Month: October 2022

Wine Tasting in France!

Published on by taliafrankelLeave a comment

France! The home of wine tasting, and quite possibly one of the only countries that offers wine tasting as an actual course option for a study abroad semester. I’m sure you can imagine the speed at which I added that class to my schedule. Did it seem a little ridiculous to spend three hours of my Friday getting graded for my ability to identify certain wine aromas and pair it with certain foods? Yes. But when in France, and when it’s offered, do as the French do and taste some wine.

*I would like to clarify that I did not take this class as an excuse to get drunk on wine at 9am every Friday (we spit the wine back into cups). My main goal was to come back to the U.S. with enough knowledge of wine to be an absolute annoyance to all of my friends and family.*

The class is a three hour course from 9am – 12pm every Friday morning, in which the first hour and a half consists of a slideshow on the chosen wines for that day and the second hour and a half consists of the tasting and food pairing. During the second half of class we are presented with four types of wine from the types that we discussed during the lecture. We are offered an array of food to taste as well that is meant to pair with the wines that day. For example, on the day we tasted Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay we also had fish, chèvre, and asparagus. While on the day we tasted Pinot Noir we ate mushrooms and duck.

Aside from the in-class wine tastings, our class got the chance to tour a local vineyard in Provence. Named Château des Trois Sautets, or, “Castle of the Three Goats,” this vineyard is a very new vineyard, opened in 2020 by three brothers. They welcomed us with open arms, giving us a tour of their vineyard, winemaking rooms, and goat farm. We got to see first hand how the grapes are separated, crushed, and sorted, as well as the vinification tanks in which they ferment, before being led to a beautiful stone patio overlooking the mountain side of Provence.

The rest of our time at the vineyard consisted of us trying the three types of wine they grew. They offered us one white, one rosé, and one red, each consisting of a blend of different grape types. To top it off we were served three types of fresh goat cheeses to pair with the wines, freshly delivered from the goat farm just yards away. After a long, arduous day of wine tasting we walked down the hill back to our bus and were shuttled back to our home city of Aix.

Needless to say, I feel incredibly lucky to spend my Fridays getting trained in the art of wine. You can’t complain about schoolwork when the schoolwork consists of traveling to vineyards in the South of France, although it does slightly make me dread the transition back to the American education system. Despite the fact that I may not be able to continue my career as a sommelier when I return to the U.S., I will at least come back with the ability to pick the perfect bottle of wine to go with any meal (and successfully either impress or annoy whoever’s in my company). 

La Fortuna

Published on by kasiarostrowskiLeave a comment

This past weekend I visited La Fortuna, a small town in Costa Rica famous for its proximity to inactive Arenal Volcano. I went with my study abroad program, which consists of around 25 students, mostly women.

We left early in the morning on Saturday, around 6:30 a.m. and stopped around eight to  use the restroom and grab a snack from a small convenience and souvenir shop. Across the road from where our giant tour bus stopped was a tranquil little lookout point facing lush green hills and mountains in the distance. The view reminded me a bit of my home state, Wisconsin, because of the visible farmland and grazing cattle – even though most of Costa Rica is a dense rainforest far from the American Midwest.

Our journey continued and our next stop was La Fortuna waterfall. A little sleepy still, I changed into my swimsuit in the restroom and followed my friends down the 500 stairs to the pool below. Along the path a small family of monkeys darted between the trees and I nearly tripped trying to get a better glimpse of their small, furry baby.

The view of the waterfall when I made it to the bottom looked like something out of a highly edited Instagram photo. The only thing that ruined it slightly was the dozens of tourists doing the same thing I was: marveling at the scene before them and preparing to dip a toe into the frosty water. I did more than dip a toe; I made my way down the jagged, rocky shoreline and  jumped in. This was the most refreshing experience thus far in Costa Rica. The sun was shining, I wasn’t wearing sunscreen, and I hoped to see a sloth, or at least another monkey.

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The weekend passed by in a similar fashion. The hotel was beautiful. Palms lined the roads between our rooms and bushes with bright red, orange, and yellow blossoms greeted us as we made our way down to the pool. The volcano was always visible to the East, and had a perpetual circle of clouds obscuring its jagged mouth – due to, as I learned, condensation from human activity during the hot hours of the day. Our gaggle of study abroad kids spent the night drinking spicy margaritas at the hotel wet bar (accessible right from the hot springs – what could be more luxurious) and taking turns rocketing down the steep waterslide that has likely never passed a safety inspection.

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Arenal Volcano from outside our hotel room

I had tons of fun and returned home exhausted and tan. However, part of me wondered if it was a packaged, tourist version of La Fortuna that I had just experienced. Our comfy tour bus was essentially a bubble from which to experience a town and resort where many of the staff spoke English and were used to Americans parading in and out. I felt embarrassed, and a little guilty. These thoughts were not new to me after living in San José for two weeks, but I have not yet learned the best way to navigate feeling like a spoiled outsider. I came here to step outside of my comfort zone and practice a second language, and I’m finding it much harder to do both than I expected. I keep asking myself, “am I being too cynical?”

In the coming weeks it might be up to me to push myself to experience some less-touristy spots and spend time with non-English speakers who are not in my program. Updates are to come, but right now I have mixed feelings about if I’m experiencing Costa Rica the “right” way.