Founders' Day

Day Forty-Six

March 16, 1802--birthdate of West Point.  Yesterday, I celebrated founders' day with seven other cadets in Paris at the West Point Society Of Paris Founders' Day Dinner at the École Militaire.  It's the French war college dated back in history (built at the end of the 18th century) where Napoleon Bonaparte attended!  What a PHENOMENAL opportunity and blessing it was.  We were with about 40 other people (old grads, old faculty, and spouses).  The oldest grads were from 1963; they'll be at WP this year to celebrate their 50 year-reunion...wow!  Another cadet and I actually helped lead the Alma Mater with one of them, a retired brigadier general who was in the Glee Club!  What are the chances--three "glubbers" in Paris!  Another surprise was that I met a fellow frog there!  Spring Break for everyone back home is just now wrapping up and he was in town with another cadet.  Again, what are the chances!!

It was the fanciest dinner I've ever been to.  I should've taken a picture of the table-set up.  I had three pairs of each utensil, all arranged around my plate.  I had three glasses (white wine, red wine, and water) and learned the larger one was for water.  It kicked off at 7 with an apéritif (small finger foods and a drink) where we socialized and that probably lasted at least an hour and a half!  It was really cool to meet with all the different people in attendace, plus it was great to catch up with the other cadets!  Many of the old grads are retired now and working in Paris with various civilian jobs.  Several of them having French wives, so we spoke both English and French during our social hour.  Everyone was incredibly sweet and the entire evening was a great experience.  There were remarks made by both the oldest grad and the youngest grad in attendance, plus the guest speaker Général Beau (the dean of École Militaire).  There were four courses: a vinegared fish dish as the l'entrée, an amazing chicken dish as le plat, fromage (cheese), and le dessert ( french toast with vanilla ice cream and caramel).  What a schmancy meal!  It was forty euros!!  Thankfully, the cadets were guests of the society so they covered that charge.  Everyone there had such a distinguished career!  It was such an honor to be in their presence.  I had the privilege of sitting next to the Défense Attaché for France!!  What an incredible job to have!  He's the military advisor for our US ambassador to France.  A lot of responsibility but the colonel was brilliant, so I can imagine he's very deserving of the position.  He was a FAO (Foreign Area Officer) before this and so I talked to him about that and heard his two cents of advice.  The dinner was almost 3 hours long and the entire table was filled with interesting people!  On my other side was a grad from TX, the Attaché's roommate back in their days at WP, who was visiting town on a business trip!  They joked on each other the whole time.  It's humbling to see that someone so distinguished is also just an ordinary human--sometimes I have to be reminded of that.   All I can say is...wow.  I am always astounded by the blessings God has given me.  Praise Him! 

That night, the members of the society hosted cadets at their apartments so we wouldn't have to worry about lodging, which was very appreciated.  Traveling to Paris for a dinner was 80 euros but well-worth the price.  I was surprised that I managed to take the train and Paris metro by myself and actually knew where I was going too! 

Overall, an unforgettable weekend.

How to survive a 5-hour train ride

6 semester abroad cadets and two extra cadets visiting!

Frog reunion!

L'Arc de  Triomphe!

Good French Cheese = Raclette

Day Fourty-Four

Yesterday I was invited to have dinner with a young married couple from church (Kate is my weekly running buddy).  We had raclette, which is a pretty heavy meal typically eaten in the winter.  The name comes from the type of cheese that is heated and eaten on potatoes, meat, and vegetables.  Very cool, VERY delicious!  I think I had 3 baked potatoes and...countless raclettes haha.  Included is a picture to make more sense of it.  It's not like anything I've had before, and I heard you can't find this cheese in the states.  I really hope that's not true! It was a really fun time of fellowship and another girl (Rachel) was eating there as well.  She's really sweet and is here to teach English for a year.  We then made apple crisps, while I prepared my Andes Mint cookie dough for the next day.  Then played a card game-Phase 10-which is really fun and could probably take hours with a large group.  Then headed back to chat with my good friend Christina.   We haven't oovoo'd in a very long time so that was much needed!

