Another week among the French

So to follow up that extremely sappy post I have another update on things that have occurred in my time since my last post. Just to let you all know, things have gotten really hectic here as our professors have started to assign us homework and all of us have begun to really get close so we are trying to savor the last few days we have left with each other!

So for the first weekend that I missed in a blog post, June 15^th and 16^th, we took a weekend in Barcelona, Spain and man was it beautiful! If you have been following my Facebook and Twitter feed you may have seen that I had the true Barcelona experience with my phone being pick-pocketed from me and one of my buds here. But in all honesty, if I had to do it all again, including phone being pick-pocketed, I would do it all again! We spent some quality time on the beach, went to Sagrada Familia (the huge cathedral that is still under construction, for pictures about its beauty please see Facebook as motivation to see it for yourself as neither words nor pictures do it justice), Park Guell (a park designed by Gaudi) and went to some Barcelona disco-tecas. It was also really cool because, if you couldn’t tell by my previous blogs I am really struggling with my French. Spain allowed me to use the one other language I know more about, SPANISH! I don’t know what it was, but I felt so much more comfortable while in Spain about everything. Even though I didn’t have to use it all that much, I think just the knowledge that I could communicate somewhat decently with the locals here just put me at ease. We also got to try some authentic Spanish food. Tapas, appetizers basically, were basically delicious. My group had chorizo sausage (a spicy sausage), artichokes, spicy potato and another type of cooked pork. After tapas we had paella, a hearty rice and seafood dish. It is cooked with a huge amount of flavor and had prawns, mussels, clams, and squid! It was absolutely incredible.

Grace and I found another Wildcat while in Barcelona! Andrew Vogliardo actually went to Camp Tekakwitha, a Catholic church camp the same time I did and Grace's big sister in her sorority knows his pretty well. Crazy how small a world it is!

That next Monday our class was split up between the “viticulture option” and the “agriculture/food option”. This meant that we began our first classes on everything wine. This included wine making, vine growing, how to harvest, when to harvest and our first wine tastings. We started with a very acidic white that they said was a very easy wine to taste. Which was fine by me since I am so new! I have progressed to a point where I can pick out certain smells and can taste certain things when people point them out to me. But for the most part I am still at the I like it or don’t like it stage. But I am learning more everyday and am loving it!

French has also begun to pick up, and by pick up I mean homework… They have started to assign us little pieces of homework that for someone like me who is totally inept at this language I take forever to get it done! The neat thing is that very often they pair us with older students when we go on excursions to practically use our French that we have learned so we don’t get as flustered. My personal opinion as well, I don’t find French an attractive language. You use your throat in a bunch of sounds that I think sounds gross and very often I think it just sounds like someone trying to cough up a lougie. The letter “r” in particular tends to get me since it needs more of a throaty sound and in English and Spanish, the sounds come from the tip of your tongue instead.

We have each learned about where we will stay for our internships and I could not be more excited right now for my month to live with a host family. I have been placed with the Fevre family in Yonne district of Bourgogne, or in English, BURGUNDY! In fact I am the only person in the program to be placed in that area and one of the program assistants was just telling me that I actually have the longest train ride, 7 hours, to get there. I am super excited and even though I don’t have very much information I hopefully will be able to still keep in contact through internet! Here is what I do know though. It is a mom and dad, not sure on kids, not sure on other “trainees”, and not sure what exactly I will be doing. For my activities is simply says Vine and Wine so that is positive!

After finding out our internships, the next day we took a visit to the Purpan experimental farm. This farm is a run by the students of the school, just as many universities do, but this one had a twist. The milking machines are fully automatic, and when I say automatic, I mean completely. No human necessary. Cows come in on their own when they think they are ready to be milked and a machine laser senses each teat to clean it and then attach cups to begin to milk the cow. Each cow wears a collar to ID it in the computer system so the data about quality and quantity of milk is recorded. It is a super advanced system and for just a school dairy I was blown away. They get an avg. of about 2.8 milkings per day per cow and is an improvement from their previous facilities which was a more hands on milking machine.

Here is the machine using lasers to find the teat to attach the cup so milking can happen. It is a fully automated process and was really neat to watch.

