Beaune

June 26, 2012

Beaune, North to Cluny, is situated in the Côte d'Or department and home to wine négociants. Négociants are like distributors, who buy and accumulate wines from smaller vinters and then sell them under their own name. 

The morning bus ride was cold and rainy and involved a lot of sleeping.

Rainy morning of Beaune

Rain does not deter tourists or students from documenting their trip

 We visited a wine museum that contained lots of things. They were good and relevant things, and it was exciting for a nerd such as me to finally see in person the historical wine-related objects that we learned in class:

Old structures and wine presses

A Greek pot-thing which is probably related to wine

I'm not entirely sure what this is, but it is possibly a statuette of the patron saint of gardens/vineyards/agriculture

Old little vineyard boots

Grape-baskets!

Barrels! There was a good documentary about barrel-making playing in the museum

Old, old wine bottles

Also not to be missed, the tapestries famous in the region

 Our next destination was the historical Hospice de Beaune, an almshouse founded by Nicolas Rolin in 1443. It also served as venue for annual wine auctions that brought in money and fame to the region.

The Hospice's beautiful tiled roofs; they were a later addition, though

Hospice interior 

 Lunch-time ensued, and followed by a stroll through town. Beaune is decidedly larger and more tourist-oriented than Cluny.

Hunks of beautiful nougat. Tragically, I forgot to buy some

 The next agenda had us descending into the depths of a wine cellar filled with thousands of aging wines from various times. It was quite the spiritual experience.

Obligatory tourist shot

Wine barrels

The chapel in the Patriarche Wine Cellars

Within the cellars

Slurp

- Louisa Lee

Saturday and Sunday Combined

June 23, 2012

Saturday and Sunday were not official class days, but they are definitely worth a mention. Apologies for lack of photographic evidence.

Saturday brought us to the French open-air market, a must have in French culture. This is where everyone gets their fresh groceries, knick knacks, and gossip. The market is a place to socialize and buy cheese, and reminds me a little of Malaysia's morning and night markets minus the fish and live poultry and suspicious street foods.

The French market

Goat cheese and goat cheese croissant. Mmmm

Look at all the colors.

Sunday had us bike for 28 kilometers to a nice picnic place and the Chateau de Cormatin. Many laughs, cows, and wobbly bicycles were had.


- Louisa Lee

Brandy-Washed Cheese and Other Things

June 22, 2012

The Gaugry Fromagerie is slightly different from Madame Bourdon's in terms of scale and, of course, cheese product. Gaugry makes cow-milk, runny, pungent Epoisses, of which some variaties are hand-washed with Marc de Bourgogne, a sort of brandy famous in the region. We got to see first-hand the washing process during our visit. 

The Gaugry fromagerie

A nice cow mural inside 

Cheeses

Washing process

The Epoisses selection in the store

Of course, we were then invited to sample some of their lovely cheese. The one with the grey rind was coated with ash.

Clockwise from stabbed cheese: Mildest to strongest

And of course some wine to go with it

Savoring bread and cheese and wine. The holy trinity of the French table 

The cheeses we ate

A nicer view of the Gaugry fromagerie front

 After an intense round of cheese-education and cheese-tasting, we proceeded to picnic in a nice patch of woods. We had melons.

Setting the table.

Melon, cheese, bread.

We followed our picnic lunch with an excursion to the Château du Clos de Vougeot, what used to be a rich plot of land for I believe the Benedictine monks. It is now the frat house headquarters of the 'Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin', or the 'Brotherhood of Knights of Tastevin'.

Beautiful view of a vineyard

Dr. Max and his obsession with documenting everything. Microbiologist, I suppose.

Touristy pose

I am doing touristy stuff

Part of the chateau 

Sundial!

An old grape press

Old wooden structures intrigue me

Old fermenting vats. The CO2 buildup would have been phenomenal in here. and the large space would have served to disperse the gas buildup 

The Brotherhood's signature Tastevins

 This turned out to be another long day, as we continued our excursion to a smaller fromagerie, the Delin fromagerie. This one made cheeses on a smaller scale, and was not opposed to making non-artisanal or AOC cheeses, choosing to experiment and make new kinds of cheeses such as triple-cream sweet cheeses and the like.

