Ceux qui mangent du fromage.

Here we are again, time for another blog post! These weeks really do seem like they are flying past. There is just so much to do and experience. I don’t want to come home with regrets, so right now it is full speed ahead. This past week kind of turned into the week of going out. Which wasn’t good for my wallet or sleep schedule, but was good in the socializing department.

Wednesday night I hung out with some of the other exchange guys and two direct girls. We started with some card games here and then went to O’Pogues, which is swiftly becoming my new favorite hang out joint. There was a football (soccer) game playing, Barcelona vs. Madrid, so we didn’t really interact with the locals very much. But it was nice to just have American time, comparing our schools back home and swapping stories.

On Thursday morning I had a Shakespeare class, in English, but I wasn’t really a fan of it. We are only reading one play for the entire semester, so I decided not to return this week. Plus there was another class at the same time that will be more my style anyway. In the afternoon two of us decided to hop on over to the grocery store. This time I went to one called Le Clerc, which is less expensive than the one right down the street from me. We can save that one for emergencies! It was nice to stock up again because I had been getting down to the scraps. Pasta with butter is only good so many times. The only downside is that Le Clerc is kind of far away, so the heavy bags on the way back were annoying. I bought a backpack on sale for 3 euro to carry the heavy stuff. haha. That night I was invited to a mutual friend’s birthday party. It happened to be at good ole O’Pogues again! I got to meet some other international students, so that was nice. Some of us went to another bar after that called Charley’s. It was crowded, but fun because they were playing some current music. Plus it was a Thursday, which is student night here, so there were a lot of specials going on.

Friday, I didn’t have class until 1:30, which is always a plus. The class is kind of a mix between art history and philosophy. It was in a huge amphitheater, but there were only about 15 students in the whole class, which was pretty comical looking. The professor was really young too, which you don’t usually see in America. It was interesting, but a little over my head. I am interested to see what we talk about tomorrow. Oh, another plus about this class is that half of us were international students. Mostly American and one Canadian, who was here first semester as well. She gave us some tips and walked with us after class to pick up a quick bite. I had another croquet-monsieur with goat cheese…it is starting to become a problem. Friday night I met up with my Finnish friend to have a couple of drinks. We ended up going to O’Cardinals and having a really great conversation. I love the opportunities that I have had so far to meet such interesting people from all over. Some of the direct girls just happened to show up just as we were about to leave, so I ended up staying behind and hanging out with them.

Saturday I got invited on a day trip to Lyon for one of the direct girl’s birthdays. The train ticket was around 24 euro round trip. The ride there started off kind of tricky due to the train being packed with people. Half of us found seats and the others had to stand the entire hour twenty minute ride. I got a seat, but it was in the middle of a 40+ group of elementary school children who were on some kind of school outing. What I learned from this is that kids will be kids no matter what country you are in. Tray tables up down up down. Grr. It wasn’t the worst train ride ever, but lets cross our fingers for no kids on the next train I take. When we got to Lyon there wasn’t really a game plan, so we just walked around for a while. Eventually we ran across this park that one of the girls had read about. It was really beautiful and huge. They had everything there from carousels to rose gardens to an entire zoo! It was called the Parc de la Tête d’Or, or literally Park of the Golden Head. haha. It was really beautiful and we probably didn’t even explore half of it.

The entrance to the park.

We wanted to ride, but felt like we were above the height limit.

Still not really sure what exact animal of the deer variety we have here?

After that we did some more walking around, Lyon being the second biggest city in France. Half of us wanted to find a café and the other half wanted to find Chinatown (lol) so we split up. I was with the café group seeing as I had not eaten much that day. On our journey we found a beautiful cathedral with a Joan of Arc statue in front of it. I still haven’t figured out the significance of Joan of Arc and Lyon, but maybe her statue was there just due to her sainthood? After that we continued our search for food, which was becoming more and more ridiculous as we went. For some reason every thing was closed and then when we would find something open it was a little too fancy for our budget. Finally we found a kebab place, which was a little sketch, but that is what you get with kebabs. I guess I should take a moment to describe the kebab. Here instead of fast food they have small sandwich and kebab shops. And by kebab I don’t mean meat on a stick. They just put the meat in a sandwich type holder whether that is a pita or baguette as well as lettuce and tomato. They usually have various other types of sandwiches too, like hamburgers or even pizza. Anywho I got my first real kebab, which wasn’t bad. The funniest thing that happened was that the owner of the restaurant asked if we were Italian, then an older woman outside asked if we were Russian. So, I guess I don’t look as American as I think I do?

