I spent the most amazing five weeks in France, pursuing one of my passions: speaking French! I didn’t start studying French until I started college at UVU a few years ago. I took Spanish for a couple years in high school and it was actually pretty useful during my travels haha.
I can’t exactly tell you why I even began studying French in the first place. Was it my childhood obsession with Madeline that sparked my interest? My love for Cœur de Pirate’s music? I don’t know. I’ve studied it for two and a half years now and it has been such a great hobby of mine. I don’t know why it makes me so happy, but it does. I am so grateful for my husband that supports my dreams and made it possible for me to go on this study abroad. I learned SO much and I will be forever grateful for this summer. Here is a little recap of my trip through funny stories, amazing moments, things that went horribly wrong, and lessons I learned.
Mi Amigo
On the way to Paris, I had an 8-hour layover in Mexico City- no joke. I am all about traveling frugally, and look where that got me! An extra country to visit :) I took full advantage of my time there! My taxi driver spoke a tiny bit of English and I spoke about 12 words in Spanish, so we became fast friends. He took me to a basilica built in the 1200s! Amazing. Then we went and got tacos! Go Mexico.
Dinner in Paris
I got to try tar-tar, which is basiclly just raw beef with herbs! It was actually very delicious.
Hit Me Baby One More Time
I spent the night in Paris at an Auberge de Jeunesse (youth hostel). It was waaaaaay too youthy. I felt like was at EFY but with a lot of beer. I couldn't really fall asleep because of the time change and the American pop music blasting from the bar downstairs, so I went on a late night stroll in search of something cold to eat because it was pretty hot. I found a little store that was still open and bought a chocolate ice cream. I walked along the river, people watching. People drank wine and ate baguettes while sitting along the river's edge, some playing the guitar and even the accordion. It was a beautiful scene!
I went back to my room (a room of about 8 bunkbeds) and managed to fall asleep for a couple hours, despite the loud chorus of "Baby One More Time" coming from the bar. I woke up around 2 am when a herd of Taylor Lautner look-alikes barged in loudly, talking amongst each other in English and Spanish, and clanking their things around. I was pretty surprised, because when I booked the hostel online, I specifically chose a girls-only floor. Whatever. I didn't really care. I had my curtained-off bunk bed and I was fine. The guy below me was causing quite a ruckus fiddling with his adaptor trying to charge his phone. He complained to his friend about it not working, and the friend came over and the two of them continued on with this noise-making for quite sometime. Finally I opened up my curtain and offered my adaptor to him, seeing as my phone was completely charged. We talked for a minute while he used his phone's flashlight on me so he could see my face. He thanked me profusely, and I retreated back to my dark curtained bed. I could NOT fall back asleep! A while later, I went to use the bathroom. When I looked at myself in the mirror, I saw to my horror that I had chocolate LINING my lips!! Hahaha it looked so horrible, like dark brown lip liner with no lipstick. And to think I was talking to a Taylor Lautner while he shined his flashlight in my face! Too funny.
I ended up not being able to go back to sleep at all because of the time change. I watched a movie on netflix, pinned, and when the sun came up I took an early morning stroll around the neighborhood. I came back to the hostel just in time for breakfast. After eating a hard baguette and corn cereal with warm milk (ew), I went back up to my bed and crashed for a few hours until check out.
The Pursuit of MacDo
My day in Paris to myself led to one mishap after another. Deciding to spend the day in Versailles, I went through many navigation issues due to the very limited amount of data I could use (thanks Verizon for the horrible international plan). I went through metro ticket mishaps (apparently they're not supposed to touch your phone), falling asleep and missing my stop on the train, realizing I panicked and got off way too early, hanging out at a random train station for a long time waiting for the next train, pulling my suitcase over the bumpy cobblestone streets of Versailles thinking "Giuseppe would kill me if he knew what I was doing with this suitcase", not being able to enter the castle because of said suitcase (please cry for me), deciding to find the new temple to make the trip to Versailles worth it, not being able to find the temple after multiple tries and using little spurts of my precious data, and then finally, hope: I saw an arrowed sign that read "McDonald's". As much as I hate McDonald's and its over-abundant presence in France, I flocked to it because of the guaranteed FREE high speed internet. I followed the sign's direction and after a few blocks thought maybe I had missed it. But then I saw another McDonald's arrow sign, pointing in the same direction: forward. I kept going. A few blocks later, no McDonald’s but another sign. This treasure hunt game went on for FORTY MINUTES. I was so fed up. I finally pulled out my phone, turned on my data for a moment, and discovered that McDonald’s was still TWO miles away!! But yes, directly straight ahead. I was so appalled. I angrily requested an Uber and had him take me to the McDonald's near the train station where I wallowed in fries and complained to Giuseppe.
