Joyeux Noel

Due to weight restrictions on checked baggage, I will not be able to bring you all grifts (though you most certainly deserve them) so I made you this instead.  It was a wonderful way to not study.


As you may or may not be aware finals week is upon us (much like the plague...).  I have one real final tomorrow (a salon, or 2 hour class discussion concerning everything we have studied), one real final on Friday (an in-class essay) and one fake final on Friday (you guessed it, in my Provence class).  For Provence we have to present a 5 minute éloge or praise of Provence.  Easy like pie (speaking of which I now have the recipe of our host mother's lemon meringue pie - tarte au citron - so if you are super duper nice to me, I might make you some - just call me Amelia Bedelia).  I studied all day for my Salon tomorrow - and I feel good about it.  But enough about work - allow me to now discuss CHRISTMAS CHEER!!!!


Sunday evening was Vanderbilt-in-France's Christmas party.  Everyone (well mostly everyone) dressed up and we assemble to merrymake and eat dessert.  Specifically 13 desserts.  More specifically nuts and dried fruit (the Provençal people have a Christmas tradition in which they eat 13 desserts: almonds, dried figs, dried apricots, walnuts, hazelnuts, clementines, calissons, and a few other not-very-desserty foods).  Luckily there was also cake at our party.  So we ate, we schmoozed, we celebrated, we avoided professors, and we got presents!!  Each student was given a snazzy Vanderbilt-in-France black t-shirt.  Also I (along with three other students, one of which also attends Duke with me, Luke) was named an ambassador and given a coffee-table/photo book about Provence.  As far as I am aware my official duty is to talk up V-I-F to prospective students - I can do that.  There may or may not also be some more ceremonial duties involved (christening boats, signing treaties, cutting giant red ribbons....) but I am sure I can get my assistant to go to those for me.  


Last night we celebrated Secret Santa.  I, of course, played Santa (official ambassador business).  It was really fun.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it.  It might have been the last time that the whole group assembled.  There is a tex-mex fête Friday night, but some people might not make it due to early flights.  I will be very sad to say goodbye to my new Vanderbilt friends, hopefully I can visit them soon.  


In other news I have started rewatching The West Wing (#bestshowever) in a valiant attempt to avoid all work.  So far it's working!  Just kidding, I am, of course, staying on top of my work.  But I do love The West Wing.  


We leave on Saturday - I am very very very very very excited (though a bit daunted at the prospect of a whole day of transatlantic travel).  Luckily Emily and I are on the same flight across the pond.  

Luke and Emily (dinner partners and partners in crime...)

Maggie, Stefanie, Emily 

Bellegarde (Emily, Sara, Maggie): we clean up nicely

shock and awe at being named co-Ambassadors 

Caroline and Maggie 

Weasel Words

Big things are happening in Bellegarde currently.

1) Katherine Morrow (our friend who is studying in Spain currently and who will be my roommate next semester) is staying with us for a few days.  She got in last night (Wednesday) and will be here until early Saturday morning.  Today we went to marché with her.  We mostly just wandered around and looked at things.  Sara got lost a few times (#typical).  Katherine bought some really nice soaps (I will be buying some next week).

2) Today was the Christmas party in the class I work with.  There was soooooo much food (of course I ate way too much of it).  Highlights include: 3 bags of clementines (very popular among our American group - some people eat multiple clems per day - it's a problem), lots of chocolate things, some really good chocolate chip and walnut cookies (I ate approximately four), an actual pumpkin pie, and my personal favorite, pancakes.  In 2 packs.  In a larger bag.  As in you can buy premade pancakes at a store somewhere in France, and eat them throughout the week.  Strange.  Also I was perusing their English textbook and ran across this gem - just a typical conversation

Alice: My favorite singer is Beyonce.  She's fantastic!  She's got hair and a nose.  And she's got eyes.
Bill: I don't like Beyonce.  I prefer Robbie Williams.  He's cool.  He's got a face, a nose, and eyes.
Alice: And his hair?
Bill: He's got hair!