Jeanne d’Arc and all of her glory.

The pulpit of sorts.

Beautiful stained glass, I think this should be my new hobby.

On our way back to the train station we did a little shopping. Right now everything is on sale here. Like I am talking crazy sales everywhere and it only happens twice a year, so people go a little crazy for it. I got a white infinity scarf and a sweater dress for 23 euro, which isn’t the best deal, but I loved the sweater, so I paid a little more for it. After that we made a pit stop at the mail. OH MY GOD. This mall was insane. There were so many people and they were walking so fast every which way. It looked like Black Friday in there, seriously. I have never been in a mall like that before. After leaving that awful mall we caught our train home, which was a much better experience than the first leg. We all had our own seats and even had room to stretch out, which is what I needed after a kind of stressful day. Once we got back we freshened up and then all met at O’Pogues to celebrate our friend’s birthday. After they closed we ended the night at the discotheque, L’Opera, for some much needed stress relieving dancing.

Sunday was spent in recovery mode and preparing for the full week of classes I had ahead. Monday morning began with Cinema et Lecture de l’image. In this class we basically watch movie clips and the professor discusses them. It wasn’t bad, but the professor spoke kind of too slowly, so all of his words ran together. Thankfully I had it with some other international students, so we can all help each other out. In the afternoon I had Patrimonie medievale, which is a history class of the Savoie region in the middle ages. This will probably be one of my hardest classes to keep up in, but there is a Canadian girl in there with whom I made friends, so I can’t abandon her. Also, the professor said we could do our end of the semester presentation together, so that will be nice. For dinner me and two of the other exchange students got together and made a stir fry of sorts. It was fun to just hang out, drink wine, and get to know each other better.

Tuesday began with probably one of my favorite classes. It is called Theme Erasmus and it is basically a translation class from French to English for international students. We simply translate a news article she gives us, then go over it in class. I think it will be really helpful for my French. Just in the first class I learned around ten new words, plus the class is all international students, so I hope I can make some new friends in there. For lunch I had a mystery sandwich of which I do not yet feel like speaking of. haha. I thought it had pickles on it, but then it wasn’t a pickle, so I’m not really sure what it was. In the afternoon I was supposed to have Anthropologie, but it was cancelled. So far my luck on cancelled classes has been great! For dinner there was a Soirée Bretonne at O’Cardinals which was put on by the school. They had crepes, cider, and music from the Brittany region of France. I had a crepe with jambon and fromage as well as one with nutella. Truly delicious! I forget how good crepes are. We also got to meet some more students: French, South Korean, and Lithuanian. So many great opportunites for exchange of language and ideas!

Wednesday was my favorite day school wise. First I had Litterature du 18eme Siecle, which is a 18^th century literature class focusing on all forms of writing non-book or theater. The professor is German, so he didn’t speak too fast like most of the other French professors do. After class he talked some of us foreigners and he was really warm and helpful. Turns out he has been to Arkansas! He loves the blues, so him and his wife did a tour of the South this past summer. He said Mississippi was his favorite, which is kind of funny. For lunch we were running late, so we had to eat in the quick fried food line. It wasn’t bad by any means. I had fries and chicken cordon bleu. In the afternoon I went to another Theme class, but this one is for French students learning English. It was the same concept as the other one though. We prepare the translation and the professor calls on students give theirs. Once again I learned a lot of new idioms just in that one class. Usually I will have a civilization class after this, but it doesn’t start until next week. For dinner I got adventurous and made chicken fried rice. Not to brag, but that stuff was delish, so delish that I ate entirely too much. It’s good to know that if I start missing asian food, it is pretty easy to make it right here in my own little kitchen!

