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.

Day 21: Boire, Boire, Boire!

Drink drink drink! This was the catchy tune that our witty and funny professor exclaimed to us at the beginning of todays class, which revolved around wine tasting, growing, and more. By far, I learned more about wine in this lesson than any other that we've had yet. We began by discussing wine, it's origins, cultural use, purpose, etc. Then, the professor went into his theory of the "Twelve Commandments"... of wine!
Look
Sniff
Swirl
Smell
Tilt
Prolonged sniff
Sip
Chew
Swallow a little
Spit (or swallow!)
Breathe out
Score
Each of these steps are used to evaluate, appreciate, and analyze a wine. We evaluate and discussed six different wines in class today; two whites, two reds, a rose, and a dessert. It was pretty difficult at first to be able to swirl, slosh, and run the wine across my gums, but it's supposed to give the full character of the wine. It's funny because if you do it correctly, you'll have purple teeth after the tasting! The whites were very dry and had a strong presence of the soil that they were grown in; somewhat rocky, chalky, etc. The reds we had were full of Tannin; the chemical formed from the grape's skin that gives the numbing/burning sensation that one feels when red wine touches their tongue and gums. However, they each delivered quite a nice floral essence. The rose was okay, "Demi-Sec" meaning, semi-sweet. The dessert wine was too sweet for me, because it basically tasted like grape juice with wine mixed in. After the lesson, we headed to lunch and returned for the second part of the lesson which took place at an independent vineyard; a viticulturist who sells directly to customers and not through wholesale. The vineyard was great! We got to walk into the vineyard and see the blue schist, a rock, that was native to the area. The rock gives the wine a specific taste that's typical of the region. I actually learned about blue schist in geology, so it was exciting being able to apply my knowledge here. We toured the winery and then sat down for another tasting. I'm learning real quick that you don't have to drink the entire glass and its okay to spit and throw your wine in the designated bucket!

Day 20: the French Labor System

Today was quite interesting for lesson topics, especially since it involved politics! Our big lesson of the day was titled "the French Labor System", and it's main purpose was to inform the foreign students, like us, about the various aspects of the labor system in France, it's structure, and how it was conceived. First, we learned that many people here in france consider talking about politics to be taboo; many people will know good friends for years and years without ever knowing their political affiliation. Our lecture started with the discussion of the average work week in France. Not long ago, the French government had forbid the general population for working on Sundays. The motivation behind this wasn't for religious purposes (French is a secular-neutral state), but rather with the mindset that if people had more time off, they would have a higher life expectancy and be more productive. However, the recent conservative (liberal, in France) government has slightly changed the law to allow employers to open their doors on Sunday. This lead into the fact that the french have six paid weeks of vacation each and every year, and only work a 35 hour work week. Not long ago, the socialist party lowered the work week from 40 to 35 hours, with the thought process that if people had more free time, they would spend that free time shopping leisurely and thus, boost the economy. However, this severely backfired and now the French have their 35 hour work week that hasn't done the country any good. It produced no beneficial outcomes and resulted in a population that wouldn't allow for an increase in the hourly work week. Its a pickle. Other topics followed, such as the constitutional right to strike, which happens all too often in france. In fact, the city tram in Angers is set to open in over a week for the first time ever. To celebrate the opening, the city is allowing nine days of free travel. However, we found out today that it wont reopening because the workers are already planning a strike! There are even many cases where they hold their bosses hostage and negotiate their release with police... And aren't reprimanded for it even though it's illegal! Not many people are in trade unions, surprisingly, many people use working contracts, the official age of retirement is sixty (which may raise pretty soon), and the present unemployment rate is actually slightly higher than our own in the united states. What I have gathered from the lesson, and concluded, is that the french left have fought endlessly for a labor system that basically benefited employees while keeping their employer's hands tied. Unfortunately, many of the laws regarding the labor system have backfired and produced unwanted externalities. The current government is in the process of slightly reversing these policies, but changing many of these laws outright would be seen as changing the fabric of the lives of many french, who would never go for it.

