Lyon

Oops…completely forgot to add a post about Lyon…so here it is!

Friday, March 4, I went to Lyon for the day. It was only about 2.5 hrs by train…not bad. In Lyon, there are not too many awesome things : actually, it is a big village and that’s pretty much it. It wasn’t boring or ordinary, but it wasn’t incredibly impressive either.

Anyway, I had a good time. I arrived around 11 a.m., and I ate a café, near the train station, that had a ton of choices of green tea (obviously that was awesome for me). I got a sandwich that ended up being just salame…literally just bread and meat. It didn’t suck, but I was disappointed; still, it was delicious. There were two British tourists at the café who didn’t speak French, so I had to help them out a little with ordering food and drinks.

Across from the train station, there’s a huge shopping mall, so I went there. I tried on some clothes, I searched for stuff…blah, blah, blah.

After 3 p.m., I found this huge park, the “Parc de la Tête d’Or.” Damn it was awesome. At the entrance, there are two houses on each side of you, each with crazy exotic plants. On the left, there are plants from Madagascar, South America, the Amazon, etc. To the right, there is this simulated desert place with plants from Mexico, South America, etc. (like cacti, aloe vera plants, agave plants, etc.)

Further into the park, there is a huge lake where people can rent boats and tandem kayak-things to ride on the lake. Also, I saw a ton of animals…there’s a small zoo in the park! There were elephants, monkeys, giraffes, and other animals. Oh yeah, and there was a rosary there too; I won’t lie, it smelled awesome in there.

After the park, I went back to the shopping mall and saw a film (in French of course), and then, I returned to Besançon by train.

 

Photos of Lyon

 

Nans-Sous-Sainte-Anne

Nans-Sous-Sainte-Anne

I friggin’ love this place.

Saturday, March 12, I went here with Alison, Brittany and Pierre-Jean. We did this mountain climbing thing called Via Ferrata (way of iron), which also exists in the U.S. It was sick! It may have been the scariest thing I have ever done in my life, and I loved it.

Essentially, you wear a harness with two metal carabiners for attaching to these metal cables that run all along the mountain. You basically climb across and up mountains only with metal rings and tiny steps to use. There are cables everywhere though, so if you slip off a step, you still stay attached to the cable (even though you’ll be dangling 100+ feet off the ground…). We climbed an enormous amount, and my legs killed the day after. I put some photos below to better explain it a bit.



One of the views from one of the top points



Sunday, March 13, I returned (ironic, I know) for a trip with my class, “Société actuelle française” (Modern French Society). We explored the village, and visited the “taillanderie” (where they make metal tools for agriculture and such). It was awesome! We saw the factory inside, anvils, hydraulic-powered machines (water wheels), forges, furnaces, tools, etc.




After the taillanderie, we met some families from the village (the village only has 145 inhabitants, which is incredibly tiny). Then, we went back to the houses of our assigned families, and we ate for about 2.5 hours. The food was soooo good. The lunch started with some pork with carrots, celery cooked a way I’ve never tasted before (because it was actually good), and some other vegetables. Afterwards, we had beef bourguignon with fries, carrots, green beans, cannelini beans, and something else that I forgot. Then we ate a ton of cheese – Chamembert, Morbier (I’ve already tried it in the U.S.), and Comté, of course. Finally, we ate some dessert: it was some thing with raspberries from the family’s own garden.

The second part of the meal (beef bourguignon)

Later, after the meal, the wife brought us to Salins-les-Bains to visit this big salt museum. This town is famous for its salt production in the past. The tour guide showed us all the processes of extracting salt from the water, and such. It was crazy, and there is absolutely no way whatsoever that I’d like to do the work they had to do.

That’s a lot of salt!

Finally, around 6 p.m., we returned to the village, then returned to Besançon (by bus).


Photos of Nans-Sous-Sainte-Anne


– Matt Lipinski

 

Zürich

As for my photos: I created an album on Photo Bucket because it’s a lot easier for me to display the photos (there is a link some below).

At the beginning of the week, I went to Zürich, Switzerland with Tracy and Kristen. The city and the trip were both amazing. We arrived on Feb. 28 (Monday), and we stayed until March 2.

As for the trip, it was about 4 hours on train from Besançon to Zürich (two stops – Mulhouse Ville and Basel/Bâle). We left at 9 a.m. Monday morning and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday night.