Nom nom nom.

Today I didn’t have any classes, my morning class will start next week and my afternoon class doesn’t start until week 10. Tonight there is a Fiesta Espanola at O’Pogues being put on by some of the Spanish exchange students, so that should be fun! I’m slowly getting the courage to speak more in French, but for some reason I am having issues with it. I know the words are in my head, but when I go to retrieve them, they just won’t come out. It is probably just intimidation and shyness and embarrassment all wrapped up into one. I just need to realize that mistakes are ok and that it is better to try and fail than to never try at all. And that the people here aren’t going to laugh at me or judge me. I know I can do it, it just might take baby steps to get me out of my comfort zone! A plus dans le bus!

So much has happened since last time we talked! After a couple more days of being a hermit in my apartment, we finally had our first meeting with the other ISEP exchange students. There are six of us, three guys and three girls. The meeting was all in French, which I didn’t think I would have a problem with, but she spoke kind of fast, so I had a couple of issues. Maybe it had more to do with the fact that she said classes start on Monday and we enroll on Tuesday. WHAT? That has so far been the biggest issue…getting information about classes and just dealing with the bureaucracy.

 After finding out we all live in the same two apartment buildings and didn’t even know it, we all walked back together. Some of us met up for dinner later that night. We walked around for awhile and ended up settling on this little sandwich kebab shop. The boys all got these giant kebab pita filled things, but I went with the sandwich raclette. It was huge! Like almost an entire baguette filled with cheese, turkey, lettuce, tomatoes, and some mysterious white sauce. Oh and I can’t forget the side of frites as well. Needless to say I only finished about half of it and saved it for breakfast the next day.

 The next day we trekked it up to the university. And by trekked, I mean it. There are beaucoup de stairs and hills. Like intense fo real, but each day it gets a little easier. Also turns out we had been going the kind of difficult bike path way instead of on the pedestrian path. Anywho, maybe I will walk it everyday or maybe I will get a bus pass. I’m not tired of it yet, but we will see. The point of us going was to visit a certain Madame Perret to help us with choosing our classes. Once we got there, she was gone and the office was locked an hour before it should have closed. Boo! We tried to look around a little for someone else to help, but there really wasn’t anyone around. So we climbed back down the mountain and decided to get some other things accomplished.

 Our next stop was BNP, Banque Nationale de Paris, to open a bank account. We really didn’t know where it was, so finding it was kind of difficult. We knew the area and Chambéry isn’t that big, so we found it eventually mostly thanks to it being close to Monoprix. It was a relatively painless process opening up the account. We ran into a few translation issues, but nothing a couple of pictures drawn on a sticky note couldn’t fix. We have to have a bank account here because that is the only way we will be able to receive our meal stipend each month. Hopefully my debit card and checks will be ready to pick up on Friday. Not that there is any money in there yet. Our stipends have been delayed into February!

 After that we grabbed some lunch from an adorable little shop called Rapid’Brioche. The owner is really nice and liked speaking English to us. I had a delicious croque-monsieur with goat cheese. Can I just take a moment to express my love for goat cheese. It is so goooood! I have had it in the states, but nothing like what I’ve had here. I seriously need a I <3 Goat Cheese shirt or something. It was so good that I got goat cheese all up on my nose and walked halfway through Chambéry without realizing it.

 Once I got back, I took a much needed cat nap. We walked sooo much. I’m just excited for the sweet calf muscles (and butt muscles) I am going to have at the end of the semester. My roommate invited me to have some beers with her and her friend just in our apartment. We drank Coronas which I thought was really funny. Drinking Coronas in France, haha. It was fun though to have an informal conversation in French and English. Her friend liked talking to me in English and asked me to help her with her English homework. It was funny trying to explain where Arkansas was to them. I know the US is big and all, but they really have no clue about where things are in the south. They left soon after that to go watch a friend’s basketball game and I watched some Breaking Bad…aka my new favorite show. It is funny how I had to leave the US to find an American show that I love. Thank you internet!