So aside from the obvious question (who is Robbie Williams?) this conversation is quite intriguing.  Apparently facial features are quite important for french people - as far as being a fan goes.

Another great thing about the party was that I got tons of Christmas cards!!  Due to an unfortunate miscommunication, 95% of the cards were written to Maggy (a few to Magy, and one to Magie - which means magic in French).  If you want to be technical about it, only one card was written to me, Maggie.  But I'll take them all anyway.  One card had an origami dinosaur on it!  One card had an old candy wrapper taped to the back of it.  To be fair, said candy wrapper had Santa on it - so it was still within the Christmas decoration realm.  They were all great.

3) Rue Mignet is actually disaster zone.  Rue Mignet (if we have not already mentioned) is the road that leads directly to the street we live on.  Meaning we have to walk on Rue Mignet all the time (when either leaving or returning home).  The city of Aix has been doing construction on Rue Mignet ever since we got here to repair the pipes that run under the road.  Practically speaking this means that throughout the semester there have been various GIANT ABYSSES along the road.  There are barriers which block people from falling into the giant caverns (I imagine that if you fell, it would go something like this).  These barriers also decrease the actual walking space by about 90% - so you are constantly having to force your way through the tiny paths that you can actually walk through.  Very difficult.

4) We got an unexpected visitor.  No, sadly the mouse has not resurfaced.  I'm talking about St. Nicholas.  He came Tuesday night and filled our shoes with candy.  It was excellent!

5) Today (thanks to the lovely folks at phrase-a-week email service) I learned the expression "weasel words".  It means "ambiguous or quibbling speech".  How does it relate to weasels you ask, well here is the answer.  People say that (that phrase is an example of weasel words) weasels suck egg shells - to get the egg out.  Thus a statement that is considered weasel words is one that has had all the life sucked out of it - meaning a statement that is added to make something sound more substantiated but is in fact worthless.  All you really need to know is that Shakespeare sort of coined it.  So there.  You are welcome.


Overheard in the Berge

"Today I was browsing tree houses online..." - Emily Gall (aka our resident lemur)

Classic Rue Mignet

Entering the maze: note, it changes everyday 

the alley of death 

the abyss

St. Nicholas came!!!!! (L-R Sara, Maggie, Emily)

mon dinosaur from Julian (a student)

The Bellegarde Crumble

8 December - Emily

Twenty minutes ago, walked into the auberge and turned on the light, and one of the three light bulbs made a little sputtering noise and went out.  That happened to another light bulb a few weeks ago.  If the third one goes out, we will be dwelling in darkness . . . I've also broken two glasses (they were probably old nutella jars anyway, so it might not be that bad), a plate or two, and the handle off of a mug.  (The drying rack for the dishes gets full and kind of slope-y sometimes, and making towers with dishes is a bad idea.)  That means we have one mug out of six or seven that actually has a handle. 

I hope we get our housing deposit back.

Turkish Delight (and no, I do not mean the candy)

This weekend I went to Istanbul and it was amazing and unlike any other place I have been.

I went with a large group (6 people total - don't worry, safety first!) - but Emily and Sara stayed in Aix.

Friday:

