Catch-up/Illness :(

I blame my lack of blogging on a godawful ailment (doesn't this happen to me the same time every year? Damnnit!)

Catch-up!

Thursday, Jan. 22

No morning class, so I slept in till 1030! w00t!

I was planning on not going to any classes that day (they're kinda recommended, but I don't like going to class, so I've started skipping early, whoops?), but I went to campus to eat lunch with people anyway, and decided might as well go see what Art History and Culture were about, and it turns out, I loved the classes! So those are two that I'm going to take. Later that night, I went to my first French bar, called Bukana. There was a cover fee because it was Brazilian Night, but we told the bouncer we weren't going to pay (there were like 5 girls with me) and he let us in for free. Hah! I was kinda tired though and had class at 830 the next day, so I just had a gin and tonic (also for free, whoops?) and the headed home :)

Friday, Jan. 23

Class in the morning, and then the rest of the day off. I went to bank for the first time to get more money for food ( I withdrew 50 bucks from our food account and spent 32 bucks not on food. :) ). I had lunch at this yummy pasta place, Pasta Via, and then walked around centre ville for a bit, before heading home to chill. Then, I met up with some people, Andrew, Rebecca F, and my housemate, Jennifer, around where I live (kinda far from centre ville) and we ate this really cute sandwich shop. It's called "Le Beverly Hills" and then owner is an English teacher! He was really nice and told me to get the number so I can call ahead of time to order food. After that, we had a couple of hours before going to the bar, so we stopped by Andrew's house, so he could get his mini deck of Uno cards and then we walked to Centre Ville (takes about 25 minutes from my house). We met more people by coincidence (it's a small city) and went to a cafe to get some coffee. Then we headed back to Bukana, where there was a "Hi/Bye" night for students. The place was packed with students but it seemed semi-discotheque rather than bar-like. After staying there for a while, we got passes for free entry to a discotheque and headed to this awesome, cave-like club. There's 2 bars and a small dance floor, with a stage and cage! Hah! C'est très mignon!

Saturday, Jan. 24

After a long night out, Jennifer and I decided to just stay at home and do work. We had lunch with our family and then did some work in the afternoon. Then, that night I went with Jennifer, Stephanie and Rebecca D. to this local rock/electro concert. There were 3 bands

 from around the area. The concert 

was ridic long! Almost 4 hours! The first 2 bands were cool; the first was really mellow, and the second was hardcore electro and amazing! The 3rd was, in my opinion, anti-american, so I was a bit shocked to see Jennifer rocking out and cheering them on. We got into a bit a spat after, as she seemed to have difficulty accepting my opinion. But, c'est la vie, n'est-ce pas?

Sunday, Jan. 25

The group was supposed to go snowshoeing but the weather looked bad, but then, BAM AMAZING weather! So, the group had lunch at le 5, a resto attached to the Musee of Grenoble. Then, we all hiked up La Bastille (I wish someone would have told me before - it was the first day I wore my cute black flats - now they're all brown and dirty! :( ). It was beautiful up there! And we could see Les Monts Blancs, which are the tallest mountains in Europe! Scott and I gathered up a group of people to hike up farther past the Bastille but Marie-Eve (our Grenoble supervisor, if you will) was really against it, and after showing us where to go, convinced us not to go (we had about 1.5 hours to get up and down before they locked us in the mountain....). I hiked back down La Bastille and went to another cute cafe.

Mon, Jan. 26

Starting on Sunday, I could feel it in my chest that I was gonna get sick and then BAMM! I got whailed with this 24 hr bug thing. I was up all night Sunday and then slept most of Monday (skipping classes). I thought I was better and then it changed this other, awful thing, that apparently went around in the group last semester too. I'm doing alright today, I've only been eating muesli and drinking water, so maybe that's the magic cure.

Tues, Jan. 27

I braved classes and was fine pretty much all day. I still wasn't eating, because when I did, I felt nauseous. I had dinner at a kebab place with Radhika, Andrew, Elliot and Charlene and then we all went to an Irish pub where they were having live Irish music!!! Apparently, they have live music every Tuesday! I tried to show Radhika how to Irish step dance (just the basic 1-2-3) but she gave up too easily :( After a hour or so, my stomach was hurting again, so I went home early.

