Snow in Chambéry!

Well folks David and I woke up this morning to a growing blanket of white covering our wonderful little city and our neighbor the château. I am quickly getting ready for my classes today (as I mentioned yesterday I think I have 7 hours of them) so don't expect any more posts from me unless something really exciting happens. But I took a couple pictures so you all could enjoy our wonderful view.

It is just absolutely beautiful here today. Nothing quite beats a God-given snow (=

Results are in...

I am happy to bring you the news that I was placed into the top group for my course of FLE perfectionnement. I have the class this Thursday and I am excited to see how it goes, I am hoping for a nice high level of challenging exercises well geared toward my level. But we'll see.

Other than that nothing too exciting is going on, I had my three-hour Supply Chain class this morning, and it wasn't completely horrible so I'll probably stick it out for the semester. Tomorrow I have my Translation class (By the way, have I mentioned how bad I am at this? Apparently I just read French and understand what it is saying, but with the exception of very simple sentences I have a lot of difficulty finding the perfect English word/phrase to replace the French ones, and it is made even more difficult because it is an actual translation course so there are so many rules to follow and I have officially discovered that I am more of a practical user of French - just read and understand not read and translate. And to finish off my very large parenthetical statement I will add however that I think it is probably good for my French to have to take the time to translate because the analysis of the meaning goes deeper when you have to put it into words in a different language. ) Then I have Modern Grammar which is extremely difficult but thrilling (I love this stuff), then 18th century literature (kill me now, but a necessary course so that I can make sure that I get all the needed transfer credit back home) and then a different course called FLE perfectionnement which is specifically for the non-native French speakers of my License (CMI = Commerce et Management International = Commerce and International Management in English, in case you wondered.) so I will go to its class tomorrow evening, but if it isn't very good, or whatever, I'll probably just stick with the other one on Thursday. Tomorrow will be a little tough because those last three courses are all two hours each and are back to back to back. So 6 straight hours. But at least, with the exception of the literature course, they will be interesting.

David and I had mussels again for dinner - fantastic!!

Boeuf Bourguignon

I guess I would like to bring you up to date for the last three days because I have been busy not updating my blog, unfortunately. We'll start with Thursday:

THURSDAY
I had Statistics in the morning which was extremely boring as usual, because we have yet to actually do anything besides define the terms and develop our theory of statistics... ugh. On the bright side the slower more introductory-style pace is allowing me to develop my French mathematical vocabulary, but honestly the pace is even too slow for me so I can't imagine how bored the French students are. On the bright side I really think that we are almost done with the definition stage and I might get to do some actual math on Wednesday (this course meets two times a week, on Wednesdays and Thursdays). Also on Thursday I had my European economics course. Now as a preface I had spent a lot of hours during the last week researching economic terms, treaties, trade agreements, and historical events that altered economic perspectives because this class is a third-year class and is a little bit ahead of me in terms of economy (though as I mentioned before I am fond of the challenge). So anyway, a lot of homework, and a lot of supplementary explanations from David who loves economy and is quite familiar with a lot of the goings on. So I go to class and I arrive 5 minutes before the start of class and there is no one in the classroom. I wait about two minutes and still there is no one. Knowing the French system I am well aware that I should probably go to the "panneau d'affichage" which is their form of scholastic bulletin board on which the various "licenses" (majors) will be shown alongside their class schedule. The reason the French even have these bulletin boards is because their class schedules are so unpredictable and change all the time and they find that the easiest way to let you know about this is to change the bulletin board.... not just send out an e-mail, or have class schedules online or anything convenient so that you have to go all the way to campus to figure out if your classroom has changed of if your class has been cancelled for the day. Well, I went to my all-knowledgeable panneau d'affichage and sure enough there was an index card pinned to it that said that my class had been cancelled for this week. Great. That means I walked down the 140 stairs of my apartment to walk up the 138 stairs to campus just to walk down the 138 campus stairs and up the 140 of my apartment. At least I get in my exercise! But seriously, their system is so stone-age and aggravating.

Since I was back early I decided to surprise David and prepare Boeuf Bourguignon, which would turn out to be the highlight of our week, that is until Saturday, but I'm getting there. So I prepared Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon, which takes about an hour and is followed by 4 hours of cooking in the oven, and would probably qualify as one of the more complicated recipes I have ever made just because the Julia Child version was quite detailed and precise. Even though I didn't have any beef broth I just used a little extra wine and some water, and I can tell you that our 4 hour wait was well worth it. That seriously was one of the best meals that I have had since being in France and David and I have decided that it is a must-be-repeated-as-much-as-possible recipe before the weather gets too warm. We're thinking like once a week? Haha, but honestly because it is such a French classic it really is not expensive to make out here. Maybe 9 Euros for the entire pot which served two people two meals, so  really great and hearty deal. I have included a picture because I was so proud of my creation:

FRIDAY
I didn't have any classes Friday, but I did have to take a French placement exam which tiers the foreign students into groups based on proficiency for the FLE (French as a Foreigh Language) Perfectionnement class. I actually was more than happy to take the exam because I was thrilled that this school was actually reinforcing that the students be separated by level so that classroom discussion and lesson topics could be more geared to the level at hand. I will know which group I am in on Monday, and I'll let you know how the prospects are.

