I Couldn't Have Known

There are many things that happen in life that seem insignificant at the time but end up changing your course significantly in the long run. Since this weekend in Lyon, three days have gone by. Being back in Yssingeaux, I was thinking that my life was pretty boring for these 3 days and was debating even posting at all... then, something pretty cool happened. Monday I went to class for my first day of breads. I was so tired that I came home and napped and then handwashed a TON of laundry because it costs almost 9 dollars to do a load here. Its crazy. But Tuesday, I met Alain Ducasse... which was cool, but suddenly became significant when...

BAM!

Yes. The above photograph is today's newspaper. In French. Cause I live in France. and...That is me on the front page. With ALAIN DUCASSE. Standing in the breads lab during class. It just doesn't quite feel real... For those of you who don't know who Alain Ducasse is, you should google him. You will see his many restaurants and you will see that these restaurants are very well respected... some even have Michelin Stars which is a HUGE deal in the culinary industry. Over Ducasse's career, his establishments have earned 21 stars. Only 2 chefs have done this. And I got to spend time with him! (He happens to be a co-founder of my pastry school in France.) We had a question and answer session with him and afterwards, many of us ambushed him for pictures! Including myself... I was SUPER cheesing...

Then he came to our lab and hung out for a bit... it was pretty fantastic! So, today when all the excitement had died down and I was having a pretty lousy day  (I cut the heck out of my hand on the sharp edge of a cabinet... How the heck that even happens... I don't know) It was a VERY cool surprise to get word that I was in the newspaper! I promptly went and picked up 4 copies cause I was so excited. That part is a little embarrassing...

But, back to my original plan for this post: 

I couldn't have known when I started this trip that I was going to see Alain Ducasse while I was in France. I definitely didn't think I'd be able to talk to him. I REALLLY REALLY didn't think I'd ever be in a French newspaper either. 

I also didn't know that cutting my hand would lead me on a band-aid hunt to another lab... full of French pastry students! Turns out they had been pretending to not know any English, but when they saw me bleeding everywhere they were nice and I met my goal of finding a french friend! They were really nice and I'm hoping I can talk to them some other time in less bloody, gross circumstances.

So, here I sit... attempting to read a French Newspaper, sipping on fancy apple cider, type-ity typing up my blog. And All I can think of is how everything is awesome here. Even if it starts out as lousy... it turns into something worthwhile! There are plenty of things that I cannot predict are going to come out of my experiences here... So, I'm going to sit back and live it. 

Au Revoir, Friends. Until next time...

Laughter is the Universal Language

I don't want anyone to think for a second that I'm not having the time of my life, because I am! But, at the same time, being in a new place isn't easy. It's overwhelming! It gets difficult to communicate when someone doesn't speak your language. It is hard to not only meet new people in France, but new fellow American students here as well. Travel and planning is exhausting, let alone the MILES of city, hills, mountains, and trails we walk each day. It is all worth it of course, but the only thing that gets me through the day here is laughter. When I cannot communicate with someone in the city, they laugh that I speak no French, and I laugh that they speak no English, we laugh at our frustration, and it makes the struggle easier to acknowledge that we are both human through our laughter. When we can't find our train in the middle of a busy train station full of no one who can help us find our way, we laugh because crying over it would be silly. We laugh when we fall because we simply cannot walk any longer. We laugh when we cant read the menus at restaurants. We laugh when we have no clue how to eat the food that we order. Through the short time I've been here I've learned that Laughter is such a universal language; I think it's beautiful.

This weekend, I traveled to Lyon with 4 other students: 3 from JWU Charlotte, and 1 from JWU Providence.

Clearly, we had a GREAT time! We saw it ALL! It was a big change from being in Yssingeaux because Lyon is like 10x bigger. When I try to think of an American city to compare it to, I cannot come up with one that does it justice but I suppose that Paris is to New York as Lyon is to Chicago. Lyon is also the gastronomic capitol of France (that's a fancy way to say that they have the best food) and I can't say that I disagree. The food was fantastic! In our short 48 hours of time in Lyon we:

 -ate at a quaint crepe shop that a man ran out of his home where I had the BEST crepes I have ever had. 

