Au revoir Grenoble, et Bon Voyage à moi!

Hier soir was awesome! We had such a good time, as I'm sure you can tell from the photos, which are posted :) Amanda and Angelina came over for the barbeque. We drank a ton of wine and ate lots of good food - it was so fun. A bunch of Lynda's friends came over, most of whom I had met before. I really like Delphine - she's awesome.

After hanging out for a while at the apartment, Angelina found herself sufficiently trashed, so she and Amanda headed out for the bars. I stuck around at home a bit longer and hung out with Lynda and her friends. One of the friends who came over was an Aupère in Florida for a few years near Orlando. She said she loved it. I cannot for the life of me remember what her name is, though. It's driving me nuts.

I finally left the soirée to go to the bars. The Couche Tard was fermé last night, quel dommage! So we just went to the London Pub instead. The pictures from that are on Amanda's camera, I'll be posting them eventually.

Today was a good day. We went to classes, which were so pointless, then a group of us went to Au Bureau for lunch. Besides the random downpour in the middle of the répas, it was great. Amanda, Angelina and I walked around taking pictures and being stupid for a while after lunch. We avoided saying goodbye until the last possible second - and when we did, we cried. It's sad to be leaving Grenoble. I am leaving in less than 4 hours - so strange. It's been so good over here - I started out nervous, but now I don't want to leave. In fact, I don't much want to talk about leaving right now, so I'm not going to.

This is my last blog entry from France. That's not to say, however, that I am going to stop updating it. I will update it again later this weekend after I have recovered from my flight and started to discern the awesomeness that has been this summer. Look for a recap sometime Sunday. For right now, I must sign off, finish packing, and get on a train. A toute de suite mes coeurs!

La Chaleur Retourne...

It is sooooo HOT! The heat wave we had at the beginning of the summer was bad, but now it might be worse. It is so freaking warm today. I couldn't be inside the tram without dripping sweat - gross, I know.

So I keep seeing this H2 Hummer around Grenoble - I think it's the only car in the whole city larger than the size of a Geo Metro - except the Range Rover than nearly took me out yesterday. Please take note I was on the sidewalk when the near miss occurred. Crazy French drivers!

I am slowly coming to the realization that tonight, this very evening, is my last night in Grenoble. I'll probably cry later. Amanda and Angelina are coming over to the apartment tonight for a Barbeque - I invited Libby too, but she says she might not come. Of course everyone is going out tonight - we had our exams today, and turned in papers. Pub Couche Tard here we come for the last time... at least the last time for now :) Tomorrow is going to be so weird. I know I'm going to see most of the people from the program - I'll be making a trip to Ann Arbor this year to be sure :)

As of right now I haven't got much else to say. I'll be sure to update you all one more time before I depart for the U S of A. Bonne Soirée tout le monde!

Bonne Humeur

Pour quelque raison, I'm in a really good mood - don't know why. I have 2 papers due tomorrow, and an exam. One of the papers I haven't yet begun and the exam, well I don't know what it's about. As you can see, no reason at all for an excessively happy mood. I have exactly two nights left in Grenoble - bittersweet, really. I am going to miss it here immensely, however the States certainly have a lot to offer. I've been thinking a lot about the Madison bar scene recently... Get ready Mellie, it's going to be a crazy year!

Today was basically a good day, if you take the class out of it. Seriousment, les classes sont ridicules! I got home from class around 13h00 and made some lunch. I hung out for a while reading this ridiculous novel that I absolutely could not put down - I'm bringing it home Britt, so you can read it while we're at the lake. It's called Gone for Good by Harlan Coben - it's really messed up, but good.

I have become very proficient at typing on these crazy foreign keyboards, and I am wondering how long it's going to take me to readapt once I get back to the American-style computers. Not looking forward to that.

I only have 2 days left in Grenoble, followed by - I figured it out today - a full 24 hours of traveling. Gross. It will be good to be home - it's really all I've been thinking about. Angelina and I have been talking about what we're going to do for the next two days... Tomorrow night is the barbeque chez-moi, then we're going out for sure. Friday is the last day of classes - since everything is due tomorrow no one knows what the point of Friday is, but whatever. After class we'll probably go out for lunch, get our last poire sorbet, and say our goodbyes to go spend the rest of our short time with our French families. Friday night I get on a train at 22h00, and that's it. I can't believe it.

Other than my awe at my leaving in two days, I haven't got much else to say... So until tomorrow, au revoir!

Packing, what?

I went to class today for the first time since Thursday - it's not my fault; I had to skip, I swear! Just as I suspected I missed nothing in my absences. Classes were just as dull and boring as usual - and they went until 4h00 this afternoon because we had to fill out evaluations of everything. The comments on mine were anything but nice. I love Grenoble, I'm having a great time, but man the CUEF sucks real bad. The CUEF is the Centre Universitaire des Etudes Français - the part of the university for foreigners.

After class today I went shopping with Angelina, Amanda and Shelby. It was pretty fun - and in the process we managed to grab what is sure to be one of our last cones of poire sorbet. It is still just as delicious as the first time I tasted it.

Once we finished shopping, I headed home. I have since been picking up my room and packing. Packing.... so strange to say that. I am actually almost completely packed already, and I'm not leaving until Friday night. I decided to assure my ability to go out for the rest of the week - particularly Thursday night after my papers are due and I have exams. Who gives an exam on a two week course? My dumb box of a Civilisation Française professor. Ass.