On Thursday we went to Abbaye de Fontfroide, a closed monastery that used to produce wine. It is now more of a tourist sight that anything else and was architecturally pretty cool. After that we visited Chateau L’Hospitalet. Folks I don’t know how else to say it but I am in love. This vineyard and winery is located 5 km, or 3 miles for my Americans, away from the Mediterranean and is absolutely beautiful in weather and scenery. While there we learned a little about grafting and the importance of it with grape vines. In Europe, France especially a disease went through that killed close to 85% of all vines roots, Phylloxera. This caused the need for a resistant vine to be planted. American root-stock was used in all of France as it was resistant to the disease and then the desired European grape was grafted onto it. However, at this vineyard, some of the current vines in production were unwanted as they were not the best suited for the climate and the new owners did not like them. So, to solve this problem the new type of grape is grafted onto the old vine and once it has taken hold sufficiently the old one is completely taken away. What is cool is that since the root-stock and now the main branch of the tree are old, the new vine will grown grapes that taste as though they came from a very much older vine. It was a super cool process that required a lot of science and I thought was very interesting. We also got to taste wines at each. My favorites for the day definitely came from the chateau. This was including a really cool wine that was vintage 2010. What made that year so special is that there was a wildfire that came down among the hills towards the vines. Vines naturally tend to stop wildfires so they were never harmed. However, the flavor of the grapes through the smoked out vines was very unique and made for a very interesting wine. The cork itself actually smelt like burnt charcoal and smell and taste had a very distinct smokiness to the them. A very neat wine tasting experience to say the least.

So if you look really closely you might be able to see what I am talking about. The bottom bulge is the original graft onto the root stock. The rest of the plant is the vine that can still produce grapes if the owner wanted it too but chooses not to. The white tape and little bud are the new grape that the owner wants instead of the old plant.

In my travels as well there has been a super common theme I have noticed in scenery. While France continues to astound me in terms of beauty, they seem to plant vines for grapes here like Iowa farmers plant corn. Literally it is everywhere!!!

The next day we went to a French gastronomy workshop. This meant that we were cooking our own food for class with a trained professional French chef who was an expert at what we were doing! On the menu was an incredible meal that even though it was prepared by the amateurs turned out really great!

-For the first course it was Crostinis de Foie Gras. Or in laymans terms, bruchetta with foie gras, ham and veggies (tomato, zuchinni etc.). It was shared on the plate with a bed of salad with a simple dressing of olive oil and balsamic.

-Next was the “plat principal” or main course. It was Pastis de Confit de Canard. In other words was actually duck meat that had been stewed with potatoes, red peppers, onion and garlic actually in a stew. Broth was drained and then the solid matter was put into pastry dough that was super thin. It also had some lettuce and herbs next to it which was fun trying to pair with it.

-Finally was the Soufflé Glacé au Gaillac Doux. A frozen mousse with Sweet White Wine. This was the dish I helped make and it was absolutely incredible. It was sweet and yet had a nice crunch from the almond cookie we baked. Just overall a very satisfying dessert. The orange is from diced apricot, the plate is cocoa dusted and has three stripes of strawberry syrup.

This was all helped by the wine we had paired with each meal. The owner of Mas Pignou vineyards in the Gaillac appellation brought with him 4 wines that were some of the best yet in my opinion and walked us through pairing wines together.

Afterwards we visited his vineyard and learned a lot about the wine making process for his different types he made. I was very impressed with his wine and loved tasting it!

Later that day Cathy, Margeaux and myself made our way down to the train station to get aboard the train that would take us to our free weekend destination, Marseilles. Marseilles is a costal city in France and is the hometown of one of my French roommates, Anne. She offered to let us stay with her family there and let me tell you it was well worth it.

Before arriving with Anne I was starting to get wet feet about interning abroad thing. I knew it would be a neat experience living with a host family and that I would learn so much, but in all honesty I was ready to come home after the time at the university was done. Yes Mom and Dad, Nathan Laudan got homesick. Normally this doesn’t happen to me, since I am always trying to be a live in the moment, appreciate where you are kind of guy. But I don’t know, this time I was super nervous about living with a family I didn’t (and still don’t) know much info on with very minimal knowledge about what I will be doing. After living with a family for a weekend however, I think I am going to be okay. It was one of the best experiences I have had so far here in France and I wouldn’t give it back for anything. I still miss not being able to see everyone at home and I miss not being able to drive 2 hours and see almost everyone back at home, but I think I can do 1 more month here before getting too homesick again!

