The Epiphany

The celebration of the Epiphany

The Epiphany is celebrated on the 6 January. However, as it is not a public holiday in Belgian and France we celebrate it on the first Sunday of January except if it is the first day of the year. 

The Epiphany is very important in Spain because the children receive gifts from the Three Wise Men and not on Christmas like in France. It is also a nice day in France because we get to eat "La Galette des Rois" : the Twelfth Night cake.

There is a whole tradition around this cake. We eat it with some friends and family. There is a bean or a lucky charm hidden somewhere in the plain round flat cake. The youngest (and allegedly innocent) person has to go under the table and decide who the next slice is for. The lucky one who founds the bean in his portion becomes the queen or the king and has to choose a queen or a king as well. These two are supposed to be lucky for the rest of the year (at work he is supposed to bring another cake and in Spain he is supposed to pay for the cake). 

There are two types of cake. The first one is some kind of round bun with glacé fruits. It is supposed to remind us of a crown. People eat this cake in Spain and in the very south of France. 

In the rest of France and south of Germany, we have a frangipane cake. 

Now, between us, although I am from the south of France, I really prefer the frangipane cake!

As a conclusion, I could say that even though we, French, are still full from Christmas meals, we always find an excuse for another good meal.

I hope you are not too hungry now!

"I have a dream..."

"I have a dream..."

Everyone knows about M.L. King's very famous speech starting with this very famous sentence "I have a dream...". This speech has been inspiring people for more than 50 years now. Among them there is of course actual American President Obama. The Dutch deep house DJ Bakermat was one of them too. One of his most famous song is called "Vandaag" which means today in Dutch. I love this song mixing electronic music, saxophones and famous sentences of the "I have a dream" speech.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzCWGGG2gQc

Luther's speech reached almost everyone all over the world. We, Europeans, do not know all the details of American history but most of us have at least heard of the Civil Rights Movement. Black people had to wait until the 60s to be treated as any other white American citizen. The "New Deal" from Roosevelt profiting everyone and the commitment of black soldiers during WWII helped getting Black people their rights. Slavery was officially abolished with the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (December 1865)but slavery was not done away with in the American slave States.

The whole world made at some point mistakes and mistreated people from different origins. Lots of Europeans were cruel to the people in the colonies, some Americans tolerated slavery for way too long, Apartheid tore apart a whole nation for 46 years ! I hope that we will all keep in mind this wise speech and never repeat those mistakes again although racism seems to be more and more present nowadays.

Different Use of Register

Since I arrived in Austria, I noticed that the formal register was used in different situations in Austria compared to France. We have the same definitions of what formal register or slang are but we do not use it in the same situations. In French as in German, we can address each other with the "vous" or the "Sie" form when we are trying to be polite in a very formal way. Fortunately this does not exist in English. I am saving time in English because I do not have to wonder if I should use this polite form or not.

I realised that people in Austria in shops or on the phone when I was looking for an accommodation would easily skip the "Sie" form and just talk to me as if we already knew each other. In France, no one would do that. We can really be pompous, especially at the end of our formal e-mail. We do not simply use the convenient "Regards" but a whole very long sentence copy paste from the internet. Here is another example : I get to call my teachers by their first name in some classes but I still have to use the "Sie" form. At the french university, students call their teachers by their family names or simply "Sir". We are also always supposed to add "Mister" before mentioning the family name of anyone because if we do not, it means that this person is dead. Actually few people really knows that and we usually skip this rule when it is just a casual talk.

On the one hand I would say that it is nice that people are not putting up walls with all these overpolite rules. On the other hand I really get confused and I keep on using the "Sie" form, when I am not sure, to avoid embarrassing situations ! Of course I would not use it with young Austrians or classmates. This is a good thing that we do not have to ask ourself the question of the "Sie" form when we are just among young people. 

Travelling in Greece

    What about spending summer in Greece ?    

      

I went home in France for the Christmas holidays to see my friends and family. As I was talking about Erasmus and how much I enjoyed travelling there, I asked my friend if they wanted to go abroad during the summer. We usually already spend holidays together but just stay in our beautiful region or go to the sea. Still they were really excited ! I suggested Greece and everyone seemed really happy about this destination. A friend of mine wanted to go to Croatia as well because her sisters had praised this country to her. I was in Croatia in September and I must say I did not have time to see everything, but if I must choose between Greece and Croatia I would rather go to Greece !

