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)