San Francisco

Hello from San Francisco, California! I flew from JFK airport direct to the San Francisco via Jet Blue with my parents. After the long six hour flight, we were ready to get into the city (especially since Jet Blue doesn't have any real food, just junk food! Yuck!). We dropped off our bags at the Hilton and headed straight to China Town. It is exactly how you would imagine it- tacky, touristy, and not terribly Chinese. However, it's famous in San Francisco, so it's a must on your first trip there. There are a lot of junky shops, but my mom and I were hungry, so we stopped in a restaurant that had a teeny-tiny balcony, just enough space for a two person table. It was nice to sit in the sun and have some steamed dumplings, spring rolls, and a Thai iced tea.

 

 Afterwards, we headed to the Top of the Mark, a swanky bar/restaurant on top of a famous hotel. The building is a skyscraper on top of a hill, so the restaurant has a spectacular 360 view of the city. It's very pricey, but for one drink you can have a seat by the windows facing the sunset. They are also famous for having a cocktail list of 100 different martinis. I had the California Sun: Smirnoff Orange, Cointreau, lime, and a splash of cranberry. Delicious!

California Sun

The view from the Top of the Mark

That night we went to dinner at the Trattoria Contadina, a delicious Italian restaurant. The pasta is fresh and delicious! Everything on the menu is excellent. It's a very small place, so you need a reservation!

The next day my mom and I went to Alcatraz. Going to Alcatraz is pretty pricey ($30/person), however it's a must-see if you're going to be in SF. The ticket includes a free 15 minute video by the Discovery Channel going over the history of the Rock (as it's famously called) as well as a 45 minute audio guide tour of the prison. The video is worth it- see it before seeing the rest of the island. Then, head up to the prison. On the way, keep an eye open on your right for a self-guided tour brochure (I'll go over that in a second). The audio guide to the prison is great. It walks you through the entire prison going over the history that occurred in the very spot you're standing in and it includes real voices of former inmates and guards. Quotes and information are sprinkled throughout; cells and offices are decorated to look as they did when they were occupied.

During our visit, we were lucky enough to be there when they were having a guest lecturer in the dining hall of the prison. Mark Brown, author of Capone, gave a talk on Al Capone, one of Alcatraz's most famous inmates. I learned many interesting things: Al Capone played the mandolin and wrote music in Alcatraz; when he was a prisoner in Atlanta, J. Edgar Hoover himself investigated allegations that Capone was able to smuggle in drugs and money to the prison (no proof was ever found); Capone received hundreds of letters and presents, though he was only allowed to receive mail from designated friends and family, so most of the letters were burned and the presents were donated to charity without his knowing it; Capone was cited as a good worker while in Alcatraz and worked in the library; while in Alcatraz, just months before finishing his sentence in Alcatraz, Syphilis hit Capone's nervous system, causing him to go insane; doctors treated his Syphilis by giving him malaria, which nearly killed him; because of his mental instability, it is believed that he was brought to serve his final year in prison (for a charge of contempt of court) at Terminal Island wearing a straight jacket.

As I mentioned, grab the brochure. It provides you with a walking tour map and descriptions, following along the different gardens on the island. What's amazing is that before Alcatraz was used by humans, it really was just a rock with no plant life whatsoever. Now, it is full of trees, plants, flowers, and shrubs. The gardens are quite beautiful and at one time were started and maintained by the prisoners. When you do the self-guided tour, it takes you around the prison and to finish up you cross into the recreation field. Here you can see the baseball field and stadium seating that the prisoners could hang out in; at the top of the stadium seating they could actually see San Francisco.

The view from the Recreation Field

A cell

Mark Brown's lecture

A rose garden below the prison overlooking the bay

Two hours later, we headed back to the mainland and over a few blocks to Pier 39. Pier 39 is a tourist spot with shops and restaurants, a view of Alcatraz, and a spot where tons of sea lions lay in the sun. The pier looks like it's right out of Disney, with colorful signs featuring different themed shops and restaurants vying for tourists' attention. Since it was the middle of the week and the middle of the day (3pm), we were able to snag a spot at the Seal Cafe/Neptune's Restaurant, a large restaurant with floor to ceiling windows. It's expensive, but well worth the view if you get there at an off-time like we did (or if you're lucky at other times). We had the back left corner window, meaning that we had a beautiful view of Alcatraz to our left and the sunning seals to our right. The food was also good, albeit very expensive. We had the seafood bisque and the Neptune's salmon fish & chips, both of which were delicious.

The seals

Alcatraz

That night we went to the Clock Bar in the Westin St. Francis hotel for some fancy cocktails. I would highly suggest to the ladies to get the Tequila Mockingbird cocktail. Afterwards, we headed to La Mar, a Peruvian restaurant that apparently can be found in NY and South America as well. They had amazing seafood, particularly the cheviche, and empanadas. It’s located in a restored pier building, which makes it a historical landmark and gives it an urban chic look. 

The next day we headed to the Haight-Ashbury, which is an interesting neighborhood today. Famous for being a center for gay sociopolitical history in the US, emblemized by the film Milk, today it is a combination of touristy and counter-culture. The many quirky shops and boutiques reminded me a bit of St. Marks in NYC. Walking down towards the Golden Gate Park, you'll pass many cool shops and cafes- be sure to stop in!