Today is John Paul's birthday, but unfortunately I am not going out to Le Couche Tard - I want to work on my papers so I might have a shot at going out both tomorrow and Thursday... and of course on Saturday, for those of you lucky ones who happen to find yourselves in Dayton, Ohio on July 30 :)

I almost forgot: When I was in Amnsterdam on Saturday, a bird pooped on my head. That's right, on the left lens of my sunglasses to be exact, which were on top of my head at the time. I didn't know about it until I tried to put my sunglasses on and realized the vision of my left eye was completely obscured. As I was noticing this Corbin said, "You have something on your glasses." No, really? So I looked at it and decided it looked like bird crap - I was right. Then Corbin proceeded to say, "It was there all through lunch, but I didn't want to say anything." Thanks a lot buddy. Luckily there wasn't any shit in my hair, or if there was it was very little and neither Corbin nor I could find it. Gross.

I think that's all I have to say for now... So until next time, adios!

The Weekend in Northern Europe

Where to even begin...

This was a really fun weekend, excluding my 13 hour train ride home from Brussels. My faith in the French train system has declined - though I believe it is still far superior to that of the rest of Europe.

Friday afternoon I arrived in a very chilly Brussels to find a slightly frazzled-seeming Corbin as my welcoming committee. We went directly to his apartment where I put my stuff down and exited again immediately, for a whirlwind tour of everything that is Brussels. It was pretty neat, I'd like to go back sometime when I have more time at my disposal.

We went back to Corbin's and got our stuff ready to get on a train up to Brugge. We arrived just an hour later to find even colder weather than had been in Brussels. Northern Europe is nothing like the South of France, let me inform you. We found our bed and breakfast place with little trouble. It was fantastic. Hotel Leopold, I think it was called. We went and walked around Brugge that evening, found a great café for dinner, and enjoyed a good meal. We had white wine and fish, which we grilled ourselves. We had some trouble with the hot stone at first, not knowing when to turn the fish and such, we created a lot of smoke, but we burned nothing; it was delicious.

We were both kind of tired after dinner, but we bought some beers and sat on a bench next to a canal and some 1400s architecture and discussed American politics - ah time spent with Corbs :) We both became quite cold and decided that it was best to just head back to the hotel and sleep, as it was already nearly midnight.

In the alley where our hotel was, there was also a small bar called Pub Napoleon. Corbin suggested we go in, so we had a beer. I drank something called Hoegaarden. I actually enjoyed it, clearly since I had 4 of them - 4 pints. Somewhere in the middle of our first beer, Corbin noticed the dart board. Same standard electronic dart board in most American bars, many of you should be familiar with the Arachnid. Of course we played. I beat Corbin 6 times before he gave up. A funny British man named Dave had started talking to us, and Corbin volunteered me for a game of darts, which I gladly played. I played two games with Dave, beating him both times. He was good though.

The next morning after a fabulous 'gratuit' breakfast, we headed out for Amsterdam. We arrived a few hours later, around 3:00pm. We promptly found a hotel which was reasonably priced and very futuristic and nice! It was the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in, hands down. Amsterdam was quite an experience. We met up with Corbin's friend Brian and his two friends Isaac and Ryan. All three are architecture students at UW-Milwaukee studying in Paris for the summer. We had a great afternoon and evening. That night, we of course, as tourists are obligated to do, walked through the red-light district. I'll tell you, it was something else. It really is a bunch of glass doors with girls standing behind them waiting. When there's someone in the room with one of the girls, the curtain on the door is pulled. Not something I'd be into, but hey, to each his own, right?

Sunday morning Corbin and I headed for Brussels again. It was cold and rainy, so we just went to his apartment and hung out for a bit. We got some lunch and relaxed, and around 4:15pm we headed for the train station so I could catch my 5:01pm train to Grenoble. I was supposed to arrive back in Grenoble at 10:39pm, with a one hour layover in Lille. A full thirteen hours after I left Brussels I arrived back in Grenoble, tired and angry. The train in front of ours had some sort of accident so we had to backtrack. We got on a normal track instead of a TGV, so we couldn't go fast. Then our conductor ditched us in Lyon without saying anything. We finally got on a different train and made it to Grenoble. I went to bed at 6:00 this morning, and I did not go to class. Today has been a weird day, and I assure you I'll be going to bed early tonight!

I think that's all I've got for right now, pictures are up so check them out. Oh, and I realized I have but four nights left in Grenoble. So weird! See you all in less than a week, ciao!

Don't worry, it's coming.

Hey everyone, long time no update! I'm in Brussels in Corbin's apartment. Typing on his American-style keyboard is proving most difficult.

I haven't got much time right now, but I wanted to give a quick shout. In the past 3 days I've been to Brussels, Brugge, and Amsterdam - wow! I do have quite a lot to say, but now is not the time. I also have an excessive amount of pics to post. Look for another update tomorrow - or maybe later tonight if I'm really lucky! Until then, ciao!

Ah Bonjour!!!

Last night a few of Lynda's friends came over and we hung out on the porch drinking wine with cassis, Chartruse, and 'vodka pomme' and eating chips and salsa, peanuts, and sausage. Who knew vodka and apple juice could be a good drink? I met her friends Fattia, Delphine and Julien. They are so cool, we had an awesome time last night. Delphine loves the English language, particularly that of the Irish variety. She spent some time in Ireland a few years ago, and now when she speaks English, it's with a French/Irish accent. Julien also speaks English, and tried to talk to me about the States. He kept talking about Colorado and Colorado Springs, assuming I knew all about it. He was funny. Fattia speaks German and Arabic, and little English. She spoke to me in a mixture of French and German and I understood almost all of it! It really was just a great night.

