Planche à neige? No, just say "snowboarding" with a French accent.

Living in the Southeastern United States, there aren’t many good ski resorts nearby without going up to West Virginia or New England or all the way out West; I have actually only been skiing about 3 times but have enjoyed it every time, and I wanted to try on slopes that were better than the ones in North Carolina, which are usually icy. One of my goals this semester, since I’m living in the Alps, was to go skiing, though I have to say, I wish I hadn’t waited until this late in the semester to go. I was debating between skiing, which I know I like, and learning to snowboard, which I had never tried but always been curious about. Because I went with Shana, who is a pretty avid snowboarder, I decided to try snowboarding, and hey, it’s not a bad story to tell when asked, “When did you learn to snowboard?” We went on a Monday, skipping class, because it was the day in between months where the new students take the placement test, so for those of us continuing with the program, it’s pretty much a wasted day with little to no curriculum taught and no attendance taken. Shana and I met at the bus station around 7:30, with no idea about whether or not we would actually be able to get tickets for any of the buses to Les Deux Alpes (our first choice of ski resort). Luckily, there were plenty of buses and plenty of tickets (for only 3,80 each way too), making things far less complicated than I had anticipated. While we were waiting for the bus, we ran into Kelly, another member of our program, who was also going to Les Deux Alpes; we were actually planning to go with him the day before but just by coincidence neither of us went Sunday and instead skipped class to go Monday. The bus ride was longer than expected, 2 hours by the time we got there, and I would have tried to sleep but was too excited :) The town right around the resort is a cool little ski town with tons of ski shops and cafes and hotels; Shana and I weren’t really sure how to approach the rental thing, getting more discouraged after we went in the first place and couldn’t convey to them in either French or English that we wanted to rent snowboards. Luckily the second place we went into was more successful (probably because it was a Billabong store and therefore awesome haha), and we were able to rent our boards and boots for 17 euros for the day (I have no idea if that’s good or not). After somewhat awkwardly making conversation and putting on our boots (snowboard boots are not easy to be graceful in under the best circumstances), Shana and I were ready to go. We weren’t sure how to get to the bunny slopes, so we asked someone on the street; he was really nice, speaking in English and tolerating our French, and helped us get our lift tickets (which were only 31 euros with the student discount; much cheaper than expected) and telling us where to go. We found out he is from Biarritz in the southwestern part of France, and from how he talked about it, I would definitely like to go there; it sounds like a pretty cool surf town. Unfortunately, the language barrier somehow caused confusion about the fact that it was my first time touching a snowboard (even though I know I said multiple times “Aujourd’hui est mon premier fois” or “Je n’ai jamais fait du snowboarding”) so he took us up to literally the top of the mountain, where he said the runs were really long but “easy.” No, they were not; my first day I went on what ended up being a blue run so that was special. I was already nervous, and once I saw where we were, I was convinced that I was going to die.

"feet, i'd like you to meet a snowboard; snowboard, meet my feet"

First of all, because we were at the SUMMIT of a mountain, it was super windy, and the snow was stinging our faces and making it really hard to see. Immediately after the flat part where we strapped on our boards there was a pretty steep drop with certain death (i.e a cliff) on one side of the trail. Now, normally that wouldn’t be a problem except that I didn’t know how to 1) stand up 2) stop or 3) steer. Basically, I knew nothing. Eventually we got to a little flat part where I could even stand a chance at getting upright, but the whole day it was alternating little flat part with giant steep hill, so I spent a large part of the day walking or sliding down hills on my butt. It took us literally 4 hours to do the run, but it was absolutely beautiful and Shana has the patience of a saint, so I think we both ended up enjoying it, despite everything. Once we got to some flatter parts, I did get the hang of standing up and later of how to stop without immediately resorting to falling on my butt; “Instructor Shana” seemed really pleased with my progress even though I felt like a failure walking down the slopes, so I guess it was a pretty successful first time. Unfortunately, even though sliding down the slopes on your butt is technically easier, it’s also significantly more exhausting, so between that and having to pick myself off the ground every time I got close to a steep hill and wanted to stop (i.e a lot), I was absolutely exhausted by noon. Since we were on one of the longest runs, we kept hoping the lodge would be over the next hill, and it was…about 5 hills later haha at this point in time, I’m absolutely exhausted (with my butt and wrists being the most sore), and I look a hot mess with my hair literally frozen in places, and face chapped-but for some reason, I was still in such a good mood, probably because I was so stubborn about wanting to learn to snowboard and actually did :D We ate lunch at the lodge, which consisted of the most expensive but also most delicious