Taste-testing

One of my missions here has been to try every possible new food item I can get my hands on. I mean, who knows how delicious something could be if you never taste it? And happily, my efforts have proved fruitful. I have a new love.

It's called Gervita. Similar to yogurt, it's a whipped fromage blanc with a light, tart taste. My homestay family eats with sugar added in by the spoonful. Raw crunchy brown sugar is the best accompaniment, I've found. And of course, this treat is nowhere to be found in the U.S. I guess that means I have to eat as much of it as possible while I'm here... 

As for ice cream, France has not let me down with its selection of unusual flavors. Here's what I've been able to try so far.

In Vannes, I tried créole - the breton equivalent of rum raisin, I think. Good, but the raisins were a little cumbersome. Would've been better without the deluge of rain. Rating: 5 / 10

In St Malo, I had raspberry, tiramisu, and amour-de-glace. Amour-de-glace, the only new flavor, although not necessarily the most tasty, consisted of lots of caramel, praline, and deliciousness. All of the sun and the liveliness of the town helped make this an excellent selection. Rating: 9.6/10

Just outside of the gardens of château Villandry, I found the most eclectic collection of ice cream yet. Fruits and herbs, flowers and spices, normal flavors, too. Min Soo and I chose pamplemousse mélisse, coconut, and rose. I was intrigued at first by the pamplemousse mélisse because I just couldn't put my finger on the right word for the flavor. (Grapefruit and something tasting like thyme, maybe?) But the rose definitely tasted like soap right off the bat. After a few minutes the pamplemousse went that way, too. Maybe weirder isn't always better when it comes to ice cream. I fed the over-eager fish in the moat with what was left of the cone. They were grateful. Rating: 6.2/ 10

Any other foods any one suggests that I look for while I'm here? Frog legs are already on my list. I'm open to anything, almost.

Yes, this post wasn't about the châteaux or Munich. More on that later!

Catch up and Castles

So I've been busy lately -- surprise, surprise! I'm still lagging behind on sharing my Munich stories, but since I'm blogging between classes (and I still have so much to do today!), here's a brief post and some more pictures.

Point of interest #1

I went on an IES field trip this weekend to visit the Châteaux de la Loire. Five castles in less than two days, including Serrant, Azay-le-Rideau, Villandry, Amboise, and Chenonceau, all of them mostly magnificent. Those pictures can be found here.

Point of interest #2

Yesterday, I started my teaching internship at Chavagne Collège-Lycée, a private Catholic junior high and high school with kids from ages 11-18. I'll be teaching 4 classes of English Conversation every week, but rotate between a Week A and a Week B schedule - so that's 8 bunches of students in all. I'm so excited! Although most of the boys I'm teaching are a good foot and a half taller than me, the students aren't too intimidating. I'm almost disappointed that I have to wait a whole week before working with them again.

Point of interest #3

It was actually hot this weekend! Can you believe that?! It felt like home.

I hope to write again shortly,

Mimi

Flashbreak-- to Germany!

This past week has been crazy, so this morning is the first chance I've really had to update. Here's the rundown:

Tuesday night - Conversation Club (where local university students come to practice their English with us, and then help us practice our French. This time we ended up discussing French movies and frat parties.), then movie afterwards with friends and one of our teaching assistants. The good news is I got what was going on in the movie, even though some of the subtleties of conversation were definitely lost on me. A comédie dramatique with cool counterculture style and lots of teen angst.

Wednesday night - We were required to go to a conference at a prestigious business school in town (Audencia) for my French Grammar course. The topic: "Is a citizen no more than a consumer in today's society?" Comprehension level: 50%

Thursday night - Hung out with French people! Some guys that I had met at a soirée for international students invited me over to one of their appartments to listen music, talk, and make galettes. Comprehension level: 86%   Fun level: 98%

And then, after deciding on the spur of the moment the day before, on Friday morning, I got on the TGV to Paris with two friends, and then flew to Munich! This was the last weekend of Oktoberfest, so we went to Germany for 47 hours, and it was worth every last-minute penny.

More details on that trip later. But for now, you can see the pictures here:

Auf Geht's...Oktoberfest!  and  Oktoberfest Continued

Until then, tschüss!

Mimi