Monday: After arriving, we went to the hotel (a bit of a distance from the train station and the city). It was really cold! For snacks, we went to a nearby supermarket and got some awesome cheese and bread. For dinner, we had some Swiss pizza. After exploring the town, that was it for the night; it was way too cold.

Tuesday: We explored the city – churches, stores, etc. Starting at 2:30 p.m., we took a tour of Zürich: first, the bus drove us throughout Zürich to different sites and the nearby cities. Afterwards, we climbed a mountain in a cable car for other views of the city, the lac and the mountains all around. Next, we drove the bus onto a ferry, parked, and crossed the river (in the bus, on a ferry)…awesome (and weird). Finally, we drove next to the lake for a view of the “Gold Coast.”

Photos of Zürich

Wednesday: This day was awesome. We went to Zürich Zoo. I will post numerous pictures of the zoo, so I’m not gonna talk to much about it. After the zoo, we took the train back to Besançon.







– Matt Lipinski

Leaving New York (and Why It Was For Madrid)

January 2011

Throughout the winter break, “I’m leaving for Spain January 23rd” was something I said all the time but didn’t know its meaning until two days after I unpacked in Madrid. I was excited to leave, of course I was excited, but fall and January swept past in a blur of To-Do lists and goodbyes without giving me pause to grasp, “I am going to live new country for half a year… I am going to live new country for half a year.”
Regardless, I suppose mental preparation can only yield so much until you finally leave! I did all kinds of other planning up until spring, such as choosing what country to study and how I wanted to live there. During class I would draw lists in my notebooks that looked like this:

PRAGUE _______________ MADRID
Pro – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Pro
* nice bridges – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – * I can speak some Spanish
* humanities program – – – – – – – – – – – * paella
* it’s got that gritty, sad-poet cool vibe

Con
* How long do I think I can live
on meat and potatoes?

My values might be questionable (and largely food-based), but they did help me discern what I wanted. A few Quito/Madrid, Monterrey/Madrid lists later, Madrid was my winner. Money and program availability factors aside, my guiding concern was finding the place I could make the most of; ie, finding a culture I thought I could immerse myself in rather than observe from a distance all semester. Speaking the language was going to be key (and I knew some Spanish) and if I could choose what sort of attitude I was going to come away with, I wanted a Madrileño one! To me, the Spanish capital epotimized a playful and relaxed mentality that I aspired to learn.

**************************

And thus, January 23rd I was flying to Madrid! It was night as I took off from JFK and from my window seat I could see the length of Hometown Long Island outlined in street lamps, passing by below. Being a LI gal, it was a meaningful send-off, so I sketched a memory and said goodbye to every county.

The Fort Bregille and Chalezeule

Saturday, Feb 19, Tracy and I did some intense hiking. We arrived at the start of the trails around noon. On the outskirts of Besançon, there are tons of trails, forests, etc. All the trails are beautiful.

 

At the start is this obnoxiously long staircase, of course. At the end, there is an intersection of a few roads. To the right is Fort Beauregard, with an amazing view of Besançon. Afterwards, to the left, is a road that turns into a trail which runs through the forest. At the end of the forest…we finally arrived at the Fort de Bregille. It’s a huge old fort, with tons of trails all around it. 
Fort Beauregard
Fort de Bregille
 
Then, behind the fort (after lots of scenery that looks like Helm’s Deep from LOTR Two Towers), we crossed the “Grand Desert” (that’s the French name, even though it’s the same in English). Really, it did feel like a desert.
The Grand Desert !
Right after the “desert,” there are a lot more trails through the forests behind it. Some of the trails go towards Centre-Ville (of Besançon), et some others go towards tiny towns (like Chalezeule and Boissy D’Anglas).
Now for something actually hilarious and interesting: in these forests, there are work-out stations. No, I’m not kidding. After the second one, we understood the purpose of them, and had a surprisingly really good time with these ridiculous things. I put some of those photos below for example. We walked 3.5 km (2.5 miles or so?) through the forest; at the end, there is a big lookout point with a wonderful views of the Doubs river and an old destroyed castle. Next to this lookout point is Chalezeule, an old and small town. I took a photo of this cool lookin’ church there.
To Chalezeule !
The views of the Doubs River

Information (assuming you can read French…)
That old destroyed castle
The church in Chalezeule 
So, that’s about it. We returned to our dorms sometime after 17:00. The weather and the views were ridiculously cool. I went back yesterday (Monday) and took some of the other trails. I was there for about 7 hours yesterday! For now, that’s it. Enjoy the photos.