Day 19: Caves of Saumur

Today began with a brief, two hour lesson on viticulture and the culture of wine making. It was somewhat interesting to hear about the entire process of wine making from start to finish, but surprisingly, I found myself overwhelmed with boredom as the instructor went into great depths about the chemistry (CHEmistry, as he pronounced each and every time) of wine making. After the lesson, we had two hours to scramble to the cafeteria downtown to eat lunch, which consisted of bland noodles, carrots, and a white fish. I usually grab a loaf of bread to eat because it's the only thing that has consistent taste in that cafeteria. We headed back quickly and loaded onto the charter bus to head out to our wine tour at Saumur, a small town that is known for it's Saumur cooperative and industrialized wine production. We arrived at the cooperative in the countryside and immediately began our tour. We began our tour with the newer and more modern part of the facility with modern equipment. It was quite impressive seeing the massive cisterns, holding tanks, presses, and the systematic network that linked them all. It was quite clean and all crafted with stainless steel. After this tour, we headed to the older part of the winery, which was located underground in a complex network of caves. As we entered the caves, I was immediately overwhelmed by the smell of mold and wine. It was quite dark, damp, and cold. It seemed like we took ten flights of stairs down into the caves and arrived at the bottom where various wooden boxes were lined along the cave walls, filled to the top with dusted wine bottles ready to be cleaned and labeled. The tour lasted about two hours, of which we was the entire wine making process from start to finish, "following the grape" the entire way. The caves were equipped with natural cooling for the wine, a bottling room, a processing room, storage room, etc. I was quite impressed because these facilities were very modern and industrialized, unlike many of the other companies we've seen thus far. After the tour, we climbed back up to the wine store on top of the caves. Here, we had quite a long wine tasting and tasted about 15 different wines! I found that my favorite were the oak wines; those wines that are hand picked and aged in oak barrels. The tour was great, and it was probably the best wine tasting I've had yet!

Day 18: Paella

I woke up pretty late this morning because a bunch of us from the group went out last night to a new bar called James Joyce. I was, however, up before Elly and her boyfriend, Sliman. I came to breakfast just in time to meet Claudine coming in the door with arms full of fresh baked goods. She had some sweet bread with chocolate chips baked into it along with a whole bat full of croissants. They were amazing! It was actually the first time I've had croissants since I've been here. They're a bit more flakey and buttery than in the United States. I liked them. After this, we sat down and I studied some of my quiz bowl material while claudine cleaned. We then packed up and got ready to head out to the countryside to visit Claudine's sister. As soon as we got there lunch was ready. It ended up lasting three hours and we went through six courses! We started out with bread and pad-tae, a shot glass with avocado guacamole/tapioca, another with a tomato-type concoction, then we had the main dish paella. It was great! It had chicken, sausage, squid, mussels, and shrimp in it. For dessert, we had a big glass filled with chocolate, cream, pears, and an almond liqueur. After this, we headed out to the garden to pick black current back at the house. It hurt my back pretty bad after bending over for almost an hour in an attempt to pick the berries from the bush, but we ended up with a nice harvest, as Claudine said, so I was pretty please. Claudine told me I was to take some of the jam home to my parents, so that made me pretty excited. We headed back home shortly thereafter and had noodles for dinner. Quite a relaxing day, especially since it was spent in the french countryside.

Day 17: the Market of Angers

Today I was able to sleep in, and it was quite nice. I woke up, got dressed, and headed down for breakfast. I had the usual; French bread, jam, butter, and French-pressed coffee. I was petty excited though because today Dominic would be taking me to the weekly market in the town center of Angers. We headed out with another student and came up to what was once a recognizable area of the city for me, but was now unrecognizable due to the vast amounts of huts and tents set up along the sidewalks and street sides! We came up the bottom side of the market and I immediately became overwhelmed by the mass amounts of food products for sale. Various meats, fish, tapenads, oysters, clams, mussels, horse meat, crabs, cheeses... You name it, they had it! It was awesome! As you walked up to a tent, the seller would usually cut/peel/slice a price of whatever he was selling for you to try. The cheeses, cured meats, fruits, and wide assortment of colorful vegetables were all delicious! After a quick and initial overwhelming of my senses, we met Claudine at a near-by cafe to have a quick coffee. More Americans sat and drank with us, and after this, we headed to another end of the market where merchants sold various antiques. It was so interesting seeing their versions of what we call "antique", as the artisanship in their products are so different from our own at home. Unique, pretty, and embellished to say the least. Unfortunately it began to rain on us, so we headed out to the nearest restaurant we could find...which happened to be Mexican! I ordered a quesadilla with chicken. It was pretty decent, a good effort to make Mexican food, but not the real deal, especially since it was served with a glass of red wine and chocolate ice cream for dessert. But, it was as close as I could get! Tonight we're having dinner and then I'm headed out to Falstaff with the rest of the gang. Somewhat beginning to notice things I miss back at home, like driving, hot weather, pools, friends, Mexican food, etc. But, it is quite nice here!

