Today was pretty uneventful.  Woke up, went to class for FOUR HOURS STRAIGHT (12:30-4:30).  Learned that for talking about half-past a certain hour you say "[hour]-et-demi" only for the morning hours before noon.  After that, you say "[hour]-trente."  After class I walked around downtown by myself for a little.  Then I came home. For dinner we had beef ravioli.  Apparently two new guys have moved into the house: Pierre-Eric and Bruno (better as a dog name? let me know what you think in the comments).  This place is like a hotel.  After dinner Mme., Mme. Dosso (Mme.'s friend who is living here also and searching for an apartment of her own), Stephanie (my host sister), Bruno, and I all went swimming out back.  I was the first one in the pool and I was there alone for awhile so I brought the new David Sedaris book When You Are Engulfed in Flames to keep me company.  Everyone thought that was weird! I don't understand why.  I've been trying to get on the dog's good side.  Her name is Rubyard, and she throws a fit every time I come home.  I think she's starting to like me because she randomly wanders into my room now (usually she never goes anywhere without Mme.) Anyway.  I am le tired now, so I'm gonna do my half of the homework thanks to the system Raffi and I have going, and go to bed.  Night!

p.s. I sent most of you postcards today so let me know when you get them! It costs .85 Euros (almost $2)! So enjoy them and you people better write me back!!!

La Bastille, L'Eglise de St. Andres & Le Musee de Grenoble

Bonjour, friends! I had a busy day today! Woke up and met a few kids from my group at the Notre Dame Museum tramp stop on line B, and then we went and got lunch at this cute little restaurant called Le Librarie Le Sphinx.  Yeah, I don't get it either.  Anyway, I had a croissant and a tomato mozzarella salad, that had lots of olive oil on it and salad greens beneath it.  It was really good, fast service, and not too expensive.  Afterwards, we went took the telepherique up to La Bastille.  The telepherique is like a gondola that traverses the width of the River Isere, which wraps around Grenoble.  We were going to walk down when we got to the top of the mountain where La Bastille is, but of course it started pouring.  So we went exploring and found a long tunnel with a LOT of stairs at the end.  We climbed them, rested for a bit, and then climbed some more.  At the top we found another tunnel with holes in the walls.  We stayed in the tunnels for shelter from the rain.  La Bastille was built to protect the city of Grenoble from intruders a few hundred years ago.  We eventually took the telepherique back down, and found refuge in a church from  the 13th century, St. Andres.  It was gorgeous inside, with tons of old biblical paintings and beautiful stained glass.  After that, we went to Le Musee de Grenoble,  which had a lot of classical Italian-style art (think biblical scenes, etc.) and some artifacts stolen from Egypt in the basement.  There was another exhibit with African art that I didn't have time to go to.  I'll go back sometime this week though.  One thing that was weird about the museum was that the paintings aren't in glass cases! Hmm. Strange.  Anyway, I'm super tired so I'm putting myself to bed.  Gotta get up early tomorrow.  My new Armenian friend Raffi and I split our homework for tomorrow so we each only have to do half! Devilish, I know.  But do they really think I'm going to read 100 pages a night en francais? Non, merci!

Oh, and p.s. I've posted up some pictures on Facebook.  For you non-believers, here are the public links (you'll have to copy & paste the address into your web browser) :

Vercors: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2003539&I=91398&id=1263930046

Grenoble: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2003538&I=a3006&id=1263930046

Vercors

So today we went to Vercors, which is a mountain range that makes up part of the French Alps.  We had lunch in this town called La Chapelle en Vercors (http://www.vercors-net.com/lachapelle)  in a really adorable, family owned restaurant/hotel called "Hotel Bellier" (see picture).  Ahead of time, we were given the choice between two meals: traditionally prepared trout (a plate they specialize in preparing on the mountain) and a vegetarian option.  Although I have tried to force myself to like fish many times, I really don't unless it's in sushi, so I chose the vegetarian option which turned out to be really good.  It was a squash/cheese casserole-type dish with a side of a cooked tomato stuffed with seasoned bread crumbs.  We also had le gratin dauhpinois which is a plate that the region of Dauphine specializes in.  It involves lots of cheese and potatoes.  Second, third, and fourth servings are difficult to refuse.  Desert was called profiterole, I think, but I'm not sure if I spelled it right.  The best way to describe it is an empty cream puff cut in half with a ball of ice cream in between, drizzled with chocolate...sounds disgusting, right? Ha. It was sooo good. Be jealous!