pizza I may have ever had. We were going to try another, more beginner run after lunch, but by the time we got up to the téléphérique (gondola thing) and rode it down to where the next run began, I realized that I was far too exhausted and that we were too cramped for time (since we didn’t know when the last bus left) for me to spend another 3 hours on a run haha I rode all the way down to the lodge, which ended up being really beautiful and scenic, and planned to wait for Shana at the bottom. It turned out that the run she had gotten off at required transversing another run or something and then going down a more difficult one to get to the lodge, so we just decided to call it a day. We turned in our gear and walked around for a few minutes before the bus left at 5 (I successfully made it into and out of both a Billabong and a Roxy store with buying anything…anyone who knows my obsession with surf brands will appreciate my struggle haha). On this bus ride home I slept with no trouble, still excited like I had been in the morning, but my exhaustion was dictating everything by this point. I would say that I am sufficiently hooked on snowboarding; I love skiing, but I want to get better at snowboarding, and think it’s more my thing :) I guess I’ll have to live somewhere where I can surf in the summer and snowboard in the winter! I’m so glad that we finally did it; the mountains were absolutely gorgeous, even more so than in Grenoble where I was already enamored with them, and I really did like the runs, just would have preferred those more geared towards my level. I’m so grateful that Shana was so patient and helpful with me; she says it’s not a big deal, but it really does mean a lot to me because I’m sure she could have had a much more enjoyable day of snowboarding without my slow self stopping all the time. I would love to go back if time permits, but I am so grateful I got to go once and that I finally learned how to snowboard :D I was sore all night and woke up the next morning more sore than I have ever been before, but that and the goofy goggle tan lines that I still have 2 days later were unquestionably worth it!

Och Aye Land

(The title is a reference from the Georgia Nicolson series which you should read if you haven't because they're hilarious)

The fact that we went to Scotland is a bit of an odd thing because it was a “Plan B” (or even C probably) when our trip to Morocco didn’t work out, but it ended up being such an amazing trip and so many things fell into place without any doing on our part, that we think it was a little bit of destiny ;) The only flights that we could find for this weekend from Lyon (the largest city close to Grenoble) to Edinburgh left Thursday and returned on Tuesday, which meant we were missing 4 days of school; normally, I wouldn’t condone missing school, but considering my near-perfect attendance at USC, the fact that I’m not really receiving credit for these French courses, the fact that you don’t get to live in Europe and go to Scotland every day, and the fact that I’ve spent upwards of 10 hours in the language lab trying to compensate for missing said days, I figured it would be worth it. The first thing that fell into place for us was lodging; we looked around at hostels but were struggling to pick one because we were trying to be conscious of both money and safety (it’s hard to find a room for just 3 people without it costing way more than the 8 or 10-person dorms). Luckily, Shana has “relatives” (really close family friends of her grandma lol) in Edinburgh who very generously offered to let us stay with them and even fed us 2 out of 3 meals per day. You honestly can’t get a much better situation to be staying in a city, especially when the people having you are as amazing as Alan and Sheena are. The second lucky thing was the weather; normally, Scotland is rainy and cold (especially this winter when they’ve had 6 weeks of snow as opposed to the normal 2), but we had sunshine every single day we were there and only encountered a sprinkling of rain once or twice. The third lucky thing happened our first night in Scotland; we made it to Edinburgh around 4 pm (despite some punctual incompetence on my part that made me almost not get to Lyon in time for our flight) and met Sheena at the airport. On the way home, she mentioned that she would be gone for part of the night because she takes a Scottish Highland dance class which was meeting that night; of course that piqued our interest, and we asked if we could come along. Everyone was so welcoming and friendly from the second we walked in the door, something that’s a little different from French people who, in my experience, take a little more time to warm up. It was thoroughly enjoyable watching the dancing, which is a little like Irish step-dancing but more relaxed, and even though it looked easy, when they had us join for a couple of dances, it was not at all haha though I’d love to learn…the next morning Sheena drove us into town and took us to Edinburgh Castle; the views of and from the castle were beautiful, and the history of a building that old was really hard to grasp for me, especially since everything in America is so “young.” We toured the castle, saw the crowned jewels, toured the prison, and ate lunch in a café in the castle. We then spent a ton of time in gift shops laughing at all of the crazy souvenirs (coffee mugs shaped like kilts?) and looking for the “perfect” tartan pattern for our scarves; Shana and Cecilia both got one of the tartans for Shana’s clan (MacLean) while I got a blue/green/white pattern that apparently goes well with my eyes/hair/whatever and just happened to be the Gordon clan. We