Walking towards the park at the end that is similar to Central Park, you'll find a lot of young, dirty hippies, what we call in New York "wookies" or "wooks." They lay around at the front law of the park, playing music and lounging in packs in their dirty blankets with their long, messy dreads, hairy bodies, and scary looking dogs. It could be quite an intimidating scene for those of us from other regions of the country who don't always see this side of life. However, just walk on by. They're not looking to cause trouble, just to renounce worldly possessions and enjoy a simple, semi-communal life without "normal" shelter.

In Golden Gate Park

This rectangular portion of Golden Gate Park is part of Golden Gate National Park, which is the largest urban national park in the country and two and a half times the size of San Francisco. Golden Gate Park is a really awesome part of San Fran. There is an art museum, science museum, monuments, beautiful nature walks, a Japanese tea garden, and more. We hit up the De Young art museum, which was having two exhibitions. 

One was the Rudolf Nureyev: A Life in Dance, which was an amazing highlight of the famous male ballet dancer. There were unbelievably gorgeous costumes on display, with video to boot. Plus, we happened to just arrive as they were beginning a free tour, so we go to hear a little bit about the context of the different opulent costumes. One of the best displays is a whole wall with tons of different female costumes from a ballet he was in, but they were lightly veiled by a screen that had video from the ballet being artistically projected onto it. Unbelievable. 

The other special exhibition was titled A Taste for Modernism. It's a selection of major works from the William S. Paley Collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Paley was a founder of the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), but also a dedicated philanthropist and patron of the arts and purchased the foreign works despite their lack of popularity here in the US at the time. "Particularly strong in French Post-Impressionism and Modernism, the collection includes multiple works by Paul Cezanne, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, as well as significant works by Edgar Degas, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Gauguin, Andre Derain, Georges Rouault and artists of the Nabis School such as Pierre Bonnard and Edouard Vuillard." I personally love post-impressionism and it was nice to have this collection highlighted (I may have already seen it in New York, but don't remember it by it's collector!). The extra cost ($20 total) for these special collections was well worth it.

Afterwards, we headed to the Japanese Tea Garden. Around 1894, the World's Fair was held in Golden Gate Park. The Japanese Tea Garden was thus built for the Fair and still stands today. For $7 you can see the decently sized and well cared for gardens. There are beautiful examples of miniature trimmed trees, waterfalls, and Japanese structures. There is also an area where you can purchase tea (slightly overpriced and nothing fancy, but on a cold day can definitely be worth it!).

Since we were freezing, we headed back to the hotel to rest. That night we went to an Asian fusion restaurant called The House. The appetizers were delicious and more "traditional" Asian food (dumplings, salmon rolls... and oysters!), while the main course had a lot of fish and red meat (vegetarians be warned: not much selection here). They had a nice beer list and I was able to have Chimay, a great Belgian beer I used to love to drink when I was living in France. Afterwards, we hit up the 150 year old bar just across the street, called The Saloon. The bar itself has a beautiful wood facade and there are some gorgeous stained glass windows as well. They were bumping with live blue grass and blues and the drinks were strong and cheap. I would definitely recommend a stop here!

Up next: Redwoods and wine!

PS: Please let me know what you think of the new look to the blog!

Looking foward...

Dear Family and Friends,

After this last week, I am trying to recollect myself and move towards my goals and projects that I had been working on. I would like to let you know about an amazing project that I had been working on for the last month and that I would like for you to be a part of. As many of you know, I love music and music festivals as well as humanitarian causes. Since coming home from France, I have been searching for an innovative way to raise awareness about climate change, organic foods, and world hunger at music festivals. Luckily, I have been given an opportunity to do this at the Mint Green Music Festival, a small festival that will be held on August 24 & 25 in New Jersey. 

The coordinators of the festival have provided me a pavilion where I hope to have DJs, artists, VJs (video artists), and dancers who will be performing in what we call the GROW: Psychedelic Garden. Throughout the pavilion will be a “garden” full of live plants and animatronic plants which can move, grow, change colors, light up, and display information on the issues we wish to tackle. Festival goers will therefore be able to dance, interact with these plants, and learn from them. There will be an Oxfam America booth featuring information and petitions on world hunger issues and a HeadCount booth where people can register to vote and learn how to become politically active. I have worked closely with both of these organizations in the last two years and found them to be highly respectable. There will also be a confessional video which will feature the voices of the festival attendees.

All of what I am sharing with you has never been done before. In order to make this amazing project a reality, my partners and I are looking to raise only $3,300 to cover the costs of performers, staging, installations, and video production. Please check out our Kickstarter website to make your donation before TUESDAY, AUGUST 7. All donations come with a cool reward, such as original art, tickets, stickers, DVDs and more. Other organizations that are already onboard include: Officially OutRageUs, Sensible Reason (the blog which I’m the managing director of), Imagination Overload, InkLine, and others.