So back to Marseilles, Marseilles is a off the coast of France in a more southern part that is know for the wonderful weather. This weather was there in full for us as there was a beautiful breeze, not a cloud in the sky, and lots of beach to lay on! We arrived at around midnight that night and waited with Anne and her dad for Pierre, her boyfriend. After that we took a nighttime tour of Marseilles with an incredible view from a top of a hill that overlooked the whole city.

The next morning was a very relaxed morning. Us 3 Americans got up at around nine and were still the earliest to rise, which was fine by us as it meant a little more time to keep on sleeping! After a breakfast with the family we headed down to the beach for a little ocean time. I am still trying to get used to the concept of salt water and have still not mastered the concept of not rubbing my eyes while in the water. But other than that everything was beautiful and even got a hamburger at the beach concession stand!

The "Marseilles Crew" Margeaux, Nathan and Cathy! 

Also, just so everyone knows, beaches in Europe tend to be very similar. At both the beach in Barcelona and Marseilles these sights were found

-old men in speedos

-naked children running around

-topless women, all ages

-fellow Americans who too were uncomfortable with the 3 mentioned above

After the beach we took the bus to Vieux Port, the place where all the sailboats are kept and walked around the place. We looked in a bunch of shops and had some gelato while we were at it. We took the metro back to the apartment of Anne’s and showered and got ready for dinner. The metro’s in Marseilles are actually really cool as each line has different colored lights so that way the passengers know what line they are on, just in case they were confused.

Here is a view of Vieux Port. It has tons of sailboats inside and was so incredibly cool!

Dinner that night was absolutely delicious. First, a pork tenderloin with roasted onions on top that was super tender. For the side dish a chard casserole with lots of cheese melted on top. I had never had chard before and I still am not sure I could describe its taste and flavor accurately except for different. After the main course we had cheese, bread and wine of course before dessert. Anne’s family however through in a little twist and had salad with a dressing of oil and balsamic. But this balsamic was different! It reminded me of the Dijon mustard we keep having here on sandwiches on our picnic outings. Anyways it was delicious and I would have it again and again! After that we had dessert, which was pastries and Magnum chocolate bars. If you haven’t ever had Magnum chocolate bars run to the nearest convenience store, grocery store or Wal-Mart and get you a box now. Your life will never be the same.

The next day Anne’s father took us on a personal tour of the city. Even though he spoke very limited English it was awesome day. We were even able to make jokes along the way even with the huge language barrier. He took us to see Notre Dame de la Garde, once again another beautiful church inside another beautiful city. It was on top of a huge hill as well that allowed us to the see the whole city and the Mediterranean in a very different view. After that he took us the other side of Vieux Port, the side with a museum, an old fort and a place for cruise ships to come in. All of these we saw in our time walking around with Anne’s dad. After walking around sufficiently we ate lunch back at the apartment before departing for the weekend. Lunch consisted of, once again, incredible food. We had veal with a sauce made from cooked onions, mushrooms and garlic, fresh steamed green beans and hash browns cooked with olive oil. All of it so good again.

After lunch they took us back to the train station where we said our goodbye’s, including doing the French kissing thing and off we went!

It has been an awesome ride folks and I cannot wait to see all of you again once I get back to the U.S. Have wonderful summers and hope to see you all soon!

“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”- Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky

Missing about 'Murica

Sorry it has been so long since I have last posted a blog post everyone! I hope you have been keeping up with the going on’s on Facebook with all my pictures and all! This post is going to be dedicated to some of the things that have been the biggest changes for me since coming to Europe, including some things I miss dearly…

-inspiration is from a Buzzfeed post “35 things you appreciate about America after Living in Europe”

1.     Peanut Butter- I know this sounds like a small thing, but to the kid who keeps a jar of Crunchy Peanut Butter in his drawers at school at all times this is a huge change. Nutella is great and all but when you are looking for that satisfying feeling of good protein, fat, salty and savory all at the same time… a good ole jar of peanut butter is hard to beat. Sorry Nutella, but things aren’t just going to work out as well as I had thought.

2.     Popcorn- I don’t know if I am just incompetent or somehow inept at finding these kinds of things but I CAN’T FIND IT ANYWHERE!!! This also is a huge blow to my ability to snack as I am also the kid who asked for my own air-popper for Christmas so I can have popcorn anytime I want it at school… So yes, I also keep large amounts of popcorn on hand as well. I am really missing all that buttery, salty goodness and can’t wait to just nom so hard when I get back.

