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Tim’s Visit - Week in Metz (and Nancy)
We got back to Metz around 8pm on Monday evening, and by then we were very hungry for dinner so we started cooking right away – pesto pasta. I had planned an elaborate combo of veggies to sauté and pour over the pasta, until Tim informed me that one of his (many) picky food habits is never wanting to mix food. Veggies must be separate from the pasta. OK, then! I had fun learning these quirks, because they are things I wouldn’t have picked up on at Duke where we never cook. So I still sautéed the veggies, but made sure to set aside Tim’s pasta before mixing them in with mine.
Tuesday was unfortunately mostly a working day. I had 4 lectures (and then was surprised by the last minute scheduling of a 5th make-up lecture), and Tim had to take an econ final, so that consumed most of the day. I brought him to my French class at night though, where I was giving a presentation on Ben Vautier, my favorite French modern artist. It was nice to have Tim there watching (felt almost like a kindergarten parent go to school night), and I was also glad he could see how entertaining and goofy my French teacher is! After class, we headed to Cora, the huge supermarket in Metz (think Super Wal-Mart), probably the most commercial thing I’ve seen in all of France. Cora is an important part of the student experience here at GTL, as we all make weekly (or bi-weekly) treks to Cora to stock up on food and any other random household needs. My friend Julie came with and entertained us with stories from her weekend trip to Prague, so it was a great bonding time for Tim and Julie. When we arrived at Cora, we realized we’d forgotten to bring our own bags (required at all supermarkets in France), so we knew we’d have to limit ourselves in what we bought. Luckily, despite the thousands of options at the store, Tim only seemed to want one thing – orange juice, and lots of it. Easy guest! Still, there was a lot of food I wanted Tim to try, especially crème de marrons spread on pre-toasted bread, speculoos spread (acceptable to eat straight out of the jar), and brie with fresh Bonne Maman strawberry jam. These snacks have been staples for me during my semester in France, and luckily Tim seemed to enjoy them (although, in keeping with the picky habits, it was better not to “mix” the jam with brie…).
It was late by the time we got back, so we started cooking Paneer Curry, a delicious recipe that was recommended to me by a friend here. It was fun to cook together, especially since we haven’t had the chance at Duke where all the meals are a product of foodpoints. The only problem was figuring out how to chop all the onions without our eyes tearing up! Other than that, it was very enjoyable and the curry was delicious. I am really looking forward to cooking a lot of meals in the spring, when I’ll have a kitchen in my Central Campus apartment!
On Wednesday, we spent the day exploring Metz, then also hopped on an afternoon train to Nancy. I wanted to go to Nancy because I’ve heard great things about the town, and it was also the center of the French Art Nouveau movement, which I just finished writing a paper about. We were debating between a daytrip to Nancy or Luxembourg, but I’m glad we settled on Nancy – when we walked into the beautiful golden plaza, I knew we’d chosen the right place. Its golden decorations reminded me a lot of Bruxelles, and the town offers a beauty I didn’t find in Luxembourg.
A bit blurry, but you get the idea…
We didn’t arrive until around 4pm (since I spent many hours showing him around Metz), so we decided that rather than heading for the Art Nouveau museum, it would be better to just explore the town. We made the right choice, because Nancy is overflowing with so much Art Nouveau that you don’t need to pay for a museum to see it! In the main plaza, I noticed a Daum crystal shop, which I knew from my paper was a shop founded by the Daum brothers, one of the leaders of the movement. We walked in, and immediately I recognized all the techniques in the glass that I’d learned about them pioneering. I felt lucky that I’d just turned in my paper, because all the information about them was fresh in my mind. My favorite part though was discovering the Ben Vautier for Daum collection - I knew it was Vautier (my favorite artist who I had just presented about the previous night) before I even read the label. Nancy was proving to be a great place to show Tim more about my favorite interests in France.
After the Daum shop closed, we spent several hours wandering through the town and shop-hopping. Nancy is filled with tons of strange and unique shops, so shop-hopping was very entertaining (and also a great way to stay warm). Afterwards, we decided it was time to stop in a café (of course). We choose one overlooking the main plaza, called Jean Lamour. I was ready to order yet another cappuccino, until I noticed vin chaud on the menu. Vin chaud is a traditional holiday drink here – red wine mixed with lots of spices and orange slices, so we decided to try it. Delicious! We immediately started brainstorming about how it could be the featured drink at a classy holiday party at Duke, or over winter break.