Today did the usual but I went out to have lunch at a sandwich place--their "sandwich" is a mini-baguette with meat, cheese, and vegetables in it.  With a strawberry tart and water.  I LOVE FRUIT TARTS!  lol.  But since it was rush hour during lunchtime, I asked an elderly woman if I could sit at the same table as her and she said it was fine.  Then, I decided to start a conversation and we talked for 30 minutes!  She was so sweet and was like "Oh, you're just talking to a French grandma!" and we talked about my impressions of the French (everyone's nice but I've noticed they're more reserved than Americans) to which she agreed and said that she would attribute that to our different education systems.  In the US, students are encouraged to voice their opinions in discussion and have a two-way conversation with the teacher.  However, I learned that in France it's not the same.  It's a lot more rigid and more lecture-based where it's predominately the teacher speaking to the students, not discussion-based.  That made a lot of sense.  She also talked about how when she visited the US and got lost in NYC, someone immediately was willing to help point her in the right direction.  I didn't have the heart to tell her that she was really lucky because that's not the typical scenario in NYC, lol.  She also explained how the sandwich I was eating is the French version of fast food (literally food prepared quickly, without the unhealthy connotation we associate with the term fast food).  And that McDonald's is acting as a colonizing force in France with its unhealthy food.  I agreed and said that I am not going to eat McD's here because I can have that at home and I want to eat as much French cuisine as I can, to which she was very pleased.  But yeah, it makes sense.  It's impeding on the eating habits of the younger generation around the world.  I'm dissapointed when I see McD's in a foreign country--is that bad? 

Then had class and afterwards, I was literally running around trying to do everything in a short time-span. I walked to Amelia's to borrow her little carry-on suitcase for my upcoming weekend in Paris, ordered my train tickets online, printed my tickets at the SNCF boutique (the train line has little boutiques around the city where you can print out your tickets/talk to an employee), dropped off my suitcase, then made my way to Bible study. We had some amazing lasagna/regular pasta dish that was seriously...unbelievable! I need the recipe. I baked the cookie dough I had frozen over night since the oven at Katie's apartment destroys cookies--French ovens are very different from those in the US. The cookies were a HIT! Love ittttt :) They're my favorite and it was nice to bake! Now I'm about to head to bed after having a nice video chat with my parents! I can't WAIT for them to visit. Now I have to just plan out our entire perfect week in France together--no pressure--to show them all that I can of this lovely country!

FOUND AN ASIAN STORE!!! 

I could've saved my parents a lot of money if I had known this store was here...

Raclette! The cheese cooks and when it gets bubbly you know it is ready.  Then, it just slides right off the littlep an onto your nicely made plate (if you're a pro)

Well that's sideways..but you get the point

This one too.

This picture will stay big to emphaisze how AMAZING it was to bake!

Théâtre

Day Forty-One

This morning went to my French culture classes (news/media and francophone).  Both were very interesting.  For the first class, we went over caricatures and political cartoons (same teacher, so a little bit of repeat but still a lot of fun) and then there was a group who did a presentation on the current horse meat scandal in Europe (where horsemeat was advertised as beef and sold to restaurants/consumers).  50% of our grade is from our presentations and 50% from our participation/homework.  These presentations should take 10-15 minutes in groups of 3-4 people who present a current event news article and then lead a discussion afterwards.  Well, having SS357 (International Relations) a year ago helped my confidence in preparing for current events-based discussions but this'll be interesting to do in another language!  In the francophone class, we learned about the OIF (l'organisation internationale de la francophonie) which acts as a network connecting all of the francophone countries/territories together and the founders.  The "grandfather of francophone" is Léopold Senghor, the first president of Sénégal after it gained independence.  It's cool because in SS366 (Comparative Politics), I wrote about Sénégal for the my 15-page paper and about whether it really is a democratic government--so I read up a lot on Senghor.  It's always nice to see that you actually retain something from a previous class, lol.