Weds, Jan. 28

Classes again the in morning, but then I wasn't going to take the afternoon classes, so I had the afternoon off. I ate lunch (or at least, attempted to) on campus, since it's really cheap, and then tried to find someone else who didn't have class. No one was free, and I couldn't convince anyway to skip (aw

ww, good students!), so I headed back to Centre Ville by myself, and went to the Museum of Grenoble. It's frickin huge!!! I discovered that I like classic art more than more modern stuff. I w

ondered around there, but then my stomach started hurting again, so I peaced out. I walked around the park around the museum for a bit and then went home. I was supposed to meet Radhika at the BU office to talk about winter break (she wants to travel with me for the first half, before I meet Val), but I decided to stop by Monoprix (think... super Target) to get some fruit, because I thought I might be able to eat that. I ate a clemetine and it attacked my stomach. I've never felt so much pain my stomach before. Hooboy. But I had to wait at the office. My host mom, Christine, came to present the cooking course that she teaches, and then we had to tell Patrice (the academic advisor) what classes we want to take and then tell him the topic of our research project - I'm doing mine on the difference between American and French ideas of "being green". duh. After that, Lauren let me rest at her house until I could go back home (I missed a yummy dinner with my family!)

Thurs, Jan 29

FRANCE IS ON STRIKE!

This is like the first nation-wide strike since 1968. Only one line of the tram is running and sparingly at that. And a lot of teachers are striking. Apparently, there was a HUGE demonstration in Centre Ville and.I.Missed.It! Because I was sleeping off this ailment. ZUT! But yeah, I'm not going to classes today, because I live far away and I'm still sick. uhh... But hopefully, my treatment of water and muesli lasts through the day, because today is Rebecca D.'s birthday and I want to fete la fete! (well, I want to be there, but I'll be refraining from really feting la fete, if you know what I mean...)

Till next time!

More country than Texas.

So, I just got home (at 11:30pm) from having a drink in a bar (for the first time in Grenoble!), and what do I arrive to? My host mom decked out in country clothes - I'm talking, blue jeans, a plaid shirt, brown vest with frays, a cowboy hat and boots - telling me she's hosting her American Night. She had over 3 other of her French friends, all in cowboy hats and boots, and one guy had a Las Vegas shirt on. They were eating pecans, beef jerky and hamburgers and who knows what else. They made blueberry muffins for dessert. And they drinking coke and whiskey! They had a CD with like 25 random legit country songs. My host mom had up her digital photo album with all her photos from the States playing on it. I should've seen it coming, when there was the front page of the New York Times plastered to the front door.

Wow.

Anyhoo, other than that craziness, it was really nice, because it was the first time I got to talk to my host family by myself (Jennifer stayed at the bar, because she doesn't have class tomorrow). It was so nice talking to them! And I understand them better than ever, and my host dad told me I need to come down and talk to them like that everyday, which is exciting, because before they left us alone a lot, and I wasn't sure if I should just down and chat.

So, yay! (ps 2 posts in 2 days! Do I get brownie points?)

A bientot!

French Differneces Thus Far.

Bathroom

1) The toilet and the rest of the bathroom are always separate. Hence why in French, you have "Les toilettes" or "le W.C." (water closet) and then "La salle de bain".

2) The French are really big into not wasting water and energy and stuff, so the shower is designed in a such a way that inhibits long showers. The shower head is connected to a tube that doesnt have a place to hang from the wall, so you can't stand under it. You literally have to: Turn water on, wet yourself, turn water off, soap, rinse. 5 minutes tops, done.