By then, it was dark and cold, so we decided to head back, rather than waiting for a few more hours to have dinner in Nancy. We had lots of leftovers waiting for us (not as glamorous as cooking together, but I didn’t want the food to go to waste!), and our only regret was not being able to find an open boulangerie on the way home for a fresh baguette.
The following day was Thanksgiving, and I was in charge of “directing” a cute musical skit that Katrina had written (a parody about the life of a GTL student to the tune of “16 Going On 17”), so after dinner I hosted a rehearsal in my room. Apparently there wasn’t enough space for the dance moves that had been planned though, so we relocated to the laundry room. Curtis, Brett, and Julie joined us in the audience as we watched Katrina and Jesse perform, so it was another great opportunity for Tim to get to know some of my friends here (and see how strange some of our evening activities can be!). After rehearsal, we decided it was the perfect time to cook the crêpe batter I’d prepared earlier (I’ve learned the secret to perfect crepes is to let the batter sit for several hours or even overnight), so we started cooking! Tim has scared me with many tales of his “difficulties” in the kitchen, but it turned out he was great at making crêpes! With a little nutella and whipped cream, they are the tastiest desserts I can imagine, and we finished nearly the entire plate before the end of the night. Crêpes are definitely at the top of our list of things to make at Duke. And after discovering how delicious dinner crêpes are, I want to try making those too!
I woke up on Thanksgiving morning, looked out the window, and exclaimed “its snowing!!” I love the first snow of the season, and it felt perfect that it was happening on Thanksgiving. This made it feel a little bit more like I was back home in Chicago for the holidays.
I had to go to my Fluids lecture to take a quiz, so while I was gone, Tim made the stuffing (again, proving he isn’t so useless in the kitchen!). Tim’s sister Robin was kind enough to send Tim to France with 2 big bags of Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix, since American stuffing is my favorite part of Thanksgiving (other than pumpkin pie…). The stuffing was so delicious that we couldn’t stop sampling it, so it was good that we had 2 bags! By the time we brought it over to the dinner, there was only one bowl left. Whoops. Before dinner, we went on a long walk through Fort de Queuleu, inarguably one of my favorite parts of living here. It was cool to show Tim the trail I’d been running on every day this year (but not anymore now that its so cold), and also tell him about some of the WWII history I’d learned. Experiencing history like this is an opportunity we just don’t get in the United States.
Then it was time for Thanksgiving dinner! The party was hosted by Georgia Tech – a potluck dinner with 200 guests. Katrina, Julie, Lauren, and I were in charge of decorations (so I’d spent the previous week making hundreds of paper snowflakes and spending the entire student government budget on Christmas decorations at IKEA), and I am so pleased with how the room turned out. It was very beautiful (though admittedly very Christmas-y). I was also in charge of music, so throughout the night, Christmas carols were blasting out of the speakers. Dinner was delicious – a huge assortment of both traditional Thanksgiving dishes and samples of cuisine from all over the world. We sat with Julie, Katrina, and Brett, and once again I was grateful that Tim had another chance to get to know my friends here. After dinner, Katrina and Jesse performed their skit, and it was a huge success!
Following the party, we went back to my dorm. Despite having all we could eat and then some, we still wanted to make more crêpes (truly irresistible), so we made another batch! We also skyped with both of our families, and it made us feel like we were a part of their Thanksgiving celebrations, even though we were separated by an ocean.
The week went by so quickly! Somehow it was already Friday, and we were scheduled to head off to Strasbourg. Before we did though, we stopped into the Centre Pompidou-Metz, so I could show Tim the sister museum to the one we saw in Paris. Most importantly, I wanted to show him “Magasin de Ben,” definitely Ben Vautier’s most famous piece, and the first one I ever saw. That piece fueled my obsession with him, so I was glad Tim got to see it in person. We didn’t have much time at the museum though, so after admiring the piece, we rushed back to the train station and hopped on a train to Strasbourg!
