more delicious bread here in the past 2 weeks than I have anywhere else – breakfast, lunch, and dinner, the French eat bread! Ham and cheese on a baguette is like their PB&J. There are patisseries (bakeries) and cafés EVERYWHERE! Speaking of cafés, I’m pretty sure I will actually like coffee by the end of this trip. After class, my friends and I have been exploring Dijon and finding some really cute cafés to sit and drink an afternoon coffee. They really like expresso here (this is what you will get when you order a “café”), but I can’t drink that yet; instead I order another type of café and add so much milk and sugar that it resembles coffee-flavored milk! Anyway, as for the actual meals I’m eating, I’m very fortunate to have a host mother who is a fantastic cook! I’m also trying new things that I wouldn’t normally eat at home, because it is super rude to decline anything here. The other night we had “boudin noir” with cooked apples. I had never seen this food before and my host parents didn’t really try to describe it to me (probably better that they didn’t). My host father mentioned several times that it was good for my health, so I ate it without hesitation…and really liked it! After dinner, I went online to figure out what I had just eaten…turns out that boudin noir is a traditional French dish also known as black pudding or blood sausage. My advice is: don’t look up the ingredients, but try it! And how could I forget the mustard of Dijon? Mustard is often used in Dijonnaise cooking in so many ways; so far I’ve had some pretty great mustard glazes and dressings with several meals. But beware, it can be quite strong! The other night I ate too much mustard at once and had a strange burning sensation travel up my nose and cause my eyes to water right at the dinner table!

Continuing on the topic of food, I had an interesting conversation with my host parents the other day. I asked them if they ever eat peanut butter (beurre de cacahuèttes), and they basically laughed at me! NO ONE eats peanut butter here and it’s such a bizarre concept for me (considering I eat peanut butter practically every day at home). Apparently everyone in France thinks peanut butter is super fattening...they have no clue what they are missing! I’ve been desperately craving peanut butter lately so hopefully I will be able to find it somewhere. This might sound odd but I’ve also been craving chocolate lately because the French always eat fruit for dessert! Why must they be so healthy?!

Slowly but surely I am getting geographically oriented here in Dijon. I’ve taken the bus to and from school most days, but when it’s nice out, my friends and I like walking back into the city and wandering around or stopping at a café before going home. Both modes of transportation give the opportunity for some great people watching, though I am aware that people are watching us as well! Speaking English is a dead giveaway, of course, but even when we speak French, everyone can tell we’re from the US. It also probably doesn’t help that despite my sincere efforts in dressing nicer, I still don’t look “à la mode,” as the French would say. I’m sorry, but there is far too much black in French fashion for me. I will stick to wearing my colors, thank you!

There is more to come in my next post, which will include details about our excursions so far! I promise to actually update my blog SOON! I think about all of you so much, whether you’re home in Baltimore, back at school, or studying abroad. I send my love across the world!

À bientôt,
Caroline

Au revoir Baltimore, Bonjour Dijon!

Welcome (bienvenue!) to my Dijon blog. I'm hoping to update this regularly in France throughout the semester to share my experiences abroad with you all. Right now I have a mixture of feelings - of course I am very excited for all that is to come, but I am nervous about adjusting (I don't exactly deal with change well). In any case, I know this will be a wonderful learning and cultural experience and I'm so grateful for this opportunity. I hope everyone has a wonderful fall - please continue to update me on your lives (send an email to cariina27@gmail.com). Good luck to those back at school!

Love,
Caroline