I’m finally back and in the swing of things from an amazing weekend! I’m sorry this blog has taken me so long to write, but I’ve been enjoying and soaking up every little bit of culture I can!

To pick up where I left off, here are some things that I’ve accomplished this past week:

1. Switched levels at school! My professor came up to me at the end of the first week and said that she was going to move me up 3 levels because I was way more advanced than the other students…Thank God! The class is 100x better and I love all the people in the class too!

2. Went to the Stade des Alpes and watched the Grenoble soccer team kick butt to win the match 5-0!

3. I now tutor a 12 year old French girl in English! I saw this ad posted at school for an English speaking girl who is willing to speak English with this ladies daughter so I called the number from the ad and last Thursday was my first day! I didn’t actually get to speak to the little girl because she was very timid and shy and it was more of an interview with the mother, but she and I spoke French for a little over an hour which was nice practice for me and so in return for my her daughter, they are going to have me for dinner and the mother is going to help me practice my French conversational skills…what a deal!

4. Did my first load of laundry at the ‘Laverie’ in my neighborhood and boy is it expensive. For 2 loads in the washing machine and 1 load in the dryer, it cost me about $16 USD...can you believe that? I’m now trying to hold off on what I wash and when because this is going to add up quickly!

This last week zoomed by and on top of that; I had to prepare for my first European adventure to the Cote D’Azur (south of Grenoble, right on the Mediterranean Ocean). There were 4 of us girls going on this trip, the 2 girls I live with and another girl from our program. The 3 of them are actually staying down there for the entire week because they are on their winter break. I, on the other hand, do not have a break, so I went down just for the weekend, but still so fun!

This not only was my first overnight trip while being abroad, but also my first time ever riding the trains in France. Our first train left from the gare in Grenoble and you knew it was vacation time because everywhere you looked there were people and luggage and chaos. As we patiently waited for our platform number to come up on departure board, I was so excited to be traveling in Europe! I’ve talked so much about traveling and where I want to go and what I want to see, and now I was actually living up to my dreams and going somewhere; it was a great feeling! As soon as our platform number came up, those feelings quickly disappeared as I entered into a frenzy. Everyone went wild as they rushed to get their ticket validated, stampeded down the stairs and through the hallways to our platform and as quickly as they possibly could find a seat, put their luggage overhead and then comes the relaxing part lol I had never seen anything like this before, it was ridiculous!

After arriving in Valence, we switched trains and were now riding the TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse), the fastest high speed train in France! As we were waiting for our train, there were other TGV trains passing through the station and it is incredible how fast they go. The fastest speed to date of a TGV is 357 mph…that’s three-hundred and fifty seven miles per hour, can you believe that? While on the train, just like an airplane, you can’t feel how fast you’re really going, but making it to your destination in a few hours time definitely shows how fast we were really traveling.

In Nice, we stayed in a hostel called ‘Hotel Pastoral’ which was about a 5 minute walk from the train station and 10 minute walk from the centre ville and the beach. For the weekend, we were staying in a 4 bed, mixed dorm room, which meant 2 bunk beds, and a private bath/shower. To my surprise, the hostel was very clean and well-maintained and it made out stay that much more enjoyable. After we got settled in, we found a Chinese restaurant right across the street from our hostel (which I managed to have for 3 nights in a row lol) and got ready to go to the opening ceremony of the ‘Carnaval de Nice’.



As we were walking down to the square where the parade was taking place, people were decked out in costumes from jokers, to frogs, to pretty much everything imaginable with glitter & face paint while spraying silly string and tossing confetti everywhere, it was great! The energy and the vibe from the audience during the parade was so intense that it made me that more excited to be there experiencing it. The parade was very unique in itself with giant balloons being carried through the street by giant alien looking creatures as well as giant hands(that’s right, I said giant hands), which tried to attack us more than once, as well as people dressed in frog costumes with neon colored crowns and face paint.


There was music blasting as well and 2 main floats. The whole point of the carnival was to celebrate planet earth and the floats were supposed to represent that, but in my opinion, I think they resembled the blue people from Avatar than anything else! But the floats were very original and creative and definitely something that I won’t forget. Especially the one resembling ‘mother nature/mother earth’ which was a blue mermaid actually pregnant with the earth haha It was a site to see!