Day 16: Salt Marshes and Cheese Factory

Today was Friday, and yes, we had a field trip that made it that much better! We met up at ESA around 7:45, which was miserable since everyone was up late the night before. We climbed on the bus and headed out to a cheese factory about an hour outside of town. The factory looked very nice on the outside, not like a small "mom and pop" type operation that we had been seeing in the days before. We walked into what seemed like a mini movie thwarted with a projector and rows of seating. We began our tour with a ten minute movie (in French) translated for us that discussed the beginnings, operations, and products of the cheese factory. Basically, what makes the cheese factory unique is that the factory buys milk daily from local producers and begins the cheese production almost immediately with no preservation or pasteurization of the milk. There are eight different kinds of cheeses that the factory makes from this milk alongside butter and yogurt. We walked upstairs to a unique, flat, room that was encased by windows. Looking down through the various windows, one could see different production rooms where the products were being made. It was quite a site! After this, we headed to the other side of the room where a large table was set up with various samples of their cheese products and glasses of wine. The cheese tasted amazing! However, there was one cheese that smelt like B.O. I wasn't going to let the smell of the cheese stop me from trying a piece because I'm here to experience and taste new things. So I tried it. I'll never try it again. It was horrible, disgusting, and it left my hands smelling filthy. But I tried it and that's all that counts! After this, we headed out to the city of Gerund (I know I didn't spell that correctly); a walled city along the bay in Brittany that is known for it's salt production. We walked throughout the city, which looked similar to Saint Malo, and then headed out to the marshes where we visited a salt cooperative and learned all about salt production. It was quite interesting to see it all done by hand and see each individual have their own salt marsh. There's approximately 300 individuals that own salt marshes in the area and about 200 of those belong to the cooperative. I bought some "Fleur de Sel" or "salt flour" which is the best crop from the salt. It was quite a tiring day, but it was so much fun!

Day 15: Wine Tasting and Taking Notes!

Today began like each and every other class day has begun; beginning with French and starting various lecturers. However, today was quite special! We began the second part of our curriculum; wine and viticulture production. Thus, it would be appropriate to begin the days lesson with a formal introduction to wine, it's history, it's types, and it's Terroir. After the power point, we were able to work with an oil kit called "The Nose of Wine"' which was a kit full of various scented oils (54) used to train wine tasters to be able to identify various flavors in wine. Some were easy to figure out (peach, cedar, apple, banana) but there were others that were more difficult to identify (apricot, pear, butter). It was somewhat frustrating because there many oils that I smelt and knew were familiar, however, I couldn't pinpoint exactly what smell it was! And what better way to end the lesson? To have a wine tasting! Our instructor brought three different bottles of Rouge (red) wine for us to try and discuss. It was quite a treat, and I thoroughly enjoyed the lesson because it seemed that our instructor was truly passionate about wine. I'm hoping that as we go through this next section of our course, I'll be able to learn more, taste more, and be able to identify more different kinds of wines!

Day 14: Birthplace of the Maine Anjou

Today was a pretty awesome day, considering the fact that I got to wake up late and didn't have to be at ESA until 1:00! We had a company tour today of a Maine Anjou cow farm near Angers. We arrived at the Domaine des Rues cow farm which was set in the French countryside amongst various tattered and old farm buildings. As we filed off the bus, some of us made our way to one side of a building, next to what looked like the farm owner's house, and found a wall full of what seemed to be the equivalent of our show banners, but they were actual plates with the year, class, and show name on them, dating back to 1928! The company had quite an impressive collection, I think I counted about 50 or so trophy plates. The educational began in the barn milking parlor, which was said to be about three hundred years old. We received a pretty decent presentation from a man working for the AOC certification administration, who explained the details of pure, local, quality Maine Anjou. Naturally, we just so happened to be in the exact area that the Maine Anjou was cradled! After this, the farmer gave us a tour around his facilities and showed us his mane cattle that he raised, Rouge des Prés. The cattle were naturally long with red and white coloring. Throughout the tour, we asked questions comparative to American agriculture. Basically, what we got from the tour was that Europeans don't use the advanced technology found in american agriculture. Technology like detailed record keeping, Expected Progeny Differences, computer systems, accounting systems, etc. They're very content with their more primitive way of farming. It's interesting to me because it's not very efficient. As I was discussing the tour with a friend of mine the next day, she made a pretty valid point. That point was that we came here with open minds, knowing european agriculture would be different from our own. However, most Europeans don't reciprocate that same open mindedness for american agriculture.

Day 13: Terroir

Today, we had one of the most interesting lectures from the ESA staff yet! We learned about the concepts and definitions of food quality in Europe. We learned about traditional v. typical food products, leading to Terroir v. food products in general. The concept of "Terroir" is difficult to understand at first. In a nutshell, Terroir food is traditional food that embodies a strict set of production methods, ingredients, quality of ingredients, and regional production specific to that type of product. Originally, Terroir was used for wine products, but its meaning has expanded to all sorts of food products. In wine, terroir was used to represent a "local taste" from the vineyard, which embodied the weather and local environment specific to where the wine was produced. This also embodied the human factor that went into the production of the wine. For example, Champagne is actually a region in France where champagne, the sparkling wine, originated from. In the EU, for a product to be called "Champagne", it must have followed a strict set of guidelines set my the government and actually be produced in that area; champagne. Since the 60s, marketing standards have developed dramatically in the EU for the benefit of protecting the farmer. As a result, a number of "quality signs" have developed that appear on packaging of EU products. The main, and most used, signs are that of Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), Protected Geographical Indication (PGI), Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG), and the Organic Label. Each of these signs of quality has a respective label that appears on food and beverage packaging. To get the rights to use these labels, farmers go through an extensive process with the government to ensure that their product meets the standards set for that specific region. The effort behind the farmers in doing so, surprisingly, is not to increase their margins or sales volume, but rather to have a good reputation in the market for having a "high quality" product. I thought this was interesting since many farmers wanted no economical benefit from the label, but rather a higher reputation for their products. This branding method allows consumers to select authentic and traditional products that are linked to specific territories. I would be interested to see if a program like this would work in the US, but then again, do we really have regional products that are specific to certain territories? Crawfish from Louisiana, Brisket from Texas, Lobsters from Maine, Wine from Napa? We actually found out that wine from Napa sold in Europe has a PDO label that allows consumers to know that it truly was produced in the Napa Valley of California. I'm pretty interested in the system's concepts and how it affects a product's price premium and a consumer's decision making when faced with the two products on a shelf (i.e. Champagne), one produced in the region, and one produced elsewhere. Do they want to pay the premium for the "real deal"? Do producers have a greater market power with this branding method that allows them to set price premiums? I guess i'll have to get started on my research paper to find out!

