First Weekend: Down

 (View of one of the mountains here)

Another greeting from the land of pastries, wine, and bread; my room overlooks a view of a perfect blue sky, green leaves, and a mountain peak that just raises above the roof of some local buildings. Well guys I survived my first weekend in a foreign country. I still have a hard time believing it hasn’t even been a week yet, I feel like it’s been longer than that, but I think that might just be the jet lag talking. My first evening here was nice – a bunch of us went to a café for a late dinner and we got to witness a bar brawl. Well there were no punches being thrown – except maybe a slap or two – so maybe it wasn’t really a brawl…BUT there was a lot of yelling involved. I didn’t understand a word of it except for a few choice words that somehow didn’t need to be translated. I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing – American influence I would hope would be more than just a few cuss words but c’est la vie (don’t get too impressed, I knew that before I left for France).  Admittedly, my first night here was hard – it took me a while to get to sleep (after a few tears), and even then it was very restless. The surroundings were just very new, and it was all too soon before the thoughts of ‘what did I get myself into’ plagued my brain, but I survived.

 (Market in Chambery)

Saturday we got to go to the Market in the square, it was great! There were so many fresh options of fruit, veggies, bread, etc. etc. etc. I’m pretty sure anything you could have wanted to buy was there. The rest of the day was spent as just a lazy day in a park – which was nice.  The group that is here from the ISEP program – there’s about thirty or so – is very diversified and it’s just amazing to see people who are so different come together over something like this. We have people from Iowa, North Carolina, Washington, Virginia, Vermont, Missouri and a bunch of other places strewn across the US. Of course there are little clichés that have formed but it’s when you run into somebody or meet them it’s never rude or uncivil. I think in the back of everyone’s mind we realize that we’re all in the same boat – American college students in a foreign country for 6 weeks. 

(Heading to the cheese factory)

Sunday we got to visit – I believe they said smallest – cheese factory in the Savoie area. Our bus ran about an hour late so we missed the actual tour (and judging by the smell, I think I’m okay with that) so we kinda just caught the tail end of it but we got to sample some and hear about the process. It was interesting, but the ride there was breathtaking. We were weaving through the foothills of the Alps. I swear there were little towns nestled into these mountains so perfectly it was like something out of the movies. I’ve decided that if I lived in one of those villages I could never be angry because all it would take would be a glance out the window and things would be put back into perspective. We then went up to Annecy, which was so gorgeous I really don’t know how to put it into words (I’m sure the pictures will give you a sense of what I’m talking about). The lake was an ungodly shade of blue and the mountains were so vast…I just can’t even begin to try and do it justice. Even without classes started I felt more comfortable using some French words (obviously simple ones), or at least picking up on things they do (they way they use their fingers for counting) to try and at least show that there’s effort there. With that I’ve found that people are more than willing to help you out. 

 (Annecy, France)

Today was the first day of class and admittedly it was very overwhelming. There were a couple times when the phrase, “What did I get myself into?” popped into my head. I guess I was expecting beginner French to be like the alphabet, colors, numbers, random phrases…apparently I was wrong. I was already conjugating and speaking French (every try and read aloud to a Professor in a language you don’t know…real fun). BUT my Professor seems very nice and understanding although she speaks very little English, and I just got back from the grocery store where I bought a French/English pocket dictionary. Right now I’m just worried about taking this one day at a time and trying not to get overwhelmed – I’m sure I’ll be speaking more French with the weeks to come.

 (View of Annecy from a flipping castle!)

Today is a day that has a very special place in my heart, it is the anniversary of the D-Day invasions, and it should be no surprise to any of you to know that I am a huge World War Two buff. While I wish more than anything that I could be on the other side of the country to pay my respects on the Norman coast I am so thankful to at least be in the country right now. Not that anyone is acting any differently but I know today is different. There were so many people who risked their lives for people like me and the rest of the people on this trip to be able to do things like spend six weeks of your summer studying abroad I can’t begin to describe the appreciation I have in my heart. 

(Check out that water color!)

To try and wrap up this long blog I just want to let you all know that this country is treating me very well. Despite a rocky start (at least emotionally) I am starting to really feel comfortable within this city. The weird thing is I’m already becoming used to the cultural differences and using some of the terms (merci, pardon, bonjour, au revoir) I know that when I get back to the states they’ll just slip out – and right now I can’t even imagine what it’s going to be like to see things in English again.  

 (One of my favorite pictures I've taken so far. Annecy)

We have a few trips coming up this week Gernoble on Thursday and then we’re spending Saturday in Geneva which I am so excited about I cannot wait. So definitely look for a blog later this week about those adventures.

I hope all is well with everyone in the States,
Miss you guys and lots and lots of love!