My Adventures in France

itinerary....

2010-12-10T21:27:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,
Just wanted to drop a quick note about my upcoming travels. Yesterday was my last day at work. It was wonderful. I went to lunch with the management team where Henri showered me with Stade Toulousane (Rugby) gifts. Henri is a HUGE rugby fan. So now I'm prepared with a flag, shirt and desk calendar. I also finally took a photo with the team :) I will write more about France later when I have time...but now Its 6:30 am and I have to be at the airport by 8:30 for my flight to London, so I must finish packing!!! London until Dec 15, then Stockholm until Dec 21, then home Dec 22. I won't have my computer but will try and send an update at some point.

Coming soon... "My Love Letter to France"

2010-12-09T08:07:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is my last day in France, and to be honest I'm quite sad. I really love where I work and the people I've met. But, I am super excited to travel to London and Stockholm. This week I've been filled with giddiness just waiting in anticipation for my travels. I will write more later. And at some point post "My Love Letter to France". I haven't written it yet, but I assure you it will be good!

Cassoulet...a southern France tradition

2010-12-06T07:38:00.000-08:00

Henri has been promising me Cassoulet all year! So today, we had lunch at a very very very nice restaurant that served an amazing Cassoulet. Welcome to gourmet casserole my fellow Minnesotans.

Comments below compliments of Wikipedia.

Cassoulet (from Occitan caçolet [kasuˈlet], French: [kasuˈlɛ]) is a rich, slow-cooked bean stew or casserole originating in the south of France, containing meat (typically pork sausages, pork, goose, duck and sometimes mutton), pork skin (couennes) and white haricot beans. The dish is named after its traditional cooking vessel, the cassole, a deep, round, earthenware pot with slanting sides.[1]
Numerous regional variations exist, the best-known being the cassoulet from Castelnaudary, the self-proclaimed "Capital of Cassoulet", Toulouse, and Carcassonne. All are made with white beans (haricots blancs or lingots), which have replaced the medieval broad bean Vica fava, and duck or goose confit, meat and sausages. In the cassoulet of Toulouse, the meats are pork and mutton, the latter frequently a cold roast shoulder. The Carcassonne version is similar but doubles the portion of mutton and sometimes replaces the duck with partridge. The cassoulet of Castelnaudary uses a duck confit instead of mutton. Cassoulet is traditionally topped by fried bread cubes and cracklings.

The dish dates back at least to the 14th century.[1]

Berlin

2010-12-05T04:57:00.000-08:00

Hamburg

2010-12-05T04:18:00.000-08:00

Abbreviated Germany Trip....

2010-12-05T03:55:00.000-08:00

Another Trek to Blois… this time in the Snow

This morning I met at the office at 6:00 am for the long trek to Blois. The purpose of traveling was to complete a training with the sales and research team and to celebrate the retirement of one of the researchers at our station in Epuiseau. So myself, and two others hopped in the French mini-van for the snow covered, non-plowed and non- salted road trip. There had been snow warnings all week for this area, but me as a true Minnesotan I didn’t give them much thought… until we were about two hours north of TLS and it looked like a winter wonder land. Ah, an early taste of home. I love it! So at a cruising speed of 58 kilometers per hour we successfully made the trip in 7 hours.

Germany Part 1: Not sure if Part 2 will ever be written, but here is the abbreviated version.

Germany, I promised a blog on my trip so here it goes. I arrived to Hamburg Friday evening Nov. 19^th. Successfully navigated myself from the airport to the central train station, where I asked the information desk where my hotel was. Since it was about 9:30pm and dark out and I was in a new city, I thought it be best to know exactly where I was going. Now my hotel was supposed to be very very close to the station, but when I gave the address to the info person, she said ‘Oh no you can’t walk there, you have to take a metro and then a bus…’ I thought this was odd, but as I’ve never been to Hamburg before, I thought I’d trust the native…big mistake. The directions she gave me, dropped me in the middle of no where, on a poorly lit street with no activity. So I called the hotel, attempted to speak with the German man in English, which got me nowhere until I heard an English speaking person in the background. So through some sort of communication he handed the phone over to her. Success! I received directions from an English woman named Suzy. As I was literally nowhere; she said to try and find a taxi. So I flagged down a taxi, and when I gave him the address, he kind of looked at me like ‘what are you doing all the way out here and why do I need to take you so far….’ But the ride turned out to be a blessing in disguise because I got to see Hamburg at night. Beautiful!!!!! It’s a port city, and was all lit-up for the holiday season. Suzy said to pop-in for a tea when I arrived at the hotel, so I did and we ended up chatting for almost 3 hours… oh the British sense of humor: Her life story is amazing; but that’s a story for a different blog.

Saturday I took a walking tour of Hamburg and really fell in love with it. Great architecture -- with a mix of new modern and old traditional buildings. I learned about the great fire, and WWII bombings and the massive orchestra hall in the process of being built, and the famous red light district. At 3:30 it was time to meet Anna at the train station. We then boarded a train to Berlin. Needless to say I need to go back to Hamburg again. A half day just isn’t enough!!!

Berlin: cold, rainy, but a historians’ paradise. Sunday: we took a walking tour of the city that focused mostly on East Berlin but had a few stops on the west side. We saw the Berlin Wall, the sole WWII building that was left after the city was bombed out during the war, the Brandenburg gates, Hitler’s bunker, the parliament area with the famous Reitchstag Building (houses the parliament), Topography of Terror (museum dedicated to the inter-workings of the Gestpo), the Holocaust memorial, Hotel Adlon (themost famous hotel in Berlin where Michael Jackson dangled his baby off the balcony, the penthouse suit is 14,000 per night), Checkpoint Charlie – cold war focused, the checkpoint between east and west Berlin, museum island which houses the famous Pergemon museum, the orchestra hall, etc etc etc . The Pergemon was interesting--my favorite exhibit was the Museum of Muslim Art. I’m really glad I took time to walk through that area.

The highlight of the trip for me was going to the Christmas market! Germany is famous for all of the Christmas markets. Berlin’s was absolutely amazing! We drank Gluewien, which is a hot alcoholic wine/cider. Bought traditional German x-mas candies and cookies. Admired all of the hand-made ornaments. They were so beautiful! I bought a pair of wool slippers. They look like my uggs, just with out the sheepskin outer layer. I ate this traditional pancake thing…which was delicious. The market was beautiful.

I also tried the famous Berlin currywurst. I also now desire to go to Bavaria. I think I’d really enjoy that part of Germany. So that was my trip to Germany in a nutshell…

Thanks for Thanksgivng

2010-12-01T00:32:00.000-08:00

Last week we celebrated Thanksgiving. I hope all of you took the opportunity to share who and what you were thankful for. Well this year I didn’t have the traditional Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma’s, and I didn’t eat the famous Clovia corn noodle bake, or attend 5 different Thanksgivings, or spend the night before Thanksgiving with my friends from high school. But I did make a pecan pie for my boss and his family for dinner on Saturday. And, more importantly I’m finally taking some time to reflect who and what I’m thankful for this year. 2010, I’ve learned a lot about life and very thankful for all of the experiences it’s brought, both happy and sad.

As I’ve told many of my family and friends this week I haven’t been in a writing mood, therefore I haven’t written in my blog for a long time. But tonight is different… I called my Grandparents, thankful I can talk to them when I’m an ocean apart, but only a dial-tone away. I wrote a post-card to a professor who helped me develop my internship in France, thanking her for doing an awesome job at her job. I started to pack-up all of my letters, pictures, and nic-nacs that family and friends sent from home--and although I didn’t re-read any of the cards, I thought about how thankful I am for those who provided constant contact even with a 7-hour time difference. I packed up a stack of American DVDs my friend Pascale gave me to watch when I was bored in my apartment--thankful to have someone here in France who acted as a good friend and concerned parent. I took out the trash, thankful for a good sushi restaurant near by that I can eat at when I don’t feel like cooking. I used the rest of the brown sugar I bought to make the pecan pie, thankful the new recipe tasted delicious and was eaten by the entire Batut family. I listened to my itunes, thankful for good song recommendations from friends. And I took an inventory of all the stuff I need to pack to bring home—thankful for all of the people in my life who made living abroad a positive experience, but a little depressed that 6 months of my life can easily fit in two suitcases and a small box to send home. Life is kinda funny like that, you have a lot of experiences and memories, but in the end you can box it up and fit it in a suitcase or a moving van or a picture or whatever physical bounds you want to put on it. That’s a little beside the point. The point is, I spent 3 hours after work today doing really normal non-exciting things, but in everything that I did, it reminded me of what I’m thankful for. So tomorrow when you’re doing something as ordinary as eating your breakfast, think about how that action represents what your thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving yet again and thank you for reading :)

Happy Thanksgiving...sorry for not blogging

2010-11-25T04:00:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,
HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!! I hope everyone has a very nice time. First, sorry for not blogging. I've been extremely busy at work, and I went to visit a friend of mine in Germany for 5 days. So, soon I promise I will write a blog about my Germany adventures.

Celebrating Halloween in style

2010-11-01T12:58:00.000-07:00

Brittany had the great idea that we should carve pumpkins to celebrate Halloween. Boo!!!

Below is my pumpkin Freddy The Freakster. Freddy was then brought to work to wish everyone a Happy Halloween.

