So, week one has passed and I'm already completely in love. I'm not exactly sure how to recount everything that has happened in the past week so I'll just start by describing some of my favorite memories.
Last Wednesday after arriving in Lyon and connecting with the group of students whom I'm studying with, we hopped on the shuttle to take us to Grenoble- our new home! On the way there I got to sit next to this guy who is also a student at Stendhal University in Grenoble who is from Kazakhstan. Diaz and I spent the 45 minute ride speaking in French (so I could practice) and then in English (so he could practice). I loved hearing about Diaz's life, why he came to Grenoble and what he wants to do after. This first encounter was so eye-opening and so thrilling for me, just a precursor to all the people I would eventually meet in Grenoble with whom French is sometimes the only thing we have in common.
The first few days were spent acclimating ourselves to the city and life in France. We did a LOT of walking around the city, participating in les soldes (biannual sales in every store all around France), and tasting all the sweets and carbs we could get our hands on. I feel like every time I try a new treat from une boulangerie I am utterly amazed by it's goodness. How do they do it?!
My host family is super fun. Clo, Mateo and Eva. Clo is the mom and she is a FABULOUS cook, always whipping up some delicious regional French specialty and painting these ridiculously creative paintings in her spare time. Mateo is in middle school and he is probably the cutest of the French boys. We bonded watching Lord of the Rings, Le Seigneur des Anneaux, the other night because he was utterly appalled that I had never seen it...my b. Eva is a stylish high schooler whom I haven't gotten to know super well yet, but looking forward to!
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| this is the view from my bedroom window...where the heck am I? |
Now for one of my favorite moments thus far. I met a friend at A&M last year who also studied abroad in Grenoble this past summer. (hey Ellie) She gave me the email of a woman she said I absolutely had to meet. Without knowing anything else about Holli, I sent her an email in my very best French explaining that I was a student in Grenoble and I would love to connect with her. I was SO relieved when she emailed me back in perfect English & we ended up planning for her to pick me up for church on Sunday.
It's called the International Church of Grenoble and I absolutely loved it. Not to mention that I'm obsessed with Holli and her precious family. I also got to meet some other students from Stendhal who are involved in this organization on campus called Le Feu (Fire) and they invited me to their weekly dinner party on Sunday night. I cannot express how grateful I am to have found this group of people! I went back again this past Wednesday night for etude biblique which, as one of the boys described to me in his thick French accent, is known as "bible for dummies". It was incredible getting to hear all about the basics of the bible, but in French! At Feu I have met new friends from Haiti, Colombia, China, Germany, Brazil, Korea, the British Virgin Islands (the heck?!) and of course, France herself.
Amidst all this other excitement, I survived my first (half) week of classes! Yippee. We took our placement exam which consisted of a super intimidating chat with one of the university's professors, a written portion and an online portion. We are split up into groups of about 15 people with whom we have French language and vocabulary class every morning (except Friday) with the same professor. My group consists of Americans, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Mexicans and a lovely typical French professor names Jacques. Any other language except French is completely forbidden. And I don't think I want to mess with Jacques... In the afternoons we are free to choose 3 elective classes to attend for the semester. I think I've decided on Culture & Society, French Literature and History of Contemporary France. French, french, french toute la journée!
So far my biggest struggle has been learning to pronounce my name in French. It's harder than you would think, people. Surely I can conquer this so when I introduce myself to people they aren't completely discombobulated.
C'est tout pour maintenant. Beaucoup de bisous.
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