– Matt Lipinski

 

The Percée du Vin Jaune

La Percée du Vin Jaune
The 5th and 6th of February, there is a big festival in Arbois, a small village in the Jura region, where Vin Jaune (yellow wine) is produced. I went to this festival on the 6th. The festival was amazing and extraordinary. After arriving, you receive ten tickets for tasting (5 for vin jaune, 1 for macvin, 4 for red, white or crémant (similar to champagne)). I arrived at 9:30am. Starting from noon, you could taste some wines with the tickets. So, until noon, we walked around and we listened to some marching bands. Afterwards, we ate at a pizzeria (as always). Actually, we had not gone to the other pizzeria since the end of January.

Finally, it was time!
The vin jaune has a very distinct taste, but I thought it was delicious. Also, I really liked crémant, and the red and white wines that I tasted. Macvin essentially sucked, it was wayyyy too sweet.

To find the tasting stations, you could walk around the street, enter basements, or enter some stores. We saw a lot of drunk older people, and it was hilarious to watch them. Often, you’d see them walking around giving their extra tickets to younger people. I unfortunately was not so lucky as to be a recipient of such.
At the bottom of this post, there are some photos.

We left around 5pm by train. We had an awesome time!



One of the marching bands


The bathroom (NYC!)


Wine bottle lights


Ô la vache (holy cow).


…bizarre
…still bizarre

– Matt Lipinski

 

Recap

I can’t believe how much time has passed! I only got here January 13!

First off, the first week was fun, simple, and not exciting. I met the others from the group that I did not know, as well as our “den mother,” Annick. She is incredibly nice, and every other time we see her she has money for us (our monthly “allowance” included in the Study Abroad tuition), so that’s always a good quality of someone. I discovered the “centre-ville” (center city) of Besançon quickly – it’s an old and beautiful city, with beautiful churches, incredibly delicious food and very cool stores. The second week, we all ate together (all the SUNY New Paltz kids, one SUNY Albany, and three SUNY Buffalo) as a group with Annick at the “Tour de la Pelote” (a really old restaurant). It was amazing! I tasted (ate) a rabbit pâté – delicious, even though it was very bizarre.


My classes started January 24 at the CLA (Center for Applied Linguistics). The CLA building was refurnished fairly recently. The first week was complicated: in France, you go to every course that interests you and you choose after having tried your courses. Anyway, I did the same thing, and my courses are interesting.
Monday – No classes!
Tuesday – General Linguistics
Wednesday – Oral Expression & Comprehension; French Modern Society; French Orality
Thursday – French Writing; Francophone Litterature
Friday – French Writing; Oral Expression & Comprehension; Contemporary French History

As for trips, I went to Zürich, Switzerland, which was amazing (I’ll post about it later). I also went to the “Percée du Vin Jaune” (in Arbois, Jura) in February, which was amazing; I’ll explain it in a later post too.

I love the culture and the food in France. Everything I eat is more fresh than in the U.S., and I have never had a bad meal. We used to eat often some “kébab” (it is not at all the same thing as “kebab” in English). Kébab in Besançon is referring to lamb meat in a little wheat wrap or bread roll. My god it is so good. Also, we eat at a pizzeria almost every week. The pizza here is definitely better than in the U.S. (sorry everyone!).
Ahhh, and then the bread. I eat at least a loaf of bread a day (usually 1-2). The bread here is so good. At the beginning of my stay here, I had at least one sandwich per day. Oh yeah, and by the way, I ate cow tongue one night…it was so good!

Finally, the culture and the people are fun and interesting. I still have a lot of difficult with conversation; the French language is still difficult. Nevertheless, I love France, and I’m sure that I’ll eventually be fine with the language.

Here are some photos of Besançon!

The café at the CLA

A café (at the CLA) !
The bridge of Canot (CLA to the right)
A waffle with Nutella
The statue of Victor Hugo (vandalized – poor guy)
Le phénomene hipster !
A bridge at Rue Veil Picard
The river
The other side of this bridge

– Matt Lipinski