Day 28: Final Review

Our project today went excellent. I think we did pretty well. All together, projects lasted about three and a half hours. I kind of stunk though because I knew our observers didn't understand everything that we were saying, especially big business terms. However, we had a great lunch at a tapas bar that consisted of chicken, pork, potatoe things, sangria, and fries. Loved it. I went home, packed up my suit case, and headed to the reception where I drank way some good wine and great food. We headed out to the bar afterwords and had too much fun. I'm going to miss France. I've learned so much here, but I've also learned a lot about myself and my own culture. Being here has really allowed me to "put the pieces together" in life. We're all different, there's no right or wrong answer to any problem or culture. I've enjoyed my stay here. It was the adventure of a lifetime. Headed to Paris tomorrow, Au Revoir!

Day 27: French Final

I got up early this AM to meet Whitney to go over our french final. It seemed like we had everything down pretty well. I wasn't that nervous at all, considering the fact that our actual teacher would not be grading us and the substitute that was did not speak a lick of english. We walked in, sat down, and began our gig. After the end of our prepared conversation, the woman politely said, "Switch!", and smiled. We asked what she meant, and it was clear that she wanted us to switch roles. We didn't know what to do because we weren't prepared for that! However, we winged it and did a pretty dang good job at it! I'm pretty sure we aced it, but not everyone can get an A with the French grading system, so I have no idea how we did compared to everyone else. Oh well! After this, we had a whole THREE hour lecture on bread. Biggest waste of time. I don't even remember much because the lecturer was extremely boring and I couldn't pay attention. All I really learned was that french bread is healthier and better than american bread because our government makes us fortifye ours with nutrients and fat content. Oh well. Mrs. Bairds would have smacked down that professor; I'm sure she's rolling over in her grave. After this, headed home with a bottle of wine that was given to the students as gifts from ESA. Tonight I hung out with Elly and her friend, Yassin. We drank some cassis liqueor and then came to find out that it had no alcohol in it yet and host mom got a big frustrated with that. Tyler came over and we watched YouTube videos of Jay Leno and tried explaining American life to the french. It's a dead end. They'll just have to come and see for themselves. Don't think I could live in Europe. I can't wait to get home!!!

Day 26: Last Day of Classes!

Today we learned how to make bread. It wasn't all that fun, but it was pretty interesting learning about the process. We made two different kinds; a fast and slow bread. The main difference was that one had more yeast than the other. During the baking times, my group and I worked on our project for our final. It seems to be going well, except for the fact that there are some people in our group that seem to not want to put in any group effort. After we did this, we got the bread back out and began eating it. It tasted like bread, I wasn't expecting anything more. Wasn't blown out of the water. It was a baguette, end of story. However, I did suck up and take one back home to the host family. We ate it at dinner and they seemed shocked at the fact I would do such a nice thing (little did they know...?). Dinner was cold artichokes with fromage blanc mixed with balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. Pretty simple, but yet, a boring day. I studied my french the rest of the evening for my french final. I'm pretty confident. Hope it goes well.

Day 25: La Baule

Today, Sunday, was my last free day in France. So, what better way to end my last free weekend than a trip to La Baule and the beach! I met up with some other students at the train station in Angers early this morning around 8:00, walked there. We got a pretty sweet deal on tickets; five tickets for 40 euros! It was pretty sweet. The train ride seemed like it took forever. For some reason, we thought that it would only take about an hour to get there, actually, it took two. We got off the train in this pretty tiny, quaint, city with some pretty aesthetic architecture. We decided to meet up with some other students who had stayed the weekend there. We walked down the main drag, met up with them, and baught some lunch at this sandwhich shop. The sandwhich was inexpensive, huge, and delicious. Filled me for the day. After this, we finished the walk up the main street and came to the seawall, and there it was, the gorgeous beach. I immediately took tons of pictures! It was great. The ocean was crystal blue, people everwhere, some topless that shouldn't have been, etc. We got down to the beach and the first thing that I noticed was that the sand was sparkeling. I think the mineral content of the sand made it do that. It also made the water sparkle. I hadn't seen anything like that before. The water was pretty chilly, but I numbed up to it pretty quickly. We laid out, got sunburn, drank some drinks, and stayed through the entire day. Near six o'clock, we headed back to the station and ate galettes at a nearby restaurant. Mine was egg, ham, and cheese. Was delicious. Got on the train, headed back, and got home just in time for dinner (ugh...I had to eat AGAIN, but it was good). Elly made pasta with some white onion sauce. Was also delicious. Went to take a shower and realized I was as red as a lobster. Let the peeling begin.

