final week.

Today marks the start of my very last weekend here in Grenoble. I absolutely cannot believe how time has flown by. Today was the last day of CUEF classes, so I'm going to go out with my fellow UMich classmates to celebrate. We are hoping to find a nice new restaurant to try, but knowing us, we'll end up at "The Mist," our favorite spot.

I took a walk through town alone yesterday, and saw so much I'd never even seen before. Its amazing I've been here over a month but haven't even scratched the surface of what Grenoble is. I hope this next week will be full of new discoveries and adventures, as well as plenty of reading and paper writing for my UMich class. I have no fun travel plans this weekend, so I hope to visit the farm market FINALLY tomorrow morning, and do some more downtown strolling. Then, one more week of class and it will be Goodbye Grenoble Hello Paris! Although its a bit sad to be finishing up for good in Grenoble, I can;t say i'm not eager as ever to begin my travels.

I'll start with 3 nights in Paris with some friends, then head to Germany for just over a week to see the lovely Lena and the rest of the Ostendorps. Then for my final few days, I'll head over to Bretagne where I was 3 years ago, to visit and old friend and revisit some cherished places. Until then, I'll have plenty of work to keep me busy.

Au Revoir!

Opposites.

On Saturday I went on my last CUEF excursion to Marseille and Aix-en-Provence, and all I can say about the two cities is that they are complete opposites. 

Marseille is a huge city (2nd largest in France), with a very high immigrant population. It is a port city on the Mediterranean. My first view upon entering Marseille was a homeless camp underneath an overpass. Their were tents set up and mountains of trash everywhere, not exactly the beauty one expects from France. We hated to say it, but we all felt a little bit like we were visiting a third-world country. We spent half of our time at the beach, which would have been nice had it not been for the "Mistral," what they call the wind that brings in the cold water and kicks little rocks and debris at you while you try to bask in the sun. After a brief stay and picnic at the beach, we headed back to the Vieux Port (old port) part of town, which was busy with tourists and vendors selling just about anything the tourist would buy. We weren't sure what to do with our time, so we split into groups of those who wanted to eat and those who didn't. I picnicked at the beach so I went with the non-eaters, and we decided to check out the old part of town. We got sidetracked my H&M and Starbucks on our way. I bought a skirt and a dress, both for 10 euro, and then we headed off in search of this old neighborhood. We finally found it and it really wasn't all it was chocked up to be. Just old apartments, an old looking church, a museum that we didn't visit, and a LOT of dog poop. The French generally don't clean up their poo, and in Marseille it was particularly bad, you have to watch with every step. We finally left Marseille just after 5:30..well that's when we got on the bus. We then proceeded to drive around the city for over an hour trying to apparently get somewhere else, not sure where. The bus was too big for the narrow streets, we ended up backing into a pole and breaking off a huge piece of the bumper, and then we just gave up and headed out of town.

Beach in Marseille

 Old part of town (complete with the characteristic graffiti of France)

 Le Vieux Port

Now that I've drawn a good picture of Marseille for you, you can be assured that since Aix was the complete opposite, it was an absolutely beautiful, tranquil, and clean city. Aix is much smaller than Marseille, and is a very expensive high class city. The Monoprix (grocery/convenience store) was even glamorous looking. There was a little artisan market going on in the middle of the main street where hats, paintings, and other beautiful things were sold. We ate at a nice restaurant (that had a bathroom-the main reason for our choice.) and the service was excellent and the people friendly. We wandered around town while the sun set for a while and then, very content, boarded the bus for home at around 10pm.

Fancy Monoprix (imagine a Meijer looking like this)

 Pretty little fountain in the middle the main street

We finally arrived in Grenoble at around 2 am. The bus made many stops as to avoid forcing the students to take taxis, which are expensive, and the buses and trans stop before 2am. thankfully, the driver was kind enough to take me right to my bus stop because apparently I don't live in the best area for walking alone at night. So I got home by 2:30, but some others didn't arrive home till 3:30 because they had to use more creative ways of making it home safely. Overall, it was an interesting day filled with contrast and new impressions of France. I can say, one day when I have a lot of money and can return to France, I will make a point to stay a few days in Aix, but I will definitely skip over Marseille!

adventurous eating.

Clearly the workload in my classes has begun to pile up and I've had less and less time to write. However, today I thought I'd procrastinate and jot down some thoughts before writing my two small essays. The first is that I have become much more adventurous in my eating since arriving in France. I try almost everything-hot, cold things sometimes still give me the creeps to try. I've tried things that I didn't think I could possibly like, for example, cooked red cabbage with ham? It was actually good, not filling enough as the only dish, but tasty. Anyway, here is my promise I've made to myself, don't let me become lazy and break it when I return to the States; I promise to try more things that you cook Nancy! I know sometimes if you think outside of the box and make something new, I am not very welcoming of your efforts, so I promise I will be better about trying things.

Also, I can't let myself forget again how much I love raspberry jam. I realized I liked it 3 years ago when I was in France, and somehow forgot and never really ate it between that time. Now I've rediscovered my long lost love. Speaking of raspberries, there better be plenty left on Grandpa's bushes when I get home!!!