I’ve worked really hard on this project already, and unfortunately time is short and there is the upcoming deadline that I need to meet. Please consider supporting me in my endeavors by making a financial contribution and/or passing on this email and information to someone who you think might be interested in making a contribution. Please be aware that if I do not reach my fundraising goal before Aug. 7, my project will receive no funding. I am greatly appreciative of every little bit of help in reaching my goal, even if it’s just an email forwarding this to a friend or a $10 donation.

Thank you so much for all of your support this last week and in the future.

Kickstarter page: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/965245111/grow-psychedelic-garden

Love always,

Kristen

PS: Kickstarter is not a 501(c)(3) charity and therefore donations are not tax deductible.

Back in NY!

Hello everyone! I am back at home in New York and already thinking about where to go next... Luckily, my current job is awesome and lets me travel a fair bit. But before I tell you about that, I have some really exciting news! I wrote a guest post for the travel blog Beers and Beans. Check it out here: http://beersandbeans.com/2012/06/29/the-sweet-aroma-of-france-wwoofing-with-aromatic-plants-in-the-south-of-france/ Also don't forget to check out the blog Sensible Reason, which I also write and edit for.

Right now I am currently working for an amazing organization known as HeadCount, which registers voters at concerts and festivals. My job title is festival coordinator, which means that I help to organize and manage our volunteer teams that we send to music festivals. My first festival was Bonnaroo, a large festival in Tennessee near Chattanooga. I literally got in the car to go there when I got off the plane from France in New York's JFK airport. It took forever to get there, because we also had to pick someone up right in the heart of NYC. I think in total it was over 20 hours. Awful. However, I've never really seen Tennessee and from what I saw, it was gorgeous.

My brother Will came with me too and to get there we did a ride share with the website Zim Ride. The people we were ride sharing with were from New Haven, CT. They were going to be CouchSurfing with someone who lived in Chattanooga and apparently it was awesome- the guy they stayed with was very well off and they partied on yachts all weekend.

Bonnaroo was a nice festival. It has a real mix of music, from country to dubstep. The most famous headliners included Radiohead, Phish, The Beach Boys, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and Skrillex. There was also a movie theater, a comedy house, a fun little spray park, post office, and garden with DIY info sessions. However, Bonnaroo is one of the largest and most well known festivals in the country, so I was a little dissapointed how little was spent on art displays and smaller stages. If you look at a map of Bonnaroo, the camping area is twice the size of the actual venue area, and at about $300 a ticket, that's a ton of money being made. After being at the festival Bestival in England, I realized that there is so much that could be done to actually make the festival into its own little world. There was a lot of free space in the central venue area that I think could have been filled. There also were smaller staging areas littered throughout the campsite areas that I did not get to see and weren't on the maps, so maybe if I had had more time to see those I would have appreciated the festival more...

After Bonnaroo, I came home to relax for a bit. I spent some time in New York City and I must mention this one restaurant I went to. It is called Buger Joint and its actually found in the Le Parker Hotel. It's kind of expensive for just burger and fries, but they taste awesome and the ambience is so cool. When we got there, you walk into this amazingly beautiful and swanky hotel and you think you've probably walked into the wrong place. But then you turn a left after the front desk, go down a small and narrow hallway, and then you arrive in this dimly lit and slightly grungy burger joint. You have to search pretty hard to find a table and you have to wait in line for your order. The staff is also pretty rude. However, the food is amazing.

I also ate at a restaurant called Pies and Thighs in the Brooklyn area known as Williamsburg. They serve pulled pork, fried chicken, and pies. I think the pulled pork was just ok, but the pies were awesome. One of the pies we had was apple pie with a square of cheddar cheese under it. Sounds gross, tastes awesome.

Then I headed over to Rothbury, Michigan for the music festival Electric Forest. This festival is predominantly electronic music, featuring artists such as Sound Tribe Sector 9 (STS9), Big Gigantic, Bassnectar, String Cheese Incident and other leading artists in the field. E Forest is famously known for its signature Sherwood Forest, a large, wooded area with lasers, lights, art installations, music, small stages, and more. It's absolutely amazing and should be something all festivals look to do. It is interactive, unique, cool, and modern. The downside to the festival was that the staff and volunteers running the festival were incredibly uninformed about the festival- I couldn't find a map or anyone who could tell me where to find one and most questions I asked were responded with an "I'm not sure."

I'll be headed to the festivals Camp Bisco and the Gathering of the Vibes with Head Count in July. I'll be sure to update you guys soon!

The end of an amazing year in France!

Last I left off, we picked up my friend Caroline in the pouring rain and were headed back off to Le Pompidou. Since I had to make up 15 hours from the 3 day essential oils training, I had to work a fair bit every day. At first, it was unbelievably freezing cold and raining a lot. Because we were in the mountains and the house was on top of a mountain, the wind whipped right through the house.  However, this has been a particularly bad spring, with lots of rain and cold all over Europe. Anyway, because of the weather, we stayed indoors most of the time, helping with bottling the essential oils mixes. One day we also spackled a room. The walls of the room had a lot of cut outs in the wall; Caroline told me she thought it looked like work someone did right before doing some stone work. We had to fill in all the cut outs with spackle and cement. At first I thought it was fun, and Caroline was really good at it, but it grew a bit boring for me after a while. However, we got it all done in a day. And later on in the week we got to paint it! By the end of the week, three rooms were spackled and painted.