On our way up the mountain we also stopped at a little monument called "Les Pionniers du Vercors," which was a small graveyard which marked the graves of those who died in the Maquis du Vercors which was a battle between the Germans and the French resistants during World War II.  The French resistants had taken up weapons to deter the Germans from going on to Normandy and blocked the only possible route up the mountain only to be surprised by German parachutes and motor-less gliders.  The Germans raped and tortured the entire town.  A lot of civilians were killed.

On a happier note, we also saw Pont-en-Royans, which is a small town famous for its houses, which are suspended high above a river.  We continued onto the mountain's famous tourist site, Les Grottes de Choranche, or the caves of Choranche.  The caves are famous because they are full of rare stalactites that can't be found anywhere else on earth.  I think.  I should check my facts, probably.  It was about 30* cooler in the cave than outside, so I think that was my favorite part.  Also, I'll be sending you all postcards of it, so you can see just how pretty it actually was (gorgeous!) Speaking of postcards...I'd like to shout out to Erika, who is now my favorite friend because she sent me MAIL! Which I received today! Love you! And thanks for the celebrity gossip update, it takes forever to load on my BlackBerry!

So, on the bus home, this girl Ralanda, one of the like annoyingly obvious American people in our group, was preaching to the girl she was sitting next to about how gays shouldn't married because bla bla bla the Bible says so. And marriage is like, so sacred. Or whatever. Right? And then next thing I know, she's going on and on about her casual sex with some guy back home and how she hates him but she just loves having sex with him, etc.  I'm like, k so marriage is too sacred for gay people but sluts can partake in the misogynistic fun? Cool. But count me out!

Unrelated note... dinner was so fun today! The food was questionable (I ate a chunk of light pink sausage with strange texture) but the conversation was great.  And then Mme. busted out a couple pints of that liquor from Chartreuse which apparently is 50% alcohol.  Then she had us all doing shots toasting to our good health! It was hysterical.  I was obligated to whip out the camera.  Anyway, I'm about ready to go to bed.  La Bastille tomorrow! Finally.  Have a good rest of the weekend everyone!  

First Night Out on the Town

SO! Tonight was our first night out on the town.  We went out to eat at a creperie, whose name I have already forgotton! I had a Croque Monsieur Maison, which, as I found out, was a thick slice of bread with ham on top and then gruyere cheese on top of that.  I don't like ham, but they don't eat turkey in cold-cut form here. So it was okay.  I had a buerre sucre crepe for dessert- which was really good, especially with the framboise glace (strawberry ice cream) that I kept dipping it in (the girl next to me got it).  We went out in a large group of girls, most of whom were very loud and typically "American," so that was embarrassing.  They were also dressed really...um...American...as well... which was also embarrassing.  So my new friend Jennifer and I tagged along a few steps behind, and we all ended up at this place called the London Pub near the Notre Dame tram stop (which, I heard, is an awesome museum that I must go to next week!)  It was SO crowded and we were really taken aback by the Europeans dancing on these foot-wide counter-like things that bordered the entire club.  We took up a few tables in the back and met up with other people from our program.  Jennifer and I each had a Stella beer (HI FAMILY - REMEMBER WHEN TANTE SORAYA OFFERED MARY SOME STELLA WHEN SHE WAS LIKE 4 WITH HER DINNER...IN EGYPT?!?!) and later, the bartender came back (they take your order like a restaurant instead of you going up to the bar) and brought us a complimentary huge bottle of lemon drop liquor and everyone did a shot together which = bonding.  This is the end of my quick update though because I have to get up at 8 a.m. tomorrow because we are going to Vercors, a mountain that has a lot of history with la Resistance. 

