Lundi

Today I had class. It was pretty boring since a new sessions starts tomorrow, so they old people were gone and the new people were not here yet. We did however, talk about something that happened yesterday here, and that is daylight savings. Apparantly here at least there is a lot of controversy over it and most poeple do not really like it, this was news to me. I'm a fan I like the light longer.

After class I grabbed a hot dog, yes American. But what is not American is the fact that it is stuffed into a baguette which is so so good.

I then went up to the Bastille again for a work out and my legs hurt now! It was an extremely nice day and very pretty out and I'm mad I forgot my camera. After I sat in the park, ate a crepe, and read "le petit prince" a book which Mary gave me which I have not yet read yet. It was a very fun Frenchy afternoon.

For dinner we had couscous, and we discussed what my host family does for Easter (paques). It is nothing religious to at least my host family. They are going to decorate eggs, and here they have chocolate eggs with stuff inside rather than plastic eggs with candy inside. Also, she talked about how she would make tiny little holes in each side of the egg, empty the egg, then refill it with chocolate filling, then decorate the egg. They will also decorate hardboiled eggs and when the kids find them they have to see if its chocolate or not. Sounds kind of fun. However, she showed me how to empty the egg...VERY HARD! I broke the first one and succeeded with the second one. We made little tiny holes in each side and then you have to blow all the insides out of the egg. Pretty interesting.

Now I am going to catch up on some stuff and start my new class tomorrow afternoon. I'm also still preparing for Italy! I'm planning on eating lots of pizza and pasta and am very excited!

Not much new

Today it rained all day, I spent the morning sleeping in and reading from the new book Mary got me, Le Petit Prince, which I had not yet read- good so far!

This afternoon I went to La Rafle. It was a very good movie, although that is hard to say because it was not very fun to watch. It was about the many Jews that got arrested and sent to concentration camps by French police who were Nazi accomplices. It was a very powerful movie and it was all true, even the family that it followed was a real family. I am glad I saw it, although it was very sad.

Tomorrow I will probably have lunch at a friends house (sometimes people bring some things to eat and make it all there) it is easier than going to try to get an entire meal on our own since nothing is open on Sunday!

So really nothing new with the rain, just a relaxing weekend

Au revoir!

Geneve and crepes

Well the last couple days have been good ones!

Yesterday I had class in the afternoon and then at night I went to eat crepes for dinner with some friends from class since this was our last week of this session. It was very fun! There was a girl from Spain, Hungary, Mexico, and America. The girl from Mexico is married to a Frenchman so he came with some of his friends later and it was a really great opportunity to speak French with more native speakers. Really good crepes too : )

Today I woke up very very early and we headed to Geneva, Switzerland with my program. It was pouring rain alll morning and it got very cold, so that was a bummer. However, we spent most of the morning inside. We went to the United Nations building, because outside of New York it is the most important place for the United Nations. It was pretty interesting to see how it works and where all of the representatives from all of the countries sit and vote and discuss and see how they communicate. Fact: The only two countries in the world not represented or represented by another country in the UN are.....

Vatican City and Palestine.

Then we went to the Red Cross Museum where the Red Cross was started or their headquarters are there or something.....okay but kind of boring.

Then when we went outside and the sun started to shine! There is a Cathedral called St. Pierre's Cathedral and we hiked the many stairs to the top (not as many as Notre Dame though). Then we went around and shopped for what is maybe the most famous thing in Switzerland- Chocolate! That was fun...we also saw a lot of watches and Swiss Army Knives. Since Switzerland is not part of the European Union, they use Swiss Francs. It is annoying, and everything there is EXTREMELY expensive. However, we could use our euros we would just get change back in Swiss francs. There is also a very pretty lake there as well. Surrounded by the mountains it's a beautiful place. It was a day well spent.

This weekend, I don't really have any plans. I think its going to rain all weekend : ( I may go see a movie called Le Rafle. It's a French movie about the World War II in France and how many Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Not totally my thing, but very important to France right now because this is not really talked about much in France, I don't think it makes France look very good. So it is just an interesting French culture thing I would like to see.

Thats all, enjoy some pictures!

Human Rights Conference going with the UN.

finally

It has been a long time, but we didn't have internet acces much last week and I have been busy this week trying to catch up on homework and regular life again. Yesterday I had a presentation and a test so I feel better about school now that those things are over...

Me and my family (mom, dad, sister, brother, grandma, and great-aunt) all had a WONDERFUL time when they came to visit. Brief summary: We went to Paris, stayed near the Eiffel Tower. We visited Versailles, climbed to the top of Notre Dame, saw Saint Chappelle, visited the archeological crypte, many other fun things! One of the best things was going up the Eiffel tower on a really nice night. Then Wednesday we went to Grenoble. It was beautiful out and there were so many people out! We ate outside at a place here called place de la Grenette. Its a bunch of cafes where you can eat outside, and its very fun. We walked around town a little and then that night we went to visit my house and have dinner with my host family which was fun! Thursday was one of our best days, we hiked to the top of the mountain (where the Bastille is). It was tough but we made it and it was fun, we treated ourselves to some Haagen Dazs before going to get ready for our fancy dinner. We then took the telepherique (ski lift type thing) up to the Bastille and had a really fancy dinner at a really fancy restaurant. It was all good and beautiful looking down at the city with the lights and really fun. The next day we went back to Paris and visited the Louvre. Saturday mom, Madison and I went to Champs-Elysees to look at the shops while dad and Isaac went to the Catacombs. We then met back up at Mont Martre and went to the Sacre Coeur.