Frenchifying American Foods

2010-10-27T01:59:00.000-07:00

As you can see from the pictures below, I had a very fun weekend! For some reason I have been craving American food lately, in particular my Grandma and my mom's cooking. My mom is a soup genius, while Grandma makes the best fruit salad, and well I contributed my chocolate chip cookie recipe (cookies here are not soft, they are crunchy, and blah). So last week I asked Flore if we could cook dinner at her house. This idea has been in the making for months. This summer Grandma sent me Wild Rice from northern Minnesota, pudding and Jell-O boxes, along with some cake mix. All items you can't find in France. So Flore and I put the lemon pudding mix and wild rice to use. But, finding French ingredients equivalent to the American ones was a grocery store adventure and quite a process.... First, I had to translate the ingredients from English to French (not a problem) but then I had to find alternatives to a few ingredients since some of them don't exist in France. For example, vanilla does not come in liquid form--> its sugar flavored vanilla. Brown sugar does not exist in southern France, but since Flore is from northern France (near Belgium) she had some. Mini-marshmallows, Tollhouse Chocolate Chips, and chicken broth translate into BIG EXPENSIVE marshmallows, specialty small chocolate flakes located in really odd places in the supermarket, and bouillon cubes with water. I have also noticed that a lot of basic American brands and products aren’t present here: Skippy Peanut Butter, Jell-O, corn syrup, marshmallow fluff, kool-whip, sour cream, mandarin oranges, and frozen chicken breasts.

Finding ingredients were also a lesson in supermarket organization... it’s much simpler in the U.S. For example, the baking section at home has absolutely everything you want: choc chips, cake mix, flour, sugar, Crisco, etc etc etc. Here the choc chips were not located in the chocolate section or the baking section, but in the specialty decorative foods section, the flour was with the breads, the sugar was by the honey and the marshmallows were in the obscenely large candy section. Honestly, I was in the supermarket for an hour trying to buy maybe 10 things. But it provided a cultural lesson--> i.e. when you're in France, make French things with French ingredients, it will be much simpler :) But it was really fun making the food with not-so-perfect ingredients and then having it taste absolutely delicious and perfect!!!! I was also pleasantly surprised at my ability to guess amounts. Our system is cups, tablespoons, ounces… here its grams, mL, liters. So we did a lot of guessing instead of converting all of the amounts.

I also wish I could cook French food… but that clearly will not happen while I’m here. I will just have to buy a French cookbook and bring it back with me. Anyway, a fun night! The food also made excellent picnic food for our hike in the mountains.

Sneak peak of my weekend....blog to come

2010-10-24T04:19:00.000-07:00

American cooking with Flore.
Menu:
Chocolate Chip cookies
Grandma's Fruit Salad
Truly Minnesotan Cream of Wild Rice Soup

Hiking through the Pyrenees Mountains

On to Spain....

2010-10-18T01:58:00.000-07:00

Last week I had the opportunity to participate in meetings with the Spanish and Portuguese team (I was in charge of leading a training). We met in the Spanish town of Zaragoza. If the hotel is any indication of how beautiful the city is, I’d say it is quite a nice city. As Debby and I have discussed, it’s great to say that you’ve traveled to really neat and wonderful places for work, but as you are working you generally only see the inside of the hotel and never really experience the city you are in. Although this was the case for me, I did enjoy some true Spanish culture during the week. I will also note a lot of the cultural experiences I’ve had in Europe have been centered on food. So far, Spanish cuisine is my favorite :) Ok, so the list of cultural experiences for the week:

1. Eating extremely delicious Spanish jambon (ham). It is thinly sliced and cured. Generally eaten with bread, seasoned with fresh crushed tomato, olive oil and salt.

2. This next story is related to the Spanish Pioneer culture: new employee initiation. The Spanish team asks each new employee to give their “Four essentials”, their purpose for being with Pioneer and to sing a song. So at dinner on Wednesday night this consisted of me standing up in front of everyone (In the middle of the restaurant) saying the following: 4 essentials- Erica Ann Seitzer, St. Peter, Minnesota, Graduate from the University of Minnesota in Applied Economics and Marketing; why I’m in France- I begged Pioneer to send me abroad….; and by special request I was asked to sing a Minnesota song, so in true Gopher spirit I sang THE ROUSER. Yes Gopher Fans I sang the Rouser in the middle of a Spanish restaurant… although I didn’t have the marching band or a crowd of college students singing with me, I did get clapping from about 10 colleagues. It was a memorable dinner :)

3. Taking my picture with the traditional bull fighters staying at our hotel

4. As many of you may know, the Spanish are very Catholic. During the week we were there the Spanish were celebrating some sort of Catholic holiday. So on Wednesday night the streets were full of festivities, including a procession through town of the Spanish holding candles, singing religious songs and praying to the Rosary. It was quite a site and very special. On this particular holiday the Spanish bring flowers to the site of the Virgin. So we viewed the site and in amazement there was a pyramid of flowers. When I say pyramid I mean a site 25 feet tall and 25 feet wide…

5. Henri introduced me to a special kind of coffee, in which I can’t remember the name of, but had a lot of during the 3 day adventure.

Again, it was a fantastic road trip in which I learned more things about life!

My Tuesday evening...

2010-10-10T06:56:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday evening I finished visiting farmers around 5 and headed for my hotel which happened to be off the highway at a truck stop...Since it was pretty early in the evening I decided I didn't want to sit in my hotel all night. So, I opened my GPS typed in "Tourist attractions" and vah-la it lead me to the sand dunes of France. Yes!!! Score!!! A Tuesday night with a beautiful drive and beautiful destination.... These are taken near the Bordeaux region of the Atlantic.

2010-10-04T09:35:00.000-07:00

DuPont safety first my friends.... :)

Life is busy...but in short this is what I've been up to...

2010-10-04T09:32:00.000-07:00

Ok, so after the Paris trip the week was off to a busy start.... very busy. Mondays are always reserved for business unit updates, so took almost all day. Tuesday night Henri and I left for a 5 hour drive NW to join a group for field tours (arrived at the hotel after midnight). Trip=Way Cool... I met a few people from the European headquartered office that I'd only spoken to on the phone. I also met the VP of Crop Genetics research and development. Yeah... just chilled with the VP for the day, nbd. We shared some moments including singing "Miss American Pie" while looking at corn ear worm. Yes...my field experience was made when we sang the refrain together. Also road tripping with the boss was awesome! We covered several several topics from business to European history to family to sports to the best books we've ever read. Another highlight of the trip was sharing an aperitif with one of the farmers who planted our trials. I'm not sure how many acres of vineyards he has, but the cognac he produced was sure delicious :) Ah the perks of living in France... on Wednesday night Henri and I shared dinner with the group and hit the road for the long but seemingly fast drive home (arrived at my apartment around 1:30 am). Since I was up past my work bedtime Henri said not to come into the office until 10:30! YES!

On Thursday I realized one of my swimming friends from high school is living in Toulouse. AWESOME. We haven't had the time to meet up yet, but hopefully this week! I'm realizing how small the world is!
Friday night I went to my regular English In Toulouse social hour. As always great conversation with fluent English speakers. This time I met a guy from England and enjoyed a conversation with true English humor.

Saturday I went to my first Stade Toulousaine Game!!! It’s the professional rugby team. The game was equivalent to a Vikes-Packers game...so intense! Saturday night we ate at this truly authentic Mexican restaurant. The owner is from Mexico City. It was DELICIOUS! Megan Roberts, if you're reading this...I think it almost topped the roadside stand in southern Cali.

Sunday morning came early...Brittany, Jessica, Irene and I piled into the Mercedes and drove to St. Emilion for wine tastings. I realized it wasn't my favorite tasting region, but the trip was still great! Scenery was beautiful and the village was cute! We also had a great tour from this really cute old French woman. The vineyard had been in her family for 5 generations.

Sorry for the lack of detail...busy day and just wanted to write a quick blog in between meetings.

Off to farm visits in SW France tomorrow and Wednesday.

Life is good. Job is awesome. Goals accomplished.

2010-09-30T07:20:00.000-07:00

Last week I had the opportunity to travel to Paris and work with Michael at the DuPont office. But in the typical French fashion, I arrived to Paris much later than expected. The air traffic controllers were on strike…. AGAIN. The first two flights out of Toulouse were cancelled, and then the flight I made was delayed 2 hours…But alas, after a 69 Euro cab right from the Orly airport to the DuPont office, I made it! Ready and excited to work.

On Thursday, our main objective was to prepare presentations for a biotechnology conference to be held Friday. As plant biotech is a very very very hot topic in France, and is a primary driver of DuPont's business, it was important for us to communicate informative and positive messages around the topic. Preparing the presentations was quite a bit of work, but very fun for me. It provided an excellent opportunity to understand the relationships and dynamics between DuPont and the Pioneer business. The trip also allowed me to work with the President of DuPont France…very cool  Thursday night I stayed in a hotel near La Defense. La Defense is an area of Paris that houses a lot of corporate companies. It is the skyscraper skyline of the city. Luckily for me, there was a great Indian restaurant close to my hotel, so that is where I ate for dinner. Yum. Friday morning I was busy finalizing the last details of the presentations. The conference was held in the morning, followed by lunch with representatives of the different DuPont businesses and then a working session with Henri and Michael in the afternoon. Again, this trip provided me with exposure to the varied functions of the Pioneer/DuPont business. After work, Michael and I shared an aperitif and then he dropped me at my hostel for the weekend. The hostel was the same one Erik and I stayed at when he visited. Really nice place, located by the Louvre.

To my delight my bunkmates for the weekend were a German girl and two Canadian girls. Meeting the Canadians was like saying “Hi” to old friends. One girl was actually on her way to study in Angers, France for 10 months at the Catholic University. We had a great convo, as that was the same town that Jamie and I studied in for one month. On Saturday morning the two Canadians and I went to the Musee Orangerie to see the biggest Monet water Lilly paintings. I love impressionist art so I was delighted to spend a couple hours there. The weather was cold and rainy in Paris all weekend so it was a good day to be inside. Also, there are many perks to being a student with a long-stay VISA living in the EU…lots of free stuff, including entrance to world renowned museums 

After the museum the Canadians headed for the Tour de Eiffel and I set out for the Champs Elysees. On Saturday my big goal was to go shopping…clearly unrealistic. I kind of forgot that Paris is like the fashion capitol of the world, meaning all of the things are made for the runway. Clearly I was out of my element on many levels, primarily a financial one. BUT, I did get a fantastic in-my-budget pair of Parisian shoes. Happy Dance for me! Also, it was very fun to window shop, but quite overwhelming. Hence, the two trips to Starbucks… Grande Chi Tea Latte and Grande Vanilla Latte. By the end of the day my feet were very tired from all of the walking but it was a nice way to spend a Saturday.