What else do I have to say? Nothing really. Classes are boring this week. Its been cold this week. Finally it didn't rain today, but we had to go to the store and buy more warm clothes yesterday because its so cold in the morning when we leave for class. I bought a pair of loose brown cotton pants and a cardigan with zebras all over it. Its going to be highs of mid seventies for the next 10 days, so says the forecast. everyone is a bit stressed and homesick at this point. One girls dad arrived last night for a visit and to see the Tour de France. We were all pretty jealous. The Tour de France will come through town Saturday, sadly I'll be in Marseille with my program, but I figured, I saw the finish of the Tour on the Champs-Elysees the last time I was in France, and I have never seen Marseille, so it takes priority. hopefully it will be a fun trip!

Okay now maybe, just maybe, I'll get some work done before dinner.
A toute suite!

Monday: birthday - take two.

Since the first day didn't work out so well, I redid my Birthday today, starting at midnight in France. I arrived home finally and got to see my family and talk to my most wonderful mother, who always makes me feel better. Next I used 4 euro of minutes to call my wonderful boyfriend who had been in a cellular deadzone all day and unable to email me. He somehow missed me telling him I may be out of communication all weekend so he thought something had happened, and was so worried all day. So, misunderstandings were corrected and I slept well having talked to him. I only got 5 hours of sleep, but woke up surprisingly awake. Headed to class with Alexandra (other American here) Today was the halfway point for the program, so we changed our mini course and we also changed our prof for the French class for some reason. Luckily, The prof was great for the French class, and I was pleasantly surprised to find she was also my prof for my new Oral Perfection class. We did a little improv during class, pretending to be trapped in an elevator with another person, and made up identities and had to talk for 2 minutes before the class.

After class, we ate lunch in the park and then went to get money from the atm, poor Chris' card got eaten, but he can go back to get it tomorrow. Then I did some window shopping in a different part of town to kill time before returning to the university at 4pm to get my forgotten bag. I found a great book store, but it was a little confusing. I bought Twilight in French, because I wanted to read an easy fun book that I already knew well in English, to improve my French. I likely won’t start it until my classes are over, it will be a good travel companion. I looked for a cookbook with regional recipes but came up with nothing, so I might drop that souvenir idea, it would be a hassle to translate anyway (since Laura, not me, is the expert at cookbook translation)

When I finally got home after retrieving my bag and nearly falling asleep on the tram and bus, I took a much deserved nap for about an hour and a half. Then I was called to dinner. We had pork chops and a casserole of bok choy? I think. Then they brought out a bottle of champagne and an apricot tart with 20 candles for my birthday! It was delicious; the champagne (not true champagne because of its origin) is from a nearby town (Die-south of Grenoble) and was a sweet variety.

So, although my actual birthday was perhaps a bit stressful and tiring, today made up for it. I have my wonderful hosts to thank for that. Grenoble may not be the most beautiful city in France, or the most exciting, but the people are welcoming, kind, and patient; and for that I am truly thankful.

Alexandra, Mme Cottave, Frieda and I

Sunday: Stressful birthday to me!

Sunday morning we woke up at 7:15 for breakfast and then headed straight to the beach near our hotel. I went in up to me thighs, but didn't want to go any further because I'd showered the night before and didn't want to have to again. The water was very calm because it was protected in a little harbor. The beach was full of local older men and women getting their Sunday morning swim in. It was a very nice visit, and I just laid on my towel and read my book and listened to music. We headed back to the hotel to pack up our stuff and get ready for the day at 9:30. We left the hotel at 10:45 and headed to Saint-Paul, a little medieval village inland. When we boarded the bus we took seats near the front to avoid car-sickness. Then two came on the bus (late) and told Chris and Katie they had to move because they were in their seats. We told them seats aren't assigned and they needed to sit there as to not be carsick. The woman seemed to think it was funny that we thought we had just as much right as her to the seat. We argued for a bit and the woman just sort of laughed at us and proceeded to put her stuff in the overhead compartment. Chris and Katie finally conceded and ended up in the very last row of the bus despite being some of the first people on the bus. Then, throughout the trip to Saint-Paul, the two rude Iraqi woman sitting nearby proceeded to rudely talk about us in Arabic while we sat right there listening. I won't go into it any further as to not make this post too negative, but the bus seat drama continued all day.

Saint-John was a beautiful little walled village. There were tons of boutiques and galleries. It made me want to quit school and be a painter full time, and open a gallery (after seeing the prices on the artwork there, anyone would be tempted). Despite the beauty, we had a bad experience with the French. We stopped for sodas at a cafe and the waiter was extremely impatient and rude, he literally threw our bill at us. Then later, for lunch we tried to eat at a restaurant but were turned away, because they were too "busy". there were 4 other table there, not even half full, and it was 1pm, LUNCH TIME! We were really getting fed up with the French system for eating out. No tipping means bad service, and the relaxed do-what-I-want attitude shown by the owners and employees makes it difficult to get what you want when you want. They can literally just say no to you if they don't feel like serving you. We ended up just stopping at a sandwich stand and I had a chicken panini.