SATURDAY
I went out shopping with my American friend Nicole to take advantage of the French sales which are going on. We had a blast and spent 4 and half hours wandering in and out of the various shops in Chambéry, and I purchased a pair of boots, a poncho-coat (it is wool like a normal coat just without sleeves), and two very lovely dresses. Then on our way back to join David for lunch in the apartment we rode in the elevator with one of our neighbors. He asked if we liked to drink wine and we said yes, and he informed us that there was a big exposition wine-tasting going on just a couple hundred meters down the street from us, at an entry fee of 5 Euros a person. Anyway, we of course were quite excited and the three of us went to our first-ever wine tasting which was devoted exclusively to "wines from the mountains" meaning they were all local vendors and producers, mostly from France though a few from the Italian and German side of the Alps. We had lots of great conversations and even learned quite a bit about French wines, the naming process, (based on three things: the location, the type of grape, and the "savoir faire" or "how to" for the production) and, of course, tried a ton of seriously fantastic wine. Mom and Dad - (and of course Grammy and Grampy) we couldn't help but think of how much you would have enjoyed to be there. The winner for the night for me was an extremely sweet (though with a balanced acidity) Riesling which was from the German producer, but in general all of Savoie's white wines are just phenomenal (Abymes, Apremont, and Roussette) and there was also a red wine from the beginning of the night that was fantastic, particularly in the nose, but I have no clue what it was because all the wines have blurred (or should I say blended) into my head which is not quite connoisseur ready. But here is a picture that we took afterward by the entrance banner:

Overall a really great second half of the week!

Classes... A General Update

My schedule here in Chambéry is a lot less consistent than the schedule that I had in Le Havre. To make it so that I could keep things straight I have literally written every single class meeting into its proper days in my planner for the entire semester because days, times, and room numbers change for almost all of my courses on a weekly basis. This does have its advantages and disadvantages though, because there are some days where I have no school at all, and others where I have 8-10 hours in a day, and likewise there are weeks where I have very little to do, and some weeks which are likely going to be very tough.

As for class specifics, at this point I am still definitively working out which classes I am going to take for the semester, and my list keeps getting shorter and shorter because so far I have not found many courses that I like. This is also probably because my business courses do not start up until next week so I haven't started them yet. I just hope that they are better (more interesting) than some of the other courses I have been to. Even though I will not be dropping the class because there is a chance that I can get transfer credit for it, my statistics course is horribly boring. So far we have done nothing but mathematical definitions pertaining to statistics during which the professor reads long sentences from a book for the students to copy. I am serious, the French are completely unfamiliar with the concept of a handout / PowerPoint. However, because my mathematical vocabulary is a little rusty even in English I figure I better not try to skip ahead to a higher-level course, and if I get back into the US and can't get credit for this course, at least I had the refresher so that my Miami course will be that much easier. But on the other side of the spectrum you have my European Economy class which is probably the first actually difficult course I have been in since in France (except Chinese last semester I guess). We were given maybe 25-30 pages of reading from various handouts and a massive timeline of economic events (5 pages) that we "don't have to know by heart" but should be familiar with.

For those of you who don't know, even though I have a great memory, I literally know almost nothing about economic events from a historical perspective so all that reading combined with the timeline (that I have actually only skimmed once at this point) had made for a substantial amount of homework. And even though I have taken a course of Micro-Econ back home and Macro-Econ out here in France, this class is a very high-level economics course for the final year studies of what would be our equivalent of economic majors. I find the course very interesting and it is in that course that I made my first friends in Chambéry, but nonetheless it is going to be difficult.Especially since in France they also have to study law with almost every single "major" and therefore these students are very familiar with both the economics and the laws that surround European economics. On the bright side, I can provide a very unique perspective since I come from America which makes me a happily accepted newcomer. I have the class this afternoon so I'll try to let you know if all my hours of homework paid off or if I'm still feeling a little clueless in the class.

General Update: I should be able to figure out fairly soon whether or not I passed my classes back in Le Havre, though I am not sure how because ISEP has all these rules about the processing of transcripts and stuff. Today my homework for myself is to contact my professors back in Le Havre and ask for my grades which is one thing I was told I could do. Believe me when I say though, the moment I find out I will let you know. As a recap the class I am most worried about passing is Analyse de Donneés because my group's presentation followed what we understood her directions to be, but was somehow not what she was looking for... But other than that I am fairly sure that I passed all of my classes. But I guess we will see.