After only 3 hours of fitful/anxiety ridden sleep (confession: I am an anxious traveler) I awoke around 4:40 (just call me Emily Gall).  I had to catch the 5:30AM navette to the airport.  We got there and boarded our plane sans issue.  I slept the entire flight - which was wonderful - but sadly I missed breakfast.  We arrived around 12 and went through passport control (bought a 15 euro 90 day "visa") and grabbed some cabs to our hostel. By some stroke of extreme luck our hostel ended up being a 5 minute walk from the Blue Mosque and a 7 minute jaunt to the Hagia Sofia.  We grabbed lunch - I had a feta sandwich and trooped off to the Blue Mosque.  When we arrived it was closed for prayer, but a nice mosque official offered to give us and another group of American students a short info session about the Mosque and Islam in general.  We were given free tea and a nice primer on the Mosque.  It was built from 1609 -1616 (a full 1300 years after its neighbor Hagia Sofia) under the watch of Sultan Ahmed.  The mosque is filled with 20,000 had painted tiles.  It was absolutely beautiful, one of the most breathtaking sights I have seen all semester.  The mosque has six minarets - the only one in the region.  We had to take our shoes off but we didn't have to wear head scarves.  I wish I could describe it - but I can't, so look at my pictures, the are worth at least one thousand words!  After being awed at the Blue Mosque we hopped over to Hagia Sofia. Hagia Sofia was originally a Eastern Orthodox Cathedral, then a Catholic Cathedral, then Eastern Orthodox again, and finally a mosque.  Currently it is a museum.  As I mentioned, it was dedicated in 360 - but hit its hayday as a church in the 6th century under Emperor Constantine.  As much as I would like to continue with these awesome historical facts - I will stop (I don't want to induce narcolepsy) and refer you to my good friend, Wikipedia.  Due to its multireligion background, the interior is very interesting.  The walls are mostly painted with scrolls and patterns, but there are some old (read: ancient) murals of Christian figures.  Mary and baby Jesus are on the ceiling above the altar area, and the four corners (if a dome/circle can have a corner) are decorated with Seraphim.  It was a very interesting mix - apparently the Jesus and Mary bit was just uncovered in 2008!  For dinner we took the tram (Istanbul uses the token system, the only city I have visited so far that does so - though Emily assures me that Russian has entered the 21st century in this respect) to a small restaurant for dinner.  After some initial extreme confusion about how to order we ate a pretty good meal.  I really enjoyed it.  We were all exhausted - so we skipped the hookah lounge and slumped off to bed.  Sleep!

Saturday:

We woke up refreshed and ready to seize the day!  Our hostel offered a free breakfast (along with wifi towels - so it was awesome) on its rooftop terrace that overlooked the Bosphorus Strait.  It was a tradition Turkish breakfast so I had feta cheese (skipped the meat), tomatoes, cucumbers, bread, hard boiled eggs, raisins, and tea (tried to squeeze the most out of that free meal!).  It was very filling.  Then we went off to the Grand Bazaar.  It was HUGE!!!!!!  I can't even describe it's size except to say that it covers over 58 streets and had over 4,000 shops.  Wabam!   Here are some things they have at the market: harem pants (I bought a pair for me and for Emily - get excited), lanterns, spices, tea, turkish delight (not that good - jelly like candy), jewelry, tiles, ceramics, scarves, carpets, bags (I got a shoulder bag made of an old carpet - tres chic!), a million other things...  We wandered around for a few hours buying things.  Like I mentioned I bought harem pants (ridiculously comfortable) and a cool bag.  And I haggled, #comeatmenow.  My friends bought scarves, turkish delight, lanterns, and some small jewelry pieces.  Turkey interesting fact #1: people selling anything will try to call you into their store.  Restaurants all have people standing outside trying to "entice" you in and all the bazaar merchants call out to you.  Hint - if you talk to me, I will actually avoid your establishment.  Aside from being unsettling, it was also funny at times.  For instant in the bazaar we were called Spice Girls 3 times, Charlie's Angels twice, Destiny's Child once, and one time someone shouted "Kennedy!" at us.  Interesting.  After the bazaar we headed home to deposit our new booty and then we headed out to the Topkapi Palace.  It was interesting, to say the least.  The architecture was different from anything I've seen in Europe - lots of one floor rooms, outdoor squares, and gardens.  While there we were able to look across the Bosphorus and see ASIA!!!  It was super interesting.  Also at the palace we saw several pieces of Muhammad's beard, Moses's staff, Joseph's turban, Muhammad's footprint, and some other religious relics.  Also there were tons and tons of tiles - so I really enjoyed that.  After the palace we hit up another bazaar.  Interesting Istanbul fact #2: There are cats everywhere!  Literally millions (if not hundreds) of cats.  Apparently dogs are well tolerated, thus the EXPLOSION in cat population.  We had a contest to see who could take the most pictures of cats.  I think I won.  We saw cats eating scraps, sleeping in mosques, stalking other cats, sleeping on pillows that were for sale outside, and just generally romping about.  For dinner we went to a Turkish restaurant (shocker).  I split lamb shish kabobs.  They were really good.  After dinner we went to a highly recommended (by our waiter) hookah (narghile) lounge.  It didn't have any - somehow favored air/smoke didn't appeal to me... so I busied my self taking pictures of our new friends, the kitties.  There were 2 kittens!  They were so cute.  The played with us, slept on our laps, romped around with each other, and were just generally break-your-heart adorable.  After hookah we went to sleep.

