La Une in English: October 2009

Photo of the month : la Place du Capitole in full bloom Christina Neno, the amateur photographer of the group, captured this image at a publicity event for the perfume Kenzo Flowers. The company installed a field of 200,000 poppies on la Place du Capitole. You can see the arcades of the square behind the red petals. Toulouse « on the web » How do you find a good French restaurant in a city with which you have just begun to get acquainted ? What about interesting shows and exhibitions? How do you find a bar that rocks ? Here’s a mini-guide of online resources to help you find everything and anything in Toulouse. http://www.toulouse.fr : The City Hall website This is the official site of the city of Toulouse. You’ll find city news as well as practical information, monuments of Toulouse, and cultural activities (exhibitions, events, concerts, museums). Note : You can subscribe to the RSS feed for toulouse.fr. Details are on the home page. http://www.voirtoulouse.com : Panoramas of Toulouse Find festivals, concerts, fairs and rugby games ; search for all the events for a specific date, or take a virtual visit of the city. Note : You can also take virtual visits of certain restaurants, museums, etc ! http://www.toulouse-tourisme.com : Toulouse Tourism Office This is a good starting point, oriented towards those who don’t know the city yet. http://www.toulouseweb.com : city-guide of Toulouse and the region This « city-guide » lets you see theater and movie schedules and look for announcements, excursions and all sorts of information. Click on « promos » to print coupons. http://www.culture-toulouse.com : Cultural events in abundance Click here to find all the cultural events in Toulouse and the surrounding area: concerts, shows, exhibitions, leisure activities… http://www.bonsoirtoulouse.com : Drinks, meals, nights out Here’s a guide on going out in Toulouse, with rubrics dedicated to bars, restaurants and discotheques, for example. Note : the calendar of events lets you search by date. --Anna Cumbie, editor Un goût du passé à Perpignan Christina Neno snapped this photo at a medieval market in Perpignan. She set off to discover the capital of Roussillon with her host parents. A Day Trip to Carcassonne A location that I find marvelous is Carcassonne, a city situated about 100 kilometers from Toulouse. I’d decided to visit there with three friends from Dickinson. The host parents of one of these friends lent us their car for our little trip and we were very happy to have the opportunity to discover this medieval city. Fascinated by the city of Carcassonne, we walked around like the numerous other tourists. Carcassonne represents an exemplary model of medieval military architecture. The city is situated in a region influenced by the Cathar religion and it played an important role in the 12th century. Carcassonne was besieged and surrendered after the Albigensian Crusade. Furthermore, it maintained the border between France and Aragon. Thus, the city has become a symbolic place for French culture, as well as a tourist center. In the streets, I saw people of many different origins who were visiting Carcassonne to absorb the rich history of this region. For me, even though I come from a country full of history, I understand the impression that this city can make. To better explore French culture, we ate cassoulet, the traditional dish of the region, in a little restaurant in Carcassonne. Cassoulet is similar to a Bulgarian recipe, so for me it wasn’t very exotic, but I can say that my American friends didn’t think this dish was very good. However, this meal was part of our experience of French culture. On the way back to Toulouse, we saw numerous signs which indicated the direction for other cultural or geographic sites. Suddenly, we saw a sign for « Wine Tasting. » Wine represents a fundamental part of French culture (I note that wine is served every day during lunch in my family and in lots of other families.) Wanting to try a little of the local wine, we made a right-hand turn and found the vineyard. Unfortunately, no door was open. Even though my friends told me not to eat the grapes that were growing because it wasn’t legal, I tried one and it was excellent. Then, all the girls tried them and they agreed with me. When we arrived in Toulouse, we made crepes to celebrate this magnificent day. We chose crepes to better familiarize ourselves with French cuisine. Crepes are also a very common dish in Bulgaria, which makes me think that there are a lot of similarities between French and Bulgarian cooking. A visit to a UNESCO world heritage site and a day spent among friends was transformed into an unforgettable memory. --Tanya Kovacheva Meredith, Ariel, and Tanya set out to explore Carcassonne. From the Editor The second month of the program has started and the students are discovering more about not only France, but themselves with each day that passes. This month, we talk about our questions, our culture shock, our difficulties and our successes. And, of course, we continue to find our way in the city and the region. This month is a busy one: the first weeks in the French universities, festivals in the city, a trip to Paris…in short, we don’t have any excuse for staying at home! Let’s take advantage of the remaining beautiful weather to get to know Toulouse better, and we’ll make a date to talk about our experiences in the next issue of La Une! --Anna Cumbie, editor Click here to return to La Une d’octobre 2009. Click here to return to the La Une homepage.