Food

The food is COMPLETELY different. I know this is legit food, because my host family is very traditionally, and my host mom teaches a cooking course for the BU students throughout the semester. The meat is sometimes not cooked - i.e. bacon. Usually our salads consist of onions and "sauce". Cheese is always its own course. The salad and cheese courses come after the entree. As for words, "entree" is the appetizer and "plat" is the entree. Yeah, that was confusing when going to a restaurant for the first time. Bread and usually wine are musts at every meal. Time-wise, the French eat RIDIC fast but then talk for 2 hours after the meal, so meals last a loonnnggg time. They eat lunch between noon and 2 but don't eat dinner until 8. And do NOT eat between meals. Ordering a "coffee" here is the same as ordering a double shot of espresso in the States (and guess what? I'm more addicted to this coffee than American coffee - BAM!). You drink the coffee absolutely last in the meal, even after dessert, and even if the meal lasts until 11:30 at night. There are Mcdonald's, but they call it "McDo" because McDonalds is hard to say in French. They eat everything absolutely fresh. They hardly keep any food in the house and just go to the market every morning to pick up fruits and veggies. They dont fridgerate eggs or milk because if you do... it lasts longer... but then it's not fresh. So if it sits in the store too long, they throw it out, so you know itll always be fresh. And once you open it, you fridgerate it, but the bottles actually say, use within 3-4 days of opening. same with everything

Roads: People drive like crazy here! I frickin love driving in Boston and I would not want to drive here. There's no way to tell when there's a road, except for these small pillar things - so I almost got hit the first day here. There are only a few lights and even downtown there are like NO cars on the road, ever. Side note: The town is DEAD between dinner and going out time. Even downtown, from 12-1 everything is closed, because of lunch, and then from like 8-11, the place is dead. The roads and sidewalk are all cobblestone.

Mannerisms: 

1) The French speak really softly all the time, especially on the tram and in public areas. You rarely see them, freaking out, laughing and yelling, like Americans. 

2) They don't like to directly exchange money with you. There's usually a little dish on the counter, where you can put the coins (if you're paying with coins) or they will put your change in the dish. Basically, the dish is the middle man when paying for anything. 

3) On that note, they use cash for everything! The only time it's acceptable to use a card is if something is 20 euros or more. Also, the euro has coins for one dollar and two dollars! And if you get 1 centimes (penny), you might as well, donate it to something, because you're never going to use it. They always round up to the nearest 10 centime (dime - yay).

The Arrival through the Inauguration.

Arrival. 

The trip over wasn't bad. I met all of the BU kids at the gate for Paris. The 8 hr plane ride to Paris wasn't bad either; we got dinner and then a few hours later a small breakfast. The dinner was awesome! The girls in my row and I each got our own small bottle of white wine to go with it (it was a shrimp

 dish). After arriving in Paris, we took a small plane to Lyon, where we then had to take an hour long shuttle to Grenoble. After the shuttle, there were two ways to get to the hotel. 1) Take the tram, which is 1,40 euros, or take a taxi, which is 8 euros, but a lot easier with all the luggage. So, what does a group of 20 BU kids (each with at least 2 huge bags, who don't really speak French and don't really know the way) decide to do? Take the tram.... Yeah.... Enough said.

For the first day and half, we just wandered around le centre ville (downtown). We bought French phones and got a tour of the town and the campus - Université Stendhal Grenoble 3. We also got free, delicious meals on BU's tab (and always with wine - how ya like them apples?). On Friday, the day after arriving, our host families came to get us. I found out I have a housemate, Jennifer, who I coincidentally sat next to on the Paris flight.

My Host Family - Ma famille d'accueil 

Jennifer and I live with this amazing couple, Claude and Christine, and their little Yorkie, Plume. Christine and Claude are amazingly French, very traditional and eccentric. We live in a three story house, where Jennifer and I have our own floor on the top. The house is so cuutee! Each room has its own theme and decorated very chicly. There are even real shutters, that we have to close and open everyday! The house is very old and everything creaks when you walk around but it's still so cute! 

The first couple of days with the family, Jennifer and I started assimilating to the French culture. Jennifer made the rule that we speak French all the time with us and only speak English with the group. But after a few days, we realized we'd never get to know each other, and quickly had a bonding sess. We went shopping at this huge mall, that connected to the French Wal-Mart, Carrefour. It's so intense! 

On Sunday, we met the group again for lunch. We ate at a Tunisie restaurant, and we were supposed to take the

 téléphique up to the top of the Bastille and then hike down, but "les boules" as they're called are closed until February, so we climbed up to the Musee des Dauphinois and stopped there because it started raining. The group split up and I stayed to watch a Italian concert that was playing in the church at the museum. It was so awesome! There was a translator to go between Italian and French! 

