Working on the Vineyard

So I already told you about my first day of work on the vineyard, but that day was completely different from the rest of my week. My first day of work was the planting day, where we planted a whole bunch of new vines. But that was just the beginning of things. On Tuesday morning I finished watering all of the new vines that we planted, and that afternoon is when the real work started. We had to go through each row of vines and lift them up and raise the wires so that they weren't falling over anymore. My host dad said it would be difficult, but I was like ehh I'll be fine. We did about 5 rows each and by the end of the day my arms were so tired. And on our way home my host dad was like, this isn't work for a girl, and I was like great glad you had me doing that. Wednesday was a lot easier. It was raining so it would be way too difficult to lift the vines, so my host dad decided that we would clean the warehouses/garages. I helped move the hoses to another room, then I swept and mopped both warehouses. Then we collected all of the garbage from the warehouses and brought it to the dump. Since the weather still wasn't cooperating my host dad and I took the rest of the day off. Him and his son took me on a tour of Gaillac instead! It was a lot of fun!

The warehouse that we cleaned on Wednesday 

(I took this picture on Friday that's why it's so sunny)

On Thursday morning the weather still wasn't all that great. It was still drizzling, but since we took Wednesday afternoon off we had to work. So we started pulling up more vines and wires. We did that all day and let me tell ya I think I'm going to be very strong by the end of this month. After work we came home and I helped my host mom make dinner. She had already made some Gazpacho soup, but I helped her make the pizzas. Everything turned out very well! And my host mom gave me her Gazpacho recipe because I liked it so much!

The weather cleared up Thursday afternoon so I took some pictures at work!

Our little car that we drive around the vineyard

The vines

One of the rows that we tied up!

Friday was a very exciting day for me. My host dad said that if I worked hard Friday morning he would let me out of work early and take me to see La Tour de France!!! So Friday morning we pulled up more vines and wires, and I must've worked hard because that afternoon he took me to see the race!!! We got there just in time to see the parade, and then we waited for about 40 minutes and then the cyclists came through. We were at the 400m mark so they flew by in about 5 seconds, but it was so exciting! As the cyclists were coming everybody was banging on the barriers and cheering, it was really cool to see even though they rode by so quickly.

La Tour de France!

Got one decent pic!

Me and Quentin (my host brother)

At the finish line in Albi!

Then yesterday my host family left to go to Paris. So I met up with a friend and we spent the day in Albi. We went to the cathedral there, a museum, and then we shopped for the rest of the day. It was a very beautiful city!

Saint Secile

The garden at the Palais de La Berbie

My first week with my host family has been amazing! I don't think I could've asked for a better family to spend a month with. They are all so kind and really want me to enjoy my time here and feel at home. Oh and here's a pic of their house, it's a very nice home!

I made it!

Yayy! I have internet! So I can keep posting blogs for you guys! I made it to my internship yesterday and I love it here! But first I want to tell you about my last few days in Toulouse.

On Wednesday, we had our last enology class and then we had the afternoon off to prepare for our farewell meal. For the farewell meal all of us students made food from our respective countries. So a lot of the American students made things like grilled cheese, hot dogs, and rice krispie treats. My friend Allison and I decided to make potato salad which turned out pretty good! So we spent Wednesday afternoon preparing all of the food, and then that night we walked to campus and had our potluck dinner. It was a lot of fun!

Purdue Girls at the Farewell Dinner!

Me and my Illinois/Missouri buddies!

Some of the group with Djamel (our coordinator)

Then on Thursday, we visited two more vineyards/wineries and learned about their processes for making wine. The second vineyard that we went too was an organic vineyard. So instead of using pesticides like other vineyards do, this particular vineyard uses a mixture of copper and sulfur to keep insects away. They also ferment their wine in barrels which is different from the other wineries we've been to. Other wineries use vats to ferment their wine, so I thought that was cool.

The first winery we visited on Thursday

The second winery we visited (the organic one)

On Friday, we had our French exam. It was pretty tough, but hopefully we all passed! Then on Saturday, a few of us who hadn't left for our internships yet spent the day being tourists in Toulouse. We walked around the local park, got some crepes, and went to the natural history museum. It was a fun, relaxing day!

A monument dedicated to French soliders who fought in WWI

The park!

We came across some bumper cars in the park, so naturally we rode them!

Speedy Gonzales!

The museum

Look what we ran into in the museum's garden!

