Monday, May 14, 2012

District 1750

Bonjour encore!


Although I don't know which town/city I will be living in during my exchange, I know that I will be heading off to District 1750!!!  It is located east/south-east of Paris as you can see on this map below, and it is the Burgundy and Champagne region of France.  I love how it's located near the borders of the other countries (Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland and Italy) and the capital of France!

Rotary Districts of France


As a book-worm geek, I am currently borrowing almost all of the French tour guide books and language education resources from my local library, and I am absolutely enjoying my time reading about Burgundy and Champagne.


Champagne, meaning joy and festivity, is well known for it's vineyards that produce the drink, champagne... clearly obvious isn't it?  Champagne has many cellar touring attractions and cathedrals such as the Cathédrale Notre-Dame in Reims, known as one of the largest cathedrals of the country.  (My parents are very jealous indeed.)  It covers the north area of District 1750.


The southern part, Burgundy, is a farm country that is very famous for their wine and farm-centric traditional cuisine.  Some dishes I may encounter would be their well-known bœuf à la bourguignonne, which is beef stew where the beef is braised with mushrooms, onions, bacon and wine.  (It looks so tasty!)  They also produce Burgundian époisses (cheese) made from cow milk.  I am not a fan of odourous cheeses, but I heard that it's the perfect dessert! 


Lastly and maybe the least... the escargots.  (Gulp.)  I CANNOT imagine eating one.  I know that my parents have eaten them here at home on rare occasions, but I always refused to take a bite.  Apparently, they grow wildly in the vineyards there!  Mon dieu!  What will I think if I see them slimin' everywhere when I go to school every day for example?!  (My best friend is going to laugh at me so much because she nicknamed me 'Escargot' since middle school, describing my slow speed.)


Well well... it seems like one of my challenges during this one year is to eat an escargot.  Perhaps more.  I think I can manage it... I'll just focus my taste buds on the creamy and buttery sauce that accompanies it.
This is the only appetizing picture I found on Google Images...
Other than being occasionally surprised of what some of the French people eat, I am having tons of fun listening to French audio CDs and memorizing useful phrases.


Bonne nuit!
Sari


ps: Now, I realize that some people would think that eating raw fish, fish eggs or sea eels is beyond their imagination... stuff that I think is normal. But then... what is normal food anyways?

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