Sunday morning I got up bright and early and decided I wanted to take morning pictures of the city; an excellent but very cold idea. At about 9:30 I wandered over to the Galleries Nationales Du Grand Palais. It was hosting the world’s largest Monet collection. I ended-up waiting in the cold for 2 ½ hours to get in, but it was well worth it! Very very very cool. My favorite painting is called “Les Coquelicots a Argenteuil” which translates into Poppies at Argenteuil. Argenteuil is a suburb northwest of Paris where Monet spent part of his life. Also, as I am a student with a long-stay VISA the cost was only 8 Euros…general public 24. Awesome. Although it was cold, and I didn’t get any of my planned gifts, I did get my Starbucks and Chinese Take-out fix, which was totally worth the trip!

Weekend in Toulouse

2010-09-20T07:39:00.000-07:00

Living in Toulouse is going well! It’s a beautiful city, divided by canals that lead to the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. On weekends people are out and about, running or biking by the canal, taking in the many historic sites or enjoying dinner or a coffee at one of hundreds of restaurants, pubs or bars. Last weekend it was France's national weekend of history. All of the museums were free and there were special events in honor of the weekend. So the adventures of Flore and Erica continued this weekend: first we visited the Basilica of St. Sernin. Beautiful! It was a guided tour in French, so I pretty much just zoned out and enjoyed it by looking instead of listening. Took a lot of pictures and stood in amazement as we climbed the bell tower. So cool! Our next quest was to the museum of St. Augustine. The museum “conserves a collection of sculpture and paintings from the Middle Ages to the early twentieth century. The paintings are from throughout France, the sculptures representing Occitan culture of the region with a particularly rich assemblage of Romanesque sculpture “(compliments of Wikipedia). Anyway I love art, so I really enjoyed the museum. We then strolled through the streets to do some window shopping. Yes, only window shopping as everything is very expensive. Toulouse is quite a wealthy city, because it is the home of Air Bus. So the shops cater to a lot of tourists/expats with nice jobs :) But we had a lot of fun looking at very beautiful things! Maybe I will splurge on something before I leave. You all know my obsession with pretty shoes. After our Toulouse city things we went to visit a chateau in the very tiny village of Pibrac (about 20 minutes from Toulouse). The castle isn’t open for tours but they had live music and an open field area for people to walk around. It reminded me of a scene out of Robin Hood. Again, very pretty. You can’t really beat the French countryside. Saturday night also proved to be very fun as I met with some other friends. On Sunday I was very very very tired and didn’t really have any energy to do anything. But, Brittany invited me to tour the command station for the metro system. Again, the tour was in French. But still quite interesting.

As you might be able to tell from my writing I’m tired today so haven’t written with as much enthusiasm as normal. But that goes to show the weekend was fun!!!

This week is quite busy. I leave for Paris on Thursday to spend a day with Michael and attend an agriculture round table at the US Embassy on Friday. Looking forward to it! Then spending the weekend in Paris doing touristy things and hopefully some shopping :)

Stay tuned for more adventures of Flore and Erica.

School has started...the U of M entertainment calendar is full!

2010-09-17T06:06:00.000-07:00

I think all newly graduated college students go through a period of "school social life withdrawal". Yes for some, it sets-in during summer, on the second Wednesday of their ‘grown-up’ job, the first home football game, or, on the day after Labor Day when they aren't going back to school. For me it hasn’t truly set-in…On the occasions mentioned above, I have felt a slight hint of Golden Gopher-Corner of Carter and Cleveland social life withdrawal, but I’m kind of in a lingering period—an extended summer break between student status and having a grown-up job. I mean I’m in a foreign country; I can’t really hop on a plane to go tailgating on a Saturday morning. But, I CAN Skype/text/call/IM my friends at very very very opportune times for a taste of the social life I left behind. And, these phone calls and text messages prove to be very entertaining and enjoyable!! Sometimes the time difference works out in my advantage. For example last week I was waking up on Wednesday morning at 7:00 am, and my friends were just in the social prime on the first night of school (thank you DTS for your annual Back to the Books festivities). So the reason for this particular post is to thank my friends for keeping me in-the-loop and up-to-date on the U of M entertainment calendar! This post is mostly for Mike Donnelly. Mike I hope you’re reading this!

My only hope for the U of M’s weekend events is that the Gophers win the football game. Last weekend was a bit pathetic to say the least!

Driving Through the Countryside: a 5 Hour Trek to Blois, France

2010-09-16T03:25:00.000-07:00

Last week the sales kick-off took us to Blois, France, located about 2 hours southwest of Paris. This was the sales conference for the central and northern areas of France. I was very happy to find out that two other trainees would be coming with me to the kick-off. So on Monday afternoon, Boris, Stephane and I jumped in the car with Dominique and off we went. Some of the people on the leadership team kind of chuckled at the thought of all the "youngins" going with Dominique, the HR manager. And, they all forewarned us that Dominique has a very interesting music choice. But to my delight he fancies Eric Clapton, blues with some gospel influence and jazz. At least I was happy for the 5 hour ride! (One semester at college I took a course called "Music of Black Americans". That was one of my favorite classes in my four years at the U. We learned the history, culture and significance of all genres and years of music composed or sang by African Americans. It was fantastic! So to be able to listen to some music that I rarely take time to listen to, was a delight! ) I'm not going to say that it was Stephane and Boris' first choice, but alas we learned something new about the interest of our HR manager.

I think it was on the second CD that all three of us fell asleep. If I remember correctly, this was primarily piano jazz. We awoke at a rest-stop about half way between Toulouse and Blois. For those of you that know me...sometimes it takes me a bit of time to wake-up after a not-so-solid nap. When we sat down for coffee and treats, I think everyone made a comment to me about the dazed and confused look plastered on my face, and I clearly couldn't understand what anyone was saying to me in English or French.

When we arrived at the hotel we were greeted by a group of Italian senior citizens who played cards until the early morning and enjoyed taking over the lobby. I really enjoyed their presence as it reminded me of the many many many card games Grandpa Lloyd and Grandma Betty played while on their trips.

During dinner I met several new faces. A few people in the group had just gotten back from visiting the headquarters in Johnston, IA. They spent time on campus, went to Farm Progress show, and even went to an Iowa State Cyclones football game. Needless to say they were impressed!! We enjoyed talking about all of the true Americanisms of the trip: tailgating before football games, the marching band and baton twirler at half time, the yummy cheeseburgers/hot dogs sold by venders in the football stands, the proud waving of the American flag, the early dinner time, the Midwestern farm families, the big vehicles, etc. etc. They also managed to make a trip to Chicago. Of course they loved Michigan Avenue and enjoyed the chilly water of Lake Michigan. I was very happy that they had such a positive experience while they were in the Midwest. Needless to say, they returned to France impressed and motivated by Pioneer.

So...French culture 101: You say hello and good bye to absolutely everyone. I probably did the cheek kiss about 70 times last week. I mean I really like the fact that everyone is so friendly, but really must it happen when 70 people are in the room?

OK, the kick-off brought a couple surprises. All of the trainees and people located in Aussonne were introduced. To my surprise I was the first one introduced and I didn't quite have my French listening ears on.. The girl sitting next to me had to tell me to stand-up so people would stop looking around the room for this American girl named Erica. Anyway it was 3 seconds of slight embarrassment.

Also, at lunch the first day (Tuesday) Henri informed me that I would present a project I'm working on. So there I was standing in front of a room full of French sales people, not being able to speak French, presenting this unique program...in English. I definitely knew I had people's attention because I was a new person talking and the fact that I had Veronique translating for me, kept people on their toes. Most of you know I like speaking in front of people. So this was very fun and a very new audience!!

A highlight of the day was meeting a sales rep who worked on a farm in Mapleton, MN. So we had a nice conversation of Mankato and his experiences. Small world....

The evening ended with a very nice dinner and decent wine. I sat next to Chantal (Sales Services Manager) during dinner. She is absolutely hilarious. We joked a lot about my lack of French and her very French accent while speaking English. Anyway dinner was fun because she is a very enjoyable person to be around. After dinner (about 11:00 pm), Stephane and Boris moved to another hotel for the night. Dominique realized this would damper my social schedule for the evening and said to me (in a very French accent), "Oh Eer-ee-ka, weee can organize a taxi for you! You must go-out to a bar and enjoy the evening." I appreciated that he was concerned about my enjoyment level. haha it was a funny comment. But, as Stephane and Boris had already left I decided to call it a night. To my satisfaction there was a documentary about Vogue on the TV and it was in English, so I was very happy to get my fashion fix!

Wednesday morning started 'promptly' at 8:30. But to my delight, I was able skip the second half of the morning presentations and go to the research station located about 20 minutes from the hotel. The IT group had to do some work on the computers so they invited me along. The station tour was neat because it focuses on canola, which is a new crop for me.

It was stormy on Wednesday, which created a really neat sky for the ride home. The drive was beautiful!!!

I'm really behind in Blogging...sorry

2010-09-14T08:48:00.000-07:00

As of late I've been busy at work. YAY :)

But upcoming blogs include:
-Driving Through the Countryside: a 5 hour trek to Blois, France
-School has started...the U of M entertainment calendar is full!
-Language exchange with my new friend Jessica
-A typical Toulousain weekend
-Debating and keeping One's cool

Holding on for dear life!....

2010-09-05T04:37:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday Flore and I went adventuring in the trees. And, it was a true adventure! We went to an obstacle course where you climb between trees on cables, ropes, hanging wood pieces, etc. Clearly this type of entertainment is not for people who are scared of heights (15 ft to 40ft) or don't have good balance. Once you are on the obstacle course, you have no choice but to finish it. There were no ladders to bring you to the ground once you started the course. A couple times Flore and I were like, "Oh my god... I didn't realize this course was so hard... I don't think I can do this section of the course." On one course we actually turned around because we just didn't think we had the strength to do a particular section. Luckily there wasn't anyone behind us so we could turn around. I have not used my arm or torso muscles that way in such a long time that I was in absolute pain for 3 days after our adventure. But, it was really really fun and I enjoyed getting out of the confinements of my apartment.

