Weekend in Bourgogne (Burgundy)

I had a wonderful weekend on my school trip to Bourgogne.  My two day trip was packed full of activities and fun - I'm sure I didn't get everything included below - but it was the general schedule we followed...  It's a long post - Enjoy.  http://flickr.com/gp/76555621@N02/86pS31/

We started off bright and early, meeting at the train station at 6h15 in the morning - I even got to see the sunrise at the station.

Once we arrived, I went on a tour of Dijon with half of the students before heading off to Château de Barbirey, where we were spending most of our stay - it's about 30-45 minutes outside of Dijon and very isolated...  It was gorgeous.

My group started off with free time and so off we went to wander around the grounds and into the forest - the weather was nice enough that I was in short sleeves at some points!  It was incredibly relaxing to be outside, in the sun, surrounded by nature, and free to do what we wanted.

After free time, we ate lunch - "prepared" by a group of our classmates.  Really - the chef did a demonstration and everyone watched.  It was good - we had seasonal veggies in Puff Pastry, Rabbit in a Dijon mustard sauce with sauteed Potatoes and then Pear Almond Tart.

Next, everyone had free time - I ended up playing capture the flag with some of the friends I was making.  It was Freshmen vs "upperclassmen".  We played 3 games.  Oh... and we won 3 games!  Next a few of us sat down to play some cards - I taught them how to play O'Heck - which made me really happy.  It was a little bit like being back home with family.

Then it was time for my group's wine degustation.  It was interesting.  We tasted 4 different wines and learned how to aerate wine while it was in our mouth - not something that should be attempted in public however.  There were a few electricity problems during the tasting - but that just made things interesting.  I saved the day because I'm always prepared... and happened to be carrying a flashlight in my purse.

We followed the degustation with dinner.  Another group of my classmates "prepared": a garden vegetable soup, boeuf bourguignon with noodles, and a delicious dacquoise dessert.

It was around 9h30 when dinner ended so around 10 of us headed upstairs to play "Celebrity" - everyone writes down a word in a category (normally celebrities) and puts it in a hat.  During the first round, you have to describe as many slips of paper as you can in one minute.  During the second round, you have to describe as many slips of paper as you can in one minute - with ONE word.  During the last round - it's charades.  Each round uses the same words.  It was really fun.  I only played the first game.  As they were playing the second game (with celebrities - the first game was largely objects or famous things that EVERYONE knows), I headed off to bed.

End of Day 1.

Saturday started off with a hot mini croissant and a bus ride back to Dijon.  This time I got to do a tour of the Dijon Marketplace - luckily it is covered!  20+ students touring the market in the rain - not the best situation even if it was only a drizzle!  It was a really big market, but also fairly normal for French markets.

When we got back to the Château de Barbirey, it was my group's turn to cook.  We "made" : Pâté and Salad, chicken in a veggie/cream/mustard sauce with veggie couscous, and Pâte à Choux (a pastry that can be filled with custard).  It was really interesting to watch Chef Alex Giles (from Top Chef) show us how to make everything in the meal, though a little disappointing that we didn't get to at least chop stuff.  We all agreed that we ended up with the best meal and the best schedule of events by being in group 3!  As we were the "cooks" for this lunch, we all served and such.  It was really fun.  I even asked the assistant chefs a number of questions (in French of course) to find out more and they were quite happy to explain in French - they were French!

We had a little free time/time gather our things before heading to Dijon for an hour of free time before our train back to Paris.  In Dijon we wandered around and bought some "souvenirs" - like macaroons from a famous choclatier - eaten before we made it back to our places... and I also got a jar of mustard to do some cooking with here.  On the bus I was next to an undergrad and we had a great time talking and discussing our experiences here in France and some of our undergrad experiences at each of our colleges.

It was a great weekend.  I spent most of it with Yusef and Jack (two undergrads) and Norah and Lisa and Gina (from my teaching program).  I met a lot of the undergrads, which was nice.  I've seen a lot of them around NYU, but never met them.  It was a weekend spent mostly in English, but extremely relaxing.  I could spend a week in the country side, relaxing, cooking, and enjoying myself.

Today is Sunday... and I'm working on relaxing, resting, and trying to get some hw done for the week!!!