Snow

It may be cold and yucky and a pain when you have to shovel it, but I still love snow every year when it first comes. Yesterday was Besancon's lucky first day.

And from what I've heard there won't be too many. After waiting impatiently to see Besancon's first little falling snowflakes, I was informed that the pretty dust coating on the grass was about as much as they get at their low altitude.

At least I don't have to worry about walking safely to class this winter.

Christmas Party

It's Christmas season and with that comes parties, farewells, and lots of work (hence the fewer blog entries this month). Of course the parties are the best of all these things, and last week I had the pleasure of attending my first one of the year, hosted by my French teachers and attended by all my classmates.

We each brought a traditional dish from our home country to share with each other- giving me the opportunity to make that apple pie I had missed during Thanksgiving. Other dishes included sushi, cucumber slices with miso, some feta cheese and parsley deep-fried dough rolls, cinnamon rolls, cake, and some chinese sea-food cuisine I didn't look at too closely.

We each took turns explaining what we had brought, and then enjoyed trying a little bit of everything (except for me obviously, because some of the dishes had meat in them). All the food I did try however was delicious, and I thoroughly enjoyed eating some new ethnic foods.

I think our whole class enjoyed themselves, and our teachers. I've already had several recipe requests for that apple pie recipe.

Marché de Noël

Another big part of the Christmas season here in Besançon is the Marché de Noël, or Christmas market. It's just like a special Christmas farmers market, but very rich in cuisine, homemade presents and some commercial items.

Although rather small, contained within the Place de la Revolution, it offers a lot of really good quality food and products- like homemade wine and cheese, macaroons, dried fruit and bread, wooden children's toys, wool clothing and home decorations. Everybody has their own wooden booth from which they do their selling, and even Santa Clause gets his own little booth/house to welcome kids for a visit.

The market started the last week in November and should be around until Christmas. It is busy every day with people looking to be finished with their holiday shopping, or others just enjoying the atmosphere with its good food and wine.

I've taken the time to look around on several occasions and have already picked something up for my nephew there, but I've yet to buy anything else. The problems of being a college student are that you really have to ration your spending money during these types of opportunities.

Unfortunately for me however, I just can't stop thinking about those beautiful, expensive macaroons (note photo :) ).

Lights

If you walk around in Centre Ville at this time of the year, there's just one thing you can't take your eyes off: the lights.

It's Christmastime here in Besançon and the city clearly likes to make that known. Every street is draped in lights and every store has something Christmas-y displayed in the little windows. The streets are packed with shoppers illuminated beneath the sparkling beam, and the wind is always blowing that smell of hot spiced wine through the air.

Of all the little touches, the lights are the most magnificent, however. They are not animated or colorful like the displays in Murphy Park, but they really show off the beauty of downtown Besançon in that bitter cold weather.

Now if only it would snow, everything would be perfect.

Capitalism

Michael Moore's new movie Capitalism: A Love Story was in the local movie theaters this week. Last thursday night a friend and I decided to go and see it, and ended up stumbling on what was actually a movie night+ debate held by a local Bisontin association.

The movie lasted for about two hours and was in English with French subtitles, a rarity for American movies which are usually dubbed over. It focused on the financial crisis in the U.S., how it happened, how it has been dealt with and how the American people are suffering from it. Obviously Michael Moore is really controversial, but I found the film to be pretty real and disheartening overall.

After the viewing I figured that the debate would consist of much down-with-capitalism rhetoric. In reality I couldn't understand much of it, but there was at least one comment to the effect that France is no better than what was revealed about the U.S. I have to say I was surprised.

Some of the stereotypes of French people are that they are arrogant and they don't like Americans. But that's really not true for the most part, the French are willing to admit to their own faults, or their country's, and they're not as pessimistic about us as some might think.

But that doesn't necessarily mean they are sympathetic to our economic system. Those socialists!

Thanksgiving in France

No France does not celebrate Thanksgiving, and everybody should know that. But even though far away from the traditional festivities back home, I was still able to celebrate with a little meal given by the foreign student center.

I dreamed of this 3 euro Thanksgiving dinner all week long, and even though I was really only able to eat the mashed potatoes and dinner rolls, it still left me happy and with a full stomach.

The lunch was served in a big reception room on the CLA's 5th floor, and I was surprised to see how many non-Americans decided to partake in the celebration with us. The room was full, everybody seemed satisfied and generally everybody was speaking (or trying to speak) English. The story of the first Thanksgiving was shared and traditional recipes were handed out while we enjoyed everybody's favorite pumpkin pie.

The CLA began the dinner with a statement of their efforts to recognize and celebrate the holidays of all cultures represented there. Although this was their first Thanksgiving, I'm betting based on its success that Thanksgiving will become a new tradition for future language-learning generations.

In photo: French-ified pumpkin pie and apple tart

Micropolis

The Micropolis is a building complex just a little ways outside of Centre Ville. It hosts expositions, spectacles and concerts, and this weekend it was the scene of a large regional craft fair I had the opportunity to attend.

Four rooms divided into four categories: handmade crafts such as woodwork, jewelry and needlework, books on all subjects concerning Franche-Comté featured with their authors, food and cuisine, and farm animals.

I spent about an hour and a half looking at, and tasting, all the things that my region of France has to offer. The colors and the smells and the music really set the atmosphere and I felt like I had stepped into a slideshow of traditional Franche-Comté culture.

Although the fair was overall designed to showcase gifts for the upcoming Christmas season, I didn't buy anything. I just drank it all in for free.