P.S. If anyone wants to iChat/Skype (MOM/NATHAN/JULEZ) - tomorrow night around anywhere from 5-7 your time would be IDEAL.  I'm supposed to be home around 6 my time (12 noon your time, so we can do it then too! I just have dinner an hour and a half later). 

French Guys Dress Like Fags

It's true.  They all wear tank tops and capris and they all have both their ears pierced and wear more jewelry than my mother.

Onto other news, this morning I woke up and opened the shutters, and there was a lizard on my window sill!!!!! Today I had a paper due, so I went to the University early to finish it, which turned out to be a really good idea since the teachers were there early too and were available for questioning.  It only took like an hour for me to do!

After class I went to Le Musee de la Resistance et la Deportation, which is a museum full of information, photographs, and keepsakes that have to do with French Resistance during La Seconde Guerre Mondiale (WWII).  It was really cool because we learned about a lot of things from that time period extensively during French 232 (winter semester).  I was really bothered by one thing though: there was a definite lack of acknowledgment of female resistantes.  I remember reading a lot about women like Lucie Aubrac and Olga Bancic who risked their lives and even the lives of their children in transporting information (sometimes swaddled within their infants' clothes) for the Allies.  There were also a bunch of women who had relationships with German soldiers and were ostracized from French communities after the occupation ended, a lot of them were forced to have their heads shaved in order to endure embarrassment for the "crimes" they had committed.  None of that was documented at the museum.  So that was disappointing, because those were some of the only fascinating things I remember from class.  Some interesting things they did have where huge publicites, or advertisements, for le S.T.O (service travailler obligatoire) which was a volunteer program available for the Southern French, and was marketed as a way to serve their country.  For every two volunteers that would go work for the Germans in Germany, one French prisoner of war would be released.  One really disturbing thing was a wall full of pictures of children from the 40's.  When I got closer, I realized they were pictures of Jewish children who had been killed by the Nazis.  Ugh. Sickening.  At the end of the exhibit, there was a quote painted on the wall that read:

"Pour prier comme il nous plait, si nous somme religieux.  pour ecrire ce qu'il nous plait, si nous sommes poetes." /"If we pray as we please, we are religious.  If we write as we please, we are poets."  That's my own translation, so I'm not sure how accurate it is.  But I took it to mean (in the context of resistance) that writing what you think is more powerful than simply thinking it or praying it because it gets things done... I thought that was interesting and true.

Oh yeah, and there was an old bike randomly sitting beneath an S.T.O. advertisement.  So Nathan, I guess if you lived in that time period, that would've been your ride.  It's more bad ass than the one you're rocking now...

I'm talking to my cousin Isabella right now.  Apparently her family will be in Paris next weekend so I'm going to try and go meet them by train!

Anyway, I am meeting a lot of people from class downtown for dinner/going out (to a club called Vertigo) in 2 hours, so I don't really have anything to do at the moment.  But I have nothing more to say so, au revoir!

It Feels Good to be a Law-Abiding Citizen

I HAD MY FIRST LEGAL DRINK TODAY!!! Yup, I did.  So this must be what it feels like to be 21... I guess I don't feel different--my law-breaking ways have spoiled me!  I got up this morning as usual, went to the University, finished up my homework/ate brunch/went to class.  Class is so long (2 hours!) because it's so hot and the room smells because we all sweat like crazy.  And next week, we have class for 4 hours straight every day! It's nuts!  A man came in around the end of class and described our "excursions" for us, which are planned trips that we already paid for in our program fee that we will be going on every saturday except for next Saturday.  I am planning on going to Monaco because I really want to...  I couldn't really understand him because he was talking so fast, but one of the excursions from what I understood was to this mountain called Chartreuse, where there is a monastery whose monks brew this exclusive liquor that is yellow-green in color.  The Chinese guy must have been talking about this but he called it wine.  Anyway, I'm going to try to head over there tomorrow after class.