Next week we are having a barbeque at Lynda's with her friends and my friends. I mentioned last night that I am leaving next Friday night at 10pm to catch my train to Lyon. It was the first time I had said that out loud. For the first time last night, I had serious pangs of sadness when I thought of leaving Grenoble. It hit me after Delphine, Julien and Fattia left last night that I was at home. Just Lynda and me, little apartment in an Alpine French city. It's home. I am going to miss it so much. I bet none of you thought you'd hear me say this (unless you're Big Bro Ry and know better than I do), but six weeks is not long enough. I don't want to leave yet! That's not to say I don't want to come home - I do. But it's going to be sad. I know I'll be back to Grenoble soon. It has become home #3 behind Dayton and Madison.

Today in class we talked about the first underground French story published during WWII. It was fairly interesting, I didn't want to kill myself from boredom, so that's a good sign. Randomly toward the end of the class Mireille was mid-sentence writing something on the white board, when all of a sudden she yells, "AH, BONJOUR!" Everyone in the class was confused - no - stunned. We all looked around at each other and stifled giggles. When she turned back around to face us, she acted as if it was totally normal. It was strange. I need to find a store that sells headphones. Yesterday my left 'earbud' geeked out on me and no longer produces any sound. My music is now very one-sided, and I think my left ear is getting sad, and my right ear is getting deaf.

Angelina and I went to Oasis for lunch today and had some really good Greek-like veggie salads. Delicieux! Tonight some people are talking about going out - I think it's a good idea because I haven't been out in over a week. Weird!

I am leaving tomorrow morning for Brussels, I get back to Grenoble Sunday, and after that I have only five days until I head to the U S of A. Where did this summer go? I'll see you in nine days. A plus tard!

Wet?

The day began with my routine stop at the fruit stand across from Lynda's to buy a nectarine. The woman there knows me now since I stop in all the time. I got on the tram and sat down, listening to my iPod and watching the scenery go by. Since my classes are so freaking boring I was dreading getting to the university. I think I could have sat on the tram all day with my music, just watching people and scenery go by. Then I got to school, whoopie!

So today was a funny day. I think everyone in my first annoying, boring and stupid class has just cracked with the realization of how awful the class really is. This morning we had to debate about stuff that we would take on a voyage around the world if we were an 18-year-old boy in the 19th century and if we were a 50-year-old man in the 19th century. Some of the things we chose were a plaid blanket (he's Irish), a lantern, a globe, a pocket watch, a flask of whiskey, and a pipe. We were just goofing off the whole 2 hours. Good times. Somewhere in that time this kid Josh from Boston University asked "Comment dit-on en français si on est toujours dans l'eau, et quelque chose comme ça?" (translation: what do you call it in french when someone is always in the water and stuff?) and before Jean Bevard the teacher could respond, the funny, cute Irish kid Chris blurted out in English "WET!?" At the time, it was seriously the funniest thing ever. It was even funnier because the teacher laughed, 90% of the class laughed, and then the poor Chinese students were just sitting there wondering what the hell had just happened; which of course caused me to laugh even harder.

After the first class, I went to civilization. Biggest waste of time ever. It's so boring, all I did was start writing my paper for the Michigan class that's due tomorrow. Libby and I had lunch at Au Bureau again and got some of those fabulous salads. We walked around a bit and treated ourselves to some sorbet, then I went home and started organizing my stuff for this weekend in Brussels and for my trip home next week.

Some of Lynda's friends are coming over tonight because they want to meet me - she apparently talks about me all the time and has only good things to say, so now everyone she knows is curious about the American girl. We're going to take pictures, so you'll finally get to see these mysterious people with whom I've been living. I have started reading Harry Potter book VI. So far I'm not that into it, but I know that will change :) I have a lot of stuff due tomorrow for Mireille's class - reading and paper, and some grammaire - yay.

That's about all I know for now, so until next time, ciao!

Pizza in the Rain

So last night was fairly interesting after I left the café internet. I went back to the apartment, arrived soaking wet. I was in my room when Lynda walked in totally drenched. She started talking and said she didn't want to cook, so how about 'Magdos' or something. I just said okay, fine with me. So we go to her car, which is finally fixed, and by the time we get there we are totally drenched. We start driving, and she tries to talk on her phone while behind the wheel. Clearly a good idea since every car in Europe is a stick shift. We get to some Chinese pizza place (what?) where she knows the owner. The place was closed, but he was there so we went in and talked for a few minutes.

When we returned to the car it was still raining. When we got in she again asked me if I wanted Magdos. I said I didn't know what it was, and she freaked out and thought there weren't McDonalds in the U.S. I assured her there were, but honestly, who knew that Magdos was short for McDonalds in French? What happened to good old Mickey D's? Needless to say, we ended up getting an eggplant pizza from a street vendor and taking it back to the apartment. We were both so soaking wet it wasn't even funny. Actually, it really was.

So we ate the ZA and talked a little - good times. Kenza still isn't around, so who knows about that. After dinner I went into my room to attempt to concentrate on some homework. Didn't really happen. I did manage to read most of Le Canard Enchaîné which is a weekly French publication kind of like the Onion, but less funny, and more realistic.

Today has been another fairly uneventful day. Class all morning, and even in the afternoon. Blah. I am going to book my train to Brussels this afternoon for this weekend, and that's about all I know. Keep commenting on the blog, and I'll see you in 11 days!

Oh no, Johnny Depp...

So last night I slept for 10.5 hours. I left the internet café, talked to some very lucky people on the telephone, went back to the apartment, ate a little, and lied down on my bed to write some stuff and perhaps do some homework. The next thing I know I'm waking up at 6h20 in the morning in exactly the same position with all my clothes on, my glasses, and my pen on my journal right in front of me. I fell asleep at 8pm. Makes sense really, since I didn't sleep at all on Saturday night.

