Birthday #23

“Joyeux anniversaire” Happy Birthday!

“Jeune” young

“Vielle” old

No matter the culture, everybody celebrates birthdays. This year was probably one of my best! My friends here in Clermont-Ferrand made sure I would not miss being at home on my birthday.

Mother nature gave me the present of le printemps (Spring) on my birthday, as the sun was shining and the temperature was in the 60’s. Beautiful weather! Thanks for the gift.

The day started with class at 8:30am (a rough class being the morning after St. Patrick’s Day). I have never had class on my birthday since it has always fallen on Spring Break. For lunch, Kate and I waited in the queue at our Boulangerie to buy a baguette to go with lunch, but oh no, not an ordinary baguette for 75 centimes, but a baguette viennois for 1 euro. We only get the viennois for special occasions…it must have more flour or butter in it because it is denser than a regular baguette and soooo delicious! Kate also bought us some French pastry desserts- a fôret noir (a chocolate mousse cake), and a tarte fraise (a strawberry tart). Yum!

I took a birthday sieste, with a springtime orchestra of birds chirping heard through the opened windows in my bedroom. That evening, there was a organized dinner with all the KU students at a restaurant atop a big hill overlooking Clermont-Ferrand. When we arrived, we were greeted with aperitifs on the terrace overlooking the city. What followed was a lovely 4-course meal with bottomless bottles of wine. I could not have asked for a better dinner on my birthday!

After dinner, we took some of the KU students to meet up with my friends here at a bar called “Captain’s Cabin.” It is a very fun bar with good dancing music AND karaoke. I was welcomed with another chorus of “Happy Birthday,” by the international crew when I arrived as well as many bises (kisses). The Italians introduced me to their birthday tradition of tugging on the ears of the birthday person the number of years they are (so my ears got tugged 23 times!). They also gave me a stuffed animal cat, which we named Michela Francesca (Michelle and France in Italian). Later on in the night, I may or may not have sung “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls with my Finnish friend Jenna…

I got back home late (or early in the morning) enough to see the second half of KU’s first round tournament game against Lehigh. Thank you Jayhawks for giving me a birthday win!

Le Jour de St. Patrick!

“La chance” Luck

“Vert” Green

“The Luck of the Irish” is not an oft-heard phrase here in France, as the holiday is not quite celebrated like it is in the U.S. (Although I am not sure Ireland even celebrates it like we do in the U.S.) The day before St. Patrick’s Day, I told all of my French friends that they had to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day. They didn’t get it. I told them if they did not wear green I would pinch them! I ended up doing a lot of pinching…you cannot say they were not warned! The only semblance of green spirit was found in the Irish pubs around town. The Irish pub is one thing I have found in pretty much every city I have visited.

Fortunately, Americans were in full force this week to celebrate St. Patty’s because there were 22 visiting KU MBAs in Clermont-Ferrand for a Spring Break study abroad trip. Kate, Chip, and I gathered the troops and went to a pub in C-F called, “The Ness.” We pretty much dominated the bar with our green shirts and hats, full pints of Guinness, the increasing decibel levels that can only arise from a rowdy group of Americans, and even a rendition of the “Rock Chalk” chant and KU Alma mater. The dean of faculty at my school, David Marker, is from KU, and his band, called “The Ugly Ducklings” was performing at the Ness; mostly American, old rock n’ roll songs, which was a pleasure. At midnight I was surprised with the whole pub singing Happy Birthday/Joyeux Anniversaire to me!

It was a great St. Patrick’s Day, and I celebrated the day by appreciating my good luck and fortune to be where I am and treasured the fact that I have some great friends and family both at home and in France!

Two-Month Updates

Word of the Day: “Ameliorer” To grow

I have been in Clermont-Ferrand a little over two months now. I cannot believe it has already been that long! I think I am pretty well adapted now, although there will be new and uncomfortable moments to throw me off balance here and there.

Ecole Supérieure de Commerce

ESC-Clermont-Ferrand! --> The name of my school!

This is what I am supposed to be here for, right? School has been pretty good. The system here is quite different than at home, as we will have a different schedule every week (and often do not find out this schedule until a couple of days before!). I just have to relax and embrace the ambiguity. I have business classes both in English and in French, as well as a French language class every Tuesday and Thursday night. Because of the variable schedule, our workload is different each week, one week maybe with a lot, and one week maybe with very little. The French business classes are pretty tough because it has been difficult for me to follow the professor at times, as well as what the students say in class. When a student raises their hand, besides the fact that they are speaking in another language, it seems as if they just want to whisper the answer or question to the professor. In America, we like to talk LOUD! We do a lot of group projects as well, which is good for me so that I can get to know some French students, as well as try to speak French with just a few people, which is easier because they will speak slower, and correct me when I am speaking.