Today after class, this kid Jeff, from Hong Kong (he goes to Wisconsin, went to prep school in Connecticut, speaks perfect English and two dialects of Chinese, model human) and I both had to go to the Post Office (he had to mail a postcard and I had to exchange money - which apparently you can't do in banks).  We decided to go exploring together downtown afterwards.  Turns out we have a lot in common!  We went to an art gallery and tried to go into L'Hotel de la Prefecture but we got kicked out cause apparently it's not open to the public.  We went into this church by the Victor Hugo tram stop called L'Eglise de St. Louis, which was built in the 17th century.  There were a few older people praying inside, but we went in and sat down for a little.  It was absolutely gorgeous. The stained glass was incredible.  And old! It was amazing.  Afterward, I had my first diet Coke since being in France.  I didn't realize it was going to cost 2.5 Euros! Guess it was my first AND last, ha!  We walked around a bit more, through this famous garden, and then we went to a little cafe and had our first legal BEERS! C'etait tres bien!  It was from the tap and it started with an A, it was brewed in France, but I forgot the name.  I'll find out and update with it tomorrow.  I didn't end up going to the museum I wanted to go to today because apparently we are doing it as a class after the course tomorrow.  Which is fine, although I hate traveling in big, American tourist groups.  Hopefully I will have time to go to Chartreuse afterwards!  Anyway, Mme. should be ringing the bell for dinner any second now so I'm going to go! Love you/miss you all! Post a comment to let me know you're reading! I really appreciate it.  And between the comments and the emails, I can't believe you guys are all reading this.  I have the best friends/family in the world.  Oh! There's the bell! A demain!

Weird Art People Are Taking Over My Life

I slept really well last night! I went to bed around quarter to 1 and basically slept straight through until quarter to 10 this morning.  Yup, I missed breakfast again. It's only served from 7-9 a.m. What a joke! I got up, got ready, took the bus and then the tram by myself to the University.  When I got there, I had a sandwich and did my homework for tomorrow.  We have a paper due Friday that I wanted to start today but probably won't...

This girl named Sonja who's in my program sat at the table with me and we started talking.  She seems cool and she wanted me to come to a museum today but I already promised Wendy I'd go downtown with her.  I would've rather gone to the museum, but I had to bail on Wendy the other night when she wanted to go out because apparently, I have a 10 o'clock curfew and it takes about two hours to eat dinner in France, which takes places anywhere from 7:30-9 (7:30 chez Cottave-Fabert).

Anyway, I picked up some flowers (pink tiger lilies) for Mme. Cottave at a market after class, brought them back to the house, dropped off my book bag, and headed downtown to meet Wendy and some other girls.  They were shopping at this store that did not suit my taste at all, but I waited for them to finish.  Afterwards they stopped in another store that was equally tacky and I decided I wanted to go to Mango (where I bought two cute going out tops, one for me, one for Anna) and have them meet me instead of stay in that disgusting store (think Apple Bottom-type clothes).  Jennifer, this Asian girl from New Jersey who I vaguely remember from Intro to Poetry last spring (she was in my class) volunteered to go with me.  We hit it off pretty quickly.  She told me that the other girls think I'm weird because they saw me wandering around alone yesterday! Haha! We made plans to have a picnic at La Bastille on Sunday.  We're going to take the gondola thing up and climb down.  I'm excited!  Later we met back up with Wendy and sat down for [non-alcoholic] drinks at a little cafe.

I can't believe I'm legal in Europe and I haven't had a drink yet!!! It's killing me!!!  Apparently a bunch of people are going to a discotheque on Friday around 10 but I have yet to break the news to Mme. Cottave.  I really don't know how to deal with her saying no.  It's just bizarre! I am a grown woman, she is not my mother, and I should be able to go out if I want to, n'est-pas?

When I returned home, I asked Mme. Cottave if she found the flowers and told her they were from me and she kissed me on both cheeks! I wasn't expecting such a strong reaction! I just thought I should bring her something because I know that the other students in the program brought their host families gifts.  After she thanked me, she asked me if I'd like to go in the pool before dinner.  Considering it's 90* out, I agreed.  I sat in the pool for about a half-hour, BBMing with Lana and Anna (HI GUYS!!!!!!!), then went upstairs for dinner.  I'm still lovin' that red one-piece.  I really think they're 10x sexier than bikinis...they leave more to the imagination and you don't feel like everyone's looking at your FAT!