Saturday, we ventured out to Grasse, the perfume capitol of the world! Grasse is situated in the hills about an hour away from Nice with 3 of the world’s famous parfumeries: Molinard, Fragonard and Galimard and we had the opportunity to tour the Molinard parfumerie. This parfumerie is the oldest, still family run, factory/business in France today. We learned how the factory makes perfume, what the steps of the process are, as well as how they make soap, lotions and perfume labels. Molinard Parfumerie was actually built by Gustav Eiffel himself, yes the creator of the Eiffel Tour in Paris. In the factory, Gustav Eiffel created the layout and the structure of the building, which definitely resembles the Eiffel Tour (and if I could have taken pictures, I would have, to show you the similarities, but no photography was allowed). We also learned how much time it takes to create one perfume. For example, Molinards signature perfume, ‘Molinard de Molinard’, contains almost 600 different components and took over 2 years of research and detailed tests & trials to finally finish with the product they sell today. Oh and did I mention the tour was in French? I feel like I am learning and understanding so much French for the 3 weeks I’ve been here because I understood the majority of what our tour guide said (minus certain terminology for the parfumerie)!!!

It is also crazy to think that the master perfumer has a palette with 5,000-6,000 different scents isn’t it? A lot of time and effort is put into making our perfumes the way they are today, and boy, just think how many different types of perfumes and colognes there are today? A lot… and they are all made in a parfumerie like this one…



We also were able to visit the Museum of International Perfumes in Grasse with collections dating back to ancient Egypt and Rome all the way up until today. Here, the focus was on the scents of perfumes as well as the history of the perfume bottle itself. There was display room after display room with cases full of unique perfume bottles from different eras and parts of the world. It was so mindboggling to think there are this many different types of perfume, but then again everyone has different tastes and scents they associate with and come to like.

Here are some of my favorite bottles that were on display:



Sunday came quickly this past weekend, but my train didn’t leave Nice until 17h30 so I had time to explore the city. We walked to the Quai des Etats-Unis, which is a walking path that stretches for miles along the coast of the Mediterranean. The sun was out and shining too, which made for some great photos! A cool part about the beaches in Nice are that they’re all rock beaches, no sand.


The last site we saw, before I had to board my train, was the famous Russian Orthodox Church. You would never think that Nice has a Russian church, but oddly enough they do! It is very out of place for a city like Nice, but the architecture of the church was breathtaking! It even felt like we were in Russia while at the church grounds. It was a sight to see!

Bonjour à tous!
Here are a few pictures of my school:

This was my first week of school and to say the least it was very interesting! As I said before, I took the placement exam on Monday, found out my results that night (A2.6= Advanced Beginner..ugh), then Tuesday was my first day of class. Throughout the week my class times vary from either beginning at 8h30 or 12h30 and are 4 hours long. In these 4 hours we have lecture for 3 hours and then the language lab for an hour. Depending on the day, the hours of when we have lecture and lab also rotate. You could start with the language lab and have 3 hours straight of lecture or the lab could be in the middle of class or during the last hour, it all depends. Tuesday was a 12h30 day with 2 hours of lecture, 1 hour of lab, and then another hour of lecture. I arrived at the CUEF about 15 minutes early, found my classroom and took a seat by the window overlooking the courtyard while waiting for my professor to show up. As I’m looking around at the people who are also waiting, I begin to notice a trend….they were all Asian! I look around trying to see if there was anyone else from a different nationality, but there was nobody. Great, I am the only American, let alone “white” person in this class...Ah!! Now, before I go any further I just want to say that I am not racist or discriminatory, but Asians trying to learn French is not something you would picture as ordinary. Noticing this was also an indicator for me that this was definitely a lower level of French because Asians were in it, but I was going to go into the class with an open mind.

As open as my mind was, after 20 minutes of this class I knew this was not the correct level for me. When no one in the class could understand what our professor was talking about as well as not being able to speak French AT ALL, l definitely knew I needed out! Even when they tried to speak French, their accents were so heavy that I could not understand one word they were saying- it sounded like they were speaking Chinese or Japanese still. I don’t even know how our professor could understand them but props to her for trying!

