Edinburgh Exchanges

Life has been incedibly hectic lately, and lots of fun as well! As I said, my best friend came to visit on Friday for five days, which drove all other thoughts and especially all homesickness and thoughts of classes out of my head. It was fantastic to see her and I wanted to make sure she got to see lots of new places and experience some proper French culture. My first attempt on this score was to take her to Lyon on Friday. So after we had caused a scene in the train station by squealing and hugging and getting in everyone's way with our joyful reunion, we bought two day returns to Lyon and hopped on a train. It was a truly horrible day and it poured with rain for the entire journey. We didn't care too much though because it was a good chance for us to catch up on all our news and gossip about all our mutual friends (and the non-mutual ones too!) When we finally did arrive in Lyon we appeared to be in some sort of industrial park, there was no sign of any of the pretty architecture I'd been promised by wikipedia and anyway, it was raining. So we sped the few feet into the shopping centre opposite the station and spent a pleasant few hours shopping and getting lunch before we headed home. At 30€ for the train tickets, it was definitely the most expensive lunch I've ever had!

Lyon had been a bit of a disappointment, but I was sure that my plans for the following day would turn out well, mainly because I wasn't in charge of the planning this time! On Saturday morning, four of us headed to Beaune, which is the main town in the Burgundy wine region. We spent the morning at the local market, which was amazing and full of delicious food that was just begging to be bought and eaten, although most of it was quite pricey. We also had a wander around the town, which is really beautiful and well worth a visit if you're in the region. It was full of narrow little streets, gorgeous houses and old architecture. A lot of the buildings had the colourful, decorative tiled roofs that are everywhere in Burgundy. The whole place was just so French! However, it was very touristy and everyone spoke to us in English and we heard far more native English than French speakers during the day, which spoiled the atmosphere a bit. In the afternoon we went wine tasting at one of the local Caves. We were able to walk around the wine cellars of the building, which used to be a convent, and see the thousands of bottles stored there. They also had a section of bottles with labels on them giving the date when they would be mature and ready for sale - it was a bit unsettling that this would be after we were long dead! We were given little silver cups to taste the wine from, apparently to help us appreciate the colour of the wine, although how we were to do that I wasn't sure, as the cellar was really dark and only lit by candles. I discovered on this trip that I know nothing at all about wine and my tastes are far from refined! There were 16 bottles to taste and they went in order from the cheapest to the most expensive. To my palate, honed to perfection on Tesco own-brand wine, they got more disgusting as we went along - the cheap plonk was definitely the best! Nonetheless, I tried them all and we were quite tipsy by the time we emerged back into the sunlight! In the evening, back in Dijon, I tried to give Max a taste of Burgundy cuisine by smothering her dinner of sausage and mash in mustard! I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned before just how much mustard people really eat in Dijon - we have it with most meals, put it in sauces and it's practically impossible to buy mayonnaise or salad dressing that doesn't contain mustard. Thankfully, I love the stuff and think it improves our cooking no end, although I have to say that tuna with mustard-mayo is not a good plan!

On Sunday Max and I went through to Besançcon to see our friend Heather. We ended up not getting there until quite late because we'd slept in, so we went for a late lunch in an Irish pub (where the staff were disappointingly French) and then walked up to the citadel. We ended up not going inside because we had so little time left before we had to catch the train home, but we walked around the outside and climbed some of the walls and it was a good laugh. Back in Dijon we stopped off for a quick drink in Hunky Dory, the local Karaoke bar so that Max could sample Kir, the local aperitif. I don't think I would revisit Hunky Dory in quite such a sober state again, but it was good fun just the once! My favourite was the rendition of 'Barbie Girl' by two people who had clearly never spoken english before - it was hilarious.