Finally I have a gastronomic update: I made mussels for David and I because they were having a sale at Le Clerc (our grocery store) and we got them for 2 Euros, and he loved them!! I was really excited because I legitimately think that mussels might be my favorite food and I was worried that he might not like them (because a lot of people do not enjoy the consistency of mussels) but my fear was mitigated and I am very happy. Also, we ate a very traditional French meal which consisted of choux-croute (cabbage steamed in white wine more or less - kind of like my mom's red cabbage except not red and not quite as pungent, though still rather smelly) served on bread slices with smoked salmon. It was truly delicious and the package of salmon served us two meals meaning that our net cost per meal and per person was a mere 1.50 €.

Ok well I think that I'll leave you with that because it is time for lunch so that afterward I can rock economics.Woot.

Lyon Visit

Well I am finally going to take the time to update my blog about David and I's visit to Lyon this past Saturday. We didn't want to wake up too early since it was our weekend, so we decided on getting up around 9, and taking the 11 o'clock train to Lyon, so that we would be there by noon. The night before we had looked up directions to the tourism office, and everything had gone according to plan until we arrived into a rainy city and couldn't find the street we needed to take to get to the tourism office. Actually we walked for quite a long way and then by happenstance found the street that we needed and it had a map of the city, so we figured we were good to go. And don't ask me how this happened but we knew that we needed to go toward the rivers (there are two rivers that run parallel through Lyon the Rhône and the Saône) and we saw them on the map, then we localized the train tracks which we could see right beside us and determined that we had to go away from the train tracks. So we did. Then 30 minutes later we realized we had gone the wrong direction, because we had thought we were on a different part of the street than we were actually on. So we walked all the way back and then again for about 30 minutes in the other direction until we arrived at the tourism office and the starting point for the touring we wanted to do. Phew.

Even though our trip got off to a rough start, I definitely say that it was worth it because we really had a great time and I got to see my first ever roman amphitheaters. Also, once we had finished with the touristic stuff we spent about 2 hours shopping (David is such a great husband to put up with and even be enthused about my shopping) because right now is the time of the "sales" in France, which more or less mimics Black Friday in the US but continues until Valentine's Day, and makes prices ridiculously low. Of course I don't buy anything, but I love looking around. However, because it is already getting late and I have some other stuff to do before my classes tomorrow, I think I will do a picture-show-explanation of my excursion.

But before I do the picture I would just like to add a side note about the classes that I went to today. I cannot remember if I told you already but I was going to try out a class called littérature de jeunesse, which basically means childhood literature. I was really excited. Then I went to the class today and it was h.o.r.r.i.b.l.e. She was a terribly boring speaker, and she spent the whole time talking about the most insignificant aspects of the stories. We didn't even get to read a story! She talked about the different types of colors that can be used in the books (diluted or pastels versus bright and bold...) and also the form of the book (hard cover, soft cover, taller, or wider...) I just don't think the kids discriminate against books based on their shape. And I was hoping the class would be about text analysis, the words used, the reason for the types of drawings, the morals taught to children etc because I was interested about the French perspective. Oh well, I'll just have to do my own study at a later time because I am not going back to that class. It was sooo boring! She talked for two hours straight about the tiniest stylistic elements, without giving us a break, and by the end I vowed that I wouldn't come back to the class because it was the longest two hours of class ever and even if the content of the course got better the teacher's presentation just would not suffice. (Ironic because I bet she is really good at reading kid's books).

And now for my Lyon pictures:

David in front of the "Grande Roue" in Lyon. This is where the long-awaited Lyon Tourist office was found. Also notice the umbrella in the background... something that neither David nor I had for our day out on the town. Luckily the rain was off and on and never very serious.

My turn in front of the Ferris Wheel. Unfortunately it was 8 Euros a person to ride so David and I decided against it, but it was nice to look at. 

David and I in front of the larger of the two Roman amphitheaters. This one can seat up to 10,000 people!

Here's a view looking down from about 3/4ths up the amphi seating. This amphitheater still holds venues today and was constructed in 43 AD. Way to go Romans. 

David and I in front of the smaller amphi, called the Odeon, which could seat about 3000 people. Also you can notice that the Roman city life was built on top of a hill which very successfully overlooks everything around it.

David in front of the Basilisque de Fourvière. The building was so huge it was quite impossible to get a good picture but we did try. It was just a stunning building to look at with a lot of intricacy in the construction. See the picture below for more detail.

I just loved the pattern on the arches. 

Here is my standing in front of the crypt entrance which was actually on the ground level and then you took stairs down below. The crypt was enormous, and very ornate. Unfortunately the main part of the basilisk was closed for construction (yearly care) and we couldn't see it, but even just seeing the outside was quite magnificent. 

David and I used the timer on my camera to get this picture from the back of the basilisk, overlooking the city of Lyon. It was a stunning view even in the misty rain.

Us in front of the side of the basilisk. We just kept looking for a location where we could get a good picture. It was extremely difficult.