- We shopped literally until we dropped

-We saw the Rhone river along with MANY other landmarks

-We ate sorbet

-We ate pastries

-We ate icecream

-We ate macaroons

-We ate cheese

-We ate honey

-We ate blood oranges

-We ate Seafood

-We ate creme brulee

-We ate Chocolate that was inside a real egg-shell

-We worked all the calories off by hiking to the top of Old City Lyon

- We were given roses by a hot french florist man

-We were offered free drinks and churros by a restaurant owner (yes there are churros in France)

-We got yelled at in a mystery language by a flock of gypsies because we accidentally roamed into their territory of secrets

-We came by complete accident across a huge parade of children dressed as funny characters from Pixar movies and lots of drumming bands.

-We saw many beautiful churches

-We adored grafitti

-We "awed" over many french children

-We ate a picnic of fresh market foods in a park

-We played on a playground

-We drank fancy drinks

-We hiked through the ruins of an old theater

- We took lots of pictures

-We rode on trains and in taxis

-We watched French Music videos in our hotel

-We learned that some McDonalds have "Walk-Thrus"

-We took silly pictures on honorable statues

-We had a blast.

Here are a few pictures of these things:

I'm sure i'm forgetting some things... but basically, I had an exhausting, fantastic, beautiful weekend with some great people! Tomorrow I begin Breads Class.

Have a great Monday, Everyone. Remember to laugh. 

Parlez-vous français?

Bonjour! Je m'appelle Kelcey! Je suis e'tudiante un patisserie. J'ai deux tortue et ils sont petit! J'adore arc-en-ciel gateau et jongier. Je'suis dix-neuf, presque vingt! Voila!

Okay, Okay... enough showing off my new found ability to speak French... 

If you didn't quite catch that, I said: "Hello! My name is Kelcey! I am a student of pastry. I have two turtles and they are tiny! I like rainbow cake and juggling. I am 19, almost 20! There you are!"

In case you can't already tell... I had my first French class today! Unfortunately, funfetti cake doesn't exist here, so the best translation I could get my teacher to come up with was "Rainbow Cake." Works for me!

I have been pretty slack about my blogging lately, but now that I am in both pastry and French classes, I have a lot less time than I thought to spend telling everyone what I'm doing, because it cuts down on my adventure time! So, here's what I've been up to!

Yesterday:

4:30am- Wake up, put on many layers of clothes, tread up 2 mountains in the snow... Arrive at school and change into chef uniform.

6:00am- Start Petit Fours Class! We made macaroons! Teeny Tiny ones! We also made some other tiny, adorable desserts that I will post once complete! I learned a lot of French techniques and what to call all my tools in French! Un maryse is a rubber spatula!

1:00pm- Labs end and Lunch Begins. It was delicious as usual and Carmen, the dining room manager was sweet as ever today when she came to check if we enjoyed our lunch in very broken English. 

2:00pm- Change back into street clothes, and begin trek back home. We took a "shortcut" but got distracted by dogs, donkeys, and roosters so the walk took a while! then I took a 20min nap and a group of us left on a hike! It was REALLY steep. Like over 900 meters steep. My butt is going to look great. Here we are taking silly timer photos on our hike!

After the hike we walked through town and I bought delicious fresh bread, fresh jam, and a few other tasty treats at a random market set up in the center of town. The food here is still the best I've ever had. Ever. And the vendors at the marked included the very dirty, nice man that sold me my bread and an adorable woman not much older than me that spoke pretty decent English that she remembered from high school! She had awesome dreads! I bought her plum jam and have been spreading it on everything because it is too tasty. 

After getting home, I began planning the Paris trip... which took till 11pm. Which leads to today!