When it began to get nice, we went out into the garden. There is always a lot of weeding that needs to be done at organic farms because they don’t use any chemicals to fight off weeds. So I did a ton of weeding. We also did a bit of planting, but not as much as the last farm I was at. In terms of work on the farm, I think that’s pretty much it: fixing the rooms, bottling (a lot of bottling), and weeding (a lot of weeding).

We also went swimming one hot day after work. Near their home there is a small river with a waterfall and they dropped me and Caroline off to go for a swim. It was so beautiful, and apparently when it gets very hot in the summer many people go there for a swim. It was so freezing from all the rain that it was pretty hard getting in.

Caroline and I also went for walks after work, and one day we walked to a local goat farm. It is run by a widow and her son, and we happened to catch the woman while she was milking the goats! She let us walk around and pet the goats, the sheep, and her dog. The goats seemed really excited to see new people. It was a riot! And I got to watch her milk the goats. I’ve never seen that. The goats come up, udders all swollen, and know that when they go up, the put their heads down to eat and a wooden latch slides down and keeps them locked in. Then, while they’re happily eating, she put this suction thing on their udders (she doesn’t milk them by hand) and it draws the milk. Then she unlatches them and herds them out and the next group gets to come in.

On Saturday, we went hiking with the two sons and the wife (her name is Hilde) of the farm. I didn’t realize it was be such an intense hike! The trail follows a really pretty brook, though some of the trail had collapsed in some parts and so we had to do some climbing, jumping, and balancing. I was so impressed that Hilde, who’s fifty, did everything with us! It was steep and her sons were moving fast, and sometimes we had to walk over thin, wobbly logs to traverse the stream.

Along the trail, there are also ruins of old stone homes that used to be there. What’s really cool in these rural places all over France is that the homes are all made from stones from the region, so they last forever and you could actually identify where in France you are just by looking at the stones (assuming you know the regional stones of France, of course). At one point we passed an old chestnut roasting house. Apparently, the bottom half of the house was used for a fire and the top half they put in chestnuts, which are all over the forest. They roasted the chestnuts and then used them for bread.

At the end of our hike, we stopped at a source, which is a natural spring where you can drink the water fresh from the mountain. Here, we happened to see a friend of Hilde’s who’s over eighty years old and still going strong. He grew up in the region and used to be a lawyer in Montpellier and now is in retirement, though he still farms! He also knows everything about the area and loves to talk about it. We walked back with him to his home (which, by the way, is up hill and it was now very hot, and in typical old man fashion, he was wearing long sleeved button down shirt and khaki pants- amazing!) where he showed us three kittens his cat just had about a week prior.

Afterwards, we passed by the goat farmer’s home where she makes and sells the goat cheese.  The goat’s cheese is so fresh, and we were able to by some of the freshest batch, and she told us we probably watched her get the milk that was used for this batch! You can have really fresh goat’s cheese, which is similar to the most amazing cream cheese you’ll ever have. You can also have it very old: Caroline and I got to try goat’s cheese that was 6 months old! It was very strong and yummy as well! The woman explained to us the process of goat’s cheese making, but I don’t remember it too well. All I can say is that you can’t get anything nearly as delicious if you try to pasteurize the milk, which is why we don’t have these amazing cheese in the US- non-pasteurized milk products are illegal, and apparently if you try to sell them the government will come down on you with a S.W.A.T. team and put you to jail like you were selling hardcore drugs (makes sense to do that, doesn’t it?).

Anyway, on Sunday, Caroline and I went for a short hike on our own. We walked through a meadow on the top of the mountain, and then descended down the mountain through the forest. We stopped at a source that was next to a house that is in ruins, but there is clearly someone who comes by from time to time because there is fresh grass that is matted down from someone walking and there are some construction stuff there as well. We walked all around the house and explored it (it was really big). There was also a nice vista with a stone bench that I’m guessing that person made (there was a symbol on the bench that could also be found on the house). We then walked along a small path through the rest of the forest and to the house to have a snack. We helped a bit with finishing one of the rooms, and while we were doing that, it began to hail! I’ve never seen really big balls of hail like that! Apparently the plants weren’t damaged, so that was good. After it hailed, it poured. Good thing we weren’t on a really long hike!

On Tuesday we woke up ridiculously early (6am!) and headed to the market in a town one hour away called Saint-Jean-du-Gard. We helped to set up, and then Caroline and I got to walk around. The market is really big, with all sorts of stalls, with lots of food, handmade products, second hand products, and products from around the world. It was a lovely morning and there were many tourists- I was surprised how many people there were for a Tuesday, and apparently in the summer there are even more people.

Around 1pm I left Caroline (she was staying two more weeks in Le Pompidou) and went to Montpellier. I was staying again with the same Couchsurfer I stayed with last time. Iarrived in the late afternoon, so we mostly just hung out and had dinner, and the next day we drove about 45 minutes outside of Montpellier to the River Herault where you can go swimming and jump off high rocks. It was a beautiful day and so fun! I didn’t think I would actually jump off the rocks (I’m such a chicken!) but I did it. And there were some people jumping off a bridge there, about 30 feet high!

