Good News and Bad News

Well I figure I'll start with the bad news (which isn't too bad so don't be worried) so that I can end on a brighter note:

BAD NEWS
First of all, I fell sick with some sort of a nasty cold between the hours of waking up and going to bed yesterday. I felt absolutely fine in the morning, and even until midday. Then, around the afternoon I thought I was having my possible first allergic reaction ever to plants / springtime flowers because of the tickling in my nose. By evening I realized it was surely a cold as my throat grew steadily more sore and my nose began to run. I took an anti-histamine before bed (unfortunately I don't have any that are supposed to help you sleep) and it did basically nothing. I spent the entire night awake blowing my nose and trying not to swallow, and I think I successfully kept David up all night as well. I feel a little bit better this morning just because I am not trying to sleep anymore - I spent much of last night very frustrated - and I drank some hot tea and took a hot shower to clear out my system. Plus I am back on the anti-histamines. I am sure I am going to be tired today, but we'll hope my body whips this thing into shape and I get through it quickly. The bad news linked to this cold is that David and I also will not be going on our planned hike today - I am not even going to test breathing with hard exercise!

Next, I was looking into the language ability tests that I have to take upon my return from France into to do my student teaching, and the two tests are going to cost me between $300 and $400! (I am not sure yet if I have to pay the "something expedited result fee" yet, perhaps that is optional, in which case it is $300... but wither way that is really expensive to take two tests, and as it is David and I will have just spent waaayy too much money, with no income, while abroad. I am unhappy about the test cost and as far as I can tell there is no scholarship or waiver offered. So bad news number two.

GOOD NEWS
My mom arrives in Europe today so we can all hope that her travels go smoothly this time! I should be hearing from her in about an hour when she arrives in Frankfurt, though I will still not see her for another 3 days since she will be in Italy first. Either way I am really excited for our vacation which is the good news linked to this topic. I AM ON VACATION! woot! I have a one-week break from school that started yesterday afternoon and I am ready to enjoy it! (Especially if I can get rid of this annoying cold!)

The huge presentation that I have to do for my Techniques de Vente is nearly completed!!! I worked really hard on it this past week and all I have left to do is the addition of "animations" so that certain items appear or disappear appropriately. Not too much... so yeah I am really proud of myself because I wanted to be as free as possible to enjoy my vacation, especially since my mom managed to come out and visit me again! On the backfire-side of things however, I got my business classes' exam schedule and I have my exam for Introduction to Buying and the Supply Chain on Monday (the day after break) at 8:00am!! LAME! Since I just found out about this I will have to spend at least a decent amount of my spare time this vacation cramming that information in. It is hugely important that I pass all my business courses because I should be receiving very valuable transfer credit for them back at Miami. Luckily we have a few long train rides that should do the trick!

The rest of today, since I am sick and cannot go hiking, I will spend doing the complete cleaning makeover that our apartment needs before mom comes and we go on vacation. On today's list is: dishes, laundry (in the sink and at a laundromat to do the sheets), floor mopping, bathroom cleaning, shower drain maintenance, desk/schoolwork organization, preliminary packing for the trip, and planning of the items to be sent home with mom to Colorado. I do not know if I have mentioned this before but mom has worked it out that she is bringing two suitcases to Europe (one inside the other) and will be returning to the US with two individual suitcases so that David and I could send some of our stuff back now. It will help us fit everything that we want back in our two returning suitcases, and two duffels, for our trip back home. Sounds like fun! Also I am buying Karen's Christmas/Birthday present today!

Well, all that productivity is bottled up until David wakes up, which I think he should be doing quite soon, though in his defense he got no sleep thanks to my nose blowing and restlessness.  I will keep you updated with our fun vacation happenings and pictures!

PS: We are just a little over 2 1/2 months away from coming home!

Another Hiking Adventure

David and I set out on another hike this past weekend, and as usual we had quite the unanticipated exploration. This time it was because the roads we were supposed to take were not well labeled and right near the end we took a wrong turn and ended up following a different road (extremely scenic though - winding through the vineyards of Apremont) and eventually hiking through unmarked trails. We knew we were close to our destination (the black lake or "le lac noir") but since we couldn't find any signage we decided to just head back to the other destination we had planned for the day - the Lac Saint André. That destination was easier to find, so we ended with a nice hike around the lake and a picnic lunch on one of the docks, which we actually just built for people to sit on, and not actually for boats. Then we biked home meaning we spent about 6 hours out in the sun, and we both earned our first sunburns of the year. Though we have been out every week hiking in the sun, I guess the sun decided to get a bit stronger to celebrate the arrival of Spring. Needless to say, even though neither of us was badly burned, we will no longer be going out without our sun lotion!

On our route we passed this sweet chateau-style building. Then we realized it was a family's private estate! We just thought we would take a picture to show you all David and I's future home.