3.     Dijon mustard- this isn’t something necessarily I miss, but rather something I will forever cherish about America. When you get a Dijon mustard in the U.S. it is normally pretty sweet and very tasty. In France, Dijon has a tangy, almost horseradish quality to it that really opens up the nasal passages

4.     Free water and Ice- Having free water at your table at all times for restaurant and with that water ice. You know it’s the small things but cherish Sonic happy hour now while you can, and don’t ask for “easy ice”. Never again will I do that to myself!

5.     BBQ sauce- I don’t know if it is just the upbringing I had so close to KC BBQ, my dad being apart of a competition BBQ team, or maybe it is just my love for food (See 1,2,3,4 above) but I miss BBQ like crazy and in the summer months it is hard to go without for so long. I would give just about anything right now to be sitting down to a nice, sweet, spicy rack of ribs that are just falling off the bone.

6.     Air-Conditioning- So in all honesty I did not realize this till I went to Marseilles, France for our free weekend this past week, but there is no AC anywhere. I have been getting along well in Toulouse since the weather is normally a pretty solid 65-85 during the day and drops down to the low 60’s or 50’s at night. But Marseilles is much farther south and is along the coast of the Mediterranean. Because of that, weather does not fluctuate as much, as well as it is much warmer! The two nights we were there I was sweating like mad and was really in need of some AC.

7.     Talking- So let me explain this point a little. I have been learning French for a grand total of two weeks now (going on my third) and I struggle with this language so much. First off, half the word seems to get dropped off every time and I always keep reverting back to Spanish if I don’t know a word, which is very different if you didn’t know. I have been able to get a few small phrases down, and some basic vocab but when I interact with local speakers very often it turns into a game of charades with them getting very frustrated with my lack of languages skills.  But then again it is all in whom you talk to. Many of the younger crowd and people not working for the stores you are trying to buy from are more than willing to help out, and from what I have heard people in the southern part of France (where almost all of our visits have been) are so much nicer than Paris and more northern areas.

8.     Family and Friends- so it was weird but think for one of the first times in my life I got a little homesick. On the train to Marseilles, I was talking with Margeaux and Cathy, my two friends I traveled with for the weekend, and how I could honestly go home at the end of this week. I had no desire to really go to my internship family and I missed my family and friends back at home so much. This feeling I believe was a combo of missing the ability to talk with people, missing the ability to see friends in a 2-hour drive if I wanted and overall seeing your Facebook and Twitter feeds on how much fun you are all having. I am about ready to go deep and intellectual for a second folks so stay with me here. So my top strength in Gallup’s Strength Finder test is Input. Everyone’s strengths are expressed in several different ways and I have seen Input basically permeate and take over my life. This isn’t a bad thing it is just simply who I am and I actually love it. Part of it however, causes me to want to be a part of every opportunity, take part in every activity and try and be a part of every memory possible. This is why to many I am “over-involved” and am constantly on the go. But I realized while I am here in France that even though I am having experiences of my own and loving every minute of it, I hate that I can’t be a part of your memories and lives this summer as well. I know that isn’t my role and I truly am appreciative for what I have. It is just hard to see all of your incredible lives as well and not want to be a part of it. So to my Paola summertime peeps, my O&E, WWU, COA Office Crew, my friends doing mission work, internships at multi-million dollar companies, governmental relations and most importantly my family, know that I miss you all and I expect to hear just as much about your summer as you want to know about mine. Don’t put down the experiences you are having just because you are not in a whole other country but instead soak it all in because every experience is just as important as the next.

I probably could go on and on about things I missed back from home but I hope to hear from each of you soon and can’t wait to hear the exciting adventures from each of your summer lives!

“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”- Dr. Seuss 

First off I would like to apologize about how it has been a week since I have got the opportunity to do another blog! There has been so much activity that you sort of lose time with all the incredible experiences that you are getting to do! Anyone who has done a study abroad can probably attest to that!

To start off I have two main messages that I have gained thus far

1        1.  I am not in Kansas in anymore

2        2. French is so HARD!!!

