Category: La Une in English Page 6 of 17

– Joojo Ocran

On 13th November, the world was stunned as Paris suffered a series of coordinated terrorist attacks which left 130 people dead and over 350 injured. The global reaction was immediate, with national monuments all around the world being lit up in the French tricolor flag, and heads of state making speeches pledging their support for France.

Local reactions were immediately apparent. When the news of the attacks broke in Toulouse, I was watching the France vs. Germany game (which was the scene of one attack) in a public setting. The shock and confusion was evident on the faces of many spectators, who set about ensuring the safety of their friends and family in Paris. In the following hours, there was an outpouring of emotion on social media platforms, with many people (French and otherwise) overlaying the tricolor on their profile pictures.

In the following days, multiple rallies and events were held throughout Toulouse to show solidarity with the people of Paris. As early as Saturday, about 250 people had gathered at place du Capitole (Toulouse’s town square). The commemorative events continued on the 16th of November, with a minute of silence observed throughout Toulouse at noon, and the archbishop of Toulouse organized a beautiful interfaith mass that night. The climax of Toulouse’s solidarity events came the next day, where a massive 12,000 people showed up at place du Capitole to mourn and show solidarity with Parisians. It was an incredibly moving moment, with local artists making murals to commemorate the occasion, as well as the crowd chanting, praying and singing the Marseillaise.

Supporters at Place du Capitole

Expressions of Solidarity

These publicly organized demonstrations of solidarity were touching, but it still warms the heart to see little reminders of Toulouse’s support in unexpected places. As an avid biker, I was thrilled to find that VeloToulouse (Toulouse’s public bike system) had replaced their regular screen with one that boldly declared “Toulouse est Paris“.

VélôToulouse’s solidary screens

In another heart-warming personal show of solidarity, some Toulousains (citizens of Toulouse) have taken to using the term “pain au chocolat” as opposed to the more traditional term “chocolatine” that residents of the Midi-Pyrénées region tend to use. It has been two weeks since the tragic events of the Paris attacks, and Toulouse has not ceased to send the message of “fraternite et solidarite” to the people of of Paris.

– Natalie Pope

Dickinson students and their stand at the marché au gras de Péchaou

Saturday November 14^th, Dickinson in France traveled to the small village of Pechabou for their 20^th Marché de Gras. This event showcases fresh products such as fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and of course foisgras! Everything was homemade, made by hand, by the residents of the area. In addition, all the students of Dickinson in France, even Mme Raynaud and Julia, made a dessert for us all to sell at the market. Throughout the day, I was reminded of markets and fall festivals at home, but I also noticed many cultural differences between this one and that.

We started the day at our table to sell our cakes and cookies that we had all made. We offered a true variety of cookies, brownies, cereal-marshmallow bars, and of course a few cakes. At first, it was really difficult to explain our American recipes to the French, but I found that they were in general all very interested. Maybe it’s a generalization, but I think that at American bake sales people are more likely to buy cakes and sweets that are familiar, but I found that that wasn’t the case at Pechabou. The majority of people who passed by us seemed happy to interact and listen to our explanations of American recipes and even more about our experiences in Toulouse.

At noon, we shared a meal with the other people who had come to shop at the market. A very French menu, it consisted of lots of duck, fresh vegetables, and the very good dish called aligot. To explain to the American audience, aligot is a hot plate made of a mix of pureed potatoes, cheese, and garlic. Next to a duck sausage, you have an authentic taste of the Midi-Pyrénées, but the real experience was eating with the people of Pechabou. At my table, we shared a bottle of water, which initiated conversations between everyone. I found that even the people much older than us, the students, were very excited to meet us and ask us questions about our studies.

Sharing was a theme that came up throughout our experiences that day. At lunch, we shared a bottle of water with our neighbors, and they offered to share some cookies that they had bought. Also, our neighbors at our table offered us a bottle of wine to thank us for being there, even after they had bought some of our cakes! I was very impressed by their generosity and interest in meeting us, which reminded me a lot of American small towns. The culture of Pechabou was really different from Toulouse as a whole, just as small towns in the United States are so different from New York. All in all, I’m very glad that we had this chance to experience a whole other side of Toulouse.