Class today was pretty boring, as usual. We talked about marriage and relationships. Great, just what I want to think about. After class some girls and I got some lunch, then we went to a bookstore where I bought the newest Harry Potter book. I'm very excited to read it!!! After the bookstore, we went to the movie theater. We saw Charlie et la Chocolaterie. It was all in English, with French subtitles, so that was good. Honestly, it sucked. Granted it follows the plot of the book better than the original, but Johnny Depp resembles Michael Jackson and acts like a stupid child. Also, the soundtrack was a big part of the first movie. I don't think the new one has a soundtrack. C'est dommage.

Tonight I have a lot of homework to do, mostly reading. It's raining right now, not looking forward to the walk back since I left my parapluie in the apartment this morning. Other than that, I haven't got much to report... I'm still recovering from this weekend and reveling in the fact that I spent 3 days on the French Riviera - wow! So until tomorrow, au revoir!

And don't forget you have 12 days until you are blessed with my company once again :)

Nice weekend in Nice

So I'm back from Nice. It was an amazing weekend. First of all, I got to spend it with one of my favorite people ever, and second of all we were on the French Riviera.

Nice is georgous. Right on the Mediterranean and situated among some slight mountains, it's the picture perfect idea of Southern France. We started out the weekend meeting at the train station which was about 50 yards from our hotel. Great location§ It was about a 10 minute walk to the beach front and lots of restaurants and stuff. Thursday night we went and walked around on the beach, grabbed a great meal at a café on the water, and observed the (slightly pathetic and not anything like 4th of July) fireworks over the water for Bastille Day.

Friday we got up mid-morning and walked around Nice again, absorbing the setting and the scenery. We got some fruit for breakfast and ate on the boardwalk which parallels the pebbly beach. We decided we wanted to spend the day in Monaco, so we went to the train station and bought some ridiculously cheap train tickets for the 30 minute ride down the coast to the Pricipality of Monaco. It was paradise. It is so pristine and perfect, like a setting directly out of a movie. Fabulous. I know I'll be back there - probably for my honeymoon, if it's an option :)

We walked around and saw the entire tax-free tiny country. The whole city is in terraced layers, so it's kind of hard to get around. We managed, and had an amazing day. We found the Casino at Monte Carlo and the beautiful gardens that lead up to it. We found a wallet someone had left at a bus stop, so we took it to the nearby police station to turn it in. Good karma for us, that's for sure. The police officer was very nice. He was so glad I spoke French and thanked me (on behalf of the wallet owner) for turning in the wallet. It had this guy's whole life in it - credit cards, time cards for work, 115€, you know, the usual. After that nice visit to the Monaco police, we walked around some more and finally went into the casino.

This casino is like no other casino you'll ever see. It was like walking into the A Deck dining room from the movie 'Titanic' with gaming tables and old fashioned slot machines where the dining tables would have been. It's a classy place, no doubt. Since it was about 4:30 in the afternoon, it wasn't too busy, but we managed to waste a little money - not too much - and play a few slots. Joe won 50€ - he bought dinner that night ;) We also saw a true high roller. Joe said he looked like the Monopoly guy, carrying around a wad of 500€ bills - wow!

After the day in Monaco we headed back to Nice to get ready for a night out. We read about a seafood place in my Frommer's guide book, so we thought we'd check it out. Turns out we ended up drinking about 3 bottles of wine at the hotel and didn't leave for dinner until after 10pm. We couldn't find the place we were looking for, so we instead went to a little café and had some really good pizzas - and of course more wine.

Saturday we slept in a bit, the wine did us in the night before :) When we got up I called Arielle to see about going to Cannes for the day, but her phone was off, so unfortunately that didn't happen. We decided instead to go back to Monaco since we had agreed the previous day it is possibly the most incredible place either of us have ever been or will ever be. We had lunch on the harbor and saw the International Rotary and their crazy fancy cars in some sort of tribute exposition of old and new race cars, prominently Ferraris. It was pretty much awesome. We had some delicious specialty ice cream sundaes - with fruit, sorbet, pistachio, etc. They were great.

Saturday night we were back in Nice, and decided again to try to find the seafood place. With another failed attempt, we continued to drink wine and shared a Marguerita Pizza at some random café. We bought more wine after dinner and went down to the beach. We sat for a while, drinking wine and throwing stones into the waves, just observing the dark Mediterranean and the reddish orange half moon that was hanging in the sky shining on the water.

This morning it was straight to the train station and back to our prospective cities. It was an awesome weekend - definitely a good decision to go. We watched a lot of German TV because it was MTV and sometimes was in English - it was pretty hilarious.

I think that's all I have to report, pictures might be up today, but otherwise check back tomorrow! I hope you all had as amazing of a weekend as I did!

Départ pour Nice

So, I'm leaving for Nice tomorrow morning. I'm pretty excited, it should be a good time. Saturday I'll be in Cannes with Arielle and her family. I'm really looking forward to that, too.

