November, My favorite month in France

Salut :)

It's almost Friday, my last day of class in France... and my last day of class as an Undergrad. But, this blog entry isn't about that. It's about November. My favorite month in France.

I'll start telling you about our day trip to Fontaine de Vaucluse with my host family. It's a small village about 40 minutes east of Avignon. It was the first (and only) trip I had taken with just my host family! It was really nice to be sitting in the backseat with Thea and Andre, looking out the window at the countryside and singing along to the radio, as Mammy and Pappy sat in the front.

Off we go!

So, Fontaine de Vaucluse is basically a cave with a pool of water that magically comes out of the ground. (that is what I understood, haha). Legend has it there was a nymph that would lure people into the depths of the pool as well as fight off a dragon that would try to live in the cave.

Fontaine de Vaucluse

Andre, me, Thea at Fontaine de Vaucluse

As I was walking through Casino the other day (a supermarket chain in France) I came across a bottle of Aunt Jemima maple syrup and I thought ---hey I should make pancakes!!! Well I did, and a giant omelette. My family had never eaten pancakes before, so I had to tell them that you first put a little bit of butter on the pancake, and then some syrup. And that you don't eat the omelette and the pancake together. They really liked it!

Breakfast for Dinner!

This is where I wait to take the bus every morning to the Institute

Arrete (stop) Malpeigne

Happy Thanksgiving! Yes, we did celebrate Thanksgiving here at the Institute! All of the students (27) families brought a dish to share. It was really nice and the food was great. We even had 3 full turkeys, pumpkin pie, and mashed potatoes! As well as a variety of quiches, cheeses, wines, tarts, and a huge pumpkin soup made in a pumpkin.

This is the library in the Institute, decorated for Thanksgiving

As you can see, the Institute is a church that dates from the 13th century!

Yummy! Look at my delicious pumpkin soup.

My host dad makes this delicious orange wine. But in order to make it you need 50 orange peels to make     4 liters of wine....Needless to say, we've been eating lots of oranges for the past 2 months! And we finally had enough peels to make the wine.

Pappy teaching me how to make the wine

Now we have to wait 2 weeks -- I'll be having some near Christmas!

There is an association called France-USA Carpentras which seeks to create and maintain relationships with American students. Last Saturday, this organization took six students, including me, around the town of Carpentras and its beautiful surrounding villages. It was absolutely amazing. We went to a local olive mill where they turn your olives into 100% natural olive oil, to a Baron's chateau which overlooks the French countryside, and then had lunch and a country dance performance at the Town Hall!

Olive Mill in Carpentras, France

Next to the mill that presses the olives

You need 5kg of olives to make just 1 liter of olive oil!

At the Baron's Chateau in Carpentras overlooking the countryside

Super happy.

French Country Dancing Association!

We even danced the Cotton Eyed Joe

Several of us had been craving Mexican food. The "ethnic" restaurants you can find are Chinese and Kebabs. So we decided to cook a Mexican dinner for 2 of our families. Skye, Veneta, Addie and I did all of the cooking! It was a lot of work, but definitely worth it in the end. I even made Horchata!

Mexican Dinner

We had to teach everyone how to make a taco

On top of the Fort St. Andre in Villeneuve

Located on the other side of the Rhone, across from Palais des Papes

I have a few funny things to share that I've been noticing about myself:

1.)  I mistakingly place French words in English phrases:

- "You have to profit from your time here!" (Profiter is a verb used often in French, meaning you must take advantage of ___ .)

- Using filler words such as "Bennn....euuuu...."  rather than   "Ummm......hmmm"

- Replacing certain responses with sounds "Pfffff.....Beuffff..." rather than "Yea, right!....Um, I don't know"

- Standing close to people when I talk, as in definitely within their personal space. At first it made me uncomfortable when people did that, but now it just feels normal.

Ok, I have to go pack because I'm going to PARIS this weekend!!!!!!! Thank you for reading and commenting!

Gros bisous!

Jenny