6 September

Ok, so I haven’t blogged in several days. I’m still having problems with my internet. I’m super confused because the code my host mom gave me won’t work. And while it would make sense that it’s just the wrong code, there’s another student living in the house, a French student, who just moved into today. He typed in the code, and BAM, it worked perfectly. I don’t understand why it’s not working on my computer.

I know that in the long run, not having wireless in my room is not a big deal. But there’s a certain sense of comfort in knowing that with one click, I can call a friend or family member on Skype from within the comfort of my own room. It’s more private, and doesn’t disturb the family as much. I’m planning to email Wake IS, our tech services, as soon as I can to try to figure this stuff out, but I’m going to bet they won’t be very helpful.

The past few days have been a whirlwind of travel. Our group shipped off early Thursday morning for a 3 day trip in Bourgogne.

Our first stop was l’abbaye de Fontenay, an old Cistercian abbey. It was beautiful. Romanesque buildings, green grass, gardens. Truly peaceful and definitely a place of God. It rained on and off while we were there, and was a bit cold, but definitely worth the visit.

Our next stop was Semur-en-Auxois, a gorgeous old town that immediately prompted a chorus of Disney’s Belle. “Little town, it’s a quiet village; every day, like the one before. Little town, full of little people, waking up to say…BONJOUR.”

We had lunch there, and I watched the chef cook my steak on a wood fire in a gorgeous old fireplace. Pretty cool.

Our last stop of the day was the Basilisque a Vezelay. The church sits high a top a hill, and can be seen for miles around. Imagine being a pilgrim, exhausted after traveling, and finally seeing the hill rising in the distance, atop which you would find a gorgeous church that housed the relics of Mary Magdalene and hopefully the healing and blessings you were searching for.

Our group had scheduled a tour, but we arrived a little early. Thus, we had a chance to walk around the village a bit and climb to the top of the hill to see the view. It was breathtaking (and not just because we walked straight uphill for about 15 minutes). Needless to say, our group took lots of pictures. I’ve happily started the tradition of jumping pictures (you jump right as the picture is taken, so the picture captures you in mid-air), and us girls got one on the second try.

A young monk led our tour. He had a quiet confidence about him, and his calm manner demonstrated in every way that he was a man of God. His dedication of his life to the Lord both astounds and humbles me. The church once housed the relics of Mary Magdalene and was therefore a great pilgrimage site. The real relics were stolen a few years ago, so the church now houses a representation instead. While I don’t believe in the idea or power of relics, I certainly had great respect for the importance and history of the church.

After the tour, we headed to Autun for the night. We ate dinner at the hotel, which was the nicest hotel we’ve stayed in so far. Dinner was delicious. The first night, we had melon and some sort of meat for the entrée, chicken and something like grits for the main dish, and lime sorbet atop a mound of fresh raspberries, blueberries, cherries, and strawberries. The wine choices were excellent, thanks to Madame Barbour and our chauffeur Stephan.

After dinner, our group went out to a Karaoke bar. Yes, a karaoke bar. Ridiculous. The girls sang “I Will Survive,” and a Romanian song made popular by the Numa Numa video on YouTube. The boys sang “We are the Champions.” Together, we sang “Champs Elysees,” a well known French song. I think we cleared out the bar, but we definitely had a great time.

Friday brought more rain. We toured St. Lazarus Church in Autun, which was also gorgeous. It’s a mix of the roman and gothic style because so much reconstruction has been done within the church over the years. It was beautiful, though, and the stained glass windows were particularly vibrant.

Afternoon brought a tour of the museum at Bibracte, once the richest city in Gaule. Of course the city is now gone, and but there are multiple archeological digs all over the place. The top of that hill brought a beautiful view as well, and lucky for us the rain had cleared.

We returned to Autun and had dinner at the hotel again. The entrée was foie gras, or sweet meats. It took all my strength to eat them, but it actually tasted pretty good. The main course was rabbit with mashed potatoes. Desert was fruit tart.

If my friends and I had been wise, we would not have gone out that night. But we did go out, and we returned to the same bar. We did not sing karaoke that night, but spent a good time at the bar anyway. None of us were feeling our best the next morning, and our payment for our folly was a guided tour of the wine museum in Beaune and a wine tasting later that afternoon. None of us had even the slightest desire to think about anything involving alcohol that day, but alas we had no choice.

Sandwiched in between the wine museum and the wine tasting was a tour of the Hospices de Beaune, or hospitals. Built by a rich man to secure his entrance into heaven, the hospices provided a place of care and shelter for the sick, both the rich and the poor.

We headed back to Dijon that evening, and I settled back into the house and finally got all my laundry done. I think I’d worn most of my pairs of jeans about 5 times each. They definitely need a washing, as did many other my clothes. I finally met the two of the Briotet children, Christophe, who is in his early 20s, and Florence, who is my age. They both have the classic French beauty, and I hope to get to know both of them better. There is also another student now living in the Briotet house who comes from Aix en Provence. I haven’t gotten a chance to talk with him much, but he’ll be here all fall. It’ll be nice to have another student in the house with me, especially since he is my age.

I still can't believe I've been here barely two weeks. I don't know when time will begin to feel normal again, if it ever will.