I felt that I had to include this picture. I asked a Frenchman to take a picture of us, and he kindly agreed and was a very personable man and we had a decently long conversation afterward because he was curious about  our studies and our time in France... very nice man. Then we got home and looked at the pictures he took of us and he completely missed the basilisk behind us. What is sad is I cropped out a whole bunch of road from this picture which used to be about half road. The reason I had us cross the street was so that he could get a picture with more of the building, not more of the street. Oh well. I guess that will give us something to laugh about. 

When we were walking down the huge hill on which the basilisk and the ancient Roman ruins were situated, we took a narrow stair path and halfway down I stopped and took this picture of the Cathedral of St John. Again, it was such a huge building that once we got up close getting a good picture became very difficult, so this turned out to be one of my favorites. 

Me in front of the huge doors of the St John's Cathedral. This cathedral had some of the most amazing stained glass I have ever seen, just stunning and extremely complex (the told entire stories of Scripture) and if you ever visit France, specifically Lyon, you simply must go into this Cathedral and admire the stained glass.   

A downtown fountain lit up at night. This is primarily where David and I did our shopping, walking along the main strip and going into every single shoe store because I am currently boot-hunting. (= We took a little breather on the bench from which I took this picture. 

This was the Ferris Wheel lit up at night. Unfortunately the lights on the wheel spin quickly so my picture appears to be blurry. However it was a really pretty sight in the downtown.

This picture, though not entirely crisp, shows the view from the lower part of the city (where the Ferris Wheel is) toward the hill with the basilisk which was gallantly lit up at night. It was really a great view. You just don't have those kind of things in America.

Here is David and I taking a picture with the touristic mascot of Lyon, a red lion. I thought it was pretty cool and I like our photo. Also, the woman who offered to take the photo for us worked in the department of tourism and asked if I would mind taking a survey for her. I said sure because I haven't done one in French yet and it seemed fun (plus I wanted to pay her back for taking the photo).

Finally, David took a picture of me fairy tale kissing the lion. Overall we had a great day and a fun little weekend excursion. It is great being able to so easily travel to historic cities. And I will leave you with that because it is time for me to get to bed. Love to everyone!!

Il s'agit du week-end

David and I have decided to take our first little excursion since arriving in Chambéry and we'll be heading off to Lyon tomorrow. I am quite excited as there are several UNESCO World Heritage sites there to see, including two Gallo-Roman amphitheaters and a basilisk. I personally am not sure what the difference is between a basilisk and a cathedral but I am sure that it has a very important distinction. Also we'll be going with some of David's friends from class so we should be able to get some good pictures out of the deal. As David already said in his post, that is a definite benefit of traveling in groups! By the way, any of my blog readers who are interested in reading David's blog and are not already doing so should either check out this link: http://francedavid.wordpress.com/ or e-mail me and I'll add you to his e-mail list so you receive his updates automatically. Of course, in some areas they will be a little redundant, but overall we should present different perspectives and share rather complementary stories.

I haven't taken the time to update you yet, but I made my first three friends in Chambéry during my Thursday class of European Economics. They were very personable and they have invited David and I to celebrate the birthday party of Florence with them this upcoming Monday. We are definitely planning on going, and we are both quite excited I think. I am looking forward to having some new friends (as it is not too fun to be all alone in a classroom) and David will profit from his first contact with school-aged French students as all his current friends are other Americans. And a note about the class... OH MY GOSH I feel like I don't know very much about economics. haha. I guess I should have known that the class would be of a fairly high level since this was an economics course for the third year studies of students in the department of Economics and Social Administration, but I was by far the least knowing of the terms and acronyms and LAWS in the class. These students also have to study law for their degree so it is just lonely little me, the American, in the class without much background knowledge. However, I do not find this at all discouraging as I prefer to learn at a quicker pace than most and I find challenges exhilarating. Also, David likes to get involved in my homework and research so it is a good opportunity for us both to learn and for him to practice a more applied French. And overall I think that the course will be extremely interesting as it will most effectively show me the European perspective on economics. Perhaps the course is made even more interesting by the fact that the Euro-zone is near collapse and there are quite a few differing theories about what can be done to fix the problem, or at least delay destruction.

As for my statistics course, it was a bit easy, very fundamental, though my professor does speak extremely quickly. Fortunately he says a lot of filler information so I don't have to listen to everything - it would be very tiring (even in English) because he just talks a lot more than is necessary. We'll see how everything goes but I should be able to pass the class. Of course I am not sure that this is the sort of class that Miami is looking for to earn credit, but I also am not sure that I could do something much more advanced in a foreign language because it has been 4 years since I have taken a math class and even though I am extremely capable in mathematics (a perfect on my IB test and a perfect on the math section of my SAT) there is no point in denying I have forgotten some of the principles, and then there is the whole foreign language aspect. Either way I have decided to stick with the course that I am currently taking and if, when I get back to Miami, they do not feel that it adequately meets the requirements desired, then I will think of it as a course I took to prepare myself for my Miami Stats course and a way through which I got myself out of my 4-year drought from Math. I do quite like math after all...

