The days go by in Dijon

Last week was quite hectic:
Tuesday= Opera. It was interesting.... there was no real idea of time period, sometimes super modern (like jeans) sometimes fancy clothes. Sometimes there was a Lexus car on stage.... sometimes there was a remote control car. Sometimes there were people holding rubber ducks...sometimes there was a woman belching and rubbing whip cream all over herself. It was weird...
Wednesday= weekly dinner followed by going to see The Hunger Games in French.
Thursday= Soiree sur la penich. Night on a boat, with dinner and live music with the group. Quite fun and entertaining.
Friday= No school so we went and hung out at Lake Kir.
Saturday= Beautiful Day. Ate lunch outside and read then went on a hike with James, Grant, and James's little host brother. I don't like kids... and I thought I liked this one but he threw rocks at me and pulled kung fu moves on me- we have our differences. Then Charlotte came! We had dinner with my host family then I tried to show her a fun night out in Dijon!
Sunday= Slept in (clocks changed; time difference makes getting up 100 times harder) then I sat outside on our patio with Charlotte just enjoying the sun. When we finally did move we went to Lake Kir again and sat in the sun there. Then came back and then it was already time for Charlotte to catch her train!

Monday= nothing of importance.
Tuesday= No Internet Day. One of our professors challenged us to not use the internet for a whole day. I was one of 3 people who actually did it. So after class I read for like 3 hours then met up with Shana and we went to a volleyball class on campus. It was SO FUN! all the French were quite impressed with our skills. We decided to stay for the second hour and a half for the more advanced group. By the end of the 3 hours we were exhausted- but we will definitely be going back every Tuesday! Now I have to decide between going to volleyball or Kickboxing... dilemma.

What 40euros gets you

After 3 failed attempts, Shana, Grant, Kyle, and I finally managed to figure out the french system and sign up for a day skiing trip to the Alps with the university. The school has all their own gear, so we tried everything on Thursday so come Saturday that would all be taken care of. We left Saturday morning at 4:30am and got to the bottom of the mountain, resort Samoens, at 9. We had to unload all the gear but made it on the mountain in good time. The weather was so beautiful- we could not have asked for a better skiing day. Sunny, no wind, and the snow was actually pretty good. The resort was really big- we did some easy runs just messing around practicing 360s, riding switch (snowboarding with the other foot leading), going off little jumps on the side. It was awesome. We did some bigger runs too, they were just so beautiful, with views to die for and sunny. Such a wonderful day. We were told to be on the gondola heading down at 4, but I guess to the French that means they can show up at 5. We waited for 2 hours before the bus finally left for the 4 hour drive home. We were all so exhausted but it was such a glorious day, we didn't care.

Kickboxing

Fun story. Erin and I decided to take a kickboxing class offered on campus. It was the most fun thing ever- and such a workout. We probably looked ridiculous bouncing around punching and kicking each other- but it was great! We are going to go every week now. The highlight was definitely when I was paired up with a black man, one and a half times my size, and was told to punch and kick him....

Paris for the day- because we CAN

Shana and I splurged and spent 18 euros and went to Paris for one day. Our main goal? EAT FALAFEL. We have been craving it and you just can't get it in Dijon. So we hoped on a train and got ourselves some falafels.
After the 3 hour long train ride there we arrived in Paris at 10:30 and headed straight to the falafel eating area. Only problem is neither of us brought a map, guide book, compass.. nothing. We made it to the right(ish) area then wondered around for an hour and a half trying to find the exact falafel making street in the Marais. I was literally walking into stores asking "Ou est le rue ou on peut mangé les falafels?" literally translated: where is the street one can eat falafel? Luckily it is common enough that no one laughed at us and we actually did finally make it. And it was delicious!
We then strolled around Paris trying to find the Rodin Museum. Again- going off what little Shana could remember from were it was, it took a while. When we finally found it (exhausted from walking around for about 2 hours) I looked at Shana and said "If it is closed- Im leaving France."
... it was closed. Like so many other things in this country are half the time. The gardens were open so we strolled around them for a while, pretty... but no really cause its winter.
Then we walked to Charlottes apartment where her and her barcelona friend were. Once they were ready we took the metro back to the Marais (time was running up and we needed to get closer to the falafels) and sat and had a monaco. A friend (acquaintance really) of mine that I met in Youth and Government junior year of high school met us too- crazyyyyyy. We all sipped our monacos then went to get our second dinner falafel. We tried a different stand and this one was even better than the first.

That was really all we had time for... so we hoped back on the train and back to Dijon.
Just another Saturday in the life.

Chateaux de la Loire

This weekend we had our first long excursion to the Loire valley. Nathalie's husband and daughter came which made the trip even more amazing. We took trains Thursday afternoon to Blois and stayed at the Holiday Inn. No joke. It was super nice with a yummy breakfast.
Friday we woke up and went to Chateaux numero 1: Chateau Royal de Blois. A very beautiful chateau located smack in the enter of the city. After we had a nice lunch in town. One guy on our group ordered (mistakingly) intestines and it was hilarious. We then took taxis to Chambord, the huge gigantic castle. It was very beautiful, but very cold, but there were fires going in some of the chimneys. Then we had a drive back to our hotel and then again a nice 3 course dinner. I have started always ordering Salade de Chevre as an appetizer because it't the best thing ever (this trip I've had it 3 times).

The next day we woke up and saw Chateau de Chamont. A very beautiful castle that is supposedly Sleeping Beauty's castle. (I think...maybe I just made that up). Then we had lunch near our next castle: Chenonceaux, the most beautiful castle of all that crosses the river that I remember vaguely visiting as a kid. We had a really good (but too detailed) audio tour and spent a long while just enjoying the castle. Went back to the Holiday Inn (which we have all been saying with French accents-try it's très fun) and had another fabulous meal. Honestly we are so spoiled.

Took the train to Paris this morning and had lunch near the train stop then back to Dijon for another week of classes. Back to my host house to a lovely surprise. Children. 2 of Martine's friend's girls are staying here for the week... The woman who is dropping them off has another child- an infant who hasnt stopped screaming since he got here but luckily he's two young to pass on to a friend. Actually he is okay in the cute department- at dinner he just sat staring at me.... but now he's crying again.

Que Jura, Jura

Last Sunday 7 of us took a train into the Jura mountains for a day ski trip. It was amazing. We were told it was a really old train that you took called the Le Gentiane Bleu... but they most of just got rid of it as it was one of the newest trains I've ever been on.
We got to the mountain and it took forever to get our stuff together and rented because there is just some flaws with the French system, but ça va! The mountain was pretty relaxed and small but we had a great time. I spent most of the day with the other skiers as the other two snowboarders are pretty beginner level. But it was great. We finished with some vin chaud on the mountain then back to the train station.