Adventures in Baking and Tips for Future SA Students

Just a few days ago I informed you all of my overwhelming Christmas Spirit and aching desire to get crafty. Luckily, a kind twist of fate brought me the opportunity to do just that! Sundays in France can be a bit of a downer if you don't have anyone around to hang out with because everything closes. You can kill about two hours at the movie theater and maybe take a walk, but that's just about all there is.

Yesterday my host mom posed the daily question "Qu'est que tu vas faites ajourd'hui?" (What are you going to do today?) and I gave my usual response "Rien special..." (Nothing special). However that wasn't exactly the truth. Before I got out of bed, I had spent some time converting a sugar cookie recipe I found on my favorite blogger's website* into metric system measurements. Gathering up my courage, I told my host mom about my love of baking and asked if it was possible for me to use the kitchen to whip up a batch. The French can be particular about their kitchens so I was a little nervous to ask. I, however, have a very nice and generous host mother and she was more than happy to let me use her kitchen if I bought the ingredients I needed. She didn't have cookie cutters or a rolling pin, but a large glass canning jar would do just fine for both. YES!

I was out the door in less than thirty minutes to gather all my ingredients...well...almost all of them. Cream of tartar does not exist in France. Not in the same way that it does in the US. Cream of tartar is used in combination with baking soda to create a leavening agent (the stuff that makes your baked goods fluffy instead of flat bricks).  However, it's technically an acid, so the only places you can find it here are at pharmacies or in little packages of pre-measured leavening that also contain baking soda and flour. The problem with my recipe was that there were two different measurements for baking soda and cream of tartar, so it was impossible to use the little mixed packet. What was I to do?

Credit to Google Image Search

Two solutions:
1. You can replace the baking soda and cream of tartar with double the amount of baking powder. I didn't know this before I went shopping, so I actually don't know if you can find baking powder here.
2. Replace cream of tartar with double the amount of white vinegar or lemon juice. 

Well what do you know? I had a lemon sitting in the refrigerator. Now, many online sites told me that the ultimate result is not the same and I would be risking the taste and texture of my cookies. I didn't have much of choice so it was worth the shot. Another quick note: you will find baking soda either in the cleaning aisle or with the salt. Weird eh?

Left: My makeshift rolling pin
Right: Flour-covered pants

Anyway. My baking started out rather smoothly and things were looking good. That is, until I realized my host mom had no measuring spoons. Uhm...what? Baking is way more precise than regular cooking. The wrong amounts of trace ingredients can sometimes cause catastrophic results! It was too late to turn back at that point so I grabbed a coffee spoon that looked somewhat close to a teaspoon and guessed. The batter was tasting pretty good so I was optimistic.

Top: French oven, working in Celsius!
Bottom left: My pretty dough

My cookies turned out great. Seriously I think they were the fluffiest, sweetest, prettiest sugar cookies I have ever made in my life. The royal icing was a little on the runny side because I ran out of powdered sugar, but it served it's purpose well enough. I was super proud!

Top: Before icing, just out of the oven.
Bottom: Finished cookies!
Yes that IS a Mary Poppins quote.

That night I went to the movies with my host parents and their best friend's family as well (two girls my age!) to see Ender's Game. Afterwards we enjoyed dinner together and I shared my cookies. My host dad ate three and I received generous compliments from the other dinner guests. Success!!! =D

Tips for Future Study Abroad Students

1. Know what you love and make it happen.
      My first month here, I spent a lot of time following around the other students in my program because it felt safe. It is way easier to surround yourself with people who are similar to you than it is to wander around in a strange city alone. However, after a month of doing this, I realized that I didn't like a lot of the things we were doing and I was spending money on things that weren't enjoyable for me. It's way more fun to find things you like and do them, even if you do them alone. Love food? Take yourself out for a different type of cuisine each week. Like to dance? Find a club or class where you can! Theater your thing? Buy yourself a ticket and go! Don't hold back because of fear, and don't waste your money on comfort. 

2. Find people who make you happy.
      For me, finding friends here was hard. It actually took changing classes to find a group that I really enjoyed. Whatever you do, don't stay with people that you don't enjoy being around. Go on a hunt and find the kind of company that keeps you smiling.

3. Ask.
      I am extremely non-confrontational. I don't like to inconvenience anyone, and if I can find information about something by myself, I prefer to do so. Sometimes though, I have to ask questions in order to get anywhere. If I had asked my host mom the first week I was here about using her kitchen, I might have been a lot happier baking on all those Sundays I had nothing to do! I would have saved way more money on traveling if I  had asked for help from my advisers, and I might have done a little better in my first class if I had asked more questions. Study abroad is your experience. You have a certain level of entitlement when it comes to seeking help and asking for advice. Your advisers are at your disposal because you paid for their guidance, and your host family is too!

4. Budget.   
       This does not mean limit or deprive yourself in any way! You do however, need to prioritize. It goes along with tip #1. Make sure you cover the things you love first. I love theater. Had I not spent so much money going out to bars I didn't enjoy and paying for huge meals I didn't need, I probably would have been able to see a lot more shows instead. Treat yourself as much as you like, but make sure it's on things you really want.

5. Love your host family.
      I understand that host families are different for everyone. Sometimes we get stuck with people we just don't click with, and that's okay. You are not obligated to love your temporary family, but I recommend that you try. I really enjoy dinner conversations with my host parents and I am thrilled when they invite me to do things with them. It helps me feel included in their lives, improve my language skills, and it immerses me in the culture. I try to buy my host parents tiny souvenirs from any other country I go to, and I make sure to converse with them every day. Not only do I benefit from it, but my host parents enjoy the experience too and are more willing to suggest things for me to do or help me plan trips if  need it. It really pays off in the end. 

*Undressedskeleton.tumblr.com is one of my favorite health-food bloggers, but occasionally she posts some not-so-healthy treats. After her post about Halloween cookies, I knew I wanted to try the recipe.