Day 24: Sleep

I literally did nothing today but sleep. I have nothing to report on. In other news, the bars are open this evening!

Day 23: Delusional People

Today's visit got me completely fired up. We visited a small grocery store called "Terre et Terroir". It's products come only from local and/or organic products. Local farmers bring their products to the store and are paid if and only if their products sell. The store is a non-profit organization so they only take a small percentage of the sales out for themselves. The purpose behind this is to give farmers an alternative to selling to major super markets. The founder was our lecturer in the store. We sat on the store floor and listened to her speak. Surprisingly, she had an american accent and was from the united states. This got me excited. However, she basically told us that she grew up on a 200 acre farm (quite small) and joined the peace corps out of college in Africa. She then met a french man and jumped ship from the United States to become a french citizen. Now, everything in-between this time is where she gets crazy. First, she told us that big businesses and super markets destroyed farmers lives. In essence, she told us that as farmers acquire contracts with super markets, they become solely reliant upon them as their only customer. Then, the super market has total control of the farmer because if the farmer doesn't drop his prices, his only customer will leave. So, the farmer is obligated to lower his prices for competitive standards until he is "barely able to survive." My argument for this? Why did you put all your eggs in that basket. Diversify your customer portfolio. She then proceeded to tell us to go back home and "beg our farmers to stop overproducing" because we dump corn in africa, which is really cheap, and run african farmers out of business. My argument? Africa has barely any arable land. They couldn't survive without international food support. They're overpopulating un-arable lands and need better education on not doing so. This paired with the fact that companies like Monsanto (seen as a modern day devil, in the flesh) is creating GMOs to allow crops to be grown in these harsh environments, to feed people, yet so many of these left-minded people hate GMOs. You cant win for losing with these people. She then proceeded to tell us that cows here are much happier (California?) and don't MOO because so! She then told us Americans don't even know the taste of fresh produce and certainly for good organic produce for that matter. What a fallacy and generalization. I was so angry and frustrated with her anti-American, anti-business, anti-production comments that I couldn't say a word or else I'd explode. I left and only bought a 20 cent slice of bread. I refuse to support anyone who is so closed minded. Does she even know about this concept of H-E-B and Whole Foods, both of which buy locally grown products yet are big and make good profit to create more jobs? Any person who literally gives up on America doesn't deserve my attention in the least bit. On a lighter note, I can't wait to get home!

Day 22: Cointreau

Cointreau has always seemed to have been a household name and item, let alone an essential bottle for the American liquor cabinet. In fact, I've seen it used quite often with margaritas got all occasions. Little did I know, however, that the famous triple-sec orange liquor was invented and produced here, in Angers, France. Luckily the stars were aligned and it just so happened that a visit to the world famous Cointreau factory was set for today! Surprisingly, the factory was located only but fifteen minutes from our campus, so we took a city bus there. My immediate impression from the exterior of the factory was not impressionable. However, as we walked into the main guest area we were immediately met by a modern look within the building, a single stainless steel bar, and a massive Cointreau logo in the middle of the main wall. We were then ushered into quite a large theater room where we learned the history of the company, it's founders, and it's future. It was started nearly 180 years ago by none other than the Cointreaus. Their initial name for the product was simply "Triple-Sec", but that couldn't be patented because it was too vague, as it's actual meaning is "three times dry". Cointreau was able to master the art of creating an orange liquor, from the peel of oranges, that was crystal clear and colorless. The orange peels are first shipped in from Africa, and then they are fermented. During the fermentation process, the peels are heated which allow essential oils to separate, rise, and collect in a separate tank, which is the basis for the liqueur itself. This liquid is then distiller and sent through further processing in their factory in Angers; the only cointreau distillery in the world. We were then lead past the distillery and into a small room where we were able to view the various awards that Cointreau has won over nearly the past two centuries. We then viewed a small video clip of the first ever cointreau advertisement, which paved the way for advertisements in the future. This led us into a 500 meter long hallway, a massive hallway, that was filled with every single piece of advertising paraphernalia, which had over 5,000 items. We then were told that unfortunately in france, liquor companies cannot advertise period, it's against the law. Thus, Cointreau is only heard about by word of mouth! Most people here think that Cointreau is an "old folks" drink and it's actually not that popular. Nearly 95% of their production is exported, and 40% of that is sent to the United States. It's a shame that these laws prohibit businesses like these from doing business and expanding, leading to more job creation. Nonetheless, the factory was absolutely mind-blowing, and we were greeted at the end with Cointreau paired cocktails. A sweet way to end our day, and an inspiration for any entrepreneur.