 I slept in the next day, but got a lot accomplished in the afternoon. First I ran to the grocery store to buy some provisions for the weekend…alcohol. heh heh. It was my first legal purchasing of alcohol. Here you can buy beer and wine at 16 and hard liquor at 18. Thus I was not carded or anything…pretty melodramatic. After that I went to get a cell phone at their AT&T equivalent called Orange. I went with the cheapest option, 29 euro for the phone and 5 euro worth of calls and texts. It is the Samsung C3050 with sliding and picture taking capabilities. Being back in the world of crappy phones is pretty funny. I thought I would feel lost without my iPhone, but so far so good. I still carry it around with me in case I find free wifi. I happened to run into the boys there, who were also in need of a sweet go phone. We all ended up getting the same ones…matching! They needed to go to Monoprix, so I tagged along and picked up a skillet for 10,50 euro as well as some ID pictures for 5. The little photobooth was really cute and it kind of glamorized your face, which I am so not complaining about. Just call me a Toddler in Tiara. On the way back home we stopped at the Deux Euro store, which will probably become my new favorite. It is like a Dollar Tree or something, but slightly more classy because it is two euros, not one, plus the exchange rate.

 Later that night some of us decided to sample the Chambéry nightlife. After a couple of beers and some wine we headed out to the Carré Curial, which is the bar and nightclub district. The first club we found wouldn’t let us in because we weren’t dressed cool enough. Lame. Then we moved onto a bar that was kind of posh. It had lasers going everywhere and we saw the bartender make this crazy drink involving every type of alcohol ever and blue glowsticks. It was like 30 or 40 euro for the whole thing. Crazy! After that we moved next door which was more our style. It was an Irish pub and we quickly met a group of French guys who were very intrigued with us being American. They were really nice and bought us a couple of pints. One guy in the group was celebrating his birthday, so it was nice to be included in his festivities. After the bar closed we moved on once more to a discotheque called L’Opera. The birthday boy paid to get us in, which was super nice seeing as the cover charge was 10 euro. This place was pretty bananas. Lasers everywhere, dance floors, stripper poles, you name it, it was there. I was really too overwhelmed to enjoy it. It was fun though to hear American music and to know all of the words. We stayed there until after 4 and decided to call it a night.

 Europeans like to party late, which is fun, but made my next day completely worthless. I did absolutely nothing. On Monday we woke up early again to go see if we could find Madame Perret. Once we got there however she really did not answer our questions. Still clueless about what classes we were taking, even though they started today, we gave up and went back to sleep until our meeting at 2:00. At that meeting we filled out our enrollment forms and got a little more information about the university. But still nothing about classes. I went to the patisserie right by my apartment for a late lunch of quiche Lorraine and half of a pain au chocolat. It was really good, I’m happy to have a place I can buy fresh bread and baked goods right down the road.

 For dinner we met up with all of the ISEP students, exchange and direct, at Restaurant la Grange. It was my first sit down meal I had had in awhile, so needless to say it was great! And of course it was typically French. We started off with a fruity wine as our aperitif. The choice for dinner was between fondue and tartiflette. After trying my aunt’s delicious tartiflette, I went with that. It also came with a salad, bread, and charcuterie. It was truly a great meal accompanied with some Savoyard white wine. For dessert I chose the profiteroles, which came drenched in chocolate. Ugh, it makes me hungry just thinking about it! After dinner, some of us went to a bar called O’Cardinals. It was fun to get to meet more of the ISEP people, seeing as our group only has 6. We probably stayed out later than we should have, but when in Rome, right?

 We had yet another meeting Tuesday morning, where we finally got some more information about classes. Turns out the entire time, all we needed to do was go ask for a course list or to just look at the bulletin boards right outside their office. Ugh! This information would have been nice to know before all of the classes had already began. But it seems like the first couple of weeks aren’t that big of a deal, so I’m not that concerned. They told us to just take a bunch of classes at first, then pair down. We have until mid-February to officially enroll in our classes.