Avez-vous faim?

"Avez-vous faim?:" Are you hungry?

"La nourriture:" Food

Chip, Kate, and I have gotten settled into our routines at the apartment, and it has worked out very well. We cook together pretty much every night, including each of us sharing our favorite recipes as well as experimenting with some French ones! Kate and I have pretty much mastered the art of making crêpes…this took some practicing, however. The first few flips we attempted, the crêpes ended up all mushed up. Now, we can make savory and sweet crêpes, and the great thing about them is you can put whatever you want inside! We have also made a French Provençal soup, and truffles. The hardest part about cooking here is the measurements! That metric system will getcha! Grams, liters…what?? Also, it can be hard at times to find specific items in the grocery store…for instance, we stood in front of the milk/cream section the other day for about 10 minutes trying to figure out which was heavy cream!

The one thing we never fail at (unless the boulangerie is closed!) is buying a baguette. Eighty centimes will get you a couple feet of delicious French bread (and we always have cheese in the refrigerator to accompany!). Wine is also typically a must-have with our meals, and here, you can buy a decent bottle for only 5-6 euros! Pretty sweet deal.

Our apartment is the one of the biggest out of all of our friends here, so often times we host dinners and such. I like entertaining so this is fun for me! Last night, our two Finnish friends, Jenna and Juha came over and made us a traditional Finnish meal. It was delicious! Pork, potatoes, carrots, and a creamy gravy sauce. Yum!

We have been out to eat in Clermont-Ferrand a few times as well. We have a favorite crêperie we often go to, and have also tried Fondue, and traditional Auvergne food (the region we are in).

No T.V. and No Internet make Michelle go….

"Pas de probleme" No Problem!

So, we do not have T.V. or Internet in our apartment. It was a little adjustment at first, but we have made it work. It actually forces me to do other things, sometimes even…productive things! We are fortunate enough that we have very nice landlords who live right behind our apartment, and they allow us to use the Internet in their basement. Otherwise, we would just have to use it at school, or pay at an Internet café. I do miss the convenience of just being able to hop on the internet at any moment when you are at home, but I have been able to adjust. No T.V. has not been too bad either, because I can download my favorite T.V. shows online and watch them. The one advantage of having a T.V. at the apartment would be so we could watch French news and such to get that further exposure to the language.

Nightlife

"Sortir": to go out

No worries, I have found places to go out in Clermont-Ferrand. (I’m not sure anyone was so worried about this).

We ended up becoming good friends with many of the other international students, naturally, because we are all in the same boat. (everyone speaks English too…). We often all go out together, to pubs to watch sports-Soccer and Rugby, to different little bars around town, and if it’s a special night, maybe even to the late night dance clubs. I have made a few French friends as well, so we try to have them out with us as much as possible (and speak French with them as much as possible!). Most of the music they play here is American…unless we’re in the dance club, then it is Euro-techno! I have grown accustomed to drinking cider (hard cider) often when I go out. It is more popular over here, and I think it tastes better than beer!

The good thing about going out here is that no one has to drive home, since we can walk everywhere! No drinking and driving!

How many continents are there in the world?

Word of the day: "Combien?:" How many?

Apparently geography is not universal. I'm not sure how we came across this discussion, but I was speaking with some French friends and we figured out we have different ideas about the number of continents in the world. The French think there are only FIVE continents! What?!?! I asked my Italian and Moroccan friends and they also either said 5 or 6...who is correct? I don't know, but I had no idea there were varying ideas of how many continents...I thought that was concrete! There were so varying answers from my friends:

1. America

2. Africa

3. Oceania (Australia and Antarctica included)

4. Asia

5. Europe

or, some said:

1. America

2. Africa

3. Eurasia

4. Australia

5. Antarctica

Hmmm...according to my elementary geography lessons, there are SEVEN continents. I jokingly told someone that it is 7 and they said, "Why?" and I said, "Because Americans say so and we are always right!" haha.

After conducting further research, I found out (via Wikipedia), that the five olympic rings were based on the five continents--this design was made by a Frenchmen in 1912.

Interesting!