Welp… It is finished… The last days
of my French internship has ended, I am currently writing this on a train back
to Toulouse. Once there I will give my wrap-up presentation to the class for
credit and then catch a plane back to the good ol’ US of A the following
morning.
These last few days here in France
have absolutely flown by and I cannot say enough about the true hospitality
that my host family and my French co-workers have shown me. Even though I was
not hardly able to speak a lick when I arrived I am proud to say that in most
conversations I could get the gist of what they were saying and even though I
couldn’t make fully formed sentences and a lot of charades go on I can
sometimes even contribute to these conversations.
As for what I have been doing in my
time since I left all of you I had just finished my last full week of being an
intern. During that week I continue to have incredible food by the host family
and I think that they have caught on to my efforts to try and soak in my last
few meals with French cheese. Instead of asking me if I want cheese, yogurt or
fruit now they just get out the plate of cheese and hand it to me. I don’t hate
it.
I also had a chance to ride around
the town of Auxerre with my host brother, Martin, the other intern, Romain and
one of Martin’s friends we met up with. We were riding in the friends car and I
think he has more Lil’ Wayne on his iPod than I knew even existed. We went to
McDonalds to eat which was hilarious for me because the only reason we went
there was because Romain won a bet with Martin about the size of the pool. At
McDo (pronounced MacDough, kinda like how people in the US would say MacDub) we
all got our food. While I got the traditional Big Mac, fries and coke to test
out Dr. Flinchbaugh’s theory I watched as the other guys get potatoes instead
of fries, mayo instead of ketchup and burgers that had a chicken patty already
on them. So basically what I am trying to say people is that US McDonalds needs
to get there stuff together. Sure McRib is nice but when it isn’t year round
what’s the point.
The end of the week, as I may have
told you all earlier, consists of the Fevre family all getting together to
share appetizers before they all go there separate ways for meals. These hours
spent together at the end of the week with wine, food and family is such a cool
concept for me and kinda brought it home when Jacques, Martin’s grandfather,
asked me if we did this back in the US. When I told him no, he said that maybe
I should try and start it. Now if you know anything about my family, you know
that we are always on the go. Whether it is Morgan’s endless practices or
sports games, Rylan’s hog shows or livestock judging practice or me having
endless clubs and meetings to go to you know that it is a little difficult to
catch us all in the same place. That is why I find this concept so neat. The
beginning to every weekend, with very few exceptions, is spent with your
family. The French’s ability to make time and to have such a carefree view of
it still blows my American, pack every minute with detail mind and is something
I plan on striving for when I get back to the US.
This past weekend was super nice,
sunny and literally no clouds. This made my last bits of pool time all that
more enjoyable as I chilled with the family. So when I mentioned to my host
family that I had never had escargot I can’t tell if they were appalled,
offended or felt like I had missed out on some important aspect of life because
for dinner one night they decided it was time for me to try it out. Not gonna
lie folks it was delicious. Escargot maybe snails but they are delicious snails
covered in butter, garlic and parsley. So good!
Martin and I were also invited to
Samuel’s, a mid-20’s co-worker, house for a bbq one night this weekend. As with
all my French meals so far, it is weird how there doesn’t seem to be a main
focus to the meal or how it just kinda flows with no start or finish with
random courses and sides just kinda popping up. Not complaining because it was
absolutely delicious food and even though I couldn’t understand most of what
Samuel’s friends were saying because they talk so fast I thoroughly enjoyed
myself.
On Monday work started up again and
our task for this week was to spray for weeds using Round-up. Now vines are not
necessarily Round-up resistant so we had to be careful to use smaller amounts
when we were next to the rootstock, especially on younger vines. We also got to
wear this really cool, super heavy backpack thing to spray with, aka super
strong shoulders! Kinda reminded me of Ghostbusters backpacks but instead
filled with weed killing chemicals. This was also the hottest week in Chablis
that I had experienced yet, as in maximum temperatures reaching 92 with no
humidity. Sorry Kansas, I ain’t ready for your heat yet…
Ghostbusters anyone?
Brigitte, one of the co-workers I
believe I have mentioned earlier, thought that on Monday night it would be
educational for Romain and I to see another winery and learn a little about the
processes that they use for their wine production in Chablis just to see the
difference. This Domaine is only 15 ha but happens to be the oldest in Chablis.
The owner can trace his families work in vines back to the 1600’s or something
crazy like that. He also has horizontal tanks instead of vertical. He says that
he likes these better as more of the yeast is absorbed as a flavor component.