Well it is getting late so David and I are going to get to bed I think so that we can get up somewhat early to catch our train to Lyon. I just wanted to keep everyone up to date about my classes, which really spring into action next week. I'll let you know how they go! Love to everyone!

Inscription... After My Classes Have Begun

Well this is just typical France. I found out yesterday when David and I went to inscribe into the university that my classes have begun. They started this past Monday. They started, yet I have been given no information on these classes, what they are, where they will be held, when they will occur... I was extremely frustrated. Luckily David's log-in information became active after only one day (we were told we might have to wait 2) so I was able to spend literally 8 hours today researching a tentative class schedule. And actually, my schedule looks pretty good. Right now it is 10 classes, and there is an option of two others, but those two others are likely replacements for two on my list. But other than that I actually am feeling quite confident that the classes I have down will be my classes for the semester.

To finish off this week (because I already missed all my other classes) I am going to two classes tomorrow, Descriptive Statistics and European Economy/Economics (I am not sure how to translate it or what the difference is between those two words in that sense). I also am not really sure what the difference is between statistics and descriptive statistics. Oh well, that is what tomorrow is for. Actually it is a bit late and David and I will be up early tomorrow for our classes (his are going all very well he tells me) so that is all I'm going to write for today. I just wanted you all to know that I was actually going to start being a student again tomorrow! I have been out of school for one month and two days, wow, that is a huge vacation!) I'll try to update you and let you know how they go!

Orientation Day

Today we had some administrative help to fill out our paperwork to inscribe into the university, and I just wanted to say that I found it another fine example of the bureaucracy in France, and their incapacity to understand efficiency and technology as the quantity of forms necessary to inscribe into the uni is unbelievable (and ridiculous, we need proof of our high school diploma... which obviously we have because we are going to college back in the US... etc AND the woman who presented to us gave us the PowerPoint not in presentation mode, in other words, she clicked through the presentation with the side summary bar and got herself confused quite a few times. Afterward the students were talking and we all just wanted to go up there and help her change it to a presentation. It was so cute, but sad at the same time. I talked to a student who was here last semester and apparently she did the same thing. Someone has really got to start teaching PowerPoint literacy out here.

The second thing that I wanted to say is that there was an ISEP dinner tonight so that all the ISEP students could meet each other in one place before the school year really began. Well, this was fantastic because it was payed for by the university, and they wanted to treat us to tradition Savoie food, which includes Fondue. Therefore I had my very first fondue, in France, in a region where it is a specialty, and it was phenomenal. David also got the fondue and loved it. It was truly phenomenal and we would love to go back but probably can't afford it on our budget. Oh well, at least we got to try it before leaving!!

That is all I am going to write tonight because it is late and David has classes pretty early tomorrow morning, but I just really wanted to tell you about the fail PowerPoint presentation and the fantastic fondue. Yum Yum.

Arrival in Chambéry

Ok, I am finally ready to do my final "catch-up" blog post, as I have been fairly busy researching class information for my classes that supposedly start tomorrow but that I have no information about, and David and I have finally started to think about planning our Europe trip, and some of the places that we want to go. However, I really did want to tell you about our arrival in Chambéry because I found it to be a rather interesting story:

So David and I left Modane, the train station where Dario dropped us off, with all of our ten pieces of luggage. I wish I would have asked someone to take a picture of us at some point during one of our baggage-laden voyages, but to be honest we were always so concentrated on getting where we were going (as that took a lot of effort) that the opportunity never arose. Besides, I probably couldn't have found the camera anyway given that I most literally had ten bags to choose from. In case I haven't listed them all before, I am going to list them now so that even those of you who have not weaseled your way through public transportation can appreciate our skill: two enormous suitcases, David's being even larger and heavier than mine, two duffel bags, a comforter, a Carrefour shopping bag of foodsstuffs, a Carrefour bag with our towels, sheets and a blanket (these are industrial reusable shopping bags by the way), my tote bag, David's backpack, and my purse. Phew. We are literally superheros. So anyway, we were very excited because this was the last time we would ever have to move all this stuff, because a lot of it won't be traveling with us after this semester (food, towels, my plant - yes I transported my little plant from Le Havre to Turin to Chambéry and it is still alive and flowering, the little beast) so we will be a little less burdened. 

We arrived only 3 minutes late, and the owner of our apartment was waiting with a little sign for "Ellen" so we had no problem finding him and he even drove a truck so he was able to bring us and all of our luggage to our new apartment. Also I saw a sign for a Le Clerc (a grocery store) when we were leaving the gare so I asked him about it and he made a comment about it being close-by because he had just purchased some stuff for the apartment for us. I was super glad to hear that because David and I still needed to find a grocery store that night in order to buy some food for dinner and breakfast the next morning, ans since we had arrived at 5:45pm, I knew we only had a few hours before everything would be closed. So as he drove us to our new home which was only a couple minutes from the train station we paid attention so that we would be able to trace our way back. 

