A taste of phase two

So soon?

Well, my time in phase one of my european adventure is winding down to its final hours. I have learned an incredible amount here in this quaint little town, and I will have a tough time leaving on Saturday. I have been incredibly lucky with the kindness and generosity of my host family and will never forget the times I have had with my new friends. A few other things I will never forget/have learned include:
-non-fat does not exist in France and it is awesome
-everything tastes like heaven when fried in garlic and pounds of butter
-no weather is too hot for a stylish scarf
-evidently showering is optional to some people
-yes, i really am that white
-even if french people try to convince you otherwise, they really do walk around the street eating baguettes
-it is a major personal victory when I can understand and respond to a store clerk
-there is nothing wrong with taking two hours to sit and have coffee
-there is nothing quite like wandering with no particular purpose
-I will definitely be coming back someday

After a final API group dinner tonight and the end of classes tomorrow, I am off to Paris Saturday afternoon to begin an entirely new adventure with a brand new set of challenges. I am very excited to explore other areas but am of course nervous about the idea of being on my own to figure things out. It will I'm sure be very interesting. I won't be able to upload pictures or anything because I'm sending my computer back before I leave, but I will be sure to put some up once I am home. But until then...phase two, here I come!!

Tour de France!!!

Today the Tour de France came to Grenoble. So amazing to be there!!!

Contador

Contador finishing

Yellow Jersey

Beautiful Weekend...with more speedos and boobs

Since the 14th was a national holiday, some friends and I decided to take the train down to Cannes and enjoy the long weekend on the beach. I have really been enjoying the mountains, but this beach was gorgeous and a very lovely vacation. It took us the majority of the day to get down to Cannes on thursday due to all of the train switches, but once we got there the sun and bright blue water made all of the travel worth it. Our hotel was actually outside of downtown Cannes, so we took a bus out to where we were staying. This was probably the most unpleasant part of the trip because this bus was not only packed beyond capacity and the temperature in the high 80s, but these people drive so insanely crazy that I was falling on all sorts of judgmental french people. I was hoping that since it was a bus full of standing people that the driver would chill out a little bit...but I was very wrong. Once we made it to the hotel, and I realized that I was in fact still alive, we dropped off our things and then walked around in search of some dinner. The next few days consisted of mainly eating, swimming, and lying on the beach. We definitely weren't the only ones with this fantastic schedule, but once we got over the crowds, it was very relaxing. One night we went out on the town and saw where the film fesitval is and a bunch of celebrity hand prints in the sidewalk. My favorite of course was Julie Andrews. Sunday afternoon arrived way too quickly and we were once again on our way back to Grenoble. Cannes was one of the craziest places I have been, with people in their designer swimming suits and Mercedes convertibles, but just being able to actually swim in ocean water made it worth it for me. Who needs a shopping spree when you can float in the Mediterranean? Oh but one good thing about the rich people: they smell really good. If I had heard this at home where the majority of the people care about their general hygiene I wouldn't have thought anything of it. But seriously, in this seemingly deodorantless country, a little perfume makes a difference. Thank you Americans for smelling nice. You have no idea how much I miss that...

A Little Piece of Heaven

This weekend was another API planned excursion, so we left on a bus together at 8:30 Saturday morning for Geneva, Switzerland. As usual, the drive was beautiful, making the two hours fly by. Once we crossed the border, we headed into Geneva, stopping first at the UN for a tour. I was surprised about how fascinating the UN headquarters was, and it was an amazing feeling standing in the rooms with all of the chairs labels with with different countries. After the tour we walked to downtown and ate our lunch, after which we had the afternoon to explore the town. It was very hot that day and there were a lot of people so I can't say it was my favorite place so far, but it was quite beautiful. We wandered into a chocolate shop because we decided that it wouldn't be real trip to Switzerland without a little taste of chocolate. It was divine. In order to cool off, we then went over to the big water jet in the middle of the lake just to catch some of the mist. Of course, right as we made it onto the little walkway and in perfect line with a little light spray, the wind shifted and we all got soaked. Despite the initial shock of lake water, it actually felt pretty good. At around 4:30, we all headed back to the bus and we returned to France for a night and day in Chamonix. I really had no idea what this town was about and so had so expectations of what we were about to see. My host people said that the town was quite pretty so a knew i wouldn't be disappointed, but I had no idea what I was about to see. This town was the cutest mountain village tucked right at the base of Mont Blanc. Went we pulled up and I could hardly believe where we were. You could tell who the Oregon people were based on the levels of excitement. I seriously couldn't get off the bus fast enough. Once we dropped out stuff off, we were free until the next morning, so some of us went off to find some pizza. And yes, mine once again had hot goat cheese on top. Losing ourselves in the beauty of this town was unbelievable and became even more extraordinary once a thunderstorm started--flashes lighting up the sky. The next morning we took a train up one of the mountains to see a glacier. I've seen glaciers before, but it has always been a look-don't-touch type situation, so I freaked out when I realized we could actually go inside. They had little tunnels set up that we could walk through and even rooms with ice furniture carved out. This little tourist trap probably isn't helping the life of the glacier, but it was so cool that I don't even care. After our tour, we were free until 4 so we just continued to walk around and enjoy this beautiful place. I would love to come back in the winter so I could ski around and once again enjoy this heavenly spot. Even though I gave it a shot, no photos could ever do this place justice. Long story short, I'm going back. PS mom- I had a cafe au lait...I'm hooked.

