A Trip to Grasse

We took a CEA excursion to Grasse today, and made perfume! Grasse is definitely the perfume capitol of the world, 60% of perfume is made there. The parfumerie we went to today was the second we have visited so far, and while I have now learned quite a bit about perfume making, the most interesting thing remains "le Nez." In English, that means "the Nose," and refers to the person who has the job of creating perfumes based on smell.

On average, there are 300 different essences in perfume, and to become a Nez, you have to be able to identify all 300 after smelling. It is a gift one is born with. In the whole world, there are only around 150 Nez's, and 16 of them are in Grasse. They only work from 2 to 4 hours a day, and usually 5 days a week. That seems like a perk at first, but then you hear the following conditions, and decide they deserve it. As a Nez, you cannot drink, smoke, eat spicy foods or dairy products. It is quite the delicate job, and super fascinating!

Ready to make some perfume!

We started with a blind smell test to determine our family of scents, and then sniffed, sniffed, sniffed
and mixed scents all morning. 

After the perfume making we stopped at a few "perched villages" - quite lovely - ate some crepes, some ice cream, and I attempted to fit in with the mustache crew...

...it's not quite the same, but the boys, I'm sorry - the men - appreciated my effort. We ended the day with some hooping (which I'm getting much better at), hot chocolate, and Fantastic Mr. Fox (a quirky little movie I highly recommend!).

Overall, lovely day. 

Another Writing Place...

So I have started submitting some blog posts to "Let's Go Travel Guides," a website with student contributions about travelling and living abroad. Today my very first post is one of the featured articles on the website's homepage: http://www.letsgo.com/ . If you are looking for it on a different day, click here to go straight to the post.

Happy Sunday!

Anglo Invasion

Time time time is running away from me. It is about to be April in a few days, and I am not sure how to handle that. In order to keep you all better informed about my life, however, I am going to attempt to do shorter, more frequent posts about any little thing that is happening here.

Currently, we are under some anglo-invasion. Yachting season is beginning, and therefore the British, Australians, and South Africans are flowing in. Young people who are hoping to work on yachts and older people who own the yachts and therefore get to decide the fates of the younger people.

As a result, more restaurants and shops are opening in old town Antibes - largely English-influenced as well. A bagel place and more pubs and boutiques with lots of khaki.

I like a bit more life in the town, and also dislike it. I am sad to see the French part of this town get pushed even more to the wayside - but I suppose that is what happens when you live in the French Riviera. The longer I have lived here the more I am aware that this area was really built by tourists - by Americans and Brits who wanted to customize a vacation spot for themselves.

It makes me miss Flavigny. 

The village we stayed in during our spring break. 

And it makes me miss cooking with this woman.

Francoise, the host mom of a couple of her friends. We cooked quiche
with her last month. She is one of the sweetest people I have met
here. 

Reflections

Oh man...I've been away from this blog for far too long. Ever since spring (or more like late-winter) break things have been speeding up here. The school work is getting a bit more important and frequent since the end of the semester is approaching, and I have been busy trying to get some things in order for life back in the states. And then of course, there is just the time needed to take walks to the light house or make dinner with friends or go to Ireland for St. Paddy's Day weekend...which was marvelous, by the way. Irish people really are as friendly as I've been hearing, and additionally, I ended up speaking a lot of French this weekend as the French apparently love St. Patrick's Day.

I will give more updates about that trip as well as some about spring break, but for the moment I would just like to share a few reflections...a few thoughts...a few lessons I've learned just by living abroad. They are going to be rather random and brief, but making these little discoveries is one of my favorite parts about being here. And I believe, in fact, that they are the reasons I am supposed to be here.

OpenSpace
France has taught me the value of open spaces - in both time and landscape. In the states I am very good at jampacking every ounce of space in my life with activity. Actually, at first not having as many work or school-related productive things to do here was really difficult for me. Now, though, I see that I need it - I crave it. I've found that I write more here, so much more, which is largely due to being in a whole new world, but also due to the fact that my mind has more room to wander, to create. So, when I get back to the states I need to leave more open space in my time, and find more open spaces outside.

BraveBeyondBelief
You need to leave your familiar, to take yourself out of the space you fit into completely so you can decide which parts you miss most. It takes courage, but if you give yourself the chance, you will find you are brave beyond belief. Your leaving may also be hard for some of the people left in your familiar life, but sometimes you just have to go. As Howard Roark said in the novel The Fountainhead, You have to know how to say "I" before you can say "I love you." Going away is a really solid way to find out how to say "I".

Learning
I get to read more here, and I have discovered one of the many reasons I love reading is because it helps me see things I feel from a distance, and therefore allows me to describe my beliefs, thoughts, emotions in the perfect way.

I understand with a greater depth the old adage that we are always learning. Every time I think I've discovered all of the facets of a place, person, belief, or myself, I find a whole new category of facets.

HomeInAntibes
The cobblestones that make up these streets are so familiar under my feet. My steps are so sure - the definition of the phrase, "sure-footed". And my head is held high too. This is one of my towns now. Not mine, maybe, but I fit here too - with the new parts of myself I have found by being in this place that was once completely unfamiliar, but now is known. The quaintness is expected rather than marveled over. Not taken for granted, just worn in.

GoodCompany
The French know how to enjoy each other's company; to take time over meals and drinks to just be together. Dinner parties are one of my new favorite things. I will host many throughout my life.

GrandDiscovery
What do I most want to do in life?
Be with people I love in places I love, and be constantly finding new places and people to love, and collecting new perspectives and writing about it all. I want to share all that love and the best way I can figure out how is through writing.

A reflection picture taken in the apartment of Emile's mom, where I stayed with an old friend and new friends for spring break. Seemed appropriate to this post. 

And here is a picture just to add variety to all of the text here. 

List Item #12

Well, I didn't walk, I ran through an open field in Flavigny sur Ozerain. It is a small village just north of Dijon, on the east side of France. It is where the movie Chocolat was filmed. It is where I spent a couple days of my spring break with friends. It is where I found open spaces I have written about, but never walked through.

Just wanted to give you this quick update, since I've been absent from the blog-o-sphere for a while. Last night I got back from a 7 day trip through Paris, Flavigny, and Lyon. So many stories to share from all of those places, and not enough time. As it is already March (really not sure how that happened) I need to start figuring out a few things about my summer and next year plans, so I am attempting to be productive for the next few days.

More to come though, I promise!