Then came back and met up with Sarabeth, a friend from the international church, to go on a run.  Then rushed to shower and grab dinner before meeting my francophone class in Place Bellecour to watch a theatre performance on language.  It was a 1.5 hour show on poems from around the world, spoken in probably 15 different languages, with a few songs included in French and was performed by fellow students from various universities/acting programs in Lyon.  It was pretty cool.  I'll admit that I nodded off a couple of times when there were languages being spoken that I had no idea what they were saying so I couldn't follow the acting, the theatre was dark, and it was past 2200.  Not my fault!  But it was still cool and gave me a chance to speak a lot of French today because on the bus to & from, there was a lot of time to kill so we had lengthy conversations.  :)

I'm so excited for tomorrow!  Having dinner at a couple's house from church and then going to bake Andes Mint cookies for Bible study on Friday!  YESSSSSSSS!!!!  I absolutely LOVE these cookies, and can't tell my mom thank you enough for sending the cake mix and mints in a care package! 

Bittersweet

Day Thirty-Nine

Today was a bittersweet day.  Had my first rude interaction with a French person (the rudeness was not from me).  I promise, everyone is so sweet and friendly here but today I saw a side of someone that surprised me.  That's about as far as I'll go with that.  I will go on paying my respects but will definitely be more reserved from now on.  There's days like this when I really miss the comfort of home and family in the states.  Then had class and yet again, it was great!  But towards the end, we recieved another lecture from our teacher--and it was totally deserved.  Our teacher asked a question and I honestly didn't even hear her say it because so many people in the class were talking amongst themselves.  So then she was waiting and eventually sat down at her desk until we were quiet.  I got the hint and tried to get some people's attention but it was so bizarre to me.  It doesn't matter that we're a class of people from all different cultures--in no country is it normal to disrespect the teacher by having side-conversations.  Actually, that doesn't even apply to the classroom.  That's for any situation where someone is investing their time to help you, you respect their efforts and give them your attention.  There was a whole group of people speaking Korean in the class too!  We're in class to learn French, wait until our break to speak whatever language you want.  When we quieted down, she told us all to close our books and made the paper handout we were goign to do as a class a pop-quiz that she collected.  And of course, people were talking during that too.  Huh?  It was beyond me.  Eh, just a quick rant.  But it was very hard for me to have patience with those who kept talking, just from my own upbringing and also going to West Point.  But still, I would assume this is something taught in every culture--respect for authority.  During the break, my teacher talked to me about West Point and was interested to learn a little more.  When she asked me why I'm learning French, I explained that every cadet has to take a foreign language for at least two semesters and that I fell in love with it because it's a beautiful, romantic language and also because I'd like to work in Africa one day.  Since French is a predominant language in much of Northern Africa, it just made sense.  I found out she worked in Senegal for a year!  I'll have to ask her more about that sometime.

After that incident, we all left the classroom to go take pictures in the city.  What I mean by that is last week the class went on a field trip to a photo exhibition.  So after that, our teacher split the class into groups and gave us one French word that we had to capture in a photo in Lyon.  We brainstormed yesterday and today were given time in class to go take these pictures.  It's a pretty difficult assignment for some pictures (had to be creative for some groups with interpretations).  Mine was super easy: bouquet.  The other nine words were: coup de foudre (love at first sight), atelier (work of an artisan who designs/makes everything by hand), protéger, unique, cachet (a seal on a letter, for example), voilà, vis-à-vis (face to face), savoir-faire (know-how).  Each of these words have several different definitions which we discussed.  Funny how words grow new definitions over time.  I loved the assignment so much, I asked my teacher for the definition handouts on the other 9 words so I could do this assignment with all the photos on my own.  When I was exploring yesterday, I found a perfect example of coup de foudre in a store window!  Here's to the start of my photo portfolio de dix mots!  :)

After class I met up with Amelia to go out for dinner and we found a nice Chinese restaurant with great food for great prices!  That was nice and then worked on some homework.  Next week I'm going to have my first exam--need to prepare.  Now about to head to bed.


I found the Lyon version of the "Stairway to Heaven," I'll have to try it out

Bouquet 1

Bouquet 2

Bouquet 3

Look what I walked by today!  Four actors practicing their performance in the courtyard of a church

coup du foudre.  I couldn't stop thinking of how perfect it was, that I asked the store owner if I could take a picture of the work (worth 220 euros, I'm pretty sure)

 

There are bookstores with ancient books, so cool!  But so expensive.