Today was much the same as yesterday but I had a French class from 2-4 after Petit Fours. Then I came home and passed outttt since last nights planning kept me up far too late. I then took a much enjoyed shower and the students in night labs came by on their walk home to chat more about Paris... which I cut short to finish this post, talk to Craig, and sleep.

A few interesting things I learned about France today:

There is no Easter Bunny here: a BELL hides the eggs. That is not a typo. I know it doesn't make sense... but this is France...

I learned what blood sausage is because I unintentionally ate it... and thought it was delicious until I was told it was some form of blood and organ meat from an animal ground into a paste and cooked... Who thinks of these things?!

That's all for now! Goodnight!

Class has Begun!

Bonjour again!

Although my original intention was to post every day... I have been overtaken by a case of Jet Lag that I thought I had already completely recovered from by the first day. I am currently running on 2 hours of sleep because I didn't want to nap in an effort to get on the correct sleep schedule. Don't worry, the second I hit "Post" it's bedtime for me! Today was my first day of class which consisted of waking up at 4:30am to a surprise snowstorm after finally falling asleep at 2:30. I then trudged 20 minutes to the labs through the snow. It was a little rough. lol. But, It helps that when I get to the top of the multiple hills and mountains I climb to get to school, I look out to see this beautiful town I live in. Yssingeaux. I took this photo when I first arrived. Isn't this a magical place to get to wake up to every morning?!

Once I got to class I woke right up and dove into production! I was surprised by the way some things are done here, but it was a good, simple day. My current chef is Australian and all the girls in my class are completely infatuated with him which is hilarious to watch. We didn't finish any petit fours, but as soon I do... pictures will be posted. I have tons of pictures but am going to let everyone's anticipation keep building before I post them. Plus, IM GOING TO PARIS THIS WEEKEND! WOOH! 

Can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store for me!

Until then...

I'm tired.

Today was fantastic! (Again) It was filled with adventures into town. Confusion at the grocery store... Again. And a giant dinner potluck style with all us Americans! Then we went on an interesting adventure to a bowling alley, and a few of us planned a hiking trip for tomorrow. It's been great, and I can't believe I've only been here 3 days. But, now I must admit something... I'm exhausted. I've been too excited and curious and happy and allll that to sleep! So, I have to cut this blog short and go take care of that... Because soon I may just stop functioning. Sleeping In tomorrow for sure. Even though its only 8pm in America... It is 1am here, and that is just too late for someone who needs to adjust enough to be in class at 6am Monday!

Goodnight all!

Little Things That Make a BIG Difference!

Bonjour!

Today was a longgg day! In fact, its almost 3am here... but it was my first day in the city and I wanted to share a few seemingly small differences in lifestyle that I have noticed since arriving in France. Keep in mind it was my first day and I live in a very small town, so my first observations may be slightly off. Once I start classes on Monday (at 6am D:) I'm sure i'll offer lots of enlightening cultural information for you all... but for now i've learned this:

1) In France... they eat every hour. I am not over exaggerating. If you are at all hungry it is the end of the world and you will be promptly stuffed with croissants, all types of cheese, and local yogurt.

2) In most places i've been the ceilings look like floors and the floors look like ceilings, its an odd observation, but if you were here... you'd find it to be quite true. 

3) Bottled water and France Tap water tastes exactly the same. Its Awesome!

4)Knowing French is helpful... Today my very terrible French translation of "May I please order a drink?" and "Can we have the check please?" saved 15 of us VERY American students at the local bar. I'm glad I learned that before I came... I'm also glad going to the bar here is legal for us, because it's a really great way to meet people in the city.

5) No matter how many European-Style clothes you put on... the French will always pick out that you are American... if by miracle they don't notice... the second they speak to you and receive a very excited, blank stare... they WILL know, and they'll probably laugh at you... but I don't think it's in a rude way.