The cheese selection. Notice the triple/double creams

 

- Louisa Lee

Back in the US

September 3, 2012

Hiking through the Alps

    After a long 9 hour flight, multiple days of jet lag, and all the stress of returning home, I can finally say I am in the US. Not to say the stress is over, we just purchased a new puppy which is my responsibility to train to be a working dog, classes start tomorrow and due to the exhaustion I have yet to purchase necessary textbooks, and overall I am still a little out of it.
    My journal is currently on my netbook, so once things quiet down a bit, there will be an influx of pictures and detailed descriptions of my journey. For now, I will reflect on my departure from Constance as I left for the rest of my trip to Switzerland.
    It should have been a nice goodbye, and in many ways, it was. The courses ended, and now I had ten days where I was visiting a friend of mine in Zurich, Switzerland. Still, as I left, there was a pang of sorrow in my heart. Over the three weeks in Constance, I fell in love with the town, the university, the staff and the course. By my departure, the culture was no longer foreign and intimidating, and while still fascinating, I felt like it had become a part of me. Even now, returning home, I still find myself replying instinctually in German with "Danke shon" or to being bumped into by "Entschudigen." The streets and shops were now familiar, I knew how to navigate around the town. I even had some very basic conversations in German. This was so fantastic for me; I had never been to another country previously, I am very slow to learn languages. Apparently immersion really does work wonders. Once I submit my previous journals, it will become evident how frustrating the cultural and language barrier was for me, especially once the culture shock set in. Still, somehow I was standing here, my last day, feeling comfortable and dreading leaving.
     My last day was easy enough, I packed in the morning, went to see monkeys at Affenberg (a mountain covered in introduced monkeys, apparently quite touristy) which gladly ate popcorn out of visiters' hands, dinner, then a train to Switzerland. It was a foggy evening in Constance, the first foggy day since my arrival. You could not see more than maybe a half kilometer out into the lake, compared to days where you could see the snowtops of the Alps on the opposite side. I and two friends who were also travelling post-course waited with me for my train at a restaurant we had frequented. I wandered off on my own, taking a moment to say goodbye to the place that had become so dear to me.
    Silently I ventured out to that same statue on the harbor. She turned towards me as I looked up at her (a matter of good timing, the statue always turns at the same steady rate). It was a mutual goodbye, and as I peered out over the fog, I was left with memories of the first too-hot day of arriving and first meeting this garden and this statue.
   The locks. I had forgotten. By the side of the statue, as well as on a bridge and a few other places, people clipped locks, like those we used for chem-lab lockers, I had mine on me, by accident, as I used the same backpack for this course. I cursed myself. When I had found out by this weeks ago, I was planning to find a white or silver sharpie, write a little message, have everyone from the course sign it. Then we would all pick a place and lock it together.
   But I had forgotten. So here, I vowed to myself I would return to Constance. Not that a lock fence made that decision for me, I believe ultimately I would feel myself longing for this town and its memories. I left, saying a final goodbye to the lake I had grown to know too well, and instinctually ventured back to the restaurant, the route so engraved in my mind I needn't question it.
   I looked back one more time though, all the lights in the town fully aglow now, satisfied with my experience here in Europe. Perhaps the next 10 days would be pleasant, more of a vacation than a course, but I would still find myself missing the familiarity of Constance, an emotion I never expected to have.
    And that was that.
    In reflection of the course, the material was fantastic, the days were long and hard-worked, and the teachers and grad students were phenomenal to work with. I will certainly elaborate on the course more as I describe the projects and exam. For now, I will explain how I feel going home.
   Reverse culture shock is a very real thing. Coming home, I felt homesick. It was strange seeing life had gone on while I was not home, some things not changing at all, some significantly changing. I think the hardest thing to deal with though, was for those back home, it was as though when I left the time that holds me just froze, and when I returned it was simple as that: I was back again. This wasn't true by any means. I certainly wouldn't bore any of them with my great personal experience of independence and feeling confident as I began to learn a new language or any of those enlightening things that I know is important to me but annoying to anyone else. I certainly know I could be obnoxious if I started elaborating on that topic, so I wouldn't. However, I am chock full of stories and adventures of the course, such as collecting fish and the experiments done, mishaps in the labs, excursion stories and countless others. Obviously, after experiences so much, parts of me would change. Instead I faced annoyance for my accidental German utterances, and a misunderstanding as everyone sort of expected I just be frozen in time for a month then set back, and also willing to understand their demands and own changes. I'm sure I am exaggerating the extent of it, but as someone jetlagged, culture sick and somewhat revolted by the number of fast food restaurants, it was hard. I've recovered a lot now, I still feel a bit frustrated about not being able to continue to learn German the way I had been, but I've readapted somewhat. It's going to be a long and interesting process, but I look forward to seeing what comes out of it.