 After the meeting we ate lunch at the RU, Restaurant Universitaire. University slang, what up? It was kind of complicated because you have to first get a lunch card, then pay for a ticket, then go to a different place and put the money from the card on the ticket. They have two different options, one is like legit food and the other is a sandwich bar type thing. We went with the sandwich bar mostly because the line was shorter. By the time we got there, all they really had left was this kebab sandwich/panini thing, so I went with that accompanied by strawberry yogurt and bottled water. It was good, nothing special, but still good.

 After lunch I tried to do some class scheduling at the library, then went to my appointment for l’inscription or enrollment. They basically took my passport, high school diploma (wtf), Hendrix ID card, 200 euro, and some enrollment forms. Poof! I was enrolled and had an Université de Savoie student card. Which is really just an ID picture I gave them taped on a card with my name. Not as fancy as we get at the info desk with the printer. I took a weird night nap when I got home, which I hate doing. It screws with your sleep schedule too much. But I was still able to fit in some more class scheduling, complete with its very own Excel spreadsheet.

 This morning I didn’t have any classes, I have one that will start next week, so I got to sleep in. After a restful morning I went by the ISEP coordinator’s office to drop off my bank info, so I can get my stipend. Then it was up the hill to the University for my 3:30 Class. I went early to do a little more research on classes and to find the right class room. I found it pretty easily, but was surprised to see no one in it yet. I waited around until after 3:30, but still no students or teachers. Turns out the professor won’t be here for the next three weeks due to health reasons. haha. So my first class was cancelled! I feel like I have been to the university more times than not now for no reason whatsoever!

 But I think I have finally figured out my schedule as follows: Monday-Cinema and Lecture of the Image and Civilization, Tuesday-Medieval History, Wednesday- 18^th Century Literature and Linguistics, Thursday-Shakespearean Literature and British Cinema and Society, Friday-Reflection on Contemporary Art. That seems like a lot, but they only meet once a week for two hours and I’m sure I will drop a couple if they aren’t interesting or are too hard. Plus on top of this I will have a couple of French as a foreign language classes to help me improve my French. Plus the Shakespeare class and the Britain class are coupled, so the first half of the semester is devoted to Shakespeare and the other to British cinema and society. I am just excited to take my first class! Tomorrow morning is Shakespeare, so fingers crossed that it is fun. Also, it is my one cheat class in English, so I guess that is a good way to start.

Sorry no pictures this time, I need to be better about taking my camera places. A plus dans le bus!

Hello world, I’m your wild girl. So, this is me, talking to you from France. I decided it was about time to do an official “I’m in France” bloggy blog. This is my 8^th day here. After Chicago we flew into London, then one more flight into Geneva. Our decent into Geneva was really breathtaking. I have never seen mountains and lakes like that. Arkansas is beautiful, but the landscape around Geneva is really something everyone needs to see. We found our bags really easily and then it was off to Hertz rent a car. I’m not joking, Hertz exists in Switzerland. Oh, did I mention I was with my aunt, uncle, and cousin? Idk if I did or not. Well, there you go, I had traveling companions. Anywho, we found the car, which was actually a SUV, and using our best Tetris like skills attempted to fit all 10 or so bags into it. We barely all fit. Not to mention the fact that the cars were parked in there like sardines. The next task was determining how to put the damn thing in reverse. By the way, at this point I had been traveling over 48 hours, if you include the driving to Dallas part. SO, needless to say if I had been holding a stress ball, it would have popped. Eventually we go everything worked out and finally left the parking garage. We were driving blind…literally…because we forgot to get a GPS and our Google Map directions weren’t the best. Just fyi, people like to drive really fast in Europe, like swoop swoop I’m going to pass you on a blind curve.

