it's winter here

The past few days here have been really good. I don't know what specifically has made them enjoyable, but I'm glad I'm still enjoying my time here!
I've had a good past couple of days spending time with my host-family and with Megan too. Friday I made banana bread for my host-family (who insisted in calling it "cake"). After dinner, I went to Megan's to spend the night. Saturday I was productive and got caught up on homework. It was cool working at my desk looking out at the snow falling outside. This weekend is the first time it's snowed out my window here. Nothing major, but the first snow below the mountains. In the evening I went the a concert at a church downtown with my host-fam. I enjoyed the pieces, particularly the ones in French.
Sunday after church and after lunch, I went into town to the "Salon du Chocolat," where chocolate makers set up tables selling their goodies and there were a few chocolate sculptures as well...I thought I had died and gone to heaven. :)
This week I'm gearing up for my parents' visit. They get in on Wednesday, so after my morning class, I'm taking the next train to Paris and staying with them there for a few nights before we meet up with the group in Strasbourg (~4hrs East of Paris). It's so unreal to think they are coming! I haven't seen them in about 6 months!!! I'm pretty excited!

I had meant to post before, but last weekend I got to go to Barcelona and ABSOLUTELY loved it! I had a wonderful time in a Spanish-speaking country again. It was so beautiful. The weather was lovely. Everything was excellent. I would TOTALLY be up for going back one day, although I'd like to take my family, particularly Mom.

la bella italia

So maybe I'm due two posts about now. I'll work on the first one now and hopefully before the end of the week I'll get the second one up.
Friday, the 7th, I went on a cool visit to the "Caves de la Chartreuse," where we had a tour and learned about the production of the Grande-Chartreuse liquor made in the monastery that I visited a while back with my host-family. After the tour, I quickly rushed to the train station to catch my train to Milan, Italy. I spent four days there and had a wonderful time! So many people I knew, had heard of, or shared mutual friends with. It was very weird to go to a brand new place, and feel like so much was familiar. I stayed with a girl that my parents hosted over the summer in TX. I had met her brother before when he stayed with us about 3 years ago. Anyway, it was nice to get to visit the church and the ministry that Grace Bible Church (back home) has been a part of for years. I also got to tour around Milan some and see things like Il Duomo, the Galleria, the ruins throughout the city, etc.
I think the coolest thing was seeing the people and fitting in so well, so soon. I felt very comfortable there. It was a good break from the "properness" of France.
For those of you who are from Grace and might find this interesting, here are some people that I got to see while there: Serena, Luca Macchiaolo, Daniel Roberts and his wife (not my brother, Robby Roberts' son), Bruno Perossa, Gabriele and Melissa, the Lukers, Stefan and his wife (can't remember her name), and a several others. I also met someone that went to LeTourneau University with my brother...small world!
Other random news from this side of the world. Last week, when I got back from my trip, I payed a visit to the doctor for an allergy that I've had for some time. Usually in the evenings I break out in hives, and I've figured it is because of a reaction to French dairy products. I'm glad to have medicine that prevents the skin irritation, and I don't have to cut out milk and cheeses of my diet (especially in France, the cheese kingom!) It's been interesting doing the research and learning about it on my own. All the doctor really helped me with was give me a good medicine... :) Things are back to normal again. Anyway, it's late...as you can probably tell from this post. I need to get to bed since I have class at 8.30am tomorrow.

weekend in genève

Well, Geneva, Switzerland was soooo much fun! I had a blast! Honestly, I don't think it would have been so amazing had I just stayed one night. There was so much to do, and for not planning ahead, we made good use of our time there and did much!
Friday, I left after class with a “copine” (classmate), Molly, and met up with an “amie” (friend), Arielle, in town to buy stuff for lunch on the way. When we got to the train station, we realized that we weren't actually going to be taking a train there but a bus...haha! it was quite comical being a little crammed there for about 2.5hrs....and we couldn't even eat our lunch on the bus.
So when we got to the hostel, we ate lunch and rested a little. After our naps/resting, we walked around town, looking for the “Maison de Tourisme” and checking out the city. Once we found it, it was dark out, so we decided to go to the lakefront and we saw the awesome Jet d'Eau at night (or water-jet, one of the largest fountains in the world. Five-hundred litres (132 gallons) of water per second are jetted to an altitude of 140 metres (459 feet) a speed of 200 km/h (124 mph))....it was so beautiful. Later, we took a tram to the old side of the city and went to a comedie piece called, “Le jeu de l’amour et du hazard” (The Game of Love and Chance). It was sooooo much fun! I really enjoyed the show...and understood it too! We came back and went to bed.
The next morning, after breakfast, we walked to the “Palais des Nations” (the UN office at Geneva and the second-biggest of the four major office sites…second to New York), then walked some more and went to the Red Cross Museum. That was incredibly interesting to me! Then we walked along the Lake Leman again and bought tickets for a boat tour (which wasn't until later, so we went to grab lunch). After the tour (sooooo cold b/c it was pretty windy out on the water, but it was really pretty), we went back to the hostel to shower and freshen/warm up. We went out again for a walk at night along the lake and then grabbed dinner (I had delicious food from Latin America!! A tamal and an empanada…it’d been a while, and I didn’t know when I’d get that chance again!)
Sunday, after breakfast, we walked along the other side of the lake and saw the pretty rose gardens. We walked down the pier to the jet d'eau (I got probably about 15-20 ft away and soaked too!). We continued on into the old town to the “Cathedral de St. Pierre” (home church of John Calvin, one of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation). Soon, we headed back to the hostel and then took the gorgeous 2hr train-ride back and that was our weekend!