Monday, May 5, 2014

1litre. 
Beer fest in Stuttgart! 
My new German friends 



Friday, May 2, 2014

Farewell dinner

As a farewell to all the EcoG study abroad students the school provided us with a very jive farewell dinner. All the corses were absolutely delicious! 

Espoiss cheese soaked in burgundy beer 

Duck and black currants 😋

Local traditional desserts 

The final countdown

Well my parents made it to Paris this weekend ! It's been quite the adventure dragging around all of our suitcases but it's been good. We explored Paris a but and spent the last couple days in Dijon. Today we were set off for Germany and I don't even know what to say. Anything that could have gone wrong went wrong. We were supposed to have a 630 am train and connect in Paris but when we showed up to the station the train was delayed. What started as a 5 minute delay became a one hour and 15 minute delay. So we missed our connecting train to Germany. When we took the subway to the other railway station to figure out the situation, my dad got pick pocketed and got his wallet stolen. Luckily, we were able to get it back after holding down the guy and screaming at his buddies. It was seriously one of the scariest things I've been a part of. Pick pocketing is real people. Protect your stuff. We say in the railway station for another 3 hours before departing for Germany and we arrived many hours later. Just get me to the beer fest already! 🍻

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Mixed emotions

As happy as I am that this is my last week in Dijon, I am having such mixed emotions about it. It's crazy that this adventure is coming to an end. It seems like just yesterday I was getting on a plane to come here and now my semester of a lifetime is over... Well in 2 and a half weeks I guess. 

I have 5 days left in Dijon and I'm scrambling to see the last minute sites I never got a chance to go to. I spent some time at Lac Kir yesterday and the parc was absolutely beautiful! Other than that I've been pretty bored and have watched 3 movies in 2 days which is probably more than I watch in an entire year. 
I've decided to go out to lunch almost everyday this week as it's my last time to be able to eat traditional Bourgogne food. I realized I have only spent my days at Dr.Wine, which yes, I went yesterday to get my very last Charcuterie Board. 

I finished my gift shopping yesterday and I can't wait to see everyone when I come home....in 17 dayss!!!! Today is being spent at espresso T getting cappuccinos and editing all my assignments for the semester. Then it's off to lunch and packing since my parents arrive in Paris in 3 days!!! So excited to see then! I've got 1 exam left for the semester and it's off to Germany for the spring beer fest!  
Love Europe!! 






Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Make a picture

20 cheese tasting, cider, beer, and wine 

Pierre gerbais in champagne 
Turning the bottles 













Thursday, April 17, 2014

French Cooking

The past 48 hours have been huge for my stomach...I finally endulged in traditional food from Burgundy. The girls and I went out for dinner on Tuesday night at Dr.Wine to celebrate one of our last nights in Dijon together. Here I tried Snails for the first time! After a brief freak out session, I ate it and it was delicious. The garlic butter parsley sauce was to die for. Last night, we had the privlidge of cooking with a french chef. We made ouefs en meurette, poached eggs in a red wine sauce (DELICIOUS), Poulet Gaston Gerard, chicken with a comte cheese sauce, and had gingerbread for dessert. We were served a sparkling wine with cassis liquor, which is a black current liquor famous of Burgundy and also a lot of red wine. The meal was seriously one of the best I have had. When we walked in the kitchen to cook, I think it was the first moment I experienced culture shock. Sanitation laws are extremely different than the United States and they butchered full chickens in front us and continued to play with their necks and feet. The skin still had feathers too so that was interesting to pluck out...

All said and done, it was a really cool experience and I am so grateful for that opportunity.
Also in class yesterday, we did a tasting, not one I enjoyed though. It consisted of 6 types of foie gras and liver and sardines. The liver literally tasted what I imagine wet cat food to taste like. But hey, I guess you can't leave france without trying it once.

Today though, in my last class of the semester we tasting 20 varieties of cheese with special bread from the region, beer, wine, and cider. We went out with a bang!
Now its off to Champagne tomorrow for our last field trip of the year!

A huge thank you to all my professors for making this semester an experience I will never forget. I never would have had the opportunity to travel to so many places in France and try as many local food and wine products as I did. I'm so lucky to have had this experience and I wouldn't take any of it back for the world.

Monday, April 14, 2014

My hell week has arrived. I haven't had any assignments all semester but of course now that I have 4 days of class left for the semester everything is piled on! Mostly because the school lacks organization and communication. But here's to a week full of 10 page papers, exams, business projects, and marketing plans.. Hope I survive. 

As the semester comes to an end I am missing home a lot. I can't wait to see my family, boyfriend, and friends. Less than a month on the countdown til I am home sweet home!