Another reason I knew this level was too easy was the material we were covering. If any of you have taken language classes in high school and/or college, one of the first things you learn is how to conjugate verbs, adjectives for masculine and feminine words as well as adverbs. And voila, that is exactly what we did in this class! It basically was a review for me and that is not what I came all the way over to France to do. I want a challenge in my class that will help me better m French language skills and help me build a better vocabulary and actually be able to say I am fluent in French! On the bright side though, I did learn some new vocabulary from our reading we had to translate, so at least I learned something. However, I didn’t talk to my professor after class because it was the first day and also because Wednesday through Friday we were going to be having a different prof because of the way the CUEF set up the program (on Mon & Tues we have one professor and then Wed-Fri we have a different one).

As the week went on I was nervous to go and talk to my professor because 1.) I didn’t know how the system worked and if I talked to my teacher would she be the one to even change me, 2.) Anytime we were having a group discussion and my professor called on me asking me what I thought about someone’s response, I didn’t know what to say because I could not understand what they were saying!! I did answer with my own opinion of what we were talking about, but my professor kept saying ‘well that’s good, but you didn’t answer in response to what your classmates said’. What was I suppose to say?! Umm sorry, I CANNOT understand a word of what they just said because they can’t speak French! And 3.) I was going to speak with my program director first to see how to go about moving out of this level.

I am glad I waited though to speak with my professor, because on Friday, she came up to me and said that she doesn’t feel this level is appropriate for me and that I am superior over the other students so she was going to be moving me up! When she told me this I couldn’t stop smiling!!!!!!! I was so ecstatic that she saw my skills and ability and moved me up. I was planning on speaking with her on Friday anyways, but what a relief for me that she felt the same way. I moved up 3 levels and am now in A2.9. That is still under the classification of advanced beginner, but the levels in France are different compared to the levels in the States according to my professor. Advanced beginner here, well at least the level I will be in, is more like Intermediate level in the States, which is where I felt I should have been placed, so this is a good sign! Plus there are only 10 people in the class I am transferring to, 11 with me, so it will be more individualized and I am hoping to learn a lot more and practice my speaking skills more and more as well!

During the week there also was a big snow storm that came through! I looked out the window one night and what do I see? SNOW! Everything was covered in white! It was very pretty to watch the snowflakes falling from the sky and just enjoy the beauty of nature. The storm only lasted for a day, well I guess night, but this was the longest snow storm I’ve seen since I’ve been here and the snow actually stuck. The next morning walking to the bus there was still snow on the ground.



Towards the end of the meal, when everyone was ordering dessert, I snuck away to the bathroom and asked our waitress if they did anything special for birthdays. As soon as I mentioned the word “birthday” her eyes lit up and said that she would take care of it. As we’re waiting for our dessert, the lights start to flicker and we were all thinking, oh my goodness not another power outage, but to our surprise it was to quiet everyone down so we could sing happy birthday! We then see our waitress coming out with Lexie’s crepe and a firecracker lit on the plate as well haha it was priceless! They bring it to our table, Lexie was very surprised and had no idea this was coming, and the whole restaurant started singing to her! I could tell she really felt like it was her birthday and seeing her smiling face made me happy too! To say the least, dinner was a very good start to the weekend (minus the rain).


Today we are either going to go to watch the soccer match at the Stade des Alpes if the rain can hold off or we will be going to the London Pub downtown to hang out and watch the rugby game between England and Ireland. That’s all for now, but check back soon for my adventure next weekend to the Cote d’Azur!

A bientôt,

Stephanie

Well I hope you are enjoying my blogs so far! They are a blast to write and such a good way to look back and remember everything I’m experiencing while abroad, as well as humorous. This weekend was my first weekend in Grenoble and the weather could not be better…blue skies, sunny and not a cloud in sight! Yesterday, my roommate and I explored the town, took A LOT of pictures and really tried to familiarize ourselves with Grenoble. I am still a bit shaky, but I feel a lot more confident in finding my way around town than I did when I first arrived. My mom and I have also been here to Grenoble about 2 years ago too, which helps because there are a lot of landmarks that I remember and am familiar with compared to someone who has never been here at all until they study abroad.