Though the directions were a little wonky and took us on some icy Alpine back roads, WE MADE IT TO THE HOTEL. We stayed at a place called: Les Balcons d’Aix (Insert link here). It was really nice and we had a cute little apartment type dealio. It had two bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, living area. The only quirks were the lack of towels, linens, free wifi, and a functioning TV. We had to request linens…ok. You could buy wifi for 5 euro, but it was only in the lobby…ok. There was a TV and it was plugged into the cable, but it didn’t work…ok. NO TOWELS? What? And there were none to be found in the town either. Other than this weirdness, it was pretty nice.

We ate dinner at a restaurant down the road called, Le Planté de Fourchette. This place was cute. It had a lodge type feel to it. We were smack dab in the middle of Alpine ski territory, so that was fitting. I ordered the assiette du skier, which consisted of a salad, steak-frites, and toast with goat cheese. It may have been the best food ever or it could have been the fact that it was my first real meal in 24 hours. Either way, it was delicious. The goat cheese was soooooo good. They are known for their goat cheese here, mountains à goats à cheese? After dinner we went back to the hotel and slept…a lot.

We woke up the next day at like 1 in the afternoon. Woops? Jet lag is kind of a beotch. We put on our snow gear due to the two feet or more of snow outside. It snowed basically everyday at our hotel. I like snow and all, but this was a little excessive. I would not want to live in that. We tried to find towels in the small town, which led to me forgetting the word for towel. It is éponge, in case any of you were wondering. That will be one of those words I never forget. Anywho, there were no towels to be found in our small little town, so we decided to bite the bullet and try to slip slide down the mountain. I was kind of worried about the roads, mostly because I have never really driven in snow and if this much snow was in Fayetteville, school would be shut down for two weeks. But they are really good about snow plowing here. They seriously are out there all the time clearing the roads, so they really weren’t that bad. The fact that both me and my aunt are horrible backseat drivers probably made it more stressful than it should have been. hehe.

So, we started to see civilization again and then a beacon of light…MCDONALDS. We hadn’t eaten since dinner the night before and finding that McDonalds was like a godsend. Also, they have free wifi, which doesn’t really exist anywhere else. I ordered a Royal Deluxe meal and it was delicious. After I read some emails and updated facebook, we got on the road again. We found a grocery store where we were hoping to find some towels. It was called Leader Price just your normal grocery store. Sadly no towels, but we bought some food to keep us full between meals. Then it was back up the mountain before night fell, we weren’t yet totally convinced the roads would be totally clear and we had to look for road signs.

La moutarde, that’s what makes it Royal.

The next day we woke up early to go in search of my university and my living space. With no gps we set off hoping for the best. We made it into the city center and found some signs for the university, but didn’t have much luck at first. We made a couple of really bad mistakes, both involving driving where we should not have been. First we drove in a city market area and twice we drove right by the Fontaine des Elephants, which is like the big monument of Chambéry. heh heh. Now that I think about it, it is kind of hilarious. Stupid Americans at it again!

Then by a stroke of luck we ran across some more signs for the university and we found it. It is kind of above the city and a really hilly region. The walk up will probably suck, but thankfully there is a bus I can take. I talked to a really nice lady in the International Relations office who told me to just show up at my residence and ask for my keys, which worked out splendidly! I was worried the whole day that someone was going to yell at me, but everyone was really nice. Before I could get my keys I had to go buy a kind of renter’s insurance and withdraw money for my deposit. So we decided go find lunch first. We ran into a shopping center about 10 minutes down the road.

I know you are going to judge me again, but we ate KFC for lunch. bhahahah. I was traveling with a bunch of Texans, what can I say? And they had free wifi, which is the way by which I live my life now. We had these weird spicy breaded wing things? They were delicious, not going to lie. After that we headed back to get my keys. The woman was really nice and funny. She didn’t speak any English, so that was entertaining as well. Once we had the keys we went to the next building over where my apartment is. The only problem was that we didn’t know how to open the door. Lawl. I had a fob thing, but I didn’t know where to put it. Thankfully a girl came out and showed me how to do it.