Today we had an exam in art history. I didn't find out about it until it happened, so that was interesting. It was soooooo easy. My other classes were basically dumb, as usual. Since tomorrow is le 14 juillet, we don't have class. Hurray French independence! Thus I am departing for a long weekend in southern France, ah studying abroad :)

Okay, since I made the top ten list about why America is better, I've felt like I'm gypping France, because there are things they've got figured out better than the States.
1. Public transportation: everyone uses it, it's convenient and fast, and it saves beaucoup d'energie.
2. Buying food daily: if you look into a French refrigerator, which I might add are about 2/3 smaller than most U.S. fridges, you find only the food that will be eaten that day.
3. Fresh fruit all the time: there are fruit vendors every 30 yards when you're walking down the street. It's cheap and it tastes way better than in the States.
4. Snickers: I really think they put cocaine in the Snickers. I don't like Snickers at all, but for some reason I crave them each day. Phenomenal, really.
5. Wine: cheap, delicious, ever-present. Enough said.
6. Portion control: they eat food that isn't necessarily healthy, but they eat very little, so they don't become obese like crazy fat Americans.

That's all I can think of for the moment, but there might be more. I haven't got anything interesting to say today. I may or may not go out tonight, we'll have to see how I feel after a run and some dinner, and some wine of course :) Until the next time I can find a computer, au revoir!

Dude, Nutella...

Okay, so anyone who took French at Oakwood High School knows about the fantabulousness of Nutella because of our food parties every week in French class, and I would venture a guess that most of the rest of you know of it too. I am in love with it. And for all of you who just thought to yourselves 'so why don't you marry it?', believe me, if I could, I would. I might have eaten half a jar of Nutella, just plain on its own between yesterday and today. It's amazing. Good thing they sell it in the States. What's better is there is no 'nutrition information' on any product in Europe, so I won't know how bad Nutella actually is for me until I revenir aux Etats-Unis.

Grenoble. Does that city ring a bell to any of you avid Tour de France followers? It should, because it came through today, and much to my surprise, I was right on the curb of the road. I'm not kidding when I say I could've reached out my arm and pushed them over - I was that close. Check out the pics, they're at the end of my 'Grenoble Summer 2005' album in Community Webshots.

Angelina and I had quite an adventure trying to get to the little suburb of Grenoble the Tour went though. We left class early and hauled ass to get there. It took us nearly an hour by foot - the equivalent of walking from UD to somewhere in Kettering, or from Langdon Street to Perkins, or so. We walked through construction sites, on the side of a French express way, and through tiny village streets to get there, but we made it. Man, it was freaking awesome! I saw the Tour de France live - I actually saw it! WOW!

Last night I went out with Virginia and Arielle, and some French boys Virginia knows. Le Couche Tard, bien sûre... It was quite a good time. Tonight there is an 'American Style' wet t-shirt contest at Le Couche Tard... still haven't decided if I'll go watch some of the girls from Michigan participate... Could be interesting.

Right now I haven't got anything else to report, so I'll say adieu. Until tomorrow!

The Darkness

I believe in a thing called love, just listen to the rhythm of heart...

Okay, so remember that bad 80s song by The Darkness called 'I Believe in a Thing Called Love'? Well I do, and I've been listening to it on the iPod. Yes!

I have been remiss - there are a few things that I forgot to add in my last entry, so I shall tell you now. First of all, when I had dinner with Angelina and Amanda and their host family, Angelina and I taught them how to play Euchre after dinner. It was quite an achievement - the ultimate collapse of the language barrier. We taught French people how to play THE card game of the midwest, and they understood us!!! Secondly, when Angelina and I were shopping in Grenoble on Saturday, we saw a group of Native Americans dressed in their traditional costumes playing traditional music. Kind of a bizarre thing to see in a random French city, don't you think? Angelina analyzed the sighting as the equivalent of seeing Gauls dressed traditionally playing traditional music somewhere in the U.S. Hey, it could happen, right?

Now that that's out of the way, on to new business. Yesterday I went to Chamonix in the heart of the Alps, right near the borders of France, Switzerland and Italy. The bus ride there was a little shaky and uncomfortable - we made a couple stops on the way, which I guess was a nice break from the nauseating trip. We first stopped in Albertville where there was an Olympic Village. It was nice there, quite pretty. I, of course, took many pictures. One which many of you should appreciate, is of the sign for the Cheval Blanc (translation White Horse, think about it).

We took a train part of the way up Mont Blanc - it was too cloudy to go all the way to the top. Oh man, was it ever beautiful. There was still snow on the mountain tops, and we saw an amazing glacier. There were also some ice caves in the side of the mountain which we went into. There were some rocks and things frozen into the walls of the cave - I imagined it was something like what explorers saw when they discovered mammouths and things from the ice age. Very cool. I took plenty of pictures both inside and out of the cave, and the surrounding Alpine views. I must say it was one of the coolest places I've ever been to - and georgous.

The train ride back was better - shorter than the ride there. The only problem was the trip leader turned the radio on in the bus. It was a 'Nostalgie' station, or 'Oldies'. The music was fine, you know, Beatles, Beach Boys, random French oldies... but it was blaring! I tried listening to my iPod to take a nap, but even on full volume my headphones could not drown out the static-filled oldies music in the background. It was kind of hilarious, but obnoxcious nonetheless.

Today I had class - boring as usual. Art history was slightly interesting - we went to the Grenoble Museum of Art today, and then walked around the city looking at architecture. We went inside a cool gothic cathedral. It was so old, it was awesome. Virginia and I had sushi for lunch today, again at the Café Shaman. I enjoy it very much. We've decided to go out tonight - what a surprise. It's nice, my CUEF teacher Jean Bavard likes to not give us any homework, and we never have anything to do for Art History. I chose wisely :)

The Tour de France comes through Grenoble tomorrow - I'll be there with bells on. Pictures will be taken. Speaking of which, I am about to update my online album so check it out for Chamonix pics!

This weekend I am meeting Joe in Nice for Bastille day. Should be a good time. We'll check out Monaco, spend some time on the beach, eat some good food, drink some good wine, you know, the usual French stuff. Until tomorrow, ciao!