Sunday: We got up, had an early Turkish breakfast and caught cabs to the Ataturk airport.  We had been advised to get there with 2 hours to spare, which actually ended up being too much, so we hung out for a while.  We boarded our flight and I took a quick nap.  When I woke up an hour later however - we were still on the tarmac!!  There was a long line, so we took off an hour later.  I was a bit miffed.  But then the heavens smiled upon me and the saintly Air France flight crew started handing our lunch.  Apparently there are still airlines that serve lunch gratis!  I ate salmon, tabbouleh, potato salad, camembert, and a strange fruit cake (not my fave).  But it was wonderful!!  After that I napped, listened to music, daydreamed and read.  Delightful.  We landed in Marseille, went through passport control and we nearly free when one of my travel companions realized she left her passport on the plane.  Luckily a security person was able to grab it for her - but said security page took a long time.  We chilled in the passport control area for about 45 minutes until our friend was reunited with her better half and then we began the trek home.  To get from the airport to my auberge I have to take a 30 minutes bus ride and then complete a 30 minute death march home.  Needless to say, it is the most daunting part of any trip.  But I survived everything!

To conclude, Istanbul was wonderful!  I was worried a bit - but it ended up being perfectly safe.  The Blue Mosque was my favorite, but I really enjoyed the bazaar (and my newly discovered haggling skills) as well.  The food was very delicious - but the Turkish Delight was grossly over hyped.  In reality, it is not a very good - I much prefer desserts that are in cake form or at least have a large dose of chocolate.  But as a world traveler, I understand that one often has to step outside of one's comforts to truly experience a new culture.  But then upon returning home, one must reward oneself for one's adventurousness with a healthy portion of the delicious CHOCOLATE fudge that one finds in the fridge.

Caroline, Maggie, Ellen, Heather, Mallory, Maria in front on the Blue Mosque

Inside the Blue Mosque - gorgeous

Hagia Sofia 

Inside of Hagia Sofia - note the Seraphim

Blue Mosque at dusk

Turkish Delight - not all that delightful 

Teas at the bazaar

The Grand Bazaar

Lanterns 

Maggie in front of tiles at Topkapi Palace

Asia

harem times

new kitten friend at the hookah lounge

December 1: let the Christmas cheer commence in earnest!!!

Today I went to the school for my volunteering gig and it was wonderful - mostly because we planned the Christmas party we are going to have next week.  Sadly, next Thursday is my last week with the kids.  But at least there will be a party.  The teacher and kids shouted out ideas of traditional American and Provençal foods that people can bring in.  Here is a copy of what was suggested:


- cookies: traditional enough
- brownies: less traditional, but more delicious - so I'm for it
- clementines: though bought from Spain, these are traditional Provençal yuletide fare
- calissons: traditional Provencal candies - a bit like marzipan but infinitely better
- nougat: pretty good
- pain d'epices: gingerbread (my personal fave), one of the kids even suggested bonhommes (literally good men - aka gingerbread men)
- 13 desserts: the Provençal Christmas dessert - don't get too excited (as I did when I first heard of it and imagined a table piled with sweets), Provence considers nuts and fruits as dessert (meaning almonds count as a dessert here) - so NO, not my preference
- pumpkin pie: I didn't have the heart to tell them this wasn't actually Christmas food - they were so excited
- pancakes: I am not sure if they meant crèpes, or American (superior) style pancakes - sadly neither are traditional Chirstmasy food, but again I didn't want to be a scrooge - so I went along with it


If all the kids bring what they signed up to bring this will be a party to remember - with tons tons tons of delicious food (and hopefully no nefarious nuts pretending to be desserts...).  I am very very excited.


Also Emily and I made the Ultimate Christmas playlist today!  Among other songs it includes the Muppets singing 12 days of Christmas (how could that not be brilliant) and four (yes four) versions of Good King Wenceslas (one played by Banjorama, one by an Irish group) and Winter Winds by Mumford and Sons (not technically Christmas, but wonderful nonetheless).


May your day be filled with Christmas cheer!

I didn't actually take this photo, but who doesn't love a prancing pug in Christmas attire.

I took this picture: it's the Christmas lights on the Cours Mirabeau

Overheard in the berge

"I just have to stop wallowing in mediocrity" Emily Gall

Paris holds the key to your heart

Last week (Wednesday November 23) we had a thanksgiving fête at the center.  It was a potluck and Sara, Emily, and I made stuffing à la Martha Stewart.  Needless to say (thanks to Martha – and probably the Christmas music we were listening to while we made it) the stuffing was a grand success.  Everyone loved it.  Vanderbilt provided the turkey and it was ok – by no means equal to an American thanksgiving turkey (it was not fried).  My other favorite part was the desserts – someone made banana cream pie, which was surprisingly good and there was a delicious apple pie.  Sadly all the food ran out before I could get a second round – on the upside though I didn’t feel like I was about to pop after Thanksgiving.  Then again maybe my lack of Violet Beauregard type feelings was a bad thing, because it meant it wasn’t a real Thanksgiving.  Oh well.  I didn’t have too much time to think about that though because the next morning we were off off off to Paris like a flash. 

The whole group went to Paris, which was at times annoying (like herding cats).  Other than the fact that reassembling a group of 20 people is very hard, Paris was a stupendous (comme d’hab).  Thursday afternoon we just wandered around the city and took a boat ride down the Seine (un bateau mouche).  It was very foggy so when we reached the Eiffel Tower, we could only see the bottom half of it.  This was the first time I had been to Paris in the winter/fall so it was really interesting to see a different side/season of the city.  It was cold and gray most of the time, but most of the trees still had magnificently colored leaves.  I saw many golden trees.  But back to Thursday.  After the boat ride we just wandered about.  Eventually the group (minus one late person) wandered over to our dinner place.  Vanderbilt paid for our first dinner.  It was unremarkable and vaguely unappetizing – but I was free so I tried to eat as much as I could.  Our hostel was right next to Hotel de Ville (mayor’s office) and about a five-minute walk from Notre Dame.  It was very wonderful to be in the center of the city – we could walk to all of the major landmarks – also as it was the oldest part of the city, there were tons of super cool medieval houses still. 