My apartment is on the first floor, which means the second floor in the US. It has a small shared kitchen with a mini-fridge and stovetop. There is a little room for the toilet and another for the shower, which is TINY. I took my first shower here today and it was really stressful. haahah. You know when you use a shower for the first time and you are trying not to get water everywhere and testing the pressure and temperature. Anywho, it was stressful and I got water everywhere. It was like a toddler took a bath in there. But I got it all cleaned up before the roommate could judge me.

Me in the tiny shower

Oh yeah, we went to Carrefour while we were at the shopping center/KFC where we finally found some towels. After I gave the apartment the once around, we headed back up the mountain…eventually. We got really super crazy lost due to the fact that we had no gps or wifi to guide us. So like an hour or so into being lost we whipped into an electronics store and bought a freakin’ gps. I’m not going to go into details on how stressful the whole being lost in a foreign country thing was because I am sure you can imagine.

Once we got back to La Féclaz we went to dinner at another restaurant called Le Caribou. It was as pizzeria lodge type place. I ordered a pizza called the Orionde. It basically had all different types of cheeses on it. Raclette, goat cheese, Roquefort, you name it, it was probably on this delicious pizza. I almost ate the whole thing. I think it was my favorite dinner of the whole trip.

For some reason, my aunt and I didn’t sleep very well that night, so Wednesday was kind of a lazy day. We slept in pretty late. The boys played outside in the snow most of the day. We went into town to do some shopping and to eat dinner. I picked up some things for my apartment. Thank god for pictures because I was having issues with which sheets to buy. They don’t have flat sheets for small beds, so I had to buy a giant flat sheet. I found a pretty cute comforter. The sheets don’t really go, but whatever. It’s like edgy or something…right? For dinner we ate at a place called Hippopotamus. It was good, but I could tell it was kind of like a Chili’s or something. I had a strawberry margarita, burger Savoyard, and fries. The best part was my dessert of profiteroles. They were super delicious. I was feeling kind of low that day, I’m not really sure why. I think I was just ready to stop feeling like a tourist. Like I loved the help my family was giving me, but I was ready to get on with my real life here.

The next day was our trip to Italy, which is a mere hour and a half away. Disappointingly, we weren’t able to make it all the way to Turin due to some crazy snowy weather. I’m talking tons of snow. It was insane. But thankfully we were talking big highways the whole way, so they were kept pretty clear by the snow plows. The scariest part of the trip was probably the tunnel that takes you from France to Italy. It is called the Fréjus Tunnel. I’m not really one to be claustrophobic, but spending over 8 miles in a concrete tube under the Alps is kind of unnerving. We stopped in a small town called Susa in Italy to eat. All that we could find open was this little grab-and-go type place. I had a little pizza thing with prosciutto, olive oil, and some kind of soft cheese. It was good, nothing phenomenal, but still good. We walked around the town a little bit and got some cappuccino in a little coffee shop. It was probably the best cappuccino I’ve ever had. Yay for high coffee standards! The way back to France was pretty uneventful, we got the giggles by the time we crossed back into France. Mostly due to my uncle saying the snow reminded him of a “Fairy Book” as opposed to a fairy tale. Gotta love those fairy books.

Italia!

To unwind from the stressful snowy drive we ate at Le Caribou again. This time I had the Charmette pizza. It was once again super delicious. It had chorizo, chicken, mushrooms, onions, and black olives. The chicken was my favorite part. It was cooked with a lot of spices that kind of had an Indian or curry flavor. Yuuuuummmm. Make me hungry thinking about it! Our dinner was accompanied with two bottles of white wine. hehe. Long day. And it was followed by some delicious chocolate fondue. We went back to the hotel and finished off the night by trying to sled down the hill on a cardboard box. Needless to say it didn’t work very well, but we got some good pictures pretending to hang on the weird French ski lifts.

When in France, no?

Friday was my last day with the family. They had to fly out of Geneva the next morning at 11:00, so they had to leave pretty early in the morning. We slept in and headed to my apartment in the afternoon. We moved all of my stuff in and then headed back to the shopping mall for me to pick up some stuff and for them to get some souvenirs. I spent around 100 euro on things for my apartment. That’s including stuff that I bought on Wednesday. We made a pit stop and McDonalds again for one last meal together. This time I went with Le Big Mac. I recommend getting the Royal Deluxe. bhahaha. It was much better.

