In a week’s time here in France I seem to have done and experienced more than in a month’s time at home. The days seem so long, but at the end of the day it’s always guaranteed that I ask myself “where has the day gone?” The staff at Purpan has definitely done a fantastic job at keeping us busy since the last time I have been able to post.
Not only have I experienced more in the time I have been here than what I would have at home, but its crazy how much I have learned in such a short period of time.. and that’s what this is all about, right? We have now had 4 days of French lessons, 3 hours each, and I have caught on to the language so fast compared to the three years I took in high school. I definitely think being immersed into the language has played a huge role. I may not know a lot, but its coming along.
So on Monday we actually did not have class, due to it being a national holiday. Yesterday in class we had a lecture about chickens, which I have never had a class on before, and learned Frances policy for “Label Rouge”. That is a type of labeling on eggs and meat that is similar to organic, but still quite a bit different. Continuing on about chickens, we learned animal welfare. I definitely have learned that I have a much different outlook on animal welfare than the French do. Lots of gives and takes. The one thing I came to conclusion about is that in America, we only care about cost efficiency and high production rates, and really nothing else. I could go into a long controversially blog about that, but I’m going to steer clear for now!
Today was really cool! We took a nice, long, (early) bus ride, three hours away to a sheep farm. This sheep farm was so much different than anything I have been around. The farm had 400 head of milking ewes, Lacaune was the breed. These ewes are well adapted to the areas climate, and they grow less than one kilo of wool annually! I could go into a million stats about how many liters of milk they produce a day and year and all that, but I don’t have time for that, my apologizes. The most interesting thing I took away from the farm was the 48 head semi-automatic milking parlor. All the milk produced at this one farm goes to Roquefort for cheese. Later on today we visited and toured the caves where the cheese is fermented and prepared. It smelled terrible. I’m not much of a risk taker when it comes to the foods I ate, but I went out of my comfort zone and tried the cheese….. and I sank right back into my comfort zone, that stuff was terrible! I’ll stick to cheddar & American cheese! I may have not liked the cheese, but it was the experience that counts. The cheese is flavored with penicillin, fun fact.
Not only have I experienced more in the time I have been here than what I would have at home, but its crazy how much I have learned in such a short period of time.. and that’s what this is all about, right? We have now had 4 days of French lessons, 3 hours each, and I have caught on to the language so fast compared to the three years I took in high school. I definitely think being immersed into the language has played a huge role. I may not know a lot, but its coming along.
So on Monday we actually did not have class, due to it being a national holiday. Yesterday in class we had a lecture about chickens, which I have never had a class on before, and learned Frances policy for “Label Rouge”. That is a type of labeling on eggs and meat that is similar to organic, but still quite a bit different. Continuing on about chickens, we learned animal welfare. I definitely have learned that I have a much different outlook on animal welfare than the French do. Lots of gives and takes. The one thing I came to conclusion about is that in America, we only care about cost efficiency and high production rates, and really nothing else. I could go into a long controversially blog about that, but I’m going to steer clear for now!
Today was really cool! We took a nice, long, (early) bus ride, three hours away to a sheep farm. This sheep farm was so much different than anything I have been around. The farm had 400 head of milking ewes, Lacaune was the breed. These ewes are well adapted to the areas climate, and they grow less than one kilo of wool annually! I could go into a million stats about how many liters of milk they produce a day and year and all that, but I don’t have time for that, my apologizes. The most interesting thing I took away from the farm was the 48 head semi-automatic milking parlor. All the milk produced at this one farm goes to Roquefort for cheese. Later on today we visited and toured the caves where the cheese is fermented and prepared. It smelled terrible. I’m not much of a risk taker when it comes to the foods I ate, but I went out of my comfort zone and tried the cheese….. and I sank right back into my comfort zone, that stuff was terrible! I’ll stick to cheddar & American cheese! I may have not liked the cheese, but it was the experience that counts. The cheese is flavored with penicillin, fun fact.