-Jessamyn Biette

A couple weeks ago, I had a conversation with my hosts about my plans for traveling during my semester in Toulouse. I explained my desires to go to London, Rome, the Loire Valley castles, Paris and to many other European destinations as well. They told me that I had ambitious plans and that brought the discussion to the the subject of the differences between France and the United States’ conceptions of time and space.

Addressing this subject, my host’s mother taught me the phrase “it’s all relative.” This means that the different understanding of space and time of the two countries is because of the size of the two countries. France is a very small country in comparison to the United States. For example, I come from Boston, but I go to college in Pennsylvania. To get to college, I have to drive eight hours. In the United States, eight hours in the car is not very long. However, in France, by driving eight hours, we can travel to other countries. When I told my hosts that my college is not very far from where I’m from, they told me that in fact, yes, according to the French, my college is far.

This phenomenon is also evident when talking to other students who live in Europe. During my studies, I have met Italian, German and English students among others. At an ERASUMUS event (ERASMUS is an organization for European students), I asked my European friends if they were going to spend winter vacation at home. They seemed very surprised when I asked them this question. For them, to return home for winter break is too far and too expensive. For me, to go to Italy or Germany for a weekend is not all that far or expensive.

In Europe, it’s the norm to have access to other cultures that are completely different. In the United States, particularly in Pennsylvania, we have to spend a lot of money and a lot of time travelling to experience new cultures and new lifestyles. In the United States, the ability to travel in Europe is a novelty, but Europeans are used to being surrounded by other cultures and therefore, their perspective of time and space is different than that of Americans.

Dear Readers,

It is a pleasure for me to be back at the keyboard to give you the first edition of La Une for the 2015-2016 school year. I also have the pleasure of announcing the first “rentrée” at the new Dickinson Center, which opened at the beginning of September to welcome its first students. We also celebrated the start of the school year and inaugurated the new Center last night. Thank you to all who came to celebrate our first rentrée at place Alphonse Jourdain with us.

Coming from all over the United States and even Ghana, our fourteen students settled in in their host stays and started classes at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques and the Université de Toulouse 2 Jean Jaurès, where they will continue their studies in Economy, Business, Political Science, Environmental Science, Archeology, Music, History, Psychology, and of course, French, during the semester or year. Three out of the fourteen plan to stay in Toulouse until May 2016.

We also celebrated the end of Orientation with a very special guest, Mrs. Jennifer Reynolds, President of the Board of Trustees and an alumni of Dickinson College. Having been greatly impacted by the immersion program in the Toulouse area that she participated in as a high school student, Mrs. Reynolds took the opportunity to come to Toulouse with her own French hostess to meet our students who are now living a similar experience.  She very generously invited Dickinson in France to attend a wine and cheese.  Student Molly McNulty tells you what the group learned that evening in her article.

Photo by Mrs. Reynolds.

Photo by Mrs. Reynolds.

Photo by Mrs. Reynolds.

In this first edition of La Une, a few students tell you about their first impressions and discoveries – cultural and gastronomic – of Toulouse. You’ll also find an article regarding our first excursion in the Midi-Pyrénée region.