And yet another anecdote of my misfortune in Versailles
According to maps, I was just a 10 minute walk from McDonalds to the train station. I took note of the route I'd need to take, and bravely stepped out of the wifi zone. Now, I don't know if I am really that terrible at reading maps or if google maps wasn't updated, because I had THE most difficult time finding the station. I finally asked some locals for help, and I was directed to take a bus several blocks. I did as I was told, and on the bus I met a man who was also taking the train back to Paris. He said he'd help me find the station after the bus! He was in a really big hurry to catch the train, and I had no warning of when our stop would be. After the bus lurched to a sudden stop, he ran out of there yelling in French, telling me to follow him. I did as I was told and ran after him to the train station. I was appalled once I saw the entrance to the station. Nestled into a beautiful stone wall covered in vines was a door with a little sign above that read "Métro- direction à Paris". And that was IT! I had probably walked past the stupid door twice after leaving McDonald’s. SO frustrating, right?! We ran into the station to see the train there, preparing to leave. We both fiddled around in our bags to find our tickets. I fished around in my backpack for my wallet but it was NOT there. "Je ne peux pas trouver mon portefeuille!" I told him. (I can't find my wallet!) "Désolé," was all he said as he ran to the train and caught it just in time. I was left to rummage through my backpack a third time, panicking while looking for my wallet. I realized I had probably left it on the bus! I was in such a hurry to get off, I didn't have time to check my seat to make sure I grabbed everything. I was FREAKING out. My passport, cash, debit card, tickets. Everything GONE on some random bus in the most confusing city in the world. I prayed and prayed as I tried not to break down in sobs and then I finally checked the laptop sleeve in the backpack- and THERE IT WAS! My wallet. I felt the biggest wave of relief. Haha so many intense emotions in a two-minute period! On the train, I met some really kind French people who helped me get off at the right stop. I was so glad to be getting away from Versailles. Haha to think I went through all that just to go to a McDonald’s in Versailles. Makes me kind of sick when I think about it. Haha better luck next time!
A Jesse Owens-type takes my suitcase
The plan was to take an overnight bus from Paris to Grenoble. My bus departed at 10, and I arrived at the station earlier than planned. I took time in the bathroom brushing my teeth, changing into comfortable clothes, plucking my eyebrows and whatnot. Around 9:40 I went out to wait by the bus stop but (of course) I could not find it for the life of me. I asked around, "Je cherche l'arrêt de bus. Le Ouibus," (I'm looking for the Ouibus bus stop) but nobody knew where it was. Ugh! I went out onto the street and started asking around. Nobody knew. I then asked a guy crossing the street, and he said he knew where it was! He asked me what time my bus left and I told him, "in 10 minutes!" He told me to RUN and follow him. I did. The second time that day I ran after a random French man, desperately hoping he would lead me where I needed to be. Safe much? After a minute of running, he stopped and said something super fast in French. I asked him to repeat himself. All I really understood the second time was "plus vite" which means "faster" so I started running even faster with my suitcase and yelled, "comme ça?" (like this?). "Non." Apparently he was telling me it would be faster if he ran with my suitcase. He picked it up all casual-like and BOOKED it. This guy was FAST, even carrying (not pulling!) my suitcase. I ran as fast as I could after him, but he was still way ahead of me. I began wondering if he was actually stealing my suitcase! He totally could have. Just when I thought I couldn't sprint a second longer, we arrived at the bus stop. He was only slightly out of breath. I thanked him profusely, and then he left. The bus stop was technically at the train station I had been at earlier, but tucked away in this weird parking lot. WHY??
