West Side Story - Graz Opera

Yesterday I went for the first time at the opera of Graz. It was amazing! For of all the opera is incredibly beautiful and the people there are so well-dressed!

Then the piece I've seen was West Side Story, I was so excited to see this one because I really like to story and the song! (I've the vinyl at home.)

The show was really great, even if something we heard more the orchestre than the lyrics. It was also really funny to see this story (Americano-latino) played by only austrian persons.
It was a really good experience!

All the things I really miss from France, here in Austria.

Now that I'm in Autria since 10 month, I can really see what are the things (except my friends and family, of course) that I really miss.

1 - MY CAT ! I really use to live and sleep with my cat and I realize that I really miss her ! Moreover there is almost no cat in Graz !

2 - My cheese! I come from the east part of France, my region "Franche-Comté" is really famous for its fabulous cheeses! My uncle is a cheese maker and we are use to eat it two times per day. 

3 - Good PASTRY. I know you can find a lot a different pastry here in Austria but I don't enjoy them because they are full of creme. There is no "Pâtisserie fine" as we call it in France. The one I miss the most is a good Lemon Tart. 

4 - My room! I didn't bring a lot of my stuff here in Austria because of my luggage. That's why I don't really feel at home even when I'm in my room! I was also use to have a giant room and this one is 10m²! 

5 - French joke and french culture. I'm someone that really appreciate the culture of my country and I do really like my language and play with its words. I can't do it here in Austria because nobody will understand! I already tried but I failed in the explanation. 

PLEASE AMERICA : LET US DAFT PUNK

Even though Daft Punk is immersed in US musical influences, sings English lyrics and is propelled by the North American marketing machine, the duo’s Daft Punk IS STILL FRENCH and their music is "made in France."

The two members of Daft Punk are unquestionably French. Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem Christo are both from the wealthier suburbs of Paris even if these days, they work, mostly, in the United States. 



This is not because there are not singing in French on the Eiffel Tower or Montmartre that they are not French anymore.

Even if there music is not the traditional "chanson française", their musical output, their style and their attitude are really french.

The video is my favorite from their last album "Random Acces Memories"

A week in the Balkans (PART 2)

After Montenegro we went to Albania at the capital Tirana. I didn’t really like this city. They were almost no woman in the street and people were looking at me. They were also a lot of children in the street asking for money or food. I didn’t feel good as a tourist. But the restaurant we want was amazing, the people were really nice with us and they cooked amazing meal for us!

 

The day after, we left Albania and we went in Macedonia. We stopped for a day in Ohrid. The city wasn’t really “amazing”, we just stop there to have a break before Skopje, but everything was so cheap. For example: my friend has an haircut, he paid 1€20!! As said, then we took the bus again until Skopje and I really liked this city!!! A lot of great building I wanted to see everything. The only problem I had is that I get lost in the night and I didn’t know the street of my hotel. So it wasn’t easy to find my way back. 

Last country we went before I go back in Budapest and Graz was Serbia and its capital Belgrade. During the day we had so much good time discovering everything about Serbia but during the night we had some problem with some drunk Serbian inhabitants. But it still a good memories that was a “Balkans adventure” 

After Belgrade, that was the end of our trip, we were exhausted but really happy of all that we discovered. I met some really great people during this week and I enjoyed travelling with them. I already know I’m going to go back in Croatia soon (Zagreb and Krk) but I will be happy to go back in the Balkan in the future. 

A week in the Balkans (PART 1)

The last week of April I participated to this Big Balkan Trip, organized by Student Trip. I was a bit nervous at the beginning because I knew anybody who already went to this trip. So it was something totally new for me.

We started the trip in Budapest. We were 2 different s busses of 50 students. In my bus I was the only French and I was really happy because it means I had to speak English or German during the entire trip.  The first country we went to was Bosnia we travelled first to Sarajevo and I really liked the city. Our guide was 26 years old and she explains very well the story of the city. She was alive during the Balkans war but didn’t want to speak about it. 

Then we took the bus to go in Mostar. This is a little city in Bosnia really famous because of its bridge.  It was my favorite city! The weather was really perfect and I really liked this bridge (even if it really not easy to walk on eat because it’s very glissant). The night we had a pub crawl in the city a good way to discover their typical drinks ;)! We spent the night there and we moved in our next country. 

The next one was Croatia and its famous city Dubrovnik! I was really excited to be there because I’m a real fan of the series Game of Thrones and one of the Kingdoms (King’s landing) is filmed in Dubrovnik. There the weather was really good and we really enjoyed the city. 

We drove then in Montenegro, we spend the night in Tivat a beautiful city near to the see! I think that was the only "expensive" country because they have euro know. The day after we were in Kotor, the city should have been amazing but unfortunately it rained so much that we didn’t enjoy at all.

The French "Galette franc-comtoise" or "Kingcake"

Let me give you the recipe of the king cake we make in my part of  France. It’s a very typical one and we eat it for the Epiphany, that means the end of the Christmas season.

Ingredients:

Serves: 8

• 100g  butter
• 25cl  milk
• 125 plain flour
• 90g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoon Orange blosson

1st Step

 

Heat the milk with the butter and sugar.

Once it's boiling, remove from heat.

Add the flour all at once.

Stir briskly.

2^nd Step

Add the teaspoons of orange blossom.

Stir 3 whole eggs each other after thoroughly mixing between each egg.

Pour the mixture into a large buttered baking sheet 

3th Step

Brown the top with the remaining egg yolk. 

Draw cross on the dough with a fork.
 
Bake 25 minutes at 180 ° C.
 
Enjoy once cooled.

My "galette" of 2014 :)

Traditionally, we add a small plastic or porcelain figure and we hide it into the king cake.


The person who got it in his piece of cake is going to be lucky during the next year.

Why I don't really like Paris ?

When I say to the other that I come from France, people always believe that I'm from Paris. THIS IS NOT TRUE. Actually I don't even really like this city and I will explain why :

It’s dirty

There doesn’t seem to be one place in that city that’s remotely clean. The metro is disgusting, the RER is absolutely filthy and the city streets are just a catastrophe. I noticed that there weren’t as many trash cans as there should be. Given that the city has over 10 million residents (and that doesn’t count the tourist) you would assume that a greater effort would be placed on cleanliness.

Parisians are mean and rude

They don’t like helping you —and most will blame the amount of tourists they see each year. Not true! I’ve been to several major cities where their residents were friendly and polite. If they couldn’t help you, they politely turn you down. Parisians are always in a hurry therefore, they don’t respect any lines: not in their cars and not even in the metro.

They're always making fun about us

People living in Paris believe that they are the only "important inhabitant" from France. Of course they have all the best things we can find in France. Of course where I live we don't have all those big museums, great theater or expositions. But I travel and I thing I've the same culture than them.
They also LOVE making joke about our accent. They didn't understand that the way they speak in Paris is an accent too.