Day 12: Saint Malo

Today we made our way back to Angers, stopping in the walled city of Malo along the way. The city has a renaissance heritage and was built within the confinements of a city wall. During the second world war, it was interesting to hear that nearly 80% of the city was destroyed by bombings. Luckily, through modern ingenuity, europeans were able to rebuild this historic place with the remains of it's old structure. As we arrived at Saint Malo, I was completely overtaken by a the beautiful bay in which it sat on. We approached the giant entry gates embedded within the city walls and came immediately into a plaza bordered with various musicians, painters, and restaurants. We split into groups and each headed our separate ways. My group decided to walk around atop the city wall before heading into the city. Along the way, we found some gorgeous sites. The sand, water, yellow flowers, and green vegetation made Saint Malo such a beautiful place. The beaches looked promising, however, the clouds were in and out the entire day. We took our souvenir photos and headed down a small staircase into the city. We weaved in and out of various shops along the cobble stoned streets. Shops with various candies, ciders, and local goods like canned sardines and caramel. Scattered throughout the city were various restaurants, all with people eating lunch of what consistently looked like a rather large pot of mussels that smelled amazing! After grabbing some quick souvenirs, our group began to head back to the bus. As we did so, it began pouring down rain! I don't think one of us made it to the bus dry, so we had a pretty moist ride home. We may go back to Saint Malo for our free weekend. It's pretty, and if it's warm, it would make for a great beach destination!

Day 11: the Normandy Coast and D-Day Beaches

Today was, by far, my favorite day of the program. We ate a quick breakfast and then headed out on the coach to visit the D-Day museum in Normandy. The museum was amazing, emotionally evoking, stunning, and overall, fascinating. It was built by a French soldier who wanted generations to never forget the horrors of WWII. The museum is set into three parts: the world before 1944, the world June 6, 1944 (D-Day), and the world after WWII. Each part took you through the various political and cultural changes that took place during that time. Images, videos, and artifacts of Nazi paraphernalia were scattered about the museum. I was surprised to stumble upon an entire section on the Dachau concentration camp; the camp that my grandpa helped to liberate during the war. Seeing the horrifying images of lame bodies thrown about in various piles as if they were inanimate objects was quite sobering. I think at this moment I stopped and reflected on my grandpa, realizing that he was a part of the liberation and destruction of a concentration camp. I can't imagine what would drive a culture to accept the systematic and efficient genocide of a human race. The Germans even had a strict definition of a Jew, and individuals could even be born into being a Jew even if they didn't believe in Judaism! The rest of the tour was self guided and I had an audio guide at helped. After the museum, we had lunch and headed to the American WWII Cemetery on Omaha beach in Normandy; the site of the first landings on D-Day. I was surprise to discover that the land was actually given to the Americans by French as a gift of thanks for their liberation from the Nazi regime. I also liked that everything was in English, and secondly in French. The museum showed various medal of honor recipients, had artifacts on display, and played videos of the soldiers lives, giving them a sense of humanity and being behind the helmet. As we finished the museum, which was new and very nice, we walked upstairs to the cemetery. It's quite overwhelming walking out to the cemetery. American flags are waving overhead perfect rows of American graves. It really put things in perspective. 10,000 soldiers died on the beach at day, and they were all buried with dignity and respect here. At the front of the cemetery was a monument and statue dedicated to the soldiers, out of which played our national anthem on a sombre horn. Looking out of the monument, one can see the entire cemetery and reflecting pool. The graves are all pointed westward, towards our beautiful country. Each grave was beautiful, either a cross or star of David, engraved with the soldiers name, unit, and state. It was overwhelming seeing so much diversity on the grave sites, so many states, including my very own Texas. Amidst the graves was a chapel, who's dome inside was brilliantly tiled with an image of America supporting a dead soldier, symbolic of her strength and virtue as a country. After passing through the cemetery, we made our way down to the beach itself. Once we got down, it was hard to believe that, at one point, thousands of bodies were laid dead and blood stained along such a beautiful place. The beach was gorgeous with perfect sand and vibrant blue water. The background of the mainland was just as beautiful. It makes one realize that these soldiers, who fought for our freedom and the freedom of all Europeans, made their way thousands of miles from home to die for liberty and democracy. It too, is sobering. The visit to Normandy made me proud to be an American, proud of my country, proud for what we stand for, proud for our service men, and proud of my grandfather. I have never had so much pride for my country than when I stood atop that cemetery overlooking Omaha beach in Normandy, the site of D-Day, 72 years ago.