Anyway, the Ouibus was great, I'd highly recommend it to anyone!
Meeting les Hacault
I stayed in Grenoble, France, a small city in the southeast of France, nestled into the Alps. My host family was so great! Jacques and Dita Hacault. Side note, for those of you who haven't studied French, French words are hardly pronounced as they appear to the English eye. For example, "Hacault" is pronounced more like "acko". Strange, right? Anyway, Jacques picked me up from the bus station. Our conversation on the car ride to his home was great- I could understand pretty much everything he was saying and I could respond well too, as well as ask questions. He was impressed with my language level. I was feeling pretty good about myself! Until later when we tried to have conversations about anything other than introductory stuff and I realized I was only so great in the car because I've had similar conversations about 20 times. I really set a high bar for myself! Oh dear.
After Jacques and Dita showed me around their BEAUTIFUL home, I crashed in my room because I hand't had a proper nights sleep in three nights. When I woke up, their other guests had arrived: a large Mexican family! The Mexican grandparents didn't speak any French, so once again I tried to use my pathetic Spanish. I really enjoyed getting to know the Mexican family, and was very impressed with the rest of their French. They were there for about 4 days.
Anyway, back to les Hacault. They have two sons and a daughter. One of their sons (I forgot his name!) and their daughter Harmonie are married and they each have two kids. Their youngest son Louis is 20, and he lives with the family, though I think most of the time he stayed with his girlfriend's family because I hardly ever saw him. There was also another guy that was sort of part of the family. He was around my age and from what I gathered they had sort of taken him under their wing because he has a troubled family life. He didn't live there, but he was pretty much always there during the day, usually wearing only his swim shorts, though I never saw him in the pool or even wet. He didn't really seem to do anything at the house but he was always walking around yelling things to no one in particular it seemed. I could hardly understand him. At dinner he would stare down at his arms and flex. Sometimes he would passionately share stories. He spoke SO fast and slurred, I really only gathered tiny pieces from his stories. The story I understood best was an angry rant about his diarrhea. Haha odd guy. Never really got to know him.
My Role Model
The first week of classes at the University of Grenoble were SO good! Our teacher Sonja was and always will be a role model to me. She was the BEST teacher. She made every single second of class exciting. She explained things so well, and she spoke in such a way that we could understand even complex ideas. I want to be just like her.
Beautiful Grenoble
Anya and I
A Horrible Flashback
On my way to school one day, a guy entered the tram and sat across from me. It didn't take me long to realize that he was wearing the SAME shirt I wore as an airport toilet-cleaner! Same company and everything! I wanted to ask him if he was in fact a toilet cleaner, but my stop came too quickly. Isn't that so random?
Paris Redone
I spent my first weekend after classes got out back in Paris with my friend Kayla. It went much better haha. We saw the Eiffel Tower at night (it was BEAUTIFUL!), walked around Paris in the rain, toured the Notre Dame cathedral, ate a Croque-Monsieur, toured a medieval castle, took a scenic boat ride on La Seine (you better believe I was singing ‘Here’s to the ones who dream…’) accompanied with dinner, shopped, walked les champs élysées, ate delicious crêpes, and people watched on the metro. A MUCH better experience in Paris! We stayed at the apartment of an acquaintance of Kayla’s, and it was the cutest apartment I’ve ever seen! I should have taken pictures.
Marianne, the symbol of France
On top of the Eiffel tower
La Tour Eiffel
Inside Notre Dame de Paris
Croque Monsieur
Medieval museum
Les Champs Elysées
L'arc de Triomphe
I was so excited to see these ginormous minions lining the grandest avenue in Paris- The Champs Elysées. I just had to get a picture with one. Yayminionsarelifeyayamericayayculture
:(
La Seine!