I think you will be able to see the two themes show up as I go through my days here since I last left you all…

On Friday we did a visit of Carcassonne, where two of my wonderful French roommates are from, as well as home to a real life CASTLE!!! It was super cool and was very interesting. I had never visited a castle before and was fascinated by it. Carcassonne is not like typical castle in that it is all enclosed. It is actually a city surrounded by two walls that is enclosed. It is estimated that there was 3,000-4,000 inhabitants at its height but now contains 60 citizens… Let that sink in… YOU CAN STILL LIVE IN A CASTLE IN FRANCE!!! We saw some of the houses and it was so stinking cool I almost couldn’t handle it! We had the opportunity to see the inside of the castle’s church and look around before a performance. When I say performance, probably the most jaw-dropping singing I have yet heard. Sorry to my K-State Singers, but these 3 Russians singing in Latin in an old stone church with incredible acoustics can’t compare. My Internet connection is a little slow but I hope to upload them soon! I will let you all know as soon as it happens because I got one full song of theirs on my camera.

Carcassonne castle's front gate.

The next morning we woke up to start one of the coolest adventures I have had yet… Our weekend in the Pyrenees Mountains! So first off, lets make it clear. Mountain ranges/large hills are non-existent in my B-E-A-UTIFUL home state of Kansas, and don’t get me wrong, I do love it there, but mountains people… MOUNTAINS!!! Anyways, they had told us to make sure to pack dry/warm clothes due to unknown weather there and to be ready for anything (I have noticed that they are not as obsessed or maybe just concerned about telling us what the weather really will be to help us prepare. All the better for an adventure I guess). I had my backpack ready to go with spare towels, socks and my wool sweater from a thrift shop ready to go for a weekend full of fun when we rolled out at 8 am!

Our first stop was in Lourdes. First off, I did not know we were going to Lourdes, nor do I think they told anyone we were planning on going to Lourdes. So when we stopped we all got out, into a nice mini monsoon and as they proceeded to tell us “you have three hours, see you back here then!” Wait what? You are just dropping us off in the middle of the city and not giving us like a schedule or anything? At first I was taken aback by the abruptness of it all and was kind of upset they pushed us off of a nice, warm bus into the cold, wet rain for 3 hours but towards the end I loved it. For those of you who may not know Lourdes is famous for the appearance of Mary to St. Bernadette. We got the chance to visit the Basilica as well as visit the grotto and shrine to St. Bernadette. For a Catholic like myself this is one of coolest experiences I have yet to have for my faith and I think I made an “accidental pilgrimage” is what I am going to call it! After that my group decided to chill in a café for a while to kill time and stay out of the rain. Well worth the French coffee!!!

The front of the Basilica that is built on top of the grotto that Mary appeared to St. Bernadette at. The grotto is still present on the backside of the Basilica.

Next we continued our drive and finally made it to our refuge, a cool cabin in the woods all to ourselves. Since it was still raining, very few of the group decided to go out, but not my adventurous crew. In all honesty it was just enough of a mist to deter people but not bad so hiking was all the more fun! And when I say hiking I mean hiking! Sorry to my fellow Wildcats but a Konza hike can’t quite compare to what we got to experience on this day. Not only did we do enough exploring to make our own trails but went through a waterfall and eventually made it up to SNOW on the mountaintop! Probably one of the most exhilarating feelings I have had yet and yes we made it down a mountain in thirty minutes just in time for dinner! Oh and dinner people, they feed us so well here! So first off they gave us this massive bowl of soup at first that each of us probably got two bowls out of and we were all still starving after so none of it was wasted. We then proceeded to wait for the go ahead to leave since we thought it was all we were getting, but nope. Delivered to our tables was a dish that was lighter than a quiche and more bread-like, but definitely still too eggy to be bread, a basket of French bread, Chili con Carne and desserts galore… SO MUCH FOOD! That night we played team Scrabble with English and French to get a little practice in and then we were sent to bed. As in staying up later ensued in which the guy’s bunk played charades since there was no “wee-fee” to entertain anyone. But the Americans were quickly taught that a combo of two Lebanese on the same team is never a fair match! Charades is a game they normally play after coming back from the bars and they were REALLY good at it!

The cows actually have bells, like in the movies!!! #agchat 

The next morning we set out for our next hike, Cirque du Gavarnie. It is a famous hike and truly beautiful all the way around! There we also continued to find snow, in the middle of June! Just truly an awesome trip overall!

