tomatoes > candy? weird.

Somehow, I got the best gig ever for my living situation.  I am staying in a beautiful house with a ducks and roosters in the front yard and flower and vegetable gardens in the back (get excited for pics that I have yet to take).  It is exactly like the quaint, picturesque European homes in movies.  Except better.  Any direction I look, I see the Alps.  I have running trails two minutes from my house that go to the top of a large hill where I can see an amazing view of the city and the surrounding mountains.  I am a minute walk from the train I take to the Université and about a 5-10minute walk to the tram. 

I have the two sweetest host parents, Robert and Nicole, who are in their 70s.  They are wise and patient with my French.  They keep teaching me all these cool phrases and words.  Apparently, one I should already know is “ҫa marche”, which means “it’s going”.  The way they explained it was so adorable.  Nicole went off on this long rant about how when Robert was putting up the wallpaper in the house, she would ask every day how it was going.  If it was going well he’d say “ҫa marche bien”, if not he’d mutter under his breath and start telling her all about the problems.  It was apparently a long process.  Haha. 

My new friend Elliot on the program is my “frère”.  It’s been great to have him in the house so when we both can’t think of the French word for an English thought, we can usually come up with some explanation between the two of us.  He is much better at pronunciation and fluidity of the language in general, and I think it’s already beginning to rub off on my.  We seem to be getting along really well and have many similarities.  Plus safety wise it’s been great to be together.  It is super quiet at night except for a few strangers roaming the streets.  It’s strange to not be surrounded by college students at night. Definitely not on Bowdoin campus anymore!

I have the most adorable room I’ve ever seen that even has a shower.  My host mom, Nicole, is the BEST cook ever.  Literally.  I cannot get over how good the food is here.  Every night I think I’m eating the best meal I’ve ever had.  I’m wondering how many times I will say “C’est très bonne” and “C’est delicieuse” by the semester.  I’ve already lost count.  I have fresh bread or cake with homemade fig or raspberry jam every morning.  I didn’t even know I liked figs.  Had a prune tart last night and I don’t understand how it good.  I thought prunes were gross and for when you get old.  So wrong.  It’s my new jam.  Haha pun.

Anyways, I have so many stories to share but I’ll start with quick summaries.  Let’s see for basics, I finally got a cellphone so I can keep in touch with my friends.  Figuring out a plan in French was très confusing.  I love the public transportation systems, which is funny because that is one of the things I was most scared of.  Never had to figure stuff like that out by myself, yet the first day of classes I actually took charge of leading the group to our campus (which is about  a 30 minute bus ride).  Turning into a city girl?  Maybe baby.  People use pink toilet paper here, the shower heads are hand held, some of the toilets are in the ground.  Squat time – at least I had some practice in the woods and fields thanks to hiking and potato harvest.  There are brunettes with brown eyes everywhere.  I think I found my homeland.   Everyone here is SO stylish and SO beautiful.  It’s impossible to fully grasp the extent of that statement until you actually go to Europe.  It’s incredible.  I don’t even understand. 

I’ve gotten lost twice thus far, once on campus.  The first time we accidentally decided to circle the CUEF campus rather than go to the building where our class was, which was about a 30 second walk from the bus stop.  Whoopsies!  The second time my friends Elliot, Drew, Emma, and I spent an hour trying to find Nicole’s apartment in Echirolles.  (This Nicole is a peer, not my host mom!).  We were supposed to explore Echirolles but because of the late start we ended up calling it quits for the night.  Bummer.  C’est la vie.

Monday morning I spent the morning helping Robert clean his van which he uses to take trash to the dump.  In the process we somehow ended up discussing the French education system and taxes for like half an hour.  It was great.  Apparently, the education system is not very well run.  Also, taxes are through the roof.  Taxes are doubled for water, so everyone really tries hard to conserve.   It was fun to be able to have such an intense conversation in French!

Elliot and I went for a morning run in the park before my conversation with Robert on Monday and quickly realized the first half hour is straight uphill until you get to the top of the hill, which we didn’t even get to because the path we were taken suddenly stopped.  Leg workout hardcore.  So fun.  My fav.  Today Molly, Elita, and I explored even further on the paths after class and got to the top of the hill (mountain?).  I can’t even describe how beautiful it is here.  I just can’t say enough how much I love mountains and how they are EVERYWHERE.  We had a great time and it was fun to get to know each other better!  Oh, how I love hiking and running. 

