a friday well spent

My friend Catherine and I decided to spend our day off from class on Friday by exploring some of the daily markets in Grenoble! First stop was Saint Bruno, which is an outdoor market right by my apartment. This market offers literally the most random melange of everything from socks & makeup to fresh vegetables & cheese. We walked through and picked up an orange here and a banana there to eat for breakfast while peering at all the goods Saint Bruno has to offer.

Next we hopped on the tram to see the indoor/outdoor market at Halles- Saint Claire. I was giddy walking up and down the aisles looking into the glass windows displaying yogurt, fish, cheese, lapin (rabbit), bread, confiture, sausage, juices and the most beautiful array of flowers.

We picked out a cluster of products and then walked down the street to a boulangerie where we bought a baguette, a chocolate eclair and a tarte aux pommes. After that, we walked a little further and parked ourselves on a bench in Place Victor Hugo, a beautiful little park with a fountain in the middle and way too many pigeons. The time had come. We set up our little picnic in the middle of the bench and, sitting one on each side of the spread, began our feast. In between passing the cheese knife back and forth, we kept giggling and squealing this is so French!

My first chocolate eclair was a huge success.

After resting from our food coma, Catherine and I decided to be really hip, young French ladies and go to le cinéma. 

Well. We were the ONLY ones in the whole theatre. So much for being hip and cool...
Anyways, I saw The Secret Life of Walter Mitty with my dad before I left for France and it became one of my favorite movies! The scenery was out of this world and I loved the idea of going out and doing something adventurous and exciting. I was interested to see it in French and see if I would be able to understand it! Lucky for us, since we were the only ones in there, we got to talk throughout the movie about what was going on and what did he just say? It was a grand time.

all things french

Salut from Grenoble!!!

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! 

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.