This was our biking route to get to the hike. The Alps sure do make for pretty backgrounds in photos.

As an addition to the "creatures" that we see along our way I took a picture of some LAMBS! At first I saw the field and I said to David "Oh look! There are sheep!" Then I realized there were also lambs so I just had to stop and take a picture. To make the day even more eclectic we also saw chickens, bunnies, annnnnnnd (you are never going to believe this) but domestic deer. Well, I am not sure about "domestic" but they were definitely kept fenced in in this family's property. At first we thought that they probably just jumped the fence to get there but the fence was probably 8-10 feet tall... And all the dear were young. Well, we'll let you decide whether they belonged there or not, but either way we saw them.

This is a view of the vineyards of Apremont. We can buy this wine in all local grocery stores. 

This is another view of the vineyards but from the other direction, as we continued climbing the mountain. The peak all the way on the left of this picture is Le Croix de Nivolet, a famous cross on a hill that overlooks Chambéry. 

This picture is compliments of David. You might recognize the vineyards at the base of the mountain on the left as the same vineyards from the previous trip's hike. The city you see off in the distance in Montmélian, and that what appears to be "tiny hill" right in the middle of that valley is the hill that has the old fort from the 12th century that David and I climbed up last week. It is kind of depressing because it was a good half an hour of a hard climb to get to the top of that hill but it looks so puny in this photo.

Yes. This is someones house. We found it at one point during our journey when we had accidentally taken the wrong road. We are not sure who lives in this asymmetrical Hershey's kiss looking thing, but we decided that it merited a photo. Plus the scenery all around was gorgeous.

Me at our final destination, le Lac Saint André. 

The lake from a different perspective taken during our hike. Earlier in the day we were way up in those mountains in the background. Now that we have returned home we have verified our route and we will be going back there to find le Lac Noir on a different hike trip.

David and I on a rock on the banks of the lake. 

Well, I think that pretty much sums up yesterday. However, since yesterday was "all fun" (I use the term lightly because biking up a mountain is quite the strenuous work) today David and I will be completely consecrated to our homework. I am working on that crazy hour-long presentation that I have to give in two weeks about commerce in the USA as compared to that of France. Woot!

Last Week's Hike

I realized that I forgot to post pictures of the hike that David and I took last weekend to St Helen's Lake, a city with a very large picturesque lake near Montmélian, a city not too far from Chambéry, about 21km. Well, not too far if you never get lost, and if you can find the adjoining city with no problems. Due to some unforseen route-related difficulties we managed to find an awesome old fortification which sits on a hill in Montmélian (+2km) which is only remnants today, but built in the 12th century to protect France's borders, a "nearby" collection of three lakes,which we found while trying to actually get to Lac de Sainte Hélène but then couldn't cross the river because there were no bridges at all in that direction, so we had to go all the way back to town (+12km). Then, once we found the town and a bride we had to bike all the way back the direction we had been, go around a ridge line and then finally get to the lake (+16km round trip).


We were so exhausted by the time we found the lake that we walked to it, looked around, took some pictures and gathered what "energy" we had left to get our butts home. Actually, we were so exhausted that we knew it wouldn't be possible to go the whole way so when we got back to Montmélian we just bought 1,6€ train tickets and went the easy way home. You can transport bikes for free on all local train lines, so we just let ourselves relax to get home. As a side note, it is note 100% relaxation getting a bike on and off a train, but certainly much easier than biking it the 21km to get home. After all, if you do the math we had already biked 51 kilometers (this is an estimate) which correlated to a little over 31 miles. *phew*


Here are some pictures that we took during the day:

This is the "voie verte" which is a specially constructed paved path for non-motorized vehicles (usually bikes but there are plenty of people who run, roller blade, etc) which took us about 2/3 of the way to Montmélian. Afterward we were one regular side roads, which we actually really pretty and quite calm.

This is a town that we passed call Chignin. One of the hikes in our book takes us by all the vineyards and the tower that you see in the picture. But we are holding off on doing that hike until the vines are in bloom. 

Spring time! I stopped to take a picture of some of the flowers I found along the way, including this one. Make sure you notice the enormous bumble bee that is at the bottom of the flower!

This is a picture of the mountain which overlooks Montmélian, though this is before we actually got to the city. The reason I took the picture is because all those cleared "fields" that you can see at the bottom are vineyards for the "Chignin" white wine, something we not only can, but have purchased in our local grocery store. There is only one place in the whole world that wine can be grown and we saw it! Actually we were in the "wine valley" of Savoie and we passed the vineyards for Abymes and Apremont as well. Abymes is David and I's favorite of any white wine we have ever tried. (I do make an exception actually: at the wine tasting there was a phenomenal zinfandel from Germany that was super sweet, yet somewhat acidic that was unbeatable. But for a wine in our price range, Abymes is it. Plus it is local which is so cool!)

