Hello everyone!!
This is my last week in Grenoble...I am not ready for this.
This week is a huge week and I have a ton of stuff to do before mom comes on Thursday. Therefore, this is going to be my last post on here until I get home. I am not all that sure I will be able to write anything while we are in Paris. Thus, I am bowing out until I get home.
I love this place so much and I am going to miss not looking out over the mountains every morning. I have learned so much these past few weeks and God has made me grow in ways I have never thought possible. I have witnessed His goodness and the beauty of the people He has made.
Thank you all so much for your prayers and encouragement...they have definitely made a difference.
I have so many more stories I want to tell you guys and I can't wait to see everyone when I get back to the states!!
Love you guys!!!
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
FRENCH RIVIERA
So this past weekend we went to the French Riviera with the university...and yes I got a tan.
There were about 50 of us that got on the bus immediately after class on Friday (around 1:30), left Grenoble and sought out the Mediterranean.
We stopped in Aix-en-Provence for about an hour and a half, where we found this cute little souvenir shop. We spent some time talking with the owners and found out that it is a Frenchman and his American wife (who reminded me EXACTLY of Stacy) and how they have lived all over the world and even in Grenoble!
After that, we kept driving for a few hours. During this time, Megan, Kathleen and I could not help overhearring that three people next to us were the most intellectual game of 20 Questions any of us had ever encounterred: They were guessing historical and literary figures. And I am talking about philosophers, mythology, old testament, poetry, classic authors, etc. Thus, after our break to get dinner...we joined their game for the rest of the ride.
We stayed in a little town about 5 minutes outside of Nice that I cannot recall the name of at the moment. We arrived around 9:30, got situated in our rooms and then went to find the water. We ended up sitting on some rocks by the Mediterranean watching the moon shine on the water and the ginormous yachts.
Saturday, we drove to Nice around 9:30 in the morning and had until 2:30 until we were leaving for Monacco. Therefore, we took pictures of the beaches and climbed up the huge chateau that looks over the city. AMAZING VIEW. Then, we went to the outdoor market, bought some Socca (which is the famous bread in Nice) and flatbread pizza at a little stand that ended up being some of the most amazing food.
At 2:30, we got on the bus for the 10 minute drive to Monacco...but on the way we stopped in Grasse, where we learned how to make perfume!
Monacco is so beautiful. It and Nice are both a blend of Italian and French cultures and it is so neat and beautiful to see. When we got there, we stopped at the area where the palace and the Oceanographie Museum. The museum was such a cool place! I felt like I had just transported back to Junior year of high school when we had to read Moby Dick. It is all about Prince Albert I of Monacco that did all of this research in the 19th century. However, what everyone was really excited about was that the wedding clothes of the prince and new princess were on display there. (They got married earlier this month).
After having an aching surge of hunger, Kathleen and I went in search of dinner while Fallon, Megan and Jessica went to see the palace. Talk about amazing food.
After all of this, we went to Monte Carlo. That city needs a whole other message for itself.
Monte Carlo just knocked all of us out and we went back to Nice and slept.
Sunday, we left Nice at 10:30 in the morning and drove to Saint-Paul, a little old medieval village. However...the air conditioning on the bus failed to work...so people were not very happy.
Saint-Paul was gorgeous. It was all hills, cobblestone, narrow streets, ancient buildings and views that looked out over vineyards. All of it was incredible.
We then drove some more and went to Cannes. It was cloudy and extremely windy and all of us were exhausted. So, we picked a spot and ate crepes.
And then we had our first encounter and issues with the automatic public toilets in Europe. These toilets you pay 50 centimes for (half a euro), do your business and after your done, it cleans and dries itself. Awesome idea right?! Maybe on a day when you dont have a bunch of people waiting in line and trying to get probably over 50 people on a bus on time. FAIL. We left at least 30 minutes late.
Cannes was our last city visit, but we made one last stop to eat dinner.
We got back to Grenoble around midnight and there were four of us that needed a taxi to Meylan (the suburb that we live in). This is all because the trams stop running around the city at about 12:30 at night on Sundays and the bus we take to our houses stop running at 8:30. So, we got to stand in the middle of the city, call a taxi and get ourselves home.
I got home at around 12:35...got in bed around 1.
Needless to say, monday was a rough morning, but COMPLETELY WORTH IT.
There were about 50 of us that got on the bus immediately after class on Friday (around 1:30), left Grenoble and sought out the Mediterranean.
We stopped in Aix-en-Provence for about an hour and a half, where we found this cute little souvenir shop. We spent some time talking with the owners and found out that it is a Frenchman and his American wife (who reminded me EXACTLY of Stacy) and how they have lived all over the world and even in Grenoble!