First Week Complete

\My first week of real classes has officially come to an end. Every day for four hours (usually from 8:30 to 12:30) I am in a class of about 13 students and we work on french grammar and conversation skills. Needless to say, by the end of each session, my brain is completely exhausted. My teacher is really nice and is fortunately extremely patient with all of us. He also said that he studied in Pennsylvania for a year which means he can help me translate words that I don't know or can't understand. This gives me a big advantage over the other people because being an american makes me very unique. 8 very large men from Iraq make up the majority of the class, as well a girl from Nigeria, a girl from Brazil, a guy from Italy, and a guy from Saudi Arabia. Now, I have always considered myself to be a pale person and have come to terms with this sometimes unpleasant fact. However, I can't say I have ever been so aware of my extreme whiteness until this week.  Between my skin and hair, I am actually glowing in a sea of beautifully tanned faces. This is actually how I have felt in France as a whole. These people for the most part all have lovely dark hair and eyes and tan with little effort. I worked hard to learn French mannerisms so I wouldn't scream tourist, but I have learned the color of my hair takes care of that dream. In fact, I am so pale and so blonde that people don't even think I am American. They automatically assume I am from England because apparently that is the only place these people can think of that would produce such a fair, sunless person. Initially, this of course bothered me because I can't say that British people scream extreme beauty, but ever since Gilbert started saying I looked like Princess Charlene and remembered that my teeth are still white and all firmly resting in my mouth, I have been more okay with this popular assumption.
Tomorrow morning I leave for Geneva and then on Sunday we hop over to Chamonix for an excursion. My host people tell me it is very beautiful so I'm excited to see what its all about. I'm sure there will be many pictures to share when I return.

Sushi

Today was another fabulous Sunday spent under the french sun. After a late breakfast, we all packed up lunch and went back to Gilbert's country house. A few days ago a guest math professor from Thailand moved in with us and will also be staying until the end of the month like me. Now, I though french was difficult to begin with, but add an asian accent on top of that and there isn't a chance of me comprehending anything. Fortunately my host people are just as confused so I'm not the rude american girl who refuses to respond when the professor speaks. Since no one can really understand her, no one has been able to grasp what her first name is. My host mom tried to figure it out but has now given up and refers to her as sushi (not to her face of course). I just want to make it clear that I did not come up with this name, but due to the hilarity, I will continue using it, probably even if I figure out her real name. Anyway...so since Sushi just got here, she wanted to see the country house too. We walked around the property and the town a little bit before having our lunch. I like sundays if nothing else but for the food because although the portions aren't huge, there are more courses than usual which means I get to try more things. Today we had bread with some olive pesto-type spread, tomatoes with olive oil, couscous with raisins, ratatouille, flan, and a very juicy peach. It was all of course fantastic. After we laid in the sun for a bit after we ate, we all got in the car an took a drive through the mountains. Sushi was freaking out because apparently there aren't mountains where she is in Thailand so, in typical asian form, there were many photo stops along the way. We stopped at two different ski resort towns buried in the mountain side and got to look at the quaint little buildings and babbling brooks. The second town we stopped at had a hill that was exactly like the opening scene in the sound of music, but unfortunately no one had any idea what I was talking about. After talking a little tour, we had a drink at a little cafe and listened to some music before driving back to Grenoble. It's really cute because Gilbert thinks that I look like Charlene the new princess of Monaco, so he keeps saying "ca va Charlene?" and then laughing hysterically. Tomorrow we head out to a chateau for a picnic with the API group, so fingers crossed I can figure out how to get to the train station...

Janine and Me

Gilbert and Me