Saturday: I did come across an awesome hang out spot yesterday called ‘The Bookworm Café’, and just as its name implies, it is part bookstore, part coffee shop. Tucked back in a little alley just across the river from downtown Grenoble, it is in an old building that has recently been remodeled... new wood floors, modern lighting - very peaceful atmosphere. It is owned by an adorable French/American couple, so the music and all of the books are actually in English, but the menu, service, and conversation are all in French. Anyway, their hot chocolate is to die for, and I love the fact that I have only been there once and already feel so at home!

Another very unique fact I learned this weekend about Grenoble is that the water here is so pure you can drink right from your own sink and not have to worry about the quality of the water or what chemicals may have been added, it’s 100% pure because all the water supplied to Grenoble comes from the mountains surrounding the city. It’s so pure, I think of it as drinking water from a melted glacier. It is very refreshing and makes it easy to access that I don’t even have to worry about buying water bottles from the store!

Sunday: Today was my 1st grand adventure and the most exciting yet! My 2 roommates and another CEA student took a road trip to Saint Hilaire du Touvet- which is about 25km outside of Grenoble and about a 45 minute to an hour bus ride- to see the ‘Coupe Icare Blanche’. Basically it takes place on the mountain where people (crazy people I might add) on skis with a parachute attached to their back who first ski down the mountain and launch off either a cliff (or ski jump) and then parasail. Oh and did I mention they are all in costume? It was such a spectacle to see! But that is just the beginning…let’s rewind and bring it back to this morning on our way to the gare (bus station) and start with how we almost missed the only bus going out of Grenoble to this town.

So Sunday morning we were actually on time and so proud of ourselves for that too! We made it to the tram station and should have only waited 5 minutes…but the tram was 20 minutes late! Due to this minor delay we made it to the gare at 9h35 for a bus that left at 9h40 and we still had to stand in line and buy our ticket (because you cannot buy a bus ticket in advance..kinda lame, but that’s France) when there was at least 4 other people in front of us. So Aaron and I decided to rush over to the bus to ask the bus driver if he could wait for one minute because our friends were buying our tickets right now, but all he kept repeating to me, with a very stuck up French attitude, was that in one minute the bus was leaving whether my friends were on it or not…rude I know! But the Lord was watching over us because out of the corner of my eye here comes Lexie and Kelly running from the ticket counter to the bus and we made it with 30 seconds to spare!

The drive up to the mountains today was absolutely breathtaking! Again, today was another clear blue skies and sunshiny weather, perfect to see the spectacular views of the Alps! As we were making our way up the mountain, climbing in elevation, I looked down in the valley and could see town after town of French villages and words cannot describe how thankful I was to be able to experience this! However, then we got to the tunnels and I started to worry because once the bus pulled into the first tunnel, the road now became a one way street lol. Our bus driver was honking every few seconds letting cars driving the opposite direction know to stay out of the tunnel until this bad boy made it out. I was so glad to see cars waiting on the other side of the tunnel for our bus and no accidents, yay. Then came the second tunnel. From the entrance to the exit of this tunnel, there were icicles everywhere, on the sides as well as the ceiling. Well as you can imagine, our bus was very large and tall and from the moment we entered that tunnel you could hear the icicles breaking apart and scraping the roof of the bus. It reminded me of nails on a chalkboard and gave me the goose bumps. But that’s not all…our bus was now stuck inside the tunnel due to the icicles as well as icy roads and on top of that, a car didn’t hear the honking and we almost witnessed an accident! After the car came screeching to a stop, they still didn’t understand that they needed to backup so instead they pulled to the side of the tunnel thinking the bus could make its way through. Besides the fact that we were stuck, there was NO way this bus could squeeze past the car. After 5 minutes of our bus and this car flashing their lights at each other, the car reversed, we were unstuck and off we went…whew, thank goodness!