It was a fun and tiring trip!

This week I have just been catching up on school work...yesterday I went to a movie for 3.50 euros (it is this film festival going on right now). It was pretty funny. Today it was very nice out so I just walked around and explored town for the entire afternoon, sat at a cafe, ate a waffle- French life is good like that.

Friday I'm going to Geneva, Switzerland so I'm excited about that! Tomorrow I'm going to a creperie to eat crepes for dinner with some of my classmates!

A bientot!

Arrival in Paris

Hello From Paris!!

We made it, it was not an easy trip - but we are here! We left Chicago at exactly 6:28 on Friday evening (right on time). Waited on the runway maybe 10 minutes and we were off. Easily up in the air, had our airplane dinner watched a movie and we were all ready to snuggle in for the remaining 6.5 hour flight. About 2.5 hours into the 8.5 hour flight my aunt Mary said "look at the map on your t.v. screen, we've turned around and are going back". A few minutes later, they come on the intercom and tell us the 2nd computer is down and they are not allowed to go over international waters without a back up computer, so we are heading back to Chicago! So, after 4.5 hours - we are now landing back in Chicago. They kept us on the plane and had maintaince come in and fix the problem. They had to call in a new flight staff and flight attendant crew, and we were off about an hour later.

We were able to contact Brittan when we landed in Chicago, so she made all the arrangements for our apartment in Paris. She then spent the day sight seeing, and avoided the airport all together, not knowing when we would make it. She was at the apartment waiting for us when we got here.

We would all agree that our cab ride from the airport to the Paris apartment was 100 times more life threatening, then any of the plane drama we encountered! I can't even put it into words, so I will not!

We arrived alive to the apartment, and met Brittan. It was absolutely lovely to see her! She is so comfortable here, it will be amazing to spend the week with her! Between her and Madison knowing the language - I'm pretty much off the hook and hanging with them :)

Tonight we went to a cafe for dinner, then walked to the Eiffel Tower. Our apartment is less than 2 blocks from the Eiffel Tower and we are looking right at it from our front door! We saw the Eiffel Tower light up and of course, had crepes right under it! Here are a few pictures from our first evening.

We are very tired and hoping for a great nights sleep. They are in the next room planning our tomorrow, we will try very hard to update every night with a few pictures!

Finally!

Sorry! I have been busy doing stuff, although it doesn't seem like much has been going on to tell...

Monday I went to class and did some errands. Tuesday, we went to the opera. It was well done, but very hot and very long and I couldn't understand what they were saying, so I left at intermission and I still didn't get home until 11:30.

Yesterday I went to class again and did homework. I have really just been doing life, school homework, etc.

I am getting ready to leave for Paris tomorrow though! I am very excited and don't know if I will blog until I next Sunday. My family is coming and it will be great! We're coming back to Grenoble Wed-Friday.

Sorry its boring!

Vizille

Well yesterday we went to Vizille, and it snowed all day! It was actually very pretty in the snow, but it was a shame because there are many pretty gardens that would have been fun to enjoy. It is only about 20 minutes from here so I am definitely going back in April when its nice out for a picnic or something.

Inside the Chateau de Vizille is a museum of the French Revolution...why? Because the French Revolution really started in Grenoble, not in Paris. Grenoble is known to be a town that is more left wing and known for rebelling, and it was at this chateau where everybody met and planned out how they were going to begin the revolution. They decided who was going to go onto Paris during this meeting.

We were supposed to go to a Grenoble soccer game after this, but it was too cold and snowy and the Grenoble soccer team is apparantly really bad...so I decided to go to a movie with some friends instead.

In all, it was a very good weekend!

Today it was cold as well, but at least sunny! We were supposed to have a laser tag tournament at 5:30; turns out our team "captain" told us the wrong time so I wasn't able to go. Tomorrow I am going to an opera. It should be interesting, I've never been to one before. It starts at 8:30 pm and I have heard doens't get out until almost midnight...

LYON!

I love Lyon! It is an awesome city! I went their with my Spanish friend from class and her friend. It went smoothly, it was a great day, we were not rushed and just enjoyed ourselves!

Our train (about 1.5 hours) got to the station about 10 am. We bought a ticket for the tram/metro system for the day because we knew we would want take the funicular (little train car thing) to go up to the top of the hill where there is a cathdral. It was really easy just to take the metro over to the center of town, where we then took the funicular. It was really sunny and nice at the top of the hill (although a bit chilly today). We went into 2 cathedrals. One was very beautiful: La Basilique de Notre Dame de Fourviere. We also saw the ancient Roman ruins, 2 ampitheaters. We hung around there for a bit, took in the sunlight and enjoyed the view. We bumped into another friend from class, Ting-Ting who was there with her mom visiting. After we got down we saw them again, after we got done eating we saw them again! It was pretty funny.