Day 10: Mont Saint Michele

We left ESA this morning at 6:00 sharp, bright and early. We headed out on the coach bus to our first destination, which was a sheep farm on the west coast of France. Basically, in a nutshell, the farm is located on about 200 hectares of land that has a high content of salt in it's soil because of it's geographical location. During high tide, the parts of the land are flooded with salt water, and during the low tide, those fields grow grass. The farmers in this area put sheep on the land to eat the grass. Because the grass pulls a high amount of salt from the soil, and the sheep ingest the grass, the sheep are said to have a very high-quality flavor them that is differentiated from others. These sheep are marketed very strategically and sold at a premium on the market. There are also a strict set of rules and guidelines set by the government that these farmers must follow. Off in the distance of the sheep fields, we could see a beautiful landmark reaching into the sky; our next destination, Mont Saint Michele. Upon our arrival, my immediate notice was that Mont Saint Michele (a monastery) was on it's own small island and surrounded by high walls. Because the tide was low, the entire area was surrounded by nothing but beach. As we walked inside, an immediate impression of Renaissance style architecture hits the visitor. The monastery is surrounded by small streets winding up to it's entrance with various gift shops, bars, and crepereés. We hiked our way to the top and found the best view, above all. Crystal, light blue water hitting perfectly tanned beaches skimmed by the vibrant green shoreline. It was a site! By far, one of my favorite sites thus far. The monastery was interesting, lots of cool architecture and crosses. Overall, the concept of Mont Saint Michele, built for the archangel Michele, left one in awe as it stands lone along the coast, isolated, reaching into the sky. I loved it!

Day 9: Th Welsh Bar

Woke up this morning, somewhat late because I forgot to reset my alarm to wake up. Fortunately enough, my tardiness was also accompanied by a nasty eye infection in my right eye. Pink eye, nonetheless. I scrambled downstairs, inhaled my breakfast, and jetted to school, making my classes on time. During my break I took a bike to a local pharmacy to get some medication. I walked into the pharmacy in a frenzy and quickly asked the pharmacist if she spoke English. She said, "a little." I then pointed to my bad eye and said, "I need help"! She replied, "I can tell". It made me laugh. She gave me two medications, totaling a whopping nine dollars; a steal. Went back to school, finished the day, and then headed to meet up with Dominic, my host dad, at a local bar called "Welsh Bar". I got there a little early and got lost in the menu. It had over 140 beers from various countries and 80 different types of whiskey. Overwhelming, to say the least. Dominic got there shortly thereafter and, as he walked in, I noticed he knew everyone! He was obviously a regular. We ordered some Belgium beer and drank on the patio. Not so long after, many locals began to flock to the bar for their Friday night fix. Many of which knew Dominic. They were all really nice and some even spoke English. The mood at the bar was really relaxing; a bar full of locals with live music, mainly a solo musician playing variations of songs with the violin. After this, we found our way to a new restaurant that made Moroccan food. There were only six options on the menu, so I ordered the most authentic of them, the couscous and chicken. It was a clay pot filled with couscous, chicken, zucchini, potatoes, and other vegetables. It was somewhat bland, but pretty delicious. We paired the meal with some Moroccan wine, which was very strong and not that enjoyable. After the wonderful meal, Dominic took me home and I packed for my trip tomorrow to the West Coast... Of France!

Day 8: French History and Animal Science

Today, we had lessons in French Animal Science and French History. The animal science lesson related specifically to dairy production, in which we learned about the various government implementations that control milk prices. Currently, the French use a quote system that allows farmers to only produce a certain amount of milk, and buyers a required to buy this milk at certain set prices. However, we found out that, recently, legislation has been reformed to remove the quotas for the benefits of both the producers and consumers. Looking at the economics behind the new legislation, I would figure that after the quotas are eliminated, more and more farmers will increase milk production, leading to lower prices and possibly a dairy surplus. We also learned about different animal welfare policies, and at the French's newest effort relating to swine castration. The French would rather inject swine with anti-hormonal medications than to castrate the swine's testicles. I thought it was rather contradicting for a culture that pushes for organic products and a natural lifestyle. Hormonal injections are a bit controversial in the United States and many people don't necessarily want hormonal injections in their meat products. However, it seems that here the French weigh animal welfare over hormonal meat injections. After the lectures, we went on a field trip to an organic farm about thirty minutes outside of Angers. The farm was interesting, but i honestly wasn't impressed with it's system, overall. There were a lot of things out of place and the overall image of the farm looked like a mess (i.e. farm equipment randomly scattered throughout the property, plastic amidst the greenhouses, and pests on the plants). The farm was in the process of building a new "cold" building that would be used to store the fruits and vegetables. The bricks on the farm were even made from organic clay. After a brief presentation, I picked up that the farmers themselves paid little, if any, attention to accounting principals and economic analysis of their operations. When we asked which product had the highest margin and/or brought in the most profit, the farmer could not even answer. It's interesting to see that farmers, such as this, will place more emphasis on sustainability and organic growth than reviewing their companies operations and financial affairs. This is something that is obviously different from the United States, which is economically focused. It's just their way of life; it's different.