Balancing I’ve been mixing words again. “Yeah, there are a lot of bikes in Toulouse,” becomes, “Ouais, there are a lot of vélos in Toulouse.” It’s disorienting when I do, like I’ve lost my balance on the narrow band between two languages. It makes me wonder if I am starting to lose my balance culturally too. Sometime in the past three weeks, Nutella ceased to be novel and became simply what I put on my toast in the morning. I’m not impressed by Roman ruins anymore, which is probably a good thing. If I stopped to gawk at every building that had a Roman foundation (the Prefecture of Haute-Garonne, ICT, the Saint Raymond Museum etc), it would take an hour to walk anywhere. I can’t see the changes in myself, but I know they’re happening. I wonder what will have changed in a month from now? --Alyssa Coltrain, associate editor A Day in Cathar Country As part of the orientation program, Dickinson in France traveled to the Ariège to discover the chateaux of Cathar country. We took our hiking shoes and water bottles for an athletic—and cultural—day. The climb up to the chateaux offered some magnificent views of the Pyrenees and the surrounding valleys. We started this day in the Pyrenees at Roquefixade, first passing by its picturesque village and then climbing the steep path up to the chateau. We then traveled to Montségur for an organic meal on the terrace of a village restaurant, followed by the climb up to its chateaux. Our last stop was in Vals for a visit to a church built into the natural stone surrounding it. All of this was presented by our history professor— and guide extraordinaire—Professor Eric Créma! Our first visit was to the fortress of Roquefixade. At the summit, we could see the chateau of Montségur in the distance. Similarly, we could see Roquefixade when we arrived at the top of Montségur. After our descent from the château of Roquefixade, we stopped for a break by the village fountain in the main square before leaving for Montségur. --Anna Cumbie, editor My thoughts on French cuisine Food is an essential aspect of French culture. I want to try different regional dishes, a significant element in better adapting myself to French culture. I can say that the cooking here is closer to Bulgarian cooking than American. Cassoulet, for example, is very similar to a Bulgarian dish called bob s nadenica. The different kinds of cheeses, a symbolic part of French culture, are wonderful, especially combined with bread and local wine. Reblochon, Camembert, Brie, Comté, Emmental, Roquefort, Livarot and Pont-l’Eveque are only a few examples of the large variety you can find in France. I am very happy to have discovered some of these cheeses offered as a dessert with my host family, who explained to me the differences between the varieties. Furthermore, when I told my host mother that I wanted to discover French cuisine, she began to tell me about cooking and well-known dishes. I hope that during the semester I will be able to try a variety of dishes and familiarize myself with the local cuisine. Beyond that, I want to participate in Dionysos, a university group, to have a general knowledge about wine tasting. Crepes, which are known throughout the world, are a food I like a lot. In Bulgaria, you can find them in certain little boutiques that offer both traditional and exotic crepes. In a restaurant in France, I discovered a crepe made with butter and sugar, a combination that seemed strange to me. Now, I know it’s the standard crepe in France. Cooking possesses an important role in each culture and specifically for the French, who value food highly. --Tanya Kovacheva Excursion à Conques, Cordes-sur-ciel et Gaillac To wrap up the orientation program, we spent a weekend in Conques, Cordes-sur-Ciel and the wine country of Gaillac! We started with a hike along the Way of St. James of Compostela, a pilgrimage route that dates to the 8th century, where it passes through Conques, a small village in Aveyron. We stopped for a picnic lunch in a spot with a great panorama of Conques. Once back down in the village, we visited the Abbey of Sainte-Foy and its treasure with Professor Crema. We then left for Cordes-sur-Ciel, a medieval village perched on a hill in the Tarn department. This village is surrounded by protective walls that date from the Cathar era and we could see the remains as we climbed to our hotel. On the schedule for the evening was a group meal at Hostellerie du Vieux Cordes, a lovely restaurant where we tasted specialities of southwest France. And then some sleep after a long day! The next day, Professor Crema led us on a guided visit in Cordes, then we split up to explore the village on our own. We finished the excursion with a wine-tasting at Chateau Lastours in the Gaillac Region. We weren’t disappointed! --Anna Cumbie, editor Calender 1 : Start-of-the-Year Reception at the Dickinson Center 23 : Cultural outing : Domaine Public (Théâtre Garonne) 28 – November 1 : Trip to Paris (required) Do you know argot ? nana (nf) - a woman or girl, a « chick » : « Tu as vu la nana aux cheveux bleus ?! » (« Did you see the chick with the blue hair?! ») fringues (nfpl) - clothes : « J’en ai marre de ces vieilles fringues. » (« ’m fed up with these old clothes. ») fringué (adj) - dressed : « Elle est toujours bien fringuée, cette fille. » (« That girl is always well-dressed. ») Translations by Alyssa Coltrain, associate editor.