Arrival into the apartment was really exciting, starting with the fact that he said to go to the French 5th floor (our 6th floor) when we got in the door. I have always liked being on the upper floors of a building. Then once we were out on the 5th floor, the top floor with elevator access, he told us to go to the 6th floor to get to our apartment - the very top floor! And PS I have counted the stairs and there are 140 of them from ground to us, so we are really nice and high up. Then he showed us the apartment which is really cute and quaint with quite a lot of space. We have a living/bedroom/study area, a small entryway area, a bathroom, and a kitchen/dining area. And the kitchen is awesome! Especially in comparison to what I had in Le Havre. I am sorry that I still haven't taken pictures, David and I will try to take care of that tomorrow since neither of us have school (well I might, but I don't know anything about it yet, haha). But anyway, the kitchen is great and we were provided with loads of dishes and cookware, so it was quite exciting. But the best is yet to come. Then he showed us that we had an extra walk-out balcony which is on the roof of the complex, and it literally is across the street from the château of Chambéry, which was lit up since it was already dark. It was breathtaking and it is all ours because no one else has balconies there, just us!! Here are two pictures, but they are both during the day because the night ones stink... I am still trying to find a camera setting that works.

Here is the main part of the château, without either of its towers. In fact, we are so close to the château that it is impossible to take a picture with the whole thing in it. I also really like the mountains in the background, though they are a little muted in the picture and are actually more visible normally.

This is the château as sunset begins (therefore I probably took this picture at 4:45, haha) and you can see one of its towers. I'll also make sure to take some pictures once the trees have their leaves. 

Immediately after Monsieur Piard (the owner) left we took off to find some food. Key element of the story: there was no "included wifi internet" as stated in our contract, so we set out only knowing that there was a Le Clerc by the train station. Well, we remembered wrong, so this is where our night got really exciting. We literally walked so long in the wrong direction that we left the town (bear in mind that this only took about 25 minutes because the city only has about 50-60,000 people in it) so then we turned back, had to go back to square one, and then we went the other direction. It was about 7:45 by the time we found the gare, and we thought for sure that we must have been close to the Le Clerc (and we had passed no other supermarkets at this point, so Le Clerc was our only hope). There was an advertisement for "the first on the left" so we followed the road for about 5-10 minutes and didn't see it, so we turned around and came back to the gare. Once there I went in to ask for directions because I knew that it was about 8:15 and stores would be closing soon. The guy at the coffee shop told me that the Le Clerc was actually about 2-3 kilometers away and that I couldn't walk there (turns out he was wrong as we would find out later) but that meant that David and I had to abandon our plan for the night and start scowering the other parts of the darned city for a supermarket. We didn't find one. I even asked a hotel manager at 8:25 in a last desperate attempt where the nearest supermarket was and he told us that it would be probably be closed but that there was a Monoprix by the FNAC. Luckily I had seen the FNAC so David and I went there hurriedly to find this Monoprix... which didn't exist. So finally we gave up and returned home empty-handed after about two and a half hours of walking. I was in an incredibly bad mood because there is no reason that new exchange students arriving in a new place should have so little information. And I was mad because we were supposed to not only have internet but FREE internet, which now we have to pay a ton for. (I am trying to work on that problem currently). On the bright side, since we got back home exhausted and famished, at least we had carted around the remnants of my Le Havre food with us all around Europe because we did have "food". Mommy, you will be proud to know that our first meal here was Cream of Wheat and we loved it. (=

However, because I was so worried about not having groceries in the house David and I woke up early the next day so that we could track down and find this elusive Le Clerc, which we did. It is about a 20 minute walk from our apartment, though that is not 100% confirmed yet because in each our 8ish times going there we have gotten lost by some minor turn or, I guess, some major turn, and therefore we have no exact time estimate of how long it takes to walk. We can take the bus though, which we often do for the return when we have lots of heavy groceries. 

The other thing we did during Day Two was cleaning. Cleaning cleaning cleaning. Even though we had just moved into the place, the people who lived there before us clearly did not have the same standard of cleanliness as the two of us, and I was afraid to cook in the kitchen or use anything provided in the kitchen to prepare our food. And let's not even talk about the bathroom; I still don't thoroughly enjoy my showers because I know how dirty it was before we cleaned it, and the drain doesn't drain well... I will spare you all the details but I can definitively say that our elbows will never be greasy again because we expelled all of our lifetime supply degreasing and scrubbing every surface of the apartment. But that was totally worth it because we absolutely love it here. 

First of all, we have the most amazing view that I have ever had in my entire life. I'll admit, the lake with a bald eagle in the tree, and a mountain backdrop is a serious competitor, possibly even the winner, but there is nothing like looking out over a regal château with beautiful mountains in the background from your private roof-top porch. So cool. And so exotic, in a non-tropical way. Also, we are only a 9-10 minute walk from the campus (though you probably have to climb the equivalent of 7 stories of stairs to get there because it is all uphill) and we are a 5 minute walk from the historic downtown which is thriving with shops and life. 