Here is Cirque du Gavarnie behind me... Absolutely breathtaking. 

Reppin' our K-S-U while in the Pyrenees! Myself, Grace and Jorge! 

The part you have been waiting for… My dinner with my French roommates was incredible!!! When I arrived there was already an incredible smell of great cooking wafting in the air! One of the program assistants for the Americans joined us for dinner as she lives on the floor with us and what a feast we had! Here are my picture descriptions of the dinner!

First was the caprese salad, a mixture of fresh cut tomatoes  fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, and olive oil. There is also a kind of smoked ham rolled on the side

RATATOUILLE!!! Is one the left. It consists of cooked zucchini, tomatoes, onions, garlic, and bell peppers. To the right is a piece of duck leg that is all that is good.

It is tradition to have cheese and wine before dessert. Here are three types of goat cheese that we had with bread that were aged a week (the white big one of the right), two weeks (the deflated yellowish one) and a month (the top). All delicious!

Next was dessert... So good, they bought all kinds of delicious pastries, but also made an apple crumble thing that we had with vanilla ice cream!  

The next day we were able to sleep in till 10:30 (thank the Lord) before we started our week focused on animal production in Europe. It is this week we will have our first test! Super pumped/nervous/excited for it tomorrow! We have learned quite a bit about EU and French agriculture policy and their focus on quality over quantity of products. A very interesting point of view to me as I am used to hearing about large commodity products. For example on Tuesday we had the opportunity to visit a sheep milk farm that produced milk for the very famous Roquefort French cheese factory. In France there are special labeling restrictions for products such as Roquefort cheese that says how a product must be made. For example, this cheese can only be made from Lacaune sheep milk, within a certain distance kilometers from the plant and must be made in the city of Roquefort. It is only this product that can receive the name of Roquefort even if someone duplicates the product exactly. It was also interesting to know that the Roquefort cheese can only be made with unpasteurized cheese. A thought that I know would make my advisor at K-State, Dr. Schmidt, cringe. I too wasn’t too sure about mass-producing a product that had such a high possibility for a harmful bacteria in it, but this is a very different product and as someone said, that shows American food systems for you. “The cleanest, most efficient processes in the world, with some of the most processed food you can find.” Now I want to make it clear that processed isn’t in my mind doesn’t ever have a negative connotation, as processing can be something as simple as washing a carrot. So I have a very different view. But moving on.

Cheese on Cheese on Cheese. This is the production cellars of the Roquefort cheese that we were able to try. It is all a natural curing process that they use that does not utilize any extra machines. Just the cellars.

Yesterday was an interesting adventure for myself again, a product of my inability to speak any sort of French to be able to ask for help. Recently, a group of us found a trail to take us to the Garonne River to run along it that was fairly short. Well being the risk taker I am, I decided to try a new path for the return. Very quickly this turned into a stopping at every other bus stop to look at a map to try and get home run since I was so exhausted from the extra mileage I had to do since I became lost. But hey what is traveling in another country if you don’t lost every once in a while. We also have been playing a lot of volleyball lately which has been great since I need to continue to brush up on my “skills” (aka lack of).

And to finish up this extra-long blog (sorry again for that) today our French classes decided to have a contest/scavenger hunt… IN FRENCH!!! Literally not only was I riding the struggle bus, but I was CEO and Chief Operator of Struggle Bus Co. Luckily, the Lebanese students we were put in a group with knew a decent amount of French and were able to help us complete many of the phrases, words, pronunciations we were struggling with. Literally people, I don’t get this language. Like at all. They leave off half the word when the pronounce it, the flow everything together, and worst of all there are a lot of sounds that come from the back of the throat, sounds in America we don’t make. In English and Spanish (the two languages I am most familiar with) everything is pronounced on the tip of the tongue so no sounds come from the back of the throat forward. For example, the French word for “happy” is heureux. To me it sounds like two people coughing, but to them, it is an actual sound. My roommates also have discovered that I cannot say this word… as in every time they have friends over they ask me to say it for them so they call all laugh at the American. But hey I am okay with it, at least I am providing people some humor over here!

But hopefully I will be able to do a better job of keeping you all up to date of all the going-on’s here with my Toulouse life and hope to talk to you all soon!

To finish a quote I have been thinking about recently... "In matters of style, swim with the current. In matters of principle, stand like a rock."- Thomas Jefferson