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!