In the Mountains

I am currently avoiding studying for our last test of this session by writing this post. I am also drinking thé fruits rouges while eating biscottes with assorted cheeses. This is serving as a little snack before I undertake a made up recipe for tonight's dinner, and you best be sure I'll blog about it.

I've had a cold since Friday, and all I've been doing is going to class in the morning and coming home to sleep the rest of the day. I have to kick this thing before we leave for Paris next week, because the trip is going to be almost inhumanly busy and there's no way I could do it while infirm. Tomorrow I'll be going to the pharmacie to purchase some cold medicine called Humex, I haven't had time to go during open hours. Mostly everything here is closed from 12:30-2:30 for lunch. 

This weekend, despite being slightly sick, I refused to sit home. Our school had organized a group trip to the mountains, but three hours of hiking in 80 degree weather did not appeal to my friends and I. Renting a car is more our style, and by doing this we see more that is off the beaten path. Saturday we went to a little town called Lacommande for a wine festival they were having at the Masion de Jurançon. Jurançon wine is a very popular white wine made in Jurançon, which is just south of Pau. 

We had lots of fun driving through the tiny French towns along the way, and the countryside was absolutely beautiful. 

This church was really, really beautiful. 

It was truly a relaxing day of people watching, poetry, music, and enjoying the little town. 

Sunday we went straight into the heart of the Pyrénées Mountains to a beautiful town called Laruns. I am always so fascinated by how huge and beautiful mountains are, and I'm not used to them, not having ever lived near them. My face was basically plastered to the window the whole time we were driving. 

The overhanging clouds were so beautiful, and it was great because they cleared up later, so we could see everything. 

We found these cute horses with their baby, but we felt really bad because they were basically covered in flies. The flies there were insane, and we had a hard time enjoying our meal when we had to constantly keep them off our food. The worst part about have a cold is France is that the taste buds are not fully working. 

I have been experiencing my first tiny bout of homesickness, and not for Chicago, but for Minneapolis! I miss everyone and speaking English with everyone. Putting constant effort into language is tiring, but worth it. I can't help getting so excited for this fall, and I feel a bit guilty for looking so far ahead, considering where I am, but that's how I've always been. I struggle with enjoying the present because my attention likes to dwell on the past or on things to come. I am excited to have an apartment with my amazing friend Deanna. I'm excited for my last semester of classes, even though it's going to nearly kill me. I'm taking 19 credits, being a TA for one of my fabulous professors, and I want to audit Theatre literature, which is a weekend class. I do admit that I am cramming in everything that I want to do before it's too late, but I think it'll be worth it.  Then spring semester is student teaching! The location is still TBA, but some international locations are possible, which means more travels to blog about! 

Also, my soundtrack of this trip has been Birdy's new self-titled album. I love every song on this thing, so check it out! 

Un Bon Week-End

My first actual weekend in France was great but completely exhausting. 

Friday night my host mom took me to a musical festival that was going on right by our apartment called Hestival. They had a band that was very popular in the 80s in France and they were dressed up like Elvis. They played French, Spanish, and American songs, and it was really fun to people watch. I've noticed that if the French like something, they are very, very passionate about it. I even saw this at the orchestra. It's a cool concept and I really enjoy observing it. People were dancing and there were some drunk hippie hobos reeking havoc on the crowd. Très amusant. One guy was like 40, had dreads down to his butt, and got scolded by a lady when he tried to pick up her dog. The second band was a country band from here. It was really strange to here a dude sing English country music with a French accent and it was probably the weirdest musical experience I've ever had. 

Saturday we left early on the bus for the Basque country. We first stopped at Bayonne where we got a short tour of their beautiful cathedral.

I loved these huge paintings.

We were then turned loose to explore and shop. Their main shopping street had like five different chocolate shops in a row. We had lunch at Le Victor Hugo restaurant, which was completely delicious. 

Chicken with rice and tomato and pepper sauce, traditional Basque cake with almond filling (amazing!), and a pistachio chocolate from one of the shops. After lunch we got on the bus and headed to Barritz. We visited the beach, which was absolutely beautiful. The water wasn't even that cold, and I would have swam if I had brought my suite. The waves were really big though. We walked around, went to a few cafes and took pictures. 

We were sitting at one of the cafes and this adorable baby girl kept waddling over to use and smiling. We also saw some really cute dogs, as usual. For anyone who doesn't know, almost everyone has a dog here. They're allowed in some stores, cafes, and restaurants because they are so well trained. Owners walk them without leashes more than with them, and the dogs simply follow. It's crazy how well behaved they are! 

Sunday was La fête des Mères (Mother's Day), and we went to Le Sud, a restaurant in Pau with my host mom, brother, and grandfather. My host mom asked me how to use Instagram and has started taking pictures of her food too. Here are some of her shots:

This was her starter (I didn't have the same) of some kind of asparagus dish with mushroom sauce. The entree I had was a kind of red fish on toasted bread with a crushed olive paste. It was one of the best things I've ever tasted. 

Our entree of stuffed guinea fowl. It had tomatoes and other vegetables inside. The brownish thing at the top left was a kind of potato patty with a cherry tomato on top stuffed with the same olive paste. The yellow decorative piece was some kind of fried cheese. 

This beautiful dessert is lime and basil sorbet with strawberries. I had a different dish of chocolate mouse with orange. Also delightful. 

I ate extremely well on Sunday because after this lunch, we went to Au Fruit Défondu in Pau for my wonderful friend Liz's birthday. My only previous experiences of fondu had been cheese and chocolate, and not cooking meat in oil, which was so, so good. I had beef and duck, which I must say I absolutely love. 

The hot oil was a little scary to use, but it was worth it. The owner was extremely nice and outgoing, and we had a lot of fun with her. I am always jealous of my friends' ability to speak such wonderful French when we go out to eat. It was a very fun and memorable night. I woke up this morning still full from such a big day of food. I have found that I really, really love French food. It is so creative and has many mixtures of flavors, which I really like. It takes into account the physical look as well as how the food will mix with drinks and other courses. It really is an art form, and I'm enjoying learning about it. My friend Christopher was very excited last night to be able to name exactly what flavor was used in the Creme Catalan (similar to Creme Brule), and it was Bergamot, which is apparently also used to flavor Earl Grey tea. I think it's very cool that such things can be used in so many ways. 

Beach Day

We had a wonderful beach day today on Lake Michigan, which was nice since it's been raining the whole time we've been here! The day started off with some raspberry chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. They were amazing!

Then we hit the beach, and I did a little photo shoot with my sister.