Seriously holding on for dear life as I try and step between moving suspended timbers 20 feet in the air...

A few pictures of Brett and Erica's European Adventure

2010-09-02T08:43:00.000-07:00

Sharing a bottle of wine the first night in Barcelona

Welcome to the Mediterranean Sea :)

Collioure, France

Brett standing in front of La Sagrada Familia...Gaudi's most famous work

The famous open air market in Barcelona! Yum!!!

The beautiful mountain village, Arreau.

A couple pictures of our hike in Pont D'Espagne

A few more "Brett and Erica Adventures" highlights

2010-09-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

First, I really really really like Barcelona. It’s one of those cities I could visit many times and never get bored. It’s just plain nice, relaxed and an enjoyable place to be.

Second, Barcelona is known for its Tapas or little plates of food. So Brett and I tried tapas at a few different places. As neither of us speaks Spanish, ordering food was always an adventure.

My favorite part of the trip was driving through the mountains. My mom gave me a book called the "Back roads of France." So we planned our mountain trip using that book. It turned out to be very useful and pointed out some very interesting things. We were in the Pyrenees Mountains and traveled on the same roads of the Tour de France. I will say I was happy to be driving or else I would have gotten extremely car sick. And, Brett made an excellent co-pilot! We spent a night in a little village called Arreau. It was beautiful! Situated between two rivers. In Arreau we stayed at a cute little hotel with an excellent restaurant attached. I would say that was the most authentic French service and food I've had. The woman who owned the "Inn" had a layover in the Minneapolis airport one time. She said she will always remember the big Caribou sign and coffee. So I'd just like to point out that even international people and a French person at that, love and remember Caribou coffee :)

Also, along our drive through the mountains we stopped at a road side restaurant that served crepes. A dozen for 4.50 Euros. This place was like the Betty's Pies of northern Minnesota. Very good!

Another highlight of the trip was date night at the movies. It was nice to do something typical that Brett and I would do at home. The only shocker was the candy, popcorn and bottle of pop cost 17 Euros! Which is like $28...insane! But well worth it! I was on a sugar high for hours!

We also ate alot of ice cream on the trip. I will say Europe does have very good, fresh, home made ice cream :)

Brett and Erica's Adventures

2010-09-02T00:48:00.000-07:00

As promised the blog by Brett:

Well after a week of being home, I’m finally getting to Erica’s blog writing request. Needless to say I’ve been quite busy getting ready for school next week and everything else I’ve put off this summer…but enough about that.

Erica met me in Barcelona last Saturday and we spent two days there. Our Hostel was just off the famous city street, Las Rambles, filled with hundreds of street vendors selling everything from flowers to portraits to jewelry to these incredibly annoying noise makers! The street was packed was with thousands of tourists (the 4th most popular European vacation destination) from what seemed like every country in Europe. The city streets wound around and were incredibly narrow but jam packed with shops and vendors in every area imaginable. Unlike that of the Soviet architecture, the Spanish have a lot more focus on color and differentiation. Walking down each windy alley was unique and different from the last. I kept envisioning the “Running of the Bulls” as the people scanter away down the narrow ways. I really enjoyed the change in pace from the incredibly boring cement block buildings in Moscow. While in Barcelona we took in as many of the attractions as time would allow. I think I can say the Flamenco Dancing was one of our favorites. The skill an ability of those tap dancers was incredible! My eyes were drawn to the tapping feet as they moved across the stage I was dumbfounded at the coordination and practice that must go in to a performance like that! Another highlight was the Gaudi work - La Sagrada Família – a massive Roman Catholic church which started construction in 1882 (during Gaudi’s life) and is not expected to be completed for another 15 years. The enormous building was absolutely breathtaking; every detail was planned right down to the color and location of the stained glass windows. I would go back to Barcelona in a heart beat…there was a sense of peace walking along the sandy Mediterranean Sea beaches.
On our week long journey back to Toulouse, we spent the night in Girona Spain. To be honest we didn’t do or see a whole lot in the city; once we got there we crashed for a couple of hours to rejuvenate from Barcelona. One thing that I did appreciate about Spain/France was their willingness to eat-out late. So we joined the crowd and took in a late dinner on a patio in the city Center.

Continuing north, we made our way to Collioure, France; right on the coast of the Mediterranean. The scenery was again breathtaking! The streets wound around and were seemingly endless bringing a new shop around the corner. We were able to soak-up the sun on the beach for a day and relax next to the sea. I really enjoyed being able to walk to a local bakery and grab a fresh baguette and some cheese and make a meal out of it.

From there we spent a quick night back in Erica’s apartment and took off Thursday morning for another picturesque drive through the windings roads of the Pyrenees Mountains. The roads literally wound back on themselves as we made our way through. We ventured to Pont d’Espagne and took a 3 hour hike through the mountains. Waiting for us at the end of the trail was a beautiful sky blue lake. The scenery looked like it was right off the postcard! One thing I found really neat was the cows the literally blocked the roads (more like passages) through the mountains. Though I’ve seen many cows in my lifetime, these docile cows just went about their business as the curious tourists were quick to capture the opportunity. I agree with Erica, that if I had to choose between the Beach and the Mountains, I would choose Mountains!

Before we knew it we were back in Toulouse after a week of touring. We met up with Brittany and her boyfriend Teddy, who Erica met at the 4th of July event, and took a walking tour along the river and through one of the city parks. Satisfying my urge to see a movie, we all capped the night off watching the mind twisting new-release, Inception. It was great to escape from the hot sun and take in the movie in air-conditioned comfort.

The week went far to fast! By the time we were back into the comforts of our old selves, it was time to leave. It was extremely hard to leave Erica for another 4 months, but I’m glad that we were able to take in a European Adventure. I’m sure it won’t be our last one!

Missing the Minnesota State Fair.. Say hi to Fairborn and Fairchild for me!

2010-08-26T02:34:00.000-07:00

I have a request for ALL of my blog readers (minus Debby and Don because it won't be feasible). Ok, the Great Minnesota Get Together starts today and runs through Labor Day. Yes, The Minnesota State Fair! One of my all-time favorite times of the year. This will be the first state fair I have ever missed. I even think my parents took me to the fair when I was a baby. So I'm very sad not to get my "Fair" fix this year. My typical state fair started with PK coronation which happened last night. Congratulations to all of the Top 12, especially to Kristin (Brett's sister), and my longtime Nicollet County friends Megan Herberg and Ashley Swenson. My State Fairs were also consumed by 4 days of showing cattle in the 4-H show (I got my first state fair trip when I was 11 or 12 and showed until I was 19). On occasion I showed the last 4 days of the fair in the FFA show. In 2006 I was a State 4-H Ambassador, so I manned the 4-H building around the clock! I can successfully navigate a path between the 4-H building to the dairy barn in about 5 minutes...quite a good time for such a hike! I was also a PK finalist in 2007 and was busy doing very fun dairy industry PR events. Also, as a dedicated Gopher Dairy Club member I served up shakes and cones at the Gopher Dairy Bar. Thats the brief overview of my SF experiences but on to my request....

Yes, a crucial part of the fair is EATING ALL OF THE DELICIOUS FAIR FOOD!!!! Its hard to narrow it down but, below I've shared my Top Ten. Also for a better map please visit http://www.mnstatefair.org/. The website also has a Food Finder which is located under the Fair Finders tab. I suggeset looking at the tab if you want to find a specific food at the fair.

1. Deep Fried Twinkies with strawberry syrup. Yes it will kill you, yes it sounds odd, but its delicious. The stand is located near the entrance off of Snelling at U-25. Dad, I expect you will indulge in this, as you made sure our freezer was always stocked with Twinkies.

2. Deep Fried Snickers (deep fried Oreos are also good). This booth is manned by the lovely boys of AGR, so grab a heart attack on a stick, and give the guys my regards. Q-26

3. Any kind of sundae from Empire Commons/Dairy Building. Of course stop and visit the butterheads to say hello. R-31

4. A turkey sandwich from the Turkey To Go. Its located across from the collesium/dairy barn N-29. One of Dad's old college buddies runs it. Best turkey sandwiches I've ever eaten!!

5. Right next to the turkey stand is the famous Australian Potatoe stand M-29. Yep, get those with all the fixings!

6. A shake from the Gopher Dairy Bar. I will admit the shakes aren't as good as Empire Commons, but you are donating your money to a good cause and you will see some very friendly faces!!! The money funds the senior trip, Gopher Dairy Camp and scholarships for incoming freshmen. I-31

7. Sweet Martha's cookies K-24 or Q-27. I'd suggest getting the cookies and then heading over to the All You Can Drink Milk Stand N-29. Makes a great combo.

8. Ok, if you want an actual meal that wont make you sick there are three "heavenly" options
             1. Church of Epiphany R-27.
             2. Salem Lutheran Church north of the Fine Arts building V-14. I'd recommend the Swedish meatballs.
             3. Hamline Church Dining Hall, known for their chicken dinner and taco in a bag. U-25
Each year I have dinner with my grandparents at one of these establishments! Makes for a good tradition and good food!

9. There is a tie between Fresh French Fries, K-25 or R-29 and Fried Green Tomatoes T-24. After I saw the move Fried Green Tomatoes, I really wanted to try them, so my craving was answered by the state fair :) I also attribute my liking for Fresh French Fries to Jacob Albrecht. Every year he'd be the 4-Her to buy the giant box of fries! Yumm! But grab napkins, they are greasy!

10. Finally I don't think you can go to the fair without getting Cotton Candy, a footlong hot dog, Elephant Ears or Pork Chop on a stick. All located at various places throughout the fair!!!

So Happy Eating! Debby and Don, maybe you could try some home recipies?