For dinner, we started with a green salad, a Chinese cabbage salad, and a tomato salad.  I really wanna ask her how to make the dressing! It's so good.  Then she brought out two type of omelet, one with an herb similar to spinach, called sorrel in English.  I Wikipedia'd it and apparently it is commonly used  as a laxative, which would explain the last few hours... Also, it tastes like moulokheya, which is a traditional Egyptian dish that I happen to hate (although many people love it)...  The other omelet we ate had cheese and a more common herb that I of course forgot the name of already! She also made these really good potatoes.  Dessert was the same as always: cheeses, fruit, and yogurt.

After dinner, Jessica and I followed Mme. Cottave to her basement where she was holding what she calls an exposition.  All her artist friends come and do art with her in commemoration of her mother's life.  Her mother was a locally famous artist. Mme. Cottave herself is an artist as well...I just can't seem to get away from these weirdo art people.  Is someone trying to send me a sign?  Anyway, back to the story, Jessica and I went to the basement and found Mme. Cottave and her colleagues drawing these two little girls who were posing for them.  We walked around the other rooms in the basement, which were filled with art from past expositions (it's annual, I guess).  We stumbled across a book Mme. Cottave herself wrote about her mother.  It was really nice! We were surprised to see how dedicated she was to keeping the memory of her mother and her mother's art alive.  We were heading back upstairs and saying "Bon Soir" to Mme. and her friends when suddenly, she asked me if I would like to pose for her and her friends next week! I was flattered and I agreed... I mean, porquoi pas?/why not?  It'd be kind of cool to check off a list of things to do before I die (which, unfortunately, I do not have)...  Hopefully there's no catch, like, "Oh, we wanted you to go nude s'il vous plaites!" HA. Anyway goodnight! Je vais faire mes devoirs (do my homework) and go to bed.  A bunch of us are going to a public pool tomorrow to take a dip before class... Bon soir!

Nation-Wide Sale Season: A.K.A. Things Are Starting to Look Up

Today was better! I got up around 9, took a shower (here, it is commonplace to turn the water off while you soap) etc. and then took the bus and then tram to the CUEF with Jessica.  We went to the cafeteria when we got there, I got un croissant, un yaout (yogurt), and une banane (guess that one!) and une botteille d'eau. I'm finally getting the hang of ordering in French but it's still kind of intimidating.  Jessica and I ate and did our homework and then went to class (she is in 350, I am in 270).  Class is really long and boring, and before I even got there I was feeling light-headed and faint probably because of the extreme heat combined with my inability to sleep.  After class, I left immediately and alone and took the Tram B down to the Victor Hugo stop, which is downtown.  I didn't really want to go anywhere with anyone because I just wanted to be alone and do some exploring.  It's annoying to walk around with someone when you're trying to familiarize yourself with your surroundings.  Anyway, apparently les soldes start today, which are the bi-annual country-wide sales in the stores.  Clearly, things are starting to look up! Haha. Really, though.  It's really comforting to know my way (kind of) around via tram and bus.  I feel like I pass as French if I just keep my mouth closed.  In fact, the other day a lady asked me for directions in the street! Unfortunately, I couldn't help her, but it still made my day.  When I got back to la maison I did some homework before we sat down to dinner around 7:30 (it's the same time every day, and Mme. Cottave rings une cloche to let us know it's mealtime).  As usual, she asked us what we learned today...Jessica and I told her about cultural differences between the U.S. and here and Li (the Chinese guy who is living upstairs) told her how he learned imparfait.  He leaves on Sunday! After dinner, Jessica, Li, and I went for walk through the park behind our street.  It's a gorgeous park, surrounded by mountains.  This town is unbelievably GORGEOUS! Tomorrow Jessica and I are going to try and go to La Bastille, which are foundations built into the mountains from Louis XIV's era. We have to take a gondola-like contraption over the river to get there. We were thinking about climbing the mountain too about 700m.  Depends how hot it is.  Anyway, gotta get to bed so I can get up early and go shopping before class! I did see this fabulous shoe store on my exploration walk through centre-ville today...

Itchy in Grenoble

Bonjour, tout le monde! Apparently the French don't believe in putting screens over their windows and I've had to suffer the consequences.  If anyone knows a good way to stop the itch, let me know, cause I'm going crazy!

