Wine, cheese, and wandering

I've had an interesting couple of days. 

Yesterday I tried to wake up early to go adventuring, but I slept in far too late and bummed around the house all day. When Frédéric and Mathilde got home, I helped make dinner. We had lentils with onions, garlic, herbs, and artisan sausage (hand-made by a farmer who lives just outside the city, and who raises the pigs that went into the sausage - fantastic!), followed by wine and cheese:

Clockwise from the right (and in the order that I was instructed to try them): fromage de chevre (goat cheese, very soft and mild), bread (with which I tried everything), gruyere (quite sharp and hard, but very pleasant), and some kind of cow's milk cheese that was so strong and bitter that I could only handle a bite before I gave it back to Frédéric while he laughed. Apparently it's not for me. 

Cheers! Me and Frédéric. The huge box of cheese is on the table between us. 

Me and my goat's milk cheese that was delicious. 

My first attempt at French cooking! Galette des Rois. Puff pastry with a filling made of eggs, sugar, butter, and powdered almonds. It's a new year tradition. Normally they hide a bean inside this dessert, and whoever gets it is the "King". We forgot to add the bean, but it was delicious.

Today I discovered the Université de Bourgogne (University of Burgundy). This is where I'll be going to school for the next few months. It was a little daunting to figure out the bus system all on my own, so Mathilde helped me out. We took the bus together to the garage where the car was being worked on, and she drove me to the University (which, coincidentally, is where she goes to swim), and left me there to find my own way home. This really wasn't as difficult as you would imagine. All the bus stops have their own name according to where they are, and they all have signs saying what direction the bus is going to after that stop so you know which direction you'll be headed. Happily enough, I live right by the terminus (end of the line), so I look for my neighbourhood (Fontaine d'Ouche) on the stops. Tomorrow I think I'll venture out to the school and work out different routes to get there and back.

This is my walk home from the bus stop. The humidity here is remarkable! Even though the soil is quite bad, a lot of things still manage to thrive. 

A little green space by the house. In the back you can see a couple of old stone walls. 

Part of the city across the valley. The roads at this end of town are quite steep. 

I'm amazed by all this green! I love it. 

Rue des Layottes. That's me! Hooray for not getting lost!

My street. Incredibly narrow. A lot of drivers will actually park their cars half on the sidewalk to avoid being sideswiped, as drivers here are crazy. 

The "sidewalk" (and my feet). It's loose crushed gravel. I'm not sure what's underneath. It's too nice to mess up. I'm fairly certain it's packed soil, though. 

A French keyboard. Freaking bizarre. I had to print something off of my email, and it took about a half hour to figure out what I was doing. Thank goodness I brought my Mac!

A Dijon delicacy - jambon à persil (parsley ham). This is what we ate my first night here. It looks awful, but tastes fantastic. 

Tonight we will have a dinner guest, an astrophysicist from Montpellier (a city to the south). Apparently he speaks incredibly quickly, and if I can understand him I can understand anyone. We'll see. I also get to go watch Mathilde do some African dance! She's been taking lessons, and this is her last one before her instructor leaves for a month. I'll try to take some pictures. 

I should run, dinner is almost ready. Tonight is boeuf bourgignonne, another local specialty. I can't wait. 

À bientôt!