6) The Grocery store is a scary place if you don't know much French. If there' wasn't a picture on the box... It was very difficult to figure out what something was. I learned at least 10 words in the 10 minutes I awkwardly darted around trying to find snacks. I also frustrated the check out lady quite a bit. Apparently you need to buy your grocery bags. That would make sense if they were right at the check out... but they were clear across the store and I could not remember what "bag" is in French for the life of me! The man behind me in line laughed his butt off as I attempted rough sign language while frequently repeating the word "Desole" Which means "Sorry"

7) The speed limit is not obeyed. The police are virtually non-existent, and the road signs are all different.If you walk in the street... you will get run over.

8) The French call Foosball "Baby Foot."

9) In my town, the people are very nice. I was warned they may be "snooty" but I think that may be more applicable in Paris. Here, many people greet us happily. We are also know as "The American Students" because for a little while we traveled in a pack of all 21 of us from the different JWU campuses... Then we learned that we stand out too much if we do that.

10) I could continue on, but I will finish for now with the bathrooms. They are crazy. The toilet seats are so thin that maybe 1/4 of my butt fits on it. The toilet paper is pink?! You push all types of different buttons to flush. Public toilets sometimes have no toilet seat. Don't waste your time looking for a "ladies" room... there aren't very many. And don't be alarmed when you go into the unisex bathroom and there is a guy openly peeing in the urinal next to the stall. All of this is normal. 

The best part of this post is that all these weird, awesome, and downright gross differences I have encountered... make this temporary home even more fantastic. If something is bizarre, you call it "Cultural" and its suddenly beautiful! Its Day 2 and I already want to stay forever!

I'll start posting pictures over the next few days, haven't found time yet!

Goodbye until tomorrow!

I Have Arrived!

After MUCH travel, I have finally arrived at Yssingeaux! It was not easy but in the past two weeks I have traveled from Charlotte, NC to Mooresville, NC to Raleigh, NC then to Hagerstown, MD Fredrick, MD and Baltimore, MD where I boarded a plane to Newark, then to Germany, then to Lyon, France... where I hopped on a bus to Yssingeaux. Yeah, it was INSANE. And while we waited in the Newark Airport we ate Mediterranean food waiting for our flight to Germany watching the first hispanic pope be seected in Vatican city... Culture overload!! Also, Jet Lag is NO joke... I didn't think it'd be a huge deal but all of yesterday and today I found myself sleeping in every place and time possible. I am wiped out! 

Before my trip started, I was joking with my family that I didn't feel like I was actually going to France... and I think it finally sunk in when I boarded the flight from Newark to Germany. The plane was giant! I didn't know that type of plane existed! It was warm and comfortable and there were TV's for each person and they kept feeding us and talking to us in German... and suddenly the trip became very real. I looked out the window and this is what I saw:

I have not had much time to adventure within Yssingeaux today, but it has nevertheless been eventful! I got settled into my quaint European apartment after trudging with suitcases through mass amounts of unexpected snow. Then our entire group went to dinner at the Chateaux (our school) and met many people who will be helping us get acquainted with France! Thankfully, my French is already improving! 

I have to get up tomorrow pretty early so I have much sleep to catch up on!

Au Revoir!

My Journey Begins!

Today is Sunday, March 10th 2013.

Then comes Monday. 

Then Tuesday.

Then... I LEAVE FOR FRANCE.

I am currently staying in Maryland where my roommate lives until we fly out at 1:05 Wednesday afternoon.

Thursday at 9:50 am, I will arrive in Lyon, France, where I will get on a bus with all the other students flying in for the ENSP Pastry Program in Yssingeaux, France! 

I'll be taking classes in this fancy castle!! 

Ecole Nationale Superieure de Patisserie <--Click for the website :)

Once I arrive, all the beautiful France and food pictures will begin! I'll be staying in an apartment in Yssingeaux... but hopefully I won't be there much, because I have a lot of adventuring to do!

The countdown continues!

Au Revoir for now!