France Pt. 4 -- Dijon, je m'en souviens...

In the fall of my Junior year at Wake Forest, I spent a semester studying abroad in Dijon.  It was an incredible time in my life -- living in a foreign country, traveling to a new place every weekend, navigating the challenges and joys of a new language and culture... I fell in love with Dijon, and knew I could not return to France this summer without stopping for at least one night here.

 My host family in Dijon, the Lafonds, are wonderful and invited us to stay at their house.  Only my host father was able to be there, unfortunately, but he was a great host!

M. Lafond runs a wine tour and shipping business, and as soon as he picked us up from the station, he took us on a drive through the "Grands Crus" vineyards of the Côté d'Or: some of the most valuable agricultural property in the world!  Later, he served us two excellent Burgundy wines as we enjoyed a delicious dinner together.

As I walked through the streets of Dijon, I was struck by memories at every turn.  It was a bittersweet day in many ways, knowing that I could return to Dijon, but could not ever return to that season of my life that had been so full of freedom and adventure.  Still, it was wonderful to see the town and relive some of those memories.

And best of all was getting to see M. Lafond, hear the news of the family, and even hang out with Molly, my favorite French dog!

In just 22 hours we were boarding the train again, heading back to Paris!