Il faut Sauver le Soldat Ryan

We MUST save the Ryan Soldier. Okay, so Angelina and I were at her house looking at the movie choices from the video store near by. I saw one that said 'Il faut Sauver le Soldat Ryan' and I started cracking up. I don't know why 'Saving Private Ryan' seemed so damn humorous in French, but honestly, it cracks Angelina and I up everytime we even think about it. For a direct translation, see sentence #1.

Yesterday was a farily decent day - besides the remnants of my 'Thirsty Thursday' fiasco... Kamekazis, Snakebites, and San Fransiscos are clearly an awesome idea when you have class at 8h30. Oh yeah, and the bottle of wine we drank in the middle of Place de Notre Dame before we went to the bars. Good thing. Needless to say, Thursday night was a blast and Friday morning, not so much.

Class was slightly rough, but we got out 30 minutes early, then Angelina and I decided to go get sushi - for anyone who didn't know, sushi is raw seafood... not chicken, not ever chicken. We went to a place called the Shaman Café - the sushi was fabulous! I had tuna and Angelina had salmon. So good. We then went back to Angelina's and hung out for awhile. They invited me over for dinner, so I went back to Lynda's quickly and hopped back on the tram to have dinner with Nicolet, Marie-Therèse and Sereal, and of course Amanda and Angelina. We had salmon with rice, salad, bread, cheese and of course wine, again - fabulous.

I met a girl named Virginia who goes to Princeton. She's really cool. We have Art History together. We started talking, I mentioned that I'm in a sorority and she said, 'yeah, me too,' so I asked which one. She said, 'I'm a Theta.' We, of course, freaked out, hugged, called each other sisters, acted like big nerds, you know, the usual. So we've talked about visiting each other and all that great stuff... I love Theta.

Speaking of classes here, I don't think I've talked about them yet. I tested into a level much lower than I should have, so it's super easy. There is this guy Josh in my class who I always sit next to - he goes to Boston University and we're both too cool for school - or at least for this class. I'm also taking Art History, all in French of course. I've found that I learn a lot more in class over here because I HAVE to pay attention. If I don't pay attention, I don't catch anything that the professor says, and if I do pay attention I catch all of what she says. In America, this isn't the case because I can kind of pay attention and still kind of catch the idea of what the teacher is talking about. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but I do know that it's bizarre for me to: a) go to a class 5 days in a row and b) not fall asleep at all during that time.

Today Angelina and I went shopping because all summer the entire city of Grenoble is on sale. Weird tradition, but I won't complain. I bought some cool stuff for myself, but mostly for you lovely people back in the U S of A. We discovered the most delicious dessert that could ever possibly be made. It is a 'Fraisier'. Some sort of decadent strawberry cake thing with crème brulée on the top, indescribable, really. Orgasmic. FABULOUS. We found it at a random Boulangerie near one of the tram stops. I may attempt to bring an entire cake of it back with me - though we'll see how that pans out, or doesn't as the case may be.

Tomorrow I have to get up around 6h00 to be at le Place de Victor Hugo by 6h40 so I can get on the bus to go to Chamonix for the day. Mont Blanc, here I come! For anyone who isn't sure what Mont Blanc is, first and foremost it's a poem written by Percy Shelley - husband of Mary Shelley - which I read with Joe in English 167 taught by Mario Ortiz-Robles, along with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Ah, British literature. Secondly, it's the highest point in all of Europe. Very cool. Don't worry - I'll take pictures :)

That's about all I have to say for now... I must add Bon Anniversaire to Kingsley!!! She's officially 13 and I'm officially old. Growing up is weird. So, to all of you lovely Americans, live it up - only 21 more days without me! Grands bisous!

Surfin' USA

The title of this blog entry simply reflects the song I'm listening to right now on my iPod. Beach Boys - Surfin' USA. Rock steady. Since today was uneventful, I've decided to create a top ten list in my blog. I shall call it "The Top Ten Reasons America is Better than France".

Here We Go:
10. Public toilets don't cost money in America
9. America has drinking fountains (that's a bubbler for you verbally challenged Wisconsin folk)
8. In the States, it's clearly marked where on the road cars drive and where people walk
7. Americans, generally, don't smell
6. Stores in America don't randomly close in the middle of the day for 2.5 hours because of lunch
5. Americans understand how to form a queue, and don't cut in front of everyone
4. There is skim milk in the States
3. You just cannot get a good burger anywhere in France
2. Americans, generally, pay attention to where they're going when they walk and don't plow over other people on the sidewalk
1. In America, ENGLISH is the official language - not French

Okay, so there are several more reasons, and as I think of them I will create new top tens, but for now, that's about all I got.

I must say today has been a much better day than yesterday. We had class all morning as usual, but afterwards Angelina, Amanda and I were able to sign up for Chamonix this weekend. Mont Blanc, here we come! We had class again in the afternoon, but instead of the French classes taught by Grenoble professors, it was with Mireille. She was really tough today, though, and made us all feel like big idiots. Ah, the French.

The University of Michigan OIP treated everyone in the program to ice cream today, so I, of course, got the très delicieux poire sorbet that you have all heard about. It's sooo good!!! After that, we went to the Monoprix (random Walgreens type store) to get wine. We'll probably drink it in the bushes somewhere again, we're pretty much awesome. We are going out tonight - Couche Tard! It's jeudi, Thirsty Thursday, YES! I haven't figured out the translation for "Thirsty Thursday" in French yet, but there must be one, if I learn what it is, I'll fill you all in.