walked around the Royal Mile and were all in a state of infatuation with Edinburgh. When we got back to the house, Sheena and Alan’s grandsons, Callum and Ewan, were there, and we thoroughly enjoyed playing with them :) one thing that we noticed is how much more proper even children’s English is when it’s “British English” versus “American English,” even though both of the boys have especially impressive vocabularies for 7 and 4 year olds. The next morning began our 2-day Highland Tour, and throughout the first day we saw the William Wallace monument, which offered some nice views; Hamish the Highland Cow (“Hairy Coo”), my new favorite animal; drove by various historical markers and places, including the castle where Monty Python was filmed, the place where the Clan MacDonald was murdered; and saw the Highlands, which are absolutely beautiful. We were staying in the little town of Fort William, which basically consisted of a million bed and breakfasts/hotels, some restaurants, and a bar or two. Not somewhere that I’d like to stay extensively, but it was on a lake (loch?) and was perfect for one night The bed and breakfast was only 22 euros a night for each of us to have single rooms and breakfast, and the B&B itself was really clean and really nice (plus the most adorable old lady ran it); another good life decision by Cecilia, Stephanie, and Shana! We went to dinner at a hotel restaurant, and one thing that is definitely preferable in France is the relationship with food; although everything I ate was pretty good, I didn’t have any meals in Scotland that were particularly impressive after living in France for 2 months (with the exception of shortbread, of which I ate ridiculous quantities in 6 days). We went to the bar our tour guide recommended, but England and France were playing for the Six Nations Cup in rugby, so it was all guys and none of them were paying us any attention haha Shana and I got Irn Bru (which is Scotland’s national drink, after whisky of course) with vodka, which wasn’t anything spectacular, but was good nonetheless. We were all surprisingly tired from sitting on a bus all day and had an early morning, so we just watched BBC TV and hung out until we went to bed. Day two of the Highland Tour included the Castle of Eilean Donan (which is supposedly the most famous in Scotland), Loch Ness, and more beautiful Highlands and historical goodness; my only complaint was that we spent more time at Eilean Donan than I would have liked and not enough at Loch Ness, but at least we saw them at all. Overall, the tour was good; I think I was more impressed with what we saw than either the guide (especially his motion sickness-inducing driving and Negative Nancy stories) or the company itself, but I could still recommend using Timberbush Tours to someone else just because we did enjoy the tour itself so much. We were all pretty wiped out by the time we got back into Edinburgh, despite sleeping sporadically on the bus, so we took the bus and Alan picked us up from the stop. Although we never did make it into town for a pub crawl, we did have fun spending the evenings learning about Scottish and British culture talking with Alan and Sheena and watching “Coupling,” the British version of Friends (which is raunchier because they can get away with a lot more on British television). The next day was our last in Edinburgh, and since we had only seen the Castle, we had a lot that we wanted to do, starting with a driving tour by Sheena, who was really well-informed because her father used to do a lot with tourism of the city. We then went to Holyrood Palace, which was really beautiful and interesting and actually preferable to Versailles, which I find too ornate. One of the security workers in the palace overhead us speaking “Frenglish,” to avoid losing it after so much English for 6 days, and started talking to us about where we were from, studying in France, being in Scotland, etc.; it turns out that of the places we’re from (Shana from Seattle, Cecilia from Connecticut/New York, and me from South Carolina), he had only been to South Carolina (Hilton Head for golf), which definitely surprised me but made me a little prouder of my home state. After the palace, we ate lunch in their café, and then toured the Queen’s Gallery, which included pictures from Antarctica expeditions; it was interesting, but we didn’t have a lot of time, so I mostly looked at the nature photographs, which I prefer over the ones of the crew. We walked along the Royal Mile again in the beautiful, warm sunshine and decided that our next stop would be the Scottish Whisky Experience; now, I wasn’t a big fan of whisk(e)y and still am not, but when in Scotland, you do as the Scottish :) the tour was interesting since I know nothing about whisky, and it was fun tasting the different kinds (fun, but not necessarily tasty). Since it was about time to head home, we did some last-minute souvenir shopping, and again took the bus home (p.s Edinburgh buses are much preferable to Grenoble’s because they’re 1) plaid and 2) double decker). Our flight left early the next morning, so that was all that we got to do in Edinburgh, but I think we all plan to return both there and other places in Scotland someday because it was a pretty big hit with all 3 of us. It was really nice because it was a good mix between American culture and European culture; for example, whereas peanut butter is really expensive in France and Nutella is expensive in the States, you can get both reasonably priced in Scotland! Haha It was also really nice to learn some of the differences between Scottish culture and British culture; it’s easy to lump everything into “British,” but Scotland has so much identity and pride, especially with things like the Highland Dancing and the representation of their clans. I didn’t really know what to expect of Scotland and Edinburgh, which is perhaps why I wasn’t at all disappointed by either of them, but I definitely would like to live in Scotland at some point, at least for a little while.