This is the hill that is the home to the old fort of Montmélian. We were trying to have a timed photo of us on that bench, but when I tried to balance the camera on David's backpack it kept falling over, so finally I used up too many of the 10 seconds so this is a picture of me running into the photo at the last second and trying to sit down. 

David and I on a better bench with a beautiful forsythia in the background. You can also see some of the remnants of the fort that used to be on this hill. As I said above, it was built in the 12th century. Unfortunately, for unstated reasons, it was torn down in 17..04 I think, so this is all that remains today.

Happy three years of marriage (even if it was officially the week before)

Me on the hill above the prison looking thing.

This is the only other left-standing part of the fort that once stood here (except a few stone retaining walls as you climb the hill). I thought it would make a great picture so we climbed on up! Notice that I am on the end without a hill to access it! - I had to climb over the doorway to get there! But I think it was worth it.

This is the Lac de Sainte Hélène. WE FINALLY MADE IT! We were so happy when we finally got there we were kind of in disbelief. Bear in mind that we spent nearly half of all those biked miles actually in search of this lake. By the time we got there the sun we getting fairly close to setting, which mean two things: we got really pretty pictures and, we didn't have too much time to spend there.

Us at the lake. This might as well have been the top of Everest as far as we were concerned.

This was David and I's cute little picture on the nearby bench. And while we were waiting for the 10 second timer to expire, this kid came out of nowhere racing down the path on his bike (laughing and yelling and all that good stuff) and got through our line of sight and stopped just where he could still make an appearance in our photo. Oh well, I guess it's a good enough story.

This is after we left the lake and were returning back home. The sun was setting but there is a break in the mountain range so there was this really cool effect of the sun blazing through... It was a great view to end such an exhausting but rewarding day.

Less Than Three Months Left

I can't really believe it but it is less than three months before David and I return to the US. I am certainly both excited and sad. Mostly excited right now, but I will be certainly sad after a week or so and I start missing France. However, before those three months expire I will have a lot to get done!

It has been another busy week in Chambéry with lots of classes, and more particularly class and homework preparation both here (for exams) and back at home for transfer credit. One of the biggest aspects of the French education system that is different from the American system is that students sign up to take a block of classes, with the same group of students, for all three years of study. This translates into several things:

1. I often see foreign students sticking to themselves because it can be hard to integrate into an already close-knit group of students
2. Classes can be modified at any given time and moved to a new classroom, a new time, or a new day, because all those students do that same thing... they don't have to worry about class conflicts. Of course this doesn't always work out for students like me who take classes in other departments and who occasionally will end up with two classes in the same time block.
3. You are automatically signed up to take your exam when you "belong" in your group. I am having an enormous amount of difficulty making sure I am signed up for my exams, and even more difficulty in certain departments where they "don't know how to sign me up" because I don't belong to their department. I simply do not understand how this is that difficult. And this is one of the universities branded "international" because of the number of foreign students that it welcomes on its campus... so how is this problem not resolved??! To be honest, there are not too many students who take classes from multiple departments, because most come from the European system which is the same, so they pick a domain and take those classes and they're all good. There are just the anglophone cultures which sometimes can be choosy, but in my case I am the only student (out of 6) who chose classes in multiple departments, and in particular in a department other than literature, since that is mostly what language students come to study. I am trying to work out getting signed into my exams now (the literature ones) because no other department had a problem except them. However, even if I do get signed up for my exams, I still may have a problem because between departments there is absolutely no communication and I may en up having multiple exams on the same day at the same time. Of course, no departments know their dates yet (after all they have 3-4 weeks before exams!! - who needs more planning time than that?) so I am unsure if there will be a problem of this type for me.

David and I are preparing for the arrival of my mom which is now only about 9 days away... woohoo!!! We have finished all the trip planning so actually I have been focused more on my schoolwork than on my upcoming vacation. Speaking of schoolwork, I am still working on preparing my syllabuses for transfer credit back at Miami but - you are never going to believe this - I still don't have my grades from Le Havre. I have contacted both the university and ISEP Washington. The uni said that they would be processed "soon" and ISEP said that they would speak to the university, so hopefully that will make the "soon"a "very soon". But honestly that is three months since I took my exams and I still don't have a transcript to show my university.

The French are incredulous sometimes.

Actually I think I'll stress that point. The French are incredulous sometimes.

Today, even though I had four hours of class in the morning, I am now free for the afternoon. Despite this freedom, David and I are planning on staying home and being productive so that we can merit some fun free time tomorrow. We are planning a bike trip (only like 8-9 miles away but completely up a mountain ridge) that will take us on a cool hike trip where we can see a border marker that represented the border between France and Savoie and also a cool "black lake" that supposedly really does look black. We'll see how that plays out tomorrow.

