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!

les photos

These are the pictures from last weekend:
"La creche" (the nativity scene) [1 and 2]
"Le Palais du Pape" (Pope's Palace) [2 and 3]
Me at the Pont d'Avignon [4]
Chateauneuf [5 and 6]

sur le pont d'avignon

Last Friday night was quite an evening! My host-family had several people coming in for a conference they were all going to. My host-sister, Violaine, came in town because she’s on vacation for about a week and a half. I got to meet my host-dad’s sister and her husband. They also had a friend come over because he was looking into getting my computer set up to work with the wireless here. (Still getting back to writing all those emails I’ve been postponing for months “until I had internet in my room”). Anyway, dinner with all these people was a blast! I enjoyed the conversation and we laughed so hard. It made me excited to be able to share with them with out having to have EVERYTHING explained to me.
Saturday morning, my study abroad group to a bus south for an excursion to Aix-en-Provence. It was so beautiful, a bit of a change of weather. I felt like it was summertime again. In Aix we toured the town, and then we went to a workshop (“de Santons”) were they make little figurines from clay for nativity scenes. Apparently this is the most well-known place for it in France. (P.S. the nativity scenes there include more than just what we normally see, but a whole village around it)
Sunday morning, we got our extra hour of sleep with the time change. We left Aix after breakfast and headed to Avignon. There we toured the Pope’s Palace, built between 1334 and1363. After walking around the city a bit, we drove 45mins to the Chateauneuf-du-Pape for a wine tasting. The vineyard was gorgeous! We couldn’t have asked for better weather!!! It was fun to do the wine tasting and learn some about them.
When I arrived home, another host-daughter, her husband and two little ones were here. The kids are staying here this week because the parents are on a retreat. It’s been fun to play with Theophane (3 yrs) and communicate with him. He is so adorable. Anselme is also very cute, but he’s just 9 mos old, so I understand him just as well as everyone else does.
Tonight, after class, I'm going with a classmate from Colombia to have dinner with her and her boyfriend. We're going to speak SPANISH, eat non-French food, watch a movie and just hang out! I'm excited!

update

Yet another weekend, come and gone. Now it’s back to school for me. I think if I were back in the US, I’d have a right to complain, and I’d probably jump on it, but I’m enjoying it here. I do have 3 midterms this week, but I’m not really stressed about them, as I would be in Texas. I’m enjoying my classes, so no biggie.
Friday, afternoon, I headed into town with a few friends, had crepes, went shopping, and for dinner went to an Indian restaurant. One of the Aggies’ here had family in town this weekend, so several of us went to meet them and hang out at the “Couche Tard” (means “go to bed late”).
Saturday morning, I got to rest. I did a little readying and studying for the coming week. When my host-sister came back with her mom, she and I began to watch “La Melodie de Bonheur” (aka Sound of Music). We had lunch outside, on the back porch. They headed out again for a while, so I sat outside to read. Enjoying the lovely weather before it gets cold. In the evening, I headed over to my friend Megan’s place for a crepe party. We eventually became pretty successful crepe-chefs. Another girl (Katherine) and I spent the night with Megan.
Sunday morning, Megan, another student (Jenn) and I took the bus to go to church. It was good to be there with believers. I enjoyed singing praise and worship songs I know from the back home in French. We also had some good time of prayer.
After lunch, I went with my host-mom and sister on a walk near here. We visited an old monastery, a vineyard and followed this trail that led to a beautiful view of the city! We came home and played a new board-game Laure got.
This weekend, Laure asked me if I knew the song “I Will Follow Him,” because she has to learn it for her music class. This gave me the opportunity to introduce my host-family to YouTube and to Sister Act. Granted, my host-parents had seen the movie before, but Laure hadn’t and she loved the video. I think she watch it about 15 times all day. My host-mom, Evelyne, wanted me to teach her how to find it again in the future. What cracked me up was seeing them laughing and Evelyne telling Laure that they’re not real nun and they don’t really dance like that.
No soccer today, I think people may have been out of town or something. Either way, I got to take a nice nap and got to skype with family in Texas. Good to see and talk to everyone and their dog (literally).

belated weekend post

Yet another wonderful weekend in France. After class on Friday, I went in to town for lunch with some friends. We sat outside in a park and enjoyed the beautiful weather over some delicious Italian pasta and a Nutela crepe. Friday evening was very relaxing with my host-family. Saturday morning, my program had a schedule trip to Annecy. Annecy is the “Venice of the Alps,” and it is a cute little town in the heart of the Alps, between Switzerland and Italy. There is a gorgeous lake there that is has the purest water in Europe. We were really blessed to have amazing weather while we were there. After our tour, we took a pedal-boat for about 45mins and were surrounded be the beautiful mountains. Back in town, was the big traditional festival, marking the day that the milking cows come down from the mountains for winter. So interesting to see all the people, colors, animals, traditions, foods and music.
Sunday, after church (I went to a new church, nearer to home, and really liked it!), my friend Arielle came over for lunch with my host-family, who later took us up the Chartreuse to visit a museum and a reproduction of the monastery. It was so gorgeous riding up the mountain-side with all the fall colors. The monastery is closed off to the public, but from the outside it was very impressive!
Upon arriving home, I quickly changed so that I could meet up with my neighbors for the Sunday soccer match. I’m excited to say that our team won this week, but I’m more excited to say I scored a goal (WHOOP!).