Then on Sunday, I took the train to my internship. It was tough lugging my stuff around the city, but at least I finally made it! When I got to the train station my host dad and his daughter were there to pick me up. The little girl was so excited, she ran right up to me and gave me a big hug. She's so cute! They drove me home, showed me my room, and then I helped my host mom make lunch. We made salmon, prawns, and vegetables and had raspberries, peaches, and creme brulee ice cream for dessert. It was all so good! And I'm really excited because my host mom says she loves to cook too so I think we're going to get along just fine!

My room!

And today was my first day on the job. I woke up early and went to the vineyard with my host dad. I helped plant new vines for one of their experiments. The vineyard I'm working on is an experimental vineyard so they do research on different aspects of grape growing and wine making. It was a long day, but I really enjoyed it. I worked for about 3 hours in the morning. Then we came home for lunch and had Ratatouille!!!! It was my first time having real French Ratatouille and I loved it! After lunch we headed back to the vineyard for another 4 hours. Then we came home and I played tennis with my host brother in the pool and we practiced counting in French and English! He's taking English classes right now so hopefully we'll be able to teach each other. Other than that, everything's been good. The language barrier is really difficult, but I'm sure it'll get easier with time!

Gastronomy and Nimes

So I think I left off talking about our visit to the vineyards last week and I never got to the fun and exciting stuff we did on Friday. Last Friday we had our gastronomy class at a local cooking school!!! We made a 3 course gourmet French meal! I was put in the dessert group, so I got to help make our delicious custardy, ice creamy dish.

The cooking school

The appetizer and main course kitchen

The dessert kitchen

The chef

The amazing dessert team!

Piping some chocolate for decoration for our dessert.

Our Appetizer: Crostini with foie gras and vegetables

Our Main Course: Duck confit with potatoes and herbs in a phyllo dough sachet

Our dessert: I don't know the translation of this, but it's like custardy ice cream topped with almond crisp and chocolate with apricots and strawberry sauce on the side.

The dessert team enjoying our meals

After our fun morning and afternoon of cooking we headed to another vineyard. The owner actually came to our gastronomy lesson and talked about some of his wine and served it with our meal. Then we drove down the road to see where it was made.

The grape crusher at the winery

The vats where maceration occurs

The vats where fermentation takes place

Bottling the wine

So that was our fun and exciting day last Friday. Then this past weekend was our free weekend. So everybody in the program planned their own small trip. Five of us girls decided to take a road trip to Nimes. Nimes is a cute little city north east of Toulouse. We decided to go there because it has a lot of roman history and there's an arena similar to the colosseum in Rome. We also wanted to go there so we could drive along the coast on the way home and stop for a swim in the Mediterranean. 

Our first stop was to the arena. We had a guided tour and learned about all of the gladiators and events they used to hold at the arena. Then our second stop was to La Maison Carree. Unfortunately, as we were walking over to the building I slipped on a stair and my camera went flying and completely broke. So I wasn't able to take any more pictures of my weekend, but thanks to the awesome people I went with I have some pictures to share with you. So after La Maison Carree we had dinner at an Indian restaurant and then visited the arena again to see what it looked like at night. Then on Sunday we visited the park in Nimes and hiked to the top of the park to La Tour Magne. La Tour Magne is a tower that overlooks the entire city. It was pretty cool! After that we went for a drive along the coast and stopped at Marseillan Plage for a swim, then headed back to Toulouse. 

The arena

Inside the arena

The whole arena

Posing with the matador

La Maison Carree. We got to watch a 3D movie about the history of Nimes in this building. 

The arena at night

Playing in the lights

The park

La Tour Magne. We climbed to the top of this tower to get a full view of the city.

Nimes!

Marseillan Plage. The beach we stopped at on our way back to Toulouse. 

Our little Volkswagen that we took on our road trip

Our weekend trip was a lot of fun, and Nimes was the perfect size city to visit when you only have 2 days.

So that was our fun, short weekend. Then this past Monday and Tuesday we had more enology and french lessons. And last night a few of us went out for a gourmet French dinner. We had foie gras, another type of duck, a pastry stuffed with duck, bread, and salad for our appetizer. For my main dish I got the lamb, which was excellent! And for dessert we had creme brulee! It was all so gooood!!!

(Oh and I got a new camera this past monday!! I'm still trying to figure out how to use it so sorry the pictures are a little fuzzy, but hopefully I'll figure it out soon)

So that's about it so far. It's been another busy but fun week! We have all of our exams this Friday and then on Saturday we can relax before we leave for our internships on Sunday. So I don't know if I'll be able to post another blog before I leave school, but I'll definitely be posting one once I start working next week.