For anyone who didn't know, I have in fact changed my travel plans and will be arriving at the Dayton International Airport Saturday the 30th of July promptly at 4:40pm EST. So to everyone in Good Ol' D-town, put your party hats on! It's sure to be a good night :)

I think that's all I have for now, when I figure out more exciting travel plans to places like Monaco/Nice and Brussels I will definitely let you know. Thanks for the comments Moore, Jess and Jo! I love them!

P.S. Soooo jealous about the 40s!

Murphy's Law

Pictures are up!!!!! Click on the link at the left. They're in a folder called Marseilles Summer 2005. Enjoy!

Ok, I realize more and more every day that America is really just better at everything than France. I really can't think of anything here, sauf the scenery, that is better than in the States.

Yesterday was an uneventful day, and by uneventful I mean we had class for 7 hours. Sick. We decided it was necessary to go out last night, so we went to the Couche Tard. John Paul is obsessed with Lance Armstrong. Funny. He made us these huge drinks called Snakebites. Cider, beer and black cassis. Sooooo good!!! Before we went to the bar, Amanda, Angelina and I drank a 3€ bottle of wine in the woods. So ghetto, we loved it. I got home around minuit, after calling a few of you lucky souls... Feel blessed ;) Not everyone gets a drunk dial from France!

Today we had class early in the morning - Amanda did not handle it well. She drank a bit more than she meant to I think... Needless to say, she had stories about weird French boys to tell me in class this morning. She and Angelina are always up to no good :) (not really, I just like messing with them). Class was stupid, in a word.

After classes, the day of Murphy's Law began. Everything that could go wrong, did. I feel like I waited around so damn much today, it sucked. After class Angelina and I attempted to sign up to go to Chamonix this Sunday. We got screwed. We waited in line for 20 minutes or more, only to find out we had to put down a deposit before we sign up, and we needed to have our student IDs so we couldn't do it for Amanda. Next we went and got on the tram. Three other trams left before the one we were on departed. Of course we sat there for 20 minutes waiting. Stupid tram. Next we went to the Grande Poste to exchange travelers' checks. I didn't have my passport so I couldn't do it. Stupid me. After the Poste, we tried to go to the bookstore to get this French book we have to read for class. The bookstore closes for an hour randomly in the middle of the day. Stupid bookstore. So we waited around for 20 minutes again, for the store to reopen. We got the book, which we were told was 60 pages. Try 200. YES! So, after all of that, we went to the Shaman Café for the sushi we had been craving all day. Oops, too late for lunch! Sorry, you can't be served. Awesome. We went instead to a café we'd been to before called Oasis and I had steak-frites. Okay, I'll tell you right now, never get steak-frites. Lots of fries, lots of white bread, some weird-tasting hamburger type meat. Nothing like the picture on the wall. I was upset, and it was kinda gross, but I ate it anyway, because I was pretty damn hungry.

I finally made it to the Café Internet after going back to the apartment, getting my passport and going all the way back to the Grande Poste and getting more €€. Did I mention it rained today? Awesome. So that's all I know. I'm not going out tonight, I'll probably just read my 200 page French novel instead. Keep reading and posting comments, I love reading them!

CHEVEUX!!

HAIR!! This morning je me suis levée à 6h45 in order to be at l'université by 8h00. We took our class placement test today - listening, reading and oral. Not totally sure how I did, but I was about on par with the other 60% of the Americans who didn't even finish the test. There was a listening comprehension part where a guy said some words or phrases and we had to choose from multiple choice responses which one he said. One of the words was cheveux - hair. He said it very excitedly and loudly, and I couldn't help but crack up. I started to think about how ridiculous such a test would be if it were given in English. I mean, what if some dude on a recording yelled HAIR! in the middle of a listening comprehension exam? Needless to say, it was funny.

Angelina, Amanda and I went to the grocery store again today and bought wheat bread, green beans, nectarines, and of course, Snickers ice cream bars. We went to their house again and made the répas. It felt good to eat green vegetables and grain!! Angelina and I then took a nap, while Amanda had to go to class.

Our class today was at some sort of weird museum that was actually just more of an exhibition. It was about the mountain people of the Alps and the birth of skiing. Kind of uninteresting, but whatever.

Tonight I am pretty sure we're going out - weather permitting. It's Independence Day, and we're a bunch of Americans in a foreign land. I think une boum is in order (that's a celebration for all of you American-talk folk). Speaking of which, HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY! Watch some cool fireworks for me, grill some burgers, and drink some beer - or whatever it is you drink on the 4th of July. I'll be sporting the red, white and blue tonight! So that's about all for now... Pictures tomorrow, I haven't got the time today. Later!

Get some popcorn...

Okay, now is your chance to prepare yourself for the long entry you are about to read... Before you go any further, get your favorite snack, a drink, and get your scrolling finger ready. Don't say I didn't warn you, this is going to be a lengthy one.

Here it goes. Thursday when I got back to the apartment, Lynda and Kenza were both in my room - Kenza playing and Lynda changing my sheets. I now have blue sheets with fish on them. Kenza was bugging me so I changed clothes and went for a run/walk for a little over an hour. I was running on the sidewalk and the next thing I know a BMW Z4 was coming straight for me. I had to hop over a metal fence into a dog park to avoid being mowed down by the middle-aged man who decided it was okay to drive his sports car on the sidewalk. Thursday night we ended up going to Le Couche Tard for a couple drinks, then we went home and went to bed.

Friday class was very uneventful and seemed to go on forever. Immediately after class, Libby and I got on the tram and headed for the train station. We had lunch at Quick Burger - probably the French equivalent of a Hot 'n Now, for any of you unfortunate souls who remember what Hot 'n Now was. It was awful.