Back Home in Lyon

Day Thirty-Seven

Amelia and I made it back to Lyon!  What a worthy accomplishment :)  Back at the house, I was a chatterbox all throughout dinner and it was AWESOME!  My host mom absolutely loves Italy and so I was recounting to her and my host dad the things I saw and what I found interesting.  They even had visited the same medieval city I visited in Tuscany!  I kept forgetting the passé composé conjugations of verbs but they would help in making corrections and I was able to have the longest conversation yet with them tonight.  How awesome!  After a week of only hearing French from other tourists visiting Italy, that's pretty great I'd like to think.  It's also nice to think that I can be funny in French--and not just from my pronunciation but from the actual content of what I'm saying.  There's hope! 

Now, my day in the Tuscan region.  We visited San Gimignano and Monterrigioni.  The first is a medieval town that originally was comrpised of 75 towers (14 remain) and is still intact only because the Medici family back in the day didn't find it worth transforming into the Renaissance styled architecture/urban set-up because it wasn't that impressive of a small town.  But good for us--because it's amazing!  Only the rich could afford to have these towers built for themselves and on the ground floor would be their shop, rooms would be above, and the kitchen would be at the top floor (to avoid a possible fire trapping them from below).  Because this town was in the middle of Rome and Florence, there were a lot of battles going on.  So, the rich could afford some personal protective measure within the town's defensive walls.  Very interesting.  The second place we visited was an incredibly small village that was enclosed within medieval defensive walls as well and just like the other town, was atop of a hill with a great view of the Tuscan country--if only it was warm enough for the vineyards to be in season!!  Regardless, it was breathtaking.  I'm getting tired for bed so I won't go into any more details--just check out my facebook pictures. 

Vicenza

Day Thirty-Five

Started the day right, with a workout!  Amelia and I worked out in the gym on-base and it was AWESOME!  I go running in France, but today was nice to have a gym facility where I could do the rowing machine/bike cardio and get a really good sweat on!  After that we went to the USO and did some baking for those returning from deployment.  It was awesome.  We baked a batch of cupcakes, brownies, and a whole cake.  I love baking.  If I had all day, I would've just stayed in there and baked up a storm!  I can't wait to have my own kitchen to work on developing this hobby further.  :)  Then, we had lunch at the food court, Amelia was pretty stoked for some American food lol.  We had Popeye's!  You can't get fried chicken in France, lol.  Then we went to the high school and I was able to talk to a few students who had applied/were interested in West Point.  I was able to answer their questions and give them a contact for future questions.  That was really nice.  I love my school and I am more than happy to help anyone learn more about it.  It was really weird, though, being in a high school.  Too many memories of my awkwardness to be honest, lol. 

We then made a trip to downtown Vicenza again to see the Teatre Olimpico--part of the reason why much of Vicenza is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Dating back to the 16th century, it's the last design of Italian architect Andrea Palladio and one of three remaining Renaissance theatres in the world.  What a BEAUTIFUL work of art!  The stage is the world's oldest surviving stage set--from the 1585 production of Oedipus the King.  The design is  trompe-l'œil, where there is the illusion of a longer set dissapearing into the horizon--look at the pictures and you'll see what I mean.  The high school has their graduation here!  WHAT?!?!?  How amazing!  The seats for the audience are still the same wooden seats too!  Honestly, my pictures don't do it justice but here's so you can have a glimpse at the beauty.  It's incredible, one of the top things I've seen in both France and Italy thus far. 

Came back to the house and we had pizza!  Mine was delicious :)  I love lots of toppings: mushrooms, pepporoni, and onions.  Also, last night we had homemade risotto!  I don't remember if I mentioned that in the blog yesterday.  It was sooooooooo goood!  Tomorrow we have a very early morning heading to the Tuscany region to get away from the tourism cities and see the beautiful Italian country--I'm excited!  Then Sunday we're headed back to France, it's bittersweet.  This time with old family friends has literally been a Godsend, such a blessing.