Then we went down and had a gread lunch! It is the gastronomic capitial of France...There are so many restaurants its unbelievable. I read that it has more restaurants per block than any other city. We ate at a very cute place and ordered the menu (when you pick 3 different courses). I first started out with a goat cheese salad which was amazing, and then had sirloin with pasta covered in cheese from the region, I cannot remember the name! And then delicious chocolate cake of course. We were at the restaurant for a few hours, that is how they do it here. It was a very good time, just sitting and enjoying good food.

After that it got very cold and even started snowing a bit. We went to Vieux Lyon (Old Lyon) The architecture there is very very cool, and they have little passageways inside inbetween the buildings that gets you to very cute and colorful apartments. I've never been to Italy, but to me it seemed very Italien. Many of the staircases were on the outside which I think is Italien. It was very fun to walk around this really pretty part of town.

Dedicated to food, do not read this if hungry : )

Today was an amazing day, if only because I discovered a place called, The Waffle House (yes in English) In France, along with crepes, another popular dessert to eat are big waffles (or gauffres). I had one of these from the waffle house, with Nutella on it. I have had gauffres before, they have been kind of hard and crunchy, but good. At the waffle house, I saw them making the waffles with the dough by hand, it had just come out of the waffle maker, it was soft and hot and it was probably the best thing I've ever eaten in my life! Also, I saw that they had a Nutella milkashake, something that I will be trying soon.

I just thought that should be first in the blog. I know I haven't been keeping up very well- I will try to write more frequently!

Last night, I had my first ever French cooking class. It was VERY fun and I learned some good things I can take back with me to the states. We started out with a salad, with deviled eggs (the mayonaisse inside we made from scratch!) It was very very good. Then we had a gratin cauliflowers...Baked cauliflower with a sauce, it was very good too, who new cauliflower could taste so good! Along with that we had chicken (the ladie's house we went to had chickens, so the chicken and the eggs we used were all from her backyard). We breaded the chicken by hand, first dipped it in butter and then crumbled bread and dipped it in that. And then we had cheese of course and then crepes! My part was the crepes and the ingredients inside the crepes. We put honey, chocolate, and apples inside the crepes. I cut the apples, cooked them in butter until they got really soft, and then put sugar on them. The chocolate we made by putting a chocolate bar in a bowl with water, NOT STIRRING THEM (somebody made this mistake) and then putting it in the microwave for 3 minutes and dumping the water out without mixing the chocolate and water, add some butter, stir, yum. It was a great time and really great French food.

Cheese bread and wine, very French.

Today after class I went to the Foire du printemps. It is in a big building and kind of like a home show ...we thought it was more like a market but it was still fun. There were lots of pools and hottubs and furniture and decks being sold, but there was also a huge room with many many reptiles to look at, and a seal show, and food to taste and buy, so it was fun.

Tomorrow I am going to Lyon with a new girl I met from class who goes is from Spain. Lyon is the gastronomic capital, so there will probably be much more talk of food in the next blog too. Hopefully I'll be able to update tomorrow night if I'm not back too late, if not I will Sunday night. Sunday I am going to the Chauteau de Vizilles and a Grenoble football (soccer) match. I hear they are really bad, so we will see. So I will have lots to do and blog about!

This is me trying and kind of failing to flip a crepe...

New Class

Yesterday morning I got up early to go to my new class that starts in March at 8:30. I get there and there is a sign on the door saying that the class has been rescheduled for 12:30, great. So I went back home and did some research for trip stuff. I went back at 12:30 for class. The weather was BEAUTIFUL, but I had to sit inside all afternoon. There were people eating lunch outside and I was sooo jealous. It was about 60 degrees. Then after class I went to the tourism office to get some information about the caves of Choranche that I want to visit sometime.

Today I also had class all afternoon. I do like my new teacher though, and we have been learning some good stuff. There was a big storm in the west of France with lots of flooding and lots of deaths, so we have been talking about weather vocaulary. Not really up my alley talking about all of these bad weather things, but oh well. We've watched some interesting video with pictures taken by Yann Arthus-Bertrand who is the most famous photographer in France right now. His specialty is taking pictures from the sky, it was very pretty.

I'm not sure what my plans are for tonight yet...tomorrow I am taking a French cooking class which I am very excited about!

Monday

Well there is not much to say after yesterday...today I just went to class, a new session began. It was about 55 degrees here though! Although I had to sit in class all day. Tonight I'm going to eat dinner with the family and then finish up my homework.

Here are some more pictures from the weekend:

We drove a bus an hour up the mountain, This is my class

then took the ski lift up on the left (for about

10 minutes) then on the right there was

another ski lift that took you up even farther!