We finally made it to St Hilaire du Touvet and boy were the views to die for! Everywhere you looked the ground was covered in pure white snow that sparkled like crystals when the sun hit the ground just right. We got dropped off right in front of this old historic church next to the gondola. We had no idea where we needed to go, but decided to go explore the church grounds and see what we could find. We did stumble across a man who was getting ready to “fly” off the cliff and begin parasailing down to the base of the valley so we did a little cross country hiking action through the snow to watch this guy parasail.


But we were determined to see the crazy costumes and parasailing down the mountains, so we decided to hike back up to the main road and figure out where we needed to be. We first trekked up another little hill which led us to a cross country skiing/ snowshoeing path, but no coupe icare. After about an hour of searching (I mean how could we miss it? This town was so small I could see everything from where the bus stop was, but obviously we were having some troubles), we finally heard a voice over a loudspeaker and voila! we found it-it was being held at the Saint Hilaire du Touvet ski resort. And let me just say that I did not have on the proper attire for a day in the snow, especially during our hiking excursion lol My pants up to about my knees were covered in powered snow and my boots were losing insulation quickly (but at least I was wearing boots). I think I need to invest in a pair of hiking boots..

I was hoping we didn’t miss the festivities though when we arrived to the ski slopes because everything was supposed to start at 10h (now probably about noon), but the event I wanted to see didn’t start until 14h..perfect! We decided to grab a bite to eat at the only restaurant on the mountain and hopefully warm up. To our surprise the restaurant only allowed people who were ordering off of their expensive menu to sit inside, so we were kicked to the outside! Luckily, the sun was out and felt so good.. The heat from the sun made such a difference in my body temp it wasn’t even funny- thank you sun! We enjoyed our cheap lunch outside on the patio, while watching the skiers come flying down the mountain as well as some of the parasailers getting into their costumes and getting ready to wow the crowd with their uniqueness. Finally, it was 2 o’clock and we started hiking up one of the ski slopes to see the event, which I thought was pretty cool because I’ve never actually done that without skis. There was a small crowd at the end of the track but I pushed my way up to the very front so I could see everything without someone blocking my view.



The coupe icare lasted for about 30 minutes or so and every few minutes there was parasailer after parasailer coming down the mountain in extreme costumes!! There was a group of people who actually made bikes that hung from their shoulders pretending to be bikers from the Tour de France. There was also another group of skiers who were dressed as the Pirates of the Carribean as well as doctors. There were people with garabage sewn onto a one piece ski suit with balloons hanging from their backs to guys wearing a cape made solely from beer boxes. I’m so glad I got to experience this unique show and it is something that I will not forget!!

Monday: Today was my placement exam for the CUEF! I had to be at school at 8h30 and let me tell you it was hard waking up; my adventure in the mountains yesterday wore me out! The test was comprised of an orale conversation with one of the professors and a written and listening section. I placed into A2.6. The levels range from A1-C1, with C1 being completely fluent and the highest anyone placed in my program was level B1.5. I am a little upset about the level I placed into because that is considered advanced beginner and I know I am at least an intermediate level French speaker (which is the B1 level). I do not know what happened, I’m thinking it was my orale exam because I messed up a few times because I was nervous, but I am going to find out tomorrow when I go to class. This is not okay!

Anyways, after my exam, I went to the CEA office to meet Patrick, and he had great news for me- definitely cheered me up. He found a gluten free store here in Grenoble!! We weren’t sure if it was going to be open today because businesses in France are normally closed on Sundays and Mondays, but this store, called Ginseng, opened at 15h, yay I couldn’t wait to see what they had! The store is located right in the heart of Grenoble off of the main Place de Victor Hugo. We got there right as it was opening and boy do they have a lot of gluten free products- I was in heaven! They had cereals, freshly baked breads, cakes, muffins, cupcakes, crackers, cookies, different types of flour, baking ingredients, chocolate, etc, etc. I had to control myself in what to buy! Oh and they also had lactose free milk. I decided to try a loaf of bread, frosted flakes, some rice crackers and chocolate chip cookies. I’ve only had the bread so far, but mmmmm it was so good, even better when I put on nutella and toasted it!


I can’t wait to start school tomorrow so check back for more updates of my first week of class soon!

A bientot,

Stephanie