In general, life has been great in Chambéry. Not only is the weather absolutely stunning (clear, sunny, warm) every single day, but I am even starting to make some French friends in my classes. It was not as easy this semester for two reasons: First, I had just left some good friendships back in Le Havre that I missed, and I wasn't ready to replace my friends. Second, I had my husband back so I wasn't quite so desperate for outside social contact. And third, I came here during the second semester so the in-class bonds were already fortified during the previous semester meaning it is harder to welcome in a new student. It is especially difficult when you know that this student is going to leave in a couple of months. But, all that to say that yesterday I spent the afternoon with some friends from my econ class, talking about just friend-stuff (and also America because they often have lots of questions) and casually snacking. It was a good time.

This is a picture I took of our little balcony just before David and I ate our first meal on it. Too bad the pillows weren't matching... but other than that it was quite perfect. We had crepes stuffed with melted emmental and ham. Yummy. 

As a final update, I have actually managed to convince myself to start my hour-long commerce presentation for techniques de vente, so I am very proud of myself.

Love to everyone back home!

Goings-on in Chambéry?

These last couple of days have marked several important events for this semester abroad:

1. As some of you know based on the survey I have sent out, I have a very large presentation coming up in my course "Techniques de Vente" (Selling techniques) which is going to act as my final exam for the course. The subject is interesting and I also appreciate being presented with a testing alternative, but I have never before in my life been asked to give an hour-long presentation. That is basically a lecture! And oh-by-the-way, let's not forget that that hour is not in my first language! Actually I am really excited about giving the presentation because not only will I feel accomplished (I feel that is a great way to sum up a year abroad in a foreign country linguistically) but I am fairly sure that something like that can squeeze its way into a resumé somehow. However, the preparation for an hour's worth of speaking is quite difficult because actually I do not notice that many differences in the commercial technique between the US and France. Therefore I am going to have to be a little creative with my material. Also, PowerPoints always take longer to prepare than you feel they should, so I don't even want to know how long it will take me to represent 1 hour!! Of course I am not going to have everything on my PowerPoint, because with a presentation that long I think it better to actually do something at some point to change the pace, re-grab attention, and then continue. But we will see how that all works out. The bigger problem for me right now, is that this presentation is due the 17th of April, which is a Tuesday right after my week-long break from school which I am celebrating with my Mom and David in Marseille, Arles, and around Chambéry, and I DO NOT want to be working on or worrying about my presentation the whole time. That basically means that I have two weeks to whip it into shape so that it is out of the way. Again, we'll see how successful I am at not procrastinating.

2. I have officially bought the final tickets for all the trips included in the Mom-David-Ellen Spring Break vacation. WOOHOO! I successfully got that item off of the checklist a little less than an hour ago, and it feels great to know that this vacation I don't have to worry about buying tickets as I am on vacation. They are all purchased, some at really great prices, and are ready to go. 

3. I have also finally recuperated my notes from last semester. After I had taken my exams last semester, I allowed my friend Tam (who you probably remember from my previous semester's blog posts) to borrow my notes because in his own words "mine were better than his" and he thought that would help verify his comprehension. It is important to bear in mind that in a foreign country, "bad notes" do not necessarily represent a lazy note-taker, but possibly just a lower level of language comprehension. I figured no problem, since I really didn't need them until I was back in the States, and I let him borrow them, and gave him the address to where to post them after he was done. Well, he studied and took his exams, just one small problem, he left my notes in Scotland. Therefore he had to have his family find them and send them to him, then he packaged them up and sent them to me. I received them on Tuesday, and I can now finish preparing all my course descriptions, aka "syllabuses", for back at Miami. AHHH so much Miami homework looming over me. I am currently looking at:

• Syllabus creation for each courses taken abroad for which I want to receive credit 
• Pre-return contact with each department chair to inform them of my plans and hear their perspectives on my propositions
• Actually receiving my transcripts and getting all my credits transferred...
• An essay for the Summer Tuition Waiver that I will be awarded this upcoming summer term, in which I need to talk about study abroad impacts on my character etc
• TWO essays for receiving Honors Credit based on my study abroad experience. (These are hard to write because I already wrote one for the first semester and I have to talk about the impact of a new culture on me, the change in my worldview, my interaction with those around me and my ongoing reflection during the experience, to give you an idea of some of the topics that I will have to discuss, for a 2nd and 3rd time...)
• A follow-up essay for the Gilman Scholarship that I received for study abroad
• 2 summer courses at Miami
• Preparation for Student Teaching in the Fall
• And probably something else that I simply can't think of right now.

The point is, that is a lot of upcoming assignments so I am trying to set aside time to work on some of it before returning to the US, I just have a lot of additional projects going on at the same time, plus I am trying to take full advantage of vacation times and fun weekends while I am abroad in a foreign country.