Enjoy,

Julia

by Lisa Johnsen

Piano concert at the Saint-Pierre des Cuisines. Photo by Lisa Johnsen

On Monday, September 14th the Dickinson group went to hear a piano concert that was part of the annual festival, Piano aux Jacobins. Many of these concerts are featured at the beautiful Cloitre at the Eglise des Jacobins, however this concert took place the Eglise Saint-Pierre des Cuisines. This church no longer holds services, but is instead used as a concert hall throughout the year. We had the opportunity to see pianist David Violi perform pieces by Liszt, Brahms, Dukas, and an encore featuring Liszt and Schumann. Though concert etiquette may seem universal, there were a few cultural differences that I noticed throughout the evening. At the beginning of the concert, the Dickinson students received programs containing information about the performer, the composers, and the location of the concert from the always helpful Dickinson Center staff. None of the other audience members received any information about the performance. In the United States, most audience members receive a program containing information about the performance they have come to see, and usually advertising and promotion for other events. When we debriefed our experience of the concert the next day, Madame Toux remarked that when the French go to see a concert, they know who they are going to see and what they will hear. This is not usually the case for many Americans, who may go to a concert with no idea of what they are about to experience. In addition, many Americans would have been frustrated with the lack of information provided at the venue. This is part of the implicit vs. explicit culture of France and the United States, respectively, that we have studied in FR 300, Toulouse Colloquium. Another interesting note, during the intermission, there was no sale of drinks or food, nor was there any merchandise pertaining to the festival or the artist. Everything was very simple, and most people stayed in their seats although they began talking. It seems as though in the U.S. there are many more opportunities for commerce as well as advertising. Thinking to many American cities, it seems as though advertising takes up a lot of space, and is aggressively fighting for attention. The centre ville of Toulouse, while filled with many people, contains stores, but also a park and an area to sit together with friends. It gives off an entirely different vibe.

The concert started about 15 minutes late, however I did not find this to be particularly unusual, as many performances in the U.S. do not start exactly on time. No one in the audience seemed to be confused or frustrated with the later start time. Something I found to be surprising was the 2 encores after Violi had finished the original program. Normally, in the majority of concerts I have been to in the U.S., the audience may give applause, cheers, and even a standing ovation, but after many bows by the performer, the audience leaves. This audience clapped enthusiastically, with little cheering and no standing ovation, but the performer came back and continued to play. I found this to be surprising and also frustrating, as I was very tired after a long day. I know many of the other Dickinson students felt the same way, but the rest of the audience seemed to enjoy it, and even expect it. Overall the concert was lovely, and I plan on attending another concert that is part of the festival Piano aux Jacobins at the end of the month. The next time, I will research the concert beforehand, and expect an encore.

by Jennifer Morris

Cake and tea. Photo by Jennifer Morris.

One of my goals this semester is to find the best tea salons in town. I worked at a café in the United States for two summers and I developed an interest in hot beverages, specifically tea. After speaking with my hosts, searching the internet, and walking around town I visited some salons that I like. They all have different, unique atmospheres that are good for going with a friend, working, or reading in your free time. French culture is much more relaxed than in the U.S. ; lunch can last for two hours because it’s a time to talk with your family or your friends. For example, the children of my hosts return to our house every day to eat lunch because they have the free time during the day. When you go to a café to eat lunch or simply to hang out for awhile in the afternoon it’s completely normal to sit at your table for several hours with a cup of tea. There are lots of different types to chose from, and menus specifically for all the different kinds of tea. The menu is divided into sections by taste, like black teas, green teas, and fruity teas. In the U.S., there is usually around five types of tea to chose from, and I thought that fifteen at the place where I worked was a lot, but in Toulouse each salon has around fifty options. Because I live in a residential neighborhood that’s rather far from the center of town I like to go to a café between the end of my classes and dinner instead of going back to my host’s house.

Here are a couple salons I’ve visited during my first month in Toulouse:

Dips is located near Carmes at 28 Pharaon Street. It has good pastries like cheesecake, chocolate cake and a raspberry pie that’s my favorite. There’s indoor and outdoor seating so it’s a good salon for all different types of weather. The salon has a modern ambiance and I saw a lot of young people there when I went with my friends. The waiters were very nice and friendly with American students.

The Dips Café terrace in Carmes. Photo by Jennifer Morris.

You can find L’Autre Salon du Thé (ha ha) at 45 Tourneurs Street between Capitole and Esquirol Place in the town center. It’s more sophisticated than Dips with ancient art on the walls and ancient furniture inside. It’s speciality is a well-known dessert in Toulouse : banoffee. It’s name comes from a contraction of bananas and toffee. It’s a pastry made with bananas, cream, and caramel. You can also add chocolate and coffee.

