Greetings from Grenoble!

Hello!

I am now in Grenoble and doing well...getting here was a journey because a plane was cancelled and I missed my connection in Munich- but I am here now, I arrived Friday night. Having missed the orientation Friday, there was a lot to do yesterday- me and the two other students on the intensive program here were taken around by Miranda, the director, given a tour, got tram passes, etc.

Last night we went to our host families. I live with a divorced mother (Nathalie) who has a son who is 12 (Maxime). He lives with her one week and his dad the next, this is a very common arrangement in France called "garde alterne". I have not met the son yet he arrives tomorrow.

My host mom is very nice, so is the apartment-she lives in a suburb nearby Grenoble called Echirolles. It is really growing and is a very nice area with many things to do. She loves to decorate, and she LOVES flowers and the color red. My room has flowers all over the walls as well as the light fixtures and there are real and decorative flowers all over the house- the toilet paper is scented and has flowers on it.

Today I slept in late and then Nathalie and her boyfriend, David, took me around to show me the tram stop and train station which I will have to take for school. I will take a tram, then the train, then another tram to get to school. The train goes fast however, it is only a 6 minute ride whereas if I took the tram all the way it would take about 45 minutes to my school. We also have attempted to make a rose cake, we'll see how that goes it is still in the oven. We are bringing it over to her mom's because her birthday was yesterday.

A bientot!