Dinner on the Seine with Kayla
Artsy metro station
Monkeys on the bed
As well as I was able to communicate with my host family, there were obviously many communication errors. The morning I left to Paris, I woke up to my period (surprise!) and blood all over the sheets. Ugh. I had all my things packed to leave to Paris straight from school, so I just put my sheets in the wash, started the cycle, and ran off to catch my bus. When I returned on Sunday evening, my host mom asked my why I had washed both layers of my sheets. I tried to explain what had happened, but I had absolutely no vocabulary background in the subject matter. So I simply said, “there was blood on the bed” knowing she’d get it. She looked super confused for a second but then was like, “ahh je comprends. ce n’est pas grave.” (It’s fine). And that was that. I was telling Kayla at school the next day my little predicament, and I repeated to her how I had described what had happened. It wasn’t until I repeated it just then that I realized I had actually said, “There were monkeys on the bed”. Hahaha hence the moment of confusion on my host mom’s face and then the “ahhh” as she realized my pronunciation error. Too funny!
Pas du tout!!
Unfortunately not all of my classes were like Sonja's. I took a 2-week civilization class with a man also named Jacques. On our first day of class, he took us around the political hotspots of Grenoble and told us all about the different functions of each department and little history facts. I was pleased with how well I was able to understand him, and that I was even able to answer a few questions thanks to a French class I had taken the previous semester with a long, grueling unit on French politics. I was feeling good about the class, as well as with my French abilities. At the end of the tour, he gave us a 20 question worksheet to fill out as homework. It was a very difficult worksheet! The questions were about very specific facts or looking for very specific details, and I of course couldn't remember or even understand every little thing he had said. They were things not even Google would know! Honestly, a quiz like this in English would have been too difficult. I filled out the worksheet to the best of my ability (meaning lots of guesses) and turned it in. I wasn't stressed about it, knowing that my final grade that would transfer to the University would be based on attendance and participation. When I got the worksheet back, I saw that I got a 7/20. Haha no surprise. The funny thing was that he had taken his red pen and left angry-looking marks all over my answers. Circling things, triple underlining words in the questions, etc. And several times by my answers he wrote, "pas du tout!!" which means "not at all!" Haha. The rest of the course turned out to be just as strict. Whatever.
Re-incarnated Hess’
Another field trip with my civilization class: a local art museum!
I ended up writing a paper about this painting. I talked all about how dark and mysterious Ernest Herbert (the artist, this is is autoportrait) was and how he reminded me of my husband. My professor got a good kick out of it.
Lyon Tribe
I had the greatest weekend in Lyon with Kayla and our new friend Anya. Anya is so cool- she’s a wife and mom to 2 kids (a 7-year-old and a 9-year-old) and she recently returned back to school. How cool is she to go on this study abroad?? I know, the coolest. Anyway, we took a bus to Lyon and we stayed in the best hostel in the greatest location you could ever imagine. It was in Vieux Lyon (the old part of the city) on top of a hill, overlooking the city. Also within walking distance to a beautiful cathedral and a Roman colosseum. The location was definitely worth the lack of AC- I mean what do you expect, it’s Europe. Unfortunately it was the hottest weekend I was there in France and we were on the 3rd floor. It was boiling. Luckily no one else was in the room with us, so we could sleep in our underwear. Anya slept in her swimsuit! Haha love it.
The next day after visiting the cathedral, Kayla noticed weird blue patches on her arm! We were so confused, but finally just assumed she had brushed up against something in or around the cathedral. We entered a gift shop where we browsed for quite a while. Kayla noticed that her arm had sprouted more blue patches! At this point, we were convicted she was a lizard mutant. I felt bad, but I knew there really wasn’t anything I could do. So I kept browsing, and left her to slowly mutate. It wasn’t until a bit later that we realized it was just the label on her water bottle that had gotten wet rubbing off on her arm haha. I am still embarrassed by how long it took to notice.