I headed back to Le Havre on Thursday. I took the high speed TGV train to Paris (only 3 hours to pretty much go all the way from the bottom to the top of France! That’s about 450 miles!) and then the regular train to Le Havre (another two hours). The weather’s been pretty nice, so I got to go to the beach the other day. Just been mostly relaxing, saying goodbyes, and trying to pack (emphasis on the trying). Moving out Tuesday morning, and then my flight is early Wednesday! Yikes! I’m excited to come back, but so sad to leave!

I’ve uploaded loads of pictures, here they are:

Dordogne, Part II: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150803572996319.393934.544216318&type=3&l=3e8834324b

Second Farm Part I :

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150817108816319.395409.544216318&type=3&l=9a0cfe9f80

Second Farm Part II:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150819387181319.395618.544216318&type=3&l=5da97bc8d6

Farm #2!

When I last left you all off, I was still in the Dordogne region of France.
I caught the train from Sarlat to Brive-la-Gaillard, a small city in the Dordogne area, to catch a ride share to Montpellier. Montpellier is slightly more south and east from the Dordogne area, taking about 6 hours or so to get there. On the road, we stopped at Millau for lunch and to see the tallest bridge in the world (according to Wikipedia, it has "one mast's summit at 343.0 metres (1,125 ft) above the base of the structure"). Millau also has a strong air current and high cliff above the small city that sits in the valley, making it a popular spot for para-sailing and para-gliding. The driver wanted to take the cheaper (and slightly longer) route to Montpellier, putting us through beautiful national parks and towns.

When I arrived at Montpellier, I couchsurfed with someone who is studying to get his masters in viticulture (wine making), which was quite cool. I arrived late in the afternoon and was leaving the next morning, so I went out for a few hours to see as much of Montpellier as possible. I really like the city, it is quite cute and charming and not extremely large. There are nice wide boulevards and parks and the buildings are all very neat and pretty. Plus, the weather was nice, which helps! There is a beach nearby (you can simply take the tram) but I didn't have enough time, unfortunately. I returned to my couchsurfers home to make sushi for dinner (my first time making sushi myself!). I had to run to the supermarket to buy some food for it, and you know what I did? I bought zucchini instead of cucumber! I obviously don't buy many vegetables! What's even funnier, he told me I'm not the first couchsurfer to do this! Woops...

The next day I had to catch an early train to a nearby smaller city called Nimes and then a 1 hours and 30 minute bus to a small town called St Jean du Gard where the husband of the next farm would be. From there, we headed the one hour to his home in the mountains, in the village Le Pompidu. The village is in the Lozere region and is amidst the Massif Central mountains. Honestly, I thought things couldn't get more beautiful after being in the Dordogne region, but here it is just a fabulous, but in a slightly different way. As the road twists and turns up, down, and around the mountains, you catch glimpses of beautiful vistas over the valley, waterfalls, and endless green trees.

When I arrive at the "farm" I'm floored. It is absolutely massive. It is so massive, in fact, they don't even use half of it. The family is a husband and wife from Belgium who moved here with their 3 sons about 12 years ago. The 3 sons are now in school studying engineering, medicine, and law (they were all home schooled by the mother- she must have done something right!). The history of the home is quite interesting: it used to be a summer camp that was then abandoned and subsequently taken over by squatters, who destroyed most of the interior (you can still see some graffiti in the old parts of the home). The first floor of the house is split in two, with one side being a massive room for cooking and giving lectures, and the other side being the laboratory where they mix essential oils (more on this in just a minute). The second floor is their floor (which I haven't seen). The third floor is for guests and WWOOFers and includes many bedrooms, showers, bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, a communal computer, and a deck that over looks the valley and has the most unbelievable view. When I arrived there were two other WWOOFers and 3 guests to come. The guests were coming for an aromatic/essential oils beginners training for 3 days...

So the family I am staying with mixes essential oils. Essential oils are essentially oils that come from plants and can be used topically or internally for medical purposes. They have a garden for the food they need as well as some aromatic plants that they themselves distill (using the same process you use to make alcohol) to extract the essential oils. They also order essential oils from around the world in bulk and then sell them for small orders or mix them with other oils to make their own "synergies." They have been doing this for 30 years and have written books on it.
As I mentioned, there was to be a 3 day training. When I arrived, I was basically told there was going to be a training, and if I wanted to participate I could, but I would have to make up the 15 hours I would be missing by working extra time the next week. I sort of tried to get out of it, not because I didn't want to do the training, but because I was worried about making up the hours (they expected you to work 5 hours per day; 3 hours in the mornings in the garden and 2 hours in the lab in the afternoons). However, they sort of pointed out to me that if I did that I would be all by myself all day and it would be boring for me. So I took the training.

