Besançon, France 2011: Recap!

I can't believe it's already February 17! I got here January 13!

First off, the first week was fun, simple, and not exciting. I met the others from the group that I did not know, as well as our "den mother," Annick. She is very nice. I discovered the "centre-ville" (center city) of Besançon - it's an old and beautiful city, with beautiful churches, incredibly delicious food and very cool stores. The second week, we all ate together as a group with Annick at the "Tour de la Pelote" (a really old restaurant). It was amazing! I tasted (ate) a rabbit pâté - delicious, even though it was very bizarre.

My classes started January 24 at the CLA in centre-ville. The CLA building was refurnished fairly recently. The first week was complicated: in France, you go to every course that interests you and you choose after having tried your courses. Anyway, I did the same thing, and my courses are interesting.
Monday - No classes!
Tuesday - General Linguistics
Wednesday - Oral Expression & Comprehension; French Modern Society; French Orality
Thursday - French Writing; Francophone Litterature
Friday - French Writing; Oral Expression & Comprehension; Contemporary French History

As for trips, I haven't yet visited any regions or places that I want to go to, except for the "Percée du Vin Jaune" (in Arbois, Jura): I'll explain it in a later post.

I love the culture and the food in France. Everything I eat is more fresh, and I have never had a bad meal. We eat fairly often some "kébab" (it is not at all the same thing as "kebab" in English). Kébab in Besançon is referring to lamb meat in a little wheat wrap or bread roll. My god it is so good. Also, we eat at a pizzeria almost every week. The pizza here is definitely better than in the U.S. (sorry everyone!).
Ahhh, and then the bread. I eat at least a loaf of bread a day (usually 1-2). The bread here is so good. At the beginning of my stay here, I had at least one sandwich per day. Oh yeah, and by the way, I ate cow tongue one night...it was so good!

Finally, the culture and the people are fun and interesting. I still have a lot of difficult with conversation; the French language is still difficult. Nevertheless, I love France, and I'm sure that I'll eventually be fine with the language.

Here are some photos of Besançon!