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