The training was really interesting and amazing (and all in French!). I never even really know that you could take a drop or two of an essential oil in, say, a yogurt as a treatment for a certain ailment or problem. There are essential oils for everything: headaches, depression, severe menstrual cramps, anxiety, sunburn, infection, and much more. Most people know that medicines come from plants, but are usually chemically manipulated to simply bring out certain aspects, so that when you ingest a pill there is nothing natural about it. We're aware of the effects: Prozac found in NYC drinking water and evidence of fish being lacking the ability to reproduce from birth control in water ways (here's a NY Times blog article I just found quickly on the subject, http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/there-are-drugs-in-drinking-)water-now-what/). Our bodies aren't built to process the chemically produced medicines we're putting into our bodies, so eventually it comes out in our urine. The same effect isn't seen with essentials oils, since they break down naturally.

Anyway, the point is, I learned a lot from this training. I learned about different types of lavender, helped to pick lavender in the garden, then watched as it was distilled before my eyes into an essential oil. I got to see a large-scale distillery where a local association allows members to distill their products. I also got to mix my own synergies, or mixes of essential oils, in this case to make massage oils. The crowd was quite interesting and different (there were about 20 people in total), with many different interests in the area of essential oils and organic products. Overall, I'm glad I took it- it has given me a lot to think about!

That Friday, I caught a ride with one of the attendees to Marseille. Here I was supposed to meet my friend Jessica. I arrived at the hotel where I was supposed to meet her, only to be told she had canceled the reservation and that her flight was canceled! Panicking, I called her. Apparently, she had been trying to reach me all day but must have had the wrong number! Anyway, I called one of the girls I met at the training and asked if she happened to have a friend in Marseille whom I could crash with. What luck, she did! I was able to crash with her 2 friends in their apartment that night, but I was so exhausted from the travel and stress, I fell asleep pretty early.

The next day, I left the apartment and headed to the beach. I went to the furthest beach on the strip of beaches in hopes that it would be less touristy, and consequently less dangerous. Luckily, I was right and the beach was a family beach, so I could leave my stuff on on the beach and go for a swim! Soon I needed to meet Jessica (she caught a new flight to come meet me). We wandered all around Marseille that afternoon and evening, having a picnic in a park, walking to the church on a hill overlooking the city (so awesome), and seeing the Old Port and Panier districts. Panier was very cute, with adorable tea shops and art galleries and the church on the hill was amazing. We had an amazing dinner in an Italian restaurant and then decided to tuck in early and head to Aix-en-Provence the next day after heading to a museum.

The next morning we headed to a museum called La Vieille Charité, meaning "Old charity" because of its former use as an almshouse in the 17th century. The museum is actually two museums, Museum of Mediterranean Archaeology and Museum of Art of Africa, Oceania and Amerindia, as well as a temporary exhibit on the main floor. Jessica and I decided to skip the two museums to catch the temporary exhibit, which was supposed to be quite good. It featured the Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928-2000). The work was incredible. Hundertwasser's works are powerful, modern, and full of life and color. He rejected societal values and felt that man needed to get back to his roots in the earth (which I find ironic, as I'm out here to work on an organic farm). I really enjoyed the exhibit, as it gave great examples and explanations of how his work changed over time and also gave really thoughtful quotes. Definitely worth the visit!

Afterwards, it began to rain. We walked to the train station and headed to Aix-en-Provence, a beautiful nearby town. Unfortunately, it really began to pour. By the time we got there, we had to borrow umbrellas from the hotel that Jessica was staying at, and we ventured into town. We did a little bit of restaurant and bar hopping as we tried to stay out of the rain, and I found I really loved Aix. It is smaller and a lot cleaner than Marseille and, despite it being a Sunday, there were a good number of people out and about. This brought the color back into our cheeks, just before I had to leave to catch a ride back to Le Pompidu.

My friend Caroline has been on a bike tour with two friends for the last two weeks and was to finish in Le Pompidu and WWOOF with me for my last week. She was pretty close to Pompidu when I was getting my ride share back from Marseille. As I mentioned, it was torrential raining. Luckily for her, my rideshare was able to pick her up and she came back with me to the farm!

Now I should go, I've been holding up the internet for too long writing this! That as on Monday and now it is Friday. I will update again this weekend and tell you about the work I've done this week and well as the fun I'll hopefully have this weekend! :) I can't post pictures here unfortunately! They'll have to wait until I'm back in Le Havre on Thursday or so.

Dordogne, Part II

Hello again from the lovely Dordogne region! I can't believe my stay here is almost finished, but at the same time, I've really taken advantage of all the cool stuff to see. Even though it's only been three days since I've update, I fear this may be a long one and I won't get to finish it in one sitting!

So, on Thursday, in the morning Fabienne and I tackled some weeding. This isn't your usual stoop down and pick out a few little leaves weeding. This was grab a big hoe and pull up giant bushes of weeds, while trying to avoid the good plants. Luckily it was the morning and until 11am the sun hadn't fully crept over the trees and cast herself full force on us. Once 11am came, however, I was a goner. It was some real tough work! However, I kind of like weeding in a way. There's this great crunching sound when you've split the roots of a big one and are ripping it from the ground. Makes you fell all manly and powerful.