Day 7: Sustainability Practices

Today ended up being pretty short, overall. We began with French class again and reviewed what we had learned in the previous days. After this, we had a lecturer talk to the class about Multicriterium of Cropping Systems. In the lecture, we learned about the basics of cropping systems and their role as being a crop community with management practices that are related to its use. They can be characterized by the type of crop being grown, order of succession, and range of techniques applied to the system's management. We discussed the various and different approaches to natural inoculation of soils and adding bacteria to the soil can help with the soil's overall health. The lecture was quite interesting and the lecturer was very engaging. For the remainder of our lecture, we were divided into groups and analyzed different key aspects of the crop systems from seven different farms. From the analysis, groups looked at things like overall nitrogen loss in the farm's soil, economic benefits, social benefits, etc. After each group presented their findings to the class, we found that different farms excelled in different areas based in the variation of inputs they focused on in their crop system. With this, the lecturer concluded that their is no right or wrong way to run a cropping system, but rather what matters is what you as a farmer want to place your own emphasis on achieving. After the lecture ended, we were free to leave. We split into groups and wondered around the city and the city center. I finally found myself wondering home and laid down to take a nap. I woke up to a group of individuals walking into the house singing Happy Birthday and later came to find that it was my host mother's birthday! We sat and enjoyed some champaign and crackers, ending with dinner and me heading to bed.

Day 6: European Union Lessons

As I'm getting settled into my new living arrangements, I'm slowly, but surely, getting into the swing of things around Angers. I woke up and experienced my first bus ride to school, which was an experience in itself. I found the bus stop without any problems and got on the correct line that would take me to ESA. Upon my first stop, in which I would switch buses, I walked to the exit door on the bus. As the bus came to the stop, I waited for the door to open, but it wouldn't. I looked around, and everyone was staring at me as if they were waiting for me to open it myself. I looked, and I looked, and I looked, but could not find any button that would open the door. Finally, the bus driver opened the door for me and I stepped out and waited for the next bus to arrive. After entering the next bus, I realized that there is a specific button on a pole directly in front of the exit door on the buses that one must push in order for it to open and exit. I guess there's a first time for everything! Today, at ESA, we had three different lectures. We began the day with French, which was quite interesting. It's similar to Spanish in many ways, so it seemed relatively easy to pick up. We learned phrases like "Bien, Tres Bien, Je m'appelle, Je suis American, Et toi, J'Habite a Houston" which mean "good, very good, my name is, I'm american, and you, I live in Houston" respectively. After this, we heard a three hour lecture about European Political history and the formation of the European Union. I'm not quite sure if I agree on everything that the European Union stands for, mainly for the simple fact that these nations give up their sovereignty to the hands of elected officials in the parliament of the European Union. For instance, if a nation is experiencing macro-economic difficulties, it is the responsibility of the EU to correct these problems. However, legislation passed within the EU applies to all nations in the EU, not just one. Thus, IF a nation specifically needs to address a problem within a certain area (i.e. Italy), the entire EU will passed legislation that is applicable to all of Europe. After this lecture, we headed to lunch and returned for a lecture on Agronomy, which was quite interesting. The lecturer discussed the theory of planting multiple crop varieties in crop fields in order to create sustainability. For instance, planting legumes next to cereal grains (i.e. beans next to corn) will allow farmers, theoretically, to use less fertilizer. This is because the nitrogen that is created by the legumes, naturally, will be placed into the soil next to the cereal grains, which extract nitrogen from the soil.  It's still under research, but it seems quite interesting and efficient. After this last lecture, our group headed to the city hall where we met various city officials who welcomed us to the city of Angers. We watched a brief video over the city and then came to learn that the city has plans in joining the city of Austin, in Texas, to be its sister city in the United States. The culture here is different and wonderful. Everyone seems to be laid back, relaxed, yet efficient and eclectic in everything they do. I went on a run this evening down the Loire river, saw the various views of the city, the cathedral in the skyline, and had a wonderful ending to a great day.