We got on a bus to Valence which took an hour, and from there we got on a TGV to Marseilles. Our travel was flawless and not stressful - very nice. It was great and easy having just 2 people. It's so much harder to travel in groups. We made it to Marseilles and bought a 3-day métro pass which worked for the subway and the bus system around the city - we were good little travelers, very prudent! With a little help from a nice British man we found our hotel and settled in. The hotel room was freaking tiny with a queen-sized bed, but it didn't smell, it was clean, air-conditioned, and looked to be brand new. We lucked out.

As soon as we had settled into our room we left it again to explore the downtown area. We took the métro to the Vieux Port which is basically the center of the town. As I explained, Marseilles is the home to the Chateau d'If where the Count of Monte Cristo legend takes place. We decided to hop on an evening ferry and check out the îles off the coast. We bought our tickets and had some time to kill, so we walked around the port area and took some pictures.

We made it back to the port and got on the bateau at 19h. At this point, it's important to note that upon our arrival in Marseilles, we realized the amount of wind was excessive. It was difficult to walk upright because the gusts were so powerful. We thought it was weird that we couldn't go upstairs during the boat ride, so instead we went out onto the back deck of the boat where there was a group of French people drinking whiskey out of small plastic cups. When they offered some to us, we refused, assuming they were crazies from another country or something, and we didn't want to get involved. They kept telling us we had only a few minutes before we had to go back inside the boat. We didn't really understand why at the time, but we continued taking pictures of the Mediterranean and the port and such. Soon, we started to get sprayed lightly with the sea water from the wake of the boat. Now remember that wind I was talking about? Well as it turns out, wind tends to make the sea quite choppy. The boat was picking up speed and hitting waves, and before we knew it we were getting drenched and the crazies were ushering us inside to the protection of the glass doors that sealed behind us.

At this time we learned that the crazies weren't crazies at all, but the men running the boat having some fun on their last ferry across the sea on a Friday evening. While everyone was being tossed about inside the boat, one of the guys named Steven took Libby and I upstairs to the enclosed captain's area where there were 4 people smoking and drinking, driving the boat, and listening to French Reggae. We hung out up there for the remainder of the ride, trying to speak French with these guys above all the noise of the engine, the waves, the wind, and the reggae. It didn't work so well, but we had a blast anyway. As it turned out, the boat we got on was simply a ferry, not a tourist boat, so we came straight back to the port where we got off and went restaurant shopping.

Nine French menus later, we decided upon a cute Italian place called Chez Mario. It was perfect for our wind-blown salt-covered selves. We had a table in the corner where we could see everything going on around us, including the trio of men who walked around to different outdoor restaurants playing old Italian songs. We ordered some French table wine - code named red rubbing alcohol - and some pasta. I had something pesto and Libby had ravioli. We had lots of bread, good pasta, bad wine, and fun conversation. After dinner, we each had our own Tiramisu and I had espresso. It was a great répas. We were feeling good after our meal and wine, but we decided to go back to the hotel, watch BBC World News and get some rest so we could get up early and be tourists in the morning.

Saturday morning we were up and out of the hotel by 9h30 ready to tour the city. We went to see some gardens at the old Palais du Pharo on the coast of the port. It was georgous. We also saw the old opera house and parts of the old city. It was great. After playing tourist, we went back to the hotel, stole some towels from the housekeeping cart, changed our clothes, and headed to the beach. We took the bus which was packed. Crowded public transportation is officially my personal hell - excluding the packed 80 going up Observatory Dr. in the winter because students with backpacks, iPods and puffy coats aren't usually offensive smelling or pushy. We found a grocery store and bought some wheat bread, turkey, nectarines, string cheese and chips. We had a great picnic on the beach. The Mediterranean is truly georgous. When the sun hits it, it appears as though there are diamonds floating in the water. The sea temperature was far too cold to go swimming, but Libby and I both put our feet in and waded around a bit.

After the beach, we were wiped so we went back to the hotel, read and napped. We decided to go out for another great dinner, so after watching more BBC, we got ready, drank an entire bottle of wine, and went searching for a restaurant again. This time we ended up at a seafood place called La Daurade. We both ordered the salmon, and my God was it fabulous. Perfect, best salmon I've ever tasted by far which must mean it's good because I'm a salmon connoisseur :) We followed the fish with two scoops of ice cream - I had vanilla that tasted like pumpkin and coffee, while Libby had coffee and dark dark dark chocolate. It was great. Once again after our meal, we were tired so we went back to the hotel and went to bed.

This morning we slept in a bit. We woke up and turned on the TV to find French Sunday morning cartoons. So we watched. It was SpongeBob SquarePants, in French. Oh man, who knew? It was slightly entertaining. After SpongeBob I turned the channel and found the French coverage of Wimbledon. They were replaying the devastating women's final match from yesterday, so I caught a fair chunk of that. Poor Davenport, she should've won.

After we got moving, we checked out of the hotel and went straight to the beach. We tried to go to the market again, but it was closed so we ate leftover bread and chips from the day before. We hung out on the coast of the Mediterranean for a couple hours, then caught the bus back downtown. Our journey back to Grenoble began. We got on the subway, then on the TGV to Valence. From there we caught another train back to Grenoble, and now here I am. Quel week-end!

So, now that you've endured the longest blog entry ever, I must thank you for caring so much and bothering to read it. I will have pictures up tomorrow hopefully - I haven't got the time tonight because the Café Internet is closing soon. That's all for now, I hope you've enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed experiencing it! Until tomorrow, à bientôt!