4. Finally, on a slightly more "current events" note, I didn't have class today (because my classes are so sporadic) and I was able to attend the picnic in David's French class and even attend his class afterward. It was really a fun time and I got a great activity idea for something I can replicate in a French classroom back home. I talked to the professor about it and she was flattered that I was so interested in her activity. 

Well I think that pretty much sums up my very busy life right now! Oh, except that we are having AWESOME weather almost everyday. Yay for living in Chambéry this semester!!

Skiing in the Alps

On Saturday David and I went skiing in the Alps which made for David's first time skiing ever in his life, and the first time for me in about 7 years. We had an absolutely phenomenal time and we even did quite well at the skiing part. Luckily for me, and thanks to my parents for taking me skiing, the skiing technique did seem to come back to me quite quickly and I was able to go the entire day with no tumbles, even down 4 or 5 different blue slopes with a 2-3 foot jump in one of them. It was a really great time. The only real problem was that it was really warm! Perhaps 55 degrees at the bottom of the mountain and 40-45 at the top (depending on the wind) and it was really sunny! Therefore the "snow" was quite slushy on top and hard on the bottom adding a technical difficulty to our learning process. But on the bright side we were never cold! And on the brighter side, literally, we escaped getting a sunburn thanks to a little stick of sunscreen that just arrived in the mail from my mom. It was a lifesaver because without it chances are we would have had quite the red faces, with super attractive sunglasses designs on them. Here are some photos from the day:

This is probably one of my favorite photos of the day. There is me: "Woot, I am excited to ski, let's make a fun pose and show-off my enthusiasm!" There is David: "Ok, I got this, this isn't so bad..." And then there is our friend Greg (also his first ever time skiing): "What the heck have I just strapped onto my feet!?!?"

David and Greg made it down the free bunny hill. We started here for about 45 minutes to let them (and myself) warm-up before paying for real skiing in the afternoon.

This is David and I on our first green slope of the day. We were making progress! 

This is us about to go down our first blue slope, which very aesthetically started at the top of the mountain and gave splendid views. The blue slopes were quite steep however and proved a challenge for the new skiers. And even though my form is far from perfect (my shin bruises speak to this fact) I quite enjoyed the challenge and the speed attained at this level of skiing. (Though I certainly refrained from going as quickly as some of the skiers...)

A view from part of the blue slope. I had several breaks during which I could take pictures while David and /or Greg were trying to get up from a fall, which is no easy task, lol. 

Me now on my own (no more David on the blues) about to shred the slopes (=

After skiing the weekend has been fairly normal but uneventful because it rained all day yesterday and is threatening to do so again today, which prevented us from taking a hike or two as we usually do. Though I suppose a day at home isn't the worst thing in the world, as we do need quite a bit of time to accurately plan and budget our upcoming month of Europe travels. Today, Monday, neither David or I have courses, which is not normal for me but much appreciated nonetheless, which is going to allow us to get ahead on our plans. 


On Wednesday I should theoretically be learning some more about the status of my grades from last semester, which I am eagerly anticipating because I still don't know how I did on my exams! Right now I am not really sure where my transcript is (who has sent it out, and who has received it) because there are three steps that must be completed in order for me to know my grades:


1. Le Havre collects my grades and sends my transcript to ISEP Washington
2. ISEP Washington verifies that I paid for study abroad, basically, and then sends along my transcript to Miami University
3. Miami University receives my transcript and scans me a copy so that I can see how I did.


I have been in contact with Le Havre but I haven't gotten a definitive response on whether or not they have sent out my grades, but they should have, and I have contacted Miami and my counselor verified that they have not received anything and will speak with the coordinator at ISEP Washington to figure out what is going on at their end. All that will happen Wednesday when the coordinator returns to the office... I am hoping for some good news!! But I'll let you know when I have more information. 


Also, speaking of Miami, David and I are officially registered for our classes this summer. We are taking art and statistics, two lower-level courses that fulfill requirements for both of us. The good news is we are taking the classes together, the bad news is that we get no break between returning to the US and picking up our classes. It will be a tiring summer, but worth it in the end I think. 


Ok well I think I will continue with my day of travel planning and "relaxation". I hope all of your are having fun back in the most wonderful United States of America....

We are three years old! #2

Now to tell you about the hike trip that David and I took today. Originally we were planning on biking to the Pragondran from where we would set out on two different hikes in our hike book, but we never made it there because we took a side road and climbed a nearby mountain that provided us with some beautiful views and celebratory pictures, but was not our original destination. In fact, we were so exhausted by the time we got to L'Essart, which happened to be a different hiking location, that we were actually having difficulty walking. That has never happened before. Usually getting to our destination is very difficult (because everything is uphill from Chambéry) but this time it was insanely difficult, with terribly steep climbs, so steep we had difficulty walking our bikes up the hills. At that point we were fairly sure that we had chosen a bad road to get to our destination, but we figured since we had already worked so hard, why not figure out where this led? However, once we got there we only did about a 1 hour round-trip hike including about 20 minutes of picture taking because our legs were so tired, and we did still have to bike home, haha.