“Courage is the quality most essential to understanding the Language of the World." - The Alchemist

I’m just going to throw it out there that experience like this might be the greatest thing ever haha but seriously. Any travel, if used correctly, lets you not only learn about new cultures and new countries but also teaches you things about yourself and your own country, so an experience where you’re living in a new culture for any extended period of time just takes that potential and multiples it. Of course I’m learning a lot about myself and “what I’m made of,” but I’m also starting to appreciate aspects of myself that I never did before. I haven’t been this proud to be an American in a while; it’s so easy to get cynical about it when you’re constantly surrounded by Americans (or when you go places like Canada and the only other Americans fit all of the stereotypes), but here there are times when I’m the only one in a room of Chinese, Italian, Brazilian, Mexican, Japanese, Iranian students, and I feel a duty to be an ambassador of sorts to the United States. Because of the diversity of my classes, we do spend a lot of time discussing the differences among our cultures and our countries, and as much as I love hearing first-hand about things from all of these other countries, I find myself getting really excited to share with them what it’s like in America (granted, people from other countries have a better idea of American music, television, politics, etc. than we generally have of theirs, but it’s still an exciting prospect). It also puts pressure on me to know what I’m talking about and to not misrepresent myself or my country; of course it’s one American’s perception so mine isn’t necessarily accurate just like any of their perceptions aren’t necessarily accurate representations of their countries, but it’s interesting nonetheless. And in addition to my being American, I’ve also gotten really interested in my heritage, especially since it is so predominantly German; I find myself really wanting to learn all about Germany (better representations of it throughout history, for example) and definitely wanting to learn to speak German. My mom and I are planning to go to Munich, which is where some of our family is from, when she visits (that’s another blog post too), and I’m looking forward to standing on some of the same soil they did; even though yeah I technically have done the same in the United States, it’s just so much more exciting to be standing where they came from and where they called home. And everyone here talks about their heritage more than back home because most of us are ancestrally(?) from countries right around us; it has made me realize that it’s so much more complex than “American” and that being American isn’t an uninteresting thing (in fact, French guys think it’s exotic. Go figure). Another thing that I used to find “boring” that is actually not at all is being a native English speaker; I can’t believe how many people here either speak English or really want to. I feel so lucky to have learned it as my first language because it is hard and because I got to learn one of the most useful languages in our society today without even trying. That being said, I think everyone, especially English speakers, should still make an effort to learn at least one more language (and no, not just Spanish to “talk to the Mexicans.” So much ignorance.), especially since it’s so much easier than going from a completely different alphabet like the Chinese, Iranian, and Russian students in my class are doing (and doing well, might I add). I can’t even convey how many times in class there will be a word in French that someone doesn’t understand that is a cognate to English, which makes my life so much easier because probably 1/4 of this new language is similar enough to my first that anyone could figure out the meaning, much less someone who’s been studying and living in France. Of course learning languages isn’t easy, but I want to take advantage of the...advantage...I have by speaking English to learn French, German, Italian, Spanish, all of which are supposedly similar to English (Latin-based, holla!). There is honestly no excuse for how lazy and behind the curve American society is with learning languages. Yes, you speak English. Congratulations. Now use that to your advantage, open some doors for yourself, and learn a little bit about the world outside of America. We did one of those hokey, “get to know each other” activities in my class last month, where there were 3 Americans, and one of the questions was (in French of course) “Who speaks the most languages?” It was a 6-way tie among the non-American students with 3 each and then the 3 Americans only had English and French; I’m not going to lie, it was embarrassing. Of course there are plenty of people in the US who speak multiple languages, but as a whole there seems to be an idea that because we speak English there’s no need to learn any new languages and there’s an expectation of everyone else to know how to speak English too. I know not everyone has the opportunity to have an experience like this, and I do realize every day how lucky I am, but I just hope that other cultures and other languages will become more of a priority in American society because it has been and will continue to be for me.