After that, we kept driving for a few hours. During this time, Megan, Kathleen and I could not help overhearring that three people next to us were the most intellectual game of 20 Questions any of us had ever encounterred: They were guessing historical and literary figures. And I am talking about philosophers, mythology, old testament, poetry, classic authors, etc. Thus, after our break to get dinner...we joined their game for the rest of the ride.
We stayed in a little town about 5 minutes outside of Nice that I cannot recall the name of at the moment. We arrived around 9:30, got situated in our rooms and then went to find the water. We ended up sitting on some rocks by the Mediterranean watching the moon shine on the water and the ginormous yachts.
Saturday, we drove to Nice around 9:30 in the morning and had until 2:30 until we were leaving for Monacco. Therefore, we took pictures of the beaches and climbed up the huge chateau that looks over the city. AMAZING VIEW. Then, we went to the outdoor market, bought some Socca (which is the famous bread in Nice) and flatbread pizza at a little stand that ended up being some of the most amazing food.
At 2:30, we got on the bus for the 10 minute drive to Monacco...but on the way we stopped in Grasse, where we learned how to make perfume!
Monacco is so beautiful. It and Nice are both a blend of Italian and French cultures and it is so neat and beautiful to see. When we got there, we stopped at the area where the palace and the Oceanographie Museum. The museum was such a cool place! I felt like I had just transported back to Junior year of high school when we had to read Moby Dick. It is all about Prince Albert I of Monacco that did all of this research in the 19th century. However, what everyone was really excited about was that the wedding clothes of the prince and new princess were on display there. (They got married earlier this month).
After having an aching surge of hunger, Kathleen and I went in search of dinner while Fallon, Megan and Jessica went to see the palace. Talk about amazing food.
After all of this, we went to Monte Carlo. That city needs a whole other message for itself.
Monte Carlo just knocked all of us out and we went back to Nice and slept.
Sunday, we left Nice at 10:30 in the morning and drove to Saint-Paul, a little old medieval village. However...the air conditioning on the bus failed to work...so people were not very happy.
Saint-Paul was gorgeous. It was all hills, cobblestone, narrow streets, ancient buildings and views that looked out over vineyards. All of it was incredible.
We then drove some more and went to Cannes. It was cloudy and extremely windy and all of us were exhausted. So, we picked a spot and ate crepes.
And then we had our first encounter and issues with the automatic public toilets in Europe. These toilets you pay 50 centimes for (half a euro), do your business and after your done, it cleans and dries itself. Awesome idea right?! Maybe on a day when you dont have a bunch of people waiting in line and trying to get probably over 50 people on a bus on time. FAIL. We left at least 30 minutes late.
Cannes was our last city visit, but we made one last stop to eat dinner.
We got back to Grenoble around midnight and there were four of us that needed a taxi to Meylan (the suburb that we live in). This is all because the trams stop running around the city at about 12:30 at night on Sundays and the bus we take to our houses stop running at 8:30. So, we got to stand in the middle of the city, call a taxi and get ourselves home.
I got home at around 12:35...got in bed around 1.
Needless to say, monday was a rough morning, but COMPLETELY WORTH IT.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Dinner for Schmucks...or maybe just Americans
Last Night we all went to the Secher's for a dinner party for Kathleen because it is her birthday today.
It was quite an experience.
Madame Secher is one of the host mothers and is quite a character. She is very charismatic and all over the place, but genuinely wants everyone to have a good time and feel welcome in her home.
The food was amazing and there was ALOT of it. We all had to pace ourselves as best we could in order to finish everything on our plates. It was all a mind game in and of itself. I swear my stomach has been forced to grow over the past two weeks. But everything has been delicious, so I am not complaining.
Right now, my host mother and brother are out of town and my host father is fixing lunch for us. I am not all that sure if I will be able to consume anymore food after last night.
The stories and analysis that come from last night cannot really be expressed in writing as well as in person...in other words, this post would take a really long time for me to write. Time that I don't have haha.
Today is Bastille Day (the French Independence Day), so we don't have any school. And the final Harry Potter movie came out yesterday...therefore, all five of us are spending our afternoon in the city and seeing it!!
Then tonight I am spending the night at Kathleen's host family's home, Madame Sonnet. Which it will be interesting to see how another French family operates.
And then tomorrow after class, we are taking a weekend trip with the university to the French Riviera...I cannot even put into words how EXCITED I AM!!! It is going to be amazing!!!
Therefore, I will let you know how everything is going afterward!!