The cake dsiplay. Photo by Jennifer Morris.

The décor in l’Autre Salon de Thé. Photo by Jennifer Morris.

by Molly McNulty

Nathalie & Anna at the wine-tasting. Photo by Molly McNulty.

Wine is an important part of the French culture. Thankfully, along with wine, comes cheese and bread. The perfect trio if you ask me. Our class was invited to attend a wine tasting at the Number 5 Wine Bar located at 5, Rue de la bourse, just a few blocks away from Esquirol. Everyone was on his or her best behavior, mostly because the President of the Board of Trustees at Dickinson was also attending. We were given four different wines each paired with a specific cheese from the same region as the wine. The purpose of the cheese is to enhance the taste of the wine. You are meant to have a bight of the cheese first and then the wine so that you can taste the contrast between the two. The intensity of tastes and smells is meant to progress throughout the tasting to ensure each sip is recognized. It was right around the third glass of wine when some of my peers started to get a little more cautious about the cheese. As I said before, it was getting stronger and for lack of a better word, “stinkier”. The third glass of wine was paired with two types of the cheese. The first was fresh Brie and the second was the same Brie but two months older. The server explained that after salting the cheese, it is sprayed with penicillin and left in the maturing room, which allows the mould to develop, and which gives the cheese its bloomy rind. Normally, the mould develops for a few weeks; however the Brie that we tasted had spent 6 months in the maturing room, so it was quite strong! This was a completely new idea to all of us. I’m sure some of us have had this type of Brie before but none of us knew it had mould growing on it. That being said, I have to say I was very proud of our class because everyone gave it a try! There were mixed reviews but we can all now say that we are officially French, at least that’s what the Board of Trustees French host told us (so I’m going with it!). This experience was one I couldn’t imagine having before I came to Toulouse. Of course, I knew I would be having mountains of cheese and wine but I never imagined experiencing such extraordinary tastes and trying new things around thirteen other people, now friends, who were experiencing the same feelings as me. It is a scary thing deciding to go to a foreign country but when you have a group of people who are going through the same experiences as you are it makes it that much better and memorable. Trying new things is what this trip is all about and I can say with confidence that we won’t forget this night.

by Olivia Boggiano-Peterson

Lake Saint-Ferréol

This past weekend I went on a trip sponsored by the University of Toulouse’s center for foreign exchange students. The program is called EIMA because (as I have learned in my three weeks here) the French love acronyms. Unfortunately, I cannot recall what exactly EIMA stands for but that doesn’t matter because I had an amazing time and met so many interesting people from all over the world. About one-hundred students went on the trip to lake Saint-Ferréol, which is near the town of Revel about an hour from Toulouse. We left Saturday morning and arrived at the lake just in time for a picnic on the lake’s beach. It was quite cold and grey out and the beach was much more rock than sand but nevertheless, we all sat down and enjoyed our packed lunches. Lisa (another Dickinson student) was somehow the only person out of one-hundred who had brought a knife so people kept coming up and asking to borrow it. In particular, a German girl had brought a whole avocado and cantaloupe for her lunch but had no way to open them so she came over to use the knife and we had a pleasant conversation about the relative expensiveness of avocados in different countries.

After the picnic we realized that there were no activities planned for the rest of the day and that we were expected to spend time on the beach and sunbathe, which as I said before, was impossible because of the gloomy weather. This realization actually helped us bond with a group of English students because they were just as frustrated and confused by the lack of structure (which the French seem to be quite used to) as we were. Later we went inside and played a name game where people introduced themselves and said something that they liked to do – it was the sort of thing that is painfully awkward to the point that everyone laughs continuously.