Finally!

At this time two days ago, I was on a flight to France.  My mom, Sophia, Nathan and I went to sushi at Sadako in Ann Arbor around 5:15 before we went to the airport.  I got there around 7, checked in, and boarded my plane around 9.  I watched the movie Definitely, Maybe toward the beginning of the flight, which was really good.  Then I tried to sleep, but I couldn't because I couldn't get comfortable.  We arrived in Paris at 5 a.m. Michigan time, 11 a.m. France time.  Before we boarded the plane, me and three other girls from my program (Wendy, Christy, and Andrea) found each other and introduced ourselves.   After we landed, we found each other again and made our way to the train station which was connected to the Charles de Gaulle airport.  They purchased their tickets online, as did I, but they were having problems retrieving them from the kiosks.  I already had a hard copy of mine mailed to me, and I began to wonder why they didn't.  It occurred to me that the ticket I purchased was for a train that left from Paris Gare de Lyon (Charles de Gaulle airport is about an hour away from Paris).  I got really nervous and went to information who redirected me to the guichets.  A man who worked in one of them was really helpful and not only exchanged my ticket for me, btu also gave me a student card which provides 60% discounts on TGV tickets.  This will come in handy when I visit Maureen in Paris!  Anyway, I needed two tickets, one from CDG to Lyon, and then one from Lyon to Grenoble.  We got on the first train around 8 a.m. Michigan time, 2 ;m. France time and off the second train around 12 p.m. Michigan time, 6 p.m. France time.  My host mom, Madame Cottave-Fabert picked me up from the station and drove me back to her home.  She seemed very nice and helpful.  When we arrived at her home (a kind of big, very old home on the outskirts of the city) she showed me the salle de bains, the W.C. (which we had to pay to use in the train station .50 Euros!) and my bedroom.  My bedroom is tiny with a twin bed that is too short for me.  It is also lined with dolls, which creep me out, and posters of dogs and horses.  The bed is super uncomfortable and the past two nights I have woken up in the middle of the night sweating (it gets up to 90* here lately!) and have been unable to fall back asleep for at least two hours.  When this happens, I get frustrated that I am so hot and uncomfortable and I question why I came here so eagerly.  I start to think about my family and my good friends and I get really homesick and start crying, it's weird.  I've been away from home so many times, I had no problem transitioning to college, etc.  I guess I've never been out of the country alone.  Also, when I went to Harvard summer school back in 2005, I met a really good friend named Lisa and we became really close.  This year, on Alternative Spring Break in Chicago, the same thing happened with my friend Maureen.  Here, I haven't met anyone I click with yet.  Judging by the looks of things, I don't really see a good friend in anyone here.  Luckily today, another girl came to live at the house with me.  She is from U-W Madison and she is in the same program as me.  Her name is Jessica.  She's blond and overweight from Milwaukee, and she has no interest in going out and having fun, but I am just really grateful there is someone else in the house with me.  I guess I've just been feeling really lonely.  Today we went on a walk after dinner and that was nice.  After our walk, I did some reading on Grenoble.  Two places I want to go this week are La Bastille and La Musee de la Resistance, which is on Rue Hebert.  I was actually on that road yesterday when I went to an art museum with Mme. Cottave and her friend.  The art was displayed in Ernest Hebert's old house and all of the art was by him.  It was small, but the paintings were really beautiful and I appreciated getting out of the house.  Before we left, I went for a dip in Mme.'s piscine in my new red maillot de bains.  Her pool is really weird though, it's like covered by a dome that is maybe 4 ft above the surface of the pool.  Hello, claustrophobia!  Oh, one more thing! Today, as part of our homework, we were given a kind of scavenger hunt to do around downtown Grenoble.  It was cool because I saw a lot of the shops, cool fountains, old buildings, etc.  I also had to take the tram home by myself...and I did, pas de probleme! I also took it to the university this morning for my 21h class.  It's going to suck when I begin at 8h du matin!  Anyone can tell you I am NOT a morning person! Anyway it's kinda late and I've got homework to do in the morning.  Bon soir!