I have to admit I hope it is going to be cheap as Greece is still going through a deep economic crisis. We did not plan anything really precise as we are still not sure if we are going to do it. Everybody is currently more focused on exams, seeking an internship or a job. Still, I already know I want to enjoy the Mediterranean coastline and beaches and visit sleepy littles towns like Santorini. I also want to walk around the famous ancient city of Athens. I know someone in Graz who lives there and can give me advice about all the good places! It would be really interesting to visit the inside of the country from Delphi to Pelion for example. Maybe if we still have some time left after this busy plan, my friends and I could go hitch-hiking in the hinterland but not too long because it is going to be really hot.





But most of all, I want to visit the ancient Greek as I have always been a big fan of Greek mythology !


I really hope that this project will come true !

Edited Version : Irish Culture Homework

Irish Culture : Irish resentment after The Great Famine

The most fascinating aspect of Irish culture that I learned about by watching the Story of Ireland was the strong resentment that arose against the British from the Great Famine in Ireland (1845-1850). This time of starvation traumatised Ireland and its inhabitants. Some of them were bitter as they thought all the British citizens did not want to help fight hunger under Prime Minister Russel’s administration. Some English however really wanted to help the Irish. For example, Lord George Bentinck went to the Parliament in London and described the horror of the famishment in order to raise awareness among the MPs. But British writers such as Trevelyan simply asserted the Great Famine in Ireland was God’s punishment. To Irish nationalists, Trevelyan was “the voice of England” and did not care about the one million people who died. Another million and a half emigrated. Most of them sailed to North America. Among them were John O'Mahony and Michael Doheny who founded the “Fenian Brotherhood” in 1858. This organisation tried two times to invade Canada, the nearest English colony. Its first act of terrorism in England was in 1867. They also sent political and financial support to help Ireland fight English domination. In short, the Irish remained very angry at the British decades after the deadly Great Famine as they thought the British could have done more to help.

My trip to Ireland !

Here is my plan for a trip to Ireland if I had 2000 euros to spend !

I would choose to go to Ireland because that would save lots of money in flight tickets. Anyway why would I go far away when I am not even done with visiting Europe. Moreover I have some friends who went there on road trips and told me how beautiful the landscapes are and how friendly and interesting the people are. I would also not have terrible jetlag and would be able to visit and party right away !


I would go in April during the semester break when, I hope, it is a little bit warmer. First I would take a flight from Graz to Dublin. Either some people from Graz would be going with me or some friends from France would join me directly in Ireland. There I would book a cheap hostel for three nights and spend four days in the capital. I would go on Sandemans' free tour of the city (http://www.newdublintours.com/daily-tours/new-dublin-free-tour.html) to get a good overview. At night they also organize pub crawl, that would be a good way to get familiar with the good Irish beer. According to the tourism websites, I should go to the The Old Jameson Distillery and visit the National Museum of Ireland among lots of other things. There is also a very cheap 6 hour tour in Howth which sounds amazing. If my friends and I don't know where to go out anymore or what do visit, I will just ask for tips from the people working at the reception of the hostel and get inspiration from the numerous leaflets at the entrance. I would just go to the best places and eat typical foods.

I would spend the rest of my journey backpacking in the beautiful hinterland and on the coast. Along the way I could stop either in sprawling cities or in remote part of the mountains. I would be sometimes sleeping in small remote country inn or just pitch a tent ! I would go to the Wicklow Mountains. Indeed I found a useful website with a very precise path through those mountains and along the coast. All details needed are to be found on the website.(http://walkinghikingireland.com/walking-holidays/self-guided-walking-tours/?gclid=CPPK2J2g6LsCFaXItAodp3EAbA). 

That would be the perfect holidays for me : tourism, party and hiking with friends !

How to Kill a Mustache

How to Kill a Mustache !

First of all, no, as a girl, I did not grow a mustache and did not even try ! However I do know guys who did grow a mustache for the Movember.

 

What is the Movember ? Well, in order to support the fight against the prostate cancer, men can decide to let their mustache grow during the whole month of November. The friends and relatives are supposed to give money as the mustache is getting bigger to help the research against prostate cancer. In reality, guys just grew their mustache for fun and we did not give money, shame on us !


By the end of November, guys are supposed to shave the mustache. Once again, they did not really follow the rules and kept it until everybody was begging them to stop it. I was also seriously afraid they were going to eat their own mustache as it was getting bigger and bigger !





They finally decided to shave it a few weeks ago. Before they did, a friend sent me this funny video explaining how to kill a mustache by the rule book!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXchNeYUmPA

The author really has a whole theory about it! You need to cut it with scissors, then shave it with an electric shaver to reduce the lenght and finally shave it. This way you can actually keep the hair ! After that, you can go on to the Viking tradition. This consists in putting the hair on a boat made out of cardboard and let the boat set on fire sail away on water...

It is crazy to realize how entertaining a mustache can be !