That afternoon I went sightseeing. First, I went to the beautiful town of Beynac. Beynac is built into the cliffs along the Dordogne river. It is extraordinarily picturesque and is the cite of many a medieval film. We stopped first at the bottom, near the river, and I put my feet in. I figured, I've swum in the Atlantic as early as May and as late as October, it can't be that bad. Oh, it was. And because it's pretty much rained all of the month of April up until just this week, the river is swollen and moving fast. So I couldn't go all the way in, had to settle with just my feet.

After we headed up the town. Like I said, the town is built into the side of a cliff, so walking up was obviously a big mistake. It was steep and the weather was hot. Despite this, the town is gorgeous. The homes are made of the creamy colored stones that you find throughout the region and you can also see roofs made of hard stone. Apparently this is very rare, very old, and very costly. When we got to the top, we decided not to go into the 12th century castle but to go to see another. I later learned this was a mistake. Apparently it's gorgeous inside the castle- bummer.

After walking through the whole town, we headed to see another castle called Castelnaud. This one to me seemed a bit more traditional, something we Americans imagine a castle to be. This castle is from a bit later, the 13th century. It is built up on a big hill, so the views from the town and castle are amazing.

We then headed over to Sarlat. Sarlat is a gorgeous town that is quite popular among tourists. It has narrow, winding medieval streets, interesting squares with cute restaurants, and lots of old buildings. The town is great for just wandering around and seeing all the different streets and alleys. While walking back to the car, I listened in on an English tour group. We were standing behind the main church, and there were these stone sarcophagus looking things in the ground. Apparently they are the burial site from the 8th, 9th, and 10th centuries. That's pretty darn old.

On the ride back to Paunat (where I'm staying) we passed amazing homes that are literally built into the side of the cliffs and are made of stone so that they the people in there are literally living in the rock. The region is also where many cave people live (it's where you can find the worlds oldest cave paintins, at Lascaux). You can see these great holes high up in the cliffs. Apparently today they know that the cavemen had built wooden stairwells to access and live in these caves and they had used the echo from the caves and the cliffs to communicate long distances. Very cool.

The next day, Friday, I worked all day. It was the longest day I'd worked so far, and by the end I could feel it. At one point, however, Fabienne and I took a break to go swimming in the brook that runs along the side of the plot of land she has. The water is fresh and clean- Fabienne drinks from it regularly while working. I had a very romantic image of farming before I cam here, and this lives up to it!

That night, we saw a very hilarious French film called Radio Stars. The film was show in a near by town called le Buisson in a one room theater. I don't think I've ever been in a theater that small- amazing! the film was about morning radio hosts who need to travel around France to bring up the ratings. I was worried that I wouldn't understand it all- comedy can be quick talking and difficult. But it was great! Definitely would recommend it if you can catch it with English subtitles on Netflix or something!

Apparently I don't work on the weekends, which is great. Yesterday, Saturday, in the afternoon I took the bike and went to whats called the "Gouffre de Proumeyssac." It was basically a giant underground hole that has a ton of beautiful stalagmites and stalactites made of calcium. I didn't really think it would be that cool, but in fact it was awesome! After walking down towards the giant cavern, you stand on a platform and look out into the darkness. Then, the guide puts on music and they have a really cool light show that illuminates all the different aspects of the cavern. You get to see this show a second time when you're down on the cavern floor on the opposite side, giving you a second look. The guide then walks you through the cavern and explains the history of the cavern (such as how the formations are made over time, how the cavern came to be, how it was found, etc.) and shows you how the water that still falls from the cavern ceiling is allowed to fall on objects and subsequently petrifies them, making them into porcelain. You also get to walk into a narrow bit of the tour and see some rare triangular crystal formations. Overall, a really beautiful and unexpected success!

I then biked over to the medieval village of Limeuil. At the tourist office, they have a self-guided tour that you can take. Limeuil sits at the meeting point of the Dordogne River and the Vézère River. On the tour, I walked past the old gates of the city, the old jail house, the former whore house (always a winner), the church, and the former ramparts of the city (the castle that had stood there once has since been destroyed).

Today I waited around quite a while because in the morning Fabienne asked me if I wanted to see a castle and some really old houses. I thought we'd go right after lunch, but in fact we didn't go until around 4:30pm. Nevertheless, first we went to the chateau de Puymartin. It is a castle originally from around 1270, though it was destroyed during the 100 Years War and then rebuilt around 1450. The castle is privately owned by a descendant from the owners of 1450. Because it is still owned by the original owners, you only get to see a portion of the castle.

The visit is quite nice, despite being short, and you get a guide included with it. The rooms are furnished with many beautiful pieces from different centuries, and the guide was super knowledgeable about when and where all the pieces were from. There is one special room that normally visitors do not get to see, but since we were a small group we got to see it. It was a room meant for meditation and has rare and very old black and white paintings of Greek mythology. We also went to the top of the tower where supposedly the ghost of the white lady is. Apparently, Thérèse de Saint-Clair was locked up in the tower because her husband was extremely jealous. He left her there until she died and then buried her body in the walls. Supposedly people have been claiming to see her ghost for centuries.