Well, I think that pretty much sums up David and I's arrival here in Chambéry, filled with excitement and stresses, but now that that is over, David and I are settled in and very happy, so I'll leave it at that. 

Oh, one last thing actually. That Monoprix that the hotel clerk told us about, well I asked a clerk at FNAC the next day about it and he informed me that the store wasn't open yet. That's right, the hotel guy sent me to a supermarket-in-progress. I guess it's a good thing we didn't find it because that would have been even more frustrating. 

The New Year in Bessans

David and I left with the Fabbro family from their home in Turino on the 30th of December to spend the New Year and a couple of days at their winter home in Bessans, France. First of all, there was this tunnel that we had to pass through (it is like 25km long and goes through a mountain) and the toll was enormous. I couldn't believe it! Any guesses? Try 46€. Yes, 46€ to go through a tunnel. But it is the only way to get there so I guess everyone pays it.

We really did arrive into a Winter Wonderland, covered in about 2 meters of snow. It was beautiful. (The only downside to note is that there was no internet, so that made it difficult to make the final arrangements for our arrival in Chambéry). Either way we had a ton of fun with the family, and we played cards (Oh Well) every single night with all 8-9 of us. It was great fun, and I am proud to announce that I won almost every time, and pity points can go to Costa who came in last almost every game except the one she won, ironically.

For New Year's Eve we went over to party with the "young people" as Dario said, which was a group of people between the ages of probably 17-25 who were friends with the Fabbro family. (They were however all Italian, so the entire night was in Italian, but a very exciting news for me: I can understand sooo much! This is just a little linguistic deviation: because the two languages are so close, French and Italian, due to my extremely high level of French I can actually understand entire sentences that are spoken in Italian. Therefore that, in combination with occasional bits of English with my cousins, David and I participated quite well in the discussion.) Luckily though, most of our concentration was on the food. We ate a huge quantity of communal Raclette, which I know my family is familiar with, but for the rest of you: Raclette is a very particular form of Swiss cheese that melts into a gooey wonderfulness very easily. A Raclette table will have a Raclette "device" in the middle of it which has a hot grill plate on top and a lower shelf where the eaters put a little tray thing that holds a chunk of cheese to be melted. Therefore you can grill your veggies and fine meats (prosciutto etc) up top while you melt your cheese down below, and when both are ready you combine them on your plate and eat. It is delicious. And while you can do this in the States, you will find that Raclette cheese is quite expensive, however, out here in France it is so cheap it is practically free so we ate so much it was unbelievable. I definitely do not want to do a caloric calculation for that meal... For dessert we ate more Pandoro and Panetoni, two different FANTASTIC Italian holiday breads that you can only buy around Christmastime. Anyway, David and I started eating it on our arrival in Italy on the 20th and didn't miss a day until we left on the 3rd of January. If I can buy it back in the States I think I will add it to our Christmas traditions.

At Midnight we drank plentiful amounts of champagne with the rest of the family and everyone went to bed very full but very happy. And now I can't remember if it was the next day or the day after that, but all of us cousins got together and rented some sleds at a local ski-rental place and went super-sledding. And I say super-sledding because the hill was E-N-O-R-M-O-U-S. Unfortunately it was also a little curved so very frequently we found ourselves shooting off the path and tumbling into the unpacked-snow and trying to traipse our way back up (actually that most frequently happened to people in the red sled so I think it didn't turn as well). Anyway this massive track has to be at least 50 maybe75 meters long (perhaps even a 100 if you count how far some people when on the flat if they did fall off the hill, hit too big of a bump, or fall off their sled before the bottom) and it was extremely steep. Overall we had an absolute blast, and got quite the workout because that was a long walk back up. I have included some pictures below.

Finally we left Bessans for Chambéry which David and I were both excited for. We had been carting around 10 pieces of luggage from Le Havre, through Paris, to Turin, then to Bessans, and then again from Modane (the closest train station to Bessans) to Chambéry. We were so ready to be done living out of our suitcases and moved into our new apartment. But that is where my next update will pick up because now it is morning and David and I are going to eat breakfast and go shopping - the famous sales have started up in France and I want to see what they are all about. They last three weekends and supposedly each weekend has better and better discounts and it is more or less equivalent to our Black Friday except that there are more days than just one. So yeah, I am excited.

This is us on New Years enjoying our Raclette.

This is a nearby town that we drove to for a little walk with Dario and Giulietta (that my parents have also been to but whose name I forget) and I took a picture of the quantity of snow. There were some paths that we uncleared where the snow went strait up and touched the bottom of the roofs. 

David and I in the unnamed town.