However, I would definitely not classify our trip as a "fail" because it turns out that we discovered some beautiful roads with some gorgeous views of the nearby mountains, and we got some serious exercise which is never too complainable, except during and immediately afterward (= In following with my usual technique I will let the photos do the speaking for our third year anniversary celebration:

Us leaving behind Chambéry. And this was only the start of our climb...

This is a rather prominent rock face that overlooks our apartment. It is also right by the "Croix de Nivolet" A very famous cross on top of a mountain that overlooks Chambéry as well as many of the other surrounding towns. We have some pictures of it too, but I just thought this was pretty stunning and gives you an idea of what our bike ride looked like.

David and I finally hiking (no more biking). And if you click on the photo and you look behind us you can see the Croix de Nivolet. I personally am just proud of myself for being able to get into this timed photo because I only have 10 seconds to get from the camera to my pose, and my legs were total jello.

This is me on a different little rock formation also in front of the Croix de Nivolet

This is the view of the mountains behind us. It was so hard to take a photo that could give justice to the view, but I think this does a fairly decent job. The mountains were quite breathtaking today.

I timed this photo to try and get David and I with those mountains but they didn't show up in the background so you'll just have to pretend. However, I did do a very good job of getting that nearby stick in the picture... well done me! But happy 3 years us!

On the way back down to try to show-off our view.

This is right before descending back down into Chambéry. It almost looks like fake mountains from this angle but I assure you they are real. David and I just couldn't get enough of looking at them. Plus breaks were necessary coming down too because the hills were so steep that our hands were exhausted from braking! However, I still preferred that direction (30 minutes to return as opposed to 2 hours to get there)

Once home David and I ate a very large and fulfilling lunch and willed ourselves to do the dishes so that they wouldn't be cluttering up the kitchen. Since then we have sat down to write our respective blogs and I cannot promise you that either of us will be getting up for the rest of the day while we let our legs recover. Overall, however, I would rank this as our best anniversary so far, with two exciting Europe trips in one weekend to celebrate. Oh and for breakfast this morning I made a new recipe that my mom just sent me for Apfelfannkuchen, and it was excellent and will continue to be repeated! 

Our love from Chambéry, and thanks for all the anniversary wishes!

We are three years old!

Hello family, David and I celebrated our three-year anniversary this weekend in Geneva on Saturday and with a very exhausting hike this morning. I will tell the stories in chronological order, starting with Geneva. So we set out with the university bus at 8:45 in the morning for our "1 1/2" hour drive which was actually more like two hours, but it wasn't bad. Once in Geneva we found the tourism office and set out to see as much as we could. For the most part I wouldn't rank Geneva as one of my favorite cities because it was somewhat too modernized and there were a lot of items marked on their "to-see" list and once we got to the spot on the map there was nothing noticeable there... (this happened probably more than 50% of the time. I just wish there was better signage or explanations, or something.) However, as I usually do I will let the pictures tell the story of our adventure:

This is the first picture that David and I took in Geneva. We are not sure what this thing was, because as with most of the interesting places in Geneva, it was un-labled. However, it did make for an iconic photo.

This is the iconic geyser of Geneva. David and I didn't get a picture with it unfortunately because it got turned off soon after our arrival due to the high winds that were blowing through Geneva. But luckily I did get this photo!

Switzerland is know for making watches, so in one of their famous gardens you can find this "flower watch" which is telling the correct time. Plus it was really pretty.

This is St Pierre's Cathedral, which sits high up on a hill overlooking the city. This photo was taken from the cool little secret staircase that we took to get to the cathedral. The front of this cathedral is also amazing so if you want to see it I recommend you google it, because it was actually quite difficult for me to get a good picture of (too big) This was a really cool cathedral and was quite lovely inside. Also, construction of this church was started in 1150! And we got to see a chair that was sat in by John Calvin, which has been kept in this cathedral. 

This is a picture of part of the Wall of Reformers which is located in another park in Geneva. It represented many of the most influential reformers of the church. My favorite part was reading the old French "Lord's Prayer" because the spelling was amazingly different. For the most part though, these massive eye-less stone statues were kind of creepy.

Also in the park, David and I lined up with a life-size chess board. I had just made my move when David decided that he wanted to enjoy the rest of his day and for fear of beating me and making me upset we decided to continue on with our tour of the city. Sadly this is somewhat true, but I am mostly exaggerating. We really just thought there were better ways to spend our limited time in a new city.