Afterwards, nearby we went to "Les Cabanes du Breuil." These are old stone huts from before the mid-15th century, though they don't know exactly when they were built. The stone homes are similar to the stone rooms I was telling you about, except they are completely made of stone. They placed the stones just right so that they didn't need any kind of cement, which I thought was pretty cool...

Anyway, headed to Montpellier really early tomorrow, so I don't have time to post pictures. Will try and do soon!

WWOOFing Part I: Dordogne

I am currently writing you from the lovely Paunat, France in the lovely Dordogne region. The Dordogne is known as the "Region of 1001 Castles" because there are just soooo many. It is also the sight of "The valley of man3 because Lascaux (the oldest cave paintings in the world) are found here. Apparently it is the second most visited area next to Paris. Nearing the end of my journey to get here, I was lucky enough to pass the Chateau Beynac, which sits on a cliff sitting over a medieval town and apparently is the sight of many a medieval movie. When I arrived at Paunat, I was floored. In Paunat there is an impressive church from the 12th century and, as most towns and villages are in the Dordogne, all the homes are made of cream colored stone. I couldn't believe it when I arrived that this was what I was going to call home for a week. WWOOF stands for World Wide Organization of Organic Farmers and is a network that connects people to organic farmers around the world. The intention is to help spread awareness of organic farms and local produce. Travelers have the opportunity to stay with an organic farming family for free (includes your room and food)in exchange for work they do on the farm. It is a great way to experience a totally different way of life, learn a new language, or see a portion of the country you wouldn't normally get the opportunity to. I know you're all thinking, There is NO way Kristen is going to work on a farm. I was a little worried to, so I held onto my apartment in Le Havre just in case things went sour. WWOOFing here at this particular farm is a lot different than I thought it would be... For starters, I thought I would be living on a farm, very isolated and remote. However, the people I am staying with have a home in a village. The home is modern and filled with all the paintings that the woman here had done before hand. Her name is Fabienne and she is quite an interesting woman. Until 2008, Fabienne lived in Bordeaux as a painter, and from the works she has in her home, she was a great one. She has a son from a previous marriage, but since the village is pretty remote, he boards at his high school and only comes home for holidays and weekends. I am staying in his room, and when he is home he will stay on a fold out couch, which I feel bad about, but he doesn't seem to mind. Anyway, in 2008 Fabienne started growing organic herbal plants. A lot of the plants are used for tea, but there are also spices for food. The plot of land she farms on is about a mile and a half away from the home. It has been raining in all of Europe for the last month, so it's been a rough going for farmers. I was sort of preparing myself to be taken advantage of, but in fact I feel like it's the opposite. I feel like they haven't given me nearly enough work to justify eating their food and staying in their home! I arrived on Monday around 5pm and Fabinne had taken the day off, so we just sat in front of the house, admiring the beautiful church before us. They decided at the end of the night to play Scrabble, which obviously just isn't even remotely fair, since it was in French. The next day, I woke up early and went walking. I hiked all around and found some nice trails and got up on a hill to overlook a river and beautiful white cliffs. I returned for lunch, and then Fabienne and I headed to her farm. We planted some sage and another plant that I forgot the name of. I got to use a hoe for the first time, and we had a good laugh about it because I was pretty bad at it. But there wasn't really a lot to do, so we finished just after two hours of work. She showed me the town where she was born, which is also where she keeps her supplies and dries out her produce for teas and such. It's another adorable town! At the end of the day, we needed to pick up her partner, Julien. He's a strapping young guy who works on vegetables, though he just started working with her this year, so there aren't any really yet. Julien was at a plant fair in Cadouin, a near by town. The town is another beautiful one, and there is also a nice church. We hung out with other farmers, and I tuned out and day dreamed as they talked about the weather and markets and customers. We headed back, and I was exhausted. Today I was supposed to work in the morning, but it had rained all night, so Fabienne said we couldn't work that morning. I borrowed a bike from them and biked to a near by town called St. Alvère that has ruins of an old castle. The town was very quiet and sleepy- even the tourist information office was closed! I should also mention, biking here is terrifying. There is just so much uphill biking it's crazy, then suddenly your speeding downhill, which terrifies me after my little biking accident on Block Island. Their bike is also really old fashioned and has the gear shifters down by your knees on the body of the bike and no kickstand. After lunch, I figured I'd work, but they had someone come to renew their organic product certification. Apparently they had changed the lands they were using, which required a lot of paperwork to be filled out and visiting the areas. So after resting and reading for a bit, I set out on food to find some walking trails in the forest. The trails were unbelievably beautiful with little waterfalls and everything. Fabienne happened to pass me on the side of the road. She was ready for me to work. We planted some cammomile, then met up with Julien and helped him to plant squash. I really like planting, believe it or not. I get to sit in the dirt and put these cute little plants in the holes that Fabienne made and I use my hands to push the dirt back. Because of the rain, the dirt is soft and cool. And since I'm only working about 2 hours per day, it's not really a strain at all. This is obviously not the "real" farmers life I imagined. It's better! For pictures check out: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150747108476319.390589.544216318&type=3&l=883dc60ef5