David and I trekking up the mountain after our two-in-one-sled decent. We went so quickly with the extra weight, and I was in the front, I was so so so lambasted with snow it was not even funny. Oh, and David and I both had bruises on our butts after the sledding day, and perhaps it was this run that did it. Anyway mine was ok, but David's bruise could have possibly some kind of butt-bruise record. 

Fili, David, Sisi, and I. Got to love it.

David and Fili about to have a head to head race. I assume Fili won because as I mentioned earlier everyone who used the red sled always ended up crashing in some way or another. And the hill, was so fast and tall that everyone only went a couple of times each, maybe 5-6, and I only ever managed to use the red one, so I don't know for sure, but I can tell you that I never made it down to the bottom except the time with David. Haha, perhaps I am just bad, but really, everyone who used red consistently lost. 

Sisi and I before our race. I lovingly call this my "death run" because I went shooting off the side of the hill at an incredibly steep part due to a bump that I hit and I completely flipped head over heels and landed on my head/neck/shoulder after about a meter fall (thanks to the steepness of the hillside). My neck was sore for three days because of that. But it was fun nonetheless. 

David and I all warmed up from the intense exercise and taking a picture before retiring for the day. I am wearing the sweater that Gabi got for me for Christmas since she knew that I would be participating in outdoor winter sports. It is a little big but I really like the pattern. 

We have internet people! I can get started on my blog posts...

This blog is to let you all know that David and I finally have internet. I am not at a fast-food restaurant, but in the comfort of my own apartment, which is not a shipping container, as I write you this update. I think I will write for you three different blog entries, one about Bessans, France and New Years with the Fabbro Family, one about David and I's arrival in Chambéry, and this one which is about our current situation. Here goes:

First off, I am sure you are all dying of excitement but I haven't yet taken the time to take pictures of the inside of our apartment and upload them to my computer. I have been way too busy trying to fix the no internet problem, and getting David started into his classes and now trying to organize my own classes, BUT I will get some pictures up so don't worry.

Let's start with the most notable point of my day. So David and I had our appointment set with the internet guy between 8-10am. Now today David didn't have class until 9:30 (usually it is 9) so today we didn't have to get up until 8. I told David last night, maybe we should get up at 7:50 just in case the dude actually showed up  at 8 and we would be in our pajamas and that would be weird. He just responded that this was France and we probably didn't have to expect him until noon. Well, I am proud to announce that David was right. The guy called me at 9:55 and informed me that he was sorry but he was running late and wouldn't be able to arrive until 11. I had an appointment at 10:30 with my fellow ISEP students to attempt to do some class research, so I had to cancel that so that I could continue to wait for this fellow. So he promptly shows up at 11:31, great. He arrived and then dared to ask me if I was in a rush. Lol, I was in a rush 2 hours ago but at this point, just take you time and let's make sure that the internet works. Anyway, he was a nice internet-installer, but I was just mad that all my plans were ruined because of his failure to arrive between the specified hours. And I was the first time block! Can you imagine the rest of the day.... haha

So then, my classes. I had my orientation meeting on Thursday, yesterday, which really wasn't that helpful, though they at least tried, given that I didn't even have a meeting when I arrived at Le Havre. The only useful information I learned is that my classes start on Monday, even though I have been given no way to know what classes I want to take or when those classes meet, or what domain I need to inscribe in. Fantastic. In fact, we do our inscription on Tuesday. Yes folks, my classes start Monday. I love France.

Ok, well David and I are going off to Le Clerc, our local grocery store, so that we can eat dinner, and then I will do my other two posts. Love to everyone!!!!

I figure it might be better as a 90 because of the stress of this whole not knowing what to do about my classes thing, but I am really really really really happy to have the internet and I really like being in Chambéry, it is really pretty here.

Hello Family... Finally

It never fails to amaze me how France is so technologically behind. Here David and I are in a new part of a foreign country and again we have found ourselves without internet for an incredibly long period of time - 7 days and counting. This time I gave in and David and I have gone to a fast food restaurant (Quick) so that we could profit of the free WiFi. I am not too thrilled because this is my first fast food since I have been in France, but this was necessary. I am also on a time limit because I cannot plug in my computer because we had to move so that a kid could have his birthday party... therefore this is not going to be a very long post.

I will simply tell everyone that we had a wonderful time with the Fabbro family, and we had a great time celebrating the New Year in Bessans France. Also, we had an incredibly intense day of sledding during which both David and I managed to get massive bruises on our butts. It was a very steep hill, believe me. Also, we are both relieved because we are safely arrived in Chambery and moved into our new apartment WHICH IS AWESOME!!! It is right close to downtown, and we are literally right across from a historic chateau. And since we are on the French 6th floor (American 7th floor) we are on the top of our building and we have an extra balcony on the chateau side whihc literally looks over the chateau and its gardens. It is phenomenal. There will be pictures to follow.

Ok well for now I have to go and I'll update later because I have other official business to attempt ot take care of. Anyway, contentness is prolly about 95, perfect except no internet. But David and I really love our new place... WHOOPEE