History of the LMF Cow (La Vache Folle)

When I joined French House as a social member in freshman year, I wondered why the mascot for LMF was a cow given that the national animal of France is the Gallic rooster. In the 2021-2022 school year, our shirt was a geometric rooster, whereas in previous years there was the LMF cow. One theory was that LMF consumes so much dairy (butter, milk, etc.) for baking, so obviously the animal was a cow. It was a good theory, but I needed more information to determine the origins of the iconic LMF cow. 

The beloved LMF cow logo from our website 

How I discovered the story of the LMF cow was by accident when I did my interviews this semester as the LMF historian. Each person I interview is different, though I tend to ask the same sort of questions based on a document I made. One question I ask is, "Did people meet their future spouse at LMF?" When I asked a group of people from the early 00s, Keith '03 mentioned that Melanie '02 and Jim '01 are married, Jim being the guy who designed the cow. It was good to know the person who drew the cow and know that this cow has been part of LMF ever since its birth. 

Though Jim did not sign up for an interview, I did get to interview Kevin '99, who overlapped with Jim. I eventually got the answer from Jim, but I asked Kevin first if he remembered anything about the story. The response was quite delightful. Before the LMF cow logo, LMF designed a cow-themed shirt that said "je parle français comme une vache espagnole." The literal English translation of this idiom is "to speak French like a Spanish cow," which is a nice way of saying that someone's French is incomprehensible. 

I later got a reply from Jim that slightly differed from Kevin's recollection of the cow: 

Hi Vivian, this is a fun question but I'm not sure I have a satisfying answer. I think it was a whiteboard doodle that made people laugh and we reproduced it on signs and t-shirts... I like Kevin's explanation and it seems plausible but my memories of undergrad are spotty due to chronic sleep deprivation 😂

The answer was simpler than what I thought, but I am still glad I learned about the origins of the LMF cow that is on our website, merch, boards, and even our Gmail account for this Blogspot (lavachefolle.lmf@gmail.com)! 

Laura in Germany

Yo. I am in Germany.

This is how I got here:

In case you can't tell, that's plane, airport, plane, train. Then there was another train, but it was uglier, so I didn't draw it. The train that I did draw was pretty cool. It went along a river which may have been the Rhine. Sometimes if you looked out the window there were castles. No big deal. I didn't take pictures of them because I didn't want the four bike-tripping Hamburgers (not hamburgers) I was sitting with to think I was THAT much of a tourist. But they were pretty cool, which is why I drew you a picture.

I arrived here after two nights of sleeping on airplanes. Because I couldn't get my key from the housemaster until the beginning of the next week (surprise!) I stayed with an American exchange student who was nice enough to put up with me for the weekend. Then on Tuesday morning I went and talked to the Hausmeister in German and got my key and moved into my very own room. I am living in a dorm and it smells like smoke and sometimes looks like it too, and I am not sure how to flush the toilet properly all the time. Fortunately, the smell of cigarettes reminds me of Europe and Costco, and I am getting better at the toilet thing, so I am quite happy with my situation. My room has a sink and a view of the park. Also, after an hour and a half-long wash cycle in the German washing machine, my socks have never been cleaner.

It's a pleasant half-hour stroll into the city, made pleasanter by a stop at the bakery for some breakfast bread, where I've been going every morning for German classes-- our real work hasn't started yet, so things are pretty chill. In the afternoons, sometimes we go on planned adventures.

I don't have any good pictures of the climbing forest. As you can't see, the climbing forest consists of obstacle courses suspended from trees, including lots of logssuspended from cables, ziplines, a sled, and other scary things. I did not fall once.

Last Thursday we went to the three country corner. I don't understand why this is a big deal, because Europe has lots of three country corners, but it was fun.

See? This was the best of three attempts at a heel-click photo. You can't see my feet, but it is safe for you t

o assume that my heels are six inches off the ground and clicking. As you can see, the three countries represented were Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany.

The three country corner happens to be a stone's throw away from the highest point in the Netherlands, 327.5 meters tall. I have climbed the tallest mountain in a whole country. Shh, don't hate.

We climbed a tower while we were there, because, as the reverend Mother said, "Climb every mountain, ford every stream, follow every rainbow till you find your dream," and she was right. We were greeted at the top by this dreamy view:

The red thing pointing towards Belgium is a telescope.

From the tower we could also see a rooftop upon which a multitude of obese cats were napping. I have included a picture of them, and also one of some friendly German cows we encountered, because cows and cats are kind of a thing for my posts.