Dijon (yes like the mustard)

So I just got internet so I am catching up on posts :p

Okay, so we went on a 2 day weekend trip (I would’ve posted this last night but the stupid hotel internet was still broken). Anyway here is the rundown of Saturday and Sunday.

We had to be at the train station at 7:30am :p So we slept on the train to Dijon. Yes, the town is called Dijon like the mustard. We got into Dijon and walked to our little hotel. It was super cute! Hali, Tracy and I shared a room together, it was a fun little hotel where all the windows faced into this little courtyard. So we could all talk out our windows to each other! We also had a super cute little sitting room. I wish we could have stayed more than one night there.

After that we went to the local Saturday market where there was a lot of cool stuff like African clothing stands and stuff. I got a gift for Mom and one for Dad (ooooo ;) ). I also bought a funky African shirt. It was pretty cool. Then we went to lunch (paid for by the program!) it was very tasty at this very funky fun restaurant. I’m taking pictures of some of the really pretty food I’ve gotten (you will like them Gusy) I will post some later.

Then we got a historical tour of Dijon from one of the professors. There is a Paris history class so the teacher of that gave us the tour. It was very informative. It is a very cool old town with lots of hotel particulers (really old city mansions that Dukes used to live in.) We went in that had this interesting show…thing…anyway it was on hands and it had all these videos of people miming stuff. It reminded me of improv practice. The city was actually a lot like Paris, but less people. We also went into a pretty little chapel (more stained glass photos for you mom!).

After that we went to a café to chat with some people about immigrating to France. There is a class on Francaphone cultures (cultures outside of France that speak French). It talks about the preservation of the French language it sounds pretty cool, but the class is taught in French. Anyway they invited anyone to come so I went. It was pretty interesting, but the best part was this amazing Moroccan mint tea. It was super sweet and delicious. They talked about how the mint was good for your digestion so they had us chew on mint leaves. (I joked with JP later that Mojitos must be good for digestion then, lol)

After that we went to this really famous Gingerbread store. Apparently like THE GINGERBREAD STORE. Anyway it was super cool and I got this chunk of gingerbread for train eating and to share with mom and dad :). Then I got a phone card to call mom (it took me a few days to get it to work but it ended up working).

Then we went to a really nice dinner in this converted cellar. It was pretty awesome. SUPER GOOD FOOD, yay free food!!! I talked to the professor of the Francaphone class and she was super awesome. She teaches a theater technique class so we chatted a lot. She teaches the Alexander technique and said she would give me more info about it. It was super cool. After that we went to this outdoor concert that was supposed to be American-ish so they were playing jazz music. It wasn’t very good though, and one of the girls in the program almost got her ass kicked by a homeless guy. It was pretty intense. Then we went to a bar to see the end of the FIFA game, then bed.

Sunday we had to be up super early again to go to Beaune. It was another fun little France town. We went to a museum of this Palace of the Poor. It was this really cool old hospital with a lot of antiques and tapestries. They also had a super cool roof. It was interesting. We then went to a cheese shop and then another delicious restaurant for lunch. Had some Ratatouille that was super yummy.

After that … WINE TASTING!!! It was super cool. We got free little metal wine tasting spoons, and then we went down to the wine cellar. They had these barrels set up in front of the racks. Each barrel had a candle on it and one bottle of wine for tasting. It was a very nice atmosphere. We were taught how to taste the wine properly…look at the color, smell it, then taste it, and spit it out. You don’t have to spit all of them, but if you drank them all you’d drink a lot of wine. It was really nice and the guide told us a lot about wine. I feel knowledgeable now, well more knowledgeable then I was. I bought a bottle of sweet dark berry liquor which they use to make a very famous drink of the area called Kir. (Carly here is a drink for you). It is a mixture of bitter (aka not very good) white wine with super sweet yummy liquor, and tad ah!!!! Kir!!! So I didn’t buy any wine cause I am waiting till I get to southern France.

Then the train back to Paris. It was cool I finally got a chance to really talk to Robert. He is really cool and way smart. It was sweet. Then I slept on the train. When we got back we got crepes and then went to watch the World Cup game. We were gonna go to the Eiffel tower to watch it cause they have a giant screen, but it was way too busy so we found a bar. The game wasn’t great but I tried a beer (I know crazy, and it wasn’t too bad). Spain won though. VIVA ESPANA!!!! Then we saw the Eiffel Tower all lite up at night, and walked along the Cen (river). Then bed.