After walking around the city a bit longer in the late morning, it started to get realllllly hot, so we trecked over to Part Dieu, the largest mall in Europe! We knew it would be air conditioned. On the way there, we commented on how few people were on the streets. For being the second biggest city in France, you’d think there would be at least a handful of people on each street. Nope. Well, when we reached Part Dieu, we were greeted by THE ENTIRE CITY probably. Everyone must have had the same idea we had! Haha it was sooooo packed. An absolutely awful atmosphere: babies crying, sweaty bodies shoving people around, and not a single square inch of a bench available. We ran over to the movie theater and bought tickets to the next showing: Wonder Woman! I had seen it before coming to France with some girls from my South Salt Lake ward and I LOVED it and was so excited to see it again. It was dubbed in French, which was actually not annoying like I thought it would be. After the movie, we left the mall as quick as we could and stumbled upon an outdoor comedy show! We stayed for an hour and a half. I understood what was going on somewhat, but of course they were talking at HIGH speeds, and almost all the jokes were cultural references I didn’t really understand. We left after a while to find a place we could grab some cheap dinner. We walked around for FOREVER and couldn’t find anything but expensive cafés! Finally I noticed a Chinese place that didn’t look like a sit-down restaurant, so we went inside. There was horrible fluorescent lighting and it was in such a dingy old room that had an American-Health-Department vibe to it. We had to wait for a long time for a worker to come out of the back room so she could dish us up the bland-looking from the counter, microwave it, and bag it up. Once we were all served, we left the restaurant (no tables!) to find a place to sit. Of course, nothing outside. We ended up buying drinks at a Burger King and just sitting in there. The food was SO bad! We all ordered very different things yet they all tasted the same: like bland, tasteless tofu. It was so bad.
Whatever. Afterwards, we explored the city some more and saw les trompes d’œils:
As we were walking back to the hostel, we came across a jazz club! Anya loves jazz, so of course we went in, ordered some Orangina’s, and listened to some lively jazz.
That night back at the hostel, we were in the lounge area out back talking. As we were leaving, a group of Africans greeted us. They asked us if we were British! Haha I was so surprised, but I actually got that question several more times while in France. It makes sense- I mean I’m not very good at differentiating between a Canadian French accent and a Parisian accent, even though apparently they are night and day. I bet if I used a British accent I could totally pull off being British to almost all the French, because they wouldn’t be able to tell how badly I’d butcher it.
The next day, Sunday, Anya and I went to church! LDS church that is. A sister missionary who had been out about three months gave a talk, so of course Anya and I could understand every word of her very very simple French. You could tell she was so nervous and that she kind of hated speaking in French, but she did a really good job. Lucky girl, getting to live in France for so long! She’ll be a pro in not time. Meanwhile I’ll be trying to get to a fluent level while living in the US :(
After church we met up with Kayla and bought lunch at the farmers market! Once again, I got to use my Spanish when ordering some empanadas! Haha. Later, I was eyeing a HUGE watermelon slice,, and Anya commented about wanting it looking really good. She asked if I wanted to split it with her and I was all in. We searched around for utensils for forever but no luck. Eventually we decided to just take turns taking bites out of the HUGE watermelon slice. haha it was so funny, we really had to bury our faces into the melon, especially towards the end. Our faces were covered in juice!
The lettuce in France was so good. It was so full of flavor, dressing was unnecessary.
When I arrived back in Grenoble later that day, I discovered that the bus I needed to take back to my host family’s house wasn't running! While I was wondering what to do, I decided to go ask a girl standing nearby for advice. Turns out she was waiting for the Sunday-relay-taxi system she had reserved a couple days ago and she let me hop right in with her, because she lives in the same neighborhood as my host family! Her name is Alix and she’s my age. The cool thing is, she’s studying English because she wants to be a high school English teacher in France! I want to be a high school French teacher in the US. Too perfect, right? We exchanged numbers and hung out later that week. She was such a great help with my French, and I loved going to her house.
The Eggs
In Grenoble, there is a cable car system that takes you to the ancient fort on top of one of the mountains. They are often called, “the eggs.” I took them up one afternoon with Kayla.
Annecy, my love
France’s independence day is July 14th, otherwise known as Bastille Day. I spent the weekend in Annecy, France to celebrate with my friends Anya, Anthony, and Kayla. When we arrived on Thursday evening, I immediately fell in love with Annecy. It’s a beautiful little woodsy lake town nestled into the Alps. We stayed at a the cutest airbnb with a great view, and I ate a simple meal of gnocchi and zucchini as the sun set the first night.