- Elizabeth

Arrival in Germany

August 14, 2012
Greetings from Konstanz, Germany!

I haven't had the opportunity to post since arriving, due to a mixture of
internet inaccesiblility and a very full program schedule. By the time we
finish our academics and program for the day, I honestly barely have enough
time to eat and only enough energy to shower before collapsing in an
exhausted heap upon my bed. It's impossible to even take proper time to do
journal research for our projects or study for the looming exam ahead.

Other than the over packed schedule, things are positively wonderful here.
We spent the first 5 nights in a hostel, taking  bus to school and back.
Public transportation is very wonderful here, and again I question why such
has not been improved in America. It's beautiful here, the lake is massive
and during the evening, when the sun is at just the right angle, you can
clearly see the alps and even the snowcaps atop them. It's quite the sight
while wading through the relatively warm water of the lake amongst families
and bikini wearing individuals swimming and eating icecream. The weather
can not seem to make up it's mind though. Upon our arrival, I felt like I
had walked into late september with not any sort of proper clothing. I
developed a cold during the first frigid and rainy days, however, as if
someone flipped a switch, it was suddenly quite hot and swimming weather.
Since then, the days have been jumping around every season, sometimes with
an entire year's worth of weather cycling over the course of a single day.
I've made a note to always carry a sweater and a rain jacket, and wear long
pants when convenient.

The academics are wonderful, we have one German student amongst our total
of 8 Rutgers students. We're each in groups of 3 working on research
projects, and every morning from 8:30-10 we have lecture. I am in a group
working on fish populations and their parasites, we've dissected about 200
fish thus far as well as counted two different types of parasites. It seems
our data is proving to support our hypothesis, as well as bring forth an
abundance of more questions. It's incredibly intriguing and makes the long
hours in the lab very worth it. The lecture subject material is fascinating
as well, the lectures are crammed with information, as the professors only
give one lecture each and try to fill it with as much introductory and
background on the topic as they can ft. I've learned a lot, even if the
pace is a bit overwhelming and I need to read over the lectures more than I
am used to. The professors, lecturers and grad students here are all very
fantastic and brilliant, we truly are catered to here. We are planning to
buy a massive present in thanks.

Constance itself is beautiful, and I've learned enough German to get by.
We've gone on countless excursions: canoeing down the Rhine, Climbing the
Alps and having a plant walk, visiting many towns and places, going to
beach, taking soil samples from a boat, catching and dissecting fish,
visiting the main water treatment plant and many, many more things. Again,
I truly have learned a lot and it has been great here thus far.

I will post more episodic things after the exam for this class, which will elaborate on my ventures in the last week. A bit delayed, but I will attempt to go in order!

Bis Bald!

 

- Elizabeth

Normal

July 9, 2012

Three other exchange students (Anna, Michelle, Brendon) and I travelled to Brussels this past weekend. I'm a bit sleepy today since I didn't arrive back at my apartment until 5am this morning (we ran into train delays and cancellations on the way home). 

Brussels has a very different feel from Hamburg. It is a mix of edgy modern cityscape and touristy old city roads. Our trip felt a bit like a Brussels checklist: we of course consumed gratuitous amounts of chocolate, waffle, and beer; we saw the peeing boy fountain and world's fair ball sculpture. Our earlier trip to Berlin felt a little more organic and spontaneous.

I left Brussels with the impression that the tourist's Brussels and the resident's Brussels are very distinct.

On Sunday, we took a train an hour outside of Brussels to Bruges. Bruges is very beautiful. Cobble stone roads pass over canals and squeeze between medieval towers. The old architecture houses alternating waffle, chocolate, souvenir, and lace shops (lace shops are a thing apparently). Anna, Michelle, Brendon, and I strolled through town, stopping constantly for photos and occasionally for more waffles. It was a more leisurely pace than Saturday, and I enjoyed the day more.

Being in Belgium brought to my attention how much I don't know any French. I'd like to learn some before I travel to France in August.

- Tom Giordano