Tag: france

Food in French Culture

Published on by taliafrankelLeave a comment

One of the first things that comes to many people’s minds when thinking of French culture (and one of the many reasons I decided to study abroad in this country) is its excellent cuisine. During my first month of studying in Aix en Provence I have tried many new cafés, restaurants, bars, and recipes in my own home! Whether you’re looking for a coffee and pastry to start your day, a perfect charcuterie board, a fancy dinner, or delicious seafood by the coast, the south of France has more than enough to offer.

Cafés and Patisseries

My favorite way to start my weekdays is with a cappuccino and a croissant from one of my favorite cafés or patisseries (pastry shops). There’s no shortage of these adorable stops in Aix, so the hardest part is finding which one you like the most. My typical stop is Chez Augustine, which is just around the corner from my apartment and typically where I get my daily baguette. Another favorite of mine for when I have more time to sit is Maison Riederer, which specializes in hot chocolate and their delicious pain au chocolats.

However, if you’re ever feeling a bit homesick or just looking for a place to study, my recommendation is Café Lumiere. One of the best places in the city to find good wifi and great iced coffee drinks (a rare find in this city). Owned and run by an American woman, the staff is incredibly welcoming and it can be a comforting feeling to walk into an English speaking business from time to time.

Restaurants in France

One of my favorite parts about French culture is the way that people here find time to enjoy each and every meal, whether that be for themselves or accompanied by friends or family. One of my favorite sit-down spots for breakfast, brunch, or lunch is at La Crêpe Sautière. This awesome crêpe spot located right near my school (IAU) serves the most delicious recipes as well as offering a build your own option. You can find a variety of fun pub/lunch spots located around la Rotonde at the edge of the historic part of the city. These spots serve cocktails, charcuterie, tapas, as well as larger plates of food that work well for lunch or dinner with friends. Some finer dining restaurants such as La Rotonde and Le Piston offer classic French dishes such as steak tartar, escargot, oysters, and more.

Market Shopping and Cooking at Home!

As a student abroad I still have to live on a budget, so eating out for every meal isn’t the most sustainable. Fortunately, Aix hosts a massive market every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, which offers a variety of fresh foods at an affordable price. Since I live in an apartment, my roommates and other students in the building have started a “family dinner night” where we all contribute to the meal and cook together. Just last week we got mussels from the market and made mussel pasta with baguette and a beet salad with goat cheese. Gathering ingredients from the local market and cooking with and for your friends is such a fulfilling experience that has helped me create so many deep bonds in my program.

The culture around food in France is much different than most people experience it in the United States. Here, meals are meant to be a time to relax and connect with people you love, such as friends or family. Meal times are much less flexible, and fast food is not nearly as common. Instead, when you go out around 12-1pm you’ll see every restaurants full, all French students are on breaks with their friends, and families are eating together. In addition to offering a wide array of delicious cultural foods, France has given me a new appreciation for how food is used to create and build connections and establish a more fulfilling way of life (even though I’m perfectly happy keeping my cheese and baguettes all to myself).

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Managing Great Expectations, A Tale of Two (or more) Cities

Published on by Joe AumullerLeave a comment

One of the most coveted parts of studying abroad is travel: whether it’s mountaineering, jungles, beaches, ancient cities, or just the tiny winding streets of a bustling metropolis, everyone manages to find new places to explore. What we forget in all our ideas of travel is the how component: finances, traveling companions, or accommodations. For me, how is transportation. Trains, planes, and buses (I know, I really wanted to put automobiles there for the pop-culture reference as well), all seem to offer something different. Trains offer extensive passes that make using vast rail networks affordable and fun to use. For planes, there is the convenience of quick and immediate travel. Then for the truly adventurous souls there are the long bus rides through the countryside that offers eclectic crowds and cheap fares. For me, I chose the former, trains. And it was trains that have truly shaken me to core on what it means to be flexible.

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In the past few weeks I have learned that there are few certainties in traveling. Recently I traveled on a train home from Munich, Germany and a train (partway) to Nice, France. And what do Bavaria and the French Riviera have in common, you might ask? My misfortune.

While traveling home from Oktoberfest my train managed to breakdown at the station in Munich, its replacement arrived 30 minutes later… The time between trains at my connection in Cologne? 25 minutes… After realizing that was the only train back to Brussels that day, I managed to take 4 subsequent evening trains around rural Germany and Belgium to finally catch a midnight train back “home.” After two weeks to recover I boarded another train to Paris, with a connection to Nice, which just happened to coincide with rail strikes and the worst floods the French Riviera has had in decades. Courtesy of an unexpected 20 minute stop in the French countryside, my train arrived late at Gare de Nord in Paris and I was unable to make it to Gare de Lyon in time to catch the last train to Nice. Unfortunately there were no options around France to make it to Nice: Nice is conveniently a small town in Southern France that is hard to get to, was hit by floods and slowly reopened, and railroad strikes simultaneously plagued France and Northern Europe. While I laugh now at these experiences, I definitely took at least a few months off my life.

Flexibility. The buzzword of parenting, the guiding light of the workplace, and the universal doctrine of expats. It is the greatest mind game one can play (aside from doing planks and minesweeper).How far can you push your mind before it breaks. As a guy who loves a plan and back-up plans I struggle with the term flexibility. Prior to coming abroad, flexibility to me was the ability to change the plan to the back up plan on the fly. What I have learned, however, is that flexibility is not simply being able to change the plan but being able to accommodate for the “oh sh**” moments. It’s all about taking a deep breath, accepting that life isn’t in your favor at the moment and pushing forward.

Even Yoda had some “oh sh**” moments, he never really saw the whole Darth Vader thing coming…  Flexibility is saying, you know what, I may be stuck in rural Germany but there’s a McDonald’s and I’ll be ok. Flexibility is the combination of gratitude, a calm demeanor, and the ability to simply make something out of nothing. Of course you’re going to have your buttons pushed traveling, its uncomfortable to have to compartmentalize what you believe is necessary to enjoy your time somewhere, then be treated like cattle under the false pretense that you’re an explorer commandeering your method of transport, only to find out you will be late, tired, and unprepared. The thing is, nobody is prepared for all the ways travel plans can go wrong, but they should be prepared for how to make everything go right.

Life throws us curveballs and new environments, and we teach ourselves something new. There is always a new person to meet, an emotion to feel, and travel makes that possible. To those studying abroad: everyday you find out what you don’t know, but the shock is never supposed to eliminate what you already know. In Brussels, I am always on my toes. Whether it is a professor failing 30 out of 33 students on the midterm exam, the city being locked down for raids to find terrorists, getting stuck two towns away from home when the metro shuts down, or simply trying to figure out how to make a 20 euro bill turn into 9 euros worth of .50 cent coins. Breath, do your Zen thing and move on with it.

Traveling is a constantly evolving practice that lets humans live the nomadic adventure that we crave. Yogis, fruit leather, and Gumby are all flexible. But then again, they never missed the last train to Brussels from Cologne on a Sunday evening.