Ok, now its time for attractions:
1. Giant Slide, this will always be my favorite entertainment at the fair! Classic fun!
2. Ye Old Mill, grab a date and enjoy the ride.
3. The Butterheads (as mentioned before).
4. The 4-H building
5. The 4-H Arts-In show, its a must!
6. A stroll through the dairy barn, please stop by and say hi to Nicollet County
7. The Grandstand, I highly recommend Garrison Keillor
8. Agriculture/Horticulture building, my favorite was always looking at the pictures made from seeds and the giant pumpkins.
9. PK Coronation at the Bandshell (which has past but I know some of you attended)
10. I also think everyone should stop in a view one of the livestock shows, obviously I recommend the dairy show :)

Ok all for now! Enjoy the fair!!!

I Love Farmers!

2010-08-25T03:20:00.000-07:00

Ok, the above title says it all. I do truly love farmers. Farmers are the reason we have food on our tables, clothes on our back, and fuel in our gas tank. I think I could write a novel about how farmers have contributed to society, advanced technology, maintained a culture, and developed an industry. But... I will spare you of that. For me, along with so many other people involved in agriculture, a farmer is the reason why I have such a great life! Unlike a lot of my non-farmer friends, I am passionate about the industry I work in. A farmer provided a career path for me to follow, a job, a livelihood and most of all an upbringing I wouldn't change for the world! In case you haven't guessed it, my farmer(s) are my parents, grandparents and generations of ancestors that have lived and worked the land.

That little introduction brings me to my first interaction with French farmers. Two weeks ago Henri invited me to dinner with three very important French farmers. I was really excited to attend the dinner as I love talking with farmers about what they do and their ideas about the industry. I have a deep respect for farmers, and thus enjoy listening to what they have to say. As I wasn't sure if the farmers spoke English, Flore and Marine helped me prepare some phrases for the evening. The phrases included telling them about my farm, my internship and my family's involvement in agriculture/Pioneer.

We met for dinner at a really nice restaurant attached to a casino located in Toulouse. As always I was privileged enough to enjoy excellent red wine and aperitif picked by wine connoisseur of the evening, Bruno. My main course was duck, a local specialty followed by one of my mom's favorite desserts, crème brulee. Needless to say the meal was absolutely amazing!!! But, I think my mom and I have a pretty comparable and good crème brulee recipe :)

The nice dinner was great, but for me I enjoyed observing the interaction between Pioneer and the farmers. The entire conversation was in French. I followed some of it and Henri updated me on the important topics. But let’s be honest, my French speaking skills....suck. Although I didn't follow the conversation directly, I was able to make a lot of conclusions about the success of the dinner through visual observations and listening to the tone voice. It was really neat to be the 'outsider' looking in on the interaction between a company and its customer. In all of the interaction I've seen between Pioneer and its customers, both in France and at home, Pioneer has a healthy balance between promoting/selling the company and just being regular people talking about regular things. In some instances, I've seen a person overselling the company at dinners like this, and to me that’s really ineffective. I left the dinner on a high note, and it sparked my thoughts in the first paragraph. It also reaffirmed my thoughts...a company is a business and in business to be profitable, but an agriculture business must always remember its customer, and that customer is a farmer. Agriculture companies are successful when farmers are happy, and we always need to remember that. I think the agriculture industry is unique because we do truly understand our customer. (Ag also has other customers, i.e. government, general public, environmental groups, etc. but lets just focus on farmers.) With some consumer products it isn't as easy to identify customer wants/needs/desires/mentality/expectations/etc. (I could also write another novel on consumer behavior of farmers, but I will do that when I am a little more qualified.)

Just to give a few highlights on the farmers I spent time with. They were all large farmers, and large even by U.S. standards. One farmer had about 5,000 acres, most of which was dedicated to corn. Another farmer was definitely a key influencer in his community and on the leading edge of grain marketing and cultivation practices by French standards. The farmer I sat next to also spent a year working on a farm near Morris, MN so we had a great conversation about his MN/US experiences. He also invited me to visit his farm, so I'm really really really looking forward to that. I'm not sure if he was serious or not, but he mentioned that he would like to buy a farm in the U.S. because there is more freedom to operate and opportunity to farm in the U.S.

I am very happy/thankful that Henri invovles me in things like this, even if I can't contribute to conversation much. The very enjoyable evening was also topped off when the waiter gave us vouchers for the jackpot at the casino. Sad to say that none of us were winners.

I think Brett should write about our vacation....my request went in this morning.

2010-08-24T06:17:00.000-07:00

A weekend full of culture!

2010-08-13T14:51:00.000-07:00

The weeks are just flying by and now its the middle of August! It feels like summer never started, and now it is almost the end. I just can't wrap my head around how fast the week goes by. I think its because there is always something to look forward to on the weekend. Last weekend in particular, I went to a village celebration with my friend Stephane. He is also an intern at Pioneer. During the summer months the teeny tiny villages across France have community celebrations. This village in particular was probably the size of Norseland, Minnesota. The entire weekend reminded me of home.

Friday night we headed south of Toulouse and arrived in the foothills over-looking the Pyrenees. We were really lost in the countryside, which I loved! The first time in a long time, I'd seen cows, open fields, and nothing but gravel roads. It was the perfect place to spend a weekend! We were greeted by one of Stephane's college friends, Lore. Because the town was so small she knew absolutely everyone, and I think she was related to most of the village. The local community organization staffed the bar and organized the event. It was like spending a night at the Redmen club. Friday night a DJ played, but saturday there was a live band! The band was AWESOME! They played all types of music from Lady Gaga, to Bruce Springsteen, to ACDC, to John Denver, and obviously French music! Saturday drew quite the crowed!

Anyway, cultural experience number 1: The local drink in France is Ricard. Its well...gross! But people here love it! It tastes and smells like black licorice. Apparently most people just drink it because its tradition, not because they actually like the taste. Anyway, I had my cultural taste test, but decided to stick to beer for the evening.

From 7-10 we had Apero, which is a fancy name for before dinner drinks. Then we headed to Lore's home where her family prepared an absolutely delicious meal for about 20 of us. If you don't know this already, the French consume quite a bit of alcohol during meals. They have their apero or aperetif, there numerous bottles of wine during the meal, specific wines with dessert, an after dinner drink known as a digestif, and then coffee. After dinner we headed back to the party area, for a night of dancing. The entire village and surrounding community joined in all of the weekend festivities. People of all ages where dancing, drinking, making conversation until all hours of the night! A man who was probably 80 years old was still enjoying himself at 4 am... So I was impressed.

The weekend was also very interesting for me because absolutely no one, except Stephane spoke English. So I did a lot a listening, smiling politely and nodding at what I thought were appropriate times. But I loved it! Everyone was so nice, and interested is why I was there. As I was not a local, I stuck out like a sore thumb. I think I was the only blonde haired person for miles. Needless to say, I made a lot of introductions and several new weekend friends. The friends of Lore were so so so so nice! Even though we couldn't really speak, they definitely went out of their way to make sure I was having fun.

We stayed at Lore's home. I wish I would have taken a picture of it. It was so beautiful. In the villages of France, the houses are connected to one another. They look small on the outside but when you're inside they open up to beautiful small rooms. I can't even describe what it looked like, except to say it was old fashioned and beautiful! The key to the door is actually an old large key. Not like the house keys we are used to. On Saturday, we had lunch with Lore's family. Her mother is an amazing cook! They were too nice. Stephane and I were kind of embarrassed because here we were having this family who we've never met before, taking such good care of us, and we could do nothing except accept their graciousness. It was kind of odd to be a guest, but very nice. As Flore had things to do with the community during the day, Stephane and I drove to Carcassonne. Carcassonne, is a very very very famous medieval town in southern France. It was about 45 minutes from Flore's home. We bummed around there for the day and arrived back at the village just in time for apero. Apero went a bit later on Saturday night, we didn't had dinner until 11. It was again dinner with Lore's family. Absolutely delicious!!! The main course was what I'd equate to an eggplant/italian sausage casserole. Yum!!
Saturday night, we and every other person in the village danced literally until sunrise. A perfect evening!

Due to the fact that we didn't go to bed until 8 am, we didn't get up until 1 pm. Which was embarrassing because when we got up the entire house was silent... as the town is small, everyone gets up for church at 11 and then convenes for an after church apero. Well we missed all of those festivities and by the time we arrived for the apero, everyone was done and departed for dinner with their families. You'd think this would be the time Stephane and I would head back to Toulouse, but no Lore's family invited us to their extended family dinner at her cousins home. To make a long story short, dinner lasted until 6 pm.... Lots of food, lots of wine, lots of conversation. It was perfect! I didn't understand a single word spoken, but just being in the atmosphere was well, wonderful!

My only regret is that I wish I would have taken pictures. But I didn't want to be that American girl flashing her camera all the time. Anyway, I am continually amazed at how nice people, even if we can't speak very much to one another.

A Lot of Time on My Hands..

2010-08-06T01:31:00.000-07:00

With the European vacation season in full swing, I have quite a bit of time on my hands. For me, thats the worst thing possible! If any of you know me, you know I do my best work when I am over-booked and really busy. One of my biggest pet-peeves is going to work and not having anything to keep me occupied. My boss has now started to end his emails with "Erica, remember to work on your language capacities." So, that is what I am focused on. My reading comprehension is so-so, and I hear the words quite well. But, as I don't know the definition of all of the words in a sentence, it takes me a long time to comprehend what is being spoken. Also, my biggest problem is I don't know how to speak with people in French and I am really shy when it comes to trying to speak. As the office is so quiet, I don't have very many opportunities during the day to actually speak with people in French. Also, French is an extremely challenging language to learn with a lot of rules, word conjugations, tenses, etc. English speakers are fortunate to have such an easy language!