The other day Elliot and I explored Grenoble and stopped at a café to get les boissons in the afternoon.  In France, restaurants are not usually open from 3-4:30ish.  Instead, there are a plethora of cafés that open up shop and serve drinks.  They are all packed.  People just buy a drink and sit and relax for hours.  It’s awesome!  I got a delicious pina colada and Elliot got a coffee, which is actually an espresso shot.  While we were sitting there a man next to us began talking to us.  He started telling us about Grenoble and telling us tips about the city.  Apparently in Europe petty crime HUGE.  He gave us his number and said if we ever needed anything to feel free to give him a call.  He said he loves to help people who are new to the city and thinks such kindness should be more widespread.  He even bought us free drinks. 

Last night, the group went out to explore the night scene in Grenoble.  It’s super nice to be able to casually hang out with friends at the bar.  Come on America, get with the program!  We ended up staying at the London Pub all night.  The atmosphere there was super fun.  It was great to just get a beer and relax after a long frustrating day of class (which I’ve had every day this week for 5 hours all in French!).  I am excited to explore what else Grenoble has to offer on the weekend!

Today my host family had a dinner party with some their friends.  All my research on French manners came in handy.  I put the bread on the tablecloth, kept my fork in my left hand the whole time (I swear I’m going to be ambidextrous by the end of this), did not discuss professions or cash money, and ate everything on my plate.  Including chicken stomach.  Weirdly enough, it was delicious. It was super cool - love this phrase because the French use it too -  to have a traditional French meal.  We began with the aperitif beforehand with yummy white wine.  Then we had a course of salad with the most delicious and fresh cherry tomatoes.  They were better than candy.  If you know me at all, that means a lot.   After the salad, the main course was served with steak, potatoes, and fresh green beans.  That was followed by a cheese platter, which included two different types of cow cheese, goat cheese, roquefort, and beaufort and dramatically amplified my cheese obsession.  Then we had dessert.  Nicole served chocolate mousse, a plate of various pastries, and the most delicious raspberry cream cake I’ve ever had.  Mmmmmmmm.

Bisous! 

(Dibs to Marinne for teaching me French lingo. J Bisous = kisses.  Kisses = so, so casual in French)

Day 2 - Meeting the Rents/ Stugg City with Vocab

Today was super challenging for me.  After a delicious breakfast of un pain au chocolate, un crepe, et un kiwi we had a 2 hour informational meeting about this upcoming semester.  My vocabulary is not quite at the level where I can understand all of what is going on.  I’m going to have to figure out a lot on my own.  Learning French is such a challenge, but I love it.  Every second I have to be thinking in a new way.   This isn’t a class for 4 hours a week, this is my new home.   Now, I’m casually walking down the streets of Grenoble talking French with my classmates, having conversations with my host family and their grandchildren over dinner, and using French 24/7. 

Let’s see, what happened today.  Minou gave us a tour of Grenoble and in the middle of it a random bum came into our group and asked her what she was selling.  He also told a girl in our group that Minou was lying.  Oh, city life.  Definitely not in Fort Kent anymore.  After having lunch at Pain & Cie, we went back to our hotel and our host families came to pick us up.  Found out that I have a classmate staying in the same house as me.  Un nouveau frère!  His name is Elliot.  He’s super nice and more advanced at French than I am so helps me out with some of the vocab my host family used at dinner.  Speaking of my host family, they are ADORABLE.  They are an elderly couple in their 70s.  The wife, Nicole, teaches cooking classes which I hope to take this semester!  Drew, another guy in my program, is living with my family’s son, his wife, and their two children.  They are all super nice and very patient with our broken French. 

Tonight, we had the most delicious dinner.  French food is literally the best.  I can’t even describe it.   For their gift, I gave them a bag of ploy mix, maple syrup, and an Acadian cookbook.  Two French cultures emerging into one = yummy.  They have a big house with a garden in the back.  It is beautiful.  Get excited for pictures.  I have my own room and my own shower.  Score.

One last thing, here’s a quote I’d like to borrow from Bill Bryson’s Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe.

“I had an urge to roam.  I wanted to wander through Europe, to see movie posters for films that would never come to England, gaze wonderingly at billboards and shop notices full of exotic umlauts and cedillas and No Parking sign o’s, hear pop songs that could not by even the most charitable stretch of the imagination be a hit in any country but their own, encounter people whose lives would never again intersect with mine, be hopelessly unfamiliar with everything, from the workings of a phone box to the identity of foodstuff” (38).

Everything here is new.  There are things every second that I could write about.  It’s amazing to think about how this place has already started changing my life.  These people and lifestyles are so different and I would have never gotten the opportunity to come here if it wasn’t for Bowdoin’s help.  For that, I will forever be grateful.  Being “hopelessly unfamiliar with everything” and “encountering people whose lives will never again intersect with mine” is an experience like no other.  After going back and forth all year about whether to study in Cameroon or Grenoble, I am now certain I made the right choice.  European life is much more different from American life than I expected.  Contrary to what I thought, everything is “hopelessly unfamiliar.”  I’m excited to start classes and become comfortable with my new lifestyle.  It’ll be great to focus on Parisian French in the classroom.   Without that structure, I feel like I would get much less out of France linguistically.  It’s hard to pick up on French right now, because I have so many questions about the structure of the language that I need to discuss.  I am especially excited to have my own personal French tutor.  