Friday we had a tour of Sainte Chapelle in the morning.  Sainte Chapelle was built by King Louis IX (Saint Louis) from 1239-1248 to hold the relics of the Passion.  It is smack dab in the middle of the current Palais de Justice and in the middle of the old court.  The most frappant (striking) part of the church is the stained glass in the main sanctuary.  Essentially all of the walls are covered in stained glass and I LOVE stained glass.  One of the windowpanes even depicts Louis IX and Marguerite Queen of Provence carrying the relics to Paris.  I loved it.  For lunch I found a super hipster restaurant/juice bar with Ellen and another friend.  The place served bouchées – little round pieces of casseroles, soufflés, risottos, and hot dogs (!).  I got a pineapple, orange, and mint juice (divine) and we split hot dog (very good) chèvre et epinards (spinach and goat cheese soufflé), parmesan et asperge (parmesan and asparagus quiche) and risotto aux cèpes (mushroom risotto).  I loved all of it!  In the afternoon we had a guided tour of the Louvre.  Our teacher from our Art and Literature class gave us the tour.  We saw many of the paintings we studied in class and a few others.  Sadly, as with all trips to the Louvre, (the GIANT major art museum that is situated in the old Palace) I ended up getting extremely exhausted and minorly cranky.  The tour was interesting – I love the stories and contexts of paintings as much as the next guy (probably more) but I can only take it for so long – and three hours was too long.  Right before dinner we dashed (more like shuffled) over to Angelina’s for chocolat chaud (hot chocolate).  French hot chocolate is a dream.  It is very thick and served with a healthy dollop of whipped cream - a wonderful pick-me-up after trooping around museums and cold Paris for hours.  Friday night I ate with a group of people at La Fourmi Ailée, an adorable/cozy restaurant in the Latin Quarter – one of my personal faves.  Sara, Ellen, and I ate there on our last trip to Paris.

Saturday we got up late and some of us headed over to the marché aux puces (flea markets).  We didn’t have a ton of time there, so I didn’t buy anything, but it was still fun to flâne around and see all the cool things for sale.  After an unremarkable lunch (I actually can’t remember it) we went to the Musée D’Orsay for another guided tour with our prof.  The Musée D’Orsay is Paris’s impressionist museum housed in an old train station – a very cool setting I think.  I enjoyed this trip much more that the Louvre trip.  We saw many of my faves: Monet’s Poppies, a painting of Turkeys by Monet, Le dejeuner en plein air by Manet (lunch in the open air), Vincent Van Gogh’s self portrait, some dancers by Degas…  I really enjoyed it.  After the museum trip Sara and I walked around for a while (we got lost…) and found a really cute teashop.  We went in and bought some more chocolat chaud.  Just the ticket.  Later we met her friend MK for dinner at a café.  It was ok – not my fave.  After the café we jetted over to the Latin Quarter to go to a jazz club – Le Caveau des Oubliettes (the cave of the forgotten) that was a former prison.  It was tiny and all in stone – so it really did look like a cave prison inside.  Downstairs – where we saw the jazz – there was even a date and an inscription (Je serois pendu, I will be hanged) carved in the wall.  Very cool atmosphere.  The concert was pretty cool – it was packed so for the first half we had to sit on the stairs.  Later we were able to move over to the main room – but we could only find seats 3 feet away from the singer.  It was cool being so close, and not too loud, but somewhat distressing.  At one point the singer grabbed Sara up to dance with him and I almost died.  One of my greatest fears is audience participation – so I was terrified.  Luckily I was spared.  We stayed until about 1 then shuffled home and fell asleep. 

Sunday, due to a breakdown in communication, I ended up wandering around the city by myself.  I went to the Orangerie to see Monet’s water lilies.  It was breathtaking and gorgeous.  As I mentioned a while ago the canvases take up the entire wall (and all the walls are very long).  I walked back from the Tuileries Gardens to our hostel – thus by the Seine, past the Louvre, and through the Place Vendome (where all the extremely fancy stores like Cartier are located).  I found a sterling silver squirrel in one of the windows that I will buy when I make my first million (sadly, I don’t know how this will happen…).  Then I met up with the group and headed back to Aix. 

All in all a very delightful trip to Paris during which I did many new things: jazz concert, walked around the city by myself, tried and fell in love with chocolat chaud.

Sainte Chapelle in all its glory

Paris in the fall

yellow tree and its confetti

half of the Eiffel Tower

les bouchees

the group 

hot chocolate - Parisian style

Maggie and Sara

Eiffel Tower

Notre Dame celebrates Christmas

Medieval houses

Le Caveau des Oubliettes

Christmas present idea