Moments

I love moments.  Maybe that doesn't make much sense to people, but I just love to stop and relish upon a good moment from time to time. 

 

Helping my host brother with his English homework and describing (with full hand gestures) the importance of pronunciation in the word “mouse” so that it does not sound like “moose.”  

Observing the beauty of three generations giggling as a little boy and his mother cram into the busy tram huddling around the grandmother.    

Eating tiramisu in Venice with friends who were strangers a week previously and laughing so hard it hurts. 

Walking into an adorable patisserie and being overwhelmed by the wonderful smells of the breads and pastries. 

 

These are the moments that remind me why I am here.  The last few days have had me on a roller coaster of emotions, feeling fresh and confidant one moment, and helpless and frustrated the next.  I think all of these emotions are a necessary part of the experience.  I feel like I am at a very important and happy place in my life.  I am challenging myself every single day, working my brain to wrap itself around complicated grammatical structures, confusing bus schedules, and emotionally tolling long days.  I am excited for the adventures and experiences that lie ahead!  

Carnivale!

Thursday night we left from downtown Grenoble at 10:30 pm on our overnight bus ride to Venice. We finally got to our destination about 9am the next day, which was chilly yet sunny. We rode on the vaporettos from our hotel on the island of Lido to the actual island of Venezia into San Marco Piazza. We saw the Rialto Bridge, the Grand Canal, the Gondoliers on the tiny cute little canals, Doge Palace, and many other sites. My friends and I bought masks for the opening ceremonies of Carnivale and wandered in and out of little shops, taking the vaporetto just to enjoy all the sites on the beautiful day, got our faces painted like little girls at the state fair :), and had lots of fun.
Saturday we went to the island of Murano, which is famous for the Venetian glass blowing. Those shops were just absolutely amazing! We all bought a few [too many] pieces of jewelry for ourselves, and "the mama" as the shopkeeper kept saying, that are very beautiful.

The opening ceremonies for Carnival were postponed due to citywide mourning for two Venetian's deaths. Rumors said they were killed in the war, while others said there was a boating accident. Anyway... the ceremonies started at midnight and continued the next day. We were stuck in the biggest crowd I have ever experienced while waiting for the "Angelo" of Carnivale to come down from the top of the bell tower. I was pretty amazing! Then there was a parade with all the people in their elaborate costumes. Carnivale is certainly like nothing else I have ever seen.


We had lots of good pasta, fritellis (cream-puff like Venetian delicacy only made during Carnivale), and tirimasu. I've been making some good friends, seeing wonderful sights, and having lots of good laughs.


Well I've got to catch the bus to go view the film for my cinema class this week. Ciao!

To view more photos of Venice, click below:

Venice

My First Week in Grenoble

This past week has been quite a blur of activities. I am finally starting to fall into the schedule of things and I am incredibly happy to be here. Grenoble is an amazing city, the CUEF seems like a great school, and I really like the campus environment in general.

I am living with a host family in Echirolles, another city just outside of Grenoble. They are very kind to me and we're starting to get to know each other a bit more. It's been a bit difficult being outgoing with them at times. They have a tendency of looking at me like an alien sometimes when they cannot understand a word of my muddled French. I'm getting a bit better though (I hope!) Every night I watch a comedy show and the news with them. I'm finding that I really don't have a problem understanding the news stories anymore- just in a few days!

Last weekend, I went with my host family up into the top of la Chartreuse, one of the three chains of the Alps here. We drove super fast up the winding roads and watched as the green grass slowly began to be covered with snow. As we reached the top, we passed several ski resorts and lodges. We then spent basically all of Saturday afternoon lounging around at one of the outdoor cafes, watching people snowboard and ski. We walked along one of the paths a bit and I enjoyed listening to some French 5 year olds fighting over who would be the lucky one to use the red sled next.

We took our placement tests on Monday and I am happy with my placement for now. B1.6, whatever that means! We had our first language class today and it seemed extremely easy, which I'm sure was just because it was the first day. I made friends with Kyriaki, a girl from Cyprus, and we met up with some other students for lunch in town. We returned just in time for our Art History seminar, which was so interesting! The professor seemed very knowledgeable, understanding, and had a funny dry sense of humor. I'm very excited for that course.

Tomorrow I have a language lab and then Culture et Societe. After dinner, I'm meeting our group downtown, from where we will depart for our overnight journey to Venice just in time for Carnival. It should be quite beautiful and exciting!

A Lovely Day

Seeing Wicked last night was absolutely amazing! If you haven't already seen it, I highly recommend it. The woman who played Elpheba had a fantastically powerful voice. That was a lovely end to our stay in London.

Our flight this morning from London to Lyon was nice. It was neat to look at the cute little farming villages as we flew in closer to Lyon. Then our bus ride from Lyon to Grenoble was quite breathtaking. I sat in the top of our double decker coach bus right up to the window, so I had a prime view of the rolling hillside, ancient churches and old residential areas, as well as the three huge mountain chains that surround the city of Grenoble. It was a sunny day with blue skies and a few perfectly placed white clouds dotting around the mountain tops.

When we arrived, Miranda- our director, gave us a nice orientation of the area and some things to expect. She seems absolutely wonderful- very helpful, open, and has a great sense of humor. We then had a great dinner tonight with the whole group, chatting and taking our time over the traditional French meal.

I am so full of excitement and hope right now. I hope I can keep my spirits up as I continue to face the fatique that comes along with these jam-packed days and new stresses that are bound to appear. I feel so happy to be pushing myself to speak French with some of the students and try new things. Every day is a new adventure.

Mind the Gap

My plane ride from O'hare to Heathrow went pretty well. I met one girl going to Grenoble with me in the airport as well as two of her friends who were going to the London program. Everyone seems really nice so far.

Everything has been quite a blur so far, with a whirlwind bus tour of Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, London Bridge, Parliament, shopping districts, Covent Garden, etc. We are going to see the play Wicked tonight in the theatre district, so that should be fun. I am safe and happy to be in Europe. One negative- everything is very expensive, so I will definitely need to try to be thrifty and save money as much as possible.

I've enjoyed London so far but am very anxious to get to France. I can't wait to actually get started and hear the language and experience the culture.

I miss you all very much!

To view more photos from London, click below:

London

Au Revoir!

Well I am leaving my lovely home momentarily. The snow is gorgeous on the trees and it looks like a winter wonderland here in Appleton. I am filled with so many emotions right now and am extremely excited for the days that lie ahead. I will miss many people very dearly, but I will keep you all in my thoughts as I embark on this journey.