I am very thankful for the other interns in the office. They are very patient with my language skills. And, everyday during lunch they teach me five new phrases. As I have to learn French, I thought I would share with you what I am learning:

Je ne parle pas tres bien francais. --> I don't speak French very well.
Pouvez-vous parler plus lentement s'il vous plat? --> Can you speak more slowly please?
Est-ce que tu peux m'aider? --> Can you help me
Je dois ambeliorer mon francais. -->I have to improve my French.
Demain nous parlons francais. --> Tomorrow, we speak in French!

There are two women who sit by me that I really enjoy speaking with. They are both very lively and fluent in spanish and french. One woman doesn't speak any English, so speaking with her is really fun as it forces me to think! On Wednesday she told me that on Monday she is going to ask me about my weekend, and I said I would ask her about her vacation. Below are a few sentences to guide that convo:

Comment fut ton week-end? --> How was your weekend?
Qu'est ce que tu vas faire ce week-end? --> What did you do this weekend?
Qu'est ce que tu fais le weekend? What do you do on the weekends?

Qu'est ce que tu as fait pendent tes vacances--> What did you do on your vacation?
Ou es-tu allee? --> Where did you go?
Tu es bronzee! --> You are tan!
Ou est-ce que tu vas en vacances? --> Where did you go on your vacation?

Other questions we've discussed at lunch time french lessons:

Est-ce tu occupee aujord'hui? Are you busy today?
Ou est ce que tu manges le midi? Where d you eat lunch?
Ou habites tu? Where do you live

Est ce que je peux essayer ce t-shirt? Can I try on this t-shirt?
Est-ce que vous avez des plus petites tailles? Can you get me a smaller size?

A midi, mes amis m'apprennent le Francaise. At luch my friends help me learn French.
Nous ecrivons des questions et les responses. We write questions and reponses.

I am missing a lot of the accents as I am typing on an English keyboard. But, its the general idea. Also, another major challenge I have is pronunciation of words... Needless to say, I have a lot to learn!

A different perspective...

2010-07-31T03:29:00.000-07:00

The agriculture atmosphere is so different in France... I'm on the biotech working group and each day my email is flooded with updates about the GM debate in Europe, especially France. On July 13th the EU commission adopted a comprehensive proposal that allows member states the freedom to decide if GM cultivation is legal in their state. GM is such a hot topic here in France! For example, last week activists slashed sunflower fields. The fields weren't even GM. In France you can't plant GM. But the activists slashed the field to make a point, they don't like GM or innovation in breeding techniques. The field happened to have sunflowers that were bred using mutagenesis. The fields were not Pioneer's but, all seed companies are at risk of being attacked by people who oppose innovation. So that is just an idea of the different perspectives of agriculture around the world. The EU is making quite a bit of American agriculture news this month. In lieu of the 2012 Farm Bill talks, American agriculture organizations such as The American Farm Bureau Federation and American Soybean Association are vamping up their efforts toward promoting open trade and biotech acceptance in the European Union.

An Eiffel Tower Photo Shoot

2010-07-31T02:56:00.000-07:00

Life can't get much better than spending time with old friends! And by old friends I mean, a friend I've gone to school with since Kindergarden. Yes, Erik Minter and I were in Mrs. Sizer's morning Kindergarden class in some year during the 90s. Then flashback to the fall of 2005 and I was Erik's escort to Homecoming coordination. That means I had to write a speech about how awesome he was! (and still is). So needless to say we've made many memories over many years, and twenty years from we can say "Remember when we met in Paris that one summer? It was the summer of 2010 and we saw the Tour De France end in Paris!! Do you also remember taking hundreds of photos of us and the Eiffel Tower? We were trying to get the perfect shot! Or, do you remember the restaurant owners heckling us to eat in their restaurant in the Latin Quarter? How about those German hostel mates we had? Or, drinking wine under the Eiffel Tower and bargening with the street sellers for a bottle? Or, do you remember listening to Bob Marley, Dave Matthews and Jason Maraz while watching the Eiffel Tower light show? Or do you remember taking a walking tour of Paris?" In twenty years I may not remember all of this, but I will remember we had a great weekend, meeting my chance, across the pond in France. That is pretty much Paris in a nutshell. I started writing this post yesterday, but it was really boring, so the above is all you really need to know! :) Also, I love the Musee D'Orsay. It is beautiful!!

In case your wondering... Erik was traveling Europe for 20 days before he starts his job with Target in August. We also had a discussion about how we are too young to have full-time jobs, and think all people our age should take a little sabbatical to travel, or volunteer abroad or something before having a big kid job. You will work the majority of your life, you should take advantage of being young and not having any responsibility for a while!

OMG its almost August!!!

2010-07-30T03:23:00.001-07:00

I will blog about the last two weeks this weekend.

Bastille Day-- Not quite the Pomp and Circumstance of the 4th of July

2010-07-20T13:12:00.000-07:00

Well I may be a little biased when I wrote the title for this post...but I mean you really can't beat the 4th of July. Anyway, Bastille Day was Wednesday, July 14th. Yes! A day off from work!!!! So, guess what I did? Two other interns and I took a trip north to the villages of Albi and Cordes. Albi is known for it's beautiful massive cathedral and 15th-16th century mansions. Cordes is a hill-top town founded in 1222.

Albi was really neat. I took an audio tour of the cathedral. Which was great because it helped me appreciate the art and history. A unique characteristic about the cathedral is, the walls were all painted with figures and scenes, it wasn't just stone.

The drive to Cordes was absolutely beautiful! The French country side is truly picturesque.

By the way, I really need to write these blogs right after events. They would be much more detailed and interesting.... I'll work on that.

We got back to toulouse around 8. Dropped off my car and headed down town for the evening festivities. Toulouse was hosting an out door concert with a really famous French singer. I think there were about 500,000 people at the concert. So needless to say, I couldn't hear anything. But it was nice to meet up with some friends. My Bastille Day was made when they had a very impressive fireworks display!! I celebrated a piece of the 4th of July at that moment!

Anyway I'm enjoying the country side. In a couple weeks I'm going to sit down and plan other weekend trips. My mom gave me a book called "The Backroads of France" and I am going to use that as my guide. I've read almost all of it already!

Birthday Blogging!

2010-07-15T03:33:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone-

Just wanted to start by saying Thank You for the wonderful birthday wishes!!! Turning 22 in France was quite memorable. Not because something exciting happened, but for the fact that I turned 22 IN France. Probably one of the only times in my life that will happen. Well my birthday wishes started on Friday, July 9th! I received a package in the mail from Mom and Dad filled with a Twins t-shirt from Victoria Secret. If you haven't seen the cute shirts they've designed for the season, I highly recommend it! I also got my present from Brett in the mail. That was very exciting!!! And, he did well. Always does :)

On my birthday, Pascale took me out for lunch at a cute restaurant outside the village of Aussonne. It was beautiful weather so we sat on the patio overlooking a small pond. The waiter knows her well so he gave us complimentary olives and an aperitif. The aperitif was a mango, citrus, rum drink. Yumm...
Then after work I met some friends for dinner at Place de Capitole, in Toulouse. We ate at a beautiful restaurant right in front of the capitol. But, to the disappointment to all of us, the waiter was rude and the food was bad. This is quite non-typical of the French. Generally they take pride is providing a very nice dining experience. By the time we got done with dinner (around 11 pm) all of the dessert places were closed. And, my goal of the night was to eat a very good dessert. So, I will have to do that shortly. But, the wine, company, and conversation were good! So the 24 euro bad meal was worth it!

Also, I received some very exciting birthday presents from Renee: Peanut Butter and Desperados beer. In France, they don't eat PB so Renee found it at an African market. And, why Desperados beer you ask? Well, last summer when I was in France I discovered Desperados Beer. It tastes like Corona but with tequila and a little more lime added. Delicious! Would make an excellent addition to a Margarita!! Anyway, Renee knew it was my favorite beer and also knew you can't find it in the US, so she gave me a bottle to enjoy. So I was very happy and thankful for her b-day presents! :)
It was a very nice day! And, I was happy to hear from so many people back home!

The Bordeaux Cow Parade

2010-07-11T03:47:00.000-07:00

On early Saturday morning my new friend Renee and I took the train for a day in Bordeaux. Last Sunday, I saw Renee in the market and said to myself 'she has to be American, I should say hi." So I did and now we've been doing a few things together. Renee is on a 2 month internship in a lab in Toulouse, working on molecular biology stuff. But, she leaves next week for home, so our adventures together are coming to an end. Anyway back to Bordeaux...

First, Bordeaux is a very cute, pretty, quaint city. The buildings are all white, which gives the city a very clean, vibrant look. Where as in Toulouse the buildings are pink brick which gives the city the nickname La Ville Rose or The Pink City. Our first stop in Bordeaux was the tourist office to gather maps and to schedule a wine tour for the afternoon. Well, we gathered the maps but to our dismay the wine tours were filled up and so we couldn't go tasting in the country side.

Bordeaux as several of you may know, is a very well known wine region of France and the world. If I return again, it will be by car so I can go vineyard tasting and touring in the country side. Although we couldn't take part of that adventure, we did go a wine museum accompanied by a tasting of a dry white wine and red wine from Bordeaux. In my opinion they were nothing special, but I enjoyed it none the less. I enjoyed showing Renee how to taste wine. I've decided my Vines and Wines class at the University of Minnesota was the most practical and useful course I have ever taken!! So useful in everyday life. Anyway, the museum focused on the development of wine trading starting in the 13th century. Quite interesting and worth an hour of the afternoon.

We wandered the streets of Bordeaux and admired the beautiful architecture, churches and food! Renee and I ate a delicious dinner at a cafe. The food in France is well AMAZING. I don't eat out very often, but when I do, I am always impressed with the cuisine. (Except of course the little place I eat for lunch, I don't consider that eating out...)