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Literally Lost in Translation
I just needed to write one more thing before I go to bed because it is something I just want to share. I want to bring you into my world here a little more and tell you some in detail stuff about the normality of my world here.
DINNERS:
Dinners have to be one of the most entertaining parts of my day. It might be that my biological family bonds the most around the dinner table, so I just have a pre-formed love for this part of the day. Or my host family dinners are really just that entertaining.
Our dinners are not so much odd in the presentation of food or anything as much as the conversation is just entertaining. They are so patient with me and my terribly broken French. But the conversation seems to always come back to words.
Last week, my host dad explained the idea behind the word 'inherit' because he wanted to know the english term for it.
That is pretty normal for any two nationalities talking to each other. But my favorites have occurred in the past two dinners:
- Last night, my family was discussing something very quickly in French that I only picked up bits and pieces of...but my host mom turned to me and asked me (in French) to give her the etymology of the word 'maffia' and what it means. I don't know if I could even do that in English, to be honest. Therefore, we consulted Wikipedia.
- Last night we also debated over the pronunciation of 'Facebook', but that is definitely a story that needs to be saved for an in-person reenactement. :)
- Tonight, while we were eating ice cream for dessert, there was some dispute of the lost translations from English to French and the pronunciation of some words. Such as the pronuncation of the word, 'praline'. But my favorite tonight was when my host dad brought me a haagen daz (I know I spelled that wrong) carton that was titled 'Cookie Dough Chip'. I giggled and said that in America it's called Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. Then he asked me to basically define every word in the title:
-- We got what 'cookie' is because it is the same in French.
-- 'Chip' is the equivalent of 'morceau' (or morsel)
-- 'Dough' was the tricky one. I honestly didn't know how to explain it in French. However, after many words and descriptions, we got it.
These might be stories you have to be there for, but I want you guys to see the kinds of things I experience in everyday life here. I love it here and I love this family I am with. I have only been here a little over a week and I already feel apart of the family.
Je vous aime!!
Bon nuit!!
DINNERS:
Dinners have to be one of the most entertaining parts of my day. It might be that my biological family bonds the most around the dinner table, so I just have a pre-formed love for this part of the day. Or my host family dinners are really just that entertaining.
Our dinners are not so much odd in the presentation of food or anything as much as the conversation is just entertaining. They are so patient with me and my terribly broken French. But the conversation seems to always come back to words.
Last week, my host dad explained the idea behind the word 'inherit' because he wanted to know the english term for it.
That is pretty normal for any two nationalities talking to each other. But my favorites have occurred in the past two dinners:
- Last night, my family was discussing something very quickly in French that I only picked up bits and pieces of...but my host mom turned to me and asked me (in French) to give her the etymology of the word 'maffia' and what it means. I don't know if I could even do that in English, to be honest. Therefore, we consulted Wikipedia.
- Last night we also debated over the pronunciation of 'Facebook', but that is definitely a story that needs to be saved for an in-person reenactement. :)
- Tonight, while we were eating ice cream for dessert, there was some dispute of the lost translations from English to French and the pronunciation of some words. Such as the pronuncation of the word, 'praline'. But my favorite tonight was when my host dad brought me a haagen daz (I know I spelled that wrong) carton that was titled 'Cookie Dough Chip'. I giggled and said that in America it's called Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. Then he asked me to basically define every word in the title:
-- We got what 'cookie' is because it is the same in French.
-- 'Chip' is the equivalent of 'morceau' (or morsel)
-- 'Dough' was the tricky one. I honestly didn't know how to explain it in French. However, after many words and descriptions, we got it.
These might be stories you have to be there for, but I want you guys to see the kinds of things I experience in everyday life here. I love it here and I love this family I am with. I have only been here a little over a week and I already feel apart of the family.
Je vous aime!!
Bon nuit!!
I Stood on the Highest Mountain in Europe...What did you do???
Hello from the other side of the world!!
It is Tuesday night here in Grenoble and can I just say that I am LOVING it!!!
Sunday, my French comrades and I woke up super duper early (I am talking about 5:30 a.m. early) and my sweet host mom took my friends and I to the Place de Verdun to meet the buses to go to Chamonix for the day. She gave me a pack of these amazing cookies that I always seem to find when I come to Europe and all of us ate the whole package.
The drive took about three hours which consisted of me listening to my iPod, Kathleen sleeping on my shoulder and everyone else passed out as well. But the early morning drive was completely worth it...
Chamonix is a little town at the true base of the French Alps...more specifically, the home of the tallest mountain in Europe, Mont Blanc (which I stood on top of, by the way...). The town looks something like Breckenridge, Crested Butte or some other cute little ski village.