We spent the next couple of days in Dijon. Although I often complain that there isn't much happening here, we took the tourist trail around the town, buying a guide book at the tourist office and then following a trail of owl plaques around the town past all the places of interest. I had never actually done the Owl Trail before and because I live on Campus and don't need to go into town all that often I hadn't been to most of the places on the trail either. I'm really glad I did it and I was impressed with how much history there really is here and how pretty it all is! We didn't actually end up finishing the trail because we kept getting distracted by shops and unusual furniture, and we ran out of time. We had booked tickets to go and see High School Musical (it's fast becoming an obsession) because I felt it was an important part of Max's cultural education! I think she may have appreciated it more if it had been in English. And if I hadn't insisted on singing along.

Max's visit really flew by, although I was glad that we had managed to get such a lot done while she was here. It really reminded me how much I miss all my friends in Edinburgh and how lucky I am to be part of such a close group. On the other hand though, Max couldn't stop talking about how much she liked Dijon and how convieniently close to everything it is and how lucky I am, so her visit made me remember all of that as well. Thanks Max!

Once again, it was truly tragic to have to say goodbye to someone who I am so comfortable with and who makes me so happy and have to return fully to living somewhere where everything is still unfamiliar and strange. However, life must go on and I spent Tuesday night watching films with my friends and Wednesday at the International Food Festival in Dijon, which was amazing and full of free things! I also became the proud owner of a BNP bank card today, despite the fact that I got the account about 3 weeks ago!

It has, as you can see, been a busy week and I am now exhausted! I need to spend the next week knuckling down to some work though; classes have been sadly neglected with all my visitors! I'm also planning to book a trip to Basel for the Christmas markets in December, although my Erasmus grant is sadly depleted now!

Today the world changed. And I was there to watch it.

Yesterday. I woke up early to vote as CNN had been predicting that queues at the polling stations could last up to four hours. Clutching my voter registration card, passport, drivers license and student ID, there was no way I could be turned away by sneaky Republicans who didn’t want a college student (aka liberal) to vote. Haverford was running vans to and from the various polling stations (Delaware County is gerrymandered so buildings next door to each other vote in different places) so there was no excuse not to vote. My brother, Dan, who has been staying with me this week, also came along as he wanted to see American democracy in action

The polling station was distinctly uneventful. There was no line stretching for miles, the old women manning the stations were friendly, and the voting machines – no paper ballots here! – were easy to use. Once I had cast my vote, my friends and I stood around, exchanging hugs and with our fellow student voters, and feeling as though the occasion should have been more momentous, and then my brother and I went out for breakfast.

The rest of the day was spent in central Philly. My mum rang to ask what election fever was like, but I had to respond that it was barely palpable, a couple of people with signs standing in the rain and that was it. My bro and I watched the film W. – we thought it was a fitting tribute to the end of eight years of Bush rule.

As the day darkened into evening, everyone suddenly got a lot more excited. My friends and I went round to our friends Pat and London’s apartment to watch the results come in. By the time we reached there, a few very unsurprising results had been called, and McCain was briefly in the lead. More and more people kept piling into the living room, a shisha pipe was put into action, everyone was drinking, and we watched fascinated as state after state went blue (the colours of the parties are reversed from the ones in England – the Democrats are blue and the Republicans are red). As the seconds counted down to the time when the West Coast polls closed, we began chanting.

And then Obama won, and everyone went crazy. We tumbled out onto the streets shouting and screaming and cheering and yelling. Corks popped, jigs were danced, and everywhere was the cry ‘Yes We Did, Yes We Did’. McCain’s speech was gracious, Obama’s victorious and the smiles never left our faces. After Obama had spoken, the student body as one raced to Founders Green – a field in the centre of the campus – and we joyfully rioted, before running to the college President’s house to wake him up. Sadly, President Emerson was in California and even our loudest O-BA-MA chants could not reach him there. A spontaneous dance party began outside one of the dorms, and we stomped and danced and sang until the college security shut it down. Everyone continued partying until the early morning, the mood ecstatic.

Now that a new day has dawned, there is still general elation. Everyone (Haverford is a very liberal campus) is smiling, people have stopped knocking on wood every time the election is mentioned, and there is a real sense that what we have witnessed is history.

To the future!