Here are David and I sitting on a cannon in the ancient artillery "arsenal" of Geneva. My favorite part of this photo (other than the fact that it is really cute) is actually my feet. I sub-conscientiously had lowered my heels below my toes as though I were preparing to ride a horse. I think it looks incredibly goofy because I am on a cannon, not a horse, but it just goes to show that I have spent a long time riding horses. 

Hey Mom, this is to show off another possible candidate for my "ensemble of 6" bird pictures. But I also included this photo as an excuse to tell you that David and I set a record for the number of swans we have ever seen in one place in our lives. In this portion of the river as it entered into the city we spotted 31 swans swimming around and gathering food. As you can see there are 4 right in this picture, two of which were the first adolescent swans I had ever seen. Also a little bit down the bridge we saw 2 more swans... then two more. They made the lake super elegant.

A view of our walk alongside the lake (the lake is between me and the buildings on the other side). And this was a little sitting park that we enjoyed.

We walked all the way down the side of the lake just to get this picture with the naked man and the horse because we thought it would make a funny photo. Of course, when we got there David refused to take a photo with a naked man, so it is just me. Voila. 

So that was our very successful trip to Geneva. When we got back to Chambéry we had our friends Nicole and Greg over (they were on the Geneva trip too) and we served tacos for dinner and banana bread for dessert so that the four of us Americans could feel as American as possible. Then we spent a couple of hours playing Spades and had a great evening, but David and I went to bed thoroughly exhausted. And I will tell about Sunday in the next post...

Friday Morning in Chambéry

Today is a slightly unusual Friday because I have no class, therefore I am taking over a good cleaning of the apartment, getting some homework done, and putting some more details into mom's upcoming visit. I am in a fabulous mood because I had my FLE presentation yesterday and it went really well. And even though I am the only student so far who has chosen an educational, or maybe I should say academic, topic, the class seemed really to enjoy it and the teacher even complimented me on my ability to make sure a "non-exciting" topic interesting. I presented on the modern-day divisions of the French territory (its regions, departments, cantons, and communes) the history of the development of the current France and the reasons for which it was divided up as it was, and some cultural aspects associated with the regions. To give you some perspective, the other three presentations were: a review of a film, some of the touristic locations in our regions, and high fashion. So the comparison was stark (= But I like it that way. Plus, I will possibly be able to use some of the aspects of this presentation for teacher lessons in the future. 


As far as my other classes are concerned, I had my last class for "Introduction aux achats et à la supply chain" (Intro to buying and the supply chain) this week, and yet I will have to take the exam for the class in May. So I have a massive month and a half, at least, between the end of the lectures and the exam. I just love the French system. Other than that I am quite caught up, except in Culture Mythologique et Biblique. I was doing just fine when we were studying the Bible because I know all those stories basically by heart, so even though the professor is extremely bad at presenting material (he just talks, at a rather incredible pace for the entire time only stopping to occasionally write the names of people or places he thinks we won't know how to spell) I was doing ok. Then we started Greek mythology with all the Greek gods. Oh my word. I think I probably would have been lost in English at his pace of presentation, but add to the fact that I have to re-learn the name of about every single god, demi-god, and "other" and you have quite the class! My personal favorite pronunciation changes are as follows: (English then French)


Achilles : Achilles (Ah-shee)
Sophacles : Sophacles (So-fa-cluh)
Ulysses : Ulysses (Oo-lees)
Euripides : Euripides (Yu-ree-peed)
Troy : Troie (trwa)
Helen : Hélène (Ellen) - So I always thought he was saying my name when we studied Helen of TRWA, lol


Anyway I am sure there are plenty of others, that was just to give you an idea. For the most part the names are spelled the same way between the languages, but the pronunciation differences just strike me as really funny because the French has seriously Frenchised the names. 


Oh, one more latest news. David and I's bathroom has started to reek. About two days ago, ironically right after we did our weekly scrub-down cleaning, we started to smell something rather rancid. We thought it must have been a drain, so we put the only cleaning agent we really have down the train, slept, and hoped it would be better in the morning. It wasn't. Then we thought maybe it was the shower drain... nope, I'm pretty sure not. Finally this morning it hit me where I have smelled that before (I guess it always takes about 3 days) - the mouse that had crawled into the island plug area and died! I am fairly certain that there is a dead animal in the wall somewhere near to our vents. Of course I really don't want to bother our landlord if it is not, so we are going to give it a few more days but if it gets worse or seems more probable, I suppose I'll call him up. The thing is he is the nicest landlord in the world, and he lives 2 hours away, so I hate bothering him unnecessarily. So anyway, just thought I would let you all know we have a smelly bathroom! (=


Ok well I think I am going to get to wok on all my proposed ideas above (homework, cleaning, planning, etc) because tomorrow David and I are off to Geneva, Switzerland, and the day after that we are celebrating three years of marriage! Have a great day to all of you back in the States!