Un Week-end...Interessant

Well I can say that this has been the most interesting weekend I’ve had in France…it certainly wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t the best weekend either. Thursday night started out really fun because we went out for Cecilia’s birthday; after dinner and wine at Shana’s house, we made the usual rounds of London Pub, Le Couche-Tard (so sketch!), and then went to check out a Discotheque. Overall, it was a successful night, but we were out until 4 am, so I spent the night at Cecilia’s house and decided to forego class in 4 ½ hours. We had an API excursion Friday afternoon to the Chartreuse distillery, but even by 1 pm when we met with them, we were not in the best shape from the night before haha and we were going to go drink more alcohol in the form of Chartreuse samples. It still ending up being a good time though; the GEM kids were there too, so I got to catch up with Jack for the first time in a while, which was really nice. P.S Chartreuse is gross. There were different kinds to try, the most popular being the more traditional green or the sweeter yellow; I started with yellow, which was tolerable but did not care for the green at all haha after the distillery, we drove to the monastery about 30 minutes away; even though the inside was closed, we hiked up a trail (in the weird, sporadic hail/snow) to see it from up on a hill. Most of the group literally climbed up a snowy, muddy hill to a cross up at the top to get a view; it was slow going and not the most graceful thing I’ve done, but the view was worth it! After Thursday night and Friday, we were all so tired that we opted to stay in Friday night instead of going back out to the bars, a decision which I think my body thanked me for. Saturday morning Shana was going to meet her friend in Paris, so Cecilia, Sarah, and I met up to look for somewhere to go for the day. We had planned on Valence, which is only about an hour from Grenoble, but Cecilia’s host mom suggested Roman instead, and since it was also both closer and cheaper, we bought tickets for Roman for the day. Since we had a couple of hours to kill before our train, we went in one of the museums in the center of Grenoble that had an exhibit about the first photographs taken of Grenoble; it was interesting, but somewhat disappointing, so at least entry was free (entrée gratuit). By the time we grabbed some lunch and got to the gare, it was just around time for our train to leave…except that it was delayed haha luckily we all can entertain ourselves with conversation for infinite amounts of time, so we were only concerned that we wouldn’t have sufficient time in Roman. Once we did get on the train, people had taken up twice as many seats as necessary, so we had nowhere to sit. We sat in the baggage area, which ended up being relatively comfortable, and Cecilia “got all New York on everybody’s asses” haha it was one thing that I have to say would have been different in the States, not necessarily because people would have been more considerate, but the train companies usually require people to make room for other passengers. Once we got to Roman (which, btw, is the shoe capital of France and also known for their ravioles), we wandered the almost-empty streets for a while until we stumbled upon their Carnaval celebration. Now, I would be a liar if I said that I didn’t think it was really weird but in retrospect, it was a lot cooler than at the time, probably because we were all in a weird state of mind. There were crazy costumes everywhere (more on the adults than the kids actually), and there were different booths selling crepes and beer and all kind of foods. The kicker, though, came when they had the “Key Ceremony,” and the mayor came out and gave the key to the city to…Satan. There were creepy fire carnies and crazy costumes and demon children with Silly String and firecrackers(!) and then a giant devil puppet…if anyone has seen the scene in Halloweentown right before Cal turns everything super evil, this literally felt just like that. It was terrifying. After our search for ravioles at a restaurant ended unsuccessfully (everything freaking shuts down after lunch and before they eat dinner at like 9 pm), we wanted a little and grabbed some more food before our train home. With the train delay, we only had about 4 hours in Roman, which ended up being okay; it wasn’t that it was a bad city, it was just between where our moods were and between the unexpected Carnaval, we were just