Alright, I have limited time on the computer so I am going to go now and get ready for bed.  I unfortunately somehow lost a part of the power converter so am relying on Elliot’s to charge my computer.  Plus, Elliot and I are going for a run at 8 tomorrow morning so I should probably get some sleep. 

My Acadian Roots Shine Through

I’ve arrived safely in Grenoble!  I’m now at the IBIS hotel.   Some fun facts from my travels so far:  My first flight was a surprise 8 hours rather than 6.  Luckily, I slept 6 of those hours.  The other two hours I watched penguins, yes that was what played for the first 20 minutes on the plane, an episode of modern family and listened to music.  It was a good time.  Tabs to my brother Tommy for making me buy granola bars.  They saved me from hunger at the end of the flight.  Although I had some delicious cheese and a croissant foooo freee! 

I heard my first county French on the plane.  A guy in the back shouted “Tabernacle” (a swear word that is used quite often in Fort Kent).  It made me smile. 

I saw a beret used stylishly.  So French.

After flying into Zurich, I met up with my Bowdoin classmate Nani.  We flew to Lyon together and then figured out how to take the shuttle to Grenoble.  Then we got to split a cab and arrived to the hotel to find a couple of our classmates hanging out in the lobby.  What a relief! 

I can already tell it’s going to be a long first month.  Basic vocabulary like “one-way” or “round trip” I just don’t know.  But I’m learning quickly.  I am excited to see my progress as the semester goes on….

....Later....

Just got back from the BEST RESTAURANT I’VE EVER EATEN AT.  For real.  I had the most delicious tomato tart with a small salad, followed by canard with sesame seed sauce and potatoes au gratin, an AMAZING apple tart, and of course a glass of wine with each course.  So yummy!  Almost ordered a yummy tartar….also known as raw meat.  Luckily a classmate forewarned me about what I was actually doing and saved me from having a terrible meal my first night in Grenoble. 

Earlier this afternoon, when I got to the hotel, a group of us walked around the city and explored.  The mountains here are so beautiful and unlike any mountains I’ve ever seen.  They are like bubbles.  Very round and very tall.  They are also super steep.  It’s so cool how the town is connected to the mountains.  Grenoble is in the middle of the Alps.  On the shuttle bus from Grenoble to Lyon, the houses are built up into the mountains, except where they get too steep.  It’s just so beautiful here, I can’t get over it.  It’s exactly as I imagined J

The people in my program also seem great.  I think we’re going to have so much fun traveling together!  Tonight, we’re all calling it an early evening, however, because traveling is so exhausting and we have a booked schedule over the next couple days!

More fun facts:

-smoking is acceptable EVERYWHERE

-the dinners here are even longer than the ones at Bowdoin – and that is saying something!

-the cars here are all so small.  Wish I could use these puppies to parallel park at home instead of my super long dodge stratus!

-wine is cheap.  Just saying.

And the Countdown Begins...

                Only 10 days until I leave the country.  Craziness!  Up until this point, I’ve been too busy all summer to sit and think about France.  Now, it is just around the corner and I am freaking out.  I’ve spent the day packing and tying up loose ends.  Having time to think today made me a little crazy.  My emotions have fluctuated from anxious and excited to absolutely terrified.   I planned to study a lot more French this summer, but unfortunately with Upward Bound, a canoe trip down the St. John River, a trip to North Haven, a visit from Macy, and a trip to Acadia I never found the time to study as fully as I would have liked.  Deadlines, unfortunately, do not give me any leeway.  In 10 days I will have to completely switch my mindset and talk solely in French.  Being completely immersed in a language I do not fully grasp is scary to say the least.  Considering this will be my first time traveling alone and living internationally, I am afraid that the language barrier will make all the normal worries ten times harder.  I am excited for the challenge and know I can live up to it, but am also extremely nervous. 

Today, there were a couple painters at our house and one began speaking to me in French, since my dad had told him that I was going to France next week.  I froze and had a hard time understanding what he was saying.  Like it did today, I hope that initial shock of a foreign language does not hinder what I can learn from the people in France and prevent me from actively pursuing all the country has to offer.  I was talking to a friend about how speaking a new language is my biggest fear.  She wisely said, “Don’t let it be.  Be the first to do things – like attempt to order food or make conversation with people”.  So, as of now my goal is to be brave and take advantage of where I am and not let the language stop me from interacting how I normally would with new people.