But the best part was going up the mountain. Oh man. If you ever want to be reminded just how small you are, stand next to that thing...
To get up there, we took the téléphrique (which is - as my professor put it - the téléphrique that goes to the Bastille on steriods. If you want to see a picture of it, google is good resource for you.) from the base of the mountain to a small station on a small mountain next to Mont Blanc. From there, we took the remaining part of the téléphrique to the station on top of Mont Blanc....We were basically pulled straight up the side of the mountain in a cable car for thousands of feet. Needless to say, there were some people that were freaking out...I may or may not have been one of them that was having a silent panic attack in my head.
Once we reached the station, we went outside onto the bridge and looked around...there were tourists in some normal snow clothes, such as jeans and boots and other stuff like that. But I have to say, we saw some pretty brave souls up there. There were quite a few people in shorts and sandals. But anyway, we also saw some intense climbers hacking there way up. I noted there bravery and took pictures of them as my acknowledgement.
We then took an elevator to the very tippy top summit. WHOA. There was white EVERYWHERE. You could barely see over the rail and we only lasted about 5 or 10 minutes until a major gust of wind came that convinced us it was time to descend and get food and a warm something to drink.
(And those brave people I was talking about....they were even at the summit...the guy in front of me in the line to go up the elevator was wearing sandals and no socks. I took a picture. Then there was a kid at the top running around in a thin sweatshirt, shorts, socks and flip flops. I attempted to take a picture when he wasnt looking, but then he saw us and started whining and saying to stop taking pictures of him. He asked for it....but I sadly never got my picture. When you go to the top of the highest mountain in Europe, you normally would never think that getup is a logical choice.)
After we descended, we ate lunch, shopped, and then went back to Grenoble.
Yesterday was definitely Monday. I have never had a Monday ever feel like such a stereotypical Monday until yesterday. We were all still tired from the big day before and time just seemed to drag. But I went to bed at 9:30 and woke up this morning feeling great (be proud Dad and Halpert...).
I love you all!!
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Gelato, Cafés, Alpine Meseum Directors...and Everything Else in Between
Well the first week of class went very well!! My professor is awesome and my class is freaking hilarious. We have three new students in our class: Christian from Norway, Chris (a girl) from Australia and another guy from Canada (I cant remember his name...).
We do alot of group projects in class and she always wants us to be with someone of a different nationality. there is a guy named Firat, who is about 40 and he just LOVES to be my partner when we have a project. It cracks me up everytime.
We took the Téléphrique up to the Bastille today and looked out over the city. We then went to the Alpine museum up there...the guy let us in for free...didnt charge us for the headsets...then asked us to go partying with him in the city tonight. We declined. It pays off to be cute american girls in another country.
Then we just walked around the city for a little while and burned quite a few thousand calories and got some gelato from a cute little café (which I got two chocolat au pain for the price of one yesterday...).
I just love it here. Its amazing.
I live on the side of a mountain and I have a room to myself with a big window and a door to the backyard. The sun rises around 615 and wakes me up every morning. I dont need to start getting ready until about 645. So I just get to lie in bed and stare out my window and look at the mountains every morning....not a bad way to start the day.
This place is so beautiful and it is such a beautiful country. Everyone is so nice and nothing like what you would expect from the French.
I love sitting in the outside cafés in the city with people and just talking. Its the best and I cant wait to get back and share all of the stories I already have but dont have enough time to type out.
I love you all!!
We do alot of group projects in class and she always wants us to be with someone of a different nationality. there is a guy named Firat, who is about 40 and he just LOVES to be my partner when we have a project. It cracks me up everytime.
We took the Téléphrique up to the Bastille today and looked out over the city. We then went to the Alpine museum up there...the guy let us in for free...didnt charge us for the headsets...then asked us to go partying with him in the city tonight. We declined. It pays off to be cute american girls in another country.
Then we just walked around the city for a little while and burned quite a few thousand calories and got some gelato from a cute little café (which I got two chocolat au pain for the price of one yesterday...).
I just love it here. Its amazing.
I live on the side of a mountain and I have a room to myself with a big window and a door to the backyard. The sun rises around 615 and wakes me up every morning. I dont need to start getting ready until about 645. So I just get to lie in bed and stare out my window and look at the mountains every morning....not a bad way to start the day.
This place is so beautiful and it is such a beautiful country. Everyone is so nice and nothing like what you would expect from the French.
I love sitting in the outside cafés in the city with people and just talking. Its the best and I cant wait to get back and share all of the stories I already have but dont have enough time to type out.
I love you all!!