On Monday, we went to the campus to take placement tests. In our school for foreigners (CUEF), the way we pick classes is by taking a placement test to see where we were with our French and see which French classes we should be put into. Then we get to pick 4 other electives from a set of 8 classes. So, the first week, we go to all of the classes, see which ones we like and then start our schedule the next week. So, after placement tests, we got more free lunch with BU and then went shopping again, 

whoops?

Inauguration Day

So, the plan of the day was 1) find out the results of our placement tests 2) orientation for all of the CUEF 3) go to one class in the afternoon with everyone.  We got our results and then started the orientation (oh, before that, some French news guys came up and interviewed a bunch of people in our group because we're Americans in France for the inauguration.) Anyway, about 10/15 minutes into the orientation, this prof runs up the front and tells something to the 3 profs up there. The guy talking goes, "OH SNAPPPPP. There's going to be a demostration today so we're going to cut everything short because we need to evacuate the school because its going to be blocked." 

So, he finishes his speech, a lady talks for 2 minutes, then the last guy is talking for a minute, when the other profs run back up the front, putting on their coats and stuff, and the guy is like "UMM... GET OUT OF THE SCHOOL!" (ok maybe, I'm exaggerating a bit, but they were def running around, throwing on coats, and trying to get the hell out of there).

Apparently, the students were protesting a law that was changing in the school and were going to block the school, so if we didn't get out, we would be stuck at the school for who knows how long, so they were evacuating the entire campus. So, we ended the orientation early and didn't have class. Bienvenue à France.

So, we went to a cafe and talked for 2 hours, then watched the inauguation with the group, went to another cafe, had a drink, went to a place for dinner at 9 and got home at 11:30. Basically my day was spent eating, drinking, and talking. C'est parfait.

La Bastille. (The next day)

We thought we might not have class again - apparently, two years ago, the students blocked the school for a month straight, so you never know - but we showed up and alas we did. So, we had our first language classes in the morning, and then the first classes in the afternoo

n. After the history class, that ended at 2:30, a few people and I decided we didn't want to go to the cinema class at 3, so we peaced. Since it was a nice day, I suggested we hike up the Bastille. So, began our trek up the ridiculous mountain. It was

 pretty awesome, the view was amazing, and since the Bastille is an old fort, there were lots of tunnels for me to explore, which was fun. 

Whew, from now on, I'll to be better about blogging, cuz this one was ridic long and super condensed at that... 

A bientot!

I now have flights. w00t

Well, one long, grueling and stressful day later and I officially have flights to France.

The travel agent did NOT call me first thing in the morning, as promised. However, I called her at 11:50am. To which, she then said, Yeah, I haven't heard anything from Paris yet, but I'm going to call them and then I'll call you back, ok? Make sure your cell phone is on you!

Three hours later.

I call the travel agency back and the secretary tells me, Sorry, she's on the phone right, can I have her call you right back?

Forty minutes later, she FINALLY calls me, and true to her word, she worked her magic, got me on the group flights. It costs $75 more than the group flight cost but BU is footing the bill (for once! HAH)

Yay, I'm actually going to France!

What do you mean I'm supposed to leave for France in 7 days and don't have a flight booked for me?

So, I went to Boston to get my visa today. Yay, that went well - took all of two minutes. 

Then, I decided that I would stop by International Programs because I hadn't heard anything about the group flight information, a little odd seeing as I should be leaving in t-minus 7 days.

I speak with the Grenoble director, Leilani. Here's a small sample of our convo:

Me: Yeah, so I haven't heard anything about the group flight info and I wanted to know what was up.

Leilani: You mean... you haven't reserved a flight yet?

Me: Uh... no.... I didn't know I had to, I thought BU did that.

Leilani: Yeah... well, see, the students have to make the reservations themselves and then BU gets billed for it.

Me: So, basically... I don't have a flight booked for me?

Leilani: No... you should probably get on that...

Ok, well just kidding, she was nicer slash more concerned than that, but yeah, apparently I never got the email with the itinerary and instructions on how to reserve my flight and I just figured that BU/the French were slow and that's why I hadn't heard anything and yeah.

Leilani called the travel agent right then and there and told her to work her magic to get me onto the group flight, so the travel agent, Gabriella, is going to call me first thing in the morning to work out my options.

To be continued...