Field Trip

Monday, January 20:

Today was a field trip.  The itinerary was to go to Weiss Chocolate, a chocolate maker/factory & M. Chapoutier, a winery & vineyard.  We were picked up at 745am, and Weiss was an hour and a half away.  Once we arrived, we were greeted and brought to a meeting room, where we were divided into two groups.  We had to wear a gown to cover our clothing, a hair net and booties to cover our shoes.  Pictures weren’t allowed in the factory; the tour was amazing.  We walked through the factory, seeing each step of the process in buying the bean to the chocolate products packaged and boxed.  We met up with the other ½ of our group, and were able to taste a few chocolate products.  We were given a gift of Milk and Dark Chocolate mini bars pieces.  We headed to the gift shop; Mallory and I split a container of cocoa (which is vegan).  Back on the bus we went, and off to lunch!  We were treated to lunch at IKEA…who would have thought, oh you’re in France, wouldn’t you like to eat at IKEA.  We were each able to pick what we wanted to eat, a budget of 10 euros.  Enjoyed our lunch, walked around a bit, and back on the bus for a two-hour drive to the winery.  It was time for a nap.  

We arrived at the winery, and immediately went on a tour of the vineyard.  Beautiful land.  We learned about bottling, aging the grapes, and the types of grapes and varieties.  After the tour, we went to the shop and had a wine tasting, 1 white variety, and 3 red varieties including one sweet.  Following the tasting, we went to the shop and much of our group purchased wine.  We boarded back on the bus, and sat back for the two-and-a-half-hour bus ride.

After the long drive, we finally arrived back in Yssingeaux.  I was awoken to our leader on the microphone.  “It has come to my attention that the electricity is completely out at Aubepine (our apartment complex), we do not know when it will be back on, why it went out, but we are working quickly to fix the issue.”  Since it was about 7pm when we got back, they treated us to dinner at a local pizza shop.  We were served French fries, salad and pizza.  Mallory and I were served vegan pizza (marinara sauce and a ton of veggies).  When we were wrapping up dinner, all confusion erupted, chaos and misunderstanding.  Due to the power outage, some of us were unable to even access our apartment due to a “garage door” that covers the front door to the apartment.  Kristina and I were the few that put this down before leaving this morning.  The directors of the program were discussing how to accommodate us at the chateau.  They originally were just going to send the ones that cant access their apartment to the chateau, but after discussing with each other and us, decided that everyone would sleep, bunking with at least one other person, some rooms with 3 people.  Unfortunately, due to the garage being down, we couldn’t grab any clothes or our uniforms for class tomorrow.

After dinner, we were driven back to the chateau and set up in bedrooms.  Mallory and I decided to bunk together so we could continue planning future trips.  The chateau is gorgeous, slept like queens, best sleep so far; beautiful suites, amazingly comfortable beds, en suite bathroom, just wonderful!