Day 5: First Day of Classes at ESA

Today was my first day of classes at ESA. I woke up this morning and ate some toast with home-made lemon jelly alongside my French-pressed coffee. Claudine, my host mom, took me to the campus for my first day so I would know where it is. We began the day with a small welcome reception led by the Director of the ESA. After this, we began our first lecture on Agroecology and its various meanings around the world. To put it simply, Agroecology can either be a discipline which focuses on ecology and agronomy with sustainable food practices, or even a way of life that people choose such as organic farming. The lecturer was hard to understand, but we got through it just fine. After the lecture, our group headed out to walk around the city of Angers. The city is small, to the locals, but i actually think it's rather large, as it has about 200,000 inhabitants. The city structure is gorgeous with various shops, universities, and cafes scattered throughout the city. After our tour, we ate lunch at the "University Cafeteria." This cafeteria actually sereves the needs for all the universities in the town, not just for ESA. The food wasn't good at all, especially since I've been pretty spoiled with my host family. After lunch, the group returned to our last lecture of the day, which lasted painfully for three hours. The discussion was over feeding humanity in the 22nd century. The Director of ESA led the lecture and basically rambled on about global warming, unsustainable food practices, American diets, water depletion, etc. I wasn't too thrilled with the lecture because many of the arguments that were presented had little and weak evidence to support them. I knew in coming to Europe that many of the cultural practices would be very social and liberal, but the director just seemed to point out the fact that our world has a growing food crisis, water shortage, and overall heating problem for which he could provide no solution too. I think, in all, the lecture allowed me to have stronger arguments against extreme left-wingged thinkers, like himself, and thrill efforts to make radical changes. After the lecture, i made my way back to my house because i had left my bus pass back in my jacket pocket. For dinner, we had cold roast pork, carrots, salad, bread, cheese, and wine with home-made mayo on the pork. I'm not too big on the mayo, but everyone eats it on everything here. Tomorrow we start our first day of french claasses. Au revoir!

Day 4: Angers!

We all woke up this morning to head out to our journey across the French countryside to Angers. Along the way, however, we made some pretty exciting stops. First, we stopped at a Château inside the Loire valley. The Château was smaller than the palace we had been at the day before, but with more access throughout the location where visitors could  see firsthand each and every room. The Château was about three stories high with a basement. It was gorgeous and had lavender all along the gardens beside of it, so much so that you could smell it in the air before you walked in! The gardens from a bird's eye view were gorgeous, each with it's own design that was quite aesthetic. After touring this Château, we headed out to another. This other Château  was Château de Brézé, a small dry-moated castle in the Loire Valley. It actually has the biggest dry moat in all of France, dug 40 meters deep. What's really interesting about this Château is that it actually has another Château built beneath it dating from 1060 B.C.. It has also been, for hundreds of years, a main supplier of wine for the Kings and Queens of France. It multiple vineyards located around it and is still functioning today. Our tour group was nice enough to set up a wine tasting with the Château! We tried three different types of wine; a white, red, and sparkling. I learned that white wine does not necessary come from white grapes, but rather to get a red wine the producer will leave the skins of the red grapes with the flesh of the grape for a matter of time (24 hours for a Rose, up to one week for a dark, red wine). The wine was excellent and I even bought a bottle! After this, we headed to Angers. Upon our arrival, I met my host mom. She seems like a typical French woman that I would have expected to be a host mom. Her english is good, but she does have an accent. The Dad is also nice. He speaks english, but didn't talk too much when I arrived. The daughter speaks perfect english and without an accent, which was pretty interesting. The house is much smaller than anything in the U.S. (well, not everything, but what I'm used to). It's three stories and I've got the top floor all to myself, with my own shower. There's a washer for clothes and everything is dried outside on a clothes line. I'm headed down for dinner in a few minutes...so I hope I have something good to write about that for tomorrow!

Day 3: Tours, France

Today we woke up early to leave for the city of Tours, France. The city was pretty small, but a central location within the Loire valley (a huge agricultural valley in France where the Loire river runs through). On the way to Tours, however, we stopped at the Palace of Versailles. The palace was built outside France (about 20 KM away) for royalty. It was the home of famous people such as Marie Antoinette and King Louie XIV. We toured the gardens outside of the palace beforehand and found them to be gorgeous! The backside of the palace was lined with a rocky courtyard and had gardens of various designs on each of it's sides. In the center was situated a huge fountain and various pathways that lead into the entry ways for the maze in the garden. We walked through the garden and saw it's various features and we were even able to make the "water" show towards the end of our tour where all the fountains turn on. After this, we headed inside to see the palace. It was also quite overwhelming. Not so much because of the building, but mainly because of the amount of people that were there touring at the time. The palace was decorated with elaborate details, paintings, and tapestries throughout each and every room. Impressive, to say the least. However, I could never describe in words the grandiosity that the palace portrayed firsthand. It was quite a site! After this, we finished our journey to Tours through the French countryside, passing by various wineries and beautiful Châteaus (castles) along the way. Upon our arrival in Tours, we were informed by our tour guide/instructor that the city had been bombed during the second world war, so many of its prized monuments (i.e. churches) were somewhat crumbled, but nonetheless preserved. We toured the city, had some great beer, and headed to bed for our long journey in the morning....to Angers! 