That evening we walked over to the lake and watched fireworks from the beach! It was such a perfect summer night. The next day, Bastille day, we walked through Vieux Annecy (old Annecy) and I did some shopping. We then toured the Annecy castle, which was absolutely magnificent, though I could have done without the random Asian history exhibit on the first floor. Up in one of the rooms there was a projector playing the ODDEST thing you could ever imagine: a girl dressed in a tutu and angel wings with a long cloth covering her face walked around the castle in a weird little box contraption. She tap danced, stared at the wall, walked creepily down the corridors, often crashing into the wall because she couldn’t see anything. When this happened, she’d back up a step and crash into the wall again. Repeat. Repeat. The music was very eery, and sometimes she’d whisper things. It was hard to make out what she was saying, and the only clear word I heard was frequently repeated: “blood!” I spent a long time watching her, trying to understand the message. Nothing. Any suggestions? I just showed Giuseppe a little clip I took with my phone and now he thinks he’s going to die in 7 days. I don’t blame him, and I’m honestly a little relieved that I’m still here. Haha anyway, after the castle, we had lunch at a crêperie and did some more shopping! We found the most heavenly shop that sold flavored and mixed salts! I bought a beautiful colored tube of salt/herb mix that pairs well with most meats and vegetables. We also found a beautiful candle shop where I found the most DIVINE smelling candle. It’s a strong floral scent- so strong that it scented up my bedroom in France while still wrapped in parchment paper in the back of my wardrobe, and now in my Salt Lake apartment I get a lovely whiff of it every time I walk by the shelf it’s perched on. Still hasn’t been lit, and I don’t know if it will ever need to. BEST purchase.
My absolute favorite part of this magical day was swimming in the LAKE.
We rented a pedalo (isn’t that the cutest name for a peddle boat?!) and went out to the middle of the lake. The water was perfect and crisp and unbelievably turquoise. From every angle was an amazing view of the alps. And just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, SWANS joined us. Definitely a memory I’ll never forget.
Afterwards I ate a delicious nutella waffle, we swam some more by the beach, laid out in the sun, and eventually made it back to the airbnb for dinner and more relaxation before the fireworks that night. It was a truly magical day.
Switzerland Recommendations
After staying up way too late excitedly planning a trip to London that was highly impractical, we woke up at 5:30 am to catch our bus from Annecy to Genève, Switzerland. I remember sitting at the bus stop, exhausted, eating a day-old baguette that was so hard I thought I might break a tooth. This not-so-great baguette foreshadowed the day ahead. Haha okay so it wasn’t that bad. But, here are my recommendations for what NOT to do in Switzerland:
Don'ts:
-Do not go to Geneva. It’s not that it’s not a great place, it’s just that I’m sure every single other square inch of Switzerland is much better. If you like political headquarters and super expensive yet nasty street food, go to Geneva. You will be living the dream.
-Do not go to the Red Cross Museum. It’s not free, it’s quite boring, and when it’s not boring it’s just wildly depressing without any type of call to action. Downer.
-Do not tell anyone you are American. Please, save yourself. You will be brought into very much unwanted political arguments. From now on, YOU ARE CANADIAN.
-Do not stay at the city-run hostel. It’s pretty much in the red light district.
-Do not drink water, because public bathrooms are 10X more difficult to find in Geneva than anywhere you can think of. Probably even the Sahara.
-Do not get roped into a nail buffer/dead sea sales pitch. Yes, that is a global thing. And the only reason I could understand the saleswoman so well was because I’ve heard the pitch so many times in English! Haha why do I have such a hard time ignoring sales people?? Probably cause I’ve been in their shoes. :( Stupid empathy!
-Do not waste money on the overpriced chocolate. I know, can you believe me?? I mean it was good chocolate, but… Lindt is better. Go ahead, punch me in the face. Am I just super uncultured? Maybe.
-Do not plan to do any shopping in Geneva. As you have probably discovered from my recommendations, this city is way too expensive. And aside from that, most of the shopping is luxury brands. Fancy, modern streets one after another with Gucci, Prada, Dior, etc. Ugh. I felt like I was in Vegas. No thank you.
-Do not plan on public transit being simple. Unlike France’s system, which makes even SLC’s bus routes look like advanced calculus, Geneva did not live up to my expectations of European transit.
-Do not ever assume that the price for fondue is per pot instead of per person, even if you have asked twice and are almost positive you understood the waiter correctly.