After a couple of tears and hugs and such, I said goodbye to my family. It was a lot of mixed emotions because I was ready to be independent and by myself, but saying goodbye to the only people you know in a 1000 mile radius is definitely hard. But c’est la vie!

Once I got to my apartment I was finally able to meet my roommate. She is French and is from a town about 30 minutes away from here. She has been really nice so far. She said she goes home on weekends a lot, so I spent my first weekend with the apartment to myself. I didn’t make the best food decisions when we went to Carrefour on Friday. I survived on crackers, snickers, chips, salsa, and a can of ravioli for the weekend. hahaha. It was kind of rough, but I was just a little nervous about going out by myself. I have a meeting on Thursday with all of the other ISEP students, but I’m not really sure how to make friends before then.

I went on an exploration today and found some bars, restaurants, and a couple of stores. I found a small grocery store where I stocked up on some more practical food like eggs, bread, and yogurt. Though I had sworn off Asian food due to the bad Manchu Wok airport food incident, I bought this Chinese food medley thing for dinner. I just reheated it in a skillet (borrowed from the roommate). It had egg rolls, pot stickers and these delicious breaded shrimp things. I only heated up half of it, so I guess the other half can be for tomorrow. It is going to be tricky learning how to cook for myself. Like I know how to cook, thanks to living in the French House, but it is going to take some getting used to. I see a lot of eggs in my future and pasta.

I will survive!

Maybe I will widen my exploring tomorrow, go up and down another street? All the places I can go! Sorry if this is incredibly boring. Maybe I should update a little more often, it’s crazy all the stuff that happens in one week. Well, until next time, au revoir les enfants!

Being new to this whole blog world, I guess I should start with an introduction. My name is August Eubanks. I am a junior Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major at Hendrix College and will be spending second semester in Chambéry, France at the Université de Savoie. Chambéry is located in southeastern France and was founded at crossroads of ancient routes through the Dauphiné, Burgundy, Switzerland, and Italy. I am leaving December 31st (seven days…eeeekkk) and will be returning stateside in June. 

I am doing this blog firstly for Odyssey credit, wahoo, and secondly to keep everyone back home updated on my adventures. I know I love living vicariously through others via the internet, so why not let you guys too. Thanks to some ideas from my friends I have decided to let the blog be centered around food mostly. I mean, what is better than drooling over pictures of food? Mostly this will give me an incentive to take my camera with me everywhere, so that I can capture the cuisine and anything else I come across.

I think food will be an interesting theme to focus on. Like a lot of Americans, I love food. The grease, the sweets, the fats. But recently I have felt a disconnect with what I am consuming. I eat when I am bored, I eat when I socialize, I eat just to eat. Sure the food is delicious, but good meals are no longer special, they are just more calories I can shovel in. I want to taste my food, savor my food, and most of all enjoy my food. I want to eat when I am actually hungry, not because it is 5:30 and I should be hungry.

France is known for its great cuisine, wine, and culture. I hope my experiences there and my blog will help me to regain my appetite in a lot senses. Right now I am mostly filled with anxiety. Really it is from my lack of expectations. Pictures and stories are helpful, but I really have no idea what it is going to be like. I keep hearing, “You are going to have so much fun,” which is nice to hear and I know I will, but I want to hear tangible advice. Like, go to this bar or visit this city, not some general you are going to have so much fun doing something somewhere.

I guess I am just ready to BE there. I can’t wait to meet new people. I have grown up in Arkansas my whole life and am still friends with mostly Arkansans. It is one thing to dream about leaving your home state, but to actually do it is going to be amazing and scary and exhilarating. I have never felt “small town”, and I think I can hold my own. I just really don’t want to be “that American”, but I feel like trying hard not to be something usually has the opposite effect. Anyway, I do believe these are enough musings for now. 

A little light reading on Chambéry if you feel so inclined:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamb%C3%A9ry