ALSO! To my amazement, there were statues of painted cows throughout Bordeaux. From June-Sepetmeber Bordeaux is hosting "The Cow Parade".

http://www.cowparade.com

The painted cows are beautiful! The "Diva Cow" had rhinestone horns, hooves, and udder. It was placed in front of the very famous Hotel Bordeaux. It was the red-carpet rendition of all of the cows! I was very happy to see such beautiful art pieces rooting back to my roots. The "Cow Parade" is quite the exhibit! It has been seen my 100 million people world wide, and has raised over $20 million for charitable causes. The parade debuted in Chicago in 1999 and has been traveling globally ever since. Check out the website above for more info!

Renee and I also visited the city garden, which is a beautiful park dedicated to the public. It has little streams winding through, and beautiful flowers, little bridges, and an outdoor cafe. A lovely place to spend an afternoon under the sun! The cow above was in the garden.

The people of Bordeaux are also extremely nice! Renee is almost fluent in French, so it was easy to make conversation with shop keepers. They obviously love talking about their city and gave us suggestions of places to visit. Although I don't know French, I found a smile goes a long way. But, I can understand quite a bit if people speak slow enough.

Next week I start language lessons with a private teacher. Pioneer has schedule 20 hours of language training. So, hopefully soon I can say more than just my name in French!!! ha. I hope. I've learned it is a very hard language to learn.

Today I was surprised...

2010-07-07T08:13:00.000-07:00

Today I went to lunch with a couple of the interns. At the restaurant there is a choice between a buffet or the dish of the day. Generally I don't understand what the dish of the day is, so I get the buffet. Generally not good :( Well today, one of the interns got the dish of the day. I was mortified when the plate he was served was a pound of raw, seasoned beef with a fresh raw egg cracked on top of it. I forget the name of the dish but it is something like 'steak tarte'. Anyway, he said he was perfectly safe to eat and continued to indulge every last morsal of raw beef in front of him. Actually the best way to describe it was uncooked meat loaf served with lettuce, ketchup and mustard. Anyway, I was a bit surprised by the dish and couldn't beleive someone sitting across the table from me was eating uncooked meat. I had to stop myself from telling him all the bad things that could be hiding in uncooked red meat... but alas, French cuisine at its finest.

Sunflowers!

2010-07-03T01:51:00.000-07:00

A beautiful field of sunflowers :)
Don't they just make you smile?

My first French Pioneer hat. Also, it was about 95 degrees during the tour, so it was hot!!! luckily the humidity wasn't bad! Pascale was so hot that she started fanning herself with big sunflower leaves.

French Food: Bad for my health!!!

2010-07-03T01:37:00.001-07:00

On Thursday I spent all day at the sunflower research station in Montech. The day started out with an overview of the breeding program, then moved into field tours and then LUNCH! A smorgasbord of French food. Every year when the sunflower meeting is held, each person brings an authentic dish that is native to his or her region of France. All the people I work with come from different parts of the country and even other countries. Needless to say the most important regional cuisines were represented. I wish I had taken a picture of all of the food!! The mktg manager is from near the Alps, so he brought cheese which honestly smelled like cow manure, sausage that looked and tasted like haylage, and wine. I tried the cow manure cheese but decided the smell was too strong to enjoy the taste! But, it did taste ok. Also, everyone brought wine, so there was a lot of tastings to do. The HR manager is from Portugal so he brought a white style Port. I wasn't a big fan... it was a little too strong and sweet for me. He also brought other foods but I can't remember which ones. There was Foie Gras, which is a specialty of Toulouse. I could take it or leave it. Foie Gras is duck liver paste. Or, at least that is how I will describe it. There was cured and smoked ham. But not American ham, it looked like bacon. Cheeses from all across Europe, desserts desserts desserts... One was a prune/custard cake (not my favorite, but I tried). Another was similar to apple pie. The last was from the region around Paris and was something like a custard cake, but more dense. I'm not up on my culinary terms so you will have to use your imagination. The production manager is from Italy, so he brought rose and red wine from his region. Anyway there were probably about 30 different types of food dishes and 5-6 different wines. And, of course the best bread you will ever eat! Although, I think Grandma gives French baguettes a run for their money!

So we all ate entirely TOO MUCH! But it was delicious and probably the only time I will ever have the chance to eat all of the important French cuisines in one meal!

The meetings after lunch were very hard to pay attention too… I actually almost fell asleep.

It was very enjoyable day!

Barcelona and a few other thoughts

2010-06-29T01:45:00.000-07:00

It was really nice to see Amy and tour around Barcelona for a short weekend. But, I have to go back because I didn't see any of the tourist things. They had already done most of the sites, so the goal for the weekend was shopping. Amy's family was with a tour group, so Saturday night I went with them out to dinner and then we headed to a bar near our hotel to watch the soccer game. It was a fun night!

Sunday, we visited a church that the artist Gaudi designed. It is still in the process of being built. They started building aout 100 years ago and its supposed to be done in about 20 years?? Anyway, google Gaudi. He is a very famous artist from Barcelona and his work is really unique. Im looking forward to going back to Barcelona to learn more about him!

Then...I had a much longer drive home on Sunday. I was really tired so it went by slow. But, the radio stations play a lot of American music and I made several phone calls. So it was a nice time to catch-up with people.

Mom- I want new puppy pictures :)

---
A few other thoughts:
The other interns I have met at the office are really nice! I'm looking forward to getting to know them, and will hopefully have a social life now that I've met a few people. They are all marketing interns so its been great to learn about what they are doing!

Also, the pronunciation of my name sounds much more exotic when spoken in French. I like it. Also, they spell my name: Erika. So all of my information is spelled differently than how I spell it.

French people are not very prompt. Fashionably late is an accepted cultural thing :)

Driving to Barcelona

2010-06-29T01:29:00.000-07:00

After a quick trip to Paris I headed to Barcelona for another quick trip. My friend Amy, from college was vacationing in Europe with her family. There last stop was Barcelona. So, Saturday morning I hopped in my car and headed south. First, the drive was beautiful. Hopefully next time I go I wont be on a time schedule and I can stop at the little villages along the way or at the beach near the Spanish/French border. There are a lot of old castles along the route that I would enjoy touring. I also learned that there are toll roads from Toulouse to Barcelona. I thought the cost would be similar to the U.S. but of course I was shocked when my first toll charge was 18.65 euro, and then another 12 euro and then 2 euro.... Also, this was the first time I filled up with gas. hahaha pathetic experience on my part. The first gas station I stopped at, didn't accept my credit card. Good thing I didn't pump gas in before realizing this. The second gas station I stopped at, the pump didn't accept my credit card either... but it wasn't my fault this time...the pump just didn't work. Also, it took me a solid 3 minutes to figure out how to open the door to the gas tank. The Mercedes are a bit tricky. I thought "ok, there must be a switch on the inside of my car." no such luck, then I said, well maybe if I push on one end of the door it will open, again, no such luck. Finally, I just hit the door really hard, and "Va-La" the door magically opened :) But, as my credit cards are not accepted at the pump, I paid inside the gas station. People pick me as American right away... so its always entertaining when I try to pay for things.

Also, I can't figure out how to use the cruise control on my car, so that makes driving long distances really annoying, and speed limits are not posted. So, don't be surprised if I blog about getting pulled over for speeding.... or..going too slow.

To give you an idea about the cost: It was 1.30 euro per liter. It costs me about $75 per tank, or about 60 euro.

I've also decided my GPS is doing so well that it deserves a better name than "Tom Tom" so if you have any suggestions let me know. My GPS is fantastic, at least it got me to the exact location in Barcelona I needed to go. The man on the GPS that speaks to me, his name is Mike, gets really irritated when I make wrong turns or pull off to get gas. He repeatedly tells me "turn around, you have made a wrong turn. at the nearest location, turn around. Turn around in 300 yards.."

The landscape: Toulouse is located in a really unique location because I am close to the mountains and to the ocean. The climate is Mediterranean and the vegetation ranges from palm trees to pine trees. So its quite beautiful. I took a bunch of pictures while driving so I will try to upload some of them soon!

So Much to Blog about....

2010-06-29T00:55:00.000-07:00

I everyone, its been a few days since I have written a blog, so I will do my best to remember everything. I had a list of things I wanted to talk about but some how that list has disappeard.

Paris
Last Thursday moring I was up bright and early to catch an 8:00 flight to Paris. Well I was forwarned that the French workers were going on strike due to the French president telling the country that all people had to work 2 more years before being able to retire and live off of social security. So naturally my flight to Paris was delayed unil about 11:00. I arrived at the airport at about 6:30 am, and had to sit there all morning. It wasn't very fun, as I didn't have my Ipod or a book to read. Anyway, I flew into Paris-Orly where Michael picked me up and shuttled me to the Dupont offices in Paris. The DuPont office is located in an area call The Defense. Its a large area of office buildings. It's a typical skyscraper down town atmosphere. It was actually really odd to see The Defense in the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower. It goes to show the urbanization of historic old cities. So, Thursday was spent with Michael sharing powerpoint presentations about the French Pioneer business and their interaction with government. Very interesting. But, now I have the task of writing about Pioneer for a France Dupont publication and have no idea what to say....

That evening we headed to the official opening of the first vegetable garden at the U.S. Ambassador residence in Paris. The home is on the same block as the French President and very close to the Champs Elysee. Needless to say the mansion was beautiful and easily a place I'd like to vacation to. The ambassador's wife, Susan M. Tolson addressed the crowd and thanked Pioneer for the sponsorship of the garden. She also honored the students who designed and planted the garden. I enjoyed the event, had the opportunity to meet the USDA-FAS attache for the embassay and ambassador Ravkin. But, I will say it would have been much more interesting if I knew french. My job at the opening was to take photos and write a story for the Mypioneer website. The MyPioneer website, is a site for Pioneer employees that hosts Pioneer news and everything else related to being a Pioneer employee.

I arrived at my hotel around 9:00 pm and walked around Paris for a bit. My hotel was about a block away from the Arc De Triomphe. I got a lot of really nice photos of the monument. I then walked down to the Eiffel Tower. It is beautiful at night, all lit up.