-Do not bother going to the beach because it’s packed.
Do's:
-Buy the horribly overpriced but delicious Toblerone churro
-Laugh about your misfortunes with your friends
-Go to a protestant church and make friends with a missionary who will post beautiful and uplifting quotes in French on facebook every day.
-Walk through Vieux Genève which is absolutely gorgeous and quite deserted.
-Enjoy the beautiful Swiss currency.
-Admire the city’s famous man-made geyser.
Old Bones
I went to a lot of cool museums in Grenoble, and in France in general, but my favorite by FAR was le musée archéologique. Essentially, it’s a museum built out of an 18th century church which was built out of a fort and cemetery dating back to the SIXTH century. Europe. In the 1970’s, archaeologists dug the floor out of the church to reveal the small city of the dead underneath! There are stone coffins everywhere and most of them have skeletons lying inside! HOW COOL?! I was in heaven. You could walk right above a lot of the tomb stones and just stare into the remains of a person who died hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years ago. Amazing.
Vizille
One Saturday morning I took a bus out of Grenoble to Vizille, a nearby town with a castle. Inside the castle was a French revolution art museum!
In one room I started chatting with the security guard. Before I knew it, he was inviting me to go to Africa with him. Definitely not the first time I had been offered the “trip of a lifetime” by a Frenchman haha.
After the museum, we walked around the AMAZING grounds and saw the local flora and fauna. My favorite was when we got to taste honey straight off the comb! YUM.
Later that night my host family invited me to a concert which happened to be on the grounds of Vizille! It was a really cool revolution-themed concert in which a band did covers of mostly American and British 1970’s music. Yes, in English. I understood more than my host family! Haha. There were two huge screens projecting images of revolutionaries throughout time and all over the world. American figures popped up repeatedly Go America! It was a really cool concert and it touched on all kinds of equalities that have been fought for: democracy, suffrage, abolition of slavery, the end of segregation, women’s rights, etc. It was all very inspiring until the end when they of course had to showcase the Free The Nipple movement. At a family event…. Haha oh the French. Anyway, there was a cool firework show at the end and I thoroughly enjoyed the event! Vive la France.
La Colle
I met a really cool girl named Bianca from LA, also studying at the University. She had only been studying French for a few months but she had been so diligent with her studying that she was already conversational! I really looked up to her for this. We hung out a few times towards the end of my stay- I wish I had met her sooner! One afternoon we saw a French movie, “La Colle”. It was some teenage high school movie and it was SO weird. Would not recommend to anyone. Also, it was extremely difficult to understand because of all the slang. We got a really good laugh out of it though!
Harry Potter
One evening I went with Bianca and Anya downtown for a gathering with other students at a brasserie (a type of restaurant). I ended up talking to one of the professors (a native Grenoble) for an hour! We talked about a TON of different things, and I was able to communicate pretty naturally! It was seriously the best feeling ever. The coolest part was that I understood over 90% of what he was saying, which is a HUGE improvement from my first few weeks in France. There was only one time when he said a word and I had no idea what it was, not even from context. I asked him to repeat it and still nothing. He repeated it a third time and I was still extremely confused. So, he wrote it down. He was saying, “Harry Potter” but with his thick French accent it sounded nothing like Harry Potter!! Hahaha too funny. Now I know how to say Harry Potter in true French fashion. He was referencing Harry Potter because earlier in the conversation I had told him I had been reading the first Harry Potter in French. It was definitely one of my best purchases! I often looked forward to going straight home after school and reading during the summer storms.
21
One of my favorite days in France was my BIRTHDAY. I celebrated after school by going to lunch with some friends, and then I took some time by myself to call Giuseppe and enjoy a summer storm. That evening I met up with more friends and saw Dunkerque. I LOVED IT. We saw it in English with French subtitles, and it was actually very helpful! Muffled British English is rather difficult to understand, so the subtitles helped a lot. Not that you really needed to hear much of the dialogue, it’s a war movie after all. After the movie, Anya, Kayla, Bianca, Gabriel (our Italian friend), and I went to the cutest little fondue restaurant. We shared cheese and chocolate fondue. BEST birthday meal ever, right?! I had so much fun. My birthday was very simple, but there is something I love about seeing a really good movie in the theater, and then enjoying good food with good company. Of course I missed my man like crazy though.