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
The Most Entertaining First Day of School EVER
So, yesterday I took the placement test at the college so they know which class to put me in. It obviously did not go very well considering I got placed two levels lower than what was intended for me. Therefore, I am in beginner`s french.
But honestly, I love it.
It`s incredibly entertaining and the people are hilarious. I will have to do extra work with Dr. McCullough to compensate for the level difference.
This morning we got our class assignments and there was no one in there that I know. At all. Our teacher was late so we waited outside the classroom for a few minutes, completely certain we were in the wrong place and we missed something amonst all the French. It was me and 8 Middle Eastern grown men speaking arabic because they all knew each other. Can you say AWKWARD?? (I`m not racist, but it was just a funny situation haha).
Our teacher got there and let us in and we took a seat in front of her. She is a sweet, energetic, young french woman named Stephanie and we all adore her. She wrote my class`section on the board to make sure we were in the right place.
Right after that, a young chinese woman came in and asked if this was her class and it was. So, she took a seat next to me. After her, a young blond girl came in and I just knew she was American (over here, you can just see it).
Then, Stephanie wanted to learn all of our names, so she had us get in a tight circle together and say our names and then say the names of all the people that preceeded us in the line. I was the third to last and it was 9 a.m....you do the math on how that went. After I took my turn, two South Korean girls came running in and wanted to know if this was there class. It was haha. After this, she had us talk to one person for two minutes in French and talk about our interests, where we are from, etc. And when she said so, we would switch to another person and repeat the cycle. After all of this, she had each of us stand up and we would say the things we learned about that person. We found out that the men were from Iraq and flipping hilairious. They most of them are professors in Iraq and are spaced out from the ages of 25 to around 40.
We had to switch rooms since we were done with the lab section of class and move to a normal classroom to continue. During the room change, the blonde girl came up to me and asked where I was from. Her name is Grace, she goes to Boston University and she`s from San Antonio.
But back to the class....when we got to the new room, another South Korean girl joined the class.
All of the Iraqi men know each other and poke fun at each other and they each have their own personality. It`s just so great.
And I found out that I am going to have the most awesome time over the next couple of weeks...
Sunday, we are going to Chamonix to see Mont Blanc with the university.
Tuesday we are going kayaking.
I don`t have class next Thursday because of Bastille Day.
Next Friday-Sunday, we are going to the French Riveria for the weekend.
And then the weekend after that we are going to Marseilles.
...It`s gonna be legit.
So, that is my update for now!! Love you all!!
But honestly, I love it.
It`s incredibly entertaining and the people are hilarious. I will have to do extra work with Dr. McCullough to compensate for the level difference.
This morning we got our class assignments and there was no one in there that I know. At all. Our teacher was late so we waited outside the classroom for a few minutes, completely certain we were in the wrong place and we missed something amonst all the French. It was me and 8 Middle Eastern grown men speaking arabic because they all knew each other. Can you say AWKWARD?? (I`m not racist, but it was just a funny situation haha).
Our teacher got there and let us in and we took a seat in front of her. She is a sweet, energetic, young french woman named Stephanie and we all adore her. She wrote my class`section on the board to make sure we were in the right place.
Right after that, a young chinese woman came in and asked if this was her class and it was. So, she took a seat next to me. After her, a young blond girl came in and I just knew she was American (over here, you can just see it).
Then, Stephanie wanted to learn all of our names, so she had us get in a tight circle together and say our names and then say the names of all the people that preceeded us in the line. I was the third to last and it was 9 a.m....you do the math on how that went. After I took my turn, two South Korean girls came running in and wanted to know if this was there class. It was haha. After this, she had us talk to one person for two minutes in French and talk about our interests, where we are from, etc. And when she said so, we would switch to another person and repeat the cycle. After all of this, she had each of us stand up and we would say the things we learned about that person. We found out that the men were from Iraq and flipping hilairious. They most of them are professors in Iraq and are spaced out from the ages of 25 to around 40.
We had to switch rooms since we were done with the lab section of class and move to a normal classroom to continue. During the room change, the blonde girl came up to me and asked where I was from. Her name is Grace, she goes to Boston University and she`s from San Antonio.
But back to the class....when we got to the new room, another South Korean girl joined the class.
All of the Iraqi men know each other and poke fun at each other and they each have their own personality. It`s just so great.
And I found out that I am going to have the most awesome time over the next couple of weeks...
Sunday, we are going to Chamonix to see Mont Blanc with the university.
Tuesday we are going kayaking.
I don`t have class next Thursday because of Bastille Day.
Next Friday-Sunday, we are going to the French Riveria for the weekend.
And then the weekend after that we are going to Marseilles.
...It`s gonna be legit.
So, that is my update for now!! Love you all!!
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