 

Phenomenal

That's all real until the last archway

The same wooden seats from the 16th century!

SB 2013 in Italy!

Day Thirty-Four

Well, technically this is the "late winter vacation" in France because I have another break in April...when do the French go to school you ask?  Yeah, I'm asking the same thing.  But I'm not complaining!  I've been in Italy since Sunday with my friend Amelia visiting family friends and this has been a wonderful break.  Here's a few stories from my past couple of days.

On Monday, Amelia and I went to Venice with Mrs. Juliano and Tia for the day and after, we stayed the night in a hostel.  We had lunch at Tia's favorite pizza place and there I tried a spritze for the first time (the drink of Venice).  It's a very light drink made with local proseco wine, Aperol, and sparkling mineral water, garnished with an orange wedge and an olive.  Typically it is also served with a bowl of potato chips (interesting but perfect combo) that is taken as an aperitif (appetizer).  We slowly made our way to St. Marco's Square where we parted ways and Amelia and I had the true Venice experience of getting lost in the small streets.  Seriously, it's a huge maze trying to get around that huge city, even with a map.  It's very hard to find the names of streets and the smaller ones aren't noted on the map but we had a lot of fun because we weren't in a rush.  We managed to find a great, clean, safe hostel less than a 5 minute walk from the square and from the coast for 26 euros a night!  It was a private hostel room for just us two as well!  What a SWEET deal.  We had a pasta dinner and I tried tiramisu.  It was great!  We did some more walking around and went to bed after a long day of exploring and we didn't want to be out late at night in Venice, alone, with the high probability of getting lost if we ventured out into the streets. 

The next morning we stopped by a bakery and bought some biscotti, which is not the "biscotti" that you imagine.  Basically, they're just an assortment of small cookies.  We walked to the Rialto Bridge and ordered a hot chocolate/cappuccino and ate our biscotti.  Just so you know, hot chocolate here is literally melted chocolate.  So it's extremely thick and rich.  We then did some more walking around and met up with Becca, who's a WP cadet studying in Lille who was touring around Italy with some friends, at the square.  It was so nice that our vacations matched up in Venice that day and I'm glad we were able to have a reunion!  She was with four other girls and that was cool walking around and doing some shopping with the girls.  We had a kebab for lunch (kebabs are everywhere in France/Italy) for 3.50 euros.  All of us bought a few souvenirs and I got 2 really nice scarves for 10 euros and a few postcards.  Had some gelato (it's a daily ritual) and it was the flavor of sweet white wine and nutella!  It was amazing!!  Venice is such a beautiful city.  The combination of the history, the bright painted buildings, and the canals is phenomenal.  There's no place like it.  What an experience!  The one thing I wasn't too much a fan of  was how commercialized the city had become.  Tourist traps everywhere you look with aggressive vendors who keep talking to you as you walk by their stores and come up to you with their products of mostly junk that I wasn't ever intending to buy.  One guy literally tried to shove a stemmed rose into Amelia's arms to get her to buy it.  Not really the way to get customers but at the same time, I undrestand they have to be proactive for their job--but don't block the top of every bridge with your products where I'd rather take a picture.  Or let people walk around sightseeing attractions without being bombarded by cheap things made in China.  :/

Just a little rant but that's the only thing that's been an issue during our time here.  Great perks of the trip thusfar:

• being able to have long talks with close family friends
• introducing Amelia to the family
• having homemade meals
• having access to American food
• traveling to Venice and Verona for 8 euros roundtrip on the train.
• seeing Juliet Capulet's balcony
• tasting a new flavor of gelato everyday (only buying from the places where they actually make their own gelato right in the store!)
• having real Italian pizza
• walking through authentic shopping markets
• seeing the Vicenza Army base and feeling a piece of home here
• seeing Roman ruins and arenas
• talking to interested high schoolers about WP
• having homemade risotto
• eating baguettes with olive oil, salt, and fresh basil (yum!)
• seeing beautiful cathedrals with painted frescos

There are way too many beautiful photos that I've taken, so just check my facebook for those.