tired and kind of weirded out. Luckily on the train home we had seats, and Sarah and Cecilia slept while I thought about home; I’m not going to lie, Saturday was the first day I’ve wanted to be home, which probably contributed a lot to my weird mood. It was just because it was Upper Division Orientation, and I wanted to be there anyway, but especially when our day ended up being kind of disappointing. And then I felt bad for wanting to go home because I honestly don’t want to leave, but I don’t want to wish away a day here either; it’s just more of the constant emotional roller coaster than an experience like this is, and Saturday was just one of those days where the roller coaster was mostly going downhill. Once we got back to Grenoble, we parted ways for a bit to recharge, and then met back up to go see a movie; however, by the time I got into town with the bus/trams, it was kind of late, and we were all kind of hyper, so we opted instead to just walk around, which of course led to a bar, and this time it was O’Callaghan’s. I got my “usual” Irish Coffee, and we sat talking and watching the Olympics as we drank; we only had a little bit of time before the last buses to Sarah and my respective homes, but it was still a good night (and of course if any alcohol is involved, Cecilia and I have a good time bonding with each other). Sunday morning was a really early one because we were meeting the CUEF for snowshoeing (“racquetting”) at the train station at 8 am (which meant leaving the residence around 7 for me to wait for the bus). We didn’t actually start snowshoeing until around noon because of the time it took to drive up there, get equipment, and take time for some coffee and gaufres (waffles). It had started raining when we first got to the little town where we were leaving from, but luckily it stayed away for the rest of the day. Now, I’ll be honest, I totally underestimated snowshoeing because it looks SO EASY; let me tell you, it’s not. I’m more tired and sore from a day of snowshoeing than I have ever been from skiing. It probably didn’t help though that we walked all the way up a mountain and back down, and since you’re walking on giant planks and can’t climb straight up the face of a hill, it takes a lot longer to gradually weave up it. And here the honesty will continue: for a large part of the day, I was not the happiest camper; some part of my body was hurting me throughout the entire day, and there was sheer exhaustion and the potential for death (we climbed up to the summit on giant pieces of plastic staring a drop-off and certain death literally in the face), BUT the views on the way up and down and definitely at the summit were absolutely spectacular. I think the biggest problem was just the lack of information given to us before we left (which is such a French mentality and the one cultural thing that really drives me crazy); Cecilia and I had gone to sign up for the excursion multiple times throughout the week, but never got to for one reason or another until Vincent (the guy who was heading it up) called us Friday afternoon and gave us the bare minimum of information on the phone. Everyone else had been given a slip of paper telling to bring like hiking boots and a picnic lunch, and no one relayed that information on on us; I will take some of the blame because we should have asked, but it just added to the frustration because if we had known to expect a full day of it, we would have been better prepared (like with food). Overall, it was one of those things that I’m glad I did, but honestly won’t be doing again for a while; we can laugh at it already, but by the end, it was so hard to keep going, especially since our guide didn’t seem to be very patient and understanding that Cecilia and I needed to go more slowly because of former knee dislocations and tumor surgeries, respectively, and wanted to go more slowly to really take in and enjoy the scenery. It just added insult to injury that we had to walk back down to the town instead of taking the bus, so by the time we turned our stuff in, I literally was about to the breaking point; my feet even now are in kind of weird condition, and any recovering my body did from Thursday night has been completely reversed haha overall, it was a pretty good weekend; like I said before, it wasn’t the best I’ve had here, but it was probably a combination of emotions, especially being at the one-month mark, the weather, which was cloudy all weekend, and frustrations with our planning.