By far the best part of the weekend was the soirée Saturday night. I still haven’t gotten used to the idea of alcohol (usually wine) being served at university events but then again, every time we explained to other students that the drinking age is twenty-one in the U.S. they laughed outright. The soiree ended up being an enormous dance party (which I’m happy to say we helped start) and lasted far into the night. Sunday proved to be much nicer and although everyone was exhausted, we spent time on the beach and floated around in paddleboats and kayaks. It was still too cold for me but tons of people (mainly Canadians and Northern Europeans) put on bathing suits and laid in the sun. It was so much fun to be around students from all over the world and I felt reassured learning that other students are just as baffled by the French university system and nervous about starting classes as I am.

Well, another academic year at Dickinson in France has come to an end and our students have returned to the US to enjoy their summer before starting back up at their respective universities in the Fall.  The Dickinson in France staff would like to thank all of their participants for their contribution to the program’s activities throughout the year. We wish you a wonderful summer, continued success in your studies, and the best of luck in your future endeavors. We hope that you will return to the United States with your suitcases full of new experiences as well as memories of new friends and of course, a little bit more French!

Thank you, readers, for your loyalty and interest from the beginning of year; without you, this blog would not exist.

I would also like to thank Lucile and Laura for welcoming me and integrating me into the Dickinson in France team. Just like our students, I too have learned a great deal this year, acquiring experience and skills that surely will be useful in the future.  Thank you for being part of my unforgettable year in Toulouse.

I hope you enjoy the last edition of La Une for the 2014-2015 school year in which two students will tell you about the joys of VêloToulouse, adjusting one’s expectations regarding convenience, as well as regional differences between Lille and Toulouse.

Julia

End of the Year Reception

End of the Year Reception

To begin, a disclaimer: this is not a paid advertisement for VeloToulouse.

A VéloToulouse; Photo by Lizzie Hardison

Even so, I have a hard time hiding my enthusiasm for Toulouse’s self-service bike sharing system. I bought a membership in early March, and since then, hardly a day goes by in Toulouse that I don’t travel by bike. I live in Côte Pavé, a nice, residential neighborhood with the one drawback of being far from the metro. I can get into Centre Ville easily by bus, but I prefer to travel by bike for a few reasons.

First, the bikes are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – even when the bus service is interrupted. In the event of strikes (which happen frequently), you can’t count on the bus as part of your travel itinerary: there may be one bus for every two or three that are scheduled, or the bus may never come at all. Bikes have saved me plenty of times the buses were running irregularly. You rarely have to go out of your way to pick up or drop off a bike, since there are more than 250 stations throughout the city. Secondly, traveling by bike is often quicker than taking the bus or walking. Toulouse isn’t a pedestrian only city, but a good number of narrow, inner-city streets are accessible only by bike or by foot. Traveling by bike gives you access to more roads and lets you skip the traffic-congested boulevards, all while outpacing the city’s pedestrians. Finally, traveling by bike is enjoyable and good for your health! You can get fresh air while experiencing the best pleasures of a city, such as a view of narrow streets or the smell of a boulangerie in the morning. Throughout the semester, it’s also been the best way for me to keep fit and active.

For future students who want to explore Toulouse by bike, let me offer some advice. First, I’d suggest that you don’t buy a subscription as soon as you arrive Take the first few weeks or month of the semester to familiarize yourself with Toulouse. If there’s a route you foresee yourself biking a lot, take it a few times by foot in both directions. . To bike safely in a city, you must have a reliable knowledge of its layout and traffic patterns. I’ve found that most drivers in Toulouse are very obliging to cyclists, but you need to be attentive and sure in your movements to avoid accidents. Secondly, always verify that you’ve locked your bike properly after deposing it at a station. If you didn’t attach it well, your account could be fined for the price of a bike – 150 euros. This is easy to avoid, but it can happen – and it did happen to my host’s son. He paid the fine, but hasn’t biked since!

Overall, my VeloToulouse membership was one of the best investments I made during my time in Toulouse. Commuting by bike gave me the opportunity to appreciate the beauty the city has to offer, and I can’t recommend the experience enough.

-Lizzie Hardison