On Friday, I met Michael and we took the metro to the Dupont offices. We were in meetings all morning. It was very interesting to see the interaction between Dupont and Pioneer. As Dupont has several business I decided its hard to connect all of them under the DuPont brand. I did a lot of listening, and the people in the meetings even asked for my opinion at different times. It was neat to be invovled with that group of people, but I am happy to be working for the Pioneer business.

Ah....getting to the airport Friday night was another story.... My cab was supposed topick me up at 3:15 pm. It didn't arrive until 3:30. Well then we were stuck in traffic and I didn't arrive to the airport until 5:00. My flight left at 5:15.... The cab ride ended up costing 75 Euros.... Not cool! I rushed through security, arrived at my gate at 5:10 and as I was arriving they said the flight was delayed until 6:00. Needless to say I was happy I made the flight, but really not happy about almost missing it.

All in all, it was a really nice trip and aimlessly walking around Paris is a very good way to spend an evening. I look forward to going back to do the touristly things, and if anyone wants to meet me there, that would be great!!! Enjoying Paris with another person, is always more fun!

Welcome to the World of Sunflowers!

2010-06-23T04:14:00.000-07:00

I am delighted to be working on a project pertaining to sunflowers! Yesterday I traveled to the village of Montech to meet with the Senior Reserach Manager for all of the sunflowers in Europe. The research station was beautiful. The building was an old barn and farmhouse that they rebuilt to use for offices. The manager spent about ahalf hour explaining the sunflower initiatives in Europe to me. It was very interesting. We then spent the next hour in the field. He explained the breeding process, parts of the plant, etc. Some of the flowers were just starting to bloom and the field looked extremely pretty. We then headed for lunch at a cute restaurant in Montech. It was quite a treat: started with a delicious salad, then I had the dish of the day (pasta with fish) and finished with creme brule. The pasta was AMAZING!!! Fresh clams, squid, calamari, etc. yum yum yum.

I should also tell you that the sunflower manager was very impressed I found the station. It is not located on a recognized road. But, thanks to my GPS all went well!

I think I will be returning in July, and then I will have my camera to show pictures of the fields. Very pretty :)

The National Day of Music (June 21, 2010)

2010-06-23T04:03:00.000-07:00

I have had the opportunity to enjoy the Fete du Musique for the last two years while in France. This year wasn't quite the party is was last year, but still very enjoyable. Each June 21, France celebrates the first day of summer with music. In every city and village there are people in the streets performing several different types of music. On Monday night, I went with Pascale and her family and toured the city of Toulouse by listening to different musical performances. I am going to try and post the videos I took on my Facebook page. Anyway, the musicians were fantastic. It was the first time I heard the the songs "I Got A Feeling" by the Black Eye Peas and "I'm Yours" by Jasn Moraz with a French accent. Both renditions were very good! My favorite performance was by a guy who sat on a stool with just his guitar and sang 1950s country music and Beatles songs. He was great! I will try and upload his video clip. There were marching bands, rappers, hip-hop, african drums, American indians, and so on. All types and styles of music!

Arial view of location in Aussonne, France

2010-06-21T07:04:00.000-07:00

View from my balcony

2010-06-20T02:22:00.000-07:00

Hope this photo works....

2010-06-19T14:19:00.001-07:00

Back to Business

2010-06-17T10:53:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned via Facebook I was in a two day training with the Management team of the Western Europe Business Unit. Wow, what a great (and intense) two days!!!!! All of the meetings were in English which I really appreciated. Not only could I understand what they were saying, but I got a great introduction into the operations of France, Portugal and Spain (the three areas my BU covers). The people are absolutely fantastic! Extremely nice, allow me to share my ideas and have the best sense of humor. I laugh at there jokes, but really I have no idea what they are saying. They try to explain in english what the joke means, but some words don't translate, so it becomes even more funny in english terms. I work directly with the management team for my projects, which is really exciting and provides quite a bit of responsibility. My main manager is in charge of Government and Public Affairs. Next week he has me flying to Paris to cover the opening the of the Garden at the U.S. Embassy. Pioneer is the sole sponsor of the garden and event! The garden is modeled after the Obama garden and Michelle Obama has been invited. We shall see if she is there. I am really excited for this trip because I will be working with the people for the USDA-FAS office in Paris. So, more to come on that adventure....

Last night we ate dinner at a Lebanese restaurant. It was delicious and the dinner conversation was quite entertaining. I also used this opportunity to present the management team with the hats I brought from Pioneer North America. They were delighted!!! The marketing manager, Bruno, had the first pick. And guess what, he picked the pink hat. He said it reminded him of the pink converse tennis shoes he had as a teenager. Well anyway, it looked good on him and suited is cheerful personality. I got back to my apartment at about midnight. Needless to say I was a bit tired this morning.

Probably the only time in my life I will ever drive a Mercedes.....

2010-06-17T10:33:00.000-07:00

I direct your attention to the above picture. Lets call this Exhibit "Because the American can't drive a manual, we will get her a nice automatic car". Yes, today a lovely Mercedes A180 CDI Elegano was sitting in the Pioneer parking lot for me. I'd like to say it was my bonus for traveling half way across the world to work for Pioneer, but sadly it wasn't, only rented for 6 months. My 'bonus' is actually allowing me to travel half way across the country to work :)

If any of you know Pioneer's big kick about safety, I assure you, I am much safer in this car than learning the manual. Now, my HR manager can rest easy with the comforts in my ability to drive.

I am also going to take this opportunity to tell my dad, "I told you so!" So here it goes...Before I left, I practiced driving Pat's little geo. And, I told my dad we should parallel park with it for fun. You know, to see how it handles differently than my car and to gauge my depth perception. It was like I was 14 again practicing for my drivers test. Except, my dad really had no confidence in me this time, and he made the parking stall twice the size of the car. I told him, "Dad, in Europe the parking spots are as big as a yard stick." But he assured me, the standard parking spot in 9 or 10 feet. Man was he wrong. They are actually a yard stick and a half (4.5 feet). So dad, I told you so! And, you can park it the oddest places, like on sidewalks in between trees...

Getting used to parking this little car is quite fun. Its like trying to balance an egg horizontally. I mean it is a really odd shape and when I park it, I really can't tell how far away from anything I am because of how I am seated in the vehicle. Oh, one more thing, Pioneer insists that all employees corner back into parking spots, so the front of the vehicle is facing the exit. Definitely not a problem, however I'm generally parking between two smaller vehicles and I actually can't see them in my mirrors because they are so short and small. So, the guessing game begins and so far, I've guess right.

Enough about my car saga....I will offer free rides to any visitors! :)

I made it! Lets just say everything is mini.

2010-06-15T10:21:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone-

I made, safe and sound to Toulouse France. Wow, it seems like so many things have happened in the last day and half. I will start at the beginning. I arrived to the Toulouse airport just before noon (France time) on Monday. I am 7 hours ahead of those in Minnesota. Gisele, the HR manager picked me up and we went to my apartment. WOW, was the size of my room a shock. Yes you guessed it, it was huge! ahh actually just kidding it is a studio, which in apartment terms is TINY. But, that is quite alright I will adjust and don't think I will be spending much time in it, except to sleep. That is really the only thing I can do, because its so small. After I took a breather, washed my face and changed into clean clothes, we headed to the Pioneer office, located in the village of Ausonne. Ausonne is a really quaint and cute, with a magnificent restaurant that I ate at today (Tuesday). I was introduced to several of the employees and then on to the the task of driving my first European car. I had been mentally preparing myself to drive a manual vehicle, and after tooling around with Pat's little geo at home, I felt I'd adequately conquer the european mobiles. I of course was wrong. Ha. I say that will a smile, because it was actually quite fun seeing my HR manager sit squeamishly in the passenger seat. She was brave enough to be my teacher. We drove around the parking lot for about an hour. The first 10 times I started the car, I actually killed it. Gisele thought I pulled off the clutch too soon. For the most part anytime I stopped at pretend stop signs, the car died. Finally, Gisele thought it really wasn't me, it was the car. So, now it is her mission to find me an automatic. Good luck! She was so delighted that I wasn't getting frustrated at all. I will be fine if she lets me drive on actual roads to learn, but said its too dangerous. But, I admit, people do drive extremely crazy over here, and there does seem to be a lack of traffic rules. Or, let me rephrase, there is a lack of signs which share the traffic rules. I got home from work about 7 and went to bed. Didn't even take the time to find something to eat.

Not being able to drive to and from work has given me the opportunity to get to know Gisele, and Pascal. Pascal is the country manager's assistant and she is fantastic! Really easy to talk to and has quite a sense of humor. She speaks very slow french to me, so I can understand her. I really enjoy her company. This weekend she invited me to a garage sale in her neighborhood. So, maybe thats what I will be doing on Sunday. She also took me out to lunch today. The scenery here is beautiful when its not raining. It rained all day yesterday but cleared up today. The place we ate at, had spanish architecture with rooftops like you'd see in Florida or California. The vegetation is also similar to those states. Very cute place located in the hills of Aussonne.

Pioneer manned me with an international cell phone, so if you'd like my number please send me an email. It also has text messaging :) Today I also met one of my managers, Michael. He works from his home in Paris and deals with government and regulatory affairs issues. Biotech is definitely a hot topic in France right now, so I think I will learn a lot. He also has an excellent sense of humor and I think I will enjoy working with him. Wednesday and Thursday I have a business meeting with the major leaders in the Western European Business Unit. I am looking forward to meeting those people. My office will be joined by managers from Spain and Portugal, as they are in our BU. I will primarily be working in the areas of government affairs and marketing focused on e-marketing. I wont share too many specifics about the work I will be doing, but it sounds as though it will be quite interesting. Hopefully after this week I will know more about my projects. It sounds as though I will be doing some travel to Paris. My manager has also scheduled an e-business training for me in Geneva, Switzerland and would like to take me to the Brussels office.

Well I am off to organizing my room.

Au revoir (goodbye)

Erica

ETD June 13th

2010-05-27T06:56:00.001-07:00

Good morning!
I leave for France June 13th, so look for blogs to start after that.
Thanks!