Day 2: The Louvre

I woke up this morning and decided that I need a good run to get things going, so I got myself together and headed out for a beautiful run along the river that runs through the city of Paris. The run was great, the weather was wonderful, and the scenery stunning. After returning, showering, and preparing for the day, our group took the metro to the Opera house that resides in Paris. The house is somewhat like a diamond in the ruff. Not to say that the buildings surrounding the house itself are not aesthetically pleasing, but the opera house is embellished with gold and tasteful architecture that stands out amongst the rest. After viewing the Opera house, our group headed towards the Louvre, which would be the highlight of our day trip. The Louvre itself used to be the residing place of many kings and queens of France, so it was naturally enormous. Today, it's one of the largest landmarks and museums in the entire world. Upon walking up the courtyard (a massive courtyard, I might add) to the Louvre one's eye is immediately caught by a beautiful glass pyramid that stands in between the walls of the Louvre itself. I had always been told that the Louvre was huge, ginormous, overwhelming, and mammoth-like, but I hadn't realized it until I saw it face-to-face. We walked into the Louvre and were immediately overwhelmed by the mere size of the place. We were each handed maps and told to "get lost" in the Louvre. Of course, my first thought was the Mona Lisa. However, after looking through the map, I realized that there were many other famous and recognizable works of art that I had seen before and even learned about in my life time, but never knew that they resided in the Louvre. Items like Antonio Canova's Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss, Venus de Milo (from 120 BC), Nike of Samothrace(winged Victory from 190 BC), and of course, the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. It's astonishing and overwhelming to realize that many of these sculptures are over 2,200 years old and are still standing! The Mona Lisa was naturally the highlight of everyone's trip to the Louvre. The painting itself is encased behind two sets of glass, which sits behind a wooden fence that keeps observers from getting too close. It's not as big as I had thought, but it was nice to look at. After seeing these, we headed to the top floor to view some French paintings which were also nice to look at. In all, one could spend a lifetime in the Louvre and not see everything! After this, we headed back to the Opera district where we had originally started and strolled through some various and expensive department stores in the area. Paris is gorgeous, wonderful, and full of culture, history, and great food!

Day 1: Welcome to Paris!

I arrived in Paris today, by train, coming from Luxembourg where I had previously ended my journey through Italy! Taking the subway seems relatively easy now since I've been taking subways across Europe for the past two weeks. I got off my TGV train (Train à Grande Vitesse, meaning high-speed train) at Gare d'Est, a train station in central Paris. From there, I took the subway train to our hostel, St. Chrisopher's. I was pretty anxious to see everyone when I arrived! The hostel is wonderful and comes with many more amenities than the ones I had previously stayed in during my visit to Italy. The next morning, our first real day in Paris, was pretty eventful. We woke up for breakfast (usually consisting of bread and some type of spread such as nutella, butter, and/or any jelly) and immediately departed with our staff from ESA to see Paris! We began by taking the metro to the Arc de Triomphe, a famous arc within Paris that was erected during the Napoleonic era. From there, we walked along the Champs-Élysées. This is a famous avenue next to the Arc de Triomphe that's known for it's high end retail stores. Originally, the area was mainly only for the upper class. Now, anyone can walk down the avenue and see the shops (i.e. Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Gucci). The area was gorgeous and the entire avenue was lined with beautiful trees and cafes. From the Champs-Élysées, we took the metro to an area called Trocadéro. This is basically a plaza that overlooks, from a hill, the Eiffel Tower. The view was gorgeous! Our guide, Clair, gave us a few facts about the tower while we were on the Trocadéro. Originally, the tower was built for use in the 1889 world's fair with strategic engineering that would allow it to be easily taken apart. During this time, many Parisians thought the tower was hideous and would ignore it. Now, it's quite the opposite and many refer to the tower as the "Old Lady" because of the lace-like pattern that the iron creates around the legs of the tower. We walked down the Trocadéro underneath the "Old Lady" and got a nice view from under her skirt! From here, we took the metro and arrived at one of Paris' most famous sites, Notre Dame. The church was absolutely gorgeous! The Gothic architecture and intricate stained glass rose windows left many tourists, much like myself, in awe. After this, we visited the Latin Quarter, the location of one of Paris' oldest universities and where many students currently hang out. There were book shops and cafe's around the area and it was quite aesthetic. This was the end of our tour for the first day. Afterwards, the ESA group that I'm with found a local store called "Casino" and went in to purchase some wine (we're legal to drink here, of course). We thought we'd find something relaxing to do so we bought a few bottles of wine and took them out to a local park out on the river that runs next to our hostel. After this, our group made its way back to the hostel to head out to see the Eiffel Tower. We climbed (well, took an elevator) too the top and looked out over the city of Paris at sunset. It's one of the most amazing things I may have seen in my entire life! Afterwards, we headed back down to the bottom where one can watch the tower sparkle at every hour on the hour for five minutes. Watching the tower sparkle was the icing on the cake for a wonderful day!