Belfort Flea Market – Place d’Armes

Belfort Flea Market

Yesterday we got up ridiculously early for a Sunday so that we could go to Belfort’s famous flea market which is held on the first Sunday of the month. I had been planning to go for quite some time but either forgot or was already busy by the time I realised. So I was really happy last night when I saw that it was the first Sunday in June and incidentally the last time we would be able to go while I am still living in France.

Clocks

Locks

So 3 of us awoke at the crack of dawn to catch the train and we were not disappointed! The market was an immense mix of kitchenware, furniture, clocks and other trinkets. We went around at least 3 times and discovered new treasures at every turn.

I picked up an old rusty wind up alarm clock for my house for 10 Euros. Its only negative is that it is German not French but it was the nicest one I saw. It was tick tocking away in my bag all day.

Belfort Lion

From there we had time to go and see the famous lion which was also free on the first Sunday of the month and was spectacularly grand. The photos we had seen online for this didn’t do it justice.

Ronchamp

At 12 we hopped on the train to nearby town Ronchamp to see the Chapelle Notre Dame du Haut. Not the best signposted attraction or the most easily accessible by foot (we ended up on a footpath through then woods, good job it hasn’t rained) and by the time we broke out on top of the hill the sun came out to greet us!

Bells in Ronchamp

At the Chapelle Notre dame we met a lovely nun who showed us a bit of the monastery and then we were free to explore around. Inside the church was certainly not anything like I had experienced before with its tall colourful alcoves and concave roof. The ‘stained glass windows’ were hardly traditional either.

Troubles of Tea

It amazing how the simplest customs change when you cross the boarder into another country. With a different language comes a totally different way of life. Gone is the consumerist society I am use to as everyone has 2 hours for a lunch break, students, teachers, shop assistants… From 12 until 2 every stops while people enjoy there food and perhaps a bit of wine.

It is also a nightmare if you fancy a proper English brew while you are out and about. The popular thing to drink in France is an espresso, not even a big coffee so tea with milk is pretty much non existent. As you can see by the image above I have sampled many different teas. If you do happen to ask for milk its normally hot frothy milk for coffee as well not just out of the fridge. Sigh.

 

Frogs Legs

Frogs Legs cooked by Tam Lin

One of the French students brought in some frogs legs for us to sample at this weeks English lunch. They were cooked in a little oven pot with garlic and lemon.

Francesca sampling the delicacy

You eat them by grabbing then bone at the top and then scraping then meat off as you pull the legs out of your mouth.

They tasted quite nice, the the consistency of them was a little strange and chewy.

I don’t think in will be rushing out to try them again.

English Lunch

Rosalind, the English teacher at ISBA set up for us to have lunch on Tuesdays with the students learning English there.

We had our first meeting today and it was really great to meet more of the students here and chat about England or France with them. That is something you rarely get to do as a tourist in another country. It was really relaxed and there was a lot of buzz around us. The school here is only small (around 200 students) so I already feel like everyone knows who we are!

 

Overwhelmed and Under Prepared

Well this week was our first week of actually being in a class where the teacher and all the student speak French. It was a bit of a shock seeing how nieve I have been for the past 6 months really, not learning enough French and then since we have been here thinking that it wont be that bad, or that someone would help us. Turns out when your 21 and in a different country you cant exactly ask someone to make it all better.

Our first lesson was a real wake up call. The 4 of us sat eagerly awaiting our first real challenge and at some point during the 2 hour French monologue that the professor began I realised that this will not be as easy as my past carefree self has thought. I came out of the lesson not knowing what it was about, what I was suppose to do or what the aims are for the subject.

For the first two weeks of being here we had been kind of wrapped up in our own little bubble, there are 4 of us who all speak English and a little bit of French and we have been tackling the language together up to now. I found it really hard to understand people when I first arrived but one of the other girls would always tell me what had been said and mostly I was able to respond, also most of the people we have tried to have a conversation with in town bailed us out with their English too. Turns out that in Uni this is no help.

I have done what any self respecting adult in this situation would do, and that is to vow never to go back to that first class.

On our second lesson we were lucky enough to meet a French student who studied in Huddersfield last year so knew what kind of a situation we were in and very kindly explained what the teacher had been talking out. Again I had no clue.

The third and final lesson of our week got off a little better, we were send around a gallery space to draw and copy parts of the work which we liked, the professor came and spoke to us 1 by 1 and took the time to speak slowly and make sure that we had understood everything which was a breath of fresh air!

I definitely didnt expect the lessons to be this hard, when there is no clue as to what they are talking about – for example a picture, some writing etc, then it is tremendously difficult to pick out the words of meaning in the fast dialogues. But I am here now so I need to suck it up and deal with it.

Dijon – 01 March

So today we went to Dijon to see truly one of the most beautiful towns in France. The city was largely spared from the bombings of the second world war so all its romantically styled old buildings are still intact.

We saw a lot of Dijons famous sights including the Jardin Darcy, Musee de Archéologique, Musée de la Vie Bourguignonne, and of course the Dijon Mustard Maille Shop.

Dijon Les Halles

We had put off going to Dijon until Friday so that we could experience the street and food market there, and boy was it worth it. We followed the tourist owls until we got too distracted by the wealth of things on offer by the street vendors. We eventually made it to the main event – Dijon’s Les Halles – and were lucky enough to find free snacks and wine due to an Italian Life event that was there. Walking around the market was definitely a feast for your eyes more than anything else, although the free bread and fruit we tasted was also delicious.

My other favourite find was a beautiful little shop named Une Vie de Reve which sold a range of household items from tea cup wine glasses, knitted animal wall busts, and some amazing craft lighting. It was great to see this in France and it shows that craft is on the upsurge across Europe as well as in the UK

And of course no trip to Dijon would be complete without that terribly cliché trip to the Maille shop, where they have mustard on tap.

Besancon – France

Ive done it. Ive Moved. Im here, in France!

We arrived in Besancon and despite not speaking much French we managed to check in, get our room keys and go out for a kebab on our first night :).

We had a look around the town too this week which is very beautiful. Everything is all tall old buildings and iron railings. I think im going to like it a lot.

Very excited to start at the University and to learn a lot more French.