We left Saint-Paul and headed to Cannes for an hour and a half at the beach. A storm was coming in, the wind was ridiculous. The waves looked like tons of fun, but I didn't want to be cold, wet and salty on the bus, so I opted out. I sat and read again. After a while at the beach we stopped ta a crepe stand and had birthday crepes. then at 5:00 we boarded the bus and began the long trip home. We took the route around the mountains, so car-sickness wasn't a problem, it was just a long and tiring trip. When we finally got to Grenoble it was after midnight. I forgot my bag under the bus in the stress of getting off the bus and figuring out how to get home. We took a taxi, which wasn't bad because there were 3 of us to split it. I got home, thought Nathan had forgot about my birthday, and I was just very tired, stressed and lonely, so I cried for a while wishing I was home on my birthday instead if thousands of miles away.

Saturday: We don't care about tours, just beaches!

Maryel turned 21 today!! We left the hotel at 9:30 and arrived at about 10:00 in Nice, of course the weather was perfect so we headed straight to the beach. We played in the waves, laid in the sun, read our books and relaxed all morning. At about 1:00 we left the beach and had some good old american cheeseburgers for lunch. At about 2:30 we were on the bus again and headed to Eze, a little town which is home to the Galimard Parfumerie. We saved opted out of the tour and saved 8 euro, choosing instead to visit the town a bit. There were tons of little shops and I bought a few souvenirs for some of my favorite people! In one little shop, the owner came over to talk to us, he was curious, like so many before him, why Chris was all alone with so many girls. This man called him the chef (leader). We laughed at this joke again and talked to the owner for a few minutes. apparently all of his aunts and uncles live in Michigan now! What a small world.

Beach in Nice

After 45 minutes in Eze we once again got on the bus and headed to Monaco! When we arrived we were all very hot and only wanted to swim again! so we opted out of another boring museum, and set off in search of a beach. After asking several people we realized that the beach was probably too far to walk to, but we could see down at the harbor, from our position at the top of a very big hill/cliff, that there was a place with ladders to get in the water and swim! So we walked down many stairs and eventually made it. We stayed for an hour or so, jumping and diving into the water and swimming with the fishies. It would have been a great place to snorkel!

 Monaco

At about 7pm we headed over to the Monte Carlo, to see the ridiculously lavish lives of those who visit there. We saw plenty of Bently's, Rolls Royce's, Lamborghini's, Ferrari's, etc. We went inside the lobby and looked around for a bit. then, since we had nothing better to do with our time there we sat on a bench and made up a game we called "Rich or Not". We examined each person who passed and decided if they were rich (i.e. "Hes nerdy rich, like software and computers" or "shes definitely a gold digger") or not (like us, just tourists).

Monte Carlo

We finally got back to the hotel, took much needed showers after a day full of salty swimming, and headed out to celebrate Maryel, Olivia and my birthdays. We had food and wine at a little restaurant, when we left there it was just past midnight, so we headed to another little place to have a cocktail we'd heard of called the Monaco. We figured it was a good thing to order since we'd just visited Monaco. Apparently it is made with beer, grenadine and lemonade. At around 1am we returned to the hotel to get some rest for another long day ahead of us.

Friday: Bon Voyage!

Today I had no 8:30 am class, so I had an extra 2 hours to pack for the weekend and sleep in a bit. It was the last day of my Civilization class and the two hours could not have passed slower. Finally we were done, and we had just 45 minutes to wait until our departure for la Cote d'Azur! I ate (and shared) some of the snacks and fruits Mme Cottave packed me, and my PB&J because none of the school cafeterias were open. At 1:30 we left Grenoble and began our long journey south. We took the Alps route on the way down, boy was that traumatic! Several of us became pretty car sick from the curvy mountain roads. 

At about 4pm we stopped in a little city called Sisteron to eat. We asked around at a few places and found it utterly frustrating that cafes in France don;t serve food at all hours. Most places were only serving desserts and drinks at the time. Maryel and I gave up on cafes and walked down to the crepe stand, and bought the chocolate gaufres we'd been craving since the night before. Before leaving, I decided I'd better find a bathroom. We found the public W.C. easily...using it was the difficult part. I wish I'd taken a photo, but this self-cleaning contraption was frightening. You wait until the light turns green to enter, then once you enter you cannot open the door again until you are done. I went in, got confused and opened the door for some Moral support from Maryel. Then all of a sudden, the toilet seat starts to lift its self up, and scary noises started. I ran out of there, knowing the place was self-cleaning, and not wanting to be trapped inside during the disinfecting hurricane. I waited for the light to turn green again, and stepped into what looked like the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. Anyway, I can now say that I would rather pee in a stinky port-a-potty any day rather than experience this mean clean machine.

After 8 long hours of travel (counting 2 long stops) we finally made it to our hotel located in a little town outside of Nice. We had our typical meal of pizza margherita at a cafe, and one of the older waiters and Chris if he was the banquier (banker) because he was having dinner with five ladies. He is constantly the lone male in our group, because out of 16 U of M students, there are only 2 boys. We laughed at the joke and finally we headed to bed preparing for the long day ahead of us.