We had wine tasting chez Celine et Remy for degustations du vin et du fromage. So much fun! Celine is the housing coordinator for the Grenoble program, Remy is her husband. He is very soft-spoken but kind of a big deal...He travels to Paris every week to eat at world-class restaurants and try exceptional wines, and then rate and write about it for the Michelin guide. What a job ! Paid to eat ! So he taught us a little about wines and fromage. He started us all out with a white wine - I actually learned what those words "dry" or "woody" or "fruity" mean! Before I would taste a wine and say "Oh yeah, this is so dry" and actually have no idea what I was talking about.... Ha! First we looked at the wine to see and judge by its color. Next you look at les jambes (the legs) to see les larmes, which indicates how much sugar or alcohol is in there. The next part is my favorite because it sounds so funny and I just picture doing it in a fancy-schmancy Parisien restaurant - its called retro-olfaction. Basically you drink a tiny bit of wine, then breathe in air through your mouth, then blow the air out through your nose. This way, the olfactory in your nose picks out the different scents and flavors of the wine. But it sounds like everyone is slurping ! Next you sniff the wine, swirl it, and smell again for new scents. Remy asks us what flavors we can pick out- fruity or flowery? Throughout the lesson, we smell apple, pear, orange, cassis, blueberry; for flowers, jasmine, rose, lavender, honey, cinnamon, leather, cloves. It's amazing the scents I could never pick out before.
We also tried with each wine some fromage from the region where le vin was made. The first one is a milk-based, very creamy cheese from La Haute-Savoie. Next, to go with our red wine we had a thicker, heavier cheese, like Comte. Another cheese was fromage bleu and delicious; un autre was le fromage de brebis - or ewe milk. So yummy!
I took the train right after to Lyon Part-Dieu to meet my new friend Benjamin. Ben is pretty cool! ..so French. Especially when he speaks English words like "perfect" hehe. But it's good cuz he makes fun of my accent and I make fun of his :) He also complains about...everything! But that's the French for you, everything that m'ennerve. We cook an easy dinner chez lui and then hit up a party in the chic quartier de Lyon. You can hear the party from 3 blocks away, which is always a good sign :) The theme of the party is La Crise, in sync with the economic crisis, so half the people are wearing shredded clothes, messed up hair, and a majority of the mecs (guys) there aren't wearing shirts! Or pants! I love France! I quickly realize that I don't know a single person here...Merde...Outside to the balcony, that's always a good way to meet people. I start talking with these cool girls, one who is in Lyon looking at schools. Everyone asks me all night if I go to EM Lyon, one of the top grand ecole business schools in France, and probably in Europe. A majority of the students I met at this party come from Paris, so it was cool to get a feel for what Parisiens are like- wicked cool. I should be in good hands. After that, I started talking to one of Ben's friends and we talk about franglais, or English words they use in French conversation, like Oui, c'est too much. But pretty soon, they have to leave as well- I have to find a new person to talk to! A guy is walking back inside, I quickly ask him in French "C'est quoi ta crise la?" ....what his crise is. He's not wearing a shirt, just a blazer with a price sticker on it. Anddd begin next conversation with Beaudoin from Paris. Through him I meet loads of cool people, one girl named Sixtine, who worked for a summer at RISD in Providence. She was so sweet! Offered to show me around Paris when I get there. I also met a guy, wearing a cow costume randomly, who is half French, half Scottish/English. Told me he's a baronnette- his father is a baron, his family name is (extremely British): Haycraft. But I just laughed at him because...he was wearing a cow costume with udders, so how am I supposed to take him seriously?
Sunday morning, Ben and I walked all around the old quartier de Lyon, which is absolutely beautiful. We walked up some endless stairs to a beautiful cathedral that overlooks the city of Lyon. The city reminded me a bit of Florence, with the houses all painted a light yellow, a big river running through it and small, cobblestones alleys that wind through the city. In the afternoon, our program took us to see Romeo and Juliet, the ballet at the Opera House. It was fantastic !
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