I was out pretty late and missed my bus, so I had to take a taxi home. My driver was so strange! I got in the car and after greeting him I asked him what his name was. He replied, “why do you want to know?” I told him no particular reason, just to be friendly. He immediately began opening up to me about his relationship troubles. I listened, gave advice, and encouraged him to move on because the girl he was in love with obviously wasn’t in love with him. He was so distraught! Haha he thanked me profusely when I got out of the car. It was an expensive ride, but at least I got some good French practice in!
My family celebrated my birthday with me when I came home
The Heber Crunch
For those of you that knew me when I was 17, you’ll remember that I was my town’s Sushi Girl. That’s literally what people called me when I wasn't working!!! Haha. I worked for the sushi franchise in Smith’s grocery store and I stood at the front of the store in my chef outfit and hat and asked every single person that entered the store if they’d like to try some sushi. If they did, I used my mad chopstick skills to serve them a piece of the Heber Crunch Roll.
Well LOOK WHAT I FOUND IN FRANCE!
Same outfit and everything! And the best part was that the sushi he gave me tasted EXACTLY like the Heber Crunch.
The Cactus Thief
I bought my host family a cactus as a thank you present the day before I left. I thought it was a cute idea, seeing as I’m from the desert. I had lunch with Biana in a grocery store and when we left, I left the cactus behind the bench! When I came back for it ten minutes later, it was gone. I was SO distraught! I texted my French friends about it later and said, “I hope the prickly-souled thief puts it on a shelf above his bed. It will fall on his face during the night and prick holes into his eyelids. They will be irreparable, and he’ll never be able to enjoy full darkness again.”
But really though, I was so sad. I didn’t have time to get them anything else, and I still feel so awkward that I didn’t get them anything. Dita was so sweet to get make me a little bracelet and give me some perfume. :( Darn cactus thief! Lesson learned: prepare gifts in advance!
Ratatouille Gone Awry
I flew out of Paris the next day. I had a couple of hours to kill in Paris before my flight to Mexico. I walked around for forever trying to find an open restaurant- it was 5 o’clock and that is not dinner time in France. I was looking at a menu of a restaurant that seemed open, when an older man asked me if I’d like to sit with him. “Pas merci,” (no thank you) I said and continued looking at the menu. We got chatting though, and pretty soon I was sitting next to him as I listened to him tell me about Sénégal, his home country and a place I’ve been dying to go. I ordered salmon and ratatouille (which is pretty much just a meat and veggie stew served over rice) and of course splattered it all over my shirt. Haha it made me think of Giuseppe who always watches me so closely when I eat because he’s so nervous I’ll spill food on myself. Which I usually do. Luckily I had my suitcase with me with all of my clothes. Assange and I talked about religion, mainly. He was muslim. We talked about the differences in our religion and he told me, “you Christians pray like this: bless the food make us healthy. amen” I told him, “well that’s not how I pray.” And I said a prayer, asking God to bless his family as well as other aspects of his life he had told me about. He told me it was a beautiful prayer! I had a really good time getting to know more about what Muslim’s believe and the culture of Sénégal.
Hello, America
After almost missing my flight in Paris because of a metro accident, almost missing my flight in Mexico because I fell asleep on a bench in the airport, I finally arrived back in the US- another layover, this time in Dallas, TX. I stayed with my cousin Rachel and her husband Van. We went to a RODEO! Haha it was so hilarious coming from France into Texas. SO different. I just kept imagining what my host family would have said at the rodeo. Haha they would have hated it I think. The next morning (they were soooo kind to drive me to the airport at 4 in the morning!) I got on a plane and flew to SLC into the arms of my Giusep! Oh how I missed that man. He’s the only reason I wanted to come back.
And that was my trip! I of course could go on and on about more details, but I just wanted to document some of the highlights. My French improved so much, and I met so many amazing people that influenced me for the better. Now I’m looking forward to the day when I can bring Giuseppe back, as well as explore more French cities with him. Vive la France!