Just a Random Update

Just thought I would let everyone know that I have a FLE presentation this Thursday, which I have just finished making. I think that it is probably going to go really well, though I will probably have to practice once before I actually give it... plus I should probably verify how long it is (=

Other than that, I am having a very typical week out here in Chambéry, except that my class load is extremely light this week. Oh well, I am not complaining! I have been getting in some good nights of sleep in addition to doing homework, filing taxes - YAY WE'RE DONE! - and planning the details for Mom's trip out here. We also are preparing to file our FAFSA (a federal earnings-related document that helps determine how much governmental financial aid David and I can get to help pay for school), register for summer classes with Miami (finally, an online sign-up system with classes that won't change every week) and celebrate our three-year anniversary! Hard to believe that we have already been married almost three years! We will be heading out to Geneva Switzerland to celebrate this weekend, which should be loads of fun.

Finally, have I mentioned that our mailman keeps delivering stuff into the wrong mailbox? There is, believe it or not, another "Ellen" that lives in my building. Obviously she comes from an anglophone country, I believe she is British because of the mail she gets, because we are the only ones who spell "Ellen" without the "H". Anyway, I have been trying to contact her because I am missing a few important documents and I couldn't figure out where they could be until about 5 days ago I got a piece of mail to "Ellen Baston". Then the next day I got some more. Well I was polite enough to look through the mailboxes and I found one for her and I deposited the mail there, but I am not sure what she has done with my mail. I am in the middle of trying to contact her (I have written her and put it in her box and spoken with one of her roommates) but I still haven't had a response. I'll let you know how all of this eventually turns out though. I am really not sure how our mailman can keep messing this up...

Ok well have a great day because I certainly am!

The Venetian Carnival at Annecy

Today David and I went on an excursion put on by ISEFE (the group through which David is taking classes) to go and see a Venetian carnival at Annecy, a nearby city located in Haute Savoie (we are just in Savoie). It was about a 45 minute bus ride to get to the carnival, and once there we had quite a bit of fun. Here are some pictures to tell you our story:

David and I in the famous Venice-looking "ancient city". There were canals running throughout and it was really pretty. There was also really nice weather today, which made everything even more beautiful.

"David and I within the castle walls. This castle overlooked the city and the lake and allowed us to get some cool pictures of the landscape. Also, we encountered many of the Venetian "characters" I will call them, while strolling about.

A picture of some European rooftops and the surrounding mountains.

David and I by a church, celebrating the sunny day.

Unfortunately, even though it was sunny, it was only about 60-65 degrees, and not quite warm enough to lift the fog that accumulated over the lake and around the mountains. The Annecy Lac is the clearest in France  and was just amazingly gorgeous. In fact, in this picture you can see some rocks through the water a distance away. 

We ate a picnic lunch in the "gardens" the park where the majority of the Venetian festival was being held. I took this picture of the chateau that we climbed up into earlier. 

Here are some of the costumes that we saw. They had the most stunning masks and every costume is handmade, and as far as I know it is always handmade by the person wearing it. They spend all year conceiving and producing their costumes for this three day festival. I tried to choose some of my favorites to show you though I took about 75 pictures of different "characters"

The family in black was simply stunning. I can only imagine how much those costumes cost to make... and the masks!!! But they were truly breathtaking.

This woman got into her role and amused some of the children admiring her costume. It is quite a photographic event. All of the personages walk around very slowly, then stop for minutes at a time and pose, so that everyone around can take pictures. 

Though this one was less ornate, it certainly caught the eye!

This group of four made quite an attractive ensemble. If you can, open up the photo in a new tab and look at how ornate the shoes are of the guy on the right. They really think of everything while planning their outfits.

Go Blue!!!

Her outfit was particularly stunning, and she put a little iPOD thing in her purse that played music to add to her "theme". We heard some of the presentations put on by the carnival and each person designs their costume with a motif in mind. 

And here are David and I in the masks that we bought to celebrate. The ended up matching what we were wearing really well so we look like a gold vs silver act. 

However, all was not perfect in our day. David and I bought Paella from the open air market (it is a Spanish seafood fried rice dish) and by the end of our time in Annecy, we were both feeling rather ill. David actually threw-up before getting on the bus, but I had to sit there for 45 minutes riding home, with a bag on my lap just hoping I wouldn't, knowing that David already had. It was probably the worst (and longest) bus ride we have ever endured. The good news is we made it, the bad news is neither of us is really feeling all that spectacular and we are both wanting our money back from that vendor. But I guess every day can't be perfect.

To end on a brighter note though, neither of us had a morning class tomorrow so we will get some good rest! Love to everyone in the US! (And PS, if you are having awesome weather like we are having, then grill for us because we miss BBQing immensely.