It makes for a fuller wine flavor in his opinion. Nathalie and Gilles both told
me that this method was very uncommon and was interesting for them as well.
Wednesday was my last full day of
work in the vineyards and boy was it exciting. So when temperatures begin to
rise in Chablis, normally employers have their employees being work earlier in
the morning and let them off in the afternoon so as to avoid the heat. I knew
this practice was common and for the US people do it to. I was not as prepared
for the wake up time to be ready that morning! 6am is a time I haven’t seen too
much of in my European adventures and having to be ready for work at that time
was a little bit of a struggle. But I made it and spraying weeds that early
made life a lot easier. We continued to work through lunch and at 1:30 we
stopped and had our lunch out in the vines. Brigitte was super nice and brought
Romain and I food. Super delicious lunch actually, 2 pates made from rabbit and
sausage, pickles, a caprese salad, bread and cheese. The only thing that I
wasn’t prepared for… Head cheese. Head cheese, for those who don’t know is
actually pieces of meat from the head of a pig that had been boiled off the
bone and then made into a loaf by using a gelatin of some sort to bind them all
together. I don’t know what is wrong with me but it was actually pretty good.
The gelatin had a lot of parsley in it and was actually good on a piece of
French bread!
During lunch, Brigitte also had a
few gifts for me that I wasn’t prepared for. She gave me a hat that had the
American stars and stripes on it, she said in memory for teaching her when
American Independence day was and then a trophy saying “Cuve 7 A++”. This
trophy actually means a lot, since this was the first tank I cleaned by myself
and her recognition of a job well done was really awesome.
Me and Brigitte! My ever dedicated French teacher out in the vines!
Wednesday night, being my last
night, meant going to a local restaurant and celebrating my time as an intern.
It was here that I had my last few bites of authentic French food. Pictures are
below.
Appetizer- Gazpacho a cold tomato soup basically
Main course- Yes, Steak Tartare. What this translates to is raw ground beef, with a raw egg yolk on top. Sound weird? Sure. Stopping me from trying it. Never.
Essentials for steak tartare are worchester sauce, onions and parsley. From that on it is up to you to mix and match!
Dessert- Creme Bruleé as delicate and smooth as ever
Alright here we go with my
emotions…
The next morning I was given my
intern evaluation and Gilles and Nathalie talked over each part. Overall they
were very pleased and especially with my work ethic and desire to learn about
all parts of the vineyard. This meant so much to me since before coming I had
no idea about anything wine, vine and otherwise, but I had been wanting to
prove that I could learn and would work hard to try and learn. Having them
recognize my efforts was huge for me and even through the very obvious language
barriers they said that they knew they could show me how to do something and
rely on my to do it right from there on out.
This experience has been such a
huge learning experience for me and the knowledge I have gained while here in
France has been huge. I feel much more confident on my knowledge of the wine
industry, at least in France and my knowledge about the production of wine in
general. Even though I am not the most accomplished wine taster yet, but hey
all things come with age right?
Seriously though, for anyone who is
considering studying abroad do it. Period. To use a quote by Sandy Klein, the
College of Ag Ambassador advisor, there is no other time in your life that you
can travel as cheaply and easily around the world than in your college career.
This may mean a 2-week faculty led tour or a full on semester. Whatever it is,
do it. I will say for me, now that I have done a shorter 2-week trip and the
longer 2 months in the summer, the summer is the way to go. It is not for the
faint of heart and you need to come with an open mind and a “go with the flow”
attitude but as for the benefits it far outweighs any negative I could think
of.
There is something about spending
that much time that allows you to be so much more accustomed to the culture.
This also means you get to meet people and make memories and create bonds that
I know will last a lifetime. You think you are tight with someone? Try going to
another country where you both know very little of the language and tell me how
close you get. There is also something to be said for doing an internship in
another country and living with a host family. I can honestly say that both of
these experiences were incredibly unique and literally made my trip to France
completely worth it. A family that is willing to open up its home to you and
share everything that they have including their knowledge, family memories and
traditions and all their food is something that I won’t soon forget.
Thank you Fevre family for putting
up with the American intern who didn’t speak a lick of French and for helping
create this once of a lifetime experience for me. I cannot say thank you
enough!
“They never said life would be easy, but they did say that
it would be worth it.”- Rosalyn Lucas, PHS Grad 2012
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